Jiapingguan Chronicle

Shen Haolin and Xue Rui only finished reading the thick pile of confessions when the servants from the dining room came to deliver the dinner.

Shen Haolin stood up, put the stack of confessions back into the desk drawer, took Xue Ruitian to wash his hands, waited until the little servant and the attendant had set the table and left the flower hall one by one, and then sat back down again.

"This time, Xiao Jue can get what she wants." Shen Haolin picked a few pieces of not-so-fat mutton for Shen Cha and put them in his bowl, then filled her with a small bowl of porridge, and said, "After Ning After the incident in Changguo, those big clans restrained a little, but they didn't really give up their daydream. Xiaojue has received several news that the literati in the south of the Yangtze River are about to move, and they want to pass the next imperial examination. , make a big deal come out.”

"The next imperial examination?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, mixed a bowl of noodles with stewed mutton soup for Shen Haolin, and gently placed them in front of him, "Isn't that something that will happen next year or the year after?"

"Yeah!" Xue Ruitian nodded, took a bite of a piece of mutton, chewed it carefully several times, and said, "Our spies who stayed in Jiangnan also said that the literati and big clans in Jiangnan have become restless again, especially The several big clans that were suppressed in the past few years have secretly colluded together again, and I don’t know what they are planning. Moreover, this time it is not just the big clans that participated, they also secretly contacted several imperial merchants.”

"It's not about contacting the imperial merchants. They can't support their rebellion just by recruiting disciples and giving lectures. They need a lot of money, so they have to join hands with the imperial merchants." Shen Cha sneered, recalling Recalling the news from Jiangnan some time ago, and thinking of the people from the Luan and Liu families who came to the border now, he snorted again, took a sip of porridge with a spoon, turned his head to look at Shen Haolin, and said, "So It looks like the two of them moved out of the south of the Yangtze River and settled in Wangxin Town, the purpose may not be purely for Uncle Ning, right?"

"You mean..." Although they didn't mention their names, Shen Haolin immediately knew who Shen Cha was talking about, "They are also preparing for the imperial examination next year and the next year. Are they the internal support of those people?"

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded, "It's hard to say whether it's an internal response, but I suspect that they're not just playing the role of providing money, right?" She curled her lips, "Those two families are only looking for profit, a little favor, can be bought without them."

"It's really not that simple." Shen Haolin bit a noodle fruit that Shen Cha fed to his mouth, chewed while thinking, and when the noodle fruit was finished, he said, "Ning Cheng's family broke up with Chaozhou Ning's at this time, I'm afraid it will be too late. It's not that simple, is it?"

"Well, I've thought of that too." Shen Cha sighed, picked up a chopstick of vegetables, and ate them slowly. She looked at Xue Ruitian, then at Jin Jing, and finally at Jin Miaomiao, "Why? Don't talk?"

"Didn't you just listen to what you two said?" Xue Ruitian raised his eyebrows, "I think what you just said makes sense."

"If we follow our previous guess, Ning Cheng's mother is likely to be Mrs. Ning from the Ning family in Zhongzhou. They chose to leave the Ning family in Chaozhou at this time, which also shows that the Ning family has also participated in this plan. They want to take advantage of this opportunity to make a comeback. They feel that this time, with a large number of people, it will inevitably have a certain impact on the royal family. Even if they can't make the royal family step down, they will force the royal family and the nobles to back down. But Mrs. Ning has had such an experience before, and she doesn't want to experience it again. In addition, Ning Cheng and Ning Cheng's sister don't want their little family to be involved in this turmoil, so they want to reconcile. The scene of being expelled from the family led to the fact that Ning Cheng and her family came to the border." Jin Jing dug out a mutton with bones from the cauldron, and said while holding it, "But just now I carefully After thinking about it, everything else makes sense, but the age doesn’t match, right?”

"Yes!" Shen Cha nodded, "Other things can be explained, but the age is not right. Mrs. Ning of the Ning family in Zhongzhou, if she is still alive, should be over a hundred years old, but I observed Ning Cheng His mother also looks very old, but she is definitely not more than 70 years old, and if she is, it will not be too much, at most one or two years old."

"Xiaocha is right. I feel the same way. Although senior Tantai, general Xuanyuan, and Brother Jingwang are not young, their appearance does not match their age. But this is Because of their strange experience, they all took that magical little pill, which is different from normal aging people." Jin Miaomiao rubbed his chin, and snatched a large stewed mutton from Xue Ruitian's hands. The egg that came out of the pot took a bite proudly and said, "Mother Ning Cheng, according to my judgment, she should not have changed or prolonged her life through any external influence. Therefore, she should not be Mrs. Ning." .”

"She's not Mrs. Ning?" Shen Cha thought for a while, then shook her head lightly, "But she's definitely not Ning Cheng's mother."

"Yes!" Jin Miaomiao and Shen Cha exchanged glances, "That's right, and it's definitely not Ning Cheng's mother."

"Then who will she be?"

"You two wait first." Jin Jing patted her younger sister, then waved to Shen Cha, "You guys are talking so lively, why are you sure that Ning Cheng's mother has nothing to do with Ning Cheng and Ning Cheng's sister? Based on your guesses?"

"No, no!" Jin Miaomiao smiled, "Blood relationship is very wonderful. Although I have never met Ning Cheng's father, the appearance and certain characteristics of Ning Cheng and Ning Cheng's sister are similar to Ning Cheng's. The mother is completely inconsistent." Seeing that Jin Jing and Xue Ruitian were still in a daze, she put down the bowl in her hand and explained, "There is a folk saying that a son is like a mother, and a daughter is like a father. Although it is not completely accurate, it is true. You can use this to judge whether they are biological children. Look at Ning Cheng, who looks completely different from his mother. Ning Cheng's sister is also different from her mother, but Ning Cheng and his sister are like twins. Their There's some overlap in looks, right?"

"Really." Jin Jing nodded, "Then there is another possibility, that is, they all followed their father, and there is no shadow of their mother at all, right?"

"Yes, but this kind of situation is not very common. Even if they follow their father and don't look like their mother at all, you can still tell whether they are biological children from the skull." Jin Miaomiao took two mouthfuls of porridge and turned towards Jin Jing waved her hand, "It's a bit difficult to explain. All in all, as a doctor, I can draw the conclusion that Ning Cheng's mother has absolutely no relationship with him or his sister."

"Although I didn't understand it very well, I agree with what you said." Xue Ruitian nodded, "Then who could she be?"

"There is another possibility." Shen Cha put down the empty porridge bowl, wiped his mouth, and said, "There is another person around her age."

"Who?"

"Mrs. Ningchang Kingdom."