The Upper Three

Jinzhu looked at Chen Ji and said with a beaming smile, "His Excellency the Inner Chancellor planned everything from his command tent. He knew Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit were better at ruining things than getting them done, so he had me wait nearby well in advance, ready to step in when they capsized in a ditch. By now, neither the Military Intelligence Directorate nor the Liu Family likely knows I'm already in Luo City. It's the perfect time to ambush... arrest them."

Chen Ji's sense of danger surged. The Inner Chancellor's mind was unfathomably deep and meticulous.

Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit had merely been pushed forward to draw attention. Once they capsized, their enemies would relax after a brief victory. Then Jinzhu would quietly enter the fray. With the enemy in the open and himself in the shadows, he was bound to reap a harvest.

The two of them had probably been promoted to the Twelve Zodiac Animals six months early for this very moment!

He schemed so ruthlessly even against his own people. No wonder outsiders called him the "Venomous Chancellor"!

Chen Ji cupped his hands. "Lord Jinzhu, I'm not a member of the Secret Intelligence Directorate. Please don't divulge its secrets to me."

Jinzhu came over and took Chen Ji's hand affectionately, his face wreathed in smiles. "Of course I have to tell you! I'm counting on you to join the Secret Intelligence Directorate and help me earn merit! Oh, I haven't told you the good news. His Excellency the Inner Chancellor has issued an order granting you special permission to join the Secret Intelligence Directorate. From now on, we'll be colleagues. With your talents, you're bound to soar straight into the blue clouds."

Jinzhu's enormous, fleshy palm closed around Chen Ji's hand, raising goosebumps all over him. He hurriedly said with humility, "You flatter me, Lord Jinzhu. I have no such ability."

"Of course you do!" Jinzhu exclaimed in admiration. "I originally thought Cloud Goat would come to grief with Zhou Chengyi and slink out of Luo City with his tail between his legs in a single day. I never expected them not only to find evidence of the crime, but to nail Liu Shiyu and even uncover the Liu Family patriarch's faked death. At the time, I wondered when those two had learned anything besides killing, which they were good at. Only later did I understand it was all because of you!"

"It wasn't me." Chen Ji shook his head. "Lord Jinzhu, I'm just a medical apprentice."

"Don't be modest. Lin Chaoqing has already reported what happened to His Excellency the Inner Chancellor, and Dream Rooster reported his interrogation of you in the dream as well. Put the two together, and the truth naturally becomes clear."

Realization dawned on Chen Ji. No wonder Jinzhu had come looking for him. The Inner Chancellor already knew he existed.

He asked curiously, "I heard Lord Cloud Goat say that the selection of secret agents was extremely strict."

Jinzhu smiled and patted his shoulder. "That's true enough, but you stood out in the Liu Shiyu case and made His Excellency the Inner Chancellor appreciate your talent. Naturally, an exception was made."

"What are the benefits of joining the Secret Intelligence Directorate? How much is the salary?" Chen Ji asked.

"Salary?" Jinzhu laughed. "A Sparrow Rank agent gets twenty-four taels of silver a year, and a Pheasant Rank agent gets twenty-six. At Pigeon Rank, it's twenty-eight taels a year, and you can stand on equal footing with the magistrate of a large county. At Gyrfalcon, it's even more impressive. An ordinary prefect would have to treat you with courtesy. Do you know what a gyrfalcon is? The creature is fierce by nature. When it's hungry, it attacks anything in the sky."

"What about the Twelve Zodiac Animals?" Chen Ji asked.

"You want to become one of the Twelve Zodiac Animals?" Jinzhu sized Chen Ji up with interest, but kept talking. "The Twelve Zodiac Animals are naturally a little more formidable than Gyrfalcons. They carry royal command tablets and may execute first and report afterward when the need arises... but there are differences among the Twelve Zodiac Animals as well."

"Huh?"

"The Twelve Zodiac Animals are divided into four tiers: first, second, third, and fourth. The three in the fourth tier are the Rat, the Rabbit, and the Goat."

Chen Ji mused inwardly that Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit held the lowest positions among the Twelve Zodiac Animals.

Jinzhu continued, "Next are the three in the third tier, currently the Gold Pig, the Treasure Monkey, and the Dream Rooster."

"What about the second tier?"

"The Corpse Dog, the Mountain Ox, and the Dark Snake."

"And the first tier?"

Jinzhu smiled. "The first three are truly formidable. As the saying goes, the 'upper three' are made of iron, while the 'lower nine' flow like water. Over the years, the other Zodiac positions have nearly all changed hands, but the upper three are like roly-poly toys. They've never made a mistake on an assignment, and none has ever been replaced."

"Those three are the White Dragon, the Heavenly Horse, and the Sick Tiger!"

"The authority of the upper three Zodiac Animals naturally differs from ours. We still need to report to Lord Wu Xiu and have him pass things along. The upper three report directly to His Excellency the Inner Chancellor. What they intend to do and what they're doing aren't things we're allowed to ask about. When orders are given, the lower nine Zodiac Animals must obey the upper three unconditionally."

The medical hall fell quiet. Only now did Chen Ji have a complete picture of the Secret Intelligence Directorate.

Jinzhu stopped speaking. He took off his conical hat and set it on the counter, giving Chen Ji time to digest it all.

In the tranquil silence, Chen Ji thought rapidly. Why had the man told him so much? Was it because he wasn't calculating? No.

If the man weren't calculating, he wouldn't have waited patiently until now to appear.

This was no Gold Pig. He was plainly someone who pretended to be a pig to eat the tiger.

Chen Ji asked, "May I ask... where are Lords Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit now?"

Jinzhu smiled. "They were originally going to be escorted to the capital to await judgment, but then His Excellency the Inner Chancellor's order arrived. They don't need to return to the capital; they're being sent straight into exile in Lingnan."

Chen Ji shook his head. "Lord Jinzhu, may I choose not to join the Secret Intelligence Directorate? Even people as capable as Lords Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit ended up in chains. My fate surely wouldn't be much better..."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you."

Just then, a noise suddenly came from the rear courtyard.

Chen Ji glanced toward the courtyard. When he turned back, Jinzhu had vanished!

He looked up and saw that Jinzhu's bulky figure had somehow leaped onto a roof beam. He was crouched there without making a sound!

Chen Ji: "..."

At the slightest rustle of wind or grass, this Jinzhu really did hide faster than anyone!

Jinzhu narrowed his eyes slightly atop the beam, as if facing a formidable enemy. He said in a low voice, "Boy, go take a look."

At the rear courtyard wall, Bai Li's head emerged from behind it. She cautiously surveyed the courtyard, but when she spotted Chen Ji, her heart suddenly sank.

She had thought that since she was out late today, she could save herself a toll by waiting until Chen Ji was asleep. Yet this medical apprentice seemed not to need sleep at all!

Bai Li clung to the wall and looked at Chen Ji. "Hey, what are you doing in the courtyard in the middle of the night?"

"Collecting tolls, of course," Chen Ji replied without a trace of guilt.

Bai Li grew even angrier. She climbed over the wall and down the ladder, then angrily pulled four silver peanuts from her purse and slapped them hard into Chen Ji's palm. "You shouldn't call yourself Chen Ji anymore. You should call yourself Blackhearted Chen!"

"Huh? Why are there four?" Chen Ji asked, puzzled.

Another head popped up over the wall. It belonged to a girl he didn't recognize.

Bai Li beckoned to her. "Lingyun, there's a ladder inside. Climb down it."

The girl wore dark blue clothes and a green jade hairpin, dressed as a boy. She nimbly climbed over the wall into the courtyard.

The heir and the little monk followed close behind.

The girl named Lingyun looked at the four silver peanuts in Chen Ji's palm and asked, puzzled, "What's that for?"

Bai Li explained, "It's a toll for him."

"A toll?" Zhu Lingyun stared for a moment, then said instinctively, "Doesn't the Imperial Medical Hall belong to our princely residence? He's just a medical apprentice supported by our household. Why do we have to pay him a toll?"

Chen Ji looked at Bai Li. "And this is...?"

"This is my younger sister, Zhu Lingyun," Bai Li introduced her with a smile. "She didn't use to go out much, so I brought her along to have some fun this time. Don't mind what she says. She's a little conscious of people's station."

Zhu Lingyun looked astonished. "Bai Li, why are you being so polite to a servant?!"

Bai Li's little face darkened. "What do you mean, a servant? Father has always told us not to look down on others. Why do you always take after your mother?"

Zhu Lingyun was upset too. "You're getting angry with me over an outsider? What has my mother ever done to you?!"

Bai Li refused to get drawn into that. "Apologize. Have you forgotten everything Father taught us?!"

"Why should I apologize? Isn't he just a servant?" Zhu Lingyun protested.

The heir and the little monk, watching from the side, hurried to make peace. "Stop arguing, stop arguing. What's there to fight about?... Lingyun, you shouldn't have said that about Chen Ji."

Zhu Lingyun widened her large, almond-shaped eyes and stared at the heir in disbelief. "Brother, you're taking Bai Li's side again?!"

The heir was silent for a moment. "I'm not taking anyone's side. I'm judging this matter on its own merits. At Eastern Grove Academy, Prince Fu's heir Zhu Yu strutted around every day, and didn't the teachers end up driving him out? Don't let those scholars at Eastern Grove Academy flatter you for so long that you forget Father's teachings."

Tears welled in Zhu Lingyun's eyes. After a long silence, she turned around and climbed the ladder back into the princely residence. "You go have fun. I'm not going!"

Chen Ji had remained silent from beginning to end...

The heir sighed and turned to Chen Ji. "Sorry you had to see that. Lingyun is actually a good person. She's just a little temperamental."

Chen Ji smiled. "It's all right."

He returned one silver peanut to Bai Li, who exclaimed in surprise, "You can actually spit money back out once you've got it?"

"I don't earn what I shouldn't."

The heir gave him a thumbs-up. "A man of principle!"

Chen Ji returned to the shared sleeping platform and gently shook Liang Mao'er awake. "Call your brother and go drinking with the heir. Remember to eat plenty when you get to Red Clothes Alley."

Liang Gou'er suddenly sat bolt upright, his eyes gleaming. "Drinking? Where are we going to drink?"

Chen Ji: "..."

Liang Mao'er: "..."

After they left, the medical hall grew quiet once more.

Jinzhu floated lightly down from the roof beam and looked at Chen Ji with a probing gaze. "You seem to be on very good terms with the heir and Commandery Princess Bai Li?"

"We're not that close," Chen Ji said, shaking his head.

Jinzhu said with a beaming smile, "I heard everything Commandery Princess Bai Li said in your defense just now."

In a tone that brooked no argument, he said, "Young man, there are many benefits to joining my Secret Intelligence Directorate. Working for His Excellency the Inner Chancellor, you can never lose. From today on, you're a secret agent. I'll give you a task to start: follow the heir and report his every movement to me. I'm off."

Chen Ji stood in the dim medical hall, watching Jinzhu's retreating back, and replied softly, "Understood, Lord Jinzhu."

As the medical hall's front door gently closed, he returned to the rear courtyard, picked up the bamboo tube, rolled up his sleeves in the cool autumn night, and set about carefully scraping frost from the wall.