Volume 1 In the Countryside Chapter 35: If you don’t have good looks, you can make up for it with clothes
Although Zhang Shou originally wanted to keep Zhu Ying in Cuiyun Room as a stabilizing force, however, after he used the tiger skin as a banner last night and Zhu Ying endorsed him in person early in the morning, he had to admit that this dandy lecture hall would be in a delicate period of calm for the time being and no major disturbances would occur.
Therefore, Qi Liang sent such a letter. At Zhu Ying's strong request, he could only take the young lady and Zhu Hong away quietly, leaving the reluctant but helpless Qi Liang to "look after the house".
The hidden path beside the Shuibo Buxing Pavilion was not easy to walk on, especially for Zhu Ying, who always wanted to show her best side in front of people. She was quite embarrassed walking on it with her skirt lifted up. So Zhu Hong, who was behind her, hesitated because men and women should not touch each other, and did not dare to lend a hand to help. He could only watch his young lady reach out and hold Zhang Shou's sleeve.
The guard was loyal but stubborn, so when he noticed that his young lady seemed to be acting coquettishly towards the handsome young man in front of him, he opened his mouth to stop her, but he only heard Zhu Ying say something in a warning tone.
"Ah Shou, don't look back for a moment!"
Zhang Shou, who was walking in front, couldn't help but wonder: "Why?"
"It's different from the path in front of the screen wall of Cuiyun Room. This path is too difficult to walk on. My skirt is too long and it will be easily torn. I have to lift my skirt up and tuck it in at my waist. That will be ugly, so you are not allowed to look back!"
Hearing such a straightforward complaint, Zhang Shou couldn't help laughing: "If I had known, I would have let you and Zhu Hong take the main road."
"Those idiots think I'm in Shuibobuxingguan, so they're afraid and won't do anything wrong. If they all know I'm not here, what if they start to cause trouble? And Qi Liang said they went straight to your house, which clearly shows they're here to cause trouble for you. If Zhu Hong and I go out from the main road, they'll definitely be prepared when they see us. How can it be as satisfying as us dropping in from the sky and catching them off guard?"
Zhu Ying spoke confidently, but at the same time signaled Zhu Hong to go forward with her eyes. When Zhu Hong quickly passed her without looking away and the two grown men were both walking in the front, she selectively lifted up part of the wide pleated skirt and tucked it around her waist, then tied her ankle-length pants tightly, and held part of the skirt in her hand.
As a result, her movements immediately became more agile.
About a quarter of an hour later, a group of three people quietly appeared from another entrance and exit of the bamboo forest. Zhu Ying put down her skirt rustlingly, and then, under the tacit protection of several villagers who saw them, they finally came to the back door of Zhang's house.
Zhang Shou pushed the door and found it was still locked. He glanced at the tree he had climbed before, wondering if he was going to do the same thing again. The next moment, Zhu Ying's voice came from behind him: "Zhu Hong, climb over the wall and open the door!"
I actually forgot there was this trick!
Patting his forehead lightly, Zhang Shou caught a glimpse of Zhu Hong walking forward with a bitter look on his face, climbing up the wall lightly, and then jumping down.
While the other party was opening the door, he whispered, "I'll go in in a while. You and Zhu Hong can find a place to watch the fun. If there's nothing serious, don't show up. If you want to save me from the injustice, then come in through the front door unexpectedly."
Zhu Ying almost laughed out loud at Zhang Shou's words. She couldn't help but said angrily, "In this world, heroes usually save beauties. Do you want me, a beauty, to save the hero?"
"You are a beauty, but I am not a hero." Seeing the door opened by Zhu Hong, Zhang Shou strode forward and walked in, but waved without turning his head and said, "At most, it can be regarded as a true beauty saving a hypocrite."
"Pah." Seeing Zhang Shou let Zhu Hong out and then closed the door, Zhu Ying couldn't help but snort twice in annoyance, but a smile flashed in her eyes.
A beauty saving a gentleman? That's really good!
Zhang Shou made fun of himself and Zhu Ying, but when he stood in his backyard, his relaxed expression gradually disappeared. He never looked down on any enemy. Moreover, there was no noise in front of him like when Zhu Ying's wet nurse Zhao Mama made a scene. Instead, it seemed quite quiet. But he knew that a loud noise did not mean that the enemy was easy to deal with, and a quiet one did not mean that the visitor was easy to deal with.
So, the first thing he chose to do... was to go back to his room and change his clothes!
After washing her face, hands and hair, she replaced the hemp towel she used to hold her hair with a bamboo hairpin, replaced the hemp robe with shoulder pads with a green cloth that was neither new nor worn, and replaced the thick-soled black shoes that were stained with mud with a pair of clean, layered cloth shoes...
When he finally finished dressing, he took a look with satisfaction at the boy in the bronze mirror who was still handsome but a little more simple. Only then did he feel that it was about right.
At this moment, Ah Liu's muffled voice came from outside the door: "Master, there is a guest who wants to see you."
Zhang Shou was startled. He was sure that Zhu Hong climbed over the wall and opened the door for him, so he should not have alarmed anyone. His family should have thought that he was still in Cuiyun's room. Therefore, when he went to open the door, his doubtful eyes swept across Ah Liu's face several times.
Knowing that it was useless to ask this guy how he knew he was coming back, he asked two other questions instead: "Isn't mom home? Who is here?"
"My wife just happened to take Aunt Liu and a few other women from the village out to sell silk thread, so it was just me and Old Liu."
Ah Liu paused for a moment before speaking in a flat voice, "The visitors are two talented men from the capital, accompanied by Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang, but they are obviously hostile and wary of the visitors. I heard them say that one of them was the champion of the Shuntian Prefecture's provincial examination last year, and the other is the youngest head of the Imperial College."
Is it necessary to mobilize such a lineup to deal with a country boy?
A top scorer in the provincial examination plus a dean of the Imperial Academy, even an ordinary talented person would not be able to handle this!
It was a time of urgency, but Zhang Shou still had time to think about such ridiculous questions. He chuckled and walked out the door as if nothing had happened. When he passed by Ah Liu, he smiled and said, "You are usually very quiet, but you are very capable when it comes to gathering information. How many skills do you have that you haven't used yet?"
He did not expect Ah Liu's answer, so when the silent servant followed him quietly, he walked towards the front hall in a leisurely manner, but suddenly remembered something: "How long have they been here?"
"Just arrived." Ah Liu said these two words in a concise manner, and then added carefully, "They arrived at the entrance of the village but did not enter. Instead, they went to the village to inquire about you, young master. As a result, Mr. Yang and his men caused a few minor accidents, which allowed Qi Liang to rush to Cuiyun to report the news in time, delaying their journey. They were a little embarrassed because of this, and Zhang Chen and Lu Sanlang even mocked them when they came."
Zhang Shou stopped suddenly, turned around and glared at Ah Liu with both anger and amusement.
"Such important information, why didn't you remind me earlier? If there's anything you missed, tell me right away!"
"No more." This time, Ah Liu spoke very sparingly and had nothing else to say.
When he lifted the bamboo curtain at the back door of the hall and glanced around, noticing the four people sitting in distinct left and right seats, as well as the completely different entourage behind each of them, Zhang Shou had already put on a perfect smile on his face.
He clearly discovered that while he was observing the person coming, others were also secretly looking at him.
Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen, who also saw his face for the first time, were a little dazed. In contrast, the other two young scholars sitting on the right seemed much more calm and composed.
Of course, he would rather understand that the two, the top scorer in the Shuntian County Examination and the head of the Imperial Academy, had already made corresponding psychological preparations to face such a person before they came.
Otherwise, why would two grown men spread their beautiful tails like competitive peacocks when they came to see him?
One was dark blue, the other was purple, both were wearing extremely expensive gauze robes with dark patterns, and they had also deliberately made their faces as white as jade, and even used jade hairpins to tie their hair?
If you don’t have good looks, you can make do with clothes. You show off your talents and show off your clothes at the same time. Is that what you mean?
