APSIL -Chapter 155 Men and Women Are Different

After leaving Tingyu Pavilion, Marquis Weinan Zhang Kang generously treated Zhang Shou and the others to another lavish dinner at one of the capital’s famous restaurants.

Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Lu Sanlang cheerfully returned to the Imperial Academy to continue being its incorrigible yet brilliant student.

Meanwhile, Zhang Shou, Zhu Ying, and Zhu Er bid farewell to Zhang Kang and climbed into a carriage for the ride home.

The moment they set off, Zhu Ying could no longer contain her curiosity.

“A-Shou, what did Zhang Kang want with you? He’s always been an extremely low-profile person. He barely even attends court and seldom associates with my father, Duke Chu, Duke Qin, or any of the other great nobles. When I heard he’d invited you to Tingyu Pavilion, I knew something was strange. That’s why I decided to wait outside his residence and intercept him!”

Zhu Er couldn’t help glancing sideways.

She wasn’t even familiar with him, yet she dared block the gate of a marquis’s residence?

If it had been me, Zhang Kang’s mere glare would’ve probably made me kneel. And afterward Grandmother would definitely have punished me.

But Zhu Ying…?

One look at Zhang Kang’s attitude earlier made everything obvious.

He had simply tolerated her helplessly.

As for Grandmother or his stepmother scolding her afterward?

Not a chance.

Men and women really were treated worlds apart.

From Zhu Er’s constantly changing expression, Zhang Shou immediately read the mixture of envy, jealousy, and resentment in the second young master’s heart.

He naturally had no intention of comforting him.

Instead, smiling, he took out the slip of paper Zhang Kang had given him and handed it to Zhu Ying.

“It wasn’t anything major. Marquis Weinan has become so desperate he’s trying every possible remedy. He wants me to open a locked box—probably some treasure he acquired somewhere. His curiosity got the better of him.”

“Look.”

“It’s protected by a fourteen-ring character lock.”

After taking the paper and glancing at it, Zhu Ying sucked in a breath.

“It’s actually this kind of lock!”

“We have several at home too, though most only have three rings. Five rings is the most I’ve ever seen.”

“When I was little I played with one out of curiosity. Even though each ring only had four characters, it still took me ages to open a three-ring lock.”

“This one has fourteen…”

“How long would that take to try?”

Zhu Er leaned over curiously as well.

Then he curled his lip.

“As long as you’re persistent enough, even an iron pestle can be ground into a needle.”

“I refuse to believe that if you just keep trying every combination one by one, it won’t eventually open!”

Zhang Shou smiled.

“I already told Marquis Weinan that there are exactly 268,435,456 possible combinations.”

“Even if someone worked incredibly fast and never slept, trying every combination would still take ten full years.”

Zhu Er’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

He stared at the paper in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Zhu Ying treated it as though it were burning her hands and hurriedly shoved it back to Zhang Shou.

Suddenly inspired, Zhu Er chuckled.

“Well, Yingying and I certainly can’t help with something like this.”

“But Lu Sanlang probably could!”

Zhang Shou naturally knew Zhu Er wanted to dump the problem onto Lu Sanlang.

He laughed.

“No one can help.”

“They say even my teacher and the others failed to solve it.”

“As for me…”

“Marquis Weinan is simply grasping at straws.”

“I’ll spend a few days making a token effort, then tell him I couldn’t do anything.”

Hearing that even Ge Yong had failed, Zhu Ying’s enthusiasm only grew.

“Not necessarily!”

“When everyone else was helpless against those secret letters between Linhai Camp and the Ministry of War traitors, didn’t you solve them?”

“You may not be more capable than Grandpa Ge…”

“…but you’re luckier!”

I wonder if Teacher Ge’s ears are itching and making him sneeze right now…

Suppressing a laugh, Zhang Shou merely shook his head.

“You make it sound easy.”

“It’s nothing of the sort.”

“I’m not expecting much.”

“Still, I did ask Marquis Weinan for something in return.”

“I want to see a map of the world beyond Great Ming.”

“He agreed.”

“He said he’ll take me tomorrow evening.”

Immediately Zhu Er cried out, “That’s far too small a reward!”

“You solved the huge puzzle of the Nine Chapters Hall plaque for His Majesty.”

“You also deciphered all those secret letters for Prefect Wang.”

“And what did you get?”

“Almost nothing!”

“Zhang Kang, that barbarian, received countless rewards from Emperor Ruizong back in the day.”

“Now he’s over sixty and has no children.”

“You should’ve asked him for estates, houses, farmland, gold, sil—”

He suddenly stopped himself.

After coughing several times, he swallowed back the words beautiful women.

“How vulgar!”

Zhu Ying shot him a glare.

“If A-Shou really opens that fourteen-ring lock, he can ask for those things afterward.”

“Right now he should appear detached from fame and wealth.”

“That’s what true integrity looks like.”

“Only then will Marquis Weinan truly feel grateful.”

Seeing Zhu Er rendered speechless, Zhang Shou laughed.

“So according to you, Yingying…”

“If I want Marquis Weinan to feel indebted to me…”

“…then I should devote everything I have to solving this lock?”

“Of course!”

She answered without hesitation.

“If you open it, with Marquis Weinan’s personality, forget houses and land.”

“Gold, silver, beautiful maidservants…”

“Whatever you ask for, he’ll give it to you.”

“And we’ll all be witnesses.”

“He won’t even be able to deny it.”

If you keep talking like this…then even if I actually discover the solution, I’ll have to pretend I couldn’t.

Otherwise, before long people all over the empire will be bringing me every bizarre coded letter and mysterious manuscript imaginable, begging me to decipher them.

Thinking that, Zhang Shou smiled as he carefully put the note away.

Then he casually asked, “Yingying, Zhang Chen was rewarded by the palace for helping capture the traitors.”

“I heard Duke Qin’s household received imperial gifts.”

“But your Zhao family personally captured two rebels and handed them over to the prefectural authorities.”

“Prefect Wang has already concluded the case.”

“Didn’t the imperial court reward your family at all?”

“The palace…”

Zhu Ying thought for a moment.

“Actually, the night we returned from Zhao Garden, after I went home to see Grandmother and Mother, the palace rewarded them with two bolts of Shu brocade, two bolts of cloud-pattern brocade, two strings of sandalwood prayer beads, and quite a few other small gifts.”

“They specifically rewarded me with a string of South Sea pearls, a pair of jade disks, and two gem-inlaid gold necklaces.”

“And they gave Second Brother a complete scholar’s writing set.”

As she spoke, she completely failed to notice the miserable expression on Zhu Er’s face when the writing set was mentioned.

Suddenly realization dawned on her. “Oh!”

“The palace sends rewards to our family every few days.”

“I was in such a hurry to visit you that night I didn’t think much about it.”

“So those rewards were actually for capturing the traitors?”

Originally Zhang Shou had assumed the Emperor simply wanted to emphasize Zhang Chen’s contribution.

Only now did he realize the Zhao family had indeed been rewarded.

It was just that Miss Zhu received imperial gifts so often she no longer paid attention.

Sure enough, Zhu Ying suddenly slapped her thigh in annoyance.

Unfortunately…

It was Zhu Er’s thigh.

He grimaced in pain.

“No wonder Grandmother told me that night you might be promoted very soon!”

“I completely forgot to tell you!”

“I don’t particularly care about promotions.”

Zhang Shou smiled faintly.

“I only hope Prefect Wang’s harsh punishment this time serves as a warning to all those thieves and scoundrels.”

“Exactly!”

Zhu Ying immediately flared up again.

“Zheng Huaien may have been flogged, and Prefect Wang even petitioned to strip him of his imperial clan status.”

“But there’s still no decision.”

“Tomorrow I’ll go to the palace myself and ask His Majesty to uphold justice!”

“Zheng Huaien has disgraced the imperial clan.”

“If he isn’t severely punished, those imperial relatives will only become more rotten!”

Seeing his sister practically radiating murderous intent, Zhu Er coughed awkwardly, hoping she’d tone things down in front of her fiancé.

Sure enough, Zhang Shou shook his head.

“Since Prefect Wang has already submitted his memorial, we only need to wait.”

“Zheng Huaien’s parents are bound to enter the palace to plead for mercy.”

“Don’t add fuel to the fire.”

“His father deserves it!”

Zhu Ying snorted.

“They keep bragging that he’s Emperor Yingzong’s grandson.”

“That’s only because all of Emperor Yingzong’s other sons killed each other until he was the only one left.”

“Grandfather Ruizong established him as Prince Heir purely out of respect for Emperor Yingzong.”

“And yet Zheng Huaien still keeps stirring up trouble.”

“He even dared set his sights on me!”

“Hmph!”

After venting her anger, Zhu Ying ultimately agreed not to interfere.

Instead, she remembered how she’d deliberately provoked Princess Yongping into returning to the palace.

She wondered whether her rival had solved the assassin case yet.

Still, there was no need to enter the palace just for that.

She could simply wait for an opportunity.

Besides…

Princess Yongping remained proud and aloof, showing interest in no man whatsoever.

The other two marriageable princesses had timid mothers, so their marriages likewise remained unsettled.

Perhaps she should mention the matter to the Emperor herself and ask him to personally choose suitable husbands instead of leaving everything to the Ministry of Rites.

After all, princesses of the dynasty never lacked suitors.

Their husbands merely couldn’t become Grand Secretaries or Ministers.

Other high offices remained perfectly attainable through merit.

When the carriage reached Ge Manor as Zhang Shou had requested, he stepped down.

Watching him disappear inside before the carriage continued on, Zhu Er finally sighed.

“My dear sister…”

“Even if everything you do is for Zhang Shou’s sake…”

“…you’re just too fierce.”

“Like today.”

“You blocked Marquis Weinan’s residence, then followed him to Tingyu Pavilion.”

“If I were A-Shou…”

“I would’ve exploded already.”

“How could you possibly be A-Shou?”

Zhu Ying shot back without hesitation.

“You’re nowhere close.”

Then, after a brief pause, she quietly added, “I’ve always been like this.”

“A-Shou has never once thought there was anything wrong with me.”

“When he finally does,” Zhu Er replied seriously, “it’ll already be too late.”

But the moment the words left his mouth, he felt conflicted.

He had always believed Zhang Shou wasn’t worthy of Zhu Ying.

So why was he now worrying that his sister’s temper might someday drive him away?

At that moment Zhu Ying suddenly said, “So many problems turned up just from inspecting Zhao Garden at Haidian.”

“I’ve already reported everything to Grandmother and Mother.”

“I’m personally checking every property our family owns to see whether there are any more rotten apples.”

“Second Brother…”

“I’ve only visited three or four shops over the past two days, and every one of them had major issues.”

“So let me warn you in advance.”

“Think carefully about whether the people under you can really be trusted.”

Before the stunned Zhu Er could answer, she continued softly, “A-Shou helped me recruit so many capable people before.”

“Things didn’t quite go according to plan…”

“But this is a perfect opportunity to sort through my dowry and my private assets.”

“Otherwise…”

“How can I recruit talented people and build my own team?”

“I’ll also have to pay attention to arranging their marriages.”

I’m the second young master of the Zhao family, and even I can’t really claim to have my own followers…

Yet you’re already talking about recruiting people and building your own faction?

And you’re even planning everyone else’s marriages…

What about your own second brother’s marriage?

Thinking about his pitiful monthly allowance…

Then comparing it to Zhu Ying’s jewelry boxes, always overflowing with priceless treasures because they could never hold everything…

Zhu Er suddenly felt that, as a grown man, his life was truly miserable.