Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2231 Much the same 21.0

"Yes, we think the same as Master. Since we know this is most likely a misunderstanding, all we can do is try our best to resolve it, right? With such an opportunity to know the other party's thoughts, there is no need to let Second Grandpa leave with regrets." Shen Cha smiled, "It is the most powerful thing to have no regrets in life, right?"

"That's right. If there are no regrets in life, then it is perfect." Qin Zheng nodded. "Speaking of which, this is also what the Second Master hopes for."

"What you said is all right, but have you ever thought that the eldest daughter of the Xiao family has been out of date for many years? Even if she has any wishes, we can't know them." Jin Miaomiao spread her hands towards them, "We only know the inside story from the perspective of Second Grandpa. He has his own inside story. How can we know what he thinks?"

"There's nothing to worry about. Don't we still have Master Xiao Fengqi?"

"Xiao Fengqi?" Jin Miaomiao looked at Shen Cha. "Although Xiao Fengqi's last name is Xiao, and Miss Xiao is his great aunt, but..." She hesitated for a moment. "After all, this is Miss Xiao's most private matter. Will she tell a junior?"

"I think so." Shen Cha patted Jin Miaomiao and explained, "Xiao Fengqi should be the best among the children of the Xiao family in the past 20 to 30 years. He is smart, calm, and not eager for quick success. These are what others do not have. As the former head of the Xiao family, Miss Xiao will definitely not ignore him. Moreover, according to what Yelu Lan said before, the reason why Xiao Fengqi can stand firm in the Xiao family is that the young and vigorous factions of the Xiao family support him. In addition to his own ability and appeal, it is because he was the only heir decided by the aunt of the Xiao family against all odds when she was still alive. The aunt only recognized him and rejected all others."

"The aunt of the Xiao family." Jin Miaomiao thought for a moment and looked at Shen Cha, "Is she the Miss Xiao that Second Grandfather likes?"

"According to her age, it should be her." Shen Cha was silent for a while. "If I remember correctly, Yelu Lan once said that the reason why this lady is famous throughout Yiqing Prefecture is not only because of her appearance, ability, and way of managing the family, but also because she almost entered the palace. If the North and South Courts had not rejected this proposal together, she would have very likely become the second Empress Dowager Xiao."

"Yes, Yelu Lan said that." Jin Miaomiao suddenly remembered and patted Jin Jing. "When we were in Yiqing Mansion, we talked about the Xiao family. Do you remember?"

"Yes, I remember." Jin Jing nodded. "When Yelu Lan mentioned this, he still felt a little regretful. If this woman entered the palace, the Liao Kingdom might have recreated the prosperity of the time when Empress Xiao was in power. Unfortunately, the Liao Kingdom could accommodate the Xiao family and allow the Xiao family to become one of the most powerful families, but it would never allow another woman from the Xiao family to enter the palace and produce another queen or another Empress Xiao."

"I think I've heard this rumor before." Yan Bo thought about it for a moment, "I thought it was just a joke, but I didn't expect it to be true."

"Fortunately, it didn't come true. Otherwise, not only the Liao Kingdom would go crazy, but we would go crazy too." Xue Ruitian sighed, "Now that the Xiao family has fallen, only Xiao Fengqi's branch is left. For us, this is a great thing." He looked at Shen Cha and asked, "But, Xiao Cha, do you think Xiao Fengqi would know about the private affairs of Second Grandpa and Miss Xiao?"

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded, looked at Qin Zheng, and then looked at Yan Bo, "Xiao Fengqi was the person she chose personally, so she must have trusted him very much. Before she left, in addition to explaining her plans and arrangements for the Xiao family, she also entrusted him with some private matters. Although she got married later, she should still be thinking about Second Grandpa. So, I think he would tell Xiao Fengqi some things, and what she told Xiao Fengqi should not be known by Yan Bo and Master, nor Second Grandpa."

"You mean to compare the two sides?" Qin Zheng stretched out his hand and gestured.

"Yes, that's what I mean. I want to know how Second Grandpa describes their relationship over the past few months. When we meet Xiao Fengqi and ask about this past event, we also want to hear how Miss Xiao describes it. By comparing the two sides, we can find the differences, which should be the key to the final unsatisfactory result and the key to untangling Second Grandpa's knot."

"That's a good idea!" Yan Bo thought for a moment, "Well, since they met because of the Jiangning Prefecture case, let's go back to this case. Although Ah Zheng and I have known about these things for many years, we still can't figure out what went wrong. It's a good opportunity for Xiao Fengqi to be here and help us solve our puzzles."

"Please continue, Mr. Yan."

"It was mentioned before that the steward of the Yao family brought his evil slaves to attack the eldest daughter of the Xiao family, but was beaten by the guards around the second master. He left a harmless threat and ran away in disgrace. Miss Xiao knew that it was a young master who saved her, so she must come to thank him, so she asked the guards to help introduce him. The two guards were very smart and did not refuse, because they knew that the prince was investigating the salt administration, and this man happened to be a buyer of private salt."

"This is a witness who has come to our doorstep. How can we push it away?"

"That's right. Now that we have witnesses, physical evidence will follow. Of course, we can't refuse. We have to win them over. So, they let Miss Xiao meet the Second Master in a cold manner." Yan Bo chuckled. "Who would have thought that the two of them would get along very well after meeting. They had a great time talking during lunch."

"That's how we met?" Jin Miaomiao touched her chin. "It's quite natural, isn't it?"

"Hmm!" Shen Cha thought for a moment, "If Miss Xiao didn't make any deliberate arrangements, this would be a pleasant surprise for Second Grandpa."

"Indeed." Yan Bo took a sip of tea and said with emotion, "Nothing else, at least in our opinion, this is a sudden turn of events. The case of the entire Jiangning Mansion has finally taken a turn for the better. However, the Second Master was able to remain calm at the critical moment and did not show his joy. He invited Miss Xiao to sit down with a normal look and asked her if she was injured in the fight just now."

"Wait a minute, they didn't leave Hefeng Building?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, "Aren't they afraid that the Yao family's steward will come and find them again?"

"On the surface, Hefenglou has nothing to do with the Yao family. Even if a guest offended the Yao family, they had to pretend that they didn't know anything." Yan Bo sighed, "It's not easy for them either. They are obviously worried to death, but they have to pretend that they know nothing. They also have to come to apologize to the Second Master and Miss Xiao and prepare a table for them as their apology."

"This Hefenglou is miserable enough, cleaning up for the Yao family every day." Jin Miaomiao shook her head, feeling helpless, "What happened later? Did they talk about the private salt this time?" "That's for sure, they can't avoid it, right?" Yan Bo thought for a while, "Second Master told us that although it was their first meeting, they had a happy chat because they had a conflict with the Yao family before, so Second Master asked why they fought, whether it was because the food was not to their liking or something."

"What's Miss Xiao's response?"

"She said that her family is from another place and has always had business dealings with Hefenglou. She didn't know about the business before, but she recently took over and found that there were big problems with the business with Hefenglou. She couldn't find out by investigating her own family, so she came to Jiangning Mansion to try her luck. Second Master said that she was young but courageous enough to come alone to investigate secretly. If I hadn't happened to have dinner here today, I could have saved her and it wouldn't have been such a tragedy."

"What did Miss Xiao say? Don't you care?"

"The Second Master said that judging from her expression, she really didn't care. Instead, she asked him, since he didn't look like a local, whether he came to Jiangning Prefecture for fun or to do business." When Yan Bo said this, he shook his head helplessly. "The Second Master said that he felt that from that time on, Miss Xiao realized that he was not just here for sightseeing."

"But he can't admit it, right?" Jin Miaomiao covered her mouth and laughed secretly, "After all, he is still in Hefeng Building. The manager of the Yao family has left, but the spies are still there."

"Yes, but the innkeeper and the guys who followed him out had reminded Second Master not to reveal his identity and purpose outside, so Second Master kept it in mind and only said that he came to see the beautiful mountains and rivers of Jiangning Prefecture, and didn't say anything else. He said he didn't know whether Miss Xiao believed it at the time, but she didn't ask any more questions anyway."

"Is this the end of our first meeting?"

"Yeah, it's over." Seeing Jin Miaomiao's disappointed look, Yan Bo didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Why, why do you have such an expression?"

"I thought it would be exciting, but it turned out to be just a fight and a meal. It was so boring!"

"What's so exciting?" Yan Bo shook his head helplessly. "Isn't it the same when you meet a stranger for the first time? You didn't even eat, just had a cup of tea and left, and nothing happened, didn't you? How can you have a long conversation after meeting once?"

"It's not impossible, isn't it? Didn't they have a pleasant conversation?" Jin Miaomiao snorted, looking at Yan Bo's expression, "I knew you must have thought it wrong, that's not what I meant. What I meant was that this time in Hefeng Building, Miss Xiao and Second Grandpa had already confronted the Yao family. Regardless of whether Second Grandpa was a hero saving the damsel in distress or had other intentions, I guess in the eyes of the Yao family's steward, he and Miss Xiao were the same kind of people."

"That's right. In the eyes of the Yao family, his suspicion must have increased. Otherwise, how come other people didn't encounter this incident, but Second Grandpa did?" Xue Ruitian thought for a while, "At that time, Second Grandpa didn't invite Miss Xiao to live in the same inn with him?"

"No." Yan Bo shook his head gently. "To be precise, they didn't have any contact when they had dinner and separated. Because they didn't know that Miss Xiao was a woman disguised as a man, they thought he was just the son of an ordinary merchant family. Even if he didn't bring Xiao Si with him to Hefenglou, there would always be someone in the inn. So, they didn't think about it that way, and didn't invite her to live with them. After he returned to the inn, he talked to the innkeeper about this, and the innkeeper felt that it was a bit inappropriate."

"Not so good?" Shen Cha thought for a moment, "The noble families in Jiangnan have always been overbearing and tyrannical. Do you think they are really capable of silencing people?"

"Yes." Yan Bo nodded. "In fact, when the Second Master told us, we had the same idea as Senior Li. Although the Yao family will not take action against Miss Xiao, it does not mean that their subordinates will not retaliate. The Yao family may not know what happened in Hefeng Building, but their subordinates will definitely do their best to silence them."

"Second Grandfather was not sensitive to this because he had never had such an experience before, and he had never thought that someone would be so bold as to disregard the law and take human life. Therefore, he did not think that there was anything wrong with what he did." Xue Ruitian sighed, "What happened next?"

"After listening to Senior Li's speculations about several possibilities, he immediately arranged for Mr. Liu's men and his own guards to look for Miss Xiao. About half an hour later, they took her to the inn. Second Master said that it was fortunate that they went in time, otherwise, something really bad would have happened."

"The manager of the Yao family took revenge?"

"Yes." Qin Zheng nodded. "Liu Shibo's people said that when he was looking for Miss Xiao, he happened to see the manager of the Yao family asking people if they had seen Miss Xiao. There were also a few people questioning several large inns in Jiangning Prefecture. They thought that since she came to buy salt, she must be staying in these inns, but they never found her. Later, Liu Shibo's people met Miss Xiao at the gate of a theater, and after a lot of effort, they brought her back."

"It took a lot of effort. She didn't see Mr. Liu during the day, so she didn't believe what he said, right?" Shen Cha chuckled, "The Xiao family is like this, how did they come back later?"

"They ran into the man sent by the Yao family's steward to look for her. Because they hid quickly, they were not discovered. It was because of this that Miss Xiao realized that the guard who came to look for her was not talking nonsense, and that the Yao family really wanted to attack her. Second Master said that after they became familiar with each other, Miss Xiao told him that she thought the guard was from the Yao family and wanted to deceive her, so she didn't want to go with him. Later, when she saw that the people from the Yao family were not on the same side as the guard, she was half relieved."

"Half of your heart is relieved? What about the other half?"

"On the way to the inn, she met the guard who saved her. Seeing that they knew each other, she finally let go of her worries." Yan Bo looked at the children and continued, "When she arrived at the inn, she saw the new friend she met during the day waiting for her at the gate. Suddenly, she felt like she had escaped death. It was because of this incident that the two of them became familiar with each other so quickly, as if they had known each other for many years instead of just meeting each other."