On the official road of Luocheng.

Step by step, the old scalper slowly pulled the cart into the dusk. Time seemed to slow down with its pace, allowing the orange-red sunset light to engulf everyone as warmly as a tide.

The official road was busy with traffic. Some people were driving ox carts to Luocheng, while others were carrying unsold fruits back to suburban counties.

Bai Li sat on the bullock cart and waved to an old man carrying a pole: "Old man, why haven't you sold out all the oranges? There are so many left in the pole."

The old man came to the oxcart with a pole and said, "This handsome guest, no one wants to buy the oranges that were frozen due to heavy snow the other day."

Bai Li asked curiously: "How do you sell these oranges?"

The old man hurriedly said: "Two cents a pound."

Bai Li smiled and took out a broken piece of silver from his bun and handed it out: "Here, give us all your oranges, so that you don't have to work hard to pick them back."

The old man was shocked when he heard this: "This can't be done. Frozen oranges won't last long. You don't need to buy so many."

Bai Li was in a very good mood: "It's okay! Brother Cat, please help me get out of the car and pick up the oranges from my clothes, and we'll share them."

Liang Maoer said with a simple and honest smile: "Okay."

Bai Li held on to the edge of the cart, leaned forward and took out an orange from the old man's pole and peeled it open.

She broke off a piece and put it in her mouth, then silently handed the orange to the prince.

The prince happily stuffed a piece of orange into his mouth, then handed the remaining orange to Chen Ji with a smile.

It was passed around so calmly, and finally reached Liang Gouer's hands.

Liang Gouer stuffed half of an orange into his mouth in one gulp: "...Bah, bah, bah, I wonder why you are so kind to peel the orange for me, it makes my teeth sore!"

Until then, everyone who had eaten oranges before had their faces distorted, and then they laughed together: "Hahahaha, no wonder the old man didn't sell a single orange!"

The laughter spreads far away in the sunset. The time spent with friends is always so happy.

In the bustling crowd, when the car passed the Gongyuan gate again, the prince subconsciously held his head high and felt proud.

But the first game of the Qiuwei Trial took three days to end, and there was no audience today.

The prince let out a breath of turbidity: "I really want to let those literati know what great achievements we have done, but now we enter the city silently, like walking at night in brocade clothes! What a pity!"

Bai Li sat on the cart, hugged his knees and said with a smile: "Brother, when will you control your flamboyant temper? If you continue to be like this when you become Prince Jing in the future, you will be laughed at."

The prince waved his hand: "It doesn't matter, our father can at least sit on the throne for a few more decades. I will definitely be mature and stable in a few decades."

Bai Li retorted: "But at your age, my father had already helped His Majesty suppress his relatives."

The prince was startled, and suddenly felt a little disheartened: "What's the use of helping your majesty suppress my relatives? Now your majesty, why don't you just let us be suppressed by the eunuchs? The eunuchs are hateful!"

Chen Ji asked curiously: "Has the Eunuch Party been suppressing Prince Jing's Mansion these years?"

The prince sneered and said: "In these years, the Chief Criminal Division has been keeping an eye on my father's old department, and more than twenty people have been arrested and imprisoned. The Secret Intelligence Division has also placed spies in the palace many times to monitor our food, clothing and daily life. Feng Da is with you. I also saw that he is also a member of the inner minister, so he was arranged to stay by my father's side."

Even Bai Li complained: "The eunuchs are so arrogant and domineering, they are really abominable."

Chen Ji was silent. Although he was unwilling to do so, he was now indeed a member of the Eunuch Party. He was caught in the gap between Prince Jing's Palace and the Eunuch Party, and he didn't know how to get both sides.

However, at this moment, wherever he looked, he saw a fat figure standing on the street, looking at him with a smile.

That figure was like a bell, waking up a sweet dream.

Just like the rising sun will always set, no matter how beautiful the dream is, it will always wake up. When Chen Ji hid in Liujiatun, he knew that he would not be able to hide for long, and what was supposed to come would always come.

Golden pig.

I saw the golden pig in the crowd, smiling and waving to him to follow, and then, without any explanation, turned around and merged into the crowd.

Chen Ji hesitated for a moment, then turned to Bai Li and said, "Princess Princess, you go back first. I just remembered that I still have some things to do."

After saying that, he jumped off the cart and caught up with the golden pig.

Liu Quxing sat on the trolley and shouted at Chen Ji's back: "Hey, is this an excuse for not wanting to treat us? We have to go to Yingxian Tower later, come back early!"

But Chen Ji didn't answer.

His face was calm, looking at the back of the golden pig in front of him looming in the crowd.

The Golden Pig's steps never stopped. He followed the traces and turned around countless streets until the number of pedestrians gradually became less and less, and then he stopped and turned around in a dead end.

Chen Ji stopped and said, "Sir, why did you bring me to this dead end?"

Jin Zhu looked at him with a smile and said nothing. The next moment, a carriage suddenly stopped at the entrance of the alley behind Chen Ji, blocking the entrance tightly.

The wind howled, and before Chen Ji could react, someone hit him on the neck with a knife, knocking him unconscious.

…

…

Chen Ji had a dream.

He dreamed that he was still sitting on the old oxcart under the gorgeous sunset in the evening, and his friends were still beside him.

Everyone ate sweet oranges, the orange-red breeze blew everyone's hair, and the white carp sang softly with a smile.

But when the sky gradually darkened, two people jumped out from the end of the cart.

They stood still and turned around, bent down and held their hands, smiling at the traces on the car and saying, "See you later."

The car didn't stop, and Chen Ji could only watch his friend get off the car and disappear into the night behind him.

When the two people were no longer visible, three more people jumped out of the car, cupped their hands and said with a smile: "See you later."

Friends jumped out of the car one after another to say goodbye, just like the show ended and the audience dispersed.

Chen Ji wanted to remember their appearance, but the faces of those friends were shrouded in the darkness and he could never see clearly.

He asked beside him: "Where are they going?"

No one answered.

Chen Ji looked around in surprise, only to find that he was the only one left alone on the swaying bullock cart.

At this time, a basin of cold water fell from the sky, waking up this long dream.

Chen Ji slowly opened his eyes and looked up. His hands were tied and hung on the roof of the inner prison room, and the cold iron chains strangled his wrists painfully.

Looking down again, he saw that his whole body was wet, and his messy hair and chin were still dripping with water.

The cold clothes clung to my body, and it was bitingly cold.

Inner prison.

This is the inner prison of the Secret Service.

In the dark inner prison chamber, the flames on the Bagua array lamps on the walls flickered, but there was no trace of warmth.

The golden pig put down the bucket, sat at the dark red Eight Immortals table in front of him, and gently picked up a piece of tender meat on the fish's cheek with chopsticks: "Are you awake?"

Chen Ji whispered: "Wake up."

The golden pig closed his eyes and ate the tender meat, savored it carefully, and exclaimed: "Tender!"

He opened his eyes, took a piece of meat from the belly of the fish with a smile, stood on the chair and fed it to his mouth: "Eat it, swallow it all."

The fish bones in the belly of the fish were not picked out, and the traces were chewed together with the fish bones. When swallowed, the throat was cut painfully by the broken fish bones.

The golden pig gave a thumbs up and praised: "I ate it without saying a word, how tough it is!"

He sat back at the Eight Immortals table and asked curiously: "Dr. Chen, do you want to avoid me?"

"yes."

The golden pig used chopsticks to open the fish head, and then picked out a piece of tender meat and put it into his mouth: "Why didn't you hide this time? I wouldn't dare do anything to you if you hid in Prince Jing's palace."

Chen Ji responded calmly: "Master Golden Pig has a strong fist. If he can't find me, he will definitely take it out on other people in the medical center."

"Smart..." Golden Pig wondered: "But since you are so smart, why can't you see that I really want to promote you? If you also become the zodiac sign, you, me, and Pegasus will take care of each other in the Secret Service. , isn’t it beautiful?”

Chen Ji replied: "That night, Xifeng and I tracked down the Jianghu people and found that the person who silenced them came from the inner court of the Secretary of Ceremony. I felt that this matter was too dangerous and I didn't want to get involved anymore."

Jin Zhu sighed: "Yes, now that you are with Prince Jing, you can indeed stay away from right and wrong, but how can you come in and leave our secret spy department whenever you want?"

With that said, he removed all the fish meat on the plate, stood up and handed the whole fish bone to Chen Ji's mouth: "Eat it, replenish your hard bones, and then talk after you finish eating."

Chen Ji didn't hesitate, opened his mouth, chewed the fish bone, and swallowed it hard.

Jinzhu stood on the chair and looked at him with his hands behind his back: "Although those people in the world were skinned, I still found out that they had been drinking together with the prince of Prince Jing's palace. They The money you have is also a gift from the Crown Prince. If you don't want to pursue it further, is it because you don't want the Crown Prince to be involved in this major conspiracy?"

At this point, Golden Pig's voice became fierce: "What do you want to cover up for the Crown Prince?"

Chen Ji looked directly into Jin Zhu's eyes: "It's impossible for the prince to be involved in this matter. If he was really involved in this matter, he wouldn't have left so many clues. How could a person who dared to conspire with Jing Chao let you down so easily?

It was found that he had been hanging out with these people in the world, Mr. Golden Pig is also a smart man, and he must understand this truth."

The golden pig's complexion softened slightly.

He jumped off the chair, slowly sat back in front of the Eight Immortals table, picked up a glass of wine, and drank it all in one gulp: "Chen Ji, don't blame me for hanging you here. Once you enter the Secret Service, there is no way back. Hide?

If you can't escape, I can't escape, so how can you escape?"

Chen Ji said softly: "Master Golden Pig, have you ever thought about hiding?"

Jin Zhu looked at the swaying flames on the wall with a look of reminiscence: "I am originally the son of a merchant in Gongyi County, Luocheng. In the early years, my father started his business by selling candy on the streets. He was a great man.

When he got up to sell sweets, he would get up at midnight and go out with a pole. Because of this diligence, life at home was pretty good."

Chen Ji listened quietly.

The golden pig continued: "My mother is gentle and kind, and I have an elder sister who loves me. I remember that every time during the Chinese New Year, my elder sister would be reluctant to buy new clothes, but would buy me two. If my father catches fish from the river, they will

They would all leave the fish head and the tenderest meat of the fish belly for me to eat. If nothing unexpected happens, I should have a very happy life."

"Unfortunately, when I was eight years old, my father discovered a method of making icing sugar. This method can dry brown sugar into clean white icing sugar in seven days. Once icing sugar came out, it was very popular among officials. I still remember that day

On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, my father laughed in front of the kerosene lamp

He told me that our family will finally become prosperous. When the time comes, he will prepare a thick dowry for my sister and find a good family so that she will not be able to hold her head high in front of her husband's family. He will also donate a gift to me.

Be an official and never be a low-status businessman again."

"He didn't know where he heard someone say. I would like to donate 100 shi to the imperial court to get a student from the Imperial College, and 250 shi to get a ninth-grade official. Although I have no real power, I am still decent."

Jin Zhu poured himself another glass of wine and drank it: "But what's the result? That night, Luocheng Prefecture officials suddenly broke into the door and dragged my whole family to the Liu family's coal yard in the name of collecting corvee labor. In that dark place

In the coal field, my father and mother were exhausted to death. Before I died, I cried until my voice became hoarse and I couldn't call them back."

"In order for me to survive, my sister committed herself to the coal field overseers in exchange for a mouthful of food. She saved her rations for me every day, but she was infected with a heart disease by the overseers. What can I do? I can only watch her haggard day by day.

Going down, it felt like someone was removing the bones one by one. Before she died, my sister opened her eyes and said she wanted to see me again, and I wanted to hug her, but she told me to go away and not touch her."

"At that time, I thought I was going to die, but suddenly someone brought me to a lame official. The official asked me if I wanted to avenge my family, and I said yes."

Chen Ji hung on the roof and lowered his head and asked: "Inner Minister?"

The golden pig held the wine glass and said in a daze: "That high official looked so majestic. His soap boots were clean and his official robe was as red as blood. Everyone stood behind him respectfully. I thought, for such a big official,

You must be able to avenge me. I say, please, avenge me."

Chen Ji asked: "What did the internal minister say?"

The golden pig smiled: "He said he would avenge me, but I had to leave my life to him. I thought at the time, it was great that I could exchange my bad life for revenge for my family!"

As he said that, he raised his head and looked at Chen Ji: "Over the years, I have found and killed the officials one by one. I also found the coal field supervisors and skinned and cramped them and their families one by one. Some of them were already dead.

Then they dug it out, crushed the bones and scattered the ashes."

"But I still hate it!" Jin Zhu gritted his teeth and said every word: "I hate it, because the Liu family who robbed my family's frosting business is still alive and well. The moment the Prime Minister chose me to come to Luo City, I knew I would take revenge.

The opportunity has come, the internal minister wants the Liu family to die!"

Chen Ji looked down and saw that this Zodiac sign, who was always smiling, had blue veins on his forehead.

Jinzhu looked straight at Chen Ji and said ferociously: "Chen Ji, I'm telling you so much because I hope you can help me. Now I can't trust Luo City secret spies, and I can't trust Jie Fanwei either. I need you to be like this

A smart man. As long as you help me, I will risk my life to help you win the position of the zodiac sign and help you to rise to great heights and achieve great success."

"I have been waiting for this day for too long. I will kill anyone who misleads me. I will also kill anyone who does not help me."
Chapter completed!