Aoyama

Chapter 518 Chess Player
Chen Ji stopped under the gray-tiled eaves of the houses on Fuyou Street. He looked down at the articles in the newspaper, ignoring the carriages and sedan chairs that passed by him.

The seventh edition of "Current Policy Commentary" was entirely composed of submissions from the public.

The essay on the political situation written by "Changjing Sanren" that Chen Ji read contained a hidden message: "Looking at the struggles in the imperial court today, they are no longer a debate on morality. Those who gather at night and disperse at dawn have seized the power of the Privy Council. You have studied the partisan strife of past dynasties, and people were still intoxicated by the empty reputation of the upright officials. How could they know that jackals and tigers had already occupied Zhouxing? Those who have seized the moral order have straightened their clothes and held the jade tablet. Those who pursue their own interests have used the state to sell their evil deeds. The day when the alarm beacon sounds for help will probably be just around the corner."

At midnight tonight, the calamity will be raged.

Chen Ji waited patiently for more than ten days and finally received news from the Military Intelligence Bureau. It seemed to be the first time he had been so close to the Chief of the Bureau.

But then he had a new question: Who was Zhou Chuan?

Why did the Military Intelligence Bureau want to abduct this person?

Chen Ji closed the newspaper and hurried towards Plum Blossom Ferry.

When we arrived at the back gate of Plum Blossom Ferry, it was just getting light.

One by one, drunkards were helped into sedan chairs and carriages by their servants, while beautiful women saw off their lovers at the gate, creating a lively scene.

Today, Plum Blossom Ferry has become the most bustling brothel in the capital.

Chen Ji stood at the entrance of the alley until all the sedan chairs and carriages had left before passing through the back door and climbing Mei Rui Tower.

The salt market doesn't open until 9 AM, so Mei Rui Lou is empty in the early morning. Abacuses are placed on the tables, and the accountants haven't started work yet.

Chen Ji climbed the stairs, but neither the Pao Ge nor Er Dao were there. He looked around and saw that the top floor had been converted into the editorial office of the Beijing Morning Post by the Pao Ge, with more than ten tables covered with bamboo paper and ink.

The vermilion doors leading to the outer corridor of the building were wide open, and the wind blew in from outside, making the bamboo paperweights rustle.

Chen Ji looked up and gazed through the vermilion gate, where he saw Zhang Xia leaning against the railing, gazing into the distance, her clothes fluttering in the wind.

As Chen Ji approached, Zhang Xia recognized his footsteps and asked without turning around, "Why didn't you go to Liulichang today?"

Chen Ji shook the newspaper: "We've got a lead."

Zhang Xia turned around: "What clue?"

Chen Ji handed her the newspaper: "The article on the political situation on page seven today, the Military Intelligence Bureau used an acrostic to send out the message that Zhou Chuan will be ambushed at midnight tonight. I came to find you to ask who Zhou Chuan is?"

Zhang Xia opened the newspaper and examined it for a moment: "Zhou Chuan... the person the Military Intelligence Bureau wants to kidnap must be an official of our dynasty. There are four officials in our dynasty named Zhou Chuan. One is a clerk in Taiyuan Prefecture, another is the county magistrate of Wannian County, and the other two are in the capital. One is a minor official in the Imperial Observatory who records celestial phenomena, and the other is the ambassador of the Military Equipment Bureau under the Imperial Crafts Bureau, in charge of supervising the manufacture of military equipment, a ninth-rank official. The person the Military Intelligence Bureau wants to kidnap should be the latter."

Chen Ji sighed, "Looking for you was definitely the right decision... Who wrote this article?"

Zhang Xia turned and went back into the house: "I wasn't here yesterday, but the Gelaohui (a secret society) will record the source of each article. You can find out by checking."

She went to a table and opened a blue ledger, inside which every advertisement and article was recorded in charcoal pencil as its source.

Zhang Xia flipped through the ledger and finally pointed with his finger: "It was collected from Xuan Nan Fang. The submitter was a middle-aged man who wore a square turban, black boots, a goatee, and a blue birthmark the size of a fingernail on his left cheek. He said that if the article was accepted, the payment could be sent to the Zhai family residence in Shijia Hutong, Xuan Nan Fang."

Chen Ji fell into deep thought. Xuan Nan Fang, Shi Jia Hutong, Zhai Mansion... There was no need to investigate further; this place must be fake.

Zhang Xia closed the ledger: "What do you plan to do? The Military Intelligence Bureau is ruthless and you alone cannot defeat them. It would be better to inform the Secret Service of this information, and they will make their own decision."

Chen Ji seemed to be deep in thought.

If the Military Intelligence Bureau has robbed the ambassador of the Craftsmanship Supervision and Armory Bureau, then an official will definitely be involved, perhaps even an official from the Seeking Dao Realm. To be on the safe side, it would be best to inform Bai Long about this.

Just as Chen Ji was about to turn and leave, he suddenly stopped: "Something's not right."

The Military Intelligence Bureau is a tightly organized organization, and all its members undergo rigorous training. Once an intelligence agent escapes control, they must undergo a loyalty test upon returning to the organization.

When Si Cao Gui returned to Ning Dynasty, the first thing he did was to test whether he was still loyal.

Si Cao Ding had been hidden for over ten years without being found. Such a cautious person, even if he knew that the Beijing Morning Post was the best choice for the Military Intelligence Bureau to transmit information, would definitely test the reliability of this channel again and again.

Moreover, the Military Intelligence Bureau had just killed the craftsmen of the Crafts Bureau, and now was a time of great tension. Why would they rashly take action against the Crafts Bureau again?
Zhai Mansion and Zhou Chuan are both tests, traps. Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia: "Do nothing today, ignore Zhai Mansion and Zhou Chuan."

Zhang Xia understood: "Okay."

……

……

The next morning.

As usual, Chen Ji left through the side gate of the Chen residence, found a stick, bought a newspaper, and read it as he walked.

He wasn't the only one reading it; now, people could be seen everywhere in the capital holding newspapers. A single newspaper had quietly changed the lives of the people of Ning Dynasty.

Upon arriving at the top floor of Meirui Tower, Zhang Xia was already waiting there. As soon as he came upstairs, she got straight to the point: "As you expected, the Military Intelligence Division did nothing last night... but as a result, the clues have been cut off again."

Chen Ji wasn't in a hurry. He found a chair and sat down. "It's alright, they'll show up again."

No sooner had he finished speaking than footsteps were heard coming from the stairs. Erdao came up with a stack of papers: "Boss, these are the advertisements we need to buy today."

Chen Ji took the papers and flipped through them one by one. After he finished flipping through them all, he suddenly flipped forward and pulled out a paper from the thick stack of papers.

He carefully examined the contents, then closed his eyes again and pieced the dissected text back together: "Tonight at midnight, burn Shijia Hutong."

Chen Ji opened his eyes. This time, Si Cao Ding used the reverse cutting method.

He looked at Zhang Xia: "Where is Shijia Hutong?"

Zhang Xia recalled: "South of the Jiaofangsi, separated from it by Julan Hutong. Shijia Hutong was nothing special; it was a place where some officials and nobles in the inner city kept their concubines."

The Jiaofangsi was divided into Yanle Hutong and Bensi Hutong. The former was the Danbi Grand Music Hall, while the latter was a place for pleasure and entertainment.

The actors and prostitutes in the Jiaofangsi were all criminals. If an official took a fancy to a certain actor in the Jiaofangsi but was unwilling to spend a lot of money to redeem him, he would bribe the officials of the Ministry of Rites in the Jiaofangsi to keep the actor in Julan Hutong and Shijia Hutong, making him the official's private possession.

From then on, actors no longer needed to entertain guests at the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment institution); they only needed to return to the Jiaofangsi to report for duty when the court checked the roster.

Chen Ji asked curiously, "The Military Intelligence Bureau certainly didn't burn down Shi Family Alley to destroy this den of iniquity, but rather for some official or nobleman living there... Which officials or noblemen in Shi Family Alley were keeping concubines?"

This time, Zhang Xia remained silent: "I don't know."

After saying that, she added, "I really don't know."

Chen Ji smiled nonchalantly. Brothels were a place Zhang Xia had never paid attention to before: "Regardless of who is in Shi Family Alley, I guess the Military Intelligence Bureau is probably just testing the waters. Let's wait and see."

That night, Chen Ji still did not go to Shijia Hutong to investigate, and returned to Yinxingyuan at Hai Shi (9-11 PM).

He lay on his bed pondering a solution, when suddenly he heard someone outside shouting, "The inner city is on fire!"

Chen Ji suddenly got up from the bed, put on his clothes, went out and jumped onto the roof. He saw a huge fire burning in the east, turning the sky of the capital city dark red.

Chen Ji stood silently on the rooftop. He hadn't expected that the Military Intelligence Bureau wasn't testing them tonight, but had actually set fire to Shi Family Alley.

Strong winds have been blowing the fire southwards in the past few days, and it quickly spread to Ganmian Hutong and Shicao Hutong. Even the firefighters from Fuyou Street were transferred to the east of the inner city to fight the fire.

This Si Cao Ding acts with a mix of truth and deception, and takes unconventional approaches.

Chen Ji watched the fire from afar, as if he were watching a mysterious and unpredictable chess player making risky moves on the chessboard of the capital, trying to win over a weak opponent.

This is also what he does best.

Chen Ji didn't go to Shijia Hutong. Instead, he jumped off the roof and went back to bed, as if nothing had happened. To contend with such an opponent, one must conserve one's energy.

(End of this chapter)