After visiting Carpenter Sun's house, Zhang Shou followed the sturdy craftsman to visit Blacksmith Zhang and hired a blacksmith apprentice who was already a qualified blacksmith. Although he repeated the pendulum experiment this time, he did not get the eye-catching results that Guan Qiu had.
Even so, he was still very satisfied. After being dragged by the enthusiastic carpenter Sun to have dinner at the blacksmith Zhang's place, when he returned home again, the moon was already above the treetops. He thought Zhu Ying's midnight snack was just a casual remark, but the doorman, Old Liu, smiled and told him that Wu had not returned yet, so he had to hurry to the Duke of Zhao's mansion.
Fortunately, the back door was still open, and Madam Jiang, who was waiting there, did not mention how long she had been waiting, and welcomed him in with a smile. She was very quiet all the way, and did not mention anything about the house, and sent him directly to the Madam's Qing'an Hall. As soon as he entered the door, he heard Zhu Ying's slightly angry voice coming from inside.
"I'm finally back! Look at all those self-proclaimed talents in the capital, they just compose poems and essays and compete with others in writing. Who can be as busy as Ah Shou with serious work all day long?"
Following the sound, he saw the door curtain at the main door move, and then Zhu Ying stepped out of the threshold with an unhappily look, and frowned when she saw him.
"The small kitchen was about to be closed, but grandma and mother repeatedly told us to leave two people to guard it! You didn't even look at the time. It's almost midnight. You still have to go to the Imperial College to teach tomorrow. You're so busy all day, and you don't even ask yourself if your body can handle it! Aunt Wu is getting so anxious waiting, and mother almost sent someone to find out where you are!"
Zhang Shou broke out in a sweat. "This is the capital, and Ah Liu is driving. How can this be so exaggerated?"
"Think about it, all the messy things happened in the capital." Zhu Ying snorted, and finally turned around to let Zhang Shou enter the house first. When she followed him in, she said jokingly, "Besides, Ah Liu is so careless when doing things that he treated inviting guests as kidnapping. When Aunt Wu mentioned it just now, my grandmother and mother were both amused and confused."
Zhang Shou had already seen the Madam and Jiu Niang. Seeing that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were still awake, he stepped forward to apologize and made amends to Wu. Then he smiled and said, "Is Ah Liu really that stupid? He did it on purpose. If it weren't for him, how could Carpenter Sun think that I am gentle and polite, and the easiest official to talk to?"
The lady laughed immediately, and Jiu Niang also laughed and said, "I was wondering, how could Hua Qi's apprentice be like this?"
Wu immediately asked if the trip went smoothly. When she heard Zhang Shou say that he had already invited the people he needed, she did not ask what he wanted to do with all these people. She smiled and said, "Ah Shou, there was a letter from Datong. There is good news for the Duke of Zhao who was on the northern expedition."
Zhang Shou was naturally very happy about this good news: "Oh, could it be that Duke Zhao won a great victory?"
"It's not a big victory, but just a series of small victories." The lady took her time to answer, but she did show a relieved smile on her face. "The victory report was suppressed before, and it should be spread in the next two days. However, in war, you can't judge the victory or defeat at a certain time and place. You have to return home in the end to know the winner or loser. So, let's just listen to it for now."