134. Inn
Heavy, breathing.
On the rugged mountain road, Chen Ji waded through weeds and bushes, looking back every few steps.
Feng Huai, who had been following behind him, disappeared, and even Feng Lie and the giant axe were nowhere to be seen.
He tightly gripped the "whale" in his hand, suddenly gave up the mountain road and went into the woods, hiding his body under the shadow of the dense tree canopy.
However, just as Chen Ji looked back again, a flash of sword light suddenly burst out from the treetops in front of him, like a ribbon pulled out from the Milky Way, and slashed down on his head.
The whistling wind was accompanied by a sharp hiss.
Chen Ji subconsciously raised his knife to block, but before he could raise the knife halfway, Feng Huai's knife tip had already stopped between his eyebrows.
In silence, the tip of the knife did not fall.
Chen Ji breathed heavily, recalling everything that had just happened.
He didn't know when Feng Huai had hidden in the tree, nor did he know how Feng Huai had guessed that he would take this path.
I just felt like a beginner in chess, with every move being calculated by others.
Feng Huai's face was smeared with grass juice, his body was bound with branches, and the tip of his knife remained motionless. Not a tremor remained. "The king only allowed us to fight on the mountaintop to protect you, so that we could only compete in skills. But real fighting is not just about skills."
Chen Ji thought thoughtfully: "Fighting?"
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Feng Huai asked solemnly, "What is fighting?"
Without waiting for Chen Ji's reply, he continued, "The so-called fighting is to think what the enemy is thinking, to anticipate the enemy's moves. To utilize everything that can be utilized: mountains, rivers, trees, and people's hearts. To end the enemy's life."
As he spoke, Feng Huai sheathed his sword and slowly retreated into the woods behind him. Before retreating into the shadows, he whispered, "Teacher, this is what you taught us back then. Now it's my turn to teach you."
It was not until this moment that Chen Ji realized that Feng Huai's strength was not limited to swordsmanship, and the real fight had just begun.
From noon to dusk, Chen Ji was assassinated again and again by Feng Huai on this green hill.
The other party was like a ghost, doing his best to show everything he had learned throughout his life.
He would be killed if he walked in the woods, he would be killed if he walked by the river, and he would still be surrounded and killed by Feng Huai and Feng Lie if he walked in an open area.
Sometimes Feng Huai was like a piece of bark stuck to a tree, sometimes like a piece of driftwood in the river, acting out whatever he wanted. He transformed the green mountain into a huge ghost mountain, which was extremely terrifying.
But this time, Feng Huai no longer killed people. Instead, he stopped when he was about to kill, leaving Chen Ji alone to recall all the details.
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At a certain moment, Chen Ji was walking in an open space and looking back at the top of the mountain.
Xuanyuan leaned on the royal flag and looked down at him quietly from the highest point. It was unclear whether the expression on his face was sarcasm or compassion.
…
"Chen Ji, wake up. Chen Ji!"
Someone slapped Chen Ji on the shoulder, and he immediately stood up and subconsciously swung the Whale in his hand to the left.
At this moment, when he raised his hand to swing the knife, he was still in the shadow of the dense woods on Qingshan Mountain.
When his arm dropped, he was already back in the afterglow of the sunset over Yichuan County, his hand empty.
Chen Ji hesitated and looked around. Mr. Wang, Bai Li, the Crown Prince, and Chen Wenzong were sitting on the ox cart, looking up at him in a daze.
Bai Li's hand, which had patted his shoulder, was still hanging in the air.
The oxcart had stopped, and next to it was the empty warehouse.
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The old two-story wooden gatehouse looks a bit out of place.
Wang Daosheng looked at Chen Ji carefully for a moment, then asked, "Did you have a nightmare?"
Chen Ji quickly said, "Yes, sir, I just had a nightmare."
Wang Daosheng smiled and said, "It must be because you didn't get enough rest. Let's stay at this inn later. Everyone should rest early."
At this time, several waiters in the store came out with smiles and said, "Dear guests, please come in."
Zhang Xia asked, "Is there hot water?"
The waiter quickly replied, "Yes, yes, it's boiling in the backyard. But a pot of hot water costs two cents."
Zhang Xiahun didn't care: "Do you have any beans for horse feed?"
The waiter smiled and said, "Yes, yes. Sir, your horse is so majestic and powerful, it needs to be fed with the best soybeans."
Zhang Xia casually threw the whip to the waiter and said with a smile: "It can talk."
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The waiter hurriedly took the whip and led them into the house with a nod and a bow.
Before entering, Chen Ji subconsciously looked inside and scanned every corner of the surrounding area, fearing that Feng Huai would suddenly appear from nowhere.
Bai Li asked curiously, "Chen Ji, what are you looking around for?"
Chen Ji came to his senses and secretly laughed at himself for having been traumatized by Feng Huai's assassination.
There are several octagonal tables placed randomly on the first floor of the inn, where guests are having meals. The guest rooms are on the second floor.
Perhaps it was because Chen Ji was too nervous, but as soon as he stepped into the inn, he felt that all the diners were looking at him intentionally or unintentionally.
Chen Ji rubbed his eyebrows. Was it because he was too vigilant that led to the misunderstanding?
He rubbed his brows and looked down at all the diners out of the corner of his eye.
No.
It's not a misunderstanding.
There was wine on the table for these people, but no one drank a sip. Their eyes were clear and their expressions were normal.
The most important thing is that each of these diners has a dagger hidden in his sleeve.
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Others may not be able to see it, but the traces can.
He stepped forward and gently pulled Wang Daosheng's arm: "Sir, this inn is a bit dirty, let's change to another one."
Wang Daosheng was stunned for a moment: "Oh?"
The shopkeeper behind the counter hurried out with an apologetic smile, "Sir, you're joking. Our Xiying Inn is definitely the best in the surrounding area. Merchants traveling from north to south only stay here when they arrive in Yichuan County."
Chen Wenxiao turned to look at Chen Ji and said disdainfully, "You don't have the noble young master's life, but you have the noble young master's disease. This inn is already very good. We don't dislike it, but you do?"
Chen Ji didn't look at him, but looked at Wang Daosheng: "Sir?"
Wang Daosheng looked at him deeply, thought for a moment and said, "Let's go to another store over there."
After saying that, he turned and walked out without any hesitation.
However, they walked two miles along the long street until dusk, and only found three inns. Without exception, all three inns were full, even the stables were occupied. Most of them were going to Luhun Mountain Villa to watch the literary gathering.
Chen Wenxiao complained, "Hurry back to the Xiying Inn, or there won't be a place to stay there. Chen Ji, if you have an attack, please don't drag everyone else with you. You can't even bear this little bit of hardship. I think Imperial Doctor Yao is spoiling you too much."
Bai Li frowned: "Why are you talking so harshly? That inn was indeed not clean."
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At this moment, Wang Daosheng suddenly turned around and asked Chen Ji: "You didn't want to change inns just because they were dirty, right? Tell me the reason."
Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, but finally expressed his concerns: "Just now, many guests in the inn were carrying daggers, and their behavior was suspicious."
Chen Wenxiao suddenly laughed out loud: "I see you've never been far away. What's wrong with carrying a knife?"
Prince Jing also smiled and said, "I thought it was nothing. These days, it's natural to carry a knife when traveling far away. Even if you don't encounter bandits or robbers, you still have to be careful of being exploited by local tyrants."
As he spoke, Prince Jing pulled out a short knife from his sleeve.
Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao also took out a short knife from their cloth bags.
Even Zhang Xia pulled out a dagger from his boot.
Chen Ji: ...
He had discovered that Prince Jing was carrying a knife, but he hadn't expected that others were also carrying one.
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Chen Ji couldn't think of any rebuttal for a moment, so he could only bow and say, "Sorry, I made a big deal out of nothing."
Wang Daosheng shook his head: "It's okay. It's better to be careful when you go out. This Luhun Mountain Villa Literary Festival attracted too many outsiders. If you don't stay at the Xiying Inn,
We really are going to be sleeping on the streets tonight."
Chen Ji hummed, "Then let's stay at the Xiying Inn."
When everyone returned to the inn, the innkeeper still greeted them with a smile.
Chen Ji looked around and found that the diners had disappeared.
He bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "I apologize for the offense I caused you. I hope you won't mind."
He opened his mouth and smiled and said, "Look at what you are saying. How can we be afraid of customers finding fault when we open a business? You can rest assured and stay here. Our Xiying Inn is very clean."
Wang Daosheng asked, "Shopkeeper, how many guest rooms are left?"
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The shopkeeper pointed to the second floor and said, "There's only one upper room with the character 'tian' and one common room with the character 'huang' left."
Chen Wenxiao raised his voice: "Bunk bed? When have we ever slept in a bunk bed? Shopkeeper... do we look like people who would live in a bunk bed? Here... we have..."
He was about to say that the dignified Prince Jing was also among them, but Chen Wenzong stopped him in time and asked politely, "Boss, I remember when I first came in, you said there were a lot of guest rooms?"
The shopkeeper said in embarrassment, "If you had stayed here directly just now, there would have been three Tianzi rooms available. But since you were away, another merchant has come to stay here."
Chen Wenxiao frowned: "I'll go find them. Since we're going to Luocheng to do business, I'm sure they'll give us some face."
However, Wang Daosheng raised his hand calmly to stop him. "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality. Let's just sleep in the common room. It's enough to have a place to sleep. Bai Li and Zhang Xia will stay in the top room. We'll go to the common room."
The inns these days are like a large courtyard. The front building is where you stay, and the backyard has horse posts and watering holes, and is piled with goods from countless merchants.
There are very few single rooms in the inn, most of them are dormitory rooms prepared for traveling merchants and horsemen.
There are about 10 to 20 people living in one house.
Inns usually use "天天地玄黄" to name their guest rooms.
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The "Tian" character indicates the best room, and the "Huang" character indicates the most messy dormitory.
Chen Ji looked at the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, is it really impossible to spare another Tianzi room?"
The shopkeeper shook his head: "Sir, I really can't spare any."
Chen Ji's heart sank. All the inns in Yichuan County were full. Only the Xiying Inn had rooms left, and they were probably waiting for someone.
So, if they are the last batch of guests, it means that the other party is waiting for them.
But why couldn’t Prince Jing and Wang Daosheng see it?
The shopkeeper led everyone upstairs to the door of the yellow bunk bed and gently pushed open the door of the guest room.
The room was pitch black. Several guests were already sleeping on the large bunk bed that could accommodate more than 20 people. Snoring could be heard from all directions in the room, and the smell of smelly feet was overwhelming.
Chen Ji said softly, "I'm sorry, sir. I delayed your time. You guys can only live in a place like this."
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Before he could finish his words, Wang Daosheng and Prince Jing walked in as if nothing had happened.
Wang Daosheng smiled and replied, "When leading troops outside, my greatest wish is to have a mattress and a quilt. The smell of those soldiers is countless times worse than here. It doesn't matter."
Prince Jing also laughed: "I have also led troops, and I am no worse than Mr. Wang."
…
It's late at night and everyone is asleep.
Chen Ji lay on the bunk bed with his clothes on, not even a blanket covering him.
He closed his eyes but didn't want to fall asleep, just listened silently to the snoring.
A night watchman passed by the window, shouting "It's dry, be careful with fire."
At this moment, there was a rustling sound in the room, as if someone was getting up.
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Chen Ji opened his eyes slightly, but saw Prince Jing quietly leaving the door.
Someone outside the door whispered, "Please come this way. The master is waiting for you in the backyard."
End of this chapter.
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