Chapter 260: Suspicion

Chen Ji silently watched the crowd running wildly in front of the inn door. Border army soldiers in armor, holding knives, drove them away, catching the main troublemakers everywhere. If there was any resistance, they were killed on the spot.

A troop of armored border army soldiers passed through Kucha Street. As they passed the Dragon Gate Inn, one soldier turned his head and coldly glanced at Chen Ji but paid no attention, continuing forward to chase and kill.

The sky gradually darkened. Chen Ji turned and flipped onto the roof. He didn't go to get grain, but instead stepped on the gray tile eaves, stealthily heading towards Tao Huai Alley.

Arriving at Quli Street, the whole street was completely silent. The tailor shop and Baofeng Zhai were all closed.

Chen Ji walked directly to the front of Li Yuanwai's door, knocking on the courtyard door.

But after a long time, there was no response from inside the courtyard.

Chen Ji frowned. He had come to seek out Bai Long to inquire about the situation, wanting to test whether the grain being burned was Bai Long's doing and whether there was a coping strategy...

Even if the big fire wasn't Bai Long's doing, seeking refuge with Bai Long at this time, bringing Xiao Man, Zhang Zheng, and Zhang Xia, was the most secure way to save their lives, better than following the Yu Lin Army.

He thought it over and over, finally lightly leaped up and clung to the wall eaves. Using both hands suddenly, his whole body lightly squatted on top of the courtyard wall, looking inside.

There was no one inside the courtyard. The more than ten secret agents previously holding knives and axes were gone, and the courtyard inside was neat and tidy at a glance, as if no one had ever lived there.

Chen Ji jumped into the courtyard, pushed open the east and west wing rooms. Inside, only tables, chairs, benches, and a bed were left. Besides that, not even a piece of white paper remained.

For a moment, he felt somewhat absurd. Where had Bai Long gone?

Could it be that everything that happened in the afternoon was a dream?

He walked to the main room again and pushed lightly, and the room door opened.

There was no one inside the room, only something wrapped in palm leaves placed lonely on the Eight Immortals table.

Chen Ji walked up and lifted a corner. Suddenly, it was exactly the oranges that Bai Long had wanted him to bring to Zhang Second Miss that afternoon!

Everyone was gone, only this package of oranges remained in its original place, as if Bai Long knew he would come back, emitting silent mockery from some dark place.

Chen Ji pocketed the oranges and returned to Quli Street. He walked straight to the tailor shop and knocked on the door; again, no one responded.

He lifted the door panel and walked into the house. Pieces of cloth were neatly stacked on the shelves, and a half-finished garment was folded on the counter...

The tailor shop's proprietress had also disappeared without a trace.

Chen Ji, not believing his bad luck, went next door and knocked, but he knocked on every door along Quli Street and then discovered that the entire Quli Street was empty!

This vast, long Quli Street was like a haunted place, empty and silent.

Chen Ji looked at the black, dark, long street, his heart shocked and doubtful: "Could it be that everyone on this street were Bai Long's people? Then this street originally hid several hundred people!"

Where did Bai Long transfer so many secret agents from, and why transfer so many people?

What exactly did Bai Long want to do?

While thinking, a group of people, openly and boldly, holding torches and short knives, rushed into Quli Street. The leader pointed forward with a short knife: "Search! Search door by door for grain! The border army won't let us live, then no one should think of living. The border army won't give us grain, we'll find it ourselves!"

Not only Quli Street, but the neighboring Duohun Street was also like this. The powerful families of Guyuan were starving and could not bear it. Unable to provoke the border army, they could only turn their attention to the common people.

Crying sounds, cursing sounds, endless to the ear.

Guyuan was about to descend into chaos.

Chen Ji slowly withdrew from Quli Street, flipped onto the roof, and hurried towards the grain and oil shop.

Inside the Dragon Gate Inn, Xiao Wu was lying on the counter, snoring in his sleep. Li Xuan was leading a crowd of Yu Lin Army in the main hall. Everyone held pottery bowls, and the bowls contained thin gruel.

The young masters of the Yu Lin Army sat with ashen faces and dirt. Forty jin of grain divided among five hundred people was barely enough to survive.

The Crown Prince picked up his bowl; there was less gruel in his bowl than in others.

Li Xuan advised: "Your Highness, I should still divide some more gruel for you. If you only drink this little, what if it harms your body from hunger?"

The Crown Prince smiled reassuringly: "All of you generals ran east and west to buy grain and are exhausted. I just stayed in the inn and enjoyed myself. Where is the reason to eat more and take more? Everyone also doesn't need to be disheartened. Perhaps Zuo Siwei will bring the grain back shortly."

Li Xuan said worriedly: "Your Highness, although Chen Ji has ability, he is still too young. He was provoked a few times by this boy Qi Jianzhe and took on a heavy responsibility. We have been running around all day and naturally know how difficult it is to find grain. If he really cannot find the grain back, it is actually not his fault."

Qi Jianzhe muttered softly: "He wanted to show off himself, what does it have to do with me?"

Li Xuan glared angrily: "Still not shutting up! What time is it now! Still not uniting to assist His Highness! If I find you causing trouble for Chen Ji again, I will impeach you with a memorial when we return! At that time, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

Qi Jianzhe said discontentedly: "But his words were too infuriating, what about saying that grain is very easy to find, as if making us Yu Lin Army very useless."

Suddenly, there was noise outside the inn.

Li Xuan gave Qi Jianzhe a look. Qi Jianzhe went out to check for a moment and then came back with a grave face: "Not good, the powerful families inside Guyuan are now leading their subordinates to plunder the common people, forcibly searching for grain from their homes. Some people's homes that cannot be searched for grain have even had their house walls pushed down."

The Crown Prince suddenly stood up: "How can it be like this? Don't the Guyuan border army care?"

Just at this moment, a person's shadow quietly approached the inn door and squeezed into the house through the crack in the door.

Everyone's gazes turned, only to see Chen Ji walking in, carrying a hemp sack of grain. Xiao Wu suddenly woke up and hurriedly took a cloth to brush the wind and sand off Chen Ji's body.

Qi Jianzhe's face showed surprise. He took the hemp sack and placed it heavily on the table. He untied the hemp rope tied at the mouth of the sack, and inside were actually all yellow-orange corn kernels.

He looked at Chen Ji in disbelief: "You... where did you get this grain from?"

Chen Ji glanced at him: "Naturally bought from the common people's homes."

Qi Jianzhe immediately questioned: "Impossible, we visited so many households, and we didn't give a little silver, why couldn't we collect it?"

Chen Ji glanced at him, not responding.

At this time, Qi Jianzhe pointed to the grain and questioned: "You didn't just take advantage of the fire to loot and rob this from the common people's homes, did you?"

Chen Ji frowned slightly: "No."

Chen Liqin stood up and said in a deep voice: "Chen Ji, tell the truth, is this grain something you robbed from the common people's homes?"

Chen Ji replied again: "No."

Chen Liqin stepped forward a few steps: "Then where did these grains come from? Which alley, which street, which household, and how much did you spend?"

Chen Ji said calmly: "Tao Huai Alley, Quli Street, Li Yuanwai's home. I spent five hundred taels of silver to buy sixty jin of corn."

Qi Jianzhe suddenly said: "That's not right, you definitely robbed it."

Chen Ji said in a condensed voice: "If not, then?"

Qi Jianzhe was silent for two breaths: "Earlier, the Crown Prince gave you the Fo Guang Pu Zhao bracelet. If you bought it, presumably that string of Fo Guang Pu Zhao is no longer on your body. If you robbed it, that string of Fo Guang Pu Zhao must still be on you, not spent. Let me search your body, and one search will know."

Chen Ji looked at the Crown Prince: "What does Your Highness think?"

The Crown Prince hesitated for a moment, then said firmly: "No, Chen Ji painstakingly sought grain back. How can we arbitrarily guess? All of you, do not suspect."

But Qi Jianzhe did not give up, actually looked at Chen Liqin and mocked: "Chen Daren, today you still reminded us Yu Lin Army not to steal chickens or dogs. Now what do you say? It's your Chen family person, search or not search?"

Chen Liqin looked at Qi Jianzhe, then looked at Chen Ji, and suddenly cupped his hands to the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, search him."

The Crown Prince shook his head: "Cannot search."

Chen Wenzong also stood up and blocked in front of Chen Ji, saying coldly to the crowd: "The Master said: 'Do not go against fraud, do not estimate disbelief! Do not preemptively suspect others of fraud, do not arbitrarily guess others of lying!'"

The next moment, Chen Ji smiled and pushed away Chen Wenzong: "Many thanks, elder brother, but since everyone has suspicion, then search and see."

Having said that, he spread open both arms, indicating for Qi Jianzhe to come forward.

Qi Jianzhe also did not hesitate, his hands searching from Chen Ji's hair to his ankles, searching out the package of oranges he had hidden in his bosom and the Fo Guang Pu Zhao on his wrist together.

Qi Jianzhe complacently handed the Fo Guang Pu Zhao to the Crown Prince: "Your Highness, look, the Fo Guang Pu Zhao is still on him. This boy fundamentally did not go to buy grain, but took advantage of the chaos to rob grain back!"

The Crown Prince frowned and handed the Fo Guang Pu Zhao back to Qi Jianzhe: "Chen Ji... what do you have to say?"

Before Chen Ji could answer, Xiao Wu approached Qi Jianzhe and examined that string of Fo Guang Pu Zhao: "Not right, this is the Fo Guang Pu Zhao worth two thousand five hundred taels of silver, not five hundred taels. Look, the front six beads are engraved with 'Zhu Pu Sa Mo He Sa', this flowed out from Luoyang Duo Luo Temple; the middle six beads are respectively engraved with 'Jing Wang Fu Zhuan Yi Zai', meaning the first time it left the temple was delivered to Jing Wang; the back six beads are engraved with 'Chi Rong Zi Zai Shi Fang', this is the meaning of two thousand five hundred... do you all understand or not?"

Having said that, he touched the micro-carving on the Fo Guang Pu Zhao again: "Um, it's real, the feel of this micro-carving is not wrong."

The crowd was doubtful, and the Crown Prince asked curiously: "Where did this Fo Guang Pu Zhao come from?"

Chen Wenzong hurriedly explained: "My younger brother once researched something called cement. This is the wealth Jing Wang paid to my younger brother when he bought the cement formula."

The Crown Prince breathed a sigh of relief: "So that's it. It seems everyone misunderstood Chen Ji."

Li Xuan stood up to smooth things over: "Chen Ji, you also saw that someone outside the door was plundering the common people just now, so we will..."

Chen Ji didn't listen to what he said and didn't reply. He just carried the hemp sack and walked towards the outside.

Qi Jianzhe was suddenly shocked: "What do you want to do?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Chen Ji tear open the hemp sack and pour out all the corn kernels at the door. The people outside the door rushed up and in an instant scraped clean the corn scattered on the ground.