Chapter 5 Broken Porcelain

Only a quarter of an hour.

Very short.

Chen Ji stopped talking nonsense. He quickly looked around the study, his eyes lingering on the scattered books and rice paper, and quickly flipped through the books on the bookshelf.

"The rice paper is blank, and the books are all those that can be found in the world. There is nothing mixed in them," Jiaotu reminded.

Chen Ji turned and walked into the yard.

This is a courtyard with two entrances. He carefully observed every detail of the courtyard, trying to find clues. Chen Ji knew that he was not sure of finding clues. He said that just now because he was facing a group of vicious snakes who killed people without blinking an eye. If he didn't say that, he might die immediately.

As time went by, Yun Yang gradually lost his patience: "It's too slow, too slow. We need to add another game. Do you see the sycamore tree in the yard? When you look for clues, every time a leaf falls, I will prick you with a needle."

As soon as he finished speaking, a leaf fell off the branch.

Yun Yang raised his hand and picked up the withered yellow leaves in the air and said with emotion: "Your luck is really bad."

As he said that, he walked up to Chen Ji and stabbed the boy's palm with a needle.

Chen Ji's face suddenly turned red, and he bent over due to the severe pain. It was a cold autumn day, but beads of sweat the size of beans fell from his forehead one after another.

He cursed Yun Yang for being a pervert in his heart, but it didn't relieve the pain at all.

Yun Yang said slowly, "The time wasted due to pain is also counted within that one hour."

Chen Ji slowly straightened up with the help of the sycamore tree and moved into the kitchen step by step. He must find the clue before the second leaf falls!
In the kitchen, there was nothing more than a stove made of blue bricks and a pile of bottles and jars filled with seasonings.

The house is clean and tidy, without a single unnecessary thing.

Chen Ji walked out of the kitchen after checking all the bottles and jars. However, he just stood there motionless after walking out of the kitchen.

He muttered to himself, "I always feel like something is wrong, as if I missed some details."

Yun Yang leaned against the kitchen door frame, yawned, and played with the silver needle on his fingertips: "You are running out of time. It seems that I wasted a quarter of an hour."

Chen Ji still stood there motionless, trying hard to think about what details he had just missed!
While he was thinking, another leaf fell from the paulownia tree, and Yunyang stabbed him behind the ear with another needle.

In an instant, Chen Ji bent over and squatted on the ground, curled up like a shrimp, unable to move, and almost passed out in shock.

But this time, without waiting for Yun Yang to urge him, he stood up and returned to the kitchen, taking out two jars filled with fine white crystalline powder.

Yun Yang glanced at them curiously: "Two cans of salt, what's the problem?"

"Why are there two jars of salt in a kitchen?" Chen Ji said, pinching a fine white powder from one of the jars and rubbing it between his fingers: "This is not salt."

"Not salt?" Yun Yang was curious. He and Jiaotu were good at killing people and cleaning up aftermath, shifting the blame, and taking credit. They were really weak at finding clues.

Chen Ji held out his finger to Yun Yang: "Try what it tastes like."

Yun Yang said unhappily, "You are quite cautious, but what if it is poisonous? I won't taste it."

Jiaotu laughed out loud.

If it weren't for the corpses all over the ground, this vicious girl would have looked quite cute when she smiled.

Yun Yang said coldly: "Try it quickly."

Chen Ji pinched some white powder and stuffed it into his mouth: "It tastes very astringent, with no obvious taste."

He was lost in thought.

What could this thing be?

Chen Ji quickly searched his memory, trying to find the answer from some books he had read.

Wait, it’s alum!
Some popular science books on military intelligence have mentioned that alum is one of the main materials used to write secret letters in intelligence warfare.

Writing with alum water will make the writing disappear after it dries. This spy technology originated in the 13th century and was frequently used by spies during World War I and World War II.

Chen Ji thought for a long time, and he was sure that he had found the answer: Jing Dynasty spies used alum to write secret letters, and Zhou Chengyi hid this thing at home together with salt to confuse people's sight. He placed it in a place so close to him and so convenient, which meant that the secret letters must have been exchanged very frequently. So... Zhou Chengyi's home must have secret letters between him and other spies.

He immediately took a jar of vinegar from the kitchen and returned to the study. He spread sheets of snow-white rice paper on the table, tore a piece of cloth from his body, dipped it in vinegar and gently wiped every part of the rice paper.

He wiped five or six pieces of rice paper in succession but did not get the answer he wanted. Time passed minute by minute, and in the cold autumn season, beads of sweat formed on Chen Ji's forehead.

He turned to look at Zhou Chengyi, only to see that his expression was calm and he was not panicked.

Did you guess wrong?
No, absolutely not wrong!
At this time, a cold wind blew, and the withered yellow leaves on the sycamore tree fell like rain. Yun Yang smiled and said, "Your luck is not good enough..."

"found it!"

"Hmm?" Yun Yang's gaze was attracted over.

When Chen Ji was wiping the twelfth piece of rice paper, a line of red words appeared where the yellowish vinegar had been applied: "Li's Sweet Water Shop in Lijing Lane, East City. Go there immediately if you are in danger."

When Yun Yang saw these words, his eyes suddenly sparkled: "This means that the Jing Dynasty spies have built a new base. Maybe a big shot from the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Department has come to Luo City!"

As he said this, he looked at Jiaotu and said, "Great achievement!"

Jiaotu thought for a moment and said: "Kill this guy and the credit will go to us."

"No, I promise not to kill him. He is not from our Secret Service anyway, so the credit will eventually go to you and me."

"All right……"

In contrast, Zhou Chengyi, the Jing Dynasty spy, looked as pale as death.

He no longer pretended, and immediately pulled out a hidden soft sword from his belt and rushed towards Chen Ji, intending to kill him at all costs. The Jing Dynasty spy rushed quickly, and in the blink of an eye he lost his previous embarrassed posture and became as ferocious as a beast.

Chen Ji flew backwards, while Jiaotu on the other side suddenly leaped up like a phantom, dancing like a butterfly.

But she blocked Zhou Chengyi's way, and as the two figures flashed past each other, the silver needle between her two fingers pierced Zhou Chengyi's waist like a dragonfly touching the water.

With a loud bang, Zhou Chengyi lost his strength and fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

It was at this moment that a stream of cold air surged out from Zhou Chengyi's body, like a gray, flowing dragon in the dark night, and drilled into Chen Ji's body.

This was a feeling he had never experienced in his seventeen years of life. The ice flow was like glacier water on the snow-capped mountains, clear and crisp, flowing continuously in his blood.

Where did this ice flow come from? Why did it come? Chen Ji didn't know.

The scenes he saw tonight would have only appeared in movies in the past. This world is completely different from the world he knows!
Chen Ji observed Jiaotu and Yunyang and found that the two of them did not seem to have seen what happened just now. Could it be that he was the only one who saw it?

Seeing that Zhou Chengyi was no longer able to resist, Yun Yang turned to look at Chen Ji with interest: "How can you, an apprentice in a clinic, know all this?"

Chen Ji explained without hesitation: "Alum can be used as medicine. It has the effects of stopping bleeding, treating ulcers, and relieving pain, so I know something about this thing."

"Oh?" Yun Yang took some alum from the jar and put it in his mouth: "It just so happens that I have a sore in my mouth recently."

Jiaotu stood upright on Zhou Chengyi's back and said, "Why are you still chatting at this hour? Let's send someone to Lijing Lane and take down the Li's Sweet Water Shop first."

Immediately, eight men in black who were on standby went out, mounted their horses, and galloped straight towards Lijing Lane.

The crisp sound of horse hooves on the bluestone road at midnight broke the tranquility of the night.

Chen Ji asked: "Can I leave now?"

"Uh... I'm afraid not," Yunyang shook his head.

"Repent?"

"That's not the case. I just said you can live, but I didn't say I would let you go." Yun Yang dusted off the dust on his body. "I have to take you to the inner prison and interrogate you thoroughly."

"What are you interrogating?"

"For example, why would you, an apprentice of the Imperial Physician Clinic of Prince Jing's Mansion, appear in Zhou Chengyi's mansion in the middle of the night? Has Prince Jing already colluded with the Northern Jing Dynasty through Zhou Chengyi, intending to use the power of the Jing Dynasty to rebel?" Yun Yang spread his hands: "Look, I have a lot of questions I want to ask."

Jiaotu tempted, "Zhou Chengyi is just a small county magistrate, but if you can bite out Prince Jing, we will give you wealth and honor!"

Chen Ji secretly sighed at the complexity of his situation, which seemed beyond his imagination.

Where is Jing Chao? Who is Prince Jing?

Were the deceased’s social relationships so complicated during his lifetime?

He responded: "I came to deliver medicine and was innocently implicated."

Chen Ji answered this way because he saw two packages of medicinal materials with "Taiping Medical Clinic" labeled on them in the kitchen. They were wrapped in yellow paper and placed next to the casserole stove in the kitchen, and had not been opened yet.

Yun Yang shook his head: "This is just your one-sided statement. I only believe the answers I got from the interrogation."

Chen Ji changed the subject: "You want to arrest that big shot from the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department?"

"His captors are already there."

"You won't be able to catch that person at the Sweet Water Shop in Lijing Lane. It's obviously just a place used to help Zhou Chengyi escape. There won't be any big shots there."

Yun Yang looked thoughtful: "Do you have any other clues?"

Chen Ji kept silent.

Yun Yang came in front of Chen Ji, held the slender silver needle between his middle finger and index finger and gently tapped Chen Ji's shoulder.

Instantly, Chen Ji felt a piercing pain, and within a few breaths, his clothes were soaked with sweat. However, the pain came and went quickly, and within a few breaths it disappeared without a trace, as if it was all an illusion.

Yun Yang said nonchalantly: "I have many more methods like this. In all these years of wandering around the world, there are only a handful of people who can withstand three of my needles."

However, Chen Ji remained silent.

Yun Yang stabbed another needle into the back of Chen Ji's hand. The young man's body trembled uncontrollably, but he didn't make a sound.

Yun Yang stabbed Chen Ji twice more, but he still said nothing.

"Can you withstand this?" Yun Yang exclaimed.

The next second, broken porcelain pieces suddenly appeared in Chen Ji's palm, and he wiped them towards his neck artery with trembling hands!

It turned out that the broken piece of porcelain had been hidden in his palm all along.

The broken porcelain pieces stopped suddenly when they were about to reach his neck. Yun Yang grabbed Chen Ji's wrist and said, "You want to threaten me with death?"

"Forget it. If we delay any longer, our great achievement will be lost." Jiaotu raised three fingers and said, "I swear on my mother's honor that if you tell me the information that helps us achieve our goal, I will give you your freedom."

Yun Yang raised three fingers and said, "I also swear on my parents' honor. If they lie, I will let them fall into hell forever."

Chen Ji remained silent, pondering the value of this oath.

People in this era are probably superstitious, so the oath carries a lot of weight... No, I still can't believe it.

But if you have demonstrated enough ability and made yourself useful enough, would you be willing to risk your life on it?
Finally, he panted and said, "The rice paper must have been written with alum water when it was bought. It was probably written by the great man of Jing Dynasty you mentioned. So if you want to find clues now, you should not go to Lijing Lane, but look for the shop that sells rice paper. This shop is the channel for the most important intelligence."

(End of this chapter)