Volume 1 In the Countryside Chapter 56: Not good enough acting skills?
From the table at the entrance of the village, one can clearly see the small path that branches off from the official road in the distance.
Zhang Shou noticed that as the group of people and horses that had been winding for hundreds of steps got closer and closer along the path, the people around him had different reactions.
Zhang Chen, who had just boasted that no one was afraid of whom, tensed up all over. Zhang Wu, who began to regret that he had not been able to help at all last night, trembled slightly in his shoulders. The other people drank one glass after another, but their faces were stiff. Zhu Ying looked around with a face full of satisfaction like a birthday boy. Lu Sanlang ate heartily and commented on the quality of the dishes from time to time. Both of them showed good psychological quality.
He didn't know whether the latter two had seen the same clues as he did. After thinking about it, he felt that he was not absolutely sure, so he didn't say his guess out loud.
Seeing that Aunt Liu had wisely helped her slightly tipsy mother, Mrs. Wu, into the house to rest, some of the drunk villagers at other tables were playing finger-guessing games, while some of the followers of the nobles were singing little songs. He suddenly shouted out in excitement.
"The one who is singing, please speak louder. What's the point of singing just for yourself? If you want to sing, let everyone hear it!"
"Yes, yes, sing louder. If he sings well, I will reward him with a golden flower!" Zhu Ying also immediately joined in the fun.
The one who was singing happily was interrupted by Zhang Shou's clap. He was still a little hesitant, but when he heard that Miss Zhu, who was known for her generosity, sang like a golden flower as soon as she opened her mouth, he was overjoyed and started singing loudly without thinking.
However, before he sang a few lines of this ridiculous song, a group of people who really couldn't stand it hurriedly pushed him down, and after three glasses of wine, he fell drunk beside the table. Seeing this, Zhu Ying, who had drunk two more glasses, couldn't help but slam the table in anger.
"Change people, change people quickly! Whoever sings well will receive a golden flower as a reward, and I will never break my promise!"
A big reward will always bring out the brave. Immediately, another guard who boasted of his good voice jumped onto the stool and sang a high note: "The floating clouds are my shadow, the sad wind is my whirl, the three vows are clearly stated."
Hearing this opening, even Zhang Shou, who was deliberately teasing people to sing, felt scalp tingling. However, before he could hurriedly ask people to stop, the guard with a wonderful female voice spit out the next fatal lyrics.
"Mother-in-law, wait till the snow falls in June and there is a drought for three years, then your unjustly killed soul, Dou E, will appear!"
In an instant, all the people who were enjoying the meal happily at the banquet were stunned.
Even if the eldest lady promised to reward you with golden flowers if you sing well, why are you singing "Snow in June and Dou E's Injustice" at the eldest lady's birthday banquet at noon on August 15th, the Mid-Autumn Festival? Are you cursing... or asking for a beating?
Even the long team of people who had just arrived at the village entrance, and the officer on the tall horse in front who looked extremely majestic and powerful, couldn't help twitching at the corners of his mouth when he heard the lyrics that sounded like magic.
Just at this moment, his mount seemed unable to bear the tune and suddenly stumbled. This time, the majestic officer, who was already distracted, suddenly slipped down.
Fortunately, he acted on the spot, and when he fell off the horse, he took a deep breath, propped himself up with one hand, and then suddenly flipped forward, and finally landed steadily. But even so, when he finally breathed a sigh of relief and stood up again with his head held high, he found that a group of people crowded at the table not far away were looking at him with extremely strange eyes. After a moment of shock, he hurriedly showed a ferocious look again.
Even though the heroic officer almost made a fool of himself just now, as he mounted his horse again, dozens of soldiers followed him on horseback in unison, and as they pressed forward towards the entrance of the village with great momentum, not only did someone hurriedly pull down the guy who was standing on the stool and singing "The Injustice of Dou E" and order him to shut up, even guards such as Zhu Hong could not help but rush over and surround the head table with alert faces.
Even though Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying did not inform them, how could they not be nervous given the situation?
However, Zhu Ying impatiently slammed the wine glass down on the table and then asked loudly, "Is the person coming an official or a bandit?"
Seeing the leading officer's face filled with a dumbfounded expression when he heard this straightforward question, Zhang Shou couldn't help but become more certain of his previous guess and immediately stood up and smiled.
"Miss Zhu means that if it is the government troops coming to help, then we should invite them into the village and have a drink. If it is the roving rebels, then I'm sorry. More than 20 people have been trapped in this small Rongshui Village last night. You may as well give it a try."
The officer managed to restore his facial expression to the ferocious one he imagined, and tried his best to make his tone as tough as possible: "I have received news about what happened last night. Although you are all nobles in the capital and have many guards with you, isn't it too much of a compliment to say that we can easily capture these traitors?"
Before anyone could speak, he raised his voice and said, "But before that, hand over those rebels first!"
"Why..." Before Zhang Chen could utter a word, Lu Sanlang covered his mouth and dragged him aside.
Thinking that Lu Sanlang was trying to prevent Zhang Chen from provoking disputes, the other noble children and their entourage and guards were like being on a tight string. If they had arrows in their hands at this moment, they would definitely let them fly around and it would all depend on luck whether they hit the target or not.
In contrast, the villagers in the back who were still shouting, playing finger-guessing games and drinking were in stark contrast to the tense and heavy atmosphere at the front table. It was like heaven and hell.
After a long stalemate, except for Zhang Chen who was stopped after saying two words, the fierce officer seemed to feel a little uncomfortable. He licked his dry lips and tried to emphasize his tone again: "I'll say it again, hand over all the rebels, otherwise don't blame me for giving the order to destroy everything!"
"I don't have a life, but I have one. If you have the guts, come and get it!"
Zhu Ying's sudden shouting immediately pushed the tense atmosphere to its highest point. But the next moment, she couldn't help but burst out laughing, then turned her back to rub her stomach: "No, no, no, Ah Shou, you keep acting, I can't hold it anymore!"
"You couldn't hold it back and asked me to come?" Zhang Shou couldn't help laughing. He took a deep breath and finally put on a serious face. But then he coughed dryly and said, "Okay, stop pretending. Your little tricks have been seen through a long time ago!"
Seeing that the officer was stunned and some of the soldiers behind him were even laughing, he smiled and revealed the answer.
"It's not difficult for a carriage and a few horses to pass through this small road from the official road, but if your Excellency has hundreds of people and horses coming through such a small road, the speed will be slow. If they really come with bad intentions, not to mention the harvested rice fields on the roadside, even the young rice fields will be trampled without a care. Because time is tight, they don't want to waste time coming through the small road."
"Moreover, whether as an accomplice of the rebel army, or a tyrannical government soldier who came to demand the release of a person, or even more so, as someone tasked with silencing and slaughtering an entire village, your Excellency's image is majestic and powerful, your style is upright and rigorous, and your words are very formal. It's really... well, not to mention that you can't act well, you can't even play the role of a treacherous and evil criminal. This is your biggest flaw."
In fact, these were all lies. The most important thing was that he had just figured it out. He had been misled by Hua Qi before. Would such a confidant of the Duke of Zhao only discover and raise the alarm when the soldiers with bad intentions came to his doorstep, and even go up to negotiate and deal with them in a somewhat tragic manner?
The officer didn't know what expression to show. He was criticized for his performance, and then he was praised? What the hell was this? It wasn't until he heard a cough behind him that he came to his senses.
"Alas, he made such a promise when he was patting his chest, but in the end, it went wrong halfway through the performance. It turned out that the actor was not chosen well."
Following this voice, Hua Qi, dressed in the uniform of a soldier, rode out from the rear army. He ignored the angry stares from the nobles and asked with a smile, "Besides these flaws, did Master Shou see anything else?"
Zhang Shou was not surprised to see Hua Qi. "Also, although I have lived in the countryside for a long time, I have heard that cavalry is difficult to train. In the capital, except for the imperial court, no one can mobilize such an elite cavalry of hundreds of people. Otherwise, it would not be a peaceful and orderly world, but a chaotic war."
Hua Qi burst out laughing: "You are quite eloquent in praising the emperor, and what you said makes sense."
Zhang Shou was not distracted by Hua Qi, and asked with a half-smile: "Is the current situation instigated by Master Hua Qi on a whim, or were you ordered to scare us before you came?"
Hearing this, even Zhu Ying, who had just turned around, couldn't help but reveal a curious expression, not to mention the noble children and their entourage and guards who had just been frightened.
"That was my idea." Hua Qi said with a smile, then suddenly changed his tone, "Of course, that's impossible."
After playing tricks again, he said calmly, "The cabinet meeting agreed to send troops to quell the rebellion, and the Queen Mother specifically ordered Xiong Wei to bring people over first to take a look, escort those rebellious troops back to the capital, and scare you all. The Queen Mother said that although the countryside is nice, there are no city walls after all, so you all have to be more careful and protect yourselves!"
Seeing Hua Qi speaking so seriously, everyone felt guilty and embarrassed, but Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel suspicious.
He really didn't trust this madman... maybe Hua Qi could... fake the imperial decree?
Of course, it is not ruled out that the empress dowager who returned power was simply too idle... Isn't she afraid of scaring people to death?
