Chapter Five: Ji Zhou

  Nothing happened that night, and the two of them took turns keeping watch until dawn. When they heard the sound of people talking in the courtyard, they stopped taking turns and both fell asleep. Haigouzi and a few others also did the same, only Wang Dai Xi got up very early, went outside and shouted twice, saw that the two were still sleeping, and then returned to the house. They slept until around 10 o'clock before getting up to wash their faces. Wang Dai Xi busied himself, fetching water and handing out towels. After everything was tidy, he called Haigouzi and three others to follow the official road into the city.

  Ji State, anciently known as Yu Yang, to the east is the end of the valley that was crossed yesterday, where Ji State is located. To the south, about two miles outside the city wall are the Cuiping Mountains and other hills, with the Pear River flowing from the foot of the mountain. To the north, less than two miles away, is also a mountainous area, where it is said that the Yellow Emperor asked about the Tao at Guang Chengzi's Fugun Mountain (then known as Kongtong Mountain). To the west, there is a small river originating from Wuming Mountain, which flows along the city wall and merges into the Gu River to the south, after which lies the vast North China Plain.

  Because it has been a stronghold controlling the northeastern entrance to the North China Plain since ancient times, the Ming Dynasty heavily invested in its construction. The city wall is high and majestic, with the entire city presenting an octagonal shape, with the east and west sides protruding outward, the south and north being flat, and the city walls being 9 li and 13 bu long. The female wall is connected to the city wall, which is 3 zhang and 5 chi high. In the fourth year of Hongwu, the city was built with bricks, with 2040 battlements, and there are corner towers at the four corners. The most distinctive feature is that there is no gate on the north side, and there are three gates on the east, south, and west sides, each with a moat outside. The city wall has high and majestic arrow towers, and the city is surrounded by a moat.

  Liu Min looked at the two majestic characters "Wei Yuan" on the east gate and praised: "The ancient city is really solid, if we want to take it down, how many people will have to die."

  Chen Xin looked around at the scenic surroundings and muttered to himself: "This place can be crossed over, truly talented."

  Liu Min looked up with interest and asked back: "What talent?"

  Chen Xinyi smiled: "I said I'm a talented person, let's go into the city."

  A few people mixed in with a group of vegetable farmers and walked into the city through the east gate. The city gate of Wengcheng was facing north, and the six of them entered through the gate tunnel. Behind the city wall of Wengcheng, there were also gate towers, and on both sides of the city wall below the gate towers, there were hidden tunnels for soldiers. However, all along the way, they saw that the soldiers were weak and thin, their cotton-padded jackets were very tattered, and they looked listless, either standing or squatting. Chen Xin shook his head secretly as he watched them.

  Entering the East Gate Street of Ji Zhou, the bluestone road surface is not spacious, with several places piled up with garbage and filth, mosquitoes flying around, a strong stench filling the streets. The buildings on both sides are mostly two-story or single-story brick houses, with shops on the first floor, wooden signs and cloth awnings hanging outside. There are many pedestrians on the road, most of whom are dressed simply, men and women all wearing right-buttoned clothing, men often wearing square scarves, net scarves, and square hats, and almost no fat monsters like Baozi.

  Liu Min covered his nose and sighed: "How can it stink so much? Can't the municipal department manage it?"

  Wang hurriedly replied: "This morning there was a dung cart, and after it passed, they randomly dumped it."

  Liu Dahuai also chimed in: "The capital is even filthier, with piles of dry dung everywhere. In the winter when it's cold, we would dig a hole in the pile of dry dung and sleep inside to keep warm."

  Liu Min felt a pang in his stomach and didn't dare continue the conversation. He hastily shook his head, chased away the image of the dry toilet from his mind, and asked Chen Xin: "Where are we going now?"

  "First eat dry dung heap, no, first eat breakfast, then go buy clothes. Buy good clothes today and leave the city to Tianjin." Chen Xinyi pointed to a small shop with a sign that read "Heavy White Flour Steamed Buns".

  Four children cheered. Six people, two steamed buns each, Liu Min had eaten and the aftertaste was similar to mantou, four children ate with relish, the price was much more expensive than yesterday's miscellaneous grain pancake, five cents a piece. Wang Dai Xi said vaguely while eating: "I haven't eaten refined white flour for many years!"

  Chen Xin asked the shopkeeper where the clothing and shoe stores were. The shopkeeper suggested going to the Cheng Huang Temple area, as there was often a market there with many shops.

  The Chenghuang Temple is located in the northwest corner of the city. The six of them headed west to the Guandi Temple and then north, along the way they saw the Guardian Department, the Prefectural Hall, and several archways on South Street, with flying eaves and intricate carvings, Chen and Liu found it quite novel and didn't feel tired at all.

  Arrived at the City God Temple, today coincidentally there is a market, pedestrians crowded and rubbing shoulders, bustling and extraordinary. There are all kinds of people such as vegetable farmers, fortune tellers, monks, and beggars. The peddlers came and went shouting for sales, inside the temple was performing Kunqu Opera "The Story of the Banana Leaf", at the entrance there was someone selling incense sticks, inside the opera was being sung loudly and enthusiastically, it's a bit similar to the original rural market.

  Several people crowded in the crowd to watch a juggler dancing with fire forks, only to see him not using his hands at all, but only his shoulders, back, arms and legs, kicking, blocking, pushing and receiving. One fire fork flew up and down, hitting several iron rings, making a loud noise. Liu Min enjoyed watching it very much, this great Ming dynasty was still not boring. After finishing watching, the people naturally didn't pay any money and slipped away quietly.

  They found a clothing store, and Haigouz was in the front. Just as they were about to enter the store, someone suddenly came from the side and bumped into them. It turned out to be a man wearing a blue cloth shirt who looked like a housekeeper. The man got very angry and kicked Haigouz with one foot, and then heard a "ouch" sound. Haigouz fell to the ground with a thud, and then pushed Liu Er Hui and others away twice, scolding: "Get out of the way, get out of the way, don't block my path."

  He finished speaking and turned around, immediately putting on a flattering smile, saying to a woman behind him: "Please come in, madam."

  The woman was dressed in luxurious clothes, accompanied by a maid and an old nanny carrying a child.

  Liu Minyou was just about to step forward and argue, but Chen Xin pulled him back, pointing with his hand. Behind the woman were two soldiers armed with knives. Liu Minyou hastily swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue. When encountering the Ming dynasty's armed forces, it's still necessary to give some face.

  The puppy hadn't even gotten up yet when the old woman scolded again: "You little dog, get out of here quickly, if you bump into my young master, I'll beat you to death."

  The king dragged Xi Laji, rolling and crawling to one side. The noblewoman looked at him with disdain and said to the butler, "Wen butler, I want to have a summer outfit made for Bao'er. Don't let anyone disturb us." She then said to the old servant, "Xu Po, let's go."

  "Rest assured, madam," said Wen Guanjia, nodding repeatedly. He then turned to face the street and stood at the entrance with two soldiers.

  Chen Xin turned his head, not letting the steward see his face, and pulled Liu Min to one side. Only then did he hear the old lady inside loudly calling out, "Today, Madame Yan is going to make summer clothes for Commander-in-Chief, I have some new silk fabrics that just arrived..."

  Chen Xin muttered under his breath "Yan Zhihui", then chuckled and said to Liu Min, "Does this count as being a bad person? How about doing a Hope Project?"

  Liu Min said with a start: "Of course, but this is a bad guy with a knife, let's just forget it."

  "It doesn't matter, anyway we need to buy clothes. Let's change into some casual clothes first. Have Liu Dahuai stay here and keep an eye on them, see where they go next."

  "Rob them? Take their money?"

  "Snatching a knife from someone isn't asking for death or what? Did you see the pearl on that kid's hat? It must be something valuable."

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  Chen Xin wore a round-necked, jade-colored shirt with a blue border, a six-petaled melon hat on his head, and a pair of Songjiang cotton socks on his feet. He wore a pair of double-faced shoes and had a leather belt around his waist. With this outfit, he looked like a refined young gentleman. This set of clothes cost more than two taels of silver. Liu Min was stingy and didn't want to spend money, so he asked for a simple summer cloth shirt with a straight body, which only cost six qian (a unit of currency). The clothing store didn't have any ready-made clothes, so Chen Xin gave them an additional two qian in silver to make one.

  Chen Xin bought good clothes and followed the group of people from before to a gold shop, where Madam Yan and her maid went in to look at jewelry and closed the door behind them, leaving the old servant woman with the child and the steward outside. The two soldiers were still listless. The child, about three years old, had a crystal-like pearl on his hat, and now he came out and ran around, with the old servant woman following him, bent at the waist, afraid that he would fall over.

  Chen Xin only left Haigouzi, and Liu Min took the other three to Nanmen Paifang to wait for him. When Liu Min was about to leave, he was somewhat worried, but Chen Xin repeatedly assured him that everything would be fine, saying it was just a test for his junior.

  Wait until they leave. Chen Xing observes a nearby alley, which leads to another street, and from this end, he can see the other side of the street. After observing, he thinks through his plan again, then takes out a handful of copper coins that he had just exchanged at a shoe store and hands them to Haigouz: "You hide in a crowded place, just watch me, don't say a word, wait for a while, if I run away, you go to the South Gate Archway by yourself. If someone chases me, I'll shout 'Money dropped', you scatter all the copper coins and shout 'Pick up money' loudly, remember?"

  The sea dog took the money with a silly smile, nodded, and didn't know if he understood or not. Chen Xin was uneasy and asked him to repeat it again. After the sea dog finished speaking, he seriously said to Chen Xin: "Brother, I'll risk my life to prevent them from catching you." Chen Xin chuckled and patted his shoulder, then turned around and walked towards the butler.

  The steward, bored with waiting, stood on the steps and watched a juggler performing acrobatics in the distance. The child was doing flips and somersaults at the top of the pole, extremely thrilling. The steward watched intently, when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head. Turning around, he saw a tall, well-dressed man standing in front of him, just about to get angry, but before he could react, the man hit him on the head again.

  "You... you, why did you hit me! Do you know who I am?!" The butler was both shocked and angry, pointing at the young master, and was about to call two soldiers to help beat him up.

  "What are you? You're just a literary family's servant. I've hit you and that's it." The young master cursed, making gestures as if he wanted to hit him again.

  The housekeeper, hearing the other party calling out his surname and wearing luxurious clothes, couldn't figure out where he came from and didn't dare to take action, so he quickly hid. He was the housekeeper of the Town Garrison Commander's family. After the mid-Ming dynasty, the Wei system was abandoned, and the nine borders were actually changed to the garrison system. Under this system, the advantage of being a Wei commander was that there were still some military households and military fields that could be exploited, but the disadvantage was that the status was low, and civil officials didn't care about them. Compared with the camp soldiers, the status of the Wei commander was only slightly higher than that of the squad leader. In this small town, there were many people he couldn't afford to offend.

  That young master looked at Xu Guan and dodged, pointing to the two soldiers: "What did Commander Yan order you to come for? Is it to listen to opera or watch acrobatics?"

  Two soldiers looked at each other in dismay, it seemed that this man knew Commander Chen, but hadn't seen him before, and didn't know what to say, so they could only offer a smiling face, nodding and bowing to Chen Xin.

  "You're all busy watching the acrobatics, and let Old Lady Xu take care of Young Master Bao alone. This street is crowded with people coming and going, what if he gets knocked over or collides with someone, or even gets kidnapped by those flower sellers? If I see it again, I'll definitely report you to Commander Yan."

  The housekeeper heard him, even Xu Po knew, and didn't dare to retort back. He thought he was a young master from a noble family. He repeatedly said: "I won't dare next time, I won't dare next time. I hope the young master will forgive me for my ignorance, I didn't know that you are...?"

  Chen Xin put on a pretentious air, humming "Even I don't recognize him, how can he be the manager." He ignored them and walked over to Xu Po's side, squatting down to look at Bao'er, smiling: "It's been a long time since I've seen Yan Bao'er, does Bao'er still remember what to call me?"

  Old Mrs. Xue just listened and thought it was someone familiar with the master, so she hurriedly said to Bao'er: "Master Bao'er, quickly call someone."

  The little kid didn't recognize the person in front of him, but seeing Chen Xin's good-looking face, he giggled and reached out to touch. Chen Xin let him touch a few times, then gently bumped his forehead against the child's chest twice. The child laughed even more happily. The housekeeper stood by, smiling as he watched.

  Chen Xin played with the child for a while, intentionally leading the child to move a few steps to the side, causing the housekeeper and others to follow until they couldn't see inside the alley. Suddenly standing up, he took off the child's pearl hat and said with a smile: "Quickly call me, otherwise I'll take your hat away."

  The child didn't understand, but looked at Chen Xin and burst out laughing.

  "Your hat is so beautiful, you didn't even call me, I really took it away and won't give it back to you." Chen Xin held the hat all the way back to the alley entrance, hid behind the wall, and then poked his head out again to make a face at Bao'er, who was delighted and clapped her hands. The housekeeper and two soldiers also joined in on the fun, while Xu Po helped from the side "Young master didn't even call him, he's going to take your hat."

  Chen Xin hid again, waited for a while, and saw that the young master still didn't show up. He suddenly felt something was wrong, rushed to the alley entrance, and found no sign of Chen Xin among the crowd. He stood there for a moment, let out a mournful cry, and sat down on the ground.