The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 263 Rumors Arise, Daiyu Helps

The capital city is a place where rumors are particularly easy to spread, especially rumors about the royal family, which can spread everywhere in the shortest amount of time.

The argument between Tu Chengyu and the second son best fits this condition.

So in the next two days, news of their argument spread throughout the capital.

Because of this, the Emperor summoned the two brothers to the palace and gave them a reprimand, and the Crown Prince also asked them a few questions.

But once such rumors appear, how can they be easily dispelled?

In addition, some people saw an opportunity in the rumors and spared no effort to fuel them, which led to the rumors becoming more and more rampant.

Moreover, the rumors have become increasingly outrageous, with Tu Chengyu now being portrayed as having become mortal enemies with the second son.

In their words, the two brothers seemed to have reached a point of life and death.

But in reality, just a few days ago, the two brothers were still chatting and laughing at the Crown Prince's residence.

Not only did they not become mortal enemies, but thanks to Tu Chengyu's two letters, the relationship between the second son and the crown prince was temporarily eased.

The brothers all agreed that their own fighting was harmless, but they couldn't let outsiders benefit from it.

In addition, the resettlement of disaster victims is very important to the brothers.

So they decided to work together to get through the disaster relief efforts safely first, and deal with the rest later.

Because of this, the brothers secretly gathered at the Crown Prince's residence to discuss and prepare for what was to come.

After they finalized their plan, the Crown Prince and the Second Prince continued their investigation of the grain depot.

Tu Chengyu returned to the outskirts of Nancheng to receive more and more disaster victims.

Just as the number of arriving disaster victims had exceeded 20,000, Tu Chengyu was extremely busy.

Lin Daiyu, who was originally staying at the Jia family mansion, suddenly came looking for them along with Jia Tanchun and others.

On this day, as Tu Chengyu was riding his horse and leading his men to inspect every place where the disaster victims lived, a servant who worked for Quan Wenwei rode up to them.

"Your Highness, I have something to report."

Seeing the servant boy's face covered in sweat, Tu Chengyu thought something had happened to Quan Wenwei, so he quickly stopped and asked anxiously:

"But Mr. Quan sent you. What happened?"

The servant replied, "Your Highness, it was Mr. Quan who came. Mr. Quan said that distinguished guests have arrived in the tent and asked Your Highness to return."

"A distinguished guest?" Tu Chengyu was somewhat puzzled. In this world, how many people would call him a distinguished guest? So he asked:

Do you know who has come?

The servant replied, "I don't know, and Master Quan didn't say either."

Since Quan Wenwei didn't say anything, then it can't be made public.

However, since Quan Wenwei had already sent someone to call him, Tu Chengyu did not refuse.

He immediately turned his horse around and led his men back.

When Tu Chengyu arrived, he saw Quan Wenwei standing outside the large tent, anxiously looking in the direction Tu Chengyu had come from.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Tu Chengyu arrive.

Seeing Quan Wenwei's reaction, Tu Chengyu became even more curious about his so-called distinguished guest.

So when he got closer, Tu Chengyu immediately asked:

"Mr. Quan, who is this?"

Quan Wenwei looked around, waved for the extra people to leave, and then replied:
"Your Highness, it is Miss Lin from the Jia family who has arrived."

Lin Daiyu? Tu Chengyu was full of surprise upon hearing this. Why would she suddenly come here?

So Tu Chengyu pointed to the tent and asked:
Is Miss Lin inside?

"Yes, my lord."

"Alright then, I'll go in and take a look."

Tu Chengyu and Lin Daiyu met again when they had last gone shopping together.

At that time, because of the two thieves, I didn't even get to shop for very long.

Since then, Tu Chengyu has been busy with all sorts of things and has no time to contact Lin Daiyu anymore.

It's been quite a while since then, and now it smells strangely good.

After announcing his arrival outside the tent, Tu Chengyu stepped inside.

As soon as he entered, he saw several brightly dressed girls scattered around the tents.

However, at this moment, they all had only one action: turning their heads to look at Tu Chengyu.

Tu Chengyu took a closer look and realized that there were quite a lot of people here today.

Besides Lin Daiyu and her two maids, there are also Jia Tanchun, Jia Xichun, Xue Baochai, and Shi Xiangyun, as well as each of their maids.

Looking at the little girls who had taken up half the tent, Tu Chengyu was unsure how to deal with them.

Fortunately, he remained relatively calm and thick-skinned, and did not show any bad expression.

Tu Chengyu's side was unsure how to handle the situation, and their side was also somewhat nervous.

Fortunately, among them was Lin Daiyu, who wasn't too afraid of Tu Chengyu, and Xue Baochai, who was steady and generous in her dealings.

The two men were the first to bow and greet each other, and the others followed suit.

After the two sides finished exchanging greetings, the others consciously shut their mouths and made way for Lin Daiyu.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu took the initiative to ask:
"Why are you here?"

Lin Daiyu didn't hesitate at all and said generously:
"While I was at the manor, I kept hearing my second brother Lian talk about the disaster victims. I was very curious, so I thought I'd come and see for myself."

After saying this, Lin Daiyu paused for a moment and then said:

"Won't our sudden arrival disturb His Highness's work?"

Tu Chengyu smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's alright. However, there are many disaster victims here, and things are complicated, which may be a little difficult for you to adapt to."

The girls in front of me, whether they are young ladies from the main family or serving maids, all grew up in grand mansions.

Many of them had never even seen the lives of ordinary people, let alone the disaster victims who fled to the capital to make a living.

They may have been misled by Jia Lian's boasting and thought that resettling disaster victims was a wonderful thing, but when they actually saw those emaciated and poorly clothed disaster victims, they might not have been able to adapt.

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's words, Lin Daiyu softly said:

"Your Highness, rest assured. Before we came, we heard about the disaster victims from Brother Lian. We will be able to adapt."

Seeing her say that, and considering they were already there, Tu Chengyu didn't continue to persuade her, but simply asked:

"So, what are your plans for coming here?"

"Your Highness, we have no plans. We just came to take a look."

Hearing her say that, Tu Chengyu was momentarily at a loss for words. Just then, Jia Xichun, still a little kid, suddenly spoke up:
"Your Highness, Sister Lin missed you. We just accompanied her to see you."

Her childish words immediately caused the others to cover their mouths and chuckle, but Lin Daiyu's face turned bright red.

Pointing at Jia Xichun, he said, "You brat, stop talking nonsense, or I'll tear your mouth apart when we get back."

This weak threat had no effect on Jia Xichun. She winked and made faces at Lin Daiyu, showing no sign of yielding.

After Jia Xichun's outburst, the atmosphere in the tent eased considerably.

Tu Chengyu seized the opportunity to say:
"Now that you're here, why don't you go and see what the disaster victims are like?"

Tu Chengyu thought that these young ladies raised in secluded mansions were completely out of touch with the realities of life.

Why not let them take the opportunity to see how ordinary people live? Once they see the suffering of the disaster victims and know how desperately they survive in such circumstances, they can understand their plight.

In the future, when they encounter problems, they may be able to think more positively and won't suffer from so much emotional distress.

Moreover, Tu Chengyu felt that as his future queen, Lin Daiyu should not just be a woman who grew up in seclusion. Letting her interact more with ordinary people might give the two of them more topics to talk about in the future.

The girls were somewhat surprised to hear Tu Chengyu's suggestion.

Jia Tanchun asked, "Your Highness, is it really convenient for us to go see the disaster victims? Didn't you say that the area where the disaster victims live is very chaotic and not suitable for us to visit?"

Tu Chengyu said, "It would be inconvenient for you to go see it privately, but if I arrange it, there won't be any problem."

Since Tu Chengyu said it was no problem, they naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity.

Everyone expressed a desire to go and see.

Seeing this, Tu Chengyu went out and said a few words to Quan Wenwei, asking him to prepare some things in advance, and then returned to the tent to ask how many people were there.

Have any of you ever tried dressing up as a man?

Upon hearing this, the girls' eyes lit up, showing that they also longed to dress as men.

However, they all shook their heads in the end, indicating that they had not done it.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu said, "Then you should give it a try today."

At this moment, Lin Daiyu said, "But Your Highness, we didn't bring any clothes, how are we supposed to dress up?"

Tu Chengyu said with a smile:

"You don't need to worry about the clothes. I happen to have some newly made clothes here. I'll just pick a few suitable ones for you."

These clothes were made by Tu Chengyu using discarded materials from the national treasury for the servants and soldiers to wear.

There are still quite a few left, which is just enough for them to try on.

Since I'll only wear it once anyway, it doesn't matter if it's made of old material.

Tu Chengyu went out just now to have Quan Wenwei send someone to get the clothes.

The clothes arrived quickly.

Because they didn't know their sizes, they brought a lot of clothes. Tu Chengyu handed all the clothes to them and told them to find the clothes themselves.

Tu Chengyu left the tent and made other preparations outside.

After a while, when the tent was lifted again, several ordinary-looking but extraordinary-looking teenagers appeared in front of everyone.

Although they were all dressed in men's clothing, their faces were too beautiful, and their mannerisms were still the same as before, so it was easy to tell that they were women.

However, it's better than nothing. Once they're on horseback or in a carriage, it won't be so easy to tell.

Now that everything was ready, Tu Chengyu didn't delay any longer. He had someone bring over the horses that had been prepared beforehand, as well as the carriage that Lin Daiyu and the others had ridden in, and let them choose for themselves.

Unfortunately, out of all the girls who came, not one of them knew how to ride a horse.

Since that was the case, Tu Chengyu had no choice but to ride the horse himself and let them sit in the carriage.

Tu Chengyu personally inspects the disaster victims' area almost every day, so he has already planned out the route he will take later.

After they set off, Tu Chengyu led the way, and the others followed in several carriages.

Fortunately, Tu Chengyu had made plans in advance for the resettlement of disaster victims this time, and sent people to manage each resettlement site directly.

So there were no strange occurrences on the way, and the carriage was able to move forward smoothly.

Even so, when the girl in the carriage saw each group of disaster victims, her expression changed drastically.

They started out curious, chattering away non-stop. Gradually, they fell silent, their faces turning pale.

In the end, several people couldn't bear to watch anymore and covered their eyes, unable to continue.

In addition, there were so many disaster victims here that the smell was unpleasant when everyone was crammed together, so several girls covered their mouths and noses, seemingly unable to bear it.

Seeing them like this, Tu Chengyu approached the carriage and asked softly:

Do you want to continue watching?

Tu Chengyu thought that since they were already like this, they definitely couldn't stay any longer.

Unexpectedly, Lin Daiyu, whose face was somewhat pale, stubbornly raised her head and said:
"Your Highness, don't worry, we can hold on."

Lin Daiyu said this, and no one else objected. Tu Chengyu then led them on their way.

After walking around for half a circle, Tu Chengyu led them to the last place of their trip.

This is also a separate resettlement area, but it is slightly different from the previous resettlement areas.

First, this resettlement area is quite far from other resettlement areas.

Secondly, the resettlement area here is completely surrounded by trees and weeds, so you can't see inside from the outside.

The girls in the carriage naturally noticed the difference.

So someone asked:
"Your Highness, where is this place?"

Tu Chengyu said, "This resettlement area is specifically for accommodating women, children and infants."

"Women and children?" Lin Daiyu asked疑惑地, "Why did Your Highness place him separately?"

Tu Chengyu sighed and said, "It's not that I want to settle them separately, but the people here are either separated from their families or their families have already passed away."
They had no one to rely on, and if they were placed with other disaster victims, they would likely be bullied and mistreated. Therefore, they had to be placed separately.

Hearing Tu Chengyu's words, they understood what was going on.

Then they realized that the people here were women, children, and infants without anyone to rely on, and they all unconsciously showed expressions of worry.

Women, children, and infants naturally evoke sympathy, especially when they have no one to rely on.

The girls watched for a long time, then huddled together and whispered among themselves for a while before Lin Daiyu finally spoke.

"Your Highness, may we go in and take a look?"

Tu Chengyu didn't agree immediately, but instead asked, "Are you sure you want to go in and take a look?"

This time, most of the girls nodded in agreement, clearly having made up their minds.

(End of this chapter)