The young man from Luo City, holding a small black cat, walked on the stone-slab road at night. His footsteps were heavy at first, but gradually became livelier. Life still had to go on, didn’t it? He already had new hope.

“Hei Yun, let’s talk about something happy,” Chen Ji laughed. “Can you tell me about the matters inside Jing Wang Fu?”

Hei Yun curled boredly on Chen Ji’s arm, taking out dried small fish from a blue little package and chewing on them. “What’s good about that broken place? A deep residence and large courtyard, it’s just a bunch of dirty matters involving the nannies and maids. For example, Chun Hua was bought by Jing Fei to seduce Jing Wang, but Jing Wang doesn’t even look at Chun Hua properly. For example, that poisonous woman Chun Rong is jealous of Chun Hua’s youth and beauty, so she secretly spits saliva into Chun Hua’s food…”

Chen Ji smiled and brought up another topic. “You’ve been in Jing Wang Fu for these three months. Have any big matters happened?”

“Of course!” Hei Yun became energetic. “The Wang Fu is about to become lively.”

Chen Ji’s expression was expectant. “Oh?”

Hei Yun said excitedly, “Soon it will be the Double Ninth Festival. Jing Wang’s eldest son, Zhu Yunxi, Jing Fei’s daughter, Zhu Lingyun, and Yun Fei’s daughter, Zhu Baili, will all return from Dong Lin Academy. They say there’s also a small monk.”

“A small monk?” Chen Ji said doubtfully.

Hei Yun said, “I heard Jing Fei say he’s a reincarnated Buddha child from the Ge Ning Faction of the Secret Sect in Yun State. Because the Ge Ning Faction needs court support and imperial seal, they have pledged him in the Central Plains.”

“Is Dong Lin Academy very famous?” Chen Ji asked curiously. He remembered that his two elder brothers had just returned from Dong Lin Academy.

Hei Yun explained, “I heard that Dong Lin Academy, Qing Ya Academy, and Yue Lu Academy are together called the three great academies of the Ning Dynasty. It’s a place where talented scholars from all over the world flock. They say the monthly tuition silver is very expensive, and only children of aristocratic families can go there to study. Three tenths of the successful candidates from every imperial examination are students of Dong Lin Academy.”

“A wanderer returning home after three years, it should indeed be lively… Who is the principal wife between Jing Fei and Yun Fei? Whose child is Zhu Yunxi?”

Hei Yun answered, “Neither of them is the principal wife. The principal wife was Zhu Yunxi’s mother, who passed away many years ago… I’ll go back to Chi Xing Yuan first!”

Seeing that they were about to arrive at the door of He Yi Guan, it suddenly jumped down from Chen Ji’s embrace and disappeared in a flash.

Chen Ji walked forward around a corner and suddenly saw Elder Yao standing at the door with an expressionless face, asking, “Where did you go?”

Chen Ji thought, If I say I took a small cat to find its mother, you definitely won’t believe it…

He answered, “Today is a day off, I forgot something at home, so I went back to get it.”

Elder Yao frowned, the wrinkles on his forehead squeezed together. “Actually, today’s tuition silver wasn’t given by your family, was it?”

Chen Ji was startled.

Elder Yao gave a cold laugh. “I felt something was wrong at the time. Your principal mother is originally narrow-minded. Initially, to avoid paying the ten taels of silver monthly tuition for Dong Lin Academy, she sent you here as an apprentice. It’s already not bad that she can pay your tuition silver, how could she possibly buy so many gifts to honor me?”

Chen Ji was silent, not knowing how to answer.

Elder Yao said doubtfully again, “Wait, since the money wasn’t given by your family, where did your tuition silver come from? You didn’t by any chance patronize some family’s woman…”

Saying this, Elder Yao’s face changed drastically, his beard almost flying up in anger. “You are a He Yi Guan apprentice, no matter how good or bad. If doing that kind of thing spreads out, how is it different from you directly pulling shit into my pants pocket?”

Chen Ji: “…Ah?”

“Ah what ah?”

Chen Ji hurriedly said, “You misunderstand. How could I possibly do that kind of thing?”

“Then where did this money come from?”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment. “Master, I can’t say. I don’t want to implicate you.”

Elder Yao sized him up and down. “Mi Die Si? You’re helping Mi Die Si do things?”

Chen Ji sighed. No wonder people often say that old people become shrewd. He only revealed this little information and was guessed right by the other side.

He only explained, “Master, Yun Yang came to find me. I had no choice.”

Elder Yao stared at him for a long time, then turned and walked into the medical hall. “Whether you could choose or not, you’ve already chosen. I don’t care and won’t ask. You just need to pay the tuition silver every month. If you die outside one day, it’s best not to let me know… Quickly go to sleep!”

The big door of the medical hall closed. At the corner at the end of An Xi Street, three people walked out. Yun Yang, with his arms crossed in front of his chest, muttered, “Imperial Physician Yao doesn’t seem to like our Mi Die Si very much.”

Jiao Tu shrugged. “It’s very normal for him not to like us.”

Yun Yang looked at the third person. “Meng Ji, that little apprentice is the person I want to interrogate. I want to confirm whether he is a spy of the Jing Dynasty.”

The man named Meng Ji wore a bright brown double-collar big front, with dozens of brightly colored wild pheasants embroidered on his robe, as if it were a costume.

Meng Ji touched his neat sideburns and said softly, “A small apprentice, is it worth you making such a big fuss? And even specially inviting me from Kai Feng Fu.”

“I pay the money, you do the work. I’ve told you all the information that should be told. Don’t ask about anything else,” Yun Yang said calmly.

“Okay, I guarantee you’ll be satisfied. What you want to do in the dream, I say it counts,” Meng Ji laughed sharply. Jiao Tu couldn’t help but rub the goosebumps on his arm.

Yun Yang asked curiously, “I’ve always had a question. Why do you dare to openly show your cultivation path? Aren’t you afraid of inviting disaster?”

Meng Ji laughed. “Prime Minister Nei said that there is only one person in the world who cultivates this path. What disaster can I invite?”

Then he sat cross-legged on the ground and took out a yellow talisman paper from his embrace.

Meng Ji bit his finger, drew and wrote on the talisman paper with fresh blood, and finally wrapped a wisp of hair with the talisman paper and swallowed it!

In an instant, Meng Ji’s pupils flipped upwards, his eyes actually only showing the whites!

…

…

Chen Ji didn’t return to his room to rest. He only lightly and quietly lit an oil lamp in the main hall of the medical hall, silently flipping through the General Outline of Medical Arts.

Just the six hundred and eighteen acupuncture points within the human body’s twelve main meridians were all very difficult to memorize.

He seemed to be back in the classroom in the hot summer, with piles of scrolls and books in front of him, and the sound of loud reading by his ear. The memories of learning were almost the most profound memories of every student in their youth, accompanying the rise and set of the sun, emitting rumbling sounds.

At this moment, Chen Ji wished there was a five-year Chinese medicine three-year simulation in front of him.

While studying, he suddenly felt sleepiness attacking, as if in a gentle season, his whole body was wrapped by warm seawater, wrapping him and drifting towards the deep part of the ocean.

Chen Ji became alert. Ever since he lit the four furnace fires in his body, he had always been full of energy. This kind of sleepiness came without reason.

But, no matter how alert he was, he still slowly closed his eyes.

He didn’t know how long had passed. Chen Ji opened his eyes in a dream. He suddenly stood in front of the vermilion-lacquered big door of Zhou Chengyi’s residence.

Huh, what did he come here to do?

Chen Ji looked at the medicine package wrapped in yellow hemp paper in his hand, with “He Yi Guan” written on it, and then raised his head to look at the “Zhou Fu” plaque.

Right, he was here to deliver tonic medicine to Master Zhou.

Dong dong dong, Chen Ji picked up the copper ring and knocked on the door. Everything seemed very natural, he had already forgotten that this was a dream.

With a creak, the vermilion-lacquered big door opened, and he saw Steward Wang inside, welcoming him with a smiling face. “Little Doctor Chen has come? Please come in quickly.”

“Where is Master Zhou? I’ve brought the medicinal materials he wants,” Chen Ji followed Steward Wang inside, and the big door slowly closed behind them.

Chen Ji looked around. Maidservants were wiping red wood furniture in the main room. In the courtyard, a woman was holding a small girl with a smile, and beside her, a small boy was kicking a chicken feather shuttlecock.

Steward Wang led him into the main room. Chen Ji felt especially familiar with this place, but couldn’t remember where he had seen it.

At this time, Zhou Chengyi was sitting behind the desk, holding a brush and copying a book. Seeing Chen Ji come in, he dismissed the steward and maidservants.

Chen Ji put the medicine package on the table. “Master Zhou, this is your medicine.”

Zhou Chengyi raised his head and suddenly asked, “Does Jing Wang have any new news to deliver to me?”

Chen Ji was startled for a moment. “Master Zhou, what are you saying?”

Zhou Chengyi’s voice gradually sank. “You’ve forgotten, you and I are spies sent to the south by the Jing Dynasty’s military intelligence department. I’m responsible for contacting the Liu family, and you’re responsible for contacting Jing Wang! I ask you again, does Jing Wang’s side have any new news?”

Chen Ji frowned and didn’t answer, his mind quickly racing.

Then he heard Zhou Chengyi asking again and again, “Have you forgotten your identity?”

“Have you forgotten how the Jing Dynasty’s military intelligence department cultivated you?”

Zhou Chengyi’s voice became more and more grand, more and more penetrating. “Have you forgotten that you are a spy?”

Sentence after sentence of questions pierced his ears like a magical sound, making Chen Ji’s head dizzy. He only felt as if his consciousness was being controlled, and he involuntarily rolled his eyes white.

The next moment, Chen Ji’s eyes were only white, and he answered, “Master Zhou, are you misunderstanding? I’m not a spy!”

Zhou Chengyi showed a satisfied smile. He had already gotten the answer he wanted and could find Yun Yang to complete the transaction.

However, he became curious again. “How do you and Yun Yang know each other?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Ji only felt that in his dantian, the four furnace fires ignited, burning away all the goblins, ghosts, and demons in his body!

Zhou Chengyi stood up completely unaware, supported the table with both hands, and leaned forward. “Why does Yun Yang suspect you are a Jing Dynasty spy? What’s special about you that makes Yun Yang not directly kill you?”

This last sentence was no longer Zhou Chengyi’s original voice, but had changed into a sharp throat sound.

At this time, Chen Ji’s pupils actually flipped back, and he turned and walked towards the outside!

“Zhou Chengyi” stared at Chen Ji turning and walking towards the outside, as if no one else were there. He walked to the vermilion-lacquered big door and fiercely pulled it open.

When “Zhou Chengyi” saw the big door open, Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were standing outside, smiling playfully. He was shocked and said, “Um? Yun Yang, Jiao Tu, how did you enter my dream?”

Wait!

Something’s not right!

“Zhou Chengyi” clearly realized that it was impossible for Yun Yang and Jiao Tu to invade his dream, and he had never created Yun Yang and Jiao Tu in this dream…

The Yun Yang and Jiao Tu in front of him were fictionalized by Chen Ji, this little apprentice, in the dream!

The dream was no longer completely under his control!

Then he heard Chen Ji think for a moment, point at “Zhou Chengyi,” and say to Yun Yang and Jiao Tu, “Master Yun Yang, Master Jiao Tu, Zhou Chengyi is a spy of the Jing Dynasty, without a doubt!”

Yun Yang asked with interest, “Do you have evidence?”

Chen Ji affirmed, “Does Mi Die Si need evidence to catch spies? Just stab him!”

“Zhou Chengyi” looked at Yun Yang and Jiao Tu flying towards him and suddenly roared, “Wait… Ah!”