Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 138: Do Not Discuss Academic Issues with the Traitors
The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it, and behind the oriole, there is a silent hunter.
Zhang Shou felt that this was probably the best description of his rare two days of rest.
He and Wang Jie set up a trap and dragged Zhu Ying to act together, and ended up luring out a royal family member who was hostile to him, Zheng Huai'en, and it has been confirmed that the person was the one who sent the sword to threaten him. However, when he and Zhu Ying seemed to have come to Zhaoyuan to stay temporarily on a whim, the two remnants who escaped from the Linhai camp targeted him. Behind the two remnants, the Seventh Master Hua had already spread a net.
Of course, the one who made the biggest sacrifice was Zhu Ying. If it were most of the rich ladies nowadays, it would be wishful thinking to date for autumn viewing before getting married; and if it were the girls of later generations, dating for other purposes would be even more unrepentant! However, when he told Miss Zhu that he had other purposes after enjoying the autumn, she readily agreed.
So at this moment, facing Zhu Ying's anxious face, Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh: "Of course I'm fine, not a scratch!"
"Really?" Zhu Ying had already come to the bed. The bed in the east room was not a step-out bed like the ones in a small house, so she didn't have to bend down, but she couldn't help but half-lean forward.
As if she was afraid that Zhang Shou was lying to her, she stared at Zhang Shou from head to toe for a long time. Finally, when she was sure that he really had no injuries on his body, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Luckily you're okay. I was so scared! In addition to the two people Uncle Hua and I caught, there are still people in Zhao Garden who took advantage of the annual routine maintenance to collude with outsiders, secretly hide traitors, install copper pipes and plot evil. They even added something to the calming incense I sent you! If we hadn't captured the traitor alive this time, I would never be able to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River!"
At this point, Zhu Ying lowered her head. "Although Uncle Hua repeatedly assured me that catching the man would be a great achievement, and all the credit would belong to you, and you would have everything you wanted to get promoted and make money, and he also said that with Ah Liu following you, there would be no danger. But I really didn't want to agree. When I heard that it might be a traitor from the Linhai Camp, I didn't want you to take risks even more. Ah Shou, I'm sorry for putting you in danger..."
"Didn't you just come here specially to tell me? Since I promised you myself, why are you still saying sorry?"
Zhang Shou interrupted Zhu Ying, turned his head to look at the moonlight outside the window, and then smiled at the girl in front of him: "Besides, what Mr. Hua Qi needs me to do is essentially the same as what I do for Wang Dayin. There are certain risks, but they are all within the controllable range. Besides, it's not bad to change your mind occasionally after talking and thinking all day in the Imperial College."
"Tomorrow I will urge Ah Liu to practice our Zhu family's inherited swordsmanship well and let him teach you well!" Zhu Ying took a deep breath and said with courage, "Such a big thing has happened, how about you move to another place?"
Zhang Shou was about to say no, but when he saw the redness on Zhu Ying's face that couldn't be concealed at all, he was slightly stunned, and then he smiled and said, "Why, you want to follow the example of the Madam who asked me to live in the wing of Qing'an Hall and move me to the east or west wing of Qiu Shuang Zhai, so that I can live next to you in the main hall? When I was at my house, there was no other way, but it's not to this extent now."
Seeing Zhu Ying glaring at him angrily, with a look of annoyance on her face as if to say, "Why did you have to tell me?", he said gently, "Yingying, I have taken advantage of you a lot. Although you don't mind, I am indeed a person who is shot by an arrow and everyone is like an assassin, but I am not so paranoid that I still feel scared after the matter is resolved. Don't worry, you can go back to sleep, Ah Liu is here!"
"Since you said so, forget it." Zhu Ying turned around and left, but when she reached the door, she stopped and said without turning back, "Also, thank you!"
Thank him for what? Thank him for taking the risk of being the bait?
Or was it because he had lured out the two rebels hiding in Zhao Garden, thus successfully avoiding a big trouble that the Duke Zhao's Mansion might have gotten into?
But no matter what, he should be grateful to Zhu Ying, because if it weren't for her, he wouldn't have left the countryside, stepped into the capital, and truly seen the scenery of this era.
Zhang Shou coaxed Zhu Ying away with a few words, but he was no longer sleepy. After telling Ah Liu to make sure Zhu Ying had returned to Qiu Shuang Zhai, he quickly got up and changed his clothes, then called Ah Liu to follow him, and the two of them walked out of the door one after the other in the night. With Ah Liu, a boy with a nose and ears more sensitive than a dog, leading the way, he quickly found Hua Qi in the Hengwu Courtyard in the north.
But I only saw this middle-aged man, who was probably a royal spy, sitting in the main seat in the main room, and four people were tied up on the ground. Two of them were dressed in the clothes of Zhao Garden servants, looking dejected, and the other two had bruises on their faces, but one of them had a bit of resentment in his eyes, and the other one looked timid.
"Hey, are you here to see the man who threatened you?" Hua Qi pointed at the middle-aged man with a frightened face and said with a sneer, "It's this guy, the advisor of Deputy General Xiao who committed suicide out of shame in Linhai Camp. He was a scholar after all, but he was stupid enough to join the rebellion. After the rebellion failed, he still didn't give up and wanted to trick you into knowing how to decrypt it."
Seeing the arrogant man glaring at him fiercely, Zhang Shou thought that the other one was probably the lieutenant general that Hua Qi had mentioned. However, he was not interested in such a martial man, but looked at the scholar mentioned by Hua Qi with great interest.
Although Zhang Shou's gaze seemed harmless, Master Ma, who was sitting on the ground, felt that Zhang Shou's gaze was like a butcher weighing the total weight of a pig, where to start the butchering, and which piece of meat to cut first. Even though he had never seen a pig being slaughtered, he couldn't help but feel creepy.
Therefore, thinking of his current situation, he shouted without thinking: "Master Shou, among the thirteen letters, the decryption methods of twelve of them were leaked by those petty officials in the Ministry of War. So, I followed Lieutenant General Liu to rob you, not for this, but for the remaining strange letter..."
Before Master Ma finished speaking, the arrogant Commander Liu flew into a rage. Even though his hands and feet were tied, he headbutted Master Ma. In a flash, Zhang Shou saw Hua Qi, who had just been sitting on a chair with his eyes closed, suddenly appear in front of Commander Liu and kick the burly man flying away.
That was not all. Ah Liu suddenly appeared near the door. Without waiting for Admiral Liu to land, he kicked him back. Fortunately, Hua Qi had no intention of playing Cuju with Ah Liu. He returned to his seat in a flash, and the leisurely Admiral Liu fell to the ground like a huge rock.
Master Ma, who had just nearly been hit on the head, saw that the usually fierce Lieutenant General Liu in the military camp had blood oozing from the corner of his mouth and then fell unconscious. He gasped and dared not cover up his mistakes, and hurriedly told everything out like beans pouring out of a bamboo tube.
"The person who received the secret letter in Linhai Camp was Lieutenant General Xiao, and the person who translated the secret code on weekdays was me. I helped him calculate the secret code." Master Ma did not notice that Hua Qi's face suddenly froze, but Zhang Shou was greatly surprised, because he did not dare to look up at all, for fear that if he looked up and saw the ferocious expression of the other person, he would be scared to death.
"The most important letter about the date was not calculated by me. I was exhausted from diarrhea that day and couldn't get out of bed, so Deputy General Xiao, who had seen me calculate it before, had to do it himself. He was also well-educated, and after he calculated it, he showed it to me. I thought it was roughly correct, so he translated the secret text according to the Thousand Character Classic, but he didn't expect that he would count a wrong word in the end..."
When talking about the mistake of a word, even though that unforgettable day had passed for many days, Master Ma still couldn't help but feel sad: "I was deceived by Deputy General Xiao. I was a juren and didn't want to be his master. But the essay I passed the provincial examination was copied. I don't know where he found it, so he used it to threaten me..."
Before he could continue to explain his reasons for rebelling, Zhang Shou, who was obviously very sleepy but had to continue listening, interrupted him impatiently, "Don't interrupt. Did you come up with that secret code? And what about that strange letter?"
Only then did Master Ma come back to his senses from his self-pity, but his face was still full of misery.
"The secret of the cipher was told to me by Vice Admiral Xiao, and I don't know where he learned it from. And that strange letter is different from the previous ones, and I can't decipher it at all! But those words on the letter that look like a child's scribbles are all from the Thousand Character Classic. If I hadn't stayed up all night to calculate for three days without any results, and then had a stomachache, there wouldn't be any mistakes in that most important letter."
Zhang Shou couldn't help but feel a little surprised. He really didn't expect that the secret letter that he and his students believed to be a forgery, and Wang Datou later believed to be a mystery, would actually appear on the desk of the rebels in Linhai Camp. People even made a lot of calculations... He pondered for a moment, then laughed.
"But I heard that Wang Dayin deciphered the secret letters at the court meeting that day, and it attracted a lot of attention. Shouldn't the contents of the letter have been made public? Even if it hasn't spread to the people, it shouldn't be difficult to find out. Why are you looking for me? Moreover, the rebellion in Linhai Camp has been quelled. You are still pursuing the letter, even at the risk of your own life. Don't you think it's stupid?"
"Because we feel that the content of the secret letter we found out is totally wrong! Moreover, who made that idiot Lieutenant General Liu think that Deputy General Xiao had been in the Linhai Camp for many years and had embezzled countless money. The letter must have a secret. It might be related to the person he was in contact with, or the gold and silver treasures that Deputy General Xiao embezzled but was not found. If we find out, maybe we can have a chance to make a comeback!"
Master Ma looked at Zhang Shou as he spoke, and he actually struggled to get up. However, because his hands and feet were tied, he lost his balance and fell heavily to the ground. But even though he broke a tooth and bled, he still couldn't help but scream.
"Dr. Zhang, I'm already half dead. Please tell me what's in that letter. Otherwise, I'll never give up even if I go to hell!"
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned, then he laughed and said lightly: "I don't discuss academic issues with a dying traitor. You are still unwilling to go to the underworld, so go to the underworld and continue calculating!"
Why should I satisfy your curiosity after putting me in danger for the entire night?
Seeing Zhang Shou turning around and walking away with Ah Liu, Hua Qi lowered his head to glance at Master Ma, whose face looked as pale as death, and suddenly laughed.
This answer... is really good!
There is no need to show any sympathy even to a dying traitor!
