Only a quarter of an hour remained.
It was a fleeting moment.
Chen Ji wasted no more words.
He quickly scanned the study, his eyes lingering on the scattered scrolls and blank sheets of rice paper.
He swiftly flipped through the books on the shelves.
"The rice paper is blank, and the books are all common ones you can find anywhere. There’s nothing hidden inside," Jiao Tu reminded him.
Chen Ji turned and walked into the courtyard.
It was a two-courtyard siheyuan, and he carefully examined every detail, trying to find any trace of a clue.
Deep down, he knew he had no real chance of finding anything.
He had only spoken up earlier because he was facing a group of ruthless killers, and saying nothing would have meant instant death.
As time ticked by, Yun Yang grew impatient.
"Too slow, too slow. Let’s add a little game. See that phoenix tree in the courtyard? For every leaf that falls while you search, I’ll prick you with a needle."
As soon as he finished speaking, a leaf drifted down from the tree.
Yun Yang caught the yellowed leaf in mid-air and sighed.
"Your luck really isn’t great."
With that, he walked up to Chen Ji and pricked the back of the young man’s hand with a needle.
Chen Ji’s face flushed red, and he doubled over in pain.
Despite the cold autumn air, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
He cursed Yun Yang in his heart, but the pain didn’t lessen in the slightest.
Yun Yang spoke leisurely, "Any time you waste due to the pain still counts toward that quarter of an hour."
Chen Ji leaned against the phoenix tree, slowly straightening up, and then shuffled step by step into the kitchen.
He had to find a clue before the second leaf fell!
The kitchen was simple—a brick stove and a collection of jars and bottles filled with seasonings.
The room was clean and tidy, with nothing out of place.
After inspecting all the jars, Chen Ji walked out of the kitchen but suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He muttered to himself, "Something feels off. I must have missed something."
Yun Yang leaned against the kitchen doorframe, yawning and twirling a silver needle between his fingers.
"You’re running out of time. Seems like I’ve wasted a quarter of an hour."
Chen Ji remained rooted to the spot, racking his brain to figure out what he might have overlooked.
Just then, another leaf fell from the phoenix tree, and Yun Yang pricked Chen Ji behind the ear.
Instantly, Chen Ji crumpled to the ground, curling up like a shrimp, nearly passing out from the pain.
But this time, without waiting for Yun Yang to urge him, he got up and returned to the kitchen, carrying two jars filled with fine white crystalline powder.
Yun Yang glanced at them curiously.
"Two jars of salt? What’s the problem?"
"Why would a kitchen have two jars of salt?" Chen Ji replied, pinching a bit of the white powder from one jar and rubbing it between his fingers.
"This isn’t salt."
"Not salt?" Yun Yang was intrigued.
He and Jiao Tu were experts in killing, covering up, and taking credit, but when it came to finding clues, they were out of their depth.
Chen Ji held out his finger to Yun Yang.
"Taste it."
Yun Yang frowned.
"You’re being cautious, huh? What if it’s poison? I’m not tasting it."
Jiao Tu chuckled.
If it weren’t for the corpses scattered around, the snake-like girl’s laughter might have seemed charming.
Yun Yang’s face turned cold.
"Hurry up and taste it."
Chen Ji took a pinch of the white powder and put it in his mouth.
"It’s extremely bitter, with no distinct flavor."
He fell into deep thought.
What could this be?
Chen Ji quickly searched his memory, trying to recall something from the books he had read.
Wait, this is alum!
Some military intelligence books had mentioned that alum was one of the main materials used in writing secret messages during espionage.
Writing with alum water would make the characters disappear once dried.
This spy technique originated in the 13th century and was frequently used during World War I and II.
After much thought, Chen Ji was certain he had found the answer: the Jing Dynasty spies used alum to write secret messages.
Zhou Chengyi had hidden this among the salt to throw off suspicion.
Keeping it so close and convenient meant that secret correspondence must have been frequent.
Therefore… Zhou Chengyi’s house must contain secret letters exchanged with other spies.
He immediately grabbed a jar of vinegar from the kitchen and returned to the study.
He spread out sheets of blank rice paper on the table, tore a piece of cloth from his clothes, and gently wiped the paper with vinegar.
After wiping five or six sheets without finding anything, Chen Ji’s forehead began to bead with sweat in the chilly autumn air.
He glanced at Zhou Chengyi, who remained calm and unruffled.
Had he guessed wrong?
No, he couldn’t have!
Just then, a cold wind blew, and the yellowed leaves from the phoenix tree fell like rain.
Yun Yang smiled.
"Your luck isn’t great…"
"Found it!"
"Hmm?" Yun Yang’s attention was drawn.
On the twelfth sheet of rice paper, where the pale yellow vinegar had been wiped, a line of red characters appeared: "In case of danger, go immediately to Li’s Sweet Water Shop in Lijing Lane, east of the city."
Yun Yang’s eyes lit up at the sight of the characters.
"This is a new Jing Dynasty spy base. There might even be a high-ranking official from the Jing Military Intelligence Bureau in Luocheng!"
He turned to Jiao Tu.
"This is a big merit!"
Jiao Tu thought for a moment.
"Let’s kill this kid and take the credit for ourselves."
"No, I promised not to kill him. Besides, he’s not from our Secret Spy Bureau. The credit will still go to us."
"Fine…"
Meanwhile, Zhou Chengyi, the Jing Dynasty spy, looked ashen-faced.
He dropped all pretense, pulling a hidden soft sword from his belt and lunging at Chen Ji, determined to kill him.
In an instant, the once pitiful-looking spy transformed into a ferocious beast.
Chen Ji leaped backward, while Jiao Tu suddenly darted forward like a shadow, graceful as a butterfly.
She intercepted Zhou Chengyi, and in the blink of an eye, her silver needle pricked his waist like a dragonfly skimming the water.
With a thud, Zhou Chengyi collapsed to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
At that moment, a cold current surged from Zhou Chengyi’s body, resembling a grayish-white, flowing dragon in the night, and it entered Chen Ji’s body.
It was a sensation Chen Ji had never experienced in his seventeen years of life.
The icy flow was like glacial water from a snowy mountain, pure and clear, coursing through his veins.
Where did this icy flow come from? Why? Chen Ji didn’t know.
The scenes he had witnessed tonight were things he had only seen in movies.
This world was completely different from the one he knew!
Chen Ji observed Jiao Tu and Yun Yang, noticing that they didn’t seem to have seen what had just happened.
Could it be that only he had seen it?
Yun Yang, seeing that Zhou Chengyi was no longer a threat, turned to Chen Ji with interest.
"How does a medical apprentice know all this?"
Chen Ji answered without hesitation, "Alum can be used in medicine. It has hemostatic, ulcer-healing, and pain-relieving properties, so I’m familiar with it."
"Really?" Yun Yang pinched some alum from the jar and put it in his mouth.
"I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lately, with ulcers in my mouth."
Jiao Tu stood straight on Zhou Chengyi’s back.
"Enough chit-chat. Send someone to Lijing Lane and take down Li’s Sweet Water Shop."
Immediately, eight black-clad men mounted their horses and galloped toward Lijing Lane.
The crisp sound of hooves on the midnight cobblestones shattered the night’s tranquility.
Chen Ji asked, "Can I leave now?"
"Uh… I’m afraid not," Yun Yang shook his head.
"Going back on your word?"
"Not exactly. I only said you could live, but I never said I’d let you go," Yun Yang brushed off the dust on his clothes.
"I’ll have to take you to the inner prison for a thorough interrogation."
"Interrogate me about what?"
"For example, why would a medical apprentice from the Prince of Jing’s clinic appear at Zhou Chengyi’s residence in the middle of the night? Has the Prince of Jing been colluding with the northern Jing Dynasty through Zhou Chengyi, planning to rebel with their help?" Yun Yang spread his hands.
"You see, I have a lot of questions."
Jiao Tu tempted him, "Zhou Chengyi is just a minor county official, but if you can implicate the Prince of Jing, we’ll give you wealth and status!"
Chen Ji sighed inwardly at the complexity of his situation, which seemed far beyond his imagination.
Where was the Jing Dynasty? Who was the Prince of Jing?
Were the deceased’s social connections this complicated?
He replied, "I was here to deliver medicine. I got caught up in this by accident."
Chen Ji said this because he had seen two packages of medicine labeled "Taiping Medical Clinic" in the kitchen, wrapped in yellow paper and placed next to the stove, still unopened.
Yun Yang shook his head.
"That’s just your side of the story. I only believe what I extract through interrogation."
Chen Ji changed the subject.
"You want to catch that high-ranking official from the Jing Military Intelligence Bureau?"
"The people to capture him are already on their way."
"You won’t catch him at Li’s Sweet Water Shop in Lijing Lane. That place is clearly just a waypoint to help Zhou Chengyi escape. There won’t be any high-ranking official there."
Yun Yang looked thoughtful.
"Do you have another lead?"
Chen Ji remained silent.
Yun Yang approached Chen Ji, holding a thin silver needle between his middle and index fingers, and lightly pricked Chen Ji’s shoulder.
Instantly, Chen Ji felt a searing pain.
Within a few breaths, his clothes were soaked with sweat.
But the pain came and went quickly, disappearing as if it had never been there.
Yun Yang said casually, "I have many more techniques like this. In all my years in the martial world, only a handful of people have endured three of my needles."
Yet Chen Ji still didn’t speak.
Yun Yang pricked Chen Ji’s hand with another needle.
The young man’s body trembled uncontrollably, but he didn’t make a sound.
Yun Yang pricked him twice more, but Chen Ji remained silent.
"You can endure even this?" Yun Yang was amazed.
The next moment, Chen Ji suddenly produced a shard of porcelain from his palm, trembling as he moved it toward his neck to slit his own throat!
The shard had been hidden in his palm all along.
Just as the shard was about to reach his neck, Yun Yang grabbed Chen Ji’s wrist.
"Using death as a threat?"
"Forget it. If we delay any longer, the big prize will get away," Jiao Tu held up three fingers.
"I swear on my mother’s honor, if you provide us with information to help us succeed, I’ll set you free."
Yun Yang also held up three fingers.
"I swear on my parents’ honor. If I lie, may they be condemned to eternal damnation."
Chen Ji remained silent, pondering the weight of their oaths.
People in this era were superstitious, so oaths carried significant weight… but no, he still couldn’t trust them.
But if he could demonstrate enough value, making himself indispensable, could he gamble for his life?
Finally, he gasped, "The rice paper must have been bought with the alum writing already on it. It’s likely that the high-ranking official you mentioned wrote it himself. So, instead of going to Lijing Lane, you should look for the shop that sold the rice paper. That shop is the real source of crucial intelligence."
(End of Chapter)