Chapter 149: Wish

“Chen Ji, are you holding a grudge against me?”

“No.”

Zhang Xia glared with wide eyes. “Then why were you all sweet-talk and pleasant in front of the county princess, but you can't stand the sight of me? I asked you if a cat eats food given by strangers, and you said it eats strangers’ words?”

Chen Ji leaned silently against a large tree, resting his knife. The mountain forest fell into a deathly silence.

Earlier, the mountain had echoed with the sounds of Mr. Feng and Tian Ma fighting from time to time. The tearing sound of wood fibers as trees fell could be heard from far away.

And now, the sounds of fighting had also disappeared.

The four of them looked at each other, their faces smeared with burnt ash, as black as if they had just crawled out of a coal kiln.

The Shizi suddenly spoke, easing the tension. “Bai Li, I’ll help you wipe your face.”

Saying that, he was about to pull up his sleeve to wipe.

Bai Li weakly stopped him, saying in an annoyed tone, “Are you trying to write ‘king’ on my forehead again?”

They looked at each other, and after a moment, they all burst out laughing.

The Shizi looked left at Zhang Xia and right at Chen Ji, then sighed suddenly. “We’ve been through life and death together, for better or worse. If there were any grudges before, let them go.”

Zhang Xia thought for a moment, brushed off the dust from her body, and came to Chen Ji’s front, saying solemnly, “I’m sorry. I know you’re angry that I said ‘human life is more important than a cat’s life.’ Looking back now, if Zao Zao was in a sea of fire, I would also find a way to save it. I’m sorry.”

She stuffed the oil paper package into Chen Ji’s hand. “It’s all for you to eat.”

Chen Ji lowered his head to look at the pastry in his hand. He hadn’t expected Zhang Xia to be so straightforward.

He was silent for a moment and said, “I should also thank you all for coming to find me. If you hadn’t knocked down so many soldiers and extinguished this mountain fire, I might not have escaped alive.”

Zhang Xia shook her head. “No need to say that. Earlier, if you hadn’t led us to escape into the army town, we would have frozen to death in the mountains long ago.”

The Shizi chuckled helplessly. “Stop, stop, why are we being polite to each other now? You’re giving me goosebumps. Where are we going now?”

Chen Ji took out a piece of pastry and held it to Wu Yun’s mouth. “We should go to Lu Hun Shan Zhuang as soon as possible. Scholars gather there, and the Dao Court and Buddha Gate are all present. Presumably, even if the Liu family finds our traces, they wouldn’t dare to make a move there. Shizi, Second Miss Zhang, you and the county princess can ride the horse. I’ll lead the way.”

Zhang Xia said with difficulty, “But Zao Zao can’t carry us now.”

Chen Ji looked at Zao Zao and saw that the date-red warhorse was soaked with sweat, standing under the faint light of dawn on a winter day, with steam rising from its body.

After intense activity, a horse will fall into a state of high temperature and dehydration. It’s very difficult for it to recover, and it needs a large amount of cool water to flush and cool down to avoid organ failure.

Zao Zao carrying three people and climbing the mountain for so long was already at the end of its rope. Carrying people again would likely tire it to death on the road.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li again, a little hesitant.

Earlier, the situation was urgent, and Bai Li was dizzy and weak, so he could still carry her on his back.

Now that she was awake, carrying her on his back again felt a bit inappropriate.

The Shizi quickly said, “I’ll carry Bai Li.”

Saying that, he bent down in front of Bai Li.

Bai Li insisted, “Brother, I can walk by myself for a while.”

The Shizi smiled and said, “You still have a fever. You can’t even stand steady, how can you escape? If I don’t bring you back whole, Dad will hang me on the house beam and beat me for a year. Hurry, listen to me.”

Bai Li softly hummed and lay on the Shizi’s back.

Chen Ji suddenly thought, maybe the Liu family’s plot to rebel really had nothing to do with Jing Wang.

The Liu family wanted to catch the Shizi and the county princess, nothing more than seeing that Jing Wang cared about these two people, so they wanted to use their lives as bargaining chips.

If Jing Wang was as unscrupulous as the Liu family early on, the Liu family wouldn’t need to do this at all.

The four of them walked down the mountain. As they walked, the Shizi couldn’t support himself and fell backward. Fortunately, Chen Ji was quick-eyed and quick-handed, pulling Bai Li back, which prevented them from falling to the ground.

Chen Ji said in a low voice, “Shizi, I’ll carry the county princess. You’re an ordinary person, you can’t carry her far, and you can’t walk fast.”

The Shizi awkwardly turned his head and looked at Bai Li.

Bai Li thought for a moment, didn’t mention walking by herself, but said weakly, “Brother, let Chen Ji do it.”

The Shizi sighed. “Okay.”

Chen Ji tied the Whale Knife to Zao Zao’s saddle, dragged Bai Li’s legs himself, carried her on his back, and walked steadily down the mountain.

Bai Li gently put her head on his shoulder. “Chen Ji, thank you.”

Chen Ji smiled and said, “What is there to thank? Didn’t the Shizi say? We are now friends who have been through life and death together.”

Bai Li hummed and sighed after a long time. “I didn’t think we could survive. Right, people say that you only know your biggest wish in this life when you are near death. Brother, Zhang Xia, what were your wishes earlier?”

The Shizi laughed heartily. “I’m more greedy, I have two wishes. Earlier in that iron smelting workshop in the army town, I wished that we hadn’t encountered this ambush. That way, we would have been drinking all night in Lu Hun Shan Zhuang, and I heard there were quite a few interesting women there.”

Chen Ji asked, “What about now?”

The Shizi gradually collected his smile. “I now want to quickly find a path to practice, become an official, otherwise I can’t even protect my own sister well.”

Chen Ji said, “That might be impossible, Shizi.”

The Shizi said disdainfully, “If it’s impossible, then it’s impossible. My dad is only forty-five years old. It’ll be my turn to be Jing Wang, I’ll have to wait at least another twenty years. If he lives long, who knows, he might outlive me.”

Bai Li said angrily, “Aren’t you cursing our dad to only live to his sixties? Quick, pu, pu, pu.”

The Shizi: “Pu, pu, pu.”

Bai Li looked at Zhang Xia. “Zhang Xia, what’s your wish!”

Zhang Xia held Zao Zao’s reins, walking down the mountain while casually saying, “My biggest wish now is to prepare a large wooden tub and have a good hot bath.”

Bai Li thought for a moment, then suddenly asked Chen Ji, “Chen Ji, my dad said earlier that he owed you a favor and could grant you one request. Have you thought about what you want to ask him for now?”

Chen Ji laughed and said, “I wanted to ask Jing Wang to find the best craftsman to make a scabbard for my knife. At that time, Wang Ye just said it casually. If I had been greedy, it would have shown that I lacked judgment.”

Bai Li gently oh’d, and after a long time, he spoke. “This matter is not difficult. I’ll find someone to make this scabbard and send it to you.”

Chen Ji was startled. “Okay.”

Speaking of the Whale Knife, the Shizi said curiously, “Chen Ji, where did you get this knife?”

Chen Ji smiled and replied, “Picked it up in the mountains. Because it’s relatively handy, I just brought it with me.”

The Shizi sized up the Whale Knife. He saw that the blade was bright as snow, with no traces of rust. The gold tiger swallowtail was lifelike, how could it be something ownerless found in the mountains?

Just as he was about to ask further, he heard Wu Yun lightly meow.

Chen Ji suddenly tensed up and led the Shizi and the others to hide behind a clump of bushes.

Zhang Xia didn’t ask any more questions, but led Zao Zao to lie down.

Chen Ji said in a low voice, “Don’t speak a word.”

The next moment, Mr. Feng walked out of the mountain forest at a leisurely pace, with Jiang Yan following behind, limping, leading two horses.

When he saw the two of them, Chen Ji’s scalp instantly went numb, his whole body felt like it had fallen into an ice cave.

He carefully sized up the mountain forest behind the two people, but didn’t see the figures of Gold Pig and Tian Ma!

Dead? Or did they run?

Chen Ji couldn’t figure out how they had escaped so far and still met them here.

Were they pursuing them, or did they really happen to take the same road?

At this moment, Mr. Feng was humming a small tune, passing by them not far away without turning his head, seemingly not noticing them.

That little tune was somewhat strange: “Build, plan affairs, marry, Gen Palace Fuyin, Kun Palace Fanyin, Xun Palace enters tomb, Zhen Palace receives Ke, endlessly.”

Chen Ji suddenly doubted, weren’t they coming to chase and kill him? Could it really just be a coincidence?

Yes, there weren't many roads to avoid the fire now, and it was understandable that they were walking the same one.

It was a good thing Wu Yun’s hearing and sense of smell surpassed humans, otherwise they would have just collided.

He carefully sized them up. Jiang Yan had a bloody hole in his left shoulder, which must have been shot through by Tian Ma’s arrow.

And this Mr. Feng had no wounds, his green shirt didn’t even have a single wrinkle.

Jiang Yan held the reins of the warhorse with a blank expression, as if his body wound didn’t hurt at all, like a puppet doll, with only cold killing intent from head to toe.

Just as Chen Ji wanted to look carefully, he saw Jiang Yan intentionally or unintentionally glance towards the mountain forest. He quickly lay low before the other person looked over.

Everyone held their breath, not even daring to breathe, only feeling a mountain pressing down on everyone’s body, incredibly heavy.

He didn’t know how long passed, and Mr. Feng’s humming gradually faded away.

Chen Ji carefully raised his head to look out. There were no people outside the bush cluster.

He let out a long sigh of relief and said in a low voice, “This Mr. Feng looks like a weak scholar, but when you are truly face to face with him, there is a kind of nameless pressure. You have no idea what he is thinking, and you don’t know what methods he is preparing.”

Zhang Xia said, “I heard that this Mr. Feng’s original name was Feng Zhang, the second place in the Ji State provincial examination in the eighteenth year of Jia Ning. He came from a humble background but wrote a good article. His pure style was quite outstanding. At that time, many people said that he would surely get His Majesty’s favor during the palace examination. However, in the spring of the next year, he ranked at the end of the C list in the palace examination and resigned from office and disappeared without a trace.”

She continued, “Within six years, Mr. Feng was like he had evaporated. Seven years ago, he reappeared and was already the first advisor under Cabinet Elder Liu, with immense power, and also inexplicably became an official.”

Chen Ji sighed, “Dealing with this kind of person as an opponent, you have to be careful, careful, and then careful.”

Saying that, he carried Bai Li and walked out of the bush cluster, planning to take a small road down the mountain.

However, just as he walked out not far, he heard Wu Yun meow again.

Chen Ji slowly turned his stiff body and saw two horses tied to a tree. The horses were restlessly stamping their hooves, but there was no one beside them.

Mr. Feng and Jiang Yan had both disappeared without a trace.

Chen Ji asked in a low voice, “Wu Yun, are there still people nearby?”

Wu Yun meowed, “No. Only these two horses.”

Chen Ji lightly oh’d. Why did Mr. Feng leave, but coincidentally leave the two horses here?

Did he dislike the burden of leading the horses down the mountain... or did he discover their traces earlier and deliberately leave these two horses for them?

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