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Chapter 13: Exploring the House
Ji Wenzhao said, "My surname is Ji, my name is Ji Wenzhao, and my character is Xiuming."
Master Pao nodded: "Oh, Master Ji ......" He stopped, the chess piece in his hand "snapped" onto the chessboard, and his eyes grew wide: "Ji Wenzhao Ji Xiuming? Ji national player?!"
Ji Wenzhao nodded heavily, and Official Pao almost burst into tears as he clasped his hands together and said, "Eh ah, you've finally come! What would I have done otherwise?"
Once again, Ji Wenzhao was puzzled and frowned at Official Bao. He took out a small bag from his pocket and continued, "Ever since they gave me your chess board, my business here has been booming. But if I can't do what they ask me to do, I'll be taking advantage of them, won't I? I'm in a panic! This is going to cost me my life ......"
Ji Wenzhao understood and his heart moved, "Did someone give you that chessboard?" Why did it belong to his name?
Official Bao nodded repeatedly and was just about to hand over the small bag when he suddenly stopped and asked carefully, "Are you Ji Xiuming?" Showing respect, one has to call the other person by his or her name.
Ji Wenzhao said arrogantly, "Of course I am!"
Official Bao asked again, "Is it that national player Ji Wenzhao?"
Ji Wenzhao frowned: "Exactly!" He took out a seal from his pocket with the words "Hengshan Wenzhao" on it, which he had always used. But Bao official still has some hesitation, small eyes blinked hard: "This, true seal letter actually I have not seen ...... how about, you and I play a few moves?"
Ji Wenzhao got impatient: "I'll play you for fifty pieces! Only for half an hour."
Official Bao's face glowed and he nodded repeatedly, "Many thanks, many thanks, isn't fifty a bit too many? Thirty will do ......"
Ji Wenzhao waved his hand, "Hurry up! No more guessing the sub either, you hold the black and play first." He wanted to see what was in that parcel.
Official Bao did not push back and began to play. Ji Wenzhao barely looked at the board and played quickly, but in his head he was thinking about this:Someone had used his name to release the game and attracted a lot of attention, and it seems that they expected he would ask about it when he saw it. It must have been someone who didn't know him who wanted to see him but didn't want anyone to know, which is why it was so convoluted. If it was to be done so covertly, it was probably not a good thing. But the fact that this man could play such a life-and-death game shows how much thought he had put into it. Perhaps he was a highly skilled chess player whom he had not yet met and wanted to use it to invite himself to play ......
While thinking, he himself reached out and took a snack from the table and put it in his mouth. When he saw that the official Bao was only looking at the chessboard and did not look up, he called out, "Bring a cup of tea."
Official Bao still didn't look up, but after Ji Wenzhao yelled, "Hurry up! Have a cup of tea!"
The talkative attendant ran in, gave Ji Wen Zhao a new cup of tea, poured it and whispered:"Our proprietor is very nice, take your time, it's okay if you eat all the snacks, he'll have them brought back." After giving him a wink and a scowl, he left.
Ji Wenzhao was depressed: does this mean that he thinks I'm here to cheat him out of food and drink?
It was not long before the game was over, the board was all with white, and the black of the Bao official was left with only two black pieces, but the Bao official still looked at the board with lingering interest and asked: "May I ask you, Official Ji, to be so kind as to give me another game? May I have seventy pieces?"
Ji Wenzhao said categorically, "No!"
Official Bao sighed and, somewhat reluctantly, opened the package and took out a fan and a letter from it. As he was about to give it to Ji Wenzhao, he suddenly said, "If I were to say that there was a trigram on this fan, would Official Ji guess what it was?"
Ji Wenzhao only felt a chill run down his back, and he said with some hesitation, "Couldn't it be ...... Ge Gua?"
Official Bao clapped his hands together and said, "Exactly Ge Gua! It seems that you are indeed Ji Wenzhao! You share the same heart with your friend!" After saying so, he handed over the fan and the letter without further ado and said with a curt smile, "I read the fan, but not the letter."
Ji Wenzhao opened the fan and looked at the simple trigram on its surface, and the coldness spread from his back to his forehead. He put the fan and the letter together in his arms and rose to salute, "Thank you, Official Bao, for delivering the letter for me."
The official Bao breathed a long sigh of relief, "Don't be polite, I have done what others have entrusted me with. Oh, one more thing." He lowered his voice mysteriously, "When will Official Ji give the answer to the chess game? Or will it just keep hanging around? Of course, if the official doesn't want to say, it's fine, but can you tell me privately, I'm very curious ......"
Ji Wenzhao coughed pretentiously and said: " Still ...... for the time being ...... do not say it ...... " I also don't know, how to tell you?
Official Bao looked disappointed, but suddenly remembered something else and said with a smile, "The Grand Prince's steward left me a letter saying that if one day Official Ji comes to collect this chessboard, he should tell Official Ji that he can go to the Grand Prince's residence at any time, and Grand Prince was very appreciative of the official's talent. That steward also said that if the official was busy, he could visit him at home on behalf of the Grand Prince, just to deliver a message to him."
If it hadn't been for this chess game, this would have been what Ji Wenzhao had privately wanted to achieve by playing in the ring. Now he has yet to play a game against a player from the capital, and with this game alone he has made a name for himself and received an invitation from the Grand Prince. But now he didn't want to go and pay his greetings . First of all, if the Grand Prince asked how to solve this famous chess game in the capital, what would he say? Would he say that he hadn't made it? At least you have to figure out the answer yourself first, and then promise. Furthermore, if someone knew his thoughts so closely, this person must not be the First Prince, and he had to see who this person was before making plans.
Thinking of this, Ji Wenzhao said to Official Bao, "I have only just arrived in the capital now, and I don't know yet whether I should stay here for a long time."
Official Bao nodded his head and said, "I understand, I understand, then I won't talk too much." Ji Wenzhao turned around and was about to leave when Official Bao's fat face was piled with flattering smiles, "Official Ji can come to Guangyi Pavilion at any time, I can give you free tea and set up a separate room for you, never let anyone disturb your clear thoughts, just ......"
When Ji Wenzhao saw him say these favours, he was afraid that he would drag himself to play chess again - his chess was so bad that it really insulted his own game. He was busy taking a step towards the door, and Official Bao hurriedly said, "In the future, if Official Ji plays chess against someone, is it possible to just choose the Guanyin Pavilion? If it is a private game, especially with this master who has sent a chess board, could I be allowed to watch from the sidelines? I'm not asking the official to play a game with me anymore -- once is enough, I can tell everyone later that Official Ji played a game with me and see who dares to put off playing with me! --I just want to watch Official Ji play chess. Is that OK?"
Ji Wenzhao looked at the childlike and sincere look in the eyes of Official Bao and nodded, "If I were to play against someone, I would definitely choose your Guanyi Pavilion. If I were to play chess here, whether it be public or private, you can watch from the sidelines, Official Bao." That would have been exactly what he wanted, and besides, you're the proprietor, so who can throw you out?
Official Bao was beaming with joy when Ji Wenzhao whispered, "Please also ask Official Bao not to tell others that I have got this package."
Official Bao nodded his head like garlic, "I know, I know, when that master's people sent the chessboard, they also said to keep it a secret, so I definitely won't say anything. You see, for such a long time, no one even knows that the chessboard was not given to me by you."
Ji Wenzhao thanked him again and exited the door of the side hall. Walking slowly through the hall, his eyes glanced around at the chess games people had set up to see if anyone had solved the puzzle. Just as he stepped out of the hall, the call of a nagging waiter came from behind him, "This guest, our proprietor sent you tea and dim sum, thank you for accompanying him to play chess!" All the way here, he was trying to get a chess partner for his boss, wasn't he? Ji Wenzhao was really scared of him, so he shook his hand repeatedly and passed between the tables with his feet like flying, leaving the door before the nagging waiter caught him.
When he returned to his residence, Ji Wenzhao opened the letter and read it, knowing that it was an invitation to meet him at the Moon Watching Pavilion outside the Xiangye Temple on April 4 at noon. Thinking that the other party should not have gone to such lengths just to scheme for his life, he decided in his heart to go and meet this master.
Once he had made up his mind, he ordered his servants to prepare food and drink, and took out the chessboard, set up the game of life and death, and sat down to ponder it. He could not go to see the person without solving this game, it would be too humiliating.So for nearly a month, Ji Wenzhao spent most of his time sitting in his house, studying hard, not paying too much attention to the big event in the city: the Grand Prince's ten-mile long dowry wedding to Lu Shi, the granddaughter of the Taishi Grand Master.
Everywhere the dowry passed, people stood on both sides of the road. It was partly to see what was going on, but it was also to get a taste of the joy. The dowry, which consisted of many rare books and various literary implements, could not be said to be worth much silver, but it showed the bride's superb scholarly background and, by implication, raised the Grand Prince's style.
Because of Shen Wen and Shen Xiang's recent misdeed with the Grand Prince and the Fourth Princess on New Year's Eve, no one from the marquis's house went to watch the wedding, but on the night of the wedding, Shen Wen told Su Wanniang that she was going to see the Grand Prince on his wedding night.
Su Wanniang was shocked at Shen Wen's lack of shame, but she also had to worry about her, because this time she was going to the Grand Prince's residence after all, which was different from the previous visits to the Wanhua House and the Guanyue Pavilion. When Shen Wen was leaving, Su Wanniang told her to be careful. After Shen Wen left, she seriously considered asking for a bodhisattva to make an offering, so that she would have a place to kneel down and pray when she was too frightened.
Shen Wen was not there to see the Grand Prince's wedding night, she wanted to be there on the night of the wedding. The Grand Prince's residence was full of people and chaos, so she could try to find out where the Grand Prince's study was, so she could later go and listen at the wall.
Shen Wen was not nervous at all, the child's centre of gravity was low and she moved quickly, she was confident that she could run faster than anyone in a short time, although her endurance was not good. With Su Wanniang around, she doesn't even have to scout the path herself anymore. She had already asked Su Wanniang to find out the direction of the Grand Prince's residence. After nightfall, she could see from a distance that the Grand Prince's residence was brightly lit and noisy with people.
Running nearby, Shen Wen rested for a while on the roof of a private house before sensing the Dark Guards of the Grand Prince's courtyard wall and climbing silently up to the fence. She sat on the wall for a moment and explored her surroundings with the power of her consciousness with her eyes closed, finding no one in the hideout before she kept the features of her surroundings in mind and slid down the wall and into the courtyard.
Only a short time after walking, Shen Wen heard footsteps in front of her and hid behind a rocky hill.
"Is there enough wine for the banquet in front? There are many guests today."
"I'm going to the wine cellar to get it." ......
The footsteps were far away, and Shen Wen hesitated whether to go to the wine cellar to have a look, when she heard someone say again, "Miss Yushu from the East Courtyard wants a midnight snack."
Someone replied, " Want this or that, don't know everyone is busy." ......
If I can't find the study, maybe I should go to the kitchen, there must be little food for the guests in the compound today ...... Shen Wen thought.
After walking a little further into the courtyard, she heard two people talking in the distance, "...... Are you going to His Highness's study here?"
"Yes, wait a little while, His Highness may even go over there."
"Your Highness is really worried, on the night of the wedding, and you are not going to accompany the bride."
" His Highness's desire is to be with the bride, and it's only about half an hour, so the bride must be able to wait ......"
They said their bye's and went their separate ways. Shen Wen was happy and naturally followed the one who was going to the study.
Outside a courtyard stood several guards, and the man greeted them and entered the courtyard. Shen Wen could not come forward, so she hid herself in the corner. She found not only those few standing, but also shadow guards walking back and forth around him.
From the distance there was a sound of people and five or six people coming along laughing and joking as they surrounded the Grand Prince.
The Grand Prince, dressed in red, was beaming in the light of the carrying lamp. The crowd all entered the courtyard, and later, listening to the voices, they went back into the house and silence fell around them.
Shen Wen circled slowly along the outskirts of the courtyard, finally waiting for a gap between the people walking around and felt her way under the dark courtyard wall .She was about to leap for the wall when she was alerted and crouched down again. Sure enough, there were shadows moving lightly over the wall, and it seemed that there were not only open but also hidden sentry posts.
Shen Wen also knew that she could do something to distract these people, but it wasn't the right moment yet, so she didn't need to alert the snake, and since she had found the place anyway, she decided to call it a night, so she could go home and sleep. She held her breath, waiting for a gap in the patrol to reappear so she could leave the courtyard wall where she was hiding.
Just then, a dark figure also flashed past catlike, hiding in the dark shadow of the courtyard wall not far from Shen Wen. Although this dark figure was agile, it moved much slower than Shen Wen, but Shen Wen was still alert, wondering if this was a secret guard or someone who had also come to step in like she did.
The black figure paused for a moment, then suddenly got up and was about to go up, while Shen Wen had already heard the faint rustle of the dark guard coming over. On the principle that the enemy's enemy is one's friend, And the worry that if this stupid man alerted the guard, she would be out of luck too, so she closed her eyes and used her consciousness to urge up a dead leaf and gently hit the dark figure on the shoulder.
There are many ancient Chinese texts that record stories of people flying arrows with their qi, beating bulls through the air or hurting people with a flick of a flower, such as a woman who taps the back of her head and the hairpin at the back of her head flies out and takes her opponent's life. An enemy placed his hand outside a coffin and shattered the stone inside. In fact, these are all uses of energy by the power of consciousness, and some people call this spiritual power internal power, which is not entirely accurate. In later generations, the emphasis on the practice of strength and the gradual neglect of the concentration of the mind have allowed those magical kung fu techniques to be gradually lost.
Shen Wen's current power of consciousness was nowhere near as strong as when she was a spirit. It would be easier to strengthen the frequencies that already existed with intention, or just to make an instantaneous power outburst, such as shattering a decaying lock core, than to move objects persistently out of thin air, if there were objects to rely on. With the cultivation of her consciousness power through meditation for so many years, she could only move a leaf, and she couldn't even pick up a small stone. It was much worse than in the past when she was a ghost and could carry heavy books off the shelves.
But this leaf was enough, and the dark figure immediately leaned down. The dark guard on the wall came up just in time, stood there for a moment, and slowly left again.
Shen Wen no longer lingered, and when she saw the opening reappear, she rushed out. She remembered the way very well, and after a few twists and turns she reached the courtyard wall where she had come in, flipped up the wall, and heard a low cry from far away in the darkness of the courtyard: " Thanks ......"
Shen Wen dared not look deeper, and without looking back, she jumped off the fence and ran into the streets of the late night. This time, in order to avoid being seen, she not only hid her head and face, but also wore dark clothes and a bulge, so she looked like a small black ball, hidden in the shadows.
