Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 803: Secretly Crossing Chencang, Idle Uncle
"The emperor is gone?"
Even though Yuquan had reported everything clearly, the Queen Mother couldn't help but ask again. When she got a definite answer again, she laughed and said, "It seems that he has been really depressed these days, so he didn't think much about it at all. In this case, let him go to the public school to relax. Yingying, let's go too, let's go to Ciqing Palace first."
Zhu Ying didn't wear red today, but a light yellow dress, which made her look particularly bright and attractive in this bleak winter. Upon hearing this, she happily supported the empress dowager's arm and said with a smile: "Well, let's go now! It's rare that the emperor is so angry that he is confused, which makes it convenient for us to do our work!"
The one giving the lecture in Ciqing Palace today was Principal Yue Shan. When he gave the lecture before, it was when the Third Prince had just fallen ill. Now he has been ill for three or four days, and not only has he not recovered, but his throat has also become hoarse. Therefore, at the beginning of the class, he could not help but specially comfort him with a few words, and of course he also suggested again that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince should rest early.
However, this time he was still politely declined, saying that studies were more important. Seeing that the screen was set up and Lu Sanlang was helping to pass on the message behind the screen, he calmly began his lecture.
Although the Third Prince could not speak complete sentences, during the breaks in his lectures, the voice of Lu Sanlang asking questions on behalf of the Third Prince could be heard from behind the screen. His questions were very to the point, and he had also heard from others that these were all questions that the Third Prince wrote on pieces of paper for Lu Sanlang to ask. This made Yue Shanzhang respect the studious and inquisitive nature of the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace.
So, when he heard the Queen Mother coming to visit the Third Prince in person in the middle of class, he was a little annoyed by being interrupted. But he quickly reacted and hurriedly retreated. Fortunately, the Queen Mother was not as doting as those loving mothers in the deep mansions, and she didn't even meet him alone. She only stayed for a short while.
Moreover, a young eunuch brought him a set of four treasures of the study in accordance with the imperial decree, saying that the empress dowager sympathized with the hard work of the lecturers and gave them a special gift. Knowing that he was not the only one, Yue Shanchang naturally accepted it with peace of mind.
When he went out, he learned that the most noble woman in the palace and even in the world was leaving Ciqing Palace and going to the women's school today. Although he had some doubts about that school, the empress dowager and the concubines in the harem all took out money for cosmetics, so he just sighed in his heart. When he returned to the old place , he calmly began to continue his interrupted courses.
However, neither he nor the other tutors who hastily retreated due to the arrival of the Queen Mother knew that the only one behind the screen was the sad-looking Lu Sanlang, the little fat man Lu!
The third prince changed into a eunuch's crown and clothes and left Ciqing Palace. He followed the empress dowager and her entourage to the Duke of Zhao's Mansion. While the empress dowager, the Zhao family's grand lady were talking to Jiu Niang and her mother-in-law and preparing to travel together, he quietly left the capital, escorted by a group of servants and generals from the Duke of Zhao's Mansion, and rushed to a small village in Tongzhou.
However, even the escorts thought that the prince had sent someone to visit the Fourth Prince, who had been away from the palace for a long time and was almost forgotten by ordinary people. After all, when they were leaving, Ah Liu hurried over and said he wanted to go with them, so they naturally thought that since Ah Liu was also following them, Zhang Shou must have sent him to see the Fourth Prince.
Zhang Shou, who was teaching in Jiuzhang Hall, just laughed when he learned that the emperor had suddenly arrived and had gone to Banshan Hall to watch the lively deduction. He thought that the emperor was just acting on impulse again and didn't take it too seriously. As soon as the gatekeeper who reported the news left, Ji Jiu suddenly raised his hand to indicate that he had something to say.
Without waiting for him to respond, Ji Jiu rushed directly in front of him. Then, he heard a voice as soft as a mosquito: "Teacher, during the break, Sixth Brother came over specially and said he wanted to send you a letter. He also told me that if the emperor didn't come, the letter would not be delivered. If the emperor came, the letter would be given to you."
The person who spoke was Ji Jiu. If it were any other time, he would never be so weak and timid, but the emperor suddenly came, and he suddenly felt that he had accepted a hot potato. At this moment, seeing Zhang Shou's brows twisted into a knot, and obviously thinking of some thorny troubles, he quickly handed the letter in his hand to him with both hands.
Zhang Shou remembered that Ah Liu went out with Zhu Ying today, and was dragged away by Zhu Ying. As compensation, Zhu Ying gave him a dozen of her guards - yes, twelve, all of whom could fight, as if he would encounter assassins every day.
Therefore, when Zhang Shou heard that Ah Liu, who was supposed to stay with Zhu Ying, had made a special trip to deliver a letter to him, he couldn't help but feel a little absurd and a little out of place. Of course, it was more of a premonition of something happening. So, when he tore open the envelope and saw the three words written very sloppily on the letter, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.
Those three words were simple, Baijia Village, without any unnecessary explanation. But because of this, Zhang Shou felt an unusual headache. Ah Liu must have gone to Baijia Village, but if this kid just went to the small village where the Fourth Prince and Zhang Chen were because of Zhu Ying or someone else's order, it would not be worth it to come to the public school to deliver a letter .
Unless there was another reason, Ah Liu would have done this in such a hurry. Moreover, he did not meet him directly, but asked Ji Jiu to convey the message.
Thinking about the fact that the Emperor suddenly went to Banshan Hall to watch the fun, thinking about Zhu Ying mentioning to him last night that today she would take the Empress Dowager to the Girls' School to see the newly recruited female students, thinking about the Third Prince's sudden illness that had not been cured... Zhang Shou suddenly had a very strange idea.
The usually steady and honest little prince would not have staged a plan to escape from the palace, right? And the Queen Mother and Zhu Ying also helped him, and dragged Ah Liu into the plan? And then he kept it a secret from both him and the Emperor? But what was the point of such a trick?
If the Third Prince told him openly, would he not agree to the brothers meeting? Even if he was the Emperor, would this Emperor who always loved his two young sons so much stop the brothers from meeting...
Wait, the fourth prince had a quarrel with the emperor and stayed outside the palace out of spite, and although the third prince has always been a filial son, he heard from Zhu Ying that the emperor and the empress dowager had a quarrel that night and left the third prince in Qingning Palace. Although he did not deliberately inquire, Zhu Ying, who was well-informed in the palace, also heard that the third prince had not returned to Zhaoren Hall in the past few days. Even if the father and son did not have a quarrel, there might be something wrong between them...
Thinking of this, Zhang Shou immediately put the paper in his hand into his arms as if nothing had happened, waved his hand to signal Ji Jiu to return to his seat, and then continued his lecture at the blackboard. He had no intention of going to Banshan Hall to find out what was going on because of the emperor's visit and this sudden incident.
He was so calm that the students who were originally restless because of the emperor's visit calmed down. After all, if Zhang Shou gave them a few questions and then went to Banshan Hall, they would be eager to make a move. But now Zhang Shou didn't move, so why should they move?
Therefore, including Ji Jiu, who was originally worried, a bunch of students resigned themselves to their fate and continued to struggle with the questions. The blond boy sitting at the back was struggling with the brush in his hand with a sad face, and he wanted to reach out and pull out the hair on the tip of the brush several times. There is such a difficult-to-use brush in the world, can it still be called a pen?
The blond boy was thinking about how to use the goose feather pen, but suddenly he felt a cold wind blowing behind him. He was good at dealing with surprise attacks, so he straightened his back and wrote with great concentration in an extremely awkward position. Sure enough, the next moment he noticed someone sitting on the chair next to him, crossing his legs and looking at Zhang Shou who was writing furiously on the podium.
Glancing at the man, he saw that he had a small mustache and looked to be about forty years old. His expression was relaxed, as if he was not an intruder but a student who was supposed to be attending the class. The blond boy couldn't help but feel something in his heart, and simply put down his pen.
He turned his head to look at the other person, and when he saw that he noticed his gaze and looked at him frankly, he asked in a low voice: "Uncle, do you understand?"
The uncle's words were so clear and crisp that the middle-aged man across from him was stunned for a long time, and then he came over with interest: "Then do you understand it?"
His question was answered back exactly as it was. The blond boy was just slightly stunned. Then he used the hand gesture he learned from others on the boat, leaving a tiny space between his thumbs, and said frankly, "A little bit."
As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that the middle-aged man opposite him smiled. Although he was no longer a young man, he had to admit that this middle-aged uncle was quite handsome when he smiled. Although the aesthetics of Westerners and Easterners were completely different, he had met many people in the East since he came here, and naturally accepted the mainstream aesthetics here.
However, the other party's answer completely destroyed the good impression he had just established. Because this middle-aged man who came in uninvited actually folded his hands and said in a self-righteous arrogant tone: "Of course I understand everything."
The blond boy sneered, and his eyes were suddenly filled with contempt.
Although he had only been in Jiuzhang Hall for a few days, due to his lack of basic knowledge and inability to communicate in the language, he could only understand a little bit of what he read and heard. He also suspected that the textbooks Zhang Shou generously lent him were incomprehensible because of the Chinese characters, which gave him a splitting headache. On the contrary, the pictures made him beam with joy, but...
However, he had learned in the process of shamelessly making friends and making inquiries that the students studying here were all admitted through exams, and all of them were extremely talented in this area!
The assessment standards of Jiuzhangtang are very strict, and no one is late or leaves early. This uncle he met for the first time could definitely not be from Jiuzhangtang. If that is the case, how could anyone understand it?
Being despised, and moreover by a foreign boy, the boy simply snorted and turned away, then continued to struggle with the brush, taking notes in the classroom crookedly. Instead of being angry, the emperor found it quite interesting.
This was certainly not because he was tolerant and generous, but because he had just listened to the serious but unprofessional deduction in Banshan Hall and felt really at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Now, when he met a foreign boy who was overly serious but obviously not good enough, he couldn't help but want to tease him.
Therefore, he glanced at Zhang Shou, who seemed not to have heard their conversation, and the students who were concentrating on taking notes, and suddenly stretched out his arms and snatched the pen held by the blond boy. Not only that, when the other party looked at him in astonishment, he also snatched the stack of papers in front of him.
Then, under the angry gaze of the other party, he casually sketched a figure on the paper and began to solve the problem seriously. Faced with such an incredible situation, not only was the blond boy dumbfounded, but even Chen Yongshou, who did not follow in, was dumbfounded.
Playing so foolishly with a foreign kid...what does the emperor want to do?
The blond boy was a little embarrassed and angry when someone took away his pen and paper. But when he saw the other person writing seriously, he stood up and stared at him with a fierce look on his face, saying, "Let's see how you try to fool me." However, after he saw the other person write seven or eight lines, his expression gradually changed.
With the knowledge he had now, he couldn't tell whether the other person wrote it correctly or not, but because he had been desperately looking at the blackboard, he could see that it was exactly the same as the problem-solving process written by Mr. Zhang. But when the other person was writing, he didn't even raise his head, and it was obvious that he didn't copy it.
Although it is possible that the other party wrote down Mr. Zhang's problem-solving process while he was sitting back and watching the fun, if he could remember it just by watching it, it at least means that the other party was not bragging .
At this moment, the blond boy's face suddenly turned pale. He looked at the other party with a complicated expression as he wrote down a series of complex and beautiful formulas and symbols. When the other party finally paused and put down the pen, he whispered, "So you are very strong, uncle."
The emperor was cleaning his ears, intending to listen attentively to the praise from the blond boy beside him, but when he suddenly heard the words "You are very strong", he couldn't help but be stunned.
Why is this expression so weird? It feels like this is not a compliment to his mathematical knowledge and ability, but a compliment to his fighting ability... Forget it, since it is a compliment, he will accept it generously!
The emperor stretched himself with a refreshed look, and returned the paper and pen to the blond boy. Seeing people holding papers and desperately looking at his problem-solving process, he looked forward leisurely. When he found that a student turned his head quietly, and when he saw him, he hurriedly turned his head and almost buried his head in the desk, he couldn't help laughing, but then he heard Zhang Shou speaking from above.
"During the class, please keep quiet."
