Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 853: Laziness and Speculation
“Teacher, teacher!”
Seeing the Fourth Prince rushing in through the door curtain like a wild horse, Zhang Shou, who was covering his face with a book and closing his eyes to rest, couldn't help feeling helpless.
Sure enough, the next moment, the naughty child’s crisp voice came to my ears: “Teacher, I found out that the bow of Emperor Taizu is in the hands of those people who have not yet entered Beijing! And what to eat, those people taught those six guys…”
"Well, I know everything." Zhang Shou said casually, and found that the voice beside his ear stopped abruptly. He took off the book on his face and said with a smile, "Think about it , if I didn't ask these questions, why didn't I go with you when you went to ask just now? Eunuch Chu and Master Hua Qi are gone, right? And then they left you here, and called it handing everyone over to you?"
The fourth prince was speechless. The facts were exactly as Zhang Shou said. He was too excited to think about it. Now that he thought about it, wasn't it just that people were trying to fool him, so they said a few nice words to coax him? It would be better if Zhang Shou had asked him to be a servant before, and he had somehow found out the news, and then Zhang Shou figured out the truth. At that time, he really played a role!
He immediately raised his mouth high: "I am not a child anymore, why do you look down on me!"
Seeing the Fourth Prince's momentary indignation, Zhang Shou couldn't help but laugh. He waved his hand to let the naughty child come closer, then habitually rubbed the two pigtails, and then patted them gently. This kind of intimate action, like stroking a kitten's fur, was quite effective in calming the Fourth Prince. The naughty child, who had been provoked by his two words, quickly calmed down.
At this time, Zhang Shou said slowly: "How do you think of me? Are you going to intercept and capture those daring guys, or rush to Shanhaiwei to check the ship of unknown origin? Everyone has their own duties. For example, if I can identify the origins of these so-called envoys, my mission will be completed. The same goes for you. Didn't you complete the task assigned by the emperor very well?"
"After you have done what you are supposed to do, don't try to take credit from others, otherwise others will have nothing to do."
After instilling a bunch of twisted ideas into the Fourth Prince, Zhang Shou saw the little fellow tilt his head to think about it, as if he understood but also as if he didn't understand. Zhang Shou motioned for people to sit next to him on the Arhat bed, and he said earnestly: "So, whether you want to be a virtuous king or an idle king in the future, you don't have to think about it right away, but you can choose according to your own heart. But there is one thing you must remember..."
"Don't be too hardworking, because if you do too much and know too much, it will make others look incompetent, lazy, and idle. As the saying goes, the way of civil and military affairs is to relax and work alternately. You see Zhang Chen and others are so idle now that they want to work, but when they are like wheels turning every day, they may miss the leisurely time in the past. What do you think?"
"For example, I was originally only in charge of Jiuzhang Hall and Banshan Hall. Everything would be fine if I taught well every day. But look, teacher, how many messes have I got myself into now? Of course, it's because I can't sit still and always like to think about random things and make things happen. But isn't it also because the emperor thinks I have some abilities that others don't have, so he always pushes the messy things onto me?"
Ah Liu, who was outside the door, listened to Zhang Shou's twisted logic. Even though he always believed that everything Zhang Shou said was right, he couldn't help but shake his head slightly. Sure enough, the next moment, he caught the voice of the Fourth Prince, which sounded a little confused.
"Teacher, what you mean is, if Third Brother wants me to do something in the future, I will do it, but I must not try to take over other people's work after I'm done? Or give orders? But what if other people don't do their job well? I can't help it!"
"It's normal that you can't help it, because I can't help it either!"
Zhang Shou smiled and tapped the Fourth Prince's smooth forehead, then lowered his voice and said, "But, you won't let those who are eager to take credit... No, those who are eager to grab credit come forward? Or those who are always watching and waiting to find faults with others to grab credit? Let alone other things, there are people with the same personality as Luo Sanhe around you, and there are many people in the world."
"And if this kind of person doesn't suffer a little, he won't learn his lesson. You didn't see that kid with you this time, but in the past, since your third brother, the crown prince, put him next to you, wouldn't he want to keep a close eye on you all the time?"
"You are a prince, your father's beloved son, your third brother, the prince's beloved younger brother. Don't rush around when there's nothing to do. Do you understand? Your teacher and I both know how to send students to do certain things. What about you? You don't like people like Luo Sanhe, but your third brother thinks you need someone who can remind you. So let him do it, or ask your third brother for more people to do the work!"
“Although during a war, the generals that ordinary soldiers admire most are those who will say “charge with me” instead of “charge for me”, but have you ever thought that those who always lead the troops are the most likely to die? Even if they don’t die in battle, they die of illness or exhaustion! Not everyone has the luck that Guangwu and Emperor Taizong of Tang have, so we must learn to be lazy.”
"Don't do everything yourself, understand?"
The fourth prince finally nodded gently. Although he was young and didn't understand some of the principles, he could tell that the teacher was doing this for his own good - it was just different from the words of his mother and some of the old eunuchs around him who were trying to persuade him to be careful and restrained. However, promising not to take the lead in everything in the future and letting others do it did not mean that he would give up this time.
So, he continued to pester Zhang Shou with questions, especially hoping that the teacher could analyze for him what the possibility of this strange thing was. In response, Zhang Shou could only say that there was too little information and he could not help.
He thought that the people might be from Goryeo, but that was only because of the wind direction and the port of anchorage. But he really had no idea where the other people on the ship came from except for the six, and why they were putting on such a monkey show.
It is said that a paranoid person will eventually become a madman. He is not a madman, so he cannot guess, and he is too lazy to let the Fourth Prince guess.
But no matter what, although it has not been completely proven that the six so-called Chinese delegation members sent by Shanhaiwei at first were really from Goryeo, Chu Kuan and Hua Qi believed it to be 70%. Then someone came from the palace with a message, took the fourth prince back, and then withdrew the troops of the Ruiqi Battalion, leaving dozens of people who originally belonged to Shanhaiwei to guard again . Naturally, Zhang Shou became free.
However, although it was a bit of leisure, the reception work had come to a temporary end, but it was not over forever, because Chu Kuan had sent people to intercept and capture the next batch of guys, but he didn't know whether they would be sent here and he would continue to take over. So at this time when the year was coming to an end, Zhang Shou still had to stay in the public school.
A lonely but quiet life might be loved by hermits who have seen all the prosperity, but unfortunately Zhang Shou never thought of himself as a hermit. Moreover, after three years of living in the countryside, he had already tasted enough of the wildness that he lacked in his previous life. Therefore, he sent someone to send Xiao Cheng back. He spent half a day recalling and organizing the manuscript. Seeing that it was getting dark early, he couldn't help sighing.
But the next moment, he heard Ah Liu's voice coming from outside: "Master, how about I go home?"
Zhang Shou was slightly stunned, and then immediately realized that what Ah Liu meant by going home was definitely not to report his safety to Mrs. Wu or Zhu Ying... but most likely to bring Zhu Ying over.
Although his self-willed wife was considered half the emperor's daughter, and he first heard about the affairs of Emperor Taizu from Zhu Ying, at this moment the matter became increasingly bizarre and unpredictable, and he could not help but hesitate.
But thinking about Zhu Ying's character of going to the tiger mountain even though she knew there was a tiger there, he finally coughed and said, "Then you don't have to go there in person. Just send a message and tell them that this is temporarily over..."
However, just as he finished speaking, Ah Liu outside suddenly coughed and said, "Master, it seems I don't need to go."
Almost at the same time, Zhang Shou heard the familiar and brisk voice coming from outside.
"Ah Liu, is Ah Shou busy? I've brought him food. I've also brought your favorite vegetable buns. Aunt Xu has specially added more mushrooms and gluten, and there's also mutton hotpot. In addition to the hotpot vegetables, there are also freshly rolled noodles. Come in and eat together..."
"No, what do you mean no? You are not an outsider! Ah Shou has such a small appetite and can't eat so much, so we have to rely on you, the big eater! Come on, do you want me to drag you in?"
Outside, Ah Liu's voice was soft and slow, very different from his usual crisp and clear voice, and Zhu Ying's teasing was even more straightforward and interesting, so Zhang Shou personally went forward to open the door curtain. Seeing that Zhu Ying was followed by Zhan Jin and Liu Yin, and Ah Liu was hesitantly taking the heavy food boxes from the two, he smiled and said, "Cao Cao is indeed untouchable, and he will come as soon as you say it."
"Oh, were you talking about me?"
Zhu Ying raised her eyebrows slightly. When she heard Zhang Shou say that Ah Liu was going home to pick her up, she said with joy, "Thanks to Uncle Hua for sending me a message saying that you were fine. I talked to my mother and then brought you food. Although the public school is not short of food for you, it's cold to sit and eat with Ah Liu in such a cold day."
Zhang Shou couldn't help laughing when he saw Ah Liu's helpless expression. When the huge table was filled to the brim with food and Zhan Jin Liu Yin was quietly leaving, he simply clapped his hands and said, "Yingying has kept Ah Liu, so you two should stay too. Eating hot pot in this cold weather is boring with two or three people, but it will be more fun with more people."
Zhu Ying smiled so hard that her deep dimples appeared on her face. She immediately asked Zhan Jin and Liu Yin to stay.
After eating a few pieces of lamb ribs, Zhang Shou saw that the hand-cut lamb meat took a long time to finish two plates. He couldn't help but coughed in annoyance, "A Liu, don't be so reserved in front of the girls. Everyone knows that you have a big appetite. Zhan Jin and Liu Yin are the same. There are no outsiders here. Do you think I, your son-in-law, will despise you for eating me out of money?"
"The palace sent over a few sheep before, and the kitchen has already slaughtered them all and cooked them. In addition to entertaining those six people, I also had someone prepare a hot pot. The people from the Mountain and Sea Guards can take turns to eat. If you don't have enough, there should be some left over there!"
Zhan Jin and Liu Yin would never really let go of their appetites and eat heartily because of Zhang Shou's words. Even if they had never had any bad ideas about Zhang Shou, and just wanted to be like most of the maids in the Zhu family, to choose their own husbands when they were old enough, and let their own daughters decide who they liked, they couldn't leave the impression of being big eaters in front of their sons-in-law, right?
So, seeing that Ah Liu really started to eat, after a while, only the last bit of blood was left on the ten portions of mutton on the table. They couldn't help but be stunned at the same time. Then they saw Zhu Ying took two more plates of meat and placed them in front of her and Zhang Shou, then looked at them and said quietly: "Do you want to be polite or go hungry? Decide for yourselves!"
"Let me remind you first. I told my mother that I will stay here with Ah Shou until he comes home. If I don't go back, you can't go back either. If you give in to Ah Liu, you will go hungry. You know, you have to practice martial arts and horse riding every day ."
Zhan Jin and Liu Yin looked at each other, and this time they really didn't want to be polite to Ah Liu. The chopsticks were also used as if they were antelope hanging horns, extremely agile and swift. A strong general has no weak soldiers. They have been accompanying Zhu Ying to practice martial arts since they were young. Although there are not so many precious medicinal herbs and ingredients to eat desperately to nourish themselves, their small movements are still good, and they can also practice riding and swordsmanship with Zhu Ying.
However, if I go to practice martial arts with the young lady when I’m hungry, that would be terrible... If I faint from hunger, the young lady will just laugh at me!
When Zhang Shou saw the two little girls finally eating freely, he felt his appetite grow. After all, eating with a reserved person would only make the meal taste like chewing wax, while eating with a person with a good appetite would definitely be a pleasant meal. Therefore, everyone chatted while eating, and when he saw the mess in the end, he smiled with satisfaction.
Zhu Ying saw that Zhan Jin and Liu Yin had already started to pack up, and Ah Liu had quietly retreated outside to continue his mission. She pulled Zhang Shou to the window and asked in a low voice: "Ah Shou, are they really from Korea? Are you sure?"
"What I ask may not be accurate, but you know the methods of Eunuch Chu and Mr. Hua Qi." Zhang Shou shrugged, then said with a half-smile, "I don't know why they go to such great lengths to put on such a monkey show. By the way, I've read a book about eunuchs before... It's an unfinished legendary storybook, that is to say..."
He paused, recalled the plot, and then laughed: "It is said that when the Jin army was about to invade and the Northern Song Dynasty was about to fall, the Liangshanpo guys in Water Margin directly took the water route from Shandong to capture Jeju Island, a large island in Goryeo. As a result, I was wondering whether they would occupy the entire Goryeo and then stab the Jin in the back, or just stay in a corner... and the book was over!"
Zhu Ying was also waiting for Zhang Shou to tell her the sequel, so she was both angry and amused by the sudden ending. However, when Zhang Shou told her about the past and present of Jeju Island, including the fact that the island was once an independent fourth country, Tamra, besides Goguryeo, Baekje, and Silla, and that its indigenous inhabitants were originally different from Goryeo, she couldn't help but have an idea.
"Ah Shou, are you saying..."
"I'm just guessing." Zhang Shou shrugged with a smile, and then said nonchalantly, "Rather than believing that the Haidong Hua Kingdom hijacked the ship, there was a rebellion on the border of the Ming Dynasty, or that some remote place in Goryeo or Japan had already changed its flag, this is more reasonable."
