The banquet hall was silent, even the sound of the zither had ceased.
No one dared to mock She Dengke or Liu Quxing anymore, whether it was about their names or their attire.
They couldn't help but reflect: if they were slandered, how many would stand up for them? Ordinary people, upon hearing rumors about you, would only repeat a few words they heard from others.
You might not care about what others say, but you might care more about whether your friends defend you when others spread rumors about you.
Chen Ji hadn't expected She Dengke and Liu Quxing to stand up for him.
It was precisely because he hadn't expected it that he was surprised.
At this moment, the prince downed his cup of wine in one gulp.
The cups in the prince's mansion were rather small, and he found them unsatisfying, so he wanted to call for a larger bowl.
However, after a glare from Princess Baili, he gave up.
The rough and ready ways of the martial world naturally clashed with the refined atmosphere of a scholarly gathering.
Still, the prince muttered under his breath, "These scholars are nowhere near as interesting as the martial folk... Chen Ji... that name sounds familiar. Have I heard it somewhere before?"
At this point, Princess Baili turned to Chen Wenxiao and asked, "Excuse me, but is the IOU from your younger brother genuine?"
Chen Wenxiao straightened his sleeves and sat upright, replying, "My younger brother, Chen Ji, has a gambling problem. He owes seven gambling houses a total of one thousand two hundred and thirty-one taels of silver. Every word I've said is true."
A scholar nearby bowed to the princess and said, "Wenxiao is a man of integrity. He would never lie about such a matter."
"Alright," Princess Baili sighed.
Chen Ji stood silently by the pavilion, listening.
He was also pondering what kind of person he had been in the past.
Was he really a gambler? It was possible.
After all, the IOUs from the gambling houses couldn't be faked, and such things were easy to verify.
But those matters had nothing to do with him anymore.
They were in the past.
From behind the bamboo curtain, Consort Jing glanced faintly in Chen Ji's direction and asked, "Does your family not know that you work for the Secret Spy Agency?"
Chen Ji replied, "Your Highness, I am not a member of the Secret Spy Agency. At most, I am one of their hawks, not even a full-fledged spy."
"Oh?" Consort Jing was puzzled.
"Why do you risk your life working for the Secret Spy Agency?"
Chen Ji answered frankly, "For money. They pay me fifty taels of silver for each lead I find."
Consort Jing was taken aback.
"Only fifty taels? You risk your life for fifty taels of silver?"
At this point, she was inclined to believe what Chen Wenxiao had said.
This medical apprentice was indeed a gambler, willing to risk his life for money.
However, Chen Ji thought to himself that this was just the disparity of the world.
He worked himself to the bone for fifty taels, but to Consort Jing and Consort Yun, such a sum was trivial.
Consort Jing leaned back on her couch behind the bamboo curtain and said slowly, "Help me take revenge. If you succeed, I'll give you a thousand taels of silver."
Chen Ji thought for a moment.
"You want Liu Mingxian dead?"
"Exactly."
"Liu Mingxian is surrounded by hidden experts and rarely leaves his residence. Killing him won't be easy. If we use the Secret Spy Agency, both Yunyang and Jiaotu have already been taken down by him, making it even more difficult... If you want revenge, it'll cost you five thousand taels."
"Two thousand taels, not a penny more."
"Deal."
Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, the money of the wealthy was easier to earn! With two thousand taels in hand, he could dare to venture into the inner prison again, collect all the ice streams, and light a hundred furnace fires.
By then, as long as no high-ranking officials intervened, a few ordinary spies wouldn't be able to touch him.
As he pondered, Consort Jing suddenly asked, "What do you think of Chunhua? She's in the prime of her youth, full of charm. Though she's a bit older than you, she knows how to care for others. I spent a hundred taels of silver to buy her from Yangzhou."
Chen Ji quickly replied, "Your Highness, please don't play matchmaker. The money is enough."
......
At the banquet, Chen Wenzong turned to She Dengke and Liu Quxing and asked, "Are you colleagues of my younger brother? How has he been lately? Did he come today?"
"He's here. As for how he's been, why don't you ask him yourself instead of asking me?" She Dengke replied sullenly.
Chen Wenzong looked embarrassed.
"You're right."
Chen Wenxiao's expression darkened.
"After what he's done, why should we care about him?"
The Ning Dynasty governed by the principles of hierarchy and ethics, with the relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, forming the order that bound society.
However, while everyone paid lip service to the ideals of maternal kindness and filial piety, and fraternal harmony, how many step-parents truly treated their stepchildren as their own? It was all just for show.
Just as Liu Quxing was about to retort, someone patted his shoulder.
He turned to see that Chen Ji had returned to the banquet.
Chen Ji cupped his hands toward Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao from a distance and said, "Elders, it's been a long time since we last met. I didn't expect things to turn out like this. Let's just let it go, shall we? After all, this is a literary gathering hosted by the prince. Let's not disturb the other guests."
When Princess Baili saw Chen Ji, she quickly tugged at the prince's sleeve.
"Brother, it's him! The one who charged us toll money and set up the ladder for us. If I'd known, I wouldn't have spoken up for him!"
The prince laughed.
"I don't think it was a waste. Don't you find him interesting? He even dared to charge the prince of Jing for toll money!" Princess Baili pouted.
"Three taels of silver each time. His heart is black. But... even though he's a scoundrel, he doesn't seem like a gambler."
The prince smiled.
"What do you think a gambler looks like?"
Princess Baili thought back.
"I've seen them when I followed you to the gambling houses. The gamblers there were all out of their minds, completely obsessed with gambling. Their eyes were bloodshot, their clothes were dirty, and their fingernails were caked with mud... But he's clean and full of energy."
A gambler's mind is consumed by gambling.
They gamble when they wake up and sleep when they're done.
How could they possibly care about their appearance?
The prince nodded.
"He really doesn't seem like one. Anyway, the little monk said he's already given up greed and anger. I trust the little monk."
"He hasn't reformed at all. Even if he's stopped gambling, he's still a scoundrel!" Princess Baili grumbled.
The prince laughed and comforted her.
"Alright, alright. Three taels of silver is just the cost of a box of your rouge."
At this moment, Chen Wenzong found Chen Ji somewhat familiar.
It was only now that Chen Wenzong remembered that Chen Ji had been watching him earlier during the banquet, but he hadn't recognized him.
Of course, it was also because they had never been close before.
His mother had always warned him not to associate with Chen Ji.
Chen Wenzong stood up.
"Earlier, Wenxiao was in the wrong. I apologize on his behalf. Please don't take it to heart."
Chen Ji smiled.
"It's fine. People can say whatever they want. There's no stopping them."
Chen Wenzong said, "Father has been at home lately. You should come back and fulfill your filial duties. He would be happy to see that you've turned over a new leaf and are diligently studying medicine."
Chen Ji replied, "I'm quite busy with my studies at the Imperial Medical Academy, so... it's not necessary."
He had no intention of returning to the Chen family, nor did he plan to ever go back.
As he had told Old Man Yao, he truly considered the medical academy his home now.
Chen Ji could understand.
With a gambler for a son and a mother whose status was questionable, it was natural that he wasn't well-received.
Since he wasn't welcome, there was no need to maintain contact, sparing everyone the need to put on a show.
At this point, someone stood up and said with a smile, "The relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, and the principles of hierarchy must not be disrupted. Perhaps you resent your father for not sending you to Donglin Academy, or for neglecting you, but he is still your father, and you are still his son. You must fulfill your filial duties."
Chen Ji looked at the man with some confusion.
"And you are?"
The man was handsome and elegant, dressed in a blue scholar's robe, wearing a finely crafted black gauze hat, with a jade belt around his waist and a valuable jade pendant hanging from it.
Hearing Chen Ji's question, the man replied with pride and restraint, "Lin Chaojing, from Donglin Academy."
It seemed that merely mentioning his name should have been enough for Chen Ji to know who he was.
But Chen Ji's attention wasn't on that.
He suddenly realized why the man looked familiar! This Lin Chaojing bore an uncanny resemblance to Lin Chaoqing from the Ministry of Justice.
They were likely brothers or at least closely related.
Yet Chen Ji distinctly remembered this voice.
It was Lin Chaojing who had spoken about denouncing the eunuch faction during the imperial examination... and Lin Chaoqing was a member of the eunuch faction.
He didn't dwell on it further, simply patting Liu Quxing and She Dengke on the shoulders.
"Let's go. This place isn't for us. Sorry for putting you through that."
"Alright, let's go," Liu Quxing sniffed.
"Wait a moment," Lin Chaojing called out loudly.
"The three of you came to participate in the literary gathering, so you must have some talent. Earlier, everyone shared their new works. Do the three of you have anything to present?"
Chen Ji looked directly at Lin Chaojing, remaining silent.
A work? He had none.
Should he plagiarize something from his previous world? He couldn't do that either.
Chen Ji was severely unbalanced in his studies.
Over the years, he had focused on science, popular science, reasoning, investigation, and counter-investigation.
Even when he dabbled in the humanities, it was only to study cryptography.
So, while he could probably whip up some gunpowder without much trouble, reciting a poem would be a real challenge...
If he had to recite a poem, he might only be able to recall the most famous line from each.
For example, "Long winds and breaking waves will sometimes come, but I will hoist my sails and cross the seas."
As for what came before or after, he couldn't recall at the moment.
And most importantly, the story of the Double Ninth Festival weighed heavily on his mind.
He still didn't know how this world was connected to his previous one.
If he recited a poem that someone here had already written, it would be a joke.
Wait!
Suddenly, Chen Ji's thoughts cleared like the clouds parting to reveal a clear sky.
The earlier haze dissipated in an instant: gunpowder?
Gunpowder!
He might not be able to recite poetry, but he could make gunpowder.
Poetry is art, but isn't explosion also an art?
...
There's another chapter coming soon.
(End of Chapter)