Chapter 48: Golden Pig

In the noodle shop, a massive stove held a huge pot from which white steam billowed.

The noodle master held a lump of dough on one shoulder, while with the other hand, a blade continuously shaved noodles, like a legendary swordsman hidden among the common folk.

One could see strands of noodles flying into the pot, perfectly thick and thin.

The noodles were scooped into a bowl, then a spoonful of tender beef and broth was ladled over them, simple yet delicious.

The stove fire and cooking smoke were the most unpretentious signs of life in this mortal world.

The Prince waved to a noodle shop attendant: "Attendant, a bowl of knife-shaved noodles, please."

The attendant recognized him and immediately smiled, saying, "Alright, Prince, please wait. It'll be right out!"

Chen Ji was surprised: "Prince, the attendants here know you."

The Prince sat down at a wooden table in the noodle shop, casually wiping the tabletop with his exquisitely tailored sleeve. "I used to come often before I went to Donglin Academy," he said, "and while I was at the academy, I often craved this taste."

"As a Prince, why would you come to such a small noodle shop to eat?"

The Prince pulled out a pair of chopsticks from a wooden container on the table. "In the Prince's Residence," he explained, "it takes a full incense stick's time for food to get from the kitchen to my room; the food is cold by the time it reaches you. When I was little, I said I wanted to eat in the kitchen, but they said I had no manners... Unlike here, the noodles arrive hot in front of you. Add some vinegar, break off two cloves of garlic, and eat comfortably."

"The noodle shop attendants don't seem to care about your princely status either."

"Haha," the Prince said proudly, "Father taught us to be kind to others and not to stand on ceremony because of our high status. Haven't you noticed how all the neighbors like me? This is the reputation my father has built up in Luocheng over more than ten years!"

Chen Ji stopped asking questions. Such a Prince and Prince Jing were truly unusual in a world where people were divided into different ranks.

The attendant brought the Prince's knife-shaved noodles to the table. The Prince rubbed his chopsticks together, and while pouring vinegar into his bowl, he looked at Baili. "Baili," he said, "give him ten taels of silver; that half-line of poetry is mine now... Baili?"

Baili snapped back to reality: "What is it?"

The Prince asked curiously, "What were you just thinking about? You were miles away."

"Oh," Baili replied, "I was thinking about Chen Ji's half-line of poetry just now... I can't quite say what's good about it, but it feels very evocative."

The Prince laughed: "Then we're alike; I also think it's good, but I can't say why it's good. Pay up."

Princess Baili glanced at Chen Ji. This time without reluctance, she promptly opened her purse and took out a gold melon seed. "Here," she said, "it's pure gold and full weight; you can exchange it for ten taels of silver at the money house."

Chen Ji found it amusing that Princess Baili's purse contained either gold melon seeds or silver peanuts — all edible.

The Prince looked at him and asked curiously, "Do you have any other poems? Sell them all to me, for future use."

"What do you need so many for?" Chen Ji asked, puzzled.

The Prince laughed: "You wouldn't understand this. One line at a time isn't enough; you need ten or even a hundred lines at once to truly impress those scholars."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Good verses are born naturally, discovered by chance. Writing poetry isn't that easy; you have to wait."

If he had to recite entire poems, he only knew "Goose, Goose, Goose," "Quiet Night Thought," and "Sympathy for the Peasants"... but half-lines were plentiful.

After going through nine years of compulsory education, who wouldn't know dozens of lines?

But he couldn't take out too many at once; if he took out too many, they wouldn't be valuable anymore...

The Prince grew anxious: "You must have written more before, sell them to me!"

To his surprise, Princess Baili spoke up for Chen Ji: "Brother, writing poetry isn't that easy. Wait until he has another good line; forced poems aren't interesting either."

"Alright," the Prince said, still wanting more. He murmured "Man walks between heaven and earth, suddenly like a distant traveler," and found it more profound the more he pondered it.

Realizing this line of poetry was now his, he immediately took a silver peanut from Baili's purse and slapped it on the table, shouting, "Boss, I'm happy today! All customers eating noodles in your shop are on me!"

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow. How come the Prince never paid himself and always had Princess Baili pay?

No wonder the Prince took Princess Baili everywhere. Perhaps Prince Jing feared he would go astray, so he gave him no pocket money, and he just relied on his sister's personal stash?

Possible, highly possible!

From this perspective, the Prince was a fake high-roller, and Princess Baili was the real small heiress!

She Dengke reminded him, "Chen Ji, we should head back. It's closing time, and Master can't manage alone."

"Alright," Chen Ji stood up and bid farewell to the Prince and others. "Prince, Princess," he said, "we'll be heading back now. We'll prepare the ladders for you all in advance tonight."

The Prince: "...Excellent, truly people of the jianghu!"

After Chen Ji and the others had left, Baili looked at the Prince: "Brother, I'm increasingly convinced he's not a gambler."

"He certainly doesn't seem like one." The Prince looked at the young monk quietly chanting beside them. "Young monk," he said, "Father says you have the divine power of 'mind-reading.' What do you say?"

The young monk smiled faintly: "Patron Chen Ji has a gambling nature, a very strong one, but what he gambles is not money, but his life. Such a person is born to walk on the edge of a blade."

Baili mumbled, "The more you talk, the more mysterious it gets. Young monk, change your habit of being deliberately obscure!"

The young monk sighed helplessly: "I'm not being deliberately obscure; I just don't know how to describe it to you."

Baili ignored him and turned to the Prince: "Brother, why did you come out too?"

The Prince swallowed a mouthful of noodles and bit into a clove of garlic, saying indistinctly, "It's nothing, I just came along to see."

Late at night, when all was quiet, the originally spacious communal bed seemed a bit crowded because of Liang Gou'er and Liang Mao'er.

Chen Ji quietly got up, picked up a bamboo tube and a bamboo chip, and went into the courtyard, scraping off layers of white frost from the wall.

Just the accumulated wall frost from this small courtyard over the years could fill half a bamboo tube; who knew how much gunpowder could be concocted from the vast city of Luocheng...

Tonight was the day Consort Yun was to trade goods with Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Bureau. Chen Ji had already passed the information to the officer in the backyard of Bailu Pavilion when he went to the East Market to buy clothes that morning.

As for whether their transaction would succeed, it was no longer Chen Ji's concern.

Now that Yunyang and Jiaotu were imprisoned and the new head of the Secret Service had not yet arrived, Chen Ji also had a rare period of leisure.

Practicing his blade, making explosives, he was as content as an ordinary commoner.

Chen Ji was scraping the saltpeter from the wall when a faint knock sounded from outside the door.

He frowned. Was it the jianghu people waiting for the Prince to come out and play? But the Prince hadn't arrived yet.

Chen Ji hid the bamboo tube behind the water vat and softly approached the door. "Who is it?" he asked.

Someone outside the door spoke genially, "Golden Pig."

Chen Ji's heart tightened.

The Secret Service's Twelve Zodiacs, Golden Pig?

How did they arrive so quickly!

He had originally thought that the new head of Luocheng would arrive at least a month later, and he would have a month to prepare slowly.

But Golden Pig arrived quickly, not only beyond his expectation but probably also beyond the expectation of the Military Intelligence Bureau and the Liu family!

Chen Ji pondered for a moment, took a deep breath, slowly pushed open the medical hall's main door, and greeted with a smile: "May I ask if you are Lord Golden Pig of the Secret Service?"

Standing outside the door was a plump young man, wearing straw sandals and a bamboo hat, dressed in coarse cloth, like a tenant farmer who had just arrived in the city from a rural estate.

The other party's smile was gentle and kind, completely lacking the gloomy killing intent of Yunyang and Jiaotu. "It is I, Golden Pig of the Secret Service," he said, "My real name is Song Qian. The first thing I did upon arriving in Luocheng was to find you."

Chen Ji subtly stepped aside: "Why is Lord Golden Pig here? Where are Lords Yunyang and Jiaotu?"

Logically, as a medical apprentice, he shouldn't know that these two were arrested by the Chief Judicial Department, so he had to play his part fully.

Golden Pig walked into the medical hall, surveying the environment of the main hall while smilingly replying, "Yunyang and Jiaotu caused a great disaster and are now imprisoned... Didn't anyone inform you?"

"No," Chen Ji shook his head. "Lords Yunyang and Jiaotu treated me well. Why are they imprisoned?"

Golden Pig shook his head. "You've misunderstood Yunyang and Jiaotu. You probably don't know they stole your credit. Don't worry, with me here this time, no one will be able to steal your credit."

Chen Ji probed, "Is Lord Golden Pig from the capital?"

"No," Golden Pig replied, "when Yunyang and Jiaotu arrived in Luocheng, I was already at the Mengjin Camp of the Relief Guards outside Luocheng. You know, the Yellow River carp from Mengjin territory is truly delicious, especially the local braised topping; it's incredibly fragrant."

Chen Ji was surprised: "Lord Golden Pig has been in Luocheng all this time?!"