Volume 4: Gathering of Sages Chapter 754: Is a night of spring worth a thousand gold?
"You can come out now."
After saying this in a bad mood, Zhang Shou could not help but feel angry when there was no movement under the quilt for a long time. The emperor and the third prince have already left, why are you still pretending? Are you afraid that the emperor will come back to attack? Do you really think that you can hide from the emperor by hiding under the quilt?
But then, he realized another possibility, that is, this kid had suffocated because he covered himself with the quilt too tightly! So, he immediately opened the quilt and saw that the fourth prince's face was red, but his expression did not show any pain, but was clearly excited. He was really angry.
It seems there is no need to worry about this naughty kid, he is actually very lively!
"Teacher, teacher, what you just said was so cool!" The fourth prince rolled over from the bed and sat up, and then grabbed Zhang Shou's hand. "Even the emperor was obviously stunned, otherwise he wouldn't have called you Ah Shou like he did to his son-in-law, just like Sister Yingying!"
Zhang Shou had not noticed the subtle difference in the emperor's address before, but when the fourth prince pointed it out, he remembered that the emperor had indeed called him Ah Shou when he asked him to read a book. Moreover, he could not deny the fourth prince's comment that the emperor treated him like a son-in-law.
Zhu Ying was not polite to the Fourth Prince for his outspokenness. She grabbed the Fourth Prince's ear again, but just as she was about to teach this boy a lesson for playing hide-and-seek on the marriage bed, she heard the Emperor's voice from outside: "Ah Shou, and Yingying, this boy is now in your hands. You two can beat or scold him as you please, I won't blame you."
The fourth prince, who was about to ask Zhu Ying for mercy, was completely stunned. He didn't expect that his father had indeed returned, but he actually returned to eavesdrop and said such exaggerated words!
When Zhang Shou saw Zhu Ying loosen his hand with a smile on her face, raised her eyebrows at him, and then rubbed her hands together, he couldn't help but have a premonition that a mixed doubles match was about to begin.
However, under normal circumstances, he would not mind giving the naughty kid a lesson that he would never forget, but today was a different day after all. Therefore, although he grabbed the naughty kid who wanted to escape and knocked him down easily when he tried to escape, he still coughed softly at Zhu Ying: "Yingying, you can beat him up however you want in the future, but let's forget about it tonight."
As he spoke, he changed the subject and said, "The emperor didn't mention the scene outside. I don't know if he knew about it a long time ago, or if he just didn't take it to heart... Anyway, today is a good day, so just leave this kid to Ah Liu."
When the Fourth Prince heard the first half of Zhang Shou's words, he felt as if he had been pardoned. But when he heard the last sentence, he immediately cried and felt even more miserable than if he had eaten coptis. As long as Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying didn't do it, no one else would dare to hit him, but this other person didn't include Ah Liu! He danced with joy and wanted to beg for mercy again, but Zhu Ying had already called him Ah Liu.
Without even a second's delay, Ah Liu entered the room and without a word, he grabbed the Fourth Prince away like an eagle catching a chick. But after bringing him to the door of the new house, before the Fourth Prince could even beg for mercy, Ah Liu let go of the naughty boy.
"It won't happen again."
These four simple words made the Fourth Prince dumbfounded. When did his Sixth Brother become so easy to talk to? Could he be a fake? No, judging from his words and actions, it was indeed the truth. Could it be that... because of Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying's marriage, Ah Liu changed his temper today? With a smile on his face, he immediately took the initiative to catch Ah Liu's temper and then flattered him with a drooling face.
"Sixth brother, good Sixth brother, I know you are the best! Don't worry, I will never go outside to join in the fun, but can you tell me about the situation outside? When I came in before, I heard the servants say that many famous scholars and wise men came outside. What is going on? Why are they giving face to the teacher like this?"
Ah Liu had told Zhu Ying, Liu Qing, and Ye Shi the story through the door, but that was because he wanted to tell it to Zhu Ying, not because he would show off his eloquence in front of others. Moreover, the Fourth Prince was chattering a bit noisy, so he could only pick him up again.
"If you want to know, ask someone else."
Knowing that Ah Liu was definitely asking him to ask Xiao Huasheng and Xiao Cheng, the Fourth Prince was not willing to give up, so he tried to persuade them and said all the nice things he could. However, the person he met was the stubborn Ah Liu, so Zhang Shou in the bridal chamber could only hear the voices of the naughty kids outside gradually fading away. This time, there was finally no more guy to spoil the mood.
However, the couple could not stay quiet for too long, because just as the emperor and the fourth prince left, Chen Yongshou, who was presenting the awards, arrived, and with him came Chu Kuan, who was now the manager of Wan'an Palace. Obviously, he came to present a gift on behalf of the prince. That's right, it was not an award, but a gift. The difference in meaning was enough for those outsiders to think about it several times.
Just as the emperor had said before, the emperor's reward was indeed the two things he mentioned, a piece of calligraphy and two sets of Taoist robes and long hairpins, and the gift sent in the name of the third prince was ten sets of rare books from the Gujin Tongjiku.
For the wise men gathered in Zhang Garden today, the first imperial calligraphy is indeed rare, but the current emperor has good handwriting and it is very common for him to bestow calligraphy, so this is still expected; and the second reward is beyond their comprehension and can be ignored.
However, the gift from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince...it can really make everyone salivate and feel crazy!
That was the Gujin Tongjiku. Which of the books in it was not a rare edition? When Taizu entered the Yuan capital, the first thing he did was to collect all kinds of ancient books. He even collected them from the people. Some nobles were even spared from death for donating books. Later, it was said that all the precious books in the Gujin Tongjiku were compiled into a book, but by then, Taizu, who had abdicated, had already passed away.
And because of this, the Sikuquanshu, which was originally compiled by Ge Yong's ancestor and was supposed to be distributed throughout the country and copied by official schools, was only kept in the Gujintongjiku in the palace... It was far less popular than the Complete Tang Poems. Who knows if the ten sets of books that the prince bestowed on Zhang Shou were the original collections of some volumes in the Sikuquanshu!
Therefore, at this moment, a stream of envious and jealous eyes once again converged on Zhang Shou. In the past, people were jealous of his situation, status, and face. Now... these celebrities and wise men envied that such a precious book was actually given as a gift by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! But the most important thing was that such a thing could be given by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!
Does the emperor really trust the prince as much as the rumors say?
As some people's eyes were too enthusiastic, Zhang Shou took Zhu Ying, his new wife, back to the bridal chamber immediately after thanking him. Although he walked quickly, Ge Yong was immediately besieged - this siege was not questioning, but scrambling to give a very clear answer to the lecture just now.
What made Lu Wan and Liu Zhiyuan, their deskmates, look at each other in astonishment was that... someone actually offered to be a lecturer at the public school.
You know, originally Xie Wanquan and Tang Ming both received invitations tonight, but one of them was extremely unlucky, as he was caught in the rain when he went to the Buddhist temple to burn incense with his newlywed wife, and thus fell seriously ill. It seemed like a coincidence, but it was also because he met his former classmates in the temple, who severely mocked and rebuked him, saying that he and Yang Yiming had severed their ties, and that he was teaching in the public school only for fame, with ulterior motives.
So, Xie Wanquan got into a big quarrel with someone in a rage. He originally planned to stay in the temple with his wife for two days, but ended up returning home angrily. Then he encountered the fierce rain and was unfortunately hit.
As for Tang Ming, he was in the midst of a series of fierce battles with others - you know, this Tang Jieyuan was determined to win the next year's imperial examination. However, when he was writing essays with several other provincial examinees in Tongzhou, he was slapped in the face by a scholar who came out of nowhere and recited an eight-part essay that was ambiguous and revealed the end, satirizing him for pretending to be a teacher but actually trying to curry favor with the powerful. So in a rage, Tang Ming spoke eloquently and directly counterattacked with an excellent essay.
How can a person who can't read well come to mock others for educating the poor and weak? What, you said you read well? People who read well don't go to make decisions and make things difficult for a group of poor children in the public school?
It was a lively scene. Lu Sanlang helped mobilize his bookstores and newspapers to help fight back. The public opinion war was fierce. So, in order to avoid the war from spreading to Zhang Garden, Tang Jieyuan only sent a gift and did not visit.
Just from these two things and two people, we can see the hostility towards public schools. But look at the current situation. The emperor just instructed the prince to give Zhang Shou ten sets of books, and the effect was better than anything else!
Zhang Shou, who had escaped, naturally guessed the scene of the rush at the wedding banquet, but this was not his political plan, so he irresponsibly left it to Teacher Ge and others. This was his wedding night, and he was too lazy to even think about whether the emperor gave him those books through the third prince in the hope that the prince's position would be more unshakable.
Therefore, as soon as he returned to the bridal chamber, he lowered the bolt directly. Zhu Ying saw her elder brother during the award ceremony and found that he had not left yet. She was in a strange mood and was a little slow to come to her senses.
"Ah Shou, what are you doing? We haven't even washed or changed yet!"
"Yingying, I won't forget this even if you don't tell me. You don't think I want to bully you right now, do you?"
Zhang Shou folded his hands leisurely. Seeing Zhu Ying's embarrassment turned into annoyance, as if she wanted to debate with him about the word "bullying", he changed the subject lightly and said, "Although a night of love is worth a thousand gold, in order to avoid someone eavesdropping and feeling uncomfortable, why don't we discuss the emperor's question just now?"
"For example, we certainly don't have time now, but when we have free time in the future, shouldn't we travel around and visit famous mountains and rivers first, and then settle down and go home to have children? As for children, why not have a daughter first, and let her, the eldest sister, discipline her younger siblings in the future? I always feel that having a serious eldest brother like your eldest brother is enough."
Zhang Shou actually used her eldest brother as an example, hoping to have a daughter in the future, but Zhu Ying was not surprised, but felt it was natural. Judging from Zhang Shou's usual attitude, even though he was indeed the only heir of the Zhang family for several generations, he did not seem to care that much about the continuation of the family line.
On the contrary, Mrs. Wu, although she didn't say it, was always very good to her, but she probably really wanted to have a grandson as soon as possible.
"Be careful not to let my elder brother hear this, otherwise he will have a good argument with you tonight!"
"It's okay. He won't come to argue with me tonight. Ah Liu couldn't stop the emperor, so he deliberately let the fourth prince come to see you. But if he can't stop your eldest brother, then he is too incompetent as a butler."
Zhu Ying was just about to say that Ah Liu had turned into a door god, when a light cough was heard from outside: "Master and Miss, don't worry, I have chased them away. You can just cover yourself with a blanket and talk until dawn. Even Master Zhu can't get past me, a door god."
What does it mean to cover yourself with a quilt and talk until dawn? Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying looked at each other in bewilderment. Zhu Ying was even more furious and shouted: "A Liu, you bad boy, what nonsense are you talking about? Who taught you this?"
However, her shouting did not receive any response, as if the outsider had become dumb and deaf. For such a change, even though Zhu Ying was extremely angry, she could not rush out to grab the boy who had always been obedient to her and beat him up. So, she could only look at Zhang Shou with hatred.
"It's all your fault!" Seeing Zhang Shou still had an innocent expression on his face, the young lady didn't buy it and immediately put her hands on her hips and acted like a tigress. "Didn't you teach Ah Liu? Didn't he learn from you? This tone of chatting under the quilt until dawn, it sounds like you taught him!"
This time, Zhang Shou really had no way to refute. If Ah Liu had told some dirty jokes directly, he could have pushed the blame on Hua Qi and claimed that Hua Qi was led astray by the master, but Ah Liu just remembered some of his jokes.
So, he could only say awkwardly: "I was just teasing him, because this kid actually asked me what erotic paintings are..." Seeing Zhu Ying dumbfounded, he sighed and said, "I can only tell him that erotic paintings are forbidden. If some Taoists knew about it, they would be accused of something, even if those Taoists would have to have a good relationship with their wives and concubines, or even have affairs outside."
"Some people try to figure out the intentions of their superiors and regard even husband-wife matters as forbidden. Then, on our wedding night, of course, as Ah Liu said, we can only chat under the covers." Zhang Shou paused and then said with a wicked smile, "But, there is always a gain for every loss. At least, we no longer have to worry about countless eyes watching our good fortune. Someone must be beating his chest and stamping his feet right now!"
