Transmigrated into a female county magistrate during a famine, leading her country to prosperity

Chapter 1083 Who is Mu Ruojue?

"Can't go back?"

Yu Shizhang's mouth sank, and he was both angry and puzzled. "Since you can't go back, why are you still hiding in the box sent by the Lin family? Can you come up and give us a ride?"

Liang Fu shrank his neck, "You could say that..."

"You!" Yu Shizhang's beard trembled with anger. He stood up and walked to the stern. "I'll have the helmsman turn the rudder and send you back to Shangjing Wharf!"

"No, no! Hiss—" Liang Fu wanted to stand up to stop him, but his waist hurt so much that he fell back just as he stood up. He could only shout at Yu Shizhang's back: "I'm at Jingzhou!"

"Jingzhou?" Yu Shizhang fell back and frowned, "Explain clearly!"

Shen Zheng also nodded and said, "Mr. Liang, what's going on? Don't hide anything from us."

Liang Fu sighed and said slowly: "This is actually what your majesty meant. General Lin and I definitely don't mean to play tricks on you."

If he had not obeyed the king's order, he would not have to hide in the box today, but would be in the farewell team.

"Your Majesty?" Shen Zheng looked towards Shangjing and asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty...why is he like this?"

Liang Fu also looked a little confused. He said, "Yesterday, as soon as I arrived at Dongxifang, Eunuch Hong invited me into the palace. His Majesty said that he would have the Lin family secretly send me aboard today. After arriving in Jingzhou, I will go to the Yu Mansion to look for a man named Mu Ruojue. After finding him, he will take him in as his disciple and then, he will return to Tongan County with you."

"what?"

Everyone was puzzled when they heard this.

Shen Zheng's mind was in a mess. She asked, "Who is Mu Ruojue?"

Yu Shizhang also had no idea, so he asked, "Is this person a man or a woman, and how old is he?"

Li Shiyuan pondered for a moment and asked, "Why do we want to let this person go back with us? What's the purpose of going back?"

Shen Xingjian's starting point was different from theirs. After a moment's hesitation, he asked, "Your Majesty asked the Lin family to escort you aboard to avoid the eyes and ears of the officials. I understand that. But why... did he even hide it from us?"

"Right..." Shen Zheng also reacted and frowned, "You are on the boat, it's only a matter of time before you are discovered. Why are you hiding it from us?"

Could it be...that I want to give them a surprise?

Liang Fu covered his head and muffled his voice, "I don't know either. These are His Majesty's wishes. As for the rest... I'm afraid we can only find out when we get to Jingzhou."

Not to mention them, even he himself was still confused at this moment.

"Ugh--"

Everyone sighed in unison.

"Forget it." Shen Zheng stood up and took two steps, sighing softly, "Your Majesty must have his own reasons for doing this. Let's get the person first."

However, she felt helpless about having to bring someone back with her. She just hoped that the other person was easy to get along with and would not cause any trouble.

......

The dusk was like a thick black cloth, gradually stitching the river and the sky together.

Glass lanterns were hung on both sides of the ship, and circles of soft light spread out in the night, dyeing the surrounding river water a light gold.

After a day of digestion, everyone calmed down and stopped worrying about "who is Muruojue" and began to enjoy the return journey.

On the deck, Yu Nanshu, Fang Ziyan and others were playing Monopoly, with exclamations and laughter ringing out.

Shen Zheng held up her outer robe and "watched the battle" from the side.

"Master, it's a chilly night. Would you like to go back to your room and rest?" Hua Duo came over with a bowl of hot soup and handed it to her, saying, "I've spoken to Yang Duo. The boat travels slower at night. Tonight, we can sail on the inside. It's safer and you won't feel so uncomfortable."

Shen Zheng took the soup, held it in her palm, and asked Hua Duo: "Hua Duo, do you want to play something fun?"

It takes at most a month to get back to Tongan County from Shangjing.

It would be too boring if I did nothing.

"Fun?" Hua Duo looked down at the Monopoly board, a trace of confusion flashing in his eyes. "But... I'm stupid and don't know many words. I'm afraid I won't be able to play Monopoly well."

Shen Zheng followed her gaze and smiled, shaking her head: "It's not about this, it's more fun."

"Something more fun?" Before Hua Duo could say anything, Yu Shizhang came over and asked, "What's more fun?"

There was only one Monopoly board, and it had been snatched away by the little ones to play with. As an elder, he was too embarrassed to take it back, so he could only wait for Mr. Qiao and Shen Xingjian to make a new one before playing again.

Shen Zheng looked at the curiosity in Yu Shizhang's eyes and said mysteriously, "Play cards. This card feels better than leaf cards, and the gameplay is more complicated than leaf cards. It's the best way to kill time."

In fact, before coming to Da Zhou, she had never known how to play leaf cards. She only knew that leaf cards were a form of entertainment for the rich and were not popular among the general public, but she did not know the reason for its niche status.

It was not until she came to Da Zhou that she understood that the reason why Leaf Cards were so niche was because most of the cards on it were stories about people, poems and allusions, and the way of playing was more literary and not very gambling.

In other words, illiterate people cannot play leaf cards at all, so leaf cards have not been popular among the people.

After deciding to take everyone to play mahjong, Shen Zheng did what she said and went to find Mr. Qiao.

Yu Shizhang followed her the whole time and heard her say to Old Qiao: "Let's start with something simple. We need 108 wooden blocks that are 1.8 inches long, 1.2 inches wide, and 0.4 inches thick."

"One hundred and eight? And it's four cents thick?" Old Qiao was slightly surprised. "What kind of cards need to be so thick?"

He would believe such a thick card if he said it was a weapon.

Yu Shizhang also came over and said, "There are only forty leaf cards. Why do you want a hundred and eight for this thick deck?"

Shen Zheng smiled. "Because this card game is very competitive and has many possible combinations. I think it's very suitable for you guys to play. It will exercise your brains and prevent Alzheimer's disease."

"..."

One sentence offended two old men.

"I'm old and I can become demented?" Yu Shizhang sneered and sat down next to Teacher Qiao. "I want to see how powerful your cards are."

Old Qiao was also stimulated and motivated. He called Cheng Yu directly and brought a piece of wood from the cabin.

He held the wood, sniffed it, and stroked it, saying, "This piece of red rosewood is rich in color, but it was given to me as a thank-you gift from the Ministry of Industry... Never mind, it's a bargain for you. I'll use it to make cards."

Shen Zheng paused slightly, then stretched out her hand to stop him, saying, "There's no need to use such fine wood. Ordinary wood will be fine..."

Mahjong is played around with by people every day, and it won't take long for it to become patinated, so it would be a waste of good wood.

Old Qiao coughed lightly, his eyes wandering, "That's it."

Shen Zheng was puzzled and asked, "Aren't you sad?"

Thinking back to when I first met Mr. Qiao, each piece of wood he kept had a name on it, and no one else was allowed to touch it. How come he has become so generous today?

Cheng Yu beside him smiled and betrayed Old Qiao: "Sir, the Ministry of Works gave the master a lot of precious wood, including thousand-year-old boxwood, thousand-year-old ebony, and even a small piece of golden nanmu. This big red rosewood is actually not..."

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" Old Qiao glared at him and muttered, "You're still saying 'rosewood is nothing'? I think you've had it easy for too long, you've become too proud..."