Chapter 228: Dragon Gate Inn

Horse hoof sounds echoed far.

Shiliuyuan’s dark night was so cold it seemed a light touch could freeze ice in the air. Chen Wenzong was like someone breaking through the ice, rushing into the night alone.

Zhang Zheng stood in the backyard of the post station and sighed with admiration, saying, “Chen Ji, your Chen family finally has a presentable figure!”

Zhang Xia said softly, “Adult tigers change, petty people change faces, gentlemen change like leopards.”

Zhang Zheng scratched his head, “What does that mean?”

Zhang Xia smiled and explained, “Kings are like tigers, majestic in spirit and able to control power; petty people are panicky and indecisive, drifting with the waves; gentlemen are like leopards, they remain low-key when appropriate, and decisive when encountering problems.”

Chen Ji hummed, “Elder Brother is indeed worthy of the two characters ‘gentleman’.”

Just as he finished speaking, there was a ‘pa’ sound in the yard, and Liang Shi slapped Wang Gui across the face.

Wang Gui was incredulous, “Madam, why did you hit me?”

Liang Shi said in a choked voice, “If you had proactively gone to the capital office just now, how could Wenzong have put himself in such danger? You eat better and dress better than other servants every day. My Chen family has raised you for so many years, yet you are not as loyal as a dog!”

Wang Gui’s face changed several times. Finally, he bowed and knelt down, “Madam, please calm down. I will go chase after the eldest young master now to protect him completely.”

Liang Shi said mercilessly, “You protect him completely? What do you rely on to protect him completely?”

Wang Gui stood up and said, “Madam, the eldest young master has a warhorse, ordinary villains certainly cannot intercept him…”

Liang Shi said angrily, “Who told you to stand up? Kneel!”

To her, her husband needed to be served carefully, as if walking on thin ice. If her husband had concubines, she still needed to think about how to compete for favor, but he was ultimately not her closest person.

But a son was different; a son was her biggest reliance in the future. Anyone who endangered her son would not be spared.

Chen Ji wasn’t interested in the drama. He carried his knife and re-entered the post station. He carefully searched the first and second floors to make sure no assassins were lurking. Only then did he lead Xiaoman and others to sit on the stone steps.

Liang Shi and Chen Wenxiao sat at the stone table in the yard. They sat opposite on the stone steps, clearly divided.

“Meow.”

Chen Ji looked up from where he was sitting on the stone steps. Black Cloud stood on the eaves of the second floor roof, carefully watching the surroundings to prevent the assassins from returning.

With Black Cloud there, he felt a bit more at ease.

Chen Ji said in a low voice, “No matter who the person driving the assassins is, daring to poison and kill the entire Chen family shows they are someone who disregards human life and is ruthless and cruel. Dealing with such a person requires extreme caution, or it might be very difficult to escape unscathed. However, who exactly is it? The Chen family has only just arrived, why would someone be so ruthless?”

Zhang Xia sat on his left, recalling, “Nine people entered the post station today, five of whom were post soldiers, all of whom died of poison. There are still four people: one middle-aged man, two women, and one old man. If I see them again, I can definitely recognize them.”

Chen Ji turned and asked, “Has the Crown Prince had any conflicts with the border army before, Miss Zhang?”

Zhang Xia thought for a moment, “No, this Crown Prince has always been good to people and is practical in his actions. In his early years, when he first started working outside the mansion, His Majesty only gave him the position of Deputy Education Official and ordered him to preside over the imperial examination. He helped some poor scholars, and now these poor officials are also coming into prominence, some even governing in various places. The common people who are poor all admire him greatly.”

Zhang Xia continued, “Later, His Majesty ordered him to thoroughly investigate the matter of privately minted copper coins. He seized hundreds of thousands of pieces of privately minted copper coins, making the market clear of underweight private coins.”

Chen Ji seemed to be thinking, “Did the matter of privately minted copper coins involve the border army?”

Zhang Xia shook her head, “No, he killed a group of Jin merchants and Zhe merchants. Jin merchants had copper mines, they mined in the mountains, refined copper, and minted coins; Zhe merchants simply collected copper coins in the market, melted down the five-zhu weight copper coins, and reminted them into four-zhu weight copper coins for spending, making a tenfold profit without capital.”

Zhang Zheng, who was sitting on Chen Ji’s right, shivered and hugged his shoulders, saying, “Great scholars all say the Crown Prince is like unpolished jade, his character simple and without flaw. I, however, feel he is very shrewd. Anyone with a clear eye knows that noble families have been privately minting copper coins for a long time, but have you seen the Crown Prince ever touch the Xu family, the Chen family, the Qi family, or the Yang family? He knows what he’s doing.”

Chen Ji smiled and said, “Brother Zhang, you have great wisdom hidden beneath a foolish exterior. It seems Lord Zhang underestimates you.”

Zhang Zheng boasted, “Perhaps not!”

Zhang Xia on the side suddenly said, “If you really want to talk about a connection between the border army and the Crown Prince, it might be related to Prince Fu. Prince Fu is His Majesty’s direct eldest son. In the early years, when the Crown Prince was being established, news spread in the palace that His Majesty originally planned to establish his direct eldest son, Prince Fu, as the Crown Prince. I don’t know why, but later this one was established. And now, the General Soldier of the Shiliuyuan Capital Office, Hu Junxian, is precisely Prince Fu’s uncle. Prince Fu also has a very high-ranking junior uncle, precisely that junior uncle of the Laojun Mountain Daoist Court, the young supervisor of the Qin Tian Jian, Hu Junyan.”

Chen Ji said curiously, “Does Prince Fu intend to contend for the position of storage?”

Zhang Xia shook her head, “This I haven’t found. Prince Fu spends his days in indulgence, not looking like someone who wants to contend for the storage position. But when it comes to imperial heirs, who can say for sure?”

Chen Ji doubted, “Prince Fu has the Hu family behind him, who does the Crown Prince have behind him?”

Zhang Xia looked at Chen Ji in surprise, hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Just… your Chen family ah…”

Chen Ji: “…”

He saw Zhang Zheng, Zhang Xia, and Xiaoman shivering in the cold wind. He stood up, carried his knife, and entered the post station, using tongs to carry out the charcoal basin from the room.

Chen Ji called Xiaoman to fetch firewood from the back kitchen and built a bonfire in the yard.

Zhang Zheng wanted to cry with joy, “It’s still better to follow Chen Ji! You won’t suffer anywhere!”

On the other side, Liang Shi and Chen Wenxiao saw the bright bonfire and wanted to go warm themselves, but they couldn’t bring themselves to do so and just shivered.

Just at this moment, Black Cloud on the roof suddenly pricked up its ears and let out a low meow.

Chen Ji suddenly stood up, his hand gripping the Whale Knife tightly.

Someone was coming, but Black Cloud could only hear the sound, not see the person.

Zhang Zheng saw Chen Ji stand up and immediately nervously grabbed a half-burnt piece of wood from the bonfire, asking nervously, “Have the assassins returned?”

Chen Ji didn’t answer, he just slowly pushed open the knife guard with his left thumb, revealing an inch of the snow-white blade.

He breathed.

Chen Ji’s breathing went from rapid to calm, becoming more and more steady.

He didn’t know how many assassins had come or how strong they were. He only whispered, “Hide behind me.”

Xiaoman looked at her young master in surprise, then pulled Zhang Zheng and Zhang Xia behind Chen Ji obediently.

The post station was eerily quiet, as if nothing had happened.

The next moment, a few creaking sounds came from inside the post station. It seemed someone was prying open a wooden window. The location was precisely the direction of the shop through the ‘Ren’ character room.

Chen Ji slowly turned his body, the knife handle in his hand always facing the source of the sound.

It was as if there was an invisible line between his knife handle and that sound, growing tighter and tighter.

Just as that string was about to break, someone in the post station suddenly let out a piercing scream, “Big Brother, this, this, this, there are so many dead people here, with blood tears!”

Chen Ji was startled. Not assassins!

He immediately moved towards the dark post station and rushed in. Passing through the corridor, he reached the door of the ‘Ren’ character room and swung his knife. The closed door suddenly cracked!

The moment the door burst open, Chen Ji’s gaze passed through the shattered wood, seeing the two opposite windows of the shop open. Moonlight shone in, and several children were frightened to the ground by the corpses with blood tears. Not far away, a young man with a scarf covering his mouth and nose stood in a daze.

It was the thief who had instigated the children to rob during the day!

The thief saw Chen Ji’s figure and immediately came back to his senses, “Quick, run!”

With that, he leaped out of the window like someone diving into water.

Chen Ji took a few steps and caught up with the thief. Just before the thief leaped out of the window, he swung the knife, hitting him on the back of the spine with the back of the blade, knocking him to the floor.

The thief groaned and lay there, wailing non-stop. He tried to prop himself up, but Chen Ji stepped on his neck, pressing him back to the ground.

Three children drew out knife pieces from their sleeves,夹 them between their fingers, and trembled, roaring, “Let go of my Big Brother!”

The thief struggled and shouted at the children, “Don’t move! You are no match for him… Quick, run!”

However, the children didn’t move, they just nervously held up their knife pieces, unable to advance or retreat.

Chen Ji looked at the children, then lowered his head to look at the thief on the ground, “The thief from daytime?”

The thief gasped, “This… These people were all killed by you? I admit defeat, but please let go of those children, don’t kill them!”

Chen Ji stepped on the thief’s back, squatted down, and stared into his eyes, asking, “What did you come here to do?”

The thief, with half his face on the floor, answered, “You injured our people during the day. We came to take revenge on you.”

Chen Ji asked again, “How would you take revenge?”

The thief answered, “We would cut all your clothes and take all your wealth!”

Chen Ji said calmly, “Planning no harm to people? You can only lie to children with those words.”

The thief was silent.

Chen Ji said softly, “I ask, you answer. Only a good answer can save your life. First question, what big events have happened in Shiliuyuan recently? Think clearly and tell me everything you can think of.”

The thief quickly closed his eyes and recalled, “The Crown Prince came to Shiliuyuan with several hundred personal guards, wearing silver armor, looking very imposing. Everyone says he came to investigate the case of claiming merit through killing, and wants to put General Hu to death.”

Chen Ji frowned, “Claiming merit through killing?”

The thief quickly said, “That’s what everyone says in the alleys. Some say the border army slaughtered a Jing Dynasty village and cut off the ears of the common people inside as merit. Others say the County Magistrate of the neighboring Tianshui County was robbed by bandits and his whereabouts are unknown. Two months later, the County Magistrate’s ears appeared among the military merits and were recognized by someone.”

Chen Ji said casually, “Who can recognize the original owner just by their ears? What nonsense.”

The thief retorted, “I’m not lying. They say that County Magistrate had a long black mole behind his ear. The person responsible for inspecting military merits was precisely his brother-in-law, and he recognized him at a glance! Now his brother-in-law has also disappeared. We don’t know if he was killed by the border army or is hiding.”

Chen Ji was startled. What the other person said was so certain, detailed, and logical, could it be true?

But how could the Shiliuyuan border army be so bold, not only colluding with bandits to rob the County Magistrate, but also daring to use the County Magistrate’s ears to fill military merit?

If it was true, this boldness was enough to pierce the sky.

Chen Ji drew out his Whale Knife and pressed the icy blade against the other person’s neck, “What other big events are there?”

The young man said, “There are more, there are more! After the Crown Prince came, the capital office offered a reward of one hundred taels of silver for the whereabouts of Jing Dynasty spies and bandits. As long as you can help the court catch spies or bandits, you can collect the money!”

Chen Ji said without changing his expression, “How many have been caught?”

“I haven’t heard of anyone being caught…”

As he spoke, the sound of iron hooves came from outside the post station. That was the sound only a warhorse with iron shoes could make, crisp and explosive. Without accident, it should be the reinforcements Chen Wenzong had brought from the capital office.

Chen Ji was silent for a moment, then stood up straight.

He held the Whale Knife in an inverted grip, the tip of the knife hanging just above the thief’s temple, “I can let you go, and let those children go, but you still have to do a few things for me.”

The thief quickly asked, “What things?”

Chen Ji said calmly, “It’s not the time to tell you. But how will I find you later?”

The thief answered, “You go to Dragon Gate Inn and tell the shopkeeper you’re looking for ‘Hu San Ge’. He will pass the word for you!”

“Dragon Gate Inn?” Chen Ji seemed to be thinking. “Can I trust you?”

“Of course you can!” The thief said in a panic, “My Hu San Ge is a well-known figure in Shiliuyuan, he absolutely keeps his word.”

“Go,” Chen Ji stood up and lifted his foot. The thief scrambled to his feet and, calling to the children, they vanished out the window in a cloud of dust.