Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 690: Take Out the Naughty Kid
Despite the small episode of Lin Lao Hu coming to report the news, Zhang Shou did not leave the last exercise class in Jiuzhang Hall and return to the inner city. Instead, he returned to the classroom as if nothing had happened, inspected the progress of everyone's exercises, and severely criticized some students who had been distracted by Lin Lao Hu's arrival and had not done any exercises.
When he returned to the office, he found that Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan were not there at all. He thought he would have to deal with their questions, but he immediately felt relieved. He prepared for the lesson for a while, and then began to recall the short stories in vernacular Chinese that were deeply engraved in his mind, changed some things that were too contemporary, re-set the background of the times, and then recorded them.
As for changing it into classical Chinese or something... not to mention that he doesn't have the ability to do that, even if he really finds a famous writer with first-class writing skills and asks him to translate the vernacular into classical Chinese, it would lose that specific literary flavor.
Anyway, he has never been a talented person who wins with his writing, and he is not afraid of being laughed at for being superficial. Moreover, he does not intend to show it to those famous scholars and talented people. This is specially for the third prince, who has little chance to come into contact with ordinary people's livelihood. Of course, he will carefully select the scope of the subject matter.
Farmers, petty citizens, scholars, officials, scholars... In order to let the third prince understand the various aspects of people's lives, he needs to see more people, and let him know that people are not those stereotyped images, but complex and changeable. If this is the case, novels such as "The Scholars" and "Officialdom Unmasked" are also good.
Well, since he had already mentioned Mr. Ye and Mr. Zhou, he could just expand the number of his own teachers - Mr. Wu Jingzi and Mr. Li Boyuan. What about Dream of the Red Chamber? Should he create another Mr. Cao Xueqin, whose family was broken and who died of depression?
As for others' suspicion that he wrote those books... that's simply impossible. Who would believe that a young boy with extraordinary talent and proficiency in mathematics could actually write a lot of social novels that are full of knowledge of the world and human nature? As for the banned book "First Golden Plum", even if he said it was written by an anonymous teacher, I'm afraid it would cause an uproar...
While the outside world was in chaos, Zhang Shou was in the warm and cozy public hall, silently writing down those short stories. As for the long story, he was just thinking about it in his mind. He was more planning to tell it to the third prince in a few paragraphs to see the reaction before deciding whether to write it out. After all, if he satirizes the officialdom while in the officialdom... then there will probably be more people who dislike him in the future!
Besides, he really couldn't do everything in two places at once. If only some of the talented people who came to Beijing to rebuild the calendar could come to help!
When the sun set, Zhang Shou returned to Jiuzhang Hall to announce the end of get out of class, but he went to Banshan Hall again. He had let these people discuss the course by themselves before, but in the end, what you are interested in is not interesting to me, and what you are not interested in is interesting to me. After endless arguments, they finally decided on the only course - history.
Therefore, Zhang Shou invited Mr. Tang, a famous pseudo-Song history expert in the capital, through Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan. The reason why he was called pseudo was because the academic community disagreed with Mr. Tang's radical arguments. He told everyone that the reason why the Song Dynasty had the Jingkang Change and the tragic fall of the country at Yashan was because when the country was founded, widows and orphans were bullied, and the country was not obtained in a legitimate way. It was karma!
Zhang Shou actually disagrees with this theory of karma, but whether the country is righteous or not is another matter. If we talk about the three words "righteous country", Emperor Gaozu of Han is one, and Emperor Taizu of Ming in another time and space is one. The Emperor Taizu of later generations is even more unprecedented. Other emperors have more or less stains. As for the Yuan and Qing dynasties, who were ruled by foreign races, they have long been excluded by nationalists.
But after auditing one of Mr. Tang's classes, he discovered that he did not deny the achievements of Emperor Taizu of Song just because of the four words "he gained the country in an unjust way". Instead, he was quite harsh in his evaluation of Emperor Taizong of Song. So he kept him.
Although he could not help but bring up his own opinions from time to time, he explained the history of the Song Dynasty in a simple and easy-to-understand way. Even if it was not as fascinating as a storyteller, it was much more interesting than reciting general principles by rote, and it suited the tastes of those history novices in Banshan Hall.
He had even made up his mind to have Mr. Tang teach such a history course to the students of Jiuzhang Hall and invite some professors who studied the history of other dynasties. Not to mention collecting all the Twenty-Four Histories (after all, there was no way to collect the History of Ming and Qing Dynasties), but at least popularize the Qin, Han, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, which have the clearest historical divisions, to the students.
Therefore, when he stood at the door and saw Mr. Tang walking out without delaying the class, he had clearly announced the end of the class, so he had to bow politely. Although he had attended his class once, he did not have much friendship with him. But he was planning to go in and unexpectedly Mr. Tang stopped.
"Master Zhang's wedding date is coming soon, right?"
Zhang Shou was slightly startled and nodded, then he saw someone smiling at him: "Can you give me an invitation?"
Although he didn't understand why someone made such a request, Zhang Shou immediately said, "If Mr. Tang can come, I will certainly be more than happy to do so. I will personally present the invitation to you someday."
Mr. Tang smiled at Zhang Shou's clear attitude, and then he bowed his hands solemnly and said, "I just realized that I was biased in my previous belief that the children of nobles were all unteachable. There are many people like me in the capital. Since Mr. Zhang is committed to letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, his merits are immeasurable."
Zhang Shou was confused because he didn't quite understand what Mr. Tang said, but he just bowed to him and left. He was quite puzzled and could only shake his head. After entering the Banshan Hall, he casually asked everyone about their impressions of Mr. Tang's lectures. Seeing that most people said it was quite interesting and they gained a lot from listening, he felt relieved.
Because Zhang the big guy went to the palace to be his East Palace attendant, Zhang Chen and Zhu Er were proud of themselves and had their own careers, the same went for Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, none of them came to Banshan Hall again, neither the emperor nor their fathers forced themselves to do anything, and now Banshan Hall was inevitably a bit leaderless, so he came here today to drop a bombshell.
"At the moment, Banshan Hall has no abbot, and I don't plan to appoint one. You can nominate a few candidates among yourselves, and ask Lu Jijiu to preside over the meeting tomorrow. We will elect a abbot among the candidates by secret ballot. This will also help you avoid being leaderless and having to take a long time to decide on other subjects except for history."
The selection of the head monk had been done once before in Jiuzhang Hall. The students of Banshan Hall, who had long been accustomed to Zhang Shou's new approach, looked at each other in surprise. Some were happy, some were worried, and no one raised any objections. However, when Zhang Shou walked away, everyone was immediately furious. In an instant, they split into several groups, each discussing the selection of candidates.
Everyone could see that almost all those who could become the head of the temple would be cultivated by Zhang Shou with all his efforts. This was very obvious whether it was Lu Sanlang or Ji Jiu, Zhang Chen, Zhu Er or Zhang Dakuo.
Of course, if you don’t have that ability, don’t even think about taking on this porcelain job!
When Zhang Shou returned to the public hall and packed up, he went out again, only to find that Ah Liu, who had been missing for a while, was already waiting at the door. He habitually did not ask where this elusive boy had gone. It was not until he left the public school gate that he found that Han Lie and ten other guards of the Ruiqi Battalion, who had been ordered to follow Chief Hong Shan, had returned with his carriage. He was a little surprised.
After what happened, these people did not stay in the city to cooperate with the investigation, nor were they recalled to the Sharp Cavalry Battalion to be punished?
Zhang Shou was just beginning to have wild thoughts, thinking that Chief Hong's behavior might have really angered some people, and then he saw Han Lie, the leader, step forward and salute.
"Master Zhang, I should have returned to the camp to await punishment, but Duke Qin, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, and Lord Zhu, the commander of the Five Cities Army, wrote to me to apologize. Since there were no other orders from the Ruiqi Camp, I immediately rushed back. I hope you can allow me to atone for my crime with my merits."
Han Lie was sincere and frank, so Zhang Shou certainly would not refuse. Instead, he comforted him, "It was me who asked you to send him back, which caused the trouble. In the final analysis, it was Chief Hong who drove you away and was at fault first. By the way, didn't you escort the Fourth Prince to the Jiangdu Palace? Has he returned to the palace?"
Speaking of the Fourth Prince, Han Lie sighed: "The Emperor sent people to severely criticize the Fourth Prince for his mischief, but the Fourth Prince felt very aggrieved and locked himself up in the Jiangdu Palace and refused to go back, saying that he was not wrong! When the Fourth Prince lost his temper before, he also said..."
After hesitating for a while, not knowing whether to say it, he lowered his voice and said, "The Fourth Prince cursed in front of King Jiangdu and us, saying that since Chief Hong was so hypocritical as to drive away the guards and claim that he didn't want an escort, he deserved to be killed, not to mention being smashed on the head by a fruit! So, he stayed in King Jiangdu's mansion and refused to go back, which gave King Jiangdu a headache."
This naughty kid is really... Can't he learn from the Third Prince's steadiness and curb his impulsive habits a little?
Zhang Shou cursed the naughty boy in his heart, but he also knew that if the emperor and the King of Jiangdu wanted to force him back to the palace, there would be a thousand ways to do it, but the emperor and the Grand Master did not do that. Obviously, the fourth prince had some other radical actions. Sure enough, under his gaze, Han Lie finally said hesitantly: "The fourth prince said that he doesn't want to be a prince anymore..."
“This bastard!” This time, Zhang Shou didn’t bother to listen to Han Lie’s words. He cursed him and said in a deep voice, “Get in the car and go to Jiangdu Palace!”
That naughty kid is going to tear off the roof if he isn't punished for three days. He deserves to be punished!
Seeing Zhang Shou boarding the carriage, Ah Liu hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to ride on horseback instead of riding in the same carriage. He had no way of giving Zhang Shou any advice, and Zhang Shou must have been thinking about countermeasures in the carriage at this moment. He even seriously considered whether he should rush to the Jiangdu Palace in advance and directly take the fourth prince out, but finally gave up the idea.
If he wanted to do that, the madman would have done it long ago. It would not be his turn to fly over the eaves and walk on the walls. By the way, why does the fourth prince like to cause trouble so much? Is it because he is so proud of his two older brothers who are gone, or is it because of something else?
As Liu thought about it, he shook his head slightly, but simply skipped the problem that he couldn't figure out, and instead thought about what he had discussed with Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan.
If it works out, the number of guests for the young master's wedding will not be small, at least not less than that of Lu Sanlang. Well, the young master said before that he likes that kind of unexpected surprise, so he will talk about it later...
When Zhang Shou, who was resting with his eyes closed, heard the report from outside that they had arrived at the Jiangdu Palace, he leaned out of the car, but saw a man who looked like a butler jogging towards him in front of the door, and even had tears in his eyes when he saw him.
"Mr. Zhang, you are finally here! My king is in a state of panic, and I heard that the Crown Prince was confined to the palace by the Emperor and was not allowed to come out." After explaining the most important details, he respectfully invited Zhang Shou inside and said in a very low voice, "My king wanted to force the Fourth Prince out and put him in a carriage to return to the palace, but the Fourth Prince said something cruel."
"He said he was innocent. If you force him to come back to the palace to admit his fault, he will die here. Listen to what you say!"
Is this naughty kid crazy?
Zhang Shou did not answer, but followed the housekeeper and walked in quickly. Soon, he saw the King of Jiangdu with a bad face. The bad-tempered Grand Master pointed to a room with a closed door at the back without saying a word, and then said angrily: "This kid treated my house as his own home, and even locked the door and refused to let anyone in. He made a fuss and made a lot of trouble. It really pissed me off!"
"His third brother wanted to come over to persuade him, but the emperor refused to allow it. It's fine if the father and son fight, but don't let my small family get into trouble! If I wasn't afraid of breaking down the door and forcing the person out, I would have dragged this little bastard out!"
Hearing the cursing voice of King Jiangdu without addressing himself, Zhang Shou knew that he did not want to give the Fourth Prince inside a chance to react. He narrowed his eyes slightly, then hooked his finger at Ah Liu, and led his men directly to the door of the room with the closed door.
He didn't know if there was a pair of prying eyes behind the door, so he tilted his head slightly and ordered, "Open it."
When the butler at the back was stunned, Ah Liu took a step forward and kicked the door cleanly. The beautiful carved wooden grille door suddenly broke into pieces like paper. Then, the boy who had just kicked the door rushed in like a gust of wind and pulled out a stunned child in a short while.
That was the Fourth Prince.
The dazed Fourth Prince was not awakened until Ah Liu brought him to Zhang Shou. However, he did not threaten to die, but threw himself on Zhang Shou and cried loudly: "Teacher, you are finally here! I am right, that hypocritical guy died, what does it have to do with me! But my father blames me, and my uncle also blames me!" The savior is here, and I can continue to act!
