Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 293 Private Money
Ah Liu had clearly gone outside to watch the door, and this was when he had just moved into his new home, and the neighbors were quite far away from the study, but at this moment, there was a clear noise of someone outside, so how could Zhang Shou not know who it was? After all, the only person who came was Zhu Ying, whom he tacitly allowed Ah Liu to let in most of the time.
He thought for a moment, but finally didn't pretend he hadn't heard the voice, and strode to the door. As expected, as soon as he opened the door, he saw the pretty lady in front of the door staring at him with a look of surprise on her face.
"Yingying, when did you come?"
"Ying... Yingying?" Zhu Er also stuttered.
Zhu Ying glanced at Zhang Shou, then at her second brother, and then said unhappily, "I didn't mean to eavesdrop on your conversation. Ah Liu said it was okay and urged me to come. I didn't expect you to talk about this! Second brother, I didn't expect that you have never been strict in doing anything since you were a child, and you are always afraid of wolves in front and tigers behind. You are so bold this time!"
Zhu Er's face turned red with anger because of what Zhu Ying said. Just when he was about to argue for himself, he saw Zhu Ying actually started to laugh. "But you have made a good decision this time. Besides, Ah Shou trusts you, so I will help you this time! I will try to find a way to help your parents and grandmother, but you must bring enough guards with you. Otherwise, who can you defeat alone? At the critical moment, you may even have to fight the eldest prince!"
I have to fight the eldest prince at a critical moment... Sister, I am going to Cangzhou to investigate those things that Emperor Taizu dreamed of but I have never heard of in the Ming Dynasty, and to see if I can find the whereabouts of Emperor Taizu. I am not going to fight! I am not like you and my elder brother. If I meet the eldest prince, I will definitely stay as far away as possible!
Until Zhu Ying dragged him on horseback to go home, Zhu Er's mind was still spinning with Zhu Ying's words. When he got off the horse at the door of his house, he was about to walk in in a daze, but was suddenly stopped by the doorman.
"Second Master, this horse of yours doesn't seem to belong to us?"
"If it's not ours, whose is it? Could it be that Second Brother is stealing horses?" Zhu Ying said jokingly, but when she looked back, she found that the mount was indeed listless and not at all like the majestic horses in her own stable. She immediately turned around in surprise and stopped Zhu Er who was distracted, pointing at the horse and asked, "Second Brother, did you get the wrong horse?"
Zhu Er finally woke up from his dream. After taking a look at the horse, he slapped his forehead and said, "I wanted to go to the market at noon, so I borrowed a horse from the carriage and horse shop near the Imperial College. Later, I ran into Ah Liu while walking around, and then went to my brother-in-law's... ahem, after going to Zhang Garden, I completely forgot about this matter."
After learning what happened, Zhu Ying was relieved, and immediately ordered a servant to help Zhu Er go to the carriage and horse shop to return the horse, and then dragged him inside. The servants of the Zhu family knew that the brother and sister had been getting along like this since they were young, so most of them looked at Zhu Er with sympathy, thinking that the second young master had done something wrong and offended the eldest young lady again.
Zhu Er really didn't dare to offend Zhu Ying - Zhu Ying knew the reasons why he ran away from home. Even if he had a very high-sounding excuse, if she exaggerated it in front of her father, brother and grandmother, he would definitely not escape a beating. Even his stepmother, who had always been nice to him, might not come forward to plead for him.
So, when he saw Zhu Ying passing by his Ziyan Pavilion but not entering, and actually dragged him straight into her boudoir, Liushuang Pavilion, he immediately groaned inwardly - although there was a rule that brothers did not enter their sisters' rooms, because Taizu had sneered at it and denounced it as a natural tendency to cut off family affection, it was not very popular in recent years, especially among the families of military nobles, but because of some of his criminal record, he was banned from entering Liushuang Pavilion by his grandmother.
As for the reason... because he once secretly sold several pieces of jewelry that had never been touched at the bottom of Zhu Ying's dressing box.
Because the ban had not yet been lifted, Zhu Er could not help but look around, fearing that the powerful mothers around his grandmother would suddenly appear and invite him to Qing'an Hall with a fake smile. But what he didn't expect was that Zhu Ying actually told Zhan Jin who came out to greet him, "Go to grandmother and tell her that I brought my second brother back to talk to him about his future marriage."
Seeing that Zhan Jin had no awareness of being a spy and went in with a smile, Liu Yin, who came out a step later, made a face at him and then quietly slipped to the gate of the courtyard, obviously to keep watch. Zhu Er immediately felt relieved, and when Zhu Ying dragged him into the house, he said with a smile on his face: "Yingying, you can help me, I am very grateful, as long as you keep it a secret for me in front of my grandmother, parents and eldest brother..."
Before he could finish his words, Zhu Ying let go of his hand, squatted down in front of the dressing table, and opened a rosewood floor-standing . Inside was a variety of jewelry that countless rich ladies envied and hated.
Some of them were left to her daughter when Jiuniang left home. They were either her dowry, or rewards from the palace and the Taifu. Some were given to her by Zhu Jing during the two or three years when they were most in love. Even now that she has returned home, she refuses to take them back. The other part was Taifu’s own dowry and her earnings over the years. She gave them all to Zhu Ying under the pretext that she was too old to wear gold, jade, or gems.
As for the other large part, they were rewards from the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and Concubine Yu in the palace - of course, the Empress, who had always disliked Zhu Ying, was unwilling to give her even a gold hairpin except for the lucky money.
When Zhu Ying celebrated her birthday every year, she would only choose a few of the so-called birthday gifts from the families and servants, and the rest were mostly given away. Most of the ones left were just kept in the bottom of the box and never had the chance to see the light of day. Because she had so many jewelry to wear that she could wear a different one every time she went out throughout the year.
So, at this moment, Zhu Ying directly opened the first drawer at the bottom, grabbed a handful of things, and then stood up and sprinkled a layer of things on the dressing table. Turning around and seeing Zhu Er's extremely shocked look, she smiled and said, "Brother, didn't you take my jewelry to exchange for money? Why are you staring at me?"
"How could I dare to take so much? I only picked two gold hairpins." Zhu Er forced himself to look away from the golden pile of things, and then whispered, "My monthly salary... my annual salary may not even be enough to buy one..."
"That's because my grandmother and my father both said that boys should be raised in poverty and girls should be raised in wealth." Zhu Ying raised her chin with a righteous attitude, and then carefully selected the hairpins with sharp ends on the dressing table, and then squatted down to grab a handful of things from the drawer. After doing this several times, she finally found a silk handkerchief and wrapped up the dozen or so heavy red gold jewelry at once.
"They are just ordinary-looking rings, earrings, bracelets, and the like. There are no pearls or jade inlaid on them. They are perfect for traveling with."
Turning around and walking up to Zhu Er, Zhu Ying smiled and stuffed the bag of jewelry into Zhu Er's arms, then took two steps back. "In the past, when you asked me to borrow money, I asked you clearly what you wanted to do with it, and most of the time I never let you go empty-handed. This time you are going to do such a big thing, of course, it will be the same. And if something goes wrong later, I will say that I gave you the money, and I will bear half of the responsibility for you then."
Zhu Er was immediately moved and shocked: "Yingying, didn't you say you could convince grandma, dad, mom, and big brother..."
With a distressed sigh, Zhu Ying returned to the dressing table and sat down. She rested her chin on her hand and looked at her face in the bronze mirror. Then she said helplessly, "I said that in front of Ah Shou to make him feel relieved. Otherwise, what if he heard that grandmother, father, and eldest brother might not agree, and then change his mind and let someone else go? After all, you are the acting head of Banshan Hall. It would be shameful to retreat without a fight."
"Second brother, I know you have always envied your elder brother for his talent in both literature and martial arts, and you have always known that you are not as good as your elder brother, but you don't know where to work hard."
Zhu Er's face turned red because of what Zhu Ying said, but it was not the blush of shame and anger at having his weakness exposed by his sister, but the blush of mixed emotions and excitement when he received his sister's understanding and approval.
He tightly grasped the bag of jewelry and whispered, "That's right, I never knew what I was good at. Besides, I had my elder brother around anyway, so I just muddled along. I was bound to be rich anyway... No matter how strict my father and elder brother were, at least they wouldn't let me live in poverty. But the bad news about my father and elder brother before... I was really scared, really..."
"At that time, I wasn't thinking about this huge family that would be mine from now on... What I was thinking about was how I could support this family in the future? All I had were bad friends like that fat guy, and a mediocre reputation known throughout the capital... That's why I lost my mind..." Having said this, Zhu Er stopped talking abruptly, because there was not much point in saying any more.
He was silent for a moment, then continued: "In fact, I have never farmed before. It is really hard for people to believe that I am a good farmer. But you also heard what my brother-in-law said this time. What if... what if there is really such a possibility?"
Even though there shouldn't be any eavesdroppers in the Duke of Zhao's mansion, and there were lookouts outside the door, Zhu Er still carefully skipped the title of Emperor Taizu, and then whispered, "So, Yingying, thank you. If I can really gain something this time, it will be all your credit... well, and my brother-in-law's credit. If I gain nothing... then that's my fate."
"Puh, puh, puh!" Zhu Ying was immediately furious, and suddenly stood up and kicked Zhu Er. But when she found that she had kicked his calf and he still didn't move, she couldn't help but grab his collar.
"Listen to me, second brother. You must believe in yourself in everything. Don't believe in fate! Charge forward with all your might. If you go too far, you can just turn around and continue. Just don't admit defeat!"
As she spoke, she angrily let go of my hand, then snorted and said, "The reason I gave you the jewelry is because I used all my previous money to do other things with Shou, and I don't have much money at the moment. My little gold melon seeds, my brother always counts them, but he won't check my jewelry, and he can't count them... Oh, this is for you too."
Zhu Ying suddenly turned around and walked to the dressing table. She casually took out a jade pendant from the first drawer and handed it to Zhu Er. "A year ago, Ah Shou sent a guy from Banshan Hall to go over there... and secretly took over an old shop that specializes in cotton yarn. Take this pendant and throw the jewelry over there. They will find a way to exchange it for money for you. Otherwise, if you rashly pawn it, you will definitely be regarded as a thief."
It turns out that Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying had made preparations in Cangzhou long ago!
Zhu Er took a deep breath and couldn't help but think of Zhu Ying's words again. Could it be that he could really fight with the eldest prince when he went to Cangzhou? He couldn't win!
Seeing Zhu Er was stunned for a moment and then nodded silently, Zhu Ying whispered, "As for the time, it's when Ah Shou and I take the Third Prince and the Fourth Prince out of the city to stay in Zhao Garden. At that time, no matter how many people I give you, you must take them all with you. Don't think that if you don't pick on them, they will treat you as if you don't exist. As long as they find you, I bet they will make you pay!"
"Yingying, can you not scare me?" Zhu Er didn't even have the energy to sigh when he heard that the eldest prince would definitely find fault with him if he recognized him. "If you keep talking like this, I might regret it."
"My second brother is not that useless!" Zhu Ying took a few steps back, raised her head and looked at Zhu Er with a smile, then said softly, "Second brother, you have to fight for your dignity, otherwise I will be punished to kneel in the ancestral hall with you, how embarrassing!"
Zhu Er finally almost laughed out loud, but when Zhu Ying said the next sentence, he couldn't laugh anymore.
"Besides, I promise that if you accomplish this, you will have a wife when you come back, and she will definitely be the kind of virtuous woman you want, from a prominent family!" Without waiting for Zhu Er to speak, Zhu Ying lightly jumped forward, and just like when they were little, she grabbed Zhu Er's hand and squeezed it gently, then quickly let go, "Don't waste the private money I gave you!"
Zhu Er could only smile bitterly. A handful of jewelry from a girl's private savings would be worth at least several hundred coins? If all of it was taken out, maybe it could buy an entire street?
Really, that five-layer dressing box was just a drop in the bucket of Zhu Ying's property. The most valuable things were the various land deeds and house deeds... Zhang Shou really made a fortune by marrying Zhu Ying, but his future brother-in-law took an unconventional approach, which made others jealous!
Zhan Jin's tip-off only gave the Madam and Jiu Niang of Qing'an Hall some topics to talk about. At most, they just joked that Zhu Ying had arranged her own marriage, but she became more and more interested in matchmaking, and didn't think about anything else at all.
Zhu Tingfang, who had gone to help his mentor Liu Zhiyuan today , did not take it too seriously when he heard that Zhu Er had been lingering in Zhu Ying's boudoir for a long time after returning from Zhang Garden with Zhu Ying. He knew very well that although Zhu Ying was usually harsh and rude to Zhu Er, she was actually biased towards Zhu Er. He was relieved to hear that there were no setbacks in the relocation of Zhang Garden.
Lu Wan resigned, and someone recommended Zhao Guogong Zhu Jing to command the three camps of Ruiqi, Shenwu, and Weiyuan. Jiang Ge Lao and his students and old friends attacked him. For two or three days, the court was in a dark cloud. In this atmosphere, Zhang Shou finally welcomed another day off. He quietly left the capital with Zhu Ying and Zhu Er, and took the third and fourth princes to Zhao Garden.
For the very few people who knew about the situation, this trip could only be regarded as the emperor's willfulness and a prank by the children of the emperor's sons and daughters.
