Chapter 35 Burning the bridge across the river
The twelve offices, four departments and eight bureaus of the inner court are collectively known as the Twenty-Four Yamen of the Inner Court.

The Silijian ranked first among the twenty-four yamen and was run by the Grand Eunuch with Seals. The power of the inner court was almost entirely in the hands of one person.

Emperor Ning devoted himself to practicing Taoism. He did not attend court or take care of government affairs for many years. Even the memorials submitted by officials in the outer court had to be approved by the Imperial Household Department.

Because the eunuch in charge of the seal handled all matters in an orderly manner, Emperor Ning specially granted him a floor and named it "Jiefan" to praise the contribution of the Silijian.

At noon, Wu Xiu bowed respectfully and backed out from the shadow of the building.

It was not until the sunlight shone on him that the red python embroidered on his robe finally became bright again.

He slowly breathed a sigh of relief, straightened up, and strode towards the dovecote.

Along the way, all the eunuchs saw his dragon robe from afar and knelt down to salute him early, but Wu Xiu did not even look at him.

When he arrived at the dovecote, he dismissed the eunuch who was cleaning the pigeon cage, and picked up a pen to write a note at a table.

He examined the note again and again, confirming that the handwriting and meaning were correct, and then he carefully rolled it into the thin bamboo tube.

Wu Xiu came to the pigeon cage with the words "Luocheng" engraved on it, reached in and took out a pigeon, carefully tied a bamboo tube to the pigeon's legs, and threw the pigeon into the sky outside the door.

He watched the pigeon fly away, wondering what he was thinking.

A young eunuch walked over quickly and said, "Godfather, the Emperor wants you to come over. He said that the disciple from Huangshan, Taoist Master Zi, is here with his eldest disciple, Zhang Li."

Wu Xiu nodded: "I understand."

He watched the pigeons fly up into the sky, circle over the imperial city, and then fly south. Wu Xiu was lost in thought and said, "The birds in the sky are so free."

The young eunuch laughed and said, "Godfather, why do you envy a bird? When you take its place, you will be second only to the king and above ten thousand people, and you will be much freer than the bird."

Wu Xiu glanced at him, his eyes were calm, but the young eunuch's heart trembled: "Godfather, I said the wrong thing."

"If you do it again next time, go to the firewood bureau and chop firewood," Wu Xiu lifted up the hem of his robe, stepped over the threshold, and quickly hurried to the Renshou Palace in Xiyuan.

But I saw the gray dove in the sky, first flying out of the huge Forbidden City, then flying out of the capital area, flying over the clouds and plains, flying over the rivers and mountains.

On the first night, the pigeons rested at the Pigeon Cage Station in Hebi.

The next day, it headed straight south, and finally, on the morning of the third day, it flew into a small courtyard in Los Angeles.

Inside the courtyard, a black-clad spy was standing in front of a sand table, on which was clearly shown the terrain of the Liu family compound and the Liu family ancestral tomb.

At this time, Yunyang saw a pigeon circling in the sky, so he raised his hand with a handful of corn. The pigeon flapped its wings and landed in his palm.

"Jiaotu! There's a letter from the capital," Yunyang shouted.

Jiaotu responded from inside: "Open it quickly and see what the Minister said."

Yun Yang removed the wax and took out the letter: "It was Wu Xiu who delivered the message again. I recognize his handwriting... Wu Xiu said that we should decide for ourselves whether to mediate Fan Wei to open the coffin and perform an autopsy."

Jiaotu walked out and leaned against the door frame: "I'm so annoyed. If something goes wrong, we'll be the scapegoats. What should we do? Should we take action?"

"The Lord Internal Minister did not stop us, which means he hopes we can take action. However, if we succeed, it will be a great achievement for us. If not... the lightest punishment will be exile to Lingnan," Yun Yang thought while standing in the yard.

Jiaotu rolled his eyes and said, "Among the prisoners in Lingnan, at least 800 of them were captured by us. Can we expect a good ending if we go to Lingnan?"

"What are you afraid of? We are both officials," Yun Yang said.

"We have exiled dozens of officials to Lingnan!"

"Their families are still in our hands, so we dare not act rashly. Given our relationship with the Prime Minister, we won't suffer even if we are exiled... Wait, why do you act as if we will definitely be exiled? We will definitely not fail this time, and the Liu family can just wait for their property to be confiscated and they will be punished!" Yun Yang said cheerfully.

Jiaotu tilted his head and looked at the note: "What else did the Minister of Internal Affairs say?"

Yun Yang looked down at the note again, and after a moment his expression changed: "Wu Xiu asked us to give him the information of the masked man in Liu's mansion!"

"Ah? It must be Lin Chaoqing who complained! These people in the Criminal Department only know how to complain every day!" Jiaotu said angrily: "...But if Chen Ji can become a secret agent, he can still help us make meritorious deeds. We can just transfer him to our team."

Yun Yang shook his head: "No... What kind of person do you think Chen Ji is?"

Jiaotu thought for a moment: "...When he is thinking about things and not talking, it seems quite true."

"That's not what I'm talking about!" Yun Yang frowned. "That night in Zhou's house, he killed the housekeeper in order to save his life. I could tell that he was not an experienced man at that time, and there was hesitation in his eyes. But now, just a few days later, I hanged someone in the inner prison, and he could look at it calmly."

Yun Yang looked at Jiao Tu and said seriously, "Jiao Tu, he is a man who bears grudges and will never forget how we treated him. The Minister of Internal Affairs likes people like him who are smart and unscrupulous. If one day he climbs higher than us, we won't have to live."

Jiaotu thought for a moment: "Then kill him? Anyway, he is no longer needed in the Liu family case. However, the internal minister will definitely investigate the cause of death. No matter whether it is the Black Snake or the Golden Pig who investigates, we can't hide it." Yunyang shook his head: "So we can't do it ourselves, we have to borrow someone else's knife to kill."

"What to do now?"

"You take the King's Banner to mediate with Fan Wei, and I'll go and borrow a knife. Success or failure depends on today."

The morning in Los Angeles is crisp and clear. On the ninth day of the ninth month, the monkey is in the north direction, which is a good time for traveling, getting married, praying, treating illnesses, and killing people.

……

……

Taiping Medical Clinic.

The three brothers leaned against the door of the clinic, looking at the passers-by happily.

The Double Ninth Festival is approaching. Not only have wealthy families invited Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to come out for a parade to ward off disasters and evil spirits for everyone, but wealthy merchants have also distributed "Double Ninth Cakes" from door to door.

Every tavern put up a sign selling chrysanthemum wine at the door, and vendors went from street to street selling red wine capsules, offering a free branch of dogwood when you bought a red wine capsule.

Chen Ji sighed: "The Double Ninth Festival is so lively."

In his hometown, the festive atmosphere is no longer so strong. Fireworks are not allowed during the Spring Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival have become carnivals of the commodity economy.

Wait, Chen Ji suddenly asked: "How did the Double Ninth Festival come about?"

Liu Quxing said casually, "You don't know this? During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a plague in Runan, Yuzhou. A man named Huan Jing sought to see the immortal 'Fei Changfang' about this matter. Fei Changfang gave Huan Jing a pot of chrysanthemum wine and a dogwood, and told him to take his family to a high place on September 9 to avoid disaster, so that the evil spirits would not invade. After September 9, Huan Jing led his family down the mountain and found that all the cattle and sheep in his family had died of the disease. His family escaped the disaster."

Chen Ji was stunned, because the origin of the Double Ninth Festival in his hometown was the same.

The same Eastern Han Dynasty, the same Fei Changfang and Huan Jing.

If the moon and sun were the same in the sky, he could still accept it. But if even the legends were the same, he would have to think deeply: Why?
What is the connection between the two worlds?
While he was thinking about it, he saw Chunhua from Wanxing Garden leading two strong servants and carrying four food boxes walking down the street.

She Dengke's eyes lit up: "Chunhua, why are you here?"

Chunhua was wearing a light green skirt with a golden chrysanthemum embroidered on the hem. She held up the hem of her skirt and said with a smile, "Isn't it the Double Ninth Festival? My wife sent me to bring some snacks to the clinic."

Liu Quxing quickly took the snack box from Jianpu and said, "Miss Chunhua is really thoughtful. The last time I had snacks at Wanxingyuan was during the Lantern Festival. I still can't forget it."

Chunhua changed the subject and looked at Chen Ji with a smile: "Madam happens to be free today, and would like to invite the doctors from your clinic to have tea and chat together. What do you think?"

She Dengke hurriedly said, "Okay!"

However, at this moment, Chen Ji saw in his peripheral vision that the dark clouds had reached the eaves across the street at some point and were breathing heavily.

Wuyun meowed, and only Chen Ji understood: "Someone told Concubine Jing that you are the masked man in Liu Shiyu's mansion, and she wants to kill you!"

Chen Ji's heart trembled, and he suddenly felt a huge sense of crisis.

Who told Concubine Jing about his identity?
It must be Yunyang and Jiaotu, because only these two people know my true identity.

Could it be that the Liu family is about to catch a big fish in the case, and the other party feels that they no longer need him and plans to destroy the bridge after crossing the river?
Chen Ji looked at Chunhua calmly and asked with a smile: "Miss Chunhua, why did Madam Jingfei invite us?"

Chunhua explained, "Thanks to you for helping me find the cup last time, otherwise Madam would have to continue drinking water from it. Madam said she wanted to thank you before, but she was busy with other things and only had time today."

But Chen Ji was actually asking Wuyun instead of Chunhua: Why did Concubine Jing want to kill me?
Wuyun meowed again: "Empress Jing is from the Liu family, and Liu Shiyu is the only son of her elder sister. She left the palace a few days ago and went back to the Liu family to pay her respects to Old Master Liu!"

It turns out that the big shot in the palace who is connected with the Military Intelligence Department of Jing Dynasty is not Concubine Yun, but Concubine Jing!

But since Concubine Jing was that important figure, why did she want to kill me in the first place? Didn’t she know that I was a spy from the Jing Dynasty?
Strange, so strange!

Seeing that Chen Ji didn't answer, Chunhua waved her hand in front of him: "Chen Ji? What are you thinking about?"

Chen Ji came back to his senses and said to Chun Rong with a smile: "I'm sorry, today is the Double Ninth Festival, and Master has allowed us to go home and reunite. Please help me apologize to Concubine Jing, I will definitely do it next time."

After saying that, he ignored everyone's surprise and walked out without looking back.

This won't be the only time Concubine Jing will take revenge. If she fails this time, she will definitely come again next time.

Chen Ji didn't know if he could easily escape next time, but he knew that he only needed to take revenge once.

He murmured softly: "I don't know if it's too late..."

(End of this chapter)