Time Travel: The Best Doctor in Ancient Times

Chapter 348: Chapter 223: Asking Mr. Ban Shan to Gamble Chapter 348: Chapter 223: Asking Mr. Ban Shan to Gamble At the breakfast table, as expected, Zhou Mu and Yuan Bao joined as freeloaders. Gu Changsheng also learned the truth that Zhou Zongbao had not actually arrived early in the morning but had never left the night before.

“Wife, Prince Bao, he really is…” Uncle Song’s aged face was filled with embarrassment. He had lived a long life but had never heard of a prince who acted less like a prince–in fact, he was more like a hooligan, insisting shamelessly on staying despite all attempts to make him leave. With no other choice, Uncle Song had to arrange for him to stay in the guest room at the front courtyard and entertain him with good food and drink.

“You evildoer, acting like this is hardly honorable!” Gu Changsheng said speechlessly, glancing at Zhou Mu and then scoffing at Zhou Zongbao, who was relishing his meal.

How could she let such a big Buddha stay at her house?

Her temple was not too big, nor too small–it comfortably accommodated just Gu Changsheng herself. With such a Buddha here, it felt a bit like there were two tigers on one mountain.

Isn’t that an incomplete beauty?

She had been so free and unfettered reigning supreme over the Gu Residence alone, and now, there was an additional hooligan in the form of a Prodigal Taisui, an untouchable master no less.

A long gaze, filled with infinite sorrow…

“Please understand, my love. Hetian insisted on staying here of his own volition, and I’m sure he won’t cause any trouble. Once the Southern Fujian campaign is over, I will personally take him back to the County Prince’s Mansion,” Zhou Mu said apologetically, trying to comfort the aggrieved woman beside him with an indulgent look on his face.

As soon as Gu Changsheng heard this, she knew it was pointless to argue further and snorted twice, glancing at Zhou Mu, “You can be concerned about the Southern Fujian situation, just be careful not to overexert yourself. I’m already finalizing the Qianji Poison, and once I find the last ingredient, the task will be complete!”

Zhou Mu nodded and cautioned her worriedly, “You must not risk your life. If anything happens to you, I would rather the poison have no cure.”

“Relax! With Ning Er and Kun Nu constantly by my side, even if I wanted to risk my life, I wouldn’t get the chance!” Gu Changsheng said nonchalantly, casually waving her chopsticks in her hand.

Only then did Zhou Mu feel relieved. He looked guiltily at the petite woman before him and said with a deep voice, “You have been troubled greatly and even have to take care of Hetian. All the Gold, Silver and Silk obtained from this Southern Fujian campaign will be yours as compensation. Does that sound good?”

At these words, Gu Changsheng’s eyes suddenly sparkled with delight. Silver! Her favorite!

“What’s not to like about that! It’s settled then!” Gu Changsheng hastily swallowed the shrimp ball in her mouth, agreeing eagerly for fear he might change his mind.

Wealth from war, ah! It has always been the most effective shortcut to wealth!

Zhou Mu’s family fortune, which amounted to tens of millions, was also largely amassed from plundering during his campaigns. Gu Changsheng had always had a weakness for Gold, Silver and Silk and naturally accepted it without any sense of shame–smiling broadly to herself. Heh heh…

“One should not talk while eating or speak before sleeping. What are you two whispering about? Are there no manners left?” Zhou Zongbao, feeling left out by the two, pointed at them with his chopsticks and began to speak with a displeased expression.

Why did it feel like the two of them were a couple, and he was just some outsider freeloading a meal?

The feeling of being abandoned was not at all pleasant.

“We’re discussing the matter of you living off my estate’s provisions. Speaking of which, Your Highness Prince Bao, you don’t look like a poor man at all. Surely you should offer a token of appreciation, right?” Gu Changsheng put down her chopsticks and shamelessly stretched out a hand towards Zhou Zongbao, clearly rubbing her fingers together in a gesture of counting money.

“You!” Zhou Zongbao almost choked on his congee, “Are you obsessed with money? If you hadn’t brought it up, Young Master would have forgotten. When are you going to return the one hundred thousand taels in gold banknotes and silver notes you robbed from Young Master on the street last time?”

Zhou Zongbao stretched out his hand, demanding payment with a fierce look on his face.

Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng innocently blinked her phoenix eyes, “Your Highness Prince Bao, how could you call it a robbery? That was, at most, a little compensation for you harassing me, and I even gave you a discount, considering you and the evildoer are from the same family. If that’s not good enough for you, how about you bring over the other twenty percent you owe right now?”

“Harassing you costs that much? Are you covered in diamonds or what?” Zhou Zongbao looked at Gu Changsheng’s outstretched hand and was speechless for a while, “Young Master now understands that there are always bigger fish in the pond. You are the truly distinguished prodigal!”

Upon hearing this, Gu Changsheng was delighted. Not only did she smile broadly, but she also acted as if she had found a kindred spirit in Zhou Zongbao, “Indeed, finally someone with discerning eyes! I accept this praise without any scruples!”

The crowd: “…”

Praise?

Calling her prodigal was praise?

“Gu Changsheng, you really are something else!” Zhou Zongbao was heartbroken and decided it would be better to continue eating. Talking too much with her was sure to lead one astray.

“Thank you for the compliment, which I accept wholeheartedly!” Gu Changsheng replied leisurely, continuing the conversation.

The crowd was speechless again.

This was a compliment?

Well, yes, his wife’s thought processes were always incomparably unique…leaving others nothing but admiration!

“Enough, let’s eat quickly. Didn’t you say you were going to visit Mr. Ban Shan today?” Zhou Mu shook his head and tapped on the forehead of the self-satisfied woman in front of him.

“Yes,” Gu Changsheng replied, and began to focus on her meal.

Zhou Zongbao looked up, puzzled. “Mr. Ban Shan? The one famously known as Wen Banshan?”

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Gu Changsheng nodded while eating.

“Mr. Ban Shan is living in seclusion in Liuzhou? What are you visiting him for?”

“To ask him to be a teacher for my son…” And incidentally, to be a teacher for that bunch on the mountain for a bit of knowledge dissemination, Gu Changsheng did not say the latter part.

The mouth of Zhou Zongbao immediately gaped wide enough to fit a duck egg, “Ask… ask him to be your son’s teacher? Are you daydreaming?”

Gu Changsheng, upon hearing this, immediately grew unhappy, placed his chopsticks aside, and said with a stern face, “Zhou Zongbao! Can’t you hold a conversation? What do you mean by that? What exactly do you mean?”

“It means that wanting to invite Wen Ban Shan out of retirement to be your son’s teacher is a pipe dream, a fool’s fantasy!” Zhou Zongbao was relentless in his efforts to put Gu Changsheng down.

He was determined to make this ungrateful Gu Changsheng regret not agreeing to bear him a little wood, and he would do everything in his power to thwart her!

“Why?” Gu Changsheng glared.

“Because, young master me, fifteen years ago, tried to entice Mr. Ban Shan out of seclusion for little wood, offering high position and great wealth, gold, silver and jewels, beautiful cars and women; he scorned it all. What could you possibly have that would interest him?” Zhou Zongbao said, his face also showing displeasure as he went on, “Wen Ban Shan is a man of proud and unruly nature, highly self-regarding. There are hardly a few in the world who can catch his eye, and you actually dare to dream of inviting him out of retirement! Hmph, you are simply deluding yourself!”

Gu Changsheng, upon hearing this, immediately put one hand on her hip and pointed at Zhou Zongbao with the other, “Damn it, don’t you look down on me, just because you couldn’t invite him doesn’t mean I can’t! Zhou Zongbao, if I do manage to entice Mr. Ban Shan out of seclusion, from now on, you must listen to me in everything!”

“Scary! Bragging doesn’t have to pay tax; you’re not afraid of a gust of wind snapping your tongue! I’ll take you up on that wager, young master me!” Zhou Zongbao, too, was provoked, his competitive spirit as the Little Overlord Hetian roused, and he stood up with a slap on the table.

“It’s a deal, no backing out!”

“No regrets!”

“Hmph! You just wait, I’m walking out this door right now. If I do manage to invite Mr. Ban Shan, you first go and stand watch at the gate for a month!” Gu Changsheng huffed and glared at Zhou Zongbao.

“Who’s afraid of who! Do you think Wen Ban Shan is cabbage at a street stall, someone you can just pick up and move?” Zhou Zongbao retorted without showing any sign of weakness.

“Xiao Leizi, grab your gear and come with me!” Seeing this, Gu Changsheng shouted at Dong Lei, then, without waiting for a response, stormed out of the dining hall.

Everyone: “…”

Grab your gear? What does that mean?

“Uh…” Dong Lei swallowed the chicken leg in his mouth and wiped the grease from her hands on Yuan Bao’s sleeve before pulling out a pair of gleaming kitchen knives from behind.

Zhou Zongbao, upon seeing those kitchen knives, immediately jumped back a step in fright, moving away, “What… what are you doing?”

He remembered very clearly that in the small courtyard at the foot of Baili Mountain, it was with these kitchen knives that the girl had pointed at him!

That was scary!

“Didn’t the mistress tell me to grab my gear? If not this, should I carry a spoon or a pot? Out of the way! The mistress is getting further away!” Dong Lei looked in confusion at the kitchen knife in her hand, then quickly spotted her mistress’s disappearing figure and hurriedly brushed past the blocking Zhou Zongbao with the flat side of a knife to chase after her.

“How… how dare you!” Zhou Zongbao staggered into Yuan Bao, teeth clenched with anger.

“Your Highness, they’re long gone, getting angry now is pointless! You can’t scare Xiao Leizi anymore!” Yuan Bao spoke with his mouth full of chicken leg, his words muffled.

“What kind of mansion is this! The masters not acting like masters, the servants not acting like servants! And even keeping a monk!” Unable to vent his fury on anyone, Zhou Zongbao angrily raised his hand to smack Little Monk Bu Jie’s bald head.

But no sooner had he lifted his hand than Little Monk Bu Jie, along with his chair, had shifted half a zhang away. With an air of great dignity, he chanted a Buddhist verse, “Amitabha, Benefactor and I must have past grudges, best you stay away from this humble monk a little.”

“You!” Zhou Zongbao trembled with fury, his face red and speechless.

What sort of people were inside this residence! What hidden dragons and crouching tigers! A maid who could wield a big knife, a home-grown little monk adept at lateral drifting–was there a place for anyone to live here?

Zhou Zongbao felt that if he stayed any longer in this residence, he would be infuriated to death.

“Benefactor, the Gu Residence has a front and back entrance. The front door is auspicious and conflicts with the aura of imperial relatives and nobles. It is better for you to watch the door at the back,” Little Monk Bu Jie, completely ignoring Zhou Zongbao’s rage, made a slight bow, picked up his Little Wooden Fish, and walked toward his Scripture Tower as if nothing had happened.

Zhou Zongbao, mouth agape and befuddled, pointed at the back of Little Monk Bu Jie, “What… what does he mean?”

“Sigh!” Zhou Mu put down his chopsticks with a sigh, his face showing helpless sympathy toward Zhou Zongbao, “This child is called Shang Xie, the last remaining bloodline of the Secret Sect Shang Clan…”

“Ow!”

Zhou Zongbao howled miserably and slumped onto the jade-stone floor, tears welling up without tears, “The Secret Sect Shang Clan, utterers of truths… Godfather! Little Wood, I want to stay at your Royal Mansion for a while!”

“Too late!” Zhou Mu picked up the jovial little meat bun next to him and walked towards the door.

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