Chapter 524: Stake Everything on a Single Throw |
Chen Ji stood alone in the darkness outside Taiye Pool, watching Checkerboard Street in the distance Brightly Lit.
He fought staking his life, not hesitating to use his own self as bait to head to Changping, attempting to use Princess Liyang and Yuan Cheng to fish out Official Ding.
He again tolerated patiently and plotted for many days, even running a newspaper for the Military Intelligence Division, also merely wishing to fish out Official Ding.
Today he again braved the danger of being punished by the Inner Chancellor, using the Divine Palace Directorate Superintendent to falsely impersonate Official Ding, just for the sake of rescuing a single person.
But he still failed.
Chen Ji anew sat back on the carriage, lightly shaking the reins and driving toward the outer city.
[Translation note: Skipped website advertisement message]
Only three shichen (six hours) remained, but he didn't hurriedly rush for time anymore, instead allowing the horses to walk slowly and sluggishly. Spending a month of time still couldn't succeed; what could the remaining three shichen do?
The horse carriage drove into the Eight Great Hutongs, eventually stopping at the back door of Plum Blossom Ferry.
Chen Ji hummed an acknowledgement and walked inward. The Stick Bearer flipped open the carriage curtain to take a look, nearly frightened into Soul Dissipation: three corpses with blackened complexions lay inside the carriage, the Divine Palace Directorate Superintendent Dying with Unresolved Regrets (eyes wide open).
Chen Ji heard the movement and turned his head back: "Apologies, forgot to tell you... First find a place to put them. I will think about how to dispose of them and then speak."
The Stick Bearer hurriedly cupped his fists: "Yes."
Chen Ji followed the small path arriving beneath the Plum Blossom Pavilion. The accountants had already rested. There only remained piece after piece of bamboo tally boards hanging on the walls. He ascended the stairs step by step. When arriving at the top floor, he exactly saw Brother Pao leaning against the balustrade, slowly and leisurely smoking a Tobacco Pipe.
During the night blew a gust of summer warm wind, blowing the black cloth shirt draped over Brother Pao's shoulders into a burst of swaying.
Placed on the table was a half-drunk jar of wine. Chen Ji lifted the wine jar and walked toward Brother Pao.
Brother Pao looked at the ten thousand households of Lantern Fire within the Eight Great Hutongs. Without turning his head, he said: "I think you've encountered a difficult matter. Even your footsteps are somewhat slower than in past days."
Chen Ji smiled faintly: "Nothing much. It is merely that having plotted and planned for a month without accomplishing the matter, there will ultimately be some sense of defeat."
Brother Pao took a drag of smoke. The grayish-white smoke mist he exhaled drifted and scattered in the night wind.
He said slowly and leisurely: "The older brother who brought me into the profession in the past taught me: Everyone will always magnify the difficulties before their eyes. Back when going to school, making a small mistake and having the parents called made you feel like the sky was collapsing. Back when going to work, speaking one sentence wrong would make you let your imagination run wild for half a day. But many hurdles that you previously felt were absolutely impassible... now looking back again, actually fundamentally don't count as anything."
Brother Pao turned his head to look at him: "Don't stretch yourself too tight. When tired just stop for a bit. When defeated just sleep a sleep. As long as the person hasn't died yet, then there definitely will still be turns of events."
Chen Ji arrived at the balustrade, standing shoulder to shoulder with Brother Pao. He let out a long exhalation of turbid air: "Yes."
Brother Pao looked at the side of his face, suddenly laughing out loud.
Chen Ji was puzzled: "What is Brother Pao laughing at?"
Brother Pao said with a smile: "I am laughing that your words do not come from the heart (insincere). Patron ah, actually we are the same type of people. When I first entered the profession, everyone told me: the most important thing in this profession of ours is precisely Stop Loss. Don't think about money that's been lost anymore, don't urge people who leave to stay. But I persistently wouldn't. In my, Brother Pao's, dictionary, there are no such two words as 'Stop Loss'. There is only 'willing to bet, must accept losing'."
Chen Ji sighed lightly: "Indeed unwilling in my heart. Now that Official Ding wasn't caught, wishing to rescue Commandery Princess Baili, I don't know when I will be able to find an opportunity again. Moreover, after this time, I am afraid Official Ding will not use the Capital Morning Post again. Wishing to find him again will be like Fishing for a Needle in the Ocean."
Brother Pao used his pinky finger to scratch his scalp: "Already no opportunities left?"
Chen Ji hummed an acknowledgement: "The distance to the time I agreed upon with the Inner Chancellor still has three shichen, but three shichen is too late to do anything."
Brother Pao suddenly said: "My English is not good, but when I played Texas Hold'em in the past I memorized two words. One is called 'Nice Fold', the meaning is precisely 'rationally giving up while carrying regret'. The other is called 'Hero Call', the meaning is 'knowing perfectly well there is danger yet still firmly calling the bet'."
Chen Ji was dumbfounded. He stood in this Ning Dynasty, looking at the pavilions and gray tiles before him. Suddenly hearing Brother Pao speak English actually gave him a kind of somewhat unreal, absurd sense of disharmony.
Brother Pao stared fixedly at Chen Ji: "Patron, Nice Fold and Hero Call, which do you choose?"
Chen Ji quietly looked at the inner city gate tower in the distance. Abruptly raising his hand, he poured a large mouthful of wine down his throat.
Through his mind flashed every single piece of information he had ever been suspicious of since he transmigrated—Luo City, Guyuan, Capital City, Changping... He had been suspicious of too many matters. And those suspicions at this very instant were just like a great river merging into the Yellow River, surging forward boundlessly.
Chen Ji abruptly turned around and walked toward the stairs: "I choose 'All In'."
Brother Pao gave a haha loud laugh: "Patron, ever since I've known you, every single time you've been All In. You've never left a path of retreat for yourself."
Chen Ji stood before the stairs, turning his head back to look toward Brother Pao: "What do you choose?"
Brother Pao lowered his head and used the sole of his shoe to tap out the tobacco ash. When he raised his head again, he said with a smile: "I choose Hero Call."
Chen Ji turned around and continued descending the stairs: "Then bring the most reliable people and follow me to Liulichang. If it succeeds then it succeeds. If it doesn't succeed, the two of us will go to the Imperial Prison together."
Brother Pao put on the black cloth shirt, tying the buttons one by one: "Haven't been there before! I was just wanting to go take a look."
...
Between the Eight Great Hutongs and Liulichang was less than half a li of land.
Chen Ji took the lead walking into the dilapidated Alleys of Liulichang. Behind him still followed Brother Pao and Er Dao, as well as the ten most capable Stick Bearers of ordinary days.
Chen Ji turned his head back and cast a glance at those ten [Note: translating text says 5, source text says 10, sticking to Chinese text's logic to refer to them] Stick Bearers: "Can they be trusted?"
Brother Pao grinned and laughed: "We haven't been in Capital City for long. Wishing to nurture death warriors who charge enemy lines is a bit hard. But these ten, I don't dare speak for other things, but they can accompany me to die together."
Chen Ji casually said: "It's also not that severe."
Brother Pao asked curiously: "Where are we heading?"
Chen Ji answered: "Wenyuan Bookstore."
When the several people arrived outside Wenyuan Bookstore, the bookstore's rear courtyard was still Brightly Lit.
Chen Ji did not rashly enter. standing beneath the Eaves of the alley, he listened to Lin Chaojing talking bombastically inside: "From here on out we will deliver the daily written poetry and lyrics to Xu Bin, specially opening a page section to print. It can both spread and propagate our poetry, and can also aid Wenyuan Bookstore an arm's strength. Everyone, just this single page section alone is enough to surpass that damned Capital Morning Post."
Brother Pao was startled. Beside Chen Ji, he said in a low voice: "Where did this blockhead come from? Possessing such a wild and arrogant tone?"
Chen Ji lifted his foot and stepped across the door sill: "Who we are catching is precisely him."
Having just entered Wenyuan Bookstore, immediately there was a shop assistant of Wenyuan Bookstore welcoming up: "Several honored guests, our humble house has already closed shop. Currently the rear courtyard is all some major personages who came by invitation..."
The words weren't finished speaking, yet he saw a Stick Bearer stride rapidly forward, using a dagger pressed against the shop assistant's jaw to force him into the corner of the wall: "Don't move, otherwise I'll bleed you out two catties."
Chen Ji flipped open the bamboo curtain and arrived in the middle of the rear courtyard. The originally still-lively discussion sounds came to an abrupt halt.
Qi Zhaoning instantly stood up: "Why have you returned again?"
Chen Ji did not pay attention to her, but instead pointed at Lin Chaojing, saying: "Take him away."
Lin Chaojing sat unhurried and unpanicked in his original seat, looking directly at Chen Ji: "If I may dare ask the Baron of Wuxiang County, where do you wish to take this humble one to?"
Chen Ji said calmly: "Lin Chaojing colludes with Jing Dynasty spies, plotting rebellion and betraying the country."
One person stood up and angrily rebuked: "Baron of Wuxiang County, you came for that Capital Morning Post of yours, right?! You fear us gathering together will snatch the limelight of that damned Morning Newspaper of yours!"
"For the sake of a single business, you actually wish to buckle the crime of colluding with the enemy and betraying the country onto a Hanlin Bachelor of the Hanlin Academy? The pinnacle of shamelessness!"
"We all have participation in this matter. Does the Baron of Wuxiang County wish to arrest us all together?"
"The Baron of Wuxiang County himself received Jing Dynasty bribes, and now actually turns around to strike a rake (make false counter-charges)?!"
Within Wenyuan Bookstore, with you saying one word and me saying another, it actually didn't give Chen Ji another opportunity to speak.
At this time, Qi Zhaoning suddenly stood up: "Chen Ji, is it because you saw me being intimate with him, so you are fighting over wind and eating vinegar (jealous)?"
Chen Ji cast a glance at Qi Zhaoning, then looked toward Lin Chaojing: "Let's go."
Lin Chaojing gave a faint smile: "The Baron of Wuxiang County says I collude with the enemy and betray the country. Is there evidence? If you can produce evidence, what harm is there in a certain Lin traveling a trip with you."
Chen Ji said calmly: "In a moment I will give you evidence."
Lin Chaojing's smile flourished even more: "Thus the Baron of Wuxiang County entirely lacks evidence, and wishes to take a certain Lin to a secluded place to torture into a confession? Lord Chen, you are already notoriously infamous in the capital. Do not act with Reckless Abandon anymore, otherwise the court will not tolerate you."
Chen Ji no longer spoke idle nonsense with him, waving his hand to behind him: "Take him away."
The Stick Bearers stepped forward pushing aside the crowd. Wenyuan Bookstore's Patron Xu Bin blocked the front: "I am a person of the Xu Family. I'd like to see who dares abduct someone from my Wenyuan Bookstore! This place is at the feet of the Son of Heaven. You all abduct a Hanlin Bachelor in full view of the public; is there still the King's Laws in your eyes?"
However, right at this time, Brother Pao stepped forward. With a single uppercut striking onto Xu Bin's jaw, Xu Bin stiffened his body and leaned falling backwards.
Brother Pao patted the dust on his body: "Noisy clamoring."
Several Stick Bearers shoved the people away. Propping up Lin Chaojing, they simply walked outward.
Chen Ji remained at the very end, using his gaze to suppress the entire seat of literati and scholars until they dared not move. Brother Pao went and returned, saying to everyone with a smile: "This matter truly has no relation to the Capital Morning Post. Because tying you all together, you shouldn't even dream of snatching half a sliver of my Morning Newspaper's limelight. If you don't believe it, let's try and see."
Chen Ji turned around and exited the door, leading the Stick Bearers walking toward the direction of Wenchang Bookstore.
Within the night scenery, Lin Chaojing was being dragged along by the Stick Bearers, yet his expressions were completely unpanicked: "Lord Chen Stakes Everything on a Single Throw. But do you not know if you have thought clearly about the results?"
Chen Ji's gaze locked ahead: "I thought carefully for a very long time. Looking at whoever initially served duties in Jinling, then was able to read the Directorate of Ceremonial's files in Luo City, and finally came to Capital City again... only your elder brother Lin Chaoqing alone matches!"
Lin Chaojing's demeanor was calm and collected: "Thus this can prove that he is a Jing Dynasty spy?"
Chen Ji cast a glance at him: "Lord Lin, I haven't even said what it matches yet."
Lin Chaojing was entirely uncaring: "Is it not precisely for the sake of catching Jing Dynasty spies that Lord Chen caught me? Moreover, Lin Chaoqing and I had long Cut the Robe and Severed Ties. He is of the Eunuch Faction, I am a civil official. Water and fire do not mix."
Chen Ji paid no attention to Lin Chaojing's explanation, continuing to say: "Earlier at the Qi Family literary gathering, you alone asked of the Guyuan matters. Furthermore, using a poem to satirize the Feather Forest Army for killing civilians and falsely claiming merit, you wished to provoke Qi Zhenzhuo into speaking out the true situation of Longmen Inn. Thinking upon it, someone specially instructed you to gather intelligence on this matter. Correct or incorrect?"
Lin Chaojing gave no answer. Instead, he raised his head and looked toward the end of Liulichang: "Perhaps Lord Chen guessed correctly, perhaps Lord Chen guessed incorrectly. But regardless of whether I have matters or not tonight, you yourself I am afraid are already Unable to Save Yourself tonight. Privately abducting a Hanlin Bachelor without the slightest evidence is a heavy crime among heavy crimes."
At the end of the Liulichang Alley faintly transmitted the surging sound of galloping horse hooves.
Chen Ji raised his head to look over. The twenty-plus comers were all wearing Bamboo Hats, draped in coir raincoats, the Horizontal Sabers at their waists Murderous Spirit Rising.
The Trouble-Resolving Guard had come.
(End of this chapter)