“Ran away.”

“They actually ran away!”

Chen Ji stood blankly among the ox carts, feeling a bit bewildered.

The moment he heard ‘knife’ and ‘robe son,’ he was certain these two were Er Dao and Shao Ge. This was because during his dying moments, Shao Ge had introduced himself, saying, “My name is Chen Chong, and my friends like to call me Shao Ge.”

Chen Chong.

Shao Ge.

It was definitely not a coincidence.

Thinking about this, Chen Ji felt an inexplicable joy. “We are not familiar, yet I feel especially close to you. I’ve seen you twice, and even the wind carries messages from my hometown.”

But he never expected Shao Ge to disappear so completely.

Ordinary people facing unknown situations, unless the danger is truly upon them, will most likely hold onto hope. But he didn’t know that Er Dao and Shao Ge’s hopeful psychology had been thoroughly shattered by police uncles after they had been in and out of prison seven or eight times. In the cold wind, Chen Ji suddenly shouted, “Zaozi!”

The sound of hooves echoed from the stable.

Liang Toutou turned around in surprise and saw the piebald horse belonging to Zhang Erxiaojie biting its reins and lightly leaping over the stable fence. It stopped beside Chen Ji.

The strange swift horse snorted, its breath like two white arrows in the cold night. It lowered its head and loosened its mouth, and the reins in its mouth fell into Chen Ji’s hand.

“Liang Toutou, wait for me here,” Chen Ji stepped on the stirrup, flipped onto the horse’s back, and lightly shook the reins. Zaozi then carried Chen Ji away like an arrow leaving a bowstring.

He rode through the dirt roads of the county town, searching from south to north, but found no trace of Er Dao and Shao Ge. He searched again from west to east, but still found nothing.

The people of the county town had long since gone to sleep; he didn’t even see a night watchman.

He searched back and forth alone in the county town but couldn’t find any sign of Er Dao and Shao Ge. He didn’t know if they had already left the county town or if they were hiding inside the *minju* (private residences).

Chen Ji slowly stopped his horse in the dark county town and stood there, his thoughts gradually calming down.

Once upon a time, he thought he was the only one who had come to the Ning Dynasty from Earth. From then on, he wouldn’t be able to discuss *Zhen Huan Zhuan*, *Liang Jian*, and *Shi Bing Tu Ji* with anyone, nor could he excitedly discuss C Luo’s divine hat-trick in the 2018 World Cup.

Because no one would understand.

Perhaps Er Dao and Shao Ge didn’t watch *Zhen Huan Zhuan* or *Liang Jian*, and they didn’t like C Luo. But it didn’t matter; everyone could always find some common language.

The moment Chen Ji discovered Er Dao and Shao Ge, it was as if he had seen a faint light in the dark night. It was just that this faint light quickly went out.

Chen Ji gently patted Zaozi’s back. “Let’s go back to the relay station.”

Zaozi no longer galloped. It slowly carried Chen Ji back, as if it knew the person on its back was no longer in such a hurry.

Back at the relay station, Chen Ji urged his horse in front of Liang Toutou. He sat on the horse’s back and calmly asked, “Liang Toutou, these two people must be hiding some secret, otherwise, why would they run?”

Liang Toutou looked up and sized up Chen Ji, seeing that this not-so-old Third Young Master of the Chen Mansion had eyes that were deep and unfathomable.

He was a well-traveled person. He knew who was easy to provoke and who wasn’t, who was easy to fool and who wasn’t. With just a look, he understood. In the eyes of people who travel the *jianghu* (rivers and lakes), there are only two kinds of people in this world: one is a sheep, and the other is a wolf.

Some people might look fierce, but their eyes are uncertain. This kind of person is just a sheep wearing a wolf’s skin. Some people might look weak, but their eyes are like knives, wanting to cut a piece of flesh from you. This kind of person is a wolf wearing a sheep’s skin.

At this moment, this Third Young Master of the Chen Mansion did not look like a scholar; instead, he looked more like a hound from the Si Li Jian.

Liang Toutou smiled and said, “Third Young Master, perhaps they just couldn’t stand the hardship of escorting, so they ran away. You don’t know, the escort business is tough. It’s common for escort masters to sneak away.”

Chen Ji grunted, dismounted, and led Zaozi toward the stable.

But after walking two steps, he stopped and came back.

Chen Ji calmly gazed at Liang Toutou. “It’s a big deal for the Zhang family to transport their family wealth to the capital this time. You let in some people with unknown backgrounds and origins. What are your intentions? Are that Knife and Robe Son Taihang Mountain bandits? Does your Liang Family Escort Bureau want to cooperate with the Taihang Mountain bandits to rob the Zhang family’s wealth?”

Liang Toutou’s face turned a bit pale, and he said guiltily, “Third Young Master, some words cannot be spoken carelessly; they can cause death.”

Chen Ji changed the subject and asked, “Liang Toutou, what is your relationship with Liang Gouzi and Liang Maozi?”

Earlier, Liang Maozi and Liang Gouzi had mentioned that their father was an escort master who had also fallen ill due to a scheme by the Taihang Mountain bandits and had passed away early.

Liang Toutou quickly said, “Those are my two younger brothers. It’s just that we split up the family years ago, and I haven’t seen them in a long time.”

Chen Ji nodded. “Liang Gouzi and Liang Maozi are my friends. For their sake, I can temporarily put this matter aside, but we must first clarify things.”

Liang Toutou quickly nodded. “You speak, you speak.”

Chen Ji suddenly lowered his voice and shouted, “Why did they run away?”

Liang Toutou lowered his head and didn’t speak.

Chen Ji said casually, “It seems I must let Master Zhang personally interrogate you before you will tell the truth.”

After speaking, he made a gesture to leave, but Liang Toutou quickly stopped him. “Reporting to Third Young Master, those two were not originally my escort masters. They were from the Luo Wei Escort Bureau. About two months ago, I don’t know what happened to the Luo Wei Escort Bureau. The escort masters scattered like birds, and the escort head also disappeared without a trace. Those two came together to seek refuge. Because I was short on manpower, I arranged for them to work in the Liang Family Escort Bureau.”

Chen Ji smiled. “You don’t know what happened, Liang Toutou? You’re still pretending not to know? Don’t seek death.”

Liang Toutou’s eyes were dim and uncertain in the moonlight. The ox carts in the back courtyard of the relay station were parked layer by layer, like a stacked maze. In the darkness, escort masters quietly approached, their hands reaching into their sleeves, grasping the handles of daggers.

Chen Ji seemed unaware of the crisis, still standing in his original spot.

Liang Toutou, however, noticed the movement of the escort masters and suddenly scolded angrily, “Get back, all of you! Do you want to harm me?”

At this moment, a voice was heard from afar. “Chen Ji, where are you?”

Chen Ji smiled and replied, “I’m here.”

Zhang Xia and Zhang Zheng came together. Zhang Xia said, “I just went to your room to find you to play chess, but only Xiao Man was there… Why are you up in the middle of the night, doing what here?”

Chen Ji explained, “I discovered that two people from the escort bureau secretly ran away, and I came to ask some things.”

Zhang Xia exclaimed, “Ran away? Why did they run away?”

At this time, Chen Ji saw that Zhang Zheng’s arm was still draped with his black cloak.

Zhang Zheng draped the cloak over his shoulder and casually admonished, “The wind and sand are strong; don’t catch a cold. If you get sick while traveling, I’m afraid it will be very uncomfortable.”

Chen Ji thanked him in a low voice, then turned his head back to look at Liang Toutou. “Liang Toutou, whatever thoughts you have, I can let bygones be bygones. But if you don’t clarify the matters of these two people, perhaps you will also have difficulty escaping imprisonment.”

Liang Toutou sighed softly. “I will tell you everything, Third Young Master. Please don’t alarm Master Zhang. The situation is like this. The Luo Wei Escort Bureau was escorting Master Yao and ten carts of goods to Jinling. As they passed through Langya Mountain, they encountered mountain bandits. There were a great number of bandits, and the escort masters of the Luo Wei Escort Bureau knew they were no match. They abandoned the employer on Langya Mountain.”

“If it were that simple, they wouldn’t need to run,” Chen Ji doubted. “Everyone says that escort bureaus operate in both the black and white worlds. Since they dare to take this path, could they not know about the bandits of Langya Mountain?”

Liang Toutou explained, “They originally knew. The escort head of the Luo Wei Escort Bureau and the big boss of Langya Mountain were even friends for life and death. It’s just that the flood in Yu Prefecture displaced many people. A group of victims fled south and drove away the original mountain bandits from Langya Mountain. They themselves became bandits there. These victims don’t understand the rules of the *jianghu*. They rob whoever they see and think they will be surrounded and annihilated by officials before long.”

Chen Ji doubted, “Didn’t the mountain bandits kill the people of the Luo Wei Escort Bureau?”

Liang Toutou said in a low voice, “Third Young Master doesn’t know, bandits seek wealth, not life. If they can be at peace with the escort masters, they naturally don’t need to fight to the death. It is said that the mountain bandits gave the Luo Wei Escort Bureau two choices. The first choice was that everyone would fight to the death. The second choice was that the Luo Wei Escort Bureau could leave, but they could take one box of Master Yao’s goods.”

Chen Ji nodded. “So they chose to split the money… How do I know you’re not fooling me?”

Liang Toutou said in a low voice, “Third Young Master, you can see clearly. There are still people from the Luo Wei Escort Bureau in the team. I will catch one for you.”

He blew a whistle, and several escort masters among the ox carts drew short knives from their sleeves and surrounded a corner.

A moment later, they twisted a young man and brought him in front of Chen Ji. “Third Young Master, this person is a tripper from the Luo Wei Escort Bureau, responsible for shouting out warnings. You can ask him and you will know.”

That young tripper struggled hard. “Liang Piggy, you dog, you took our gifts and still want to betray us? We agreed that we would follow you to Linfen, and after the main road, we would go our separate ways. You would go to the capital, and we would go to Guyuan. What are you doing, you dog mother?”

Liang Toutou looked a bit awkward at Chen Ji. “Third Young Master, don’t listen to his nonsense. I didn’t promise them. I really just needed helpers and saw that they were experienced escort masters, so I agreed to bring them.”

Chen Ji thoughtfully asked, “Why go to Guyuan?”

Liang Toutou said in a low voice, “Although Guyuan is a military fort of our Ning Dynasty, there are more Jing Dynasty people living inside than Ning Dynasty people. It’s a mixed place with many smugglers like ox hairs. Our Ning Dynasty border army doesn’t manage it too much. I heard there is an inn in Guyuan operated by the old subordinates of General Wen Tao, who can send people to the Jing Dynasty.”

Chen Ji turned his head to look at the young tripper. “Let me ask you, where did you all go after coming out of Langya Mountain?”

The tripper stiffened his neck. “We went to Jinling.”

Chen Ji asked again, “Did you split the money?”

The tripper answered, “We spent it all on the Qinhuai River!”