Chapter 159: The Sky Hasn't Fallen

In the courtyard of Taiping Yiguan, there were no lights, only the newly risen moonlight.

Chen Ji's head was steaming with white mist in the cold air, and Jing Fei brought the strong servants, their expressions solemn, as if they were ready to pounce and kill at any moment.

They watched Chen Ji coldly, and Chen Ji watched them coldly in return. She Dengke and Liu Quxing were squatting by the kitchen door, at a loss. Liang Gouer had gone out to drink hua jiu and was nowhere to be found.

Liang Maoer, however, paid no mind to others. He carried a bowl of rice from the kitchen and brought it to Chen Ji, saying simply: "You haven't eaten yet, right? Quick, have a couple of mouthfuls to fill your stomach."

Chen Ji looked at the white rice and neatly arranged cured meat slices in the bowl: "Left for me?"

Liang Maoer smiled, placing a pair of bamboo chopsticks on the bowl: "Master, the old man said at noon that you would be back, and told us to leave it for you."

Chen Ji slightly relaxed his breath: "Thank you, Maoer da ge."

He held the bowl, eating the rice slowly while leaning against the window next to the main room door, secretly listening to the sounds inside the room.

From inside the room came the faint sounds of Jing Fei's suppressed sobs, and Jing Wang's speaking and coughing.

Gradually, the sounds of Jing Wang and Jing Fei speaking became smaller and smaller; it seemed he had fallen asleep again.

After a long time, Chen Ji heard Jing Fei weakly sobbing from behind the white paper window: "Yao Taiyi, tell me the truth, how exactly is Wangye's illness?"

Old Head Yao said casually: "Jing Fei furen, Wangye just needs to rest for a while and he will recover, there's no need to worry too much."

The sobbing sounds inside the room gradually stopped.

Chen Ji turned his head and looked through the white paper window at the shadows cast by the kerosene lamp in the room.

Jing Fei seemed to hand something to Old Head Yao, then opened her mouth and asked: "Yao Taiyi, tell me the truth. How exactly is Wangye?"

Yao Taiyi hesitated for a moment: "Wangye's body was originally weak, and the previous wind chill had not fully recovered. Now, he has further exhausted his energy and spirit for the Shizi and Junzhu. According to his pulse, at the soonest it will be one month, at the slowest three months. We need to start preparing for the aftermath!"

Chen Ji's pupils slightly constricted. He subconsciously looked at the others in the courtyard, confirming that no one heard the conversation inside the room, then he finally put his heart at ease.

Jing Wang… is going to leave?

Could it be that, the other party insisted on traveling in plain clothes because he knew his days were numbered, and so he wanted to go out and see his children while he could still move?

In normal times, after Jing Wang dies, the Shizi would naturally succeed him as king. But now the Liu family is plotting rebellion, and it is imminent. How can the Shizi handle such a matter?

Jing Fei was shocked and uncertain: "One month... Isn't that not even enough to hold on until the anniversary?"

Old Head Yao said softly: "If we can invite the 'Sheng Yu Dan' refined by the Yao Guan Men lineage of Laojun Mountain Dao Yuan, perhaps we can drag on for three years."

Chen Ji was puzzled. What kind of dan medicine was so precious that it would make master use the word 'invite'?

Jing Fei doubted: "I only know that Sheng Yu Dan is the Dao Yuan's treasure, but I didn't know it was so magical."

Old Head Yao explained: "That is the combined dan ding heart's blood of the Yao Guan Men lineage. There are only two pieces in the world now. One piece was offered by Huangshan Dao Yuan to the current emperor. The other piece is in the hands of Laojun Mountain Dao Yuan. It is enshrined on Yuhuang Ding to gather the essence of the sun and moon. One Sheng Yu Dan extends three years of yang life. Not a day more, not a day less. Even with a serious illness, one can still act like a normal person for three years."

Jing Fei made a gesture to go out: "I'll go beg for medicine for Wangye."

Old Head Yao added a sentence from behind her: "Sheng Yu Dan's ability to extend life is just an auxiliary effect. Its true role is to help officials cross tribulations. If Laojun Mountain Dao Leader Cen Yunzi wants to cross the human tribulation and break through to the divine realm, he must use this thing."

Jing Fei found it difficult: "Such an important thing, can the Dao Yuan give it?"

"That depends on what price furen is willing to pay!"

Old Head Yao then said indifferently: "However, birth, old age, sickness, and death are common human experiences. What should come will come, and what should go will go. There's no need to forcefully go against heaven to change fate."

Jing Fei was silent for a long time, then lifted the hem of her skirt and walked out: "Since Wangye insists on staying in the Yiguan, I won't say much more. I'll trouble Yao Taiyi to take good care of him. As for the matter of Sheng Yu Dan, I will think of a way..."

Saying that, Jing Fei lifted the door curtain with red eyes and walked out, the green jade pendant on her earlobe swaying.

She glared at Chen Ji with a cold expression, then walked out supported by Chunrong.

Chen Ji noticed that the jade hairpin she had worn in her hair when she came was gone.

He held the rice bowl and lifted the door curtain to walk into the room. He just saw master holding a kerosene lamp and putting that hairpin into the cabinet.

He glanced at Jing Wang, then asked Old Head Yao's back: "Master, even you can't save Wangye?"

Old Head Yao snorted: "I am not an immortal."

Chen Ji felt a wave of regret.

Old Head Yao closed the cabinet, turned back, and glanced at him: "Sad?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "No, I am not familiar with Jing Wang. I just feel that he is still quite good. Now he is only forty-five years old and will die young, which is a bit of a pity."

"It really makes people sad, ah. I thought we were already very familiar."

Chen Ji suddenly turned his head, only to see in the dim room, Jing Wang suddenly opened his eyes, sat up, and pulled out the silver needles on his chest one by one with his own hands.

Chen Ji: ...

I've been played, ah.

Jing Wang smiled at him and looked at the clay bowl in his hand with half-eaten rice and dishes: "Give it to me, I'm starving to death!"

Chen Ji silently handed over the bowl and chopsticks. Jing Wang also did not dislike that it was his used bowl and chopsticks. He gulped down a few mouthfuls of rice and dishes and ate with relish.

"The cured meat is a bit salty..."

Jing Wang handed the empty bowl back to Chen Ji.

Chen Ji lowered his head to look, and there was actually not a single grain of rice left in the bowl.

He was puzzled: "You even vomited blood before. How can you be as if nothing happened at this moment?"

Jing Wang laughed: "We're not too familiar either, why should I tell you?"

Chen Ji: ...

Jing Wang got up and tidied his clothes. He smiled and patted his shoulder, "Fortunately, when I fell from the horse, you caught me. Otherwise, I would have fallen badly. Young man, tell me the truth. On the way back to the Yiguan while carrying me, were you worried that after I died, no one would pay you that annual two thousand five hundred taels of silver dividend?"

Chen Ji answered honestly: "Very worried. Otherwise, I wouldn't have run so fast!"

Jing Wang smiled lightly: "You are honest!"

Saying that, he turned and pulled open the bed in the room, revealing a deep tunnel under the bed.

In the tunnel, there were stairs about two feet wide, and he didn't know where they led.

Chen Ji looked at Old Head Yao, then looked at Jing Wang again.

It turned out that this Yiguan had always hidden a tunnel leading to the outside.

And why did Jing Wang fake his death and still have to stay in Taiping Yiguan for treatment? It was precisely to shed his skin like a cicada through the Yiguan's tunnel on the eve of the Liu family's impending rebellion.

And all of this, master already knew.

Chen Ji doubted: "Where does Wangye plan to go? Will you come back? If you just leave like this, what will the Shizi and Junzhu do?"

Jing Wang was amused: "I just went out to see a person, and I'll be back in a while. What... you still think I want to escape and wander the world?"

Chen Ji suddenly realized that Jing Wang was going out to secretly plot something with someone. To deal with the Liu family.

But in this Luocheng, who else is worth a powerful vassal king painstakingly shedding his skin like a cicada?

The Secret Service Department?

Or that important figure who was privately met in Yichuan County?

Chen Ji asked again: "Wangye, such a big secret, why not avoid me?"

Jing Wang said meaningfully: "Because you will know sooner or later."

Chen Ji fell into thought.

At this time, Jing Wang took the oil residue lamp from Old Head Yao's hand, lifted his clothes, and walked down the stairs step by step. Just before he was about to disappear into the tunnel, he turned back, looked at Chen Ji, and smiled: "Young man, guard the door, don't let anyone rush in. Also, for tomorrow's breakfast, I want to eat a bowl of buckwheat porridge, a dish of fermented bean curd, and steam two steamed buns. The fermented bean curd must be from 'He Ji's'. Trouble you to go help me buy some tomorrow morning!"

Chen Ji raised his eyebrows: "Are you sure now is the time to say this?"

Jing Wang happily walked into the tunnel, and his voice floated out lightly from the tunnel: "The sky hasn't collapsed yet. You always need to eat your fill, right?"

The room returned to quiet again.

Chen Ji looked at Old Head Yao, only to see that the other was neither panicking nor busy. He took out a fire match and lit another oil residue lamp.

Old Head Yao lifted his eyelids and said with an indifferent expression: "What are you staring at me for?"

Chen Ji pressed on: "Master, three years ago you came to Luocheng, exactly for what?"

Old Head Yao said casually: "Starting to manage me? This Taiping Yiguan is not yours to be in charge of yet. Ask less nonsense! Some things you should know, I will tell you. Things you shouldn't know, don't ask."

Chen Ji took a deep breath: "Are you a sick tiger?"

The small main room was quiet until the wick of the oil residue lamp crackled lightly, then Old Head Yao said slowly: "If I were a sick tiger, the first thing I would do is expose you, this Jing Dynasty thief."

Chen Ji nervously glanced at the tunnel: "You mustn't talk nonsense. Now, the people who know my identity are either dead or gone. I am no longer a Jing Dynasty spy."

Old Head Yao laughed coldly: "You really think leaving the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Department is so simple? One day, someone who knows your identity will return to the land of Ning Dynasty. How will you handle yourself then, will you kill again?"

Chen Ji was silent and did not speak.

Old Head Yao said methodically: "You were too reckless this time. You shouldn't have acted on impulse for the Junzhu and offended those bald ones. If they were really easy to bully, Buddha Gate Tongbao wouldn't have become the hard currency of the south and north of the Yangtze. The fact that they clasped their hands together when they saw you was not to be polite to you, but to give you a warning."

Chen Ji asked: "...Are all the Buddha Gate like this?"

Old Head Yao smiled: "Of course not. The monks of Ku Jue Temple in Jing Dynasty are true monks. They hold full precepts and practice asceticism without ceasing."

However, at this very moment, Liu Quxing's voice came from outside the door: "Yun Fei furen, master just gave Wangye acupuncture, he just fell asleep at this moment."

Yun Fei's cold voice transmitted into the room: "Get out."

Chen Ji and Old Head Yao looked at each other: "Master, what should we do?"

Old Head Yao pursed his lips: "Wangye instructed you to watch the door, not me."

Chen Ji's eyes widened: "You understand it that way?"

"Otherwise, what?"

Without time to think further, Chen Ji turned and lifted the door curtain to go out.

Outside the door.

Yun Fei was dressed in luxurious brown clothes, the edges of her robe embroidered with gold thread, her head adorned with a gold silk hair ornament, with flower decorations tied on both sides, looking dignified and majestic.

She looked at Chen Ji expressionlessly: "You want to block me?"

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