Chapter 27: Inner Prison

The early morning of Luoyang was full of vitality, with pedestrians bustling about.

One ox cart after another headed to the East Market, often getting jammed in the narrow streets. Drivers chewed on biscuits while cursing and shouting for people to get out of the way.

Laughter, angry scolding, and hawking sounds filled the air endlessly.

You wouldn't guess its centuries of decline; this city seemed to be frozen in its most glorious moment.

At Taiping Medical Hall, Chen Ji stood behind the counter with sleeves rolled up, smiling as he used a bronze scale to measure medicine for patients. His smile was pure and clean; no one would ever associate him with something like "capturing spies."

On the other side, Old Man Yao was examining his students.

She Dengke sat properly behind the counter, closing his eyes to take a patient's pulse. Old Man Yao stood beside him holding a bamboo stick, asking in a low voice, "Quickly, tell me, what is this pulse image?"

She Dengke placed three fingers on the patient's wrist and cautiously replied, "Flood pulse?"

*Pa!* The bamboo stick hit She Dengke's back, startling the middle-aged male patient across the counter.

Old Man Yao reached out to signal the patient to be calm and patient, and continued to ask She Dengke, "What pulse?"

She Dengke winced, "Real pulse!"

*Pa!* Another one!

She Dengke quickly said, "Sinking pulse!"

*Pa!* Another one!

The patient quickly stood up and pulled at Old Man Yao, "Don't hit the child! Imperial Physician Yao, please calm down first. It might be a sinking pulse, so be it!"

Old Man Yao slowly turned his head and looked at the patient. He actually remained silent for a long time before saying, "...If I felt a happy pulse, would you also agree?!"

As he spoke, he turned his head and swept his gaze towards Chen Ji and Liu Quxing, considering who to beat next. As his gaze swept by, it suddenly stopped at the door outside.

At that moment, a small black cat dodged left and right through the human tide outside the medical hall door. It carefully raised its head to observe people's footsteps and then avoided them.

Reaching the entrance of the medical hall, Hei Yun cautiously pawed at the door threshold and peeked inside, only to meet Old Man Yao's gaze.

Old Man Yao looked at it expressionlessly. Chen Ji's heart tightened; his master was not a person who liked small animals and might harshly drive Hei Yun away.

However, facing Old Man Yao's gaze, Hei Yun only shrank its neck, then gathered its courage again and hopped over the threshold, slowly approaching.

Hei Yun then leaped onto the counter and came before Old Man Yao, directly lying in his hand!

Old Man Yao was stunned for a long time. His originally stern expression slowly changed, and he actually smiled, showing wrinkles. She Dengke and his two other senior brothers were all stunned; it was the first time they had seen their master so kind and pleasant!

So this old man could smile after all!

Old Man Yao realized something was amiss and immediately became serious, saying nonchalantly, "This little thing is quite likable."

Liu Quxing came over wanting to touch Hei Yun, but Old Man Yao immediately pushed his hand away, "Beat it!"

Liu Quxing: "......"

The next moment, Hei Yun rubbed its head in Old Man Yao's hand. Old Man Yao was silent for a moment, then turned to She Dengke and said, "Go get the purple wood box from my room."

Old Man Yao lightly pointed at Hei Yun's head with his other hand and casually said, "You're called Hei Yun, right?"

Chen Ji's pupils suddenly constricted, his heart tightening with nervousness as if being squeezed.

The matter of him naming Hei Yun was only known to him and Hei Yun. How could Old Man Yao know? Could it be that the opponent already knew everything?

At this moment, Chen Ji recalled Old Man Yao going to the Zhou residence to pick him up, pulling him back to the medical hall during the Buddha and Bodhisattva procession, and going to Wanxing Garden for a consultation. Each incident seemed to hide a deeper meaning.

Just as Chen Ji was thinking, he saw Old Man Yao silently glance at him. This one glance seemed to see right through him.

Old Man Yao only glanced at him once, then turned his gaze back to Hei Yun. She Dengke came over and asked, "Master, this is the cat from Wanxing Garden, right? I remember you haven't entered the Wang residence for a long time. How do you know it's called Hei Yun?"

Old Man Yao squinted at him, "I divined it. Is that a problem?"

Liu Quxing at the side was startled, "You can divine that too? Then divine my childhood milk name."

Old Man Yao took out six copper coins from his sleeve, scattered them on the counter with a calm face, then said expressionlessly to Liu Quxing, "Your milk name is idiot."

Chen Ji: "......"

Liu Quxing: "......"

She Dengke carried the purple wood box over and pulled open the drawer. Inside were unexpectedly one exquisite pastry after another.

Liu Quxing exclaimed, "Zheng Xin Zhai pastries!"

Old Man Yao held a pastry in his palm and placed it in front of Hei Yun, "Eat."

Hei Yun finished it in a few bites and then stared at the box again.

Old Man Yao was not stingy and actually took out another one, saying, "Being able to eat pastries is a good thing. Stupid fox slaves only know how to eat meat. Only clever fox slaves know the benefits of pastries."

After eating two pastries, Hei Yun ran back to Chen Ji's front without looking back and lay down, completely at ease.

Seeing this, Old Man Yao just patted the pastry crumbs in his palm into his mouth, not getting angry.

He looked towards Chen Ji and said casually, "It seems to quite like you."

Saying so, he continued to examine She Dengke's studies.

Seeing everyone's attention turn away, Chen Ji asked in a low voice, "Why did you come out during the day?"

Hei Yun replied, "Jing Fei left the Jing Wang residence and I don't know where he went. Now Wanxing Garden is unsupervised, the maids are all slacking off. I just came out to find you to play!"

Chen Ji laughed, "Then you stay in the medical hall for now. I'll weigh medicine for the patient first."

Just as he spoke, a luxuriously dressed middle-aged man entered the door. He held a prescription, "Imperial Physician Yao, I've come to get medicine, but I left in too much of a hurry this morning and forgot to bring enough money. Can you let me get the medicine first to treat my mother, and send a young apprentice to accompany me home to get the money? I won't let the apprentice work for nothing, I'll give him twenty *wen* for the trip."

Old Man Yao looked at the prescription, "The medicines you're getting are not cheap. Are you sure there's money at home?"

The middle-aged man nodded, "Positive!"

Liu Quxing quickly said, "Master, I'll go!"

Old Man Yao smiled coldly, "You boy don't want to be examined, do you? Chen Ji, you go!"

Liu Quxing's face immediately turned ashen, his eyes wide as he watched Chen Ji follow the man out!

Upon reaching the door, the middle-aged man led Chen Ji onto a horse carriage.

After lowering the curtain, the middle-aged man slowly and methodically tore off the beard and wrinkles on his face, revealing Yun Yang's original appearance. "You had people bring me a message, you want to go to the inner prison?"

"That's right," Chen Ji nodded. "I feel Liu Shiyu's case is not simple and doesn't seem like Liu Shiyu's personal actions. There's still a big fish behind it."

"Huh? You're actually actively helping me earn merit? Are you short on money?" Yun Yang became suspicious. "By your account, you just earned fifty taels of silver. Even if you went to Hongyi Lane, you wouldn't spend it all in a month. Could it be you went to Baiyi Lane? Listen to my advice, those Yangzhou delicate horses cultivated from a young age in *qin*, chess, calligraphy, and painting, who are charming in every posture, are not something a small apprentice like you can enjoy."

Chen Ji smiled, "Master Yun Yang, you're still unhappy that I want to help you earn merit? If you sit in a high position someday, perhaps you can arrange a small official position for me in the Secret Spy Office."

Yun Yang neither affirmed nor denied, "You think the remaining descendants of the Liu family also have problems?"

"We'll know after seeing them."

Yun Yang wasted no more words. He took out a black blindfold, "Close your eyes. The location of the inner prison is secret, you can't know it. You'll also have to plug your ears."

With his eyes closed and ears plugged, Chen Ji's world quieted down. The liveliness of Luoyang seemed to have no relation to him.

Yun Yang lifted the curtain and went out to drive the carriage. The horse carriage slowly rolled on the bluestone road. No one noticed when a small black cat had settled on top of the carriage, swaying with it as it drove south.

Old Man Yao stopped his examination, stood at the medical hall door with his hands behind his back, and gazed at the departing horse carriage, lost in thought.

......

......

"We've arrived!"

Yun Yang removed the cotton from Chen Ji's ears and pulled his arm to help him out of the carriage. Seeing Chen Ji take out a gray cloth from his chest and cover his mouth and nose, he curled his lips and said, "You are quite cautious."

Chen Ji laughed and said, "Presumably, this Luoyang inner prison has already been infiltrated by the Liu family like a sieve, otherwise why would they know the news of Liu Shiyu's death so quickly? Coming to such a place to investigate the Liu family case, it's naturally prudent to be cautious. Speaking of which... the Secret Spy Office's inner prison being infiltrated like this, aren't you angry, Master Yun Yang?"

Yun Yang laughed coldly, "That batch of jailers in Luoyang were all dispatched to Lingnan last night. The people here now are all brought in from elsewhere."

Chen Ji covered his eyes and stumbled forward, pulled by Yun Yang. He heard the quietness around him, with no abnormalities except for bird calls.

Arriving outside an iron door, Yun Yang knocked three times quickly and two times slowly. The iron door then slowly opened inward.

As the heavy, rusted door opened, it emitted an ear-piercing screech of iron friction, making people's teeth ache.

Inside the door, a young secret spy was waiting.

Entering the inner prison, Yun Yang said, "You can remove the blindfold."

Chen Ji opened his eyes, slightly shielding the light with his right hand and squinting as he looked around.

He saw a narrow staircase slanting downwards, extending straight into the deep underground.

Along the wall beside the staircase, an oil lamp was hung every fifteen steps, like guiding lights summoning souls.

Strangely, under each oil lamp, there was an eight trigrams pattern carved into the lamp base. Chen Ji asked curiously, "What's with these eight trigrams?"

Yun Yang recalled, "According to legend, seven years ago, the inner court minister found an 'official wanderer' proficient in strange gates and escapes, who drew these on every inner prison. The legend says... one lamp, one prison. With the eight trigrams there, the lamp doesn't extinguish, the person doesn't perish."

Chen Ji frowned, "What does that mean?"

Yun Yang shrugged, "How should I know."

The young secret spy led Yun Yang and Chen Ji underground. Upon reaching flat ground, a stone tunnel led into the distant darkness, and on both sides of the tunnel, dimly lit prison cells were 'embedded' in the stone wall one by one.

When the two figures appeared, someone immediately clung to the iron bars, crying and shouting, "Your Lordship, I am wronged! I absolutely have no connection with the Jing Dynasty spies. My elderly mother is over sixty years old, and I still have two children to feed. I beg you to release me!"

Cries of injustice were continuous, but Yun Yang acted as if he didn't hear. "Let's go, the files are inside."

However, Chen Ji, who was behind him, stiffened in place just as he stepped forward.

In the dim inner prison, inside the prison cell in front of him, two grey-white streams of ice actually flew out and drilled into Chen Ji's body from his brow.

Yun Yang turned back, "What's wrong?"

Chen Ji's expression was normal. "Nothing, it's my first time in the inner prison. Seeing these emaciated prisoners, I'm a little unaccustomed."

Yun Yang laughed and said, "I was also startled at first. I slowly got used to it."

Chen Ji took another step. As he and Yun Yang walked towards the depths of the inner prison, grey-white ice streams flew out from each prison room.

They seemed to perceive Chen Ji's existence, surging and swimming towards him like flood dragons tumbling in the air.

Chen Ji looked at this scene in shock. Over a hundred ice streams drilled into his body from his brow, finally merging together and coiling in his *dantian*.

The momentum of the ice streams was too great. Vaguely, there was even a tendency to extinguish the furnace fire!