The moonlight over Guyuan was silver, illuminating the mortal realm with a cold clarity.
Four horses wove between the earthen houses and narrow paths. Suddenly, with a "whoa," Chen Ji pulled on his reins and turned to look at the empty street behind them. "The Crown Prince must not have sent anyone to look for us. We've already shaken them off."
He was draped in a black cloak, and Wu Yun was bundled up inside it, sleeping soundly.
Xiaoman rode behind him on a small pony, asking curiously, "Young Master, why did we sneak away quietly?"
Chen Ji replied without looking back, "Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo have courage but lack strategy, and Lord Chen is not a capable official with quick wits. If the Crown Prince wants to investigate the case of killing civilians for military merit, he's afraid he'll have to rely on himself. That would be fine, but right now someone is secretly plotting against the Crown Prince and the Border Army. If we continue to follow them, we might end up in trouble together."
Zhang Zheng sighed, "The Feather Forest Army is at least the face of the Imperial Guards. I don't know why they employ so many children of nobles. That Qi Zhenzhuo used to be chased around by us at the base of the Imperial City walls, but now he's riding the white horses of the Feather Forest Army."
Zhang Xia glanced at him. "Employing the children of nobles isn't entirely due to nepotism; it's to make use of their loyalty. The Feather Forest Army guards the palace gates, which is the most critical area. They absolutely cannot use people with no attachments for such a position. If they employed a bachelor and he made a mistake, it would be difficult for the imperial court to execute his entire extended family."
She turned to look at Chen Ji. "Is it dangerous to follow the Crown Prince?"
Chen Ji nodded. "I suspect that the poisoning of the Chen Family tonight was not done by the Border Army, but by the spies of the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Division."
Zhang Zheng was startled. "Spies?"
Chen Ji explained, "As I said before, the Border Army has no motive to do this, and the local snake bosses in Guyuan city have no motive either. But if it was Jing Dynasty spies trying to sow discord between the Crown Prince and the Border Army, then it makes sense. It's just that the people around the Crown Prince seem fixated on the Border Army and haven't deduced anything in other directions."
At this time, Zhang Zheng gripped his reins and laughed, "It's also strange, why isn't there a single capable person beside the Crown Prince? No wonder he was in such a hurry to transfer Lord Chen over."
Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked, "Who is Mister Qi that the Crown Prince mentioned? Why didn't he follow the Crown Prince to Guyuan?"
Zhang Xia shook her head. "I don't know. We know very little about the affairs in the palace, and our father and uncle have never mentioned it. They are deeply secretive about matters concerning the Crown Prince."
She pondered for a few seconds and guessed, "If I had to guess, when the Crown Prince previously acted as the Deputy Education Commissioner and investigated the private minting of copper coins, his approach of trying to smooth things over and please everyone disappointed His Majesty to the extreme. Therefore, His Majesty simply transferred away all the strategists and advisors around him as a warning."
Zhang Zheng said cheerfully, "His Majesty is afraid that those scheming advisors will lead the Crown Prince astray."
Chen Ji pondered in his heart. After he returned to the Chen Family, Chen Liqin was immediately promoted to an official of the Eastern Palace, and soon after, the Crown Prince's advisors were transferred away one by one, creating a power vacuum.
This chain of events seemed to be making room for Chen Liqin from the unseen world... Was it a coincidence, or a conspiracy?
If Chen Ji were still a newly arrived medical apprentice, he might not ponder these things. But after witnessing the methods of Bai Long and the Inner Chancellor swallowing the Liu Family and Prince Jing's Estate, he couldn't help but overthink.
Zhang Xia asked, "Then what do we do now?"
Chen Ji snapped out of his thoughts. "We need to find the spies of the Military Intelligence Division. Otherwise, if they coordinate with the Jing Dynasty army outside the city from the inside, Guyuan will truly be in danger."
Zhang Xia was thoughtful. "You want to help the Crown Prince?"
Chen Ji was silent for a moment. "Yes, I have a reason why I must get close to the Crown Prince, but I cannot say this reason for the time being..."
Speaking of this, he was suddenly startled: The people around the Crown Prince had all been transferred away. Could it be that they were not making way for Chen Liqin, but making way for himself?
...
...
In the dark of the night, Chen Ji rode his horse along the narrow dirt roads in Guyuan city, searching for something in all directions.
A moment later, he found an old man in a dim alley. The other party was huddled behind a pile of sundries, dozing off, with a battered copper gong and a mallet placed beside him.
Sitting on his horse, Chen Ji leaned forward and asked, "Old man, are you the night watchman?"
The old man was disturbed, but he didn't even lift his eyelids. He only shrank his hands, which were tucked in his sleeves, even tighter and continued to doze.
Sitting in his saddle, Zhang Zheng took out a piece of broken silver from his sleeve and tossed it onto the dirt road. It landed with a thud, kicking up some dust. The old man instantly opened his eyes and scrambled forward on his hands and knees to pick up the silver.
Zhang Zheng smiled cheerfully and said to Chen Ji, "Ask away."
Chen Ji repeated his previous question. "Are you the night watchman?"
The old man said with a sycophantic smile, "To answer you lords, this lowly one is indeed the night watchman of the Wushi District."
Chen Ji asked curiously, "Since you are a night watchman, why aren't you beating the night watches?"
The old man put on a bitter face and complained of his misery, "You lords must have just arrived from outside, right? There is something you don't know. It's not that this little old man is lazy, but rather that there are far too many powerful outsiders and local tyrants roaming Guyuan at night. If I happened to bump into an evildoer who just committed a crime, I might be murdered to silence..."
Chen Ji asked in confusion, "Doesn't the Guyuan Regional Military Commission care?"
The old man hesitated to speak.
Zhang Zheng tossed another piece of broken silver, and the other party finally opened his mouth to say, "Lords, if the Regional Military Commission wanted to manage things, they wouldn't have let so many outsiders in. Usually, Guyuan's city gates are wide open, and going in and out doesn't even require a travel permit. As long as you are willing to pay taxes and tolls, local tyrants from all over run here to avoid the limelight after committing crimes. Could it not be chaotic?"
Chen Ji was thoughtful. "When we arrived, the city gates were closed."
The old man explained, "The city gates have only been closed for about half a month."
Chen Ji asked again, "Were the city gates closed because the Crown Prince came to Guyuan?"
The old man shook his head. "No, the Crown Prince has only been here for about ten days. The city gates were closed before he arrived, forbidding anyone from entering or leaving. Many merchant caravans are trapped in the city, making Qiuci Street extremely bustling."
Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia. "It seems the Border Army has still concealed some things. Their scouts must have discovered the movements of the Jing Dynasty much earlier."
Zhang Xia's heart tightened. "Do you think the Jing Dynasty army is really going to besiege Guyuan?"
Chen Ji nodded. "The Jing Dynasty Heavenly Strategy Army arrived at a very coincidental time... When do you think would be the most suitable time if the Jing Dynasty wanted to besiege this place into an isolated city?"
Sitting on her horse, Zhang Xia was slightly taken aback. "Right now."
Zhang Zheng scratched his forehead. "What riddles are you playing at? Why right now?"
Zhang Xia chose her words carefully, "Merchant caravans travel back and forth frequently in Guyuan. If Guyuan were besieged during normal times, Taiyuan Prefecture would definitely become suspicious if they didn't see merchant caravans traveling for many days. But right now, New Year's Day and the Lantern Festival are coming up soon, and the weather is freezing. Even if no merchant caravans travel back and forth, no one would find it strange."
She continued, "If it is truly as the Border Army said, and Jing Dynasty practitioners have already infiltrated the rear of Guyuan, I'm afraid Guyuan is already an isolated city."
The old man was panic-stricken. "What are you lords saying? The Jing Dynasty rebel army is coming?"
Chen Ji didn't answer and continued to ask, "Why are all the merchants gathered in Qiuci Street?"
The old man explained, "Guyuan's best brothels, taverns, inns, and gambling houses are all in Qiuci Street. The merchants have nothing to do at night, so don't they all run there? It is said that there was a merchant caravan from the northwest that was set up by a gambling house. In just seven days, they lost all the antelope skins they brought clean away. Now they don't even have silver to stay at an inn, and they are working as pimps in a brothel."
Zhang Zheng sighed with emotion, "That is certainly being adaptable."
The old man hurriedly added, "They were not willing to work as pimps either; the gambling house sold them into it."
Just as they were speaking, the sound of rushed footsteps came from the distance, along with someone shouting loudly, "Don't run, you motherfucker! If I catch you, I will definitely chop off two of your fingers!"
Chen Ji silently touched the Whale Blade lying across the front of his saddle. In the next moment, several young servants dressed in short Hu-style clothing ran past them holding short blades, chasing after a middle-aged man with a short blade sticking out of his shoulder. From beginning to end, this group never spared Chen Ji and the others a second glance.
After these people ran far away, the narrow road returned to tranquility, as if nothing had ever happened.
Zhang Zheng hesitated, "This is...?"
The old man answered, "Those servants just now are from the Wuqia Gambling House. It's probably another gambler who lost everything, owes the gambling house a debt, and is trying to renege on it."
Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked, "Last question. Where is the Longmen Inn?"
"Lord, the Longmen Inn is right inside Qiuci Street. The tallest building is the one."
...
...
On both sides of the long Qiuci Street, red lanterns hung from the brothels and taverns. The sound of drinking games and the melodious voices of women from the brothels lingered endlessly in the ears, acting like a scalding hot stove in the freezing winter month so that this border military town would not be completely frozen over.
Chen Ji and the others had already dismounted and were leading their horses by the reins as they walked on the bluestone-paved road.
Zhang Zheng looked left and right. "This is the only place in all of Guyuan paved with green bricks. I thought we had returned to Red Clothe Lane in Luo City."
Zhang Xia frowned. "Brother, this is a critical juncture. You must not wander around and play carelessly."
Zhang Zheng laughed cheerfully, "What do you take your own brother for? As your brother, I have already reached the realm of walking through ten thousand flowers without a single leaf sticking to my body. I'm long tired of playing. Even if the top courtesans of the eight great hutongs in the capital city begged me to be their honored guest, I might not even agree. What did us lords play with at the base of the Imperial City walls? We played for prestige. The wild flowers here can't attract us."
Xiaoman trailed behind and muttered in a small voice, "What are you bragging about? Aren't you afraid of bursting your boastful bubble?"
Zhang Zheng chuckled and turned his head. "Who is this little girl looking down on?"
Xiaoman looked at Chen Ji. "Young Master, he is being fierce to me."
Zhang Zheng said, "...I certainly did not!"
Chen Ji ignored the two of them. He looked up and sized up his surroundings, only to see a three-story octagonal building standing out from the crowd right in the middle of the long Qiuci Street.
He led the three of them to the front door, only to see a gold-lettered plaque hanging in front of the door that read "Longmen Inn." The upper couplet on the right read: "Observe matters and observe objects, observe the heavens and observe the earth, observe the sun and observe the moon, observe above and observe below. When observing others, there are always highs and lows." The lower couplet on the left read: "Laugh at the ancient and laugh at the present, laugh at the east and laugh at the west, laugh at the south and laugh at the north, laugh coming and laugh going. Laughing at oneself, it turns out to be ignorant and lacking knowledge."
Chen Ji's eyes filled with contemplation. Other inns hung couplets to welcome guests, wishing for visitors from all eight directions and wealth from the four seas. How was it that this Longmen Inn didn't seem to be doing business, but rather seemed like it was practicing Zen Buddhism?
He lifted the heavy cotton door curtain and stepped through the door, carrying the aura of wind and frost.
Before he could even clearly see the furnishings inside the shop, a waiter carrying a white cloth had already stepped forward and used the white cloth to beat the dust off his body. "How many guests? Are you staying at the inn or just passing through?"
Chen Ji lowered his head and watched as the waiter used the pretense of 'sweeping dust' to sweep him over from head to toe, even feeling his sleeves. This was clearly an attempt to take the opportunity to see how many valuables or weapons he carried.
When the waiter touched the Whale Blade wrapped in strips of cloth in Chen Ji's hand, his hand paused slightly, but his face acted as if nothing had happened.
Chen Ji was silent for two seconds and said, "Four people. We are staying at the inn."
The waiter stood up with a beaming smile. "Guest, will you be using copper coins or silver taels?"
Chen Ji narrowed his eyes slightly. If it were a waiter from an ordinary inn, he would only ask how many rooms you wanted to stay in and what kind of rooms you wanted. But this waiter asked a baffling question... Use copper coins or silver taels?
This Longmen Inn exuded strangeness everywhere.
Chen Ji asked calmly, "What if I use copper coins, and what if I use silver taels?"
The waiter laughed heartily. "Guest, don't overthink it. Using either is fine. I was just asking casually."
After saying that, he shouted to the shopkeeper behind the counter, "Shopkeeper, a sharp fruit and a sharp grandson have arrived. Perhaps they are off-beat copper heads. Put them through the hall and search the ocean floor."
Chen Ji asked, "What does this mean? Why can't I understand it?"
The waiter said politely, "Guest, this is our local Guyuan dialect. I am calling the shopkeeper to entertain you all."
However, right at this moment, Zhang Xia suddenly stepped forward and said to the waiter with a smile, "Brother, the shop is on fire."
She translated for Chen Ji, "What he just told the shopkeeper was the underworld jargon of the jianghu. A handsome woman and a handsome man have arrived, perhaps they are powerful outsiders who entered the wrong inn. He asked the shopkeeper to check our backgrounds."
The waiter was startled. "Working hard?"
Zhang Xia explained to Chen Ji in a low voice, "He's asking if we are comrades in the jianghu."
After saying that, she turned her head and said to the waiter, "There's no need to exchange jargon anymore. The four of us are just passing through Guyuan and won't delay your business. Arrange guest rooms for us."