Aoyama

Chapter 291 See you later
Xiao Wu got out of the secret passage of the stable, patted the straw on his body and walked out: "Sir, why are you alone?"

Chen Ji did not answer but asked: "Where did you go just now?"

Xiao Wu's eyes were uncertain: "Me? I'll go down and see if there are any more Jing Chao thieves hiding in the secret passage."

Chen Ji knew that he was not telling the truth, so he just said calmly: "I brought back the shopkeeper's body."

Xiao Wu was startled, and immediately clasped his fists and said, "Sir, I am very kind. From now on, I will be the owner of the Longmen Inn. If you come to Guyuan again, I will go through fire and water for you if you have any request!"

Chen Ji's heart moved. Changing the manager of Longmen Inn was definitely not something Xiaowu could decide on his own, and it might not be something that Mr. Hu San could decide on either.

He glanced at Xiao Wu and said casually, "You're welcome. I know the shopkeeper well, and I don't want to see him being piled on a cart and dragged away. By the way, did the Third Master ask you to give me a message?"

Xiao Wu shook his head: "No, Third Master never told me."

Chen Ji asked casually: "Where is the boss?"

Xiao Wu subconsciously said: "The boss didn't..."

At this point, Xiaowu was alert and shut up.

Chen Ji finally confirmed that Xiao Wu had just slipped out of the city through the secret passage to meet the mysterious owner of Longmen Inn.

The other party is also in Guyuan!

For a moment, Chen Ji had many questions he wanted to ask, but he didn't know where to start.

Just when he was about to ask some more questions, he heard footsteps outside the inn.

He turned around and saw that it was the prince leading everyone back to the inn, including the Chen family, Zhang Xia and others in the team. Zaozao had returned to Zhang Xia at some point, and there was a dark cloud over his head.

He turned his gaze again and saw Liang standing behind Chen Liqin with a gloomy expression. When she saw Chen Ji looking at her, she immediately turned her head and looked away.

Wang Gui was pulling a simple cart behind her, and on the cart was Chen Wenxiao, who was wrapped in a straw mat.

Qi Chengzhuo saw Chen Ji and waved, "Master!"

Xiaoman glared at him: "You are shameless. Does my master recognize you as his disciple?"

After that, she held the horse meat wrapped in palm leaves, trotted to Chen Ji and whispered, "Sir, please eat something. This is the horse meat I left for you..."

Chen Ji hummed, but he did not take the horse meat. Instead, he looked at the prince.

The prince actually cupped his hands to him and said in a gentle voice: "Now that the dust has settled, I finally have the opportunity to thank my dear brother Chen Ji. If it weren't for you, I would have died several times."

Chen Ji looked at the prince silently. There was no anger on the face of this crown prince who was treated as an abandoned child. It was as if nothing had happened. He was still the gentle gentleman like jade.

However, the other party’s self-reference has changed from “I” to “I”.

Chen Ji bowed in return: "Your Highness, there is no need to be so polite. I am just doing my duty... What are your plans now?"

The prince looked at Li Xuan and asked, "What do you think, Lord Li?"

Li Xuan bowed and said, "Your Highness, the Imperial Household Department has disregarded the life of the crown prince. I will report them after returning to the capital and ask them to give Your Highness an explanation."

The prince looked at him, then smiled and said, "Why not use my life to exchange for all the elite soldiers of the Tiance Army? Sir Li, you must not mention this matter again when you go back. If anyone asks, just mention that Sir Li killed the general and made meritorious service."

Li Xuan's face froze, and he lowered his head quickly: "I am humble and I have done meritorious service, and it is also because of your highness's good teaching."

The prince smiled and did not respond.

Chen Liqin stepped forward and said, "Your Highness, the eunuch party is so bold and reckless that they actually used the crown prince as bait. This is truly treasonous. But more importantly... Your Highness, can you please excuse me for a moment?"

As he spoke, he looked around at the Yulin Army, signaling to the prince that there were many people here and some things could not be said.

But the prince shook his head and said, "We are comrades who have lived and died together, and shared hardships together. There is nothing that cannot be discussed. Please go ahead, Lord Chen."

Chen Liqin hesitated for a moment, and finally said in a serious tone: "It seems that the eunuch party used you as bait, but in fact, the border troops assisted the tyrant. Hu Junxian must be involved. Maybe Prince Fu was behind it to seize the throne. According to their plan, Your Highness could not have left Guyuan alive, but now by mistake..."

Zhang Xia said suddenly, "Master Chen, Chen Ji risked his life to protect His Highness. You used the term 'accidental' to completely erase his contribution, didn't you?"

Chen Liqin frowned and looked at Zhang Xia, then changed his words: "Your Highness, now that there is such a change as Chen Ji, it has ruined the plan of the eunuch party and Prince Fu. I am worried that someone is trying to cover up the truth, or that Prince Fu's confidant is taking risks..."

It was not until this moment that Chen Ji realized that what Chen Liqin was really good at was not people's livelihood, but party struggles.

Chen Liqin continued, "Your Highness, our top priority is to leave Guyuan as soon as possible while it's still early... If we leave now, we can reach Tianshui County tomorrow night. Then we can send an urgent message back to Beijing at a speed of 600 miles, and we will be able to escape from the tiger's mouth."

The prince did not answer, but asked gently, "What do you think, Right Guard?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Xuan, Qi Chenzhuo, and all the Yulin soldiers looked at Chen Ji together.

Chen Liqin hesitated to speak.

Chen Ji lowered his head and thought for a moment: "Master Chen is right. There may be some spies of the Jing Dynasty hiding among the people. It is a good thing that Your Highness concealed his whereabouts and quietly left Guyuan this morning."

The prince nodded. He did not ask Chen Liqin, Li Xuan and Qi again, and immediately made a decision: "Let's follow the words of the Right Guard and set out immediately."

After saying that, he turned and walked out without any hesitation.

Liang watched from a distance as her husband's dignity was completely gone in the East Palace, and remained silent for a moment.

When she looked at Chen Ji and Xiao Man again, her eyes were full of hatred.

Wang Gui stood beside her, his face gloomy as he said, "Madam, if you want to avenge the Second Young Master, you must not sit idly by and watch Chen Ji gain the Crown Prince's trust. If he succeeds, the Second Young Master will have died in vain."

Liang had a blank expression on her face. "Now the crisis is brewing and the prince doesn't know who wants to kill him. He has to suspect everyone around him. He doesn't trust Li Xuan because Li Xuan happened to lead his troops to Xuwei Lane yesterday and took away the guards around him. He also doesn't trust the master because the master is unable to protect him. He can only trust Chen Ji now. After all, if Chen Ji wanted to harm him, he would have died several times already."

Wang Gui whispered, "Madam, serving the emperor is like serving a tiger. The ministers in the court have been replaced one after another. Who can guarantee that the prince will not be suspicious of Chen Ji one day? Besides, there is more than one prince in the court, there is also Prince Fu..."

Liang's eyes were gloomy, and she glanced at Wang Gui: "Shut up, is this something you can talk about?"

Wang Gui lowered his head and said, "I just said it casually. I'm sure Madam has her own thoughts. Besides, there is another matter that needs to be done as soon as possible." Liang said coldly, "Don't beat around the bush."

At this time, Zhang Xia brought Zaozao to Chen Ji and whispered to him.

Wang Gui looked at Chen Ji, then at Zhang Xia: "Madam, look at these two people."

Liang said calmly, "What happened to these two?"

Wang Gui took a deep breath, "Madam, these two seem to be polite and courteous, but Chen Ji has saved Miss Zhang Er more than once or twice. They even shared a room at Longmen Inn... Zhang Zhuo is now favored by the emperor, and he has the Xu family behind him. If Chen Ji gets the support of the Zhang family, I'm afraid we won't be able to touch him anymore. Madam, we have to tear them down first."

Liang looked at Zhang Xia and Chen Ji's backs and asked, "How do we dismantle it?"

Wang Gui thought for a moment, "Chen Ji is already at the age to get married. In the past, he was an apprentice in a clinic, so he had not yet arranged a marriage. Now he has reached the sixth rank of an official, and it is time for him to achieve success at a young age and start a family. Madam is his legal mother, so even from the perspective of social ethics, it is time for her to arrange a marriage for him."

Liang's expression changed, but she said, "I'm afraid he won't give in."

Wang Gui lowered his eyes and said, "It is the parents' order and the matchmaker's words. How can a concubine's son decide his own marriage? Our dynasty governs the world with filial piety. Even if Zhang Zhuo brought this matter to your majesty, your majesty would say that this matter should be decided by you."

Nowadays, it is common for men and women to be arranged to get married by their parents without ever having met each other.

This is even worse for noble families, whose marriages are never arranged based on personal preferences.

Wang Gui continued to give advice: "Madam, please do not hesitate. If you can find a daughter of a noble family to marry him off as a concubine, no one will find fault with you. They will only think that you, as a legitimate mother, are very righteous."

Liang shook her head: "If he looks for a daughter of a noble family, wouldn't that mean he would get other help?"

Wang Gui sneered: "I won't let him have his way."

Liang's eyes moved slightly: "Do you have a candidate in mind?"

Wang Gui said confidently: "Yes!"

At this time, the prince and others had left the inn. Liang set out to catch up, and Wang Gui followed behind them, pulling a cart.

Everyone lowered their heads and hurried on their way, blending in with the common people to avoid being targeted by the border troops.

Li Xuan looked around and kept guarding the prince to prevent anyone from assassinating him. Fortunately, the frontier soldiers were cleaning up the battlefield and no one noticed them.

When they arrived at the city gate, the border troops had cleared the bricks and stones from the collapsed gate tower and opened up a small path. There was an endless stream of people queuing up to leave the city to seek refuge with their relatives and friends. Li Xuan protected the prince and mixed in with them to escape from the city.

Outside Guyuan City, the border troops piled up high firewood and burned the corpses in the city on the spot to prevent the spread of plague.

Passing by the cremation site, Liang stared at the fire for a long time in silence, and then said to Wang Gui, "Push Wenxiao in."

Wang Gui's face changed: "Madam, why don't you take the second son back to the capital? He must be buried in the Chen family's ancestral tomb. If he stays in Guyuan, won't he become a wandering ghost?"

Liang's expression swayed in the light of the fire. The heat waves from the fire came over her, making her cheeks swell. "If I take him back to the capital, and someone asks how he died, how should I answer?"

Wang Gui was startled: "But the prince also knows the truth, and it can't be concealed..."

Liang sneered, "How could the prince take the initiative to mention this matter to others when he was captured on the battlefield? He hopes that everyone will forget about Guyuan. The people around him will also be very secretive. Whoever dares to tell others will die."

Wang Gui was still hesitant and reluctant to push Chen Wenxiao into the fire.

Seeing that he did not move, Liang immediately pushed the cart herself, gritted her teeth and pushed the cart into the fire, allowing the flames to sweep and engulf everything.

She suddenly turned around and looked towards Guyuan City, hoping that the fire would burn the entire Guyuan.

Liang wiped the corners of her eyes and resolutely turned and left.

……

……

On the dirt road outside Guyuan City, everyone walked.

The soldiers of the Yulin Army were very tired, but no one complained, even Qi Chenzhuo didn't say a word.

Just when everyone breathed a sigh of relief, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from behind.

Li Xuan's face changed and he looked back, and saw Zhou You leading dozens of riders, filing out from the gap in the ruins of the city gate and catching up with them.

Li Xuan put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist and asked in a serious tone, "Why, General Zhou wants to keep us here?"

As he spoke, the soldiers of the Yulin Army drew their swords together, with cold expressions and without saying a word.

Someone licked his cracked lips, ready to kill.

Zhou You sat on his horse, looking at the Yulin Army with interest, and then laughed: "When the Yulin Army came, they were wearing silver armor and looked majestic, but I, Zhou, never took you seriously. Now that the Yulin Army is in disgrace, I, Zhou, have more respect for you."

After that, he jumped off the horse, walked closer holding the reins, and handed the reins to Li Xuan: "The journey is long, it will be easier with a horse, see you later."

Li Xuan and the Yulin Army were stunned.

They watched as the soldiers of the border army dismounted from their horses and handed the reins to each of them: "See you later!"

The Yulin Army was at a loss for a moment and could only take the reins stiffly, and subconsciously said "see you later".

The border soldiers left their horses behind, turned around and strode back to the majestic and ancient Guyuan City, like a group of prisoners who were voluntarily exiled.

Li Xuan jumped on his horse and looked back at Guyuan City. They had only been here for more than 20 days, but it felt like they had been here for several years.

He looked at it for a long time with reluctance before riding away.

"See you later."

(End of this chapter)