General Wang asked in a deep voice, "Miss Chunhua, have you found anything?"
Chunhua suppressed her sobs, "No..."
She turned around, her eyes red, looking at She Dengke with disbelief.
She Dengke, on the other hand, had a mix of confusion and relief in his eyes.
General Wang glanced at Chunhua and then at She Dengke, his voice growing colder, "Miss Chunhua, next time, please have solid evidence before calling us. We are the prince's guards, not petty constables looking for lost chickens or dogs. Let's go."
The guards were about to leave when Old Man Yao blocked their path, saying nonchalantly, "Apologize."
General Wang was silent for a moment, then turned to Chen Ji, "I apologize for the offense!"
Chen Ji slowly said, "Please, General Wang, clarify this matter at the door for me, or else the neighbors won't associate with me anymore."
General Wang shook his head, "I can't do that. Let's go!"
The prince's guards came quickly and left just as fast.
Chunhua looked at She Dengke, wanting to say something but ultimately turned away with red eyes, "You're going to be the death of me!"
"Wait!" Chen Ji called out.
Chunhua stopped and turned to look at Chen Ji, a bit fearful, "What do you want? I didn't want to do this, but I had no choice."
"Let's talk privately."
Chen Ji led Chunhua to the door and whispered, "Please go back and tell Lady Jing that we don't have to be enemies. I didn't kill Liu Shiyu, and neither did the Secret Spy Bureau. He was silenced by the Liu family. Since I helped her find the lead-barium glass cup last time, I can help her get revenge this time too. Go back, deliver this message, and you should be fine."
Chunhua was stunned for a moment, then turned and left.
Chen Ji stood at the entrance of the clinic, listening to the surrounding chatter and watching Chunhua's departing figure.
The sun set in the west, the orange-red light gradually fading from his body until it was enveloped by the night.
The Secret Spy Bureau, the Military Intelligence Bureau, Lady Jing, Lady Yun—each of these entities was a behemoth in this world, seemingly capable of crushing him with a mere gesture.
Chen Ji's fate was not in his own hands.
As a newcomer, he could only survive in the cracks.
But now, he had a chessboard before him.
He gently placed a piece on the edge, perhaps not decisive, but he always played with unconventional moves, never following the common path.
He returned to the clinic and saw Old Man Yao glaring at She Dengke, "Think you're tough now? Kneel!"
She Dengke obediently knelt on the ground, crying with snot and tears, "Master, I didn't expect it to turn out like this. Chunhua said Lady Jing made her do it, or she would be killed tonight. Chunhua told me to just hide a bead in Chen Ji's clothes and get him kicked out of the clinic. She even took out her savings to compensate Chen Ji, saying he could start a small business after leaving the clinic."
As he spoke, She Dengke pulled out three silver ingots, two silver hairpins, two silver bracelets, and thirty-six copper coins from his pocket.
Old Man Yao turned to Chen Ji, "This is your matter. What do you say?"
Chen Ji stood silently.
Chunhua could have given ten taels, fifty taels, or even five hundred taels, but she only gave thirty taels and thirty-six copper coins because that was all she had.
But could he forgive her? No, he couldn't.
He knew that in this era, a girl like Chunhua had no choice.
If she didn't do it, Lady Jing would really kill her.
But if he had been framed, would the outcome have been as simple as being kicked out of the clinic? No, he would have been beaten to death by Chunrong and her strong servants.
He had thought he could treat the clinic as his home, and his fellow apprentices as family, but reality never goes as planned.
The most frustrating thing about this world is that it doesn't spare you just because you're a good person.
Chen Ji wasn't a good person either.
He picked up the silver, bracelets, hairpins, and copper coins from the ground, "I'll take these, but Senior Brother She, you and Chunhua each owe me a life. When I ask for it, you must repay it, understood?"
She Dengke nodded frantically, "Yes! Yes!"
Chen Ji turned and went back to the main hall of the clinic.
Liu Quxing looked at his back, wanting to say something but feeling that nothing would be of use now.
Old Man Yao looked down at the kneeling She Dengke, "You fool, bewitched by a woman. Go kneel inside, don't be an eyesore here. Although Chen Ji isn't pursuing this, if it happens again, you won't be welcome in this clinic."
...
...
Night fell, and the Taiping Clinic quieted down, as if nothing had happened during the day.
Chen Ji stood behind the counter, resting his chin on his hand.
Wuyun emerged from the shadows, lightly jumping onto the counter and sitting down, spitting out a round pearl into Chen Ji's palm.
It meowed, "Don't be sad, don't be angry."
Chen Ji hid the pearl in his sleeve, "I'm not sad, nor angry. Sadness and anger are useless emotions of the weak... Let's talk about something happy, let's do some accounting!"
"I've lit sixteen furnace fires now, feeling like I can take on the Secret Spy Bureau. When I was restrained by the prince's guards today, I felt I could break free from them. I wonder how many furnace fires I need to light to defeat Si Cao, Lin Chaoqing, Yun Yang, Jiao Tu..."
"The pearl can't be sold now, I'll sell it in another city later. I bought six ginseng roots at the Bailu Pavilion earlier, returned one to Old Man Yao, and spent a total of one hundred ninety-five taels of silver on the remaining five... Including the fifty taels under the bed and the money Chunhua compensated me, we have eighty-five taels of silver and one hundred twenty-one copper coins left."
Wuyun was puzzled, "How many roast chickens can that buy?"
Chen Ji calculated for a while but couldn't figure it out, "... Anyway, a lot! When I bought the ginseng, that Si Cao didn't give me any discount at all. Do you think I should try to become the Military Intelligence Bureau's Haidongqing in Luocheng and be the manager of the Bailu Pavilion? It's a good fit since I studied traditional Chinese medicine..."
If he could manage the Bailu Pavilion, even if he didn't embezzle, he could buy ginseng at cost price, right?!
At that moment, Wuyun pricked up its ears, hearing faint but chaotic footsteps outside, as several people approached the clinic.
"Chen Ji, someone's coming, several of them!"
"Phew," Chen Ji blew out the oil lamp and quietly went behind the door to listen.
Who could it be?
The Ning Dynasty's Secret Spy Bureau or the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Bureau? Or was Lady Jing still unwilling to give up and sent people to kill him?
This was the predicament of having multiple identities.
When assassins came, Chen Ji couldn't even tell who sent them.
But before he could figure it out, he heard a voice from the backyard, "Hurry up, move quietly!"
Chen Ji turned sharply, looking through the corridor between the main hall and the backyard, and saw a tall figure climbing into the yard!
They were surrounded!
He gestured to Wuyun to hide in the shadows, while he pulled out a short knife used for cutting herbs from behind the counter and quietly moved to intercept.
Chen Ji's palms were slightly sweaty.
With more than a dozen people surrounding him, such a large-scale ambush was beyond his ability to handle.
But before he could reach the backyard, he saw a little monk climbing over the wall separating the clinic from the prince's residence!
The little monk's head gleamed in the moonlight as he struggled to climb over the wall.
The one who had already climbed over, Chen Ji looked closely, wasn't that the prince's son, who had been so flamboyant during the day?
In his shock, a voice came from Anxi Street outside the clinic, "Everyone, stay calm, the prince's son will be out soon!"
Chen Ji looked back at the front door, then at the prince's son and the little monk in the yard, and the one still climbing over the wall...
Princess Baili.
Chen Ji: Huh?
In the middle of the night, he thought Lady Jing had sent more than ten people to assassinate him, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding.
Chen Ji slapped the little monk's bald head, annoyed, "Hey, what are you guys doing?"
At this, the little monk and the prince's son were startled, and Princess Baili, who was climbing the wall, quickly pulled her head back, only to peek out again after a moment, looking into the clinic's backyard.
Under the moonlight, Chen Ji held a knife, the slender girl clung to the wall, the prince's son and the little monk looked guilty like thieves, and no one expected to meet like this.
Just like the beginning of all stories, people meet each other somewhat unexpectedly.
Chen Ji raised an eyebrow and asked, "Prince's son, isn't it a bit inappropriate to climb over someone else's wall in the middle of the night?"
The prince's son was puzzled, "You know me?"
Chen Ji sneered, "Yes, I even held you when you were a kid."
The prince's son: "..."
Princess Baili, clinging to the wall, laughed, "Brother, he's mocking you."
"Keep it down," the prince's son hissed, "Don't attract the guards!"
The prince's son wasn't angry at the clinic apprentice in front of him and tried to put an arm around his shoulder, but when he saw the short knife in Chen Ji's hand, he awkwardly stepped back, "Here's the thing, little brother, you know who we are. The prince's residence has a curfew at night, and we're not allowed to come and go freely, so we're just borrowing your clinic's path. Don't worry, we won't damage anything!"
A curfew at the prince's residence? Chen Ji hadn't heard of it, but considering what the prince's son said during the day about "the old man being strict," perhaps the curfew was specifically for the prince's son and princess.
So instead of using the main gate of the prince's residence, they chose to climb over the clinic's wall.
As he pondered, the little monk looked at Chen Ji in the moonlight, his eyes lighting up, "So it's you, you're at this clinic?"
The prince's son asked quietly, "You know each other?"
The little monk smiled, "Yes, we met during the day. He's a very impressive person. I wanted to ask him some questions, but he disappeared into the crowd."
(End of Chapter)