Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2840 Master Qingsong 58.0
Song Yaojia glanced at Jin Miaomiao, who looked disgusted, and then at Shen Cha, who rolled her eyes. She found it very funny and exchanged a glance with Shen Haolin. The two of them sighed in unison.

Shen Cha glanced at the two people, gave a soft hum, picked through the fruit plate in front of her, took an orange, and slowly began to peel it.

"It's true what they say, 'People die for money, birds die for food.' That's absolutely true. After suffering such a huge loss, you still want to go back to your old ways. I really admire you." She peeled a whole orange, carefully placed it aside, then broke the orange in half, tasted a segment herself, frowned slightly, looked at the orange in her hand, then looked at Song Yaojia opposite her, revealed a faint smile, handed the orange to him, and said, "Brother Yaojia, try it, it's very sweet."

"Thank you, but that's not necessary."

"Why? Doesn't Brother Yaojia really like eating this?"

"I do like to eat, but I prefer sweet flavors and don't like sour flavors."

"It's sweet, really!"

"That would be strange." Song Yaojia snorted, opened her fan to block the orange Shen Cha offered, and said with a mischievous smile, "I could tell from your expression just now. It's not particularly sour, but it's definitely not sweet either. Since you say it's delicious, you can keep it for yourself. If you really don't want to eat it, Haolin should like it too."

"Then forget it. Compared to my brother, I prefer sour things. He doesn't like sour things at all, not even too much vinegar in his dumplings." Shen Cha wasn't incapable of eating sour things; she just wanted to tease Song Yaojia. Since the other party wasn't falling for it, there was no need to continue. She ate another slice, looked up at Song Yaojia, and said, "Come to think of it, this kind of business is quick money and doesn't require much effort from them, so naturally they're reluctant to give it up. Enduring two years is already quite good. If they endure any longer, I'm afraid..."

“There’s no way they can keep putting up with it any longer, right?” Jin Miaomiao also looked at Song Yaojia. “They probably knew that someone was watching them, and that the person watching them had left, so that’s why they’ve gone back to their old ways.”

“That’s right.” Song Yaojia nodded. “However, in two years, the fraud gang has changed completely.”

"Things have changed?" Jin Miaomiao was taken aback. "Has everything been replaced?"

“All those who knew about it back then were secretly executed to prevent them from spreading rumors and getting themselves into trouble,” Song Yaojia sighed and said. “In this way, no one knows about what happened in Yangzhou Prefecture back then, and no one in Yangzhou Prefecture has seen them. It’s a win-win situation.”

"The replacements should be quite capable, right?" Shen Cha finished eating half an orange and rinsed her mouth with tea. "Back then, that group of charlatans who pretended to be supernatural had about half capable people and half just coasting along. After the replacements, they should all be capable, right?"

“That’s true.” Song Yaojia sighed and said, “Moreover, this time the Gong family is in charge, with the Ma family assisting them.”

"Why?" Shen Cha stroked her chin, not quite understanding the arrangement, and said, "The Gong family is good at tomb raiding, not fortune telling or physiognomy, right?" "It's not that they're not good at it, it's just that," Song Yaojia thought for a moment, "they don't have the opportunity to use their skills, right? Although they're not as good as the famous physiognomists of the Ma family, they can still fool ordinary people."

“That’s true.” Jin Miaomiao nodded. “For ordinary people, it’s impossible to tell whether a fortune teller is a real one or a fraud.”

"People believe what they want to believe. Even a real fortune teller can be seen as a fraud." Shen Cha sighed helplessly and said, "This time, with the Gong family in charge and the Ma family assisting, they shouldn't be as rampant as the first time, right? They should be a little more restrained. Otherwise, if they cause any trouble, people will probably think of the She family from a few years ago and immediately think they are frauds, right?"

“That’s true.” Song Yaojia nodded. “Moreover, this time they didn’t come in large groups. Instead, they split into groups of one, two, or three people, spreading out to avoid attracting too much attention.”

“This time they’ve finally got some brains.” Jin Miaomiao sneered and said, “As expected, it has to be the Gong family. They’ve transformed themselves from tomb raiders into a prestigious family that everyone envies.”

“That’s true. Those who go into tombs are the ones with brains. From the very beginning, they have to plan everything, predict what will happen in the tomb, and come up with countermeasures. At the same time, unexpected things will happen during the descent, and they also need to be able to adapt.” Song Yaojia smiled. “That’s why the Gong family can become the leader in their line of work!”

"That's true." Jin Miaomiao nodded. "And then? Did you still choose the Jiangnan region?"

“Of course, in our Great Xia, the Jiangnan region is the most prosperous, and there are many people willing to spend a lot of money on this kind of thing. They are easier to fool than in other places.” Song Yaojia smiled. “Not to mention anything else, in Wuzhou Prefecture, where the Gong and Ma families are located, there are no less than hundreds of shops that use the guise of fortune telling, feng shui consultation, and face reading. In addition to the shops owned by the Gong and Ma families themselves, there are also other people’s shops, and their businesses are all booming.”

"They actually..."

"You still tolerate other companies doing business on your turf, don't you?" Seeing Jin Miaomiao nod, Song Yaojia smiled. "This kind of business naturally shows ability when everyone works together, doesn't it?"

"That's true." Jin Miaomiao thought for a moment and said, "And then? They were quite successful elsewhere?"

"Of course, but there were some mistakes too. Otherwise, where would the lies of these fraudsters come from?" Song Yaojia chuckled. "Actually, they were quite skilled this time, but there are always times when they misjudge or make mistakes."

“That makes sense.” Jin Miaomiao stroked her chin. “Is it possible that the person who fooled my advisor and Gongsun Yue back then wasn’t a real conman? Perhaps they really just made a mistake?”

"None of that matters anymore." Song Yaojia waved his hand. "I don't know if it was pre-arranged, but they weren't supposed to meet in the capital. I don't know if it was fate that brought them all to the capital without knowing each other's intentions. At least that's what they said. Nobody knows what the other is doing in the capital." He spread his hands. "You know, in Xijing City, there's a special place for this kind of person. Because there's an Imperial Observatory in Xijing City, there aren't many fortune tellers or anything like that. As a result, several groups of people arrived at the designated place at the same time, bumped into each other, and stared at each other in bewilderment. In the end, the group could only choose to send one group at a time each day to avoid causing trouble."