58. Kill Si Cao
There were only two oil-slag lamps lit in the dim apprentice dormitory.
Chen Ji was lying on the bunk bed, wearing clean clothes and with white cloth wrapped around his chest and thighs. The entire apprentice dormitory was filled with the smell of Chinese medicine.
Such a strong smell of Chinese medicine is like a dying breath.
But Chen Ji had no time to think about these things. He had been in a coma for a day and a night, which was enough time for many things to happen.
Before he fell into a coma, the Ning Dynasty Secret Service led by Jin Zhu had found witnesses and was investigating in the direction of Wu Hongbiao's escape.
Chen Ji has not been caught yet. There are two possibilities: either the Secret Service's investigation was slow, and there were few people walking around last night due to the rain, so no new witnesses were found and Wu Hongbiao has not been caught yet.
Or maybe Wu Hongbiao has been arrested and imprisoned, but has not yet confessed the crime.
If it is the former, Chen Ji still has room for redemption, but if it is the latter, Chen Ji can't rush into the inner prison to rescue people or silence them, right?
And even if Wu Hongbiao was not caught, Chen Ji was seriously injured and Wu Hongbiao was also seriously injured. Chen Ji had someone to treat him, but Wu Hongbiao had no one to treat him.
Forget about treatment. The other party was hiding in the backyard of the cloth shop, and there was no one to eat...
While thinking, Princess Baili turned around and put the washcloth in the basin in the house, then wrung it dry and placed it on Chen Ji's forehead, replacing the original one.
He even washed the towel he had changed, lifted Chen Ji's arm, and wiped his armpit to cool him down.
"Uh, Princess, what are you doing?"
Chen Ji was extremely surprised.
"You're still running a fever." Princess Baili glared at She Dengke and Liu Quxing. "Two grown men, you can't even do a simple job. Your master asked them to apply a towel to your face to cool you down, but they didn't even wring it out before applying it to your face. They didn't even bother to change the cloth covering your wound."
She Dengke and Liu Quxing lowered their heads in embarrassment: "We used to do this."
Bai Li said, "You can't be so careless. How can you take care of a patient like this?"
The prince sighed and said, "Bai Li, you can't do these things..."
Bai Li also glared at him: "In Donglin Academy, the teachers don't allow you to bring a servant. Isn't that how I took care of you when you were sick?"
"But Chen Ji is an outsider after all!" The prince was anxious, "If this gets out, how can you get married?"
"Get married?" Princess Baili frowned. "I'm just staying with my parents, why do I have to get married? I'm confused. Since last year, you've all been talking about getting married, so why do I have to get married?"
Liang Gou'er said quietly, "Because everyone deserves their own retribution..."
Prince: ...
Baili: ...
Liang Maoer quickly covered his mouth and pulled him into the yard: "Brother, shut up!"
Chen Ji lay on the bed, looking at Bai Li in white clothes, who went to Hongyi Lane and the gambling house with her brother in the middle of the night to make friends with people from the underworld. She herself was upright and self-reliant, like a female knight who did things without any hesitation and without any constraints.
Seeing the awkward atmosphere in the room, She Dengke quickly said, "I'll go make something for Chen Ji. Are you hungry? I'll make some more so we can all eat together."
Liang Gou'er rushed back into the house and raised his hand: "Bacon, I saw bacon in the kitchen!"
Liang Mao'er also said shyly: "I just want to eat some pickles and drink some porridge!"
The prince seemed to be thinking: "Tofu, pot-collapsed tofu!"
Chen Ji: "Hey, wait...you didn't even mention what I wanted to eat!"
She Dengke explained with a smile, "Chen Ji, I'll go make you some porridge and some steamed egg custard. Master said you can't eat anything else since you've been unconscious for so long."
When She Dengke went out to cook, Chen Ji looked aside in confusion: "Prince and Princess, why are you here?"
The prince explained cheerfully, "We were planning to go out and play tonight, but when we got in, we didn't see you. We only saw Liu Quxing and She Dengke busying around with basins of water. We originally didn't see you and could have saved the toll. But Baili insisted on giving you the toll, so he asked Liu Quxing where you were. That's when we learned you were seriously injured. Then Baili said he didn't want to go out and play anymore, and stayed to see if there was anything he could help with."
Bai Li turned to look at Chen Ji, puzzled, "Chen Ji, who hurt you? The thief is too arrogant. He even dared to commit violence in Luocheng... I thought Luocheng was peaceful!"
She Dengke muttered, "Princess, Luo City is not peaceful at night, especially in the West Market. That's where the human traffickers hang out, and they're all very vicious. You'd better not go there."
Bai Li frowned: "When my father comes back, I will tell him about this and make sure that Luocheng is clear and sunny.
The prince smiled and said to everyone, "My sister is born with a sense of justice. Since she was little, she can't stand us doing anything unjust. If we stole two watermelons from others, she would teach us a lesson for a whole day and force us to go back and give her twenty copper coins!"
Bai Li rolled his eyes. "I worked so hard to grow watermelons for several months, and you guys are right to steal them? Stop talking nonsense, Chen Ji. Do you still remember what the person who hurt you looks like? Where is he? I'll have General Wang capture him!"
Liang Mao'er, standing by, also quickly said, "No need for General Wang, my brother can chop him alive with one blow."
Chen Ji lay on the bed, smiling and shaking his head: "Thank you everyone, thank you Princess, the person who hurt me has been brought to justice."
Princess Baili nodded: "That's good!"
At this moment, the small apprentice dormitory was filled with people, making it look extremely crowded. Everyone was talking at once, and it was a mess.
However, there had never been so many people gathered in the backyard of Taiping Medical Clinic, and there had never been so many people who cared about Chen Ji.
The messy environment in front of him actually made him feel a little warm.
As he was speaking, Old Man Yao walked into the room with a dark face and his hands behind his back.
He looked at the crowded room and immediately urged them, "Go do what you need to do. The prince and the princess should not linger here. Go back to the palace first. Chen Ji needs to rest."
The prince originally wanted to take Baili away quickly, but when he heard this, he immediately stood up and said goodbye: "What Doctor Yao said makes sense.
We will go back now. Chen Ji, we will come to see you again tomorrow morning!"
Chen Ji smiled and replied, "Thank you, Prince and Princess!"
Old Man Yao glanced at him, then turned to the people in the room and said, "Liang Gou'er, Liang Mao'er, the two of you wait in the yard for a while. I need to talk to Chen Ji. Liu Quxing, you go help in the kitchen as well. I didn't tell you not to come in."
When the beauty appeared in the room, Old Man Yao no longer treated Chen Ji with a good face, and Chen Ji felt guilty and dared not speak.
They were silent, and even the flame of the oil residue lamp was a little lower.
After a long moment, Old Man Yao asked in a serious tone, "Who was that man in the cloth shop? If you wanted to kill him, why did you let him go?"
Chen Ji's heart tightened. His master actually knew this.
Old Man Yao said intriguingly, "Are you still planning to hide it? Why don't you ask if the Golden Pig has caught him?"
Chen Ji immediately became obedient, raised his head and asked, "Master, how is he now?"
Old Man Yao stood beside the bunk bed with his hands behind his back, sneering, "Early this morning, the Secret Service found a new witness and is investigating here. It looks like they'll find the cloth shop in a few hours. I took advantage of the shop owner's unconsciousness to strip him of his bloody shirt and threw it into an alley outside the West Market. A spy stationed there found the bloody shirt and has now surrounded the West Market, searching every shop there."
It turned out that it was his master who helped him divert the attention of the Secret Service.
This old man Yao said that there was no need for them to have a master-disciple relationship, but he still took action in the end.
But what makes Chen Ji feel strange is that although they are master and disciple, and although old man Yao is a little cold on the outside but warm on the inside, the relationship between them is not good enough for the other party to fight against the Secret Service for him, right?
He always felt something was strange, as if there was something else behind this matter.
Seeing that he remained silent, Old Man Yao sneered, "Your fabricated scene fooled the Golden Pig, but it couldn't fool me. The crow saw you nearly lose your life and hurried back to call me to save you. You really should thank it. If it weren't for it, you'd be a corpse in the inner prison right now. Aren't you going to tell me? This divination is a very bad omen for you!"
Chen Ji sighed inwardly, and finally chose to confess his secret: "Master, I am not only working for the Ning Dynasty's Secret Service, but also for the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Department!"
Old Man Yao raised his eyebrows: "I know this, tell me something I don't know."
"ah?"
Chen Ji was stunned: "You know this too?"
Old Man Yao sneered, "You still think you're being so secretive. Do you want me to repeat what you talked about with Concubine Yun?"
Chen Ji was completely dumbfounded.
He couldn't understand how the master knew about this matter. There was no crow present at the time...
etc……
There was a persimmon tree in Feiyun Garden. When he was talking with Concubine Yun, although there was no one in the courtyard, there were magpies pecking at the persimmons on the tree.
From time to time, magpies would land and fly away in front of the door.
If dark clouds can communicate with all cats, then crows can also communicate with all birds!
Do magpies have intelligence?
Of course there are. Magpies are among the top five bird species in terms of IQ. Not only can they remember thousands of food hiding places, but they can also clearly classify food. Their IQ even exceeds that of many mammals.
Seeing his eyes flicker, Old Man Yao sneered, "How many years have I been practicing the Way of the Tiger? How many days have you been practicing?"
"Then why didn't you call me earlier?"
Elder Yao was heartbroken. "Did you give me the time to teach you? It's only been a short time since I taught you to obtain Dragon Qi, and you've already caused so much trouble."
Chen Ji hesitated for a moment: "As a Ning Dynasty person, wouldn't you be angry when you found out that I work for the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Department?"
Old Man Yao shook his head. "I don't want to explain this matter. You will understand it later. Let me talk about your business first. What's going on with the people in the cloth shop?"
Seeing that the other party didn't seem to care about his identity as a spy, Chen Ji simply chose to reveal everything: "The man in the cloth shop is called Wu Hongbiao. He was sent by my uncle from Jing Dynasty. He will teach me about espionage and become my partner."
"My uncle is a prominent figure in the Jing Dynasty. He's currently losing the political battle, and his opponent, Lu Guanwu, is secretly trying to clip his wings. Wu Hongbiao happens to be on the list of those being clipped."
"He came to the cloth shop to give me a heads-up and warn me of danger!"
Old Man Yao fell into deep thought.
Chen Ji asked, "Master, what should I do now?"
Old Man Yao said angrily, "Why are you asking me? You got yourself into trouble and you still want me to help you clean up the mess."
"Is Wu Hongbiao still alive?"
"I don't know!"
"It's so cold, after you stripped him of his bloody clothes, did you change him into other clothes?"
"No, that's none of my business!"
"Did you give him anything to eat?"
"None of my business!"
Chen Ji suddenly sat up from the bed: "It's broken."
Poor Wu Hongbiao.
Old man Yao is really only concerned about keeping himself alive and doesn't care about the lives of others at all.
But then Old Man Yao sneered, "Shouldn't you thank my mother? If he had just died like this, you could have put away your soft-heartedness with peace of mind. Don't worry, it wasn't you who caused his death, it was me!"
It turned out that the master wanted to drag Wu Hongbiao to death.
Chen Ji said seriously: "Master, this is not a woman's kindness."
After saying that, he struggled to get up and wanted to go out, but he quickly calmed down and sat back on the bed: "No, we have to wait until everyone is asleep!"
Old Man Yao snorted and went out. "He's not stupid, though. I advise you to try not to get involved with that Wu Hongbiao. I see that the lifeline on his palm is short and sharp, and he looks quite cute. You won't end well if you get involved with him!"
Chen Ji: ...
Master, you took off someone's clothes and read their palm at the same time?
…………
In the stillness of the night,
Snoring sounds were heard in the apprentice dormitory. Chen Ji quietly got up amid the snoring and put on his clothes with difficulty.
The big movement affected the wound, causing him to sweat profusely on his forehead due to the pain, but he dared not make a sound.
Chen Ji limped out of the door carefully.
In the yard, a crow was standing on a branch of an apricot tree with its eyes closed, resting as if it had become one with the tree.
When it saw Chen Ji coming out, it opened its eyes and stared at him quietly.
Under the moonlight, the silver light sprinkled on it, and it appeared in a variety of colors, as if it was covered with a layer of divine cloak.
Chen Ji said seriously: "Uncle Crow, thank you."
The old man said that the crow had been practicing with him for fifty-three years, so there was nothing wrong with him calling him Uncle Crow.
But it was the first time that Crow heard someone call him like that.
So he looked at Chen Ji with some curiosity.
Chen Ji chuckled softly and said, "Master said that if it weren't for you, I would have died yesterday. I have to go out now. If you find anything unusual, please let me know. I'm in the cloth shop next door."
The crow was silent for a moment, then waved its wings, signaling him to go without worry.
Chen Ji went to the kitchen to get four multi-grain cakes, filled a bamboo tube with water, put some snake bed in his arms, and then walked out of the clinic.
He was seriously injured and could only hold on to the wall and stagger forward bit by bit in the shadows between the houses.
It was only a distance of one hundred meters, but Chen Ji was sweating all over from the pain, as if he had just run five kilometers.
The wound on his thigh burst open, and blood soaked his pants again.
He gritted his teeth and climbed over the wall into the backyard of the cloth shop, but saw dark clouds hiding in the shadows, guarding the main door.
Seeing him like this, Wuyun immediately meowed, "What's wrong with you? Who hurt you?"
Chen Ji leaned against Qiang to catch his breath and rest, and said with a sad smile: "Let's not talk about this for now. Is Wu Hongbiao still in there?"
Wuyun replied, "He's still inside. He was unconscious for most of the time, and when he woke up, he didn't try to escape. It seemed like he was waiting for you."
Chen Ji was silent. At some point, he wished that Wu Hongbiao was just acting. That way, he could be a fool to the other party without any psychological burden and avoid future troubles.
"Did he eat anything today?" Chen Ji asked curiously.
Wuyun said, "While he was unconscious, I caught a few mice and threw them next to him. He didn't care. After waking up, he skinned them with a knife and ate the meat from their legs and backs raw."
Chen Ji glanced into the room and saw a bloody mess on the floor, with three skinned rat carcasses lying on the side.
"How does he drink water?"
Wuyun explained, "When he was thirsty, he went to the yard and drank some water from the ground."
Chen Ji knew that Wu Hongbiao wanted to survive. His desire to survive was beyond that of ordinary people. No wonder he could survive until today despite being hunted down.
"Wuyun, has he seen you?"
“Never!”
"good!"
Chen Ji walked into the house. Wu Hongbiao, who had been asleep, suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing that it was him, he was relieved and said with a wry smile, "I thought you had met with an accident, but you don't look much better than me."
Chen Ji got straight to the point: "Which Si Cao wants to kill you?"
"Which one?"
Wu Hongbiao was puzzled: "There is only one Si Cao."
Chen Ji asked, "Is he wearing a green-faced, fang-toothed mask, skilled in knife-wielding, and wearing clothes with patches on the elbows?"
"Yes, it's him!"
Chen Ji was already 80% certain in his heart that there was definitely more than one person playing the role behind the title of Si Cao.
There is a shopkeeper named Yuan in Bailu Pavilion.
The one with a green face and fangs is another one.
It seems that the one who wants to kill him and Wu Hongbiao is the one with the knife.
"How long have you been working with this Si Cao?"
Chen Ji asked.
Wu Hongbiao sat up with difficulty, leaning against the wall while chewing on a multi-grain pancake. "I worked with him for about four years, but I never saw his true face. I only knew that his name was Li Xilong during the Jing Dynasty. But when I came to the Ning Dynasty, I heard your uncle say that this man was his old subordinate and would take care of you and me!"
"Then why did he kill you?"
Wu Hongbiao choked on his multi-grain pancake. He took the bamboo tube from Chen Ji and took a long sip of water before speaking his mind. "I guess he just received news from the Jing Dynasty. Previously, your uncle was only removed from his post as the Left Prime Minister of the Secretariat, but he was still allowed to serve as the Military Strategy Officer. Now, even that position has been removed, replaced by his former political enemy Lu Guanwu. So, in order to keep his position as the Secretary of State, Li Xilong has completely sided with Lu Guanwu and plans to use you and me as a token of his loyalty!"
Chen Ji thought that he would keep Wu Hongbiao, and he was not disappointed. The other party had a high position in the Military Intelligence Department and knew many secrets.
Li Xilong...
Chen Ji leaned against the door frame of the main house, looking a little tired.
He had already sensed that the crisis was approaching, and now that the other party couldn't find Wu Hongbiao, they would definitely look for an opportunity to attack him.
Chen Ji looked at Wu Hongbiao who was sitting on the ground: "How are you feeling?"
Wu Hongbiao patted his chest and said, "I have a way to practice cultivation, so I won't die."
"I don't think you're that great..."
"You kid needs to be punished again..."
Wu Hongbiao cursed, "Yesterday I was seriously injured, and I was blocked by that son of a bitch Li Xilong. I had enough merit, but he still wouldn't give me the next level of cultivation."
"What are your plans next?"
Chen Ji asked curiously.
Wu Hongbiao said: "I plan to go back to Jingchao. I must go back as soon as possible to ask your uncle to save my sister. I also have to help your uncle make a comeback. I must go back as soon as possible..."
The house became quiet, and the moonlight cast from behind, stretching Chen Ji's shadow in the room.
After a long silence, Chen Ji looked directly at Wu Hongbiao and said, "Sorry, you can't leave yet."
“What are you going to do here?
"Kill Si Cao!"
End of this chapter...
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