Chapter 162: The Cliff

Morning rooster breaks the dawn.

In the dim apprentice dormitory, Chen Ji slowly sits up from bed.

He turns his head and looks at his friends beside him: She Deng Ke and Liu Qu Xing are wrapped tightly in quilts, Liang Gou Er, who returned sometime with a smell of alcohol, is just snoring away with his head on Liang Mao Er's belly.

Chen Ji quietly and carefully puts on his clothes and goes out. He stands under the apricot tree, spitting out a faint mist, silently looking up at the red cloth strip tied to the highest branch. After a long time, he turns and goes to the master's main house.

He quietly lifts the heavy cotton cloth door curtain and pokes his head in to look around.

Jing Wang is sleeping deeply in bed.

Old man Yao is leaning back in a lounge chair, eyes closed, nurturing his spirit. The small stove in the room is giving off a warm, sluggish heat.

Chen Ji squeezes into the room through the gap in the door curtain, walks carefully to the side of the bed, and reaches out to feel Jing Wang's pulse.

However, before he could even touch it, old man Yao grabbed his wrist from the side.

Chen Ji jumped in surprise, almost shouting out loud: "Master, when did you get up? Why was there no sound at all?"

Old man Yao says expressionlessly: "What are you doing?"

Chen Ji quickly explains: "I just wanted to see if Wang Ye is really sick!"

Old man Yao gives a cold laugh: "With your half-baked skills, what can you feel if I let you feel the pulse? Wang Ye just fell asleep not long ago, I was just afraid you would wake him up rashly."

Chen Ji thinks for a moment and says: "Master, last night Wang Ye took me to a hall meeting at the Lin residence on Tong Ji Street. At the hall meeting, Meng Ban Zhu sang a play called 'White Boat Record'. In the play, the young general was busy for half his life, but in the end he didn't get a good ending. He ran three thousand li to save someone, and in the end he turned against them."

Chen Ji asks curiously: "Master, is Wang Ye the young general in the play?"

Old man Yao's eyebrows jump: "Talking nonsense. White Boat Record is a story from over a hundred years ago, how could it possibly be Wang Ye!"

Chen Ji looks at his master: "Master, you know what I mean!"

"Where do you get so many questions...…"

Old man Yao pulls Chen Ji's wrist, forcibly pulls him out of the main house, and throws him outside: "The water jars are all empty. Get out and fetch water!"

With that, old man Yao turns back into the room, pulling the door curtain tightly shut.

Chen Ji stands outside the door. He turns his head and looks at the thick cotton cloth door curtain.

He is a little doubtful, is Jing Wang really sick or not?

He couldn't even touch his pulse!

If Jing Wang isn't sick, why would master need to block his pulse for him?

The more master blocks it, the more it proves there is a problem.

If Jing Wang is sick, what kind of sickness is it?

He can be sick to the point of fainting and not hear people talking beside him.

But when he's not sick, he can jump and walk for an hour to listen to a play?

At this moment, a magpie's call comes from outside the medical hall.

Magpies are resident birds. When winter comes, they will change to winter feathers early and build nests. Once winter arrives, they will not casually leave their nests. Nor will they casually call out.

Chen Ji realizes that this is the signal from the secret spy department's copper whistle.

He bends down and picks up the shoulder pole and wooden buckets, swaying unsteadily, and walks out the door.

When he reaches the door, the Wang Fu guards brought by Feng Da Ban block his way with their long halberds crossed.

Chen Ji says with a smile: "Two guard brothers, I'm going to fetch water. All the water jars in the courtyard are empty. If it's not convenient to let me out, it's also fine if you two help fetch the water back. It'll probably take eight trips to fill the jars."

The two guards look at each other, hesitate for a moment, and silently put away their long halberds.

Chen Ji passes through the thin fog on the green stone slab road and comes to the well side. There is already a fat figure shaking the wooden windlass at the well mouth.

Jin Zhu!

Chen Ji walks silently to the well side.

Jin Zhu doesn't even turn his head and says in a voice as fine as a mosquito: "Is Jing Wang truly sick or falsely sick?"

Chen Ji says in a low voice: "My master's explanation to Jing Fei is: Jing Wang's time is limited."

Jin Zhu curses in a low voice: "This sickness is too timely."

Chen Ji is doubtful: "What happened?"

Jin Zhu says gloomily: "More than ten branches of the Liu family's private army in Yu state are mobilizing wildly. The vast Yu state is already only allowing entry, not exit. The Liu family wants to rebel, but we can't even send out our news."

Chen Ji asks: "Even Tian Ma can't get out?"

Jin Zhu calls out to heaven in bitterness: "The Liu family has been plotting for a long time. There are only a few channels in and out of Lu city, all guarded by heavy troops. The mountains are also full of scouts. No matter how fierce Tian Ma is, he's only at the Xun Dao realm. Officials at the Xun Dao realm dare not fight against a complete army formation?"

Chen Ji says: "What if Tian Ma breaks through to the Shen Dao realm?"

Jin Zhu lifts the rolled-up wooden bucket and places it on the edge of the well: "If someone in the Shen Dao realm is determined to leave, even an army formation can't stop them. But the problem is, there are only three Shen Dao realm experts in the entire Ning dynasty. It's difficult for Tian Ma to break through, and difficult on top of difficult. More than a hundred of the Liu family's dead men are now searching the entire city with portraits of me and Tian Ma. It's a miracle if we can escape this calamity alive."

Chen Ji's heart sinks, "Are we just going to watch the Liu family rebel with our eyes open?"

Jin Zhu puts the empty wooden bucket into the well: "Otherwise, what else can we do? Or should we secretly sneak into the Liu family now, kill Liu Ge Lao first, and then imprison all the Liu family relatives! Wait for the Liu family's tens of thousands of private soldiers to be leaderless, then we can break the situation."

Chen Ji doesn't know whether to cry or laugh: "Or maybe change the way of dying. Sir, if the Liu family is really well-prepared, why haven't they moved yet? What are they waiting for?"

Jin Zhu answers: "The Liu family is waiting for a justified reason. They want to use Jing Wang's banner, but just at this time, Jing Wang is sick. As soon as he is sick, the entire Lu city is in chaos. Last night, we discovered that Jing Fei hurried to the Liu family's large residence. She only returned to Wang Fu half an hour ago. Yun Fei hurried to the East Market, and under the cover of Cao Bang, she disappeared without a trace. She hasn't returned yet."

Jin Zhu continues: "You must watch carefully in the medical hall, who saw Jing Wang, what they asked, what they said, all of this is crucial. If Cao Bang and the Liu family join forces, things will be even more troublesome."

Chen Ji is doubtful: "Cao Bang? What's the relationship between Cao Bang and Yun Fei?"

Jin Zhu is a little surprised: "You don't know? Behind Cao Bang is Luo Tian Zong. Yun Fei is the only daughter of the previous sect master. Otherwise, why do you think Jing Wang married her? When His Majesty was young, the court situation was turbulent. Luo Tian Zong took advantage of the chaos to control the water transport on the three rivers. Goods and grain transport from south to north were all controlled by them. This predicament only gradually improved after Jing Wang married Yun Fei."

Luo Tian Zong!

Earlier, when Yun Fei traded firearms with Jing Chao's military intelligence department, she wanted them to go to the gold shop in Red Clothes Alley and report the two characters 'Luo Tian' to the old madam.

Chen Ji suddenly asks: "Who is the current sect master of Luo Tian Zong?"

Jin Zhu explains: "The current sect master is named Han Tong, who is the previous sect master's direct first disciple. He and Yun Fei were childhood sweethearts."

Chen Ji's pupils shrink: "Does he have a Buddha tattoo on his wrist?"

Jin Zhu is doubtful: "You've seen him?"

Chen Ji casually explains: "No. I just heard about it."

At this time, Jin Zhu rolls up the second wooden bucket, places it on the edge of the well, and sighs: "This person's whereabouts are mysterious. He always hides among the coolies of Cao Bang. It's impossible to catch him. If you see him, you must report to me immediately."

Chen Ji says helplessly: "Sir, you are now homeless and drifting everywhere. I don't even know how to find you. How can I report to you immediately?"

Jin Zhu sighs: "That's true... Damn... The hall's secret spy department is forced to this extent, where is the logic? Jing Wang, please wake up quickly. If he keeps being sick, who knows where the universe will go!"

"Can Jing Wang suppress the rebellion when he wakes up?"

"If he wants to, maybe he can! With Jing Wang's prestige in the Central Plains, as long as he is willing to stand out and wave his arm, pacify the civil unrest, all of the Liu family's many plots will collapse. Not every one of the Liu family's tens of thousands of private soldiers wants to rebel. They're not starving to death! As long as the common people still have a bite to eat, who is willing to commit the great crime of losing their head and exterminating their nine clans?"

"But what if Jing Wang also wants to rebel?"

"Then everything is over!"

Chen Ji guesses that Jing Wang should not participate in the rebellion.

He knows best that if Jing Wang wanted to rebel, they should not have gone to the hall meeting last night, but to the Liu family's large residence.

Jin Zhu instructs: "I'm leaving. You be careful yourself. These days, unless it's a particularly important matter, absolutely don't move around. The Liu family now wants to kill all the secret spy department members inside Lu city."

Chen Ji answers: "Understood. I will be careful."

At this moment, Jin Zhu takes out a small cloth wrap from his bosom and stuffs it into Chen Ji's hand: "This is for you. Cultivate well!"

Chen Ji is a little startled. He unwraps the gray cloth layer by layer and sees five old ginseng squeezed inside: "Sir. This is...…"

Jin Zhu says with pain: "I bought this with my own salary. Your cultivation talent is extremely high, you must not waste it."

With that, he picks up the shoulder pole and walks unsteadily into the thin fog.

Chen Ji suddenly feels that the entire Lu city is like a speeding chariot, and Jing Wang is like the driver. For more than ten years, he has diligently tightened the reins and turned the chariot's direction onto the official road.

And now, this driver has loosened his hands.

He is letting this out-of-control chariot, carrying the people on it, rush towards the edge of the cliff.

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