Chapter 16: Zhang Yu Seeks Help

  By the time the lunch was over, all the guests at Gong Sun's house were full and drunk. Gong Sun Zhi had a few more cups of wine and stumbled out of the main hall with the support of several Gong Sun family servants. Zu Jie and Chun Yu Pei were both older people, but they had been through many battles and could still handle a meal of wine. Zu Jie arranged for the guests to move to the west wing to rest, and the Zu family was well-prepared, with everything from rooms to utensils to hot water for washing available; Chun Yu Pei took Gong Sun Zhi's place and invited the Gong Sun family members to go to the west wing.

  Zu Zhao accompanied him on one side, with several of his cousins from the Gong Sun family. This naturally did not include Gong Sun Ling Xian. This self-proclaimed extraordinary Gong Sun young master indeed had a poor capacity for liquor. After drinking several cups alone, he became drunk and stumbled along with other relatives to rest in their quarters.

  Zu Jiu asked Zu Zhao to entertain the young guests from the Gong Sun family well in the afternoon, implying that he also hoped to take the opportunity to get closer to these people and build a good relationship for the future marriage between the two families. However, Zu Zhao usually practices martial arts and horse riding in the afternoons, and had already made an appointment with Zu Ji in the morning, and after lunch, he still had to go to the West River Bridge to meet the Zhang brothers, so he was not willing to accompany these Gong Sun family young masters to waste an afternoon.

  The orders of his grandfather and the major events of the family, of course, cannot be easily disobeyed. As for Zu Chao, he can only find another way, and at worst, take the Gongsun family's children with him to Xihua Bridge.

  Just as the guests at the Gongsun family's residence had settled in, Zu Zhao was about to lead the younger members of the Gongsun family out of the western courtyard. At this moment, Zu Ji hurried along the corridor of the rear courtyard and rushed to the western courtyard. With a look of extreme anxiety, he found Zu Zhao among the crowd coming and going, and mysteriously and seriously pulled him to a small courtyard outside the corridor where there were few people.

  Zu Zhao looked at Zu Ji with an inquiring expression and asked: "You're in such a hurry, what's the matter?"

  Zu Ji was slightly out of breath, and it could be seen that he had rushed all the way. He said repeatedly: "Young Master, Zhang Yu has arrived, something unexpected happened on the west side of Xili Bridge."

  Zu Zhaowei's eyebrows slightly furrowed, and he asked in a serious tone: "What happened?"

  Zu Ji replied: "Zhang Yu said that Zhang Wenyi was beaten by someone and we need to hurry up and bring people to rescue him."

  Zu Zhao slowly took a deep breath, his face gradually revealing a solemn expression. Zhang Yuan was at least a somewhat famous figure in Anyang Pavilion, yet he had been beaten up on his own turf to the point of needing someone to fetch help for him - there were just too many astonishing aspects to this situation. After a brief moment of contemplation, he decisively asked: "Where is Zhang Yu now?"

  "Right outside the horse stable in the backyard."

  Zu Zhao slightly nodded and said: "You go prepare my horse first, I'll follow you to the horse farm later."

  Zu Ji quickly nodded and turned around, running along the corridor towards the backyard.

  Zu Zhao adjusted his expression and walked slowly to the gate of the West Wing, where he met with several young men from the Gong Sun family.

  This time, the young men who followed Gong Sun's family were only six or seven people. Four of them were illegitimate sons like Zu Qi, accompanying him to help with chores and miscellaneous tasks. Apart from Gong Sun Ling, there were two others who had some status as young masters, one of whom was also deeply influenced by the customs of the northern regions, having practiced martial arts since childhood, showing a bit of heroic spirit.

  Zu Zhao didn't directly tell everyone what was going on, only repeatedly apologized and made an excuse that he had to go to the nearby Anyang Pavilion for something urgent.

  The Gong Sun family's children and younger generation all understood the principle of "guests follow the host", so everyone nodded politely and said it was no big deal. Only that tall, majestic-looking person seemed to be a bit more serious, and asked another question: "Just now I saw someone come looking for the young master in a hurry, could something have happened? And what is this trip to An Yang Ting all about?"

  Zu Zhao glanced at the other party, but saw that their expression was stern and not unreasonable. As the eldest son of the Zu family, he usually showed a gentle and modest attitude, so it was natural that he couldn't lie now. Therefore, he simply said: "The Zhang brothers from Anyang Pavilion are friends with me on usual days, but today they seem to have gotten into trouble and were injured by someone. So I asked you to come and preside over justice. It's a matter of principle, can't be refused, so I hope you will understand."

  The martial grandson lowered his head and thought for a moment, then puffed out his chest and said: "Big brother is indeed a man of great righteousness, I Gong Sun Long admire him the most. In that case, can big brother allow me to go with you?"

  Zu Zhao didn't show any embarrassment and laughed: "Brother Gong Sun is really straightforward, we don't need to waste words, let's set off together."

  Gongsun Long also clapped his hands and laughed loudly, then told the other fellow disciples to return to the Western Courtyard to rest before striding after Zu Chao in the direction of the rear courtyard's horse grounds.

  Upon arriving at the backyard stable, Zu Ji had already gathered over a dozen young men from the Zu family, each having prepared their mounts. On the corridor outside the stable fence near the rear gate of the courtyard, Zhang Yu was sitting on the steps with a very worried expression. Seeing Zu Zhao and Gong Sun Long appear, Zu Ji quickly beckoned to Zhang Yu to call for the doctor, and the two hastily welcomed them over.

  Zu Zhao saw Zhang Yu and found that Zhang Yu was disheveled all over, his clothes were torn in several places, and one of his cheeks was slightly swollen.

  "What exactly happened?" He asked in a loud and clear voice before Zhang could even open his mouth.

  "It was just the other day when the young master and my brother were competing in archery, there was a reckless hunter who stood out and pointed randomly. This morning, I and my brother passed by the market in town, and coincidentally ran into this guy again..." Zhang Yu said hastily.

  At this point, Zu Zhao had already guessed the general idea in his heart. He believed that the hunter would not take the initiative to find trouble with the Zhang brothers, and must have thought of the previous competition being disrupted by this strange person, leaving a lingering resentment in his heart, so he thought of finding this person "revenge". As for the result, it is self-evident that nine out of ten times, Zhang Yuan and Zhang Yu would bully the minority with their numbers, but instead, they were beaten by someone. When he thought of this, he was even more surprised by the strange person that day, who not only mastered archery, had extraordinary courage, and obviously was not a boastful person, his high martial arts skills could be seen at a glance.

  "My elder brother originally just wanted to scare him, but unexpectedly he didn't give a chance to explain and directly hit my elder brother when he was off guard, and even me..." Zhang Yucai hastily made up an excuse as an explanation upon seeing the subtle change in Zu Shao's expression.

  "You don't need to say more, where is your elder brother now?" Zu Zhao coldly interrupted Zhang Yu's words and asked directly.

  "He was caught by that scoundrel and tied up on a tree..." Zhang Yu hesitated for a long time before saying this in a low, halting tone.

  "Ah!" On the side, Gong Sunlong was confused and didn't understand what had happened, but after hearing Zhang Yu's last sentence, he immediately showed a look of urgency and righteousness, "This is also too much to deceive people!"

  "It's not that this evil wild man is really hateful to the extreme. I hope the young master will definitely help my brother." Zhang Yu hurriedly said, adding fuel to the fire.

  "You don't have to panic, I'll go with you this time." Zu Zhao didn't mind Zhang Yu's exaggerated words. No matter what had happened, he couldn't make a judgment until he arrived at the scene himself.

  As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately ordered Zu Qi to prepare a horse for Gong Sun Long. Then he called on his family members to mount their horses and set off. Zhang Yu had his own horse, which he quickly fetched and mounted without waiting for orders.

  In the blink of an eye, Zu Zhao, Zu Ji and others rushed out of Zu's village, led by Zhang Yu, and galloped west towards Anyang Pavilion. This time, they were not heading to Xihuo Bridge, but to a town seven or eight miles southwest of Xihuo Bridge. The town was located on the official road connecting Anyang Pavilion to the county seat, its scale slightly larger than that of Xihuo Bridge, and it was a bustling hub where people came and went every day.

  There are over thirty households in the town, most of which operate some fixed businesses. Compared to Xihua Bridge, most of the businesses here are contracted and operated by large households, with a wide variety of categories and many types, and no matter what season comes, they can make a good deal. Of course, the price is naturally higher than that of Xihua Bridge.

  Zu Zhao and his group arrived at the town after noon, when the whole town was in a state of leisure. Zhang Yu led them to a small forest northwest of the town. Before they even approached the forest, they could see from afar that twenty or thirty people were gathered around a large tree on the outskirts of the forest. These people were all dressed as ordinary villagers, either standing together in twos and threes pointing and discussing, or standing alone in high places looking out, or looking around left and right to gather information, seemingly in a state of watching a spectacle.

  As they approached, they saw four figures under the big tree on the outskirts of Shunlin. Three of them were tied up with ropes and hung from the branches, while the fourth sat at the base of the tree, holding a water bag and drinking slowly.

  "Look, someone's coming." A shout of surprise suddenly came from among the onlookers.

  Soon, everyone turned their heads to look back. As Zu Zhao's group slowed down and approached on horseback, the crowd suddenly became terrified, people could see that they were in a bad mood, afraid of causing trouble, and hastily retreated. Some timid ones even left without staying, carrying their burdens or muttering to themselves as they went away.

  Under the tree, the person sitting on one side of the root still had an expressionless face, continuing to drink their own water as if nothing was wrong, almost without taking a second glance at these horse-riding people.