Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 333: Boasting, Hometown Accent
"Ah Shou, do you think I'm smart? I knew that if there were only a few witnesses, a few victims, and a group of indignant people, those old men would definitely not admit their crimes. So I specifically asked Lao Xianyu if there were any respected old scholars in Cangzhou City... preferably a teacher, and then I would personally go and invite him!"
"At first, old man Xu thought I was too nosy for a woman to show up in public, but I almost choked him with a few words! I told him directly that such a big thing happened in Cangzhou, and the rich and powerful were so greedy and shameless. God knows whether the scholars from Cangzhou will be implicated in the future provincial examinations, and God knows whether the provincial education commissioner will look at the Cangzhou scholars differently."
"That Mr. Xu was really scared! He had failed the imperial examinations many times in his life and had lost the ambition to take the imperial examination, but he always hoped that the disciples he had spent countless efforts to teach would have a bright future, right? If he was really implicated by these few tycoons, wouldn't he be so scared that he would vomit blood? You don't know, when he saw the body being salvaged from the pond, he almost vomited yellow bile!"
"I think he was really angry. Grandpa Ge once told me that among scholars there are hypocritical, shameless, pedantic, noble, and indifferent people...but most people at least know the difference between right and wrong, and still have a sense of shame. Mr. Xu was really frightened by what he saw and heard, so he took the lead to come forward tonight."
"If the other scholars in Cangzhou City just stand by and watch, they will be criticized and scolded to death by the people! They have read the books of sages for so many years, but they don't know how to make decisions for the people. What are they for?"
Zhang Shou sat there quietly, listening to Zhu Ying talking with increasing excitement, his face filled with a red glow of joy, the joy of having done a good thing bursting out from within, almost infecting the whole room. He couldn't help but chuckle, and when he saw Zhu Tingfang on the side, although he shook his head helplessly, he did not hide the approval on his face at all.
He immediately said, "Yingying, you have really thought it through this time. If you hadn't invited Mr. Xu here, these stubborn old men would probably have continued to hold out. Now that they are in a state of confusion, they can't get away with it. I have already ordered people to spread the story of Mr. Xu scolding the hypocritical good man, so that the public opinion in the literati will naturally know how to turn the situation."
Zhu Ying smiled brightly, and then looked at Zhu Tingfang, with an expression that begged for praise, praise, and the more praise the better. Facing such a sister, Brother Zhu could only sigh and said, "Although the reason you threatened Mr. Xu was too straightforward, but considering the good end result, you did the right thing this time."
Zhu Ying snorted unhappily: "Brother, can't you praise me sincerely like Ah Shou did?"
"Praise? If you meet someone who's a little tougher, not only might this trick not work, but it might even get you into trouble. How dare you boast?" Zhu Tingfang couldn't help but scold him again. Seeing that Zhu Ying simply hid behind Zhang Shou's chair and glared at him with her chin slightly raised, he could only glare at Zhang Shou and said, "Don't indulge her like this in the future, or you'll suffer!"
Seeing Zhu Tingfang stand up and walk out the door, Zhu Ying snorted at his back and said unhappily, "A Shou, after Big Brother came back this time, he always finds fault with me. He was never like this before!"
Zhang Shou touched his nose guiltily. He wanted not to tell the truth, but when he saw Zhu Ying holding the tassel of the jade pendant and getting angry, he finally decided to break the window paper.
"Yingying, all brothers in the world hope that their sisters can marry well. But even if they arrange a marriage that seems to suit their sisters' wishes, they will still feel unhappy. Sometimes they worry that their sisters will be deceived, sometimes they worry that they will give too much sincerity but not get anything in return, sometimes they worry that girls will forget their fathers and brothers after getting a husband, and sometimes they worry that their future brother-in-law is just a show on the outside but a rotten thing on the inside."
Zhu Ying initially thought that Zhang Shou was also going to lecture her, so she just listened nonchalantly. But when Zhang Shou talked about those examples, she was suddenly stunned. She couldn't help but stare at Zhang Shou in surprise and asked, "Ah Shou, what you said... seems to be what Big Brother is thinking now, right? Well, when I think about his words and actions in recent days, it seems that he is worried about these things!"
Zhang Shou did not give a clear answer, but laughed: "I am worried about gains and losses. In addition, my sister is married. If something happens, no matter how powerful I am, I will be unable to help. That's why Brother Zhu has changed in your eyes. In the final analysis, it's all because I'm worried about you."
"You're right. I used to be closest to my eldest brother. When I was a kid, he even let me sit on his shoulders to watch the lanterns... I have to tell him not to worry about me... There's no one in the world who can bully me yet. Besides, you and I have an agreement."
Zhu Ying's smile was as genuine as ever, bright and without any impurities.
She looked at Zhang Shou deeply and said with a smile: "I believe you won't lie to me... Moreover, with your high standards, you can't find anyone better than me in this world! I've said it before, if you fall in love with someone else in the future, just tell me clearly, I'm not that kind of shrew!"
While saying that she was not a shrew, Zhu Ying was gently pinching her five fingers with an expression that said, "You know what I mean."
Seeing that this young lady was only generous , Zhang Shou could only quickly step forward and open the door, then bowed and said, "Well, a pot like mine can only be matched with a pot lid as powerful as yours. It's getting late, you should go back quickly, otherwise Brother Zhu will come to kill me and ask for me!"
"Humph, you act like you're afraid of my big brother... Do you think I can't see that? You're not like Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang. You're not afraid of him at all!"
When Zhang Shou smiled and said nothing, watching Zhu Ying walk out the door briskly and disappear outside the courtyard gate, he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to close the door, he suddenly looked to the side as if he had telepathy, and sure enough, he saw Ah Liu standing in the shadow at the foot of the wall. He was already used to people appearing and disappearing, so he beckoned to the person and then turned and went into the house.
Ah Liu followed Zhang Shou into the house, hesitated for a moment and whispered: "I should have come back earlier..."
"This is in the county government office. Besides, Yingying was the one who caused this trouble. There's no way anything could go wrong. Don't worry about it."
Zhang Shou motioned to Ah Liu to close the door, and then asked with interest, "I'm very curious, what was the scene like when Young Master Jiang, who pleaded guilty for his father, met his father who committed suicide to show his determination? If I had to guess, I think it was probably not that the father and son hugged each other and cried bitterly, but that they quarreled so much that they almost came to blows."
"How did you know that, young master?" Ah Liu was a little surprised, then he curled his lips, "Could it be that you have the same bad mouth as me?"
"Not only are you talking more and more in private, but you're also telling more and more jokes!" Zhang Shou pointed at Ah Liu and said unhappily, "What do you mean by jinx? This is called a prophecy, do you understand?"
"Oh... So this is called a prophecy. I learned a new idiom."
Ah Liu answered in a very natural tone. Seeing Zhang Shou grabbing the lid of the teacup and pretending to throw it, he immediately got back to the point and said, "When the father and son first met, they looked like they were going to cry. But when Mr. Jiang asked why Young Master Jiang came here, he immediately became furious. Later, he took off his shoes and chased him around and beat him..."
He paused for a moment, then said nonchalantly, "Young Master Jiang was just running away at first, but when he realized he couldn't escape, he probably got mad and snatched the shoes from his father's hand and started yelling at him, and in the end the father and son started fighting."
Zhang Shou was actually just guessing based on the tempers of Young Master Jiang and Master Jiang. He didn't expect to be right just now. Now he asked with interest: "Oh? What did they say to each other?"
"The accent is quite strong. I don't understand it." Ah Liu did not shy away from admitting his helplessness. He then added, "It seems to be an accent from the south, but I have never been to the south, so I can't tell where it is from."
Zhang Shou immediately slapped his forehead, thinking that the Wu dialect was so complicated that not only northerners couldn't understand it, southerners might not understand the dialect of the neighboring county either... It was just like how he had stayed in Shanghai for a long time, and after he could barely understand the Shanghai dialect gradually, he was still at a loss when he went to Suzhou, and was still dumbfounded when he arrived in Ningbo.
Now think about it, people said that the Jiang family and the Hua family, the richest family in Suzhou, were in-laws, so it seems that the Jiang family may have stayed in Suzhou. Otherwise, where did that southern accent that completely confused Ah Liu come from?
"I originally wanted to ask Commander Du to ask if there were any southerners in the Ruiqi Battalion, but in the end I just came back." Seeing Zhang Shou nod knowingly and praising him for doing the right thing, Ah Liu couldn't help but smile. Zhang Shou's idea was very simple.
Du Heng had previously thrown the hot potato of Master Jiang to him, but then he ordered his men to escort Master Jiang and those ruffians to the palace, and asked Du Heng to send someone to guard them. With Du Heng's temper, if the guards reported to him that the father and son of the Jiang family spoke with a southern accent and could not make out what they were saying, he would definitely search his subordinates carefully and find someone to act as an interpreter.
As for him... he actually didn't care what the Jiang father and son discussed in private, but unfortunately he couldn't help but feel that others didn't believe him!
When Ah Liu was telling Zhang Shou that he was powerless to interfere with the conversation between the Jiang father and son due to their accents, the fight between Mr. Jiang and Young Master Jiang, which started with verbal abuse and ended in a physical fight, had already ended.
Because the guards did not come in to stop them, the fight between the father and son lasted for quite a while, so both of them were in a very bad state. Mr. Jiang threw away both of his shoes and was now barefoot.
There was a bright red slap mark on Jiang Da Shao's face, his hair was messy, and his shirt was torn open. He was glaring at his father angrily. He didn't seem to notice that the guards had been replaced by two. He was staring at his father fiercely, his face red and his neck thick with anger.
"You old man, you don't know what's good for you! Who am I locked up here for? It's all because of you!"
At this moment, he had switched to Mandarin accent, and after cursing, he could not help but grab a handful of rotten straw and throw it at Mr. Jiang. Seeing the straw falling to the ground halfway, he simply supported himself with one hand and climbed up, then found a corner farthest from his father and sat down, resting his head between his knees, as if he was extremely tired and taking a nap.
Only he himself knew how much information he had exchanged with his father in the soft Wu dialect. His father was from Cangzhou, but he made his fortune in Suzhou. His mother was the daughter of a relative of the Hua family, so both his parents spoke Suzhou dialect. He, the eldest son, was also able to speak some of it, but the second and third sons did not have this ability.
And because of this, he was shocked to learn that his father almost committed suicide to show his determination. It was not because of grief and anger, but because he was forced to do so! The eldest prince was previously held hostage by the mob, and his guards and the accompanying guards of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion were all captured, but there was a trusted aide who was still outside, and it was this person who threatened his father to do this.
But the eldest prince's staff actually threatened his father to put all the blame on the eldest prince... What the hell is this? This is unreasonable, right? If the servants were really loyal and caring for the eldest prince, they should let their father take all the blame and clear the eldest prince. This is the right thing to do!
Young Master Jiang was deep in thought, and Master Jiang had also closed his eyes to rest. The father and son seemed to be ignoring each other, but this scene was seen by the two guards who had hurriedly come in to change shifts outside, feeling relieved.
Du Heng specially asked these two people, whose ancestral homes were Changzhou and Yangzhou, to come here to try to understand what the Jiangs were saying. They had to come, but they all disagreed in their hearts. There were so many prefectures, counties and districts in the south, and there were so many local accents. Even if they could barely tell the Jiangs' accents, they probably couldn't understand what they were saying!
Since the father and son don't say anything right now, they can save some effort!
As the night passed, the two guards gradually began to doze off, but suddenly, they heard a cry of surprise: "That's not right! When that young man sent me here, he said he wanted me to come see my father, and asked me if I wanted to be locked up so much... This means he doesn't want to lock me up! Then why is he letting me squat here? No, I want to get out, let me out!"
The two guards woke up with a start, and when they looked through the crack in the door, they saw Young Master Jiang, who had a fight with his father before and whose hair was disheveled and clothes were in disarray, rushing over in rage and pounding on the door desperately with his fists. One of them started to curse at him angrily.
"What are you doing making a fuss about in the middle of the night? Go back!"
"I'm not a criminal, why should I go back!" Although he had heard the truth from his father before, he was also scolded severely and then beaten. Young Master Jiang was so angry that he not only did not stop, but slammed the door even louder. "I want to see the young man who sent me here before. I want to see him! What he said is none of my business!"
Is this young master mentally ill? The guard was so angry that he said stiffly, "If you don't want to spend the rest of your life in prison, get out of here. Tonight, Mr. Xu has brought people to sue you. You are so cruel and heartless. Your days of bullying the people are over!"
