Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 98: Saving Lu Sanpang
"This is the house of Lu Sanlang's father, Lu Wan, the Minister of War."
Sitting in the carriage, listening to Zhu Ying's words, Zhang Shou looked out through the gap in the curtains and saw that this road, which was as wide as the street in front of the Duke Zhao's mansion, was filled with many other carriages and horses, just like their parked carriage. The level of bustle alone was several levels higher than that of the Zhu family. However, despite the noise, the surroundings seemed orderly.
At least, there was no scene here like what happened in front of Ge's house, where people surrounded the gatehouse and made a lot of noise.
But you have to know that military officers, whether they are seeking promotion or transfer, should be more arrogant than civil servants when they act cheating!
Just by looking at this scene, Zhang Shou once again raised his expectations for the Minister of War. Being able to maintain such order while the house was crowded with people, this person was indeed quite good at managing his household and people.
Zhu Ying didn't care about that. She came over and looked out of Zhang Shou's window. Then she whispered, "Look, my second brother and Zhu Gongquan are already at the door!"
In addition to Zhan Jin, one of Zhu Ying's two trusted maids, there was also Madam Jiang who was with the Madam. Zhu Ying didn't want to bring the latter with her, but Madam Jiang blocked the carriage and waited at the Chuihua Gate with the carriage, so she couldn't get rid of her.
Seeing Zhu Ying so close to Zhang Shou, poor Zhang could only try his best to sit back while keeping his eyes straight ahead. The two of them couldn't help but exchange glances with each other, until Zhu Ying woke up as if from a dream, hurriedly sat back with an obviously abnormally red face, then they smiled secretly.
Zhang Shou didn't want to comment on Zhu Ying's behavior that could easily be misunderstood as "teasing". He coughed dryly and forced a change of subject: "Yingying, I didn't ask you in a hurry to get out just now. How did you convince Zhu Gongquan ?"
Zhu Ying also tried to cover up the embarrassing scene and quickly continued the topic started by Zhang Shou.
"That's easy. I told him, don't think there's no god watching you, there are many sharp eyes in my family! When my father and eldest brother are not around, he can make my second brother run around in circles? Humph, that was my grandmother deliberately letting him go, wanting to see what he really wants to do! Hasn't he left enough evidence over the years? Throwing it out is enough to ruin his reputation and make him fall into ruin forever!"
Seeing that Zhu Ying had chosen this point of entry, Zhang Shou nodded and lowered his voice to ask, "What evidence does he have?"
"How would I know?" Zhu Ying blurted out these four words directly. Seeing Zhang Shou's eyes widen, she explained nonchalantly, "Of course I deceived him on purpose! This kind of person is full of schemes. He can think of ten things for every one you say. I don't believe he can be so clean without any dust. When I said this, his face turned as pale as paper."
This simple, crude, yet effective method is indeed only for young ladies...
Zhang Shou thought so in his heart, but he also praised Zhu Ying a few words. Thinking about how he had played the role of a confidant in front of Zhu Er again, it was really a matter of training a dog and a cat, using both soft and hard tactics, and combining kindness and power. It took a lot of effort, so he wanted to sigh. It was not until he saw Zhu Er had brought Zhu Gongquan to the gate of Lu Mansion that he immediately focused.
In front of the Lu Mansion, facing the gatekeeper who was blocking the way, Zhu Er tried his best to put on a fierce expression: "It's true that your master and I didn't have any prior agreement, but I'm not here to see him, I'm here to see Fatty Lu! What did this fat guy promise me in the first place? I believed him, but he came all the way to Rongshui Village to be a student of a country boy, and he didn't feel ashamed!"
It was just an act at first, but as Zhu Er kept cursing, he got really angry.
He and Lu Sanpang were once like-minded brothers who drank and chatted, otherwise they would not have wanted to "entrust" their father and grandmother's daughter to each other. But we were supposed to be brothers for life, but you suddenly became a math genius. What's going on?
Seeing that the doorman was evasive and had a bitter look on his face, Zhu Er's voice suddenly rose an octave.
"Lu Sanpang, don't try to hide, get out here! I couldn't do anything to you in Rongshui Village, and I couldn't do anything to you in the Imperial College. But now you go home and still want to avoid me, how can it be so easy! You...you still owe me one thousand taels of silver!"
Zhu Er's acting was so exaggerated that Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh. As for Zhu Ying, the eldest lady had already laughed so hard that she fell into the arms of Jiang Mama beside her: "Repay the 1,000 taels of silver owed to him by Lu Sanlang? Why doesn't he just go and rob him! This poor guy still hasn't paid back a lot of the money he borrowed from me, how could he lend money to Lu Sanlang again... Anyone who believes him is a fool!"
Zhu Gongquan, who was following behind Zhu Er, had no need to pretend, his face turned pale and blue - half of it was because he was intimidated by Zhu Ying before, and the other half was because he was angry at Zhu Er, who he had once identified as the next head of the Zhaoguo Mansion - even though he knew that Zhu Er did not have much of the temperament of a head of the family, he was so embarrassed that the young master of a wealthy family would actually say such embarrassing words!
He could only step forward and try his best to stop him, saying, "Second Young Master, if you have anything to say, why not wait until you see Minister Lu before you speak slowly..."
"I have nothing to say to Lu Sanpang's father. I want to see Lu Sanpang! If I don't beat him to death, he will think that I, Zhu Er, am easy to bully!"
Someone in the gatehouse of the Lu Mansion had already seen the situation and rushed inside to report it. At this time, several others also hurried forward and said a lot of nice things. However, Zhu Er was famous for his bad temper in the capital. After being "inculcated" by the Imperial College today and Zhang Shou's "persuasion" in the Zhaoguo Mansion, he had drunk half a gourd of wine in the car before, so he just half-seriously and half-pretentiously started to act crazy.
"Don't try to persuade me. If I don't see Fatty Lu today, I will stay at your Lu's house and won't leave!"
In the study outside the Lu Mansion, when he heard the report from his subordinates, the Minister of War Lu Wan, who was always good at dealing with people, rubbed his eyebrows in annoyance. He thought his youngest son had really improved, but he specially asked someone to bring him back and let Lu Sanlang read the secret letter. As a result, Lu Sanlang got confused after reading it, and had a big fight with him, but he didn't learn anything, which wasted his last hope.
What mathematical talent? It's just a scam by the Zhu family to fool people!
"Take Zhu Er to see Lu Zhu. Even if he smashes Lu Zhu's place, he doesn't have to bother me again!"
The eldest and second sons of the Lu family, who were standing beside Lu Wan, looked at each other and couldn't help but smile triumphantly.
If they said that the fat pig that none of them looked down upon was a math genius, they certainly didn't believe it, but if they said that Zhu Er knew when to advance and when to retreat, knew shame and understood the general situation, that was even more nonsense! If those two dandies bumped into each other, they would probably really fight...
But afterwards, no matter how it was said, this incident could be used as a handle to impeach Duke Zhao Zhu Jing for failing to educate his son and allowing his son to commit crimes!
"Oh, by the way, since Zhu Gongquan came with the second son of the Zhu family, find an opportunity to bring him to me later!"
Zhu Gongquan half-truthfully persuaded Zhu Er, and seeing that the drunken man made several gatekeepers flee, and there was no response from inside, he could not help but become more and more anxious, his eyes frequently drifted to the long wall outside the Lu Mansion, but he could not find the carriage that Zhu Ying and Zhang Shou might have taken. Finally, he heard a voice in his ear.
"Second Young Master, aren't you looking for my Third Young Master? If you have something to say, let's talk. I'll take you there right away. Take you there!"
Following the voice, a steward of the Lu Mansion came out quickly. He bowed to Zhu Er with a smile, and then led the way with a smile. It was only at this time that Lu Sanlang burped loudly and followed with a gloomy face.
As for Zhu Gongquan, he just wanted to say something, but the chilling feeling behind him was like a maggot on his heel, which could not be shaken off. Thinking of what Zhu Ying had said about the powerful young man behind him, he could only accept his fate and follow closely.
Behind him followed an ordinary young servant in a green cap. The steward who led the way only glanced at him and then turned his gaze away without interest. It was expected that even if the Zhu family's prospective son-in-law had another trick up his sleeve, he would not have disguised himself as an attendant to sneak in!
The evil star Ah Liu walked into the Lu mansion in such a dignified manner.
