Chapter 81: Master's Wife

Early in the morning of the second day of September, a carriage was ready outside the west gate of the palace.
The guards had not arrived yet, only a few coachmen were busy harnessing horses. Zhu Hao and Jing Hong came out and stood there waiting for the main person of this trip to come out, and then Lu Song appeared with a few followers.
"Lu Dianzhang, are you responsible for the security matters when leaving the city today?" Zhu Hao asked with a smile.
Lu Song didn't look at Zhu Hao well and looked around as if he didn't hear any questions.
Jing Hong reminded in a low voice: "Zhu Hao, you usually talk too much. Look, you have offended Lu Dianzhang... He is Lu Bing's father. Shouldn't we respect him a little more?"
Zhu Hao looked him over.
When did you learn the ways of the world?
This person is my classmate’s father, we can call him “uncle”, but the problem is that he is also my colleague who is undercover in the palace, so we are on the same level.
Besides, I just said a few words to him, is that disrespectful?
Not long after, more guards arrived, and then Zhu San appeared in a formal attire, wearing a yellow dragon robe, looking very imposing. Behind her was Zhu Si, who was wearing a casual robe with a round collar and narrow sleeves, and Lu Bing, who was wearing a miniature version of armor.
Zhu Si was wearing the casual attire of a prince from the royal palace, which was low-key and reserved, while Lu Bing was wearing something completely...
Zhu Hao really wanted to say, are we going to do role-playing?
"Zhu Hao, you don't know, I was so excited that I couldn't sleep last night, and I was looking forward to having fun today. Do you know where to catch rabbits? Let's go catch rabbits first..."
Zhu San was the protagonist of today's autumn outing, and she ran to Zhu Hao to express her joy.
At this time, Lu Song came over to remind: "Your Highness, please get in the carriage."
Zhu San waved his hands impatiently: "I know, A Bing, come with me!"
The palace had a plan to let Zhu San sit in the tallest carriage, accompanied by Lu Bing, while Zhu Hao, Zhu Si and Jing Hong would squeeze into the second one. There were two more carriages behind, one carrying cargo, including necessary utensils for the trip, such as picnic utensils, firewood, etc., and the purpose of the last one was unknown.
The guards of the palace all rode horses when they went out of the city, so a special carriage was prepared to carry people, which seemed very strange. Just when Zhu Hao was wondering what the fourth carriage was for, he saw Gongsun Yi arriving late.
What surprised Zhu Hao was that Gongsun Yi did not come alone. He was accompanied by a young woman. Judging from the intimacy between her and Gongsun Yi, the two were obviously a couple.
"Mr. Gongsun, Madam Gongsun, everything is ready, please get in the car quickly."
The driver of the last carriage urged.
It was obvious that Gongsun Yi loved his wife very much, so he personally brought a horse stool over and let his wife step on it to get on the carriage. Zhu Hao was watching all the time, completely ignoring that Jing Hong and Zhu Si had already got on the carriage.
Seeing this, Lu Song rode over, raised the whip in his hand, frowned and asked: "What are you looking at? Why don't you get in the car quickly?"
Zhu Hao then withdrew his gaze and got on the carriage.
The Royal Guards sent fifty guards to escort the prince out of the city for a tour. Zhu Hao had not seen it, so it was hard to say whether there were people protecting him secretly.
"Hey, did you see that? The master brought his wife here."
Zhu Hao looked out of the window. Although he couldn't see the carriage that fell at the end, he could still realize that although his carriage was not very luxurious, it was the most heavily guarded one.
The guards would ride past on horseback intentionally or unintentionally, so Lu Song simply rode in front of the carriage, seemingly guarding the rear wing of the first carriage, but in fact preventing anyone from approaching the second carriage.
The group marched out of the city in a grand manner. They did not need to dismount and lead the horses to walk slowly, but they were also not allowed to gallop at will in the city. The carriage moved at a constant speed and was very stable.
Zhu Si had a look on his face that said, "You're making a fuss out of nothing." He said, "You don't even know this? Father originally wanted to find someone who knows calligraphy and painting to accompany him out of the city and teach me... and my third brother calligraphy and painting. Mr. Gongsun recommended his wife..."
After hearing what Zhu Si said, Zhu Hao and Jing Hong immediately understood that Gongsun Yi was abusing his power for personal gain.
Zhu Hao said: "I didn't expect that Master's wife is such a talented woman."
"Master's wife?"
Zhu Si and Jing Hong looked at Zhu Hao with puzzled eyes at the same time.
Zhu Hao curled his lips and said, "Mr. Gongsun is our teacher, so if his wife isn't our teacher's wife, what is she? After we get off the bus outside the city, we should all go over to greet him to maintain Mr. Gongsun's dignity. The more respect we show, the more honor Mr. Gongsun will have."
Jing Hong frowned, and Zhu Si also looked a little confused, as if he understood but not quite.
As the carriage was moving, Zhu Hao thought carefully and remembered that when he first met Gongsun Yi, his clothes had some patches on them.
But seeing that Madam Gongsun just now was dressed in fancy clothes, it was either because this Madam Gongsun had a strong family background, or because Gongsun Yi loved his wife very much and gave all the good things to her. Of course, it was also possible that Madam Gongsun only had this set of presentable clothes and was reluctant to wear them at other times.
The carriage left the city.
When we arrived in the suburbs, the view suddenly opened up. Before we reached any place to play, we heard Zhu Sanda shouting in the carriage ahead.
Zhu Si leaned against the back wall of the carriage, feeling drowsy, and muttered, "Like a madman."
Zhu Hao laughed and said, "Who are you talking about?"
"Who else?"
Zhu Si was in a bad mood and raised his chin forward, as if blaming his sister for yelling and disturbing his rest.
Zhu San said that he was so excited that he couldn't sleep last night. Zhu Si's situation was probably similar, but the two siblings had very different personalities. Zhu San was extroverted while Zhu Si was introverted. Zhu San was lively and always vented his emotions to the outside world, while Zhu Si was the type of person who was introverted and never showed his emotions on his face and liked to keep his thoughts to himself.
Jing Hong said: "Isn't it inappropriate to evaluate the prince like this?"
This time it was Zhu Hao and Zhu Si's turn to look at Jing Hong together.
"We are brothers, so why can't we say no? We just need to not say anything casually." Zhu Hao said with a smile.
Jing Hong also realized that he had said something wrong, so he lowered his head and stopped talking.
Just after the silence, a loud shout came from the front, "I'm out!" Zhu San shouted at the car window, as if he was expressing the anger that had been accumulated in his heart for a long time, and as if he was telling those who were secretly plotting against Prince Xing's Mansion that I, the prince, have already left the city, and you can take action against me now.
Zhu Si closed his eyes and asked, "Zhu Hao, can we catch a rabbit today?"
“It’s difficult.”
Zhu Hao shook his head and answered neatly, "I've been studying in the palace recently. How can I have the time to go out of the city to study the way of rabbits? Besides, late autumn is not the peak season for rabbits to give birth. Winter is coming soon. Rabbits know that winter is cold and they can't raise baby rabbits. Finding a litter of baby rabbits at this time... is as difficult as climbing to the sky! I guess I have to wait until the beginning of spring next year."
After Zhu Hao's words, Zhu Si's face was full of disappointment, while Jing Hong was stunned.
what are you saying?
Catch rabbits?
What big rabbit or small rabbit? You, Zhu Hao, can even hunt?
Are you kidding me?
"However, I recently found new materials and can make ice cream again. I'll treat you to some when the time comes." Zhu Hao immediately used another thing to divert Zhu Si's attention.
Zhu Si couldn't help swallowing his saliva: "Zhu Hao, I'm sorry. If I hadn't fallen asleep while watching the revolving lantern last time, all your materials wouldn't have been burned. What you need... is very expensive? I'll compensate you later."
Jing Hong was wondering again, what was ice cream that could make the little prince drool?
Zhu Hao smiled and said, "It's nothing, we are friends... Wasn't that because of arson? How can it have anything to do with you?"
"Did someone set the fire? How come I didn't know about it?" Zhu Si looked puzzled.
After the fire happened, the palace avoided mentioning the fire in front of Zhu Hao, saying that Jianmao had been sent to the government, and no one knew what the final verdict was. However, he had indeed not seen that person recently.
The palace chose to conceal the truth from Prince Zhu Si, and kept reminding him not to go to unfamiliar places and eat food of unknown origin.
So Zhu Si always thought that the fire was caused by himself accidentally.
Zhu Hao thought that the royal palace was quite good at education, preventing children from being exposed to too dark things too early, which would cause psychological problems.
"Let's not talk about that. It's all in the past. I don't know how the fire started. Anyway, I can get the ingredients and continue making ice cream next time I go home. I just don't know if the palace will let you eat it."
Zhu Hao wanted to test it.
Zhu Si thought for a moment and licked his lips: "Yuan Changshi doesn't let me eat the food you gave me, but... the ice cream is so delicious, why shouldn't I eat it?"
Jing Hong finally couldn't help but ask, "What is ice cream?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said , "It's okay. Just let Jing Hong test the poison for you. As long as it is confirmed to be non-toxic, can you eat it?"
"Poison test?"
Jing Hong was even more puzzled. Why do you have to test for poison when eating something? He immediately asked, "Is it something fresh like puffer fish meat?"
Zhu Hao and Zhu Si laughed at the same time.
After laughing, Zhu Si looked trustful: "I know Yuan Changshi is worried that I will eat unclean things and harm my body, but I know you won't hurt me... Humph, I haven't eaten enough ice cream yet, I don't need Jinghong to help me try."
The implication is that not only does he trust Zhu Hao too much, but he is also very stingy . When he has good things, he won't share them with others and wants to enjoy them all by himself.
It can be said that Zhu Si was well-educated and well-mannered since he was young, but he also had a selfish side, but he rarely showed it in front of others. He said this now because he did not regard Zhu Hao and Jing Hong as outsiders.
"Fourth Prince! We have arrived. Pack up and prepare to get off the carriage."
Lu Song's voice came from outside the car window.
There were only three children in the carriage, and there was nothing to pack. Jing Hong asked in confusion, "Aren't we going out to have fun? Why do we need to book a place?"
Zhu Hao said, "One of you is a prince who seldom leaves the city, and the other is the son of an outsider county magistrate. You don't know much about Changshou... This place is adjacent to the Han River. A few miles ahead you can see the ferry. There are many pedestrians passing by. There is a large flat grassland nearby. Standing in the wilderness and looking into the distance, you can see the river and mountains in the distance. It would be nice to stop and have a picnic."
Zhu Si asked, "If there are many people here, does that mean... there are few wild animals?"
Zhu Hao smiled and said, "That's right. If you want to find wild animals, it's best to go east and south. But this time we have Lu Dianzhang and his men outside, and many of them have brought bows and arrows. Wouldn't it be better to let them help us hunt?"
"Other people are hunting? That's so boring..." Zhu Si obviously wanted to catch the wild animal with his own hands.
But the problem is...
Zhu Hao thought to himself, aren’t you overestimating your own abilities?
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