Chapter 150 Wish
"Chen Ji, do you have a prejudice against me?"

"No."

Zhang Xia's eyes widened. "Why are you so nice in front of the princess, but never nice to me? I asked if your cat eats food given by strangers. Do you think it's okay for it to eat food given by strangers?"

Chen Ji leaned against a big tree with his sword in hand, remaining silent. The forest fell into dead silence.

Previously, from time to time, the sounds of Mr. Feng and Tianma fighting could be heard on the mountain. The sound of wood fibers tearing when the trees fell could be heard from far away.

And now, the sound of fighting has also disappeared.

The four of them looked at each other, each of them with burning ashes on his face, as black as a muscleman who had just come out of a coal mine.

The prince suddenly spoke to ease the atmosphere: "Bai Li, let me help you wipe your face."

As he said this, he was about to pull up his sleeves to wipe it, but Bai Li weakly blocked him and said unhappily: "You want to write the word 'king' on my forehead again?"

They looked at each other and laughed out loud.

The prince looked at Zhang Xia and then at Chen Ji, and suddenly said with emotion: "We have lived and died together. If there was any rift in the past, let's put it aside."

Zhang Xia thought for a moment, dusted himself off, and walked up to Chen Ji and said solemnly, "I'm sorry, I know you're angry because I just said 'human life is more important than cat life'. Now that I think about it, if Zaozao was in the sea of ​​fire, I would have thought of a way to save it. I'm sorry."

She stuffed the oil-paper bag into Chen Ji's hand and said, "I'll give it all to you."

Chen Ji looked down at the snacks in his hand. He didn't expect Zhang Xia to be so frank. He was silent for a moment and said, "Thank you for coming to find me. If you hadn't knocked over so many soldiers and caused this forest fire, I might not have escaped alive."

Zhang Xia shook his head: "Don't say that. If you hadn't led us to escape to the military town, we would have frozen to death in the mountains."

The prince didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Stop, stop, why are you still taking turns being polite? You're giving me goose bumps... Where are we going now?"

Chen Ji took out a piece of dessert and held it to Wu Yun's mouth: "Go to Luhun Villa as soon as possible. There are many scholars, Taoist temples and Buddhist sects there. I think even if the Liu family finds our traces, they dare not take action there. Prince, Miss Zhang, you and the princess should get on the horse, I will lead the way."

Zhang Xia said in embarrassment: "But Zaozao can't carry us anymore."

Chen Ji looked towards Zaozao, only to see that the maroon warhorse was sweating profusely, standing in the dim light of the winter dawn, with water vapor rising from its body.

After strenuous exercise, horses will fall into a state of high temperature and dehydration, which is difficult to recover. They need large amounts of cold water to cool down in order to avoid multiple organ failure.

Zaozao has been carrying three people up the mountain for so long and is already exhausted. If he continues to carry more people, he will probably die of exhaustion on the road.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li again, somewhat hesitant.

Previously, he had acted in an emergency and Bai Li was drowsy, so he could still carry him on his back. Now that he was awake, it would be inappropriate for him to carry him on his back.

The prince hurriedly said, "I'll carry the white carp!"

After that, he lowered himself in front of Bai Li. Bai Li insisted, "Brother, I can walk by myself for a while."

The prince smiled and said, "You are still feverish and can't even stand steadily. How can you escape? If I don't bring you back safely, my father will definitely hang me on the beam and beat me for a year. Hurry up and listen."

Bai Li hummed softly and lay on the prince's back.

Chen Ji suddenly thought that the Liu family's rebellion might really have nothing to do with Prince Jing.

The Liu family wanted to capture the prince and the princess simply because they saw that Prince Jing cared about these two people, so they wanted to use their lives as bargaining chips.

If Prince Jing had already colluded with the Liu family, there would be no need for the Liu family to do this.

The four of them walked down the mountain. As they walked, the prince became exhausted and slipped backwards. Fortunately, Chen Ji was quick-witted and grabbed Bai Li's back, preventing the two of them from falling to the ground.

Chen Ji said softly, "Sir, let me carry the princess on my back. You are an ordinary person, you can't walk far or fast with her on your back."

The prince looked back at Bai Li in embarrassment.

Bai Li thought about it and did not mention the matter of walking on the ground. Instead, he said weakly: "Brother, let Chen Ji come."

The prince sighed: "Okay..."

Chen Ji tied the whale knife to Zaozao's saddle, held Baili's legs and carried her on his back, then walked down the mountain with steady steps.

Bai Li gently placed her head on his shoulder: "Chen Ji, thank you."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "What is there to thank me for? Didn't the prince say that we are now friends who will live and die together?"

Bai Li hummed, and after a long while, he sighed, "I didn't expect that we could survive. By the way, people say that they only know what their biggest wish is before they die. Brother, Zhang Xia, did you have any wishes before?"

The prince laughed: "I am quite greedy and have two wishes. Earlier in the iron smelting workshop in the military town, I thought if we had not encountered this ambush, we should be drinking all night in Luhun Villa. I heard that there are many extraordinary women there..."

Chen Ji asked: "What about now?"

The prince gradually stopped smiling: "I want to find a way to practice and become an official, otherwise I won't be able to protect even my sister."

Chen Ji said, "Then I can't be the crown prince." The crown prince said disdainfully, "If not, then don't be the crown prince. My father is only 45 years old. It will take at least another 20 years for me to be the Prince of Jing. If he can wait long enough, maybe he can outlive me..."

Bai Li said angrily: "Aren't you cursing our father to only live to over 60? Bah! Bah! Bah!"

The prince: "Pooh, pooh, pooh!"

Bai Li looked at Zhang Xia: "Zhang Xia, what is your wish?"

Zhang Xia held Zaozao's reins and said casually as they walked down the mountain, "My biggest wish now is to prepare a big wooden barrel and take a good hot bath."

Bai Li thought for a moment, and suddenly asked Chen Ji: "Chen Ji, my father said before that he owed you a favor and could agree to one of your requests. Have you decided what to ask him for now?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "I wanted to ask Prince Jing to find the best craftsman to make a scabbard for my sword. The prince just said it casually at the time. If I ask for too much, it would seem that I have no vision."

Bai Li said softly, "Oh!" After a long while, she said, "It's not difficult. I'll ask someone to make this scabbard for you."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment: "Okay."

Speaking of the Whale Knife, the prince asked curiously: "Chen Ji, where did you get this knife?"

Chen Ji smiled and replied, "I picked it up in the mountains. I took it with me because it was more convenient to use."

The prince looked at the whale knife and saw that the blade was as bright as snow without any rust, and the golden tiger swallowing it was lifelike. It didn't look like an ownerless thing in the mountains at all.

Just as he was about to ask further questions, he heard Wuyun meow softly.

Chen Ji suddenly tensed up and led the prince and others to hide behind a bush. Zhang Xia did not ask any questions, but lay down with Zaozao in his hand.

Chen Ji whispered: "Don't speak."

The next moment, Mr. Feng walked out of the forest leisurely, and Jiang Yan limped behind him, leading two war horses.

When Chen Ji saw the two people, his scalp instantly went numb and his whole body felt like he was falling into an icy cave!
He looked carefully at the forest behind the two men, but could not see the golden pig and the Pegasus.

Dead? Or ran away?
Chen Ji could never have imagined that after he and his companions had escaped so far, they would actually meet here!
Was he chasing me, or did they just happen to take the same route?

At this moment, Mr. Feng was humming a little tune and passing by them not far away without turning his head, as if he didn't notice them.

The song was a little strange: "Building, planning, getting married, Gen Palace is in a hidden rhythm, Kun Palace is in a reverse rhythm, Xun Palace is in a tomb, Zhen Palace is suppressed, and life goes on and on..."

Chen Ji suddenly wondered, wasn't the other party here to hunt him down? Could it be that they just happened to meet? Yes, there weren't many roads on the mountain that could escape the fire, so it made sense that they took the same road.

Luckily, Wuyun’s hearing and sense of smell are far superior to humans, otherwise they would have collided!

He looked over carefully and saw a bloody hole on Jiang Yan's left shoulder, which should have been shot by Tianma's arrow. But Mr. Feng had no scars, and there was not even a wrinkle on his blue shirt.

Jiang Yan led the warhorse with an expressionless face, as if the wounds on his body did not hurt at all. He was like a puppet, with only cold murderous intent all over his body.

Just when Chen Ji was about to take a closer look, he saw Jiang Yan looking towards the forest intentionally or unintentionally. He quickly crouched before the other party looked over.

Everyone held their breath, not daring to even breathe. They just felt as if a mountain was pressing down on them, extremely heavy.

I don’t know how much time passed before the sound of Mr. Feng’s humming gradually faded away.

Chen Ji raised his head and looked outside cautiously, but there was no one outside the bushes.

He let out a long sigh of relief and lowered his voice to say, "This Mr. Feng looks like a weak scholar, but when I really face him, I feel an inexplicable sense of oppression. I have no idea what he is thinking, and I don't know what tricks he has prepared."

Zhang Xia said, "I heard that Mr. Feng's real name is Feng Zhang. He was the runner-up in the Jizhou provincial examination in the 18th year of Jianing. Although he was born in a humble family, he wrote excellent essays, especially his Qingci. At that time, many people said that he would definitely win the favor of the emperor in the palace examination. As a result, in the spring of the following year, he was ranked last in the palace examination. From then on, he resigned and disappeared."

She continued, "For six years, Mr. Feng seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth. When he reappeared seven years ago, he was already the first aide to Mr. Liu. He had great power and was inexplicably promoted to an official."

Chen Ji sighed: "When dealing with such a person, you have to be very careful and cautious."

After saying that, he stood up and walked out of the bushes with the white carp on his back, intending to take another path down the mountain.

However, just after walking a short distance, he heard the dark cloud meow again.

Chen Ji stiffened and slowly turned his head, only to see two war horses tied to a tree, stamping their hooves out of boredom... There was no one beside the horses.

Mr. Feng and Jiang Yan have both disappeared.

Chen Ji asked in a low voice: "Wuyun, is there anyone nearby?"

Wuyun meowed, "No more, only these two horses."

Chen Ji let out a light exclamation. Why did Mr. Feng leave but leave the two war horses here?
Did he think it was too much of a hassle to lead the horses down the mountain... or did he find out about us early on and deliberately leave the two horses to him? !

(End of this chapter)