Chapter 40: Breaking Through the Wall

General Wang asked in a deep voice, "Miss Chunhua, have you found anything?"

Chunhua suppressed a crying tone. "No..."

She turned around, her eyes red, looking incredulously at She Dengke. She Dengke’s eyes held some doubt and some relief.

General Wang glanced at Chunhua, then at She Dengke, his voice gradually growing cold. "I hope Miss Chunhua will call us next time she has concrete evidence. We are the Prince's guards, not petty constables looking for stray chickens and dogs. Let's go."

The guards were about to leave, but Old Man Yao blocked their path, saying lightly, "Apologize."

General Wang was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Chen Ji. "Sorry for the disturbance!"

Chen Ji said slowly, "Please trouble General Wang to clarify things for me at the door, otherwise my neighbors won't associate with me in the future."

General Wang shook his head. "That I cannot do. Let's go!"

The Wangfu guards came quickly and left quickly. Chunhua looked at She Dengke, wanting to speak but stopping. Finally, with red eyes, she turned and left. "You almost got me killed!"

"Wait!" Chen Ji said.

Chunhua stopped and turned to look at Chen Ji, a little afraid. "What do you want? I didn't want this either, but I had no choice."

"Let's talk over here."

Chen Ji led Chunhua to the door and said softly, "Go back and tell Jing Fei that we didn't need to be enemies. Liu Shiyu was not killed by me, nor by the Secret Spy Si. She was silenced by the Liu family. Since I was able to help her find the lead-barium glass cup last time, I can help her get revenge this time too. Go back and relay this message. It shouldn't be your concern."

Chunhua was startled for a moment, then turned and left.

Chen Ji stood at the entrance of the medical hall, listening to the surrounding chatter and watching Chunhua's receding figure.

The sun set in the west, and the orange-red light on his body gradually faded until night covered everything.

The Secret Spy Si, the Military Intelligence Si, Jing Fei, Yun Fei, these people were all giants in this world, seemingly capable of crushing him with a wave of their hand.

Chen Ji's fate was not his own. At first, he could only survive by squeezing through cracks.

But now there was also a chessboard in front of him. He lightly placed a piece on the edge, at the 'Chun corner'. Perhaps it wouldn't decide victory or defeat, but his strategy in playing chess was always unorthodox, never following conventional moves.

He returned to the medical hall, only to see Old Man Yao glaring at She Dengke. "Think you're tough now? Kneel down!"

She Dengke honestly knelt on the ground, crying with snot and tears. "Master, I didn't want it to be like this. Chunhua said Jing Fei made her do it, otherwise she would have killed her tonight. Chunhua told me she only needed to hide a pearl in Chen Ji's clothes to get him kicked out of Taiji Hall, and then it would be fine. She said she would give all her savings to compensate Chen Ji, and he could open a small business after leaving the medical hall."

Saying this, She Dengke took out three silver ingots, two silver hairpins, two silver bracelets, and thirty-six copper coins from his chest.

Old Man Yao turned to look at Chen Ji. "This is your matter. What do you say?"

Chen Ji stood in silence.

Chunhua could have given ten taels of silver, fifty taels, or five hundred taels, but she gave thirty taels of silver and thirty-six copper coins, because that's all she had.

But could he forgive? He could not.

He knew that in this era, a girl like Chunhua had no other choice. If she didn't do it, Jing Fei would really kill her.

But if he had been framed, would the outcome have been as simple as being kicked out of Taiji Hall? No, he would certainly have been beaten to death by Chunrong and his strong servants.

He had originally thought he could treat the medical hall as his home, and his master and brothers could all become his family, but reality never happens according to what you think.

The most damnable thing about this world is that it doesn't let you go just because you're a good person.

Chen Ji was not a good person either.

He picked up the silver, bracelets, hairpins, and copper coins from the ground. "I accept these things. But, Senior Brother She, you and Chunhua each owe me a life. I will tell you when to repay it. Can you do that?"

She Dengke nodded wildly. "Yes! Yes!"

Chen Ji turned and returned to the main hall of the medical hall. Liu Quxing looked at his back, wanting to speak but stopping, only feeling that it seemed useless to say anything now.

Old Man Yao lowered his head to look at the kneeling She Dengke. "You've been led astray by a woman. Go and kneel in the room. Don't be an eyesore here. Although Chen Ji isn't pursuing this, if it happens again, this medical hall cannot tolerate you."

...

...

At night, Taiping Medical Hall quieted down, as if nothing had happened during the day.

Chen Ji stood behind the counter, propping his chin.

Black Cloud walked out of the shadows, lightly jumped onto the counter and sat down, spitting a round pearl into Chen Ji's palm.

It meowed. "Don't be sad, don't be angry."

Chen Ji hid the pearl in his sleeve. "I'm not sad, and I'm not angry. Sadness and anger are useless emotions for weak people... Let's talk about something happy, let's count our money!"

"I've now lit up a total of sixteen lamps of fire. I feel I can take on a Secret Spy with no problem. Today, when I was confined by the Wangfu guards, I felt I could completely break free from them. I don't know how many lamps of fire I need to light up to defeat Si Cao, Lin Chaoqing, Yun Yang, Jiao Tu..."

"The pearl can't be sold now. We'll sell it later when we go to another city. Earlier, I bought six branches of ginseng at Bailu Pavilion. One branch was given to Old Man Yao. The remaining five branches cost a total of one hundred and ninety-five taels of white silver... Counting the fifty taels under the bed and the money Chunhua compensated me, we still have eighty-five taels of white silver and one hundred and twenty-one copper coins."

Black Cloud was confused. "How many roasted chickens can we buy?"

Chen Ji calculated for a long time but couldn't figure it out clearly. "... A lot! When I bought the ginseng, Si Cao really didn't give me any discount, ah. You say, should I try to become a manager at Bailu Pavilion for the Military Intelligence Si in Luocheng Sea Dongqing? It just so happens that I've studied Chinese medicine, and the profession matches..."

If he could manage Bailu Pavilion, even if he didn't embezzle money, he could still buy ginseng at a purchasing price, right?!

At this moment, Black Cloud pricked up its ears. It heard slight but messy footsteps from outside the door. Several people were approaching the medical hall.

"Chen Ji, someone's here, quite a few!"

"Hoo," Chen Ji blew out the oil lamp and quietly came to the door to listen.

Who could it be?

The Ning Dynasty Secret Spy Si or the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Si? Or was Jing Fei not giving up and sending people to kill him again?

This was a multi-identity situation. When someone came to assassinate him, Chen Ji had no way of knowing exactly who was behind it.

But before he could think clearly, he heard a sound from the backyard. "Hurry up, be quiet!"

Chen Ji suddenly turned back, looking through the corridor between the main hall and the backyard, only to see a tall figure flipping into the yard!

He was surrounded!

He gestured to Black Cloud, telling it to hide in the dark. Then he drew a short medicine-cutting knife from behind the counter and quietly crept over.

Chen Ji's palms were slightly sweaty. Being surrounded by over ten people from both front and back was something he absolutely couldn't handle.

But before he reached the backyard, he saw a small monk climb over the wall separating the medical hall and Wangfu!

The small monk's head was smooth and shiny in the moonlight. He was huffing and puffing as he climbed over the yard wall. And the one who had already climbed over, Chen Ji looked closely, wasn't that the Jingwangfu Shizi from the daytime, with his fresh clothes and spirited horse?

In his surprise, a voice came from Anxi Street outside the medical hall. "Everyone calm down, Shizi will be out soon!"

Chen Ji turned back to look at the front door, then looked at the Shizi and the small monk in the yard, and the one who had just climbed over the wall... Bai Li Junzhu.

Chen Ji: Huh?

In the middle of the night, he was still thinking that Jing Fei had sent ten more people to assassinate him, but he had made a mistake.

Chen Ji slapped the small monk's bald head and said impatiently, "Hey, what are you all doing?"

As soon as these words came out, the small monk and the Shizi were startled. The Bai Li Junzhu who had just climbed over the wall quickly shrank back her head, and a moment later she stealthily poked her head out again, looking around the medical hall backyard.

Under the moonlight, Chen Ji held the knife, the slender girl was leaning against the wall, and the Shizi and the small monk looked guilty like thieves. No one would have thought they would meet like this.

Just like the beginning of all stories, people meeting each other is sometimes sudden.

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow and asked, "Shizi, is it really appropriate to climb over someone else's yard wall like this in the middle of the night?"

Shizi doubted. "You know me?"

Chen Ji sneered. "Yes, I held you when you were little."

Shizi: "..."

Zhu Bai Li, leaning on the wall, laughed heartily. "Brother, he's teasing you."

"Keep your voice down," Shizi whispered. "Don't attract the guards!"

Shizi looked at the medical hall apprentice in front of him and wasn't angry. He laughed happily and came over, wanting to put his arm around Chen Ji's shoulder and pull him back. But after seeing the short knife in Chen Ji's hand, he disappointed back. "It's like this, little brother, you also know who we are. The Wangfu has a curfew in the evening, and we're not allowed to come and go freely, so we'll just borrow a path through your medical hall. Don't worry, we won't damage any property!"

Wangfu has a curfew? Chen Ji hadn't heard of it, but considering what Shizi had said during the day about the "old master being strict," perhaps this curfew was specifically for the Shizi and Junzhu.

So instead of walking through the front door of Wangfu, they chose to climb over the medical hall wall.

While thinking, the small monk sized up Chen Ji under the moonlight, his eyes suddenly brightening. "So it's you. Are you in this medical hall?"

Shizi was confused and asked in a low voice, "You know each other?"

The small monk smiled and said, "Yes, I saw him during the day. He's a very fierce person. I originally wanted to ask him to teach me a little, but he disappeared into the crowd and I couldn't see him."