By the side of the official road, Chen Ji stared blankly at those two unfamiliar backs. The two men led an ox cart, following the large convoy into the Mengjin city gate pass, completely unaware of a scorching gaze fixed on their backs.
The two escort guards were robust and sturdy; one tall, one short. The tall one was somewhat lazy and slack, appearing to be an old Jianghu veteran. The short one spoke with a muffled, nasal voice, and did things rigidly and methodically.
Before today, Chen Ji had never seen the appearances of these two people, yet he just felt they were very familiar.
More accurately, it was the way the other party spoke that made him feel exceptionally familiar!
Er Dao, Brother Pao! These two were people Chen Ji once thought he would never see again in this lifetime!
Now that both of their appearances had changed, Chen Ji had no way to be certain if his guess was correct. What if there genuinely was someone in this world who spoke with a style identical to Er Dao's?
However, the desire to reunite with old friends in a foreign land made him want nothing more than to chase after them right now and ask them clearly!
But having just walked a few steps, Chen Ji slowly stopped in his tracks again.
Standing in the cold wind, he took a few deep breaths, allowing the piercing, bone-chilling wind to pour into his lungs; only then did he sober up a bit.
Leading Zaozao, Chen Ji braved the cold wind, passing through the city gate tunnel to catch up with the two of them. He smiled and asked: "Are you two escort guards from the Liang Family Escort Agency?"
The tall escort guard turned his head to look at Chen Ji, smiling politely: "That's right. The two of us work under Escort Chief Liang."
Chen Ji asked casually: "How may I address you two?"
That short escort guard wanted to answer, but was pulled back slightly by the tall escort guard.
The tall escort guard led the ox cart while walking and introducing: "Replying to this noble person, you can just call me Ah Da. My brother is called Ah Si. There are four male cousins in our family; I rank as the eldest, and he ranks as the fourth."
Ah Da sized Chen Ji up from top to bottom: "You are?"
Chen Ji smiled and said: "I am the third son of the Chen Family. Now that the elders in my family have been transferred to Official Positions in the Capital City, our entire family is moving to the Capital City. Oh, right! Ah Da and Ah Si should be your childhood milk names, right? What are your formal names?"
Yet he saw a flash of vigilance and wariness pass through Ah Da's eyes, though his mouth smiled and responded: "So it turns out to be the Third Young Master of the Chen Estate! Disrespectful, disrespectful! For small figures like us living in the mud, being called by our milk names allows us to live longer. A fortune teller once told our parents that the fate of us brothers is cheap and lowly; if we were called by formal names, he feared our fates wouldn't be able to suppress it! Best not to mention it!"
The more cautious the other party was, the more Chen Ji wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Leading Zaozao, he walked parallel to the two of them, casually striking up a conversation: "You two are escort guards. Presumably you've been to many places, right? I haven't really traveled far from home much. I wonder if you two could recount some of your experiences and what you've seen in various places to broaden my horizons?"
Ah Da's fingers suddenly clenched tight: "I wonder what Young Master wants to hear?"
Chen Ji smiled and asked: "Why don't you first talk about where you all have been?"
Ah Da laughed: "We just returned from Runan. How about I tell Young Master about the matters of Runan? The place of Runan is beautiful and elegant, surrounded by water on all four sides. The county seat resembles a gourd ladle floating in a lake..."
Chen Ji abruptly interrupted to ask: "Besides Runan, where else have you two escorted goods to previously?"
Ah Da and Ah Si subconsciously exchanged a glance. Ah Da's mouth, however, did not stop: "Previously, we escorted a person to Jincheng. We escorted the Second Young Master of the Qiao Family, Shanxi merchants. That trip was thrilling and perilous; there were mountains all along the way, and quite a lot of mountain bandits! Oh, right, we've also been to Jinling! At that time, we were responsible for escorting the silver of Squire Yao from Luo City..."
Chen Ji's interest was piqued: "I haven't been to Jinling yet! I heard the Qinhuai River there is full of singing girls; when night falls, there are fiery trees and silver flowers, and it is Brightly Lit and illuminated! Is that true?"
Ah Da actually also seemed interested: "Isn't that right?! That Qinhuai River is extremely bustling and lively when night falls! Both banks are densely packed with fire and smoke, and merchants gather in clouds. The pavilions of gold powder vary in height and disparity. At night, the restaurants and teahouses are filled with singing throughout the night, and the clamor of wine and lust. Boats sail on the river surface; the larger boats are called 'Zoucang', while the smaller ones are called 'Tengpeng'. Bright horn lanterns are hung on the boats, and women sit beneath the lanterns playing the Pipa. Every single one of those women has a graceful and lithe figure, their faces concealed with light gauze veils, making it impossible to see them clearly from afar... What a pity my brother and I were shy in our pouches, and didn't dare call them to row their boats over."
Pondering for a moment, Chen Ji asked curiously: "I heard the National University on the south bank of the Qinhuai River is very lively. Many scholars and Stipend Students have to go pay their respects and pray there before the Imperial Examinations, saying it is extremely efficacious and responsive."
Ah Da cast a sidelong glance at him: "This Young Master remembers incorrectly, right? The National University is on the north bank, not on the south bank!"
Chen Ji let out an "Ah": "I remembered incorrectly? Does the National University have a memorial archway with the words 'Literary Fortune of the World' in front of its gates?"
Ah Da laughed 'haha': "Young Master's memory truly isn't good! That memorial archway in front of the National University's gates is called 'Literary Hub of the World'! Not 'Literary Fortune of the World'!"
Ah Da spoke Flowing Incessantly, unexpectedly knowing the Qinhuai River like the back of his hand!
Chen Ji fell into deep thought. If this Ah Da and Ah Si truly were Brother Pao and Er Dao, then they shouldn't have personally been to Jinling. Why were they able to speak about it so logically and clearly?
Furthermore, he had set two traps, yet the other party actually resolved them easily as well.
Could it truly just be a coincidence?
Or was it that Brother Pao possessed meticulous thoughts, and despite being a guest in a foreign land, in order to avoid being exposed, he had patched up the loopholes in his identity? Earlier on, when Chen Ji reviewed the Secret Spy Division's case files, wasn't it also to cover up his identity?
No.
This Ah Da had already revealed a flaw!
This era was not like later generations where everyone was literate. On the contrary, few were literate, and the majority were illiterate! In a profession like escort guards, if you picked out ten escort guards, it would already be good if even one was literate!
When this Ah Da described the Qinhuai River earlier, his words were clearly refined and literary, as if reciting a textbook! He could even remember the 'Literary Hub of the World' memorial archway! Could this be the knowledge and experience of an ordinary escort guard?!
Ah Da and Ah Si absolutely had a problem!
Chen Ji had the mind to just open his mouth and ask directly: Are you Er Dao? Are you Brother Pao?
But what after asking?
Before his death in his previous life, Brother Pao had once appreciated and sympathized with him, lamenting that they hadn't met sooner. But if Chen Ji treated Brother Pao as a good person because of this, then he would be gravely mistaken!
It was precisely because of Brother Pao's vicious reputation in the underworld that Chen Ji chose the other party to become the crucial link in his plan!
In his early years, this person was a Sanda athlete. Because he beat someone to death while fighting underground boxing matches, he was imprisoned and sentenced. After coming out of prison, he followed an underworld boss running a loan shark business, excelling at violent debt collection. He had entered the police station six or seven times just for this. Later on, he mixed around until he became a boss himself.
If this kind of person knew Chen Ji's true identity, it would be hard to guarantee what might happen.
While pondering, he saw the convoy stop at the Mengjin Relay Station. Under the setting sun, Escort Chief Liang waved his arms and shouted loudly: "Stop standing around in a daze! Drive all the vehicles into the rear courtyard! Take turns eating a hot meal! Tonight, we will sleep in the woodsheds and ox pens! Keep a good watch over the employer's items!"
Seeing this, Ah Da turned his head and smiled at Chen Ji: "Third Young Master, we have to go get busy. If you still want to hear anything, you can come looking for us after we've finished our work."
Chen Ji cupped his hands in a greeting to preserve propriety: "I have troubled you two."
Ah Da and Ah Si lowered their heads and entered the rear courtyard. Ah Si asked softly: "Bro, didn't you say officials and nobles are all bad people? I think this Young Master is quite good."
Ah Da's gaze was heavy and condensed: "Whenever someone gets to the bottom of things and investigates everything thoroughly, it is absolutely not out of care and concern... I'm afraid our cover is blown. Strange, where exactly did we let the cat out of the bag and reveal our flaws?"
Ah Si asked in a low voice: "Should we do him in?"
Ah Da scratched his eyebrow helplessly: "I told you long ago, don't just fight and kill every single day! We have to first tuck our tails between our legs and behave!"
Ah Si turned his head to look at his own buttocks, finding it difficult.
Ah Da sighed: "I was using a metaphor!"
Ah Si asked: "Then what do we do now?"
Ah Da did not answer.
Standing in the rear courtyard, he looked outside the courtyard, his gaze deep and profound.
...
...
The Relay Stations of the Ning Dynasty were all government-run, acting as one of the largest military apparatuses. They specifically managed the three matters of 'Yi', 'Zhan', and 'Pu'.
The so-called 'Yi' meant verifying identities based on 'Postal Tallies' to host guests, arrange supplies, and transport personnel.
The so-called 'Zhan' meant verifying identities based on 'Ministry of War Fire Tickets' or 'Secret Spy Division Fire Badges' to transmit important urgent documents and military Intelligence. This was exclusively for military use.
The so-called 'Pu' was the normal government transmission of documents, managed by County Magistrates and Prefects.
The scale of the Mengjin Relay Station exceeded Chen Ji's imagination. It was far incomparable to a regular inn; even if over ten inns were combined, they wouldn't be as large as it. For example, the Ning Dynasty's most famous 'Jiming Mountain Relay Station' was even known as a Relay Station City; it was genuinely a small-sized city!
The color of the sky gradually darkened. After Chen Ji settled Xiaoman down here, he immediately went out again to the rear courtyard where the ox carts were parked. However, smelling the scent of ox dung, he weaved through the ox carts for a long time, yet failed to find any trace of Ah Da and Ah Si.
He called Escort Chief Liang over: "Escort Chief, where are Ah Da and Ah Si?"
Escort Chief Liang was taken aback for a moment: "Third Young Master, who are Ah Da and Ah Si?"
Chen Ji's heart sank. He said in a low voice: "They are two people in your escort guard team who often travel together as companions. One is tall, one is short. One of them speaks and does things rigidly and methodically. Do you have an impression of them?!"
Escort Chief Liang's expression changed: "Why is Young Master asking about the two of them... Did they offend you?"
Chen Ji shook his head: "No. It's just that I chatted congenially with the two of them on the road today, and wanted to hear them talk more about what they've seen in other regions."
Escort Chief Liang breathed a slight sigh of relief: "So that's how it is... Then I'll help you look for them."
After saying that, he raised his voice and shouted: "Daozi?! Chongzi?!"
He shouted for a long while, but no one responded.
Escort Chief Liang grabbed an escort guard: "Did you see Daozi and Chongzi?"
That escort guard was holding a bowl of buckwheat noodles, slurping them noisily. Swallowing a mouthful of noodles, he used his chopsticks to point toward the courtyard gates: "They said they were going out to buy wine to drink."
Escort Chief Liang asked: "How long have they been gone?"
The escort guard recalled: "Ah, I'm afraid they've been gone for an hour. When they left, the sky wasn't even dark yet. Why haven't they returned?"
Looking toward the night scenery outside the courtyard, Chen Ji hesitated for a long time... They ran away?!
(End of this chapter)