Chapter 166 Jia Zheng Comes to the Door
King Chungshun's brow was furrowed into a knot.
Now that the Lin family has a princess in charge, will things on Mr. Yuan's estate still be as easy to obtain as before?
King Hyun glanced at King Chungsun with disdain.
"The Lin family girl is truly talented. Her victory in that competition enhanced the prestige of our Celestial Empire, spared our border soldiers from arduous battles, saved hundreds of thousands of our people from hard labor, and saved the national treasury millions in military expenses and provisions. She has done immeasurable good. Tell me, does she deserve the title of Princess?"
"In that case, she is qualified. However, it might be inconvenient for both our families in the future." Whether Lin Daiyu becomes a princess or not has nothing to do with their family. But once she becomes a princess, it will be more difficult for him to "abuse his power" and get some good things from Mr. Yuan.
Actually, he was overthinking it. When Daiyu wasn't a princess, they tried to bully her by taking advantage of her power, but Yuan Hongqu simply ignored them, and she did.
These two rarely got together. After exchanging a few words, they suddenly had the idea to go to Yuan Hongqu's estate to see if there was anything Yuan Hongqu had forgotten. If they found it first, would they be the first to get the good stuff? Taking advantage of the fact that there were many things going on in the palace recently and the handover with Yuan Hongqu had not yet been clearly completed, the two of them decided to strike first.
"Mr. Yuan, the second uncle of Rongguo Mansion has brought his son to see the princess." The little maid beside Granny Shi ran over and finally found the two in the garden.
"Why is my second uncle here at this time? And why did he bring Baoyu with him?" Daiyu asked, quite puzzled.
"Please ask Second Uncle to go to the outer study. Miss will be there shortly," Yuan Hongqu instructed, then said to Daiyu, "Let's go and see. It must be about the matter of being granted the title of Princess."
"My second uncle came in such a hurry, it can't be because of this. I heard he never takes Baoyu out to socialize before, why did he bring Baoyu this time?"
Yuan Hongqu led Daiyu to change into clothes for receiving guests, and then the maids and servants escorted the two to the outer study.
Knowing that the young lady was coming to meet guests, the outer study staff had made all the necessary arrangements well in advance.
As usual, Daiyu bowed to Jia Zheng.
Jia Zheng is, after all, her maternal uncle. Even if she were a princess, let alone a county princess, it would be inappropriate not to pay her respects to her maternal uncle!
"Baoyu, pay your respects to the princess." Jia Zheng glared at Baoyu. He was usually the most perceptive, but why did he become like a fool when he saw Daiyu, unable to say a word, just staring blankly at her?
"Sister, how have you been?" After being glared at by Jia Zheng, Baoyu finally regained some of his senses. He didn't think that Lin Daiyu's status was different now, and greeted her as usual.
Daiyu didn't take it to heart and smiled faintly, "I've always been fine. I heard that Second Brother has been studying very hard lately. If this continues, he will surely pass the imperial examination and become the top scholar in the imperial examination."
Baoyu didn't like hearing such things, but she insisted on saying them anyway.
He believed that those so-called scholars were nothing more than tools for pursuing fame and fortune, and even jokingly called them "money parasites".
He enjoys the life of wealth and luxury that the corrupt official provides, and then turns his back on him. Is that a good thing?
By the next year, Baoyu would be a ten-year-old boy, no longer a naive child. Let's see if he is still the same as before.
"Thank you for your kind words, Sister Lin," Baoyu said casually, even though he didn't really mean it. "Although you are now a princess, I think you are still the same as before, and you are not at all distant from us."
"Does becoming a princess mean I have an extra hand and a foot compared to others?" Daiyu covered her mouth and laughed. "Even if I become a princess, I am still the old lady's granddaughter and my second uncle's niece."
"Now I can rest assured." Jia Zheng stroked his beard, looking relieved.
"What is it that Master Zheng is worried about?" Yuan Hongqu had been secretly observing Jia Zheng and his son ever since she entered.
Although Jia Baoyu has lost some of his former charm, his dedication to learning is not necessarily a bad thing; while Jia Zheng has been listening to Daiyu and Baoyu's conversation, looking thoughtful.
After hearing Yuan Hongqu's words, Jia Zheng said, "Just now I took Baoyu to the Prince of Beijing's mansion and met the young master of the Niu family, the Duke of Zhenguo, and heard about something..." He looked at Daiyu and Baoyu and coughed lightly.
"Zijuan, take Master Bao for a stroll in our garden. Daiyu, go visit Granny Jin. A few days ago, we acquired a fine piece of jade and made some hand-held ornaments. We'll have Baoyu take them back and distribute them to the young ladies later," Yuan Hongqu instructed.
The two parted ways. Baoyu wanted to stroll in the garden with Lin Daiyu, but Daiyu didn't give him the chance. As soon as they reached the door, she said, "Brother Bao, I'll be leaving now." With that, she left with her maid, leaving only her back to Baoyu.
Baoyu felt very frustrated, but there was nothing he could do about it.
“Young Master Bao, you’ve been to my garden before. Let’s take another stroll and see if there’s anything different.” Zijuan said, leading Baoyu to watch the mallards fighting in the pond in the garden, and then to watch the swans dance for a while. Baoyu turned his head and saw the plum tree with dragon-shaped flowers, and was immediately attracted and stopped in his tracks.
In the outer study, Yuan Hongqu, accompanied by Granny Shi and several maids, was eager to hear what Jia Zheng had to say that Daiyu couldn't know.
"Please speak, Mr. Zheng." She gestured for him to speak.
Jia Zheng was baffled by Yuan Hongqu's intimidating aura. He had only ever encountered such an air in his superiors; where did this air come from, a mere governess like Yuan Hongqu? He had witnessed the final competition, where Yuan Hongqu effortlessly resolved the difficult problem before the foreign envoy. He had heard that Yuan Hongqu was merely the daughter of a minor official, yet she displayed none of the shabby air often associated with such families…
"Master Zheng?" Yuan Hongqu noticed that Jia Zheng remained silent for a long time, lost in his own thoughts, and couldn't help but call out to remind him.
Hearing the voice, Jia Zheng snapped out of his daze and realized that he had rushed over for something more important: to warn Yuan Hongqu.
"Mr. Yuan, the young master of the Niu family, the Duke of Zhenguo, told me about something. The daughter of the Liu family, the Duke of Liguo, is the only girl in the Liu family. She is spoiled rotten. Outsiders don't bother with her much because she is a girl. However, this has made her arrogant, domineering, and extremely willful, and she is quite unable to distinguish right from wrong. She saw that Daiyu became a princess just because she answered a question. So she went around saying that Daiyu's title of princess was undeserved. If Daiyu could become a princess, then she estimated that she could become a princess as well."
"She can say whatever she wants, and whether it's true or not isn't up to her to decide," Yuan Hongqu said calmly.
“Mr. Yuan, this girl is a bit confused. She has a history of kidnapping people in the street. Since she regards Daiyu as an enemy, I'm afraid she will do something bad to Daiyu sooner or later.”
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