Wang Huan quickly retreated.

“Quickly, they’re at the end of their rope, with no strength left!” he yelled, waving for his thugs to charge forward, while he himself retreated into Hanjiatan Alley. “We still have over a hundred men; we can bury them under a pile!”

But the Imperial Guards’ wall of spears and shields pushed forward step by step, forcing the thugs to retreat step by step.

In the dimly lit alley, Zhou Chong and Zhou Li held their long shields up to their noses, their eyes coldly watching everyone. As their gazes swept over a thug, that thug felt a chill in his heart.

The next moment, the Imperial Guards suddenly charged.

Zhou Chong and Zhou Li, wielding their long shields, violently crashed into the thugs, knocking them back like a wave. The Imperial Guards stepped mercilessly over the bodies of the fallen thugs.

Wang Huan felt a chill of fear and immediately shouted, “Retreat! Retreat into Baishun Alley! They wouldn’t dare act recklessly there; if they attract the Five City Patrols, no one will get off lightly!”

Seeing that the thugs couldn’t stop this group, Wang Huan abandoned all pretense of dignity and turned to flee towards Baishun Alley. As he ran, he grabbed the arms of nearby thugs, pulling them back, hoping to use them to delay Chen Ji and the others for a moment.

But without Master Qian to restrain them, these thugs paid no mind to the absentee boss. They ran even faster than Wang Huan.

As the thugs were about to retreat into Baishun Alley, Chen Ji whispered from behind Duo Bao and Li Cen, “Send me over. Before they get into Baishun Alley, capture that fat man alive.”

Duo Bao and Li Cen crossed their weapons, and the moment Chen Ji stepped on them, they suddenly exerted force, launching him into the air towards Wang Huan.

A thug threw his axe, which spun directly towards Chen Ji’s face. Chen Ji parried it with his spear in mid-air, flicking it back with a casual swing.

Wang Huan cried out in alarm, “Stop him! Stop him!”

As he retreated, he tripped over a raised brick joint and landed on the ground with a thud.

With a clang, the axe landed squarely in the brick joint between his legs; an inch further and he would have been rendered infertile. Wang Huan’s face turned ashen with fright, and he couldn’t speak for a long time.

Before he could recover, a foot was already on his chest, pinning him to the ground.

Chen Ji, while stepping on Wang Huan, vigilantly looked around. The Heji thugs surrounded him but dared not come within two steps, until Li Xuan arrived with the Imperial Guards, scattering the thugs and protecting Chen Ji.

On both sides of the alley, spectators discreetly opened their window cracks, while the thugs huddled together in the alley.

The Imperial Guards, their faces covered with gray cloth, gradually straightened up. As they stood tall, the distant light stretched their shadows, until they enveloped all the thugs before them.

Pinned to the ground, Wang Huan shouted, “This is lawlessness! Do you know who my backer is? This capital won’t tolerate your group of soldiers acting so presumptuously! This business at the foot of the Imperial City isn’t something just anyone can seize; it depends on whether you have powerful connections!”

Chen Ji, stepping on him, calmly said, “Then tell us who your backer is. Maybe we’ll get scared and let you go.”

Wang Huan hesitated, wanting to speak but not daring to.

Not speaking might not mean death, but speaking certainly would.

The next moment, Chen Ji raised his head and looked around, declaring loudly, “Today, we establish our dominance here! Are there any heroes from all corners of the martial world who dare to step forward and challenge us?”

Silence.

The thugs dared not speak.

Then, Chen Ji lowered his head and whispered, “What’s supposed to happen next?”

The Imperial Guards looked at each other; none of them had experience with the jianghu world. Chen Ji didn’t know what to say, and they knew even less.

Duo Bao hesitated, “Should we say something menacing?”

Li Cen corrected him, “How could that be? We’ve finished fighting; what’s the point of tough talk? It’s just cheapening ourselves.”

Zhou Chong wiped the sweat from his forehead. “So, should we say thank you for your support?”

Qi Zhenzhuo scoffed, “You’re not performing street acts, what are you thanking anyone for?”

Li Xuan thought for a moment and said, “Should we host dozens of banquets somewhere to celebrate this, so everyone in the jianghu knows? And collect some congratulatory gifts while we’re at it?”

Qi Zhenzhuo burst into laughter, “Brother-in-law, do you think this is a wedding?”

The Imperial Guards looked at each other for a long time. None of them had expected that after days of intense fighting, they would defeat everyone but then not know what to do next.

Duo Bao tried to hold back his laughter, but slowly, he couldn’t anymore and burst out laughing. When he laughed, everyone else finally gave in, and a group of them stood in the alley, laughing heartily with their arms around each other.

Their laughter carried far on the night wind.

As they laughed, Qi Zhenzhuo suddenly wiped the corner of his eye. “My apologies, everyone. In the past, I was good for nothing and held you all back.”

Duo Bao cursed, “We were just having a good time, what the hell are you doing pulling this stunt? Haven’t you grown up yet?”

Qi Zhenzhuo’s tears flowed even more as he wiped them. “If we had this formation, or this skill, back in Guyuan, would so many of our brothers have died?”

Everyone slowly sobered up, their smiles fading.

Just then, as the Imperial Guards were distracted, two windows on the second floor of a building next to the alley simultaneously opened a crack. Two crossbow bolts, one after the other, shot out, heading straight for Wang Huan, who was under Chen Ji’s foot.

Before anyone else could react, Chen Ji instinctively tightened his grip on his spear and blocked in front of Wang Huan. With a clang, the bolt embedded itself in the spear shaft.

As the second bolt flew, Zhou Chong reacted first, raising his rattan shield to block Chen Ji and Wang Huan. With a thud, the crossbow bolt embedded itself in the rattan shield, its fletching vibrating with a buzzing sound.

The Imperial Guards’ expressions changed. Crossbows?

Qi Zhenzhuo and Li Xuan exchanged glances, both their hearts tightening.

Whether Wang Huan lived or died was irrelevant; once crossbows were used, this was no longer a street brawl.

The young man in Lishamao Alley sobered up instantly.

He casually threw the wine jar to the ground and turned to leave. “Zhou Kuang, pack everything up and leave quickly. Make sure all traces of our presence are cleaned up. No one must know I was here tonight.”

In the capital, hiding heavy armor or using bows and crossbows was a grave crime of treason!

Where did the crossbows come from? Who made them, who hid them, who used them? Anyone involved would face severe consequences.

Zhou Kuang whispered, “Could someone be trying to frame Chen’s Second Branch? Chen Lizhi isn’t that foolish. For years, he’s relegated Chen Wenren to a leisurely position in the Imperial Guards, giving him no power at all, and entrusting everything to his eldest son, Chen Wende. Even if Chen Wenren lost his head, he couldn’t acquire crossbows. Chen Wende is steady and experienced, holding the rank of Vice Minister of Rites; he certainly wouldn’t go along with Chen Wenren’s nonsense.”

Zhou Kuang continued, “It’s just Wang Huan. What if he’s caught by this group downstairs? It’s not like he was caught by the imperial court, so why resort to murder to silence him? But with these crossbow bolts, the outer city is going to be turned upside down. No cover can hold this down. This isn’t covering something up; it’s clearly flipping the table.”

The young man suddenly stopped, standing in the corridor and looking back at Zhou Kuang. “Zhou Kuang, these two crossbow bolts weren’t aimed at the Chen family; they were aimed at me. If I’m not mistaken, the crossbowman must have committed suicide by poison after firing the bolts.”

Zhou Kuang was startled. “Aimed at you?”

The young man sneered, “With these two crossbow bolts fired, Chen Wenren will be protected by the Chen family, at most exiled to Lingnan. Heji will suffer, but the Chen family won’t be fundamentally harmed… Only I will lose a lot.”

Zhou Kuang was astonished. “Lose what?”

The young man gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Imperial favor.”

In the alley, Li Xuan lightly leaped onto the second floor by stepping on Duo Bao’s shoulder. He pulled open a window, glanced inside, and then reported to Chen Ji below, “The crossbowman has committed suicide by poison. He was a loyal assassin.”

Chen Ji remained silent.

Li Xuan jumped back into the alley and whispered to him, “We need to leave quickly. I saw many people hastily departing. Crossbows were used here; the Five City Patrols will likely arrive soon to suppress this. At that point, everyone present will be implicated, and we might have to go back to the Imperial Prison.”

Chen Ji closed his eyes and pondered for a moment. When he opened them again, he said with certainty, “It’s too late. Our identities have been exposed. Even if we run, we’ll be found one by one… We can’t just leave like this.”

Li Xuan was about to try and persuade him further, but Chen Ji said with conviction, “Listen to me.”

Li Xuan sighed. “What should we do now?”

Chen Ji instructed in a low voice, “Go find Zhang Zheng and Zhang Xia right now. Be quick!”

Li Xuan asked, “What message should I give them?”

Chen Ji replied, “Tell Zhang Xia what happened here. She’ll know what to do.”

Li Xuan turned and left.

Chen Ji looked down at Wang Huan. “Someone wants to kill you. Do you want to die or live?”

Wang Huan closed his eyes, trembling all over.

Chen Ji pressed the cold tip of his spear against Wang Huan’s neck, making the other man shiver.

He calmly said, “I know your backers are from the Wang family, and that the Wang family is the maiden family of the Chen family’s Second Branch, Lady Wang. So don’t try to scare me with your family background. Now that someone has used crossbows, no one here can escape blame. I’ll just ask you one question: Do you want to die or live?”

Wang Huan hesitated.

Chen Ji, using the spear tip to avoid the carotid artery, made a cut, and Wang Huan immediately cried out, “I want to live! I want to live!”

Chen Ji whispered, “Hand over Heji’s ledgers from all these years, and I’ll let you live.”

Wang Huan’s expression changed. “How is that different from killing me? If I hand these over to you, not only I, but my entire family, old and young, will not survive!”

Chen Ji smiled. “I can also forgo the ledgers, but are you willing to trade Heji’s entire fortune for your life?”

Wang Huan gritted his teeth. “You can have the silver, but not the ledgers!”

Chen Ji grabbed his collar with one hand and lifted him up. “Tell all of Heji’s thugs to disperse, or I’ll let out more of your blood.”

Wang Huan quickly shouted, “Disperse! Disperse, all of you!”

Hearing this, the Heji thugs fled as if granted a great amnesty.

Wang Huan cursed, “These disloyal bastards! I tell you to disperse, and you actually do it, running faster than rabbits!”

Chen Ji, holding him, walked out of the Eight Great Hutongs, looking down. “Where is the silver hidden?”

Wang Huan gritted his teeth and, with a hardened heart, said, “Weiran Alley, next to Zhangjia Bridge!”

Chen Ji looked at Qi Zhenzhuo. “You stay here and meet your brother-in-law. Take your brother-in-law and Zhang Xia to Weiran Alley.”

Qi Zhenzhuo quickly asked, “Master, where are you going?”

Chen Ji pulled Wang Huan and walked in another direction. “The rest of you, follow me.”

Under the watchful eyes of many, they passed through alley after alley, heading towards Zhengyang Gate Street. Chen Ji said nothing, and the others didn’t ask a single question.

Under the cover of night, they walked for an unknown amount of time until they saw a wonton stall. Chen Ji turned back and asked his colleagues behind him, “Is everyone hungry?”

Duo Bao and the others exchanged glances. “We are a bit hungry, yes.”

Chen Ji, pulling Wang Huan, sat down at a small wooden table at the wonton stall. “Vendor, boil some wontons.”

The vendor eyed the thirty-odd men and the weapons in their hands, then timidly said, “My stall is about to close.”

Duo Bao took a silver ingot from his pocket and slapped it on the table. “No nonsense, just start boiling the wontons.”

The vendor quickly tucked the silver into his pocket. “How many bowls would you like, sirs?”

Chen Ji smiled, rubbing his chopsticks together as he said, “Boil all the wontons you have at your stall. We can eat a lot.”

Wang Huan had now recovered his senses. Sitting next to Chen Ji, he dared not run, only urged in a low voice, “I’ve already told you where the silver is hidden. Why haven’t you let me go? Please, let me go quickly.”

Chen Ji calmly pulled off the gray cloth covering his face. “How would you escape the capital in the middle of the night?”

Wang Huan urgently said, “The Grand Canal Gang still has boats docked at Chongnanfang. It’s still not too late to leave now; any later, and I’m afraid it will be.”

“The Grand Canal Gang can get people out of the city?” Chen Ji asked curiously. “You don’t really think you can get away, do you? I advise you, falling into the hands of the authorities is better than being inexplicably dumped into a river. Calmly eat your wontons and come to the imperial prison with us. It might even be safer inside the prison than outside.”

Wang Huan angrily retorted, “Eat what wontons! Are you out of your minds?”

Chen Ji retorted, “If you’re hungry, eat. If you’re tired, sleep. What’s wrong with that?”

Wang Huan gasped, “In Weiran Alley is the Chen family’s Second Branch’s silver, over sixty thousand taels! Do you really think you can take that silver and live? Don’t end up having the life to take it but not the life to spend it.”

The vendor brought the freshly boiled wontons. Chen Ji lowered his head, took a sip of the hot soup, and then looked up, smiling. “Is the Chen family so petty? We can’t even take a little of their silver to spend?”

Wang Huan angrily said, “You think establishing dominance is the end? It’s just the beginning. From this moment on, it’s not about thugs anymore, but about court influence. The ministers’ methods of killing leave no blood!”

Chen Ji hummed in acknowledgment, no longer paying attention to Wang Huan, and joined the Imperial Guards in eating the wontons. They ate bowl after bowl, stacking the ceramic bowls on the table as high as their heads, until all the wontons the vendor had prepared were cooked and eaten. Only then did everyone wipe their mouths, still not entirely satisfied.

Just then, the sound of dense hoofbeats came from a distance.

At night in the capital, the only ones who dared to gallop so many horses so fast were the Five City Patrols… and the Trouble-Suppressing Guard.

Chen Ji squinted, and saw dozens of people riding towards them from the end of Zhengyang Gate Street. They wore python robes and had long sabers at their waists.

It wasn’t the Five City Patrols who came.

It was the Trouble-Suppressing Guard.

Wang Huan’s face showed despair. “It’s over! It’s the Trouble-Suppressing Guard!”

The leading man reined in his horse next to the wonton stall, looked down at Chen Ji, who had just put down his bowl, and said, “It’s you again?”

Chen Ji smiled as he stood up. “And it’s you again, Lord Lin?”

The newcomer was Lin Chaoqing, Commander of the Trouble-Suppressing Guard.

Lin Chaoqing’s gaze swept over Chen Ji and the others. “I received intelligence reports saying that someone used bows and crossbows in the outer city, intending to commit treason. And some say this matter involves you all. Is this true?”

Chen Ji pointed at Wang Huan and said seriously, “The rebel who used crossbows is right here. As Imperial Guards, we are responsible for defending the capital, and we have already apprehended him and brought him to justice.”

Wang Huan’s expression changed. “You’re spouting nonsense!”

Lin Chaoqing looked at Wang Huan, then at Chen Ji. “Take them all back to the Imperial Prison!”

Duo Bao looked at Chen Ji with concern, while Chen Ji’s gaze was fixed on the distance.

At this moment, a Zhang family carriage was slowly driving down Zhengyang Gate Street, heading towards Weiran Alley.

Chen Ji turned and reassured the Imperial Guards, “Don’t be afraid. The innocent will prove their innocence. I’m sure Lord Lin will clear our names.”