Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 388: Aboveboard!
Zhu Ying certainly didn't believe that the second prince would actually turn over a new leaf - if he really wanted to change for the better, this guy would only change his temper and behavior, so why would he care about the life and death of the eldest prince?
It would be fine if the eldest prince was the kind of elder brother who was sincere, kind and generous, but the eldest prince has always been the kind of villain who appears to be lenient on the outside but is jealous on the inside and has a narrow mind. No matter who the second prince forgives, he will never forgive him!
Not to mention the so-called reform of the Second Prince, when the fat guy Lu Sanlang turned over a new leaf, she even suspected that he was pretending. But later she found out that the boy was indeed extremely talented, and even Zhang Shou praised him highly. Later, he became the head of the Jiuzhang Hall and did a great job. Only then did she gradually correct her deep-rooted misconceptions.
At this moment, she beckoned Lu Sanlang to follow her into the house. Seeing the people accompanying her unloading the silk from the car that followed, she signaled them to send the silk in first, and then she and Lu Sanlang walked in slowly, saying as they walked: "Where did you hear these things? After your father resigned as the Minister of War, wasn't he, the chief academic officer of the public school, in a state of panic?"
"He was extremely anxious and busy, but he was widely praised, especially the seven words "Lu Shangshu, you can correct your mistakes", which were widely circulated in the capital. No one thought that he was afraid of your father and that's why he stepped down. Everyone thought that he was brave enough to admit his mistakes and take on responsibilities, regardless of his future."
The little fat man said with a smug smile: "As for whether he is really afraid of your father, only he knows. Besides, he is tired of being the Minister of War, especially with Minister Zhao eyeing him covetously every day. It would be better for him to jump out of the muddy water of the Ministry of War and work on his own. Now, he has quit the position of Minister of War, but Minister Zhao has never made it to that level."
"He is much more miserable than my father. He was sent to Guizhou to serve as the left councilor, and he didn't even get the title of governor! But it was my father who gave me the news. He has many students and old friends, not to mention..."
Lu Sanlang looked around, then tilted his head towards Zhu Ying and said in a low voice, "The Prime Minister Jiang Ge Lao is in a bad situation recently. The people under Grand Secretary Kong are making a fuss outside, saying that he is putting the blame for framing the meritorious officials on my father and is clinging to power. Grand Secretary Wu has not said anything, but Grand Secretary Zhang, who was promoted by the emperor last year, often confronts him."
"So before the emperor could easily express his position, Lord Jiang was actually there to support the eldest prince and hold on to your eldest brother and the young master. But now he is holding on to the fact that the eldest son should not be guilty and the royal family should not be humiliated. He even blames the emperor for being tempted by strange instruments and sending the eldest prince to Cangzhou, which led to the prince not being able to resist the temptation and making a big mistake... Isn't this just rubbing salt into the emperor's wounds?"
"The emperor's temper seems to have improved over the years, but how can you not hate someone who takes advantage of his age?"
"Humph, that old fogy guy!"
Zhu Ying also disliked Lord Jiang. In fact, none of the noble sons and daughters of the capital liked Lord Jiang, because if they met him on the road, they would be severely scolded. Even Zhu Ying was scolded by Lord Jiang, who stopped his sedan chair, when she came back from a happy hunting trip.
However, Miss Zhu was not a pushover. She retorted directly, using the example of a dandy young man from the Jiang family who said one thing in front of others and another behind their backs, and who rode his horse on the street and injured pedestrians, almost making Jiang Ge Lao lose face in the street. Afterwards, Jiang Ge Lao's unlucky grandson was beaten with a stick and couldn't get out of bed for a month, so Zhu Ying and the wife and daughter-in-law of the Jiang family's Ge Lao became sworn enemies.
But Zhu Ying didn't care about that kind of ignorant woman who protected her own shortcomings. After she finished scolding, she saw that the small courtyard where Wu usually lived and met guests was approaching, so she immediately made a gesture to Lu Sanlang to keep quiet, and then she shouted happily: "Aunt Wu, Ah Shou brought you something, and Lu Sanlang is here to visit you too!"
Lu Sanlang couldn't help but look sideways. Didn't you come here too? How could you just omit it? She hasn't even married into the family yet, but she already thinks she's a member of the Zhang family. There's no other future daughter-in-law like her in the whole capital...
As he entered the courtyard, he saw that Wu had already come out of the house and was holding Zhu Ying at the door, talking about something with a smile. They looked like a mother and daughter. He hurriedly stepped forward to greet them.
Originally, he just planned to come over to pay his respects through the door and say a few words to comfort Mrs. Wu before leaving, but now that he had met Zhu Ying by chance, he no longer had so many taboos.
After entering the house, he adhered to the principle of reporting good news but not bad news, and only claimed that Zhang Shou was praised by officials and people in Cangzhou, and so on, and did not mention the criticisms of the court officials. Zhu Ying was even more exaggerated. Based on her own trip to Cangzhou, she described the important town on the canal as having beautiful flowers and rice, and simple folk customs, as if it was a more beautiful place than the capital.
Wu knew that the two were trying to comfort her. The news outside was sporadic, sometimes good and sometimes bad. Zhang Shou's letters back were mostly silent about his sufferings, so she could only choose to believe him. At this time, she did not ask too many questions. However, when Zhu Ying unfolded the piece of fabric and showed off Zhang Shou's vision, she could not help laughing.
"Ah Shou is picky about food, but he has no taste for clothes and jewelry. He likes bright colors and says that I look good in royal blue and rose purple, but he always likes to wear all kinds of blue and says that such a combination is simple, labor-saving and does not require much thinking. Yingying, you have good taste, so you must dress him up in the future, otherwise he will really wear blue for the rest of his life!"
Zhu Ying almost laughed out loud, and suddenly remembered Zhang Shou's past experience of drinking tea like a cow.
She nodded with a smile and said, "I understand. I will prepare his clothes for him in the future! I will definitely turn his elegant ink landscape into a magnificent and gorgeous palace painting!"
Lu Sanlang was just taking a cup of tea and sipping it slowly, but when he heard Zhu Ying's words, he couldn't help but spit it out. He imagined Zhang Shou wearing rouge and powder like those rich kids in the market, wearing a golden crown and brocade robe , and shuddered for a moment. He hurriedly said loudly: "No, no, young master, you should be elegant first, elegant first!"
Before Wu could say anything, Zhu Ying had already turned her head and glared at Lu Sanlang fiercely: "I was just joking, but you took it seriously. Why are you so boring? Besides, with Ah Shou's looks, he would look good in anything!"
Seeing that Wu was also amused, Lu Sanlang immediately felt embarrassed. Knowing that he was only here to fulfill his duty on behalf of all of Zhang Shou's students, there was no need to stay any longer, he sat for a while and then stood up to say goodbye. But when he was leaving, he saw Zhu Ying winking at him.
Although he could not have a telepathic connection with her, he thought about it for a moment and decided that Zhu Ying wanted to see him, so he decided to wait outside. Sure enough, he waited for a while before he saw a Zhu family guard he had seen before hurried out. He bowed and said to him, "Third Master, the eldest lady sent a message asking you to wait for her at the old place."
This was very ambiguous at first. After all, if someone could mention the old place, they must have known each other very well. And if a man and a woman knew each other very well, then it would be easy for them to spread rumors. However, Lu Sanlang was one of the many lovers around Miss Zhu—even if it was just a pretense—so he knew where Zhu Ying wanted him to go without even thinking about it.
Well, it was not some other place, but a small courtyard with two entrances that my mother secretly gave him from her dowry because she favored him as the youngest son. In the past, he generously gave it to many young men to gather. Because there were so many people, the truth could not be hidden. After his two brothers found out, they reported it to their father Lu Wan, and the result was...
He received a lot of scolding from his father, but his two older brothers didn't get any better either, as they were all severely scolded by their mother and were hardly allowed to enter the house!
At this moment, thinking about this place that had been abandoned since the prodigal son returned, Lu Sanlang actually felt a sense of familiarity. He immediately rushed over with a few guards to clean it up, but when he found the place and entered the door, he found that the yard was not overgrown with weeds as he had imagined, and when he entered the house, he did not see any signs of dust, so he couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
When he asked the people who stayed behind, he learned that his mother had people cleaning and tidying up regularly. The little fat boy couldn't help but murmured, "There is only one good mother in the world, and a child with a mother is a treasure..." It was a great song that Grandpa Taizu taught Grandpa Taizong...
Not to mention how many guards were scared away by Lu Sanlang's cute singing, after he poured two basins of well water on the bluestone ground under the grape trellis at the back, rinsed the fruits and vegetables, and placed two rattan lounge chairs, he comfortably occupied one of them to close his eyes and rest, he didn't know how much time had passed when he suddenly felt a chill on his face.
He opened his eyes and saw Zhu Ying standing a few steps away with her fingers poked in a bowl of water. It was obvious that she was dipping the water and flicking it at his face!
He quickly sat up straight, thinking whether he should express his feelings for being together again after a year, but he also thought that if he said it out loud, Zhu Ying might beat him up and accuse him of deliberately teasing him. While he was hesitating, Zhu Ying smiled and said, "I wanted to say it before, your house is really nice. It has been vacant for a long time, don't you think it's a pity?"
Seeing that Lu Sanlang was somewhat stunned, she smiled and said, "I heard that you are seeking financial support from all sides for the students of Jiuzhang Hall, especially those who went to help Wang Datou. You insisted on getting another share of government subsidies for them from the court. But this alone is not enough. Don't you have a good business sense? Why don't you take those who are interested and do something good?"
"You know, Zhang Chen, Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, one in Cangzhou and the other in Xingtai, are all very successful. On the contrary, you are under the watchful eyes of a lot of people in the capital, unable to show your abilities. You are very capable on your own. If you bring a few classmates with you, what can't you accomplish? This place can also be used as a school for Jiuzhang Hall. Don't you want to enroll students for Jiuzhang Hall in the future?"
Lu Sanlang stared at Zhu Ying with a strange look on his face, and suddenly laughed.
There are always some people who say that Zhu Ying’s embroidered pillow is a bag of straw, but in fact, they themselves are the bag of straw!
So, he nodded sincerely and said, "As the first head of the Jiuzhang Hall after its reopening, I will of course plan and work hard! However, you should also persuade the young master not to waste time in Cangzhou. The students of the Imperial Academy are his biggest support! No matter how good Cangzhou is, he will not be a local official. Besides, he is not going to split the land and become a king, don't you think?"
If he told others this outrageous remark, he would surely be in big trouble. Someone might even report him for his outrageous behavior. However, Zhu Ying did not take it as an offense. Instead, she nodded in agreement and said, "You are right. I will tell Ah Shou!"
Before Lu Sanlang could sigh at the fact that the young lady, who used to be unreasonable, had actually become reasonable now, he was frightened by Zhu Ying's next two sentences.
"Fatty Lu, do you think we can find a way to bring down that annoying old man Jiang?"
Although Lu Sanlang was still complaining about Jiang Ge Lao just now, when it comes to this topic, he doesn't feel eager to try, but his scalp is tingling. After all, he is a top court official with a complex power in the court, students and friends all over the world, and has been in office for more than 30 years! Didn't you see that Zhu Tingfang's mentor Liu Zhiyuan was driven out by this guy?
Even his father, Lu Wan, had to rely on others and dare not be disrespectful, and even because of greed, he had to go up to the front to fight for others - although the person was also chasing the Imperial Censor. But strictly speaking, that was an enemy that his father had to look up to!
He took a deep breath and whispered, "The goal must be realistic. Even if the young master was here, he would not approve of our recklessness."
Zhu Ying immediately said unhappily: "Who said we should just do it recklessly? The emperor already hates the old man named Jiang. What we should do now is not to throw bricks at him from behind, but to stand up and confront him!"
She didn't care what kind of shocked expression was on Lu Sanlang's chubby face at that moment, and she raised her arm and shouted, "We are going to expose the old man surnamed Jiang directly! Say that he only cares about the dignity of the prince and doesn't care about the lives of the people. Just because he used to be the teacher of the eldest and second princes, he doesn't want to take the responsibility of teaching them poorly!"
"He was the master of the first and second princes, am I right?"
Lu Sanlang was almost stunned, and said stupidly: "He did teach the first and second princes, but he didn't teach them for many days. Besides, Master Ge actually taught them for two days ..."
"Grandpa Ge is the emperor's teacher. He is not of the same generation as the eldest and second princes, so it doesn't count!" Zhu Ying said domineeringly: "In short, old man Jiang is selfish, his personal ethics are flawed, he is selfish and forgets public interests, and his virtue is unworthy of his position! Anyway, the Jiang family and I are mortal enemies. You keep an eye on me. I'm going to call a few people out now and shout this out on the spot!"
My aunt, this is a matter of life and death!
Seeing Zhu Ying walk away like this, Lu Sanlang was almost scared to death. Others are playing dirty tricks and smashing bricks, but you are doing it openly? Do your parents, grandmother, and brother know about it? Have you discussed it with them? Young Master, please come back soon. If you don't come back, no one can keep an eye on this aunt who is about to run away... I... I can only go to Zhu's house to report the news!
