Jiapingguan Chronicle

The whole situation has progressed to this point. Shen Zhonghe can't understand it at all. He has been confused.

Seeing Liang Jieque calmly giving luggage to Shen Haolin, Shen Cha, and Xue Ruitian, and seeing Shen Haolin and the others asking Liang Jieque to leave, he couldn't understand at all. He was obviously the one who had just condemned and doubted Liang Jieque. Why now? There has been such a big change in my attitude towards her.

Moreover, as far as he knew, Liang Jieque didn't know that he had arrived at the border, so why was he still so calm when he saw him.

He looked at the tired-looking Liang Jieque with great confusion, and then looked at Shen Haolin, Shen Cha, and Xue Ruitian with shocked expressions. He didn't come back to his senses for a long time, and he didn't know what he should say at all.

"You... why are you... here..."

"Do you want to say why we are together, or do you want to say why we brought Aunt Liang out of the dungeon and asked her to observe our conversation, right?"

"...Ah, yes, both." Shen Zhonghe felt that he couldn't even speak, so he could only speak out word by word, "What?"

"As I just told you, everything that happened before and all the conversations we had with you were actually trials and tests. We want to see what kind of emotional state you have towards this Hui Niang. , can you accept the fact that she is actually a craftsman. But you have also seen it yourself, you are not very qualified, right? You are completely deeply attached to her. Even if you have doubted her, you have never thought about tracing her true identity. Identity. We had no choice but to take out the jade pendant just now and completely shatter your illusions."

"Are you listening to all this?" Shen Zhong calmed down for a long time before finding his voice. He looked at Liang Jieque, "When did you suspect Hui Niang? Or..."

"The moment she appeared in front of you, I knew she existed and that she was not a good person." Liang Jieque looked at the jade pendant in Meilin's hand and sighed softly, "This one After the jade pendant appeared, I was even more sure of this."

"Jade pendant?" Shen Zhonghe was stunned, "When did you see this jade pendant?"

"We showed it to Aunt Liang." Xue Ruitian explained to Shen Zhonghe kindly, "We received the jade pendant and speculated that Hui Niang was related to the Japanese, so we took the jade pendant to ask Aunt Liang. Aunt Liang didn't want to tell us anything, but when she saw this jade pendant, she completely collapsed."

"Collapse?" Shen Zhonghe looked at Liang Jieque, "Have you cried?"

"She was crying very sadly. She wanted us to make the decision for her and help her." Xue Ruitian turned around and looked at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, and smiled sheepishly, "I never told you before, I'm really sorry. .”

"It doesn't matter. After entering the big tent, didn't you already show the truth and Aunt Liang's testimony to my brother and me? It's not like you're hiding anything from us. We won't care about it." Shen Cha smiled lightly and said softly He waved his hand gently and said, "That's enough. Finally, we didn't hide it from us, and we didn't catch us off guard."

"The general is right. It's good that we didn't get confused like Master Shen. But, didn't we perform well just now?" Shen Haolin raised his eyebrows at Xue Ruitian and said with a half-smile. , "Is the cooperation with you pretty good?"

"Not bad, not bad, at least it didn't ruin my business." Xue Ruitian clapped softly, "You did a good job, you can eat a chicken drumstick tonight."

Shen Haolin and Shen Cha looked at Xue Ruitian with disgust, wondering where he learned these words.

Xue Ruitian smiled evilly at Shen Haolin and Shen Cha, turned around to look at Shen Zhonghe, sighed softly, and said, "I know you have a lot of problems now, but don't be impatient. Let's talk slowly. , okay?"

"I don't want to know anything else. I just want to know the truth. I just want to know who Hui Niang is and what her origins are!"

"Okay, of course. Since you want to know the truth so much, we will help you and let Aunt Liang tell you in person. She should be the only one who knows the truth now." Xue Ruitian paused. After a while, he said, "Not only Hui Niang, but also your Shen family, Liang family, and even the forces behind Hui Niang. She is very aware of the involvement and grudges over the years." He looked at Liang Jieque. ,"May I?"

"Of course, I have no problem."

"That's good. Don't be anxious or worried. Speak slowly and from the beginning, just like you told us before."

"Okay, Lord Marquis! This is not something that can be rushed. The whole story spans nearly a hundred years, so there is no point in being anxious." Liang Jieque nodded towards Xue Ruitian and watched them sit back down in their seats. Go up, sighed softly, and looked at Shen Zhonghe who was looking at him, "Xiaoman, first of all, what I want to say is, haven't you always wanted to know why your grandfather has always raised me, why your father, mother, My brother-in-law told you that when you grow up, you must be filial to me and take care of me till the end of your life?"

"Yes." Shen Zhonghe calmed down a little, "Then, your answer is..."

"I am indeed your elder. If there hadn't been that accident that year, you should have called me auntie." Seeing Shen Zhonghe's eyes widening in surprise, Liang Jieque showed a knowing smile. "You didn't expect that, did you?"

"It's not that I didn't expect it. I expected this. I just heard you admit it yourself. It's a bit surprising. I thought you wouldn't admit that you have a very close relationship!" Shen Zhonghe sighed softly, "Just now You may have heard that when I was very young, I saw you and my uncle acting very close and affectionate. You two walked out of my uncle's house. That posture and movement, if you say that you are not related, I'm afraid. No one believes it either.”

"I heard it." Liang Jieque nodded, "You said you saw us, but I remember... I didn't bump into anyone."

"Because I hid quickly, you two never noticed me." Shen Zhonghe shrugged, looked at Liang Jieque, and said, "Then I can probably understand why you changed so much when you came back from that time at sea. , because we are forever separated from the one we love, right?" "That's right, that accident was something we didn't expect. I was having a bad time for a while, just because of this."

"If, I mean if, if there were no accidents on that trip, and you and my uncle could come back safely, would you be able to get married?"

"Yes!" Liang Jieque nodded, "But the story is still very complicated and cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences. Don't worry, I will start from the beginning. When I finish everything, The doubts in your heart will slowly be solved. When you laugh, even things that you can't understand now will become clear and obvious. You will know why your grandfather, your father, I, and I did what we did. .”

"Okay!" Shen Zhonghe sat upright and nodded towards Liang Jieque, "Then tell me!"

"Before talking about these old events, I want to tell you, Xiaoman, if you and Erniang didn't insist on digging up these things, I had promised your grandfather, your father, and your mother not to tell you. If I could live my life smoothly, I would take these secrets away and make them real secrets."

"But it's not fair to me, isn't it? Why do you all know, but I don't know anything? I'm obviously the head of this family, right?"

"But these are grievances from the previous generation, the generation before that, or even a long time ago. Essentially, they have nothing to do with you. But when we accidentally overlooked it, you were also involved, and it was very deep. This is my Don’t want to see it.”

"No matter what, I have the right to know, don't I?"

"Yes, you have the right to know, and you are also the one involved, so you must know. Yesterday, the Marquis also advised me the same way, let me tell you the truth, don't hide everything from you, you are already this You are old and have established a family, so you can make correct judgments." Liang Jieque thanked Mei Lin who handed him a cup of hot ginger tea, took a sip and said, "But, I was in the tent next to you just now, and after hearing what you said, I became a little doubtful again, can you really make the right decision?"

"I can." Shen Zhonghe said with certainty, "If you can produce conclusive evidence that makes me very convinced, I can."

"Okay, remember what you said now, don't go back on your word." Liang Jieque took a long breath, looked at Shen Zhonghe and continued, "The story begins with the acquaintance of the Shen and Liang families. Speaking of." She thought for a while and said, "Actually, the Shen family's surname is not Shen, and the Liang family's surname is not Liang."

"What?" Shen Zhonghe was frightened again, "This is..."

"In order to avoid the pursuit of the previous dynasty and the war that followed, I changed my name. However, you don't have to worry. You are already the fifth generation of the Shen family after changing their names. You don't need to have the same surname as before. But I still I want to tell you that the Shen family's original surname is Tian, ​​and they are descendants of Tian Mo, the Minister of Household Affairs during the last emperor of the previous dynasty, and my Liang family is not surnamed Liang, but my original surname is De, and I am also a descendant of Dexiao, the Minister of Household Affairs." She Looking at Shen Zhonghe, "Tian Mo and De Xiao's wives are the twin daughters of Ding Ting, the former Minister of Household Affairs, so they are more closely related."

"The former Minister of Household Affairs?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, "If I remember correctly, he was the one who was beaten to death in Xiangyuan by the late Emperor?"

"The general is right, it's him." Liang Jieque nodded, "The last emperor of the previous dynasty was not said to be debauched or extravagant, but he was also a very cruel, unlearned and unskilled guy. Although when he first came to the throne, he had some The so-called virtuous government, but after all, when he ascended the throne, he was still young and had no interest in state affairs or government affairs at all. He had just become emperor, so he still had to make some appearances and win some people's support. But as time went by, his nature or true appearance became It was slowly exposed. The previous dynasty had a tight household budget and an empty treasury, but the late emperor still ignored it and built deer pens and elephant gardens in the imperial city, and also raised rare beasts in the palace."

"These are very expensive. Doesn't the big clan in charge don't care?"

Shen Zhonghe had contacted some businessmen from Persia, and the things raised by the late emperor should have come from foreign countries in the Western Regions.

"The last emperor did not believe in the clan, nor did he believe in the group of ministers left behind by the former emperor. He felt that these people were disloyal to him and were trying every possible means to find fault with him and to drive him off the dragon throne. What those people wanted were puppets, and he didn't want to be a puppet. And the purpose of his previous benevolent policies was not really to benefit the people, but to cultivate his own manpower, and when the time was right, he would give up those old people. Replace it."

"Looking at it this way, the collapse of the previous dynasty is not unreasonable, is it?" Merlin sneered, "This in itself is not worthy of being an emperor."

"Yes, he is not worthy of sitting on that dragon chair, but he is the only one qualified to inherit the throne. If others are unhappy, there is nothing they can do." Liang Jieque sighed softly, "What Xiaoman just said is right. The things that the late emperor likes to play with cost a lot of money, and all these expenses are not from the emperor’s private treasury, but from the Ministry of Accounts and Accounts who are very confident in asking for money.”

"Did the Ministry of Revenue give it to you?" Shen Zhonghe frowned slightly, "This is a lot of money. At that time, the national treasury was in severe deficit. Where could they get this money for the late emperor?"

"Yes. Although the treasury is empty, it still has some foundation. Besides, this is the first time that the emperor has spoken, and it is difficult for them to refuse. Therefore, this is a very bad start."

"This is indeed a bad start." Jin Miaomiao nodded, "Although the description may not be appropriate, this kind of thing only happens zero times or countless times. If you give it once, you will speak again next time. If you don’t give it, it will be your fault.”

"This is the truth, but at that time Ding Shangshu and the clans behind him all thought that the emperor was not bad in nature, but he was just young and playful. Maybe he just wanted to take advantage of the novelty for a while and then gave up. What they wanted to do was not It’s not that I’m reprimanding the emperor for not being able to do this, but I’m going to arrange some courses for the emperor so that he can study hard, and then maybe he’ll stop playing around and learn how to manage politics.”

"It's a good idea, but the reality is not like this. The Emperor will not live according to their plans and requirements."

"Who said it wasn't?" Liang Jieque smiled bitterly, "They didn't expect that the emperor was so rebellious, so when the emperor first said that he wanted to build a deer enclosure in the imperial city, they agreed, and they were very happy. Just gave me the money. When I was very young, my grandfather couldn't help but sigh when he talked about this. They said that the decision that the elders regretted the most was that they gave the money so generously, which made the late emperor think that the treasury was full, so he You can spend whatever you want and play whatever you want. If the Ministry of Finance does not give you money, it means that the Ministry of Finance is up to no good. If the money is really gone, it means that the Ministry of Finance has committed corruption, and you will be held accountable by the Ministry of Finance. Anyway, no matter whether you give money or not, the unlucky ones will be the same. It’s just the household department.”