Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 249: New Year Greetings and Marriage Fraud
"Happy New Year to my teacher! Happy New Year to Master Ge! Happy New Year, good luck and prosperity!" This is Lu Sanlang, who does not seek to do anything meritorious but only to avoid making mistakes. As he bowed joyfully with his chubby figure, the fat on his body seemed to be shaking.
"Master Ge lives a hundred years and lives as long as the Southern Mountains! May our teacher rise to prominence and have many children and blessings..." This was said by Zhu Er, who thought he was good at speaking. While saying this, he secretly lamented that Zhu Ying originally wanted to disguise herself as a man and follow him, but was dragged by the lady to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the empress dowager and the emperor. So before leaving, she earnestly urged him to say more auspicious words today - he felt that he had done enough to bring good luck.
"I wish the teacher and Ge Zushi good fortune!" Zhang Chen was the one who thoughtlessly turned New Year's greetings into birthday wishes. Moreover, he looked around while speaking, and as a result, a bunch of younger brothers followed his lead and shouted, which was quite impressive.
Listening to the chaotic noise, seeing Zhang Chen, Lu Sanlang and others pushing aside the middle-aged and elderly officials who also came to pay New Year's greetings to Ge Yong today, and surrounding them in a noisy manner, saying all kinds of auspicious words, Zhang Shou, who was helping Ge Yong into the house, didn't know what to say, and he couldn't discourage their enthusiasm: "Okay, you came here to pay New Year's greetings on the first day of the New Year, I think you are thoughtful!"
After he helped Ge Yong to sit on the armchair in the middle, he turned around and pointed at the leading people with his finger.
"But did you guys make this appointment long ago? Why did you all come all at once? Respecting teachers is a good thing, but look at yourselves, you just rushed forward like that, you don't even know how to respect the elders, and you didn't give way to the seniors!"
Today, not only the students from Banshan Hall came, but also a large group of people from Jiuzhang Hall. Undoubtedly, on one side, they were called by Zhang Chen, Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu, on the other side, they were discussed by Lu Sanlang and Qi Liang, and they were all notified long before the holiday. There was also Deng Xiaodai who went back to his hometown for the New Year last night and rushed to Beijing early in the morning. Everyone was young, forming a sharp contrast with several middle-aged and elderly officials.
When they heard Zhang Shou scolding the students and saw Zhang Chen and the others suddenly realize something and turned around to apologize, the senior officials felt surprised just now, but now they found that a group of playboys could be so polite, which refreshed their previous understanding.
Although only 20 to 30 people came out of more than 100 people in Banshan Hall, Jiuzhang Hall seemed to have a lot of people, but they knew that the students in these two halls of the Imperial College had very different backgrounds, and it was really rare to have so many people come to pay New Year's greetings. If you don't believe it, look at other doctors in the Imperial College. Who can have dozens of students pay New Year's greetings? It's already very thoughtful to remember to post a letter, but do you still expect them to come in person?
At that moment, because the Minister of Revenue Zhang Huaili, who had confronted Zhang Shou and "fainted" in front of the emperor, resigned "due to illness", Chen Shang, who had just been reinstated as the Minister of Revenue after a period of mourning, spoke as a representative with a smile.
"Little Junior Brother, you are too kind. We are so happy to see so many juniors coming to pay New Year's greetings to the teacher. Besides, they came here to welcome the teacher and you. What else can we care about? The teacher always loves the hustle and bustle. It's a pity that we are so lonely. When we came to pay New Year's greetings in the past, we couldn't dress up to entertain our parents and make the teacher happy."
Ge Yong did not hide his happiness and pride at all, and laughed: "Zizhen, you still dare to say that, can you perform the colorful clothes to entertain your parents? But you are finally back in Beijing. Zhang Shou is a cunning boy. When I took him to see Lao Chu today, he didn't help me, his teacher, calculate the solar eclipse. He is not as good as you! By the way, you are also the senior of these guys, so go back and give them more guidance on the calculation of scriptures."
Asking the Minister of Revenue to teach a group of students how to do arithmetic? Zhang Shou thought that Teacher Ge was just talking, so he just listened casually. However, when he really saw Chen Shang with a bitter face and actually agreed, he was a little surprised.
This Minister of Revenue seems to be a man who is very obedient to his teacher Ge Yong. No wonder Zhu Ying said that once Ge Yong dragged him to calculate something, and he almost missed his court session!
But he soon had no time to think about this, because Ge Yong put his disciples aside and took him aside to introduce him to the middle-aged and elderly officials headed by Chen Shang one by one.
From the Minister of Revenue Chen Shang and below, there was the Junior Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, someone who had just returned from his post as the Right Censor-in-Chief and Governor-General of Yunnan and Guizhou to report on his work, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice...all of them were of the third or fourth rank, which was quite consistent with their age.
The young people who were driven aside did not have any complaints. The four words "disciples of the Ge family" sounded so loud when they were spoken out. With such a halo, the children of noble families could hold their heads high at home, and the students from poor families never felt bullied again. At this time, they could also see these several seniors who were considered powerful figures in the court. Who wouldn't want to get to know them?
Furthermore, considering the character of their young master Zhang Shou, how could he forget them when something good happened?
Sure enough, after Ge Yong took Zhang Shou to meet Chen Shang and other senior brothers one by one, Zhang Shou began to fulfill his duties as a teacher and introduced the students to everyone one by one. Of course, Ge Yong only introduced him before, but now there are so many students, so he can only be brief and try to use the most accurate description to summarize each person in a few words.
"My fellow brothers, this is the head of the Jiuzhang Hall, Lu Sanlang Lu Zhu, the son of Minister Lu of the Ministry of War. He has an extraordinary talent for mathematics. He taught himself more than half of the Jiuzhang Suanshu since he was a child, and now he has learned it all. From him, I learned a saying: Don't judge a person by his appearance."
"This is Zhang Chen, the son of Duke Qin and the head of Banshan Hall. He is a man of justice and responsibility. He was the one who uncovered the scandal of Linhai Camp and almost got targeted by the rebels for revenge. Most of the were recruited by him, Zhang Wu and Zhang Lu... Oh, this is Zhang Wu, the future consort of Princess Deyang. He has a simple and honest character..."
"These are Qi Liang and Deng Ai, the disciples I accepted in Rongshui Village. Although they were born in poverty, they are eager to learn. What's more, they are quite talented in mathematics. Now one of them is the right-hand man of Wang Dayin of Shuntian Prefecture, and the other one ranked seventh in the prefecture examination and is helping to lead his fellow apprentices in Jiuzhang Hall. Xiao Deng is a bit dull, so I often call him Xiaodai. Xiao Qi never likes to compete with others..."
Zhang Shou commented on each of them one by one. No matter whether it was Zhang Chen, Lu Sanlang, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, or Zhu Erqiliang, they all felt that the evaluation of them was quite fair - they never thought that Zhang Shou only praised them and hardly talked about their shortcomings.
Zhang Shou did not favor one over another. When introducing each person one by one, he only talked about their strengths and not their weaknesses. After all, in such an occasion with other elders present, it would be too stupid for him, as a teacher, to say that his students were not good!
It's just like parents scolding their children in front of others...
Ge Yong patiently waited with a smile until Zhang Shou had finished introducing everyone. He then clapped his hands and drew everyone's attention back to himself: "Today is Chinese New Year, I thought my place might be lively, but I didn't expect so many people to come. But it's just right, I got up early and sent a note to Tingyu Cottage, and Twelve Rain should be here soon."
What is earth-shattering? Everyone present thought they had experienced it before, but at this moment, when they heard Mr. Ge talk about Tingyu Xiaozhu and Twelve Rains in such a calm tone, they all fell into a state of aphasia. Only Zhang Shou was calm at this time because he had heard Ge Yong talk about it a long time ago, and he also remembered the rumors that Zhu Ying had mentioned to him jokingly.
"When Grandpa Ge was young, he was handsome and dignified. It is said that countless famous prostitutes in the capital wanted to serve him, and only asked him to leave a poem or two. However, Grandpa Ge walked through the flowers without getting a single leaf on him..."
Therefore, without waiting for others to react, he immediately asked: "What is the teacher going to let them perform?"
Seeing that Zhang Shou not only did not persuade him, but also asked Ge Yong what he was going to play, Chen Shang suddenly felt a headache. He wanted to warn Zhang Shou that he was about to become the son-in-law of the Zhu family, so he should pay attention to his image. But when he saw Zhu Er next to him with a happy face, he suddenly felt even more headache. Forget it, Zhu Erlang was there too, so he should stop worrying about it!
It was the New Year's Day in Shuntian Prefecture, and the runners should have had a holiday, and the clerks should have rested and enjoyed the rare holiday time. However, because of the sudden complaints yesterday, many people had to give up their rest and come to the yamen to wait for Wang Jie's orders at any time. Even though no one dared to complain in front of the iron-faced prefect Wang Datou, everyone complained behind his back.
You can't scold Wang Jie, so naturally you have to scold those censors!
However, at this time, no one dared to stay in front of the second hall, not because Wang Jie was showing a stern face, but because there was a bored young lady standing there, looking for trouble. A young officer looked from a distance, then retracted his head and said to the old officer next to him with a bitter face: "This young lady is not really here for what happened yesterday and today, right?"
"How could it not be? Those righteous imperial censors thought that no one knew what they were up to? They went to find a group of people to file a complaint, and then proved that the charges were all false. Then today they threw a basin of dirty water on the head of the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, saying that everyone is a fool? Those guys are so aggressive, it's strange that this lady can get away with it!"
The old servant who was speaking stole a glance over there, his face showing some suspicion again: "The emperor must be helping the Zhaoguo Mansion, otherwise he would not have sent the eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department to accompany Miss Zhu to see our Wang Dayin. But when that person went in, Miss Zhu was guarding outside in person. What's going on? It doesn't make sense!"
The young officer coughed and was about to speak when he suddenly saw someone running towards him from the second gate, looking very angry and holding something in his hand. Once bitten by a snake, one is afraid of the rope for ten years. His heart skipped a beat. When the person rushed to him, he recognized that it was the uncle of Deng Xiaodai, the housekeeper, and he immediately asked, "What happened? What happened again?"
He really hoped to hear a negative answer, but Uncle Deng said with a bitter face: "It's not an accident, it's a big accident! Someone threw a notice into our Shuntian government office, and the higher-ups actually said...actually said..."
Because of his uneven breathing, he was unable to make the rest of his words clear for a long time. The two officers were almost mad at him, but he was a senior employee in the government office and had a promising nephew, so they didn't dare to urge him. But at this moment, they heard a voice from behind: "Show me the notice!"
Uncle Deng's eyes blurred, and the note in his hand was snatched away. Just as he was about to lose his temper, he saw the figure in front of him wearing a big red flamingo cloak, and he immediately shut his mouth tightly, not daring to say a word. How dare he offend Zhu Ying!
Zhu Ying had long noticed someone was watching her, but she had been used to it since she was little, so she didn't think it was strange at all and just pretended not to see it. But when she noticed someone else coming outside and a few people were whispering, she couldn't help herself, even though she had just stayed outside on purpose and didn't want to see Wang Jie.
She came here to tell Wang Jie, the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, about the newly appointed Lu Chan. She wanted to see if Deng Xiaodai was there and send him a message. Now she heard that he had returned to his hometown for the New Year and should go to the Ge Mansion to pay New Year's greetings today. She wanted to leave a long time ago. She knew very well that no matter how capable Wang Jie was, he could not solve these messy cases before taking office immediately after the New Year.
Therefore, she didn't want to put pressure on others anymore... The governor of Shuntian Prefecture has taken enough blame in the past six months!
Not putting pressure on Wang Jie doesn't mean Zhu Ying doesn't care about anything. At this moment, she quietly came around and snatched the note. When she opened it and saw the first words, her face changed immediately. In anger, she subconsciously raised her hand high and wanted to smash the note directly on the ground, but she stopped abruptly and sneered angrily.
"You accuse me and Ah Shou of not having a marriage certificate, and accuse me of a marriage fraud by the Duke of Zhao? This is a joke!"
After hearing this, the two officers were silent, and even Uncle Deng was shocked. Seeing Zhu Ying holding the notice in his hand and turning around to walk towards the second hall, he hesitated for a moment, and finally ran after her. However, when she entered the second hall, he did not dare to follow her , and could only wait outside the door.
After a while, he saw the thick door curtain move, and then the face of his own prefect, which was expressionless most of the time, appeared in front of him. He was always afraid of that cold face, so he lowered his head quickly. The next moment, he only heard Wang Jie's instructions: "Since you are here, go to the household office to check and see if the old marriage certificate file of the Duke of Zhao's mansion is available."
Uncle Deng knew that he would definitely face such a request, so he hesitated for a moment before agreeing. After watching Wang Jie return to the second hall, he sighed and went straight back to the household office. But after a while, he turned back and said humbly in front of the second hall: "Reporting to Wang Dayin, I have checked carefully, and that thing...that thing is definitely not there."
Thinking back to when Deng Xiaodai had asked him to look it up, he searched everywhere but couldn't find that thing!
"How is this possible!" Zhu Ying pulled aside the door curtain and shouted angrily. She saw the person in front of the door startled and hurriedly retreated, almost stepping on empty air and falling down the stairs. Only then did she realize that she had lost her composure, and she stepped out and grabbed Uncle Deng.
As soon as he stood firm, she let go of his hand, and when she looked back and saw that Lu Chan had come out, she said stiffly, "Eunuch Lu, Zhang Wu, Zhang Lu, and Xiao Qi might have gone to Grandpa Ge's place to pay New Year's greetings. After all, Ah Shou is also there, so let's go there first!"
Seeing Lü Chan was slightly stunned, and then he readily agreed, Zhu Ying didn't even bother to confirm whether the marriage certificate was really not archived in Shuntian Prefecture Office, and turned around and strode out. Uncle Deng was stunned and quickly ran after him.
Zhu Ying really couldn't understand. Both her grandmother and mother kept saying that she and Zhang Shou were engaged, so why didn't they have the marriage certificate that should have been filed in the Shuntian government office as was customary for nobles?
