Jiapingguan Chronicle

"Someone actually bullied His Majesty?" Shen Cha immediately perked up. "Brother, if you're talking about this, then I'm no longer sleepy!"

"I'm not sleepy anymore!" Jin Miaomiao immediately perked up, staring eagerly at Shen Haolin and Song Yaojia. "Let's hear who has the audacity to bully His Majesty. When we see them in the future, we'll have to pay our respects to them."

Shen Haolin and Song Yaojia exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly.

“You both know this person, and have seen him more than once.” Song Yaojia raised an eyebrow at the two of them. “He’s our eldest cousin, Song Zhan!”

"Ah? Prince Lian?"

"Brother Yaojia, are you serious?" Shen Cha looked at Song Yaojia, saw him nod, then turned to look at Shen Haolin. "But..."

"But what?"

“When my elder brothers were studying at the Crown Prince’s Palace, my eldest cousin had already been granted the title of Prince. How could he possibly come back to study at that age?”

“He didn’t come back to study; he’s one of our martial arts instructors. He wasn’t happy about it, but he had no choice. He was pressured by his uncle to come back.” Shen Haolin sighed and exchanged a glance with Song Yaojia. “My uncle said that if he doesn’t accept this job, his salary will be cut off.”

“Yes, those were my royal uncle’s exact words. People always have something to do; they can’t just drift through life.” Song Yaojia spread her hands helplessly. “As you know, my royal uncle and aunt passed away early due to an accident. My eldest cousin grew up in the palace, and he was treated the same as us. Moreover, whether it was my royal uncle, my father, or the other uncles, they all took better care of him. As long as he didn’t commit any heinous crimes or treason, they would turn a blind eye to whatever he did.”

“I know that.” Shen Cha nodded. “I met him a few times when I was little, and he seemed like a nice guy. He didn’t bully Xiao Jue as you all say. The two of them could have a lot to talk about when they got together.”

"The bullying we're talking about isn't true bullying in the real sense," Shen Haolin patted Shen Cha. "Don't rush, let me explain slowly. It's not really bullying, it's more like deliberate targeting. Xiao Jue knows what he means, but most of the time he doesn't expose it. Not only does he not expose it, he even secretly tells me..."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, we know what he's trying to do, so let's give him a hand!" Song Yaojia sneered. "Mr. Wu is just a figurehead. He comes to the palace every two days, and each lesson lasts about half an hour."

"I was just about to say that, with his skills, isn't it a bit...unsuitable for you, especially my brother, to be his martial arts instructor?" Shen Cha drawled, a half-smile on his face. "What can he teach you? Just to run away when danger strikes?"

"Boss!" Merlin gently nudged Shen Cha. "Is it Prince Lian?"

“Yes, the one who fought you last time and ran away after less than three moves.” Shen Cha rolled her eyes. “Although his skills are barely enough to defend himself, he’s far from being good enough to teach you, right?” “He’s not really teaching us. He’s just forcing us. If we don’t come, we won’t get paid, and we can’t do what he wants.”

"What does he want to do?" Shen Cha sighed helplessly. "Traveling all over the country with a caravan every day, is that what he wants to do?"

"More or less!" Song Yaojia smiled. "That's his ambition. He wants to see the outside world, but not as a prince. But as you know, his uncle is very worried about him. His parents' accident happened during their trip, so it's understandable that he wants to stop him from going out."

"Yes!" Shen Haolin nodded. "However, he has now gotten what he wanted."

“It was earned by bullying Xiao Jue.” Song Yaojia smiled. “That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the two lackeys around Song Zhan, you know them, right?” He raised an eyebrow at Shen Chayi. “You’ve met those two shrimp soldiers and crab generals.”

“I know.” Shen Cha nodded. “I ran into Xia Bing, the chief secretary of the Prince’s Mansion, and Xie Jiang, the head guard of the Prince’s Mansion, twice when I returned to the capital last time.”

What are your impressions of them?

"They're not bad people, but they're definitely not good people either." Jin Miaomiao snorted. "Just from their names, you can tell they're pure lackeys. One is the one who comes up with bad ideas behind the scenes, and the other is the one who rushes to the front as a henchman." She suddenly realized and said, "No wonder you said earlier that this is a great combination. Isn't this the same as Meng, Tang, and Ao?"

“That’s right!” Song Yaojia gave Jin Miaomiao a thumbs up. “Song Zhan is the one with power and money, Xia Bing is the one with brains and who comes up with ideas, and Xia Jiang is the henchman. Generally speaking, with such a group of people, it’s entirely possible for them to run rampant in a place.”

“Yes!” Shen Cha nodded. “But when he faces Brother Xiao Jue, he’s nothing. In front of Brother Xiao Jue, no matter how arrogant he is, he is still a subject. Brother Xiao Jue can ignore his rudeness and cooperate with him, but he can also punish him. In fact, everything is under Brother Xiao Jue’s control. But Meng, Tang, and Ao, that trio, should have a lot of power in the academy. They are the richest, the smartest, and the strongest. No one is more powerful than them to suppress them. Of course, Master Qing Song should be able to suppress them, but as long as they don’t go too far, and those people aren’t targeting him, he won’t want to meddle in other people’s business.”

“But they still intervened later.” Jin Miaomiao spread her hands. “Because the disturbance was really too much, they spent three months planning and gathering evidence before they were able to report the two people.”

"Get involved themselves?" Song Yaojia looked at Jin Miaomiao. "They can't be that stupid, can they?"

“That’s how stupid they are.” Shen Cha nodded. “Because they paid Wang Qin and Dong Qian to do their homework for them from the beginning. They would also ask them to do the monthly quizzes occasionally. They have evidence of this. After they decided to kick these two out of the academy, they made them write receipts for every money they gave them.”

"But there's one thing that doesn't make sense. Wouldn't this be selling yourself out?"

"Of course not." Jin Miaomiao stretched out a hand and waved it at Song Yaojia. "They said the reason they asked Wang Qin and Dong Qian to write the papers was because they discovered that the two of them were writing for others, and that's indeed true. Initially, another small group approached Wang Qin and Dong Qian first, and they only came after hearing about it. So, they have evidence against other classmates and Wang Qin and Dong Qian, and they're not afraid of getting themselves implicated." (End of Chapter)