Green Mountain
Chapter 378 - 308. Moving a Mountain_2

Chapter 378: 308. Moving a Mountain_2

Mr. Feng sneered, "Why do you keep thinking about others instead of your own matters? Do you already have all the answers in your heart?"

Chen Ji remained silent.

Mr. Feng bent down, picked up a piece of straw from the ground, and tore it apart strand by strand, "The year I passed the scholar examination, I wrote an article titled ’Twelve Strategies for Pacifying the North’ during the palace examination. Six strategies to stabilize internal affairs and six strategies to repel external threats, it was the culmination of over a decade of effort. Yet in the palace examination, I couldn’t compete with the flattering piece written by the legitimate eldest son of your Chen family’s second house. At that moment, I realized that studying Confucian classics was pointless."

Mr. Feng smiled slightly, "As for what I want to do, I actually told you a long time ago..."

Chen Ji recalled Mr. Feng’s words.

In Guyuan, Mr. Feng once pointed to a streak of dawn in the distance and said, five years later, when the Jing Dynasty marches south, I will don armor and head north to water my horse at the North Sea.

At this moment, Mr. Feng was also puzzled, "No, you didn’t come here just to ask me something... You just wanted an excuse to get into this Imperial Prison? What is it about this place that attracts you?"

Chen Ji was certain that Mr. Feng did not know about his Mountain Lord Sect’s Scripture, so he had no idea what the Eight Diagrams Lamps on the prison walls were sealing away.

This was a secret known only to the Mountain Lord.

Before he could speak, footsteps echoed down the long corridor.

Two prison guards arrived at Mr. Feng’s cell and calmly said, "Prisoner Feng Wenzheng, the Inner Court’s edict has arrived, and you are to be executed immediately."

Chen Ji turned his head in shock, wasn’t it supposed to be a delayed execution until further notice?

Delayed executions usually held prisoners until after the autumn for execution, possibly getting pardoned during the Emperor’s birthday. Why was it happening so suddenly?

Mr. Feng placed his hands on the ground, slowly stood up, and extended his hands, allowing the two guards to shackle him and lead him deeper into the prison.

As he passed by Chen Ji’s cell, he smiled and said, "Young man, you shall achieve greatness; until we meet again."

Chen Ji stood up, silently watching Mr. Feng’s departing figure.

This farewell, who knows when they will meet again.

...

...

Jiao Tu had solved the case, but the Spy Department did not immediately release the Yulin Army. The Spy Department waited for the parents of these soldiers to hand in letters of allegiance before they could leave.

Qi Zhenzhuo and Li Xuan were the first to leave, followed by Zhou Chong, whose father was the Assistant Governor of Jinling, and Duobao, whose grandfather was the Dali Temple Vice Minister.

One by one, the soldiers of the Yulin Army were taken away, leaving only about twenty soldiers from humble backgrounds and Chen Ji.

It was as if the Chen family had gone deaf and mute, leaving him forgotten in the Imperial Prison.

Chen Ji sat in the dimly lit cell, unsure of how much time had passed.

A day?

Or two? The Imperial Prison had no sunlight, nor could one hear the crowing of roosters or the sound of the night patrol’s copper gong. Time had become an illusion.

Chen Ji looked up at the stone wall above, observing a small spider weaving a complete web, waiting for its prey.

At some point, Hai Dongqing, who had been slapped by Jiao Tu, stood outside the iron bars, half of his face swollen, quietly examining Chen Ji in his cell, "Those with some family background have all been bailed out, leaving you, with the Chen family background, still in the Imperial Prison; that’s peculiar."

Chen Ji slowly shifted his gaze from the spider to Hai Dongqing outside the bars, "The honorable lord must be busy with affairs, surely not here to mock me intentionally."

Hai Dongqing nonchalantly said, "Didning Xin not say she was going to interrogate you? How come there’s not a mark on you?"

Ning Xin?

Chen Ji suddenly realized that Ning Xin was Jiao Tu’s real name.

He curiously asked, "Yun Yang..."

Hai Dongqing’s voice deepened, "He’s no longer a zodiac, how could there be a Yun Yang?"

Chen Ji remained expressionless, "Then what is his name?"

Hai Dongqing questioned, "You don’t even know his name, what’s your relationship with Jiao Tu and Yun Yang? Are you an informant under them?"

Chen Ji did not answer.

His relationship with Jiao Tu and Yun Yang was indeed that of a superior and subordinate, but not in the way others imagined.

Outside the bars, seeing him remain silent, Hai Dongqing pondered for a moment and said, "Did Ning Xin solve the case with your help? You took the ledger from Huitong Hall and helped her find the ink stick hidden by the Korean Crown Prince?"

Chen Ji still did not answer.

Hai Dongqing said meaningfully, "Ning Xin and Zijin gained credit from you, but didn’t think to get you out. Truly, they have a cold nature. Even their spies under them haven’t been promoted to Hai Dongqing. These two only care about grabbing credit for themselves and have no willingness to share it with their own people. How long do you think you can rise under them? Now I’m following Lord Xuan She, with money and power. Even if I have to live with my head on my belt, it’s worth it."

Chen Ji sincerely said, "Lord Xuan She is indeed far superior to those two."

Hai Dongqing smiled with satisfaction, "In that case, are you willing to follow Lord Xuan She? When he’s promoted to the Top Three Zodiacs, he will naturally need to build his own faction. If you are capable enough, you’ll have a place in the Ritual Supervision, so why follow Ning Xin and Zijin, serving as a mere small informant?"

Chen Ji pondered for a moment, "To be honest, I’m not an informant for Jiao Tu and Yun Yang; I just do things for money."

Hai Dongqing was skeptical, "Do things for money? How much are they paying?"

Chen Ji answered earnestly, "500 taels of silver. If Lord Xuan She ever needs anything, he can spend silver to hire me, and I would unhesitatingly go through fire and water for him."

Hai Dongqing sneered coldly, "If you don’t want to work for Lord Xuan She, you can just say so, no need to make up such a poor excuse. Men, take him to Pipa Hall, I’ll have my own way to make him tell the truth."

The cell door opened, and two spies grabbed Chen Ji’s arms, forcefully dragging him out of the iron bars.