I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 13 Showdown
Who is that kid?

At this time, behind Zhang Rui and his group, there was an old man following from a distance. If Zhang Rui turned around, he would definitely recognize him. It was the old man who sold fish and plotted against him.

At this moment, the look he gave Zhang Rui was full of fear and a hint of greed.

The kid took his live fish to the dark alley, and when he came out, there was a baby with him. After that, the kid chose to go to the dark alleys. Every time he came out, the baby had grown taller, and now he looks like he is seven or eight years old. Moreover, the kid's blood and qi also went from being weak at the beginning to being condensed now!

This kid has a big secret!

But he didn't dare to act rashly, because he was not the only one who noticed this guy. Many people tried to secretly follow him into the dark alley. The rules of the Painting Market were that people could not fight with others. It was said that this rule was set by a big shot a thousand years ago. Otherwise, they would be besieged by everyone. But if they were in an empty dark alley, it would be easy to do, after all, no one could see them.

As long as anyone who had planned to take down that guy and followed him in quietly never came out, he knew that this guy was a big shot. Now there was a group of people around him, and the situation seemed even more complicated. He definitely couldn't take him down with his own force, but if he offered something in exchange...
The old man looked at Zhang Rui from afar and was in a dilemma.

At this time, Zhang Rui was completely unaware of the old man following behind him, but was concentrating on listening to the information revealed by the scholar named Chen Xiao.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince was ordered by the Emperor to go to Beihai to provide disaster relief. His Majesty is old, and His Highness the Crown Prince's position is stable. Everyone knows that the throne will be replaced in the next few years. Sending the Crown Prince to provide disaster relief is also to gain some reputation among the people. Beihai is the base camp of the Crown Prince's family, and General Long will personally escort him along the way. Logically, there shouldn't be any problems."

Zhang Rui nodded slightly when he heard this. The setting was basically the same as in his novel.

The prince's maternal family is a military force, and his uncle Yuchi Peng is the commander of Beihai and a rear general personally appointed by the imperial court, which is already a second-rank military honor!

The Yuchi family has been running Beihai for many years, and they are like an iron barrel from top to bottom. Back then, even Taizu of the Jin Dynasty could not conquer Beihai, and it was through recruitment that the Yuchi family surrendered. For thousands of years, the Yuchi family has always had people holding important positions in the court, and they are a very powerful local family. This emperor did not choose to exclude the Yuchi family of Beihai, but instead married the legitimate daughter of the Yuchi family as his queen. Now the prince is the legitimate son and the nephew of the head of the Yuchi family. Logically speaking, with the help of the Yuchi family, the disaster relief in Beihai this time should be foolproof!
But did not expect
Zhang Rui pricked up his ears when he heard this. He wanted to hear what the differences were between this and his original novel. After all, the world framework had been changed, so even if the main storyline remained unchanged, the details of many things would probably be completely different.

In the original novel, the epidemic in Beihai was beyond everyone's imagination. The prince was originally strictly protected, and his diet, clothing, and living space were strictly controlled, but he still got sick. The emperor suspected that someone had deliberately tampered with his diet, but at that time, the Yuchi family in Beihai, including the head of the family, General Yuchi Peng, were infected with the disease and did not survive. Many people thought that the epidemic was too serious, but the emperor was relentless and conducted a thorough investigation, which led to the suffering of most officials and eventually caused unrest.

This should be different from the original novel that does not have any ghosts.
"The disease was beyond imagination. The prince was infected the day after he arrived in Beihai!"

"Huh?" Zhang Rui was stunned, thinking: Is it really just because of the plague? Why is it the same as the original novel? There are warlocks here after all, did they really die from the plague?

"How could he be so careless? Your Highness the Crown Prince is a very precious person. Shouldn't he be isolated as much as possible along the way?"

"The prince's itinerary was naturally carefully planned, and no detail was overlooked. Even the combs used by the prince's maids had to be strictly checked by the sorcerers every day. As for the villa arranged by the prince, it had to be checked again by the sorcerers every hour. Not to mention the diet and clothing. Theoretically speaking, it would not be the prince's turn to be infected. Moreover, before we went there, although the epidemic was serious, the mortality rate was not high. The imperial doctors sent there had successfully cured hundreds of severe cases!"

"The condition is different?" Zhang Rui immediately realized that it was indeed different. The death of the prince here must have been man-made!

"Completely different." Chen Xiao said in a low voice: "After the prince arrived in Beihai, the epidemic that broke out in the city was definitely not the same as before. Not only was the mortality rate extremely high, but the infection rate also increased a lot. The situation that had been under control collapsed instantly, and even nearly half of the soldiers in the city were lost. If it weren't for the fact that the Yuchi family had been operating Beihai for thousands of years and had great prestige, I'm afraid it would have been in chaos long ago."

"Then what?" Zhang Rui frowned. He always felt that the situation was more complicated than that.

"This is the current situation. The crown prince is seriously ill and in critical condition. We need to find the culprit behind the Beihai incident as soon as possible."

"You are lying." Zhang Rui shook his head and interrupted the other party: "If this is the only situation, you should just evacuate the prince from there."

"Evacuating midway is even more dangerous. Even the Yuchi family couldn't protect the prince. Wouldn't the journey back to Beijing be even less secure?" Chen Xiao said hurriedly.

"Nonsense!" Zhang Rui's face darkened. "The Crown Prince is the heir to a country. If the situation is so critical, His Majesty would have sent a large army to bring the Crown Prince back safely. The file of the dead Master Tian you mentioned said he came from Jiangnan. He came all the way here. If you wanted to send a letter to His Majesty, the Crown Prince would have been brought back long ago!"

Chen Xiao glanced at Zhang Rui after hearing this and said, "Master Tian is still wrong. Not only is he kind-hearted, he is also a man of quick thinking."

How could this be a stupid county magistrate? To have such insight at this age, this county magistrate must have a very extraordinary background.

"Sir, you'd better tell the truth." Zhang Rui said coldly: "If you are not sincere, then there is no need to say more. I have never cooperated with people who are insincere. I don't know how I will die!" "Master Zhang, you are too kind." Chen Xiao hesitated for a while, looked around, and then pulled Zhang Rui to a slightly remote alley. The guards around knew that the gentleman was going to tell the truth, and they all dissuaded him: "Sir. This..."

"We can't keep this situation secret for much longer!" Chen Xiao looked at the guards and said in a deep voice, "I know General Long has warned you, but you must also know that if we can't get back to help the prince in the first place, everything will be in vain."

Several guards didn't know what to say for a moment. Master Tian was already dead, and their mission had actually already been considered a failure. Would it really be useful to replace him with a county magistrate with a mysterious background?

"Go ahead." When they reached the dark alley, Zhang Rui didn't even look around: "With her around, those Painted Skin Ghosts wouldn't dare to come over."

"Lord Zhang's niece is indeed not simple!" Chen Xiao glanced at the little girl. He realized from the beginning that this girl might be a master who could rival Qin Fang. To be able to have such a master guarding her, the county magistrate surnamed Zhang must be no simple person. As for whether she is an enemy, they can only take a gamble. After all, they are now in a desperate situation!

"Time is urgent, sir, please focus on the key points." Zhang Rui said quietly.

Chen Xiao nodded when he heard this, and the next sentence made Zhang Rui's heart jump: "Your Highness, you have actually died once before!"

"Died once?" Zhang Rui asked directly without hiding the shock on his face: "What does this mean?"

Looking at the other person's expression, Chen Xiao secretly judged that if the other person was pretending, then his acting skills were indeed excellent. If not, it meant that this person was probably not the one on the opposite side, so he could only take a gamble.

"We used a forbidden technique!"

"Forbidden technique?" Zhang Rui was confused at first, but then he immediately reacted. There are strange sorcerers in this world with many supernatural methods. Some things that ordinary people cannot do, those sorcerers should be able to do, such as bringing the dead back to life!

But no matter which novel it is, the cost of such things is extremely serious.

"What are the consequences?" Zhang Rui asked directly.

"Beihai. The lives of all the people in the city"

"What?" Even though Zhang Rui was prepared, he was still shocked by the price. Are these people crazy?

"The prince is a noble man with extraordinary luck. Changing his life is much more costly than changing the life of an ordinary person. We didn't expect it would be such a high price. Once the forbidden technique was used, the people in the city were in a weak state and were all harvested by it. It was too late to evacuate temporarily."

Zhang Rui looked at the other party for a long time before he came to his senses, with a complicated look in his eyes: "It seems that you have no way out!"

He finally realized that he had provoked a group of crazy people who were forced into a desperate situation!
Even if the forbidden technique didn't kill everyone in the city as the other party had expected, it would at least kill a lot of people. In the eyes of these people, ordinary people's lives were not lives at all.

"Yes!" Chen Xiao looked at Zhang Rui solemnly: "We have no way out. Sir Zhang can make a decision now, to help us or to kill us!!"

Upon hearing this, the guards behind him stared at the little girl who seemed to be indifferent with vigilance, ready to take action at any time.

They were also confused as to why Mr. Chen was willing to take such a risk and try to get the other party to join him? Even if the other party was not the one who framed the prince, from a neutral and objective point of view, they would not get involved in this mess. Now that it has come to this, if the other party does not want to participate in this matter, the best way is to kill them all. After all, this is in the painting market, and there will be no traces if they do it here.

Chen Xiao ignored his subordinates' doubts and stared at Zhang Rui.

Ten years ago, a powerful man calculated his fortune and told him that the only way for him to take revenge was to join the prince. If he did so, he would face a catastrophe ten years later. Once the catastrophe was over, his luck would be unstoppable and he would have a chance of revenge. Otherwise, his entire clan would suffer.

The great catastrophe that Mr. Tianji talked about back then should be this one, and he has a strong premonition that the man named Zhang in front of him is the noble man that Mr. Tianji mentioned!

(End of this chapter)