Daming: Internship also counts as work experience

Chapter 103 Waiting for the rabbit
Qian Xun nodded and said:
“He doesn’t care about right or wrong. If we take action, he’ll frame us. If we don’t, he’ll still frame us. Take the murder case we discovered this morning, for example. Even if we didn’t do it, I think he would have done it himself, and then it would have turned out like this today… He’s making a lot of sense in what he’s saying. He must have planned it all in advance. It’s just that we made the first move.”

Zhu Heng nodded seriously.

For once, Wang Bin didn't scoff. He frowned, thought for a moment, and said, "It seems that the one in the capital can't wait any longer."

Zhu Gaochi immediately straightened his back and said with a stern face:

"If that's the case, then we should kill him. Zhu Heng, put everything else aside and focus on this one thing: kill Jia Chuan. No matter what method you use, his life isn't worth comparing with mine. He keeps using this method to file complaints, it's all the same old tricks, and it's making things difficult for my nephew! We shouldn't give him the chance to lead us by the nose, so that he has no time to think about anything other than saving his own life."

Zhu Heng bowed and accepted the order.

"And Zhu Zhanqi... kill him too!"

Zhu Heng's body trembled slightly.

"Pass down the message: all preparations must be expedited. He can't wait? Neither can I!"

Wang Bin took a deep breath and thought to himself: Is this something that can be done quickly if you want to?

Taking the opportunity, Qian Xun asked, "Now that it's confirmed that Jia Chuan does indeed have a way to send messages to the capital, the officials at all levels of the Prince's mansion, and the Prince's men in the prefectural government, I'm afraid..."

Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, the court officials are watching. How can he do anything to you based on just a few words from Jia Chuan without any evidence? Isn't he afraid of alienating the officials? My people will speak up for you. At most, he can only replace you. Humph! If you return to the capital, wouldn't it be easier for me to get the news? It doesn't matter who comes. If they can be used, use them; if they can't, discard them!"

Qian Xun thought to himself: If I change positions, can I still become an official?
……

Jia Chuan and his group returned to the house safely, and this time Jia Chuan did not rush to write a secret letter.

This case needs a follow-up to form a complete story. Based on the current deductions, Jia Chuan knows that if he only shows it to Zhu Zhanji, it will be set aside, needlessly causing trouble for the Imperial Guards who deliver the message.

The group had been busy for more than half a day and hadn't had lunch yet, so the kitchen quickly got to work. After a simple meal, they gathered in the main hall of the front yard for a meeting.

Wu Bing said worriedly, "After today's commotion, I wonder if it will stop the people from the Prince's Mansion from harming innocent people."

Chen Mo said, "All the experts in the manor have come. How can we not go? I can't wait to have a match with them. It would be best if the one who said he killed seven Imperial Guards could come."

Gao Yuntian nodded heavily.

Jia Chuan scratched his head and said, "They staged the murders to lure me out. There haven't been any murders in Le'an for several years. If a series of murders occur, and I am assassinated as soon as I leave, what if the first attempt fails? To be honest, if I were a strategist by the King of Han's side, I would never come up with such an idea."

“All they’re thinking about is how to kill you; they won’t consider anything else,” Gao Yunduo interjected.

Jia Chuan nodded and said, "That's why this is my biggest headache. I'm afraid that someone else will lose their life because of me."

Gao Yuntian frowned: "You still have time to worry about other people's lives?"

"Why should I worry about my own usefulness? I'll just have to deal with whatever comes my way. I think the Prince of Han must be furious again today, and his determination to kill me will only grow stronger. He might even come to test the mansion tonight. Having murder corpses on my hands is useless; I need the corpses of people from the Prince of Han's mansion, preferably alive. But I'm afraid that if I use the secret passage too many times, they will discover it."

Wu Bing said, "That's what I think too. We can't let them find out that there's a secret passage in the house for the time being. The secret passage from the blacksmith's shop to the Prince's mansion is hard to find, but finding the secret passage out of the city from this house is much easier."

Jia Chuan asked, "Is everything... ready on your end?"

Wu Bing nodded and said, "It's almost done. We were lucky, though, because there was a small courtyard that was very close to the secret passage."

"Well, you can't make a move yet. Sigh, I don't know when it will snow, but it would be good to spar with the people in the manor before it snows. If you ever have to enter the manor, you can deduce your master's skill level through these disciples."

Wu Bing said, "Actually, there's something I've always wondered about. If Zhuangzi was only trying to cover up his private keeping of courtesans, why would he need to hire such a powerful person to guard the estate..."

"Is this a big deal?" Jia Chuan asked.

"It was a big deal, but not a small deal either. The late emperor knew that all officials who had received gifts from the King of Han had been dealt with to varying degrees."

Jia Chuan slapped his thigh, only then realizing that after Zhu Zhanqi said that his father had implicated him last year, the ways he obtained information in Beijing had naturally been discovered. Perhaps Zhu Zhanqi had concealed something, but the late emperor clearly knew about what happened at the Prince of Han's estate, yet he did not punish the Prince of Han, which shows that such a thing was not a big deal.

What secrets might be hidden in that manor? Are these secrets so great that they require martial arts masters to guard them?

“These are not things to think about right now.” Chen Mo looked at Jia Chuan, who was deep in thought, and said, “Right now, we should guard the house and think about how to deal with this. I’ve been thinking about it, and besides the people from the estate, the Prince’s Mansion will definitely send others as well. You’ve said several times that they might come to test the house at night, but they haven’t come. Why?”

Gao Yuntian immediately chimed in, "They've realized there's something wrong with our house."

Jia Chuan looked at Gao Yuntian in surprise and said, "Okay, you've got your brain at home."

Gao Yuntian said unhappily, "I'm not stupid, and they're even less stupid. You always retreat into this house, so they must know that this house is not simple. It's not easy to leave unscathed after entering the courtyard. If they can't kill you, they'll have left them with leverage. Even if you don't have anything, they can make up all sorts of stories..."

"Do you think they'll still find a way to lure him out? They won't come to the house tonight?" Gao Yunduo asked.

Chen Mo said, "If this house were outside the city, the King of Han would dare to mobilize troops, but inside the city... he would always have some reservations. No matter how many people come, the number would be limited, and they don't know how many people are inside the house, so naturally they wouldn't dare to come rashly."

"But letting him out won't be that easy," Gao Yuntian cautioned.

Jia Chuan rubbed his throbbing temples and said, "Ambushing me in the streets and alleys is similar to ambushing me in the house. It's hard for them to retreat, and it's easy for me to run away. They will definitely find a place with a wide view so that they can surround me in the middle. It's easy for them to retreat, but it's not easy for me to run away."

"So this still leads to a murder case!" Gao Yuntian shrugged.

Jia Chuan pointed outside and said, "There's nobody around the house anymore."

Upon hearing this, Wu Bing abruptly stood up and left the house. A moment later, he returned and said, "No one has been found yet." Jia Chuan raised an eyebrow and said, "Then how about we wait and see?"

Chen Mo asked, "You mean they want to ambush us around the house?"

Jia Chuan shrugged and said, "I've thought about all the possibilities. Their goal is to kill me, so they won't use their experts separately. They're not sure how strong we really are. If they can't separate us, are they betting that I'll go to the crime scene, or that I'll go to the state government office?"

"No matter where you go, you have to go out through the alley in front of the door," Gao Yunduo said.

Jia Chuan nodded and said, "The idea of ​​evacuating the surrounding residents is to let the people of Le'an spread the word and clear a buffer zone. If they come to besiege the house, it will be easier for them to make their deployment, so that they won't attack the people and harm innocent lives."

"So you won't let me have people around here," Wu Bing said.

“I was thinking that if they really came to besiege us, none of the people we had arranged outside would survive, but now… let’s try waiting for them to come to us.”

……

Night fell as expected, and Jia Chuan sat in the unlit hall, lost in thought, with Dong Yuanyuan, Shunzi, and Old Zheng keeping him company.

Dong Yuanyuan was very serious, sitting facing the door with a knife on the ground in front of her. Originally, Yuanyuan was holding the knife in her hand, but Jia Chuan was afraid that if his men came in, she would raise the knife and start slashing, and no one could stop her, so he told her to put the knife on the ground.

There were also two knives and a bow and arrow on the table, belonging to Jia Chuan, Old Zheng, and Shunzi.

Everyone else had gone out, and the house was quiet and dark.

Jia Chuan knew that the courtyard wall of this house was its own defense, and that it was full of traps and hidden arrows set up by Wu soldiers. If it could really hold off an attack and buy them time to escape from the city, there would be no problem at all.

Whether or not the task assigned by Zhu Zhanji can be completed is not important; what is important is to survive. Moreover, if the mission is terminated for this reason, Zhu Zhanji will not only not punish the person but will also reward them.

But the people from the Prince of Han's mansion didn't attack the house; they were only thinking of luring him out to kill him, not giving him an excuse to finish early. Jia Chuan felt that he could only play along with them a little longer.

Without the three burdens in the house, Jia Chuan believed that if the people from the Prince of Han's mansion didn't come, fine. But if they dared to come, no matter if they were after the mansion or were already lying in ambush nearby, Gao Yuntian and Wu Bing could teach them a lesson tonight. Even if they had a few experts... experts would be afraid of a hidden hand from behind when they were caught off guard, right?
The question is, how many masters did Zhuangzi actually bring? Jia Chuan deduced that there were at most three or four people, totaling ten disciples. Apart from the two who were Zhu Gaochi's close associates and had completed their apprenticeships, there were others who had only studied for less than two years and couldn't show off. Perhaps some of them died in the project to intercept Zhu Zhanji. In addition, Zhuangzi might have left one or two behind. Based on this, Jia Chuan deduced that among the eight people who entered the city from Zhuangzi, there were probably only three or four masters.

Jia Chuan wasn't worried about the Gao siblings, or even Wu Bing. Although he had never seen Wu Bing's skills, he always felt that Wu Bing was very powerful. What he was worried about was Chen Mo.

Dong Yuanyuan was left behind to protect the three people inside the house; this kind of fighting was not suitable for her at the moment.

The four people sat in the dark room, too nervous to speak, afraid that any noise would disturb their ability to hear the sounds outside.

Jia Chuan was conflicted. He hoped someone would come, but he was also afraid of hearing any noise. After thinking it over, he realized that without knowing the skill level of those three or four people, a sneak attack was probably the safest option.

Old Zheng got tired of sitting and asked Jia Chuan in a low voice, "Can I lie down on your bed and take a nap? I'm getting old and can't stay up all night. If you come, have Shunzi wake me up."

"Go to sleep, I don't know how long we'll have to wait."

Old Zheng yawned, and Dong Yuanyuan turned to him and said, "Don't sleep. I wasn't sleepy at all before you said it, but I'm sleepy right after you said it. If you lie down, I feel like I can fall asleep sitting up."

Old Zheng asked, puzzled, "How could my sleeping bother you?"

"I don't know either. If none of you are sleepy, then I'm not sleepy either..."

Jia Chuan suddenly raised his hand to stop Dong Yuanyuan. In the darkness, the four of them tensed up and listened intently to the sounds outside.

"They're really here!" Shunzi said excitedly.

If they really come, are they here to besiege the house or to ambush us in the surrounding empty houses?
Jia Chuan opened the door and stood at the entrance, listening carefully. If they were coming to besiege the house, there would definitely be a lot of people, and Wu Bing would have given the warning. The commotion right now... it seems that some people have come and want to ambush around the house.

Jia Chuan couldn't understand it. Did the people in the Prince's mansion think that everyone in the house stayed obediently inside and didn't know how to keep security? By moving the surrounding people away, he had also indirectly driven away the people from the Prince's mansion who were monitoring the house. At least there shouldn't be anyone in this alley and the row of houses in front of it. If the Prince's mansion really dared to leave people to continue monitoring, Jia Chuan would definitely dare to kill them.

Jia Chuan knew this wasn't the time to think about these things. Since the men were there to ambush them, there wouldn't be many. Jia Chuan just hoped to end the battle as soon as possible.

Jia Chuan gave Wu Bing a task: if someone really came tonight, keep as many weapons as they could, including bows and arrows.

How many weapons can a blacksmith's shop forge in a day? If a lot of people come tonight, that would be several days' worth of work...

Thinking about this, Jia Chuan suddenly realized a problem: there were only three blacksmith shops on that street, was it worth the risk of going there...?

"Why do you think the blacksmith shop is located on the street? Wouldn't it be safer to be in the village?" Jia Chuan asked, looking at the darkness outside the door.

Shunzi asked, puzzled, "Aren't you worried about the outside world? You still have the leisure to think about the blacksmith shop?"

"There's no use worrying now. Thinking about other things will help me calm down."

Old Zheng said, "What you said makes sense, but the Prince of Han just did it anyway. Besides, there are only so many blacksmiths and not much iron ore, and it's all in the hands of the imperial court. The Prince of Han will definitely find a way to get some... I'm afraid it's all accumulated over the years..."

"Are you talking about iron ore or blacksmiths?" Jia Chuan asked.

"It's all the same. Blacksmiths are craft households, passed down from generation to generation. The imperial court has ironworks, and these craft households are required to serve the government regularly. There are shift craftsmen and resident craftsmen. Moreover, the imperial court has decreed that blacksmiths and their relatives cannot move at will. You said that the materials are in the hands of the imperial court, and the craftsmen are also under the supervision of the imperial court. If the royal family wants to privately manufacture weapons, and wants a lot of them, wouldn't it be difficult?"

Jia Chuan pondered for a moment, then nodded and said, "So the best approach is to recruit our old subordinates and build an entire army like that. This would save us a lot of money on forging weapons and armor. But you say that the blacksmith shops on the street have secret passages leading to the Prince's Palace, which would allow for the transport of goods. But what about the Prince's Palace itself?"

Shunzi snorted and said, "You're just asking questions out of nervousness. What the Prince's mansion is transporting out of the city, who would dare to stop it? Just cover it up tightly."

(End of this chapter)