Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 659: Bad Intentions
"Starting tomorrow, every afternoon, let Hua Qi teach you and Si Lang how to ride. You should also practice martial arts. Zhang Shou is good in everything except his physique. His martial arts are even more mediocre. It would be great if he could be as talented in martial arts as Yingying! Unfortunately, no one is perfect. If he is really good at both civil and military affairs, like Yingying's elder brother, I would think he is a pair of freaks!"
Seeing his stupid son still looking at him in confusion, the emperor was immediately furious: "Don't you understand? If you train your body better, you can live longer in the future. Besides, you will be able to withstand the beatings better!"
What does it mean to be able to withstand a beating better?
At dusk, Zhang Shou received the paper for the math problem and immediately distributed it to many students, asking them to complete the initial screening as soon as possible. He then leisurely left the school with Ah Liu as usual through a fence somewhere, but ran into Hua Qi who was waiting for him. Hua Qi didn't say anything nonsense and directly told the emperor's original words to let the third prince practice martial arts well.
Zhang Shou was so confused that he was speechless. When Ah Liu came over with his horse as if nothing had happened, he asked helplessly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince has been beaten for several days. Why did the Emperor send you, Master Hua Qi, to question him now?"
Was it because his reaction time was too long? Or was it because the Third Prince had hidden it so well that no one else had noticed? Of all the attendants in the Eastern Palace, it seemed that no one had noticed it, but the Emperor was a father, and the Third Prince lived next door to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. Was he too careless as a father to have discovered it today?
"It's not that I'm going to charge you with this. It's just that the Crown Prince thought he could keep it secret until the Emperor exposed him. He had to tell the whole story. The Emperor then threw the brothers to me and asked me to teach them martial arts so they wouldn't be vulnerable. In fact, the Emperor didn't ask me to come here because I wanted to tell you that the Emperor already knows about this."
Hua Qi shrugged, and said with a half-smile, "Now that I no longer have a job at the Duke of Zhao's mansion, I don't have to watch your little guys in Zhang Garden practice martial arts every day. I finally have some free time, but now I have these two burdens. I can't beat them or scold them in the future. Isn't this going to make you, the culprit, feel a little nervous?"
Hearing that this was the reason, Zhang Shou immediately glanced at this madman. The emperor seemed to have no problem with him teaching the crown prince a lesson. Instead, he asked Hua Qi to teach the third and fourth princes martial arts to strengthen their bodies and withstand more attacks. But why did he feel that this was more like a sarcastic remark?
If it were someone else, they might be trembling with fear and carefully ponder whether Hua Qi was joking or hinting, but Zhang Shou was too lazy to think so much. He didn't have the habit of guessing the emperor's thoughts. If he couldn't figure it out, he didn't think about it. He said nonchalantly: "Yes, wealth, glory, knowledge, and supreme achievements are not as good as a strong body."
"As the saying goes, if you have something, don't be sick; if you don't have anything, don't be poor."
The last sentence finally succeeded in choking Hua Qi. He glanced at Zhang Shou, who seemed to be fine, smiled and quietly disappeared. Ah Liu, who had been silent just now, came up and whispered to Zhang Shou: "I should have let me take over the fight earlier."
"I believed your lies at that time... It's better not to beat him than to beat him. Those ten blows with the ruler were not light." Zhang Shou couldn't help shaking his head, but his attitude remained calm. "But I don't regret it. Looking at the prince's expression at that time, if I didn't beat him, I'm afraid he would be entangled for several days. Sometimes a wake-up call is given by drinking, but sometimes it is also given by beating. Of course, I don't want it to happen again."
"Your Highness is so sensible, there won't be a next time."
Ah Liu's impression of the Third Prince was indeed very good, just as his impression of the Fourth Prince was firmly nailed to the three words "naughty child". But when he rode back with Zhang Shou on horseback, he suddenly scratched his head in annoyance: "By the way, did the madman come here specially just to say this to you, young master? Is he too idle to go crazy?"
Hua Qi, who had just passed Xuanwu Gate, felt his nose itchy and sneezed twice. He suddenly exclaimed in surprise and then patted his head in defeat: "I made a special trip and actually forgot the most important thing. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will personally take those East Palace lecturers to Jiuzhang Hall... Oh, forget it. Anyway, Zhang Shou has always been calmer when there are more people around. It doesn't matter whether he knows or not!"
Zhang Shou didn't know that Hua Qi had forgotten to tell him the key purpose of his visit - he couldn't even tell whether he had really forgotten or was pretending to forget. Anyway, it was a cold day and night fell very early. When he stepped into the gate of Zhang Garden, it was already time to light the lamps. He saw Ah Liu took a glazed lamp from the gatekeeper and walked in front of him to light the way. When he walked into an open area, he couldn't help but shivered from the cold.
“It’s getting colder and colder!”
The advantage of Jiuzhangtang moving out of the Imperial College is freedom, but the disadvantage is... the outer city public school is too far away! It's really cold to run back and forth in such a cold weather. Although the carriage is bumpy and easy to track, and recently someone recognized the carriage of the family and followed it everywhere, it is warm, windproof and labor-saving! And whether it is the Imperial College or the public school, they are all too cold.
Even though Lu Wan had taken the actual situation into consideration and had all the dormitories heated by kangs when building the house, and according to Zhang Shou's suggestion, all the classrooms were built with brick fireplaces and chimneys, but now was not the coldest time yet, and considering the cost, these heating facilities certainly could not reach the level of heating in the north in later generations that would make people so hot that they had to wear only light clothes.
Sitting wrapped in a cotton-padded jacket, you won't feel cold. This is the original purpose of the heating facilities in the public school. As for the Imperial College... Sorry, the Imperial College, which was built in the early years of this dynasty, did not have any pre-buried heating equipment. At that time, the country was in a state of recovery, and even if there were underground dragons in the palace, they were often reluctant to burn them. Each student was only provided with a quota of firewood and charcoal, that's all.
Today, there are thousands of students, so even the limited supply of firewood and charcoal is gone. The court allows you students to go to school, not to enjoy life. That is the former Banshan Hall, where students are either rich or noble, and the treatment is slightly better.
So when Wu saw Zhang Shou, she ordered the maid to take off Zhang Shou's thick cloak and fur hat, and then quickly sent someone to get a hand warmer. Zhang Shou couldn't stand her busy work like a hen protecting her chicks, so he helped someone sit down aside and said with a smile: "We turned on the floor heating early, and it's like winter when we enter the house. How can it be cold? The Imperial College and the Public School are cold."
"It's hard for them to rack their brains to solve impossible problems in such cold weather."
Wu heard Zhang Shou's first half of his words lamenting the cold weather and feeling a little sorry for the students, but when she heard the second half of his words, she couldn't help laughing out loud, and then she said angrily: "A Shou, you are taking it too far to gloat over others' misfortune. How do you know they can't do it?"
"Mom, do you want to make a bet with me? This time I told King Jiangdu that the total score of the three questions is 300 points. I estimate that 90% of the people will not even get 100 points."
As Zhang Shou spoke, he smiled as he told Wu how he had deceived King Jiangdu into ranking all the people taking the test today. Of course, he also explained it in a simple and understandable way so that Wu would know his bad intentions.
"I won't bet with you!" Mrs. Wu was both angry and amused. "Your method is really too hateful. It's like stabbing a knife into someone's heart. Why bother?"
"What else can we do? Having thousands of people take the exam once a month is simply life-threatening! Even if I gave King Jiangdu some advice and found so many examiners temporarily, if it happens once in such a short time, then for those examiners, the original honor will become a burden! Then, won't I, the instigator, be hated to death?"
Wu had already gotten used to Zhang Shou's unpredictable ideas, so she just said something in anger and didn't want to get involved. Anyway, she didn't understand these disputes, so she could just leave everything to Zhang Shou.
Of course, if Zhu Ying came tomorrow, she would definitely have to talk to her. In her opinion, as long as Zhu Ying could be a good wife to Zhang Shou, she would be able to offset those open and secret attacks that might come from nowhere. So, she started to talk about the marriage next month, and she did not forget to mention Zhu Tingfang's marriage.
Zhang Shou then remembered that his elder brother-in-law had taken drastic measures to improve the security of the capital. His thunderbolt method had frightened countless scoundrels, and everyone from all walks of life was obedient to him. He seemed to have completely forgotten that he was going to get married next month. However, Zhu Tingfang was a cold-hearted person who would not take his children's love affairs to heart.
But even so, he couldn't ignore the marriage of this brother-in-law. He had to send the gifts he should give. In addition, when he and Zhu Ying got married, he would have to prepare extra gifts when he went to the Duke of Zhao's mansion. Although Zhu Tingfang didn't seem to care about such empty gifts, could he use this gift-giving matter to come up with other ideas? For example...
Thinking this in her heart, after dinner, Wu mentioned which courtyard Zhu Ying had chosen as her future new home. The people from Duke Zhao's residence had measured the house and sent the blueprints to discuss how to arrange the various furnishings... Zhang Shou nodded straightforwardly, and in the end, she simply smiled and said, "Men are responsible for the outside and women are responsible for the inside. You can make the decision on these matters, and you can discuss it with Yingying at most, and don't ask me."
"Yingying has been accustomed to the world since she was a child, and you are always careful, so you must understand these things better than me!"
Seeing Zhang Shou run away after finishing his words, Wu was speechless. People who didn't know him would think that Zhang Shou didn't care about the upcoming marriage at all, so he left everything to her, but seeing that he would often meet Zhu Ying whenever he was free, and the couple had endless things to say, it was clear that he didn't care about the marriage, but he just thought the details of the marriage were too troublesome !
Zhang Shou really thought marriage was troublesome. Not to mention the current marriage, where three matchmakers and six ceremonies are all indispensable, and the whole family really has to be busy for a long time, just talk about the marriage in the future, from wedding photos to wedding banquets to wedding rooms to honeymoon... He also thinks it is extremely troublesome.
So in the future, he was a golden bachelor if he said it nicely, but he was destined to be alone if he said it badly! Girls are so hard to please, but he hated shopping and giving gifts the most besides eating and drinking!
What Zhang Shou is most thankful for now is that his future father-in-law's family is well-equipped with talented people. Whenever Wu needs help, she can always get help from others. He, as the person involved, doesn't have to work hard at all. He just needs to concentrate on preparing for the bridal chamber with Zhu Ying.
He slipped out of the house and casually called Ah Liu, and gave him a surprising task: "Yingying's elder brother is getting married soon, think carefully about what kind of gift you should give him."
Seeing that Ah Liu pointed at his nose stupidly, meaning that he really wanted him to think about it, Zhang Shou smiled at the boy.
"Didn't you say you're the housekeeper? Shouldn't you help mother think of ideas for things like this? Don't just focus on my affairs, and don't spend all your time on fighting. The outer city is now Yingying's eldest brother's territory. It will be much easier to make friends with him than to visit all kinds of people in the outer city yourself."
"Besides, think about it, the Madam and Aunt Nine have long since decided on the relationship between Yingying and me, but Yingying's father and elder brother were reluctant at one point, and now their attitude towards me is very indifferent. Yingying's elder brother is a man of both civil and military talents, and will definitely inherit the title of Duke of Zhao in the future. He has a promising future. Even if I marry Yingying, what if he still finds fault with me?"
Knowing that Ah Liu had always supported his marriage with Zhu Ying, and even listened to Zhu Ying, Zhang Shou persuaded the young man with patience and finally succeeded in making the young man change color. Knowing that this was enough - after all, it was impossible to make Ah Liu laugh or show anger on his face - he then revealed his final intention.
"Of course, mother has been busy with my wedding recently, so I'm afraid she won't have much time to spare. You can go to the shops of all sizes in the city and see if there are any suitable gifts."
Ah Liu's already dumbfounded face suddenly became even dumber. But what Zhang Shou said next made him even more nervous: "Moreover, it's not just a wedding gift, we also have to prepare a gift for Yingying's sister-in-law in the future."
"After all, she will be my sister-in-law in the future."
"Why, you don't know what to give? That's easy. You can ask for help, ask a girl to help you choose, right? The people around Yingying should be the ones who know Yingying's brother best. If you think they are useless, you can also go to the Duke of Zhao's mansion and ask the lady to recommend you a reliable one. If one doesn't work, try another one."
"With the capable people from the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, there will always be someone who can help you... You ask why you don't just leave it to them? Is there any need to ask! I was the one giving the gift to them, not them giving it to me. How can you put all the blame on the Zhu family?"
Ah Liu, who was not good at speaking, was finally successfully fooled by Zhang Shou. Little did he know that Zhang Shou had bad intentions.
He finally nodded in annoyance, agreeing to the difficult task Zhang Shou had given him. After sending Zhang Shou back to his room to rest, he didn't care that it was a cold day, and hurried out in three minutes.
When the old lady learned that Ah Liu wanted to see her, it was already midnight. She instinctively thought something had happened, but when she asked Mama Li to take him to Qing'an Hall and heard Ah Liu's straightforward statement of his purpose, even though the old lady had lived for most of her life, she still couldn't help laughing. Zhang Shou, this kid, really looks like a handsome and elegant exiled immortal, but in fact he is a cunning and cunning man!
