“There are at least twenty shops selling Xuan paper in Luocheng, and all of them have powerful officials and nobles behind them. Which one should I go to?” Jiao Tu rolled her eyes.

Chen Ji said, “Then you’ll have to ask Lord Zhou.”

Jiao Tu jumped down from Zhou Chengyi’s back. The others flipped over, asking, “Lord Zhou?”

“Ah, Lord Zhou?!”

They saw Zhou Chengyi’s face was ashen, his eyes wide open, already dead.

“Jiao Tu, you accidentally killed him!” Yun Yang exclaimed in surprise.

Jiao Tu rolled her eyes, “Don’t put the blame on me, he was poisoned to death.”

Yun Yang was surprised, “His poison sac was picked out by me!”

Jiao Tu said, “He must have hidden poison elsewhere in his body. It was a pretense to kill this boy just now; the real intention was to secretly take the poison from his body.”

“That’s still your responsibility, you were in charge of guarding him.”

“If you blame me again, I’ll get angry.”

Yun Yang said, “Sorry, it was an instinctive reaction…”

Jiao Tu looked at Chen Ji, “Finding them one by one is too slow. If we drag this out for too long, we’ll definitely lose this big fish. Do you have any ideas?”

Chen Ji slowly stood up and walked to the table, his palm gently stroking the texture of the Xuan paper. “Xuan paper is all handmade. Each craftsman has different habits. Some like to add more Qingtan bark, some like to add a bit more straw. Some like to grind the pulp finer when using the stone mill, some are lazy and grind it coarser. The craft of Xuan paper determines its price… If we can find the same paper, we can find the shop.”

Jiao Tu leaned closer and bent down to carefully examine the texture of the Xuan paper. Before this, all Xuan paper looked the same to her.

…

…

At this moment, there was a knock at the door outside the courtyard. Someone picked up the copper ring on the main door of Zhou mansion and rhythmically struck the large door.

Outside the door, a weathered, hoarse voice asked, “Lord Zhou, is Chen Ji in your mansion?”

Instantly, Yun Yang, Jiao Tu, all the black-clothed men in the courtyard, and Chen Ji all looked towards the source of the sound.

Thump, thump, thump.

The knocking sound rang out again. The beast-head ring on the large door struck the red lacquered door, not hurried, not slow, yet with an inexplicable sense of oppression.

In the deep, quiet night, the knocking sound seemed particularly abrupt.

The black-clothed men in the courtyard slowly drew their waist knives, waiting silently for Yun Yang’s instructions.

These people were the elites among elites. Chen Ji recalled that since he had transmigrated, not a single person had said an unnecessary word.

Thump, thump, thump.

The person outside saw there was no response, and that weathered voice asked again, “Chen Ji, are you inside?”

Chen Ji was a little bewildered.

Who would come looking for him?

He looked at Yun Yang and saw the young man’s face was uncertain, between light and shadow. After a moment of thought, he signaled to a black-clothed man with his eyes, “Drag all the corpses into the room.”

Jiao Tu looked at Yun Yang, “Who is coming?”

“No need to be nervous, I heard who it is,” Yun Yang went to lift the door bolt.

The large door opened, revealing the black night outside. Standing there was a hunched old man. He wore a gray long gown and a pair of white-soled black cloth shoes. His face was full of wrinkles like the gullies in parched land.

The old man’s beard reached his chest, his hair was tied up with a green hairpin, and both his beard and hair were snow-white, incredibly old.

The old man was also surprised to see Yun Yang. Yun Yang then put on a smiling face, “Imperial Physician Yao, long time no see. Are your bones still strong?”

The old man was silent for a moment, “It’s you. You shouldn’t be in the capital. How did you come to Luocheng?”

Yun Yang explained, “I came for some temporary matters. Just happened to visit Lord Zhou tonight and met Chen Ji, so I kept him to talk.”

The old man asked, “Is the Inner Minister’s leg ailment better?”

“Much better, much better. He still praises you as a divine doctor. The wind chill he caught years ago in the Charcoal Bureau is finally cured,” Yun Yang said with a smile, “It’s a pity you didn’t stay in the capital, otherwise the Holy One would have summoned you into the palace long ago.”

“I cannot cure the Holy One’s illness,” the old man changed the subject, “Chen Ji, the medicine has been delivered, it’s time to go back.”

Yun Yang thought for a moment, “Chen Ji, hurry and follow your master back. Look how concerned Imperial Physician Yao is for you, coming all this way to pick you up at such an old age.”

Chen Ji didn’t expect Yun Yang would actually be willing to let him go… It seemed to be because the old man mentioned ‘Inner Minister’?

He quickly walked out, passing by Jiao Tu, who grabbed him, “Don’t talk nonsense when you go back. We’ll still come find you.”

Chen Ji didn’t say anything, quickly walked out the door, “Master, let’s go back.”

“Okay.”

Imperial Physician Yao walked towards the depths of the long street with his hands behind his back, his back hunched, swaying as he walked, without asking another word.

Chen Ji felt two gazes like hooks staring at his back. He turned his head to look and saw Yun Yang and Jiao Tu standing at the door looking at him with a half-smile.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were both dressed in black. They were both very handsome, with straight backs. They were the kind of people who were pleasant to look at even with a single glance on the street.

But these two people, when they killed, they didn’t even blink, as if human lives were the cheapest things in this world.

Vipers, this was Chen Ji’s deepest impression of the two of them.

Chen Ji trotted two steps to follow the old man. With a bang, the large door of Zhou mansion closed behind them.

Huff, Chen Ji let out a breath.

This seemed like a world where human lives were like grass.

At the beginning of his transmigration, he didn’t have much desire to survive. He was just observing everything like a bystander. His own life or death actually wasn’t very important.

But since he could be reborn once, then did his parents also have a chance to be reborn? This was extremely important to him.

He had to survive first.

“Master, thank you for coming to pick me up,” Chen Ji’s words were sincere, very sincere.

The old man sighed, “I knew tonight was the Secret Spy Office’s people. I wouldn’t have come.”

Chen Ji: “…”

What did that mean?

Did he not want a disciple?

The old man muttered to himself, “Strange, I clearly calculated the divination before going out and it was a great omen. I even thought I could pick up a gold ingot… Auspicious my foot.”

These words made Chen Ji confused, “Master, aren’t you going to ask about tonight…”

The old man walked in front, raising a hand behind him to block the topic, “You wait, absolutely don’t tell me. I don’t want to know about troublesome things like this at all. Knowing will definitely bring no good. I can live to be ninety-two years old by minding my own business.”

Chen Ji, “You’re quite good at seeking fortune and avoiding disaster…”

The old man stopped, “The medicine has been delivered, where’s the medicine money?”

Chen Ji was stunned. How would he know about the medicine money? “I forgot to ask Lord Zhou for it…”

The old man turned back unhappily, “Go back and ask them for it.”

Chen Ji was simply decisive, “I’m not going.”

The old man thought for a long time, “Then you’ll make up for this medicine money.”

Chen Ji changed the subject, “…Are you very familiar with them?”

The old man said, “I dealt with them in the capital years ago. This group of people are heartless and cruel, always doing things that anger both heaven and men. Later, if I met them on the street, I would pretend not to recognize them. Or, if you meet me on the street later, it’s fine if you pretend not to recognize me.”

Chen Ji: “…”

The old man muttered to himself, “A big figure from the Secret Spy Office came in person. Luocheng probably won’t be too peaceful.”

The long street was quiet. Luocheng seemed to be asleep. Even the usually lively East Market had quieted down, with many lights extinguished.

A watchman, holding a white lantern and a creaking wooden rattle, passed them face to face, leisurely knocking the gong for the third watch, shouting about the dry weather and being careful with fire.

When they reached a crossroads, Chen Ji suddenly saw his master take out three copper coins from his sleeve.

The next second, the old man raised his head and looked at the stars, then squatted down and divined on the bluestone road by throwing the copper coins six times. “Hmm… Walk to the left.”

“Master, is there danger on the right?” Chen Ji was curious.

“There’s no danger, but the divination image shows I might meet a beggar. After getting old, I’ve become more sympathetic. If I saw one, I might give him money, so I’ll just take a detour and not see one,” the old man explained indifferently.

Chen Ji: “…”

…

…

Inside Zhou mansion, Jiao Tu squatted on a Taishi chair, holding her chin and looking at the night sky, “Just let him go like that? Because his master knows the Inner Minister?”

“How so? The Inner Minister is a heartless and cruel person who won’t recognize anyone if they get in his way. Not to mention Imperial Physician Yao’s disciple, if he truly blocked the Inner Minister’s path, Imperial Physician Yao would also have to die.”

Jiao Tu sighed, “Alright, do you think that boy is a Jing Dynasty spy?”

“Certainly,” Yun Yang affirmed, “Where would an ordinary apprentice be able to withstand my several needles? He would have fainted from the pain long ago. Besides, look at his ability to adapt to changes, which is definitely not something a medical hall apprentice can do.”

Jiao Tu was puzzled, “Then why let him go?”

Yun Yang smiled, “If he really is a spy, then he came to meet with Zhou Chengyi tonight to exchange information. The Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department would definitely know about this matter. After Zhou Chengyi disappeared tonight, if he is still alive, the Military Intelligence Department will definitely judge that he betrayed Zhou Chengyi.”

Jiao Tu’s eyes lit up, “Jing Dynasty is always strict with traitors, and they will definitely send people to eliminate him. At that time, we can catch the people who come to kill him and earn another merit!”

“Correct!”

After a long while, a black-clothed man came back to report, “Two adults, according to the Xuan paper texture, we found two corresponding Xuan paper shops. The shopkeepers and assistants inside are being escorted to the Luocheng Inner Prison.”

Jiao Tu stood up, “I’ll go interrogate them tonight!”

Yun Yang stretched lazily, “Then I’ll handle the corpses. After I’m done, I’ll go back to rest early.”

“First, let’s talk about how our merits will be calculated!”

“Of course it’s fifty-fifty.”

“No.”

Yun Yang raised his eyebrows, “Why not.”

Jiao Tu, “I killed nine people tonight, you only killed six. Zhou Chengyi was also captured by me. Sixty-forty, otherwise don’t ask me to act with you later.”

Yun Yang sighed, “Interpersonal relationships between colleagues are really harder to handle than corpses. Sixty-forty then sixty-forty.”

Jiao Tu jumped down from the Taishi chair and excitedly walked away with the black-clothed men, leaving only Yun Yang to clean up.

When everyone had left, Yun Yang took out ten or so palm-sized… shadow play figures from his sleeve.

He pierced the wrist of each corpse one by one with a silver needle and squeezed out drops of fresh blood from inside.

Following that, he used the drops of fresh blood on the silver needle to dot the eyes of each shadow play figure.

The blood penetrated the eyes of the shadow play figures, a deep red. The little people seemed to come alive.

“Done!”

The next moment, all the dead bodies in the courtyard surprisingly stood up one by one, expressionlessly following Yun Yang towards the outside of Zhou mansion.

A row of people lined up and walked on the long street,不知道 for how long. Yun Yang suddenly saw a small beggar huddled on the roadside, covered with a straw mat. Because of the cold weather, the little beggar was curled up in a ball.

After gazing at the other for a long time, Yun Yang took out a string of copper coins from his sleeve and threw them on the ground, then led the ten or so corpses into the dark night.