Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 645: Disbelief
Zhang Shou had heard the words "imperial attendant" before, because he had experienced the attack of the rebels and the assassination in Cuiyun. After the background of the enemy was found out, he had heard these words before. Moreover, there was a boy around him who almost got stabbed and became an imperial attendant. Now he even felt lucky for Ah Liu when he thought about it. If he got stabbed, he would not be a man!
Ah Liu himself always felt lucky that he could not become a close attendant to the emperor. Therefore, after he mentioned these four words, although he could not see the expression of Zhang Shou who was sitting there with his back to him, he could sense Zhang Shou's mood swings from the slight tremors of his back and shoulders.
Therefore, he just stood there in silence for a moment, then asked again: "The people are in the backyard of the Lu Mansion. The madman and the eldest lady are both there. Do you want to go and take a look?"
Zhang Shou glanced at Zhang Chen who was still drinking at a table not far away. He thought that Lu Sanlang had already slipped back to his room to enjoy his wedding night, and the Fourth Prince had been sent away by Lu Wan like a plague god. He didn't have to worry about the naughty boy causing trouble again. He nodded and said, "Go and pick up Zhang Chen. I'll go say hello to Lu Jijiu and then I'll go over."
Borrowing someone else's place, and the person he captured was a close imperial servant, if he didn't say hello to the master, it would be too arrogant. However, just as Zhang Shou expected, when he personally came to the door and mentioned this to Lu Wan who was seeing him off, Lu Wan, who originally thought he was coming to say goodbye before leaving, suddenly changed color.
Zhang Shou only needed one sentence to calm Lu Wan, who was about to explode, down: "That guy was captured by Ah Liu and Hua Qiye together. Hua Qiye is the emperor's man."
Thinking back to how he had tried every possible means to overthrow Duke Zhao Zhu Jing and his son, and how he had ended up with countless impeachments from the censors, and how Lord Jiang and Grand Secretary Kong had provided countless support, both overtly and covertly, but in the end he had lost everything without knowing why. When he heard that the most trusted retainer of Duke Zhao's man turned out to be the emperor's man, Lu Wan sighed deeply in his heart.
The lunatic most trusted by Duke Zhao turned out to be the emperor's man... maybe not just the current emperor's man, judging by his age and the merits he had made with Zhu Jing, he might even be the man of the previous Emperor Ruizong! Zhu Jing had already done this, so it was natural for two generations of emperors to trust such a relative!
If he were the emperor, a relative who could calmly keep the emperor's confidants by his side would also believe it without a doubt!
With this in mind, and thinking about the fact that Hua Qi and Ah Liu had caught an imperial attendant in his own home, Lu Wan no longer felt angry, but rather felt fortunate. He nodded and said solemnly, "Then I'll leave it all to you, Master Zhang."
When Zhang Shou and Ah Liu took the drunk Zhang Chen to a courtyard deep inside the Lu Mansion, he saw that there was no one there, only the main room was still lit. However, it was silent inside, and there was no interrogation scene as he had imagined. When he arrived at the door, coughed, lifted the thick cotton curtain and went in, he saw Zhu Ying yawning while leaning on the Luohan bed.
"Ah Shou, you're here? Uncle Hua is interrogating that guy in there!"
Seeing Zhang Shou's obvious surprise, as if asking why there was no sound, Zhu Ying shrugged and said, "Uncle Hua didn't let me watch it, saying that girls would have nightmares if they watched it, so I waited outside obediently."
She might resist at other times, but she would never show off her strength at this time. It’s better to avoid seeing such scenes!
Zhang Shou's mind was filled with all kinds of torture, but when he listened attentively to the movements in the inner room, he could only hear very subtle sounds, which he felt were not very likely. When he was wondering, a very strange sound suddenly came from inside, which sounded like the wailing of the dying, or the groaning of someone who had escaped death. In short, it was creepy to listen to.
Even Zhu Ying, who had just looked nonchalant, suddenly felt her hair stand on end, and she dodged and hid behind Zhang Shou. Although she was always brave and fearless, and even commanded the guards to kill people in the Cuiyun Room with Zhang Shou, but... killing people with real swords and knives was different from torture, not to mention that the sound at this time was clearly made by a human, but it was disturbing to hear!
The eldest lady couldn't help but grab Zhang Shou's shoulders with both hands. She wanted to tell Ah Liu to go in and help find out what was going on, but when the words came to her lips, she felt that it seemed a bit unkind. But although she didn't say it, Ah Liu was very observant. She and Zhang Shou's expressions just changed suddenly, and she immediately walked into the inner room quickly. In just a moment, the people came out again.
He glanced at Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying with a complicated expression and whispered, "The madman is trying to get promoted."
Zhang Shou suddenly felt a chill rushing to his head. The next moment, he also realized that the two hands that had just grabbed his shoulders tightened instantly. It was obvious that Zhu Ying was not some spoiled and naive young lady who was ignorant of the world. She actually knew that the yellow paper soaked in water was used to paste layers on the face to force a confession, but it could also be used as a torture to execute people!
Zhang Shou couldn't be sure whether this torture, which was said to have been invented in the Ming Dynasty in history, was because Taizu had just appeared in the world. He only knew that unless one was a rare warrior, it would be difficult to survive. Even if the imperial attendant had received some special training, it would be hopeless when facing a person like Hua Qi, who was a head coach.
Moreover, if the other party understood that the person behind Hua Qi was still the emperor, then they should not resist stubbornly! Therefore, if Hua Qi had to use such harsh means before, then the person inside must be really tight-lipped.
So, he gently reached out and pressed Zhu Ying's hand on his shoulder, and then whispered, "Yingying, don't be afraid. Evildoers will be punished by evildoers. If we really let this guy succeed before, Zhang Chen would have regarded us as enemies. If you think about it this way, you will feel that such a vicious person, even if he is instructed by others, still deserves to be cut into pieces."
Ah Liu heard the intermittent voice inside, and it was obvious that the person could no longer bear it and was confessing. The corners of his mouth curled up, and he actually smiled at Zhu Ying: "Young Master is right, the wicked are punished by the wicked, and they deserve it."
"It's fine if you're making up stories about me being a villain behind my back, but we're only separated by a wall, and you guys don't even have to be polite, huh?"
Following the voice, Hua Qi had already walked out of the inner room slowly. Seeing Ah Liu standing behind Zhang Shou with a righteous look on his face, he obviously had long forgotten his original intention when he went to the Zhang family and completely regarded himself as a member of the Zhang family. He couldn't help but sigh, but he didn't dwell on this point. After all, even the emperor didn't ask Ah Liu to report anything, so why should he interfere?
He nodded slightly to Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, and said bluntly: "This guy confessed that he was instructed by Chu Kuan, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, to take advantage of Zhang Chen being alone and persuade him to turn against you. Oh, the reason why they chose the Lu family is that even if the truth is revealed later, the father and son of the Lu family can be implicated as well."
“Nonsense!”
Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying responded almost in unison, and as soon as they finished speaking, they looked at each other. Zhang Shou was the first to smile and said, "Yingying, do you also think it's not Chu Kuan?"
"A Shou, you think so even though you don't know Chu Kuan. I've been in and out of the palace frequently for many years. I've known Chu Kuan since I was a child, so I know him better than you do!" Zhu Ying raised her eyebrows and sneered , "Even if he was the one who sent people to stir up trouble in the Imperial College, he wouldn't be so stupid as to think that we were the ones who threw dirty water on the Imperial Household Department, right?"
"If we were to do that, we would just make the matter bigger and let that scholar named Zou Ming fall into the water and drown. Why would we have to show up at the scene in person and try every possible way to save him? And then go through so much trouble to involve the Fourth Prince as well?"
"And if he didn't think we would do the opposite, why did he go to so much trouble to harm us today? And he even used a royal eunuch, which is a crime that will cost him his life! If Chu Kuan is so stupid, how could he become the seal of authority!"
Seeing Zhu Ying say this, Zhang Shou nodded slightly to show his agreement. Hua Qi smiled and said, "You all don't believe it? What a coincidence, I don't believe it either. That's why I posted an official to interrogate him. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother to go through so much trouble and even "borrow" a piece of paper from the Lu family... Posting an official is very cumbersome and can kill people if it's not done right. Unfortunately, this guy seems to really think that he was ordered by Chu Kuan."
He paused and saw Zhu Ying frowning. Zhang Shou seemed to have expected this, so he leaned against the door helplessly with his hands folded.
"To be more precise, this guy claims to be a close attendant to the emperor, but he is actually just an apprentice. He claims to be one of the best in the training camp, and was just chosen to practice hypnosis. Tsk tsk, I didn't know that this art has existed since the time of Taizu, but few people have ever mastered it. Hypnosis, which is only a theory, is actually still practiced today, and the result is a weird one!"
Zhu Ying couldn't help but burst out laughing when she heard this. Isn't it a weird one? He used it seriously, but even if Hua Qi and Ah Liu weren't watching closely, Zhang Chen was halfway through the spell and suddenly woke up. Obviously, it didn't look like he would succeed!
Zhang Shou was thinking of another question. He asked suddenly, "Why didn't Mr. Hua Qi play the long game and let him go to see who he would eventually meet? Wouldn't that be easier than torturing him now?"
"I did want to! But this guy went straight to Bei'an Gate and showed his trainee attendant badge to the gatekeeper. Even if I play the long game, there are many experts in the palace. What if I get tripped up by someone and he is silenced before I can catch him in contact with anyone? Wouldn't that be troublesome? So I thought about it and finally decided to capture him and give him a thorough trial."
At this point, Hua Qi glanced at Ah Liu, and seeing that Ah Liu was very uncomfortable this time, he immediately laughed in his heart. The man was heading to Bei'anmen, but he was intercepted by Ah Liu before he even reached the gate. When he had watched enough of the show and saw Ah Liu capture the man easily, he went up to ask Ah Liu the same question he had just asked Zhang Shou.
The result was undoubtedly that Ah Liu was dumbfounded. In order to make this excuse, he had extorted two promises from Ah Liu. As for the cold-faced boy who turned his face away after learning skills from him, he would probably dislike him for a long time!
At this time, Hua Qi didn't even look at Ah Liu, who had a cold look in his eyes. He stroked his chin and said thoughtfully, "Maybe the guy in charge of the imperial attendants got involved with the Imperial Household Department..."
Not wanting to know these secrets at all, Zhang Shou interrupted immediately and said, "Since Mr. Hua Qi doesn't believe what this guy said, should we take him back to the palace now? The Lu family is celebrating tonight, so it's not appropriate to keep such a troublemaker around, right?"
Zhang Shou still felt that Hua Qi's words were a bit far-fetched. Even if someone entered the palace, he could not act so recklessly as he did outside the palace. However, with Hua Qi's elusive skills, it should not be difficult to catch someone in the act. And even if he had to catch someone outside the palace, wouldn't it be better to send him directly to the palace for trial in front of the emperor?
He just needed an explanation, and he didn't have to personally watch the confession at the Lu family. For example, even if the person confessed under torture, wouldn't he and Zhu Ying find the confession absurd?
"Yes, take him back to the palace!" Zhu Ying also felt that there was no need to waste time at Fatty Lu's wedding. She was so angry that her teeth itched when she thought about someone instigating Zhang Chen to turn against them. "I don't believe he dares to quibble in front of the emperor!"
Hua Qi looked at the angry Zhu Ying with a smile, and said calmly: "This is the big fish that Master Zhang used as bait to catch himself. How about asking him for his opinion?"
After these words were spoken, Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying just remembered that there was a drunk Zhang Chen in the room!
As soon as Ah Liu entered the room, he put Zhang Chen on the chair under the central bed. Although he went in to check because of the noise inside, and was teased by Hua Qi after he came out, and heard such news, he did not forget that Zhang Chen was still in the room. Therefore, when he saw Zhang Chen, who had just opened his eyes a crack, immediately closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, he spoke casually.
"Master Zhang has been awake all this time!"
Zhang Chen, who was half drunk, actually gradually regained consciousness after entering the room, especially when the voice that had just frightened Zhu Ying came, he also woke up with a start. When Hua Qi came out and said those words, although he was still drunk, his mind was clear.
Now that Ah Liu had exposed him as being awake, he could only open his eyes, then awkwardly moved his shoulders and sat up straight. Seeing that everyone was staring at him, he felt even more uncomfortable.
He had just heard that Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying wanted to send the person to the palace and leave the subsequent matters directly to the emperor to deal with. However, Hua Qi was thinking something and had been interrogating the person personally at the Lu family since he caught him.
After thinking it over, he made up his mind and made a decision: "Since this person said he was a close attendant to the emperor, even if he was just a half-baked trainee, he should be sent to the palace. It's not appropriate to continue questioning him outside, right? As for me, I didn't suffer any loss in the end. Master Hua Qi and Ah Liu also helped me get justice, so that's enough."
This time, Zhu Ying finally laughed. She pointed at Zhang Shou, herself and Zhang Chen, and said to Hua Qi with a smile, "The three of us are in favor of taking the people to the palace. Even if you and Ah Liu are against it, you only have two votes. Three to two, let's go now!"
