Jiang Yong waited until dark, but instead of the Duke's steward, he was greeted by the Duke's guard commander.
The guard Rong stepped forward and inquired, learning that the items had been sent from Yuzhou. After thinking for a moment, he instructed the guards to pull the carriage to the back door and take all the items in the carriage into the kitchen.
Jiang Yong presented the gift list again, and then took out a thick letter from his sleeve, saying, "This is a letter from my young master to the Grand Princess. Please trouble Guard Rong to forward it. Farewell!"
Without lingering for even a second longer, they left decisively!
They certainly don't seem to be here to curry favor.
After the guard Rong looked at the envelope in his hand, his lips twitched twice, and he casually threw the letter to the guard next to him.
His handwriting is worse than a child's; he has no right to present himself to the Grand Princess!
At dinner, Li Yang saw steamed blue crabs on the table and happily asked the maid, "Didn't you say there weren't any left? Where did you buy this one? Take this big one away and save it for the Duke to eat when he comes back tonight."
The maid behind the head maid casually remarked, "There are plenty in the kitchen, including crabs and prawns the size of washbasins; they're crawling everywhere in the mansion!"
Li Yang's expression froze for a moment, then he suddenly turned his head and asked, "Where did this big crab come from?"
The young maid said she didn't know, but the head maid suddenly realized something and quickly ran to the kitchen to ask.
The kitchen manager went to the housekeeper, who in turn went to the guard Rong. Only after asking around did they learn that the crabs had been sent from Chongqing.
Upon learning that the steward had refused to let Jiang Yong and his party in, the head maid stamped her feet and cried out, "Steward Rong, Guard Rong, you...you're in trouble! Quickly come with me to see the Grand Princess!"
Li Yang listened to Steward Rong and Guard Rong's words with a sullen face, rubbed his temples, slammed his fist on the table, and said angrily, "What did I tell you? Anything sent from Yuzhou should be sent directly to me. Can't you understand human language?!"
The steward said with a mournful face, "Your Highness, they didn't say it was sent from Yuzhou. They only said that their young master entrusted City Logistics to deliver the gift to the Duke. This, this...!"
"What do you know! The headquarters of Chengbang Logistics is in Yuzhou... What did you just say? Young Master?" Li Yang suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open.
The butler paused, wiped the sweat from his brow, and stammered, "Yes, that's what that young man surnamed Jiang said..."
"Huai'er, it's Huai'er!" Li Yang clutched his chest, his eyes reddening with emotion.
Suddenly, the guard Rong remembered something, slapped his forehead, and said, "Um... Your Highness, the young master has another letter..."
Li Yang stared at Guard Rong with shining eyes and stretched out his hand towards him, "Where's the letter? Give it to me!"
Guard Rong took a deep breath and said, "This subordinate...this subordinate thought the handwriting was too ugly, so I threw it away...!"
Li Yang rolled his eyes and nearly fainted.
The guard jumped up in a panic and said urgently, "Your Highness, don't worry, I'll go and get the letter right away!"
After an incense stick had burned, the guards of the Rongguo Duke's mansion searched through all the trash cans and finally found the rather weighty letter.
When the letter was delivered to Li Yang, she didn't care that the envelope was stained with black and white stains. Looking at the handwriting specially made for young children, she was so happy that tears streamed down her face.
The letter roughly reads: Aunt (the character for "righteousness" was written incorrectly as "aunt"), it's like seeing you in person. Huai'er misses you very much. Do you miss me? The pumpkins my grandfather planted for me have grown a lot of seeds. Mother roasted three jars for me. I saved one jar for you, Aunt, but you're not here. Huai'er ate half a jar for you, and the remaining half is on the carriage; I need to look carefully. The twelve zodiac mooncakes were made by Huai'er, and they're so beautiful! Also, the big pot lost thirty jin of meat—that's a lot! Mother said I wasted a ream of paper and can't write anymore. Wishing you, Aunt, everyone loves you and flowers bloom for you. Happy birthday to my godfather, and all the best, but there's no birthday cake. Your godson, Jiang Huai, bows in respect.
With just these few words, he wrote a full eight sheets of paper, and each sheet was covered in ink blobs. I wonder how long the child wrote before he wasted a whole ream of paper.
The portion is indeed quite generous!
After reading the letter, Li Yang was moved to tears and covered the letter to his chest, sobbing softly.
The head maid sighed, "Young master is so thoughtful. It's remarkable that he can barely hold a pen properly, yet he wrote such a long letter to His Highness!"
Li Yang held the letter and nodded repeatedly.
Suddenly, she stood up and said urgently, "Quickly, find the melon seeds and the twelve zodiac mooncakes, and the gift list too, go find them quickly!"
Guard Rong and Butler Rong accepted the order and left.
Once outside the main gate, Guard Rong, his face dark, asked Steward Rong, "Who is that young master that His Highness values him so highly?"
Butler Rong glared and said, "I don't know! All I know is that if you can't find those melon seeds and the twelve zodiac mooncakes, your job as head guard is over!"
The guard's expression hardened, and he quickened his pace.
That night, the Duke's mansion's kitchen was turned upside down. The small half-jar of melon seeds was finally found in the charcoal ash next to the swill bucket, while the so-called twelve zodiac mooncakes, because of their exquisite packaging, were put away by the cook.
Half a jar of melon seeds, which would be worth about three ounces in modern times, was treasured by Li Yang and stored in a jar made of Phoebe zhennan wood. The twelve zodiac mooncakes, whose appearance was not discernible, were placed in a glass box.
When Duke Rong returned, he found the kitchen being ransacked. After listening to the guard's account of what had happened, he said, "I understand. Our guild will plead with Li Yang on your behalf."
Before the guard could finish celebrating, Duke Rong said, "Go and get twenty lashes first, in front of Li Yang."
Guard Rong was stunned. No, he was supposed to plead for his subordinate.
Duke Rong said calmly, "That young master is Li Yang's adopted son in Yuzhou, and he will inherit her title in the future. His biological mother has already helped Yue'er lose thirty pounds. Is it too much of a grievance for you to go and receive twenty lashes first?"
"I'm not wronged! I'll go and accept the punishment right away!" Guard Rong turned and left.
I was so excited that tears streamed down my face.
Originally, Li Yang did not want to reveal Jiang Huai's identity so soon, but after this farcical incident, he could no longer hold back. After discussing it with the Duke of Rong, they decided to reveal the secret in the mansion.
Soon, everyone in the Rongguo Duke's mansion knew that in the distant Yuzhou, they had a young prince whom they had never met, whose favor was incomparable to that of the current prince!
Out of love for his adopted son and gratitude for Jiang Shan's special care for Rong Yue, Li Yang wrote a letter in his own hand and sent it to Yuzhou by special envoy in a horse-drawn carriage.
...
The first rain and snow of winter in Chongqing came quickly, along with the arrival of an inspector sent from the capital.
The rain mixed with snow fell continuously for several days, and the temperature suddenly dropped to single digits, making Imperial Censor Wu quite cold.
Huddled in his room at the post station, Imperial Censor Wu managed to drink a bowl of hot soup, but had no appetite whatsoever.
Yuzhou is a coastal city, and Imperial Censor Wu's ancestral home is Qingyuan. He prefers a light diet and is particularly picky about food, especially seafood. The inspection team racked their brains to find a suitable diet for him throughout the journey.
Although the post station had prepared food for him in advance, he still couldn't enjoy a proper meal.
Imperial Censor Wu is so hungry!
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