The moonlight in Guyuan was silver, casting a cold, clear light on the human world.

Four horses weaved between earthen houses and narrow paths. Suddenly, with a “Whoa!” Chen Ji pulled on the reins and looked back at the deserted street behind him. “The Crown Prince shouldn’t have sent anyone to look for us. We’ve shaken them off.”

He wore a large black cloak, and Wu slept soundly tucked inside it.

Xiao Man rode her pony behind them, asking curiously, “Young Master, why are we sneaking away?”

Without turning his head, Chen Ji replied, “Li Xuan and Qi Zhenzhuo are brave but lack strategy, and Master Chen is not a quick-witted official. If the Crown Prince wants to investigate the case of killing good people to claim credit, he’ll likely have to rely on himself. That aside, someone is secretly plotting against both the Crown Prince and the border army. If we continue to follow them, we might end up in trouble together.”

Zhang Zheng sighed, “The Imperial Forest Guard is, after all, the face of the Imperial Forbidden Army. I don’t know why they’ve enlisted so many sons of nobles. That Qi Zhenzhuo used to be chased around by us near the imperial city, and now he’s riding an Imperial Forest Guard white horse.”

Zhang Xia glanced at him. “Using sons of nobles isn’t entirely due to nepotism; it’s about their loyalty. The Imperial Forest Guard guards the palace gates, which is a crucial post. Such positions must never be filled by those with no ties. If a bachelor were appointed and he committed a crime, it would be difficult for the court to punish his entire family.”

She turned to Chen Ji. “Will following the Crown Prince be dangerous?”

Chen Ji nodded. “I suspect the poisoner of the Chen family tonight was not the border army, but rather a spy from the Jing Dynasty’s military intelligence agency.”

Zhang Zheng was startled. “Spies?”

Chen Ji explained, “As I said before, the border army has no motive for this, nor do the local gangs in Guyuan. But if it was a Jing Dynasty spy trying to sow discord between the Crown Prince and the border army, then it makes sense. However, the people around the Crown Prince seem convinced it was the border army and haven’t considered other possibilities.”

At this point, Zhang Zheng chuckled, gripping the reins. “It’s strange, why does the Crown Prince have no capable people around him? No wonder he was so eager to have Master Chen transferred here.”

Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked, “Who is the Master Qi the Crown Prince mentioned? Why didn’t he come to Guyuan with the Crown Prince?”

Zhang Xia shook her head. “I don’t know. We know very little about palace affairs. Father and Uncle never mentioned him either; they are very discreet about matters concerning the heir apparent.”

She pondered for a few breaths and guessed, “If I had to guess, when the Crown Prince served as Deputy Education Officer and investigated the private minting of copper coins, his tendency to merely gloss over issues deeply disappointed His Majesty. So His Majesty simply transferred all the strategists and advisors around him as a warning.”

Zhang Zheng chuckled gleefully, “His Majesty is afraid that those cunning advisors would lead the Crown Prince astray.”

Chen Ji mused to himself: after he returned to the Chen family, Chen Liqin was immediately promoted to an official of the Eastern Palace, and subsequently, the Crown Prince’s advisors were successively transferred away, creating a power vacuum.

This series of events seemed almost predestined to clear a path for Chen Liqin… Was it a coincidence, or a conspiracy?

If Chen Ji were still a novice medical apprentice, he might not have pondered these things. But after witnessing Bailong and the Grand Secretary’s methods of swallowing up the Liu family and the Jing Prince’s manor, he couldn’t help but think more deeply.

Zhang Xia asked, “So what do we do now?”

Chen Ji snapped back to attention. “We need to find the military intelligence spies. Otherwise, if they collude with the Jing Dynasty army outside the city, Guyuan will truly be in danger.”

Zhang Xia was thoughtful. “You want to help the Crown Prince?”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment. “Yes, I have a reason to get close to the Crown Prince, but I can’t explain it yet…”

As he spoke, he suddenly realized: all the people around the Crown Prince had been transferred away. Could it be that this wasn’t clearing the path for Chen Liqin, but for him instead?

In the night, Chen Ji rode his horse along the narrow dirt roads of Guyuan city, searching around.

A moment later, he found an old man in a dim alley, dozing behind a pile of miscellaneous items, with a worn-out gong and mallet beside him.

Chen Ji leaned down from his horse and asked, “Old man, are you the night watchman?”

Disturbed, the old man didn’t even lift an eyelid; he just pulled his hands deeper into his sleeves and continued to doze.

Zhang Zheng, sitting on his saddle, pulled a piece of silver from his sleeve and tossed it onto the dirt road with a *plop*, kicking up some dust. The old man immediately opened his eyes and scrambled over, using both hands and feet, to pick up the silver.

Zhang Zheng cheerfully said to Chen Ji, “Go ahead and ask.”

Chen Ji repeated his earlier question, “Are you the night watchman?”

The old man smirked obsequiously, “To answer you, gentlemen, this humble one is indeed the night watchman of Wushi Ward.”

Chen Ji asked curiously, “If you’re a night watchman, why aren’t you making your rounds?”

The old man put on a pained expression and whined, “You gentlemen must be new to this area, right? You don’t know, it’s not that this old man is lazy, but Guyuan at night is full of ‘crossing-the-river dragons’ and ‘local snakes.’ If I happen to run into villains who’ve just committed a crime, I might even be silenced…”

Chen Ji asked skeptically, “Doesn’t the Guyuan Commandery supervise?”

The old man hesitated, as if about to speak but then thought better of it.

Zhang Zheng tossed another piece of silver, and only then did the old man speak. “Gentlemen, if the Commandery wanted to manage things, they wouldn’t let so many outsiders in. Guyuan’s city gates are usually open; you don’t even need a travel permit to enter or leave. As long as you’re willing to pay taxes and protection money, various powerful figures who’ve committed crimes come here to lay low. How can it not be chaotic?”

Chen Ji was thoughtful. “When we arrived, the city gates were closed.”

The old man explained, “The gates have only been closed for about half a month.”

Chen Ji asked again, “Were the gates closed because the Crown Prince came to Guyuan?”

The old man shook his head. “No, that’s not it. The Crown Prince only arrived about ten days ago. The gates were closed before he came, prohibiting entry and exit. Many merchant caravans are trapped in the city, which has made Kuche Street very lively.”

Chen Ji looked at Zhang Xia. “It seems the border army is still hiding some things. Their scouts must have detected the Jing Dynasty’s movements much earlier.”

Zhang Xia’s heart tightened. “Do you think the Jing Dynasty army is really going to besiege Guyuan?”

Chen Ji nodded. “The timing of the Jing Dynasty’s Tiance Army’s arrival is very precise… What time do you think would be most suitable if the Jing Dynasty wanted to surround this place and turn it into an isolated city?”

Zhang Xia paused slightly on her horse. “Right now.”

Zhang Zheng scratched his forehead. “What riddle are you two speaking in? Why now?”

Zhang Xia considered. “Guyuan sees frequent merchant traffic. If Guyuan were besieged during normal times, Taiyuan Prefecture would surely grow suspicious after days without seeing caravans. But now, with the New Year and Lantern Festival approaching, and the weather being bitterly cold, no one would find it strange even if there were no merchant traffic.”

She continued, “If it’s true, as the border army said, that Jing Dynasty officials have infiltrated behind Guyuan, then Guyuan might already be an isolated city.”

The old man panicked. “What are you gentlemen talking about? Are the Jing Dynasty bandits coming?”

Chen Ji didn’t answer, continuing his questioning, “Why are all the merchants gathered on Kuche Street?”

The old man explained, “Guyuan’s best brothels, taverns, inns, and gambling dens are all on Kuche Street. Merchants have nothing to do at night, so they all go there, don’t they? It’s said that a merchant caravan from the northwest was tricked by a gambling den and lost all the antelope hides they brought within just seven days. Now they don’t even have money for an inn and are working as ‘turtle guards’ in a brothel.”

Zhang Zheng commented, “Well, they’re certainly adaptable.”

The old man quickly added, “They didn’t want to be ‘turtle guards’; the gambling den sold them into it.”

As he spoke, hurried footsteps and loud shouting came from a distance: “Don’t you dare run, you bastard! If I catch you, I’ll chop off two of your fingers!”

Chen Ji silently reached for the whale-knife laid across the front of his saddle. The next moment, several young men in short-sleeved barbarian attire, carrying short knives, chased a middle-aged man with a short knife stuck in his shoulder past them. This group didn’t spare Chen Ji and the others a single glance from start to finish.

Once these people had run far away, silence returned to the narrow path, as if nothing had happened.

Zhang Zheng hesitated. “This is…?”

The old man replied, “Those young men just now were from the Wuqia Gambling Den. It seems another gambler lost everything and tried to default on his debt.”

Chen Ji thought for a moment and asked, “Last question, where is the Dragon Gate Inn?”

“Gentlemen, the Dragon Gate Inn is right on Kuche Street; it’s the tallest building there.”

Along both sides of the long Kuche Street, brothels and taverns hung red lanterns. The sounds of drinking games and the enchanting voices from the brothels were incessant, like a blazing furnace in the dead of winter, preventing this frontier military town from freezing solid.

Chen Ji and the others had dismounted and were leading their horses along the bluestone path.

Zhang Zheng looked around. “This is the only place in all of Guyuan paved with bluestone bricks. I thought I was back in Red-Clothed Lane in Luocheng.”

Zhang Xia frowned. “Brother, this is a critical moment. Don’t wander off or fool around.”

Zhang Zheng chuckled gleefully, “What do you take your brother for? I’ve reached the realm of passing through a thousand flowers without a single petal sticking to me; I’m already tired of it. Even the top courtesans of the eight great brothels in the capital would beg me to be their private guest, and I might not even agree. What do gentlemen like us do for fun near the imperial city? We play for prestige. These wild flowers here can’t attract a gentleman like me.”

Xiao Man trailed behind, muttering softly, “What nonsense is he spouting? Doesn’t he worry about breaking his own boast?”

Zhang Zheng snorted and turned around. “Who are you looking down on, you little girl?”

Xiao Man looked at Chen Ji. “Young Master, he’s being mean to me.”

Zhang Zheng: “…I was not!”

Chen Ji ignored the two of them. He looked up and saw a three-story, octagonal building standing out prominently in the middle of the long Kuche Street.

He led the three to the entrance, where a golden plaque bearing the characters “Dragon Gate Inn” hung. On the right, the first couplet read: “Observe affairs, observe things; observe heaven, observe earth, observe sun, observe moon; observe above, observe below; observing others always reveals highs and lows.” On the left, the second couplet read: “Laugh at ancient, laugh at modern; laugh at east, laugh at west, laugh at south, laugh at north; laughing again and again, one realizes one’s own ignorance.”

Chen Ji’s eyes showed contemplation. Other inns displayed couplets welcoming guests, wishing for visitors from all directions and wealth from all corners. Why did this Dragon Gate Inn not seem like a business, but rather like a place for cultivating Zen?

He pushed aside the heavy cotton door curtain and stepped inside, bringing with him the chill of the wind and frost.

Before he could even discern the interior furnishings, an attendant approached, holding a white cloth, and began patting dust off him with it. “How many guests, sir? Staying overnight or just passing through?”

Chen Ji lowered his gaze, watching the attendant use the ‘dusting’ as an excuse to pat him down thoroughly, even feeling his sleeves. It was clearly an attempt to see how much money or weaponry he carried.

When the attendant’s hand touched the whale-knife wrapped in cloth in Chen Ji’s hand, his movement paused imperceptibly, but his expression remained nonchalant.

Chen Ji was silent for two breaths, then said, “Four people, staying overnight.”

The attendant rose with a smile. “Will the guests be paying with copper coins or silver taels?”

Chen Ji narrowed his eyes slightly. An ordinary inn attendant would only ask how many rooms were needed or what kind of room. But this attendant had asked a baffling question… copper coins or silver taels?

This Dragon Gate Inn was strange in every way.

Chen Ji calmly asked, “What if we use copper coins, and what if we use silver taels?”

The attendant chuckled. “Don’t overthink it, sir. Anything is fine, I was just asking casually.”

With that, he called out to the manager behind the counter, “Manager, we have ‘handsome man and handsome woman’ here, perhaps ‘powerful outsiders who came to the wrong place.’ Let’s give them a ‘hall pass’ and ‘check their background.'”

Chen Ji asked, “What does that mean? I don’t understand.”

The attendant courteously replied, “Sir, that’s just our local Guyuan dialect; I was calling the manager to welcome you all.”

However, at that very moment, Zhang Xia suddenly stepped forward and said with a smile to the attendant, “Brother, the water has flowed.”

She translated for Chen Ji: “What he just told the manager was underworld slang. It means ‘handsome man and handsome woman have arrived, perhaps ‘crossing-the-river dragons’ who came to the wrong place.’ He wants the manager to check our background.”

The attendant was startled. “Hard work, hard work?”

Zhang Xia quietly explained to Chen Ji, “He’s asking if we’re from the same jianghu circle.”

With that, she turned to the attendant and said, “No need for further questioning. The four of us are just passing through Guyuan; we won’t hinder your business. Please arrange our rooms.”