164. Escape
Entrust an orphan to someone else.
The deepest trust between men.
A person solemnly entrusts the person he cherishes in his life to another person.
From then on, no matter war, disease, poverty or wealth, the other person would wade through three thousand miles of swords and three thousand miles of sea of fire without looking back.
Is it worth it? Is it reasonable?
No one has considered whether it is worth it or reasonable.
In front of the Eight Immortals Table, Chen Ji and Prince Jing looked at each other in silence.
The heavy atmosphere was not eased until the waiter from the Fulou Teahouse placed tea, candied fruit and melon seeds between the two of them.
After the waiter left, Chen Ji picked up the teapot and poured a cup of tea for Prince Jing: "Prince, why me?"
Prince Jing took a sip from his teacup. "In terms of strength, you're not even a congenital one. There are many people under my command who are more powerful than you. In terms of intelligence, although you have a sharp mind, you're not someone who can plan far ahead."
Prince Jing continued, "But you seem different from everyone else. You distributed the profits from the cement you worked so hard to make without a second thought. You jumped into the civil uprising that others tried to avoid. You escaped the desperate situation of Longwangtun without a single person escaping. Sometimes, I'm not sure whether you're clever or just foolish."
Chen Ji remained silent.
Prince Jing stared at the remaining tea in his cup, then glanced at Chen Ji and said, "Leaving so much wealth to Bai Li may not be a good thing for her. Although I really don't want to praise you, and I'm even a little annoyed with you now, I have to admit that if someone else were to protect her, I wouldn't feel at ease. If it's you, then it's okay."
Chen Ji wondered, "Why is the prince bothering me?"
Prince Jing grabbed a handful of melon seeds and glanced at Chen Ji: "Go if you want."
Chen Ji didn't dwell on this question, but asked casually, "Didn't the prince make any plans for the prince? You never mentioned the prince from beginning to end."
Prince Jing was silent for a moment: "He has his own way to go."
Chen Ji pondered for a long time before finally mustering the courage to ask, "What exactly is the prince planning to do? Why is he entrusting his son to someone else? What role does the prince play in the Liu family's upheaval? Is he suppressing a rebellion or plotting a rebellion?"
Prince Jing did not answer this question, but said calmly: "The storyteller is here, let's listen to the storytelling."
At this time, a middle-aged man with gray hair took a deep puff of welding smoke from the audience, and then knocked out the ashes in the pipe with the sole of his shoe.
He walked slowly to the table, slammed the gavel, and spoke out his opening words in a resounding voice:
"Life is like this, day after day, day after day, year after year. The rich have it, the poor have it, the poor have it. Promotion and wealth, go go go, ...
"Stories and operas persuade people, and the three avenues are the middle. Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, and the right path in the world is vicissitudes!"
"It is said that in the winter of the thirty-first year of Jianing, during a Buddhist and Taoist debate at Luhun Mountain Villa, a young man suddenly appeared, sitting in the Yin-Yang fish and asked the Buddhist disciples, if there is no self, who is in reincarnation, and who needs liberation?"
Chen Ji was stunned. This storytelling actually pushed himself to the opposite side of Buddhism from the very beginning, leaving no room for turning back.
Prince Jing cracked melon seeds and gloated, "Is it a surprise? Now, on Anle Street, nineteen of the twenty-one teahouses are telling the story. The story was written by a master, and the storyteller can earn a hundred copper coins if he tells it once."
Chen Ji was shocked. Someone was using him to debate the sutras and destroy the reputation of Buddhism. "Who did this... It's unnecessary to ask this. It must be the work of Dao Ting."
"Guess right
"After the debate, Zhang Li brought a group of young Taoists from the Laojun Mountain Taoist Court to Luocheng. They stayed at the Yingxian Inn and wrote the storybook overnight. Not only did they pay the storyteller to tell the story, they also found a bookstore to print the storybook."
Chen Ji frowned.
Prince Jing threw down a melon seed shell and chuckled cheerfully, "I bet that within two months at the latest, storytellers from north to south will be telling the story of your debate every day. By then, even Buddhists will have a headache hearing the word 'chronicles'... Hey, you don't seem panicked at all?"
Chen Ji lowered his head and felt the fire in his body, which was clearly beating wildly.
The Daoist court used him to suppress the Buddhist sect, but he also benefited from it. If it was true as Prince Jing said, this story would be circulated throughout the country in the future, and his furnace fire would probably turn bright yellow.
"Boy, what are you thinking about? Aren't you afraid that the Buddhist sect will trip you up?"
Chen Ji raised his head and said, "Your Highness, I'd better survive this disaster first. The Liu family now regards me as a thorn in their side, and it's not the turn of the Buddhist sect to dislike me."
Prince Jing sighed, "You are not burdened by debts anymore."
As he finished speaking, the sound of orderly military footsteps was heard outside the Fulou Teahouse. The tea drinkers in the teahouse looked outside and saw a team of lightly armored infantrymen holding long spears passing by the door.
Chen Ji's pupils shrank slightly. The Liu family army entered the city!
He turned to look at Prince Jing: "Your Majesty?"
"Once the Liu family no longer hides their private army, everything will be exposed in the open. Let's go, it's time to go back," Prince Jing stood up and walked out.
Before leaving, Prince Jing turned to look at the storyteller in the teahouse. The light from outside the teahouse shone through him from behind, and he seemed to be standing in his own shadow. "Young man, what do you think will be said about me in the storytelling stories of future generations?"
…
…
At noon, the winter sun is shining brightly.
Old man Yao was sitting on a bamboo lounge chair in front of the door, covered with a blanket, swaying with his eyes closed and resting.
She Dengke, Liu Quxing and Liang Maoer sat on small benches in the yard and used a guillotine to cut the whole medicinal herbs into small pieces.
The next moment, Feng Daban led the palace guards into the clinic in a hurry, and finally stopped in front of Old Man Yao's recliner.
He looked down at Old Man Yao and said softly, "Doctor Yao, where is the prince?"
Old Man Yao raised his eyelids and glanced at him slowly. "The prince is taking his lunch break, so it's best not to disturb him. She Dengke, have some good eyesight and bring a chair over to Feng Daban."
Feng Daban frowned: "Is the prince not in there?"
Old Man Yao sat motionless on the recliner in front of the door, looking surprised and saying, "Where else could the prince be if he's not inside? You've sent soldiers to surround the Taiping Clinic. How could the prince fly away? I confirmed it when I was giving him acupuncture yesterday. The prince doesn't have wings."
Feng Daban glanced at the thick cotton door curtain and felt something was wrong: "Doctor Yao, I'm sorry."
After saying that, he raised his hand and waved to the guards: "Please move Imperial Physician Yao aside!"
Several guards rushed forward, pretending to carry away Old Man Yao's bamboo chair. Liang Maoer stood up and shouted angrily, "Stop!"
But then Liang Maoer came rushing over with a burly figure, and with a push of his hand, he knocked the guard to the ground.
Feng Daban wasn't angry either. He simply said, "Doctor Yao, please ask him to stop. I'm concerned for the prince's safety and can't afford to delay any longer."
However, at this moment, Chen Ji
Helping Prince Jing out of the house, Prince Jing said weakly: "Feng Daban, what's wrong?"
Feng Daban quickly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I am here to take you back to your residence."
Prince Jing asked curiously, "Feng Daban usually looks calm and composed, why is he so anxious today?"
Feng Daban glanced at She Dengke and the others, then turned to Prince Jing and said, "Your Highness, this is not the place to talk."
Prince Jing smiled and said, "Just say it."
Feng Daban took a deep breath and said, "Your Highness, the Liu family's private army from the Yanshi Camp has entered the city. They have just surrounded the Luocheng government office and are now heading towards Anxi Street! It seems the Liu family is about to rebel!"
In the yard, She Dengke, Liu Quxing and Liang Maoer looked at each other.
Liu Quxing's face turned pale: "Wasn't everything peaceful yesterday? Why did it rebel today?"
She Dengke said in a muffled voice, "What are you afraid of?"
Liu Quxing cursed, "This is a heinous crime punishable by the execution of nine generations of my clan. I'm one of them, damn it, do you think I'm afraid? You son of a bitch! I can't get any advantage from the Liu family on a normal day, but now I have to suffer the consequences when something goes wrong!"
She Dengke was stunned. He realized that if the Liu family's rebellion failed, Liu Quxing would also be implicated and beheaded. "Then...what if the Liu family succeeds?"
Liu Quxing subconsciously glanced at Prince Jing, then quickly twisted She Dengke's arm and shouted, "What nonsense are you talking about..."
Feng Daban ignored the conversation. He heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance and pleaded again, "Your Highness, there's no time to lose. Please return to the palace with me first. We'll send someone with the tiger talisman to summon the Thousand Years Army. Perhaps there's still a chance to salvage the situation!"
Prince Jing thought for a moment and said, "Let's go back to the palace."
At this moment, Chen Ji suddenly said to Old Man Yao, "Master, the prince's illness requires your help. Why don't we go to the palace together?"
Old Man Yao frowned and thought for a moment, then agreed: "Okay."
After saying that, they quickly packed up their things and walked out with Prince Jing.
As they left the clinic, everyone looked back and saw a group of soldiers riding horses, getting closer and closer.
She Dengke said in horror: "Hurry up, hurry up, they are coming for the palace!"
However, Chen Ji seemed to have just remembered something: "Master, you go first, I forgot to get something."
As She Dengke walked away, he looked back and saw Chen Ji rushing into the Taiping Medical Clinic.
He angrily shouted, "Chen Ji, come with us! What are you holding at this time? What is more important than your life?!"
She Dengke stopped and waited for a few breaths, but still could not get any answer from Chen Ji.
After a moment, he gritted his teeth and went to look for Chen Ji, but was grabbed by the wrist by Imperial Physician Yao and forcibly dragged into Prince Jing's Mansion.
Before entering the palace, he was shocked to find that the first group of cavalrymen did not rush towards the palace, but surrounded the Taiping Medical Clinic first.
Everyone suddenly realized that these people were coming for Chen Ji!
In front of the Taiping Clinic, Liu's soldiers jumped off their horses, drew their swords, and rushed in murderously, searching everywhere. The kitchen, the bedroom, the main house—no one was there.
A soldier stood in the main room, looking around with a frown. He had just seen Chen Ji return to the clinic with his own eyes, so how could he disappear out of thin air?
While thinking, his eyes fell on the bed...
The next moment, the soldier pulled open the bed, revealing a dark tunnel underneath.
"Run away? Chase him!"
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