Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 135: Killing a Chicken with a Butcher Knife
When Zhang Shou started to move, Ah Liu started to move like an arrow. Zhu Ying, who had been listening to Zhang Shou's movements, also jumped up immediately. She was very glad that she had chosen men's clothes in order to avoid gossip. This way, she could run fast without worrying about the problem of her skirt tripping her.
As for the guards who had no idea what was going on, they were two beats late in getting started. However, they were well-trained, and in the end, not only did two of them catch up with Zhu Ying, but the other two even surpassed the young lady.
When they saw that Ah Liu kicked away the two guys who were struggling to get up in front of Zhang Shou, and on the other side several big men in black had already put their shining swords on the neck of a young man whose face was distorted with fear, they finally realized what was going on.
The quarrel between the eldest lady and the young master of the Zhang family was fake. This was a deliberate attempt to create an opportunity for the young lady to be left alone and lure the snake out of its hole!
But what kind of character can be brought out?
"A Shou!"
Zhang Shou, who was still holding a sword, saw Zhu Ying rushing over like a gust of wind. He casually threw the sword to Ah Liu and immediately went forward. Seeing her face flushed, he didn't know whether it was because she ran or was anxious, so he smiled bitterly and said, "I made you nervous. You used a butcher knife to kill a chicken and caught the wrong person."
Zhu Ying was stunned at first, then turned to look in the direction of the big men in black. When she recognized the young man who was struggling desperately but couldn't break free, her previous annoyance when she was unwilling to let Zhang Shou take the risk, immediately turned into laughter at this moment.
"Zheng Huai'en, why is it you!" After laughing for a long time, Zhu Ying finally wiped away the tears that almost came out of her eyes, turned around and looked at Zhang Shou with a smile, and explained calmly, "He is the emperor's cousin, and he has no title because he has not passed the imperial clan examination. His family came to my house to propose marriage, but my father rejected it outright. I didn't expect that he still had such evil intentions!"
Zhang Shou smiled immediately. It turned out that he was not only a guy with unrequited love, but also a rival in love who had proposed marriage to him!
He was scared away by Zhang Shou's sword, and then ran into the encirclement set up by the big men in black. He was then escorted here like a prisoner. Zhu Ying called out his name and told him the most embarrassing experience of his marriage proposal being rejected. Zheng Huai'en felt ashamed and angry.
"Let me go. Even if I don't have a title, I am still a royal family member! I was just trying to scare Zhang Shou. I didn't do anything else. Why did you arrest me? Zhu Ying, what's so good about this guy who only has a pretty face? How am I inferior to him?"
Zhu Ying glanced at Zheng Huai'en unhappily, her face full of contempt: "You are not as good-looking as A Shou, your ideas are not as brilliant as A Shou, your conversation is not as interesting as A Shou, and you are not as enthusiastic as A Shou... Anyway, you are not as good as him in every way!"
Seeing Zheng Huai'en instantly deflated like a ball, Zhang Shou was too lazy to get angry, especially when he found that Ah Liu beside him also curled his lips and seemed to be laughing. He could only say lightly: "Please tell this to Wang Dayin of Shuntian Prefecture, Master Zheng. He planned everything today. He originally wanted to play the long game to catch a big fish, but he didn't expect that the one who got caught was Master Zheng, a member of the royal family with a good family background."
Zheng Huai'en felt something was wrong when he realized that the big men in black who had captured him knew clearly that he was a member of the royal family but still refused to let go. When he heard Zhang Shou say that this was a plan by Wang Jie, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, he knew that things were not going well.
The matter that could make the Shuntian prefect personally intervene was certainly not a small matter like him sending a sword to threaten Zhang Shou, or trying to threaten him in person just now. It could only be that more important people and events were involved. Although he was a member of the royal family, he could not bear the consequences!
"Zhang Shou, as long as you let me go, today's matter can be forgotten!" Zheng Huai'en tried his best to calm down and pull himself out of the quagmire. "You know, a country boy like you is not worthy of Zhu Ying at all!"
Zhu Ying was immediately furious: "Zheng Huai'en, if you say another word, I will pull out your tongue!"
Seeing Zheng Huai'en shut up immediately, Zhang Shou really wanted to laugh.
From Rongshui Village to the Imperial College, he had seen quite a few playboys. Among them were those like Lu Sanlang who had aspirations, those like Zhang Chen who had personality, those like Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu who each had their own plans, and there were others who just happened to be there for show, those who were sloppy, and those who did whatever they wanted... Anyway, there were all kinds of playboys in Banshan Hall, and he was almost aesthetically fatigued of them.
But he had never met anyone as stupid as this guy in front of him who claimed to be a member of the royal family.
When the threat of sending swords failed, he just went into battle himself, without any technical skills at all!
Just as he was sighing, he suddenly heard Ah Liu's voice: "Wang Dayin is here."
Zhang Shou looked up quickly, but didn't see anyone. After a long while, just when he almost thought that Ah Liu was playing a trick on him, he saw that a few figures finally appeared on the mountain road that he and Zhu Ying had just walked on. The leader was Wang Datou, who always had the expression of "you owe me three hundred taels", and a dozen guards surrounded him.
Thinking that Wang Datou would come over and know what happened, and he might be scolded for giving the idea, he suddenly had an idea.
“Yingying.”
Zhu Ying was staring at Zheng Huai'en, thinking whether to give this damn guy a good beating. Suddenly she heard Zhang Shou's cry and quickly turned her head to look. Seeing Zhang Shou winking at her, then moving his right index and middle fingers to make a gesture of running away, she immediately smiled knowingly.
"Ah Shou, leave the things here to Wang Dayin, let's go, we can go somewhere else for a stroll."
As she spoke, she quickly stepped forward, grabbed Zhang Shou's sleeve and ran away. When they ran a long way, she let go of his hand and looked back, and saw that Ah Liu had disappeared. Instead, the other guards of the Zhaoguo Mansion were unable to escape and were all stopped by Wang Jie's guards. She couldn't help but chuckle, "Ah Liu is still smart! No matter what, Wang Datou has done what he asked you to do!"
"It's a pity that the person I wanted to fish for was not caught, but the person who sent the sword was finally revealed."
Zhang Shou smoothed his sleeves that had just been wrinkled by Zhu Ying. After looking around, he found a path down the mountain. He suggested, "Why don't we go down the mountain from here, so as to avoid being waited for by Wang Datou when we turn back? Judging from the direction, if we get to the bottom of the mountain and take a detour, we should be able to meet up with the people left behind by Duke Zhao's mansion."
"Great! It's a rare opportunity to go out of the city to enjoy the autumn, and I thought it was quite interesting to help Wang Datou set up a net to fish. Who knew that I would catch that idiot Zheng Huaien? It's boring! Let's go down the mountain and return to Haidian. My family has a garden there. We can spend the night and return to Beijing tomorrow morning. It won't be too late anyway since you have two days off!"
When Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying walked down the mountain from the unsafe path, Wang Jie, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, stood in front of Zheng Huai'en with a stern face. Compared with his arrogance in front of Zhang Shou just now, this clan member seemed to be timid and quiet at this moment. Even though the black-clothed man who had originally twisted him had loosened his hand, he was still a little hunched and did not dare to look directly into Wang Jie's eyes.
Wang Jie did not ask Zheng Huai'en what he meant. He was looking at the thinnest and shortest man among the black-clothed men. This man was none other than Lin Lao Hu, the famous head of the prison in Shuntian Prefecture. In front of his boss, even though Lin Lao Hu had already realized that today's matter was quite troublesome, he still had to bite the bullet and explain the whole story.
Who made Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying, two people he couldn't afford to offend, run away?
After listening to the whole story calmly, Wang Datou did not immediately get angry as his subordinates worried. He just glanced at others and only focused on Zheng Huai'en. Zheng Huai'en sorted out his emotions and tried to raise his head to explain something to Wang Datou, when his eyes met that sharp gaze. In just a moment, all the words he had prepared were forgotten.
Even though Wang Datou didn't say anything, he still felt the anger that was almost swallowing him!
"The imperial examination is approaching, but Master Huai En is quite leisurely and elegant." Seeing that Zheng Huai En's forehead was covered with sweat and he dared not speak, Wang Jie said coldly, "Even if people laugh at me for using a butcher knife to kill a chicken, I accept it. It's better to get a big fish and turn it into a shrimp than to get nothing."
No matter how stupid Zheng Huai'en was, he realized that things were not going well. When two men in black suddenly came up from behind him and clamped his arms tightly, he hurriedly shouted, "Wang Dayin, I was just confused for a moment and did something indecent, but I didn't cause any bad consequences..."
"No adverse consequences? Zhang Shoudu has already sheathed the sword you threatened him with and brought it directly to the Imperial College. More than a hundred students in Banshan Hall, including two princes, have seen it. Isn't that enough? You even brought people here to set up a trap to hold him hostage. If he hadn't been prepared, and I had people waiting in wait, what were you planning to do?"
Without waiting for Zheng Huai'en to continue his defense, the Shuntian prefect said impatiently: "Come here, shut his mouth and take him back to Shuntian prefectural government office. The case of the eunuch in Qingning Palace in the palace using a porcelain box to frame Zhang Shou has not been resolved yet!"
Hearing these ruthless words like autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, and when a handkerchief was directly blocked in his mouth, Zheng Huai'en almost went crazy.
He bribed people in the palace to frame Zhang Shou, and this was done without anyone knowing. Even the eunuch who did it didn't know who ordered him to do it. Is Wang Datou a person with clairvoyance and super hearing? How did he know it was him who did it?
He had no idea that Wang Jie was in a very bad mood at this moment.
Today, he had lured the snake out of its hole but ended up in such a mess. The emperor would probably mock him again later!
The big case in Linhai Camp was pushed to Shuntian Prefecture, and the inexplicable theft and frame-up lawsuit in Qingning Palace was also thrown to Shuntian Prefecture. He was the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, not the Minister of War and Chief Eunuch of the Imperial Household!
In this case, don't blame him for trying to save trouble. It's Zheng Huai'en who hit him in the face! These clan members deserve to be punished!
