Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 322: Energetic? Let's talk
When Zhu Tingfang saw Zhang Shou, he saw that this future brother-in-law, whom he felt he had never seen through, was in high spirits and strolling leisurely. If it weren't for his unnatural walking posture and a bit of dust, he wouldn't seem to be rushing with the Sharp Cavalry Battalion and arrived only seven or eight hours later than him. However, his eyes were soon attracted to Ah Liu behind Zhang Shou.
The young man had a stern face and violently threw the person he was carrying on his shoulders to the ground. Although it was not quite accurate to say "throw", at least he did not throw the person as roughly as he would a sack, but he did not handle him with care as if he were a person, but just threw him to the ground casually. Even though he and Ah Liu did not have much contact, he could still tell that the person did not seem very happy.
Out of curiosity, Zhu Tingfang couldn't help asking, "Ah Liu, who offended you? Why are you acting like you don't want anyone to come near you?"
Zhu Yi didn't expect that the eldest son would talk to Ah Liu instead of Zhang Shou. He couldn't help wondering in his heart - when did Ah Liu stop being a stranger? He thought that Ah Liu would ignore Zhu Tingfang's question like he did to most people, but he didn't expect that Ah Liu, who had squatted down to let him go, stood up, looked up at Zhu Tingfang, and actually gave a serious answer.
"A question that everyone can answer. Master has wasted a bunch of money."
"..." Zhu Tingfang felt the veins on his forehead jump twice unnaturally. When Zhang Shou reluctantly told him what happened when he entered the city today and the explanation of the gatekeeper of Changlu County Government, he finally understood. If it were normal, he would definitely despise those greedy local rich people, but now he felt differently.
Zhang Shou himself looked normal, but he was actually very strange... But the young servant beside him who was obviously an extraordinary martial artist was even stranger! With the monthly salary he received from his second brother, why would he care about a mere string of fifty coins? The next moment, just when he didn't know what to say, he got an answer that made him think deeply.
"You can't spoil people. The more you spoil them, the more greedy they become." Ah Liu ignored Zhu Tingfang's strange expression, looked at Zhang Shou, and said seriously, "This is what a madman said. Although he is crazy, he doesn't lie most of the time."
Everyone present knew who the madman was... Wasn't he the elusive Hua Qiye of the Zhu family?
What's more, it seems that Ah Liu's intention is not just to talk about that doorman, but also to allude to the guy on the ground who was blocking the horse and crying out for justice.
Therefore, after a moment of silence, Zhu Tingfang finally sighed and said, "Regarding the matter of Cangzhou, my second brother did something by coincidence, and I arrived at the right time, so if we want to say that it has been resolved, it has actually been resolved. I have registered all the people who participated in the palace incident, and the main culprit Xian Yunhe and the most important twenty people have been detained in the Cangzhou Palace."
"The eldest prince is safe. I have already taken down the corrupt officials from Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng. Now I have replaced the six chambers with a group of junior officials. They were originally white-robed clerks, a little cleaner than the old-timers like the clerks. Of course, it's hard to say if they have been in office for a long time. As for the duties of the county magistrate, Sun Zhubu will take over temporarily."
At this point, he suddenly changed his tone and said, "But if we just report it and take the main culprit away, this place will still be a mess. Xian Yunhe is very powerful. Among the people he recruited to revolt are not only unemployed spinners, but also a group of scattered cotton farmers. These people were exploited in the past, and now the cotton price has risen sharply, including this Jiang on the ground, but they still want to lower the price to buy."
"If they refuse... Haha, just like with the spinners, someone has threatened them, and they will be homeless by then. As for the complaint, Changlu County Magistrate Xu Cheng has been in office for five years. It is said that he no longer wants to be promoted or transferred, and plans to cite the old system of Taizu and work hard for the full nine years. He has been colluding with these wealthy merchants for a long time."
Zhu Tingfang put emphasis on the word "solidly". Zhang Shou could of course hear the irony in it.
Although the saying "all businessmen are dishonest" is not comprehensive, at least nine out of ten successful businessmen are not so clean, and at least eight out of nine have taken advantage of resource asymmetry to squeeze downstream suppliers and exploit employees.
In this day and age, in all the current events, spinners and cotton farmers are the most unfortunate people.
When Zhu Tingfang saw Zhang Shou nodded to show that he understood, he laughed and said, "I punished my second brother with three days of confinement. Today is only the second day. But since you are here, I will let you, my future brother-in-law and teacher, decide whether to continue the punishment. I am surprised that he took a risky move and won by surprise this time. You can ask him yourself."
When Zhang Shou arrived in Cangzhou, he first asked Zhu Yi to lead him to see the Cangzhou government office, and then went to the Changlu County government office to meet Zhu Tingfang. He spent more time trying to understand the current public sentiment and atmosphere in Cangzhou, and had not yet asked about the situation here. He believed that Zhu Tingfang could grasp the situation better than himself and appease the public. In addition, Zhu Yi saw no problem, so he did not worry about Zhu Er.
But at this moment, Zhu Tingfang actually said this, and he couldn't help but be a little surprised. Shouldn't Zhu Er have no direct conflict with the eldest prince? What could this kid do to make Brother Zhu react like this?
When he followed Zhu Yi to see Zhu Er, he couldn't help but ask out of curiosity. But Zhu Yi avoided the question and finally told him to ask the Second Young Master helplessly, which made him even more confused. Not only him, but even Ah Liu, who was hanging behind him, couldn't help but ask, "What did the Second Young Master do? It's impossible that he teamed up with the rebels to trap the First Prince, right?"
Faced with such bold speculation, Zhang Shou couldn't help but look sideways.
However, he found that Zhu Yi was staring at Ah Liu as if he had seen a ghost, and he immediately had a bad feeling: "What? Could it be that your second son really mixed up with the group of guys who occupied the palace?"
"It was all an accident." Zhu Yi scratched his head in annoyance, and finally revealed the truth helplessly, "This is what happened. The second young master was looking for a shop in Cangzhou City, but..."
Although Zhu Yi did not know what happened during the day and night when Zhu Er fled frantically, he experienced and witnessed and heard the subsequent events with his own eyes and ears, so when he described them, they were naturally vivid and specific. However, precisely because the ups and downs of the plot were so exciting, Zhang Shou listened attentively, and when he was awakened by a scream, he realized that he had arrived at a door.
The sound of ghosts howling inside the door was exactly Zhu Er's.
"Brother, please let me out! Old Salty Fish may look like an old man, but he is actually very difficult to deal with. I have been with him for so long, so I have more experience than outsiders... And those guys, after all, we have been through thick and thin together, so they will trust me more, don't you think? Please let me out, or just open the door and let me breathe, I promise not to escape..."
Seeing Zhang Shou holding his forehead and sighing, Zhu Yi could only whisper, "The eldest brother is like a father. The eldest son has been in charge of the second son and the eldest daughter since he was young, so the second son is most afraid of the eldest son, not the master. Every time he is punished, he bargains, and we are used to it."
"Whose voice?" Zhu Er was immediately excited. Then he heard hurried footsteps from inside, as if someone had arrived at the door. But after knocking on the door twice, the person started to curse. "Brother, why are you still like this? This is the Changlu County Court. How can he nail the cracks of other people's doors with wooden bars without authorization? Isn't he afraid that the county court will sue him for abusing his power?"
Zhang Shou suddenly felt that he was worrying for nothing because Zhu Er was a man who could live well in any environment. He winked at Zhu Yi and stood there silently when he saw him rushing forward to unlock the door. Sure enough, when Zhu Yi rustled and removed the big copper lock, the two doors opened immediately.
"Hey, I knew that you were just talking big, but you still felt sorry for me, your younger brother, who had to go through so much hardship! Let me tell you, haven't you always wanted to teach your brother-in-law a lesson? If I don't tell him what I found out, he'll never know in his life..."
Zhu Er came out excitedly and kept shouting, but when he finally opened his eyes slightly with his hands to block the strong light and saw clearly the two people in the yard besides Zhu Yi, he suddenly became mute.
After hesitating for a long while, he stammered, "Sister...brother-in-law? Sixth...sixth brother?"
"My name is not Liuliu." Ah Liu corrected Zhu Er unhappily, then walked forward and grabbed Zhu Er's shoulders without saying anything, "How could you escape from dozens of people? Well, it seems that you have practiced martial arts well. Come and have a heart-to-heart talk with me!"
“No, no!” Zhu Er screamed in panic, “I was just running after that old man. I did whatever he told me to do. I never fought with him! A gentleman fights with wits, not courage!”
Zhang Shou said casually: "I have only heard that a gentleman uses his mouth instead of his fists."
Zhu Yi almost laughed out loud. When Zhu Er was dragged aside by Ah Liu to talk, he was still a little worried and followed him. Seeing that the second son had only received a few small lessons - well, when the eldest son and the second son were sumo wrestling when they were young, the second son had also been thrown down like this - he felt relieved. So, he quietly retreated without thinking.
When Zhu Er appeared in front of Zhang Shou again, he was very honest. Zhu Yi was not there, and Ah Liu was watching over him, so he had no choice but to explain in detail how he made friends with Lao Xianyu, how he was chased and escaped, how he made a comeback and entered the city, how he took the risk to break into the Cangzhou Palace, how he tricked the eldest prince, and how the eldest prince broke up with Xu Cheng, the magistrate of Changlu County...
The more he spoke, the more excited he became. In the end, he even danced with joy and said, "For the first time, I understand why Su Qin and Zhang Yi lobbied the six countries and were so successful. I think I was just born at the wrong time. I have the potential to be a top strategist!"
This kid's self-confidence is really inflated! Zhang Shou smiled secretly, feeling optimistic about Zhu Er's change. However, he was most curious about another thing, which Zhu Er did not say, and he immediately pouted at Ah Liu.
Ah Liu understood what he meant and immediately stepped forward to grab Zhu Er again, saying expressionlessly: "Let's go and talk again."
Zhu Er was so scared that he quickly begged for mercy. Seeing Ah Liu's serious face, he could only raise his hands and shouted, "I'm telling you the truth! It is said that the old salted fish was a sea merchant in the past. He had a small boat and went to the South Seas and the West Seas... that is, Southeast Asia and Europe mentioned by Emperor Taizu. Later, the ship had an accident and two sailors died. He settled in Cangzhou."
"I've tried his ketchup. It's sour and only sweetened with sugar... By the way, he adopted a boy named Shuisheng for a few years and renamed him Little Peanut. He let it slip the other day that the peanuts were crispy and delicious!"
Zhang Shou felt his heart skip a beat. Even though he had a premonition when Ah Liu mentioned this matter when he returned to Beijing, when Zhu Er got to know more about the situation, he still felt that the fog that had been shrouding him for so long had finally been cleared up a little.
He took a deep breath and then smiled, "It seems that your trip was not in vain. I don't know if you can become a top strategist, but your character of a good farmer has basically succeeded for more than half, this is indisputable. Well, your eldest brother said that as long as I think it is okay to let you go, your small punishment will be over."
"Really?" Zhu Er felt that the two blows he had just received were worth it. Because if Zhang Shou had just asked him a few questions and left, he might have continued to be punished by his elder brother. But now that he had heard this, he could see the light of day again! So, he immediately said with joy: "No wonder elder brother said that you and Yingying would come. If there is anything, it would be best to ask you..."
"Stop, what do you mean Yingying and I have to come?" Zhang Shou was really frightened. When Zhu Er explained Zhu Da's inference, Zhang Shou could not help but be speechless for a while. Zhu Da was steady and decisive. Zhu Er was usually a little stupid, but at the critical moment, he awakened his cunning attribute, finally living up to the genes of the Zhu family, but the two brothers generally obeyed their elders.
Only Zhu Ying...she is truly fearless, even evil spirits would be afraid of her...
Thinking about it, he felt helpless and could only forget about it. After asking, he found out that Lao Xianyu had returned to his shop to sell salted fish... or more precisely, seafood. Because he was indeed passively involved in the incident and Zhu Tingfang had released him, he asked Zhu Er to lead the way and went with Ah Liu. As for the dilemma in Cangzhou mentioned by Zhu Tingfang, he planned to wait and see.
However, when he found the shop, he saw a boy of about fifteen or sixteen jumping up and down there.
"Uncle Yunhe is being held in the palace by the government, and now another army has arrived from the capital. What if General Zhu really wants to kill people? Uncle Yunhe, aren't you and General Zhu's younger brother, Second Master Zhu, a close friend? Hasn't he helped us before? Can you come with me to see him and ask for help?"
Old Salted Fish was groaning at the little peanut, but when he looked up, he saw Zhu Er leading two young men standing not far away. One was handsome, and the other was cold. The cold one looked familiar, as if he had seen him before. He couldn't help but take a closer look, and then patted the little peanut on the shoulder: "Don't worry, your uncle Yunhe should be able to save his life... Look, isn't Mr. Zhu Er here?"
Seeing Xiao Huasheng turn his head and suddenly rush towards him, Zhu Er was shocked and could only yell: "Old man, don't blame Jiangdong! I have found a big customer for you, you should get out and entertain the guest!"
