Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 272: Not Reserved, New Personality
If you are not qualified, who is?
The Madam's words made Wu burst into tears. She turned her back to wipe the tears that had fallen, and then turned back, trying to remain calm and smiling at the Zhu family: "Since the Madam and the Duke don't mind, I will arrange this marriage for Ah Shou. He and Yingying love each other, and now it has finally come to fruition."
Logically, when elders are discussing marriage, the parties involved should at least step aside, but Zhu Ying stood beside the old lady with a smile on her face, showing no intention of leaving. Even Zhu Jing, who always indulged her, felt a little embarrassed, but his frequent sidelong glances did not make her feel like she was about to become a daughter-in-law, so he could only cough.
"Yingying, go check on your eldest and second brothers!"
"What's so good about this? At most, the eldest brother is taking the second brother to practice martial arts and give him a good 'teach'!" Zhu Ying emphasized the word "teach" and then said nonchalantly, "Dad, you promised me before that you would not hide anything from me as long as it is about me! In this case, I want to hear what you decide, isn't it okay?"
Jiu Niang noticed that Zhu Ying was lying on her shoulders from behind with a smile while she was talking. She could only helplessly say, "Yingying, you are a child. Don't you know how to be reserved? It's because your Aunt Wu and Ah Shou are indulging you!"
"That's why I like Shou and Aunt Wu!" Zhu Ying chuckled and said without any shyness, "I can speak directly to you without holding it in my heart or testing their thoughts or being cautious. I have always been like this at home! If I have to be cautious after getting married, then why should I get married? I might as well live with grandma and you, my parents, for the rest of my life!"
"What nonsense!" This time, even the lady couldn't help but laugh and scold, "According to what you said, all those rich girls in the world who are pampered in their parents' homes should not get married!"
"So I said I was lucky to meet Ah Shou and Aunt Wu!" Zhu Ying blinked at Wu, her face full of pride.
Facing that beautiful face, Wu couldn't help but laugh and nodded repeatedly: "Yingying is right. We are all family. We should live in harmony and speak our minds. Why do we need to be cautious and test each other? Duke, Madam, Madam, to be honest, I really like Yingying. I have liked her since she first came to Rongshui Village, even more than Ah Shou."
Zhu Ying was not angry at all at this statement. Instead, she was so happy that she put her head on Jiu Niang's shoulder.
"Yes, yes, I felt it at that time! Ah Shou really disliked me at that time. When he was with me, he was more helpless. He often kept a distance for inexplicable reasons, let me eat alone, and didn't take me with him when he went out. Finally, when he saw the sun was shining, he remembered to ask someone to bring me an oil-paper umbrella. If it weren't for you, Aunt Wu, who helped me, he might have sent me back home..."
Even Madam Tai and Jiu Niang only knew that Zhu Ying unexpectedly held Zhang Shou hostage when they first met. As for what happened during the time when Zhu Ying stayed alone in Rongshui Village before the maid sent by Duke Zhao's mansion left, they didn't know much. So now that they heard these little details, not to mention Zhu Jing, they were also a little curious, but at the same time, they were a little surprised.
When a beauty like Zhu Ying took the initiative to express her affection, Zhang Shou didn't try to accept her half-heartedly, but instead stayed away from her?
Just as Wu was explaining awkwardly that Zhang Shou was young and ignorant, Madam Li's voice came from outside: "Madam, Master, Madam, Master Shou is here. He said he is going to Ziyan Pavilion to meet the Second Master. He will come back to pay his respects later."
"Huh?" Zhu Ying's eyes widened immediately, and she shouted suspiciously, "Ah Shou, are you going to make a surprise attack and check Second Brother's homework? No way, Second Brother is trying his best to finish his homework in order to be a good head of the dormitory."
Although his mother, wife, eldest son and daughter all spoke up for his useless youngest son, Zhu Jing didn't really believe it. But now that Zhu Ying was so sure that Zhu Er had done his homework, he thought about his son who could never be beaten well, who was always submissive but slacked off behind his back, and he couldn't help but want to look at the horizon.
Could it be that the sun set in the east? Could it be that his son, who had always been a drag on his career, could actually become a better person?
But then, Duke of Zhao Zhu Jing couldn't help but ponder. Judging from the time, Zhang Shou should have come here directly after leaving the palace... Or he should have come here after returning home and learned that Wu was invited to the Zhu family, so he hurried over. Could it be that he guessed that they were signing the marriage certificate here, so he went to find Zhu Er to avoid suspicion?
Just as he was thinking this, Zhu Ying, who had insisted on staying to hear how the marriage was signed, stood up suddenly and said with a smile, "Grandma, Dad, Mom, Aunt Wu, Ah Shou went to see my second brother. Maybe he has something to do. I'm very curious. I'll go over and take a look. I can also inform you later. I'm leaving now!"
Seeing Zhu Ying fly away like a light butterfly, Zhu Jing had no choice but to smile bitterly. He treated his mother and wife not much better than he did. Only Wu was smiling and had no awkward attitude at all. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly that Zhu Ying, who was spoiled to this extent by their family, could probably only be tolerated by a special family like Zhang Shou and Wu's.
He simply couldn't imagine Zhu Ying serving her mother-in-law respectfully among other wealthy families, and then fighting openly and secretly with her sisters-in-law - once his spoiled daughter was irritated, she would probably make a big fuss about her husband's family!
So he coughed lightly and said unnaturally: "Go get some paper and pen. Madam Wu and I will sign the marriage certificate right away."
If Zhang Shou hadn't come back, Zhu Ying would of course have preferred to stay in Qing'an Hall and watch her and Zhang Shou's marriage certificate come out; but since Zhang Shou had come back, he went straight to find Zhu Er, so Zhu Ying would of course have preferred to talk to him.
She was curious about what Zhang Shou had said to the emperor - most of the time, he was happy to tell her everything.
So, when she arrived at Ziyan Pavilion and bumped into Zhu Tingfang at the gate, she asked in surprise, "Brother, why did you come out?"
"Zhang Shou said he wanted to discuss some serious business with my second brother, so I gave them the place." Zhu Tingfang explained the reason calmly. Seeing Zhu Ying's eyes widened, as if asking him why he was avoiding the place, he smiled and said, "My second brother almost got beaten up by my father today. I think he might have the ambition to do something big, so I just let Zhang Shou go and talk to him."
At this point, Zhu Tingfang reached out and pulled Zhu Ying out. Seeing her looking into the Purple Smoke Pavilion reluctantly, he sighed and said, "I know you two love each other, but you have to give each other some space. If you barge in like this, he may not necessarily have to send you away before talking to his second brother, but he may think you don't know the seriousness of the matter."
"That's impossible!" Zhu Ying snorted somewhat unhappily, but finally said bitterly, "As long as he can help my second brother become more successful and not be beaten and scolded by my father all the time, it doesn't matter if I don't go in... By the way, big brother, have you seen Ah Liu?"
Zhu Tingfang didn't understand why Zhu Ying suddenly asked this. After thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "Zhang Shou came here alone. It is said that the palace sent a car to take him back."
"That's strange. When I took Ah Shou into the palace, I didn't see Ah Liu." Zhu Ying frowned. If Zhu Tingfang didn't know that Ah Liu was Zhang Shou's most capable servant, he would have thought that Zhu Ying had fallen in love with someone else after seeing her expression. But when he heard what she muttered to herself, he became more and more confused.
"Before, when Zhang... that guy came over, I clearly saw Ah Liu in the yard, but he disappeared later. I didn't see him when my father and I left the palace either. He didn't come back with Ah Shou just now. Could it be that he followed that guy? He wouldn't go that far... How can Ah Shou be there without him?"
The more Zhu Ying thought about it, the more she felt that maybe there was something wrong with Zhang Chen's arrival, which forced Ah Liu to leave Zhang Shou behind. She wanted to go in and find out what was going on, but when she saw the look in her brother's eyes, she could only put her mind aside for the time being.
She simply joked with a half-smile: "Brother, why are you looking at me? My affairs have been settled, but my sister-in-law hasn't yet, are you really not worried?"
No matter how calm Zhu Tingfang was, he had to leave in embarrassment under the intense bombardment of Zhu Ying's endless questions, such as which girl is good, do you want me to help you with the selection of the prince's consort, etc. It was not until he turned around and saw Zhu Ying standing in front of the Ziyan Pavilion gate, smiling and waving at him, that he realized he had been fooled.
That girl clearly wanted to chase him away, and then eavesdrop on the conversation between Zhang Shou and Zhu Er!
Zhang Shou didn't care about keeping it secret, because there was nothing he couldn't tell Zhu Er about. At this point, he had said everything he needed to say to Zhu Er, and the unpretentious second young master of the Zhu family frowned and said with some resentment after a while, "Brother-in-law, if someone like me tells others that I'm a good farmer, they won't believe me, right?"
"No one will think that you are a good farmer." Zhang Shou was very ruthless and added insult to injury. Seeing that Zhu Er's face was really long, he said nonchalantly, "Others will only think that you chose this excuse in order to make a good impression in front of your father and to be a good acting head of the Banshan Hall. But at least, it is much better than your previous image of a dandy."
Zhu Er was extremely angry: "Doesn't that mean I'm spending money and still being laughed at?"
"That depends on whether you want to be laughed at temporarily or for the rest of your life." Zhang Shou looked at Zhu Er and put away the teasing smile on his face. "You should know how talented you are in martial arts and how talented you are in studying. You are not very talented in mathematics, and you are not proficient . You should have tried all the elective courses."
As Zhang Shou cited examples one by one, Zhu Er's face darkened little by little, and finally he sighed dejectedly: "Zhang Chen is not here, and most of the people in Banshan Hall are dissatisfied with me as the acting head of the hall. When my father came back before, he almost used family rules to beat me up. I am such a failure as a person. I am really not good at this, and I can't do that. If I continue like this, there will be no way out."
As he spoke, he looked at Zhang Shou seriously and asked, "Since you, my brother-in-law, suggested that I use the excuse of good farming to collect all kinds of crop seeds, and you also said that the emperor also agreed to this seed improvement plan, then I will give it a try! However, since others will definitely laugh at me for seeking fame by using the excuse of good farming, I might as well go all out and buy all these seeds and plant them myself!"
Zhang Shou originally wanted to use Zhu Er's name to collect seeds, and then set up another farm to plant them. At this time, Zhu Er was so angry that he wanted to do it himself. After his initial surprise, he laughed and said, "Although the Zhaoguo Mansion is large, if you collect hundreds or thousands of seeds, no matter how big the garden is, it will not be able to accommodate them."
"Who said I want to plant in the garden?" Zhu Er snorted in annoyance, and then said with full energy, "Isn't Zhaoyuan in the suburbs of Beijing a good place? Besides, you don't just buy one seed at a time. Most of them will be planted by others, but I can open up a special vegetable plot in Zhaoyuan and sow a little in each plot. In this way, a few acres of land will definitely be enough."
"Of course I will ask clearly when I buy it, where it comes from overseas, what kind of flowers it blooms, what kind of fruits it bears, what it tastes like... I will also find a few older people who know how to farm, so that no one will treat me as an ignorant fat pig and slaughter me!"
Listening to Zhu Er's eloquent words, Zhang Shou suddenly felt that the words "good farmer" might really suit Zhu Er - even if this kid would not work hard all his life and really become a farmer, even if he chose the wrong skill tree in the future and developed into a flower and tree lover, it would still be better than being a dandy. A love of flowers and trees is also a kind of elegance among scholars.
He smiled and nodded, saying, "Very good. Go and write a detailed proposal, and Yingying or I will present it to the emperor for you. Originally, we just used your good farming as a cover, so of course we won't let you pay for the seeds. As long as you are thoughtful and willing to endure the hardship, the emperor will commend you."
"Really?" Zhu Er was overjoyed. "Can such a small thing change the emperor's opinion of me?"
Zhang Shou nodded as a matter of course: "That's right, provided you really do it well."
"Okay, I'll write it right away!" Zhu Er rolled up his sleeves, his face full of anxiety. After almost being punished by his father, he had realized how difficult it was to have such an opportunity.
When Zhang Shou quietly opened the door and went out, he saw Zhu Ying walking around in circles in the yard bored. He went to meet her with some surprise and said with a smile: "Yingying, since you are here, why don't you come in and talk?"
"Didn't my eldest brother forbid me? He said that if you have something you don't want me to hear, tell your second brother. It would be inappropriate for me to barge in like this." Zhu Ying explained casually and then changed the subject, "Don't talk about your second brother. I know you definitely won't hurt him. What about Ah Liu? Did he go there with Zhang... that guy? What will you do if he leaves?"
Facing Zhu Ying's worry, Zhang Shou was a little amused. He could only signal her to lean over and briefly explain the whole story. Seeing that she was immediately relieved, he told her the advice he had just given to Zhu Er. The next moment, he saw Zhu Ying smiling happily: "A good farmer's second brother? This character is not bad, much better than a playboy! I support it 100%!"
