Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 58 Zhang Dai, courtesy name Zongzhi

When the grandfather and grandson walked into the room, Mrs. Zhou, who was recuperating on the couch in the inner room, wanted to get up to meet them, but was dissuaded by Zhang Dai through the door.

Zhang Shuo was not familiar with the Zhou family. As he was old and had just fallen on hard times, he was rather sensitive to illness. He felt a little uncomfortable when he smelled the strong smell of medicine in the room. After a few simple greetings, he told the mother and son that if they had any difficulties in the future, they could go to Kangsufang for help, and then left the room.

Mrs. Zhou insisted on bowing to Zhang Dai to express her gratitude. Zhang Dai had no choice but to go to the inner room and accept Mrs. Zhou's bow behind the screen.

"This bow is not only to thank you for your righteous rescue, but also to entrust my child to you. When my late husband was alive, I was always proud to have known you. Now he is gone, and I am plagued by a stubborn illness. I am suffering so much that only a little bit of injustice is keeping me alive. Although the matter is not over yet, I have your help..."

Madam Zhou was already in poor health, and after suffering such a severe blow, her condition worsened. After a few words, she lay down on the bed to rest for a while. After a while, she continued, "I only hope that you will forgive my foolish wish and take this child under your wing. Although he was born in a humble home, he has been taught by his parents, can read and write, knows right from wrong, and is responsible..."

"Madam Zhou, rest assured and recuperate, but don't give up on any chance of improvement. I lost my mother at a young age, and I know the pain of losing a parent. You should naturally raise your child with all your heart and with all your filial piety. There's no need to rush to give him or her away. If he or she truly cannot survive, I will raise him or her myself, so you don't have to worry."

When Zhang Dai heard Madam Zhou's tone of entrusting her son to someone else, he felt a pang of sadness in his heart, so he spoke in a deep voice to reassure her.

After retreating to the outer room, Zhang Dai remembered that his light goods and valuables were still impounded in Henan Prefecture, so he ordered the money and silk he had received as rewards in the palace to be brought down. He then said to Zhou Lang, "Your mother is seriously ill and needs to be recuperated. You should not worry about anything else for the time being, just focus on serving her here. Don't be frugal with medicine and food, and don't be afraid of running short on expenses."

Zhou Lang nodded repeatedly with tears in his eyes and sent him out of the villa before returning to guard his mother's bedside.

"You're getting even more outrageous! First you showed off your power in front of others, and now you don't even ask for money from your relatives or the ambassador!"

When Zhang Jun saw that so much money was left behind, he became more and more displeased and walked up to Zhang Dai and scolded him angrily.

"That's the child's self-gift. He can use it as he pleases. If you have any problems, go home and talk about it. Go home!"

Zhang Shuo first spoke to stop his son from scolding him, then looked at Zhang Dai who didn't care at all, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

He could see that there was a deep rift between the father and son. The son had been given money in exchange for the rice he had been awarded, a total of nearly two hundred strings of cash. Even if he had truly intended to help the mother and son, there was no need to keep all of it. It would have been difficult for the mother and son to store and transport such a large amount of money.

In the final analysis, this incident still reflects the boy's inner alienation towards the Zhang family, and he is even unwilling to bring the money he obtained back to the Zhang family.

In this situation, Zhang said that he didn't think the boy should be blamed. At least when the family was in danger and faced with a matter of life and death, the boy was really risking his life to save the situation and rescue his clansmen.

When his family, including himself, were all helpless, he won a chance of survival for his family through his own efforts. It can be seen that this boy has a strong sense of identity with his family.

But now he refused to even take home the reward money, which also reflected his alienation and resistance to certain people in his family.

Thinking of this, Zhang Shuo looked at his son with a hint of disappointment. The father-son relationship was a fundamental human bond, and yet he had treated it this way, one could only imagine his ability to handle things.

Before, Zhang Shuo was in a powerful position, and those who came to rely on him were all full of good things to say about him. He did not feel deeply about his son's shortcoming, and did not even care about it at all.

But now that he was forced to retire, he had to consider the family inheritance and how to deal with himself after losing power, and he could no longer ignore this.

Zhang Jun wanted to teach his son a lesson, but was stopped by his father again. When he heard his father say that the money and silk were actually the reward earned by the boy himself, he became even more surprised and suspicious.

He thought that these money and silks were gifts from his father after his retirement. How could that boy deserve such a reward?
As for Zhang Dai, he had never taken his father seriously before, and he naturally cared even less now. After visiting Zhou Lang and his mother, he wanted to go home quickly to see if Ying Niang and her daughter and Ding Cang were being harassed.

So the three generations of grandparents and grandchildren each had their own thoughts, and with the addition of Zhang Yi who was just watching the show, the group headed straight south after leaving Xuanfanfang and soon returned to the gate of the Zhang family mansion in Kangsufang.

The Jinwu Guards had previously surrounded the Zhang family mansion and only evacuated it not long ago. Both inside and outside the Zhang family mansion had suffered considerable damage, and all kinds of garbage were scattered everywhere. Therefore, the frightened family members were still cleaning and repairing the mansion inside and outside.

When Zhang Shuo and his entourage arrived at the gate, the family members noticed them. Several servants who had been guarding the door immediately rushed forward to greet them. At the same time, someone was about to run back to inform the rest of the family, but Zhang Shuo stopped them with a wave of his hand: "The family has just escaped from danger and has worked hard. Don't disturb them any further."

He had suddenly lost his power and was in a low mood. He even felt ashamed and uncomfortable in front of his family, so he did not allow anyone in the family to come out to greet him. After getting off the car, he asked his family to provide some food and money as rewards to the members of the ceremonial team that sent him back home, and then went to the hall in the mansion.

At this moment, the sound of whipping and screaming came from the left side of the mansion. Zhang stopped and pointed to the courtyard where the sound came from and asked, "What are they doing there?"

"It's a few gentlemen, and they are teaching a lesson to the escaped slave who had left home some time ago." Zhang Gu, the head of the mansion who came out to greet the people after hearing the news, bowed quickly and answered when he heard the question.

Before Zhang Shuo could say anything, Zhang Dai's expression suddenly changed, and he rushed out towards the courtyard. After seeing this, Zhang Shuo frowned and walked over there as well, with the rest of the family quickly following behind.

The courtyard on the left side of the mansion was originally a place for visiting guests to stop by, but now it has been turned into an execution ground. Many servants of the Zhang family were tied up here. The men were tied to pillars and whipped, while the women were tied under the corridor, also waiting for torture with miserable expressions.

When Zhang Dai rushed here, he saw several cousins ​​with ferocious expressions, whipping the servants with their sleeves rolled up to vent their anger. His half-brother Zhang Chang was also among them, also whipping the servants hard. The person being whipped was none other than the dark-skinned Ding Cang.

"Beat you to death, you runaway slaves! Without your families' protection, how could you have survived? When your master is in trouble, you dare to run away secretly. You deserve to die!"

After Zhang Dai rushed in, he quickly saw Ding Cang, who was beaten to a pulp, and Ying Niang and A Ying, who were huddled in the corridor not far away. He immediately became furious and went straight to Zhang Meng, who was still beating Ding Cang.

"Luo Nu? You thief, you still dare to go home! You must have been hiding outside for many days, and only dared to return after hearing that the danger was out of danger..."

Zhang Cheng and others also noticed Zhang Dai walking in quickly, and their expressions became extremely angry, especially Zhang Cheng, who raised his finger and pointed at him and cursed.

During the previous family change, all the Zhang family members had been frightened, and some had even been beaten by the Jinwu Guards. This was a profound humiliation, so they had decided to punish the escaped slaves as soon as the Jinwu Guards had withdrawn. This was both to vent their anger and to re-establish their authority over the family slaves. Seeing Zhang Dai, who had been evading the situation, return, they were naturally furious.

Zhang Dai didn't waste any words. He rushed forward and kicked Zhang Chang, causing him to fall onto the railing in front of the corridor. He then pounced on him again, pinning the boy under him and punching him in the head and face without any regard.

Although the two men were not much different in age, Zhang Dai was basically left alone before, while Zhang Chang was controlled by his mother and forced to read, read and do homework every day. When it came to martial arts, he was no match for Zhang Dai.

"Luo Nu, stop it!"

The other Zhang family members were shocked when they saw Zhang Dai rushing forward to attack and pin Zhang Zheng down, then raising his fists. They immediately shouted to stop him, and some of them rushed forward to pull the two apart.

"Stop it all!"

Zhang Shuo walked in next and stamped his feet and shouted angrily. Everyone in the courtyard was startled after hearing his words, and they all bowed their heads and stood respectfully. Even the servants who were screaming and wailing before quickly shut their mouths, not daring to offend the master of the house.

But Zhang Dai turned a deaf ear to it and continued to swing his fists and punch Zhang Chang in the face, making the boy bleed from his nose and scream in pain.

"Rebellious son! You still want to commit murder..."

Zhang Jun was furious upon seeing this. He walked forward and shouted loudly, but then he saw his father staring at him coldly, so he swallowed the rest of his words back into his stomach.

Zhang stood in the distance and waited for a while, but the boy showed no sign of stopping. In order to avoid getting himself into trouble, he simply turned around and left, waving his hand to signal his family members to leave with him.

Zhang Jun's two sons were still fighting each other in the courtyard. Listening to Zhang Cheng's incessant screams, he frowned and said, "Father, that rebellious son has gone too far. He should not be tolerated any longer!"

Zhang Shuo frowned deeply upon hearing this, his gaze swept over his family members, and he said in a deep voice, "This family crisis has been resolved amicably, thanks to my son's contribution! If he hadn't risked writing a letter to the Heavenly Palace last night and had the opportunity to debate before the Sage, the family crisis would probably still be going on..."

"Is there such a thing?"

"How can this be……"

When the people present heard this, their eyes widened in surprise. If Zhang Shuo had not said this, they would have probably accused him of talking nonsense.

Zhang Jun was especially surprised, with his mouth wide open, but he was completely speechless. His eyes were like bells, and he had completely lost control of his expression.

However, what Zhang said next shocked them even more: "The sage personally named this child Zhang Dai, and I chose the character Zong Zhi. From now on, you must remember not to treat him like a child anymore, and do not offend him lightly!"

(End of this chapter)