Chapter 144 Dragon Seed
In the dim iron smelting workshop, the residual temperature of the blast furnace is slowly decreasing.

In the darkness, the prince and Zhang Xia sat facing each other in silence, neither of them knowing whether they would live to see tomorrow.

Zhang Xia went to find a clean cloth and washed it, then looked at the prince and said, "Please step aside for a moment, I will wipe the princess' body."

"Okay," the prince who was sitting cross-legged on the ground stood up and went to the dark place, with his back to Bai Li and Zhang Xia.

Zhang Xia knelt on the ground and wiped Bai Li's body while asking, "When did the prince and the princess know that Chen Ji was an official?"

The prince replied casually, "Once, Baili and I were in danger. If he hadn't rescued us, we would have lost our lives."

Zhang Xia lowered his head and said, "I once asked my uncle if he could teach me the ways of being an official, but he said I don't have the talent to be an official. Officials are rare in this world, so it's really enviable."

The prince was stunned for a moment: "Uncle?"

He quickly realized that the cousin Zhang Xia was talking about was the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory, Xu Shu.

The prince smiled and said, "I once had the same idea, but my father said that the status of a prince and the path of an official are naturally incompatible, and it is impossible to practice it."

Zhang Xia was a little puzzled: "Natural repulsion? What does that mean?"

The prince replied, "My father only said that officials above the third rank would never be able to cultivate a career path. You can't have your cake and eat it too. It's enough for a person to master one path in his lifetime. Don't be greedy. Therefore, the position of the director of the Imperial Observatory in our dynasty is only the fourth rank."

"How did Your Majesty know this? My cousin never mentioned this."

"My father said that when he was young, he also wanted to practice cultivation, so he found a way to practice cultivation in the palace and practiced secretly, and he did get started. But after he was crowned king, all his cultivation was gone in an instant."

Zhang Xia sighed, "What a pity."

The prince laughed: "My father said the same thing, what a pity. But I plan to go back this time and urge my father to have another son. Then I can stop being the prince and become an official with Chen Ji."

Zhang Xia thought for a moment and suddenly said, "In fact, I met Chen Ji at the 60th birthday party of Patriarch Chen when I was young. He sat in a corner with his mother. His mother was very pretty. Even though she was sitting in a corner, people couldn't help but look at her. At that time, he looked dull and sluggish, which was completely different from now. Time flies so fast. I didn't expect him to change so much."

"Oh?" The prince was puzzled: "I was there that time, too, but why don't I have any impression of you and Chen Ji at all?"

Zhang Xia closed his eyes and thought for a moment: "The prince was sitting at the main table at the time. Before the banquet started, you took advantage of the time when the old master Chen stood up to say a toast and secretly took a sip from Prince Jing's glass. The wine was so spicy that you couldn't open your eyes."

The prince was startled. He wanted to turn around to look at Zhang Xia, but he remembered that he couldn't turn around, so he quickly turned his head back and said, "Wait, why do you remember it so clearly? Could it be that you have a photographic memory like Lord Zhang?"

Zhang Xia hummed.

The prince was surprised and doubtful: "Do all members of the Zhang family have this ability?"

"No, just me and my father."

At this time, Zhang Xia tidied Bai Li's clothes and stood up to wipe his body.

She said to herself, "My father married my mother as if he were a son-in-law of his family. The Xu family had agreed that he was not allowed to take concubines, divorce his wife, etc. Anyway, there were many rules. After I was born, I could recite the scriptures by heart when I was one and a half years old. So my mother suddenly allowed my father to take concubines. Not only that, the Xu family also tried every means to send him women."

The prince suddenly realized: "In order to let Master Zhang give birth to another boy like you?"

Zhang Xia smiled and said, "Yes, my mother and my father have agreed that if they give birth to another gifted child, he must be adopted by my uncle as his grandson and given the surname Xu."

The prince knew that the uncle Zhang Xia mentioned was Xu Gong, the current chief minister of the cabinet.

Xu Shu, the only son of Lord Xu, came back to life after a ceremony at Yuanjue Temple. Now he is devoted to practicing Taoism and has never married, sitting in the Imperial Observatory.

Lord Xu's move was probably to find another person for the Xu family to continue its prosperity for a hundred years.

The prince sighed: "The family really spared no effort to pass on their heritage."

"It's done, please come back, Prince," Zhang Xia tied her hair into a bun again, picked up an iron bar from the ground and used it as a hairpin, replacing her conspicuous red jade hairpin.

The prince returned to Bai Li and sat cross-legged, worried: "Why hasn't Chen Ji come back yet? Maybe something happened."

However, at this moment, Bai Li slowly opened his eyes and said in a weak voice: "Brother, what did you say about Chen Ji just now?"

The prince was pleasantly surprised and said, "You finally woke up. Let me touch your forehead...it's still so hot. We need to diagnose and prescribe medicine as soon as possible."

When he was about to withdraw his hand from Baili's forehead, Baili suddenly grabbed his wrist and said, "Brother, where is Chen Ji? Don't change the subject."

The prince laughed cheerfully and said, "Chen Ji has gone out to find medicine for you and will be back soon."

Bai Li was lying on the ground, staring at the prince: "Brother, you are lying!"

The prince was anxious. Bai Li had not woken up earlier or later, but he woke up at this moment!

Before he could think of how to respond, he heard someone riding a fast horse rushing past the iron workshop and shouting loudly: "The lieutenant general has ordered the second camp to assemble immediately and search every corner from house to house. Don't let any foreigners go. Those foreigners are in the military town!"

The prince and Zhang Xia looked at each other, both with horror in their eyes: "How did they know we were in the military town?"

The prince was puzzled: "Did Chen Ji betray us? No, Chen Ji is not that kind of person."

Bai Li said firmly: "Chen Ji will never betray us!"

Zhang Xia glanced at Bai Li and calmly analyzed: "If Chen Ji betrayed us, he could just tell those soldiers where we are. There's no need for them to go through so much trouble."

The prince said: "That's right, I knew Chen Ji was reliable!"

Bai Li stared at the prince without saying anything.

The prince smiled awkwardly: "I'm not as smart as Zhang Xia. I just said it casually following her words..."

He stood up and walked a few steps quickly, pressing his face against the wooden door of the workshop to eavesdrop on the noise outside. At this time, another cavalryman galloped past the door and shouted loudly: "Mr. Feng has ordered a large camp to assemble and ride into the mountains immediately. Be sure to intercept the foreigner before he passes through Dragon King Valley!"

Bai Li barely propped himself up: "It's Chen Ji!"

Zhang Xia nodded: "It must be Chen Ji without a doubt. Dragon King Valley is in the northeast, and we are in the southwest. Chen Ji must have deliberately chosen this direction to help us lead the people away."

The prince scratched his head and said, "Your mind works so quickly, just like Chen Ji."

Zhang Xia glanced at him and said calmly, "Chen Ji told us before he left that if there is any trouble in the town, we must take the princess away immediately. If we want to leave, we have to leave now."

The prince said firmly: "Let's go!"

He bent down, picked up the white carp, put it on his back and walked away.

In the dark night, Zhang Xia walked in front, pushed open the door and looked outside. After making sure that the soldiers had not searched this place yet, he immediately led the way to the wooden fence and sneaked away.

"Who is it! Stop!"

The voice sounded like thunder from behind the three of them. The prince turned around suddenly and saw two soldiers holding knives rushing towards them from dozens of steps away: "We found the foreigner, here!"

The prince's heart sank to the bottom.

The cavalrymen just now deliberately whistled loudly in order to drive away the snakes. In fact, the soldiers had already set up secret sentries on the street and were waiting for them to fall into the trap.

He suddenly felt a little desperate. Even though Chen Ji risked his life to help them lead the people away, they couldn't escape.

As the crown prince, he couldn't even protect two people.

"Run!"

The prince carried the white carp on his back and ran to the wooden fence with Zhang Xia.

He stood in front of the fence, looked back at the soldier who was about to catch up, and said to Zhang Xia: "Step on me first, then go after Baili!"

Bai Li said weakly: "Brother...just leave me here."

The prince said angrily, "What bullshit are you talking about? How am I going to explain to my father and Chen Ji if I leave you here?!"

Bai Li said stubbornly: "Don't hesitate, you can't run far with me, hurry up."

However, just as the words fell, Zhang Xia beside them suddenly exclaimed: "Zao Zao?!"

The prince followed Zhang Xia's gaze and saw a group of maroon horses standing not far outside the fence. They were over eight feet tall and were breathing out white air like arrows under the cold winter moonlight.

A black shadow flashed above Zaozao's head and landed in the grass beside him.

The soldiers are coming.

The next moment, Zaozao neighed, and the fierce warhorse rushed over and jumped over the wooden fence that was more than one person high.

The huge warhorse turned lightly in mid-air and kicked hard, but its two strong hind hooves kicked the chests of the two soldiers at the same time.

With a loud bang, accompanied by the sound of bones breaking, the chests of the two soldiers collapsed and they flew backwards more than ten feet!
The prince and Baili were dumbfounded, and Wuyun, who was hiding outside the fence, was in awe!
Very fierce!
The prince was horrified and said, "You Zaozao..."

Zaozao stopped beside Zhang Xia obediently and lowered her head to rub Zhang Xia's hair.

Zhang Xia smiled and put his face close to it: "This is the horse my cousin gave me. He said Zaozao is a dragon seed."

Dragon species?

Even though he was the prince of a powerful vassal king, he had never heard of such a statement!
After saying that, she jumped on the horse and stretched out her hand to Baili: "Princess, get on the horse, and the prince will sit in the front. Zaozao can carry the three of us!"

There were dense footsteps and shouts in the distance. The prince and Bai Li did not hesitate any longer and immediately mounted their horses. Zaozao raised her leg and walked away.

The prince looked ahead and said, "What if we are blocked by a wooden fence? Zaozao is carrying three people, so he shouldn't be able to jump over it...right?"

With a loud bang, Zaozao had no intention of jumping up. Instead, he lowered his head without slowing down and smashed the wooden fence into pieces.

"Where are we going now?" Zhang Xia asked, pulling the reins.

The prince asked, "Can Zaozao carry four people?"

Zhang Xia thought for a moment and said, "I don't know either... Zaozao, can you carry four people? If you can, just let me know."

Zaozao responded with a neigh.

The prince was silent for a moment and said, "Then let's go to the northeast and continue with Chenji!"

Zhang Xia frowned: "What if I can't pick it up?"

The prince took a deep breath: "At least I don't regret it!"

Zhang Xia: "Let's go!"

Baili: "Let's go!"

Under the moon, there were no clouds and the sun was shining. The restless horse changed direction, not taking any belongings with him, not wanting to leave anything behind.

(End of this chapter)