Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 112: Please Get on the Sedan Again
Zhang Shou never had a bad habit of choosing a bed, so even when he stayed at Qing'an Hall in the Duke of Zhao's mansion when he first came to Beijing, or slept in the small courtyard that Qi Jingshan lent to them last night, or now he was temporarily staying in the guest room of Shuntian Prefecture, he slept well. Of course, it could also be due to the fact that he was too tired recently, so he didn't even dream much.
However, this time, early in the morning, he had to eat a midnight snack to digest his food after doing some mental work at night. He went to bed later than usual, but he did not wake up naturally, but was awakened by the sudden cold feeling on his forehead. When he opened his eyes and saw the familiar face of Ah Liu, his first reaction was to close his eyes.
Well, this is a nightmare...
But the next moment, he heard a cold voice in his ear: "Master, the Queen Mother summoned you."
When these words entered his ears, Zhang Shou was stunned for a moment, then suddenly turned over and sat up, waking up from his sleepiness. He saw Ah Liu standing by the bed, looking at him innocently. He saw a soft towel in his hand, and thinking of the cold touch just now, he knew without thinking that it must be Ah Liu who had used the soft towel soaked in well water to give him a surprise attack.
"Can't you just talk properly?"
"I stood there for a long time before calling you."
Hearing the implication that I was considerate enough to let you sleep a few more minutes, Zhang Shou could only consider himself unlucky. He lifted the quilt and got out of bed, but saw on the hanger next to him a brand new official uniform of a doctor of the Imperial College that was neatly ironed. He couldn't help but look at Ah Liu in surprise: "Did you bring it specially?"
"Yes." Ah Liu had already closed his mouth, but after thinking for a while, he added, "The weaving workshop was in a hurry to make it, and the eldest lady asked me to bring it here."
Thinking that Ah Liu always talked a lot when talking about Zhu Ying, he couldn't help but glance over suspiciously. However, seeing that his expression remained unchanged under his gaze, he gave up the idea of finding out any clues. After he washed up, Ah Liu brought him the porridge, side dishes and three-color snacks that he had prepared long ago, so he could only fill his stomach quickly.
Since there were no outsiders around, he didn't care about the rule of not talking while eating or sleeping. While eating, he asked, "Why did the Queen Mother suddenly summon me?"
"Love the house and the dog?" Ah Liu raised his eyebrows. Seeing Zhang Shou almost choked, he curled his lips and said, "Because you are famous."
What kind of answer is this? If I remember correctly, thanks to the help of the eldest lady and Lu Sanlang in building up momentum for me, and the fact that after I entered the capital the night before yesterday, Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen and more than a hundred people surrounded me and went to the Imperial College. I seem to have been famous in the capital for a long time, right?
Zhang Shou was still a little reluctant to get up, and he chuckled unhappily, then took a big bite of the soft chive roll. The next moment, he heard Ah Liu's rare further explanation.
"This morning, Wang Fuyin killed everyone."
Uh, this is about the morning court, right? Is it that exaggerated?
Zhang Shou thought seriously about the possible dispute at the court meeting, and suddenly felt that the originally delicious and fragrant flower rolls were a little tasteless. Just as he sighed, Ah Liu added several more sentences: "You'd better hurry up, otherwise the eldest lady might come through the door. She wanted to come last night, but was persuaded by the lady and the wife. She waited at the gate of Shuntian Prefecture early this morning."
"Why didn't you say it earlier!" Ah Liu finally turned into a nagging boy, but Zhang Shou was really angry.
It doesn’t matter if Zhu Ying is waiting for him in front of the door of some other place, but this is...Shuntian Prefecture Yamen!
Shuntian Prefecture governed many counties and towns in the entire capital area. The prefectural government office located in the north of the capital naturally had many people coming in and out, and there were also people coming to file complaints on special days. Of course, with the Daxing County Office and Wanping County Office, the proportion of such cross-level complaints was very low. Song Tuiguan, who was in charge of criminal cases, was relatively idle most of the time , but today, he wanted to be a little busier.
Because he was standing at the door facing the beautiful and cold Zhu Ying, and he had tried his best to persuade the young lady to move. At this moment, he hoped that Wang Fuyin, who was silent in the government office, would come back quickly.
"Miss..."
Zhu Ying finally lost her patience: "I didn't force my way in, I didn't make any noise, and I didn't block the road. What else do you want? I'm just waiting for someone. Why did you invite someone here in the middle of the night and not allow me to wait here?"
Song Tuiguan finally waited for Zhu Ying to speak, but was silenced by the one, two, three. Compared with the arrogant style of this Miss Zhu in the capital, she was indeed very restrained today. But she did not force her way in, the problem was that others did not dare to come in!
We can't let all those who come to do business go through the back door, right? After all, it was Wang Dayin who robbed people last night...
Just as he was secretly complaining, he heard a voice behind him: "Yingying!"
Before he could turn around, he saw Zhu Ying in front of him change from anger to joy in an instant. The smile on her face was even more charming than the red dress. Even he, who always believed that he valued virtue over beauty, almost stared at her. It was not until he noticed someone hurriedly passing by, and then Zhu Ying smiled and greeted that person, that he woke up from his dream.
Seeing clearly that it was a young man wearing the official uniform of the Imperial College Doctor, Song Tui Guan could not help but laugh when he thought about the other young man he had let in before, whose face could not be seen and who seemed to be hidden behind the official uniform held high. However, when he saw the other's face clearly, he could not help but feel some unspeakable resentment as he had not met Zhang Shou yesterday.
Thinking back to the palace examination, it was said that he was almost selected as the first in the second class, but one of the young Jinshi was not only dignified and handsome, but was strongly recommended by the chief examiner and was selected, while he fell to sixth in the second class...
Thinking back to the selection, he almost passed the exam to become a Shujishi, but the one who was as good-looking as him in writing was still favored by the president of the Hanlin Academy...
When he was first appointed to the position, he had the hope of being appointed as a clerk in the Ministry of Rites. However, this position required frequent overseas missions to issue imperial edicts, bestow rewards, convey decrees, and confer titles, and one was the face of the court. Therefore, he missed the opportunity because of his appearance.
Now he is a sixth-rank Shuntian Prefecture official, and the prefect of the Wangfu also appreciates him. It seems that his future is good, but... this is already his third official position! If he is also better-looking, will his official career be smoother? You know, when he passed the imperial examination, he was also a rare top young talent, just 20 years old, but now he is 26...
What a bitter tear!
Zhang Shou didn't notice Song Tuiguan's complicated mental activities, but he noticed the resentful look he gave him and Zhu Ying, so he had to urge Zhu Ying to leave quickly. Zhu Ying was satisfied to receive him, and naturally had no intention of standing at the gate of Shuntian Prefecture. She immediately pointed to the corner of the wall, which was also a sedan chair, but it was carried by two horses in front and behind.
"The Empress Dowager specially sent a sedan chair. We can enter the palace from Bei'an Gate and get off the sedan chair directly at Xuanwu Gate. This way we can walk less!"
Zhang Shou knew that Bei'an Gate was located on the north side of the imperial city, closest to the Shuntian government office, but this required passing through the outer imperial city in the north and passing many eunuch offices. He was not sure what the current imperial city and palace regulations were, but he could not help but feel a little bit of anticipation. Because of this trance, he didn't remember one thing until he got on the sedan chair.
This sedan chair can only accommodate two people sitting opposite each other. Does Zhu Ying want to ride with him?
But the next moment, the sedan door suddenly closed. Then, he heard the eldest lady's cheerful voice coming from outside: "Hurry up, hurry up, the Queen Mother is waiting!"
When the sedan started to move, Zhang Shou almost felt as if he was being escorted to a bridal sedan. Although he quickly dismissed this ridiculous thought, he no longer had the interest to open the curtains to look at the scenery along the way, even after entering Bei'an Gate. He simply sat there thinking about the secret letters from last night.
He had a very good memory and memorized those binary numbers by rote. Now he simply pondered them one by one. When he got off the sedan in front of Xuanwu Gate, he absent-mindedly converted them into decimal and searched for words in the Thousand Character Classic in his mind. Therefore, when two more sedan chairs were brought over, he sat in them again without paying much attention. He didn't come to his senses until he got off the sedan again.
"We have arrived at Qingning Palace."
Zhang Shou had not noticed the buildings on the road just now. When he got off the sedan chair, he found that all he could see were red walls and glazed tiles. On the door in front of him were the three words "Qingning Gate". Turning his head to look at the sun, he realized that this should be the north gate of Qingning Palace. According to the rule that the south side of the palace is the main gate, there is no doubt that this is the back gate.
He hesitated for a moment, and then he saw Zhu Ying holding up her skirt and running towards him quickly: "It's a long way to go through Changxin Gate in front, so Qingning Gate is closer! Ah Shou, hurry up, the Empress Dowager is just like my grandmother, she is very kind and easy to talk to!"
Zhang Shou smiled and nodded slightly, but when he was about to enter Qingning Gate, he saw a little eunuch suddenly jumped out from inside and almost bumped into him.
Zhu Ying's brows immediately raised, but before she could lose her temper, the young eunuch apologized repeatedly and ran away.
Zhang Shou almost instinctively put his hand on his chest, then immediately without hesitation, he put his hand into his arms, took a step forward with his left leg, and at the same time raised his right hand and made a standard straight ball throwing action that could not be better.
Before Zhu Ying could come to her senses, she saw Zhang Shou suddenly throw something out of his hand, and then it hit the eunuch's back with great accuracy. In an instant, the eunuch fell down with a thud. She stared at Zhang Shou in amazement, and then she saw the handsome young man smiling at her a little embarrassedly.
"I haven't thrown it in a long time, so my hands are a little rusty."
Zhu Ying glanced at the eunuch on the ground, who was holding his waist and unable to get up, and couldn't help laughing. This was because he was unfamiliar with the art. If he was familiar with it, wouldn't the unfortunate eunuch be crushed to death?
