Chapter 221: Two Swords and Pao Ge

"They ran!"

"They actually ran!"

Chen Ji stood dumbfounded among the rows of ox carts, feeling somewhat absurd.

When he heard the names 'Dao' and 'Dhfuzi', he had already confirmed that these two people were Er Dao and Pao Ge in his heart. This was because in his dying moments, Pao Ge had introduced himself, "My original name is Chen Chong. My friends like to call me Pao Ge."

Chen Chong.

Dhfuzi.

It was definitely not a coincidence.

Thinking of this, Chen Ji felt an inexplicable joy. Though they weren't familiar, he felt a special closeness towards them. Seeing them both made him feel as if the wind carried a message from his hometown.

But he never expected that Pao Ge would run so cleanly.

Most ordinary people, when facing unknown situations, hold on to hope until danger truly arrives. But little did he know, Pao Ge and Er Dao's sense of hope had been completely shattered by the police uncles after seven or eight times in prison. In the cold wind, Chen Ji suddenly shouted, "Zao Zao!"

From the stable came the sound of horse hooves.

Liang Biaotou turned back in surprise, only to see Zhang Er Xiaojie's piebald horse, biting its own reins, lightly leaping out of the stable fence. It came to Chen Ji's side and stopped.

The divine steed's breath in the cold night looked like two white streams of air. It lowered its head and loosened its mouth, letting the reins fall into Chen Ji's hand.

"Liang Biaotou, wait for me here," Chen Ji stepped onto the stirrup and mounted the horse. He lightly shook the reins, and Zao Zao carried him away like a released arrow.

He rode the horse, shuttling along the county town's dirt roads, chasing from south to north, but found no trace of Er Dao and Pao Ge. He then chased from west to east, still finding nothing.

The common people of the county town had long since gone to sleep; not even a night watchman could be seen.

He searched back and forth in the dark county town alone, yet he never saw the figures of Er Dao and Pao Ge. He didn't know if the other side had already left the county town or was hiding inside one of the houses.

Chen Ji slowly stopped his horse in the dark county town and stood still, his thoughts gradually calming down.

Once upon a time, he thought he was the only one who had come from Earth to the Ning Dynasty. From then on, he couldn't discuss Zhen Huan Zhuan, Liang Jian, and Soldiers Assault with anyone. Nor could he excitedly discuss C Luo's heavenly descent hat-trick in the 2018 World Cup.

Because no one would understand.

Perhaps Er Dao and Pao Ge didn't watch Zhen Huan Zhuan and Liang Jian, and they didn't like C Luo either. But it didn't matter; everyone could always find some common ground.

The moment Chen Ji discovered Er Dao and Pao Ge, it was as if he saw a faint light in the black night. But this faint light quickly extinguished again.

Chen Ji gently patted Zao Zao's back: "Let's go back to the station."

Zao Zao didn't run fast anymore. It slowly carried Chen Ji back, as if knowing that the person on its back was no longer in such a hurry.

Back inside the station, Chen Ji rode his horse up to Liang Biaotou. He sat on the horse's back and calmly asked, "Liang Biaotou, these two people must be hiding some secrets, otherwise why would they run?"

Liang Biaotou looked up and sized up Chen Ji, but he saw that this young Chen Fu San Gongzi had eyes that were deep and bottomless.

He was a man who had traveled widely and knew who was easy to provoke, who was not easy to provoke, who was easy to fool, and who was not easy to fool, just by looking into their eyes. In the eyes of people in Jianghu, there were only two kinds of people in this world: one kind was sheep, and the other kind was wolf.

Some people looked fierce, yet their eyes were uncertain. This kind of person was merely a sheep wearing wolf skin. Some people looked weak, yet their eyes were like knives, wanting to cut a piece of flesh from you. This kind of person was a wolf wearing sheep skin.

This Chen Fu San Gongzi, at this moment, didn't look like a scholar; instead, he looked more like a hound from the Si Li Jian.

Liang Biaotou said with a smile, "San Gongzi, perhaps they just couldn't stand the hardship of escorting, so they ran. You might not know, this escorting business is tough. It's common for escort masters to sneak away."

Chen Ji hummed in response, dismounted the horse, and led Zao Zao towards the stable.

Just as he walked two steps, he stopped and stepped back.

Chen Ji calmly gazed at Liang Biaotou: "Zhang family transporting their family wealth to the capital is a big matter this time. Yet you let in some unknown people with no background. What is your intention? Are those Dao and Dhfuzi Taihang Mountain bandits? Do you, Liang Shi Biaoju, want to collude with the Taihang Mountain bandits to rob the Zhang family's wealth?"

Liang Biaotou's face paled a few shades, and he said guiltily, "San Gongzi, some words cannot be said carelessly. They can cause human lives."

Chen Ji changed the subject and asked, "Liang Biaotou, do you know what relationship you have with Liang Gouer and Liang Maoer?"

Earlier, Liang Maoer and Liang Gouer had mentioned that their father was also an escort and had been tricked by Taihang Mountain bandits and fell ill, passing away early.

Liang Biaotou quickly said, "Those are my two younger brothers. We just divided the family a few years ago, and I haven't seen them in a long time."

Chen Ji nodded: "Liang Gouer and Liang Maoer are my friends. For their sake, I can temporarily suppress this matter, but we must first clarify things."

Liang Biaotou quickly nodded: "You say, you say."

Chen Ji suddenly shouted in a low voice, "Why did these two want to run?"

Liang Biaotou lowered his head and did not speak.

Chen Ji said casually, "It seems I'll have to let Zhang Daren interrogate you personally before you'll tell the truth."

Saying this, he made to leave. Liang Biaotou hurriedly pulled him back: "Reporting to San Gongzi, these two were not my escort masters originally. They were escort masters from Luo Wei Biaoju. Just two months ago, something happened at Luo Wei Biaoju. The escort masters actually scattered like birds and beasts, and the head also disappeared without a trace. The two of them came together seeking refuge. Since I was short-handed, I arranged for them to work at Liang Shi Biaoju."

Chen Ji smiled: "Liang Biaotou, you still want to pretend not to know what happened? Don't seek death."

Liang Biaotou's eyes flickered uncertainly in the moonlight. The ox carts in the backyard of the station were parked in layers, like a piled-up maze. In the darkness, escort masters had quietly crept over, their hands reaching into their sleeves, touching the handles of their daggers.

Chen Ji seemed unaware of the crisis and still stood in place.

Liang Biaotou, however, saw the escort masters' movements and suddenly scolded angrily, "All of you get back! Do you want to cause my death?"

At this moment, a voice was heard from afar: "Chen Ji, where are you?"

Chen Ji responded with a smile: "I'm here."

Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng came together. Zhang Xia said, "I just went to your room to find you to play chess, but only Xiao Man was there... Why are you not sleeping in the middle of the night and coming here?"

Chen Ji explained, "I discovered that two people from the escort bureau secretly ran away, so I came to ask some questions."

Zhang Xia said, "Ah, they ran away? Why did they run away?"

At this time, Chen Ji saw that Zhang Zheng's arm was still draped with his black greatcoat.

Zhang Zheng draped the greatcoat over his shoulder and casually admonished, "The wind and sand are strong. Don't catch a cold. If you get sick on the road, I'm afraid it will be very uncomfortable."

Chen Ji thanked him in a low voice, then turned his head to look at Liang Biaotou again: "Liang Biaotou, if you have any thoughts, I can let bygones be bygones. But if you don't clarify the matter of these two people, I'm afraid it will be hard to escape prison."

Liang Biaotou lightly sighed: "I will tell everything, San Gongzi. Don't alarm Zhang Daren. The matter is like this: That Luo Wei Biaoju escorted Yao Yuanwai and ten carts of goods to Jinling. As a result, they encountered mountain bandits when passing through Langya Mountain. The number of mountain bandits was extremely large. The escort masters of Luo Wei Biaoju knew they were no match and abandoned the employer in Langya Mountain."

"Is it that simple? If it were that simple, they wouldn't need to run," Chen Ji doubted: "Everyone says that the escort bureau makes money by dealing with both black and white. Since they dare to walk this road, don't tell me they don't know the mountain bandits of Langya Mountain?"

Liang Biaotou explained, "They knew originally. The head of Luo Wei Biaoju and the big boss of Langya Mountain even had a life-and-death friendship. It's just that the flood in Yu State caused many common people to be displaced. A group of disaster victims fled south and drove away the original mountain bandits of Langya Mountain, establishing a stronghold there themselves. These disaster victims don't understand the rules of Jianghu. They rob whoever they see and thought they would be surrounded by officials soon."

Chen Ji doubted: "The mountain bandits didn't kill the people from Luo Wei Biaoju?"

Liang Biaotou said in a low voice, "San Gongzi may not know, mountain bandits seek wealth, not lives. If they can be peaceful with the escort masters, they naturally don't need to fight to the death. It is said that the mountain bandits gave Luo Wei Biaoju two choices. The first choice was to fight to the death. The second choice was for Luo Wei Biaoju to leave, but they could take one box of Yao Yuanwai's goods."

Chen Ji nodded: "So they chose to divide the money... How do I know you're not fooling me?"

Liang Biaotou said in a low voice, "San Gongzi, please see clearly. Luo Wei Biaoju still has people in the team. I will catch them for you."

He blew a whistle. Several escort masters among the ox carts drew out short knives from their sleeves and surrounded the corner.

A moment later, they dragged a young man to Chen Ji's front: "San Gongzi, this person is a tripper from Luo Wei Biaoju, responsible for shouting the escort. You'll know if you ask."

That young tripper struggled fiercely: "Liang Zhu'er, you son of a bitch, you received our gifts and still want to betray us? We said it was settled. We would follow you to Linfen, and after that, each would go their separate ways. You go to your capital, we go to our Guyuan. What are you doing, you motherfucker?"

Liang Biaotou's face looked somewhat embarrassed as he looked towards Chen Ji: "San Gongzi, don't listen to his nonsense. I may not have promised them. I really lacked helpers and saw that they were old hands at escorting, so I agreed to bring them."

Chen Ji said thoughtfully, "Why go to Guyuan?"

Liang Biaotou said in a low voice, "Although Guyuan is a military stronghold of our Ning Dynasty, there are more Jing Dynasty people living inside than Ning Dynasty people. It's a mixed place with many smuggling households. Our Ning Dynasty border army doesn't manage it too much. I heard there's an inn in Guyuan run by Wen Tao General's old subordinates, who can send people to the Jing Dynasty."

Chen Ji turned his head to look at the young tripper: "Let me ask you something else. After you all came out of Langya Mountain, where did you go?"

The tripper stiffened his neck: "We went to Jinling."

Chen Ji asked again: "What about the money and wealth you divided?"

The tripper answered: "We spent it all on the Qinhuai River!"