Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 137 Don't Be Surprised
When Zhang Shou jumped off the bed and rushed out a few steps without even having time to put on his shoes, the door curtain was lifted high by someone, and the person who followed him in was Ah Liu with his head hung down, and closely behind him was Zhu Ying.
At this time, Miss Zhu, who should have been asleep, was wrapped in a hooded cloak and a pair of sheepskin boots. When she took off her hood, her long hair was completely loose. Probably because she had done her hair in a man's bun during the day, her hair was slightly curled, and under the light, it looked like natural curls. Her face also showed a slight anger.
"I just came in, and that reckless boy Ah Liu rushed out and directly knocked over the calming incense I brought!"
Zhu Ying glared at Ah Liu as she spoke. Noticing that the young man looked uncomfortable, she snorted, "Really? This is Zhao Garden, not some other messy place. Grandma and dad run this place like the Zhu family's base. How could an assassin get in?" As she said this, her expression changed and she seemed a little annoyed.
But she still said to herself: "This is where the old people in the mansion live. They have been working in the mansion for a long time. They don't want to be idle, so they teach the new people here! Fortunately, what was knocked over is not something valuable. I will ask someone to send another furnace back... Hey, Ah Shou, why are you still barefoot?"
Zhang Shou then realized that he was walking barefoot on the ground. Fortunately, the Nuanxiangwu was paved with wooden floors, so it was not too cold to walk on them in this autumn. However, he was soon ordered by Zhu Ying to go back to the bed and sit down. Then, the unlucky boy was ordered by Miss Zhu to go out and pour hot water again.
“No need to bother…”
Before Zhang Shou finished speaking, he saw Zhu Ying winking at him. Seeing Ah Liu quietly leaving, he saw Zhu Ying take off her shoes and step onto the ground in front of the bed. Wearing only socks, she gently moved her feet and moved the quilt that Ah Liu had slept on to the side, then looked at him with a stern face.
"I have something to tell you!"
After saying this, she bent down slightly, and when she approached Zhang Shou, her face even showed a suspicious blush. She whispered a few words to Zhang Shou in a very light voice, and when she stood up again, her dark eyes showed obvious regret and reluctance, and her straight nose even wrinkled slightly.
In contrast, Zhang Shou was just stunned for a moment, then he smiled and said, "I know, let's do it this way, don't worry!"
"Don't worry!" Zhu Ying muttered softly, and then snorted viciously. Suddenly, she thought of Zhang Shou's passionate hug a few days ago, and her eyes flickered. Then, she suddenly took a step forward and grabbed Zhang Shou's hands with both hands.
"A Shou..."
Although she was always bold, this was the first time she had done such a bold move. Seeing Zhang Shou looking up and meeting her gaze in surprise, she said word by word: "It's time to send the incense after the foot bath. Go to bed early and take care of yourself. Your health is important!"
Zhu Ying, who left like a whirlwind, narrowly avoided bumping into Ah Liu, who was carrying hot water, outside the door. The two stopped and looked at each other. Seeing Ah Liu's nonchalant expression, Zhu Ying couldn't help but blink at the boy: "You should also go to bed early and stop getting so startled!"
"Yeah." Ah Liu agreed casually, watched Zhu Ying meet up with the two girls who came forward, and then hurried away.
He entered the room and silently brought water to help Zhang Shou wash his feet. He then wiped the floor where the water had splashed, and then went out with the wooden basin to pour water. At this time, calming incense was also delivered to the door by a servant. He handed over the empty basin and replaced it with the calming incense. When he brought it into the room, he found that Zhang Shou on the bed had fallen asleep under the quilt, breathing evenly, just like he was pretending to sleep just now.
So, with a smile on his face, he re-made his bedding, left a candle, and then lay down again.
Zhang Shou slept very soundly this time. When he opened his eyes , he found that the pattern of the tent above his head was completely different from the one he had when he lay down before. He stared at the tent for a long time without moving, and then he heard someone laugh beside him.
"Dr. Zhang is really unusual. If it were someone else, they would have jumped up to check the situation, but you are still lying there peacefully."
Zhang Shou took a deep breath and then sat up. He turned around and saw that the furnishings in the room were completely different from before. On the armchair against the wall opposite the bed, a man in green was sitting with his back to him. He sneered and said, "I just thought that if someone could really kidnap me from Zhao Garden, it would be useless for me to panic. I might as well continue lying down to see if I was dreaming."
"Haha, you are not dreaming... However, if you think that there is something wrong with the calming incense in the Zhaoguo Mansion, then you are worrying too much. The fragrance of the calming incense can just cover up the smell of other aphrodisiac incense. Otherwise, even with the powerful young guard beside you, we would not be able to get you out. Although Zhao Garden is heavily guarded, it has changed hands many times in the past hundred years, so it is not without loopholes."
"Oh, I see." Zhang Shou glanced at the shirt he was wearing when he went to bed, narrowed his eyes, and asked with a dull look, "Then just tell me why you invited me here."
"I asked you to come here for only one thing. Could you please tell me how you helped Wang Datou and Lu Wan decipher those secret letters? As long as you tell me clearly, I will not only send you away safely, but also give you a mansion in the capital and a thousand acres of fertile land. You don't want to be the son-in-law of the Zhu family with nothing, do you?"
A series of thoughts flashed through Zhang Shou's mind, and then he smiled faintly.
"I may be able to earn the good farmland and beautiful house myself. Your price is really insincere. Moreover, how can I guarantee that you will not go back on your word? What if after I tell you, you will kill me? Will someone who can do something in Zhao Garden still care about the future son-in-law of the Duke of Zhao?"
The man in green seemed to have not expected Zhang Shou's attitude. He was silent for a long time before he said coldly, "Dr. Zhang's concerns are not without reason, but now I am the knife and you are the fish. You have no bargaining power. If you don't accept my toast, don't blame me for making you drink the penalty wine! Even a warrior can't stand it under the three-wood, let alone a weak scholar like you?"
"Haha." Zhang Shou laughed again with an ambiguous tone, looking very calm.
"That night at Shuntian Prefecture, Wang Dayin invited my three students to help. In addition, the Minister of War Lu Wan mobilized a large number of clerks from the Ministry of War to verify the calculations. There are many people who know that simple calculation method. Even if it was not leaked out at first due to the strict order, it would be much easier to find these people than to take me out of Zhao Garden. I am very curious, why did you choose the difficult option over the easy one?"
"It seems that Dr. Zhang, you are really asking questions even though you already know the answer, and you are stubborn and refuse to change your mind!" As the man in green said this, he clapped his hands, and hurried footsteps were heard outside the door, as if they would rush in the next moment.
Zhang Shou suddenly threw off the quilt and went to the ground barefoot. He grabbed a small table beside the bed with both hands and smashed it against the armchair. Sure enough, with a bang, the man in green clothes on the armchair with his back to him fell down. It turned out to be a dummy. Immediately afterwards, a hole in the copper pipe on the wall appeared clearly.
The chaotic footsteps outside the door could no longer be heard, as if the movement of at least seven or eight people just now was just Zhang Shou's auditory hallucination.
There was total silence inside the copper tube, as if the people hiding behind it had immediately retreated after realizing that things were not going well. However, after a long while, a sound was heard again.
"My son-in-law is really good at stalling for time. He put on a good show. I have already caught the man. Those two guys were smart. Before they ran away, they blocked the copper tube that transmits the sound."
The voice in the copper tube paused, then laughed, "The eldest lady personally intercepted one of them, and beat him almost to death with three punches and two kicks. Ah Liu has taken care of the guy who sent you the calming incense. If you like, you can have a good sleep. Thanks to Wang Datou's overkill, you came to Zhao Garden, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to lure these two people out."
Dummies, copper tubes transmitting sounds, ventriloquism… Zhang Shou judged this in his mind, smiled casually, and said bluntly: "So it was Master Hua Qi. You only caught two people there?"
"There are only two of them, a lieutenant general who escaped during the rebellion in the Linhai Camp and a counselor. But having said that, I really want to know, are you just trying to get out of this predicament, or have you seen through that the person sitting on the armchair is a fake? Even if the eldest lady informed you in advance, aren't you afraid that if something goes wrong, you will be kidnapped successfully? If you act so casually, it will be terrible if something goes wrong!"
"Before I moved into Nuanxiangwu, I found that the east room was locked. They said it hadn't been cleaned yet. I thought it was a bit strange at that time. When I woke up just now, I noticed the direction of the moonlight outside the window and thought I should be in the east room of some house. With such a coincidence, of course I couldn't help but make a bold guess. Now I am in Zhao Garden, in Nuanxiangwu, but someone just moved me from the west room to the east room."
Zhang Shou paused for a moment, then continued calmly, "Moreover, if he didn't want to reveal his true identity , he could just wear a wide robe, a bamboo hat and a veil and face me directly. But he chose to sit with his back to me. There must be something fishy going on. As for whether I was really kidnapped, your disciple, Master Hua Qi, was lying on the ground in front of my bed. I trust him very much."
With Zhu Ying sending the letter in front of him and Ah Liu protecting him from behind, it would be strange if he still made a fuss...
As soon as Zhang Shou finished speaking, he saw the door suddenly opened. Then, Ah Liu poked his head out. He didn't know if he heard his praise, but a smile appeared on his face. But the first person to rush in was Zhu Ying.
"Ah Shou, are you okay?"
