Chapter 6: Colleagues

"In Luocheng alone, there are at least twenty shops selling Xuan paper, and all of them are backed by powerful officials and nobles. Which one should I go to?" Jiao Tu rolled her eyes.

Chen Ji: "Then we'll have to ask Lord Zhou."

Jiao Tu jumped off Zhou Chengyi's back and flipped him over. "Lord Zhou?"

"Oh dear, Lord Zhou?!"

They saw Zhou Chengyi's face was purple, his eyes wide open. He was dead.

"Jiao Tu, you accidentally killed him!" Yun Yang shrieked.

Jiao Tu rolled her eyes. "Don't pin it on me. He was poisoned."

Yun Yang looked surprised. "I removed the poison sac from his mouth."

Jiao Tu: "He must have hidden poison elsewhere on his body. His attempt to kill the boy was a pretense; taking poison from his body was the real goal."

"That's still your responsibility. You were supposed to be guarding him."

"If you try to pin it on me again, I'll turn hostile."

Yun Yang: "My apologies, it was a reflex..."

Jiao Tu looked at Chen Ji: "Going shop by shop is too slow. If we drag this out, we'll definitely lose this big fish. Do you have a plan?"

Chen Ji slowly got up and walked to the table. His palm gently traced the texture of the Xuan paper. "Xuan paper is handmade, and every craftsman has different habits. Some like to add more winged elm bark, others prefer more straw. Some like to grind the pulp finer with a stone mill, while others are lazy and grind it coarser. The craftsmanship of Xuan paper determines its price... If we find paper with the same characteristics, we can find the shop."

Jiao Tu leaned closer, bending down to observe the paper's texture carefully. Before, all Xuan paper had looked the same to her...

At that moment, a knocking sound echoed from outside the courtyard. Someone had picked up the bronze ring on the gate of Lord Zhou's residence and was striking the door rhythmically.

Outside, a weathered, hoarse voice asked, "Lord Zhou, is Chen Ji at your residence?"

In an instant, Yun Yang, Jiao Tu, all the black-clad men in the courtyard, along with Chen Ji, looked towards the source of the sound.

*Dong, dong, dong.*

The knocking resumed. The beast-head knocker on the gate struck the red-lacquered door, neither hurried nor slow, yet with an unsettling sense of pressure.

In the dead of night, the knocking sounded particularly abrupt.

The black-clad men in the courtyard slowly drew their waist knives without making a sound, awaiting Yun Yang's instructions.

These men were the elite of the elite. Chen Ji recalled that since he transmigrated, not a single one had uttered a superfluous word.

*Dong, dong, dong.*

Seeing no answer, the person outside the gate, with that weathered voice, asked again, "Chen Ji, are you in there?"

Chen Ji felt a little bewildered.

Who would be looking for him?

He looked at Yun Yang, only to see the young man's expression flickering. After a moment of thought, Yun Yang gestured to a black-clad man: "Drag all the bodies inside."

Jiao Tu looked at Yun Yang: "Who is it?"

"No need to be nervous, I recognize the voice," Yun Yang said as he went to unbar the gate.

The gate opened, revealing an old man with a hunched back standing in the darkness outside. He wore a gray gown and a pair of black cloth shoes with white soles. His face was covered in wrinkles, like grooves on parched earth.

The old man's beard reached his chest, and his hair, snow-white, was gathered on top of his head with a green hairpin. He was as old as one could be.

The old man seemed surprised to see Yun Yang, who, in turn, put on a smiling face: "Physician Yao, long time no see. Are you still in good health?"

The old man was silent for a moment: "It's you. Shouldn't you be in the capital? What brings you to Luocheng?"

Yun Yang explained: "I had some urgent business, so I came. I happened to meet Chen Ji when I visited Lord Zhou tonight, so I asked him to stay and chat."

The old man asked: "Has the Grand Councilor's leg ailment improved?"

"Much, much better. He even praised you as a miracle doctor, saying the chronic cold he caught years ago at the Fuel Bureau is finally cured," Yun Yang said with a smile. "It's a pity you didn't stay in the capital; otherwise, His Majesty would have summoned you to the palace long ago."

"I cannot cure His Majesty's illness," the old man's tone shifted. "As for Chen Ji, since the medicine has been delivered, he should return."

Yun Yang pondered for a moment: "Chen Ji, hurry and go back with your master. Look how concerned Physician Yao is for you, coming all this way at his age just to pick you up."

Chen Ji hadn't expected Yun Yang to let him go... Was it because the old man mentioned 'Grand Councilor'?

He quickly started walking out. As he passed Jiao Tu, she grabbed him: "Don't talk nonsense when you go back, we'll come looking for you."

Chen Ji said nothing, quickly stepping out the door: "Master, let's go back."

"Hmm."

Physician Yao walked with his hands behind his back, hunched over, swaying as he went deeper into the long street, not asking another word.

Chen Ji felt two gazes like hooks on his back. He turned his head and saw Yun Yang and Jiao Tu watching him from the doorway, with faint, unreadable smiles.

Yun Yang and Jiao Tu, both dressed in black, were strikingly handsome. With their straight posture, they were the kind of people who would draw admiring glances on the street.

Yet these two could kill without batting an eye, as if human lives were the cheapest things in the world.

Scorpions and vipers – that was Chen Ji's deepest impression of them.

Chen Ji jogged a few steps to catch up with the old man. With a clang, the gate of Lord Zhou's residence closed behind them.

*Phew*, Chen Ji sighed in relief.

This seemed to be a world where human lives were as cheap as grass.

At the beginning of his transmigration, he hadn't had much will to survive, merely observing everything like a bystander. His own life or death didn't seem very important.

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

He had to survive first.

"Master, thank you for coming to get me," Chen Ji said, genuinely and sincerely.

The old man, however, lamented, "If I had known the Secret Police were here tonight, I wouldn't have come."

Chen Ji: "..."

What did he mean?

He didn't want his apprentice anymore?

The old man muttered to himself, "Strange. The divination I did before leaving said it would be extremely auspicious. I thought I'd pick up some gold ingots... Auspicious my foot."

This confused Chen Ji: "Master, aren't you going to ask about tonight..."

The old man, walking ahead, raised a hand behind his back to cut off the conversation: "Wait, don't tell me. I don't want to know anything about such troublesome matters; nothing good ever comes from knowing. The reason I've lived to ninety-two is by minding my own business."

Chen Ji: "You're quite good at avoiding bad luck and seeking good fortune..."

The old man stopped. "The medicine was delivered, what about the payment?"

Chen Ji froze. He had no idea there was payment involved. "I forgot to ask Lord Zhou for it..."

The old man turned back reluctantly: "Go back and ask them for it."

Chen Ji was firm: "I'm not going."

The old man pondered for a long time: "Then you'll have to cover the payment."

Chen Ji changed the subject: "...Are you very familiar with them?"

The old man said: "I dealt with them years ago in the capital. That group is ruthless and always does things that provoke universal indignation. If you see them on the street in the future, pretend not to know them. Or, you can pretend not to know me when you're out."

Chen Ji: "..."

The old man muttered to himself: "With high-ranking officials from the Secret Police personally present, Luocheng will likely not be peaceful."

The long street was quiet. Luocheng seemed to be asleep; even the usually bustling East Market had fallen silent, with many lights extinguished.

A night watchman, with a white lantern tucked under his arm, passed them, listlessly striking his gong for the third watch, calling out warnings about dry weather and fire hazards.

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

The next second, the old man looked up at the position of the stars, squatted down, and cast the coins six times on the bluestone path. "Hmm... go left."

"Master, is there any danger to the right?" Chen Ji asked curiously.

"Not necessarily danger. The divination indicates I might encounter a beggar, and now that I'm old, I've become a bit more compassionate. If I saw one, I might throw them some money, so I'll just take a detour and avoid seeing them," the old man explained calmly.

Chen Ji: "..."

Inside Lord Zhou's residence, Jiao Tu squatted on a grand armchair, chin in hand, looking at the night sky. "You just let him go? Because his master knows the Grand Councilor?"

"Of course not. The Grand Councilor is a ruthless man who turns on people without hesitation. Let alone Physician Yao's apprentice, if Physician Yao himself truly obstructed the Grand Councilor's path, he'd also die."

Jiao Tu sighed: "Alright. Do you think that boy might be a Jing Dynasty spy?"

"He certainly is," Yun Yang stated confidently. "How could an ordinary apprentice withstand those few needles of mine? He would have fainted from the pain long ago. Besides, look at his quick thinking and adaptability—that's definitely not something a mere medical apprentice could do."

Jiao Tu was puzzled: "Then why let him go?"

Yun Yang smiled: "If he really is a spy, then he was here tonight to meet Zhou Chengyi and relay information, and the Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Bureau must know about it. After Zhou Chengyi's disappearance tonight, if Chen Ji is still alive, the Military Intelligence Bureau will surely conclude that he betrayed Zhou Chengyi."

Jiao Tu's eyes lit up: "The Jing Dynasty is always harsh on traitors. They will definitely send people to eliminate him. When that happens, we can capture those who come to kill him and earn another merit!"

"Exactly!"

After a good while, a black-clad man returned to report: "My lords, according to the Xuan paper's texture, we found two corresponding Xuan paper shops. The shopkeepers and their assistants are currently being escorted to Luocheng's inner prison."

Jiao Tu stood up: "I'll go interrogate them overnight!"

Yun Yang stretched: "Then I'll handle the bodies. Once I'm done, I'll go back and get some rest early."

"First, let's discuss how we split the credit!"

"Of course, it'll be a 50/50 split."

"No."

Yun Yang raised an eyebrow: "Why not?"

Jiao Tu: "I killed nine people tonight, and you only killed six. I also captured Zhou Chengyi. It should be a 60/40 split. Otherwise, don't invite me to join you on missions in the future."

Yun Yang sighed with emotion: "Relations between colleagues are truly harder to handle than corpses. Fine, 60/40 it is."

Jiao Tu jumped down from the grand armchair and, leading the black-clad men, departed cheerfully, leaving Yun Yang alone to clean up.

After everyone had left, Yun Yang pulled out about ten palm-sized... shadow puppets from his sleeve.

He used a silver needle to prick each corpse's wrist, squeezing out drops of blood.

Then, he smeared those drops of blood onto the silver needle to dot the eyes of each shadow puppet.

As the blood seeped into the puppets' eyes, turning them crimson, the small figures seemed to come alive.

"Done!"

The next moment, all the dead bodies in the courtyard stood up one by one and, expressionless, followed Yun Yang out of Lord Zhou's residence.

The procession walked in a line down the long street for an unknown distance. Suddenly, Yun Yang saw a young beggar curled up by the roadside under a straw mat, huddled against the cold.

After gazing at the beggar for a long time, Yun Yang took a string of copper coins from his sleeve and threw them onto the ground. Only then did he continue into the night with the dozen or so corpses.