Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 510: The Thousand-Li Horse and the Horse Master
No one knows a daughter better than her mother. Concubine Yu didn't think that Princess Yongping would be defeated by Lady Hong in a scheming match. Even if she really couldn't win, Princess Yongping still had her and the emperor behind her. If Princess Yongping couldn't win with such a background, and Lady Hong lacked a father who could support her, then Princess Yongping should just stop worrying and get married peacefully.
She also knew that even though Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping had never gotten along since childhood, Zhu Ying had always relied on brute force to win, and never bothered to resort to schemes and intrigues. Therefore, Zhu Ying had no idea that her sudden inspiration was such a great opportunity for Princess Yongping, who was unwilling to be an ordinary housewife.
Zhang Shou did not find it strange that Concubine Yu agreed to this on behalf of Princess Yongping, and even smiled and agreed. Not long after, he saw Zhu Ying and Princess Yongping come in one after the other. Zhu Ying had a smug smile on her face, while Princess Yongping still had a calm expression, but her eyes were clearly filled with a glow of extreme joy.
"Thanks to my emotional appeal and my persuasion, Yongping finally agreed!" Zhu Ying raised her head slightly, looking like she had made great contributions. She walked up to Concubine Yu and sat down next to her. Then she smiled and said, "Concubine Yu, when Yongping becomes the headmaster of the girls' school, you can go and help her! Madam Hong is quite capable . It would be embarrassing for Yongping to be outshined by her..."
Princess Yongping saw Zhang Shou smiling and saying nothing to Zhu Ying, and she knew that people must have seen her reluctance to accept. However, since Zhang Shou did not expose her, she was of course happy to let Zhu Ying take the credit, and even if Zhu Ying was talking about how capable Hong was, she did not take it too seriously.
Not to mention that she is well-read and elegant, even if she is an illiterate princess, how could she not be able to control a commoner girl?
When Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying left Yonghe Palace, they did not leave empty-handed. Concubine Yu gave Zhu Ying a pair of pearl hairpins. Zhu Ying often came to the palace, and they had a close relationship like mother and daughter, so naturally there was no reward. Even Zhang Shou received two books from Concubine Yu, but they were not ancient books, but books printed by the Silijian Jingchang... "Ge's New Lectures on Mathematics"!
To be honest, Zhang Shou was a little confused when he received the two thick books. However, Concubine Yu, who personally escorted him and Zhu Ying out, said with a smile, "These are the notes that Lu Sanlang made when you were lecturing to the students at Jiuzhang Hall. The emperor asked someone to get them from Lu Sanlang and then asked the Silijian Jingchang to print them, saying that they are just right for the self-taught students outside."
"If the math you taught to the students at Banshan Hall wasn't too superficial, the emperor originally planned to have the Imperial Household Department print two copies of Ji Jiulang's lecture notes so that the children in the community could read them. But then I realized that those who could afford it were either not interested or disdained such a superficial level of knowledge, but the children who really needed to learn these books couldn't afford them."
They printed the handouts without my permission... Where's the manuscript fee? Where's the copyright fee? This is blatant piracy!
Zhang Shou had a strong urge to complain. Although the publishing environment these days is better than that of the Tang and Song dynasties, bookstores will state the copyright on the title page before printing books, and even say that pirated books will be prosecuted, but generally speaking, unless they are really popular celebrities, ordinary people will not only not get any royalties for publishing books, but will also have to pay for the printing of the books, and they don't care about pirated books at all.
Because most people print books to give to their relatives and friends, if the bookstore really prints a few hundred more copies of the book you want to print, and even sells them in the end, then the publisher will feel that a good horse has met a good horse, and will be ecstatic. Of course, even if the bookstore makes money from the extra books, it will not give you a penny more...
The problem is that Zhang Shou cared because he had a student like Lu Sanlang who ran one of the largest bookstores in the capital. He didn't worry about not being able to print his books, or losing money if he couldn't sell them. Not to mention that he had a lot of marketing skills, Lu Sanlang was also very smart. As a result, the emperor acted as a mentor and asked the Imperial Household Department to print his lecture notes first.
Then Concubine Yu gave it to him as a gift... Whenever Zhang Shou thought about it, he felt that he was at a disadvantage.
Before, the lady had specifically ordered that in order to avoid being seen, Zhu Ying asked Zhang Shou to ride in a sedan chair with her into the palace. But when it was time to leave the palace, since she had already been to Concubine Yu's Yonghe Palace and was even surrounded by a group of palace servants, she completely threw that worry behind her. After leaving the East Six Palaces, she casually stopped a eunuch who was just passing by and asked him to order someone to prepare two horses.
Zhang Shou was a little dizzy with sedan chairs, and of course he didn't want to ride a horse. Although he saw the poor eunuch was stunned at first, and then had to agree with a bitter face, he pretended not to see it. When he left the Xuanwu Gate in the north of the palace, he saw that in addition to the guards of Zhu Hong from the Duke of Zhao's mansion, there were two horses that looked like gods waiting there, and he couldn't help but marvel at it.
But before he could tease Zhu Ying for her great reputation in the palace, Zhu Ying suddenly quickened her pace and rushed to the two horses like a gust of wind. After going back and forth like this, the eldest lady showed an ecstatic expression: "It turned out to be Feibai and Xiaohong! Last time I asked the emperor for them, but he refused to give them to me. I didn't expect the emperor to be so generous this time!"
Standing behind the two horses was a plump middle-aged man with a round face and small eyes. At first glance, he looked like a wealthy middle-aged man. However, in the small area of the outer imperial city north of the palace, the largest government offices were the Six Palaces Bureau and the various bureaus under the Silijian. Therefore, unless one had never been to the palace, one would never mistake his identity.
Zhang Shou certainly recognized the man, because he had met him when he first went to the outer court of the Imperial Household Department to look for someone. This middle-aged man who looked like a wealthy man was Lü Chan, the attendant of the Imperial Household Department. He only found out later that Lü Chan, who was always smiling, was known as the Smiling Tiger and was quite difficult to deal with. However, he clearly remembered that the man had gone to Cangzhou before, but he didn't know when he came back quietly.
When he walked in front of Lü Chan, the eunuch was already smiling with his eyes narrowed. "Doctor Zhang, the emperor said that you left those newly admitted students behind and came to the palace with the eldest lady to help for two consecutive days. You have made great contributions and worked hard. These two thousand-mile horses carefully selected by the Shaanxi Animal Husbandry Supervisor Changleyuan are awarded to you and the eldest lady."
When Lü Chan said this, he saw Zhu Ying stroking the two horses, looking very fond of them. He said meaningfully, "There are only eight tribute horses sent from Changle Garden this time. The emperor just rewarded the Duke of Zhao and the Duke of Chu with two horses each a few days ago, and kept two for himself. The remaining two have been in the stable all this time, and today they finally have owners."
Zhang Shou's heart was moved. In this way, the emperor and the Duke of Chu's mansion each had two horses, and the Duke of Zhao's mansion and Zhang Yuan's mansion each had two horses - there was no problem with this calculation, after all, Zhu Ying was going to marry him, and Zhu Ying's horses were also his horses. Thinking about this simple arithmetic problem, he suddenly laughed.
"If I hadn't known that you, Eunuch Lu, had been in Cangzhou before, I would have thought that you were the one in charge of these tributes and knew everything about them."
Lu Chan's face suddenly froze. At this moment, was he going to say that he was indeed the person in charge of tributes from all parties in the Imperial Household Department, so he was so familiar with the conditions of these eight imperial horses, and even remembered the time when the emperor rewarded the Duke of Zhao and the Duke of Chu with the four horses? Unable to show off, he couldn't help but cough and awkwardly avoided the question.
Zhu Ying was finally happy enough at this time. She came back with light steps and glanced at Lu Chan. She said nonchalantly: "Ah Shou, I have just checked. Feibai is gentle, so I'll give it to you. Xiaohong is obviously bad-tempered, so I will tame it for a while before sending it to you. These two horses will be given to you and Ah Liu to ride later."
Others would be so busy worshipping the imperial gift that Zhang Shou was sure that the only person who would give the ownership of the gift to someone else in such a nonchalant tone was Miss Zhu. He was about to refuse, but Zhu Ying got there first.
"Don't be polite with me. I have a lot of horses of all kinds at home. I asked the emperor for them before, and I wanted to give them to you! I know Ah Liu's skills, so he will have no problem training horses, but he is impatient, and he follows you all day, so he may not have the time. I have nothing to do, so I can temper my temper with Xiao Hong!"
This time, Lu Chan finally seized the opportunity and said with a smile: "Dr. Zhang and the young lady will soon be a family. The emperor gave these two horses as a reward, but he didn't say how you two would use them. Dr. Zhang, please don't let the young lady down."
Zhu Ying then glanced at Lu Chan with satisfaction, and then she saw Zhang Shou smiling at her helplessly. He didn't say yes or no, but asked curiously, "What are the names of the two horses, Feibai and Xiaohong?"
Thinking of these two names, Lu Chan suddenly had a headache. Who would have thought that Zhu Ying would say openly, "Yes, these are the names I changed in front of the emperor. This Feibai has pure white fur and runs fast when it's happy, so I call it Feibai. As for Xiaohong, it has a bad temper and makes a sound like it's always booming. And it's the youngest, so I just call it Xiaohong."
"It's just naming horses. It should be simple and easy to understand. I hate flowery and hard-to-pronounce names. I have forgotten what their original names were. Why, Ah Shou, do you think the names I came up with are not good?"
Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel ashamed. He shouldn't have thought that the young lady was interested in famous calligraphy works in Feibai style, so he gave her such a name. Although Zhu Ying's calligraphy was indeed better than his, that was only relatively speaking. He could hardly imagine that this eccentric young lady would make a special brush just to write Feibai style, and then learn Feibai style, which was no longer a trend.
So, after shaking his head, he saw Zhu Ying glaring at him angrily, so he smiled and said, "I was just thinking that the girls around you are all named Zhanjin and Liuyin, but you named your horse so simply."
"Don't gold and silver represent wealth and nobility? Besides, I was still a kid when they followed me, so I named them Xiaojin and Xiaoyin. As for Zhanjin and Liuyin, they were changed by my mother. They are catchy and they like them very much, so I called them that too." Zhu Ying said confidently, "Anyway, I have been very vulgar since I was a kid, I can't be elegant!"
Zhang Shou had long been accustomed to Zhu Ying, who could frankly admit her vulgarity. He would have a headache if his fiancée was a woman who appeared elegant and graceful like a chrysanthemum in public, but pursued fame and fortune in private.
For example, people like Mrs. Hong who have lofty ambitions, and Princess Yongping who is unwilling to be lonely... He can only say that he admires them and wishes them that their wishes can be fulfilled. As for the rest... Haha, he, who has no ambitions, is not suitable to associate with them!
"I'm just curious. Feibai and Xiaohong are good names. It's up to you. Feibai will be mine and Xiaohong will be Liu's. I'll tell Liu that he owes you a big favor and ask him to think about how to repay him!"
Zhang Shou shrugged indifferently, "Thank goodness you named him Yingying. You are much better than Ah Liu. He is not the sixth child in the family, and has nothing to do with the number six. But he said that when he changed his name to this, it was because he saw six wild horses passing by... If he saw six wild horses, he would be called Ah Liu. If there were countless horses, would he be called Duoduo?"
"I think it would be scary to ask him to name his own mount."
Originally, she was worried that Zhang Shou would have some opinions about her aesthetic taste in naming, but when she heard this, she was immediately led astray by Zhang Shou, and she laughed so hard that her body shook with laughter: "Now that you mention it, it's really possible! But anyway, I'm going to give it to Ah Liu later, so if he likes it, he can change the name to anything!"
Lu Chan stared in amazement as Zhu Ying took Zhang Shou to try out the horse, called a few Zhu family guards who were waiting there to join him, and then left. During the whole process, he never asked him a single question. He didn't know whether he should feel ignored and therefore depressed, or feel depressed because he felt that others didn't care about his trip to Cangzhou or Zhu Tingfang, so he was depressed.
But in a word, he was just two words, depressed. Thinking about how long he had been away from the capital, such a series of events had happened there, and thinking about his previous hope to be sent to Cangzhou to do something, he felt that he was too naive.
When Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou rode side by side and finally left the Bei'an Gate of the Imperial City, Zhu Hong, who had been silent and had not disturbed the young couple, finally spoke up: "The eldest master is back. Dr. Zhang, do you want to go to the mansion with the eldest lady to meet the eldest master?"
"Huh?" Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying exclaimed in surprise almost at the same time. Zhu Ying immediately said angrily, "Zhu Hong, this is such an important matter, why didn't you tell me earlier!"
Seeing Zhang Shou's puzzled expression, Zhu Hong said awkwardly, "When we were waiting at Xuanwu Gate, Eunuch Lu specifically informed us. I saw that Miss and Dr. Zhang didn't seem surprised to see Eunuch Lu who had just returned from Cangzhou. I thought you all knew about it."
I asked you because I noticed that you two have been talking about the issue of royal horses. You were even discussing horse breeding with great interest along the way. But I didn’t expect that you had just found out about it!
Zhang Shou was in a state of confusion. He was very curious about why Lü Chan came back at this time, but considering that he had been in the palace for two consecutive days, he never expected that Zhu Tingfang, who had said he would come back, would return to the capital like a god!
Although he felt that he would not be questioned again even if he met Brother Zhu again, after all, he had worked with him in Cangzhou, but thinking about the students in Jiuzhang Hall who he had stood up for two mornings in a row, he said directly: "I have to go back to Jiuzhang Hall. Yingying, please tell Brother Zhu to let me know when I am free in the evening."
So, when Zhu Ying, who readily agreed, returned to the Duke of Zhao's mansion and rushed over after learning that her elder brother was in Qing'an Hall, she saw Zhu Tingfang's face pulling long as soon as she saw him: "Zhang Shou has left Zhang Chen and the others alone for several days and now he's even avoiding me. What does he want to do?"
