Aoyama

Chapter 335 Long time no see
In the early morning, the cock has not yet crowed.

Chen Ji opened his eyes on the bed, his hands stroked the delicate satin of the bedding, feeling a little awkward.

Outside the bed, Xiaoman woke up from the small chair after hearing the noise. She held the little black cat in her arms and asked tentatively, "Master, are you awake?"

Chen Ji lifted the quilt: "Xiao Man, please change a coarse quilt for me today."

Xiaoman was puzzled: "Master, are you uncomfortable sleeping? This satin quilt is very valuable, and ordinary people can't buy it even if they have money."

Chen Ji said self-deprecatingly: "Maybe I am not worthy of such a good thing. Every time I touch the satin, my hands get caught on the satin threads."

Xiaoman suddenly realized, "Satin is very delicate, and each strand is made of fine silk. Officials and nobles don't feel uncomfortable without calluses on their hands, but you have too many calluses on your hands, so the calluses will get caught on the satin... Whose noble son has so many calluses on his hands? They don't do rough work."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "I'm not some nobleman."

He got out of bed, put on his boots, rolled up his sleeves, went to the side room, picked up the shoulder pole and walked out. The bluestone road of Chen's path was covered with mist, the curved shoulder pole pressed on his shoulders, and the cool morning breeze brushed on his face, making him feel indescribably free.

The servants and maids in the Chen Mansion were all awake and were busy preparing hot water and breakfast for each courtyard.

A maid came towards them and lowered her head slightly when she saw Chen Ji carrying a shoulder pole.

Xiao Man was wearing a light green skirt, following Chen Ji closely. Seeing the maids trying to hold back their laughter, she whispered to them, "Young Master, you should not carry water anymore. The servants in the mansion are secretly saying behind your back that you have the habits of a peasant."

Chen Ji said indifferently: "Ignore them, I just like fetching water."

He came to the wellhead of Qinzheng Garden and used a wooden-handled oar to lower the wooden bucket into the well. Even the sound of the oar was dull and steady, which made people feel at ease.

Seeing that she could not persuade him, Xiaoman started talking about something else: "Sir, you are going to the Qi Mansion to attend a literary gathering tonight. Which clothes do you plan to wear? I will iron them for you in advance."

What Xiaoman meant by ironing was to use a three-foot-long copper iron with agarwood powder on it to iron the clothes. The clothes ironed in this way are not only smooth, but also have the smell of agarwood.

Chen Ji thought for a moment and said, "Just wear the black one."

Xiaoman held the little black cat and thought, "If you ask me, you should go to Liangji on Qipan Street and make some clothes as soon as possible. You are an important person now, and you will definitely have to attend literary gatherings and banquets in the future. It is not good to always wear the same two sets of clothes. The officials in the capital are very discerning. They will decide how to treat you based on what jade pendants you wear and what clothes you wear. If you wear the same clothes to this literary gathering as the last one, they will think you are shabby and only have that one piece of clothing to show off."

Chen Ji laughed out loud, "I am just a mere centurion of the Yulin Army. How can I be considered a big shot? They can look down on me if they want. Have you forgotten what I said? We have to save money, a lot of money."

Xiaoman stood by the well with eyes wide open: "Sir, didn't you just take over the Eight Great Hutongs and Liulichang? You can collect a lot of peace money every month. That place is the most prosperous place in the outer city. No other place is as prosperous as that."

Chen Ji patiently explained, "We should be able to collect more than 10,000 taels of silver every month, but 90% of this money must be given to the Zhang family, and the remaining 1,000 taels must be used to support some staff. If you want to control the business in the outer city, you can't do without manpower."

Xiaoman said frustratedly: "Isn't that all the work in vain?"

Chen Ji rowed the oar, lifted the bucket, and said with a smile: "It's not in vain, Xiaoman, if there are people, there will be money, there are ways to do it."

Xiaoman thought thoughtfully: "The way you do business is a little different from your aunt's."

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Why is it different?"

Xiaoman thought for a moment and said, "My aunt relies on careful calculation, but you rely on robbery."

Chen Ji was startled, then laughed: "It's faster to make money than to rob money."

Xiaoman muttered in a low voice: "Anyway, remember to come back from the government office early this afternoon, and at least change into some decent clothes. My lord, the Qi family literary gathering tonight is not that simple, it must be related to your marriage."

Chen Ji stopped what he was doing and said, "Oh?"

Xiao Man said mysteriously, "I heard from the servants in the mansion that the Madam has been to the Qi family several times these days. Qi Xianshu, the master of the second branch of the Qi family, has also been to our Chen Mansion. It should be related to your marriage. At the literary gathering tonight, I'm afraid that Lord Qi wants the women of the Qi family to hide in the dark and watch you. This is the way all wealthy families do it."

Chen Ji hummed.

Xiaoman said worriedly, "I went to ask Sister Duanwu before. The Qi family now has three women waiting to be married. Among them, there are two legitimate daughters, one named Qi Zhaoning and one named Qi Zhaoyun, and a concubine named Qi Zhenzhu. I don't know which girl the Qi family wants to marry you. In terms of family background, it should be Qi Zhenzhu. But if you are adopted into the eldest wife's house..."

At this point, Xiaoman secretly looked at Chen Ji's expression and said, "Then it must be your daughter."

Chen Ji remained silent, concentrating on rowing the boat.

Xiaoman continued, "I have already found out for you. It is said that Qi Zhaoyun has a lover, a scholar from the south named Huang Que. Qi Zhaoning is always unreasonable and is the most unruly young lady of an official in the capital. She has angered several private school teachers in the Qi family and has left."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "So amazing?"

Xiao Man snorted, "What's so great about that? The most powerful woman in the capital is my second sister. I just found out a few days ago that my second sister had a nickname. Everyone called her Rouge Tiger."

"Rouge Tiger?" Chen Ji was surprised.

"Well," Xiaoman smiled, revealing two small canine teeth. "Everyone says that my second sister is hard to mess with. She has read all the 30,000 volumes of books in the Imperial College, except for the Lectures for Women. She is a female Hanlin. In the 26th year of Jianing, there was a debate in Xu's house. She used the annotations on the Doctrine of the Mean to silence her opponent. The loser had to swallow three spoonfuls of paper ash. My second sister said at the time that this was called 'taking the ancient as an example to transform the present', and it helped those literati and scholars grow their brains."

Chen Ji was dumbfounded: "So fierce?"

Xiaoman smiled even more happily: "At first, the scholars were willing to invite her to the literary gathering, but later they didn't dare to send her invitations... I don't know why she changed later, her personality became more docile." Chen Ji bent down to pick up the shoulder pole and walked back. Xiaoman cautiously tested: "Sir, are you going to reject the Qi family's marriage proposal? I'm afraid it's not up to you."

Chen Ji said calmly: "Since I can't refuse, I won't refuse. Let's settle the marriage as soon as possible so that I can get my aunt's property back."

"Yes," Xiaoman nodded, "Once the engagement is made, there is no reason for Madam to delay giving it. Sir, do you plan to leave Ning Dynasty after rescuing the princess?"

Chen Ji hummed.

Xiaoman rolled her eyes and said, "When you leave, can you leave your aunt's property to me? You won't need it anyway."

Chen Ji laughed: "Okay, I'll leave them all to you."

Xiaoman's eyes were shining, and I don't know what she was planning.

……

……

Chen Ji packed up and went out. When he came to the side door of Chen's house, the servant saw that it was him and hurriedly opened the door for him: "Greetings, Third Young Master."

The moment he pushed open the door, the servant was suddenly stunned and subconsciously took a step back.

Chen Ji was also startled when he came out of the side door. He saw dozens of Yulin soldiers standing outside the door and whispering to each other. When they saw him come out, they immediately stood up straight.

The momentum of the people who had just fought was so great that their faces were as sharp as a knife and they all said, "Master Chen."

The Chen family's servant was so frightened that he didn't know what to do. For a moment he didn't know whether he should go and call the high-ranking official in charge of the mansion.

Chen Ji glanced at him and said, "It's okay, don't panic."

He stepped out of the threshold, and the Yulin Army followed him out of the alley. The servant then breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly closed the side door of the Chen Mansion.

Outside the door, Chen Ji asked with a smile: "Why are you all here?"

Li Xuan stood still, bowed to him and said: "This time we all relied on you to escape. Not everyone has the ability to go in and out of the imperial prison twice."

Qi Chenzhuo said excitedly: "Master, how did you do it? Everyone thought that we would be tortured in the imperial prison again, but in the blink of an eye, everyone was promoted to a higher rank. My brother-in-law became the governor of the Yulin Army, and I became the commander. Master, do you know that the governor of the Yulin Army has been vacant for 17 years!"

Chen Ji was puzzled: "So long?"

Duo Bao sighed: "Master Chen, we offended you a lot in Guyuan, but fortunately you let bygones be bygones..."

Lin Yanchu said, "Master Chen, I had many aggrieved experiences following Chen Wenren before, but now that I have gone through this with you, it can be considered that my life has not been in vain."

Chen Ji raised his hands and said, "Stop, stop. I'm scared if you do this."

Qi Zhuozhuo burst into laughter. "Look, I told you that my master is not someone who likes to be polite. He told you guys not to be so clichéd. Tonight, my Qi family is having a literary gathering. I've told my father that the writers will be chatting in the White Crane Hall, and my Qi family will host a banquet in the nearby Shanchuan Hall to entertain the brothers of the Yulin Army. We'll prepare some Huadiao wine that's been cellared for 32 years, and we won't leave until we're drunk!"

Amid the laughter, Chen Ji suddenly froze.

A familiar figure was wearing a conical hat, straw sandals, and his gray cloth trousers were rolled up halfway, like a groom who had just entered the city.

Li Xuan followed his line of sight, but saw only carriages and horses on West Chang'an Street. There was nothing where Chen Ji looked: "Chen Ji, what's wrong?"

Chen Ji smiled and said, "It's okay. I just remembered that I forgot to bring something. You guys go to the Governor's Mansion to report first. I'll go back."

After saying this, he turned around and left without looking back, disappearing in the endless stream of carriages and horses.

When a carriage passed by, Chen Ji calmly turned into Shibei Hutong, then turned right into Shuangmazhuan Hutong.

The next moment, the groom at the front of the alley stopped and turned around: "Sir, long time no see!"

After saying that, he raised his head and smiled under his hat.

Si Caogui.

It was Si Caogui who fled to Jing Dynasty with Wu Hongbiao.

The other person was dressed simply, just like when he was in Los Angeles, as if Chen Ji had been separated from him for just a few days rather than a few months.

Chen Ji once thought that he would never see the other party again, but now the other party has returned to the south with the dark haze of Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Department.

……

On May 5.15th, Qidian.com will have a half-price subscription event for "The Naming of the Night", so you can pay attention to it.

(End of this chapter)