98. Wake up
On the official road of Luocheng.
The old ox slowly pulled the cart into the dusk, step by step. Time seemed to slow down with its pace, allowing the orange-red sunset light to engulf everyone with warmth like a tide.
There was a lot of traffic on the official road. Some people were driving ox carts to Luocheng, while others were carrying unsold fruits back to the suburbs.
Bai Li was sitting on an oxcart, waving to an old man carrying a shoulder pole. "Old man, why haven't you sold all the oranges yet? There are still so many left on the shoulder pole."
The old man came up to the ox cart with his shoulder pole and said, "My handsome guest, the oranges were damaged by the heavy snow a few days ago, and no one wants to buy them."
Bai Li asked curiously, "How much are your oranges?"
The old man hurriedly said, "Two cents a pound."
Bai Li smiled and took out a piece of silver from her hair bun and handed it to him: "Here, give us all your oranges so you don't have to go through the trouble of picking them up again."
The old man was shocked when he heard this: "That won't work. Frozen oranges won't last long. You don't need to buy so many."
Bai Li was in a very good mood: "No problem! Brother Maoer, please help me get out of the car and take the oranges out of my pocket so we can share them."
Liang Maoer smiled innocently and said, "Okay."
Bai Li held the edge of the cart, leaned over and took out an orange from the old man's shoulder pole and peeled it.
She broke off a slice and put it in her mouth, then silently handed the orange to the prince.
The prince happily put a slice of the orange into his mouth, then handed the rest of the orange to Chen Ji with a grin.
It was passed on quietly until it finally reached Liang Gou'er.
Liang Gou'er stuffed half of the orange into his mouth in one gulp: "...Pah, pah, pah, I was wondering why you were so kind to peel an orange for me. It's so sour!"
It was only at this moment that the faces of those who had eaten the oranges twisted, and then they all burst into laughter: "Hahahaha, no wonder the old man didn't sell a single orange!"
The laughter echoes far away in the sunset. The time spent with friends is always so happy.
Amid the bustling crowd, when the playful carriage passed by the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall again, the prince subconsciously held his head high and chest puffed out, feeling proud.
However, the first round of the Autumn Examination will not be over until three days, and there will be no spectators today.
The prince exhaled a breath of foul air. "I really want those scholars to know how great our achievements are. Now we are entering the city in silence, like a brocade robe walking at night! What a pity!"
Bai Li sat on the cart, hugged his knees and said with a smile: "Brother, when will you be able to control your flamboyant temper? If you still act like this when you become the Prince of Jing, you will be laughed at."
The prince waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. Our father can at least sit firmly on the throne for a few more decades. After a few decades, I will definitely be mature and stable."
Bai Li retorted, "But when Dad was your age, he had already helped His Majesty suppress the imperial relatives."
The prince was stunned, and suddenly felt disheartened: "What's the point of helping His Majesty suppress the relatives of the emperor's wife? Now His Majesty is just letting us be suppressed by the eunuch party. The eunuch party is hateful!"
Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has the eunuch party been suppressing Prince Jing's Mansion all these years?"
The Crown Prince sneered, "For years, the Chief Criminal Division has been keeping a close eye on my father's former subordinates, arresting over twenty of them and imprisoning them. The Secret Service Division has also repeatedly planted spies in the palace to monitor our daily lives. Feng Daban, you saw it too. He's also one of the Minister's men, and he's been assigned to stay by my father's side."
Even Bai Li complained, "The eunuch party is arrogant and domineering. It's really abominable."
Chen Ji remained silent. Although it was not his will, he was now undoubtedly a member of the eunuch party. He was caught between the Jingwang Mansion and the eunuch party, not knowing how to please both sides.
However, at this moment, where he looked, he saw a fat figure standing on the street, looking at him with a smile.
The figure was like a huge bell, waking up a beautiful dream.
Just as the rising sun will always set, and no matter how beautiful the dream is, one will always wake up. When Chen Ji hid in Liujiatun, he knew that he could not hide for long, and what was coming would come.
Golden Pig.
The Golden Pig was seen in the crowd, smiling and waving at him to follow, and then turned around and merged into the crowd without saying a word.
Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, then turned to Bai Li and said, "Princess, you two should go back first. I just remembered that I have some things to do."
After saying that, he jumped off the cart and caught up with the golden pig.
Liu Quxing sat on the cart and shouted at Chen Ji's back, "Hey, isn't this an excuse for not wanting to treat us? We still have to go to Yingxian Tower later, come back early!"
Traceable
No answer.
His face was calm as he watched the silhouette of the golden pig appearing and disappearing in the crowd.
Jin Zhu never stopped. He led Chen Ji through countless intersections until the number of pedestrians gradually decreased, and then he stopped and turned around in a dead end.
Chen Ji stopped and asked: "Sir, why did you lead me to this dead end?"
Jin Zhu looked at him with a smile without saying a word. The next moment, a carriage suddenly stopped at the entrance of the alley behind Chen Ji, blocking the opening tightly.
The wind was howling, and before Chen Ji could react, someone hit him on the neck with a knife, knocking him unconscious.
…
…
Chen Ji had a dream.
He dreamed that he was still sitting on the old ox cart under the gorgeous sunset in the evening, and his friends were still by his side.
Everyone was eating sweet oranges, the orange-red breeze was blowing everyone's hair, and Baili was smiling and singing softly.
But as it gradually darkened, two people jumped off the end of the cart.
They stopped and turned around, bowed, and said to Chen Ji in the car with a smile: "See you later."
The car didn't stop, and Chen Ji could only watch his friends who got off the car disappear into the night behind him.
When the two men were no longer visible, three more people jumped out of the car, bowed and said with a smile: "See you later."
Friends jumped out of the car one after another to say goodbye, just like the end of a good show and the audience leaving.
Chen Ji wanted to remember what they looked like, but the faces of his friends were shrouded in darkness and he could not see them clearly.
He asked the person beside him: "Where are they going?"
No one answered.
Chen Ji looked around in surprise, only to find that he was the only one left on the swaying ox cart.
At this moment, a basin of cold water fell from the sky, waking me up from this long dream.
Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes and looked up. His hands were tied and hung on the ceiling of the inner prison. The cold iron chains were squeezing his wrists so hard that it hurt.
Looking down again, he saw that he was soaking wet all over, with water still dripping from his messy hair and chin.
The cold clothes stuck to my body and it was freezing cold.
Inner prison.
This is the inner prison of the Secret Service.
In the dark inner prison chamber, the flames on the Bagua array lamps on the wall flickered, but there was no trace of temperature.
The Golden Pig put down the bucket and sat down at the dark red eight-immortal table in front of him. He gently picked up a piece of tender meat from the fish cheek with his chopsticks and asked, "Are you awake?"
Chen Ji whispered, "Awake."
The golden pig closed his eyes and ate the tender meat, savoring it carefully and exclaiming in praise: "It's so tender!"
He opened his eyes, smiled, picked up a piece of meat from the fish belly, and stood on the chair to feed it to his mouth: "Eat it, swallow it all."
The fish bones in the fish belly were not picked out. Chen Ji chewed them together with the bones, and swallowed them into his stomach, and the broken bones cut his throat, causing severe pain.
The Golden Pig gave a thumbs-up and praised, "He ate it all without saying a word. How brave!"
He sat back at the eight-immortal table and asked curiously, "Doctor Chen, are you trying to hide from me?"
"yes."
Jin Zhu used chopsticks to tear the fish head apart, picked out a piece of tender meat and put it into his mouth: "Why didn't you hide this time? Even if you hid in Prince Jing's mansion, I wouldn't dare to do anything to you."
Chen Ji responded calmly, "Master Jinzhu has an iron fist. If he can't find me, he will surely take it out on the other people in the clinic."
"Clever..." Golden Pig wondered, "But if you're so smart, why can't you see that I really want to help you get promoted? If you also become one of the twelve zodiac animals, wouldn't it be wonderful if you, me, and Tianma could look after each other in the Secret Service?"
Chen Ji replied, "That night, Xifeng and I tracked down the Jianghu people and discovered that the person who silenced them was from the Imperial Household Department. I felt that this matter was too dangerous and did not want to get involved anymore."
Golden Pig sighed, "Yes, now that you're with Prince Jing, you can indeed withdraw and stay away from trouble, but how can you enter and leave my Secret Service whenever you want?"
As he spoke, he removed all the fish meat from the plate, then stood up and handed the whole fish skeleton to Chen Ji's mouth: "Eat it, it will replenish your hard bones. After you finish eating, we can talk later."
Chen Ji didn't hesitate. He opened his mouth, chewed the fish bones into pieces, and swallowed them stiffly.
Jin Zhu stood on the chair, with his hands behind his back, and looked at him: "Although those Jianghu people were stripped of their skin, I still found out that they had been drinking with the Prince of Jing's Mansion, and the silver they had on them was also given by the Prince.
"You don't want to investigate further, do you not want the prince to be involved in this conspiracy?"
At this point, Jin Zhu said sternly, "What are you trying to cover up for the prince?"
Chen Ji looked directly into Jin Zhu's eyes. "The prince couldn't possibly be involved in this. If he was, he wouldn't have left so many clues. How could someone who dared to collude with the Jing Dynasty to rebel so easily allow you to find out that he had been hanging out with these people in the underworld? Lord Jin Zhu is also a smart man, he must understand this."
Golden Pig's expression eased slightly.
He jumped off the chair and slowly sat back at the eight-immortal table. He picked up a glass of wine and drank it all in one gulp. "Chen Ji, don't blame me for leaving you hanging here. Once you're in the Secret Service, there's no turning back. Hide? You can't hide. Even I can't hide, so how can you hide?"
Chen Ji whispered, "Master Jinzhu, have you also thought about hiding?"
Golden Pig gazed at the flickering flames on the wall, a look of nostalgia on his face. "I'm the son of a merchant from Gongyi County, Luocheng. My father started out selling candy from door to door. He was a remarkable man. While others would get up at five in the morning to sell candy, he would get up at three, carrying a shoulder pole and heading out. Because of his diligence, our family lived quite well."
Chen Ji listened quietly.
The Golden Pig continued, "My mother is gentle and kind, and I have an older sister who loves me dearly. I remember that every New Year, my sister wouldn't spare any new clothes, but would buy me two sets instead. Whenever my father caught fish from the river, they would save the heads and the tenderest parts of the belly for me to eat. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I should be having a very happy time."
"Unfortunately, when I was eight, my father discovered a method for making frosting. This method allowed brown sugar to be dried and transformed into a clean white frosting in just seven days. Once invented, frosting became a favorite among officials and dignitaries. I still remember that Mid-Autumn Festival night, my father smiled and told me by the kerosene lamp that our family was finally going to be prosperous. When the time came, he would prepare a generous dowry for my sister and find her a good husband who would never let her hold her head up in front of his family. He also wanted to donate a government position for me so that I would no longer be a lowly merchant."
"He also heard from somewhere that in our Ning Dynasty, donating 100 dan of rice can get you a student at the Imperial College, and 250 dan of rice can get you a ninth-rank official. Although it doesn't have real power, it's still respectable."
Jin Zhu poured himself another glass of wine and downed it. "But what happened? That night, officials from the Luocheng government suddenly broke in and, under the pretext of forced labor, took my entire family to the Liu family's coal yard. In that dark coal yard, my father and mother were worked to death. Before they died, I cried until my voice was hoarse, but I couldn't call them back."
"My sister, in order to keep me alive, offered herself to the coal yard supervisors in exchange for food. She saved her rations every day for me, but she herself contracted a disease from the supervisors. What could I do? I could only watch her wither away day by day, as if someone were pulling out her bones one by one. Before she died, my sister opened her eyes and said she wanted to see me one last time. I wanted to hug her, but she told me to go away and not touch her."
"At that time, I thought I was going to die, but suddenly someone brought me to a lame official. The official asked me if I wanted to avenge my family. I said yes."
Chen Ji hung on the roof and lowered his head and asked, "Internal Minister?"
The Golden Pig held the wine glass in his hand and said absentmindedly, "That high-ranking official looked so majestic. His black boots were clean, and his robe was as red as blood. Everyone stood behind him in respect. I thought, such a high-ranking official must be able to help me get revenge. I beg you, please help me get revenge."
Chen Ji asked, "What does the Minister of Internal Affairs say?"
Golden Pig smiled and said, "He said he would avenge me, but I had to give him my life. I thought at the time, this miserable life of mine could actually be used to avenge my family. It was simply too good to be true!"
As he spoke, he looked up at Chen Ji and said, "Over the years, I have hunted down and killed all the officials who were there. I also hunted down the coal yard supervisors and skinned and pulled out the tendons of them and their families one by one. I dug out the bones of those who were already dead and ground them into dust."
"But I still hate it!" Jin Zhu gritted his teeth and said word by word, "I hate it because the Liu family, who stole my frosting business, are still alive and well. The moment the Internal Minister chose me to come to Luocheng, I knew the opportunity for revenge had come. The Internal Minister wants the Liu family to be wiped out!"
Chen Ji looked down and saw that the veins on the forehead of this zodiac animal who always smiled were bulging.
The Golden Pig stared at Chen Ji and said fiercely, "Chen Ji, I'm telling you all this because I hope you can help me. Now I can't trust the secret agents in Luocheng, nor can I trust the Jiefan Guards. I need someone as smart as you. As long as you help me, I will do my best to help you win the position of the Zodiac, and help you rise to the top and have a bright future."
"I've waited too long for this day. I'll kill anyone who misleads me. I'll also kill anyone who doesn't help me."
(End of this chapter)
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