novelhk Chapter 180 Back Garden
Chapter 180 Back Garden
The carriage jingled and the copper bell in front of the carriage continued to ring.
I don’t know where the skinny monkey went, nor do I know how much time has passed.
Suddenly there was a loud shouting sound coming from outside the car.
“Run, run…”
"Stop, stop..."
Then the carriage stopped suddenly, and the skinny monkey lifted the door curtain: "My Lord, are you okay?"
"What happened?" Zhou Chang rushed forward due to inertia and almost bumped into the skinny monkey.
"It must be the police arresting people again. They look like they are from the Dali Temple." The skinny monkey took a glance and seemed to recognize the other person's official uniform.
"Oh, then wait a minute..." Zhou Chang was not curious either, as it had nothing to do with him anyway.
Just as the car curtain was about to be lowered, a bright figure came into view.
Zhou Chang grabbed Shouhou's hand, bent over and stuck his head out: "Look over there, is that person..."
"Miss Yuan's... friend?" The skinny monkey recognized him at the first sight.
"Do you remember Wen Fei?" Zhou Chang stared wide-eyed at a street corner diagonally ahead.
The skinny monkey also tilted his neck and stared in that direction: "It's him, no doubt. Young Master Wen has the most beautiful wrinkles among all the buns. He is unforgettable at first sight."
Zhou Chang has always been unable to accept the skinny monkey's metaphor of food.
However, Wen Qingyan was wearing a silver-green scholar's robe and standing with a few other people who were also dressed like scholars. Even though he was cowering and hiding, he was still so outstanding that people couldn't help but take a few more glances at him.
On the other side, the approaching officers seemed to be aiming to arrest the man dressed as a scholar.
"Follow him." Zhou Chang's eyes were already glued to Wen Qingyan and he couldn't take them away.
"With him?" The skinny monkey was thinking about finding food.
"The police seem to be catching them." Zhou Chang did not question it.
The skinny monkey saw the officers chasing in that direction and pulled the reins: "Who knows? Maybe after the imperial examination a few days ago, these scholars started making trouble again. The Dali Temple is indispensable for suppressing such things as gatherings and making troubles."
The carriage started and followed.
Zhou Chang tilted his neck and twisted his body, his eyes never leaving Wen Qingyan's silver-green figure, but Wen Qingyan turned a corner with the others and disappeared.
When the carriage turned the corner, there was only a street lined with houses and many people walking on the road, but there was no sign of Wen Qingyan.
"Follow the officers." Zhou Chang couldn't find Wen Qingyan, but he could find the officers from the Dali Temple.
The skinny monkey then drove again to follow the police.
The officers turned left and right, searching in all directions. After a while, the last group of people turned into a narrow alley with houses on both sides.
Zhou Chang's vision was obstructed in the carriage, so he simply asked the skinny monkey to stop the carriage and got out to look around himself.
The skinny monkey couldn't stop him, so he could only anxiously say, "Prince, please slow down, we are not familiar with this road."
Zhou Chang was so focused on catching up with Wen Qingyan to find out the truth that he didn't care about much else.
From a distance, the police were knocking on doors of every household ahead, and they would go in to search any suspicious household.
Zhou Chang followed from a distance, sticking close to the door, and he couldn't even be sure whether Wen Qingyan had run into this alley.
The skinny monkey finally caught up with the carriage and looked around: "This seems to be near the old Wenqu Lane in East City. So, this place is not far from the Boyin Academy that Mr. Zhong often complains about."
The two officers finally realized that someone was following them and turned around.
"Keep a low profile and don't reveal your identity." Zhou Chang didn't care what the skinny monkey said and hurriedly whispered to him.
The skinny monkey didn't answer, but led the carriage forward to block Zhou Chang's figure.
The officer pointed at them from a distance and asked, "Who are you?"
Zhou Chang stopped and stood sideways under a porch, waiting for the skinny monkey to send the servants away.
Suddenly, the wooden door beside her creaked open a crack, an arm stretched out, and pulled her in.
"Hush." A voice whispered a warning.
Just as Zhou Chang was about to exclaim, he saw the young man with a pair of clear eyes like a deer turning around and making a silence gesture with his fingers to his lips.
The young man was not tall, probably only reaching Prince Yi's shoulders. He looked weak and frail, and didn't look like he could harm anyone.
Zhou Chang was a face control and had no resistance to beautiful boys, so he kept silent. Through the door behind him, he could still hear the voice of the skinny monkey outside: "Nothing, my master and I were just passing by."
A second later, the boy grabbed her sleeve and ran quickly into the house.
"Hey, wait a minute, who are you?" Zhou Chang was pulled involuntarily and staggered inside.
The young man looked weak, but he was quite strong. He did not answer, but just pulled people through the hall and the room.
Zhou Chang finally stopped at a small courtyard at the back, and only then did he find time to ask again, "Did you recognize the wrong person?"
The young man was wearing a light green gown and a square scarf on his head, and he looked like a scholar.
Zhou Chang suspected that the other party was also a scholar on the run.
The young man still didn't answer, and made a gesture to keep quiet, then hurriedly opened the backyard door and pushed Zhou Chang: "Hurry."
Zhou Chang was pushed out and found that it was the back alley of the street he had just walked.
There was no one in the back alley, which was so narrow that only one person could pass through.
The young man turned around and closed the back door, then turned back and pushed Zhou Chang.
Without taking a step, he pushed open two narrow doors on the opposite wall and brought Zhou Chang in.
Zhou Chang inexplicably followed him into another courtyard. The view in front of him suddenly opened up and he unconsciously slowed down his pace.
I didn't expect that there is such a paradise in Jindu City.
The small square courtyard was quiet and deserted.
The snow that had fallen two days ago seemed to have not been cleared yet, and it spread on the ground like a pearly white carpet. The few plum trees planted in the yard had already bloomed, with red flowers on the white ground and a subtle fragrance, as if they were secluded from the world.
"Where is this?" Zhou Chang couldn't help but ask.
The young man was familiar with the road, and he pulled Zhou Chang forward and continued to walk forward, speaking at a normal volume: "Young Master, go out this way. There is a straight alley ahead, and the police should not be able to find you."
"I'm not..." Zhou Chang's guess was correct. The young man really thought she was a scholar like Wen Qingyan.
But before he could finish his words, an old woman with heavy makeup and a plum blossom in her hair appeared from nowhere and shouted, "Hey, where did this noble man come from? Meisheng, why didn't you say hello in advance?"
"Mother Liu, no, he's not..." The boy suddenly felt uneasy, "Just let him go out the front door."
The old woman looked around Zhou Chang without disguising her interest: "What's the matter? Since you are here, would you like to come in and sit down?"
Zhou Chang always dressed casually. Today he was only wearing a silver-green robe without even a cape or cloak. He looked neither wealthy nor status-conscious.
Zhou Chang had a feeling that there was something fishy between the old woman and this courtyard. Moreover, the skinny monkey was still on the other side of the street. If he turned around and couldn't find her, he would be worried. So he said to the young man, "You misunderstood just now. I am not the scholar those officers are chasing. My driver is still outside. Please let me go back the same way."
"Ah..." The boy blushed suddenly, realizing that his good intentions had led to a mistake.
Have you been ripped off today?"