The Azure Mountain

Chapter 103: Department Head

A large family gathered around a small square table, each person holding a small ceramic bowl in one hand and pinching chopsticks in the other, lively and bustling.

Not far away, the apricot tree was covered with red cloth strips. Peace, joy, health, and longevity gently swayed in the breeze.

"Is this Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea?"

"Yes!"

"I've never seen any of the ingredients in here before," She Dengke looked at Chen Ji: "Chen Ji, why aren't you eating? Don't let this kid Liu Quxing finish it all by himself."

Liu Quxing rolled his eyes: "Didn't you eat? Why say I'm finishing it all by myself."

Chen Ji explained with a smile: "I'm not used to eating Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, I better eat something else."

Liu Quxing curled his lips: "No luck for good food. The ingredients for Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea are transported back from the sea by the Canal Transport Guild. Even Yingxian Restaurant might not be able to buy fresh ingredients every day. Wanting to eat it still depends on whether your luck is good or not."

Chen Ji smiled and didn't retort.

The so-called Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea was a dish braised with shark fin, sea cucumber, abalone, fish bone, fish maw, shrimp, asparagus, and ham.For the people of Luo City in this era, they might not even see these ingredients once in their entire lives. But Chen Ji had already eaten them many times, so he only served a small bowl and placed it on the table, yielding the rest for the others to taste something fresh.

Liu Quxing suddenly asked: "Hey, what do you guys think the sea looks like?"

Bai Li raised her hand: "I know! My father said the ocean is boundless and endless, the water in the sea is completely blue, and there will be extraordinarily beautiful shells and starfish pushed onto the sandy beach by the waves. The large boatmen along the coast even go out to sea to hunt whales. It's said that big fish named whales can be as large as a building."

Liu Quxing's eyes widened: "You're bragging, right? Can fish grow that big?"

Bai Li wasn't happy: "Who's bragging? This is exactly what my father said!"

Hugging the jar of Shaoxing Huadiao wine, Liang Gou'er asked: "Has His Highness Prince Jing been to the seaside?"

Bai Li hesitated: "...No, but my Ning Dynasty has fleets that go out to sea, they have seen it."

The Prince Heir suggested with a face full of excitement: "How about we make an agreement, that we will go see the seaside together in the future? I heard that it only takes traveling by cart for three months to reach the coast. When the time comes, we'll find a boatman to buy a boat, we'll go out to sea to catch fish, and directly cook Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea to eat on the boat ourselves!"

Everyone looked at one another, their eyes growing increasingly brighter.

She Dengke couldn't help but ask: "Can we really go to the seaside?"

Old Yao put down his chopsticks and said unhurriedly: "What's so hard about looking at the ocean? You guys go smash the horizontal inscribed board of the Luo City government office today, and after being exiled to Lingnan next month, you can look at the ocean every day."

The Prince Heir: "..."

Bai Li: "..."

Chen Ji sighed with emotion: "Master, you sure know how to ruin the atmosphere."

The Prince Heir changed the topic and looked at Chen Ji curiously: "Right Chen Ji, where exactly did you go yesterday staying out the whole night? If you have any difficulties you absolutely must tell us. Among friends, we wouldn't hesitate even if it means going through fire and boiling water!"

Chen Ji fell silent.

Everyone knew he wasn't willing to return to the Chen Estate again. As a lowly clinic apprentice with nowhere else to go, he indeed couldn't explain his whereabouts.

He couldn't tell the Prince Heir that he was actually part of the Eunuch Faction that the other party hated the most; and he couldn't tell everyone that he actually went to clear the suspicions of the Prince Heir and Commandery Princess last night.

There was no true tight-lipped secrecy in this world. The secrets you told others would always leak out unknowingly.

Amidst the silence.

Liu Quxing muttered softly: "Don't tell me you went gambling again. I see your eyes are full of bloodshot lines, you definitely didn't sleep the whole night."

She Dengke stepped on the back of his foot under the table, and Liu Quxing raised his voice: "Why step on me, wasn't I just speaking casually. I believe Chen Ji isn't that kind of person!"

At this time, Bai Li suddenly remembered Chen Ji's mysteriousness and immediately said: "Alright stop asking, everyone has their own secrets. If he needed help, he definitely would have spoken up and told us. Perhaps Chen Ji has a girl he likes, and just got a promise for dividends yesterday, so he went to tell her the good news? Right Chen Ji."

Hearing the gossip, Liu Quxing instantly became energetic: "Really?"

Chen Ji explained with a smile: "I face patients in the clinic every day, where would I have any girl I like."

Liu Quxing asked: "Then has your family arranged any marriage for you?"

Chen Ji also shook his head: "Never heard about it."

Liu Quxing chuckled happily: "I have."

She Dengke was helpless: "Who asked you?!"

Liu Quxing self-absorbedly said: "My mother arranged a marriage for me. The other party's father is a Xiucai (scholar who passed the county exam), currently managing lawsuits in the government office, so our two families can be considered well-matched in social status. The two families agreed that once I become an imperial physician and enter the official ranks, we will hold the wedding ceremony... Starting from the lowest ninth rank is enough."

As he spoke, his eyes kept floating towards Old Yao.

Old Yao glanced at him: "Trying to hint at me?"

Liu Quxing hurriedly said: "No, no."

At this moment, with a meow, a cat's cry came from the eaves of the roof.

Chen Ji looked up, only to see Wu Yun leap down from the eaves as if it was only natural and right, and jumped into... Old Yao's embrace.

Old Yao picked up the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea from his own bowl and brought it to Wu Yun's mouth: "Eat."

Liu Quxing froze: "Master, you're feeding such an expensive dish to a cat?"

Old Yao cast him a sidelong glance: "She's much more precious than you."

Saying that, Old Yao turned his head to look at Liang Gou'er again: "We made an agreement back then. You can stay at my place, but the precondition is that you have to teach my apprentice saber techniques. Start now, none of you slack off."

Feeling he hadn't fully enjoyed himself yet, Liang Gou'er put down the wine jar: "Done! Prince Heir, Liu Quxing, She Dengke, all come over and practice the saber!"

Chen Ji watched the Prince Heir and the others take up the horse stance in the courtyard, while Liang Gou'er pulled Liang Mao'er to the side to whisper privately. Wu Yun didn't even eat the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea anymore, just obediently squatted on Liang Mao'er's shoulder, pricking up her ears.

He looked at Wu Yun, then looked at Old Yao, and suddenly had a very absurd guess: Is Master helping Wu Yun secretly learn the Liang family saber techniques?!

"Master, is this..."

Old Yao looked at him: "Get lost and go to sleep. You don't need to worry about Wu Yun's matters, wait until you yourself can come back alive every day before talking."

"Oh."

Old Yao sneered coldly: "Tucking your head into your waistband (risking your life) playing with your life every day, don't even know what you're plotting for."

"Master, you said fate could be changed."

"Hmm?"

"I want to try."

...

...

Deep in the night when all was quiet.

Chen Ji broke away from the Green Mountain dreamscape, panting slightly.

The sound of Liang Gou'er's snoring entered his ears, and the room was filled with the alcohol breath exhaled by the other party, so strong that it felt like one would get drunk just by taking a sniff. If possible, being a carefree and heartless prodigal son like Liang Gou'er would also be quite good.

Chen Ji looked at the room full of soundly sleeping people and smiled soundlessly. He climbed out of bed quietly, came under the apricot tree, looked at the tree full of red cloth strips, and suddenly became lost in thought.

Knock, knock, knock

, light knocking sounds came from outside the door, but Chen Ji turned a deaf ear. It wasn't until the knocking sounds outside the door became hurried that he took another look at the two red cloth strips at the highest part of the apricot tree, turned around, and walked to the main hall: "Who is it?"

Jin Zhu said: "It's me, open the door."

Chen Ji pulled open the door latch and pulled open the two wooden doors, allowing Jin Zhu to slip in sideways: "Did Lord Jin Zhu gain anything?"

He saw Jin Zhu wearing a bamboo hat, stepping on straw sandals, dressed in the guise of a tenant farmer again, and saying gravely: "I gained nothing."

"Oh?" Chen Ji asked curiously: "The Liu family made no movements?"

Jin Zhu frowned: "The old subordinates of the secret spies transferred from the capital city today also arrived. I ordered them to separately closely guard the Imperial Workshop's storehouse and archives."

"And then?"

In the clinic's main hall, only a single kerosene lamp flickered on the counter.

In the faint firelight, Jin Zhu stared fixedly at Chen Ji: "I can guarantee that no one broke into the Imperial Workshop today, nor did anyone take anything related to firearms out from the Imperial Workshop. There were people buying saltpeter and sulfur in the Eastern Market, but after a careful investigation, there were completely no problems with them either... You don't seem to think it's strange?"

Chen Ji answered calmly: "Lord, I don't need to write all my emotions on my own face either."

Jin Zhu circled Chen Ji twice: "Could you be falsely cooperating with me in acting, but actually secretly tipping off the Liu family?"

Chen Ji was puzzled: "Lord, bringing down the Liu family is the most important thing right now. Seeing that we are already about to succeed, why the mutual suspicion? It won't be too late to suspect me after You have brought down the Liu family, I can't run away anyway."

Jin Zhu sized up Chen Ji's expression, it didn't look fake.

He waited from morning to evening today, then from evening to late night. Watching his hopes fall through little by little, they finally turned into anger.

Last night, he almost thought he was only one step away from bringing down the Liu family, but today he felt that the one step away had transformed back into a vast heavenly chasm.

But Jin Zhu knew that Chen Ji wasn't wrong about one point: This clinic apprentice in front of him couldn't run away, dealing with him wouldn't be too late no matter when.

His expression softened, and he patted Chen Ji's shoulder with a smile: "Little Doctor Chen, don't mind it. Our Secret Spy Division having moles hasn't happened merely once or twice. All Gyrfalcons spend almost half their time cleansing their own ranks to prevent Jing Dynasty thieves from infiltrating. This is also a paranoid habit I developed over the years, I didn't mean anything else."

Chen Ji conversely comforted him: "Lord Jin Zhu is wholeheartedly focused on revenge, it is understandable."

Jin Zhu analyzed: "Right now there are two possibilities. The first one is Liu Mingxian re-established contact with the Jing Dynasty thieves, and after confirming your and my identities with the other party, he discovered we were faking it; the second is that time was too tight, Liu Mingxian didn't have the guts to take a desperate risk, so he didn't take action today."

He looked at Chen Ji: "Which one do you lean towards?"

"Did Your Lordship send people to keep an eye on the Liu family?"

"The three people beside Liu Mingxian are all practitioner experts, ordinary secret spies simply couldn't keep an eye on them."

Chen Ji pondered for a moment: "Lord, we should still go to Peony Bridge to take a look first. Regardless of what happened, we must go verify it to know."

Jin Zhu took a deep look at Chen Ji: "Then let us go take a look."

The two went out the door. Chen Ji turned back to close the main door, and the wind outside the door blew the kerosene lamp on the counter, causing it to shake for a while.

...

...

"Lord Jin Zhu, what is the background of that old man playing with the copper coin last night?" Sitting at the entrance of the carriage compartment, Chen Ji lifted the cart curtain and asked Jin Zhu who was driving the cart.

"That old man's name is Zhang Guo'er, the copper coin in his hand is called 'Mountain Flower Ghost Coin'," Jin Zhu answered casually. "He used to be from the Beggars' Gang, but later vanished without a trace. The imperial court searched for him for a long time, so it turns out he fled into the Liu family."

"Fled?"

Jin Zhu sneered coldly: "At the Lantern Festival in the winter of the eighth year of Jianing, the Hu family's legitimate grandson Hu Junyan secretly sneaked out to stroll the temple fair at the Lantern Festival, but was carelessly abducted by people from the Beggars' Gang. The Hu family was furious and turned the capital city upside down, only then bringing Hu Junyan back. At that time, several of the most important people in the Beggars' Gang concealed their names and escaped, including this Zhang Guo'er."

Chen Ji frowned: "The Beggars' Gang trafficked people?"

Jin Zhu sneered: "Did you think the Beggars' Gang begged for a living and upheld justice like in the storytellers' stories? They are merely some extremely vicious people gathered together. Not only do they traffic humans, they also blind and cripple the children they kidnapped but couldn't sell so they could beg. The money they earn isn't any less than brothels."

Jin Zhu continued: "The Mountain Flower Ghost Coin was originally a thunder talisman used in the Daoist sect to ward off evil, but who knows which evil cultivator turned it into a bizarre cultivation Gateway. Practitioners of this cultivation Gateway must maintain a virgin body, coax women into falling in love with them, and then kill the other party on the night of the wedding ceremony, gathering their souls into the Mountain Flower Ghost Coin to nourish it."

A chill coursed through Chen Ji's heart.

Jin Zhu chuckled: "Not speaking now? Down in the southwest there are even more bizarre Gateways, I've even seen ones using skulls and leg bones as Dharma Artifacts."

Chen Ji was silent for a moment and asked: "Why does Your Lordship know so much about the Mountain Flower Ghost Coin?"

Jin Zhu answered happily: "More than one person practices this Gateway, our Secret Spy Division alone has killed two. In the underground secret chamber of our Secret Spy Division's Trouble-Resolving Tower, there are still two Mountain Flower Ghost Coins hidden that have been nourished for hundreds of years. The longer this thing is nourished, the redder it becomes. The one in our Trouble-Resolving Tower... tsk tsk, is practically dripping red with blood. If you are interested, when you are promoted to a Gyrfalcon, I will request an imperial decree to let Lord Inner Chancellor bestow this Gateway upon you."

Chen Ji let down the cart curtain: "Many thanks for Lord Jin Zhu's good intentions, completely unnecessary."

"We're here."

Jin Zhu stopped the carriage in a small alley one li (500 meters) away from Peony Bridge. The two put on the ox and tiger masks and slowly walked onto Peony Bridge.

The two had just arrived when a carriage slowly drove over from a distance.

There was clearly no one sitting in the carriage driver's position, yet the reins moved without any wind.

Jin Zhu narrowed his eyes slightly, Liu Mingxian actually came again? He actually thought the other party wouldn't come: "It seems we can rule out the first possibility. If Liu Mingxian had already re-established contact with the Jing Dynasty thieves, he shouldn't have come tonight."

However, the one who got off wasn't Liu Mingxian, but that old man playing with the Mountain Flower Ghost Coin.

The next moment, the old man lifted the cart curtain and jumped out of the cart carrying a sackcloth bag with one hand.

Thick hemp ropes were tightly wrapped around the opening of the sackcloth bag. When the old man jumped out of the cart, the sackcloth bag suddenly struggled and shook violently!

The old man walked onto the bridge, gave a 'hehe' chuckle, and threw the sackcloth bag onto the ground. While looking at Jin Zhu and Chen Ji, he untied the rings of hemp rope on the sackcloth bag: "I brought the goods you wanted."

The sack was opened, revealing the terrified face of a middle-aged man.

Jin Zhu's figure slightly moved as if he wanted to take action, but Chen Ji suddenly pinched his wrist and opened his mouth to say: "This isn't what we wanted."

The old man knocked out that middle-aged man, rubbed the Mountain Flower Ghost Coin at his waist and smiled: "The matter was urgent so we had to act flexibly. The Secret Spy Division was keeping a tight watch, the things you wanted couldn't be purely stolen from within the Imperial Workshop anymore."

Saying that, he tapped the middle-aged man's head with his finger: "But the things you want are all in his head. This person is the Deputy Supervisor of the Imperial Workshop. If you possess the ability to transport him back to the Jing Dynasty, what can't you build?"

The bridge quieted down, and the moonlight was enshrouded by clouds.

Behind the mask, Chen Ji inhaled a light breath. Neither he nor Jin Zhu expected Liu Mingxian to be so audacious. The other party didn't strike inside the Imperial Workshop, but rather opened a new path and abducted the Deputy Supervisor who was resting at home!

Jin Zhu said with a heavy voice: "It's over a thousand li to the Jing Dynasty from here, with a total of seventeen checkpoints. To transport a person out is as hard as ascending the heavens!"

The old man gave a 'hehe' chuckle: "Then that's no longer our concern."

Jin Zhu pondered for a moment and opened his mouth to ask: "What about Lord Liu, is he in the carriage? Invite him to come down for a chat."

The old man replied: "Lord Liu? What Lord Liu, this matter was solely done by me, Zhang Guo'er. I don't know any Lord Liu. In addition, I have already done what your honored Division requested me to do. When can I see the Department Head?"

Jin Zhu just wanted to answer, but Chen Ji beat him to it: "We need to transport the person to Kaifeng Prefecture first. Three days later, we will still meet at Peony Bridge. However, when the time comes, it won't be up to you. Call someone who can make the decisions."

Zhang Guo'er cupped his hands: "Understood, then this old one will take his leave."

Jin Zhu gazed at the gradually departing carriage and sighed lightly: "I misunderstood you earlier. It wasn't because you leaked the news that resulted in Liu Mingxian not taking action against the Imperial Workshop, it's truly because... this person is too audacious."

Chen Ji said softly: "If one's guts weren't big enough, they also wouldn't dare commit treasonous acts."

Jin Zhu turned back and walked off the bridge, waving towards a small alley. A black-clothed Xi Feng flashed out.

Chen Ji focused his eyes and saw that the small alley was actually hiding densely packed secret spies resting their hands on their waist sabers.

He asked in puzzlement: "Lord, this is..."

Jin Zhu sighed: "Originally I planned to arrest Liu Mingxian into the Inner Prison for interrogation tonight, but we didn't even see the other party's shadow. What do we do now?"

Wearing his mask, Chen Ji lowered his head in deep thought.

When he raised his head again, he looked at Jin Zhu: "Lord, are these secret spies trustworthy?"

Jin Zhu said with certainty: "Trustworthy. These are all the ones I kept after screening them time and time again. I also spent heavy gold to invite Meng Ji to interrogate them, there won't be any problems."

Chen Ji looked at Xi Feng: "Starting today, you are the Department Head of the Military Intelligence Division."

Xi Feng: "Ah? Me?"

(End of Chapter)