Chapter 413 First Discussion on Wedding Planning
This wasn't the first time on this journey, as it's very convenient to come from the capital thanks to the ease of water transportation.
These cities are also preferred locations for girls' colleges.
Yuan Hongqu assumed it would be the same as the previous cities, but she would go up to see the locations they had chosen, and then discuss the local government's support for the academy, as well as the initial ideas of the wealthy merchants who were determined to jointly establish the academy.
It is common knowledge that merchants pursue profit.
They've all set their sights on the academy's project, which shows they've discovered the academy's ability to attract investment in the capital.
However, Yuan Hongqu's academy was never for profit. If it were for profit, she wouldn't have only earned such a small amount of money.
She could easily come up with dozens of projects that made money from the academy, but if the academy became too commercialized, it would lose its original purpose as a girls' academy.
Therefore, Yuan Hongqu also had to select suitable partners from among these people in public, which was not something that could be determined simply through a banquet.
Their academy's student interviews are much more rigorous than these.
Yuan Hongqu regretted that she should have brought all the academy's admissions teachers with her. Their meticulousness and consideration of people were comprehensive, and their accuracy in judging people was much more objective than hers alone.
Upon arriving in Pengzhou, he was surprised to find that many of the officials there were actually acquaintances of Lin Ruhai.
At first, everything was normal, but later someone brought up Daiyu's marriage.
Although the people they mentioned were all from wealthy families, some even proposed marriages for their nephews from their maternal families in the capital.
While not particularly prominent in the capital, she is clearly of high status here.
But in Yuan Hongqu's eyes, none of these were worth mentioning!
However, she also learned from the side that from Pengzhou all the way to Hangzhou, it seemed that every official who felt that his family background was a match for Lin Ruhai's daughter had this idea.
One or two would be fine, but if it's like this all the way, then something's not right.
Yuan Hongqu knew that Lin Ruhai had already inspected the Liangjiang region once in the spring and had only returned to Yangzhou before the southern tour team set off.
So when Yuan Hongqu heard this topic, she frowned. What did Lin Ruhai do during this inspection? Was he using her own daughter as bait to catch some fish?
Daiyu held a large blueberry to Yuan Hongqu's lips.
"Granny, this is the biggest one I picked out, please try it!"
The original red lotus opened its mouth and ate the blueberry; it was sweet with a hint of tartness, and very delicious.
Daiyu looked at her with a smile.
"Granny, I read a book for a while just now, and I'll write an essay tonight. Could you take a look at it for me?"
“I don’t know. If you’re in a hurry, take it to the people at the Hanlin Academy tomorrow. If you’re not in a hurry, save it for your father when you get to Yangzhou.”
"I can't show this to my dad. He'll definitely praise me to the skies again. If I listen to him, he'll think that's my true ability. If I'm like this during the exam, people will laugh their heads off!"
Daiyu knew very well that even if she wrote utter nonsense, her father would still praise her to the skies.
She had written some poems before and even showed them to her father in a proper manner. However, her father's reply almost made her think that she was a poetic genius descended to earth.
Sometimes even Daiyu herself felt a little embarrassed, but Lin Ruhai still enjoyed it immensely.
After this happened several times, Daiyu stopped copying poems for her father.
Yuan Hongqu smiled gently. Lin Ruhai always felt that he owed Daiyu too much, so everything his daughter did was unparalleled in his eyes.
He naturally wouldn't spread his daughter's poems, but as a high-ranking official, he wasn't completely untouchable. If someone wanted to find out his hobbies, there were still clues to be found.
In the official circles of the Liangjiang area, everyone knows that Lin Ruhai loves his daughter dearly. Especially in the last two years, with the growing reputation of the girls' academy, the best students in the academy have naturally spread from the capital to the outside world.
Among them was Princess Jiangzhu, the daughter of Lord Lin.
Although Lord Lin's daughter is of noble birth, there are still many scions of prominent families in the Liangjiang region who are not a suitable match for her.
I also heard that after Princess Lin's birth mother passed away, she was raised by Lord Yuan Hongqu himself.
Her biological father was a high-ranking official of the first rank, while the nanny who raised her transformed into a third-rank female official of great importance in the court, and also the head of the women's academy in the capital.
With such a background, Princess Lin could simply relax and do nothing, but I've heard that she's also working very hard, which is truly remarkable.
If any family could marry a woman like that, they would never have to worry for generations.
Most importantly, I heard that although Princess Jiangzhu was personally appointed by the Emperor, her marriage was not subject to the constraints of the royal family, and she had the right to make her own marriage.
In other words, no one can stop any eligible young man in the world from getting married as long as he wins the favor of Princess Jiangzhu!
This led to Yuan Hongqu encountering various matriarchs who, upon entering the Liangjiang region, openly and secretly inquired about Daiyu's marriage.
Yuan Hongqu was bothered and worried, fearing that some unscrupulous people were setting a trap to abduct Daiyu.
If this were in their time, she could have easily defeated all these people by wielding the "Law on the Protection of Minors".
However, in this era, it was perfectly normal for Daiyu, at her age, to be engaged.
We'll arrange the engagement now, and then get married in three or four years...
Yuan Hongqu felt a tightness in her chest and a sense of oppression that made it hard to breathe whenever she thought about it.
She took a breath and looked up at Daiyu again, her eyes filled with sadness.
Daiyu was completely unaware of it.
"Yu'er, you have learned many things from me that do not belong to your world. I wonder if you have any unique thoughts on the matter of women getting married?"
Yuan Hongqu asked tentatively.
"Getting married?" Daiyu had clearly never thought about this question, but that didn't mean she hadn't noticed.
"Granny, aren't there many teachers in our academy who don't get married? Even you, you're not married either."
"Well, what about you? For example, most of the students in our advanced class are already engaged and will get married and start families after graduation..."
“Granny, I haven’t thought about this. The senior students entered the academy with this goal in mind, so they focused on subjects like family management. But since I entered the academy, I’ve been studying all subjects. I don’t think that entering the inner courtyard and managing a courtyard well is a woman’s ultimate goal.”
Yuan Hongqu felt half relieved.
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