Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2859 Master Qingsong 77.0
Shen Cha glanced at the sky outside; it was already late at night. Looking at the people in the warm pavilion, she shook her head helplessly.

Apart from Xia Jiu and Shen Jiu, who were already fast asleep after taking their medication, everyone else, including herself, was full of energy and spirits, showing no signs of having been awake for nearly ten hours.

She sighed softly, unsure whether the story was too captivating or if they had simply drunk too much strong tea.

"What's wrong?" Shen Haolin looked at her. "Tired?"

"I'm not sleepy at all." Shen Cha sighed and looked at Jin Miaomiao. "Did they add any stimulant to my medicine?"

"That's definitely not the case. You need to calm your nerves, how can I make you feel refreshed?" Jin Miaomiao waved her hand. "You think it's a problem with your medicine, but we didn't take any of your medicine, so why aren't we sleepy?"

"I'd like to know why too." Shen Cha shrugged helplessly. "Could it be that I've been drinking too much tea?"

“It’s not impossible.” Song Yaojia stretched and sat down again. “To be honest, I felt a little sleepy just now, but I’m not sleepy at all now.”

“Me too.” Merlin nodded to Song Yaojia. “There was a period when I was so sleepy that my eyelids were drooping, but after that period, I seemed to wake up immediately.” She looked at the pastries on the table. “These aren’t anything special!”

“It has nothing to do with snacks. Logically speaking, you should feel sleepy after eating a full meal, but,” Song Yaojia looked at everyone, “don’t you feel a little hungry? These snacks don’t seem to fill you up at all.”

“Because we don’t like anything too sweet, the pastries aren’t that sweet. According to my uncle, the pastries from both mansions are so sweet that it’s like we haven’t eaten anything at all.” Jin Miaomiao chuckled. “Sister Ning’s pastries aren’t very sweet either.”

"I'm hungry too." Shen Cha looked at Jin Miaomiao expectantly. "Is there anything to eat? I want something hot."

"At this hour, is there anything hot to eat?" Song Yaojia hadn't stayed up this late in years. He rubbed his stomach. "If there is, I'd like a bowl too."

"The food should be warm on the stove in the kitchen. I'll go check." Merlin stretched lazily, bounced around a couple of times, grabbed his cloak, and put it on as he spoke. "Besides something warm, is there anything else I particularly want to eat? Or what does the kitchen have that I can bring over?"

"We're going to treat the entire Shen family army and Eagle King army tomorrow, so the stove is full of stewed meat today. There's nothing for us to eat." Jin Miaomiao stretched. "I'll go with you and cook some wontons or something. We should still have some." She looked at the others. "Wontons are fine, right?"

“Yes, yes!” Song Yaojia nodded. “Being able to eat a bowl of hot wontons at this time is the happiest thing.”

"Then it's settled." Merlin took Jin Miaomiao's cloak and helped her put it on as he spoke. "While you're at it, let's see how the stew is going. We can get a few pieces to eat, shall we?"

"As long as Elder Mo agrees, I have no problem." Jin Miaomiao turned to look at Song Yaojia. "Your Highness, let's pause the story for now and continue when we get back!"

"Of course, I don't want to say it a second time."

Jin Miaomiao gave him a thumbs-up, then led Meilin out the door. But as soon as she stepped out, she came back.

"What's wrong?" "It looks like it's snowing. If you're free, you can come out for some fresh air."

"Okay!" Watching the two leave, Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin and Song Yaojia and said, "Shall we go for a walk in the courtyard?"

"Let's go see the snow?" Song Yaojia smiled. "That's great! I thought we wouldn't make it!"

“Okay, but dress warmly.” Shen Haolin walked to the cabinet against the wall, opened it, took out a thick cloak, and draped it over Shen Cha. “Wearing this should keep you warm.” He looked at Song Yaojia. “See which one you want to wear and find one for yourself.”

"It's so rare that you still remember me!" Song Yaojia strolled over and picked out a fur cloak. "Whose is this?"

“Mine, you can wear it!” Shen Haolin raised an eyebrow. “And bring me the one next to it while you’re at it.”

Song Yaojia took off the black fur cloak next to her, picked up the one she had chosen, and walked up to Shen Haolin and Shen Cha.

"Should we cover them up again?" He pointed to Shen Jiu and Xia Jiu, "so that when we open the door, a cold draft will blow in and they'll get cold."

"I think so too."

Dressed neatly, Shen Cha went over and covered her two younger brothers with an extra blanket. After Shen Haolin reheated the charcoal fire for them, the three of them tiptoed out.

Once outside, I discovered that, just as Jin Miaomiao had said, it had started snowing again sometime earlier, gently falling to the ground and then disappearing without a trace.

"Spring is already halfway over, and it's still snowing! I probably wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. The snow melts as soon as it hits the ground; it doesn't stay at all!" Song Yaojia looked up at the sky, then at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha standing side by side, and asked, "Is it like this every year?"

"More or less." Shen Cha nodded. "This cold weather will last for another half a month to a month before it truly ends, and the border will finally welcome spring. But spring won't last long either; after about half a month, summer will arrive soon."

"But it won't be particularly hot in the summer, right?"

“Not necessarily. Sometimes it’s hot for a few days, sometimes it’s hot for a few months, and sometimes the whole summer is very cool, but the price is a lot of rain. Like last year, the summer was indeed quite hot, but it only lasted for a few days.” Shen Cha smiled at Song Yaojia and said, “In previous years, when spring and summer came, it was the time when the Jin or Liao would launch their offensive. They would take advantage of the good weather to plunder grain supplies. At that time, neither Qilin Pass, Yangzhi Pass, nor our Jiaping Pass had such high and thick walls. The situation inside the pass was completely visible.”

"Rob and run?" Seeing Shen Cha nod, Song Yaojia sighed helplessly, "Fortunately, we are now in an alliance, so we can breathe a little easier."

“Yao Jia, you are not of our kind, your heart must be different.” Shen Haolin glanced at Song Yao Jia. “There are no eternal allies, this is what our master told us.”

“I know, but at least for the next ten to twenty years, the people won’t have to suffer from the ravages of war, right?” Song Yaojia sighed, feeling a bit cold, and wrapped her cloak tighter around herself. “When their evil intentions resurface, they’ll find that we are more capable than they imagined, right?”

"Of course, we'll give them a big surprise." Shen Cha moved closer to Shen Haolin and looked at Song Yaojia. "Brother Yaojia, there's no one else here now. Can you tell us why we've come to the border this time?"