Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 558: Something to Request
"Here it is!"
Fang Qing grabbed the helpless Fourth Master Hua, tried his best not to look at the gloomy Yue Shanzhang, and shouted angrily: "I heard this morning that Dr. Zhang was meeting here. That Ah Liu must have brought Brother Song here! He suddenly kidnapped people without thinking, there must be something wrong..."
As early as when Fang Qing stopped the car, when he heard the three words "Yuehua Tower", Fourth Master Hua didn't want to come at all. But since Yue Shanzhang was visiting him, and the man in the same car said he wanted to come and see, and didn't even care about the subtle relationship between him and Fang Qing in the rumors, he could only bite the bullet and agree. At this moment, seeing the soldiers of the Ruiqi Battalion guarding all around, he had a headache.
But at this time, he saw that Yue Shanzhang calmly walked forward to negotiate with the soldiers, hoping to enter Yuehua Tower. Even after being politely rejected, he still patiently explained the reason to them. That would have been fine, he soon understood why Yue Shanzhang had drawn a clear line with Fang Qing, the young man, on the day of the Imperial College Jiuzhang Hall's recruitment.
Because this young and energetic Mr. Fang, seeing that those serious soldiers of the Sharp Cavalry Battalion were polite but refused to tell them who was in Yuehua Tower at the moment, and even refused to let them get close, actually shouted: "Song Hunzi, Song Hunzi, if you are here and your mouth is not blocked by someone, just make a sound!"
At this moment, Mr. Hua couldn't help but regret his decision. Why did he want to meet with Yue Shanzhang because of the recommendation of Song Huizhu of Guangdong Guild Hall? If he didn't meet with Yue Shanzhang, even if he provoked this young man who blocked his way, he could just ignore his business!
The next moment, he heard a voice coming from upstairs: "Today, many distinguished guests have gathered at Yuehua Tower! Ah Liu, this is all your fault, why don't you hurry down and greet the guests with me!"
Fang Qing looked up and saw Zhang Shou smiling and nodding at the window on the second floor. Behind him, Ah Liu showed half of his head and looked down at him indifferently. He was immediately startled. When he saw Mr. Song also poking his head out and making gestures to him like killing a chicken, he immediately realized that he might have made a mistake again.
Sure enough, when Zhang Shou brought Ah Liu down, he used only a few words to explain the cause and effect of Ah Liu taking Mr. Song to see Yang Zhan because of the emergency. Even Mr. Song himself laughed dryly when he explained. Now, Fang Qing, who saw the word "Hua" on the way and stopped a car to get the help of Mr. Hua Si, felt that he was really stupid.
If he hadn't thought that Song Hunzi and Song Huishou were relatives in name but had actually fallen out, and that Mr. Hua Si, who was said to have pleaded for Mr. Song at the Xinglong Tea House, seemed to be a kind-hearted Confucian businessman as rumored, he would not have rushed over to stop the carriage with the word "Hua" written on it when he saw it halfway, and he would not have... met his mentor, Mr. Yue Shanzhang, who happened to be traveling in the same carriage!
Fang Qing wanted to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. After Zhang Shou briefly explained the whole story, he waved his hand at Mr. Hua Si who was trying to smooth things over. He then smiled and said to Mr. Song: "Brother Song, you are so lucky to have a righteous friend like Mr. Fang. You must thank him well when you go back, and don't let his kindness down!"
Mr. Song didn't know whether Zhang Shou was joking or speaking sincerely, so he could only nod. But Director Yue asked thoughtfully, "Today is not a day off for the Imperial College, nor is it the day of the Yuehua Tower's literary gathering. The always diligent Dr. Zhang is here, and there are so many soldiers from the Ruiqi Battalion guarding here. Is there an important person upstairs?"
"Yes, the Third Prince and Princess Yongping are here, as well as my fiancée."
Zhang Shou did not mince words. Seeing that Fourth Master Hua, who was originally in low spirits, suddenly cheered up, he smiled and said, "Ah Liu has always been simple and rough in his actions. He was wrong this time. I apologize to Brother Song and Master Fang on his behalf."
As soon as he bowed, Mr. Song jumped away. Fang Qing was startled and said he dared not do it, but he still apologized to the end, bowed deeply, and then smiled at Mr. Yue and Mr. Hua, "Since you are here, why don't you two come in and sit together? I am also a guest today, so it doesn't matter if there are two more guests."
Mr. Hua , who originally thought that the situation was extremely awkward and wanted to find an excuse to leave immediately, now agreed to it. How could he avoid such a good thing as meeting the future prince by chance?
And Shanzhang Yue would not refuse Zhang Shou's invitation. In fact, the reason why he followed Fang Qing and "meddled in other people's business" after meeting him was that he realized that there might be something behind the three words "Yuehua Tower". Yuehua Tower is almost synonymous with Princess Yongping, and since it is impossible for Zhang Shou to meet Princess Yongping in private, then a certain truth behind this is about to be revealed.
Sure enough, when he and Fourth Master Hua followed Zhang Shou into the lobby on the first floor, they saw the Third Prince standing inside. When he saw them, he nodded politely. Even though he had seen the little prince once from afar in Jiuzhang Hall, when he saw him again this time, because of the news from outside, he couldn't help but feel that the Third Prince was indeed a potential heir.
He was a man of outstanding appearance, with an upright posture, and his eyes and expressions were all gentle and elegant. It could be said that this was the type of crown prince that scholars were most looking forward to, far superior to the hypocritical eldest prince and the hot-tempered second prince. Therefore, he could not help but raise his hands and bowed in return.
The same was true for Fourth Master Hua, whose manners were extremely respectful. If Emperor Taizu had not done his utmost to abolish the customary kneeling and bowing in daily life in the first few years of his reign, he would have even wanted to prostrate himself on the ground to show his respect.
The Third Prince had seen too many people who suddenly changed their faces in the past few days. He was inexplicably surprised at first, then felt uncomfortable all over, and now he felt numb. So at this moment, he couldn't help but glance at Zhang Shou, who had a calm face, and couldn't help thinking that only Zhang Shou was still the same as usual when he saw him.
He didn't think that Zhang Shou should stop the two people outside the door at this time, so he smiled and said, "Third sister is meeting Madam Hong upstairs. Although there are differences between men and women, there is a saying that ambition does not depend on age, and talent does not depend on gender. Since the two of you have met by chance, go upstairs together. After all, Third sister and Madam Hong are both people with great ambitions."
The Third Prince showed respect to Princess Yongping, which was understandable to both Yue Shanchang and Hua Siye.
As a younger brother, it was natural for him to admire his elder sister, but it was abnormal for him to give such a high evaluation to Hong. Moreover, Princess Yongping came to see Hong, which was a normal meeting between a princess and her tutor, but was it necessary for the third prince to accompany her? If the third prince was older than Princess Yongping, and if Hong was a peerless beauty of the same age, the two of them would be similar in appearance!
But this is obviously impossible! Then, what is the reason for this today? And why are Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying still here?
Not to mention that Fourth Master Hua couldn't figure it out for a while, even the self-confident and wise Yue Shanzhang couldn't figure it out either. However, this didn't stop the two of them from following the Third Prince and Zhang Shou up the stairs. At this time, Mr. Song, who had pulled Fang Qing in, found that there was still one person left here, and that was Ah Liu.
Ah Liu did not immediately follow Zhang Shou upstairs, but smiled at his fellow sufferer with an ambiguous smile. He rarely smiled, and this deliberate smile did not seem friendly at all, but rather a little scary, at least in the eyes of Fang Qing and Mr. Song.
However, what Ah Liu said to them in the end seemed very normal: "Yang Zhan was carried down by the shopkeeper and the staff here to be rescued. Mr. Song and Mr. Fang, please go and help. You can go upstairs later if you want."
Seeing Ah Liu hurried upstairs after saying this, Fang Qing would not follow him upstairs. He did not think that he could win the favor of the Third Prince at all. And Mr. Song breathed a sigh of relief, then patted Fang Qing on the shoulder and said, "Crow Mouth, you are so righteous that you actually went to ask for help to save me! Although you didn't save me in the end, we are even. You will never owe me anything again!"
Fang Qing was immediately furious: "What do I owe you?"
"What do you owe me? Don't play dumb, kid! If I hadn't picked you up, first of all, you would have no place to live; secondly, with your big mouth, you would probably be beaten to death; thirdly, you wouldn't be able to see the emperor; fourthly, you wouldn't be able to see..."
"Okay, shut up! You are like a dog that can't spit out ivory!" Fang Qing, who was angry and embarrassed, had no choice but to interrupt Mr. Song's increasingly bizarre calculations. He flicked his sleeves and went straight to find the person that Ah Liu had just asked them to treat.
Although he told himself in his heart that he was not afraid of Ah Liu, his reason still overwhelmed his emotion at this moment, especially when he saw the emaciated Yang Zhan and the shopkeeper and the clerk running around, he couldn't help but take a breath of cold air. This was even more so when he heard Mr. Song exaggerate and say that he was the credit of feeding the man sugar water and repeated what Yang Zhan had just said.
After talking so much, Mr. Song finally went to instruct the cook to make medicinal porridge, completely forgetting that he had just argued with someone. When he came back after giving instructions, he saw Fang Qing staring at the thin young man on the bed in a daze, and he sighed.
"Although I just had a quarrel with this guy, he is really stubborn. His father left him a mine that can mine crystals! But he actually squandered it all to grind lenses. As a result, when something went wrong, other family members wished he would die in prison to avoid wasting the property!"
"Tsk, what big family? I've finally seen through it!"
Fang Qing was stunned for a while, then suddenly walked out without looking back. Song Juren was shocked when he saw this, and hurried over to grab him and said, "What's wrong with you? You just wanted to come in, but now you're leaving without saying a word?"
"I want to go back to Zhang Garden to farm!" Fang Qing was impatient and wanted to get rid of Mr. Song. Seeing that he would not let go, he said word by word, "You have to be single-minded in doing things. I want to try and see if farming according to the shape of Yin and Yang Tai Chi can increase production..."
"Stop daydreaming!" This time, it was Song Juren who interrupted him impatiently. "Your Zhaoming Academy certainly emphasizes agriculture, and you come from a poor family, but think about it yourself. Since you showed your talent for studying, have your family ever let you farm? In addition to knowing what rice, cotton and other things look like, do you know how to sow, plant, fertilize, weed and harvest?"
"Do you know how to improve farm tools? Do you know how to optimize varieties? Do you know how to cultivate carefully? Do you know how to irrigate?" Mr. Song, who had been holding back in front of the emperor that day, asked Fang Qing a series of questions that made him dizzy. Then he said with a fierce face, "If Tai Chi Bagua can increase agricultural production, do you think so many people throughout history would not have thought of it?"
"Because I've never seen anyone as pedantic as you who believes in such a bullshit!"
Before Fang Qing could get mad, he said angrily: "If you don't believe me, go and try it! If you really have a brain, you should remember the emperor's words and prepare well for next year's examination. Don't do anything stupid again!"
"Even if your headmaster is good at agricultural science, you are not good at it! You are only suitable to be a picky person. As long as the emperor on the throne is tolerant and generous, he will not be irritated to death by you!"
While Mr. Song and Fang Qing were arguing with each other, Dean Yue and Mr. Hua went up to the third floor and met Princess Yongping, Zhu Ying and the three women, Mrs. Hong. After they exchanged polite greetings, they thought they would have to spend some time to find out the answer, but Princess Yongping stood up to greet them to show her respect for such a famous scholar like Dean Yue, and then she revealed the answer directly.
"Someone recommended Madam Hong to the emperor as a person of high character and extraordinary talent, so the emperor sent me to accompany my third brother to meet Madam Hong."
Although the words were not particularly straightforward, who were Yue Shanzhang and Hua Siye? They could think about every word one by one, and they suddenly understood that someone had recommended Hong to be the third prince's teacher!
Although they had no idea who the person who recommended them was, it did not stop them from making associations. It couldn't be Zhang Shou anyway!
Although he was still young, the Third Prince sensed that there seemed to be some hidden meaning in his sister's words, and he also noticed that Yue Shanzhang and Hua Siye had different expressions, so he glanced at Zhang Shou uneasily. When he saw Zhang Shou looking at him with a smile as always, he unconsciously gained confidence and spoke calmly.
"Madam Hong has a keen eye for talent and is indeed a man of extraordinary learning. I heard from my father that you are very good at ink-and-wash landscape painting?"
Hong had already sensed the undisguised hostility in Princess Yongping's attitude, and was feeling helpless. When she heard the Third Prince's words, she was immediately cheered up. She didn't know how Chu Kuan had recommended her, but since the Third Prince had already spoken, she smiled and said, "Third Prince, you are too kind. My ink and wash landscapes are actually very superficial."
"The master who taught me was Master Xu from Yuzhang Academy, the top scholar from 30 years ago. I only learned eight words from him. The first is "charm"; the second is "structure"; the third is "sparseness"; the fourth is "hiding power."
“If you understand these eight words, you can easily draw a landscape painting without anyone teaching you.”
Hearing this, Zhang Shou couldn't help but secretly sigh. Not only did Hong use the painting to describe people, she also took advantage of the Third Prince's words to express her own wishes!
