Peach Blossom.

Chen Ji was startled and turned around to look.

It turned out to be Cai Ling's father Lu Ze, who asked Chen Ji with a smile: "Sir, my wife made some chicken soup, and it just came out of the pot. I would like to ask you to have a taste of it?"

"No, I've eaten." Chen Ji stood up. Although his face was calm, his heart was pounding.

He was holding the box and preparing to go out through the back door when he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask Lu Ze, "Do you know that your youngest daughter Caiwei is a dancer at Meixiang Pavilion?"

Lu Ze smiled embarrassedly and nodded.

Chen Ji suddenly felt a little angry and couldn't help but say something: "You have such a big jewelry store, can't you support your daughter? Why let her show up in that kind of place? The customers there are not serious, aren't you afraid that she will be harassed by others?"

"This... is hard to explain in a few words..." Lu Ze looked ashamed and sighed softly.

Chen Ji knew that the Lu Ze couple loved Cai Ling so much that during the many years he knew the Lu family, he thought that the Lu family had only one daughter. It was not until Cai Ling brought her sister to the princess's mansion to be a cook that Chen Ji learned that the Lu family had a second daughter, but he had never paid attention to it.

Now that I think about it, Caiwei must have always been the one who was disliked in the Lu family.

He glanced at the shop in front of him and reminded Lu Ze as if warning him, "You should tell your wife that if parents are too partial, they may end up killing each other one day. It will not be good for anyone."

Lu Ze nodded and agreed meekly.

Chen Ji said goodbye to Lu Ze, and Lu Ze sent Chen Ji to the backyard door.

After Lu Ze went home and closed the door, Chen Ji covered the box with his sleeve, groped for the medical record, stuffed it into his inner garment, then carried the empty box and walked all the way to Jingshui Tower.

In a private room in Jingshui Tower, Chen Ji met Chen Chong, the Minister of Five Armies, Chen Wei, the Captain of Western Rong, Chen Xin, the General of Wuwei, Chen Mi, the General of Light Chariots, and other clansmen.

Among these tribesmen, some knew Chen Ji but were not familiar with him, and some were meeting Chen Ji for the first time. Chen Liang introduced them one by one.

Time was precious, so Chen Ji showed Chen Chong and others the medical records of Emperor Xiaozong without further ado.

They read the medical record from beginning to end together, and saw that it recorded many of Emperor Xiaozong's medical histories, both major and minor. They kept reading until they saw the record about Emperor Xiaozong's fertility problems, and there was no more content after that.

Chen Ji explained to the clansmen: "The imperial physician Tian Yuan was an honest man. He recorded this disease together with other previous medical records. Later, Concubine Zhou, now Empress Dowager Zhou, learned about it and gave him money, asking him to conceal the matter, write another medical record, and destroy this one."

Chen Chong asked in surprise: "Since the Imperial Physician Order received the benefits, why didn't he destroy it?"

Chen Ji replied, "It is because it records the medical history of Emperor Xiaozong. Emperor Xiaozong had many minor ailments. The Imperial Physician was afraid that he would need to look through it when he treated Emperor Xiaozong again, and he was too lazy to copy or make corrections, so he simply left it at his home. Later, when I was ill, and didn't want my brother to know, I went to the Imperial Physician's home to see him, and that's when I discovered this."

The tribesmen began to talk and chat with each other.

Chen Weixia thought about it and asked Chen Mi: "You said...Xiaozong was fine at that time, why did he die suddenly?"

Secretary Chen seemed to understand what was hinted at, and also speculated: "Could it be that the Grand Marshal and Queen Mother Zhou are conspiring?"

Chen Ji listened at the side without saying anything, but he thought this guess was great.

As if he had already confirmed some facts, Chen Wei said with certainty: "The Grand Marshal has evil ambitions, committed adultery in the palace, and killed his father and the king. He is so treasonous that he is not worthy of being the patriarch of our Chen family."

Chen Chong returned the medical records to Chen Ji, saying righteously: "This medical record can only prove that the emperor is not Xiaozong's biological son, but it cannot prove who the emperor's biological father is."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "If I say that my elder brother has personally admitted this in front of me, you may not believe it. But when Emperor Xiaozong died mysteriously, who was it that ensured that the current emperor ascended the throne? You must know it, right?"

Chen Chong also smiled and greeted Chen Ji: "Second Master, I believe you. I just said that we don't have any hard evidence to bring to the Empress Dowager."

Chen Xin said: "If the Empress Dowager knew that the Emperor's family was not of Emperor Xiaozong's bloodline, she would also think that the Grand Marshal was the most suspicious, right?"

Chen Chong smiled and shook his head, and said to the Chen family, "Anyone who sees this medical record will think that the rumor about the affair between the Grand Marshal and Empress Dowager Zhou is true. But the key is, where is the evidence? The Grand Marshal holds the military power. If there is no solid evidence, the Empress Dowager will not dare to execute the Grand Marshal!"

Chen Ji nodded and bowed to Chen Chong. "Sir, I will find a way to find evidence against my elder brother. But right now, there is something that may cause trouble for you. I wonder if you can help me?"

Chen Chong hurriedly returned the greeting and said, "The Grand Marshal is unkind. The Second Young Master has been wronged for many years. We are deeply indebted to the old County Lord. How can we not help him? The Second Young Master, please feel free to speak."

"I want to hide someone in your house for about three to five days, no more than ten days at most. I also ask you to take care of him like a friend."

"who?"

Chen Ji raised his hand to look at the medical records, and replied with a low smile, "Imperial Physician Tian Yuan."

So, on that day, on his way home from seeing patients in the palace, the imperial physician Tian Yuan was kidnapped by Mada and his men, put into a rice bag, and sent to the warehouse of the Minister of Five Armies' Mansion along with a dozen other bags of rice.

Then, the Minister of Five Armies Chen Chong went to the warehouse to open the rice bags, and sent Tian Yuan to the guest room, where he served tea and food, but he did not allow Tian Yuan to step out of the door.

When Chen Chong's wife, Zou, learned of this, she reprimanded Chen Chong: "Whether the Grand Marshal's conduct is upright or not, and whether the Second Young Master has been wronged or not, is none of your business? How dare you imprison the Imperial Physician? Once his family finds out, won't they sue you?"

Chen Chong smiled faintly: "Madam, look, the situation in Jiankang City will soon change. The emperor's bloodline is not legitimate, and everyone in the city knows it. Can the throne still be kept? The one who replaces him must be Prince Yongchang. The second son Chen is now the leader of the army under Prince Yongchang. If I don't take this opportunity to "help him in time of need", do I have to wait a few days to "add icing on the cake"? Do people still care about it?"

In the evening, when Tian Yuan's family did not see him come back, they went out to look for him. They asked all the chief doctors and the chief physician, and they all said that he had gone home a long time ago.

While inquiring about the search, Tian Yuan's family heard rumors about the Queen Mother Zhou and Grand Marshal Chen Xi, and naturally concluded that Tian Yuan's disappearance was related to Chen Xi. Then a group of people from the Tian family rushed to the Grand Marshal's Mansion to ask for people.

Only then did Chen Xi realize that Tian Yuan had been kidnapped. He knew without hesitation that it was Chen Ji who did it. It was a pity that he failed to act earlier than Chen Ji this time. It was difficult to find where Tian Yuan was hiding, and he dared not deal with the captured hostage at will.

He secretly sent someone to the post station to pass a note to Chen Ji, which read "two for two".

"Two for two" means, of course, exchanging the two hostages held by Chen Xi for one item and one person in Chen Ji's hands.

When Chen Ji received the note, he already had a plan in mind.

Xu Mu lived in the room next to Chen Ji. He saw someone secretly delivering something to Chen Ji. He became suspicious and secretly followed the messenger. He saw that the messenger left the post station and returned to the Grand Marshal's Mansion. Fearing that there was fraud, he wrote a letter about what Chen Ji had done in the past few days and secretly presented it to King Yongchang.

But it was impossible for Xu Mu to hand the letter to Prince Yongchang personally, so he only gave it to a trusted follower, who slipped the letter to a vendor at a stall when he went out of the post station to buy items.

The seller was naturally also a spy of Prince Yongchang, who then sent a helper out of the city and, after several rounds of transfers, finally delivered the goods to Madam Han.

Soon after, Mrs. Han sent another letter back to Xu Mu in the same way. It was written by Prince Yongchang and contained only eight words: "No need to restrict him, just let him do what he wants."

Xu Mu had no choice but to obey and stop interfering with Chen Ji's work.

Chen Ji came to Meixiangxie again and saw Shen Hui and the maid Fuxuan in the lobby on the first floor again.

Fuxuan originally wanted to stop Chen Ji, but Shen Hui refused and still ordered that Chen Ji be treated as an ordinary guest.

So Chen Ji still gave the reward and went to the second floor to find Tao Ye.

When Chen Ji walked to Tao Ye's door, he saw Tao Ye wearing a white gauze-like dress, as if shrouded in mist, with a hint of sadness in her eyes, staring out the window in a daze.

"Girl, what are you thinking about?"

Tao Ye turned around when she heard the voice and saw that it was Chen Ji. She looked unhappy and asked, "Why are you here again?"

"Others can come, so why can't I?" Chen Ji walked over slowly with a wicked smile, looking at Tao Ye's face carefully.

Tao Ye turned her face to the other side, too lazy to pay attention to Chen Ji.

Chen Ji also turned to the other side of Tao Ye and said with a smile: "Actually, I have something to ask of you today."

Tao Ye still ignored it.

Chen Ji asked with a smile: "Do you still remember Ma Dan? He was Ma Da's cousin and died for me in Yongchang Palace."

Mentioning Ma Dan's death, Tao Ye recalled the night when she and Wang Jing married in the church. It was supposed to be their wedding night, but she ended up going to Yongchang Palace to witness the tattoo on Yu'er's face.

She was immediately furious: "How dare you bring this up? Because of your selfishness, you sacrificed a life in vain and ruined Yu'er's life."

"That's because you tricked me into saying that you were pregnant with Wang Laoer's child. I was just impulsive at the moment. I never thought that Princess Si Yao would be so capable and Prince Yongchang would be so cruel?" Chen Ji seemed helpless. After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but sigh.

Tao Ye remained silent again.

Chen Ji looked at Tao Ye's beautiful face with light makeup on, and felt his heart beating: "Thinking back to the beginning, it was obviously us who fell in love first, but I didn't expect that I would go to Yongchang and be separated from you, and you would fall in love with someone else..."

Tao Ye felt that this was really off-putting and couldn't help but retort: ​​"What do you mean by 'falling in love with someone else'? When have I ever been nice to you? Stop talking nonsense!"

Chen Ji smiled helplessly again: "If that's the case, then what do the two days and two nights we spent together, and that kiss, mean?"

Tao Ye knew that Chen Ji was referring to the day after she had a fake marriage with Chen Ji as Mantangjiao and was given wine by Princess Si Yao.

She thought the wine was poisoned and that Chen Ji would not live long, so she did not reject Chen Ji's kiss.

In Chen Ji's mind, this kiss was actually considered as evidence that she had been interested in him?

She wanted to say that Chen Ji was fanciful and self-righteous, but she didn't want to say it when the words came to her lips. There were too many past events. If she continued like this, it would only get longer and longer, and it would be even more difficult to draw a clear line between her and Chen Ji.

Chen Ji stared at Tao Ye for a while, feeling sad silently, and suddenly remembered that he seemed to have gone off topic, and the purpose of his coming here today was not to reminisce about the past...

He smiled and said, "The past is the past, there is no point in talking about it. Today I really want to ask you for something. My elder brother has kidnapped Ma Tan's parents, and he wants to exchange them for a person and an object in my hand. This person is the imperial physician Tian Yuan, and this object is a medical record written by Tian Yuan. If I don't obey, he will send Ma Tan's parents to reunite with Ma Tan. I want to ask you to use magic to help me forge an identical "person and object."