Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 735: Ups and Downs
"Master Zhu, my wife and master have always been at odds with each other, and this time she refused to send a doctor just because he was sick!"
"That's right. The doctor we invited was secretly sent away, and the medicine we went to get was prescribed by an unknown doctor. How could such an outrageous thing happen in the world? Please help my master! How can this happen between husband and wife!"
"Master Zhu, everyone knows that you are very perceptive and impartial. Please give justice to my master! Otherwise, if he really gets sick and can't get up, wouldn't that be unfair? He is in the best health on weekdays. Not to mention the cold, he doesn't even have a cough all year round. It's strange that he suddenly has a high fever..."
Being surrounded by a group of gorgeous girls, crying and begging for the decision, even for Zhu Tingfang, this was an exceptionally fresh experience - after all, although he was famous, even before his face was disfigured, he was well-known for being rude to women. Most of the daughters of famous families would just say hello to him and say a few words to him. As for chatting...
Most rich ladies are unwilling to humiliate themselves. Because if he wants, he can talk to you about astronomy, geography, and the universe... Even a talented woman who is proficient in poetry and prose like Princess Yongping is unwilling to talk to him, let alone others.
But at this time, Zhu Tingfang, who always had a very cold attitude towards women, was surrounded by a large group of women. However, for the first time ever, he did not say anything to chase them away. Although he did not speak, he at least listened very seriously. So much so that several followers who followed him could not help but look at the sun in the sky, wondering if the sun rose from the west. How could the cold-faced Mr. Zhu actually smile at women?
Didn't Zhu Tingfang impeach the Kong cousins two days ago? Didn't the Duke of Zhao and the Grand Secretary Kong always have a bad relationship? Didn't they say... that he came to the door today with bad intentions? Of course, this last point was their guess.
Zhu Tingfang was still not used to being so close to so many women. He coughed heavily, moved his shoulders slightly, and shook off a woman who tried to grab his arm. Then he moved his feet as lightly as flowing water, quietly retreating from the encirclement of the Kong family's concubines, and then asked coldly: "So, Dr. Kong has encountered a ghost?"
Seeing Zhu Tingfang asking this, the concubines were annoyed that they had avoided him, but they still rushed to tell the story of the kitchen at home, which was cleaned out like countless starving ghosts, and the bloody footprints in Master Kong Jiu's study. Zhao happened to rush out at this time, and she was naturally furious when she saw this scene.
"What are you talking about, you little rascals! Go back to your rooms. There are differences between men and women. If you , then go and learn some etiquette!"
But her scolding was completely ignored by the concubines. No one paid any attention to her and they just kept on describing the ghost story that happened in the Kong family last night in vivid detail.
Zhu Tingfang seemed to be listening with interest, but he was thinking about something else. When Zhu Ying came to see him before, she mentioned Xiao Cheng pretending to be a ghost, and said it was the Fourth Prince's idea, and that he and Xiao Huasheng were Xiao Cheng's advisors. At the time, he thought it was too ridiculous, especially when he heard that Zhang Shou personally went to clean up the aftermath and even changed the public school system. He always felt that this was a bit ridiculous.
But now, seeing the chaos in the Kong family, he felt differently. The impact of last night's disturbance on the Kong family seemed to be even greater than the time when he blocked the door of the Kong Mansion and threatened them!
It seems that for some people, the threat of impeachment is not that great. He was able to gain the upper hand because he caught the escaped slaves from the Confucius Mansion and the eldest son and his wife transferred their property. Because these people with hidden evil in their hearts are more afraid of ghosts around them than tangible things!
But I didn't expect that Xiao Cheng, who has always been honest and serious , would go back to his old ways of pretending to be a ghost if it wasn't for the sake of survival. Is this considered growth, or... was he led astray by the Fourth Prince? Was Xiao Cheng also influenced by him when he thought of pretending to be a ghost to protect his home? Forget it, evil will be punished by evil, and these days, good people are bullied!
Zhu Tingfang thought so in his heart, but seeing that Zhao was trembling with anger because of those concubines, he asked slowly: "From the tone of the lady, could it be that the story of Dr. Kong encountering a ghost is false?"
Zhao Shi did not dare to admit that she had seen a ghost, just based on her husband's high fever and nonsense. She insisted that it was not true. However, the concubines were not happy. Although they could not go to the kitchen casually, the maids and servants around them had already asked about it. So they talked about the tragic scene of the kitchen again, and finally looked at each other.
"Master Zhu, if you don't believe me, please go and visit our master! There is definitely something fishy about his condition. He went to the kitchen after getting up this morning, but when he returned to the study, he suddenly fainted before he even entered the door. Those unscrupulous servants left him in the yard and ignored him... My poor master!"
As one concubine sat down on the ground crying, others followed suit. There was a lot of crying. People who didn't know would just think that Master Kong Jiu had died! When Zhu Tingfang saw that Zhao didn't scold her this time, but stood by with a cold face, he asked casually, "May I ask, is what they said true?"
Zhao was furious when Zhu Tingfang called her "Ruren" all the time. Although Master Kong Jiu was only a seventh-rank official, outsiders would call her "Madam" or "Madam" because he was the younger brother of Master Kong. Moreover, she was forced to the point of wanting to kill someone by these little bitches, so she said stiffly, "The master has just woken up. If Master Zhu wants to see him, go and see him!"
Seeing that Zhu Tingfang was not polite and actually walked towards the main room, Zhao looked down at the concubines who had been crying and making a fuss just now but were now silent as a mouse, and snorted coldly.
"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking! Go ahead and make a scene, but when you're kicked out, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Zhu Tingfang, who had already reached the main room door, happened to hear this last sentence. He immediately laughed and said indifferently, "Who knows who will be kicked out by then."
His voice was not loud, so Zhao, who was arguing with several concubines, could not hear it clearly. However, Master Kong Jiu, who had a fever and was too weak to move and had a dry throat to speak, had very good hearing and could hear it clearly. Therefore, he tried his best to turn his head and saw Zhu Tingfang walking in alone. He was immediately angry and hateful.
How could Zhao, that idiot, let this cruel guy come in and see him alone! What if he took the opportunity to kill him?
As soon as Zhu Tingfang entered the room, he noticed Master Kong Jiu, who was staring at him intently. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly, but that smile did not make him look gentler at this moment, but made his face more murderous.
Seeing that Master Kong Jiu on the bed moved uneasily, but in the end only a small part of him could move, he walked straight forward and sat down on the brocade cushion in front of the bed without any hesitation.
"Dr. Kong, your concubines outside said that you were possessed by a ghost?" Seeing that Master Kong Jiu's throat kept moving, but it took a long time for him to utter a word of no, he laughed and said, "It's a pity that the Wucheng Military Department only deals with matters in the world of the living, not in the underworld. No matter how capable I am, I still can't catch ghosts."
Master Kong Jiu didn't hear the teasing in these words, but instead breathed a sigh of relief. As long as Zhu Tingfang didn't get involved, he asked his wife to prepare a generous sacrifice to send the evil spirit away, and after surviving this illness, he would be full of energy again. Therefore, he, who was obviously tense just now, relaxed instantly, but forgot to think about why Zhu Tingfang, such a busy man, would come here to see him for no reason?
When Zhao saw Zhu Tingfang enter the main room but did not come out for a long time, and vaguely heard his voice, she mistakenly thought that Master Kong Jiu was able to speak, and immediately looked at the group of concubines with an even more arrogant look. She just said something harsh, and now she was too lazy to waste her breath, so she simply left them and went back to her room.
After entering the main room, she saw Zhu Tingfang sitting on the brocade cushion beside the bed, but she didn't hear anyone talking to Master Kong Jiu. She thought the two were worried about her, so she quickly stepped forward and said with a smile: "Master Zhu, it's all because of those ignorant women outside who don't know how to behave. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you. The master really just caught a cold, it's not serious, so I sent all the doctors away..."
Before Zhao finished explaining, Zhu Tingfang stood up with a playful smile on his face: "Since Dr. Kong is ill, he must be treated well. You know, even a cold cannot be underestimated, otherwise a minor illness will turn into a major one."
Seeing that Zhao agreed repeatedly with a look of relief, as if she hoped that he would leave soon, he changed the subject and said, "However, since Dr. Kong is like this, what I wanted to say to him can only be said to you, Ru Ren."
Zhao's eyes widened in confusion, and Master Kong Jiu, who had thought that he had sent away the plague god, was even more frightened. The couple saw Zhu Tingfang slowly walk away from the bed, and when he reached the center of the room, he said without replying, "Today, someone who claimed to be a messenger from Huairou shouted at Xuanwu Gate, saying that while Master Kong was pacifying the local area, the eldest prince committed suicide out of fear of crime."
Upon hearing such shocking news, Zhao felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck his head, and he began to feel unwell.
Although the emperor had already expelled the eldest and second princes from the clan register, and then sent one to Qiongzhou Prefecture to plant trees and the other to the imperial farm to farm, but that was only a deprivation of their inheritance rights in fact. Just look at the way outsiders addressed these two people and you will know that even if the emperor was very disappointed with them, it would be a different matter if outsiders caused any mishap for them.
It is said that although the emperor has confirmed the death of the second prince in the shipwreck, the two major camps in Tianjin Linhai and Zhenhai will be shaken again. And if the eldest prince is really dead... Academician Kong who had volunteered before will definitely be the first to bear the brunt!
Zhao didn't know much about the outside world, but she could come to such a conclusion. Master Kong Jiu, the doctor of Taichang, felt that something was wrong. He only hated that he couldn't speak or move at this moment. Even though he had a lot of questions to ask, he just couldn't ask them. He could only wait there passively.
It was just like being executed by the guillotine, waiting for the final blow to fall - although this analogy was unlucky, if anything happened to his cousin, Academician Kong, he didn't think he could continue to be a doctor of Taichang safely!
In his anxiety to the point of going crazy, Zhu Tingfang, who had been silent for a long time after revealing the news, finally spoke slowly again: "It's just that Qin Guogong's eldest son Zhang Chen happened to pass by Xuanwu Gate. After a verbal confrontation, he found out that the so-called messenger was fake, so he arrested the man and handed him over to the people from the South City Military Department who arrived."
Fake messenger?
Both Mrs. Zhao and Master Kong Jiu were filled with disbelief, and then they all couldn't help but be ecstatic. Since it was a fake messenger, then Master Kong wouldn't have to bear the infamy of forcing the prince to death, which was really great! However, when the couple, one holding their chests and chanting Amitabha, and the other lying on the bed silently chanting the gods and Buddhas, Zhu Tingfang spoke again.
"Of course, the messenger is fake, but the message is real."
“…”
At that moment, if Zhao and Master Kong Jiu knew what a roller coaster was, they would know that their mood at this moment was exactly like the ups and downs of a roller coaster! First they fell to the bottom of the valley, then gradually returned to the clouds, but before they could breathe a sigh of relief, they fell to the bottom of the valley again. If looks could kill, the couple's looks at this moment could kill Zhu Tingfang a thousand times!
However, looks can't kill after all, and Zhu Tingfang, who had his back to them, didn't care at all about the look that stabbed his back. He walked slowly to the door and suddenly stopped again: "Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to say. I heard that the Taoist priests in Baiyun Temple are very good at exorcising ghosts. If Dr. Kong and Ruren are really troubled, they can go to them. Goodbye."
Seeing the door curtain finally fall in front of her, Zhao was filled with panic. She almost subconsciously turned around and rushed to Master Kong Jiu on the bed: "Master, what should we do about this? Why don't I go and tell my sister-in-law? Even if she had conflicts with you before, she should put aside her suspicion in the face of such a big event and bear it together as a family!"
Although he did not trust his wife at all - because Master Kong Jiu always felt that this yellow-faced woman was a fool who could not even manage the household properly. The only acceptable thing about her was that she disciplined her two illegitimate sons very strictly, which finally made up for her shortcoming of being infertile - however, at this moment, he had to admit that his wife's idea was the only one.
Instead of looking for friends and relatives of the same age at this moment, it is better to join forces with Gu, my cousin!
Seeing her husband moving his head with difficulty and nodding, Zhao Shi did not dare to hesitate and hurried out the door. However, as soon as she walked out of the main door, she froze. Because Zhu Tingfang, who she thought had just left, was standing under the eaves in front of the door. With this person's hearing, what she just said to Master Kong Jiu was most likely heard by others!
Zhu Tingfang just smiled at her and said, "My lady, if you want to tell me something, please do it as soon as possible. Don't let me down for making this special trip. You know, I am always very busy."
