Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 539: Teacher Acts as Parent
Zhu Ying finally succeeded in her dream of starting a red leaf business...
Although the emperor finally revealed the shocking news, he was in a good mood and promised Zhu Ying that he would write a few words for important officials such as Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing when he gave the red leaf bookmarks. As for Ah Liucai's other batch, they were sent to the public school and the Imperial College, and of course they would be stamped with the small seal.
Zhang Shou watched the emperor who dropped the bombshell get up and leave leisurely, while the empress dowager had a splitting headache on her face. He thought for a moment and said, "Empress Dowager, Yingying and I will keep our mouths shut about what happened today. Besides, I have one more thing I have to advise you about. Although I have a disagreement with the second prince, I still have to say that it is too risky for him to go to Qiongzhou Prefecture."
The Queen Mother couldn't help but glance at Zhang Shou in surprise, then nodded in approval, "I see, Zhang Shou, you have a broad mind. Yingying really didn't make a mistake about you."
After leaving Qingning Palace, Zhu Ying glanced at Ah Liu, who was now empty-handed. Thinking of all the red leaves that had just been sent to Qianqing Palace by the Empress Dowager, waiting to be dried and stamped with the seal before being sent out, she couldn't help but scratch Zhang Shou's face and said with a fake smile: "A true gentleman with a broad mind, right?"
Zhang Shou could tell that Zhu Ying was mocking him, but he acted nonchalant. But Zhu Ying couldn't help but continue to tease him, "Ah Shou, you just said in front of the Queen Mother that it was too risky to do that. You didn't mean that the place was full of malaria and that guy might die, but you were afraid that he would cause trouble there and hinder us, right?"
They were just talking to the Queen Mother. Apart from the most noble mother and son in the world, there were only three of them in the room. There were guards outside the door. It would not be a big deal to bring up that kind of topic, but Zhu Ying was very smart to be vague at this time. Anyway, she was not worried that Zhang Shou would not understand.
Sure enough, the next moment, she saw Zhang Shou laughing at her and said, "Yingying, you've always said that I'm a gentleman, why do you have to expose me? Can't you just treat it as me repaying evil with kindness?"
"A gentleman is a gentleman, but I also know that a gentleman's revenge is never too late, and as long as it can be taken, it will be taken immediately." Zhu Ying chuckled , and then whispered, "But you don't have to worry about him stirring up trouble and harming those people in the future. You know, some people are indomitable, while others are defeated to the end. I know him best, he doesn't have this ability."
Zhang Shou could only laugh at Zhu Ying's statement. He also looked down on people like the Second Prince, but he knew better that for some people, the phrase "rare goods are valuable" was sometimes enough to make a bet, regardless of whether the Second Prince gave up on himself. He would rather the emperor treat the Second Prince the same way as the First Prince, and lock him up in the Zongzheng Temple, so as to avoid letting him out and becoming a scourge.
Not to mention anything else, look at Emperor Yingzong who ascended the throne in his fifties, and Emperor Ruizong who endured and finally seized the throne. This kind of thing happened for two consecutive generations. Since you, the emperor, want to prepare for a rainy day, at least you should solve the trouble thoroughly!
What the hell is sending the second prince to Qiongzhou? Didn't you see that Qin Shihuang's father was sent to Zhao as a hostage and was able to make a comeback? Of course, there is no Queen Huayang for the second prince to curry favor with now, but maybe there will be another Lu Buwei?
Zhang Shou had this thought in his mind, but what was more troubling was that the emperor had clearly stated that he had already decided on the candidate for the crown prince of the Eastern Palace. If the eldest and second princes were excluded, the situation was now very clear, that is, one of the remaining two would be chosen. And considering that the third prince had already shown many outstanding qualities, plus he was the eldest, was there any doubt about the result?
If he recruited the Third Prince into Jiuzhang Hall, it was only because he had passed all the tests and made the other candidates convinced. Now he really regretted it a little bit - because as long as the news of the Emperor's enthronement of the Eastern Palace was announced, let alone the students in Jiuzhang Hall, the four principals who were summoned to the capital would definitely go crazy.
Even Hong Shanchang, who was determined to return to the mountain before, would most likely change his mind! How could teaching a prince who had the hope of entering the East Palace be the same as teaching the crown prince? If he really succeeded, he would be the next imperial teacher, the next Ge Yong in a blink of an eye!
"The storm is about to come!"
Zhang Shou sighed casually, but Zhu Ying smiled nonchalantly, "Anyway, we can stop the enemy with our troops and block the water with earth. Ah Shou, you have been very successful since you came to Beijing. Even if you want to keep a low profile now, it's too late. Only by keeping a high profile and making unstoppable progress can you give back to those who hate you! Because if you win once, you have to keep winning!"
"I'm not afraid of being high-profile..." Zhang Shou raised his eyebrows, but said with a smile, "I'm just afraid of trouble."
"It's just like what the emperor said. Ah Shou, you look diligent, but you're actually lazy!" Zhu Ying said this in anger, but her face was full of energy. She said as she walked, "Don't worry, just teach the students well. There are not only Zhang Chen and the students of the fat kid from the Lu family who are responsible for the outside world, but also me!"
"When the teacher is busy, the students do the hard work; when the husband is busy, the wife does the hard work!" Zhu Ying added the second half of the ancient saying with confidence, and the word "wife" came out naturally without any pause. But after she said it, she suddenly realized that she was too impatient, but when she turned her head to look at Zhang Shou, she only saw that he was smiling, as if he had no special reaction.
Just when she was feeling a little annoyed, someone grabbed her hand unexpectedly. She turned her head and saw that it was Zhang Shou holding her hand as if nothing had happened. She was surprised and happy at once. When she heard Zhang Shou's words, her little emotion disappeared completely.
"Yingying, since you are becoming more and more capable, I will rely on you for all these annoying things in the future. Let's go to your house first. I have to tell them what I said to you before, so that they won't be caught off guard."
After passing through Xuanwu Gate, they boarded a sedan chair again and left the palace from the Outer Imperial City via Bei'an Gate. When the sedan chair finally stopped in front of the Duke of Zhao's mansion, Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying stepped on and off the sedan chair one after another. The doorman who came to greet them said with a smile: "Miss, Master Shou, you are back at the right time. Old Grand Tutor Ge has just arrived."
Hearing that Ge Yong was coming, Zhu Ying was naturally extremely happy, and without saying a word, she rushed in like a gust of wind. Zhang Shou, who had no time to stop her, couldn't help but laugh, thinking that this was just right. So, he simply turned around and whispered to Ah Liu: "Go home and tell my mother what Yingying and I said today. If it's convenient for her, ask her to come over."
Ah Liu agreed and was about to go, but in a moment he stopped and came back, looking at Zhang Shou with suspicion and said, "Master, what did you say to the young lady? How can I bring it up if you don't tell me?"
"Stop pretending!" Zhang Shou glared at Ah Liu and said with a half-smile, "Don't I know you? You heard everything you should and shouldn't have heard, and you even called it preventing others from eavesdropping!"
Seeing that Zhang Shou had exposed his eavesdropping, Ah Liu immediately turned his head away with an unnatural look on his face, but then he found that Zhang Shou suddenly slapped him on the head. Although he could easily dodge, he still got hit several times because of his hesitation. However, the force of Zhang Shou's slap on the head was very light, just like teasing a child.
"Don't waste time here, go and come back quickly . Do you think I don't know that you are the smartest? You act dumb all day long. If anyone thinks you are a stupid boy with a single-minded mind, then he is a real fool!"
After being praised by Zhang Shou, Ah Liu's eyes lit up and he immediately jumped on the horse like a gust of wind . When Zhang Shou saw him riding the horse, he suddenly remembered the horse that the emperor gave to Zhu Ying. Zhu Ying generously said that she would train it and give it to Ah Liu. The horse named Xiao Hong was stubborn at first glance, and no one knew how Zhu Ying trained it.
Anyway, it's definitely not like Wu Zetian, with an iron whip, iron hammer and dagger...
Because he had asked Ah Liu to go back and invite Wu, when Zhang Shou arrived at the Madam's Qing'an Hall, he was more than a little late. Zhu Ying was sitting next to the Madam with a smile, while Ge Yong was sitting calmly on the first armchair at the lower right, drinking tea leisurely. As soon as he entered, he saw the two old men looking at him in unison.
Ge Yong spoke first, "Madam, look at my last disciple. He has the right demeanor, the right bearing, the right knowledge, and the right official position...Except for those guys who were born with a family background, who else can be a fifth-rank official at the age of seventeen like him? Yingying has a good eye and is very quick to act, so she didn't let others take this good cabbage."
Zhang Shou was speechless at Ge Yong's extremely vulgar tone. Teacher, you are a well-educated scholar praised by everyone. Can you be more elegant? He instinctively felt that such praise was not in line with Ge Yong's style. Sure enough, the next moment, the lady revealed the answer.
"Is the old master planning to turn around and make Shou the male protagonist?"
"That's right. His father is gone. If I don't come forward, who will?" Ge Yong said in a loud voice, as if it was a matter of course. He then glanced at Zhang Shou, who was stunned, and said earnestly, "Although he has been an official for more than a year and even has a lot of students, he is still not old enough to be crowned."
"It's unreasonable to get married before he even reaches adulthood, not to mention that he doesn't even have a courtesy name!"
How could Zhang Shou not know that Ge Yong came to discuss his marriage with the Zhu family? However, when Ge Yong mentioned that he had not yet been crowned and had not yet been given a courtesy name, he realized this problem belatedly.
He grew up in the countryside, and among the adults in the village, there was not a single scholar with a courtesy name, so he had never paid attention to this. Later, when he met Zhang Chen and his group of playboys, and saw that they also called each other by their names, he cared even less about it.
Just as Zhang Shou was thinking this, he heard Zhu Ying yelling, "Grandpa Ge, it turns out that you, as a teacher, have never given Shou a courtesy name. I thought you didn't give him a nice name, so it's like Lu Sanlang dislikes his name. Shou has never been willing to talk about it! Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang are talking about it behind his back. This must be a taboo for Shou. They told everyone not to mention it!"
"What taboo? I still haven't decided yet. This courtesy name should either be related to my name or have good wishes. I've been thinking about it for a long time and still can't make a decision!"
Ge Yong spoke confidently, but in fact he felt a little guilty - he hadn't accepted any students for many years. After all, he had never presided over the imperial examinations. The students he had chosen to accept were all adults, so there was no question of him giving them courtesy names. If Chu Ying hadn't suddenly asked him yesterday, he would have completely forgotten about it!
Therefore, after firmly denying his old confusion, he said to Zhang Shou earnestly, "Zhang Shou, although the Zhu family wants to arrange the marriage of Yingying's elder brother first, he is the one who is getting married and Yingying is getting married, so there is no delay. You and Yingying have been a couple for a long time, and there is no point in dragging it on. So I will make the decision for you, and you can arrange it after Yingying's elder brother, how about it?"
"November happens to have two auspicious days!"
Is there any need to ask how? Didn't you already decide for me? Zhang Shou looked at Zhu Ying, whose face was full of light, and couldn't help but sigh. But when he found that Ge Yong was glaring at him, he simply said sincerely: "Since the teacher has said that he will be the host of my wedding in the future, I will naturally listen to you on this matter."
Seeing Ge Yong's eyes immediately open with smiles, he smiled and said, "Although I should have said that I really wanted to, but I dare not ask for it, but I actually told Yingying today that we should not wait until February or March next year, and we should hold the wedding after her elder brother, so I came to your house specially to ask for it. Now that the teacher has come forward to make the decision personally, I don't have to worry about how to ask the lady."
The old lady immediately turned her head in surprise to look at Zhu Ying, and saw that her granddaughter's face was full of joy. She sighed in her heart, but when she saw Zhang Shou looking at Zhu Ying with a smile, she felt relieved that this couple was just as Ge Yong said, a perfect match.
After raising this little girl for so many years, hasn't she always hoped that she could marry a good husband and live a happy life in harmony in the future?
So, the lady nodded happily and said, "I have already sent someone to inform Yingying's father. As for her mother, she has already gone to the most famous gold and silver shop in the capital today to meet with a few old friends and discuss what patterns to make. I estimate that she will be back at noon. But they will definitely not have any objection to this matter. Once we invite Madam Wu, everything will be complete."
At this point, she suddenly asked with great interest, "Since the old master said that he had given Zhang Shou many courtesy names, but he really couldn't make up his mind, could you tell us aloud?"
Ge Yong's heart skipped a beat, seeing that the lady looked sincere, Zhu Ying was extremely curious, and Zhang Shou was very interested - it seemed that Zhang Shou had no idea that this courtesy name was closely related to him, and his expression seemed as if he was laughing at him.
So, he straightened his face and snorted, "Of course, we have to wait until the day of the coming-of-age ceremony to bring it up. If we say it earlier, won't there be no suspense at all?"
He drafted more than a dozen courtesy names for Zhang Shou last night, and he still couldn't decide! How could he give up this privilege as a teacher to others! Well, keep your demeanor, keep your demeanor, and don't let the lady opposite you overshadow you!
