Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 340: Growing Old with You
When Zhang Shou left the kitchen, Xiao Huasheng was gone. According to Ah Liu, this kid would , and then put it on a plate and send it to Xian Yunhe. Thinking of the porridge that was cooking on the other stove in the kitchen, he couldn't help yawning and said, "There is also preserved egg and lean meat porridge on the stove, you can help yourselves, I'll take a break!"
Zhu Ying was very satisfied with the meal. She was rubbing her stomach and wondering why her appetite was not big enough. When she heard Zhang Shou said he was tired, she immediately stood up and went to greet him. She knew how tired Zhang Shou was after rushing all the way from the capital. He was not like her who had been training since childhood. He was busy dealing with various things as soon as he arrived. He should have been able to rest today, but he was busy in the kitchen for so long.
Therefore, she naturally supported Zhang Shou's arm and whispered, "How about you find a place in this palace to sleep?"
Zhang Shou suddenly said, "This is the palace. We are using the kitchen here. Du Heng may turn a blind eye, but if I sleep here, he will take the opportunity to make trouble... I will just find a chair to take a nap and wait for Xiao Huasheng to come back. Go get the porridge yourselves, don't worry about me."
Seeing Zhang Shou smiling at Zhu Ying, and then moving a chair to a nearby tree, he curled up there and took a nap. Old Salted Fish's eyes flickered, and he dragged Zhu Er over, praising him, "Your future brother-in-law is really approachable."
"Yeah, who can tell that he actually came from a small village outside Beijing?" Zhu Er deliberately revealed a little. Seeing that Lao Xianyu was stunned, he glanced at him and said with a fake smile, "Why, are you curious about my brother-in-law? Hehe, he is a legend in Beijing. It's a pity that you, a small place like Cangzhou, have never heard of him."
Although Lao Xianyu initially thought that Zhu Er was a bit stupid, when he later saw people lobbying the eldest prince with eloquence, he realized that even though these dandies had various shortcomings, they were by no means easy to get along with.
Therefore, upon hearing Zhu Er's obvious tone of playing hard to get, he chuckled and said, "I'm an old man, I don't know any heroes in the world, it's normal for me to be ignorant. But..." He glanced at Zhu Ying who was taking a cloak to cover Zhang Shou, and said meaningfully, "But your young lady is very affectionate!"
"Hmph!" Zhu Er suddenly felt a dull pain in his buttocks. He snorted and pretended to be impatient and said, "Nonsense, although my father had already arranged the marriage, it was Yingying who fell in love at first sight when she went to see it herself! Even the emperor thinks her vision is good... An imperial teacher like Grand Tutor Ge personally accepted someone as his last disciple, and a bunch of playboys who are even more arrogant than me have to call me teacher honestly!"
Old Salted Fish's eyes flickered. Seeing Zhu Er staring at Zhang Shou who was resting with his eyes closed, he felt that a piece of the puzzle had finally been put together in his heart - a young man who grew up in the countryside was about to marry the daughter of the Duke of Zhao, and he was enjoying unlimited glory in the capital. This was something that most people couldn't do anyway, right? When he first saw Zhang Shou yesterday, he only thought he was handsome, but now he didn't think so.
There are so many handsome men in the world! The Qi and Huang families in Cangzhou... Which family doesn't have a few handsome men? They have spent countless resources to support Jinshi, but I haven't heard of anyone being successful in the court, let alone having a marriage that would be talked about by countless people in Cangzhou. From this point of view, Zhang Shou's origins and experiences are very questionable.
Moreover, Zhang Shou told him that he had heard of the reason for sweet potatoes and the like, and he always felt a little uneasy...
Zhu Ying tiptoed to cover Zhang Shou with the cape she had taken off because she felt too hot. She turned around and saw Zhu Er and Lao Xianyu talking, so she chased them to the kitchen. Not long after, she saw Lao Xianyu sneak out with a bowl of porridge in his hand. He smiled at her and ran away. Knowing that he had gone to Xian Yunhe, she pouted at Zhu Er who followed him out.
When Zhu Er understood what she meant and followed, she was lost in thought when she heard Ah Liu ask, "Is it too much for the Second Young Master to deal with that old man?"
"Are you worried about your second brother?"
Zhu Ying turned her head to look at Ah Liu who appeared behind her as quietly as a cat, and she smiled slyly: "Second brother is sometimes stupid, but sometimes very smart, especially when he thinks others are very powerful, then he will definitely be very alert. For example, in our Zhu family..."
She counted on her fingers and said with a smile, "The most powerful one is of course grandma, followed by me, then mom and dad, then big brother, and he has to be the last one. So in front of us, he is most of the time very careful, even if he has a little temper, he will definitely know when to stop . The time when he randomly matched us up doesn't count, because he thought that something happened to dad and big brother, so he acted recklessly."
"So, once he knows that Lao Xianyu is very powerful, he will definitely rack his brains to deal with him and use all possible means to cheat."
Ah Liu tilted his head and thought for a while, then nodded slightly and said, "It's fine as long as the young lady says so."
"If I say yes, then yes. Do you trust me so much?" Zhu Ying smiled immediately, staring at Ah Liu for a long time, then blinked and said, "Ah Liu, Ah Shou also told me that you have thick eyebrows and big eyes, are steady and reliable, and dare to fight, but as soon as you see me, you turn into a traitor... Do you trust me so much? Are you not afraid that I will deceive your young master?"
"No." Ah Liu uttered these two words firmly, and then added in a more serious tone, "The young master trusts you very much."
"It's Ah Shou who believes in me, not you?" Zhu Ying thought it was fun to tease Ah Liu like this, but when he looked at her seriously, she couldn't help but feel that she seemed to have gone a little too far. But the next moment, when she heard what Ah Liu said, she was amused unconsciously.
"You and the young master are a perfect match, right from the start." Ah Liu seemed to be considering what words would be the most appropriate to describe them, and in the end he said distressedly, "A match made in heaven? A match made in heaven? Made for each other? A match made in heaven?"
“Cough… cough cough cough…”
Even though Zhang Shou had decided to pretend to sleep, he couldn't hold it anymore after hearing the increasingly awkward conversation between Ah Liu and Zhu Ying. He opened his eyes and glared at Ah Liu. Seeing that the boy had no sense of saying anything wrong and looked innocent, he laughed and scolded, "If you don't speak, no one will think you're dumb! You can come up with so many four-character words!"
“I learned a lot of idioms.”
Zhang Shou really didn't want to continue this joke-like conversation. He stretched out his foot and pretended to kick. Seeing that Ah Liu had indeed escaped, he saw Zhu Ying standing over there with a bright red face. He coughed twice again and said, "Although what that kid said was unpleasant, there was one thing that was true... Maybe he thought you were very good when you first came to Rongshui Village."
"Hmph, don't mention him. Aunt Wu thought I was great back then, but you were so aloof that you stayed away from me!" Although she said coquettishly, Zhu Ying still gave Zhang Shou a look that said "You're smart" and said, "Fortunately, you were quite discerning later on."
"Yes, yes, I didn't recognize the great man before." Zhang Shou laughed dumbly, then looked at the big tree above his head and breathed a sigh of relief, "I don't have any big ambitions. I don't want to become a general or a prime minister, and my name will be recorded in history. I just want to do a little bit within my ability. The situation in Cangzhou this time... I can say that I expected it, but I didn't expect it to be so serious."
"It's all the eldest prince's fault. What does it have to do with you?" Zhu Ying raised her eyebrows, and then simply reached out from behind to hold Zhang Shou's shoulder. "Besides, isn't Zhang Chen already here? Why don't you ask him to take the kid from the Jiang family to visit each family, and then wait until work resumes? Just like what you said to Xian Yunhe, you can't let everything stagnate because you're worried about something going wrong!"
"That being said, I am the culprit in the eyes of those who only hope that men farm and women weave, that everything is simple and honest, that scholars, farmers, merchants and workers are all content with their positions, that no one can overstep the line, and that the world remains the same for a hundred or a thousand years. Zhang Shou laughed and said nonchalantly, "After all, I released a terrible monster."
This monster should have destroyed China's small peasant system hundreds of years later... But the strong inertia of the small peasant system, even after a huge change, it still survived for many years, and even seemed to be very vital for a time because of another more spontaneous change...
Zhu Ying didn't quite understand what Zhang Shou said, but she still said without hesitation: "Why bother with those chirping stupid birds? Those old men who never tolerate new people, new ideas, and new things should have left the stage long ago!"
Although he knew what kind of personality Zhu Ying had, Zhang Shou couldn't help but smile when he heard these domineering words. He nodded slightly, and then said calmly: "If I can clean up the situation in Cangzhou this time, I plan to do something else after returning to Beijing. Although I don't have great ambitions, I can't just watch some things being ruined like this!"
"Okay! Ah Shou, just go ahead and do it. When the time comes, just tell me what you want me to do!"
Hearing this matter-of-fact tone, looking at the energetic face in front of him with a smile, Zhang Shou suddenly stood up and pulled Zhu Ying into his arms. It was not until he released his arms and looked at her happy but flushed face that he could not help but touch her smooth forehead with his, and then he took a step back.
"They say it takes ten years to be able to ride the same boat together, and a hundred years to be able to sleep on the same pillow together... I don't know where my luck came from to be engaged to you in such a big world."
"You just found out now!" Zhu Ying was beaming with joy, smoothing a strand of hair , and said with a smile, "But I think I'm luckier! Parents' orders and matchmakers' words, most people are at most a match of equal status, and will treat each other with respect in the future, so I never thought that the fiancé my father arranged for me would be different! Ah Shou, you must not become an old man who becomes vulgar as he ages!"
"Yes, yes, I will definitely take Teacher Ge as my goal and motivate myself in the future. Are you satisfied?" Zhang Shou naturally knew that Ge Yong, who was old but still elegant and humorous, had always been highly respected by Zhu Ying, so he simply used Teacher Ge as an example. Sure enough, he saw Zhu Ying nodding her head immediately, and he couldn't help but tease her a few words.
"Don't just ask me, you should do the same. Have you ever heard of a saying... When I grow up, I will become you..." Seeing Zhu Ying's puzzled face, Zhang Shou said with a half-smile, "When the innocent little girl was young, she saw her aunts and sisters were shrewd and sophisticated, good at dancing with long sleeves, and said different things to different people. She was very disdainful in her heart, but when she got married, she suddenly realized that all the calculations and thoughts were just for the sake of survival, so she became the people she once hated the most."
Zhu Ying was slightly stunned, then she started laughing: "I don't know if I will become an old feudal lord like my grandmother, who is calculating, shrewd, and well-balanced. But I know that even if I become such an old feudal lord, I may be more restrained and polite to others, but when it comes to my own people, I will still laugh, scold, and scold according to my temper. I don't believe that you are willing to let me go, but my children and grandchildren are not willing to let me go!"
"..." Zhang Shou was speechless. Zhu Ying's reason was really good and powerful, and he couldn't find any reason to refute it! Moreover, it was so easy to say children and grandchildren... They haven't even gotten married yet, this is really a big lady!
When Zhu Er came back with Old Salted Fish and Little Peanut, Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying had already finished talking. Old Salted Fish sent Little Peanut to talk to Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, and he went straight into the kitchen, carefully put away all the remaining ingredients and seasonings, and even searched the garbage to see if there were any obvious residues left, and then came out of the kitchen with the basket.
Seeing this scene, Zhu Er, who was peeping at the door stealthily, couldn't help but feel that the old man was more suspicious. If he didn't have any other thoughts, why would he look like he didn't want to leave any traces?
Xiao Huasheng was distracted by Zhu Ying's words and didn't notice Zhu Er peeking at the kitchen door at all.
After seeing Zhu Er's unprofessional surveillance behavior, Zhang Shou couldn't help but glance at Ah Liu with amusement, wanting to ask the young man to go back and train his students, but he only saw Ah Liu calmly wiping the short sword given by Chu Kuan with an extremely serious expression. After wiping the sword, he began to carefully maintain the short bow.
In order to avoid being conspicuous, Zhang Shou took a carriage when he went out. Now when he went back, he brought Old Salted Fish with him, so the carriage seemed a bit crowded. Fortunately, Old Salted Fish, who was squeezed together with Little Peanut Zhu Er, was very obedient and only paid attention to his large basket of food from beginning to end. When the group returned to the front street of the county government, it was already 3:00 p.m.
As he turned into the street, Zhang Shou gradually heard a commotion outside. Zhu Ying was impatient and had already lifted the curtain to look outside out of curiosity. He saw a lot of people gathered in front of the county government office, many of whom were shouting loudly. Various voices came one after another, so noisy that it was difficult to distinguish the words. Finally, as he got closer, the voices gradually became clear.
"Thanks to General Mingwei's wisdom, otherwise we Cangzhou people would have suffered for many years and had no place to complain!"
"Those rich and unkind tycoons have exploited us for so many years, and now they have caused unrest again. The court must stand up for us!"
"They have done so many heinous things, their property should be confiscated! They should be made to pay back everything they have ripped off from us!"
Hearing this almost unanimous shouting and many echoing voices, Zhang Shou felt that he had smelled an extremely dangerous sign. At this moment, the curtain of the carriage was suddenly lifted up, and a person swiftly jumped up.
