Chapter 163 Cliff
The rooster crows at dawn.

In the dark apprentice dormitory, Chen Ji slowly sat up from the bed.

He turned around and glanced at his friends around him: She Dengke and Liu Quxing were wrapped tightly in quilts, Liang Gou'er, who had returned at some point, was drunk and was sleeping soundly with his head resting on Liang Mao'er's belly.

Chen Ji put on his clothes quietly and went out. He stood under the apricot tree, exhaling a light mist, and silently looked up at a red cloth strip tied to the highest part of the branch. After a long time, he turned around and went to his master's main house.

He quietly lifted the heavy cotton door curtain and poked his head in to look inside.

Prince Jing was lying on the bed, soundly sleeping. Old man Yao was leaning on a recliner, resting with his eyes closed. The low stove in the room was emitting warm heat.

Chen Ji entered the room through the gap in the door curtain, walked carefully to the bedside, and reached out to feel Prince Jing's pulse.

However, before he could touch it, Old Man Yao grabbed his wrist from the side.

Chen Ji was startled and almost shouted: "Master, when did you get up? Why didn't you make any sound?!"

Old Man Yao said expressionlessly: "What are you doing?"

Chen Ji quickly explained: "I just want to see if the prince is sick."

Old Man Yao sneered, "You are a half-witted person. If I ask you to feel the pulse, what can you find out? The prince just fell asleep not long ago. I was just afraid that you would wake him up rashly."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Master, the prince took me to the Lin Mansion on Tongji Street last night to listen to a party. At the party, the leader of the Meng Troupe sang a play called Bai Zhou Ji. In the play, the young general worked hard for half his life, but in the end he didn't have a good ending. The person he ran three thousand miles to save also turned against him in the end."

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Master, is the prince the young general in the play?"

Old Man Yao raised his eyebrows and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? Bai Zhou Ji is a story written over a hundred years ago. How could it be a prince?"

Chen Ji looked at his master: "Master, you know what I mean, it's just a metaphor. Does the prince have the same experience as the young general in Bai Zhou Ji?"

"Why are there so many questions?" Old Man Yao pulled Chen Ji's wrist, dragged him out of the main room and threw him outside: "The water tank is empty, go and fetch some water."

After saying that, Old Man Yao turned back to the house and closed the door curtain tightly.

Chen Ji stood outside the door, looking back at the thick cotton curtain. He was a little confused, was Prince Jing sick? He couldn't even feel his pulse.

If Prince Jing was not ill, why would Master need to conceal Prince Jing's pulse? The more Master concealed it, the more it showed that there was a problem.

If Prince Jing was ill, what was his illness? How could he faint when ill and not hear people talking beside him, but when he was healthy he could walk for an hour to watch an opera?

At this time, the sound of magpies was heard outside the clinic.

The magpie is a resident bird. In winter, it will change into its winter feathers and build nests early. Once winter comes, it will not leave the nest or sing at will.

Chen Ji realized that this was the signal from the Secret Service's whistle!

He bent down, picked up the pole and the barrel, and staggered toward the door. When he reached the door, the palace guards brought by Feng Daban crossed their halberds and blocked his way.

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Two guard brothers, I'm going to fetch water. The water tanks in the courtyard are all empty. If it's inconvenient for you to let me out, you can help fetch water back. It will take about eight trips to fill up the tanks."

The two guards looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and then silently put away their halberds.

Chen Ji walked through the mist on the bluestone road and came to the well. There was already a fat figure rowing the wooden oar at the wellhead.

Golden Pig!

Chen Ji calmly walked to the well, and without turning his head, he asked in a voice as soft as a mosquito: "Is Prince Jing really ill or faking it?"

Chen Ji whispered, "My master told Concubine Jing that Prince Jing doesn't have much time left."

Jin Zhu cursed in a low voice: "This illness happened at the wrong time."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What's wrong?"

Jin Zhu explained: "The Liu family has more than ten private troops in Yuzhou, and they are frantically mobilizing. Yuzhou is so big that people are only allowed to enter but not leave. The Liu family wants to rebel, but we can't send the news out!"

Chen Ji asked, "Even the Pegasus can't get out?" The Golden Pig complained, "The Liu family has been planning this for a long time. The few official roads that can be used to enter and exit Luocheng are all heavily guarded, and there are scouts all over the mountains. No matter how powerful the Pegasus is, it is only at the Seeking Dao Realm. How dare an officer at the Seeking Dao Realm fight against a reorganized army?"

Chen Ji said: "If Tianma breaks through the divine realm, will it work?"

Jin Zhu picked up the rolled up wooden barrel and placed it on the edge of the well. "If the Shinto realm is determined to leave, the army can't stop him. But the problem is that there are only three Shinto realms in the entire Ning Dynasty. It will be extremely difficult for Tianma to break through. Hundreds of Liu family assassins are holding portraits of Tianma and me and searching the city for us. We are lucky to be able to escape this catastrophe alive."

Chen Ji's heart sank: "Aren't we just going to watch the Liu family rebel?"

Jin Zhu put the empty wooden barrel into the well: "What else can we do? Why don't we sneak over to the Liu family, kill Elder Liu first, and then put all the Liu family members in jail. Once the tens of thousands of Liu family's private troops are leaderless, we can break the deadlock."

Chen Ji didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Why not try a different way of dying... Sir, if the Liu family is really ready, why haven't they done it yet? What are they waiting for?"

Jin Zhu replied, "The Liu family is waiting for a pretext. They want to take over Prince Jing's banner, but Prince Jing is ill at this time. When he fell ill, the whole city of Luo was in chaos. Last night, we found that Concubine Jing hurried to the Liu family mansion and just returned to the palace half an hour ago; Concubine Yun hurried to the East Market and lost her whereabouts under the cover of the Cao Gang, and she has not returned yet."

Jin Zhu continued, "You must keep a close eye on the clinic. Who met Prince Jing, what they asked, and what they said are all very important. If the Cao Gang and the Liu family join forces, things will become even more difficult."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Cao Gang? What is the relationship between Cao Gang and Yun Fei?"

Jin Zhu was stunned for a moment: "Don't you know that the Cao Gang is backed by Luo Tianzong, and Concubine Yun is the only daughter of the previous leader, otherwise why do you think Prince Jing married her? When your majesty was young, the government was in turmoil, and Luo Tianzong took advantage of the chaos to control the Three Rivers Canal Transportation. The freight and grain transportation from south to north were all subject to their control. This predicament was gradually improved after Prince Jing married Concubine Yun."

Luotian Sect!
Previously, when Concubine Yun was trading firearms with the Military Intelligence Department of Jing Dynasty, she asked them to go to the Gold Shop in Hongyi Lane to find the madam and tell her the name "Luo Tian"!
Chen Ji suddenly asked: "Who is the current leader of Luotian Sect?"

Jin Zhu explained: "The current sect leader is named Han Tong. He is the first disciple of the previous sect leader and he and Concubine Yun have been friends since childhood."

Chen Ji's pupils shrank: "Does he have a Buddha tattoo on his wrist?"

Jin Zhu was puzzled: "Have you seen him?"

Chen Ji explained casually: "No, I just heard about it."

At this time, Jin Zhu rolled up the second bucket and placed it on the edge of the well, saying with emotion: "This man's whereabouts are strange. He has been hiding among the Cao Gang's force sticks. We can't catch him even if we want to. If you see him, report to me immediately."

Chen Ji said helplessly: "Sir, you are now wandering around without a fixed place to stay. I don't even know how to find you. How can I report to you in the first place?"

Jin Zhu lamented, "That's right... Damn it, the Secret Service has been forced to this point, where can we seek justice? Prince Jing should wake up quickly, if he continues to be ill like this, who knows where Yuzhou will end up."

"Can Prince Jing put down the rebellion once he wakes up?"

"If he wants to, maybe he can. With Prince Jing's reputation in the Central Plains, if he is willing to stand up and call for the cessation of civil unrest, many of the Liu family's plans will fall apart. Not all of the tens of thousands of Liu family's private soldiers want to rebel, and they are not starving to death. As long as the people still have something to eat, who would be willing to commit the heinous crime of losing their heads and killing their entire clan?"

"But what if Prince Jing also wants to rebel?"

"That's all."

Chen Ji guessed that Prince Jing should not have participated in the rebellion.

He knew best that if Prince Jing wanted to rebel, then they should not have gone to the party last night, but to the Liu family mansion!

Jin Zhu warned, "I'm leaving now. Be careful. Don't go out unless it's something important these days. The Liu family wants to kill all the secret agents in Luo City."

Chen Ji responded: "I understand. I will be careful."

At this time, Jin Zhu took out a small cloth package from his arms and put it into Chen Ji's hand: "This is for you, practice well."

Chen Ji was stunned for a moment. He peeled off the gray cloth layer by layer, and saw five old ginsengs squeezed inside: "Sir, what is this...?"

The Golden Pig said with great pain: "I bought this with my own salary. You have a very high talent for cultivation, so don't waste it!"

After saying this, he picked up his carrying pole and staggered into the mist.

Chen Ji suddenly felt that the entire Luo City was like a speeding carriage, and Prince Jing was like a coachman. In the past ten years or so, he had been conscientiously tightening the reins and turning the direction of the carriage to drive on the official road.

But now, the coachman let go, allowing the out-of-control carriage, carrying everyone on board, to rush towards the edge of the cliff.

(End of this chapter)