121. It's Over
On the city wall, the spies took off their crossbows from their waists, hid behind the battlements, and stared closely at the darkness below the city.
The golden pig paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, no longer as calm as before.
From time to time, he would lie on the top of the city wall and look down, and only after confirming that Chen Ji was fine would he feel relieved for a short time.
It's like a gambler at the Pai Gow table. After getting a good hand, he keeps rubbing his hole cards to check, worrying that he has read it wrong, and worrying that his opponent is cheating and overturning the table.
It seemed as if Chen Ji was not betting on his own life, but the life of the Golden Pig.
Fortunately.
Perhaps because of the appearance of Tianma, the Liu family members hiding among the victims did not try to assassinate Chen Ji. They lay dormant quietly like poisonous insects, waiting for the hour of Mao.
Tianma stood by the parapet and looked down, only to see Chen Ji sitting alone against the city wall, with his eyes closed, as if he was asleep.
Tianma looked at Jinzhu and gestured: "Newcomer? He's very brave, like a madman."
Jinzhu's face suddenly turned as bitter as a purple eggplant: I might have to fall back to the acquired realm. This kid is going to kill me sooner or later!
Tianma Surprise: You actually bet on him?
A trace of compassion appeared in his eyes.
Golden Pig sighed: Meng Ji wrote in the secret report to the Prime Minister that this kid has great potential for an official career, and is of the same A-grade as you... I originally thought that A-grade geniuses are hard to find, and I should catch them in my own hands quickly, but I didn't expect to fall into his hands.
Tianma thought about it and gestured silently: Do you want to help him become one of the twelve zodiac animals?
The Golden Pig nodded.
Tianma gestured again: He is also an orphan?
The Golden Pig shook his head.
Tianma hesitated for a moment: Then when are we going to get rid of his parents?
The Golden Pig lowered his voice and said unhappily, "You don't have to be an orphan to be a Chinese Zodiac sign. In the early years, many Chinese Zodiac signs were not orphans."
Tenma wondered.
The Golden Pig rolled his eyes and quickly said, "That's really not necessary!"
Tianma glanced at the stars as if nothing had happened: It's almost the hour of Mao.
Jinzhu was startled. He looked back into the city, but he still couldn't see any trace of the grain cart.
…
…
The torch has gone out.
Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes and saw the victims in front of him standing up one after another, like a black, dry forest, endless.
A disaster victim, holding a little girl in his arms, asked dryly, "Sir, why hasn't the food arrived yet? My baby is so hungry that she can't even cry."
Chen Ji stood up silently.
The little girl in the arms of the disaster victim had arms thinner than a bamboo pole.
Chen Ji asked softly, "The flood has receded, so why hasn't it been left on the farmland in western Henan?"
The victims cried out in anger, "After the floods receded, the land designated by the government inexplicably became the Liu family's land. Every household has no surplus food. There are wealthy families in Yima County willing to lend us grain, but if we take on the high-interest loans, which are nine times in and thirteen times out, we will never be able to turn our lives around. If there was any other way to survive, we would not have walked over two hundred miles to Luocheng."
The victims said bitterly, "We are really too hungry to bear it."
Suddenly, someone in the crowd shouted, "Why waste time talking to him? It's almost dawn, and the food we were promised hasn't arrived yet!"
"Yes, where's the food?"
"He's lying to us!"
"Kill him and break the door!"
On the city wall, Tianma was about to draw his bow and shoot the victims who led the mutiny, but Jinzhu held down his arm.
Jin Zhu gritted his teeth and said, "You can't kill them. You can't kill everyone. If you anger the victims, Chen Ji will really die."
Tianma looked at the Golden Pig and said in sign language: No one will listen to what he says anymore.
Well, he's dead. Otherwise, I'll give him a quick death?
The Golden Pig said anxiously, "Wait a little longer!"
In a moment, the crowd under the city wall was like a black tide, swallowing up Chenji in an instant.
Some people swung their fists, some smashed their hoes, and some kicked. Chen Ji could only barely avoid the fatal attacks and retreated step by step towards the city gate. Finally, his back rested against the round copper rivets of the red-painted city gate.
The Golden Pig clung to the parapet and looked down, only to find that Chen Ji had been forced into the city gate and could no longer be seen.
At that moment, Chen Ji, standing in the city gate, caught a fist that was striking him. He stared at the other man and said, "I said the food would arrive, and it will definitely arrive. My life and property are on the line, and I'm not panicking, so why are you panicking? Wait another quarter of an hour. If the food doesn't arrive after a quarter of an hour, you can kill me or chop me up as you please!"
Someone in the crowd shouted, "We've been waiting all night, what are you waiting for?"
"Kill him, break the door! Go into the city and steal food!"
Chen Ji's face darkened. The Liu family was unwilling to wait any longer!
But the victims hesitated and were unwilling to kill Chen Ji.
They were just honest farmers who had never actually killed anyone. They were just bluffing before.
The next moment, a man with a fierce look shuttled among the victims. He quietly came to the front row, stabbed a knife through the gap, and went straight to Chen Ji's abdomen!
In the chaos, if this knife stabbed Chen Ji to death, there would be no turning back between the victims and the court.
However, at the moment when the knife was handed out, the man was surprised to find that Chen Ji had dodged the knife. He looked up suddenly and met Chen Ji's cold gaze.
The man then realized that Chen Ji was not as weak as he had appeared before!
However, after seeing his sneak attack fail, the man didn't hesitate. He ruthlessly turned the blade and stabbed it straight into his own abdomen, wailing and raising his bloody hands: "Murder! The officers killed someone! Avenge me! Enter Luocheng!"
Chen Ji's expression became serious.
This is the assassin raised by the Liu family!
Where's Zhang Zhuo? Why hasn't the grain arrived yet? What happened? Could the Liu family have a backup plan at the granary?
For a moment, a complex array of emotions flooded into his mind, and Chen Ji felt that he had fallen into a dead end carefully designed by the Liu family.
This doesn't seem like Liu Mingxian's plan.
It was more like a shrewd chess player who made a sudden decision and blocked all his escape routes with just one move.
Cruel, cunning, and leaving no room for maneuver.
The other party's plans are interconnected, and it seems that no matter how you struggle, you cannot escape the fate of failure in the end.
At this moment, someone shouted: "Get out of the way!"
The crowd made way.
Chen Ji looked up and saw that at the end of the passage that the victims had made way for, there were dozens of people carrying hemp ropes on their shoulders and heavy logs rushing towards the city gate!
Once the city gate is broken, civil unrest will inevitably break out and a dead end will be imminent!
However, at this moment, the crisp sound of horse hooves came from behind the city gate, lonely but resolute.
The noisy voices of the disaster victims were drowned out by the solitary sound of horse hooves, and this was the only sound left in the world.
A creaking sound was heard, and the heavy vermilion-painted city gate behind Chen Ji was slowly opened from the inside.
The victims looked in astonishment, their eyes passing the traces to the growing gap in the door.
In the crack of the vermilion door, Zhang Zhuo was sitting on a black warhorse, with bloodstains all over his face and red official robe!
Zhang Zhuo gently urged his horse forward, and the warhorse snorted and walked out of the city gate step by step. Every step it took, the victims took a step back, until they were so crowded that they could no longer move back.
The figure of this man and horse actually overshadowed the momentum of thousands of disaster victims!
Chen Ji looked back and saw that Zhang Zhuo came alone, with no grain cart behind him!
He looked up suddenly, in disbelief.
Where's the food?! What's the point of coming here without food? Are you going to die?
However, Zhang Zhuo calmly sat on his horse and said in a leisurely voice, "I am Zhang Zhuo, the prefect of Luocheng. Relief grain is on the way and will be here in less than a quarter of an hour! Everyone, step back a hundred feet. I will set up a porridge stall at the foot of the city. Everyone will line up and get some porridge!"
The victims have not moved and there is no food, so nothing can be done.
They confronted Zhang Zhuo silently. The silent oppression of thousands of people was as heavy and solid as a city.
Chen Ji's heart sank, and he whispered, "Sir, step back slowly. I, the Secret Service, will protect you..."
But Zhang Zhuo sneered in his nasal voice, and he spurred his horse forward again!
The black crowd of disaster victims was endless, and a red figure stood tall, firm and unquestionable.
clatter.
clatter.
clatter.
clatter.
The slow thud of iron hooves hammered against the victims' hearts. Zhang Zhuo said calmly, "I am the prefect of Luocheng, appointed by the Emperor. I am Zhang Zhuo! Anyone who refuses to retreat will be executed according to the law."
At this time, some disaster victims saw through the city gate that Xifeng and others were pulling carts of food at the end of the long street: "The food is coming!"
"Food is coming!"
"Hurry, don't hinder Master Zhang from setting up the porridge stall!"
The victims suddenly seemed to be defeated and retreated like a tide.
Chen Ji let out a long breath.
Zhang Zhuo stopped his horse beside him and said with a cheerful laugh, "I thought you really weren't afraid of death!"
Chen Ji said wearily, "Master Zhang, is there anyone in this world who is truly not afraid of death? I am terrified to death."
Zhang Zhuo lowered his head and looked at Chen Ji carefully. He saw that the young man's clothes were torn and his face was bruised. He looked extremely embarrassed.
After a moment, he said solemnly: "Thank you."
Chen Ji said casually: "You don't have to thank me, sir, as long as nothing happens, I'm glad."
Zhang Zhuo said solemnly, "If you hadn't warned me, I wouldn't have noticed the uprising tonight. If you hadn't delayed me, the victims wouldn't have received their food. I thank you first for saving my official hat and Lord Chen's. Second, thank you for saving the thousands of people behind this city gate. Third, thank you for preventing these victims from becoming a mob and saving these poor people."
As he said this, Zhang Zhuo jumped off his horse and bowed deeply to Chen Ji.
Chen Ji turned his body slightly to the side, and felt that Zhang Zhuo tonight was a little different from the Zhang Zhuo of the past.
He slowly said, "Now that Lord Zhang is here to preside over the situation, it's time for me to go."
“Wait!”
"Um?"
Zhang Zhuo looked at Chen Ji and asked seriously, "I have great ambitions. Can you help me?"
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Thank you for your kindness, Lord Zhang. I know my own limitations. I can risk my life, but I can't make it in the officialdom."
Zhang Zhuo looked into Chen Ji's eyes. He wasn't angry at the rejection. Instead, he smiled. "That's fine. A forced melon isn't sweet. But if you ever change your mind, feel free to come find me."
Chen Ji was puzzled, as if he had heard this sentence before. He answered firmly, "I won't change my mind."
Zhang Zhuo laughed heartily: "Young man, don't be so sure about your words. The only constant in this world is change."
After saying that, he took the initiative to change the subject: "Is it true that the Liu family is behind this?"
Chen Ji replied, "Absolutely."
Zhang Zhuo looked at the sea of disaster victims and said, "Don't be so hasty to retreat. The Liu family is still hiding among the victims. If we allow them to remain hidden, I'm afraid there will be more changes. Let me ask you, do you have a way to find them?"
Chen Ji closed his eyes and thought.
When he opened his eyes again, he replied, "There is a way, you can try it."
(End of this chapter)
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