Green Mountain
Chapter 167 - 123, Mr. Feng

Chapter 167: 123, Mr. Feng

Chen Liqin coldly observed from the sidelines, but Lord Jin Zhu refused to let the matter go, "Mr. Chen, quelling the civil unrest is indeed a matter for your Luocheng City Government. Since you arrived here, I have yet to hear a single word of gratitude from you."

Chen Liqin snorted coldly and remained silent.

Lord Jin Zhu laughed in anger, then turned his head to address Chen Ji loudly, "I told you earlier not to meddle in this affair, but you insisted on getting involved. Look now, they don’t even appreciate it. Let’s go. If I ever meddle in the affairs of the civil servants again, it’s because I haven’t learned my lesson!"

Chen Ji shook his head, "My lord, we can’t leave yet; there are still things to be done."

Lord Jin Zhu spoke urgently, "You managed to topple Liu Mingxian and capture the Jing Dynasty Cao. That’s already a great achievement. If things go as expected, the Cultivation Path will soon be delivered to Luocheng City. At this point, if you withdraw, you will not be held responsible if they mess up their affairs in the future. If you keep staying here though, who knows what kind of nonsense these civil servants will dump on your head!"

Chen Ji did not respond.

With a cold laugh, Lord Jin Zhu said, "Enough, I won’t bother with your life or death anymore. If you wish to stay, then stay. Just don’t come to me with your grievances if things go awry later."

Saying this, Lord Jin Zhu actually turned and walked away with Heavenly Horse, West Wind looked back several times wanting to persuade Chen Ji, but finally decided against it.

Zhang Zhuo put down the Execution Stick in his hand and advised Chen Ji, "He’s also doing this for your sake."

Chen Ji responded with a sound of acknowledgment, "I understand."

The congee gradually thickened, and Zhang Zhuo ordered someone to extinguish the stove fire below.

A government officer asked, "Sir, shall we distribute the congee now?"

Zhang Zhuo shook his head, "No, we must wait for the congee to cool down a little more before doing that."

When it came time to distribute the congee, the disaster victims lined up one by one to receive it—those with bowls caught it in their bowls, and those without bowls used their hands to cradle it.

It was not until this moment that Chen Ji understood why Zhang Zhuo insisted on waiting for the congee to cool down; many victims had fled without even a proper bowl.

Suddenly a man drank a mouthful of congee from his bowl, then furiously smashed the bowl to the ground, "Dammit, these damn officials are fooling us, mixing sand into the congee!"

Saying this, he went to grab a middle-aged man who was holding the congee in his hands, and scattered the man’s congee on the ground, "Stop drinking this crap, damn it! Pick up arms and fight with them. Let’s storm the city for a good living, no need to take this rubbish treatment any longer!"

The man continued to incite the victims to rebel, but in the next moment, the surrounding victims in line actually rushed forward, fell to the ground, and began to scrape up the rice congee mixed with dirt into their mouths, completely ignoring him.

The instigator paused in shock, looked back at the crowd of victims, and slowly receded back into the throng.

Among the victims, some who were initially agitated suddenly fell silent. After receiving their congee, they squatted on the ground and quietly swallowed the sand, gulping down all the white congee till not a drop remained.

Time trickled away by the minute.

The distribution of congee, which began at 5 to 7 AM, continued until 7 to 9 AM, and not another complaint was heard. The trail of the Liu Family’s Assassins that Chen Ji wanted to catch had completely vanished.

Noticing this, Zhang Zhuo said to Chen Ji, "Your strategy did not succeed. They are smarter than we thought. As soon as they saw the situation was untenable, they immediately laid low. These assassins trained by the Liu Family are not just brutes; they are the elite of the elite from the Yanshi Camp, both brave and cunning."

Chen Ji saluted him and said, "As previously stated, it’s time to trouble Lord Zhang."

"Oh?"

Chen Ji explained, "I’ve heard Lord Zhang has an impeccable memory, with a grasp of classics and histories that you can recite in reverse. Do you remember the details I asked you to pay attention to?"

Zhang Zhuo laughed loudly, "So you’ve calculated my photographic memory from the start... rest assured, I had already memorized those individuals you mentioned! Follow me and arrest them!"

Saying this, he led the government officers into the crowd to make arrests, and in a mere few breaths, they dragged a man from among the disaster victims and threw him to the ground.

The man, pinned to the ground by an officer’s knee, shouted in desperation, "Sir, why are you arresting me?"

"Do you have any parents here?"

"No, my parents died in the flood."

"Do you have a spouse or children here?"

"No, my spouse and children also perished in the flood."

Zhang Zhuo sneered, "The disaster victims have been starving for days; when they get the congee, they drink it on the spot, wishing they could get another bowl. You have no wife, children, or parents, yet you did not drink your congee immediately. How do you explain that?"

The man protested, "Sir, just based on this you want to condemn me? This is unjust!"

Zhang Zhuo said indifferently, "This method might wrongfully accuse someone, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We’ll arrest all of you and put you in jail first. If there’s truly an injustice, I will personally let you go."

Better to wrongfully accuse than to let one escape, exceptional measures must be taken.

However, at this moment, seeing Zhang Zhuo take a risky move, the Liu Family’s Assassins no longer held back.

They pulled out short knives from their sleeves and spread out, bypassing Zhang Zhuo and the officers, threading through the victims heading straight for the congee tent!

Zhang Zhuo wheeled around sharply, realizing that these individuals were not after him, but rather aiming to kill Chen Ji!

He roared at the officers, "Stop them!"

But the officers hesitated.

Why risk their lives against such formidable assassins for a mere monthly salary?

As the twenty or so assassins advanced with murderous intent, Chen Liqin suddenly turned his head to look, only to see Chen Ji standing expressionless under the congee tent, coldly watching the assassins advance.

The assassins were closing in, but Chen Ji neither retreated nor budged.

The next moment, meteor arrows shot forth from atop the city walls, thundering through the thighs of the Liu Family’s Assassins one by one.

The assassins abruptly looked up to see Heavenly Horse had returned.

Clad in white, Heavenly Horse stood atop the rampart, wielding an invisible bow, drawing and releasing with force!

As the Meteor Arrows were loosed, the wind whipped up, stirring his garments into a frenzied dance!

Chen Liqin said in surprise and uncertainty, "Did you just imply that Lord Jin Zhu left after our argument, and then you deliberately mentioned in front of the disaster victims that it was you who brought down Liu Mingxian, to use yourself as bait?"

Chen Ji glanced at him calmly, then turned his gaze back to the battlefield.

Under the Meteor Arrow Rain, the Liu Family’s Assassins had nowhere to hide.

Someone shouted, "Raise shields!"

The Liu Family’s Assassins, with enormous strength, forcibly lifted the clothes on the back of the disaster victims and held them in front of themselves as shields, trying to force the Heavenly Horse to hesitate out of concern for the innocent.

But who could have expected that the Heavenly Horse, without stopping his bow, would mercilessly let the Meteor Arrows first pierce through the disaster victims’ chests, and then through the chests of the Assassins.

Without any hesitation.

The hostage crisis did not hinder Heavenly Horse in the slightest; as if the blood in his veins was naturally cold.

It was as if he never saw the disaster victims, only the Assassins behind them.

This was the much-criticized part of the Ritual Supervision, just as Lord Jin Zhu had said, the Prime Minister raised men as if raising venomous creatures; there was no more poisonous being under the heavens than them.

"Retreat!" The Liu Family’s Assassins turned to flee for their lives. The Top Three Zodiacs, indifferent and cold-hearted, struck down their spirit to fight.

Zhang Zhuo picked up a waist knife and roared, "Don’t let them run!"

The sound of iron hooves echoed through the city gate tunnel; Lord Jin Zhu, leading the charge, burst out, with Spies in pursuit, overtaking the Assassins from behind and cutting them down to the ground.

Chen Ji let out a light sigh of relief.

The situation was under control.

After an unknown length of time, when Zhang Zhuo and Lord Jin Zhu returned to the porridge shed with the captured Liu Family’s Assassins, they boastfully said, "Six captives left alive. Kid, you better interrogate them quickly and see who’s behind this... Eh, where is he?"

At this moment, under the porridge shed, Chen Ji’s figure was nowhere to be found.

Zhang Zhuo looked at Chen Liqin, "Where is he?"

Chen Liqin answered, "He said he had urgent matters to attend to and had already left."

Zhang Zhuo stroked his beard with regret and said, "It’s a pity; I wanted to talk to him a bit more."

Chen Liqin was somewhat puzzled, "Does Lord Zhang know him well?"

Zhang Zhuo thought for a moment and said, "Seems I’m a bit more familiar with him than you are."

Lord Jin Zhu turned and started to interrogate the Liu Family’s Assassins in the porridge shed, ruthlessly pulling out all their fingernails, immediately resorting to torture, "Speak, who’s behind this? Is it Liu Mingxian?"

The Liu Family’s Assassins remained silent, staring viciously at everyone present. When their gaze swept over Lord Jin Zhu, they spat out spitefully, "Eunuch Party, lapdog!"

Lord Jin Zhu chuckled, "Quite tough. Bring someone here to pull out this one’s yellow teeth, so he’ll have to settle for eating only soft food from now on!"

But just as the words were spoken, the sound of a carriage’s wheels pressing against the stone road could be heard coming from the city gate tunnel.

Lord Jin Zhu turned to look, only to see a carriage slowly driving out of the city gate and stopping in front of the porridge shed.

A middle-aged scholar in a green Confucian robe sat in the driver’s seat, smiling and saying, "Lord Jin Zhu, it’s been a long time."

Lord Jin Zhu narrowed his eyes, as if facing a formidable foe, "Mr. Feng."

The scholar in green, Mr. Feng, got off the carriage and bowed, "There is a gift for you in the carriage, take a look for yourself."

Lord Jin Zhu looked up at Heavenly Horse on the city wall before slowly approaching to use the tip of his knife to lift the carriage curtain, "Liu Mingxian?!"

Mr. Feng bowed again with a smile as gentle as a spring breeze, "My master said that this traitor, who was intent on executing the traitors of the Jing Dynasty, nearly caused a disaster, and has committed suicide at home out of fear of punishment."

...

...

On Anxi Street, Chen Ji, having removed his bamboo hat, sprinted wildly. He had passed by Taiping Medical Hall but did not enter, instead, continued to hurry on his way.

He stopped in front of the gate of a small academy, looking up at the signboard reading "Zhi Xing Academy," from inside came the deep sound of reading, "The Book of Songs says: ’Within a thousand miles of the capital, there are only the peaceful settlements of the people...’"

Chen Ji straightened his clothing, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and stepped over the threshold.

Walking to the back courtyard, he saw a middle-aged man in a blue Confucian robe holding a scroll, pacing with a resonant voice.

It must be Wang Daosheng without a doubt.

In the courtyard, Chen Wenzong, Chen Wenxiao, Zhang Xia, the Princely Heir, and Commandery Princess Bai Li knelt on grass mats. Commandery Princess Bai Li turned her head, saw Chen Ji arriving, and her expression changed immediately, signaling to him with her eyes.

At that moment, Wang Daosheng looked up at Chen Ji, put down his scroll, and asked neither hurriedly nor slowly, "Are you Chen Ji?"

Chen Ji hummed in affirmation, "Master, I apologize for being late; I had urgent affairs to handle."

"What matters?"

"Master, I apologize, I cannot say."

Wang Daosheng waved the scroll indifferently, "Go stand facing the wall in the main hall."

"Alright."

Chen Ji walked back to the main hall, faced the wall, and smelling the room full of books, felt weariness invade his mind.

After two days and nights, even the body of an Executive Officer could not withstand it.

He didn’t know when, but as he listened to the reading voices from the courtyard, his forehead against the wall, he slowly closed his eyes.