Chapter 71 - What the Hell Is Going On?
The further north they went, the colder the weather became, and the number of times Zuo Shaoqing went out became fewer. All day long, Zuo Shaoqing had been wrapped in a blanket and reading books on the bed, and there was a charcoal brazier burning in the room.
After Lu Zheng finished his training, he walked past his room and directly pushed open the door. Suddenly, a wave of hot air rushed into his face, causing him to pause for a while.
“Just how scared are you of the cold?” He opened the closed window and scolded, “Do you not have this common sense to open the windows and let the charcoal brazier burn?”
The cold wind blew in from the window. Zuo Shaoqing pulled up his blanket tightly, exposing only his head. He explained, “It was opened two hours ago.”
The wind on the river was very strong. If they stood on the deck, it wouldn't even take two hours for them to turn into ice pillars, and they could already see the ice forming on the river surface. According to the people from Cao Sect, they would have to abandon their ships and take the land route in two days.
Lu Zheng sat on the edge of his bed, held his hand to feel the temperature, and then put his face against his forehead, “Don't tell me that in the future when winter comes, you will have to sleep on the bed?”
Zuo Shaoqing replied shyly, “Isn't this idling? Why did a warm bed have to go out for a cold breeze? “It won't be like this when I have something to take care of when I go out later.”
Lu Zheng carried him in his arms, thinking that once he returned to the capital, he would have the people to clean up the hot spring village in the suburbs. In the future, when winter came, he could live with Zuo Shaoqing in the manor.
Zuo Shaoqing pulled out an arm, took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat off Lu Zheng's forehead. He also really wanted to be like Lu Zheng, even if he wore a simple shirt in the middle of winter, he wouldn't feel cold.
Lu Zheng had once mocked him, saying: “If you can spend your time reading to cultivate, after a few years you'll also be able to withstand the heat.”
Zuo Shaoqing immediately raised his hand and said, “First of all, I am a scholar, and second of all, I am a martial artist who knows some martial arts.”
Lu Zheng sneered. “Martial artists like you aren't even comparable to the scholar on the other side of the boat.”
Zuo Shaoqing thought gloomily, why are all of them scholars, and why are some of the people on the other side of the boat so strong? He had heard someone chant “Goddess Luo Fu” on the opposite deck last night, so he wasn't afraid of being frozen to death.
Actually, in most academies, besides teaching poems, poems, and essays, there would also be courses on riding. After all, Green Lu Academy was only a small academy with a small Youuxi Town, and very few people could ride and shoot, let alone teach.
At the end of the day, Zuo Shaoqing was only weak and did not adapt to the north's cold life. That was why he showed such a huge difference from others.
The two of them embraced in silence for a while. Zuo Shaoqing then asked Lu Zheng some questions from the book. Lu Zheng was a martial general, so his poems and songs were slightly lacking, but the facts were very clear.
Zuo Shaoqing could not help but ask, “Master Lu likes to be biased. If I were to write about this later, I'm afraid that even Gongsheng would not be able to do it.”
“What's wrong with that? Although sharp articles may not be pleasing to the eyes, they will not always be beaten to death. As long as they can be brought to the attention of His Majesty, there's no need to worry that he will not be interested in them.”
Lu Zheng gave him a few more tips: “The north drought south waterlogging has always been the biggest concern of the imperial government for the people's livelihood. The north drought south waterlogging has always been the biggest concern of the imperial government for the people's livelihood.”
Zuo Shaoqing looked at him in surprise. He was reborn from memory, so he knew the exam question. He never expected Lu Zheng, a martial general, to have such sharp thoughts.
This time around, if the topic of Conference Test was not changed, it would be “Life for the people”. These two words were simple and hard to speak, but the number of examinees in the entire country was unknown.
Lu Zheng continued: “Every single person in the upper echelons has their own set of questions. The previous emperor likes to fight, and he likes to talk about battles. Zhan Yuanfeng emphasizes on practice, and since this is his first time learning from someone after he ascended the throne, he definitely wants to win over a group of young talents who can be of concern to the people.”
Zuo Shaoqing slightly opened his mouth. He admired Lu Zheng from the bottom of his heart. After the qualified examinees entered the capital, they would try their best to find out what the examiners' word preference was so that they could satisfy the examiners' taste.
As for the Emperor's thoughts, most people probably wouldn't be able to guess them.
“Master Lu seems to understand the Emperor's thoughts very well?” Zuo Shaoqing joked.
Lu Zheng glanced at him, “If you grew up with him, you will understand him.”
“Ugh...” Zuo Shaoqing smiled in embarrassment and declined to comment. He thought to himself: “If every official was as smart as Lu Zheng, I'm afraid there wouldn't be a sense of oppression like accompanying a tiger.”
Luo Xiaoliu secretly stuck his head out the door. Seeing that someone was there, he immediately shrank back and waited outside the door.
These days, no matter how slow he and Nanny Liu were, they had noticed that their relationship was not normal. At first, he thought that Master Lu was interested in sex and forced San Ye.
Hey, what is this?
Although he had also heard about the story of Broken Sleeve Peaches, he had never thought that it would happen to his family's master. This matter was about to be exposed, how could San Ye accept it so calmly?
Nanny Liu was more anxious than him. She had been on guard against Master Lu all day, so the two stayed a little longer before instructing Luo Xiaoliu to come over and take a look.
Fortunately, both Lu Zheng and Zuo Shaoqing knew what was good for them. The former couldn't bear to make a move on Zuo Shaoqing's petite body, so the latter was too cold to move.
The people on the same boat were smart enough to see that something was wrong, but with Lu Zheng on top of them, they didn't dare to say anything.
Two days later, the fleet docked at Cang State City and when they stepped on the solid ground, many people heaved a sigh of relief.
Although the waterway was safe and easy, after being on the ship for so long, what they saw every day was either mountains or water. Their entire bodies were about to turn mouldy.
As the closest main city to the capital, Cang State was usually called a small capital.
Zuo Shaoqing had a tent in his hands as he looked at the crowd on the dock. There were many people coming and going, carriages and ox-carts on the shore, and it was obvious that they were in the business of a casual customer. Along the way, there were all kinds of goods placed on both sides of the road, and all kinds of food and clothing were sold.
Zuo Shaoqing noticed that a lot of the customers that got on shore rushed to the stalls at the first moment, as if they had been hungry for three days, and wolfed down their food.
Thinking about it, it was understandable. If he wasn't born in Zuo Family, and wasn't accompanied by Lu Zheng, then he probably would have eaten three meals a day either as fresh river or pickled vegetables.
No matter how delicious the food was, it would be unbearable every day. Thus, when everyone got off the boat, they would naturally want to change the taste to satisfy their stomachs.
Yang Yi spent some money to buy all the tofu flowers in the stall and invited everyone to eat them. “This is a famous local snack, commonly known as the monkey brain. It's so tender and smooth that it tastes like it belongs to a woman...”
Listening to his words getting more and more outrageous, Lu Zheng glanced at him and successfully made his mouth focus only on the delicacies.
Zuo Shaoqing felt that it was indeed pretty good. It was smooth and delicious, and the sauce was also very delicious. He ate two bowls in one go before letting it go.
Lu Zheng decided to only travel on the road after two days of rest. Thus, he brought Zuo Shaoqing to the division of Cao Sect. As for Jiung Hengzhou and the others, he neither bid farewell nor invited them out, treating them as strangers that he had coincidentally met on the road.
Zuo Shaoqing once again tactfully rejected Qu Changqing's request to travel together with him, saying that his Second Uncle was also in the Cao Sect and did not want to part ways with his family.
Only now did Qu Changqing realize that Zuo Shaoqing was following Zuo Yunyang. It was just that he wasn't familiar with Zuo Second Master, so he didn't even greet him.
After parting ways, Zuo Shaoqing felt relieved. Finally, he no longer had to be on guard against Jiung Hengzhou all the time. Then, he looked at Zuo Yunyang who had obviously lost a lot of weight and gently smiled, “Second Uncle... You must take care of your health!”
“Haha...” It's fine, it's alright. I've finally settled the accounts of Cao Sect. Although Zuo Yunyang's face was full of fatigue, he was surprisingly in good spirits.
Zuo Shaoqing had heard him say before that the Cao Sect had its own accountant and was once a scholar. His abilities were average, but he was very proud and arrogant, too bad that the other party only remembered the accounts and didn't understand the profoundness of the accounts. Over these few years, the accounts for the Cao Sect could be said to be in chaos.
When Zuo Yunyang showed Lu Zheng the account books that he had completed day and night, Lu Zheng nodded in satisfaction and handed over the financial authority of the entire gang to him.
After being delighted, Zuo Yunyang hesitated a little. He was a businessman, not an accountant. He didn't want to be stuck in the account book all day.
He carefully explained the situation, afraid that he would infuriate Master Lu.
Lu Zheng didn't make things difficult for him after hearing this. He just told him to find a few reliable accountants to nurture him for a while. In the future, he would still be in charge of the accounts, but he didn't need to do the accounts.
Zuo Yunyang was overjoyed. This was equivalent to him being a steward who only dared to speak and not taking action. He even had the power to do so. How could there not be a reason?
After leaving Lu Zheng's study room, he silently cursed: “I didn't expect Master Lu to be so reasonable and open-minded. He really chose the right person to rely on this time.”
How could he know that the reason why Lu Zheng was so easy to talk to was mostly because of Zuo Shaoqing. After all, he was Zuo Shaoqing's second uncle and since he had the ability and trust, he was willing to give up his power.
It was a pity that Zuo Yunyang had been working so hard and did not know that his nephew was already hugging Master Lu's thigh. If he had known, perhaps he could have been more thick-skinned.
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