Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 640: Busy Wedding Guests
Compared to the time when Lu Sanlang was crowned, the Lu family's wedding was more lively. From the beginning, the house was packed with guests. There were eighty tables set up under the wedding tents that had been set up in various courtyards. Even though it was still early in the morning, the laughter and joy could be heard from far away from the Lu family.
Among the guests were Lu Wan's former colleagues, superiors, and subordinates - most of his colleagues were still in their positions, and some of his former superiors held lower positions than before his retirement, and several of his former subordinates had become high-ranking officials such as assistant ministers or even deputy censors-in-chief - there were also various relatives of the Lu family, and even Lu Wan's classmates in the imperial examinations, classmates of Lu Dalang and Lu Erlang, and so on.
However, the largest group of guests were not these high-ranking officials, but Lu Sanlang’s classmates from Jiuzhang Hall.
There were dozens of these "mentors" who were wearing the same formal clothes they had worn when they went to the East Palace to pay homage to the Crown Prince that day. They could be recognized at a glance because they were dressed in uniform and looked energetic. They came in groups of three or five or occasionally alone. The young ones did not like to talk loudly like their peers, and the older ones did not become depressed because of their lack of career achievements like their peers.
Obviously most of them were of humble origins, but as bridesmaids they were very polite in their dealings with others. They were not arrogant, but not overly humble either. They could remain calm even when facing some young masters from aristocratic families. Even some young masters who were dark-minded and wanted to show off their family background would lose their temper when someone inadvertently said something about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Apart from those guys in Banshan Hall who didn't know how to appreciate their fortune, who else could be like the students in Jiuzhang Hall and be able to be classmates with the Crown Prince who had just entered the East Palace? The most important thing was that no one thought that the Third Prince had the potential to be a Crown Prince!
However, these mentors, who seem to behave well at first glance, have only one problem.
That is, when they were not helping the Lu family to entertain guests, they would often get together in groups of three or five and concentrate on discussing things that others could not understand, or even say were incomprehensible. For example, when several young masters of noble families who knew Ji Jiu in the past saw him talking to several tutors, they quietly approached and heard such a conversation.
"You mean the sine formula you heard from the senior student last time? Oh, I heard Senior Brother Lu mention it." Ji Jiu was already very accustomed to calling Lu Sanlang Senior Brother Lu, as if he could use him as a role model. "Well, although the volume of "New Mathematics" on trigonometric functions is already on the market, it is indeed difficult to learn by yourself... a/sin∠A＝b/sin∠B＝c/sin∠C＝2R?"
"What is this R? R is the radius of the circumcircle of a triangle. As for how to understand the circumcircle, I specifically asked the teacher for help. Draw a perpendicular bisector along the three sides of the triangle, then extend the perpendicular bisector to a point, and then use that point as the center of the circle and the distance from the point to any vertex of the triangle as the radius to draw a circle. This circle is the circumcircle, and this radius is R..."
Several young masters from aristocratic families looked at each other and saw that Ji Jiu had not noticed their arrival at all. Instead, he was concentrating on explaining something that was completely confusing to them. The leader took a step back and then lowered his voice and said, "Don't you think Ji Jiu looks like he's possessed?"
As for those who wandered among the tutors, trying to find out some information about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and then returned empty-handed, they really felt that these students of Jiuzhang Hall were simply possessed by evil spirits.
As for Zhang Shou, who had arrived early because he had confirmed that he would sit at the head seat at the wedding banquet, and ended up being surrounded by a group of people who were much older than him in terms of official rank and age, and had to deal with endless questions, he felt that others were possessed by evil spirits.
It was predictable that Lu Wan would let him sit in the chief seat today. After all, Lu Wan had already expressed this intention when she informed him of Lu Sanlang's wedding date last time. Moreover, he was also the guest of honor for Lu Sanlang's coming-of-age ceremony.
In this case, Zhang Shou felt extremely impatient being surrounded by a group of middle-aged and elderly people who were not beautiful at all, some of whom were armed with guns and sticks, some were enthusiastic, some were sarcastic, and some were smiling, asking him questions that he was not willing to answer at all.
Just when he didn't even want to find an excuse and just wanted to get rid of these annoying guys, he heard a familiar shout: "Teacher, I'm here to deliver a gift on behalf of my third brother!"
Zhang Shou knew who this naughty kid was without even looking for him. Wasn't he the fourth prince who had been detained in the palace and couldn't leave since the ceremony of the third prince's enthronement as the crown prince because of his reminder?
At this moment, he noticed that the eyes of the old men around him became deep and strange. Obviously, even though the Lu Mansion's doorman did not announce it, everyone recognized who the visitor was. He smiled at everyone, then greeted him calmly .
The Fourth Prince had no idea that he had not been able to leave the palace these past few days, and had not been able to contact Zhang Chen, all because of Zhang Shou... Even today, because the Third Prince, the Crown Prince, could not leave the palace at will, he had finally snatched the job of delivering a gift to Lu Sanlang from his father and the Third Prince, so he was naturally very happy at this moment.
Facing such a naughty kid who obviously escaped from the palace through an open way, Zhang Shou couldn't just send him back with a stern face - he was not a strict teacher with a stern face most of the time, but in the eyes of others, when he was teaching on the blackboard and assigning homework, he looked scarier than a ghost. At that moment, he showed his usual smile, which could easily make students have bad associations.
"Zheng Yan, have you finished your homework?"
Hearing Zhang Shou calling the Fourth Prince by his name and then asking such a question, some of the high-ranking officials at the back couldn't help but laugh, as if they were thinking of their own grandchildren facing the questioning of their elders. However, most of them felt that Zhang Shou was deliberately showing off his teacher's authority in front of them.
Given that the story of the Fourth Prince being beaten had already gone viral, no one thought that the Fourth Prince would get upset just because Zhang Shou asked about this the first time they met. Sure enough, the Fourth Prince immediately nodded his head in a flattering manner and said, "It's all done, and the Third Prince can testify to it!"
It seems that the homework assigned is still too little... Zhang Shou had such a thought in his mind, but of course his face became more kind and amiable, but this kind of expression was mostly inappropriate for his age, but as the saying goes, one beauty can cover up a hundred ugliness, in the eyes of others, when Zhang Shou casually tested the Fourth Prince with some questions, this teacher and student pair was truly a role model in the academic world.
Especially Lu Wan, who was the protagonist today, pointed at Zhang Shou and talked to a few close friends about the time when Zhang Shou angrily broke into his study and said that Lu Sanlang would become a great man.
If his future had not been bright and promising, and he had not long ago given up his initial attachment to the position of cabinet minister, if he had not opened up another business and won over Liu Zhiyuan, who had just taken on the position of Prince's Secretary but actually did not care about the affairs and was more willing to work with him on behalf of the public school, if Lu Sanlang had not really had a bright future, he would never have brought up this old matter.
However, he could now talk about the embarrassing things that happened in the past very calmly, and he could do so in a very relaxed and joking tone. He could even reflect on himself during the conversation and praise Zhang Shou and Lu Sanlang at the same time.
For those who thought they knew Lu Wan very well, this was like the sun rising from the west. But the more they thought so, the more they heard people talk openly about judging their son by his appearance, the more they felt that Lu Wan was a completely different person now. As for Lu Sanlang... they didn't need to worry about his future now.
A boy who can be praised by the emperor, who is now a tutor in the Eastern Palace, and at today's wedding, the emperor or the prince sent the fourth prince to present gifts, what can be said about his future?
At this time, Lu Sanlang himself had already brought eight carefully selected classmates to the Liu family to welcome the bride - in order to avoid someone stealing his limelight, the people he selected were more stable than the other, or looked bitter and vengeful - so he didn't know that his father was uncharacteristically praising him in front of others. He didn't expect the fourth prince to come in person to give gifts in a swaggering manner.
At this moment, Zhang Shou was chatting and laughing with the Fourth Prince. Seeing that the Fourth Prince was holding the box in his hand and refused to put it down, he immediately understood that this kid was not like other guests who left their gifts for Lu Erlang at the door and wrote them down on the gift list, and then came in empty-handed to drink the wedding wine. He was suddenly at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
"Zheng Yan, are you going to present a gift to Gao Yuan on behalf of the Crown Prince in public?"
"Is there anything wrong with that? I think Senior Brother Lu will look very proud this way!" The Fourth Prince raised his eyebrows confidently, but when he caught a glimpse of a figure from the corner of his eye, he smiled droolingly, "Teacher, do you want to know what good things Third Brother gave Senior Brother Lu? Ahem, can you keep it for me?"
Without saying a word, he thrust the box in his hand into Zhang Shou's hand, then covered his stomach and said, "Teacher, please help me. I have a stomachache and will be back soon! You can just deliver the things to me directly!"
Zhang Shou didn't have time to agree or refuse, as he saw the Fourth Prince disappear like a rabbit. He looked at the box in his hand with a mixture of anger and amusement, then looked around. When he saw Lu Wan talking to a few people, he immediately walked up to her.
Lu Wan was not surprised that the person he was talking to his friends and relatives about suddenly came towards him. After all, he had seen everything that happened. Therefore, he did not even wait for Zhang Shou to speak, and immediately refused with a smile: "Dr. Zhang, if this is a gift from the Crown Prince to his son Gao Yuan, even though I am a father, I cannot accept it."
When dealing with people who are too smart, you will often be outsmarted. Zhang Shou has long been accustomed to this, so he did not continue to insist on Lu Wan's evasion. Instead, he smiled and said, "The Fourth Prince has always been careless, so it's fine for him to come in alone in such a swagger. But the Lu Mansion neither notified him of his arrival nor sent anyone to follow him. You, Lu Jijiu, are not afraid that he will cause trouble."
Seeing that Zhang Shou did not say that he was worried about the safety of the Fourth Prince in the Lu Mansion, but instead said that he was worried about people getting into trouble in the Lu Mansion, Lu Wan suddenly laughed heartily: "I guessed that someone important might come today, so I specially asked the gatekeepers to be more cautious. There are many people here today, and if they really start to make a fuss, the Fourth Prince will inevitably be surrounded by people. In this case, it's better not to say it."
"Anyway, there are 80 tables open today, so there are plenty of seats to spare. There is enough space for more people to come." At this point, Lu Wan smiled at Zhang Shou. It was obvious that he already knew some of the situation. In view of the lesson from the last time, the emperor would never let the fourth prince come out alone. Not to mention the people who followed him, even the Lu family might have someone coming over just in case.
Behind Lu Wan, the two brothers-in-law who had just spoken to him were all stunned when they saw this scene.
Seeing Zhang Shou, who was about the same age as Lu Sanlang, talking to Lu Wan with such calmness, the uncle couldn't help but whisper, "When we were our age, we were all very nervous when meeting high-ranking officials, right? But look at him, not only is he a teacher to the crown prince, but he also beats him whenever he wants, and even takes a few hits after that, and the prince is still ashamed."
"And Lu Zhu, the fat boy that my brother-in-law used to look down upon, is now being praised to the skies. He married a beautiful lady from a noble family. The couple is a perfect match. He even bullied the Second Prince in the street and made him lose his composure... Tsk tsk, how come my silly son didn't get such a good opportunity?"
While Zhang Shou was being entangled by Lu Wan and had no time to care about other things, the Fourth Prince just made a feint near the bathroom and then went to a small path. Of would not wear the ostentatious formal clothes he wore at the Crown Prince's Enthronement Ceremony, but dressed like an ordinary nobleman. Because the Lu Mansion's doorman was well-trained and did not make a fuss, he could wander around blatantly.
The naughty boy was smart enough to know that someone must be following him, so he seemed to be strolling along with his eyes darting around. As a result, he was very keen in discovering the marks on the stone steps and even the porch. He actually went further and further off the track until he rashly broke into an empty yard with only two tables.
There was a man sitting here with his legs crossed, eating snacks and fruits on the table. At first glance, he seemed to be a ruffian who had never seen good things. But everyone who knew him knew that he was a little tyrant who came from one of the most famous and noble families in the capital!
"Zhang Chen, great! You're hiding here and having nothing to do!" Finally finding the person, the Fourth Prince let out a long sigh, yelled fiercely, and then turned and left, "I'll tell the teacher that you didn't go to see him when you came!"
Before he could pretend to leave, Zhang Chen dropped a piece of noodle fruit in his hand, rushed forward and grabbed the man: "Hey, it's just a small matter, why are you so serious? I just don't like occasions with a lot of people. Besides, Lu Sanlang and I used to be enemies, and I am honoring him by coming here today. There are so many people from Jiuzhangtang busy, there is no need for me to make a scene!"
As they pulled and tugged, the Fourth Prince felt a ball of paper fall into his palm. He immediately understood what was going on and pulled his hand away. He then snorted and said, "Okay, I'll let you do what you want! But it's not right for you to come here and hide from the teacher!"
"Okay, okay, I'll go. Isn't that okay?" Zhang Chen said this, but he glared at the Fourth Prince. You're acting so arrogantly... If you weren't such a big mouth, would Zhang Shou know that I was beaten and send me a bottle of medicine? Although the medicine is very effective, his pain was greatly relieved after a few days of application, but it's still embarrassing!
When he went out sighing, he saw that the Fourth Prince did not follow him, so he looked around deliberately, trying to figure out how many people followed the Fourth Prince today and how reliable that naughty kid was.
