Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 97: Distress Signal 110
"How could someone as picky as Lu Sanlang agree to move into a house like this before?"
Standing in the narrow room on the west side of the Imperial College, touching the cold bunk bed, and looking at the cheap bedding and the simple fir furniture with disdain, Zhu Ying's face was full of disbelief. Hearing what she yelled, Zhang Shou shook his head and laughed, but he did not laugh at the young lady for not knowing the hardship of ordinary students' life, but walked back and forth in the room.
The cramped room had been cleaned up, and it was obvious that Xu Heizi had no intention of mistreating Lu Sanlang, even if he was reluctant. There was even a rather simple tea set on the shelf. He reached out and touched it, and suddenly lifted up the tea tray. When he found that there was no note or anything like that underneath, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
He had talked to Lu Sanlang about the principles of using Chinese characters and numbers to encode codes the night before, and even jokingly used many modern commonly used emergency codes as examples. This clever guy didn't even think of leaving him a few words?
This cunning little fat boy had said before that he would never go back to his home, but he would never fight to the death. If he found that he could not resist, he would definitely obey for the time being. But there should be some traces!
When Zhu Ying saw Zhang Shoudong searching here and there, she immediately realized that he was looking for any message that Lu Sanlang might have left behind, so she quickly started searching as well, even almost turning the entire quilt over.
Just as the two were about to turn the small cell upside down, Ah Liu suddenly whispered, "There's blood on the door."
These five words startled Zhang Shou, but the one who moved faster than him was Zhu Ying. The eldest lady rushed over and shouted hurriedly, "Where is he? Could it be that the Lu family not only kidnapped Lu Zhutou and brought him back, but also injured him?"
In her haste, she called Lu Sanlang by his usual name. When Ah Liu pointed at the door, it took her a long time to distinguish the dark brown marks on it - because they were really mixed with the color of the door, and if she didn't look carefully, she would never be able to see them.
However, even after discovering it, she was still confused: "This seems to be... 1... 1... 0?"
Thanks to the promotion of Arabic numerals by Emperor Taizu in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Ying recognized these three numbers. However, after recognizing them, she looked at Zhang Shou blankly, only to see Zhang Shou's expression was subtle. She suddenly remembered what password Zhang Shou had told Ge Yong when she took him to Ge's house. She suddenly realized: "Ah Shou, is this a password?"
"It can't be called a password, but it's... ahem... a code that he and I agreed on. He must have been taken away unwillingly by the people from the Lu Mansion, so I hope that after I see it, I can rescue him immediately."
Zhang Shou said this, but he felt a little amused in his heart. Just now he thought that Lu Sanlang didn't leave a secret code, but he didn't expect that this guy learned it on the spot and finally wrote 110 on the door when he was kidnapped by his family. I think it was because other codes were too complicated to think of. However, after all, he used the blood words, so he immediately lost his joking heart.
"What are you waiting for!"
Zhu Ying immediately threw all the secret codes out of her mind and said indignantly, "Lu Wan not only used Lu Zhutou, but also bribed Zhu Hong to get information about you, and even instigated Tang Ming and Xie Wanquan to come to the village to pick on you. What a sneaky old man! Let's just go to the Lu family now. Ah Shou, rescue Lu Zhutou in the name of a teacher, and we will question Lu Wan face to face!"
Although the eldest lady kept calling Lu a pig head, Zhang Shou could tell that she had long forgotten the grudge that Zhu Er had almost betrothed her to Lu Sanlang. However, he did not dare to adopt the idea of confronting her in person.
Confucianism talks about heaven, earth, the emperor, parents and teachers. The status of teachers is indeed very high, but it is still inferior to that of one's own father. What's more, Lu Wan is a second-rank minister of the Ministry of War, while he is only a seventh-rank doctor of the Imperial College. The difference is not a little bit. The huge age difference makes Lu Wan naturally stand in a superior position.
But after thinking about it, he laughed: "You are right, we should go to investigate, but we can't go. Don't worry, I have an idea, let's go back to your house first!"
After leaving the Imperial College, Zhang Shou followed Zhu Hong, who was leading the way, and walked west along the Imperial College Street, turned onto Andingmen Street, passed the Drum Tower from Shuntianfu Street, crossed Shichahai from Yinding Bridge, entered the West City, and finally arrived at the Mansion of Duke Zhao.
It must be said that the distance from the Imperial College to the Duke of Zhao's Mansion is at least three times the distance from the Imperial College to the Ge Mansion...
Upon learning that the Dowager had gone to attend a banquet at the Duke of Chu's residence, Zhu Er locked himself in his room after returning from the Imperial College. Zhang Shou couldn't go to Zhu Ying's boudoir to talk, so he immediately suggested going to the Dowager's Qing'an Hall to discuss the matter.
Zhu Ying naturally had no objection. When she arrived behind the screen in the main room of Qing'an Hall, she was so tired after a whole day that she didn't care about anything else and just buried herself in the soft and thick pillow on the couch in the middle where her grandmother often sat.
She went to the Imperial College from home early in the morning, and then followed the emperor to inspect the Imperial College. She also toasted a group of guys who used to just eat and wait for death, but this time they even made some contributions. It would have been ok if , but she also went to the Ge Mansion and was chased out by Grandpa Ge. She stood at the door for so long... She was almost exhausted!
Zhu Ying hugged the pillow and rubbed it hard until she heard Yu Tang's weak voice: "Miss, Master Shou is still here."
Oops, I totally forgot! The next moment, Zhu Ying jumped up. She first checked whether her skirt was wrinkled, whether her appearance was flawless, and whether it was still flawless. When she found that Zhang Shou had already turned around and pretended to admire the original painting of Ge Yong on the wall that he gave to the lady last time, she felt relieved, but also a little embarrassed.
Don't you even remind her? Look how embarrassed she is!
Hearing the rustling sound behind him stop, Zhang Shou knew that Zhu Ying must have resumed her proper sitting posture. He turned around and smiled at the maid who was tiptoeing to serve tea, "I want to borrow the Madam's place to discuss an important matter with Yingying. Can everyone please step aside for a moment? It will only take a moment."
This request was totally against the rules, but it was met with a chorus of responses. A group of maids either smiled secretly or winked at their eldest daughter, and finally left in a line. The most outrageous thing was that Zhang Shou saw Ah Liu also walk out of the door, most likely to be the door god! Thinking that Zhu Ying really didn't want the lady to know what she was going to do, he had no choice but to let it go.
He looked at Zhu Ying, who was unaware of the fact that the two were alone together and had no shyness. Seeing that she was staring at him with clear eyes, waiting for him to start talking about business, he immediately drove those messy thoughts out of his mind.
"Yingying, is Zhu Gongquan, who accompanied you to the village once before, still in the Duke of Zhao's mansion?"
"Why are you asking him?" Zhu Ying's eyebrows suddenly raised.
"Hmph, I heard from Yutang and the others that after he returned to the capital, he still spoke ill of you in front of grandmother. Plus, although Zhu Yu, who was bribed by Lu Wan, said that you were elegant and refined, there were some innuendos between the lines. If grandmother hadn't been a wise person, she would not have sent people to give you gifts, but to cause trouble for you! Later, grandmother confined my second brother, and of course, she also locked up Zhu Gongquan!"
"What was his reaction? Was he anxious or angry? Or was he calm and composed?"
"How would I know!" Zhu Ying snorted. "I've been in Rongshui Village these days, and there are so many things to do after I come back. I don't have the time to care whether he is happy to be locked up or not!"
"You used to be the eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhao, who was pampered by others. Of course, you didn't mind a mere staff member. But now that you feel that you should grow up, you can't just do whatever you want." Before Zhu Ying could object, Zhang Shou said with a smile, "You can even accept those frivolous playboys who used to be so rude and are willing to help them plan their future and marriage, let alone your father's staff member?"
"Hmm!" Zhu Ying was speechless. And Zhang Shou's next words made her even more irresistible.
"Besides, whether it's rescuing Lu Sanlang or finding out why Lu Wan wants to deal with your father, someone needs to go face to face with the Minister of War. So, at this moment, it's best for you, the daughter of a wealthy family, to step forward and subdue your father's former aide. Of course, your second brother will also need to step forward in the future."
"So, I'll go see your second brother, and you go see Zhu Gongquan, how about that? Your second brother is a tough guy, but he's actually weak. It shouldn't be too difficult for me to talk to him. Zhu Gongquan is a thoughtful person, but he gets things done by people. Instead of me talking to him, it's more suitable for you to scare him and use his weaknesses to your advantage."
Seeing that Zhu Ying was still a little unhappy, he smiled and said, "Don't worry, as long as you subdue Zhu Gongquan, I will make sure that your second brother will personally take Zhu Gongquan to the Lu family to question them and see if we can rescue Lu Sanlang!"
"Well, it's settled!" Zhu Ying finally changed her anger into joy, and said with finality, "If we really rescue Lu Zhutou, he will owe you and me a huge favor this time. Be prepared to work like a slave for the rest of your life to repay him!"
Faced with such statements, Zhang Shou was speechless.
If Lu Sanlang had any sense of this, shouldn’t he… sneeze until tears stream down his face?
