Chapter 167 Mask
The setting sun sank into the earth, and the fiery clouds in the sky burned like flames in the sky, and finally went out bit by bit.

Chen Ji was wearing a bamboo hat and standing next to the dim sum shop outside Cuiyun Lane. He pretended to pick out dim sum while carefully looking around the lane with his peripheral vision.

The housekeeper of the Chen residence was standing at the door, shouting loudly: "Quick, quick, quick, lift the box onto the carriage! The Liu family's soldiers may arrive at any time, we must not let them get away with it!"

Two servants were carrying a large box out of the door. When they were crossing the threshold, one of them accidentally tripped and the box fell to the ground, and all the gold and silver jewelry fell to the ground. Among them, a "phoenix corona and blue flowered headdress" was particularly eye-catching.

The housekeeper's face changed, and he rushed forward, cursing, to pick up the valuables and put them back into the box: "You guys are going to die, you can't even afford to pay for it with your life if it's broken!"

Chen Ji counted out twelve copper coins from his sleeve and handed them to the shopkeeper. He chewed the golden fried dough twist in the paper bag and looked at the alley with an expressionless face.

At this time, the sound of heavy horse hooves came from a distance.

Chen Ji turned around and saw Zhang Xia riding Zaozao and galloping towards him, turning into Cuiyun Lane like thunder. He lowered his head slightly to avoid being recognized by the other party.

Zhang Xia stopped his horse in front of the Chen residence and looked at the housekeeper and others curiously: "What are you doing?"

The housekeeper said awkwardly, "I heard that there was a war in the city. We quickly packed up our belongings and moved to another place to avoid being harmed by the soldiers."

Zhang Xia sat on Zaozao's saddle and raised his eyebrows: "Now Lord Chen and my father are under house arrest in the government office, and you don't want to find a way to save them, but actually pack up your valuables first?!"

The housekeeper of the Chen Mansion said with a bitter face: "Miss Zhang, you are joking. How can we, the weak servants, save people? All we can do is to keep the valuables for the master."

Zhang Xia snorted coldly: "Whatever you want!"

After saying this, she rode her horse to the gate of Zhang's Mansion in Cuiyun Lane, handed the reins to the servant, and hurried in.

There were originally twelve houses in the whole alley. Later, Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin came to Los Angeles and bought other houses one after another and connected them. Gradually, only four officials and nobles were left.

Chen Ji couldn't find the golden pig and couldn't leave Luo City, so he could only come to Zhang Zhuo to discuss countermeasures. Unexpectedly, the Liu family acted faster and directly placed Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin under house arrest in the government office.

He turned around and tried to leave, but saw a large mass of cavalry rushing towards him from the end of the long street.

This team of cavalry was completely different from the previous elephant-armored infantry. Each of them wore heavy black armor and an iron helmet. The white tassels on their heads fluttered in the wind. Under the helmets, a black lacquered visor covered their faces. They looked inexplicably fierce and domineering.

These are the tiger-armored cavalry raised by the Liu family.

Chen Ji stood still without moving. He saw this team of cavalrymen, holding their spears upside down, riding their horses into Cuiyun Lane and driving away the idlers unscrupulously.

A servant opened his arms and stood in front of the horse: "What are you doing? This is the residence of the Luocheng Tongzhi, you can't do whatever you want!"

A cavalryman in tiger armor rode forward and pierced the servant with his spear without warning, then stepped over the corpse. The housekeeper was so frightened that he quickly hid aside.

The leader of the cavalry stopped his horse in front of the Chen residence, without even looking at the gold and silver. A cold voice came from under the mask: "Search, take away all the families of Zhang Zhuo and Chen Liqin, and leave them alive!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Tiger Armored Cavalry split into two teams, one team rushed into Zhang's Mansion, and the other team rushed into Chen's Mansion.

Chen Ji hesitated for two breaths, then threw away the fried dough twist in his hand and turned away.

He came to the alley outside the backyard of Zhang's house and looked up at the gray-tiled and white-walled walls of Zhang's house that were two people tall. In the narrow alley, he jumped up to the other side of the wall and used the reaction force to lightly flip over the high wall of Zhang's house.

In the yard, screams and wails were heard one after another. Servants, maids, concubines, and relatives fled everywhere, and the place was in chaos.

Chen Ji crouched down behind the rockery and observed quietly. He saw a fiery red figure being chased by a cavalryman and rushing into the back house. It was Zhang Xia.

Chen Ji closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and when he opened his eyes again, he had already sneaked over in the cover of night.

……

……

In the backyard, Zhang Xia was running for her life while looking back in panic. The black-armored warrior behind her was wearing heavy armor, but he ran faster than her.

She had no choice but to hide in a building.

Zhang Xia turned around and closed the door, then pulled an eight-immortals table from the house and propped it against the door.

Before she had a chance to catch her breath, the black-armored warrior outside the door kicked hard on it. With a loud bang, the door opened and Zhang Xia was knocked to the ground by the table that was pushed upside down!
She looked up in horror, only to see the black-armored warrior standing solemnly outside the door. The moonlight poured into the room, and she could only see a black outline opposite.

Zhang Xia pretended to be calm and said, "According to Article 1 of Volume 18 of the Daning Law, anyone who plots treason, regardless of whether they are the principal offender or an accomplice, shall be executed by slow slicing! Grandfather and son, father and son, brothers, and uncles and brothers of different surnames shall all be beheaded!"

The black-armored warrior turned a deaf ear, his expression invisible on his face covered by the visor. He stepped over the threshold with his spear held upside down and approached step by step.

Zhang Xia continued tremblingly, "Anyone who plots rebellion, their mothers, daughters, wives, concubines, and sisters will all be sold to the Jiaofang Bureau as slaves! Anyone who knows about it but does not report it will be beaten with a hundred sticks and exiled three thousand miles away!"

The black-armored warrior did not stop, and his shadow gradually covered Zhang Xia's face.

However, at this moment, he suddenly discovered that there seemed to be something more in his shadow illuminated by the moonlight...

Looking closely, there seemed to be dark shadows slowly wriggling on both sides of his shadow's head, as if two hands were growing out from his head.

No, there is someone behind me!
The black-armored warrior subconsciously wanted to raise his spear and turn around to sweep across, but it was too late.

Chen Ji stretched out his hands from behind him, clamped his neck, and twisted it hard. A crisp bone-breaking sound was heard, and the black-armored warrior's body softened and fell to the ground.

Chen Ji helped the black-armored warrior to slowly fall to the ground. Zhang Xia was still in shock and asked in a low voice, "Chen Ji, why are you here?"

He explained softly, "I came to discuss something with Lord Zhang, and I happened to see Liu's private army rushing into Zhang's mansion." Zhang Xia asked, "So you came in to save me?"

"No."

Zhang Xia was startled: "Ah?"

As he spoke, Chen Ji lifted the black lacquered mask on the corpse's face. Under the mask was a young and immature face, probably only twenty-one or twenty-two years old at most.

He stood up, unbuttoned his coat, and took off his clothes one by one, leaving only the white lining inside.

Zhang Xia asked in doubt: "What are you going to do?!"

Chen Ji did not answer, but squatted down silently and removed the armor from the corpse.

Zhang Xia reacted immediately and helped him strip off the heavy armor on the black-armored warrior, including the helmet, shoulder armor, body armor, chest armor, front armor, arm armor and leg armor, and placed them on the ground one by one.

She asked with concern: "You want to blend in with them? What if you get exposed?"

Chen Ji explained: "Only by blending in with them can we find a chance to rescue Lord Zhang. He is an important figure, smarter than you and me, and knows better than you and me how to deal with this mutiny."

He picked up the arm armor and put it on, but the Ning Dynasty armor had a complex structure, and a single arm armor required three straps.

Zhang Xia pursed his lips, and finally mustered up the courage to pick up the armor: "You put it on wrong, you should put on the body armor first, then the chest armor, front armor, and arm armor... Open your hands, I will help you."

Chen Ji stood there with his arms open.

Under the moonlight, Zhang Xia suppressed his fear and helped him put on the armor pieces one by one with trembling fingers.

While tying the straps of her armor, she asked, "Chen Ji, why aren't you afraid?"

Chen Ji said calmly: "I am afraid too, but fear is useless."

Zhang Xia asked again: "What are your plans after you get in?"

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "I don't have any plans. I'll just follow them. As for where we'll go, I can't decide."

Zhang Xia hummed.

The room fell silent, leaving only the sound of armor plates rubbing against each other.

After a moment, Zhang Xia stepped back and looked at Chen Ji. After confirming that everything was correct, he said, "Put it on."

Chen Ji picked up the helmet from the ground and put it on his head: "Stay in this room and hide, don't go out. After the Liu family's private army withdraws, you will climb out of the back window and go around to the back of the rockery in the southwest corner. There is a place to leverage to climb out of the mansion. Remember to change your clothes, your clothes are too conspicuous."

After that, Zhang Xia saw Chen Ji put on his black lacquer face armor, turned around and walked away with his spear in his hand. She opened her mouth, but said nothing.

However, before Chen Ji had walked far out of the door, he saw a group of black-armored warriors walking towards him from a distance.

As they approached, the leader spoke in a low voice under his mask, "What took you so long? Did you find any of Zhang Zhuo's family members in the building behind you?"

Chen Ji silently clenched the spear in his hand and responded in a muffled voice: "No."

The black-armored warrior opposite him fell silent, and the eyes behind the visor seemed to be staring at him closely.

The black-armored warrior looked at Chen Ji, then looked at the building: "Are you sure?"

"determine."

The black-armored warrior sneered: "Get out of the way, I'll go take a look."

After saying that, he pushed Chen Ji's shoulder and pushed Chen Ji aside, then he led more than a dozen black-armored warriors towards the guardhouse, their black iron armor rustling.

Chen Ji's eyes gradually turned cold. There was no time to deal with the bodies in the building. If the other party entered the house, they would definitely find the bodies and Zhang Xia inside, and he would also lose the opportunity to infiltrate Liu's private army.

Chen Ji silently counted the backs of the black-armored warriors: one, two, three, four... twelve black-armored warriors. He couldn't kill all of them.

At the critical moment, a sound was heard in the flower bed outside the building, and the tall bushes kept shaking.

At that moment, all the black-armored warriors raised their spears and shouted angrily: "Who? Get out!"

A red figure fled hastily from the flower bed and ran away into the distance.

Chen Ji was stunned. Why did Zhang Xia appear there?
Wait, this girl heard the noise outside the house and was worried that the black-armored warrior would find the corpse in the house and affect her plan, so she secretly sneaked out of the house through the back window and helped herself to divert all the attention of the black-armored warrior.

Chen Ji took a deep breath and followed the black-armored warriors to capture Zhang Xia. They dispersed in the courtyard with rockery and surrounded and intercepted him.

Zhang Xia ran while looking back, and finally ran towards Chen Ji in a panic!

When the two met, Chen Ji grabbed her hands and tied them behind her back, shouting, "I caught her!"

After that, before the black-armored warriors gathered, he lowered his voice and asked, "Aren't you afraid of death?"

Zhang Xia turned his back to him and lowered his eyes: "You must find a way to save my father, please."

(End of this chapter)