Sui and Tang Dynasty Generals

Chapter 9: The Sharp-tongued Aunt

At dusk, in the thatched cottage of the Fu family.

"It's really strange that the Zhao family actually likes Hou'er! Hou'er, what kind of medicine did you give the Zhao family that night? Zhao Zi, who is the man of the Zhao family and has the final say, actually came to our house in person to propose marriage!"

"Sister-in-law, how can you talk like that?"

When Tao heard what her elder sister-in-law Zhang said, she immediately became unhappy. She frowned and looked at her elder sister-in-law, then helped her son Fu Zihou remove the grass debris from his clothes.

Zhang didn't care at all about Tao's anger. Instead, she looked at Fu Zihou with confidence.

"That's right. Hou'er is the son of a merchant. Don't even mention the Zhao family in the village, they are relatives of the governor of Huaiyang. Even if you go to an ordinary family, who wouldn't despise Hou'er? And I heard that even the county magistrate wants to propose to Hui'er from the Zhao family!"

Zhang snorted coldly.

"Why are you talking so much!"

Grandpa stood aside, took the rice porridge brought over by his eldest grandson's wife Tai, and waved his other hand, signaling Zhang to stop talking.

"Dad, just eat your meal!"

Zhang retorted.

Seeing this, Aung shook his head helplessly, but he was too lazy to say anything more since everything had calmed down anyway.

"How come you are covered in grass?"

Tao cleaned up the front and asked her son to turn around and clean up the back. She didn't know what the teacher took her son to do today, as he was covered in dirt.

"Still laughing!"

Tao looked at her son's embarrassed smile as he turned his head away and glared at him unhappily.

Seeing this, Fu Zihou could only change the subject, but before he could open his mouth, he saw his father walk into the room, glance at everyone else, and come to his mother.

"Ma'am, do you still have your jewelry?"

Fu Rui spoke with some embarrassment.

As soon as the words came out, everyone in the room was stunned, whether it was Old Liu, Zhang, Fu Zhi, Tai, or A Weng, they all looked at Fu Rui.

"In the room, what happened?"

Tao frowned and looked at her husband. When her eldest brother was going to do something big, Fu Rui not only gave most of his money to him, but also most of his jewelry.

Now I only have the most precious hairpin, which was given to me as a gift at my wedding, and I am reluctant to give it to my eldest brother.

"The Zhao family asked me to come over as a guest. After much thought, I decided to prepare a gift!"

Fu Rui began to explain.

As soon as these words came out, Zhang became unhappy.

"Erlang, the Zhao family only asked you to go over to drink, but didn't ask you to go over to deliver something. Why did you go back to get it?"

Zhang said this and looked around.

"Look, you have nothing left in your house now. Why would you give away your treasures when someone invites you to drink?"

After Zhang finished speaking to Fu Rui, she saw Tao sigh, glance at Fu Zihou, and then stand up, obviously going to get her hairpin.

Zhang, who knew the value of the hairpin, stepped forward to stop him, then turned to look at Fu Rui and said, "No, Zhao Zi from the Zhao family didn't even want Zihou's sword that night, so you don't have to pay the tribute tonight!!!"

"Sister-in-law, my husband is right. It's better to take him with you!"

Tao spoke softly to Zhang, glancing at Fu Rui with a look of loss in her eyes.

But as Fu Rui's wife, Tao knew that her husband Fu Rui was well aware of how to behave in society. Before, when her eldest brother was going to do something important, Fu Rui gave almost all of her money to him, but only kept her hairpin, which she was reluctant to give away.

Now that my beloved has come to me personally, there must be a reason for that. Besides, after all, I have already declined the Zhao family's marriage proposal today. If I come here without bringing any gifts, it will inevitably cause misunderstanding.

"Don't move!"

Zhang turned her head unhappily, shouted at Tao softly, then looked back at Fu Rui angrily.

"I still have a pair of bracelets left. Just wait!"

After Zhang finished speaking, she walked towards her room angrily.

"Sister-in-law..."

Seeing this, Tao hurriedly tried to stop Zhang, but Zhang pushed Tao's hand away and went to the room without looking back. Tao could only follow her and persuade her, telling Zhang not to take it out and asking Fu Rui to go to the room to get the hairpin himself.

As Tao and Zhang entered the room, the scene suddenly became quiet.

"Aniang secretly hid the bracelet?"

After the young Tai brought a bowl of rice porridge to Mr. Liu, she came to her husband Fu Zhi and knelt down, looked back at the room, and then spoke to Fu Zhi curiously.

"It should be! And my father shouldn't know about this!"

Fushigi nodded and muttered quietly.

"Eat! Eat! We eat ours!"

At this time, Aong also signaled to Mr. Liu not to pay any attention and to continue eating and drinking.

After a while, Zhang came out with the gold bracelet and handed it directly to Fu Rui, forbidding him to touch the hairpin. This made Tao's eyes red.

"Sister-in-law, we will definitely pay you back in the future!"

At first, Fu Rui didn't know whether to take it or not, until he saw his wife's red eyes, and then he looked at his sister-in-law Zhang.

"So it's given to you for free?"

Zhang said with a look of anger on her face.

Fu Rui said nothing more, took the bracelet, and turned to leave home.

Zhang looked at Tao's red eyes and didn't know what to say. She could only look at Fu Zihou who was eating porridge at the side.

"I don't know why the Zhao family fell in love with you. They suddenly came here to propose marriage today! If I had known that the Zhao family would like you, I would not have let your uncle leave home. It would be great if our Fu family was here and the Zhao family took care of us! We don't have to worry day and night!"

Zhang said to Fu Zihou angrily.

In Zhang's eyes, if the Zhao family had proposed marriage two days earlier, no matter what Fu Rui and Tao said as parents, she, as an aunt, would have agreed to it. If Fu Rui and Tao dared to refuse, she would be angry with them.

But now, Liangren had already left with the family property and was about to be beheaded. It was too late to say anything. No one knew whether the Zhao family would immediately arrest them and send them to prison to be beheaded when they found out about Liangren's affairs in the future.

"Have a meal!"

Tao looked at her sister-in-law Zhang sitting down with no appetite, feeling guilty, and said to Fu Zihou with red eyes. "Oh!"

Fu Zihou nodded quickly and ate in silence.

Seeing his cousin Fu Zhi and his cousin's wife, who was a few years older than him, looking at him with curiosity, Fu Zihou had no idea what they were thinking. But he was also a little confused at the moment. How could he have known that Zhao Zi would come to his house in person to propose marriage!
Is Zhao Zi crazy to marry his daughter to a merchant's son?

...........................

"Zihou! Brother Zhi!"

Early in the morning, when he was practicing martial arts with his cousin Fu Zhi in the garden, holding swords, he saw the brothers Zhao Han and Zhao Gu standing outside the fence with a few burly men.

"Ok?"

Fu Zihou and Fu Zhi were both very surprised to see the two Zhao brothers.

Compared to Fu Zihou who went to the elementary school yesterday, Fu Zhi, who was at home yesterday, did chat with Zhao Han and Zhao Gu. However, Fu Zhi did not think much about it. In Fu Zhi's eyes, the two brothers came with their father Zhao Zi, so he just had to treat them well.

I didn’t expect that the two brothers would come to the Fu family again.

"Let's go hunting together?"

When Zhao Han saw Fu Zihou and Fu Zhi putting away their swords and walking towards them, he hurriedly invited them with a smile. Zhao Gu, who was standing beside him, also nodded and took two bows and arrows that had been prepared for the two brothers of the Fu family from the hands of an attendant beside him.

"It's cold, so it's easier to catch prey. In this cold wind, if I can catch some prey and bring it back for my family to eat, it would be so nice!"

Zhao Gu also said with a smile, his face full of anticipation and excitement.

"hunt?"

After hearing what Zhao Han said, not to mention the older Fu Zhi, whose eyes instantly became uneasy, even Fu Zihou was a little moved by this matter.

Fu Zihou had never experienced horse riding, but having experienced hunting once or twice as a child, he understood how much fun it was.

Watching the living prey jumping quickly in the dense forest and dodging quickly on the ground, when the arrow in the bow in the hand shoots out and the arrow accurately hits the prey, the sense of accomplishment is enough to make any man addicted.

Even if the shot misses, I will look forward to the next opportunity.

This feeling is very fascinating, so Fu Zihou, who has experienced it, can understand why the kings and princes in ancient times all had their own hunting grounds, and many of them would rather not eat than go hunting.

However, looking at the invitation from the Zhao brothers in front of him, and thinking that he would have to go to the teacher to receive lessons later, Fu Zihou could only rely on his strong willpower to suppress the desire in his heart.

"I still have to teach today, we'll get together again someday!"

Fu Zihou said to the two Zhao brothers with some apology.

Zhao Han and Zhao Gu felt a little regretful when they saw this. They saw that Fu Zihou was obviously very tempted but still refused. The two brothers also knew that Fu Zihou probably could not go, so they turned their eyes to Fu Zhi.

"Okay! Let's go together!"

Fu Zhi nodded impatiently, looking at the bow in Zhao Gu's hand. It was obviously much better than the bow that Old Liu used to teach him. Fu Zhi had already imagined the scene of coming back with the prey at night and feeding the meat to his wife and family under his wife's admiring gaze.

After a while.

Inside the fence, Fu Zihou stood at the gate with a sword in his hand, watching Zhao Han, Zhao Gu and his cousin walk away with reluctance.

Only when he disappeared from sight did he withdraw his gaze and reluctantly returned to the garden to continue practicing sword.

"Young Master, why don't you go? Actually, it's okay to miss one day. Just tell the teacher!"

Old Liu was chatting with Fu Zihou's grandfather. When he saw Fu Zihou return to the small garden to practice sword, he couldn't help but comfort him.

Tao, who was washing clothes in the yard, did not say anything, but the look and expression on Fu Zihou's face, as well as the smile in her eyes, showed that she also allowed Fu Zihou to go hunting and would not blame him.

"You regret it now! I told you long ago, why would you become my disciple? Now that the Zhao brothers have come here to invite us, it would be great if we could go hunting together! You're wasting the gift of becoming my disciple!"

Zhang was also hanging out the laundry, still lashing out at him.

Fu Zihou was already used to his aunt's comments on people's personalities, so he ignored her and just shook his head at Old Liu.

"What the teacher taught is very useful! Zihou wants to learn more!"

After Fu Zihou finished speaking, he sighed, then tried to stop thinking about hunting and calm down.

Thinking back to the last time he listened to the teacher's lecture, that way of teaching by example really benefited Fu Zihou a lot. Although the teacher did not admit that it was the art of war, in Fu Zihou's heart, whether it was the art of war or the ancient book mentioned by the teacher, it was no longer important.

Fu Zihou could clearly feel the mysteries and changes in the strategies that his teacher had mentioned as they were evolved using ants.

In the Fu family, the uncle can fail and the cousin can go hunting, but Fu Zihou cannot be willful.

Having the ability but not doing something is not the same as not doing something because you don’t have the ability.

"Tsk, what can a young man in his thirties do that is useful? I think you are ignorant and you make a fuss about nothing!"

Aunt Zhang's voice came, but Fu Zihou was unmoved. He still kept walking, swinging the sharp blade in his hand and chopping down and sideways!

noon.

By the river, Liu Zhiyuan sat on a stone, lying down with his eyes closed.

"Pretend to attack the east, but actually attack the west, go back and forth from the south to the north, strike and then leave, create a false impression, lure the enemy into making a wrong judgment, and then take the opportunity to annihilate the enemy..."

"… Seize the opportunity of the enemy's confusion, flexibly use feint attacks and real attacks, lead troops to break through the enemy's formation, and win the victory in one fell swoop!"

After talking for a long time, Liu Zhiyuan let Fu Zihou continue to look for the ants. However, compared to yesterday, this time Fu Zihou searched for a long time but couldn't find it. In the end, he could only return helplessly.

"Teacher, how about we go to another place? I can't find any ants here!"

Fu Zihou suggested cautiously, bending over until his waist was sore and his eyes were blurry, and he couldn't find the new ant nest.

"Then use those three ant nests from yesterday!"

Liu Zhiyuan opened his eyes and slowly stood up.

"Ah? But of the three nests yesterday, two have been destroyed. Especially that nest, which was the largest. After being besieged by the other two nests of ants, countless people were killed and injured!"

Fu Zihou looked at the teacher with suspicion, and thought to himself why not go look for it farther away, and then tell the teacher when he finds it, so that the teacher can continue to rest and wait here without moving.

"Countless casualties? Ha~"

Under Fu Zihou's gaze, Liu Zhiyuan chuckled when he heard the words, as if he was disdainful. Then he turned his head and looked at Fu Zihou meaningfully, holding the small grass root in his hand.

"Today, I will teach you a method recorded in ancient books!"

Liu Zhiyuan looked at Fu Zihou and said, then said two words in Fu Zihou's curious gaze.

"Select striker!"

(End of this chapter)