Aoyama

Chapter 369 The Biting Dog
As night fell, the carriage swayed and rattled along the bluestone pavement of West Chang'an Avenue.

Since Si Cao Gui appeared, Chen Ji has rarely walked on his own; he's always been picked up and dropped off by car. Si Cao Gui is like a shadow, always sticking to his side.

To be the head of the department?
That's not what Chen Ji wanted.

After rescuing Bai Li, neither Ning Chao nor Jing Chao were the best places to go. Only by going overseas could they completely avoid trouble... I wonder if English is spoken overseas? His English is quite good, and his Arabic is also not bad.

As he was pondering this, the carriage gradually came to a stop.

Chen Ji asked, "Have we arrived?"

Si Cao Gui did not answer.

Chen Ji lifted the carriage curtain a crack, and a man stood on the opposite side of the carriage, a sword at his waist and a black cloth strip tied around his forehead, with the character "Chen" embroidered in white thread in the middle of the strip.

Si Cao Gui whispered, "It's Chen Guang, one of the Dao Seeking Realm Grand Masters raised by the Second Branch."

The next moment, the official who had stopped his horse clasped his hands and said, "Young master, please come with me. Second Master is waiting for you at the Altar of Mountains and Rivers."

Si Cao Gui turned around and whispered, "You can't go. The second branch of the family is ruthless and unscrupulous. You've offended them badly today. If they invite you to a secluded place, it's definitely not for anything good."

Chen Ji said loudly, "Please tell my second uncle that it's late tonight, so I won't be going. If he needs anything, he can come to Ginkgo Garden to find me first thing tomorrow morning."

Si Cao Gui shook the reins again, and the carriage moved forward slowly, but Chen Guang stood motionless in the way, repeating his words from before: "Young master, please come with me. Second Master is waiting for you at the Mountain and River Altar."

The carriage was forced to stop. Si Cao Gui slowly reached into his sleeve and whispered, "When the fighting starts, run to the Chen family mansion. He won't dare to fight his way inside. If he alerts Chen Xu, who is close to Grand Secretary Chen, he will only face death."

Chen Xu?

Chen Ji remembered that Chen Xu was the middle-aged man who had invited him to the Wendan Hall a few days ago, and was a confidant of Grand Secretary Chen.

On Fuyou Street, Chen Guang rode forward on horseback. The crisp sound of his hooves grew closer and closer in the night, and the air between Si Cao Gui and Chen Guang seemed to grow increasingly solid.

Chen Guang reached for the sword at his waist. Si Cao Gui was like a leopard in motion, and a slight cracking sound came from his joints... It was the sound of muscles squeezing their joints as they bulged.

The stray dogs and cats along the roadside all fled.

At that moment, another carriage arrived from behind. Both men suppressed their murderous intent and waited for the carriage to leave.

The carriage passed by the two men, completely unaware of the tense killing intent emanating from the cobblestone street.

As the carriage departed, just as Chen Guang and Si Cao Gui were about to make their move, Chen Ji spoke up with a smile: "Let's go for now. Second Uncle is an elder; he won't do anything to me. Even if he really wanted to vent his anger on me, he wouldn't have chosen the capital."

The tense atmosphere instantly dissipated.

Chen Guang clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Young master is wise, please."

Si Cao Gui glanced back at Chen Ji, but didn't ask any more questions. It seemed that what he had said before was true: Chen Ji used to listen to him, but now he would listen to Chen Ji, and he was content to be a knife.

A knife, however, never asks questions.

The carriage turned around and followed Chen Guang out of Zhengyang Gate, heading towards the Altar of Mountains and Rivers.

After burning two incense sticks, Chen Guang turned west in front of the Mountain and River Altar. The reeds there had not yet sprouted green leaves and were still withered. The night wind blew, making a grand and desolate rustling sound.

A wooden dock extends into a pond full of reeds, and Chen Lizhi sits at the end of the dock, holding a fishing rod.

Behind him, to his left stood a middle-aged martial artist, and to his right stood Chen Yue, the head manager of the Chen Family Salt Shop.

Chen Guang gestured to Chen Ji, "Please."

Chen Ji smiled and walked along the dock toward the middle of the pond.

Si Cao Gui threw down the reins and was about to follow Chen Ji, but Chen Guang stopped him, saying with a forced smile, "When the masters are talking, we servants shouldn't follow."

Before Si Cao Gui could object, Chen Ji turned around and instructed, "Wait for me here. I'll go and hear what Second Uncle has to say. Don't worry, Second Uncle won't harm me."

Si Cao Gui calmly replied, "Yes, young master."

Chen Ji continued walking forward, and only when he got close, by the bright moonlight, did he see a pool of blood next to Chen Yue, whose left hand was missing his little finger and ring finger.

He didn't take it seriously, and came to a stop three steps behind Chen Lizhi, bowing respectfully: "Second Uncle."

Chen Lizhi didn't turn around, but pointed to the center of the pond: "Nephew, I called you over in the middle of the night to invite you to watch a good show."

Chen Ji looked up and saw six awning boats floating in the middle of the pond. On each boat, a salt shop manager was kneeling. The managers' hands and feet were bound with hemp ropes, and their mouths were stuffed with a wad of white cloth.

Behind them stood two strong men.

When the second-in-commands saw Chen Ji looking over, they immediately knelt on the ship's side, sobbing uncontrollably.

Just then, Chen Lizhi's fishing rod twitched. He quickly lifted the rod, but when he pulled the hook out of the water, it was empty.

Chen Lizhi muttered a curse under his breath: "Even the fish are picking on me?"

He waved impatiently at the center of the pond, only to see a man tie a stone the size of a human head to the feet of Manager Zhou and push him into the water expressionlessly.

On Tuesday, the shopkeeper fell into the water with a splash and sank to the bottom of the pond before he could even struggle a few times. The other shopkeepers were even more terrified and twisted their bodies in panic.

Before the water could calm down, Chen Lizhi said impatiently, "What are we waiting for? Are you going to put on a show for my nephew one by one? Push them all in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the man on the awning boat pushed the remaining five second-in-commands into the water, just like pushing a few sheep into the water.

Chen Ji didn't speak, he just watched quietly.

Chen Lizhi glanced back at Chen Ji's expression, then burst into laughter: "Chen Yue, you didn't lose unjustly. Look at my nephew, he's much calmer than you. You thought he was a domesticated lamb, but you didn't expect him to be a wolf who's seen all the storms in Guyuan. You may be a bit fierce, but a dog is still a dog."

Chen Yue said in a low voice, "Second Master is right."

Chen Lizhi looked at the lake: "Nephew, I didn't call you here today to scare you. I know that people who have been to Guyuan won't be frightened by such a small scene." Chen Ji watched the awning boats scatter across the lake: "Then what does Second Uncle mean by calling me here?"

Chen Lizhi rebaited the fishhook, and upon closer inspection, the bait turned out to be the little finger that Chen Yue had just cut off.

He cast the bait into the water: "Are you wondering why I didn't kill Chen Yue, who clearly caused me to lose money and make a mistake, but instead killed the other second managers who didn't make any mistakes?"

Chen Ji hummed in agreement: "I really don't understand."

Chen Lizhi said slowly, "Chen Yue made me lose tens of thousands of taels of silver overnight. It's not a lot, but it's not a small amount either. In the old man's words, my Chen family can afford to lose it. Tsk, why did the patriarch speak with such authority, but it became bland when I said it?"

Chen Ji replied with a smile, "Because Second Uncle said tens of thousands of taels, while the head of the family said hundreds of thousands of taels."

Chen Lizhi nodded: "That makes sense, the loss is less."

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Second Uncle hasn't said yet why he killed the other second managers but spared Chen Yue? He was the one who made you lose money."

Chen Lizhi casually remarked, "But he's the only one who dares to bite you."

Chen Ji seemed to be deep in thought.

Chen Lizhi said lazily, "It's not enough for a master to just wag his tail when raising a dog; it also has to bite. It has to bite outsiders, and it has to bite anyone who climbs over into the yard. Isn't the purpose of raising a dog to help the master bite people? It doesn't matter if it bites the wrong person or misses the bite... but it has to dare to bite."

Chen Lizhi continued, "Although Chen Yue was foolish enough not to bite you, he was the only one in the salt shop who dared to bite you, and that's enough."

Chen Ji humbly replied, "I understand. Thank you for your explanation, Second Uncle."

Chen Lizhi continued, "But losing money is still losing money. He may escape death, but he can't escape punishment. We have to cut off a couple of his fingers to vent our anger, so that everyone doesn't think that losing money to me goes unpunished. Besides, I called my nephew here tonight to apologize to him. Chen Yue offended you. Tell me, how many fingers should we cut off to vent our anger?"

Chen Ji laughed: "I don't have such a big grudge against him, so Uncle doesn't need to be like this. It's just that I don't understand what Uncle is up to."

Chen Lizhi hadn't caught a single fish after a long while, so he simply threw the fishing rod into the pond, stood up, and said, "Nephew, you have the heart of a bodhisattva and the methods of a vajra. I couldn't do that at your age. I admire you. Chen Yue, thank your nephew. You've saved the rest of your fingers."

Chen Yue hurriedly knelt on the ground, first kowtowing three times to Chen Lizhi, and then turning around to kowtow three times to Chen Ji.

Chen Lizhi kicked Chen Yue with his toe: "Get lost. I'll spare your life this time, but don't embarrass yourself in the capital. Go to Jinling before those border households come looking for you. If your business there goes wrong again, you can send your head back to the capital yourself."

"Thank you, Second Master, for sparing my life," Chen Yue kowtowed nine more times before getting up and leaving in a hurry.

Chen Lizhi waved to the middle-aged martial artist beside him, "Stay away, I need to talk to my nephew."

Once the dock quieted down.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "Did Second Uncle invite me here tonight just to help me get revenge?"

Chen Lizhi was thin with sunken cheeks.

His bulging fish eyes stared straight at Chen Ji: "Nephew, how about we reconcile?"

Chen Ji was taken aback.

Chen Lizhi stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the center of the pond: "Tonight I understand. The person standing behind you is not Chen Lizun, but someone else. But I don't care who is behind you, nor do I care what adventures you have had in recent years. I only care about the affairs of my Chen family."

Chen Ji remained silent, his mind racing with various unresolved questions.

What kind of trick is the other party trying to pull?
Chen Lizhi continued, "Nephew, if you want money, I can give it to you right now. If you want an official position, I can buy it for you tomorrow, but can we please not argue about the adoption of the eldest son?"

Chen Ji was completely baffled: "What is Second Uncle going to do?"

Chen Lizhi smiled and said, "Little monk, you've already told me everything. There's no need to pretend you don't know. My father was the former Minister of Revenue and the head of the Chen family, but he was plotted against and killed by the eldest son's family. As his son, I would not have lived in this world if I didn't avenge him. I will kill anyone who gets in my way. You are not a member of the eldest son's family, so there's no need for you to get involved in this mess."

A thought flashed through Chen Ji's mind: So that's how it is.

Chen Lizhi's sudden openness today is actually because the other party believes that the little monk has seen through his thoughts through his telepathic abilities, and the secret is no longer a secret.

Unbeknownst to the other party, the young monk never confided in any third party what he had seen.

Chen Ji suddenly realized that his uncle Lu Jin had assassinated the Minister of Revenue. Chen Lizhi attributed all of this to the eldest son's family seizing power and regarded Grand Secretary Chen and Chen Lizun as his father's killers.

Chen Ji asked doubtfully, "Wasn't this the work of Jing Dynasty spies?"

Chen Lizhi said in a deep voice, "It must have been done by the eldest son's family!"

Chen Ji sighed inwardly. What a mess this was! He still had so much to do, yet he was caught up in the chaotic feuds between powerful families.

Chen Lizhi stared at Chen Ji: "Chen Ji, I am a true villain, but the father and son of the eldest son are hypocrites. You should trust me rather than them. Tonight, just name your terms, and I will agree to anything I can. Once you have what you want, you can leave the capital and go wherever you want."

“Your father, Chen Liqin, is a clever man. Today he spent ten thousand taels of silver to Zhang Zhuo to be transferred to the position of Assistant Magistrate of Jinling. I also put in a good effort for him, and the official document from the Ministry of Personnel should be issued tomorrow. Why don’t you go to Jinling with him? It’s a prosperous place. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be a wealthy and powerful man?”

The conditions offered by Chen Lizhi were very tempting; if it were Chen Ji when he first arrived in this world, he would definitely have agreed.

But not now; what he wants, Chen Lizhi can't help him with.

Chen Ji calmly said, "Second Uncle, I have things I need to do, so I have to fight for them."

Chen Lizhi stared silently at Chen Ji, a hint of murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

Chen Ji calmly said, "Second Uncle, if you kill me now, the whole world will know it was you. If you have the patience, you might as well wait a little longer."

Chen Lizhi was silent for a moment. He looked at Chen Ji, then at Si Cao Gui in the distance, and suddenly burst into laughter.

He patted Chen Ji on the shoulder: "Nephew, what nonsense are you talking about? We're all family, how could I kill you? Go back and rest early, you have to go to work tomorrow."

Chen Ji bowed to Chen Lizhi and said, "Second Uncle, please rest early. I will take my leave now."

He walked ashore and, as he boarded the carriage, looked back to see Chen Lizhi still standing at the end of the wooden dock, looking at him meaningfully.

(End of this chapter)