Chapter 4 Talent (Revised) Well done, don't do it next time! ...
Xie Zechuan looked into Zhou Tinglan's eyes and agreed reluctantly.
He immediately announced to the public that Zhou Tinglan had been temporarily detained in the barracks by him, and once the matter was verified, he would transfer him to the government and report to the court on a chosen day for His Majesty's decision.
Xie Zechuan looked solemn. What should he do? How could he help her?
The people gathered at the gate of the barracks gradually dispersed. Xie Zechuan sent people to urgently arrest the person who spread the rumors in the city. However, just like the previous threatening letter, the person who spread the rumors was a gangster in the city, who was instructed by a man in black.
The next day, when Xie Zechuan was about to take the captured thugs to announce to the people in the city that the rumors in the city were not true, another rumor started in the city.
Rumor has it that Xie Zechuan did not imprison Zhou Tinglan, and the so-called imprisonment was only to appease the people in the city and preserve his position as general.
"Impossible! We don't believe General Xie is that kind of person!"
There were several exclamations in the city. Most people chose to believe Xie Zechuan from the moment the rumor started, but they still had doubts in their hearts.
"That's the latest rumor in town."
After hearing what Qin Sinian said, Xie Zechuan wanted to order someone to post a new notice, but was stopped by Zhou Tinglan beside him.
He glanced at Zhou Tinglan suspiciously.
Zhou Tinglan said, "Gather the people in the city for me, and I'll handle it myself. It's really not a solution to keep being passive like this."
Xie Zechuan couldn't help her forever. The rumors were getting more and more intense, and she had to clarify the truth of the rumors herself.
Xie Zechuan looked at Zhou Tinglan steadily, knowing what she was going to do. He spoke with difficulty, "Okay."
A large number of people in the city gathered at the gate of the barracks, and the soldiers temporarily built a simple platform with wooden boards.
Zhou Tinglan followed Xie Zechuan out of the barracks gate and walked onto the stage.
"My fellow villagers of Beijiang City, my name is Zhou Tinglan, the same Zhou Tinglan who founded the forging class as rumored."
Upon hearing this, the people below the stage glared angrily at Zhou Tinglan who was standing on the stage.
"She is Zhou Tinglan. You can't judge a person by his appearance!"
“…”
Insults continued to be heard from the audience, and Xie Zechuan clenched his fists unconsciously.
"I stand here today to dispel the rumors that my father embezzled military funds. The rumors are both true and untrue."
After hearing this, the people in the audience cast suspicious glances at him.
Zhou Tinglan sighed, "My father once held the position of Prime Minister and assisted Your Majesty wholeheartedly, but he was framed by treacherous officials for embezzling military funds and was exiled here."
"How could there be any mistake when your Majesty makes the decision personally?" some people questioned.
"You may not believe me now, but the truth may be late, but it will never be buried."
"The forging class was jointly established by General Xie and I. Our goal is to provide the barracks with better weapons. I'm sure the former students of the forging class have witnessed my sword-forging skills."
A man in the audience suddenly said, "No matter how good your swordsmithing skills are, you can't deny the fact that you used the forging class to collude with the Northern Di!"
"Why can't I?" Zhou Tinglan asked with a smile.
Who hired this person? He can't even speak clearly.
As if angered by Zhou Tinglan, the man simply threw in the towel and said, "No matter what you say, you just can't get away with it!"
Oh, really?
But what if I can get away with it?
Zhou Tinglan curled his lips and announced one last thing: "This is what I want to say next. To avoid suspicion, the number of forging materials used by the forging team and the number of weapons forged will be announced daily at the entrance of the weapons factory. Everyone in the city can monitor it."
The people whispered to each other, discussing whether it was feasible.
The man who had previously said Zhou Tinglan couldn't clear himself from the blame spoke again: "Don't believe her lies, she's a liar!"
Xie Zechuan could no longer tolerate this and ordered his soldiers to arrest him.
Unexpectedly, the man saw that something was wrong and collapsed to the ground, wailing loudly: "There is no law, the soldiers are killing the people!"
When the people heard the man's miserable cries, they couldn't help but look sideways at the stage.
Xie Zechuan glanced at the man who was slumped and rolling on the ground, clenched his fists again, and ordered the soldiers in a deep voice to take him down.
"Take him away and interrogate him."
He came in front of Zhou Tinglan and protected him behind him: "This person deliberately spread rumors in the city and disrupted the order in the city. If the interrogation results are clear, I will apologize to him in public."
"If..." Xie Zechuan's eyes grew increasingly stern. "The results of the interrogation will be posted on the city's bulletin board. I am fully aware of Miss Zhou's opening of a forging class, and I have verified her identity."
"I, Xie Zechuan, hereby promise that if Zhou Tinglan is indeed a Northern Di spy, I will resign from my post and never set foot in Northern Frontier again in my lifetime!"
Xie Zechuan's powerful words resonated deeply in the hearts of everyone present. Zhou Tinglan stared blankly at the man standing in front of him.
The interrogation results came out on the same day, and the man was also instructed by the man in black.
The forging class resumed normal classes. The manager would compile statistics of the forging materials used and weapons made by the forging class every day and post them at the entrance of the weapons factory for the people in the city to see.
In order to avoid further trouble, Xie Zechuan arranged for Zhou Tinglan's family to continue living in the barracks, and hired someone to repair the roof that had been smashed.
Zhou Tinglan looked at Xie Zechuan who came to help pack the luggage and said gratefully: "Thank you for coming to help our family pack the luggage today."
"It's okay." Xie Zechuan picked up a large bundle on the table, and then he pointed to the other bundles.
"I heard your parents are not in good health, so don't let them carry the luggage. I'll go back to the barracks and find a few soldiers to help."
Mrs. Qiao happened to walk in and heard Xie Zechuan's words: "General Xie, why should we trouble you so much?"
Xie Zechuan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Aunt, this rumor is also due to my poor supervision. Besides, Miss Zhou is helping me solve the problem of weapons shortage in the city. I also have to protect her and her family."
Zhou Tinglan: “…”
Why did she feel that Xie Zechuan was trying to win the favor of her parents?
Next, her mother would not...
"Then we'd like to thank General Xie for helping us move." After Qiao finished speaking to Xie Zechuan, she turned to Zhou Tinglan and said, "Lan'er, why don't you come over and thank General Xie?"
really……
Zhou Tinglan bowed to him to express his gratitude.
Ancient etiquette is really troublesome!
Xie Zechuan smiled and said you're welcome, then turned around, carried his bag and went back to the barracks to call the soldiers to come and help carry the luggage.
Zhou Yiming, who was standing by silently, glanced at Xie Zechuan's departing figure, sighed, and said to Zhou Tinglan: "General Xie is a good man. If there is anything in the future, our family will definitely help."
"My daughter knows, so just relax, father."
Alas, even her father was bribed by Xie Zechuan, another good guy card.
Not long after, Xie Zechuan came back with several soldiers. The soldiers carried all the bags in the house and went straight back to the barracks. Xie Zechuan stayed to escort Zhou Tinglan's family back to the barracks.
When they returned to the barracks, the soldiers had already placed the bags in the tents. Qiao and Zhou Yiming had already gone to pack the items in the bags. Zhou Tinglan looked at Xie Zechuan standing behind him and bowed again.
"Thank you, General, for helping us so much today. Since many things in our house are still in order, I won't keep you here. I'll invite you to dinner at my house another day."
"Good."
After Xie Zechuan left, Zhou Tinglan and her parents took a long time to clean up. She fell on the bed and didn't even want to lift a finger.
As expected, whether in modern times or ancient times, moving is as tiring as ever.
The next day, Xie Zechuan sent a famous soldier to check the orderliness of Zhou Tinglan's house. Seeing that everything was tidied up, he planned to go back and report.
Before leaving, the soldiers were given a lot of food by Qiao with a smile and asked to take it to Xie Zechuan.
"Please pass these food on to General Xie for me, and then these are for you, the soldiers."
The soldiers thanked Qiao again and again. With a red face, he ran back to Xie Zechuan's tent with his arms full of food.
Seeing this, Qiao chuckled: "It's great to be young!"
Zhou Tinglan was wandering around the barracks chatting in the morning. She had become familiar with the soldiers and accidentally heard some gossip about Xie Zechuan.
"Is General Xie like this when he went to the capital?" Zhou Tinglan asked curiously.
"That's right..." The soldiers chattered to Zhou Tinglan about what happened to Xie Zechuan in Shangjing City.
After listening to gossip for a whole morning, Zhou Tinglan went home happily. When she met Xie Zechuan in the afternoon, the gossip the soldiers told her kept appearing in her mind.
Zhou Tinglan was thinking about gossip and kept looking at Xie Zechuan's face and laughing.
Xie Zechuan: Is there anything dirty on my face?
"Thank you, General. We invite you to have dinner at our house tomorrow at noon. I will cook for you myself."
Xie Zechuan arrived at Zhou Tinglan's house on time the next day, and Zhou Tinglan personally cooked a table full of dishes.
Mrs. Qiao welcomed Xie Zechuan and asked him to take a seat. "We invite you to our home for dinner today. Thank you for helping us move the day before yesterday. These dishes were made by Lan'er herself this morning. Come and try them."
Under Qiao's watchful gaze, Xie Zechuan filled a bowl with dishes. The dishes were very delicious. He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. The taste was as different as its color.
Zhou Tinglan looked at Xie Zechuan expectantly, this was her first time cooking.
The stove used in the kitchen was different from the modern induction cooker. Zhou Tinglan was not used to it and was sprayed with black ash on his face. In addition, it did not have many modern seasonings.
Zhou Tinglan did not taste the food after she finished cooking. She thought the food looked good and thought it would taste good too.
Seeing Xie Zechuan eat, Zhou Tinglan asked: "General Xie, how does my dish taste?"
Suppressing the nausea rising in his stomach, Xie Zechuan forced a smile: "Miss Zhou is quite talented in cooking."
It's not about talent, the dishes and taste are completely unrelated.
Yay!
I didn't expect that besides forging knives, I also have a talent for cooking, Zhou Tinglan thought so, and picked up a chopstick and put it into his mouth.
Before Xie Zechuan could remind him, Zhou Tinglan had already spat out the food in his mouth, picked up the kettle on the table and took a few gulps, coughing non-stop.
"Ahem, ahem—General Xie, please don't make jokes like this again."
Zhou Tinglan wanted to cry. How could Xie Zechuan swallow that extremely unpalatable dish and still praise her cooking talent without changing her expression?
Qiao didn't understand what was going on, so she picked up a piece with her chopsticks and immediately spat it out.
"Lan'er, mother knows you have a heart for cooking and you cook very well. Let mother cook next time."
Zhou Tinglan smiled and said, "Mother, you don't have to be like this."
Later, Qiao went to the kitchen to make a few simple dishes.
After finishing the meal, Xie Zechuan was then pulled aside by Qiao and had a long conversation: "General Xie, our whole family is very grateful for your help to our family. If it weren't for you, I don't know what to do."
He told Qiao that it was not a big deal but was still held by Qiao. Xie Zechuan looked at Zhou Tinglan, hoping that she could help him persuade Qiao.
Zhou Tinglan coughed lightly and said, "Mother, General Xie is busy with military affairs. He should go back to deal with them."
Let’s go quickly. When she saw Xie Zechuan, she thought of the nonsense he said about having a talent for cooking.
Mrs. Qiao looked at Zhou Tinglan with dissatisfaction: "General Xie just arrived, and you're already telling him to go back and take care of military affairs. Someone who doesn't know would think you don't welcome General Xie."
"Thank you, General. Don't worry about it. Lan'er must have just said it casually. She didn't mean to drive you away."
Xie Zechuan smiled and said that he did have military duties to attend to, and only then did Qiao let him go.
She asked Zhou Tinglan to see Xie Zechuan out.
"Everything in the forging department has now returned to normal. The manager and I will count the number of knives in the warehouse daily. I'm sure at this rate, there will be plenty of knives in the city before the war."
"Thank you. I'll need you to take care of the forging class."
"nature."
**
The days gradually returned to peace.
The war horses galloped past and stepped into the gate of the barracks. When Xie Zechuan heard the news, the two men walked out of the tent.
The soldier dismounted and saluted Xie Zechuan: "General, the patrol team outside the city was ambushed by the Northern Di people, and half of the soldiers were captured!"
Xie Zechuan was shocked. Did the Northern Di people want to start a war directly?
He immediately asked his soldiers to invite the commanders of each camp to a meeting. Xie Zechuan looked at the sky covered with dark clouds in the distance. What should he do to successfully bring the captured soldiers back to Beijiang City?
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