At the banquet, everyone was silent, and even the sound of playing the piano was muted.

They couldn't help but laugh at She Dengke and Liu Quxing's name and clothes. They couldn't help but reflect on it. If they were slandered, how many people would be willing to stand up and complain for themselves?

When ordinary people hear your rumors, they will only learn a few words from others and tell them to you.

But you may not care about what others say. You may care more about whether your friends say anything for you when others say rumors about you.

Chen Ji didn't expect She Dengke and Liu Quxing to stand up and speak for him. It was precisely because he didn't expect it that he was surprised.

At this time, the Crown Prince drank the wine in one gulp. The wine glass in the palace was a little too small, and he thought it was not satisfying, so he wanted to ask someone to change it to a larger wine bowl.

However, Princess Baili glared at her and had no choice but to give up.

The charlatanism is naturally incompatible with the refined society of literati.

However, the prince murmured in a low voice: "These literati are not as interesting as the Jianghu people after all... The name Chen Ji seems familiar, where have I heard it before?"

At this time, Princess Baili looked at Chen Wenxiao: "Excuse me, is your brother's IOU true?"

Chen Wenxiao rolled up his sleeves and sat upright: "My brother Chen Ji loves gambling and owes a total of one thousand two hundred and thirty-one taels of silver to seven gambling houses. The above sentence is true."

A literati raised his hand to the princess and said: "As for the value of filial piety, I will definitely not lie about this matter."

"Okay," Princess Baili breathed out.

Chen Ji listened silently by the pavilion. He was also thinking about what kind of person he used to be. Was he really a gambler?

It's possible. After all, the IOUs in gambling houses cannot be faked. This kind of thing is easy to verify.

But those things have nothing to do with me and are in the past.

Concubine Jing, who was behind the bamboo curtain, vaguely looked at Chen Ji: "Don't your family know that you are from the Secret Service?"

Chen Ji replied: "To report to you, madam, I am not from the Secret Service. At most, I am a harrier from the Secret Service, not even a secret agent."

"Oh?" Concubine Jing was a little confused: "Why did you work for the Secret Service?"

Chen Ji answered calmly: "For money, if I help them find a clue once, I will give you fifty taels of silver."

Concubine Jing was startled for a moment: "Only fifty taels? For fifty taels of silver, you risked your life to work for the Secret Service?"

At this time, she had already believed what Chen Wenxiao said. The apprentice at the medical clinic was indeed a gambler who would risk his life for money.

However, Chen Jixin said that this was the difference in the world. He had worked hard to earn only fifty taels, but in the eyes of Concubine Jing and Concubine Yun, this little money was nothing.

Behind the bamboo curtain, Concubine Jing slowly leaned on her soft couch: "Help me take revenge, and I'll give you a thousand taels of silver if I succeed."

Chen Ji thought for a while: "Do you want Liu Mingming to die?"

"That's right."

"Master Liu has a hidden master around him, and he lives in seclusion on weekdays. It will be difficult to kill him. It will be even more difficult to kill Yun Yang and Jiao Rabbit with the help of the secret agent... If you want to take revenge, you have to

Five thousand taels."

"Two thousand taels, no more."

"make a deal."

Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief, as expected, rich people still make money easily!

With these two thousand taels of silver by his side, he dared to visit the inner prison again, collect all the ice streams, and light hundreds of furnace fires.

At that time, as long as no official takes action, the ordinary three or five spies will not be able to do anything to him.

While she was thinking about it, Concubine Jing suddenly asked: "What do you think of Chunhua? The peach and plum years are the time when she is lovely. Although she is older than you, she knows how to love people. When I bought her from Yangzhou, it cost me a hundred Two pieces of silver."

Chen Ji hurriedly replied: "Madam, it's better not to mess with the rules, the money is enough."

…

…

Banquet room.

Chen Wenzong looked at She Dengke and Liu Quxing and asked, "Are you my brother's colleagues? How is he doing lately? Is he here today?"

"Come here, how is he doing recently? Why don't you, a brother, ask me if you ask him," She Dengke responded dully.

Chen Wenzong looked embarrassed: "That's right."

Chen Wenxiao's face darkened: "Why should we care about him if he does something like that?"

The Ning Dynasty governed the country according to the principles of ethics. The rule of the king, the minister, the father, the son, and the son was the order that governed the entire society. However, although everyone said that mothers are kind and sons are filial, brothers, friends, and brothers are respectful, there are still a few people in the world who are not biological children. Can parents really treat their concubine’s children as their own?

It's just to save face.

Just as Liu Quxing was about to open his mouth to refute, he was patted on the shoulder. He turned around and saw that Chen Ji had returned to the table.

Chen Ji looked towards Chen Wenzong from a distance, and Chen Wenxiao raised his hand: "Two brothers, we reunited today after a long separation. I didn't expect it to be like this. Why don't we just forget it. After all, this is a cultural gathering organized by the prince, so don't disturb us. and attended the cultural gathering of other guests.”

Bai Li saw Chen Ji appear and hurriedly tugged on the prince's arm: "Brother, it's him. The one who collects our tolls and sets up ladders for us. I should have known better not to speak for him!"

The prince laughed: "I don't think there is a Bai gang. Don't you think he is very interesting? He even dares to collect the toll from Prince Jing!"

Bai Li pouted: "Accepting three taels of silver at a time, he has a dark heart. But... although he is a very bad person, I don't feel like a gambler."

The prince smiled and said, "Have you ever seen what a gambler looks like?"

Bai Li recalled and thought: "I saw it when I followed you to the gambling house. The gamblers in the gambling house have lost their minds one by one. They don't care about anything other than gambling. Their eyes are bloodshot and their clothes are dirty. There is mud between his fingernails...but he is very clean and full of energy."

Gamblers only have gambling in mind. They gamble when they wake up and fall asleep after gambling. How can they have time to pay attention to their appearance?

The prince nodded: "It really doesn't look like it. Anyway, the young monk said that he has given up greed and anger. I believe the young monk."

"He has never reformed. Even if he stops gambling, he is still very bad!" Bai Li said sullenly.

The prince smiled and reassured: "Okay, okay, three taels of silver is just a box of rouge and gouache for you."

At this time, Chen Wenzong saw that Chen Ji looked familiar.

It was also at this moment that Chen Wenzong remembered that Chen Ji had looked at him at the table before, but he did not recognize him.

Of course, this may also be the reason why we were not close before. My mother always told me not to associate with each other.

Chen Wenzong stood up: "It was wrong to ask for filial piety earlier. I will apologize to you on his behalf. Don't take it seriously."

Chen Ji smiled and said: "It's okay, you can't stop someone else from talking."

Chen Wenzong said: "My father has been at home recently, and you have come back to fulfill your filial piety when you are free. He must be happy to see that you have changed your past and are studying medicine down to earth."

Chen Ji replied: "I'm quite busy with my studies at the Imperial Medical Clinic, so...there's no need."

He has no plans to go back to the Chen family, and he doesn't even plan to go back again in the future. As he said to Old Man Yao, he has really made the medical clinic his home.

Chen Ji could understand that there was a son of a gambler in his family, and his mother's identity was still suspected, so she was naturally not popular with others.

Since we are not welcome, we will stop interacting with each other to avoid the need for everyone to have fun.

At this time, a person stood up and said with a smile: "The so-called monarch, minister, father and son, can't mess with the rules and regulations. Maybe you blame your father for not sending you to Donglin Academy, or you blame him for neglecting you, but he is your father after all, and you are your father after all.

Son, you still have to fulfill your filial duty."

Chen Ji looked at the other person's face with some confusion: "Who are you?"

The speaker is handsome and handsome, wearing a blue Confucian shirt, an exquisite black gauze hat, a jade belt around his waist, and a jade pendant hanging on the belt, which is very valuable.

When Chen Ji asked about it, the other party said proudly and reservedly: "Donglin Academy, Lin Chaojing."

It seems that all he needs to say is this name, and Chen Ji will know who he is.

But Chen Ji's attention wasn't focused on that. He just realized, no wonder he felt that the other person looked familiar!

This Lin Chaojing actually looks very similar to Lin Chaoqing, the Chief Punishment Officer. It seems that they are not biological brothers but are related to each other.

But Chen Ji clearly remembers this voice. It was Lin Chaojing who belittled the eunuchs when he said he wanted to take the imperial examination... Lin Chaoqing was a member of the eunuchs.

He didn't think much about it, and just patted Liu Quxing and She Dengke: "Let's go, this is not suitable for us, I'm sorry for making you suffer for me."

"Well, let's go," Liu Quxing sniffed.

"Wait a moment," Lin Chaojing said loudly: "The three of you are also here to participate in the literary conference. They must also be people with Jinxiu in mind. Just now everyone took out their new works to read, but do you know what works the three of you have brought?"

Chen Ji looked directly at Lin Chaojing and remained silent.

Works? He has no works.

Do you want to copy works from the world he once lived in? He can't copy them either.

The traces of his partiality in science are serious. Over the years, he has been studying science, popular science, reasoning, investigation and counter-inspection knowledge. Even if he studies some contents in liberal arts, he only studies cryptography.

Therefore, it is not a big problem if you ask him to make gunpowder now, but it is really difficult for him to recite the poem...

If you really want to memorize poems, you can probably only memorize the most famous line from each poem.

For example, there would be times when there were strong winds and waves, and the sails would hang straight across the sea. He could not remember what was before and after.

And most importantly, the allusion to the Double Ninth Festival was weighing heavily on Chen Ji's mind. He still didn't know how this world was related to his own world. If the poem he recited had been written by someone, it would be a joke.

etc!

The thoughts in Chen Ji's mind suddenly seemed like the clouds were clearing and the sky was clear.

The earlier haze was instantly broken: Gunpowder?

gunpowder!

Although I can't recite poetry, I can make gunpowder.

Poetry is art, so aren’t explosions art?

…

There will be another chapter later
Chapter completed!