The Succession Struggle in the Dream of the Red Chamber

Chapter 275 The Scholars Under My Tutor Are All Different

Tu Chengyu handed Feng Ziying over to Jia Rong, asking him to arrange tasks. Their families were old friends, so communication was easy.

After making the arrangements, Tu Chengyu continued on his way.

This was his routine patrol, but today he had an extra task: to observe the newly arrived scholars and see how they behaved in the disaster relief camp.

Although these people have only been here for a short time, it's not enough time for them to see anything.

But you can always learn something from taking a look.

As Tu Chengyu walked around, he observed many situations.

Some scholars may not have imagined how difficult the disaster relief camps were, so they came here in a daze.

When they arrived and took a closer look, they were all dumbfounded.

They stood outside the camp, too afraid to go in.

Tu Chengyu didn't care about this; he just let him adapt on his own.

Tu Chengyu only intervenes when someone can't adapt and makes a fuss about leaving.

Fortunately, after looking around for a while, I didn't see anything like that.

Of course, there are good things as well as bad things.

Tu Chengyu had just seen one, and this scholar not only did not feel uncomfortable at all, but actually felt quite at ease.

He found a very worn-out set of clothes from somewhere, changed into them, and then smeared dirt on his face, making him look no different from a disaster victim.

Then, with that disfigured face, he approached the disaster victims and started chatting.

This person is really suited for this job.

After seeing this, Tu Chengyu looked at the soldiers guarding the disaster relief camp, inquired about the man's name, and planned to investigate him thoroughly later.

After reading this, Tu Chengyu continued walking.

Soon they arrived at the No. 3 Battalion of the Dingzi Company, which was under the jurisdiction of Quan Xu.

When they arrived, Quan Xu was not here; there was only a soldier from the Beijing Garrison guarding the place.

Tu Chengyu recognized all these soldiers, so as soon as he arrived, he asked them directly:
"Last night, did a scholar from the Imperial Academy come here?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Where are the others?"

Upon hearing this, the soldier turned and looked into the camp, then said:

"Your Highness, he was just here a moment ago, but now he's disappeared. Your Highness, please wait here, I'll go and fetch him for you right away."

Tu Chengyu stopped the soldiers and said, "No rush. I also want to take a look inside the camp, so let's go in together."

As he spoke, Tu Chengyu dismounted and led his men inside, with the soldiers quickly following behind.

Because Tu Chengyu frequently patrolled the disaster relief camps, many of the disaster victims came to know this Prince Su.

This is why the disaster victims are no longer flustered when they see Tu Chengyu.

At most, he would stand up, bow, and then move aside.

Tu Chengyu entered the camp and walked slowly, observing the condition of the disaster victims and the situation of the disaster camp.

Looking around, I found the situation here to be relatively good; at least I didn't see anyone urinating or defecating indiscriminately.

The disaster victims seemed to be in good condition; although they all looked thin, they were in good spirits.

After surveying half of the camp, the soldier who had followed said to Tu Chengyu:

"Your Highness, where is that scholar who came last night?"

Tu Chengyu looked in the direction he pointed and saw a young man dressed in scholar's robes squatting on the ground in a corner, chatting with the disaster victims.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu said:
"Go over and have a look."

After saying that, he took the lead and walked over.

Tu Chengyu originally planned to go over and see what he was doing, but before he could get close, he was spotted by the disaster victims sitting opposite him.

The disaster victims all stood up to greet Tu Chengyu, and the scholar who was squatting on the ground naturally noticed that something was wrong.

He quickly stood up, turned around and saw Tu Chengyu, and bowed as well.

After exchanging greetings, the disaster victims left on their own, leaving only the scholar behind.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu asked, "Are you Zou Xicheng?"

"Official student".

After confirming that it was the person he was looking for, Tu Chengyu asked:

"How did you come to the disaster camp last night?"

Upon hearing this question, Zou Xicheng seemed a little embarrassed and hesitated before answering:
"The student was afraid that his mother would stop him from coming if she found out, so he came early."

This situation is quite rare, so Tu Chengyu quickly asked:

"So you haven't told your family about coming here to wait for you yet?"

Zou Xicheng said, "The student sent his servant back home; his family should know by now."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu jokingly said, "Aren't you afraid that your family will find out and come to drag you back?"

Zou Xicheng said, "Although Grandmother Jia doted on her students, she still understood the greater good. She knew that once her students made their choices, she would not interfere anymore."

"Your mother is such a good mother!" Tu Chengyu couldn't help but exclaim.

Such mothers are truly rare in this era. They may not understand or accept the situation, but they choose to support their children.

After asking those questions, Tu Chengyu asked about other things.

"When I came here, I saw you chatting with the disaster victims. What were you talking about?"

Upon hearing this, Zou Xicheng said, "After I came here, I found that there was no roster of the disaster victims. When we counted the number of people at night, we only checked the total number to see if anyone was missing. This has a great drawback. So I thought that we should register every single disaster victim. This would make it much easier to take attendance in the future."

His idea is indeed very good; Tu Chengyu had actually thought about it before.

However, at that time, all the soldiers under his command were ordinary soldiers who could not read many words, so he did not pursue it.

Now that so many students are coming, we can actually make a name for ourselves.

After asking that, Tu Chengyu asked another question:

"When I saw you registering names, you were chatting with the disaster victims. What was the purpose of that?"

Zou Xicheng said, "The students are new here and don't know many people. They can get to know each other better by chatting a bit, which will make things easier later. Also, after the students arrived last night, they learned that many of the disaster victims got separated from their families on their way to Beijing. So the students thought that they would register the information of these people and visit other camps when they have time, which might help them find their relatives."

This really shows that one person's plan is short-sighted while ten people's plans are long-sighted.

Tu Chengyu was aware that the disaster victims had become separated from their families, but because there were too many disaster victims and both he and Quan Wenwei were very busy, they did not have the energy to deal with these matters and so they kept putting it off.

Unexpectedly, Zou Xicheng discovered the problem as soon as he arrived and began to solve it.

This saved Tu Chengyu the trouble of racking his brains for a solution.

Tu Chengyu had a good impression of Zou Xicheng, who was able to keenly identify problems and actively find solutions.

He patted Zou Xicheng on the shoulder and said, “Your method is excellent and worth promoting throughout the entire camp. Here’s what you do: compile the information you’ve registered into a large poster, writing down the information of every missing relative of every disaster victim, and submit it to me. Then I will have other camps do the same. Finally, I will compile the information from each camp and compare it one by one to see if there are any matches. If there are any matches, I will call them together and have them identify the individuals in front of me. This might be faster.”

Upon hearing Tu Chengyu's suggestions, Zou Xicheng clapped his hands with delight.

"Your Highness, your method is more thoughtful than that of a student."

Tu Chengyu waved his hand and said, "I just know more than you, which is why I can think of these things."

After saying that polite thing, Tu Chengyu continued:

How's the registration process going here?

Zou Xicheng said, "The students started organizing last night, and by this morning, they had almost finished registering. It won't be long before they finish registering."

The difference is immediately apparent here; most of the other soldiers are still adapting to the camp environment.

This person is almost finished with a task, and still has time to work with Tu Chengyu to find solutions to problems.

Tu Chengyu was growing to admire this guy more and more.

He thought for a moment and said, "Since your boarding list matter is almost finished, I will give you a task."

"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty."

"It's about helping the disaster victims find their relatives, as I just mentioned. After you've finished organizing the big-character poster, take it to Mr. Quan and report the method we just discussed to him. If Mr. Quan has any questions, please answer them for me."

"Yes, Your Highness, I obey." Upon hearing this, Zou Xicheng readily accepted.

Having finished speaking, Tu Chengyu asked, "Is there anything else here that I can help you with?"

After thinking for a moment, Zou Xicheng said, slightly embarrassed:

"Your Highness, could you please send someone to my home to bring me some clothes? I came in a hurry last night and only brought two sets of scholar's robes, which are extremely inconvenient to wear here."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu chuckled and said:
"How about I give you half a day off, and you go back and get it yourself?"

Zou Xicheng shook his head and said, "If I go back, Grandmother Jia will definitely stop me in tears. I can't bear to see Grandmother Jia cry, so I won't go back."

This Zou Xicheng and his mother are quite interesting.

Tu Chengyu naturally fulfilled such a small request.

He said, "Write down your home address and leave a receipt. I will send someone to pick it up for you later."

"In that case, your student thanks Your Highness."

"No need. As long as you do your job well, everything will be fine."

After talking with Zou Xicheng, Tu Chengyu wandered around the campsite for a while before coming out to continue walking.

Not long after he came out, Tu Chengyu ran into Quan Xu.

"Your Highness, I've been looking for you."

"What business do you have with me?"

"It's not a matter for the scholars yet."

"What's wrong with the scholars? Are they causing trouble?"

"It wasn't a troublemaker. There was a young guy who was frightened by the situation in the disaster camp. He was teased by the disaster victims a couple of times, and then he couldn't stand it anymore. He cried and begged to go back."

"Crying and screaming?" Tu Chengyu asked in surprise, "Just how young is she to be so frightened that she cried?"

Quan Xu said, both amused and exasperated, "I asked, and she's just turned thirteen; she's a little too young."

"Thirteen years old? Are there any that young?" Tu Chengyu had looked at all the scholars who came today, and he hadn't seen anyone that young.

Quan Xu said, "Judging from his appearance, he looks like he's eighteen or nineteen years old, but once you hear him speak, you can tell that his voice hasn't changed yet."

Upon hearing this, Tu Chengyu could only smile wryly.

He said, "Then let's go take a look. The child is so young; if it's really too much, we should send him back."

Quan Xu nodded and led the way for Tu Chengyu.

Before long, Tu Chengyu and his group arrived at the No. 8 Battalion of the Dingzi Company where the incident had occurred.

Upon arriving, Tu Chengyu heard a commotion in the camp.

He thought the disaster victims were bullying the child, but after listening carefully, he realized that the disaster victims were apologizing to the child and collectively comforting him.

These disaster victims are really something, always making fun of other people's children.

Once they cried and realized they were scared, now everyone's begging and pleading to comfort them.

When Tu Chengyu came in from the camp and saw the disaster victims gathered there, he told Quan Xu to drive them away.

When the disaster victims saw Tu Chengyu enter, they all fell silent in worry.

Then Quan Xu chased them away, but they didn't go far. They all stood not far away watching how Tu Chengyu would handle the situation.

Tu Chengyu didn't look at the disaster victims, but instead looked at the child standing in the middle.

Upon seeing this, Tu Chengyu almost burst out laughing.

This guy, in order to make himself look older, actually put some dark stuff on his face.

At first glance, this makes the face look older.

This is also why Tu Chengyu and Quan Wenwei didn't notice it when they registered in the morning.

There's nothing funny about putting something on your face, but this guy had just been crying.

After the tears fell, some of the stuff on my face was washed off.

Therefore, his face looked patchy with black and white streaks, which seemed rather comical.

This little brat, I don't know if he's been coaxed or if he's already finished crying, he's quieted down now.

He saw Tu Chengyu come in and, rather embarrassed, came forward to greet him.

Tu Chengyu suppressed his inner laughter and said with a straight face:
"What's your name? Where are you from?"

"Student Dong Hui is from Nanjing."

"He's from the same hometown," Tu Chengyu said with a hint of helplessness.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you here at such a young age?"

After hearing this, Dong Hui muttered under his breath, "When the prince was recruiting people, he didn't mention any age restrictions."

Tu Chengyu did not impose any age restrictions, and he did not check the age when reviewing the papers.

This was because Tu Chengyu hadn't expected that there would be such young children studying at the Imperial College, and that they would have the audacity to sign up for the disaster relief camp.

Hearing his grumbling, Tu Chengyu felt helpless, but still replied.

"I never said I wanted to hire someone who loves to cry to do my job."

Having his Achilles' heel struck by Tu Chengyu, Dong Hui lowered his head in embarrassment and fell silent.

Tu Chengyu had no interest in arguing with him, so he asked:

"I heard you were making a scene about leaving. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, Dong Hui whispered again:
"Your Highness, I don't want to leave now."

(End of this chapter)