Chapter 165: Qinhuai
Princess Fu has also arrived in Jiangning? !
As soon as I traveled through time, I almost died at the hands of this woman. Although strictly speaking, the princess did nothing wrong, the jade rat stole things from her house, and it was reasonable for her to kill the jade rat. As for the fact that the crime was not punishable by death, you just thought it was modern times.
But psychologically speaking, Zhao Yushu still couldn't accept it, because he was the one who was beaten and almost killed. He had to take revenge, but of course he wouldn't kill the princess. It was not Zhao Yushu's style to kill someone's entire family at will.
But why did the princess come here suddenly? Was she already in Jiangning, or did she just arrive like me?
Soon he knew the answer.
"Master Wang, there is no need to do this. Stand up and speak."
"I didn't expect you to come in person."
"There has been no result for several months. My father is very worried. He is afraid that some people will harm you, so he sent me to Jiangning to take care of you. Now that I am here, you don't have to worry about anything."
Wang Yan seemed to be silent for a while: "Just before you came, a young man also came to see me. Although he didn't say a few words, he spoke in a very loud voice. I think he might be from Xijing."
"Xijing? Okay, I will find out the truth about this matter soon. Lord Wang, please stay here for a few days. I came here today for no other reason than to see you, Lord Wang."
"Thank you for your concern, my Lord and Princess. Please rest assured that I have nothing to say to anyone since I was imprisoned."
"Very good."
The prison door closed again, and the princess's footsteps gradually faded away.
After a while, the fat jailer opened the door and said, "I'm sorry, sir."
Zhao Yushu waved his hand: "It's a small matter. If someone asks you who I am, answer truthfully. There is no need to hide anything."
The fat jailer nodded and said, "Thank you, sir. May I know your name?"
"Just tell me, Mr. Six of the Academy has arrived."
The fat jailer's eyes suddenly widened, and after a long pause he asked, "When did you find Mr. Six?"
Damn, shut up!
After failing to show off, Zhao Yushu spent some time explaining his identity to the fat jailer, and finally walked out of the prison with the jailer's respectful attitude.
It seems that Wang Yan is indeed Prince Fu's man, but there are too many twists and turns here, and he can't seem to find a way to break through.
According to Sun Wuyang's request, Zhao Yushu's task is to find out who is the mastermind behind the Counselor, and now there are at least four parties present: the Academy, Prince Fu, the Emperor, and the Duke of Yue.
In Jiangning, Duke Yue did not interfere in the salt tax issue. Old Zhao would have chopped off his own head and given it to him to kick around.
Now, Zhao Yushu decided to get to know all the participating players first. Knowing yourself and your enemy doesn't mean you can win every battle, but at least you won't be killed without knowing who your opponent is.
It's time to go to Qinhuai River to see it.
The ten miles of Qinhuai River are not a river, but ten miles of red lights and candles swaying in the wind, ten miles of calligraphy and painting with lingering fragrance, and ten miles of graceful dancing and singing with flowing clouds and flying sleeves.
Zhao Yushu walked along the river bank towards the largest and brightest pleasure boat in his sight. He did not let Sun Wuyang accompany him and came to the Qinhuai River alone.
The old man said that in the future he could introduce himself to others as Mr. Six of the academy, so he swaggered and let Mr. Six make a grand appearance.
"Sir, may I see your business card?"
"Business card? Do I need a business card to go on a flower boat trip?"
"I'm really sorry, but our Zuihua Boat has been booked by Master Zheng from Jiangning Academy tonight. If you are not on the list, please forgive me, sir."
If he follows the plot of the novels in his previous life, Zhao Yushu should kick this "dog-eyed" thing over, then rush to the pleasure boat and play a trick of slapping it in the face.
Zhao Yushu smiled and said, "I thought we had to go to another place, but I didn't expect it to be someone from the academy. I'd like to ask you to show this to Mr. Zheng and tell him that Mr. Liu is here. Could you please let him go up and see the world?"
The wooden sign of the academy was handed over. Although the gatekeeper of the pleasure boat had read some books and learned some words due to the needs of his job, it was impossible for him to have heard of the name of Mr. Six, and he was a little hesitant.
"It's worth your trip." A small silver ingot was handed over, and the servant waved his hand hastily: "No, it won't work if the girl finds out. I see that you are a sophisticated scholar, so I don't think you will lie to me. Please wait here, I'll go right away."
Before the servant left, he deliberately brought a small stool for Zhao Yushu to sit on. It must be said that the service attitude of Zuihuafang is much better than that of Tianxianglou. Old Zhao still remembers how many times he was rolled his eyes by the servants of Tianxianglou. After all, who would go there every day in broad daylight?
The lights in Zuihua Boat were bright. The chief academic officer of Jiangning Academy was about to retire. The imperial edict for Zheng Xueshi's succession had just come down a few days ago. He could take office as soon as the old chief academic officer left at the end of the year. So he booked Zuihua Boat early and invited dozens of friends to celebrate.
In this era, there is no taboo. If people are happy, they can book a place to have a drink. The censors will not use such happy things to make trouble.
The dinner had just begun, the polite remarks had just been made, and three toasts had just been given. It was the most lively moment.
In a little while, Miss Wanqing, the owner of Zuihua Fang, will go on stage to perform a song, which will bring the whole dinner to a climax and allow Mr. Zheng to gain enough face. You have to know that the cost of booking Zuihua Fang for a night starts at one thousand taels of silver, so this face must be given enough.
(This is not nonsense. According to historical records, a courtesan in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty would cost 100 taels of silver for a single meeting, which was enough for an ordinary family to eat for ten years.)
Master Zheng was holding a wine glass and chatting with the person next to him with a smile. A maid opened the door and came in, knelt beside Master Zheng and handed him a wooden sign.
The servant was not qualified to enter the hall, so he could only ask the maid to deliver the message, and repeatedly reminded her to make sure it was delivered word for word.
"Mr. Six?" Mr. Zheng was stunned. He took the wooden sign and looked at it. His face suddenly changed. His friends around him looked at his expression and asked questions in unison.
"Do you know when that old lunatic from the White Horse Academy accepted his sixth disciple?"
"I seem to have heard that about a month or two ago, there was indeed a rumor that the Great Master accepted a disciple on behalf of the master and recruited a Sixth Master, but there has been no news since then. What happened?"
Everyone present here can be considered a well-known figure in Jiangning's academic circles, and their peers are paying close attention to this behemoth, the White Horse Academy.
"Mr. Liu is here, he's downstairs." Master Zheng frowned, and the people around him were also shocked. This person had been silent since entering the Tianji Pavilion, and suddenly appeared in Jiangning at this time, and went straight to Master Zheng without any warning, which made people think.
If Zhao Yushu knew that this group of people were facing a great enemy, he would definitely throw up his hands and say: Do you believe me if I say it was just a coincidence? It's because this ship is so big and bright.
"Brother Zheng, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? Since he's here, we can't just turn him away. Not only can we not turn him away, we have to entertain him well. We can't let Dongdu say that we don't know how to entertain guests. I'll go and greet him myself."
Bachelor Zheng stood up, and more than ten people gathered around him. Bachelor Zheng apologized to his other friends who were confused, and led the crowd downstairs to the entrance of the houseboat, where he met Zhao Yushu, who was confused.