Aoyama

Chapter 278 Shelter
The once bustling Qiuci Street has lost its vitality. Only the wind blowing in from afar brings the smell of ashes and rolls red, green and yellow silk handkerchiefs on the ground. The singers and dancers have long since fled to who knows where.

The war was as cruel as a gust of cold wind. Wherever it went, leaves fell off branches, the grass turned yellow, and all things in the vast expanse were withered.

Chen Ji held the whale knife in his hand, looked around vigilantly, and listened to the noises on the street.

Qi Zhuozhu took two quick steps, approached Chen Ji and whispered, "Chen Ji, it was all my fault in the past. I hope you can be magnanimous and not hold it against me."

Chen Ji looked at him in surprise but did not respond.

Qi hesitated for a moment and said, "Chen Ji, can you teach me how to fight?"

Chen Ji said calmly: "I won't teach you."

Qi Chenzhuo said shamelessly: "Don't worry, when I work beside the prince in the future, I will never go west if you point east, and I will never go east if you point west. I can take you as my master!"

Chen Ji frowned and said, "There are instructors in the Yulin Army, why do you need to worship me as your master?"

Qi Chenzhuo sighed, "The coaches of the Yulin Army mostly teach fancy moves, whatever looks good, all for inspection, but not in real combat."

Xiao Man held Wu Yun in his arms and trotted after him, "How can you be so shameless? My Master has already said he won't teach you. You used to dislike my Master, so you must be up to something bad again!"

Qi Chenzhuo opened his mouth and hesitated to speak, but the Crown Prince actually spoke up and said, "Deputy Envoy Qi's words are true. If we can return to the capital alive, the five thousand imperial guards should have a new coach. I think the Right Guard is very suitable."

Chen Ji interrupted, "Your Highness, now is not the time to talk about this, follow me."

As he said this, he turned towards Taohuaifang, where he had previously gotten rid of the sharpshooter.

Seeing the direction he was going, Chen Liqin hurried over and said, "Chen Ji, we saw it clearly from the roof just now. It was all the thieves from Jing Dynasty burning, killing and looting over there... It's not that I don't believe you, but I'm worried that you didn't get on the roof, so you don't know what's going on outside."

Chen Ji did not answer, but continued on his way.

At this point, there is no safe place in Guyuan City. Sooner or later, the Jing Dynasty cavalry will trample every corner. Escape to a place that the Tiance Army has not yet conquered? It is still difficult to escape death.

Their only way to survive now was to hide in the cellar of the grain and oil shop, but he didn't have time to argue with others. Those who were willing to believe in him could follow him, and those who didn't want to believe in him would not be forced.

Seeing Chen Ji walking further and further away, with even the prince following him silently, Chen Liqin hesitated for a moment, but finally followed him.

Chen Ji led everyone carefully through the alleys and finally stopped behind a mud house.

This is the gap where the Tian Ce Army and the border army are fighting. The two sides are fighting back and forth, and the shouts and sounds of killing are close at hand.

Everyone was uneasy when they heard the shouting and screaming, but they didn't know why Chen Ji stopped in such a dangerous place.

Chen Ji just glanced at the sky silently. The afterglow of the setting sun was disappearing completely. The orange-red light was like a veil covering Guyuan City, which was being slowly pulled away.

A stick of incense.

In another stick of incense, the sky will be completely dark.

Chen Ji leaned against the earth wall, listened to the shouting and slowly closed his eyes. The fatigue was like the rising tide, slowly drowning his heart.

Zhang Xia leaned against the earthen wall beside him, looked sideways at the tiredness on his face, then turned his head and looked at the sky silently and said, "It would be great if I could be an official. It's a pity that my uncle clearly has the skills to be an official, but he is unwilling to teach me."

Chen Ji closed his eyes and responded: "I think your uncle's way of becoming an official is not unique, so he is worried that an official with the same way will find you and assassinate you. Being an official may not be a good thing."

Zhang Xia lowered his head and sighed, "But if I were an official, today... today I would have the ability to protect myself, and I wouldn't have to be so embarrassed. If I can survive this time, I will find a way to become an official myself, whether it's buying someone or exchanging with someone, I will always find a chance to become an official."

Chen Ji hummed.

Xiaoman held Wuyun in her arms and kindly reminded her, "Miss Zhang Er, there are some official skills for sale in Panyuan Garden in the capital, but those official skills can only be cultivated to the Xiantian realm."

Zhang Xia was silent for a moment: "It would be great if you could cultivate to the Xiantian realm."

Chen Ji's mind moved. He actually had a way to become an official with a very high ceiling.

As I was thinking, the sky gradually darkened.

Chen Ji immediately winked at Wuyun, who stepped on Xiaoman's head, jumped lightly onto the roof, and went in the direction of Taohuaifang.

Chen Ji followed closely behind, listening to the guidance of the dark clouds to find the direction.

"Meow!"

The next moment, Chen Ji suddenly stopped at the entrance of an alley and raised his right fist. Behind him, everyone stopped as well, not daring to breathe, fearing that they would accidentally reveal their whereabouts.

It was not until a long time later that hurried footsteps approached.

Everyone looked quietly outside the alley and saw Li Xuan carrying a little girl of seven or eight years old on his back, with six other civilians running in panic behind him.

Behind these people, the sound of the Tian Ce Army’s horses’ hooves became more and more urgent.

When passing the entrance of the alley, Li Xuan turned his head inadvertently and saw Chen Ji standing in the shadow of the eaves, looking at him calmly.

Li Xuan was about to ask for help, but he saw Chen Ji's indifferent eyes again. There was alienation and warning in his eyes.

He hesitated for a moment, but finally held back what he was about to say and pretended that he had never seen the people in the alley.

Behind him, a woman fell to the ground while running away. The girl on Li Xuan's back cried out, "Mom! Uncle, please save my mom!" Li Xuan wanted to turn around and help the woman up, but when he turned around, he saw the Tian Ce Army cavalry galloping towards him.

The woman lay on the ground, waving her hands, and urged anxiously: "Hurry up, man, leave me alone, I can't run anymore! Please take our daughter away!"

Li Xuan's teeth were about to break, but he finally hardened his heart and turned away.

Qi Zhuozhuo was about to call "brother-in-law" and just opened his mouth when Xiaoman came to his side as if she had known foresight and covered his mouth.

A whistling arrow flew over everyone's heads, making a sharp sound, and the Tian Ce Army whizzed past.

On the saddle of every cavalryman of the Tian Ce Army, there is a rope strung across the right ear, all of which are bloody battle records.

The woman who had just fallen had just gotten up from the ground when she was immediately knocked to the ground by the passing Tian Ce Army cavalry. The cavalry behind her stepped on her back one by one, almost crushing her into a pulp.

Chen Wenzong's eyes were red with anger, but Chen Ji came to his side without him knowing when, covered his mouth with one hand and held his body tightly with the other.

He turned around and looked at Chen Ji, his eyes filled with despair and helplessness.

Chen Ji didn't look at him, but just waited quietly for the sound of horse hooves to fade away.

After an unknown amount of time, he gradually let go of Chen Wenzong and slowly swept his eyes across everyone's face.

Everyone was trapped in the despair that had just come within reach, and they could not recover for a moment. Chen Wenzong stared at Chen Ji but did not say anything.

Chen Ji stood in the shadows and whispered, "Brother, don't look at me like that. I'm not a good person. I don't care what you want to do, but don't implicate others."

Qi Zhuozhuo was confused: "But my brother-in-law..."

Xiaoman sneered, "You had an argument with your brother-in-law earlier. I heard you speak in a very unpleasant way."

Qi Chenzhuo regretted his words so much that his intestines turned green: "I just said it in anger. Chen Ji, is there any way to save my brother-in-law, I..."

Just then, dark clouds meowed on the roof.

Chen Ji shouted, "Shut up!"

As soon as he finished speaking, an iron arrow flew straight towards the dark clouds on the roof not far away. It turned out that a sharpshooter on a high platform somewhere heard the cat's cry and did not intend to let the cat go either.

The sharpshooter became suspicious when he saw that he had not hit the dark cloud.

He jumped off the platform and ran silently to where the dark cloud had just been. While searching for the dark cloud's whereabouts, he pulled the bowstring to its full extent.

Chen Ji and others stood in a row under the eaves, pressed against the wall, not daring to even breathe.

On the roof, the sharpshooter paused above them, his eyes searching the night like a hawk, his bowstring growing fuller and fuller.

Under the eaves, Chen Ji held the handle of the whale knife, gripping it tighter and tighter.

At this critical moment, a "corpse" of a civilian lying on the ground in the neighboring street quietly crawled up, as if he had pretended to be dead to escape. Now that he saw that there was no one around, he stood up and tried to escape.

With a whoosh, the bowstring vibrated and the iron arrow flew out, nailing it to the ground.

Li Xuan's roar could be heard from afar, and it seemed that he had been caught up by the cavalry. The sharpshooter leaped over the roof and flew towards the sound.

Chen Ji ignored Li Xuan's roar, and immediately pulled Chen Wenzong towards Taohuaifang and went straight to the grain and oil shop.

At this time, the grain and oil shop had been reduced to ruins by the fire, and the grain piled up like a hill in the yard had all been burned to charcoal.

Chen Ji came to the well mouth, pulled up the rope and handed it to Zhang Xia: "Go down quickly."

The prince was puzzled and leaned over the well mouth to look, but it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything clearly. Then, he watched Zhang Xia kick open a few bricks on the well wall and crawl into the side hole when he was halfway down.

The prince looked up at Chen Ji in astonishment. Is there another secret hidden in this well?
Chen Ji urged, "Your Highness, go down and hide quickly."

After everyone followed the well rope into the cellar one by one, Xiaoman took out a fire stick, lit the candles in the cellar, and illuminated the bags of grain in the cellar!

Wang Gui threw himself on the food and said excitedly, "There is actually such a precious place, with water and food, it is no problem to live here for a few months... We are saved, sir, we are saved!"

Liang fell to the ground, finally daring to breathe heavily. Chen Liqin was also too weak to sit down, leaning on the grain bag, closing his eyes and trembling slightly.

The prince silently looked at the cellar, his hand slowly stroking the grain bag, and after a long while he spoke: "If there is no trace this time, I am afraid that even if we have ten lives, it will not be enough."

Qi Chenzhuo suddenly choked up and asked, "What about my brother-in-law?"

Xiaoman frowned and said, "Aren't you also an official? If you want to save him, go and save him yourself. Who is stopping you?"

Qi Chenzhuo was at a loss for words for a moment, and finally said incoherently: "I... I dare not. I am not good enough in my studies. I am afraid that I have no future..."

Zhang Zheng sighed and said, "I wanted to scold you, but then I thought, if it were me, I wouldn't dare to go either... You and I are just ordinary people."

Xiaoman said on the side: "But don't expect my young master to save people. My young master doesn't owe anyone anything...ah, where is my young master?"

Everyone looked up suddenly, but there was no trace of Chen Ji in the cellar.
(End of this chapter)