Aoyama

Chapter 261 Doubt

Night falls.

The lights on Qiuci Street were all out and it was no longer prosperous.

Chen Ji silently watched the crowd running wildly in front of the inn. The soldiers of the border army rushed by with weapons in hand and galloped on horseback: "Curfew at 12:00 pm. Those who disobey the order will be executed!"

In the chaos, several border soldiers ran straight towards a man with a knife.

The man with the knife looked back in panic and saw the border soldiers coming towards him. He was so scared that he shouted, "I'm going home now, don't kill me!"

The soldiers did not respond to the shouts. When a soldier rushed past the man with a knife from the left, the man turned his head to defend himself, but he was not prepared for a soldier from behind who rode up on horseback and pierced his chest with a spear.

Even when facing a wandering knight, the border soldiers would still have one person feint attack to support and another launch a sneak attack, leaving no chance for the opponent to breathe.

The fighting style of the frontier soldiers is as solid as the rock of Guyuan City. This is the difference between the underworld and the ranks.

The streets of Qiuci were splattered with blood, and the border soldiers killed everyone who had weapons with them.

The people were terrified and knelt down to beg for mercy. More than a dozen soldiers of the border army walked back and forth, pulling the reins, and said in a cold voice: "Go home quickly. If anyone is still wandering on the street after one stick of incense, they will be killed without mercy!"

Chen Ji hesitated, wondering whether he should go out.
He thought for a moment, turned around, climbed onto the roof, and sneaked towards Taohuaifang on the gray tile eaves. But he was not looking for food but for Bailong.

When we arrived at Dequli Street, the whole street was quiet, and the tailor shop and Baofengzhai were all closed.

Chen Ji walked straight to Mr. Li's door and knocked on it.

But after a long time, no one in the hospital responded.

Chen Ji frowned. He came to find Bai Long to inquire about the situation. He wanted to find out whether the burning of the grain was caused by Bai Long, and whether there was a solution...

He thought about it again and again, and finally climbed over the eaves, squatted on the courtyard wall and looked inside.

There was no one in the yard. The dozen or so spies armed with knives and axes had gone somewhere unknown. The yard was neat and tidy, as if no one had ever lived here.

Chen Ji jumped into the yard and pushed open the east and west wing rooms. Only tables, chairs, benches and beds were left inside, and not even a piece of white paper was left.

He felt it was absurd for a moment. Bai Long was gone? Where did he go?

He walked to the main room again, pushed the door gently, and it opened.

There was no one in the room, only a palm leaf package lying alone on the eight-immortals table.

Chen Ji walked up and lifted a corner, and it was exactly the oranges that Bai Long asked him to bring to Miss Zhang Er in the afternoon!
Everyone left, but the bag of oranges was left there, as if Bailong had known that he would come back.

Dealing with this white dragon, it was as if every step was calculated, Luocheng was like this, and so was Guyuan. If Luocheng and Guyuan were two chessboards, then the white dragon would have already filled the chessboard with black chess pieces, quietly waiting for the prey to come and fall into the trap.

So, the current events are still within Bai Long’s calculations?
Chen Ji was unsure. As this speculation would involve everyone's lives, he did not dare to make a hasty conclusion.

He returned to Quli Street with the oranges in his pocket, walked straight to the tailor shop and knocked on the door, but no one answered.

He opened the door and walked into the house. Cloth was neatly stacked on the shelves, and there was a half-finished piece of clothing folded on the counter...

The proprietress of the tailor shop was also missing.

Chen Ji went to knock on the door next door as if he didn't believe it, but after knocking on the entire Quli Street, he found that the entire Quli Street was empty!
This huge and long Quli Street seemed to be haunted, empty and silent.

Chen Ji looked at the dark long street, feeling doubtful and uncertain: "Could it be that all the people on this street are Bai Long's men? Then wouldn't there be hundreds of people hiding on this street originally?"

While he was thinking, a group of people rushed into Quli Street with torches and daggers in their hands. The first person pointed the dagger forward and said, "Search, search every house for food. If the border troops don't let me live, then no one else can live. If the border troops don't give me food, I will find it myself!"

Someone tried to dissuade him, "Sir, it's curfew, don't wander around the streets."

The person in the lead angrily yelled, "What are you afraid of? Can they still kill so many of us?"

Just as he finished speaking, the sound of galloping horses was heard from the street. The warlords of Guyuan were frightened and panicked. They quickly climbed into the courtyard facing the street to hide. They waited until the border soldiers galloped past before they dared to stick their heads out from the courtyard wall.

Chen Ji jumped onto the roof and rushed to the grain and oil shop.

……

……

In the Longmen Inn, Xiaowu was sleeping soundly on the counter.

Li Xuan led a group of Yulin soldiers and sat in the main hall, each holding a ceramic bowl filled with thin porridge.

The young masters of the Yulin Army sat there covered in dust and dirt. With forty kilograms of food divided among five hundred people, they could barely survive.

The prince picked up the bowl, which contained less porridge than the others.

Li Xuan advised: "Your Highness, I'd better give you some more porridge. You only drink this little. What if you get hungry?"

The prince soothed him gently, "All the soldiers are exhausted from running around to buy food. I am just sitting here at the inn enjoying the fruits of their labor. How can I eat more and take more? Don't be discouraged. Maybe the Right Guard will be able to return with food later."

Li Xuan said worriedly, "Your Highness, although Chen Ji is capable, he is still too young. He was provoked by Qi Zhuozhuo and took on the important task. We have been running around for a day and we know how difficult it is to find food. If he really can't find the food, it's not his fault."

Qi Zhuozhuo muttered quietly, "He wanted to show off on his own, what does it have to do with me?"

Li Xuan glared at him: "Why don't you shut up? It's already this time and you still don't work together to assist His Highness? If I find out that you are causing trouble for Chen Ji again, I will report you when I get back! When the time comes, don't blame me for being ruthless!" Qi Zhuozhuo was unconvinced and said: "But what he said was too irritating. What does he mean by food is easy to find? It makes us Yulin soldiers look like useless people?"

Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the inn.

Li Xuan winked at Qi Zhuozhuo, who went out to check for a while and came back with a serious expression: "Not good. The border troops just left, and the local tyrants in Guyuan City brought their men to rob the people and forcibly searched their homes for food."

The prince stood up suddenly: "How can this be possible?"

At this moment, a figure quietly approached the door of the inn and squeezed into the room through the crack in the door.

Everyone turned their eyes and saw Chen Ji carrying a sack of food and walking in. Xiao Wu suddenly woke up and quickly took out a handkerchief to brush the sand off Chen Ji's body.

Qi Chenzhuo showed surprise as he took the sack and slammed it on the table. He untied the hemp rope that tied the sack and found that it was full of bright yellow corn kernels.

He looked at Chen Ji in disbelief: "Where did you get this food from?"

Chen Ji glanced at him and said, "Of course I bought it from the people."

Qi Chenzhuo immediately questioned: "It's impossible. We visited so many families and they gave us a lot of money. Why can't we collect it?"

Chen Ji glanced at him and did not respond.

The prince looked at the food, then at the remains, and then at the Yulin soldiers who were in disbelief.

He said with satisfaction: "Chen Ji has worked hard. It is worth the trip to Guyuan to get such a Right Guard."

When Qi Zhuozhu heard this, he suddenly felt a stagnation of anger in his heart. He pointed at the grain and questioned, "Did you just take this from the people?"

Chen Ji frowned slightly: "No."

Qi Chenzhuo said angrily, "More than 400 of us have been running around for a whole day and still couldn't buy any food, and you just bought it casually? And you still say you didn't steal it!"

After that, he turned to look at Chen Liqin: "Master Chen, what do you say we should do?"

Chen Liqin hesitated for a moment and finally stood up slowly under the gaze of the Yulin Army soldiers. He said in a deep voice: "Chen Ji, tell me the truth, did you rob this food from the people? If you tell me now, there is still a possibility of making up for it."

Chen Ji answered again: "No."

Chen Liqin breathed a sigh of relief, but Qi Chenzhuo took a few steps forward and asked, "Where did all this food come from? Which neighborhood, which street, which household, and how much did it cost?"

Chen Ji said calmly, "I went to Taohuaifang, Quli Street, and bought 60 kilograms of corn at Mr. Li's house, spending 500 taels of silver."

Qi Chenzhuo was silent for two breaths. "The prince gave you the Buddhist coins before. If you bought it, I think it is no longer with you. If you robbed it, it must still be with you and you haven't spent it. Let me search you and I'll know."

Chen Ji looked at the prince: "What do you think, Your Highness?"

The prince hesitated for a moment, then said firmly: "No, Chen Ji worked so hard to find food and brought it back, how can we make arbitrary assumptions? Everyone, don't doubt it."

But Qi Chenzhuo didn't even listen to the prince's words. He looked at Chen Liqin and sneered, "Sir Chen, today you reminded me and other Yulin soldiers not to steal. Now what do you say? It's your turn to search your Chen family or not?"

Chen Liqin looked at Qi Chenzhuo, then at Chen Ji, and suddenly bowed to the prince and said, "Your Highness, search it."

The prince's face darkened: "You can't search."

Chen Wenzong also stood up and blocked Chen Ji's way, saying to everyone in a cold voice: "Confucius said: 'Don't resist fraud, don't be suspicious! Don't suspect others of fraud in advance, and don't assume that others are lying!"

The next moment, Chen Ji smiled and pushed Chen Wenzong away: "Thank you, brother, but since everyone has doubts, let's search it."

After saying that, he opened his arms and motioned Qi Chenzhuo to come forward.

Qi Chenzhuo did not hesitate and searched from Chen Ji's hair to his ankles, and took out the bag of oranges hidden in his arms and the Buddhist coins on his wrist.

Qi Chenzhuo proudly handed the Buddhist Tongbao to the prince and said, "Your Highness, look, the Buddhist Tongbao is still on him. This kid didn't go to buy food, but took advantage of the chaos to rob food back!"

The prince frowned and did not take the Buddhist coins: "Chen Ji...what do you want to say?"

Before Chen Ji could answer, Xiao Wu came closer and looked at the string of Buddhist coins: "No, this is two thousand five hundred taels of silver Buddhist coins, not five hundred taels. Look, the first six beads are engraved with 'Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas', which came from Luocheng Tuola Temple; the middle six beads are engraved with 'Prince Jing's Palace for your benefit', indicating that the first time it left the temple, it was delivered to Prince Jing; the last six beads are engraved with 'Holding the Aggregate Free in the Ten Directions', which means two thousand five hundred... Do you understand?"

After that, he touched the micro-carving on the Buddhist Tongbao and said, "Yes, it's real. The feel of this micro-carving cannot be wrong."

Everyone was puzzled, and the prince asked curiously: "Where did this Buddhist Tongbao come from?"

Chen Wenzong hurriedly explained, "My brother had previously developed cement. This is the money that Prince Jing paid to my brother when he bought the cement formula."

The prince breathed a sigh of relief: "I see, it seems that everyone has misunderstood Chen Ji."

Li Xuan stood up to smooth things over: "Chen Ji, you saw that someone just robbed the people outside the door, so we..."

Chen Ji didn't listen to what he said, nor did he reply. He just picked up the sack and walked out.

Qi Zhuozhu was shocked: "Wait! What are you going to do?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ji tore open the sack and poured all the corn kernels in front of the door. The people outside the door rushed in and quickly took away all the corn scattered on the ground.

(End of this chapter)