Chapter 419 I'll go even if it's just for face
“You unfilial son! You’ve grown up so much and never done a single decent thing. This year, the Emperor went on a southern tour, and your cousin Lin went with him. I suppose your uncle Lin won’t be coming to the capital this year. Go south and deliver this year’s New Year’s gifts to the Lin family.”
Jia Zheng thought for a long time before coming up with this lame excuse.
It's only been a few months since the Double Ninth Festival, and there are still several months until the New Year.
Jia Baoyu was overjoyed. It was like a pillow being delivered to him just as he was dozing off. When did his luck become so good?
Nevertheless, he dared not show the slightest joy on his face, but calmly accepted the task, trying his best not to let Jia Zheng see that he was very happy and excited.
Jia Zheng gave him a few more instructions before leaving.
Jia Baoyu jumped up when he saw Jia Zheng walk out of the study and leave the courtyard, knowing that he could no longer hear the sounds from the study.
Knowing what Baoyu was thinking, his trusted servant Mingyan kept offering his congratulations.
After the cheers subsided, Jia Baoyu finally calmed down and began to think seriously.
Why would Father send me south for no reason? In previous years, even if there were things like sending festival gifts, I wouldn't have needed to do it. What's wrong with Father?
Considering his father's barely suppressed anger when he first entered the study, Jia Baoyu vaguely guessed that his father might have been ridiculed by his colleagues.
After all, according to the information he knew, during this imperial tour to the south, apart from his family, all the other families in the Four Kings and Eight Miles area had someone personally selected by the emperor to accompany him, or a girl from the family who was studying at a girls' academy was also going along.
Only their family went along; neither the men nor women went.
The only person who could be remotely connected to their family was Princess Lin.
However, Princess Lin's entourage was chosen at the beginning of the southern tour, which is different from others, and her surname is Lin, not Jia.
My father just told me not to just play around on the way, but to walk faster and try to keep up with the southern tour group.
The southern inspection team did not monopolize the entire Grand Canal; it simply prohibited other ships from joining the team within a ten-mile radius before and after it.
Ten miles away, many large family ships followed behind.
After all, this was the first time the Emperor had ever gone on such a grand tour, a rare and precious opportunity. Even if one wasn't in the southern tour group, it would be good to follow along for a short distance and broaden one's horizons.
Now that his father had told him to go south, Jia Baoyu naturally began to prepare his luggage without any further ado.
By evening, almost everyone in the Rongguo Mansion, except those who weren't home, knew that Jia Baoyu would be setting off south in the next day or two.
Jia Lian also came over and told Jia Baoyu many things to be careful about on the road, and also gave him many gifts to take to his Uncle Lin in the south.
The old lady was quite surprised that her second son had so readily agreed to let Baoyu go on a long trip. However, when Jia Zheng came to pay his respects in the evening, she asked him a question and found out that it was true.
She understood the reason: because no one from their family was in the southern tour group, Jia Zheng was subjected to some ridicule. Although they were all harmless jokes, Jia Zheng was always proud and arrogant, and he couldn't stand such treatment.
So when they got home, they asked Baoyu to pack up for the trip to the south. When they returned, they brought back all the local specialties from the south. When the other families who had gone on the southern tour returned, the officials would boast about it in court for quite some time.
He didn't want the awkwardness of not being able to go on the southern tour to have just ended, only to encounter other setbacks.
But things changed after Baoyu left.
He can show off then, and if Baoyu is lucky enough to meet the Emperor and make an appearance in front of him, he will earn even more from this trip.
"Since that's your idea, I'll write a letter and have Baoyu take it to Ruhai. Once Baoyu gets to the south, he can stay by Ruhai's side." The old lady felt a bit of a headache. Her son was already so old, yet he still had to argue with others over this.
How can you be so unsteady!
Children and grandchildren are all debts!
Since he cares so much, I might as well lend him a hand.
Jia Zheng originally intended for Jia Baoyu to go south and live in Lin Ruhai's house. Lin Ruhai did not remarry after Jia Min's death, so there was no mistress in the house, making it convenient for him to live there.
Now that we have the old lady's letter, it will be much easier for Baoyu to stay at the Lin family's house.
Not to mention that Jia Baoyu had prepared for two days before hurriedly boarding a ship to head south.
Meanwhile, the boat on the southern tour was still quite lively every day.
"What is the Tenth Prince practicing today?"
On the boat at the girls' academy, people were already speculating about what the Tenth Prince would practice today.
Because the subjects he practices are related to how much of their reading and writing homework they have.
For example, when practicing weapons-related skills, they would have to write down past exam questions.
While practicing basic skills like horse stance, they also had to memorize and interpret texts like "The Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean," comparing each item against the text.
This is a new game idea that Daiyu came up with a few days ago, and they all agreed to it.
Some students even said that they would do their homework for as long as the Tenth Prince practiced.
Heaven knows that the Tenth Prince seemed to have inexhaustible energy; aside from eating and sleeping, he spent all his other time practicing martial arts.
The girls were starting to regret it; what was supposed to be a relaxing trip had turned into three times more tiring than going to school.
Yuan Hongqu didn't know what they were doing. She found it strange that they had been studying so diligently these past few days, and even advised Daiyu to pay attention to balancing work and rest.
But she didn't notice the mournful looks that appeared on the girls' faces after hearing her words.
"Daiyu, why don't we just give up? We're only a few days away from Suzhou. We should at least get our luggage ready." One of the girls felt that continuing the course like this was inhumane and voiced her objection.
"Sure, you can't force yourself to study. If you don't like it, then don't study. When we all get the Empress's reward, and you're the only one who doesn't, don't cry then."
Daiyu chuckled and reminded her.
She cleverly revealed their study plan to the Empress, who found the group of girls quite interesting. Therefore, she said that when they arrived in Suzhou, they would have them compete with the women of Suzhou. If they won, each of them would receive an unexpected reward.
They were all putting in their best effort, each hoping to receive a unique reward.
After all, it was given by the Empress. Whether they were at home or after they got married, the Empress's reward could protect them temporarily.
If something unexpected were to happen, this would give them a chance to catch their breath.
Apart from Daiyu, the other students valued this reward highly.
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