Aoyama

Chapter 259 Pretend to be real
"Your Excellency, I do not believe it."

In the yard, Bai Long sat at the stone table and ate a slice of orange. Chen Ji stood not far away and answered with a loud bow.

Bai Long said with great interest, "Why don't you believe it? The Crown Prince came to Guyuan to get hold of the Border Army's handle and force them to give up Prince Fu. Doesn't that mean Prince Fu is not allowed to fight back? As soon as the Crown Prince arrived in Guyuan, Prince Fu sent his confidants to secretly conspire with the Border Army's bigwigs, trying to force the Crown Prince to make a mistake. The two sides were just short of a fight. If I side with Prince Fu at this time, wouldn't that be a merit for me to follow the Dragon?"

"I don't believe it. It has nothing to do with Prince Fu or the Crown Prince. I don't know them, but I know you," Chen Ji said slowly, "In order to overthrow the Liu family, you hid alone for seven years and kept it a secret. If you wanted to frame the crown prince of a country, you would never bring so many people to Guyuan. Otherwise, it would be troublesome to kill them afterwards."

Chen Ji looked up into Bai Long's eyes and said, "Besides, your ambition is not to seize the throne, you want to do bigger things."

Bai Long said with emotion: "I told you long ago that hiding one's shortcomings is the way to survive."

Chen Ji bowed his hands and said humbly: "I can only stay by your side and work because of my brain. If I lose my brain, I will be useless."

Bai Long sneered and said, "Don't think too highly of yourself. I only employ you because of your Chen family identity."

Chen Ji added calmly: "And the identity of my master Yao Qimen."

Bai Long was silent for a moment, then suddenly burst into laughter: "Dr. Yao is no longer in Ning Dynasty, he can't protect you. You dare to talk to me like this, you are really courting death."

Chen Ji knew that Bai Long was moody, but as long as he could get things done, Bai Long would not get angry. In a way, this kind of person was easier to get along with.

Bai Long tapped the stone table with his fingers: "Come, guess what I am doing in Guyuan."

After thinking for a while, Chen Ji said, "Your Excellency wants to use the death of Prince Jing as a pretext to have Zhou You, who has a history of mutiny among the border troops, pretend to surrender to Jing in the name of 'revenge for Prince Jing', and lead Jing to the Tiance Army to die. Your Excellency, I wonder if my guess is correct?"

Bai Long smiled and said, "I guessed a little correctly, but Jing Chao is not stupid. How can they believe me if I don't accept the pledge of allegiance?"

Chen Ji said in a serious tone: "Pollution of well water and burning of granary is the token of surrender."

Bai Long said with a smile: "Then do you know that your blocking of the polluted well water almost ruined my plan?"

Chen Ji lowered his head slightly and replied in a low voice: "Sir, it is not a crime to be ignorant."

Bai Long laughed angrily. He pointed his finger at Chen Ji in the air and said, "Don't investigate Jing Dynasty spies anymore. I still have some use for them."

Chen Ji cupped his hands: "Yes."

Bai Long said with emotion: "If I had people like you under my command, I wouldn't have to worry about not accomplishing great things. Do you know why I had to go to Guyuan?"

Chen Ji replied: "I don't know."

Bai Long said slowly: "What we are going to do may cause great damage to the Ning Dynasty. I can only eliminate the external threat first and then slowly make plans. If we succeed this time, the Jing Dynasty will not make a comeback within three years... Just give me another three years."

Chen Ji's heart was moved. He wondered who was among the "we" Bai Long was talking about? Moreover, Bai Long no longer referred to himself as "this seat", but instead used the word "I".

He pondered for a moment and asked, "What is the meaning of your telling me this, sir?"

Bai Long said meaningfully: "You will be in a high position one day. If I don't tell you these things now, it may be too late by then."

Chen Ji probed, "My Lord, are you referring to the position of the zodiac? I wonder how I can become a zodiac?"

Bai Long was happy: "When the time comes, you will understand."

Chen Ji was a little confused. What was Bai Long talking about?
Bai Long waved his hand: "Go ahead."

However, Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Sir, is the food really gone, or is it just a show?"

Bai Long sneered and said, "If it's just a show, do you think the Jingchao thieves can't see it? We burned more than half of it last night, and the rest are hidden in the border army's central camp."

Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good."

Bai Long picked up the scroll on the table and said lazily, "Go back."

"Yes."

Chen Ji slowly left the yard facing Bai Long, but heard Bai Long say, "Stop."

Chen Ji was puzzled: "What else do you want, sir?"

Bai Long walked into the house, took out a piece of food wrapped in a palm leaf and threw it to Chen Ji. Chen Ji took it in his arms and peeled off a corner of the palm leaf, revealing a yellow orange. Chen Ji was suspicious: "My Lord, what is this...?"

Bai Long said casually, "Take it to Miss Zhang Er and ask her if she is willing to join my secret service department."

Chen Ji frowned: "What do you mean, sir?"

Bai Long looked at him with a half-smile, "The second Miss Zhang has walked back and forth on this street several times. If it weren't for her, would you have found this place? If it weren't for my appreciation of talent, how could she have returned to the inn safely? Tell her that the civil officials would not allow her to take the imperial examination, but she can rise to prominence in my Ministry of Rites. I will ensure that she has a place in the Twelve Zodiac Signs."

Chen Ji thought about it again and again, and put the orange back on the stone table: "Sir, I'm afraid Miss Zhang Er is not used to eating this orange."

Bai Long narrowed his eyes slightly: "When did it become your turn to disobey me?"

The air in the courtyard suddenly paused, and Chen Ji felt a pain on his face as if it were pricked by needles, as if the murderous intent had solidified into substance and was pressing down on him like a wall.

Chen Ji gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, Miss Zhang once asked Xu Shu, the deputy director of the Imperial Observatory, to teach her how to be an official, but was rejected because he did not want her to get involved in the affairs of the underworld. If Xu Shu knew that you had brought Miss Zhang into the Secret Service, it would be difficult to resolve the matter. Please think twice."

Bai Long stared at the traces for a long time, and finally waved his hand indifferently: "Go. Stop interfering in other people's business. You killed Manager Yang today and created trouble for no reason. Those Jingchao thieves are like frightened birds. I have to do a lot of things to pull the plan back."

"Yes." Chen Ji hurriedly walked out of the courtyard.

He had just stepped out of the doorway when he suddenly stopped and looked up and asked, "Sir, the thirty-four members of the Chen family were poisoned to death. Was it you who did it?"

Bai Long sneered: "Why kill those poor people? Do you really think I like killing people? I only kill those who make mistakes."

Chen Ji no longer hesitated, turned around and strode away.

After he left, the owner of Baofengzhai, the proprietress of the tailor shop, and the night watchman who was taking a nap at the street corner came one by one, knelt on one knee in front of Bailong, and said with pale faces: "Sir, I am incompetent, please sir..."

He was trembling as he could not even utter the word "punishment".

Bai Long said calmly: "Go back to Wu Nian Mountain, and come back to work in three years."

The three of them were startled, and quickly knelt down on their knees, bowing their heads: "Thank you for not killing me, sir."

Bai Long stood up and walked into the house, saying slowly: "I am a reasonable person. It is not entirely your fault that you were discovered. It may be the same if someone else comes. I will not kill anyone this time."

……

……

In Guyuan City, more and more people gathered in the streets and shouted loudly, clamoring to go to the border troops to ask for their food back.

Chen Ji walked through the crowd without saying a word, feeling more relaxed than when he came: since it was confirmed that Bai Long and the border troops had joined forces to set up a trap for Jing Dynasty, at least there was no need to worry about the city being breached.

While he was thinking, he saw several people running past him.

Chen Ji looked up and saw three Yulin soldiers carrying bulging cloth bags in a hurry. He didn't know where they got the food from.

However, at this moment, someone suddenly shouted: "Fire! The base of the city wall is on fire again!"

Chen Ji was startled and turned around to look. Thick smoke was rising from the south, covering the city gate.

He leaped lightly and climbed onto the roof by grabbing the eaves, but the mud house was still too low to see clearly.

Chen Ji looked around, found a tavern that was higher up, and ran all the way up from the roof.

He climbed onto the roof of the second floor of the tavern and looked into the distance. He saw a huge fire burning in the tents of the border troops, and the fire was still spreading rapidly in the direction of the wind.

In the frontier army camp, shadowy soldiers were carrying wooden barrels back and forth, but the fire was getting more and more intense.

Chen Ji's heart sank. Could it be that all the food hidden by the border troops, as well as the food they had taken from the people last night, had been burned as well?

Judging from the intensity of the fire, someone must have hidden kerosene and it cannot be put out at all.

The Secret Service and the Border Army want to join forces to stage a conspiracy, but someone wants to make the fake thing real!

(End of this chapter)