40. Climbing the Wall
General Wang asked in a deep voice, "Miss Chunhua, have you found anything?"
Chunhua suppressed her tears and said, "No..."
She turned around and looked at She Dengke in disbelief with red eyes, while there was some confusion and some relief in She Dengke's eyes.
General Wang looked at Chunhua, then at She Dengke, his voice growing colder. "Miss Chunhua, please call us again next time when you have solid evidence. We, the Qiansui Army, are the prince's guards, not petty detectives looking for trouble. Let's go."
The guards were about to leave, but unexpectedly, Old Man Yao stood in front of them and said casually, "Apologize."
General Wang was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Chen Ji: "Sorry, I'm sorry for the offense!"
Chen Ji said slowly, "Please, General Wang, clarify this for me at the door, otherwise the neighbors will stop associating with me."
General Wang shook his head: "I can't do this, let's go!"
The palace guards came and went quickly. Chunhua looked at She Dengke, hesitant to speak, and finally turned away with tears in her eyes: "You are going to kill me!"
"Wait!" said Chen Ji.
Chunhua stopped, turned around and looked at Chen Ji, and said with some fear: "What are you going to do? I don't want to do it, but I can't help it."
"Excuse me for a moment."
Chen Ji led Chunhua to the door and whispered, "Go back and tell Concubine Jing that she and I didn't have to be enemies. Liu Shiyu wasn't killed by me, nor by the Secret Service. He was silenced by the Liu family. Since I was able to help her find the lead-barium glass last time, I can help her get revenge this time. Go back and tell her this, and you should be fine."
Chunhua was stunned for a moment, then turned and left.
Chen Ji stood in front of the clinic, listening to the discussions around him and watching Chunhua leave.
As the sun sets, the orange-red light fades from him little by little until it is shrouded by night.
The Secret Service Department, the Military Intelligence Department, Concubine Jing, and Concubine Yun, each of these people is a giant in this world, and it seems that they can crush him to death with a wave of their hands.
Chen Ji's fate is not in his own control. As a newcomer, he can only survive in the cracks.
But now there is also a chessboard in front of him. He gently places a piece on the edge of the 'Spring Corner'. Perhaps it cannot determine the outcome, but he always plays chess in an unconventional way and never makes a common move.
He returned to the clinic, only to see Old Man Yao glaring at She Dengke: "Have you grown wings? Kneel down!"
She Dengke knelt obediently on the ground, crying bitterly: "Master, I didn't expect this to happen. Chunhua said that Concubine Jing asked her to do this, otherwise she would have killed her tonight. Chunhua told me that all I had to do was hide a bead in Chen Ji's clothes and drive him out of the Imperial Medical Clinic. She took out all her savings over the years, saying that this was to compensate Chen Ji, and that Chen Ji could start a small business after leaving the clinic."
As he spoke, She Dengke took out three silver ingots, two silver hairpins, two silver bracelets, and thirty-six copper coins from his arms.
Old Man Yao turned to look at Chen Ji: "This is your business, what do you say?"
Chen Ji stood silently.
Chunhua could have given ten taels of silver, fifty taels of silver, or five hundred taels of silver, but she chose to give thirty taels of silver and thirty-six copper coins because that was all Chunhua had.
But can I forgive myself? I can’t.
he
Knowing that in this era, a girl like Chunhua has no choice, if she doesn't do it, Concubine Jing will really kill her.
But if he was really framed, would the outcome be just being kicked out of the Imperial Medical Clinic? No, he would definitely be beaten to death by Chunrong and his servants.
He thought he could treat the clinic as his home and his fellow apprentices as his family, but reality will never go as you expect.
The most fucked-up thing about this world is that it won't let you off just because you're a good person.
Chen Ji is not a good person either.
He picked up the silver, bracelets, hairpins, and copper coins on the ground and said, "I'll take these things, but Brother She, you and Chunhua each owe me a life. You must pay me back when I tell you to, okay?"
She Dengke nodded frantically: "Yes! Yes!"
Chen Ji turned around and went back to the main hall of the clinic. Liu Quxing looked at his back and seemed to be hesitant to speak. He felt that nothing he said would be of any use now.
Old Man Yao looked down at the kneeling She Dengke and said, "You've been bewitched by women. Go inside and kneel down. Don't be an eyesore here. Although Chen Ji won't pursue this matter, if you do this again, this clinic won't be able to accommodate you."
…
…
At night, Taiping Medical Clinic became quiet, as if nothing had happened during the day.
Chen Ji stood behind the counter with his chin propped up.
Wuyun walked out from the shadows, jumped lightly onto the counter and sat down, spitting out a round pearl in Chen Ji's palm.
It meowed, "Don't be sad, don't be angry."
Chen Ji hid the pearl in his sleeve: "I'm not sad, nor angry. Sadness and anger are useless emotions for the weak... Let's talk about something happy and settle the score!"
"I've lit sixteen fires in total now. I feel like defeating a spy shouldn't be a problem. When I was being held captive by the palace guards today, I felt like I could easily break free. I don't know how many fires I need to light to defeat Si Cao, Lin Chaoqing, Yun Yang, and Jiao Tu..."
"I can't sell the pearls now. I'll sell them in other cities later. I bought six ginsengs at Bailu Pavilion earlier. I returned one to Old Man Yao, and the remaining five cost a total of 195 taels of silver... Counting the 50 taels under the bed and Chunhua's compensation to me, we still have 85 taels of silver left, or 121 copper coins."
Wuyun wondered, "How many roast chickens can I buy?"
Chen Ji calculated for a long time but still couldn't figure it out: "...Anyway, it's a lot! When I bought the ginseng, that Si Cao really didn't give me any discount at all. Do you think I should find a way to become the Hai Dongqing of the Military Intelligence Department in Luocheng and become the shopkeeper of Bai Lu Pavilion? It just so happens that I studied Chinese medicine, so my major is also suitable..."
If I could take charge of Bailu Pavilion, even if I didn't embezzle money, I could still buy ginseng at the wholesale price, right?!
At this time, Wuyun pricked up his ears and heard light but messy footsteps coming from outside the door. Several people were approaching the clinic.
"Chen Ji, there are people coming, several of them!"
"Huh," Chen Ji blew out the oil lamp and quietly came behind the door to listen.
Who could it be?
Was it the Ning Dynasty Secret Service or the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence? Or was it that Concubine Jing was unwilling to give up and sent someone to kill him again?
This is the situation of multiple identities. When someone attacks,
Chen Ji couldn't even tell who did it.
However, before he could think clearly, he heard a voice from the backyard: "Hurry up, be gentle!"
Chen Ji suddenly turned around and looked through the corridor between the main hall and the backyard, only to see a tall figure climbing into the yard!
Surrounded!
He made a gesture to Wuyun, asking him to hide in the dark, while he pulled out a short knife used for cutting medicine from behind the counter and quietly attacked.
Chen Ji's palms were slightly sweaty. Being surrounded by more than ten people from the front and back, he was definitely not able to handle such a large-scale siege.
But before he could reach the backyard, he saw another little monk climbing up the wall separating the clinic and the palace!
The little monk's head was shiny and smooth in the moonlight. He was struggling to climb over the courtyard wall. Chen Ji took a closer look at the one who had already climbed over. Wasn't he the prince of Prince Jing's Mansion who was dressed in fine clothes and riding a horse in the daytime?
As they were startled, a voice came from Anxi Street outside the clinic: "Everyone, please be patient. The prince will be out soon!"
Chen Ji looked back at the main gate, then at the prince and the little monk in the yard, and at Princess Baili who was climbing over the wall.
Chen Ji: Ah?
In the middle of the night, he thought that Concubine Jing had sent more than ten people to assassinate him, but he didn't expect that it was a misunderstanding.
Chen Ji slapped the little monk on the bald head and said unhappily, "Hey, what are you doing?"
When these words were spoken, the little monk and the prince were startled. Princess Baili, who was climbing over the wall, quickly retracted her head. After a moment, she secretly stuck her head out again and looked towards the backyard of the clinic.
Under the moonlight, Chen Ji was holding a knife, the slim girl was clinging to the wall, the prince and the little monk were as guilty as thieves, and no one had expected that they would meet like this.
Just like the beginning of all stories, people are caught off guard when they meet each other.
Chen Ji raised his eyebrows and asked, "Sir, it's the middle of the night. It's not a good idea to climb over someone else's wall like this, right?"
The prince was puzzled: "Do you know me?"
Chen Ji sneered: "I know you. I held you in my arms when you were a child."
Prince: “…”
Zhu Baili, who was clinging to the wall, laughed out loud: "Brother, he is insulting you."
"Keep your voice down," the prince said in a low voice, "don't attract the guards!"
The prince looked at the apprentice in front of him without getting angry. He came over with a smile and wanted to put his arm around Chen Ji's shoulder, but after seeing the dagger in Chen Ji's hand, he retreated in disappointment: "That's right, little brother. You know who we are. The palace has a curfew at night and no one is allowed to come in or out freely, so we borrow a passage from your clinic. Don't worry, we will definitely not damage any property!"
A curfew in the palace? Chen Ji had never heard of it, but considering what the prince had said during the day, "The old man is very strict," perhaps this curfew was specifically for the prince and the princess.
So the other party did not go through the main gate of the palace, but instead climbed over the wall of the clinic.
While thinking, the little monk looked at Chen Ji in the moonlight, and his eyes suddenly lit up: "So it's you, are you in this clinic?"
The prince was puzzled and asked in a low voice, "Do you know each other?"
The young monk smiled and said, "Yes, I know him. I saw him during the day. He's a very capable person. I wanted to ask him for advice, but he disappeared in the crowd."
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