Just when they thought they could hold out until reinforcements arrived, Chen Ji took the initiative to attack.
Chen Ji used to feel dejected every time he died fighting Feng Huai. But now he understood that the sword skill he had honed by dying countless times was his reward.
Four figures intertwined, and the knife light in Chen Ji’s hands swept like crescent moons, cutting through the three men’s swords and severing their throats.
...
Chen Ji, gasping for breath, bent over to pick up the short knife he had just thrown on the ground and hid it in his sleeve.
He didn’t flee; instead, he turned and climbed back up the ladder to the rooftop.
Limping to the ridge, Chen Ji lay there, quietly observing the situation in Hongyi Lane.
In Hongyi Lane, countless disheveled clients and girls were being driven out of the brothels by the spies.
Chen Ji’s eyes searched the crowd for Manager Yuan’s figure; the exchange of goods tonight was the most critical matter, and the other party wouldn’t miss overseeing it personally.
But as he watched building after building get cleared out and everyone herded onto Hongyi Lane’s cobbled street, he still couldn’t find Manager Yuan.
Something was wrong.
The scene before him didn’t match with what Chen Ji had anticipated at all.
Hongyi Lane wasn’t in chaos; no one was attempting to break through the Spy Department’s defense line, no one was fighting with the Spy Department, and even the Jiefan Guards that Lord Jin Zhu had specially called from Mengjin Camp weren’t needed!
Lin Chaoqing, wearing a bamboo hat, sat calmly on horseback. "Lord Jin Zhu, it seems you’re no different than Jiao Tu and Yun Yang, but you’re a bit luckier—you didn’t go as far as to open up the current Official’s father’s coffin... My Criminal Justice Department’s Jiefan Guards and the Fish-Dragon Guards serve as the Inner Court’s direct guards, yet they have to follow you and endure the curses."
"Don’t rush," Jin Zhu said with a smile as he hopped off the horse and grabbed a middle-aged man attempting to flee, asking with a benevolent expression, "What’s your name?"
"My name is Wu Dongliang."
"What do you do?"
"I am a tax official from Xin’an County..."
Jin Zhu raised an eyebrow. "Just a tax official, so why were you running..."
Mid-sentence, Jin Zhu realized why the other was attempting to escape.
The laws of the Ning Dynasty prohibited officials from frequenting brothels. Visiting places like the Qingyin Small Class was tolerable, but being caught in a place like Hongyi Lane meant immediate dismissal and investigation.
This law was established by Ancestor Ning years ago; nowadays, everyone turned a blind eye, but occasionally unlucky officials were reported and lost their jobs.
Jin Zhu cursed his bad luck silently, ordered his spies to immediately verify the man’s identity, and then approached another middle-aged man: "And what do you do?"
"Reporting to you, sir, I am a Hui merchant; I’ve come to Luocheng City to purchase furs to sell in the south... This is my travel permit."
Jin Zhu took the man’s travel permit, glanced at it and knew the man had arrived in Luocheng City just tonight.
With a smirk that did not reach his eyes, he said, "Check—all of you. Verify every person’s identity and see if there are any suspicious individuals."
By then, Jin Zhu’s heart had slowly sunk; he hadn’t expected to capsize in a gutter... Where had he gone wrong?!
Spies began to check everyone: they were either Hui merchants from the south or Jin Shang merchants from the north, along with local market traders and Luocheng City gang leaders; each person could clearly state their origins, and their household registrations and travel permits showed no signs of forgery.
Chen Ji watched silently.
Aside from the two black-clothed men he had killed on the rooftop, none of those present seemed like spies from Manager Yuan’s camp!
Were these people disguised too well?
No, that wasn’t it. As Chen Ji searched through Hongyi Lane, he discovered that the old madam and Miss Yan’er were not among them!
Someone must have tipped them off, leaking Jin Zhu’s actions ahead of time!
That’s why the old madam and Yan’er had run off so early!
Chen Ji suddenly remembered something—the Coachman had mentioned during the interrogation at Bailu Pavilion that the other party clearly knew what evidence Yun Yang and Jiao Tu had taken from Liu Shenyu’s house... There was still an undercover agent among Jin Zhu’s ranks!
This undercover agent could not only view the Spy Department’s evidence but also had access to the details of tonight’s operations.
Chen Ji believed that, given Jin Zhu’s caution, he would be exceedingly careful to avoid any slip-ups, yet the information had still been compromised.
Who was it?
Just then, Jin Zhu suddenly turned his head towards the rooftop: "Who’s there? Catch him!"