Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 608 Falling into the Water
After leaving the Jiangdu Palace, the Fourth Prince was unhappy, feeling a bit depressed for not completing his mission. But when he looked around and saw Ah Liu suddenly appear from nowhere and followed them silently, his eyes lit up, and he immediately rushed to Zhang Shou's side, saying with a drooling face, "Teacher, it's not a good idea to just abandon Chef Song like this, right?"
"What if the King of Jiangdu and his family get angry and lock him up and beat him up? Otherwise, let Sixth Brother go and take a look?" Seeing Zhang Shou hesitated, he took the opportunity to lobby more vigorously, "Of course, there may be experts in the King of Jiangdu's Mansion. Although Sixth Brother is skilled and brave, it will be troublesome to explain if he is discovered. Otherwise, why not let Sixth Brother take me with him?"
Seeing Zhang Shou looking at him with a half-smile, the Fourth Prince was not afraid. He straightened his chest and said, "If I get caught, I will say that I forced Sixth Brother to sneak into the Jiangdu Palace to check the situation! After all, he is the one chosen by Sister A Ling. I can't let him be trapped in the Jiangdu Palace without knowing why, right? No matter how unreasonable Uncle Wang is, he can't do anything to me!"
"I don't think you're afraid of being trapped in the Jiangdu Palace, but you feel sorry that you didn't see the excitement enough." Zhu Ying exposed the fourth prince's righteous excuse unhappily. Seeing him rolling his eyes and laughing dryly without saying anything, she was also moved. However, before she could think of an excuse similar to the fourth prince's, her wrist was grabbed by Zhang Shou.
"Ah Liu, you take the Fourth Prince with you. Be careful. It's best not to let anyone find out, and don't use his lame excuse."
Zhang Shou nodded to Ah Liu, and when he saw the Fourth Prince cheer, he suddenly rushed to Ah Liu's side and pounced on him very skillfully. Seeing Ah Liu helplessly catching this monkey, throwing him on his back, and turning away very neatly, he turned his head to look at Zhu Ying, who looked unwilling, and immediately laughed.
"Yingying, you are addicted to matchmaking! For things like this, you should let them talk on their own. Did you instigate Princess Hailing to say that? Obviously not. And did I instigate Mr. Song to pick up the conversation? Not at all. To be honest, I was stunned by this scene today. If the emperor is not anxious now, then the eunuch is anxious too. Why bother?"
"Why are you using eunuchs as an example? Humph! Chu Kuan is simply infuriating!"
Zhu Ying snorted in displeasure, but finally agreed: "But Ah Shou, you are right. I thought it was the Queen Mother who brought so many people to Yongping for a visit today, but who knew it would turn out like this... To be honest, Ah Ling was just a greedy and innocent little girl before, I didn't expect she would be so brave!"
"Haha, who said it wasn't true? Even our Mr. Song is a man who stands up for justice when necessary and cowers when necessary. The fact that he could say such words in front of the emperor today is enough to make people drop their eyeballs to the ground. He could even speak so freely in front of the King of Jiangdu's family. I almost thought he was possessed by my soul."
Zhu Ying was already used to Zhang Shou's occasional funny remarks, and she smiled until her eyes narrowed. "How can he compare to you? After a short moment of confident talk, his timid nature was immediately exposed... Fang Qing nicknamed him Song Hunzi, and it's true. This guy is considered a slacker by others..."
Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying strolled in the garden, chatting as they walked, and the followers who were leading their horses looked at each other in surprise. Among them were guards from the Duke of Zhao's mansion like Zhu Hong, and Zhang Yuan's two trainee guards who had been specially trained by Hua Qi and Ah Liu, plus eight guards from the Ruiqi Battalion who were accompanying the Fourth Prince. There were a total of about 10 to 20 people, not including the guards who might be hiding in the dark.
After all, although the Zhu family and the Zhang Yuan did not have such a grand ceremony, even if the Fourth Prince was not the future crown prince like the Third Prince, he could not be careless when traveling incognito.
But after a moment's hesitation, the Zhu family and Zhang Yuan's people immediately caught up with the couple, and the guards following the Fourth Prince were dumbfounded. What should they do? Could they just stay at the gate of the Jiangdu Palace like a fool and guard the door for others? Otherwise, could they really abandon the Fourth Prince?
Zhu Hong stared at the clasped hands of Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou for a long while before he quickly stepped forward and cautiously guided the guards of the Ruiqi Battalion who were at a loss as to what to do.
Zhang Shou finally reacted after hearing what he said. He shook his head with a dumb smile. He then pulled Zhu Ying and turned to greet the guards. "How about this? You leave two to guard the street in front of the Jiangdu Palace, and the others can go back to report to the Emperor and the Queen Mother. Ah Liu will naturally send the Fourth Prince back to Xinglong Tea House safely, without losing a single hair."
Of course everyone believed this. You know, they came from the Sharp Cavalry Battalion and had experienced a lot of power from a certain part-time coach - when they arrived, they challenged all the coaches in a round-robin manner, and had also been challenged by several unconvinced guys. From infantry combat to horse combat to bows and arrows to other weapons, they had tried everything, and they were able to perform well.
Although he cannot be said to be proficient in all kinds of weapons, he has few weaknesses, and the few weapons he is good at are far better than ordinary experts.
Since there is such a person like Ah Liu protecting the Fourth Prince, the Jiangdu Palace is not a dangerous place. If it is really exposed, the Fourth Prince can come out safely with his identity. Of course, the most important thing is that with Zhang Shou's words, they don't have to worry about what to do.
Thus, the eight people immediately assigned their responsibilities to each other. Two stayed and six left, all in perfect order - except that even the Fourth Prince's mount was taken away as well.
Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying would not return to Xinglong Teahouse. Although they were both very interested in food, they had already tasted all the food they should have tasted before. They had no interest in joining in the fun when the Empress Dowager and the Emperor were both present for the selection, especially after such an embarrassing scene.
Therefore, the two of them simply stopped going to the outer city and walked west along the Jiangdu Palace until they reached the Yinding Bridge on Shichahai, and then they both dismounted and climbed the bridge. On a day like this in early October, although it was already past the Mid-Autumn Festival, it was only gradually getting colder in the south of the Yangtze River, but in the capital, it was already a day of biting cold winds and the first snow could fall at any time.
On days like this, there were naturally fewer tourists on the Shichahai shore than there usually are in spring and autumn. Even if there were some, they were like Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, wearing fur coats and hats, wrapping themselves up tightly.
Previously in the Xinglong Tea House with copper pillar floor heating, Zhu Ying was still wearing a yellow shirt and saffron skirt, but now she was wearing a silver mouse and lying rabbit hat, and a cloak with Lu silk cover and sable fur lining. However, she did not have the heater most commonly used by the daughters of the capital, because she was happily holding Zhang Shou's hand.
However, the two people who seemed to be close at this time were not talking about anything romantic at all. Because the person they were talking about was Chu Kuan, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, who left in a hurry not long after he showed up today.
After talking about how Madam Tai and Jiu Niang had embarrassed Chu Kuan in public, Zhu Ying frowned and said, "Grandmother and mother had said before that Chu Kuan was a problematic person, so was he confronting people in person today in order to let Elder Wu and the others see it and then spread the news? But Elder Wu is a soft and slippery person, and Academician Zhang is not a talkative person, so how could it be spread?"
Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh and said, "Don't just focus on Zhengbin."
"If they are not the main guests, could it be the Concubine Yu and the others brought by the Queen Mother, or those maids of Yongping?"
Zhu Ying raised her eyebrows, looking disapproving, "Although some of them are gossipy, I didn't see it with my own eyes. Even if it's hearsay, it won't be convincing if it's spread out!"
"Don't always think about those big shots ... Think about it, how many small shots were there in Xinglong Tea House serving tea and water? In the past, when news leaked from the palace, it was always these small shots that leaked out." Seeing Zhu Ying's sudden realization, Zhang Shou said thoughtfully, "Chu Kuan suddenly became so high-profile, is he going to do something when the crown prince is appointed?"
"What can he do? He can't be a tutor to the crown prince, can he? If that happens, it won't be the reopening of Jiuzhangtang. After all, Jiuzhangtang was established by Emperor Taizu... But Emperor Taizu restricted the number of eunuchs, limited the ranks of eunuchs, and forbade eunuchs to interfere in foreign affairs. These are all ancestral precepts. If those old men start making trouble, even the emperor can't handle it, let alone him!"
Zhang Shou immediately laughed and replied casually: "That's true."
Emperor Taizu was indeed a very complicated person. He valued agriculture over commerce, encouraged maritime trade, and personally led a fleet to travel the world. He even abdicated the throne to Emperor Taizong early, which showed that he was open-minded. At the same time, he was cautious about restricting the eunuch system, which was harmful to the limbs, but also slightly supported it. On the one hand, he limited the number and rank of eunuchs, and on the other hand...
On the other hand, there is no doubt that the eunuchs were trained as special agents. Although there were no Jinyiwei and Dongchang, the Silijian seemed to have this responsibility. Most importantly, Chu Kuan's claim that the inheritance of the eunuch party was dependent on the eunuch party did not seem like an excuse, but more like a belief. The ancient and modern collection library was really suspicious.
Although he was very curious, Chu Kuan was just a eunuch who entered the palace after Ruizong ascended the throne, and he was not a diehard loyalist trained by the Imperial Household Department since childhood, so where did he get such deep-rooted understanding?
Zhang Shou pondered for a moment, and could not help but be distracted. Seeing him like this, Zhu Ying did not bother him, and simply went down the bridge, picked up stones from the roadside, and played with them. She had been practicing martial arts since she was a child, so her hand strength was naturally different. The stone rose and fell several times on the water surface in an instant, and the beautiful arc made several young people not far away stare blankly.
Soon, when they saw clearly who had thrown the stone, they became even more frightened.
However, after seeing Zhu Ying's clothes and Zhang Shou coming down the bridge leisurely, followed by a number of guards, most of the people backed off. But one young man still mustered up the courage to say, "Who says there are so many rules in the capital? Look at that girl. She came out in such a cold weather. She's much better than those little girls in our small towns!"
"Since we've met, it's fate. Why don't we go up and say hello together?"
"Isn't this... too abrupt?" The other people looked at each other and shook their heads. Seeing that this bold companion was still not giving up, someone couldn't help but remind him: "Besides, look at the handsome young man who just came over to talk. The two of them are obviously from the same group. The materials and styles of their clothes are also similar. They are obviously from the same family..."
"Because they look like a family, I said, why not go up and give it a try. Just looking at her hairstyle, the girl is obviously unmarried. Maybe they are just siblings? I'm not offending her, I'm just going to say hello and say a few words. If we don't even dare to do this, why are we going to take the Spring Examination next year?"
A beautiful lady is a good match for a gentleman. After hearing what he said, the other guys were finally moved.
So, everyone encouraged each other and rushed towards Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying in a hurry, without noticing that there was a strong man running towards them like a gust of wind on the other side.
At this time, Zhu Ying was chatting with Zhang Shou about their childhood memories of skipping stones in Taiye Lake. Because she was by the water, the three young men followed the water without noticing. When they were only seven or eight steps away from the beauty, the young man who had first suggested saying hello walked faster and faster, and in his eyes, apart from the beauty, he no longer cared about Zhang Shou.
But at this moment, the man who rushed out from the side let out a strange cry, and then, as if he couldn't stop in time, he crashed into the young man who was leading the way. The two of them fell to the ground at the same time, and then they rolled like gourds on the ground, and both fell directly into the water after rolling.
When Zhang Shou heard the noise and looked over, he only saw the splashes of water from two people falling into the water one after another. Zhu Ying was even more confused. She threw the stone in her hand and asked hurriedly, "What's going on?"
At this moment, the two young men who had been almost stunned by the shock finally came to their senses. One of them sat down on the ground in fear, while the other shouted, "Help...Help! Brother Zou can't swim!"
Zhu Ying's eyebrows immediately raised. Just as she was about to ask what was going on, she only heard Zhang Shou shouting at the guards who followed him: "Who among you knows how to swim?"
As soon as these words came out, Zhu Hong immediately took off his clothes, shoes and socks without hesitation, and then strode to the water's edge and dived in. Seeing this, Zhu Ying breathed a sigh of relief: "Zhu Hong is the best swimmer in my family. My father said that he can swim back and forth in a river of 100 meters without changing his expression or heartbeat, and he will be able to rescue people in a short time..."
Zhang Shou was also relieved. Although he could swim... this skill from his previous life was re-practiced during the period when he lived in Rongshui Village, he was still not very confident about diving to save people in such a cold weather, not to mention that his physical fitness might not be as good as Zhu Hong's. He immediately ordered: "Go to the nearby store and prepare quilts, hot water... and brown sugar ginger soup to drive away the cold!"
Just as he finished speaking, he heard a weak shout in his ear: "Save that guy first, I... I can still hold on for a while!"
