221. Two Swords and Brother Pao
"Run away?"
"You're running away just like that?!"
Chen Ji stood in a daze among the ox carts, feeling that it was absurd.
The moment he heard the names "Daozi" and "Chongzi", he was certain that these two were Erdao and Paoge, because when he was dying, Paoge introduced himself as "My real name is Chen Chong, and my friends like to call me Paoge".
Joan Chen.
Chongzi.
It's no coincidence.
Thinking of this, Chen Ji felt an inexplicable joy. We were not familiar with each other, but I felt you were particularly kind. When I saw you, even the wind was filled with messages from home.
But he never expected that Pao Ge would run away so easily.
When ordinary people face an unknown situation, most of them will try to hope for the best until the danger actually strikes. But what he didn't know was that Pao Ge and Er Dao's hope for the best had been completely shattered by the police when they had been to prison seven or eight times.
In the cold wind, Chen Ji suddenly shouted: "Zao Zao!"
The sound of horse hooves could be heard in the stable.
Liang Biaotou turned around in surprise, only to see Miss Zhang Er's chestnut horse, holding its own reins, easily jumping out of the stable fence and stopping beside Chen Ji.
The breath of the magical horse was like two white arrows in the cold night. It lowered its head and let go, and the reins in its mouth fell into Chen Ji's hands.
"Captain Liang, wait for me here," Chen Ji stepped on the stirrup and turned over. He shook the reins lightly with his wrist, and Zaozao carried Chen Ji away like an arrow.
He rode his horse back and forth on the dirt road in the county town, chasing them from the south to the north but finding no trace of Erdao and Paoge. He also chased them from the west to the east but still found no trace of them.
The people in the county town had gone to bed early, and not even a night watchman could be seen.
He searched back and forth in the county town alone, but he never saw Erdao and Paoge. He didn't know whether they had left the county town or were hiding in the houses.
Chen Ji slowly stopped his horse in the dark county town, and his mood gradually calmed down.
Once upon a time, he thought that he was the only one who came to Ning Dynasty from Earth. From then on, he could not talk to others about "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Bright Sword" and "Soldiers Assault", nor could he enthusiastically talk to others about Cristiano Ronaldo's hat trick in the 2018 World Cup.
Because no one can understand.
Maybe Erdao and Paoge don't watch "Empresses in the Palace" or "Bright Sword" and don't like Cristiano Ronaldo. But it doesn't matter, everyone can always find some common ground.
The moment Chen Ji discovered Erdao and Pao Ge, he seemed to see a ray of light in the darkness, but the light soon went out again.
Chen Ji patted Zaozao's back gently and said, "Let's go back to the post station."
Zaozao stopped galloping and slowly carried Chenji back, as if it knew that the person on its back was no longer so anxious.
Back at the post station, Chen Ji rode his horse to Captain Liang. Sitting on his horse, he calmly asked, "Captain Liang, these two men must be hiding some secret, otherwise why would they run away?"
Liang Biaotou looked up at Chen Ji, but saw that the young third son of the Chen family had a deep and unfathomable look in his eyes.
He's a well-traveled man who knows who's easy to mess with and who's not, who's easy to fool and who's not, just by looking at each other. In the eyes of a wanderer, there are only two kinds of people in this world: sheep and wolves.
No matter how fierce some people's faces are, their eyes are always wandering. Such people are just sheep in wolf's clothing; some people may look weak, but their eyes are like knives, as if they can't wait to cut a piece of flesh from you. Such people are wolves in sheep's clothing.
The third son of the Chen family does not look like a scholar at this moment, but more like a lackey of the Imperial Household Department.
Escort Captain Liang smiled and said, "Third Young Master, perhaps they simply couldn't stand the hardship of escorting, so they ran away. You don't know that escorting is a tiring job, and it's common for escorts to run away."
Chen Ji nodded, jumped off the horse, and walked towards the stable holding Zaozao's reins.
He just took two steps, stopped, and then stepped back.
Chen Ji stared calmly at Escort Leader Liang. "The Zhang family's transport of wealth to the capital is a major event, yet you let in these people whose origins and backgrounds are unknown. What are your intentions? Are Daozi and Chongzi bandits from the Taihang Mountains? Are you planning to collude with the Taihang Mountain bandits to rob the Zhang family's property?"
Liang Biaotou's face turned pale, and he said guiltily, "Third Master, there are some things you can't say carelessly. They could cost lives."
Chen Ji changed the subject and asked, "Captain Liang, I wonder what your relationship is with Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er?"
Previous Liang
Mao'er and Liang Gou'er once mentioned that their father was a bodyguard, and he was ambushed by bandits from Taihang Mountains, which caused him to become ill and die early.
Liang Biaotou hurriedly said, "These are my two younger brothers. We separated a few years ago, and I haven't seen them for a long time."
Chen Ji nodded and said, "I am friends with Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er. For their sake, I can put this matter aside for now, but we have to get things straight first."
Liang Biaotou nodded hurriedly: "Go ahead, go ahead."
Chen Ji suddenly shouted, "Why are they running away?"
Liang Biaotou lowered his head and said nothing.
Chen Ji said nonchalantly, "It seems that you will only tell the truth if Lord Zhang interrogates you personally."
He made a move to leave, but Escort Leader Liang quickly grabbed him and said, "My Lord, these two weren't my escorts. They were from the Luowei Escort Agency. Something happened there two months ago, and the escorts fled like wildfire, and the escort leader vanished without a trace. They both came here together, and since I was shorthanded, I assigned them to work at the Liang Escort Agency."
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Don't you know what happened? Are you still going to pretend you don't know anything? Don't try to commit suicide."
Liang Biaotou's eyes flickered in the moonlight. The ox carts in the backyard of the post station were parked layer by layer, like a stacked maze. In the darkness, an escort came quietly, put his hand into his sleeve, and touched the hilt of the dagger.
Chen Ji seemed oblivious to the crisis and continued standing there.
Escort Leader Liang noticed the escort's movements and immediately shouted angrily, "Get back here! Do you want to kill me?"
At this moment, a voice came from a distance: "Chen Ji? Where are you?"
Chen Ji smiled and responded, "I'm here."
Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng came together. Zhang Xia said, "I went to your room to play chess with you just now, but only Xiaoman was there... Why are you here in the middle of the night?"
Chen Ji explained, "I discovered that two people from the escort agency had secretly escaped, so I came to ask about something."
Zhang Xia exclaimed, "Run away? Why did you run away?"
At this time, Chen Ji saw that Zhang Zheng still had his black cloak draped over his arm.
Zhang Zheng draped his cloak over his shoulders and casually warned him, "The wind and sand are so strong, don't catch a cold. If you're sick and have to travel, I'm afraid you'll be in great pain."
Chen Ji thanked him in a low voice, then turned to look at Head Escort Liang. "Head Escort Liang, I can forgive you whatever you're thinking, but if you don't explain clearly what happened to these two people, you'll probably end up in jail."
Escort Captain Liang sighed softly, "I'll tell you everything, Third Young Master, please don't alarm Lord Zhang. The story goes like this: the Luowei Escort Agency was escorting Mr. Yao and ten carts of valuables to Nanjing a while ago. As they passed through Mount Langya, they encountered bandits. There were so many of them, the Luowei Escort Agency's escorts knew they were no match for them, so they abandoned their employers there."
"So simple? If it were that simple, they wouldn't have to flee," Chen Ji wondered. "They say the escort agency has connections with both the black and white worlds. If they dared to take this route, wouldn't they know the bandits in Langya Mountain?"
Escort Captain Liang explained, "We knew each other before. The head of the Luowei Escort Agency and the head of Langya Mountain were close friends. However, the floods in Yuzhou displaced many people, and one group of victims fled south, driving out the original bandits in Langya Mountain and setting up camp there. These victims don't understand the rules of the underworld and rob anyone they see. I'm sure they'll be surrounded and suppressed by the government soon."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "The bandits didn't kill the people from Lowe Escort Agency?"
Escort Captain Liang whispered, "Third Young Master, you don't know. The bandits are after wealth, not lives. If they can get along peacefully with the escorts, there's no need for a life-and-death struggle. It's said that the bandits gave the Lowe Escort Agency two choices. The first is a fight to the death. The second is for the Lowe Escort Agency to leave, but they can take a share of Mr. Yao's treasure."
Chen Ji nodded: "So they chose to divide the money...How do I know if you are bluffing me?"
Escort Captain Liang whispered, "Third Young Master, please understand. There are still people from the Luowei Escort Agency in the team. I will capture them for you."
He blew a whistle, and saw several bodyguards between the ox carts drawing short knives from their sleeves and surrounding the corner.
A moment later, they brought a young man to Chen Ji and said, "Third Young Master, this man is the escort officer of the Lowe Escort Agency, responsible for calling escorts. You will know once you ask him."
The young porter struggled hard: "Liang Zhu'er, you son of a bitch, you accepted our gift and now you want to turn against us? We agreed that we would follow you through Linfen, and then we would go our separate ways. You go to your capital, and we go to our Guyuan. What are you doing, you son of a bitch?"
”
Escort Captain Liang looked at Chen Ji with an awkward expression. "Third Young Master, don't listen to his nonsense. I didn't agree to take them with me. I really didn't agree to take them with me because I was short of help and they were experienced escorts."
Chen Ji thought thoughtfully: "Why go to Guyuan?"
"Although Guyuan is our Ning Dynasty military base, there are more Jing Dynasty people living there than Ning Dynasty people," Liang Biaotou whispered. "It's a mixed bag, with smugglers aplenty, and our Ning Dynasty border troops don't really care. I heard there's an inn in Guyuan run by General Wentao's former subordinates who can send people to Jing Dynasty."
Chen Ji turned to look at the young porter and said, "Let me ask you, where did you go after leaving Langya Mountain?"
The porter stuck his neck out and said, "I went to Jinling."
Chen Ji asked again: "Where is the money that was distributed?"
The porter replied, "We spent it all on the Qinhuai River!"
Zhang Xia's eyes widened. "After this incident, you still have the mind to play?"
The porter scowled, "We thought the government would eventually bring us to justice, so we decided to live out our days as a playboy on the Qinhuai River. But to our surprise, the government never came looking for us."
Chen Ji calculated the date. At that time, Lin Chaojing of the Jiefan Guard had been transferred from Jinling to Luocheng, along with the Golden Pig, Bright Rabbit, Cloud Sheep, White Dragon, Dream Chicken, and Sky Horse. All of them were targeting the Liu family. Who would have the time to care about a wealthy man?
He thought for a moment and asked, "Are you familiar with knives and punches?"
The porter spat on the ground. "I know him so well. He's a brother to me, but he turned against me in the blink of an eye! I was blind to think he was my good brother!"
Chen Ji asked curiously, "You're turning your back on me?"
The porter sneered, "That's right! I ran out of money and went to borrow some from Chongzi. But that bastard forgot how he used to borrow money from me. He actually asked for nine out of ten and thirteen back. He wanted to drink my blood! When I lent him money before, I never asked for such high interest!"
Chen Ji was slightly stunned. Brother Pao had brought his old business to the Ning Dynasty.
But then the porter continued, "Third Young Master, did these two people provoke you? If I tell you more about them, will you let me go?"
Chen Ji smiled and asked, "Are you going to betray them?"
"What's the point of betrayal?" the porter shrank his neck. "They all left me behind. Why should I cover up for them?"
Chen Ji nodded: "Tell me first."
The porter whispered, "They weren't originally called Daozi and Chongzi, but Li Baocheng and Wang Duo. When we returned to Luocheng from Langya Mountain, they suddenly said they wanted to change their names to Erdao and Chen Chong. It's so strange."
Chen Ji asked again: "Is there anyone else at home?"
The porter quickly said, "Yes, yes. Li Baocheng... that's Erdao. He has a sister, and Chen Chong has a brother. These two bastards don't even want their own family."
Chen Ji knew that Erdao and Chen Chong came to this world with no family affection like himself, so he would not care about being an older sister or a younger brother.
He thought for a moment and asked again: "When did they turn against us?"
The porter recalled for a moment: "It was during the time in Langya Mountain when we first encountered the bandits. Many of us were ambushed. Daozi and Chongzi were knocked unconscious by the bandits with hoes. After that, they didn't recognize anyone and couldn't even remember their own names. We all said their brains were damaged by the beating."
Chen Ji lowered his head in thought. Erdao and Paoge, like himself, had fallen upon the bodies of deceased people. But he had been smuggled here by Li Qingniao and his master. How had Erdao and Paoge gotten here? He even had the same name in his past life, but Erdao and Paoge didn't. What was the difference?
Capital city.
Chen Ji suddenly remembered what Pao Ge once said: The capital is so prosperous that it would be a pity not to make a name for yourself.
As long as people like Pao Ge are not dead, I will probably see them again.
The porter said hopefully, "Third Young Master of the Chen Family, I have said all that I need to say. I hope you will be magnanimous and let me go."
"Third Young Master," said Captain Liang cautiously, "do you know Mr. Yao and want to avenge him? If so, I'll drag the porter to the cowshed and slaughter him. But... I have to say something for them, Third Young Master. You probably haven't seen the countryside. The people have fled, leaving every village empty. They've been forced to take to the mountains and become bandits. No matter how powerful we escorts are, we can't stand up to their numbers. Those victims are so hungry that their eyes are green. They dare to fight you with sickles and hoes for a bag of food. It's completely unreasonable."
Chen Ji waved his hand and said, "Let him go."
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