After arriving at Baijia Village, he left the Fourth Prince Xiaohuashen with Xiao Cheng, Zhang Chen and Yang Hao, and then sent Luo Sanhe and Zhang Xiaohai, a student in the intermediate class of the public school who he believed had great potential, to Hejiatun, which was less than five miles away. After giving some instructions to another village chief, Zhang Shou immediately set out for the return journey.
On the way there, the three carriages were packed with people, plus a dozen guards. It took an hour and a half in the weather that was almost the coldest time of the year. On the way back, the three carriages were empty and only Zhang Shou was left. He almost wanted to call Ah Liu and the other guards to take turns to rest and keep out the cold and wind.
However, before he could finish his words, Ah Liu spoke up first: "Master, since we are not in a hurry on the way back, why not go slower? The twelve of us will be divided into two groups of six, and we will take turns to rest in the two cars and recuperate. Then, as we discussed with the young lady before, we will rest at her farm between Tongzhou and the capital."
Even though Zhu Tingfang was in charge of the Five Cities Military Division, he had asked the emperor for permission to keep a pass through the Xuanwu Gate in the inner city, so that the inner and outer cities could communicate at any time and suppress any incidents immediately. However, it was impossible to rashly open any gate in the outer city of the capital in the middle of the night. Not to mention that Zhang Shou was his brother-in-law, even the third prince, the crown prince, could not pass without the emperor's permission.
To put it more seriously, even if the emperor sneaked out of the city in disguise and missed the time when the city gate was closed, he should still find a place to stay outside for a night. Otherwise, if the noise of opening the city gate was too loud, he would be scolded by the ministers...
Of course, as far as Zhang Shou knew, even with the emperor's past absurdity, he had never done such a thing. So since he planned to flee before Zhang Chen and the Fourth Prince could react, he had no plans to go into the city, walk at night, and then stay at one of Zhu Ying's dowry farms. That was a decision he had made long ago after discussing it with Zhu Ying.
Although Zhu Hong wanted to argue, at least to accompany Ah Liu, Ah Liu choked him with one sentence and he couldn't refute it: "I don't need to, in terms of night vision, you and them can't compare with me. In terms of endurance, you and them can't compare with me either."
Zhu Hong had seen Ah Liu's night arrows, and he had also seen Ah Liu's horsemanship. Even the gifted eldest son, who was taught by a famous teacher, could hardly be his opponent in these two aspects, not to mention Ah Liu who was more specialized in swordsmanship.
Furthermore, he had heard that Ah Liu was picked up by his own Master Hua Qi from a pile of horse thieves on the grassland, and it might be common for him to sleep on a horse. There was no need for him to compete with others, so after thinking about it, he agreed.
As the wind grew stronger that night and the temperature seemed to be getting lower and lower, Ah Liu was patrolling outside the carriage with a serious face. Zhang Shou, who occupied the carriage alone, wanted to tell people not to be too nervous, but Ah Liu seemed to know what he meant. When he saw Zhu Hong dividing people into groups, he quietly rode to Zhang Shou's carriage and said something very serious.
"Master, I promised Miss that this trip must be safe and sound."
Ah Liu said this simply, and even kept the old name for Zhu Ying in a moment of desperation, but Zhang Shou finally gave up the idea of letting him get on the bus in the face of the boy's serious tone. He also knew that although this was the border of the capital, it was impossible for the public security to be so good that no one would pick up things on the road or lock their doors at night, let alone walk at night.