Aoyama

Chapter 215 Su Zhou
dong dong dong.

Chen Ji stood in front of the door, took a big gulp of wine, and then knocked on the door of the Chen Mansion.

He knocked on the animal head holding a ring on the vermilion lacquered gate, making a "dong dong" sound.

With a creak, the servant looked through the crack in the door and said, "Third Young Master?"

Chen Ji exhaled a breath of alcohol and said, "Open the door."

The servant smelled the alcohol and exclaimed, "Third Master, how much have you drunk?"

Chen Ji pushed the servant aside and squeezed in through the crack in the door: "Not much."

He drank to cover his whereabouts so that he could have an explanation if someone asked him where he was tonight.

The servant was about to close the gate when he heard the sound of horses galloping from far away outside Cuiyun Lane. He quietly looked over and saw Jie Fanwei riding his horse past wearing a bamboo hat and a straw raincoat.

The servant panicked and said, "Third Master, is there going to be another war in Luo City? Did you see anything when you came back just now?"

Chen Ji listened to the noise outside the house without turning his head: "I don't know, you should go and report to the master and the mistress."

After saying this, he staggered towards Mingquan Garden. Before he arrived, the Chen Mansion was already noisy.

The maids in each courtyard put on their clothes and ran out, and the servants held torches and stood guard in various places in the mansion to prevent any bad guys from climbing over the wall and entering.

Chen Ji walked slowly, and people of all kinds passed by him back and forth, creating a scene of frightened birds and chaos.

Chen Ji knew clearly that the death of a fifth-rank general was a huge matter, and the Bingmasi, Jiefanwei, and Mituisi would certainly turn Luo City upside down.

When he returned to the door of Mingquanyuan, it opened before he could knock.

Xiaoman pulled Chen Ji in and lowered her voice and said, "Sir, where have you been? Sister Liqiu said there is another war outside. Please go inside and sit down. The charcoal basin is already burning. I'll go get you some tea to sober you up."

Chen Ji thought back to the Taotie who had suddenly appeared and then fled tonight, and said carelessly and drunkenly: "War disaster... Is someone going to rebel again? Then let's run quickly, quickly, pack up!"

Xiaoman held him back and said, "Sir, why are you so anxious? What if nothing happens?"

Chen Ji suddenly came to his senses. When the Liu family was in trouble, countless families wanted to escape the city. The fleeing ox carts and horse carts could fill up the city gates in the east, south, west and north.

After experiencing the Liu family disaster, it is normal for ordinary people to want to pack up and run away. It is abnormal not to want to run away, unless... the other party knew from the beginning that this was not a disaster.

Chen Ji continued to probe, "What if nothing happens? There are so many what ifs. Lord Chen is the co-governor of Luocheng. If anyone rebels, he will definitely not let the Chen family go. We have to leave the Chen Mansion first. I'll take you to hide in the inn."

Xiaoman was anxious: "Master Chen will be a high-ranking official in the East Palace in the future, who dares to do anything to him?"

Chen Ji asked suspiciously, "Xiao Man, are you hiding something from me?"

Xiaoman was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly explained: "No, no, what could I hide from you!"

Chen Ji hummed: "Okay, let's run quickly."

Xiaoman bit her lip as she watched Chen Ji drunkenly come into the house to pack his things, and he was about to take her away from Los Angeles.

She thought it over again and again, walked behind Chen Ji, raised her knife, and chopped Chen Ji's neck.

Have a good sleep, sir. Everything will be fine when you wake up.

Take a breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

Chen Ji slowly turned around, covered his neck and asked in surprise: "Xiao Man, why did you hit me?"

Xiaoman: “…”

She screamed in panic, "Master, there was a bug on your body just now. I want to help you kill it."

Chen Ji was startled and shook his body quickly: "Did you kill it? Where is the bug?"

Xiaoman pretended to grab the insect from Chenji's shoulder, pretending to have caught it in his hand, and ran away: "I caught it, I caught it, please sit in the house first, I'll go boil some water for you!"

Inside the house, Chen Ji's eyes calmed down. Taotie must be related to Xiaoman.

Even if Xiaoman didn't drive her, she must know who drove her, and she must know what happened tonight.

What should he do in the future? Stay away from Xiaoman without making a sound, or pretend he doesn't know and keep her by his side?

If Xiaoman is an official, then who taught her the way of cultivation, who placed her by his side, and what is her mission?
Chen Ji's head was full of question marks.

……

……

While I was thinking, I heard footsteps outside the door.

Chen Ji pushed the door open and walked out, but heard the faint sound of armor rubbing against each other and the heavy footsteps of hundreds of soldiers marching at the same time coming from around the Chen Mansion.

It was as if the Chen Mansion was completely surrounded by soldiers!

Chen Ji was shocked. He clearly didn't leave any traces, so how did the other party find him?
There were flickering torches in the distance, and a group of people were coming from the direction of Tingquan Garden... They were not servants of the Chen Mansion, but people from the Luocheng Military Department!
Chen Ji walked towards them calmly, and saw Chen Liqin leading a team of soldiers from the Bingmasi Army coming in the flickering light of torches.

He cupped his hands and asked calmly, "Master Chen, what happened?"

Chen Liqin explained, "There was some trouble in the city. General Wang Chongli, who had made things difficult for you in public today, was assassinated on his way back to the camp."

Chen Ji pretended to be surprised: "He was assassinated? Who did it?"

Chen Liqin sighed and said, "He is a gangster. Someone from Jiefanwei said that he is the assassin of the 'lamp' and they have been pursuing him for a long time." Chen Ji was puzzled: "What is the lamp?"

Chen Liqin said disdainfully: "A gang of assassins gathered together, taking money and buying lives, doing all kinds of illegal things."

Chen Ji was even more confused: "Someone paid to buy General Wang's life."

Chen Liqin shook his head. "No, according to Jie Fanwei, this assassin was once very close to Prince Jing and was his confidante in Nanjing. Now that Prince Jing is gone, rumors are circulating that he was betrayed by General Wang, so he must be here to seek revenge."

Chen Ji looked at the soldiers behind him and said, "Then why is Lord Chen leading these soldiers..."

Chen Liqin said, "Oh!" and turned to look at the soldiers holding torches behind him. "I called them to guard the mansion. Don't be afraid. With them guarding the Chen family, you can sleep peacefully."

One of the soldiers said respectfully, "Third Master, I will leave six soldiers here for you. You can call them if you need anything."

Chen Ji felt relieved and politely replied: "Thank you all, brothers."

Chen Liqin waved his hand and said, "Go back and rest. Tomorrow you will pack up and prepare to return to Beijing. Leave this place of trouble as soon as possible."

"Yes," Chen Ji slowly retreated back to Mingquan Garden, closed the gate tightly and bolted it.

When he turned around and went back to the house, he gradually stopped: when he went out just now, the door of the main room was open, but now it was not only closed, but the chirping Xiaoman was no longer there.

Chen Ji became more and more certain that Taotie must be controlled by Xiaoman. When the other party saw so many soldiers from the Bingmasi, he hid in the house out of guilt.

He pushed the door open and entered the room, but stopped where he was. A layer of fine cold sweat suddenly appeared on his back, and he sobered up!

Su Zhou!

In the dim candlelight, Su Zhou was covered in blood, sitting weakly on the edge of the bed, holding Xiaoman hostage with the Emei Spear, with the sharp blade pressed against Xiaoman's jaw, staring at Chen Ji coldly.

Xiaoman sat exhausted on the edge of the bed, staring at Chen Ji eagerly: "Master."

Chen Ji: "..."

Su Zhou said coldly: "Don't make a loud noise..."

Before he could finish his words, Chen Ji closed the door with a creak and went out.

Su Zhou opened her mouth, looked at the closed door, then lowered her head to look at Xiaoman who was lying on the ground, and was speechless for a long time.

Just ran away?
Su Zhou sneered: "Your young master is quite righteous."

Xiaoman frowned and said, "He must have gone to get reinforcements. Let me go. I was accidentally attacked by you just now. Otherwise, I will never let you succeed! If you have the guts, put away your weapon and watch how I beat you!"

Su Zhou couldn't help laughing when he heard Xiaoman's words.

But she had just laughed twice when the wound hurt and she started coughing violently, vomiting blood, which fell on Xiaoman's shoulder.

Xiaoman glanced sideways and uttered a disgusted sigh.

The door was pushed open again, and then closed again. Chen Ji leaned against the door with a frightened look on his face: "Are those soldiers outside here to arrest you?"

Su Zhou carefully looked at Chen Ji in front of him: "Why are you back? I thought you were going to ask for help, why didn't you call anyone?"

Chen Ji explained: "If I call for help, this maid will definitely not survive."

Su Zhou was stunned for a moment.

Chen Ji continued to ask in a low voice: "Who are you?"

Su Zhou did not answer.

Chen Ji asked again: "I just heard that someone killed General Wang in order to avenge Prince Jing. Did you do it?"

Su Zhou thought for a moment, then raised his lips slightly: "It's me. Handing me over to the eunuch party at this time will be a great achievement."

Chen Ji was silent for a long time: "Let Xiao Man go, I'll ask her to bring hot water to clean your wound. Don't worry, I will never report you to the police."

Su Zhou looked at him and asked, "Why don't you report me to the police?"

Chen Ji explained, "I have a close relationship with the prince and the princess. You helped the prince to avenge his death, so why would I report you to the police? But why did you come to me?"

Su Zhou's eyes flickered: "When the prince was alive, he sent someone to send a letter, saying that if I was in danger, I could trust you. Now I am seriously injured, and Luocheng is blocked by the eunuch party. I need you to send me out of the city. Do you dare?"

Of course Chen Ji didn't believe what the woman said. An hour ago, she said she wanted to kill him as well.

But if the other party wanted to kill him, he should not have held Xiaoman hostage when he sneaked in, but should have directly waited for an opportunity to kill him. I guess the reason why the other party did not kill him was that he was suspicious of the dirty water thrown by General Wang and did not want to kill a good person by mistake?
It seems that the other party is not completely crazy and is trying to test him.

Thinking of this, Chen Ji said seriously: "Don't worry, since the prince has entrusted me, I will definitely find a way to send you out of the city. Let Xiaoman go first and let her treat your wounds."

Su Zhou pondered for a long time, gradually retracted the Emei Spear, and stared straight at Chen Ji.

Xiao Man felt the coldness on her neck moving away, and quickly stood up and ran behind Chen Ji, grabbing his arm and sticking her head out: "Master, let's report to the police and arrest her!"

Chen Ji patted Xiao Man's arm and said, "Don't panic. Go and boil some water, and don't alarm the soldiers outside the courtyard."

"Ah?" Xiaoman's eyes widened: "Master, I feel like she wants to kill us!"

Chen Ji consoled him, "It's okay, go quickly."

Su Zhou tensed up, holding the Emei Spear tighter in his hand, but he asked with interest, "I have already released your little maid, are you really not going to report to the police?"

Chen Ji said seriously: "I said, since it is the prince's entrustment, I will definitely live up to your trust. Please wait in the room for a while, I will be back soon."

Su Zhou responded calmly: "Go ahead."

(End of this chapter)