Chapter 254: Expert Guidance

Between the low houses of the dirt road, Old Wu walked ahead wearing a gray cloth shirt, followed closely by Chen Ji with his hat pulled low.

Old Wu was very alert. After walking two streets, he would always find an empty alley to wait for a moment. Only after confirming that no one was following him would he lower his head and hurry on.

At this moment, the long ringing bell in Guyuan City sounded again.

Old Wu stopped in a long street and looked up. Chen Ji also stopped, and all the pedestrians on the entire street halted, looking in the direction from which the bell sound came.

The sound of Guyuan's bell was different from the melodious bells of a temple.

The heavy bell sound broke through the thin fog of the early morning, as if dark clouds were surging down from overhead, making it difficult for people to breathe.

Everyone waited for the bell sound to stop, but the bell sound was late in stopping.

Only after ringing a full thirty-six times did the remaining sound roll outwards towards the edge of the city.

Some pedestrians whispered, "Thirty-six sounds of the long ringing bell. Curfew begins tonight, and alcohol is banned."

"Guyuan hasn't had a curfew in six years."

Old Wu stood on the street in a daze for a long time. It wasn't until armored border army soldiers on patrol came over that he came back to his senses, quickly slipped into an antique shop by the street, and pretended to examine a bronze ware.

After the armored border army soldiers passed, he came out of the shop and hurried on again.

Chen Ji watched from the street corner in the distance, secretly thinking that Old Wu's actions were indeed contrary to the border army's. Even colleagues couldn't recognize each other. He also wondered how many other people in the border army were like Old Wu, and exactly what these people wanted to do.

He followed Old Wu for several more streets. Turning a street corner, he suddenly lost trace of the other person.

The common people on the street were just lining up to receive porridge, but Old Wu was not in the line. The long street was visible to the end, but the other person seemed to have vanished like a human evaporating.

Chen Ji's gaze turned, sweeping over the shop signboards one by one. Old Wu must have entered one of the shops along the street... Had the other person hidden inside after discovering him, or were these shops originally the other person's destination?

Wait.

His gaze stopped: On a signboard of a shop facing the street, four large gold-leaf characters were written: "Yang Ji Pi Huo" (Yang Ji Fur Goods).

Chen Ji pulled a passerby, handed out two copper coins, and asked, "Excuse me, is this Rosh Fang Duo Hun Street?"

The passerby looked at him in surprise, took the copper coins into his sleeve, and said, "Yes, this is Rosh Fang Duo Hun Street. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing," Chen Ji let go of the passerby.

He stared at the gold-leaf signboard, his heart heavy. Little Five had once said that the apprentice of the South Rosh Fang Glazed Shop and the shopkeeper of Yang Ji Pi Huo on Rosh Fang Duo Hun Street were all spies of the Jing Dynasty.

Chen Ji slowly retreated, hiding among the crowd lining up for porridge, approaching Yang Ji Pi Huo neither too quickly nor too slowly.

He swept his gaze from under the brim of his hat with the corner of his eye, and saw Old Wu in front of the counter, conversing in a low voice with the shopkeeper.

From Chen Ji's angle, he could only see the back of Old Wu in his gray cloth shirt and the shopkeeper's tightly furrowed brows. The other person seemed to be arguing about something with Old Wu.

Just at this moment, the old grandpa lining up behind Chen Ji patted his shoulder and kindly reminded him, "Young man, why didn't you bring a bowl? The military lords said you must bring your own bowl to receive porridge. They won't give you porridge if you don't bring a bowl."

Chen Ji's heart sank. Bad!

He suddenly turned his head to look towards the main hall of Yang Ji Pi Huo. Old Wu had already run towards the backyard of the shop without looking back.

Without the slightest hesitation.

Chen Ji rushed towards the Yang Ji Pi Huo shop. The shopkeeper drew a short knife from under the counter, leaped over the counter, and stabbed at him viciously.

The next moment, Chen Ji took off his hat and flung it forcefully towards the shopkeeper. The hat rotated rapidly in the air, like a drawn curved blade.

The hat flew closer and closer, blocking the line of sight between the shopkeeper and Chen Ji.

The shopkeeper subconsciously raised his hand to wave away the hat. The hat shattered and flew in, but Chen Ji was already close. He struck with a hand knife, chopping at the base of the shopkeeper's hand, in the gap between the radius bones.

The shopkeeper only felt a numbness in his wrist, forcing him to involuntarily loosen his grip.

The short knife fell towards the ground, and was steadily caught in mid-air by a thin hand, then deadly nailed between his chest and abdomen, between the third and fourth ribs.

Completed in one breath, without pause.

The shopkeeper sucked in the cold air of winter and let out a "heh heh" sound, leaning on the counter and slowly sitting towards the ground. He turned his head in disbelief, but Chen Ji didn't give him another look, already chasing towards the backyard.

Old Wu flipped onto the roof, jumping up and down between the flat and earth houses.

He turned his head to look behind him. There was clearly no one behind him, but he didn't dare stop for a moment. He could sense that the person chasing and killing him was already very close.

Very close.

Old Wu turned his head to probe again. There was a figure flashing through the alley behind him.

The standing earth houses were like the golden yellow wild grass growing thickly on the plain. A fierce tiger had just run into the wild grass, without breath, without footsteps.

You could only occasionally glimpse its flashing brown spots in the gaps between the clusters of wild grass. Only when it was close could you realize that all your struggles were futile.

Old Wu leaped across an alley with all his might. He saw a figure flashing up from the alley below. Not good!

"Come down!"

Chen Ji stepped on the wall to borrow force, kicked forcefully, and pounced into the air.

Old Wu twisted his body in mid-air and whipped his leg, kicking straight at the head of the pouncing Chen Ji. Chen Ji raised his arm, using his elbow to forcefully endure the whip leg, and took the opportunity to hug Old Wu's calf, bringing him down to the ground together.

With a thud, the two people fell heavily to the ground, stirring up a sky full of dust.

In the dust, a wisp of knife light suddenly appeared. Old Wu drew a short knife from inside his boot and stabbed at Chen Ji, who was hugging his leg.

Chen Ji turned his face to the side to avoid the knife edge, loosened Old Wu's calves with both hands, grasped his wrist and pinned it behind him, pressing him dead on the ground.

He pressed Old Wu's face into the dust.

Chen Ji silently surveyed the front and back of the alley, confirming that no one had been attracted by the sounds of the fight just now, before bending down and asking, "You all did these things to avenge Jing Wang?"

Old Wu panted, "What are you saying? I don't understand."

Chen Ji slightly relaxed his grip on Old Wu's pinned hand and said in a slow voice, "I had a very close relationship with Zhu Yunxi, the heir of Jing Wang Manor. My being able to become Wang Xiansheng's personal disciple also largely relied on Jing Wang's recommendation. If you are all doing this to avenge Jing Wang, I can help you."

Old Wu raised his head, spitting out the soil mixed with saliva on the ground, and said determinedly, "To avenge Jing Wang? I haven't even met Jing Wang. Avenge him for what? Boy, don't try to deceive me. Since I've fallen into your hands, do as you please if you want to kill or hack."

Chen Ji thought for a moment, then actually slowly released Old Wu's hands, leaned against the wall at the side, and said in a slow voice, "The cotton hand warmers you border army sends at the end of the year, I still had to exchange for them."

Old Wu doubted, "What do you mean 'used you to exchange for them'?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "The Chen family did a deal with Jing Wang. As long as Jing Wang was willing to recommend me to Wang Xiansheng, they would allocate this sum of silver to the border army."

Old Wu supported himself with both hands on the ground and sat up. He actually didn't run anymore. "You are willing to avenge Jing Wang?"

Chen Ji didn't answer this topic, but suddenly asked:

"You all burned the grain warehouse. What is your next plan?"

Old Wu rubbed his wrists and sneered, "Young Master Chen, you think you can rely on your three words and two languages to make me tell you the plan? I'm not running because I know I can't run away, it doesn't mean I believe your words."

Chen Ji said calmly, "You all are colluding with the Jing Dynasty to surround Guyuan City. You want to lead the Jing Dynasty to enter the pass and destroy the Ning Dynasty, but doing so will cause many people to die because of you."

Old Wu laughed mockingly, "What bird business is that to me? When have they ever cared about our lives and deaths? Who has ever calculated how many people have been able to live because of us these years?"

Saying that, Old Wu moved his body and leaned against the earth wall opposite Chen Ji, raising his head and saying, "I entered the border army in Jialing six years. First as infantry, then as a scout. I fought seven battles, and with great difficulty, I finally managed to get a set of rattan armor. At that time, I still felt a bit dissatisfied. Old Zhou promised me and said that when I was promoted to deputy general, he would give me a whole set of iron armor. But only after being promoted to deputy general did I realize that that bastard surnamed Zhou was a liar. There were only two sets of iron armor left in the entire Guyuan. He wore one set, and General Hu wore one set."

Chen Ji didn't know why Old Wu was saying all this. Was he trying to delay time waiting for rescue, or did he have other plans?

Old Wu changed to a comfortable posture and continued, "A stone of grain from Yuzhou and Jiangnan, by the time it was collected by the court, only remained nine-tenths. Escorted to Guyuan via Luocheng, Yuncheng, Weinan, Tongchuan, Qingyang, along this road, officials and merchants colluded, jointly changing the new rice and new wheat to accumulated years' valley, wheat, and corn. By the time it reached our hands, those grains were all moldy. If it weren't for a high person in the border army guiding them, turning this border military town into a place where merchants come and go, our border army soldiers wouldn't know what to eat."

Chen Ji asked without moving, "Who is the high person?"

Old Wu smiled and didn't answer, continuing on his own, "You say, we eat moldy corn and wheat every day. What are we guarding this Guyuan for?"

Chen Ji doubted, "Since Jing Wang is looking after things, why can the grain still be quietly exchanged?"

Old Wu laughed heartily, "Jing Wang is also powerless to save ah. Several thousand, tens of thousands of people deceiving their superiors and subordinates, he's not immortal either."

Chen Ji was even more doubtful, "Isn't the border army under the control of the Jin Party? Don't Cabinet Elders Hu also manage things? They must let people live, right?"

Old Wu mocked, "In the eyes of the border army in the department hall and the cabinet elders, they are just their chips alone. Guyuan hasn't been lost in several hundred years, so naturally there's no need to worry. They don't know the situation of the border army, they just pretend not to see."

Chen Ji hadn't deeply researched history. He only knew that border army problems were always a catalyst for the destruction of a dynasty. The problem of the border army was not in the border army, but in the corruption of the system and the crisis of the national treasury.

Each dynasty was like this, and the Ning Dynasty was no exception.

He gazed at Old Wu and asked, "So you all want to hand Guyuan over to the Jing Dynasty?"

Old Wu didn't speak, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long time, he picked up a handful of yellow soil from the ground and sighed deeply, "But even so, we still have to continue guarding it ah. Young Master Chen, you guessed wrong, all wrong. I advise you not to continue investigating. You won't investigate this matter clearly, and perhaps before you even investigate it clearly, the truth will come to light on its own."

Chen Ji was startled. What did these words mean?

He thought for a moment and said, "Old Wu, I won't make things difficult for you, but this matter is very wide-ranging. I must first take you away and imprison you. If you are innocent, I will definitely restore your innocence."

However, just at this moment, Old Wu smiled, "Young Master Chen, you are a good person, worthy of being Wang Xiansheng's personal disciple, benevolent and righteous!"

Saying this, Old Wu suddenly said, "Young Master Chen, thank you."

Chen Ji doubted, "Thank me for what?"

Old Wu grinned, "Thank you for your cotton hand warmers. I, Old Wu, have never worn such warm hand warmers in my life."

Chen Ji suddenly realized something was wrong!

But before he could react, intense white flames suddenly ignited behind Old Wu. The flames came suddenly, and in just a few breaths, they completely engulfed him.

Chen Ji was startled and went forward, picking up yellow soil and patting it on Old Wu's body, but the fire on the other person's body wouldn't go out no matter how he patted.

Old Wu gritted his teeth and said, "Don't waste your effort, that person said this fire won't be extinguished."

Who was that person, and where did this fire come from?

Chen Ji only felt his head wanted to explode. He quickly asked before Old Wu died, "Why did you want to poison and kill the thirty-four members of the Chen family?"

Old Wu cried out in pain, "I didn't!"

Chen Ji's pupils contracted, "Then why did you go to the Guyuan postal station that afternoon?"

Old Wu was burned by the fire and curled up into a ball on the ground, struggling to say, "I went to the postal station to instruct the post officer to prepare red screw charcoal for you!"

Chen Ji's pupils contracted. So that day Old Wu went to the Guyuan postal station because of this matter. The other person was at death's door, in pain, and it was impossible to temporarily come up with a fitting answer.

This answer should be true!

Then who was the real culprit behind the poisoning and killing of the thirty-four members of the Chen family?

Chen Ji didn't care about the flames, picked up the short knife that had fallen on the ground, cut open the clothes on Old Wu's back, and saw that there was a piece of yellow paper talisman with cinnabar writing stuck to the other person's back, already burned to only a corner.

At this time, Old Wu's body was curled up. He trembled his right hand, used his last strength to grab a handful of yellow soil from the ground, and stuck it on his forehead, "Guyuan ah Guyuan..."

Old Wu was silent. Gradually, even his bones turned to ashes.