Chapter 18: The Unreturning Guest

Outside Zhou Manor, shouts and firelight blazed. Inside, over ten warhorses belonging to the secret agents, tied to trees in the courtyard, stomped uneasily, agitated by the commotion.

Someone forcefully pushed against the main gate of Zhou Manor, making the bolted door rattle and groan.

Yun Yang looked at Chen Ji: "The Liu family might break through the gate in less than a quarter of an hour. At that point, no one can guarantee what will happen. Can you find the evidence within a quarter of an hour?"

Another quarter of an hour.

Chen Ji asked himself if he could truly decipher the book's secrets in a quarter of an hour. It was impossible.

His face hidden by the grey cloth mask, he lowered his head in thought for a moment before replying, "A quarter of an hour isn't enough; I need at least..."

Outside Zhou Manor, someone loudly roared, interrupting his thoughts: "Listen, you people inside! Come out at once and explain yourselves clearly to us! If you have evidence, present it! If not, the murderer must pay with their life!"

Yun Yang tucked the hem of his robe into his belt, casually drew a long saber from a secret agent's waist beside him, and walked towards the gate. "Qitiao, Wubing, guard this gate properly for me! Jiao Tu, watch the back wall. Anyone who dares to break in will be considered a rebel and killed without mercy! Chen Ji, you have one quarter of an hour to find the evidence, or we all die here together!"

Chen Ji no longer hesitated. He turned, closed the door, and entered the house, shutting out the commotion from outside.

He opened the copy of "Annotations on the Four Books and Their Chapters" transcribed by Zhou Chengyi, rapidly sifting through it using all the ancient cipher techniques he knew, trying to determine which method was used to transmit the hidden message.

Was it word hiding? No.

Was it character verification? No...

Could it be character dissection?

So-called 'character dissection' involves hiding information by breaking down characters, for example, "thousand li grass" forming the character 'Dong', or "ten day divining" forming 'Zhuo'.

If it was character dissection, they were in trouble. It wasn't difficult to crack, but the workload was immense; it would be impossible to decipher in just a few days!

Time passed minute by minute. The main gate of Zhou Manor could be breached at any moment by the enraged crowd. In the cool autumn air, fine beads of sweat formed on Chen Ji's forehead.

It wasn't character dissection. Chen Ji had searched for a long time, but found no clues consistent with that method!

What now?

Chen Ji closed the book and shut his eyes, deep in thought...

Wait!

The answer to a problem is often not found within the problem itself!

A flash of inspiration struck Chen Ji. He turned back to the bookshelf and began searching, book after book... The more books he examined, the brighter his eyes became.

At that moment, the noise outside gradually subsided. The quiet that followed the commotion had an eerie quality.

Someone called out loudly from beyond the gate: "Liu Mingxian of the Liu family requests an audience with Lord Yun Yang. Please open the gate."

The secret agents silently looked at Yun Yang.

Jiao Tu whispered, "Liu Mingxian, son of Grand Secretary Liu, grandson of the elder Master Liu. He's currently in charge of the Liu family's second branch and serves as the Registrar of Luocheng, a fifth-rank official."

Yun Yang considered for a moment, then tossed the long saber in his hand to a secret agent. "Open the gate. Let's not diminish the prestige of our Secret Service!"

With a creak, the vermilion lacquered main gate slowly swung inward. Outside, hundreds of people holding torches waited silently.

Liu Mingxian stood out from the crowd on horseback, like a crane among chickens.

He was draped in white sackcloth, wore a mourning hat, and his eyes were red-rimmed. Even the brown horse he rode had white silk flowers tied to its chest.

Yun Yang walked forward, finally stopping just inside the threshold. "Lord Liu, gathering hundreds of people in the middle of the night to besiege the Secret Service—are you attempting rebellion?"

"I wouldn't dare," Liu Mingxian replied hoarsely, gripping the reins tightly. "We merely wish to ask Lord Yun Yang why you have arrested members of my Liu family without cause. Do you have any evidence?"

"Of course we do!" Yun Yang stated confidently.

"Then produce it for us to see! If a member of my Liu family is truly guilty, we will accept their punishment!"

Yun Yang shook his head. "I cannot show it to you now. This matter involves state secrets and must be presented to the Grand Secretary."

Liu Mingxian urged his horse forward, confronting Yun Yang through the doorway. He angrily declared, "So there is no evidence! If you simply dismiss me like this, where will the honor of my Liu family, generations of high officials, be? How can my grandfather rest in peace? And how am I to explain this to the Empress Dowager?"

"Lord Liu, I advise you not to incur the grave crime of rebellion," Yun Yang said, unwilling to engage further. He retreated step by step into the shadows of Zhou Manor. "Close the gates! If anyone dares to step one foot inside Zhou Manor, they will be treated as rebels!"

The gates closed again. The flickering torchlight made Liu Mingxian's face appear somewhat distorted. "The eunuch faction is ruining the country; they are merely the Poisonous Chancellor's hounds... Call Liang Gou'er and have him ready to breach the gate at any moment."

A young man hesitated. "Second Uncle, Liang Gou'er was drinking in Red-Clothed Lane tonight. He might be asleep in some girl's room by now... Do we really need to use him?"

Liu Mingxian scoffed, "A soldier is trained for a thousand days to be used for one moment. Tell him to get over here quickly with his rusty saber. If I don't see him soon, I'll cut off his drinking money and stop his supply of medicinal herbs for cultivation. Someone, bring firewood and pile it against the base of Zhou Manor's walls! We'll set it alight later to force them out!"

Yun Yang, who had returned quickly, was no longer as calm as before. "Jiao Tu, they intend to kill us!"

Jiao Tu blinked. "Liu Mingxian wants to rebel?"

Yun Yang sighed. "He didn't bring Luocheng's troops tonight, clearly treating this as a family matter. If he's determined to avenge his grandfather, he might be exiled afterwards, but you and I would die in vain. Matters like this can be interpreted broadly or narrowly; its classification is merely a word from the court officials. Civilian officials seizing power! No wonder Jin Zhu said this achievement would be a hot potato when I left the capital. He was shrewd..."

Jiao Tu blinked again. "So what do we do? Let's run before they surround the back wall."

Yun Yang hesitated. "If we just run, what about the prestige of my Secret Service?"

Jiao Tu rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm running then."

Yun Yang: "We run together!"

"But there's a problem," Jiao Tu said, smiling at Chen Ji. "What about him? The secret agents can fight their way out, but if there are masters hidden among the Liu family's ranks, bringing him along would be a burden."

As she spoke, the two exchanged glances, then both looked at Chen Ji.

Yun Yang, expressionless, picked up the two copies of "Annotations on the Four Books and Their Chapters" from the table. "Leave him here. We have the books; someone in the Secret Service will naturally be able to decipher them."

Jiao Tu said, "We'll have to kill the boy. Otherwise, if he falls into the Liu family's hands, they'll know we have no evidence, and he'll become a witness." These two scorpion-like figures changed their minds faster than turning a page, having already decided to abandon Chen Ji. Jiao Tu gestured to the secret agents, who silently sheathed their sabers and quickly retreated towards the back wall, even abandoning their warhorses.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu had expected Chen Ji to cry out, begging them to take him with them, but he didn't.

Chen Ji stood before the bookshelf, rapidly pulling down and flipping through books, one after another, as if he hadn't heard Yun Yang and Jiao Tu's conversation.

He didn't examine each book closely; most were quickly skimmed and then discarded onto the floor, as if he were searching for something specific.

A thick layer of discarded books already covered the floor around Chen Ji's feet, almost reaching his knees.

Finally, he dropped all the books to the floor and fell into deep thought.

Just as Jiao Tu was about to silence him, Chen Ji suddenly spoke, asking, "Do the two of you no longer wish to find the evidence of the Liu family's collusion with the enemy?"

Chen Ji closed the book in his hands and stepped out from the pile of books.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu exchanged glances. Jiao Tu asked curiously, "Why do I feel like he's a bit different from that night?"

"He is different."

"Oh," Jiao Tu tilted her head, examining Chen Ji. "Have you cracked the secret in that book?"

Chen Ji stated confidently, "I already know where the evidence of the Liu family's collusion with the enemy is."

Yun Yang asked doubtfully, "You're not lying just to make us take you with us, are you?"

Chen Ji replied, "I'm just a lowly apprentice from a medical clinic. Even if I tricked you into taking me out, wouldn't you still kill me afterwards?"

Yun Yang looked at him with a half-smile. "Then tell us, where is the evidence?"

Chen Ji tightened the grey cloth mask on his face slightly and calmly analyzed, "Tonight is a struggle between the Empress's clan and the Directorate of Ceremonial. The Grand Secretary clearly knows you are not adept at handling such situations, yet he didn't send more experienced or worldly people. He intends to use your personalities as blades to strike at the Liu family. If you two run away without finding evidence, I'm afraid you won't escape punishment when you return to the Directorate of Ceremonial, will you?"

"Are you threatening me?" Yun Yang narrowed his eyes.

"Lord Yun Yang," Chen Ji responded, "even if I tell you where the evidence is right now, without me, you probably wouldn't know how to find it."

Meanwhile, Jiao Tu had already made her decision. She called to a secret agent, "Qiwan, take him with you! Make sure he stays alive!"

Everyone retreated towards the back wall of Zhou Manor. Jiao Tu agilely scaled the wall first to keep watch outside. When she called out, "Nobody here, hurry!"

Only then did Yun Yang stand at the base of the wall, using his hands as a ladder to help the secret agents, one by one, onto the grey tiles of the wall.

When it was Chen Ji's turn to climb, he placed his left foot on Yun Yang's hands, then suddenly paused and said seriously, "Lord Yun Yang, this achievement is greater than you can imagine."

Yun Yang sneered, "Trying to deliberately step on me longer, are you? Do you really think I can't see through that? Get over the wall quickly!"

With that, he used his hands to push Chen Ji onto the top of the wall.

However, just as they all got over, they saw a group of Liu family members carrying dry firewood, preparing to set Zhou Manor ablaze. Upon seeing the Secret Service agents, the Liu family members roared, "Quick, everyone! They're escaping from the back!"

The Secret Service agents did not linger to fight but swiftly moved through the deep alleys of Luocheng. Yun Yang lowered his voice and asked, "Where do we go now to find the evidence?"

Chen Ji asked, "What was the name of the scholar who died in the imperial prison?"

"Liu Shiyu!"

"Go to his house first!"

Chen Ji ran behind the secret agents through the streets of Luocheng.

The cool night wind swept along Luocheng's bluestone slab roads, making everyone's clothes flutter and hair become disheveled.

Darkness lay ahead, and shouts of battle came from behind. At one point, Chen Ji felt as though he, too, had become a wanderer with no return in this martial world.