APSIL -Chapter 112 Please Get Back on the Sedan

Zhang Shou had never been someone who struggled to sleep in unfamiliar places. Whether it was his first time entering the capital and staying overnight at the Zhao State Duke Manor’s Qing’an Hall, the small residence Qi Jingshan had lent him and his mother, or now the guest room of the Shuntian Prefecture Office, he had always slept soundly.

Of course, it might also have been because he had been so exhausted recently that he barely even dreamed.

However, this time, early in the morning, after an unusually late night spent doing mental work and then eating a midnight snack to help digest it before going to bed, he was not awakened naturally.

Instead, he was jolted awake by a sudden icy sensation on his forehead.

When he opened his eyes and saw A-Liu’s familiar face right in front of him, his first reaction was to close his eyes again.

Mm. This is a nightmare.

But the next moment, a cold voice sounded beside his ear.

“Young Master, the Empress Dowager summons you.”

When those words entered his ears, Zhang Shou froze for a moment before suddenly sitting upright. All traces of sleepiness vanished instantly.

Seeing A-Liu standing beside the bed with an innocent expression, and noticing the soft cloth towel in his hand, Zhang Shou immediately understood. The icy sensation just now had obviously been caused by A-Liu soaking the towel in well water and pressing it onto his forehead without warning.

“Can’t you just say it normally?”

“I stood there for a long time before calling you.”

Understanding the hidden meaning behind those words—I was considerate enough to let you sleep a few more minutes—Zhang Shou could only admit defeat.

He lifted the blanket and got out of bed, only to notice a brand-new official robe hanging neatly on the clothes rack beside him.

It was clearly a freshly made robe for a Guozijian Doctor, pressed so perfectly that not a single wrinkle could be seen.

He looked at A-Liu in surprise.

“You specially brought this?”

“Yes.”

A-Liu had already closed his mouth, but after thinking for a moment, he added: “The weaving workshop rushed to make it. Miss ordered me to bring it.”

Thinking about how A-Liu only became more talkative whenever Zhu Ying was involved, Zhang Shou glanced at him suspiciously.

However, A-Liu’s expression remained completely unchanged under his gaze, so Zhang Shou gave up trying to figure anything out.

After washing up, A-Liu brought over a breakfast that had clearly been prepared long ago—simple rice porridge, side dishes, and three kinds of pastries.

Zhang Shou had no choice but to quickly fill his stomach first.

Since there were no outsiders present, he did not bother with the rule of “not speaking while eating or sleeping.” While eating, he asked: “Why would the Empress Dowager suddenly summon me?”

“Love someone and everything related to them?”

A-Liu raised his eyebrows. Seeing Zhang Shou nearly choke, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

“Because you have become famous.”

What kind of answer was that?

If he remembered correctly, thanks to Miss Zhu Ying and Lu Sanlang helping him build momentum before, and then after entering the capital three nights ago when more than a hundred people led by Lu Sanlang and Zhang Chen surrounded him on his way to Guozijian, wasn’t he already famous in the capital?

Still carrying a little morning grumpiness, Zhang Shou snorted coldly and bit into a soft scallion flower roll.

The next moment, he heard A-Liu give a rare further explanation.

“This morning, Prefect Wang slaughtered everyone.”

Zhang Shou paused.

“Uh… you mean the morning court?”

Was it really that exaggerated?

He carefully imagined the possible conflicts that had occurred during court, and suddenly the delicious flower roll in his hand seemed much less tasty.

Just as he sighed, A-Liu added several more sentences.

“You should hurry. Otherwise, Miss might break in through the gate.”

“She wanted to come last night, but the Old Madam, Madam, and your mother stopped her. She has been waiting outside the Shuntian Prefecture Office since early this morning.”

“You didn’t say that earlier!”

A-Liu had finally transformed into a talkative young man, but Zhang Shou was genuinely annoyed.

If Zhu Ying waited outside some ordinary place, it would not matter.

But this was…

The Shuntian Prefecture Office!

The Shuntian Prefecture governed countless counties and towns around the capital. Naturally, the office located in the northern part of the capital had countless people coming and going every day. On special petition days, there were even commoners coming to file complaints.

Of course, with Daxing County Office and Wanping County Office handling most cases, the number of people making appeals directly to the prefecture was quite low. Song the Judicial Officer responsible for criminal affairs was usually rather idle.

But today, he actually wished he had more work.

Because standing at the entrance, facing the beautiful yet icy Zhu Ying, he had practically worn his lips thin trying to persuade her to move even one step.

At this moment, he desperately hoped that the Shuntian Prefect, who made everyone inside the office tremble in fear, would hurry back.

“Miss…”

Zhu Ying finally became impatient.

“I didn’t force my way in.”

“I didn’t make noise.”

“I didn’t block the road.”

“What more do you want?”

“I’m simply waiting for someone. What? You people dragged someone here in the middle of the night, and now you won’t even let me wait here?”

Song the Judicial Officer finally got Zhu Ying to speak, but her three points left him completely speechless.

Compared with Zhu Ying’s usual domineering behavior in the capital, today she was indeed extremely restrained.

The problem was—

Although she wasn’t forcing her way in, making noise, or blocking the road…

Everyone else was too afraid to enter!

Could he really tell everyone who came to conduct business to use the back entrance?

Speaking of which, last night it really was Prefect Wang who had stolen the person away…

Just as he was silently complaining, a voice suddenly came from behind him.

“Yingying!”

Before Song could turn around, he saw Zhu Ying’s anger instantly transform into joy.

The smile blooming on her face was even more dazzling than her bright red dress.

Even Song, who had always considered himself someone who valued virtue and talent over beauty, almost stared blankly.

Only when he noticed someone hurriedly walking past him, and Zhu Ying smiling as she walked toward that person, did he finally come back to his senses.

Seeing that the person was a young man wearing a Guozijian Doctor’s official robe, Song suddenly found it amusing.

Earlier, he had allowed another young man to enter—someone whose face was completely hidden behind the raised official robe.

But when he clearly saw Zhang Shou’s face, Song suddenly felt an indescribable bitterness.

Back then, during the palace examination, he had reportedly almost been selected as the top candidate among the second class.

But one young scholar had not only possessed extraordinary bearing but also outstanding looks, so the examiner strongly recommended him.

That person became the second-class top scholar, while Song fell to sixth place…

Back then, during the Hanlin selection, he had almost become a Shujishi.

But another candidate whose writing was equal to his had a better appearance and still gained the favor of the Hanlin Academy’s head scholar…

Back then, when officials were assigned, he had originally had a chance to become a diplomat in the Office of State Ceremonial.

But that position required frequent missions outside the capital—issuing imperial decrees, delivering rewards, conveying orders, granting titles. It was the face of the imperial court.

And because his appearance was slightly inferior, he missed that opportunity as well.

Now he was only a sixth-rank Judicial Officer of Shuntian Prefecture.

Although Prefect Wang valued him greatly and his future seemed promising…

This was already his third official post!

If he had been a little more handsome, would his career have progressed more smoothly?

After all, when he passed the imperial examination, he had been one of the rare outstanding young talents.

He had only been twenty years old.

Now he was twenty-six…

What a bitter river of tears!

Song’s complicated thoughts naturally escaped Zhang Shou’s notice.

But he did notice the resentful gaze the man directed at him and Zhu Ying, so he hurriedly urged Zhu Ying to leave.

Zhu Ying was satisfied as soon as she had received him, so she had no intention of continuing to stand at the entrance of the Shuntian Prefecture Office.

She quickly pointed toward the corner.

There was a sedan chair waiting there.

However, instead of people carrying it, two fine horses stood in front and behind it.

“The Empress Dowager specially sent this carriage sedan.”

“We’ll enter the palace through Bei’an Gate and get off at Xuanwu Gate. We’ll save a lot of walking!”

Zhang Shou naturally knew Bei’an Gate was located on the northern side of the imperial city and was the closest gate to the Shuntian Prefecture Office.

But entering from there meant passing through the outer northern imperial city and many government offices belonging to eunuchs.

He was unsure what the palace layout looked like now, but he could not help feeling a little anticipation.

Because of that brief distraction, it was only after he entered the sedan that he suddenly remembered something.

This sedan could only fit two people sitting opposite each other.

Was Zhu Ying planning to ride with him?

But the next moment, the sedan door suddenly closed.

Immediately afterward, he heard Zhu Ying’s cheerful voice outside.

“Quick, let’s go! The Empress Dowager is waiting!”

As the sedan began moving, Zhang Shou suddenly felt as if he had been carried into a bridal sedan.

Although he quickly dismissed this ridiculous thought, he lost all interest in lifting the curtain to look at the scenery along the way.

Even after entering Bei’an Gate, he continued sitting quietly, focusing his thoughts on the secret letters from last night.

With his excellent memory, he had memorized those binary numbers.

Now he began analyzing them one by one.

By the time he got off at Xuanwu Gate, he had already converted all the numbers into decimal form and was searching through the Thousand Character Classic in his mind for corresponding characters.

Therefore, when another small sedan arrived to carry them further, he entered without paying much attention.

Only when he was put down again did he finally regain awareness.

“We have arrived at Qingning Palace.”

Because he had not paid attention to the buildings along the way, Zhang Shou only now noticed the surrounding scenery.

Red walls and glazed tiles filled his vision.

Above the gate in front of him were three characters:

Qingning Gate.

He glanced at the sun and immediately realized this should be the northern gate of Qingning Palace.

According to palace rules where the southern gates were the main entrances, this was undoubtedly the rear entrance.

He hesitated slightly.

Then he saw Zhu Ying lifting her skirt and running over.

“Going through Changxin Gate would take a huge detour. Qingning Gate is much closer!”

“A-Shou, hurry!”

“The Empress Dowager is just like my grandmother—very kind and easy to talk to!”

Zhang Shou smiled and nodded.

But just as he was about to enter Qingning Gate, a little eunuch suddenly rushed out from inside.

He almost collided directly with Zhang Shou.

Zhu Ying’s eyebrows immediately rose in anger.

However, before she could say anything, the little eunuch apologized repeatedly and ran away.

Almost instinctively, Zhang Shou touched his chest.

Then, without hesitation, he suddenly reached into his robe.

His left leg stepped forward.

At the same time, his right hand swung.

A perfect throwing motion.

Before Zhu Ying could react, she only saw something fly from Zhang Shou’s hand.

With astonishing accuracy, it struck the little eunuch directly in the back.

Bang!

The eunuch fell forward onto the ground.

Zhu Ying stared at Zhang Shou in shock.

Then she saw the handsome young man smile awkwardly.

“It’s been a long time since I threw something.”

“My hand is a little rusty.”

Zhu Ying looked at the little eunuch lying on the ground, clutching his waist and unable to even get up.

She could not help laughing.

This was what he called rusty?

If his hand were in practice…

Wouldn’t that unlucky eunuch have been killed?