Lu Zheng followed Gu Hui and Gu Xin back to the dock carrying a large pile of things. There he saw Granny Shen standing there with a man and a woman, smiling, clearly waiting for them.
Gu Hui and Gu Xin were also taken aback when they saw the three of them.
Granny Shen smiled kindly and asked, "Are you two young ladies going to the capital?"
Gu Hui remained silent, while Gu Xin said, "I'm sorry, Mother-in-law, but my grandparents said that when we're out and about, we shouldn't reveal our whereabouts to others. So, could we please wait a moment?"
Granny Shen smiled even more kindly: "Yes, the young lady's grandparents have done a good job raising her. I was just thinking of bringing my nephew and grandniece on your boat, I wonder if that would be convenient?"
Gu Xin shook her head: "I'm sorry, Grandma, it might not be convenient! Our boat doesn't pick up outsiders. Grandma, you seem like a good person, but your behavior of blocking the road doesn't seem like something a good person would do."
Granny Shen was taken aback; she hadn't expected the little girl to be so wary.
Lu Zheng stepped forward and said, "Old man, the passenger ship over there goes to the capital. It departs at 5 PM tonight. You can still make it there now."
Granny Shen looked at Lu Zheng: "Young Master Lu, we are all from the capital. Are you really not going to take us, the three of us, along?"
Gu Hui and Gu Xin looked at Lu Zheng in surprise. After all this time, they knew each other?
Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Old man, my surname is Zhou."
Granny Shen shook her head, sighed, and said, "It would be better if she were surnamed Zhou. Back when Xiao Jia went to the capital, I even helped her out. Alas, people forget you when you're gone! Now that Xiao Jia is gone, her son..."
Lu Zheng: ...
Don't think I don't know, everyone from your palace is a drama queen.
You said you knew my mother and helped her, but I don't know anything about that.
Looking at Lu Zheng, who remained unmoved, and Gu Hui and Gu Xin, who stood firmly by his side, Granny Shen felt even happier.
Hmm, for such a young age, he's very composed, which is quite good.
Granny Shen added, "If Young Master Zhou doesn't believe me, he can ask the wife of the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review after returning to the capital, and see if I and her mother have done this."
Lu Zheng had found a poor scholar to marry his sister. In just six years, his brother-in-law rose to the position of Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, solving ten major cases, five of which had been pending for more than ten years. This delighted the Emperor.
Now his brother-in-law is a favorite of the emperor.
Lu Zheng thought about it and agreed to let them ride the boat, but he planned to give Gu Hui and Gu Xin a good talking-to later and tell them to have less contact with her.
There are no absolutely good or bad people in the palace; in any case, you have to be on your guard when you're with them.
The three of them, including Granny Shen, quietly boarded the boat and settled in without deliberately contacting Gu Xin and Gu Hui.
Lu Zheng was completely baffled. Did he really just want to take a boat back to Beijing?
In Yizhou, the seeds were handed over to the imperial envoy, and also given to a few people from Zhoujiazhuang who had planted potatoes. They were going to Jiangnan this time and would stay for a year, firstly to plant potatoes, and secondly to plant corn and sweet potatoes next year.
The sweet potatoes weren't brought out this time because the harvest hadn't finished. The emperor would naturally send someone to collect the sweet potatoes from the Zhou family later.
After walking for two days without anything amiss, Gu Xin lowered her guard and discussed with Gu Hui about going to Yizhou for a day.
The three women, including Granny Shen, did not join in the fun. They simply strolled along the shore of the dock and did nothing else.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com