207, Spying
The rooster crowed.
In Mingquan Garden, the candles had gone out, and the white wax covered the candlesticks like tears.
The charcoal brazier in the room was still emitting residual heat. Xiaoman, who had two buns on her hair, huddled on a small stool, nodding her head all night, her saliva dripping onto her knees.
She was startled awake by the sound of a rooster crowing. She first looked towards the bed, but saw that Chen Ji and Wu Yun were gone. She stood up in panic and asked, "Master? Where are you?"
Xiaoman lay on the ground and looked under the bed. In her memory, the young master would hide under the bed when he had a nightmare, but this time there was nothing under the bed.
At this time, Chen Ji's voice came: "I'm in the yard."
Xiaoman pushed open the door anxiously, only to see Wuyun lying on the gray tile eaves of the courtyard wall, with his paws tucked into his tummy and his eyes closed, resting. Chen Ji was using a bamboo broom to gather the dust on the ground into a pile.
She looked at the broom in Chen Ji's hand and was horrified: "When did you get up, sir? Why are you sweeping the floor by yourself? Give me the broom!"
Chen Ji said casually, "I'm free anyway, so I'll sweep it."
Xiaoman was heartbroken: "Whose noble son sweeps the floor by himself? He is so rich! How many times have I told you that you have to hold yourself up high so that they won't look down on you!"
Chen Ji laughed and said, "He's just a bastard, not a noble son."
Xiao Man angrily said, "Who says it doesn't count? If I say it counts, then it counts. With the Chen family's long line of nobles and wealth, any illegitimate son can outshine the eldest legitimate son of another family. When you marry in the future, don't lower your status by marrying a illegitimate daughter. You must find a legitimate daughter from a scholarly family."
The concept of family background has been deeply rooted in everyone's bones. Chen Ji disagrees, but there is no need to argue with her.
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Xiaoman snatched the broom away and leaned against the wall: "I'll go boil some water for you to wash up first. After you wash up, you have to go and pay your respects."
Chen Ji shook his head: "No, I won't go to pay my respects anymore."
Xiaoman became suspicious: "Why are you so tough all of a sudden? Is the sun rising from the west?"
Chen Ji explained, "I just went to pay my respects to the Madam, and she took the initiative to ask me not to pay my respects to her in the future."
Xiaoman became even more suspicious: "Can she be so kind?"
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Maybe it's because of chanting Buddha's name that I've developed some compassion."
Xiaoman muttered softly, "She's been chanting Buddha's name for so many years, but she hasn't expressed any compassion. Why did she chant it today?"
Chen Ji corrected him, "She didn't recite the word 'compassion' herself. I was the one who recited it. Sincerity is the key to success."
Xiaoman seemed to understand: "Huh?"
Chen Ji waved his hand: "Go boil some water."
Xiaoman stretched out her voice: "Oh..."
She went to the side room, opened the stove, picked up the coal with tongs and threw it in: "By the way, sir, didn't you have a nightmare last night?"
Chen Ji's eyes moved: "I had a dream, but it was different from the previous ones."
Xiaoman poked her head out from the side room and asked, "You didn't dream about that weird battlefield again?"
Chen Ji's pupils shrank slightly.
The 'traces' of this world are actually dreaming the same dream as me?
Chen Ji was silent for a long time, and then he continued to ask Xiao Man: "Actually, now that I think about it, that dream wasn't that scary."
Xiaoman curled her lips and retreated into the side room. "You said that dream was really scary. There were monsters, demons, beasts, and soldiers killing each other everywhere, with blood flowing everywhere."
Chen Ji confirmed that it was the same dream.
What is the connection between me and the 'traces' of this world? Why do I have the same dream?
Could it be... that this is the key that allowed Master and Li Qingniao to smuggle me down from the Forty-ninth Heaven?
Chen Ji couldn't help but think carefully about what Li Qingniao said, "The people of Uttarakuru are responsible for smuggling you away", "The forty-nine heavens can't keep you, go where you should go."
He suddenly realized that there were two key messages in these words:
The first key piece of information is that the person responsible for smuggling him across the border was from Uttarakuru, one of the forty-nine heavens... Could it be that Master Yao Qimen was also from the forty-nine heavens?
Chen Ji recalled that he once asked his master if he wanted to ascend to the forty-ninth heaven and become an immortal. His master’s answer was… If you don’t have a hundred thousand years to live, what’s the point of becoming an immortal in heaven!
The second key message is that the words "can't keep you" deserve careful consideration. Who wants to keep him? Why keep him in the Forty-Ninth Heaven?
Thinking of this, Chen Ji always felt that there was a greater crisis looming over him in the sky.
At this time, Xiaoman walked out of the side room and wiped her hands on the clothes behind her back. Seeing that Chen Ji was distracted, she waved her hand in front of his face and said, "Sir, what did you dream last night?"
Chen Ji lied: "Last night was a beautiful dream. I dreamed that I made a lot of money, bought tens of thousands of acres of paddy fields, and also bought a silk shop, an inn, and a restaurant..."
Xiaoman muttered, "You're still making money! You're lucky your money wasn't taken away. You actually had a restaurant and hundreds of acres of fertile land before, but weren't they all taken away by Madam? Madam's 'Gufulou' is in Dengshikou, outside Donghuamen, where land is extremely valuable in Beijing. It's quite famous."
Chen Ji was stunned. Is this true?
He couldn't ask directly what other properties she had besides the Gufu Building, so he could only pretend to be indifferent and said, "Money is something outside of one's body. You can't bring it with you when you are born, and you can't take it with you when you die. I've even forgotten what my aunt left behind. You don't have to keep thinking about it. Just give it to my wife."
Xiao Man clenched her fists in anger. "You've forgotten, but I won't. Madam Li said that my aunt left you the Gufu Tower outside Donghua Gate, the Yujing Garden in the Eight Great Hutongs, the Chenji Grain and Oil Shop, the Silk Shop outside the Bell and Drum Tower, and 320 acres of fertile land in Changping! Each of these is a fortune that others could never accumulate in a lifetime. My aunt must have put a lot of effort into acquiring them!"
Chen Ji's heart suddenly tightened. So many properties were seized by the Liang family?
He was silent for a moment and then said, "Xiaoman, take out the three volumes of the Diamond Sutra from the room."
Xiaoman exclaimed, "Sir, what are you doing with the scriptures?"
Chen Ji said seriously, "Go and pay your respects."
Xiaoman: “?”
She was at a loss whether to laugh or cry: "You finally don't have to pay your respects, so you'd better not go. Those properties are like throwing meat buns at a dog, you will never get them back. But..."
"But what?"
Xiao Man said seriously, "Sir, please take the imperial examination. When you become a high-ranking official, Madam will definitely not dare to monopolize these properties anymore and will return them all to you."
Chen Ji seemed to be thinking about something. Although he didn't have much material desire, the Tiger Method was burning money like water. Sooner or later, he would take back all these properties.
No, even if he didn't spend a cent, he couldn't stand seeing others taking possession of his things...
But it is not easy to get it back, so I can only go to the capital and make plans carefully.
Chen Ji's mind moved, and he suddenly sighed: "It's been so long, I almost forgot what my aunt looks like."
Xiaoman was also depressed when he heard this: "It has been a long time indeed...but Mr.
How could I forget my aunt? She was the most beautiful and gentle woman in the world. She was beautiful when she smiled, and she was also beautiful when she didn't smile. Every time I saw her, I wondered how such a woman could marry the master. I'm afraid all the scholars in the capital thought the same thing.
Chen Ji remained silent and did not interrupt.
Xiaoman continued softly, "Auntie taught me a lot of things, but I was too stupid to learn. She never got tired of teaching me again and again. Young Master, I envy you so much. I wish I had a mother like you. Auntie did ask me to call her mother, but I didn't dare."
Chen Ji thought of his mother who was the same. When he was little, he could never learn pinyin by himself, as if he just couldn't get it. His mother patiently taught him over and over again.
His voice softened unconsciously: "Why don't you dare call her mother?"
Xiaoman smiled and said, "Maybe she felt that she was unworthy. How could I have such a good mother? But when I wanted to call her again, she was gone."
Chen Ji didn't know whether Xiaoman was telling the truth or just lying like the Golden Pig, Bright Rabbit and Cloud Sheep, so he could only listen to half of it.
But this world seems to have a special magic. When you mention that you haven't seen your mother for a long time, the world will become gentler.
It’s not good for a mother whom you see often.
Xiaoman asked, "By the way, sir, aren't you curious about who is trying to buy your whereabouts? We don't know who it is, what if they want to harm you? You can't indulge them like before."
Chen Ji remained silent, curious. Of course he was curious.
Some people spend ten taels of silver every month to buy their whereabouts, which is quite generous.
Who would be the buyer? Liang or Wang Gui?
It couldn't be Liang. As the mistress of the Chen residence, if Liang wanted to know what I was doing, she only needed to call the maids to question them. Who would dare not tell me? Moreover, I had been manipulated by others before, so why would they need to know my whereabouts?
It’s not Wang Gui. Wang Gui is stingy and can’t bear to spend the money.
Who could that be?
This feeling of having someone lurking around him was too bad, he had to fish that person out today.
Chen Ji thought for a moment and said to Xiao Man, "I'm going to the East Market. You pack up and follow me."
Xiaoman's eyes widened: "Really? You didn't want to take me with you before."
Chen Ji was stunned. He never took Xiaoman with him when he went out before?
Yes, according to Wu Hongbiao, he started receiving secret training several years ago. Those days when he didn’t take Xiaoman out, he must have gone to see Wu Hongbiao secretly.
Thinking of this, Chen Ji nodded and said, "I'll take you with me this time. Let's go."
"Sir, wait for me for a moment," Xiaoman trotted back to the house and took out a piece of paper and a stone ink pen for drawing eyebrows. "Sir, can you write down the information about going to the East Market for Sister Liqiu?"
Chen Ji nodded: "I can remember it."
Xiaoman bit the end of the Shi Dai pen, lowered her head and thought for a moment, then asked, "Sir, can you please remember that you don't have to go and pay your respects to the Madam?"
"Why can I remember... so much detail?"
Xiaoman said as a matter of course: "The employer will continue to give us money only if he is satisfied. Ten... eight taels of silver every month!"
Chen Ji suppressed a smile and said, "Then remember this well."
"Oh, don't worry, sir. I'll ask you before I write it down." Xiaoman stood aside, head bowed, and wrote down carefully on the paper in front of Chen Ji: "On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-first year of Jianing, sir, you took Xiaoman to the East Market."
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