Chapter 156: Years
The heavy snow stopped.

The red tassels on the Qiansui Army's helmets fluttered in the snowy field, like a magnificent flag heading northward.

Chen Ji rode his horse in the front, white mist coming out of his nostrils that drifted far away with the wind. He felt the depression in his heart disappear, and he finally felt like he was living in this world.

Bai Li was wrapped in a white mink coat with a beautiful face. She rode her horse behind him and asked loudly, "Chen Ji, when we return to Luo City, what do you want to do most?"

Chen Ji pulled the reins, slowed down his horse and walked side by side with Bai Li. He smiled and replied, "Take a hot bath, and then have a deep sleep."

Bai Li smiled and said, "Your clothes are torn in many places. When you wake up, come with me to Li's Clothing Shop. I'll ask them to measure your size and make you two new sets of clothes, as well as boots and a hat."

Chen Ji responded: "My clothes can still be worn after mending them."

Bai Li thought he was worried about the money, so he quickly said, "I'll pay for it, you don't have to worry about the money."

"Ah?" Chen Ji was stunned for a moment: "This is not good."

Bai Li pondered for a moment and said, "What's wrong with that? If it weren't for you, I would definitely not be able to return alive. Also, you helped me vent my anger during the debate, so it's nothing for me to buy you two sets of clothes."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "That's fine."

Bai Li smiled and said, "There is still one month until the New Year. Are you going back to the Chen family?"

"No return."

Bai Li smiled and asked, "If you don't want to go back to the Chen family, why don't you come to the palace? Then we can play Pai Gow together to stay up all night, and we can also go to the street to set off firecrackers together."

The first day of the lunar year is the Spring Festival, and the next day is the Lantern Festival, when people eat Yuanxiao (Chinese rice dumplings) and visit lantern festivals.

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "By then, Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother She will have to go home to celebrate the New Year. Only Master will be left in the clinic. I have to stay with him in the clinic."

Bai Li thought for a long time, then asked, "How about my brother and I go to the clinic to stay up all night? We'll sweep the house in the morning, hang lanterns, make dumplings, and steam buns in the afternoon, and play mahjong at night!"

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Don't the princess and the prince need to stay at the palace to celebrate the New Year? They celebrate the New Year with their families."

Bai Li was silent for a moment: "There is no festive atmosphere in the palace. The steamed buns are steamed by the servants, and the dumplings are also wrapped by the servants. My father still has to deal with government affairs, and my mother rested early. It's boring."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Then the princess and the prince should come to the clinic to sweep the house, hang lanterns, make dumplings, and steam buns together."

Bai Li's eyes sparkled: "Okay, we've got a deal... By the way, did you sneak a peek at the red ribbon I tied around the apricot tree?"

Chen Ji shook his head: "No, don't worry, it's your secret, I won't peek."

Baili let out a long "Oh" and said, "...That's good."

Not far behind the two of them, Prince Jing and Wang Daosheng were riding side by side. The red cloak behind Prince Jing was particularly eye-catching in the white world.

Mr. Wang said, "Your Highness, there was no order from the Ministry of War to mobilize the Qiansui Army this time. If this matter spreads to the capital, I'm afraid it will be criticized again."

The Qiansui Army was Prince Jing's direct army in the early years, but it was not a private army after all. To mobilize more than 300 people out of the camp, an order from the Ministry of War was required.

Now Prince Jing has assembled a thousand soldiers and horses to surround Luhun Mountain Villa. This matter can be big or small, depending on the mood of His Majesty.

Prince Jing didn't care at all: "If you can't even protect your children, you might as well be a commoner. I think His Majesty will be tolerant when he learns about this."

Wang Daosheng was puzzled: "Over the years, Your Majesty has been keeping a low profile and protecting his reputation, fearing that he would do something wrong and arouse the suspicion of His Majesty. Why is he so reckless today?"

Prince Jing smiled but did not answer.

He looked at the backs of Chen Ji and Bai Li from a distance and changed the subject: "Mr. Wang, you said before that Chen Ji was only allowed to be an observer, not even a registered disciple. How come he has become a direct disciple now?"

Wang Daosheng said calmly, "He is surrounded by monks and cannot leave. I think he violated a big taboo in Buddhism during the debate. I am his teacher, so I naturally have to find a way to protect him. In this way, if Wuzhai's master and uncle want to vent their anger on someone, they should come to me instead of him."

Prince Jing said cheerfully, "Sir, that's a righteous man. But this kid doesn't study the classics. If he is tested on his knowledge in the future, I'm afraid he will bring shame to you, sir."

Wang Daosheng shook his head: "It doesn't matter. With the prince as an example, Chen Ji is not a big deal."

Prince Jing slowly stopped smiling and glanced at his eldest son beside him unhappily.

The prince saw his father looking at him and thought he wanted to talk to him, so he rode his horse forward and said, "Dad, I haven't seen you in armor for a long time. You look as majestic as before."

Prince Jing responded, "In the early years, we had to send troops to suppress rebellions. These years are peaceful, so naturally we don't need to wear them."

The prince suddenly sighed: "Seeing you wearing your old Mingguang armor, I realized that you have lost a lot of weight."

Prince Jing was stunned. Sometimes people are unaware of how fat or thin they are until their old clothes can no longer fit them. Then they suddenly realize that they have gained a lot of weight. Or they realize that they have lost weight when they find that their old clothes have suddenly become loose.

He lowered his head to look at the bright armor on his body, then looked up at the backs of Chen Ji and Bai Li, and suddenly asked: "Yunxi, what do you think of Chen Ji?"

The prince looked ahead and saw Chen Ji's whale knife hanging beside the saddle. The young man stood straight, like a young knight coming down from the Tianshan Mountains. He thought for a moment and responded, "Good, very good. There is no other friend as good as him."

After saying that, he looked at Chen Ji and Bai Li, then looked at his father, wondering: "Dad, what do you mean by asking this question suddenly? Do you want to..."

Before he finished speaking, Prince Jing interrupted and asked, "Yunxi, do you have a favorite woman in Luocheng?"

The prince replied, "No, the young ladies from the noble families are all bashful and pretentious, and are not worthy of your attention."

Prince Jing said casually, "I wanted to find a matchmaker for you a few years ago, but you said you wanted to study at Donglin Academy and didn't want to get married before you returned. Now you have been in Donglin Academy for three years and have reached the age of adulthood. If you still refuse to get married, you can't stay in this palace." The prince's face changed: "Are you going to get rid of me?"

Prince Jing was annoyed: "I said I would send you to the border army!"

At this moment, a man appeared on the snowy field, riding a horse at full speed. He was wearing a conical hat and a black cloak, and his face was completely hidden in the shadow of the hat.

There were three long swords hanging next to the opponent's saddle, and the black scabbards and handles were murderous.

"Protect the prince!" The Qiansui Army quickly moved towards Prince Jing and the Crown Prince. A cavalryman in the rear stood in front of Prince Jing with lances in hand.

But even though there were thousands of troops here, the uninvited guest had no intention of stopping and would not avoid or give way!

At the critical moment.

Chen Ji followed the sound of horse hooves and squinted his eyes. He suddenly turned his head and looked at Bai Li: "Princess, is that the person who has been following you many times before?"

Bai Li was startled: "It's him!"

Earlier, outside the clinic, there was a middle-aged man standing under the bun shop and secretly looking at Bai Li. When Chen Ji wanted to observe the other person carefully, the other person had disappeared.

According to Bai Li, she had seen this person four or five times, and it was definitely not a coincidence.

Chen Ji was surprised and wondered why this person appeared here?

The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer. Chen Ji led Bai Li to stop and wait for the Qiansui Army to surround them.

As the middle-aged man's black horse galloped, its hooves created waves of snow.

However, when he got closer and saw the white carp on the snow field, he actually slowed down.

Chen Ji tightened the reins with his left hand and moved towards Baili, holding the hilt of the Whale Knife with his right hand, staring at the middle-aged man approaching. But he gradually realized something was wrong. The man raised his head and showed a tough face like a knife, but there was no hostility at all.

Instead, he seemed to be relieved, his muscles relaxed and his face became much softer.

The Qiansui Army rushed over to surround Chen Ji and Bai Li before the man.

The man rode past the perimeter of Qiansui's army as if no one was around, without saying a word.

Chen Ji was in the military formation, looking out through the gaps between the red tassels on the helmets, only to find that the other side was also looking at him.

The soldier holding the royal flag looked at Prince Jing and said, "My Lord, take him down?"

Prince Jing took a deep look at the man and shook his head gently: "We are all on the road, there is no need to make things difficult for us."

Next to the army formation, the man slowly rode his horse past the army formation until they completely missed each other. Then he squeezed the horse's belly hard and sped away in another direction.

It was as if nothing had happened.

Bai Li wanted to find his father and tell him that he had been followed many times, but Chen Ji grabbed his arm and shook his head silently.

Chen Ji led Bai Li out of the Qiansui Army formation again. When they were several dozen steps apart, he suddenly said, "I guess he heard that you were in danger, so he set out from Luocheng to look for you. Judging from the time, he got the news just a little later than Prince Jing."

Bai Li was puzzled: "Come to find me?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment: "Or rather, he came to save you."

Baili was silent.

Chen Ji asked, "Princess, do you have any relatives like uncles?"

Bai Li denied: "My mother is an only child."

Chen Ji looked back at the man's departing back, and he gradually turned into a distant black dot in the white world.

He glanced at Prince Jing quietly, but found that Prince Jing looked normal, as if he hadn't noticed anything.

Chen Ji said softly: "Don't tell the prince about this first."

Bai Li hummed.

At this moment, the sound of dense horse hooves was heard in the distance again, and a man in a red official robe appeared at the end of the snowy field. Zhang Zhuo, wrapped in a cloak, led dozens of cavalrymen from the Luocheng Bingmasi.

When he arrived in front of Qiansui's army, he dismounted and waded through the thick snow to Zhang Xia's horse. He looked at his daughter anxiously, "Are you okay? Are you injured? Are you cold or hungry?"

Zhang Xia quickly dismounted, eyes reddening, "Father, I'm fine. When we were attacked, it was Chen Ji who risked his life to save us. Not long after we arrived at Luhun Villa, the prince arrived with the Qiansui Army."

Zhang Zhuo heaved a long sigh of relief. He hung his cloak on Zhang Xia's shoulders and said, "It's good that you're alright. It's good that you're alright."

Bai Li looked at Zhang Zhuo, then at Chen Ji.

Finally, she looked towards the end of the snowfield. Prince Jing’s Mansion had come, Zhang Zhuo had come, and even the mysterious man had come, but there was no one in the Chen Mansion.

(End of this chapter)