Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 390: Sharp as a knife
How dare you scold Ah Shou and my elder brother? Zhu Ying's eyebrows were raised. According to her previous temper, she might have kicked the thin wall open and went to find fault with it. However, at this moment, she took a deep breath and secretly reminded herself that the guests and audiences she wanted to invite had not arrived yet, so she couldn't start the show early by herself.
Be patient for now... I'll beat these bastards to death later!
The Tianxia Taiping Tower was built in the early years of Emperor Taizu. As it was close to Qipan Street, there were always many civil officials and scholars coming and going at first. And because of Emperor Taizu's ancestral precepts, there was nothing that could not be said to others, so all the boxes were separated by wooden walls and there was no sound insulation at all. If there was any noise, the people next door could knock on the wall to express their protest. Of course, there were also those with bad tempers who would just rush over and curse. Over time, the officials stopped coming.
It was naturally unpleasant to hear someone scolding you next door, but if you went over to argue with a group of scholars, it would be even more humiliating. As for the embarrassing incident of breaking in and finding out that it was a high-ranking official with a higher status than you, it was not uncommon. Therefore, the most common people in Taiping Tower in the world are, first, scholars, and second,... ladies!
Scholars were here to comment on the country, write inspiring articles, and despise the marquises of the past. As for ladies... Nowadays, it is still very popular to pick a son-in-law from the list, and a truly smart family will definitely not just look at the names on the list to choose a son-in-law, but will make a list of candidates early on, pick out those with a high probability of passing the imperial examination and report it to the head of the family.
In order to avoid causing resentment among couples, these ladies would naturally come here before that to meet their future ideal husbands - the reason why they added the word "them" was, of course, because they had no way of being sure who that future man would be.
Zhu Ying chose this place to invite people to the party because Princess Yongping often came here - of course, Princess Yongping was not alone, she would often come with the emperor on a private visit! Without the emperor, Chu Kuan would often come with him. What she knew more clearly was that Princess Yongping's move was not to look for a future prince consort, but to select talents.
From this point of view, she always felt that Princess Yongping was eating the princess's food and worrying about the prince's concerns. She was too idle!
As for whether there would be any safety issues in such a public place, she also knew a piece of news that would make all the scholars here so excited that they would jump off the building.
The Tianxia Taiping Building, which was inscribed with the imperial handwriting of Emperor Taizu, was not what was claimed to be the property of private merchants who had worked hard to raise military funds for Emperor Taizu. It was the property of the royal family. The emperor told her this himself. Otherwise, the capital had changed so many emperors, and often the people who sat on the throne were not from the same family. How could this place exist again and again?
Not only does the building exist, but even the wooden walls, which were never soundproofed, remain the same and no one has ever changed them.
At this moment, Zhu Ying, who was sulking, suddenly heard a cough from outside. Then, the door curtain was raised, and the waiter who had delivered tea before came in with a smile on his face and brought a pot of wine. Normally, Zhu Ying, who didn't like drinking, would directly give it to the two guards standing by, but at this moment, she took the wine pot without thinking.
She filled a glass for herself, raised the glass and drank it all in one gulp. Then she coughed several times because of the spicy taste. When she finally calmed down, she angrily cursed: "They say how to relieve worries, only Du Kang, what's the good of this spicy thing!"
Of course, the waiter knew who Zhu Ying was. Seeing him despise the liquor in his shop that originated from the Emperor Taizu, he just smiled awkwardly and didn't dare to say much. However, among the scholars who were toasting next door, someone was sharp-eared and suddenly shouted loudly.
"A few days ago, the school's chief priest Lu Wan actually said that in the future, teachers and students in the school would be prohibited from drinking alcohol, and he also said that drinking alcohol would cause trouble!"
"How can drinking be a mistake? The wonderful aroma of wine has given birth to countless talented writers throughout history! Li Bai called himself the Immortal of Drinking and wrote hundreds of poems after drinking. Su Dongpo drank and asked the sky, and wrote drunkenly in the Lake View Tower. Jiang Ge Lao used to mark examination papers while drunk and won the first place in one fell swoop. He was a great talent selected by the country. Lu Wan is stubborn and self-righteous, and he issued bans at random. It's a joke!"
"Even if Grandpa Taizu didn't love drinking, how could he have made the soju that people today praise so much in the army?"
Zhu Ying had been planning to hold back and wait until everyone was present before making a scene, but after hearing this, she could no longer hold back and slammed the table in anger, "It's OK for the poet Li Bai and the foodie Su Shizhan, even when Grandpa Taizu was alive, he also praised their poems. But even if Old Man Jiang is the Prime Minister, he is just a minister of the Ming Dynasty. How dare he be compared with Grandpa Taizu?"
Her words came out in anger, and they were so clear and loud that not only the diners and drinkers in the Tianxia Taiping Building, but also many pedestrians downstairs heard them. It would have been fine if it involved the two great poets and writers who had passed away, but it also involved the Taizu of this dynasty, the current Prime Minister. At least the boxes next to Zhu Ying fell silent in an instant.
Since Zhu Ying was furious, she no longer cared about any plans. She smashed the wine cup she had just drunk from, and ignored the extremely painful expression on the waiter's face. She said angrily: "Who said that Grandfather Taizu made liquor? It was because he was addicted to drinking. At that time, the world was in chaos, and the grain for brewing liquor was all saved from military rations. How precious it was!"
"Grandpa Taizu made liquor because there were too many wounded soldiers in the wars over the years. He hoped to get liquor with a higher purity to disinfect the wounds of the soldiers so that the military doctors could bandage and treat the wounds... You are simply crazy to speculate about Grandpa Taizu with your drinking and talking nonsense!"
As if they realized that they had made a mistake, the scholars who were talking loudly next to them fell silent. However, they could pretend to be dumb, but it did not mean that Zhu Ying would let them off so easily.
"Prime Minister Jiang Ge Lao once reviewed the examination papers while drunk? And he even got the top scorer? Oh, why haven't I heard of it?"
"Do you know that the examination only takes a few days to grade? Do you know that alcohol is not allowed during the grading period? Most importantly, the number one scholar is never decided by a mere cabinet elder or a prime minister. It must be decided by the emperor! If any cabinet elder dares to decide the top three, it would be a great treason, do you know that?"
If the temporarily silenced scholars were just thinking about how to strike back at the overly sharp-tongued girl next door, then when these questions came back, they suddenly even softened their breathing.
However, the next moment, they all exploded after having endured it silently.
"You don't read history, you don't know history, you don't understand the rules of the imperial examinations, and you don't know the taboos of the court, but you are still here to brag and judge the chief priest of the public school, the chief minister of the court? Just because your school has taught you such useless people who are ignorant and can only drink and waste food, the public school of the Ming Dynasty must be established!"
They were all called useless. Even the guy who was scolded for talking nonsense at the beginning could no longer numb himself with words like "a good man does not fight with a woman". He was the first to stand up and then led the way to the next box.
However, as soon as he opened the curtain and saw the girl in a bright red dress, standing proudly, so beautiful that no one dared to look directly at her, his courage and bravery, which were stimulated by the alcohol, suddenly decreased by half.
If the person who was cursing was a girl who could barely be considered a beauty, it would not be surprising, after all, Tianxia Taiping Tower was not an ordinary place. But if the person who was cursing was a stunningly beautiful woman with a beauty as beautiful as a fairy, it would be outrageous.
Because although there are many beauties in the entire capital, there are only a handful of beauties who can bring disaster to the country and the people. And these beauties have hot tempers... You can guess without any guessing!
Because that young lady is really notorious!
His sudden stop caught the other scholars behind him who were also filled with righteous indignation off guard. As they had drunk a lot of wine, two of them bumped into him, and the remaining three also bumped into the two people in front of them because they could not stop in time. As a result, including the person in front, all six of them stumbled and rushed in.
When the people behind saw Zhu Ying's face clearly, someone was drunk and shouted, "Hey, she's actually a pretty girl. May I ask where she is from? What's her name? I don't mind your sharp tongue. I'll go and ask for her hand in marriage right now!"
As soon as he said this, the scholar who had guessed who the other person was immediately scared out of his wits, and all the wine in his stomach turned into cold sweat. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, he heard Zhu Ying shouting: "Zhu Hong, slap him for me!"
Zhu Hong agreed promptly, took a step forward, and slapped the red-faced drunkard twice.
However, as a martial artist, he controlled his strength very well - things like deafening someone's ears or breaking someone's head would never happen - the strength was mostly concentrated on the guy's mouth. After the two loud slaps, there was a clear human handprint on each of the guy's cheeks, and his mouth was swollen up.
"You don't even know the system of the imperial examinations. You are just a parasite who talks nonsense. How dare you insult the Duke Zhao's Mansion? You are blind!"
He told the scholar his origins directly. Seeing that the stunned scholar's eyes were wide open, the reactions of the others were mixed. Some were shocked and angry, some were afraid, and some even quietly moved back to escape. Zhu Ying then sneered rudely.
"Last time I was in Maliu Mountain in Cangzhou, I also met a so-called prefect's son. After he talked a lot, I retorted to him, and he got angry and swore at me. It turns out that all of you self-important guys are the same!"
"Old man Jiang's love of wine is a good story, and Lu Jijiu's prohibition of alcohol is stubborn and self-righteous? Oh, go ask the people in the capital, who doesn't know that Lu Shangshu can correct his mistakes, but Jiang Ge Lao refuses to repent!"
If many people were just watching the excitement in the silent eavesdropping in other boxes, then when Zhu Ying revealed her identity and said these words, everyone was really shocked. Especially those ordinary people who were watching... or more accurately, listening to the excitement downstairs, they were extremely excited.
Sure enough, under Zhu Ying's blatant sarcasm, the unlucky guy who was slapped so hard that his mouth was swollen and he couldn't speak could not speak, but one scholar mustered up the courage to say: "Lao Jiang is still in office, but Lu Wan has already resigned. Isn't it clear who is right and who is wrong..."
Before he finished speaking, Zhu Ying sneered, "So those who cling to power and refuse to leave are considered noble, while those who voluntarily resign are considered unforgivable? Besides, in the future, public schools will be filled with either teachers teaching or students studying. Why would you drink? If you want to have the unparalleled literary talent of Li Bai and Su Dongpo, you can go around the world and be unrestrained. Why go to a public school?"
"There is no order without rules. Even the Grand Master and Junior Master of the Imperial College are planning to implement a ban on alcohol during non-holiday periods. Is this also self-willed? The academy is an important place. What we need are teachers who are role models and conscientious. What we need are students who are hardworking and diligent and learn good skills. You will have the chance to drink in the future. If you can't even control yourself for a moment, how can you say you want to rule the country and bring peace to the world!"
"Also, as a scholar, shouldn't you know the rules? Who gave you the guts to address Lu Jijiu by his name? He is indeed not a minister anymore, but he is treated like a minister. Moreover, he was once a Jinshi. What about you?"
"If you don't respect someone's high position, then at least you should respect that he has been in the officialdom for decades, at least he has some political achievements; if you don't respect someone's age, then at least you should respect that he is your predecessor in the imperial examination; the books you read and the etiquette you learned, have you learned all from dogs?"
Zhu Hong and another guard in the box looked at each other in surprise. The eldest lady who always had no rules and etiquette was now talking to a group of scholars about etiquette and rules? Was the sun rising from the west?
Or is it that, as the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together," and because the eldest lady has spent too much time with Zhang Shou, her personality has changed?
However, the six scholars who broke into the box did not know that Zhu Ying's current behavior was different from before. They were scolded so much that their faces turned pale and blue, but they were caught in their weak spot and could not say a word for a while.
The one who had just taken the lead finally managed to rally himself and tried to make himself sound justified: "Miss Zhu said that we don't follow etiquette. Elder Jiang is the Prime Minister of the dynasty, but you just call him Jiang... Old man, is this the rule, is this etiquette?"
Zhu Hong and the other guard immediately broke into a sweat at such a question. However, Zhu Ying smiled calmly and said, "Yes, this is my rule, my etiquette. Don't talk about it behind his back. Even in front of him, I call him Old Man Jiang. Do you dare to call him by his name in front of Lu Jijiu?"
Seeing that the six people were immediately angry, she said calmly: "Old man Jiang has a bad upbringing. When his grandson hit a passerby, he deceived his superiors and concealed the truth. Old man Jiang has no responsibility. He instigated people to slander my father and brother behind my back, but let them take the blame, and he still clings to power. Old man Jiang flatters the superiors and bullies the subordinates. The prince can be given a light sentence when he is guilty, but the good people must accept it when they are bullied. Old man Jiang's principle is to value the upright and despise the obedient officials. Those who do things down to earth are not as good as those who talk big! I look down on him, so what!"
