Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2281 Isn’t it here?

Shen Cha was awakened by the noise outside. She had not been sleeping well to begin with and had been having nightmares. When she heard the business outside, she was suddenly startled and opened her eyes abruptly. For a moment, she couldn't tell where she was and subconsciously pinched the thing in her hand. She thought it was her sword, but what she touched was a soft, warm object.

But soon she realized that it was Shen Haolin's hand, and she relaxed instantly.

"Were you woken up?" Shen Haolin put down the report in his other hand, held Shen Cha's hand, slowly helped her up, and let her lean on him, "How are you? Are you scared?"

Shen Cha half-closed her eyes, leaned on Shen Haolin's shoulder, and shook her head gently.

Even so, Shen Haolin still felt her nervousness. He slowly let go of her hand, held her in his arms, and patted her back gently, just like when they were children. Whenever Shen Cha had a nightmare or was awakened by a startle, he would comfort her in this way.

After a long while, Shen Haolin felt Shen Cha slowly relaxing, so he stopped patting her gently, but still held her in his arms.

"You didn't sleep very well just now. You moved around a lot, kicking and punching. You were very busy. Did you have a nightmare again?"

"Yes, but I woke up suddenly and had no idea what I was dreaming about. My mind was completely blank."

"This is normal. If you remember what you dreamed about, it means you didn't really fall asleep."

"Brother is right. Miaomiao has said the same thing before." Shen Cha drank two sips of the water that Shen Haolin fed to her mouth, sighed softly, and continued, "Brother is always here? I remember that it was Xiao Linzi who accompanied me before I went to bed."

"I came in after you fell asleep." Shen Haolin nodded. "Xiao Linzi has been running around all day. Let her go back and rest. I'll stay with you." Seeing Shen Cha's expression, he reached out and tapped her forehead. "Don't worry. I slept with you for a while, but I woke up a little earlier than you."

"That's good. Brother, you've worked hard." Shen Cha lazily leaned on Shen Haolin's shoulder, with no intention of getting up. She looked at the report in Shen Haolin's hand and asked, "What were you looking at just now, brother?"

"Lao Wu went to investigate those shops and got some results."

"A shop that does business with those caravans? So soon?"

"This is a serious and urgent matter, so they must have acted quickly. However, our worst fears did not occur, and those shops are still relatively clean."

"You jumped to conclusions so easily?" Shen Cha slowly opened his eyes and glanced at Shen Haolin. "This doesn't seem like your brother's style."

"It's really not my style. It's because the shop owners who have dealings with these caravans came to report it personally, so Xiaotian went to interrogate them personally." Shen Haolin gently let go of Shen Cha, stood up and walked to the table next to him, took a stack of papers, and lit a few lamps himself, placing them near the chaise longue. "This is the confession and the evidence they provided. These evidences have been verified by Lao Wu and others. There is no problem."

"Report?" When Shen Haolin sat back down, Shen Cha leaned over consciously and said, "My eyes are tired and I don't want to read it. Brother, tell me the story!"

"Okay, I'll tell you." Shen Haolin patted her and hugged her tighter. "Old Five took people to check those shops, but when they got there, they saw the shop owners arguing with people. The targets of the argument were the leaders of the caravans."

"They quarreled? Just when we were about to investigate them, they quarreled?" Shen Cha frowned slightly, "Is there really no problem? Isn't it a bit too coincidental?"

"I thought so too. However, Lao Wu went to investigate and the surrounding neighbors testified that they had quarreled several times. Originally, they quarreled in their own shop and other people just watched the fun, but this time it was different. Not only did the quarrel spread to the street, but the shop owner and his employees were also beaten. The surrounding neighbors were very angry and had sent someone to notify the camp, but the patrol hadn't arrived yet when Lao Wu and his men arrived."

"Have all the people been captured?"

"Yes, this saves us from setting up a trap in the dungeon." Shen Haolin chuckled, "However, we brought back the people from the shop and the caravan, and arranged a separate place for the people on the upper bunk to recuperate. With our brothers watching over them, nothing will go wrong. But all the people who beat people were thrown into the dungeon. Now even if they want to silence Boss Luan, they probably can't do it."

"Really can't do it?" Shen Cha looked at Shen Haolin and put his arm around him. "Brother, you're not really unprepared, are you?"

"Of course!" Shen Haolin tapped her forehead gently. "Who wouldn't know how to use a trick against someone? People from the shops, caravans, or anyone else who wants to break into the dungeon, just come on. I'm afraid you may come alive but not return alive."

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded in agreement. "But why did they quarrel? If they were just doing business, they wouldn't have to resort to violence, right?"

"What do you think these caravans are selling when they come into the city?"

"How can I guess that? Just imagine it?" Shen Cha chuckled, "Brother, you think too highly of me. I can't predict the future."

"Really? I thought you could do anything!"

"Brother is being sarcastic to me again!" Shen Cha snorted, "So, what's going on?"

"Those shops are all dealing in funeral supplies and funeral objects. You know, there aren't many such businesses in other cities, but it's different here. It's still very common."

"I know, there are fewer in recent years. Many shops that used to do this kind of business have been replaced by other shops, but there are still many in the city." Shen Cha sighed, "We are at the border, so we will inevitably need these. But those caravans are negotiating business with several coffin and funeral supplies shops. Do they want to buy or sell?"

"Of course they sold it. They have a lot of things from the ancient tombs and want to sell them to these shops."

"Something from an ancient tomb?" Shen Cha sneered. "Is Master Falian already so poor? The money he has made from selling Forget-Your-Troubles Powder through several channels must have made him rich enough to rival a country, right? Ah, no, that's not accurate enough. I think the combined treasuries of Daxia, Liao, and Jin are not as rich as him, right?"

"Who says it's not true? But the richer people are, the more greedy they become, and the more they want to make money, and they will do any business." "Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded, "Buying and selling funeral objects is indeed a way to make huge profits, especially those burial objects in century-old tombs, which are indeed very valuable in some places, even..." She looked at Shen Haolin, "More valuable than selling Forget Worry Powder."

"How do you know this?"

"Those two people have been doing this business for a while, and I heard them talking about it." Shen Cha rubbed Shen Haolin's shoulder, "I know what Xiao Fengqi said to you. You don't have to hide this kind of thing from me, and I won't care. At the beginning, they said some unpleasant things in front of me, but I didn't care. At that time, I felt that it had come to this point, and our affection and fate had ended. From now on, I will just treat them as people I don't know at all. I thought that I wouldn't have any fluctuations when I heard news about them again, but..."

"Some things can't be easily cut off just by wanting to or saying so." Shen Haolin turned his head and kissed Shen Cha's forehead. "Perhaps you and Jiu'er can only let go after they truly leave this world."

"Maybe!" Shen Cha hugged Shen Haolin and sighed softly, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Their last message will probably be delivered soon. By then, there will really be no relationship at all."

Shen Haolin didn't know what to say, so he could only kiss her forehead to comfort her and tell her that no matter what happened, he would be by her side.

"In fact, it seems that they have not been in this business for very long, probably only one or two years!"

"A year or two?"

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded, "It was about the two years before I met my father, mother and brother. They had been doing this all the time. I remember they went out about once every two or three months, and each time they were away for three or four months. This period was the happiest time for Jiu'er and me."

"Because they're not around?"

"Yes!" Shen Cha closed his eyes and said slowly, "If they didn't do this business and still drank and gambled every day, I would never have found a chance to run away with Jiu'er. Every time they come back, sometimes they are covered in wounds, but they are in a good mood and happy. They won't hit anyone after drinking, nor will they torture me and Jiu'er. But sometimes, they come back intact, but in a bad mood, and they will inevitably torture us to vent their anger until they calm down, and then they will let us go."

Shen Haolin did not continue to ask, but just hugged Shen Cha tightly, feeling the warmth in his arms. Every time he heard this story from the past, he always had an impulse to cut those two people into pieces thousands of times, but even so, he could not relieve the hatred in his heart.

Shen Cha sensed his anger, reached out and patted him, and said, "They have already received retribution. Now they are living a life worse than death. The suffering they have endured is much greater than that of Jiu'er and I, isn't it? Don't be angry, okay?"

"I'm not angry. I just think it would be better if I could meet you earlier so that you can suffer less." Shen Haolin looked at the small table next to him, poured a cup of warm tea, drank two sips himself, and passed it to Shen Cha's mouth, "Drink two sips."

Shen Cha drank two sips obediently, and when he saw that there was still some in the bowl, he gently shook his head, indicating that he didn't want to drink it anymore.

"Oh, brother, don't interrupt me, or I'll forget what I said."

"Okay, keep talking."

"Later I heard them say that every time they went out, if there were a lot of burial objects, they would get a lot of silver, enough for them to eat, drink and have fun for several months. If the tomb they encountered was empty and they had to pay silver, they would feel very unlucky and think that we were a burden to them, so they would take it out on me and Jiu'er. I once heard them say that the last tomb they went to seemed to be a hundred years old. It should be the tomb of a nobleman. There were many burial objects in it. They secretly hid a lot of small ornaments and brought them out, and they all sold them for a good price. They only knew that the things found in it were valuable, but they never thought that they were so valuable."

“Why didn’t they do it later?”

"Because it's too hard. They have always put pleasure above all else. Plus, they were seriously injured the last time. They said they would not go no matter how much money they make. If they lose their lives, it would not be worth it."

"It's because they were seriously injured that you were able to run out with the wine, right?"

"That's right." Shen Cha smiled. "This is the timing I was talking about. After all, we should all thank the person who brought them into this business, right?" She thought for a moment. "It's a little strange to say, they made a lot of money in the past two years. According to my investigation, they still have a lot of money even if they squander it."

"So, you suspect that they didn't take the money with them?"

"They definitely didn't take them away." Shen Cha thought for a while, "I've seen the list Xiao Fengqi gave me. Many of the families implicated by the Xiao family's affairs were the ones who hired them, and these families are all related to the Qinglian Sect, so..."

"Do you suspect that the person who led them to the tomb and the person who led them to buy and sell funeral objects was also from the Qinglian Sect?"

"Yeah!" Shen Cha nodded gently. "Although it's a bit absurd, there are many absurd things in this world, right?"

"It is possible. The Xuanyuan family is an ancient clan that has stood for hundreds of years. It is not impossible that the Qinglian Sect is eyeing the Xuanyuan family." Shen Haolin touched his chin, "But they know that it is impossible to control the Xuanyuan family with their strength, so they thought of using the most useless people in the Xuanyuan family to threaten them. But they didn't expect that these two people are really useless. They are proficient in eating, drinking and having fun, but they can't do anything serious. Instead, they drag down their people."

"Yes, that's what I think." Shen Cha nodded, "We still need to interrogate these people more. I think they are not only here to buy and sell funeral objects and kill people to silence them, but they also want to take away the silver they hid back then."

"I understand. I will arrange for someone to check it out."

Shen Haolin nodded and wanted to continue talking about the conflict between the caravan and the shops, but before he could say anything, the door of the house was pushed open.

They looked up only when the intruder came up to them, and saw Xue Ruitian appear in front of them with an excited look on his face.

"Why are you two still dithering? Don't you want to go and watch the fun?"

"Business? What excitement?"

"This is the excitement we were looking forward to!" Xue Ruitian raised his eyebrows proudly at the two people, "We guessed right, the next wave of people who came to silence us have no patience at all, they showed up just as it got dark!"