Chapter 135 Inn
Heavy, breathing.

On the rugged mountain road, Chen Ji waded through weeds and bushes, looking back every few steps.

Feng Huai, who had been following behind him, disappeared, and even Feng Lie and the giant axe were nowhere to be seen.

He tightly grasped the "whale" in his hand, suddenly gave up the mountain road and went into the woods, hiding his body under the shadow of the dense tree canopy.

However, just as Chen Ji looked back again, a ray of sword light suddenly burst out from the treetops in front of him, like a ribbon pulled out from the Milky Way, and chopped down on his head.

The whistling wind was accompanied by a sharp hiss.

Chen Ji subconsciously raised his knife to block, but when the knife was halfway raised, Feng Huai's knife tip had already stopped between his eyebrows.

In the silence, the tip of the knife did not fall.

Chen Ji breathed heavily, recalling everything that had just happened.

He didn't know when Feng Huai hid in the tree, nor did he know why Feng Huai could guess that he would take this path. He just felt like a beginner in chess, with every move being calculated by others.

Feng Huai's face was smeared with grass juice, and branches were tied around his body. The tip of his knife was motionless, without the slightest tremor. "The king only let us fight on the top of the mountain to protect you, so that we could only compete in skills. But real fighting is not just about skills."

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Fighting?"

Feng Huai asked solemnly: "What is fighting?"

Without waiting for Chen Ji to answer, he continued, "The so-called fighting is to think about the enemy's thoughts, anticipate the enemy's moves, and use everything that can be used, such as mountains, rivers, trees, and human hearts, to end the enemy's life."

As he spoke, Feng Huai put away his sword and slowly retreated into the woods behind him. Before retreating into the shadows, he whispered, "Teacher, this is what you taught us back then. Now it's my turn to teach you."

It was not until this moment that Chen Ji realized that Feng Huai’s strength was not limited to swordsmanship, and the real fight had just begun.

From noon to dusk, Chen Ji was assassinated again and again on this green hill by Feng Huai. The opponent was like a ghost, doing his best to demonstrate everything he had learned in his life.

He would be killed if he walked in the woods, he would be killed if he walked by the river, and he would still be surrounded and killed by Feng Huai and Feng Lie if he walked in an open area.

Feng Huai sometimes sticks to the tree like a piece of bark, and sometimes looks like a piece of driftwood in the river. He acts out whatever he wants and turns the green mountain into a huge ghost mountain, which is extremely terrifying.

But this time, Feng Huai no longer killed people. Instead, he stopped when he was about to kill, leaving Chen Ji alone to recall all the details.

At a certain moment, Chen Ji was walking in an open space and looking back toward the top of the mountain.

Xuanyuan leaned on the royal flag in his hand and quietly looked down at him from the highest point. It was unclear whether the expression on his face was sarcasm or compassion.

……

……

"Chen Ji, wake up Chen Ji!"

Someone slapped Chen Ji on the shoulder. He stood up immediately and subconsciously swung the "Whale" in his hand to the left!
At this moment, when he raised his hand to swing the knife, he was still in the shadow of the dense woods of Qingshan. When his arm fell, he had returned to the sunset afterglow of Yichuan County, with empty hands.

Chen Ji hesitated and looked around. Mr. Wang, Bai Li, the Crown Prince, and Chen Wenzong were all sitting on the ox cart, looking up at him in a daze. Bai Li's hand, which was patting his shoulder, was still hanging in the air.

The ox cart had stopped, and next to it was the "Xiying" Inn, with an old two-story wooden gatehouse that looked quite old.

Wang Daosheng looked at Chen Ji carefully for a moment and asked casually, "Did you have a nightmare?"

Chen Ji quickly said, "Yes, sir, I just had a nightmare."

Wang Daosheng smiled and said, "It must be because you didn't get enough rest. Let's stay in this inn later. Everyone should rest early."

At this time, several waiters in the store came out with smiles and said, "Dear guests, please come in."

Zhang Xia asked, "Is there hot water?"

The waiter quickly replied, "Yes, yes, it's boiling in the backyard, but a pot of hot water costs two cents."

Zhang Xia didn't care: "Do you have any beans for the horses?"

The waiter smiled and said, "Yes, yes. Sir, your horse is so majestic and powerful that it needs to eat the best soybeans!"

Zhang Xia casually threw the whip to the waiter and said with a smile, "You can talk!"

The waiter hurriedly took the whip, nodded and led them into the house.

Before entering the door, Chen Ji subconsciously looked inside at the environment, scanning every corner around him, fearing that Feng Huai might jump out from somewhere.

Bai Li asked curiously, "Chen Ji, what are you looking around for?"

Chen Ji came back to his senses and laughed secretly at himself for having been traumatized by Feng Huai's assassination.

There are several octagonal tables placed randomly on the first floor of the inn, where guests are eating. The second floor is the guest rooms.

Maybe it was because Chen Ji was too nervous, but as soon as he stepped into the inn, he felt that all the diners were looking at him intentionally or unintentionally.

Chen Ji rubbed his eyebrows. Was it because he was too vigilant that the misunderstanding occurred?

He rubbed his eyebrows and lowered his head to look at all the diners out of the corner of his eye.

No, it's not a misunderstanding!

There was wine on the table for these people, but no one drank a sip. Their eyes were clear and their faces looked normal.

The most important thing is that each of these diners has a dagger hidden in his sleeve. Others may not be able to see it, but Chen Ting can.

He took a step forward and gently pulled Wang Daosheng's arm: "Sir, this inn is a bit dirty, let's change to another one."

Wang Daosheng was stunned for a moment: "Oh?"

The shopkeeper behind the counter came out quickly and smiled apologetically: "Sir, you are joking. Our Xiying Inn is definitely the best in the surrounding area. All the big merchants who come from the south and the north only stay here when they come to Yichuan County."

Chen Wenxiao turned to look at Chen Ji and said with disdain: "I don't have the fate of a noble young master, but I have the disease of a noble young master. This inn is already very good, and we don't dislike it, but you dislike it?"

Chen Ji didn't look at him, but at Wang Daosheng: "Sir?" Wang Daosheng looked at him deeply, thought for a moment and said: "Then let's go to another store."

After saying that, he turned and walked out without any hesitation.

However, they walked two miles along the long street until dusk, and only found three inns.

And without exception, all three inns were fully booked. Even the stables were occupied. Most of them were going to Luhun Villa to watch the literary gathering.

Chen Wenxiao complained, "Hurry back to Xiying Inn, or there won't be a place to stay there! Chen Ji, if you have an attack, please don't drag everyone with you, okay? You can't even bear this little bit of hardship. I think Imperial Doctor Yao is too pampering you!"

Bai Li frowned: "Why are you talking so harshly? The inn was indeed not clean."

At this moment, Wang Daosheng suddenly turned around and asked Chen Ji: "You didn't change the inn just now because it was dirty, right? Tell me the reason."

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, and finally expressed his concerns: "Just now in the inn, many guests were carrying daggers, and their behavior was suspicious."

Chen Wenxiao suddenly laughed out loud: "I see you've never been far away from home, so what's the problem with carrying a knife?"

Prince Jing also smiled and said, "I thought it was nothing... Nowadays, it is natural to carry a knife when traveling far away. Even if you don't encounter bandits or robbers, you still have to be on guard against local tyrants who exploit you."

As he spoke, Prince Jing pulled out a dagger from his sleeve, Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao also took out a dagger from their cloth bags, and even Zhang Xia pulled out a dagger from his boot.

Chen Ji: "..."

He noticed that Prince Jing was carrying a knife, but he didn't expect that others were carrying ones as well.

Chen Ji couldn't think of a rebuttal for a moment, so he could only bow and say, "Sorry, I made a big fuss."

Wang Daosheng shook his head. "It's okay. It's better to be careful when you go out. The literary gathering at Luhun Mountain Villa attracted too many outsiders. If we don't stay at the Xiying Inn, we will really have to sleep on the street tonight."

Chen Ji hummed and said, "Then let's stay at Xiying Inn."

When everyone returned to the inn, the innkeeper still greeted them with a smile.

Chen Ji looked around, and all the diners had disappeared.

He bowed to the shopkeeper and said, "I apologize for offending you before. I hope you won't mind."

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Look at what you are saying. How can we be afraid of customers finding fault with us when we open a business? You can stay here without worry. Our Xiying Inn is very clean."

Wang Daosheng asked, "Shopkeeper, how many guest rooms are left?"

The shopkeeper pointed to the second floor and said, "There is only one upper room with the character 'tian' and one common room with the character 'huang' left."

Chen Wenxiao raised his voice: "Bunk bed? When have we ever slept in a bunk bed?! Shopkeeper, do we look like people who would live in a bunk bed? Here, we have..."

He was about to say that the dignified Prince Jing was also among them, but Chen Wenzong stopped him in time and asked politely, "Boss, I remember when I first came in, you said there were a lot of guest rooms."

The shopkeeper said in embarrassment: "If you had stayed here directly just now, there would have been three Tianzi rooms available, but since you were away, another merchant has come to stay here."

Chen Wenxiao frowned: "I'll go find them. Since they are going to Luocheng to do business, they will surely give us some face."

However, Wang Daosheng raised his hand to stop him. "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it's hard to go from luxury to frugality. Let's just sleep in the dormitory. It's enough to have a place to sleep. Bai Li and Zhang Xia will stay in the Tianzi room, and we will go to the dormitory."

The inns these days are like a large courtyard. The front building is where you stay, and the backyard has horse hitching posts and drinking pools, and is filled with goods from countless merchants.

There were few single rooms in the inn, most of them were dormitory rooms prepared for traveling merchants and horse teams, with 10 to 20 people living in one room. The inn usually named the guest rooms "天、地、玄、黄", with the Tian character representing the best rooms and the Huang character representing the messiest dormitory rooms.

Chen Ji looked at the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, is it really impossible to spare another Tianzi room?"

The shopkeeper shook his head: "Sir, I really can't spare any."

Chen Ji's heart sank.

All the inns in Yiyang County were full of people, except for Xiying Inn, which probably had rooms left.

So, if they are the last batch of guests, it means that the other party is waiting for them.

But why couldn’t Prince Jing and Wang Daosheng see it?

……

……

The shopkeeper led everyone upstairs to the door of the yellow bunk bed and gently pushed open the door of the guest room.

The room was dark and gloomy. On the large bunk bed that could accommodate more than 20 people, several guests were already sleeping under the quilt. Snoring sounds could be heard one after another in the room, and the smell of smelly feet was everywhere.

Chen Ji said softly: "I'm sorry, sir. I wasted your time and forced you to live in a place like this..."

Before he could finish his words, Wang Daosheng and Prince Jing walked in as if nothing had happened.

Wang Daosheng smiled and replied, "When leading troops outside, the biggest wish is to have a mattress and a quilt. The smell of those soldiers is countless times worse than here, so it doesn't matter."

Prince Jing also laughed: "I have led troops before, and I am no worse than Mr. Wang."

It's quiet at night.

Chen Ji lay on the bunk bed with his clothes on, not even covering himself with a quilt. He closed his eyes but didn't want to fall asleep. He just listened silently to the snoring that came and went.

A night watchman passed by the window, shouting, "It's dry, be careful with fire."

At this moment, there was a rustling sound in the room, as if someone was getting up.

Chen Ji opened his eyes slightly, but saw Prince Jing quietly walked out the door.

Someone outside the door said softly, "Please come this way. The master is waiting for you in the backyard."

(End of this chapter)