Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 481: Staying, Momentum, and Blackmail
If possible, Lu Wan wanted to rush over and hug Zhang Shou and cheer, because he didn't expect his father to tell him the truth. Moreover, he habitually felt that Zhang Shou often did things unexpectedly, and his purpose of teaming up with his father to trick him should not be so simple. But he didn't expect that the purpose of such a thing was actually very simple.
When he and Zhang Shou rode out of the public school side by side, he learned that Zhang Shou's purpose was just to let those students who were just beginning to learn typesetting to really get started. As for Tang Jieyuan who wrote the letter...
He was frightened by Jiang Ge Lao's retirement, so when Lu Wan sent a letter to invite him to the public school to be a nominal teacher, he immediately agreed, and of course he did not dare to refuse Lu Wan's other requests. Otherwise, as Xie Wanquan's senior brother, Tang Ming, who is more arrogant than others, how could he write a book about "Jinling Yan" starring a group of beauties?
"In order to keep the secret, your father locked Tang Jieyuan in a small dark room for a month. He was only allowed to go out for a walk in the early morning, and he spent all his time writing except for eating and sleeping. After a month, Tang Jieyuan, who was originally handsome and tall, became much thinner. He originally requested not to use his real name, but he couldn't persuade your father, so he had to sign the Chinese character Tang. In the end, your father still sent people to publicize the work."
"Otherwise, no matter how good your people are at scheming, they wouldn't be able to find this place so quickly."
When Zhang Shou got to this point , he saw that Lu Sanlang was smiling slyly and proudly. He was too lazy to ask whether he figured it out on his own or someone else had enlightened him. He called out to the two young masters of the noble families who were still mumbling to themselves, "Zhang Chen, Zhu Erlang, you should also go home quickly. You have been gone for several months. Your families must miss you. If you have anything else, we can talk tomorrow."
Zhang Chen and Zhu Er looked at Lu Sanlang from head to toe, then snorted at the same time. They called their guards, bowed to Zhang Shou, said goodbye, and rode away.
When they left, the remaining young master Jiang was dumbfounded. He didn't have to worry about having no place to stay in the capital. With the money he brought, he could stay in any big inn in the capital for a year or two. Besides, the head of the Suzhou Hua family, Mr. Hua Si, was also in the capital. If he really couldn't make it, he could go to Suzhou Guild Hall to stay for a while.
As for the vegetable garden in the outer city now occupied by Cao Wu and others, which is near the most lively Xinglong Tea House in the outer city, it is not difficult for him to find a place to stay.
However, he didn't know where the idea or courage came from at this time, and he actually rode closer to Zhang Shou's other side. When he saw Ah Liu glanced at him and slowed down a little to make room for him, he smiled and approached him and said, "Dr. Zhang, I'm unfamiliar with this capital city, and I have no experience. If I'm not careful, I might be deceived and even forget my home."
"If possible... can you let me stay at your place for a while? Of course, if it's inconvenient, forget it."
Young Master Jiang was a coward, and he couldn't do anything shameless, so he added an explanation at the end. Sure enough, he saw Lu Sanlang on the other side of Zhang Shou glanced at him in surprise, and then took the opportunity when Zhang Shou was also looking at him, and secretly gave him a thumbs up behind Zhang Shou's back.
Although he didn't know whether this was an expression of praise or sarcasm, Jiang Da Shao didn't bother to think too much, and just waited anxiously for Zhang Shou's answer. Finally, he saw someone just smiled at him.
"Since you said you are unfamiliar with the place, if I drive you out again, won't you have to sleep on the street? Zhang Garden is very big, why don't you bring someone over to stay for a few days?"
Hearing this, Young Master Jiang was immediately delighted, and the guards and followers he brought with him were also surprised and delighted. The master and servants had not expected Zhang Shou to be so easy to talk to. Young Master Jiang took the lead in thanking him, and the others racked their brains to join in the fun, saying a lot of words of gratitude. In the end, Lu Sanlang couldn't stand this low-level flattery anymore and coughed hard.
"Zhang Garden is a small and spacious place, so it is more than enough to accommodate your group. However, young master is a casual person, so I must remind you of one thing."
Lu Sanlang raised his eyebrows, and then said mysteriously: "Zhang Garden was once the villa of Prince Lu. Although this house cannot be said to be a haunted house, there are many tunnels and secret rooms of various kinds. My young master is an upright person. He has reported all that he has found to the emperor, but there may be some that have been missed. After you move in, if there is any movement in the house, you must be alert."
At this point, the expression on his face became even more mysterious. The sun had already set, and the light was dim, making his face look distorted. Therefore, Young Master Jiang was frightened by his expression and shivered.
"You know, back when the young master and my future mistress went out of town to visit Zhao Garden in Haidian, a traitor plotted something bad that night, using the secret passage secretly dug in Zhao Garden. Fortunately, it was discovered by Ah Liu. This time when you live in Zhang Garden, remember to check for potential dangers for the young master as an outsider..."
Listening to Lu Sanlang's serious nonsense, Zhang Shou would have wanted to hit the boy again if he hadn't been out of reach with his folding fan. Seeing that Young Master Jiang was almost scared out of his wits, he had to signal Ah Liu with his eyes until the young man came up silently and dragged Lu Sanlang and his horse to the side. Only then did he shake his head and laugh.
"Zhang Garden is not a dangerous place. It has been a long time since Prince Lu's villa was taken over by the royal family. Even if some secret passages and dark rooms have not been completely cleaned and sealed, it is because the emperor thinks it is not necessary to make trouble. So, don't listen to Lu Sanlang's nonsense."
Seeing that Master Jiang's smile was obviously very forced, he was too lazy to explain it, but emphasized: "Zhangyuan is undergoing training and rectification these days. If you really saw or heard anything, just pretend you didn't see or hear it. The person in charge of this matter is Ah Liu's master, a trusted general of Duke Zhao. He is doing me a favor, as I have too many people there."
The reason why Zhang Shou did not say that Hua Qi was the emperor's man was that he took into account the acceptance level of Young Master Jiang and defined this matter as the future father-in-law sending people to help the future son-in-law manage the family. However, he still misjudged Young Master Jiang's reaction.
Maybe he was frightened by Lu Sanlang's mysterious attitude just now, or maybe he was shocked by the news that Zhang Yuan was undergoing training and purge. In any case, there was a clear look of caution on Young Master Jiang's face, and at this moment he was nodding his head desperately, as if he was afraid of discovering some secret and being silenced if he turned around.
It was not until they turned into the street in front of Zhang Garden and Zhang Shou pointed at the gate and said with a smile that they had arrived that Young Master Jiang visibly breathed a sigh of relief. However, he was still startled when he heard a burst of uniform footsteps inside and then saw a group of six people rushing out and blocking their way.
Especially when he saw a group of people of different heights, running in an orderly manner, with almost the same running posture, he immediately thought of the word "private soldiers". But at this moment, he saw these six people bowed in unison and shouted in unison: "The young master is back!"
Faced with this scene, Zhang Shou couldn't help but cover his eyes.
He now felt that handing over a group of untrained people in his family to the madman Hua Qi was probably the most wrong decision he had ever made in his life, bar none! If it was just about uniformity, what could be better than the military training of the Great Celestial Empire? He could even come up with a bunch of various tips himself, so why would he need this guy?
Facing this scene, Ah Liu's mouth twitched as well, and he shouted in a deep voice: "Madman, what are you doing!"
Young Master Jiang looked around in doubt, and then he heard a lazy voice: "As the concierge, you are the face of the family. How can you look so messy? When welcoming and seeing off guests, of course they should come and go in an orderly manner. This is just an array. You can attack when you advance and defend when you retreat. They have practiced this combined attack array for a few days. Just when there are guests, why don't they show it off?"
Zhang Shou was speechless when he heard Hua Qi confidently say the word "show off". However, he was more concerned about the fact that Hua Qi had clearly stated that this was a combined attack formation.
He looked carefully again and saw that among the six people, there was no Old Liu, nor the lame Anlu who went out with Mr. Song and Fang Qing. Three were young men from Rongshui Village, and three were people from the market recruited by Liu. However, at this moment, no matter what their backgrounds or ages, the six people who stood out showed a spirit and energy, which was no worse than the display effect of military training.
So, seeing that Hua Qi was only heard of but not seen, he was too lazy to pursue the matter any further - anyway, seeing that Ah Liu looked eager to try, he would probably go to check the fighting capacity of these people himself soon.
He nodded and said, "If you have guests in the future, don't be so ostentatious. Don't let people say that I, Zhang Yuan, rule my family with military law... I'm not fighting a war here, and this is not the Duke of Zhao's mansion! By the way, why didn't you show such momentum when I went in and out a few days ago?"
At this time, everyone looked at each other, and finally Yang Hao, the grandson of Mr. Yang, touched the back of his head and said with a wry smile: "Master Hua Qi said that we haven't practiced it yet, so we shouldn't embarrass ourselves. Today, we want to give you a surprise!"
What a surprise...it's more like a shock!
Zhang Shou chuckled and waved his hand decisively. Everyone immediately dispersed. Some came up to lead their horses, some came up to say hello, and in an instant there was chaos. In addition to the three people squeezed on his side, there were three people next to Ah Liu. As for the guest, Young Master Jiang, and his group... they were completely ignored!
Therefore, seeing Old Liu coming out of the gate and a steward of Duke Zhao's mansion, one of them twitched his mouth, the other shook his head and sighed, and kept looking around, obviously looking for Hua Qi, as if he was heartbroken that these people were too domineering but lacked manners in front of outsiders, he simply left Ah Liu to them and called Young Master Jiang into the house.
As soon as he entered Zhang Garden, Young Master Jiang, who was still immersed in the absurd scene just now, became even more restless .
His family was the richest in Cangzhou, with houses in a row. In addition, he was married to the Hua family, the richest family in Suzhou. He spent a lot of money on garden construction, and even transported stones from the south for thousands of miles to build rockery and dig ponds to store water. He also invited famous gardeners from the south to design the garden personally. In the end, the back garden was second to none in Cangzhou.
But now, compared with this Zhang Garden, he felt that his own garden, which his father had been proud of for many years, was like a village girl meeting a rich lady, there was no comparison at all. But soon, he heard Zhang Shou smile.
"You just heard that this house was the former residence of Prince Lu. The emperor sold it to me at a low price, and some people still say it is against the rules. Fortunately, this is not a royal residence. Apart from the gate, the rest of the buildings don't go beyond the rules."
Thinking of the four words "Luwang Bieyuan" that Lu Sanlang had mentioned just now, Young Master Jiang finally felt that he was too shallow. No matter how luxurious the folk gardens were, could they surpass the royal prince's Biefu?
Moreover, he had heard that Prince Lu was the emperor's most trusted brother. If it had not been linked to Prince Ye's rebellion, this place might be the most crowded place in the capital. However, there is no if in the world. Because of Prince Lu's defeat and death, this former villa was now named Zhang.
Young Master Jiang forced a smile, and forced himself not to think about the so-called emperor's forced sale. Then he praised the house with exaggerated words, trying his best to make himself look like a competent country bumpkin.
But he soon stopped pretending, because Zhang Shou leisurely took him to a very spacious courtyard in the front yard, and then pointed to the neatly arranged north-facing house and east-west wing rooms and said, "There are five main rooms, three east-west wing rooms and three rooms each, a total of eleven rooms. You can live here while you are in the capital, but..."
Zhang Shou dragged out the words, and seeing that Young Master Jiang seemed a little trembling, he smiled and said, "Since you said you want to stay, then don't give me a bunch of nonsense excuses about moving out later!"
"Also, although I won't charge you for board and lodging, I can't let you stay here for free. After all, I have another tenant here. One is Mr. Song, who was so weird that he participated in the Imperial Chef Selection Competition and made it to the semi-finals. The other is Mr. Fang, the tenant he brought with him. Although neither of them paid for the room, at least they are still working to compensate for it."
Young Master Jiang had no idea what Zhang Shou would need from a nobody in the capital. It was too late to regret asking for a place to stay, so he could only smile and say, "Then how can I make up for it?"
"It's very simple. When you go back, do something for me. You mentioned opening a school in Cangzhou based on the public school model. We don't have to start from scratch. Mr. Xu's Wendao School can be merged into it. We don't even have to change its name. We just need to expand its scale. I think Mr. Xu is a very reasonable person. He won't refuse such a good deed."
Seeing Young Master Jiang nod his head immediately and agree so readily, Zhang Shou laughed and said word by word: "Another thing, as a local tycoon in Cangzhou, can you donate some money to the public school? Of course, the same goes for Zhang Chen and his friends. They have made so much money, so it is only right for them to donate money to support education. I think this event can be held on a grand scale."
