55. Gambler
Chen Ji watched the dark clouds slowly retreat into the shadows and disappear into the gambling house.
The dark clouds penetrated the rain curtain, and regardless of the heavy rain pouring down on them, they searched all the way to every corner of Hongyi Lane.
It flipped into a backyard and gently lifted a bamboo dustpan, revealing a fat orange cat inside.
Wuyun was slightly disappointed to see it was the orange cat, but after a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Have you seen an injured human escape tonight?"
Fat Orange looked up and meowed: "Ah"
The dark clouds covered the bamboo dustpan again: "I have no need to ask you"
Braving the heavy rain, it climbed back up to the roof of the tallest building in Hongyi Lane, the "Golden House".
It stood on the eaves overlooking the entire Red Lane, and quickly analyzed the possibilities of the three-flowered cat and the raccoon cat.
However, Wuyun suddenly saw that in several nearby streets, there were hundreds of spies wearing straw raincoats hiding in the dark and ambushing.
Not only that, there are also some secret agents disguised as civilians, searching house to house.
Although the heavy rain made it difficult to search for the defected spy, Jin Zhu did not really give up.
Wu Yun jumped off the eaves anxiously. He had to find that person before the Secret Service.
At this time, Chen Ji looked through the back door of the gambling house at the darkness outside, feeling a sense of uneasiness that the crisis was approaching.
No matter how good Chen Ji is at reasoning, it is impossible for him to find the defected spy under the current circumstances.
Fortunately, the dark clouds brought a turning point.
It depends on whether Wu Yun can find the defected spy before the Secret Service.
Chen Ji adjusted his raincoat, pressed down the brim of his hat, and turned back to the gambling hall.
He found a secret agent and pointed at Chen Wenxiao, who was squatting in the crowd. "Drag him into the house and hang him up. I have something to ask him."
Chen Wenxiao squatted on the ground for so long that his legs became numb and he kept changing his posture as if he had to pee urgently.
As he was speaking, a secret agent came up to Chen Wenxiao, lifted his hair and walked away: "You, follow me!"
Chen Wenxiao's scalp was pulled so hard that it hurt. He could only grimace as he was dragged to the private room upstairs and hung from the ceiling with ropes.
After a long time, the spy left. Chen Ji walked in wearing a bamboo hat and slowly asked, "Name!"
"My father is Chen Liqin, the Tongzhi of Los Angeles. You can't do this to me."
Chen Wenxiao roared and wanted to see Chen Ji's appearance clearly.
But he was hanging on the beam, and his view was completely blocked by the old bamboo hat, so he couldn't see clearly at all.
With a bang.
Chen Ji hit Chen Wenxiao with a feather duster and said coldly, "Answer whatever I ask you. Do you understand?"
"I understand, I understand!" Chen Wenxiao's hands were so painful from the tightening, and he no longer had the elegance he had when he rode his horse into Luocheng.
"Name!"
"Chen Wenxiao!"
Chen Ji asked, "Why are you connected to Jingchao?"
"Ah?" Chen Wenxiao was stunned. He didn't know how he was involved in such a heinous crime.
Chen Wenxiao said in panic, "It's unfair. I didn't collude with Jing Chao. I just came to the gambling house to have fun."
"I'm wrongly accusing you?" Chen Ji asked with a sneer, "Then why are there no IOUs or account transactions of yours in the account books of the gambling houses in the entire Red Lane? You are not a gambler here, you are clearly a spy from the Jing Dynasty, here to pick up colleagues."
Chen Wenxiao was anxious: "I just came back from Donglin Academy a few days ago, how can there be account transactions and IOUs?"
Chen Ji said gloomily, "It seems that you have no means to prove yourself, so follow me to the inner prison!"
Chen Wenxiao was so frightened when he heard the word "Inner Prison" that he almost lost control of his bladder. In the past few years, how many people have walked out of the Inner Prison alive?
Not to mention that he was the son of a fifth-rank official, there were countless fifth-rank officials who died in there.
He thought for a long time:
"Wait, before I went to Donglin Academy, I borrowed money from gambling houses using my brother Chen Ji's name, so my name wasn't on it! You can look through the account books of each family, and you'll definitely find Chen Ji."
Chen Wenxiao added: "In the past three years, I have returned home to visit my family for a month every Spring Festival. Every year at this time, you can definitely find the name Chen Ji in the accounts."
Chen Ji remained silent!
Does he have the account books of the various gambling houses?
Of course not.
He was just pretending to be filial based on his own guess.
Once upon a time, he really thought that he was a gambler in his previous life, and the Chen family hated him because he had really done something bad.
But now, Chen Ji suddenly understood a lot of things.
He lowered his head and asked softly, "Since Chen Ji's name is written, who should the gambling house ask for the debt?"
Chen Wenxiao replied, "Of course I'll go find my father. If he doesn't want the family scandal to be publicized, he'll have no choice but to acknowledge those IOUs."
Chen Ji was puzzled: "Does your father know that this is your debt?"
"I don't know, he thought it was a trace of the past!"
Chen Ji was even more puzzled: "Couldn't Chen Ji refute it himself?"
"He has argued, but what's the point? His reputation has been ruined over the years. My father doesn't believe him at all. My lord, please let me down. I'm not a Jing Dynasty spy. It's too uncomfortable to be hanging here!"
Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm still not sure if what you said is true. For Master Chen's sake, I can let you go for now, but you have to write down everything you just said and sign it. If there's anything untrue, my Secret Service will come to the Chen Mansion to look for you!"
Chen Wenxiao burst into tears of joy: "Don't worry, sir, every word I said is true, and I will definitely write it down clearly."
Chen Ji walked out of the private room and gave the spy a few instructions.
Two secret agents walked into the private room and closed the door. After a while, one of them came out with a piece of rice paper covered with words and handed it to Chen Ji: "He's done!"
"Thank you!" Chen Ji nodded, turned and walked upstairs, carefully stuffing the confession into his arms and sheltering it under his straw raincoat.
"Sir..." The spy was not only of Chen Ji's rank, so he didn't know how to address him. However, he saw Chen Ji following Master Jin Zhu, so he must be a close confidant of Master Jin Zhu. "What should we do with the people in the room?"
Chen Ji climbed up the wooden stairs and a light voice came over: "Keep hanging!"
Just as Chen Ji was going upstairs, he saw a spy rushing in from outside the door. He threw off his rain-soaked straw raincoat on the floor, held his sword in his waist and rushed to the second floor.
Arriving at the door of the second-floor private room, the spy bowed to Jin Zhu, who was drinking tea opposite him, and said, "Sir, I have fulfilled my mission. I have finally found a witness. It is a street vendor who saw a man running west this evening, clutching a wound on his waist."
Chen Ji's mood gradually sank to the bottom. He didn't expect that Jin Zhu said that he couldn't find it, but still arranged a large number of people to search for clues.
But it was actually found.
Where is the defected spy now? Has anyone else seen him? What will he confess after being arrested?
Chen Ji knew nothing.
Chen Ji calmed down and looked at Jin Zhu: "Congratulations, sir, the credit is within reach."
Jin Zhu stood up with a smile and said, "Send people to continue searching westward. He must have been seen by others when he was fleeing. Find all the witnesses. The Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department sent so many people to capture him. This person must be hiding a big secret. Find him tonight."
The spy received the order and hurried downstairs to the door.
However, just as he walked out of the gambling house, he heard a loud bang and flew back into the gambling house, crushing the gambling table.
With a clang, all the spies drew their swords and
He aimed the crossbow at his waist and shot it into the darkness outside the gambling house.
But the man was wearing a blue cloak. He simply took off the cloak from his collar, shook his hands in front of him and rolled all the crossbow arrows into the cloak, and he was unharmed.
The pouring rain fell around him, but it was as if pushed away by a magnet, and not a single drop landed on him.
Chen Ji heard the golden pig beside him sneer, "This is not a spy from the Jing Dynasty. Judging from his actions, he looks more like an official. I heard that he hid his identity and retired to the mountains a few years ago. I didn't expect him to come back today! Attack, I want to kill him alive."
The next moment, a secret agent took out a copper whistle and blew it.
Shouts and cries of killing were heard outside the Red Lane, and hundreds of spies rushed out from the shadows and surrounded the official.
The golden pig walked down the stairs calmly and slowly walked outside the encirclement.
He held a few copper coins in his hand, as if ready to take someone's life at any time.
Chen Ji observed the situation silently. He didn't care whether the Military Intelligence Department or the Secret Service Department would win the fight.
A cat's cry suddenly rang out. Chen Ji turned to look out the window, only to see Wu Yun standing on the windowsill. "Found it! A tabby cat said they saw him flee to Anxi Street, in the backyard of the cloth shop that just moved!"
Chen Ji frowned. How come the other party happened to escape to Anxi Street?
Anxi Street is not a major traffic artery, nor is it as convenient for hiding as the mixed crowds of East Market and West Market. On the contrary, because it is close to the palace, there are more soldiers patrolling at night.
Is this spy going to look for me, or did he really happen to escape to Anxi Street?
It can't be such a coincidence.
The more adept a person is at reasoning, the less he believes in coincidences.
Chen Ji knew that he could not stay here any longer and he had to deal with this spy.
But how to leave?
As I was thinking, I heard the sound of tiles breaking above my head.
Chen Ji looked up and saw someone walking up to the eaves with heavy footsteps on the wooden roof and wooden beams!
Not only that, footsteps were heard from other directions one after another, running towards the windows on the second floor of the gambling house.
The officer outside the door is used to lure the tiger away from the mountain, and these spies who invade from all directions are used to kill and silence them.
With a whoosh.
A masked man in black flipped over the roof into the window, like a hawk, and without saying a word, he drew his sword and slashed at Chen Ji.
In the narrow room, Chen Ji picked up a chair and threw it at the spy. He then quickly left the room and went to the second-floor corridor, shouting, "Master Jinzhu, someone is sneaking in from upstairs!"
His shout attracted everyone's attention. Jinzhu raised his eyebrows, turned around and rushed back.
Just then, Jin Zhu saw a spy chasing him down the corridor with a knife.
The spy's knife skills were sharp, and wood chips flew everywhere when he chopped. Chen Ji, a weak apprentice in the medical clinic, could only dodge left and right desperately and had no power to fight back.
With a hissing sound.
The tip of the knife cut through Chen Ji's chest, leaving a huge hole in his straw raincoat, and blood seeped out of the clothes.
Just when everyone thought Chen Ji was going to die, Chen Ji suddenly burst out with courage from nowhere. He roared, and instead of retreating, he rushed forward and crashed into the arms of the Jing Chao spy.
With great effort, Chen Ji used his arm to clamp the spy's knife-holding hand under his armpit, and pushed the spy back into the private room, crashing out of the second-floor window along the way.
Jinzhu was stunned for a moment, but saw that he exerted a little force with his legs, and his fat body floated up to the second floor like a feather.
He rushed to the window and saw the Jingchao spy who had fallen down the stairs. He staggered after the seriously injured Chen Ji and rushed into the dark night and rain outside Hongyi Lane.
The Golden Pig lay before the window, letting the night rain wash over him. "Strange! The Jing Dynasty spies were here to kill and silence witnesses, so why did they ignore their target and go after Chen Ji instead?"
End of this chapter.
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