Chapter 143: Dragon Seed

In the dim interior of the iron-smelting workshop, the residual heat from the blast furnace was slowly dissipating. In the gloom, the Crown Prince and Zhang Xia faced each other in silence, neither knowing if they would live to see tomorrow.

Zhang Xia went to find a clean cloth, washed it, and looked towards the Crown Prince. “Please step aside for a moment, Crown Prince. I’ll wipe down the Princess.”

“Alright,” the Crown Prince, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, stood up and moved into a dark corner, turning his back on Bai Li and Zhang Xia.

As Zhang Xia knelt on the ground and wiped Bai Li’s body, she asked, “When did the Crown Prince and the Princess realize that Chen Ji is a Xing Zhe?”

The Crown Prince answered casually, “Once, Bai Li and I were in danger. If he hadn’t acted to save us, Bai Li and I would likely not have survived.”

Zhang Xia lowered her head and said, “I once asked my uncle if he could teach me the way of the Xing Zhe, but he said I didn’t have the talent for it. In this world, Xing Zhe are as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns. It truly makes people envious!”

The Crown Prince was slightly startled. “Uncle?”

He quickly realized that Zhang Xia’s uncle was the Vice Director of the Qin Tian Jian, Xu Shu!

The Crown Prince smiled and said, “I once had the same thought, but my father said that the identity of a Crown Prince and the way of the Xing Zhe naturally repel each other and cannot be cultivated. He said officials of the third rank and above absolutely cannot cultivate the way of the Xing Zhe. You can’t have both fish and bear paws; one path in life is enough. You shouldn’t be greedy. That’s why the Director of our dynasty’s Qin Tian Jian is only a positive fourth rank.”

“How did the Prince know? My uncle never mentioned this.”

“My father said that when he was young, he also wanted to cultivate. He found a cultivation method from the palace, secretly practiced it, and indeed entered the realm. But after being enfeoffed as a Prince, all his cultivation instantly dissipated.”

Zhang Xia sighed. “What a pity.”

The Crown Prince laughed heartily. “My dad said the same thing, what a pity. However, I plan to go back this time and urge my father to have another son. Then I won’t be the Crown Prince anymore, and I can follow Chen Ji and become a Xing Zhe.”

Zhang Xia thought for a moment and suddenly said, “Actually, when I was a child, I saw Chen Ji at Old Master Chen’s sixtieth birthday banquet. He and his mother sat together in the corner, but he still drew people’s attention. At that time, he looked wooden and dull, completely different from now. Time really flies. I didn’t expect him to change so much.”

“Oh?”

The Crown Prince was puzzled. “I was there too at that time. Why do I have no impression of you and Chen Ji at all?”

Zhang Xia closed her eyes and pondered for a moment. “The Crown Prince was sitting at the main table at that time. Before the banquet started, while Old Master Chen was standing up to give a toast, you secretly took a sip of Prince Jing’s wine. The strong wine made your eyes water and you couldn’t open them.”

The Crown Prince was startled. He wanted to turn back and look at Zhang Xia, but remembered he couldn’t, so he quickly turned his head forward again. “Wait. Why do you remember so clearly? Could it be that you have a photographic memory like Master Zhang?”

Zhang Xia hummed in response.

The Crown Prince was both surprised and doubtful. “Does the entire Zhang family have this ability?”

“No, only my father and I.”

At this point, Zhang Xia had properly dressed Bai Li’s clothes. She then stood up to wipe her own body.

She said to herself, “My father married into the family, so the Xu family agreed that he was not allowed to take concubines, not allowed to divorce his wife, not allowed to... anyway, there were many rules. After I was born, when I was one and a half years old, I could recite classics backward fluently. My mother then suddenly allowed my father to take concubines. Not only that, the Xu family also tried every means to send women to him.”

The Crown Prince suddenly understood. “To let Master Zhang have another one like you... a boy?”

Zhang Xia smiled and said, “Yes. My mother and my father agreed that if they had another child with exceptional talent, they would need to adopt them as a grandson to my grand-uncle, surnamed Xu.”

The Crown Prince knew that Zhang Xia’s grand-uncle was the current First Assistant of the Cabinet, Xu Gong.

Elder Xu’s only son, Xu Shu, died and was revived through the Yuan Jue Temple assembly. He now devoted himself to cultivation and had not married, sitting idly in the Qin Tian Jian.

Elder Xu’s actions were likely to find another person for the Xu family to continue its hundred years of prosperity.

The Crown Prince sighed. “Great families truly spare no effort for their inheritance.”

“I’m done wiping. Crown Prince, you can come back.”

Zhang Xia re-tied her hair and casually picked up an iron bar from the ground as a hairpin.

The Crown Prince returned to Bai Li’s side and sat cross-legged, worried. “Why hasn’t Chen Ji come back? Don’t tell me something happened.”

Just then, Bai Li slowly opened her eyes, her voice weak. “Brother, what did you just say about Chen Ji?”

The Crown Prince said joyfully, “You’re finally awake. Let me feel your forehead. It’s still so hot. We need to quickly diagnose and treat you.”

As he was about to withdraw his hand from Bai Li’s forehead, Bai Li suddenly grasped his wrist. “Brother, where is Chen Ji? Don’t change the subject.”

The Crown Prince chuckled happily. “Chen Ji went out to find medicine for you. He’ll be back soon.”

Bai Li lay on the ground, her eyes staring straight at the Crown Prince. “Brother, you’re lying.”

The Crown Prince was anxious. Bai Li woke up at this precise moment, neither earlier nor later.

Before he could think of how to respond, he heard someone riding a fast horse past the iron-smelting workshop outside and shouting loudly, “The Deputy General has an order! The Second Great Camp will immediately assemble and search every corner door-to-door. Do not let any outsiders escape. Those outsiders were just in the military town.”

The Crown Prince and Zhang Xia looked at each other, both with shock in their eyes. “How did they know we were just in the military town?”

The Crown Prince was doubtful. “Did Chen Ji sell us out? No, Chen Ji isn’t that kind of person.”

Bai Li stated categorically, “Chen Ji wouldn’t possibly sell us out.”

Zhang Xia glanced at Bai Li and calmly analyzed, “If Chen Ji wanted to sell us out, he could have just told them our location directly. They wouldn’t need to go to so much trouble.”

The Crown Prince said, “That’s true. I knew Chen Ji was reliable.”

Bai Li stared at the Crown Prince without speaking.

The Crown Prince smiled awkwardly. “I’m not as smart as Zhang Xia. I was just following her words and saying whatever came to mind.”

He stood up and quickly walked a few steps, pressing the side of his face against the wooden door of the workshop to listen to the movements outside.

At this moment, another cavalryman galloped past the door, shouting loudly, “Mr. Feng has an order! The First Great Camp will assemble! Immediately ride into the mountains! We must intercept that outsider before he passes through Long Wang Gu.”

Bai Li barely supported her body. “It’s Chen Ji.”

Zhang Xia nodded. “It’s certainly Chen Ji, no doubt. Long Wang Gu is in the northeast direction, and we are in the southwest. Chen Ji must be deliberately choosing the direction to help us lead people away.”

The Crown Prince scratched his head. “Your brain works so fast. Just like Chen Ji’s.”

Zhang Xia glanced at him and said calmly, “When Chen Ji left, he instructed us that if there was trouble in the town, we must immediately take the Princess and leave. If we want to go, now is the time.”

The Crown Prince said firmly, “Let’s go.”

He bent down to pick up Bai Li, carried her on his back, and began to walk.

Under the night sky, Zhang Xia walked in front, pushing open the door and poking her head out to look.

Confirming that the soldiers had not yet searched this area, she immediately led the way towards the wooden fence.

“Who’s there? Stop!”

A voice like thunder rang out from behind the three of them.

The Crown Prince suddenly turned back, only to see two soldiers holding knives rushing towards them from dozens of steps away. “We’ve found outsiders! Over here!”

The Crown Prince’s heart sank to the bottom.

The cavalryman earlier had deliberately shouted loudly to flush out the snake. In fact, soldiers had set up secret sentries on the street early, waiting for them to walk into the trap.

He suddenly felt a little desperate. Even though Chen Ji risked his life to help them lead people away, they still couldn’t escape.

As the Crown Prince, he couldn’t even protect two people.

“Run quickly.”

The Crown Prince, carrying Bai Li, ran desperately towards the wooden fence with Zhang Xia.

He stood in front of the fence, turned back to look at the soldiers who were about to catch up, and said to Zhang Xia, “You step on me first to climb over, then receive Bai Li.”

Bai Li weakly said, “Brother, leave me here.”

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