General Wang asked gravely, “Miss Chunhua, have you found anything?”

Chunhua, suppressing a sob, replied, “No…”

She turned, her eyes red, looking at She Dengke in disbelief. She Dengke’s eyes, meanwhile, held a mixture of doubt and relief.

General Wang looked from Chunhua to She Dengke, his voice growing colder. “Miss Chunhua, next time please call us when you have concrete evidence. We, the Thousand-Year Guard, are the Prince’s protectors, not petty constables searching for lost chickens or dogs. Let’s go.”

The guards were about to leave when Old Man Yao unexpectedly stepped in front of them and stated calmly, “Apologize.”

General Wang paused for a moment, then turned to Chen Ji. “My apologies, we have caused much offense!”

Chen Ji slowly replied, “I’d trouble General Wang to clarify things for me at the entrance, otherwise, my neighbors won’t interact with me anymore.”

General Wang shook his head. “I cannot do that. Let’s go!”

The Prince’s guards came quickly and left just as fast. Chunhua looked at She Dengke, her lips parting as if to speak, but she hesitated. Her eyes eventually reddened, and she turned to leave, exclaiming, “You’re going to get me killed!”

“Wait!” Chen Ji called out.

Chunhua stopped and turned to look at Chen Ji, saying with a hint of fear, “What do you want to do? I didn’t want to, but I had no choice.”

“May I have a word with you aside?”

Chen Ji led Chunhua to the entrance and said softly, “Please tell Consort Jing when you go back that she and I don’t need to be enemies. Liu Shiyu was not killed by me, nor by the Secret Intelligence Bureau; he was silenced by the Liu family. Since I could help her find the lead-barium glass cup last time, I can also help her get revenge this time. Go back; deliver this message, and you should be fine.”

Chunhua froze for a moment, then turned and left.

Chen Ji stood in front of the medical hall, listening to the surrounding murmurs and watching Chunhua’s retreating figure.

The sun set in the west, and the orange-red light gradually faded from him until he was enveloped by night.

The Secret Intelligence Bureau, the Military Intelligence Bureau, Consort Jing, Consort Yun—each of these was a colossal power in this world, seemingly able to crush him with a mere lift of a hand.

Chen Ji’s fate was not his to control; as a newcomer, he could only survive by carving out a niche.

But now there was also a chessboard before him. He gently placed a piece on the “Spring Corner” at the edge; perhaps it wouldn’t determine the outcome, but when he played chess, he always took unconventional paths, never making a common move.

He returned to the medical hall, only to see Old Man Yao glaring at She Dengke. “Have your wings hardened?” he demanded. “Kneel!”

She Dengke obediently knelt on the ground, crying profusely. “Master, I didn’t expect it to be like this,” he sobbed. “Chunhua said Consort Jing made her do it, or she would kill her tonight. Chunhua told me she only needed to hide a bead in Chen Ji’s clothes to get Chen Ji expelled from the Imperial Medical Institute. She took out all her savings from many years, saying it was to compensate Chen Ji so he could also start a small business after leaving the medical hall.”

As he spoke, She Dengke pulled out three silver ingots, two silver hairpins, two silver bracelets, and thirty-six copper coins from his bosom.

Old Man Yao turned to Chen Ji. “This is your matter. What’s your decision?”

Chen Ji stood in silence.

Chunhua could have given ten, fifty, or even five hundred taels of silver, but she specifically gave thirty taels of silver and thirty-six copper coins, because that was all she had.

But could he forgive? No, he couldn’t.

He knew that in this era, a girl like Chunhua had no choice. If she didn’t comply, Consort Jing would truly kill her.

But if he were truly framed, would the outcome simply be expulsion from the Imperial Medical Institute? No, he would surely be beaten to death by Chunrong and her robust servants.

He had thought he could treat the medical hall as his home and his fellow apprentices as his family, but reality never unfolded as one expected.

The most messed-up thing about this world is that it won’t spare you just because you’re a good person.

Chen Ji was not a good person either.

He picked up the silver, bracelets, hairpins, and copper coins from the ground. “I’ll accept these things. But Senior Brother She, you and Chunhua each owe me a life. When I tell you to repay it, you must repay it. Is that acceptable?”

She Dengke nodded frantically. “Yes! Yes!”

Chen Ji turned and walked back to the main hall of the medical institute. Liu Quxing looked at his retreating back, wanting to speak but hesitating, feeling as if nothing he said now would matter.

Old Man Yao looked down at the kneeling She Dengke. “You’ve been bewitched by a woman, you fool. Go kneel inside. Don’t be an eyesore here. Although Chen Ji isn’t pursuing this, if it happens again, this medical hall won’t be able to keep you.”

At night, Taiping Medical Hall grew quiet, as if nothing had happened during the day.

Chen Ji stood behind the counter, propping up his chin.

Wuyun walked out from the shadows, lightly jumped onto the counter and sat down, then spat a perfectly round pearl into Chen Ji’s palm.

It meowed, “Don’t be sad, don’t be angry.”

Chen Ji hid the pearl in his sleeve. “I’m not sad, nor am I angry. Sadness and anger are useless emotions for the weak… Let’s talk about something happy, let’s count our money!”

“I have now ignited a total of sixteen furnace fires. I feel like defeating a secret agent wouldn’t be a problem. When I was restrained by the Prince’s guards today, I felt like I could completely break free from them. I wonder how many furnace fires I need to ignite to defeat Sicao, Lin Chaoqing, Yunyang, and Jiaotu…”

“The pearl can’t be sold now; I’ll sell it in another city later. Earlier, I bought six ginseng roots at Bailu Pavilion. One was returned to Old Man Yao; the remaining five cost a total of one hundred ninety-five taels of silver… Counting the fifty taels under the bed and the money Chunhua compensated me with, we still have eighty-five taels of silver and one hundred twenty-one copper coins left.”

Wuyun asked confusedly, “How many roasted chickens can that buy?”

Chen Ji calculated for a long time but couldn’t figure it out. “…A lot, anyway! When I bought ginseng, that Sicao didn’t give any discount at all. What do you think, should I try to become the Military Intelligence Bureau’s ‘Sea Eagle’ in Luocheng and become the manager of Bailu Pavilion? It’s perfect since I study traditional Chinese medicine, and the profession also matches.”

If I could manage Bailu Pavilion, even if I didn’t embezzle funds, I could still buy ginseng at cost price, right?!

Just then, Wuyun pricked up its ears. It heard faint but hurried footsteps outside the door; several people were approaching the medical hall.

“Chen Ji, someone’s coming, several of them!”

“Hush,” Chen Ji whispered, blowing out the oil lamp, and quietly went behind the door panel to listen.

Who could it be?

The Ning Dynasty’s Secret Intelligence Bureau or the Jing Dynasty’s Military Intelligence Bureau? Or was Consort Jing not giving up, sending people to kill him again?

This was the predicament of having multiple identities. When someone came to assassinate him, Chen Ji couldn’t even determine who was making the move.

However, before he could figure it out, he heard a voice from the backyard: “Hurry, be quieter!”

Chen Ji sharply turned his head, looking through the corridor between the main hall and the backyard, only to see a tall figure climbing into the courtyard!

Surrounded!

He gestured to Wuyun, telling it to hide in the shadows, then drew a short knife used for cutting herbs from behind the counter and quietly crept towards them to ambush.

A faint sweat beaded in Chen Ji’s palm. With ten or so people surrounding him from front and back, such an elaborate encirclement and assassination was definitely not something he could handle.

But before he could reach the backyard, he saw a small monk climbing over the wall that separated the medical hall from the Prince’s mansion!

The little monk’s head was smooth and gleaming in the moonlight as he grunted and struggled to clamber over the courtyard wall. As for the one who had already climbed over, Chen Ji took a closer look—wasn’t it the Prince of Jing’s heir, who had been so splendidly dressed and mounted that day?

In his astonishment, a voice came from Anxi Street outside the medical hall’s entrance: “Everyone, please be patient, the heir will be out soon!”

Chen Ji looked back at the main entrance, then at the heir and the little monk in the courtyard, and then at the one climbing over the wall… Princess Baili.

Chen Ji: Huh?

In the middle of the night, he had thought Consort Jing sent more than ten people to assassinate him, but it turned out to be a misunderstanding.

Chen Ji slapped the little monk’s bald head and grumbled, “Hey, what are you doing?”

At his words, the little monk and the heir were startled. Princess Baili, who was climbing the wall, quickly pulled her head back, only to stealthily peek out again a moment later, looking towards the medical hall’s backyard.

Under the moonlight, Chen Ji held his knife, the slender girl clung to the wall, and the heir and the little monk looked guilty, like thieves. No one had expected them to meet this way.

Just like how all stories begin, people’s encounters are sometimes unexpected.

Chen Ji raised an eyebrow and asked, “Heir, isn’t it inappropriate to climb over someone’s courtyard wall in the middle of the night?”

The heir was puzzled. “You know me?”

Chen Ji sneered, “Yes, I even held you when you were a child.”

The heir: “…”

Zhu Baili, clinging to the wall, burst out laughing. “Brother, he’s mocking you.”

“Be quieter,” the heir hissed. “Don’t attract the guards!”

The heir, looking at the medical apprentice before him, wasn’t angry. He came over with a grin, wanting to put an arm around Chen Ji, but after seeing the short knife in Chen Ji’s hand, he sheepishly retreated. “It’s like this, little brother,” he said, “you know who we are. The Prince’s mansion has a curfew at night; no free movement is allowed. So, we’re just borrowing a path through your medical hall. Don’t worry, we definitely won’t damage any property!”

A Prince’s mansion curfew? Chen Ji hadn’t heard of it, but combining it with what the heir said earlier about “the old man being strict,” perhaps this curfew was specifically for the heir and princess.

So instead of using the main gate of the Prince’s mansion, they chose to climb over the medical hall’s wall.

As he pondered, the little monk observed Chen Ji in the moonlight, his eyes suddenly lighting up. “So it’s you! Are you at this medical hall?”

The heir was puzzled and quietly asked, “You two know each other?”

The little monk smiled and said, “Yes, we met during the day. He’s a very impressive person. I originally wanted to ask him for advice, but he disappeared into the crowd.”