CHAPTER 58: 55, THE GAMBLER

Chen Ji watched as Wu Yun slowly retreated into the shadows and disappeared into the Gambling House.

Undeterred by the pouring rain soaking his fur, Wu Yun navigated through the various corners of Hongyi Lane.

He slipped into a backyard and gently lifted a bamboo dustpan to reveal the plump orange cat hiding beneath.

Seeing that it was just an orange cat, Wu Yun was mildly disappointed but still hesitated before asking, "Have you seen any injured humans escaping tonight?"

The fat orange cat lifted its head and meowed in confusion: Huh?

Impatiently, Wu Yun pressed on, "I said, did you see an injured human..."

Confused, the fat orange cat meowed again: Huh?

Wu Yun replaced the bamboo dustpan, "It was superfluous of me to ask you!"

Braving the heavy downpour, he climbed his way up to the highest building of Hongyi Lane, the rooftop of the Golden Workshop.

Perched at the edge of the roof, he peered down the entire Hongyi Lane, swiftly analyzing where Sanhua and Li Hua might show up.

But suddenly, Wu Yun noticed that on the nearby streets, there were hundreds of Spies from the Spy Department, covertly hiding in the shadows under straw capes. Not only that, some were even disguised as civilians, diligently searching every household.

Despite the challenge posed by the torrential rain to find the rogue spy, Lord Jin Zhu hadn’t truly given up!

Anxiety surged in Wu Yun’s heart as he leapt off the roof’s edge; he had to find the person before the Spy Department did.

Meanwhile, Chen Ji, from the back door of the Gambling House, looked out into the dark night, sensing a looming crisis.

Even someone as adept at reasoning as Chen Ji couldn’t possibly locate the rogue spy in the present circumstances.

Fortunately, Wu Yun brought a turn of fortune... it all hinged on whether Wu Yun could find the defected spy before the Spy Department did.

Chen Ji adjusted his straw cape and pulled down the brim of his bamboo hat before turning back into the main Gambling House hall.

He approached a Spy and pointed at Chen Wenxiao who was squatting among the crowd: "Drag him into the room and hang him up; I have some questions for him."

Chen Wenxiao’s legs were so numb from squatting on the ground too long, he kept shifting his position, almost like someone desperate to urinate.

As he was talking, a Spy approached Chen Wenxiao, grabbed him by his queue, and said, "You, come with me."

With his hair painfully tugged, Chen Wenxiao was grimacing, dragged upstairs to a private room, and bound with ropes to be suspended from the ceiling.

After a long while, the Spy withdrew, and Chen Ji, wearing his bamboo hat, walked in and slowly asked, "Name."

"My father is the Prefect Chen Liqin of Luocheng; you cannot do this to me!" Chen Wenxiao roared, attempting to discern Chen Ji’s appearance. But hanging from the beam, his vision was completely blocked by Chen Ji’s hat, and he could see nothing clearly.

With a thwack, Chen Ji struck Chen Wenxiao with a feather duster, speaking coldly, "Answer what I ask, do you understand?"

"I understand, I understand," Chen Wenxiao’s hands were painfully bound, and his usual grace as he galloped through Luocheng was nowhere to be seen.

"Name."

"Chen Wenxiao."

Chen Ji queried, "Why are you colluding with the Jing Dynasty?"

"Eh?" Chen Wenxiao was dumbfounded, clueless as to how he became entangled with such a significant accusation.

Frantically, Chen Wenxiao protested, "It’s a misunderstanding! I have no affiliation with the Jing Dynasty, I’m only here to gamble!"

"You misunderstood?" Chen Ji asked, sneering, "Then why is your name absent from every Gambling House ledger in Hongyi Lane? There’s no promissory note or record of you. You’re not a gambler here; clearly, you’re a Jing Dynasty spy, here to rendezvous with your comrades!"

Chen Wenxiao panicked, "I’ve only been back from Donglin Academy for a few days, how could there be any record of me or promissory notes?"

Chen Ji’s expression darkened, "It seems you have no means to prove your innocence? Then you will accompany me to the inner prison."

Hearing the words ’inner prison’, Chen Wenxiao was scared witless. Over these years, how many had left the inner prison alive? It didn’t matter if he was the son of a fifth-rank official – countless officials had died within those walls.

After much thought, he said, "Wait, before I went to Donglin Academy, I used my brother Chen Ji’s name to borrow money from the Gambling Houses. That’s why my name isn’t there. You can check the records in each house – you will surely find Chen Ji’s name!"

Chen Wenxiao added, "Each year for the past three years, I returned home for a month during the Spring Festival. The records from each year during that period will definitely have Chen Ji’s name."

Chen Ji fell silent.

Did he have the ledgers from all the Gambling Houses? Of course not. He was merely bluffing Chen Wenxiao based on his speculation.

There was a time he truly believed his former self to be a gambler and that the Chen family detested him because of his deplorable behavior.

But now, Chen Ji suddenly understood many things.

He lowered his head and softly asked, "Since it’s under the name of Chen Ji, who should the Gambling Houses seek to collect the debt from?"

Chen Wenxiao answered, "Naturally, they seek my father. If my father wants to avoid family shame, he can only acknowledge the promissory notes."

Chen Ji, puzzled, "Does your father know this debt belongs to you?"

"He doesn’t know; he still thinks it’s Chen Ji’s."

Chen Ji grew more puzzled, "Wouldn’t Chen Ji argue against it?"

"He did argue, but what’s the use of his arguing? His reputation has long been tarnished over the years, and my father never believes him... Sir, I beg you, please let me down. I am not a Jing Dynasty spy; hanging up here is too uncomfortable."

Chen Ji exhaled softly, "I am still uncertain whether what you say is true... Out of respect for Mr. Chen, I am willing to give you a temporary reprieve. But you must write down everything you just said and sign it. If anything is false, the Spy Department will come to Chen Mansion to find you."

Chen Wenxiao wept with joy, "Mr. Chen, rest assured, every sentence I speak is true, and I will write it down clearly and accurately!"

Chen Ji stepped out of the private room and gave a few instructions to the spies.

Then he saw two spies enter the private room and close the door. After a while, one of the spies came out with a piece of Xuan paper filled with writing and handed it to Chen Ji: "He’s finished writing."

"Thank you," Chen Ji nodded and turned to walk upstairs, carefully tucking the statement into his bosom, sheltered underneath his straw raincoat.

"Sir..." The spy did not know Chen Ji’s rank and was unsure how to address him, but seeing that Chen Ji was following closely behind Lord Jin Zhu, he must be one of Jin Zhu’s trusted aides: "What should we do with the person inside the room?"

Ascending the wooden staircase, Chen Ji’s voice floated back lightly: "Just keep him hanging."

...

...

As Chen Ji was going upstairs, a spy rushed in through the door, shrugged off his rain-soaked straw raincoat onto the floor, and charged upstairs with his waist knife ready.

When he arrived in front of the upstairs private room, the spy bowed to Jin Zhu, who was drinking tea inside: "Mr. Zhu, mission accomplished—your humble servant has finally found a witness. The witness is a street vendor who saw someone clutching a wound on his waist running westward this evening!"

Chen Ji’s spirits sank. He hadn’t expected that Jin Zhu, despite outwardly stating there was no way to find him, had still arranged a large number of people to search for clues.

And, indeed, they had found one!

Where was the defected spy now? Had others seen him? What would he reveal if captured? Chen Ji knew nothing.

He calmed himself and looked at Jin Zhu: "Congratulations, Mr. Zhu, success is within reach."

With a smile, Jin Zhu stood up: "Send people to continue searching west; he must have been noticed by others during his escape. Gather all the witnesses! With so many of the Jing Dynasty Military Intelligence Department’s agents pursuing him, he must be carrying a great secret! Tonight, we must find him!"

The spy accepted his orders and hurriedly left, heading toward the door.

However, as he stepped out of the Gambling House, there was a loud boom, and the spy was sent flying back into the Gambling House, crushing a gambling table!

With a clang, all spies drew their swords and aimed their hand crossbows at the darkness outside the Gambling House’s door.

But the newcomer, clad in a blue large cloak, merely took it off around the neck, flicked it once, and all the crossbow arrows were swept up into his cloak, leaving him unscathed!

The pouring rain around him seemed repelled, as if by magnetism, not a drop touching him.

Chen Ji heard Jin Zhu chuckle coldly beside him: "That’s not a spy of the Jing Dynasty; this action looks more like a certain Executive Officer. I heard years ago he went into hiding under a pseudonym. Who expected him to reappear in the Jianghu today... Attack, I want him alive!"

The next moment, a spy blew a copper whistle.

From outside Hongyi Lane, shouts and cries of battle rose, and hundreds of spies emerged from the shadows, surrounding the Executive Officer.

With composure, Jin Zhu walked down the stairs, slowly circling the perimeter of the siege. He fiddled with several Copper Coins in his hand, ready to throw them at any moment to claim a life.

Chen Ji silently observed the situation, indifferent to whether it was the Military Intelligence Department or the Spy Department who would emerge victorious...

"Meow!"

A sudden cat’s cry rang out, and Chen Ji turned to look outside the window, where he saw Wu Yun standing on the windowsill: "Found it, a Li Hua cat said it saw the person escape to Anxi Street, right behind the recently vacated fabric shop’s backyard."

Frowning, Chen Ji wondered, how could it be such a coincidence that the defector ended up on Anxi Street?

Anxi Street was not a major thoroughfare and was less mixed and hidden than East Market or West Market. Moreover, being close to the Prince Mansion, there were even more patrolling soldiers at night.

Was the spy trying to seek out Chen Ji, or had he truly just happened to flee to Anxi Street? It couldn’t be a mere coincidence!

The more adept at reasoning one was, the less they believed in coincidences!

Chen Ji knew he could no longer stay here; he had to deal with the spy himself!

But how should he leave?

While pondering, he heard the sound of breaking tiles overhead. Looking up, Chen Ji saw that on the wooden beams above, someone was treading with heavy footsteps toward the edge of the roof.

Moreover, footsteps were approaching from other directions towards the windows of the second floor of the Gambling House.

The Executive Officer outside was a decoy, a diversion; the true killers, those spies infiltrating from all sides, were here to silence witnesses.

With a swoosh, a masked figure in black flipped in through a window, swift as a hawk, and without a word, drew his knife and slashed at Chen Ji!

In the narrow room, Chen Ji picked up a chair beside him and threw it at the spy, then quickly ducked out of the room, shouting from the second-floor corridor: "Lord Jin Zhu, someone has infiltrated from the rooftop!"

This shout drew everyone’s attention, and Jin Zhu’s eyebrows raised as he turned back to engage.

As he hastily returned, Jin Zhu saw a spy with a knife in pursuit onto the corridor.

The spy’s swordsmanship was fierce, with splinters flying in his slashes. Chen Ji, a fragile apprentice from the Medical Hall, could only desperately dodge with no power to fight back.

With a hiss, the tip of the blade grazed across Chen Ji’s chest, slashing a huge gash in his straw raincoat, with blood seeping through his clothes.

Just when everyone thought Chen Ji would fall, he suddenly burst out with unexpected courage, roared, and charged instead of retreating, crashing into the Jing Dynasty spy’s embrace!

With all his might, Chen Ji trapped the spy’s knife hand under his arm and, pushing the spy, crashed back into the private room and all the way out through the second-floor window!

Jin Zhu paused in shock but then lightly exerted force in his legs, and his corpulent body floated up to the second floor as if it were as light as a feather.

He reached the window just in time to see the Jing Dynasty spy who had fallen, staggering after the severely wounded Chen Ji, into the dark, rainy night of Hongyi Lane.

Standing at the window ledge, allowing the night’s rain to wash over him, Jin Zhu mused: "Strange, if the Jing Dynasty spy is here to kill and silence, why ignore the target and chase after Chen Ji as if his life depends on it?"