Aoyama

Chen Ji sat on the rooftop all night, watching the dark cloud carry the little black cat away, and only saw it return home safely at dawn.

He asked curiously, "You've been gone for so long?"

Wuyun jumped onto his lap: "I brought it to Fengxian Hall and waited until midnight before the eunuchs took it to Renshou Palace. I didn't dare to get close. Every time I got close to the emperor, the Liang family's sword energy in my body would be suppressed and I couldn't move."

Chen Ji hummed in agreement: "Imperial aura. If I get within twenty steps of him, the furnace fire within my body will also be suppressed. Jin Zhu said that if Mr. Feng brings back the Imperial Seal of the State, he might be able to suppress all the officials within two miles and turn them back into ordinary people."

Dark Cloud's eyes widened: "Fierce! Fierce!"

Chen Ji gently stroked Wu Yun's fur: "However, the Imperial Seal has been lost for too long, and now there are rumors circulating. What Jin Zhu said may not be true... What else did you do? Why did you only come back at dawn?"

Wu Yun said in a low voice, "I went to Kunning Palace again, wanting to see Her Majesty one last time. But a group of maids and concubines were wailing in Kunning Palace, so I couldn't get close. I could only watch silently for a while. Her Majesty was so good to them when she was alive, but they weren't sad at all, and there weren't any tears. I heard them whispering that Consort Xue didn't have a good ending either. After Her Majesty passed away, she was placed under house arrest in Yikun Palace, and she didn't even leave behind a single maid. They were all killed by the Jiefan Guard."

Chen Ji remained unmoved upon hearing of Consort Xue's tragic state: "She brought it upon herself."

Wu Yun continued to mutter, "I went to Jingyang Palace again. The nun Xuan Su betrayed the princess there. Now her leg has been broken, and she's screaming in the back hall like a ghost. She probably won't live much longer."

Chen Ji remained calm and said, "He only has himself to blame."

Wuyun meowed again: "I saw the princess kneeling alone in the main hall of Jingyang Palace, seemingly praying and chanting scriptures for the Empress. There was food next to her, but she didn't touch it..."

Chen Ji's eyes flickered.

Wu Yun looked up at him and asked, "How should we save the princess?"

Chen Ji did not answer.

Looking at Chen Ji's expression, Wu Yun felt that Chen Ji was making a very important decision.

After a long while, Chen Ji suddenly asked, "Wu Yun, if the price of doing something is being despised by the whole world, would you still do it?"

Wu Yun tilted his head: "Are you talking about saving the princess?"

Chen Ji replied, "Yes."

Wuyun thought for a moment and said, "Then I should be able to do it."

Chen Ji remained silent for a long time: "What if even the princess doesn't understand?"

After a long silence, Wu Yun asked, "Is there any other way?"

Chen Ji said softly, "No, that's all."

……

……

At Chen Shi (7-9 AM), Chen Ji left the Chen residence alone, and the street to the right of the residence was covered in white mourning clothes.

The tavern removed its banners embroidered with red characters, took down its sign selling mooncakes, and covered the red lanterns in front of the door with white cloth.

Obituaries and prohibitions were posted at the end of every street, banning slaughtering and taverns for seven days, and weddings and opera houses for one hundred days. Storytelling and opera performances came to an abrupt halt.

Pedestrians dared not make a loud noise, and vendors stopped hawking their wares.

As Chen Ji walked down Chang'an Avenue, it felt as if he had two wads of cotton stuffed in his ears, and the world suddenly became much quieter.

Just as he was about to pass through Zhengyang Gate, a rider on horseback galloped out from Chengtian Gate, shouting loudly: "General amnesty! General amnesty!"

The eunuch, riding a fast horse, arrived at Zhengyang Gate and pulled out a notice from a black bamboo tube on his back, posting it next to the city gate.

A passerby read aloud: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The Empress has lost her position and passed away. Empress Hu, gentle, respectful, virtuous, and exemplary, has now departed this world. My heart is broken and my soul is consumed by grief. Considering the Empress's benevolence and kindness throughout her life, which extended her grace to both the palace and the people, I cannot bear to see the punishments too harsh. In this time of national mourning, it is even more appropriate to bestow abundant blessings to comfort the Empress's spirit in heaven. A general amnesty is hereby granted."

Chen Ji watched silently for a moment, then turned and left through Zhengyang Gate.

Even in a general amnesty, there are ten offenses that cannot be pardoned: treason, plotting rebellion, treason, heinous crimes, immorality, disrespect, filial impiety, discord, injustice, and internal strife. These are the so-called ten unpardonable offenses.

Princess Baili was implicated in Prince Jing's rebellion and was not included in the general amnesty.

Chen Ji arrived at the Eight Great Hutongs, where every brothel was tightly shut, and the entire area was draped in white mourning clothes. From this day forward, brothels were forbidden from opening for business for one hundred days, and the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment district) was no exception.

He arrived at the back door of Plum Blossom Ferry and knocked. A stick was pulled open a crack, and when he saw it was him, he quickly made way: "Boss, the Gelaohui is not at Plum Blossom Pavilion, but at Liu Hangshou's Cold Plum Pavilion."

Chen Ji looked at Hanmei Tower with a puzzled expression: "Why did you go to Hanmei Tower?"

Ba Gun whispered, "The brother said that Mei Rui Lou still needs to open for salt permit business later, so we can't delay the business."

Chen Ji walked toward Hanmei Tower with a puzzled look on his face... What were the Gelaohui doing?
As soon as he stepped into Hanmei Tower, he heard a familiar sound coming from upstairs. He went up to the top floor and found more than ten square tables set up, with dozens of women gathered around the tables, playing bamboo... mahjong.

Among the crowd, the leaders of the Pao Ge gang, Er Dao, Liu Xing Shou, and the top courtesan of Hong Mei Lou sat at the same table, while other women gathered around to watch.

The man in the gang drew a card, lightly rubbed it with his thumb, and then discarded it: "Eight of Bamboo." The women around him exclaimed in surprise, "The man in the gang can actually draw the card!"

The gangster said smugly, "It's nothing."

As he spoke, he inadvertently looked up and saw Chen Ji outside the crowd, and quickly stood up: "Master."

Upon hearing this, all the women in the room hurriedly put down their mahjong tiles and stood up, bowing respectfully to Chen Ji. As they bowed, the women secretly sized him up, their eyes darting back and forth.

Liu Xingshou greeted Chen Ji in a generous manner: "Master, it's not often we see you. Sit down and play with us young ladies?"

“The boss doesn’t have time to play this game with you guys, he has important business to attend to,” the gang leader said, pulling over a woman. “Come on, you play for me. If you win, it’s yours; if you lose, it’s on me.”

The woman sat down in the gangster's seat with a big smile: "Then don't blame me for losing everything for you, gangster."

The gangster picked up the black cloth shirt from the back of the chair: "You've got some skill to make me lose everything."

Amidst laughter, the gang members pushed through the crowd and followed Chen Ji downstairs.

After leaving Hanmei Tower, Chen Ji stopped at the threshold and asked curiously, "What's this?"

The man calmly explained, "Now that the Empress has passed away, the entire Eight Great Hutongs have closed down. Many prostitutes who were registered under the patronage of the brothels have left the capital and gone south to the Qinhuai River in Nanjing. I heard that the regulations are more relaxed there, and no one cares if a boat is in the middle of the river. Right now, these women registered under the patronage of the brothels at Plum Blossom Ferry can't leave even if they want to, so I've been teaching them to play mahjong to pass the time and prevent them from causing any trouble."

Chen Ji nodded: "Alright, we need to be careful with the newspapers and Plum Blossom Ferry during this period. Plum Blossom Ferry should not open for business other than salt permits, and the newspapers must also avoid it... All advertisements should be suspended for now, and the original advertising space should be used to publish the Empress's obituary or poems praising the Empress."

The man replied, "I understand. The master must have other important business to discuss with you today?"

Chen Ji remained silent for a long time: "I want to pass on a message to Han Tong of the Canal Gang."

The man scratched his head and said, “We’ve just established ourselves in the capital. The Canal Gang doesn’t trust us. If they want to deliver a message, they need the Three Mountains Society to act as an intermediary. But the Three Mountains Society is unwilling to get involved in this mess anymore, unless our boss can offer them a deal they can’t refuse.”

Chen Ji pondered for a moment and said, "Take me to see Lord Qi."

……

……

The two arrived at the entrance of the Qingyin Xiaoban (a type of brothel) called Baiyuyuan in Baishun Hutong. The gangster knocked on the bamboo door, and a one-armed man inside opened it a crack: "What is it?"

The member of the gang clasped his hands in greeting and said, "I have come to pay my respects to Lord Qi."

The man immediately tried to close the bamboo door: "Master Qi is no longer in charge of the Three Mountains Society, please return."

The gangster blocked the bamboo door and said with a smile, "My boss from Plum Blossom Ferry has arrived. Even if Lord Qi doesn't show me any respect, he still has to."

The man coldly surveyed the traces behind the gang member: "Is that the man from Wuxiang County who released Yuancheng back to Jingchao? Then we must not see him again."

Chen Ji suddenly spoke up and said, "Tell Lord Qi that I have a prescription that can prevent the wounded soldiers of the three Imperial Guards from developing gangrene and from suffering from dysentery and cholera."

The man was taken aback and then closed the bamboo door completely.

After an incense stick had burned, the bamboo door reopened, and the man said in a low voice, "Lord Qi of Wuxiang County invites you."

The man followed Chen Ji inside, patting the man on the shoulder with a smile: "Be smarter next time. There aren't many people who can refuse my boss."

The man held back his anger but didn't lash out.

Chen Ji followed the winding path across a white marble bridge and saw Qi Gong sitting by the pond. His left hand, missing his index finger and thumb, held a handful of red worms, while his right hand pinched some and threw them into the pond, attracting the fish in the pond to gather together for a long time.

However, the fish raised in Baiyu Garden were not koi, but a pond full of black fish.

Not far away, there was a pavilion with writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones laid out on a table inside.

Chen Ji stood not far away, cupped his hands, and said, "Lord Qi."

Without turning his head, Lord Qi slowly said, "The Magistrate of Wuxiang County is too kind. You hold a noble title, and it is we commoners who should pay our respects to you."

Chen Ji, unwilling to engage in pleasantries, stated bluntly, "If Lord Qi is still angry about my letting Yuancheng go, then let's just keep to ourselves from now on. But I wonder, if we could reduce the number of gangrene among the heroes of the Three Great Camps of the Imperial Guard on the battlefield, how many fewer of them would die?"

Lord Qi turned to look at him: "Men of Wuxiang County, don't talk big. Half of the soldiers in my three Imperial Guards didn't die at the hands of the Jing Dynasty traitors, but were wounded, festered, and died of illness. If you have such a remedy, what harm is there in me, Sanshan, going through fire and water for you?"

Chen Ji walked into the pavilion and wrote several hundred words: "The Three Mountains Society will use this method to prepare allicin. Applying it to wounds can prevent soldiers from getting sores. If you have dysentery or cholera, take it orally and it will cure the disease in seven days. The process of preparing allicin is complicated. If you don't understand, you can come to Plum Blossom Ferry to find me, and I will teach you step by step."

Qi Gong rose and went to the table, silently observing for a long time: "How do I know if it's true or not?"

Chen Ji calmly said, "Lord Qi is also aware of the reputation of my Morning Post for governing the world and benefiting the people. If you didn't believe me, you wouldn't have let us in."

Qi Gong stroked his beard: "What message does the Baron of Wuxiang County want to convey to Han Tong?"

Chen Ji said confidently, "I have a way to save his daughter and bring him to see me." (End of Chapter)