Chapter 99 Wake up
On the official road in Luocheng.

The old ox slowly pulled the cart into the dusk, step by step. Time seemed to slow down with its pace, allowing the orange-red sunset light to engulf everyone warmly like a tide.

There was a lot of traffic on the official road. Some people were driving ox carts to Luocheng, while others were carrying unsold fruits back to the suburbs.

Bai Li sat on the ox cart and waved to an old man carrying a shoulder pole. "Old man, why haven't you sold all the oranges? There are still so many left on the shoulder pole."

The old man came up to the ox cart with a shoulder pole and said, "My handsome guest, the oranges were frozen by the heavy snow a few days ago, and no one wants to buy them."

Bai Li asked curiously, "How much do you sell these oranges for?"

The old man hurriedly said, "Two cents a pound."

Bai Li smiled and took out a piece of silver from her hair and handed it over: "Here, give us all your oranges, so you don't have to go through the trouble of picking them up again."

The old man was shocked when he heard this: "That won't work. Frozen oranges won't last long. You don't need to buy so many."

Bai Li was in a very good mood: "No problem! Brother Maoer, please help me get out of the car and take the oranges out of my clothes so we can share them."

Liang Maoer smiled naively and said, "Okay."

Bai Li held the edge of the cart, leaned over and took out an orange from the old man's shoulder pole and peeled it.

She broke off a slice and put it in her mouth, then silently handed the orange to the prince.

The prince happily put a slice of the orange into his mouth, then handed the rest of the orange to Chen Ji with a grin.

It was passed on quietly and finally reached Liang Gou'er.

Liang Gou'er stuffed half of the orange into his mouth in one gulp: "...Pah, pah, pah, I was wondering why you guys were so kind to peel an orange for me. It's so sour that my teeth are falling out!"

It was not until this moment that the faces of those who had eaten the oranges earlier began to twist, and then they all laughed together: "Hahahaha, no wonder the old man didn't sell a single orange!"

The laughter spreads far away in the sunset. The time spent with friends is always so happy.

Amid the bustling crowd, when the playful carriage passed by the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall again, the prince subconsciously held his head high and felt proud.

However, the first round of the Autumn Examination will not be over until three days later, and there will be no spectators today.

The prince exhaled a breath of foul air: "I really want to let those scholars know how great our achievements are. Now we are entering the city quietly, like walking in the night in brocade clothes! What a pity!"

Bai Li sat on the cart, hugged his knees and said with a smile: "Brother, when can you control your flamboyant temper? If you still act like this when you become the Prince of Jing, you will be laughed at."

The prince waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. Our father can at least sit firmly on the throne for a few more decades. I will definitely be mature and stable after a few decades."

Bai Li retorted: "But when my father was your age, he had already helped His Majesty suppress the foreign relatives."

The prince was stunned, and suddenly he felt a little disheartened: "What's the point of helping His Majesty suppress the foreign relatives? Now His Majesty is still letting us be suppressed by the eunuch party? The eunuch party is hateful!"

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Has the eunuch party been suppressing Prince Jing's Mansion all these years?"

The prince sneered, "Over the years, the Chief Criminal Department has been keeping an eye on my father's old subordinates. More than 20 people have been arrested and sent to the inner prison. The Secret Service Department has also planted spies in the palace many times to monitor our food, clothing and daily life. Feng Daban, you have also seen it. He is also the inner minister's man. He was arranged to stay by my father's side."

Even Bai Li complained: "The eunuch party is arrogant and domineering, which is really hateful."

Chen Ji remained silent. Although he was not willing to do so, he was now a member of the eunuch party. He was caught between the Jingwang Mansion and the eunuch party, and he didn't know how to please both sides.

However, at this moment, when he looked around, he saw a fat figure standing on the street, looking at him with a smile.

The figure was like a huge bell, waking up a beautiful dream.

Just as the rising sun will always set, no matter how beautiful the dream is, one will always wake up. When Chen Ji hid in Liujiatun, he knew that he could not hide for long, and what was coming would come.

Golden Pig.

The Golden Pig was seen in the crowd, smiling and waving at him to follow, and then turned around and merged into the crowd without saying a word.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, then turned to Bai Li and said, "Princess, you guys go back first. I just remembered that I have some things to do."

After saying that, he jumped off the cart and caught up with the golden pig.

Liu Quxing sat on the cart and shouted at Chen Ji's back: "Hey, this is not an excuse for not wanting to treat us, right? We still have to go to Yingxian Tower later, come back early!"

But Chen Ji did not answer.

His face was calm as he looked at the silhouette of the golden pig looming in the crowd.

Jin Zhu never stopped. He led Chen Ji through countless street corners until there were fewer pedestrians, and then he stopped and turned around in a dead end.

Chen Ji stopped and asked: "Sir, why did you lead me to this dead end?"

Jin Zhu looked at him with a smile without saying anything. The next moment, a carriage suddenly stopped at the entrance of the alley behind Chen Ji, blocking the opening tightly.

The wind was whistling, and before Chen Ji could react, someone hit him on the neck with a knife, knocking him unconscious.

……

……

Chen Ji had a dream.

He dreamed that he was still sitting on the old ox cart under the gorgeous sunset in the evening, and his friends were still by his side.

Everyone was eating sweet oranges, the orange-red breeze was blowing everyone's hair, and Baili was smiling and singing softly.

But as it gradually darkened, two people jumped off the end of the cart.

They stood still, turned around, bowed, and smiled at Chen Ji in the car, saying, "See you later."

The car didn't stop, and Chen Ji could only watch his friends who got off the car disappear into the night behind him.

When the two men were no longer visible, three more people jumped out of the car, bowed and smiled, saying, "See you later."

Friends jumped out of the car one by one to say goodbye, just like a good show ended and the audience dispersed. Chen Ji wanted to remember their appearance, but the faces of those friends were shrouded in darkness and he could not see them clearly.

He asked the person beside him: "Where are they going?"

No one answered.

Chen Ji looked around in surprise, only to find that he was the only one left on the swaying ox cart.

At this moment, a basin of cold water fell from the sky, waking me up from this long dream.

Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes and looked up. His hands were tied and hung on the ceiling of the inner prison. The cold iron chains were tightening his wrists so much that it hurt.

Looking down again, he saw that he was soaking wet all over, with water still dripping from his messy hair and chin.

The cold clothes stuck to my body and it was freezing cold.

Inner prison.

This is the inner prison of the Secret Service.

In the dark inner prison chamber, the flames on the Bagua array lamps on the wall flickered, but there was no trace of temperature.

The Golden Pig put down the bucket, sat down at the dark red eight-immortal table in front of him, and gently picked up a piece of tender meat from the fish cheek with chopsticks: "Are you awake?"

Chen Ji whispered, "Awake."

The golden pig closed his eyes and ate the tender meat, savoring it carefully and exclaiming: "It's so tender!"

He opened his eyes, and with a smile, he picked up a piece of meat from the fish belly, and stood on the chair to feed it to his mouth: "Eat it, swallow it all."

The fish bones in the fish belly were not picked out. Chen Ji chewed them together with the bones, and swallowed them into his stomach, where the broken bones cut his throat painfully.

The golden pig gave a thumbs up and praised: "He ate it without saying a word, so brave!"

He sat back at the eight-immortal table and asked curiously, "Doctor Chen, do you want to hide from me?"

"Yes."

Jin Zhu used chopsticks to tear the fish head apart, and picked out a piece of tender meat and put it into his mouth: "Why didn't you hide this time? I wouldn't dare to do anything to you even if you hid in Prince Jing's mansion."

Chen Ji responded calmly, "Master Jinzhu has an iron fist. If he can't find me, he will definitely take it out on the other people in the clinic."

"Smart..." Jin Zhu wondered, "But since you are so smart, why can't you see that I really want to help you get promoted? If you also become one of the twelve zodiac signs, you, me, and Tianma can take care of each other in the Secret Service, wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Chen Ji replied, "That night, Xifeng and I tracked down the people in Jianghu and found that the person who silenced them was from the inner court of the Imperial Household Department. I felt that this matter was too dangerous and did not want to get involved anymore."

Jin Zhu said with emotion: "Yes, now that you are with Prince Jing, you can indeed stay away from trouble, but can you enter and leave my Secret Service whenever you want?"

As he said this, he removed all the fish meat from the plate, then stood up and handed the whole fish bone to Chen Ji's mouth: "Eat it, it will make up for your hard bones. After you finish eating, we can talk later."

Chen Ji didn't hesitate. He opened his mouth, chewed the fish bone into pieces, and swallowed it stiffly.

Jin Zhu stood on a chair, with his hands behind his back, looking at him. "Although those gangsters were skinned, I still found out that they had been drinking with the prince of Jingwang Mansion, and the silver they had was also given by the prince. You don't want to investigate further, do you not want the prince to be involved in this conspiracy?"

At this point, Jin Zhu said sternly, "What do you want to cover up for the prince?"

Chen Ji looked directly into Jin Zhu's eyes and said, "The prince cannot be involved in this. If he was really involved, he would not have left so many clues. How could a man who dared to collude with the Jing Dynasty to rebel so easily let you find out that he had been hanging out with these people in the underworld? Lord Jin Zhu is also a smart man, he must understand this."

Golden Pig's expression eased slightly.

He jumped off the chair, slowly sat back at the eight-immortal table, picked up a glass of wine, and drank it all in one gulp: "Chen Ji, don't blame me for hanging you here. There is no turning back once you enter the Secret Service. Hide? You can't hide. I can't hide, so how can you hide?"

Chen Ji said softly: "Master Jinzhu, have you also thought about hiding?"

Golden Pig looked at the flickering flames on the wall, his face showing a look of reminiscence: "I was originally the son of a merchant in Gongyi County, Luocheng. In the early years, my father started out by selling candy in the streets. He was an extraordinary man. While others got up at five in the morning to sell candy, he got up at three in the morning carrying a shoulder pole and going out. Because of his diligence, our family lived a good life."

Chen Ji listened quietly.

The Golden Pig continued, "My mother is gentle and kind, and I have an elder sister who loves me. I remember that every New Year, my elder sister would not buy me new clothes, but would buy me two sets. If my father caught fish from the river, they would leave the fish head and the most tender meat in the belly for me to eat. If nothing unexpected happened, I should be very happy."

"Unfortunately, when I was eight years old, my father discovered a method for making sugar icing, which could turn brown sugar into clean white sugar icing in seven days. Once it came out, it was very popular among officials and nobles. I still remember that night on the Mid-Autumn Festival, my father smiled and told me in front of the kerosene lamp that our family was finally going to be rich, and that he would prepare a thick dowry for my sister and find her a good family, so that she would never be embarrassed in front of her husband's family. He would also donate an official position for me so that I would never be a lowly merchant again."

"He also heard from somewhere that in our Ning Dynasty, if you donate 100 dan of rice, you can get a student in the Imperial Academy, and 250 dan of rice can get you a ninth-rank official. Although it has no real power, it is still respectable."

Jin Zhu poured himself another glass of wine and drank it. "But what happened? That night, the officials from the Luocheng government suddenly broke into my house and took my whole family to the Liu family's coal yard in the name of conscription. In that dark coal yard, my father and mother died of exhaustion. Before they died, I cried until my voice was hoarse, but I couldn't call them back."

"My sister gave herself to the coal yard supervisors in exchange for food in order to keep me alive. She saved her rations for me every day, but she herself was infected with a disease by the supervisors. What could I do? I could only watch her become more and more haggard day by day, as if someone was pulling out her bones one by one. Before she died, my sister opened her eyes and said she wanted to see me again. I wanted to hug her, but she told me to go away and not to touch her."

"At that time, I thought I was going to die, but suddenly someone brought me to a lame official. The official asked me if I wanted to avenge my family, and I said yes."

Chen Ji hung on the roof and lowered his head and asked, "Internal Minister?"

The Golden Pig held the wine glass and said absentmindedly, "The official looked so majestic, his black boots were clean, his official robe was as red as blood, and everyone stood behind him respectfully. I thought, such a high-ranking official must be able to help me get revenge. I beg you, please help me get revenge."

Chen Ji asked, "What does the Minister of Internal Affairs say?"

Golden Pig smiled and said, "He said he would avenge me, but I had to give him my life. I thought at the time that it was great that I could avenge my family with my miserable life!"

As he spoke, he looked up at Chen Ji and said, "Over the years, I have hunted down the officials and killed them one by one. I also hunted down the coal yard supervisors and skinned them and their families one by one. For those who were already dead, I dug them out and ground their bones to dust."

"But I still hate it!" Jin Zhu gritted his teeth and said word by word, "I hate it because the Liu family, who stole my frosting business, is still alive. The moment the Minister chose me to come to Luocheng, I knew that the opportunity for revenge had come. The Minister wanted the Liu family to be wiped out!"

Chen Ji looked down and saw that the veins on the forehead of this zodiac animal who always smiled were bulging.

The Golden Pig stared at Chen Ji and said fiercely, "Chen Ji, I told you so much because I hope you can help me. Now I can't trust the secret agents in Luocheng, nor can I trust Jie Fanwei. I need a smart person like you. As long as you help me, I will do my best to help you win the position of the zodiac, and help you rise to the top and have a bright future."

"I have waited too long for this day. I will kill anyone who misleads me. I will also kill anyone who does not help me."

(End of this chapter)