The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 121: Only His Voice Was Heard, But He Was Not Seen

The swaying carriage gradually entered Yangzhou city from the dock.

The streets of Jiangnan are busier and more lively than those in the north, with countless people coming and going at the city gates.

As Tu Chengyu sat in the carriage, he looked at the layout of Yangzhou City while lost in thought.

But after walking for a short while, the once peaceful street suddenly exploded as if a ladle of water had been poured into a hot oil pan.

Pedestrians who were walking normally suddenly scattered in all directions as if they had seen a flood or a ferocious beast.

Tu Chengyu didn't know what had happened, so he wanted to send someone to check on it.

But before he could act, he heard the sound of horses' hooves striking the ground, and then he saw three fine horses leap out from around the corner of the street.

Upon hearing the sound of horses' hooves, the people on the street had already scattered and taken cover on both sides of the street.

Only Tu Chengyu and his group, because they were in a carriage, did not react in time and ran into the three horses head-on.

Because it was a difficult situation at the corner, neither side had anticipated this outcome.

Now there's no way to avoid it; the horses and the carriage are about to collide.

What's worse is that Tu Chengyu's carriage is at the front, which means that he, the Prince of Su, is once again facing danger.

Faced with this dangerous situation, the coachman quickly waved his whip, trying to get the horse to dodge to the side.

Meanwhile, the knight on the other side was also trying his best to control his horse to avoid colliding with the carriage.

However, the three horses were running side by side at a very high speed.

Faced with this situation, the two horses on either side were still able to barely turn their heads to avoid the carriage.

The horse in the middle, blocked by both sides, couldn't get out of the way immediately. He could only hold on to the reins desperately, trying to stop the horse.

But at such a high speed, how could the horse possibly stop in such a short distance?

Even when the horse was finally pulled back and reared up with both front hooves off the ground, it still couldn't avoid crashing into the person.

At this critical moment, the coachman somehow managed to make the horse pull the carriage to leap to the side, narrowly avoiding the horse's hooves as it reared up.

The horse fell to the ground but did not injure anyone, including the rider on its back.

It's fortunate that no one was injured in such a critical situation.

Such things happen frequently, but they can also happen in an instant. Many people don't even have time to react before the event is over.

So by the time Quan Wenwei and Lin Ruhai all arrived, Tu Chengyu had already calmed down.

Lin Ruhai said with annoyance, "This humble official failed in his duties, causing Your Highness to be frightened. Please punish me, Your Highness."

Tu Chengyu ignored Lin Ruhai's apology and instead asked, "Does Lord Lin know these three men on horseback?"

Lin Ruhai didn't even turn around, and replied, "Of these three, two are sons of salt merchants, and the other is a son of a gentry."

Tu Chengyu said softly, "Oh, they're the sons of salt merchants. So they're all under Lord Lin's supervision?"

Lin Ruhai didn't know why Tu Chengyu asked that question. Was he trying to interrogate him? Thinking of this, Lin Ruhai quickly said:

"I am in charge of salt affairs and deal more with their fathers. As for the children of these salt merchants, I have no responsibility to discipline them."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu changed the subject and asked, "Of these three people, whose family has a closer relationship with Lord Lin?"

Lin Ruhai increasingly felt that Prince Su wanted to hold him accountable, and he was tempted to lie, but after thinking about it, he decided to tell the truth:
"The middleman, his father and I have more dealings."

As soon as he finished speaking, he lowered his head, ready to accept Tu Chengyu's punishment.

However, things did not develop as he expected. Tu Chengyu did not punish him, but instead gave him face.

He heard Tu Chengyu say, "Since his family is quite close to Lord Lin, and no one was injured just now, I will let it go for Lord Lin's sake."

After saying that, Tu Chengyu lowered the curtain of the carriage and told the driver to continue on his way.

Tu Chengyu let the person who offended him go, perhaps partly out of consideration for Lin Ruhai, but there were other reasons as well.

One of the main reasons was that Tu Chengyu discovered that this carriage collision did not seem to be a sudden accident, but rather as if it had been carefully planned.

This idea wasn't something Tu Chengyu guessed randomly; it was derived from his analysis of the scene he had just witnessed.

Just now, when the carriage was about to be hit, Tu Chengyu, whether out of carelessness or for some other reason,

At such a critical moment, instead of focusing on the spot where he was about to crash, he inexplicably began to observe his surroundings.

Fortunately, this haphazard observation allowed him to spot some problems that would have been difficult to discover.

Just as they were about to collide, he saw a smug smile on the face of the man on horseback on his left.

Moreover, while this person was laughing, he kept staring at Tu Chengyu's carriage.

You know, if the coachman hadn't managed to swerve the carriage at the last moment, we would have definitely crashed into it.

This collision would very likely result in injuries or fatalities; the person on horseback in the middle would either be killed or maimed.

Even if he doesn't die or suffer a terrible fate, he will certainly not have a good end because he rammed Tu Chengyu's carriage.

It's safe to say that the person riding the horse in the middle is definitely going to be in trouble after this collision.

But at this moment, the smile on the face of the person riding on the left, who had come along with them on horseback, was quite eerie.

Having experienced too many conspiracies and schemes in the past six months, Tu Chengyu's first thought was naturally whether this was one of eleven conspiracies.

So, when he was talking to Lin Ruhai earlier, he asked the three men on horseback if any of them were close to Lin Ruhai.

After receiving a positive response, Tu Chengyu felt that if he did what he always did and immediately went out to teach the person who had offended him a lesson, it might implicate Lin Ruhai.

After considering this possibility, Tu Chengyu suppressed his anger.

You can throw a tantrum or act recklessly, but you must never become a tool for someone else's schemes.

Therefore, in the end, Tu Chengyu let these people go lightly, citing Lin Ruhai's sake.

On the other side, the three boys on horseback, except for the one on the left, were quite frightened by the situation that had just occurred.

Especially when they saw Lin Ruhai in the convoy.

These sons of salt merchants, though perhaps used to being arrogant and even looking down on minor officials, were not immune to such behavior.

However, they were still very afraid of Lin Ruhai, the official in charge of salt affairs.

So when they saw Lin Ruhai, their hearts, which had just been frightened, became even more tense.

However, that was nothing compared to what made them most desperate. After getting off the carriage, Lin Ruhai actually ran to the carriage that had almost been hit earlier and spoke to the people inside with utmost respect.

In Yangzhou, there was practically no one who could command such utmost respect and trepidation from Lin Ruhai. Therefore, it was clear that the person sitting in the carriage was of extremely high status.

They then recalled that there had been a rumor in Yangzhou recently that Prince Su, the son-in-law of the Lin family, would be visiting Lin Ruhai in a few days.

Therefore, the person in the carriage was very likely Prince Su.

The thought of how they had offended Prince Su made the two men wish they were dead.

They wanted to come and apologize to Prince Su, but they were worried that coming rashly would anger him, so they stood there foolishly waiting.

But after waiting for a long time, they didn't receive any punishment. Instead, Prince Su left without saying a word.

After Tu Chengyu's carriage left, the two men, along with the one who had been secretly watching the commotion, walked up to Lin Ruhai.

The young man on horseback in the middle, his face deathly pale, stammered, "Lord Lin, the person in the carriage just now was..."

He desperately wanted to say the name of Prince Su, but the words wouldn't come out.

Although the words were not fully stated, everyone understood the meaning.

So as soon as he finished speaking, the three of them looked at Lin Ruhai expectantly, hoping that Lin Ruhai could give them a definite answer.

Looking at the three people, Lin Ruhai's usually gentle and refined face showed a long-lost anger.

He pointed to the man in the middle and said, "Who gave you the audacity to ride your horse freely in the city?"

Upon hearing Lin Ruhai's scolding, the man cried and said, "I was blinded by greed and offended you today."

"I dare not ask for forgiveness, but I only hope that Lord Lin will consider my past relationship with my father and plead on my behalf with the nobleman."

Seeing his appearance, Lin Ruhai felt no pity whatsoever.

He knew that if these people weren't taught a profound lesson, they would continue to act recklessly as before.

Therefore, Lin Ruhai did not tell them that Tu Chengyu intended to let them go. Instead, he took this opportunity to give these people a good warning.

He said, "Now you know to plead for mercy? It's too late. I can't undo the trouble you've caused."

"Of the three of you, you'd better go home and wait quietly."

Lin Ruhai didn't tell them what they were supposed to wait for, so the three of them naturally assumed they were to stay home and await punishment.

Moreover, when they heard Lin Ruhai say that he was powerless to help, they felt that the punishment this time would be very severe.

The other two were too frightened to speak, only the third one, the one Tu Chengyu had seen secretly laughing, said defiantly:

"Lord Lin, it wasn't me who offended the important person, so why should I have to wait too? Is there no justice in this world?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Ruhai glared at the man and said, "Reasoning? What right do you have to reason? Get the hell out of my sight, or you'll regret it."

They never expected that the refined and easy-going Lord Lin would lose his temper in the street.

So, after being yelled at by Lin Ruhai, he slunk away and hurried home to find his parents.

Back to Tu Chengyu, after this incident, he lost all interest in looking at the street scenes of Yangzhou and leaned against the carriage shop, closing his eyes to rest.

After an unknown amount of time, the carriage slowly came to a stop, and he heard Xiao Xuanzi say from outside:

"Your Highness, we have arrived at Lord Lin's residence."

Tu Chengyu opened his eyes, got off the carriage, and saw that the carriage was parked in a courtyard.

At this moment, Lin Ruhai also quickly returned from behind and appeared in front of Tu Chengyu.

He was probably affected by what had just happened, and he was more careful with his words when he was talking to Tu Chengyu.

He said, "Your Highness, your room has been cleaned. Would you like to move in now?"

Tu Chengyu noticed that it was still early. He had been on a boat for the past few days and had just encountered such a situation. He felt a bit stifled staying in the room.

So he asked, "Is there a garden in the manor? I would like to go for a stroll to relax."

Upon hearing this, Lin Ruhai immediately said, "There is a garden in the side courtyard. I will take Your Highness there right away."

Tu Chengyu felt that there was no need to trouble Lin Ruhai with the task of simply leading the way, so he said:
"Lord Lin, you were busy with all that just now, and you still have to arrange things for the people I brought later. You've been quite busy. Just assign anyone to lead the way for me."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Lin Ruhai readily agreed and arranged for a steward to take Tu Chengyu to the back garden.

The Lin family's garden wasn't very large, but it was exquisite enough, filled with flowers and plants.

At this time of year, all kinds of flowers bloom in the garden, vying for beauty and creating a lively scene, which quickly lifted Tu Chengyu's spirits.

Looking at these flowers, Tu Chengyu suddenly remembered that Lin Daiyu seemed to love growing flowers and even held funerals for them.

Thinking of this, Tu Chengyu asked the steward of the Lin residence, "Who planted these flowers in the garden?"

The steward of the Lin family naturally knew that the prince in front of him was the son-in-law of the family.

So he said without any hesitation, "Your Highness, these flowers were all planted by Miss and her people."

Tu Chengyu feigned surprise and said, "Your young lady can actually grow flowers?"

Upon hearing this, the steward seemed quite proud and said, "Your Highness, although my young lady is young, she is very skilled at planting flowers."

"Miss not only grows flowers well, but she also knows how to make tea with flower petals."

When Tu Chengyu saw the steward's proud yet doting expression when he talked about Lin Daiyu, he knew that this person's relationship with the Lin family was not simple. He was probably an old man who had watched Lin Daiyu grow up.

So, Tu Chengyu went along with him and said, "Hearing you say that, I really want to find some time to try the flower tea made by your young lady."

The steward said, "Your Highness, you don't need to make time. I'll brew this flower tea for you today."

Tu Chengyu asked curiously, "You can make the decision about your young lady's flower tea?"

The steward said, "How could I, a mere servant, make such a decision about the young lady's things? But it is Your Highness who wishes to drink tea. If the young lady knew, she would certainly be willing to give it to you."

Tu Chengyu said, "In that case, I'll thank you in advance for your flower tea, Miss."

After saying this, Tu Chengyu seemed to remember something else and said with a smile:

"I have heard that the preparation method for this flower tea varies depending on the season when the flowers are picked. Therefore, if you want to drink good flower tea, you must brew it yourself to taste its true flavor."

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, the manager's eyes widened involuntarily. He thought to himself, "You just want the young lady to make you tea, why beat around the bush like this?"

The person in charge remained silent, but a crisp sound came from the thick garden wall.

"lecher."

(End of this chapter)