Red Mansion: Picking up a Lin Daiyu

Chapter 240 Lin Daiyu: I won’t go back!

The inner house of the government office,

Before entering the door, a solemn atmosphere spread throughout the courtyard.

The welcoming team that came all the way from Yangzhou Prefecture happened to run into people from the palace, so they didn't dare to stay in the courtyard. Only Nanny Wang, who was in charge of the matter, was in the hall, and the rest of the people were waiting outside.

Nanny Wang was once Lin Daiyu's wet nurse, and the two had a close relationship.

However, there was a eunuch in gorgeous clothes sitting in the hall. She did not dare to breathe and just stood alone near the door, anxiously waiting for Lin Daiyu to return.

The one who was more anxious than her was naturally the eunuch sitting at the upper seat in the hall.

When Yue Ling brought Lin Daiyu and the others back to the hall, he was slightly surprised to see the newcomer, "Eunuch Xia, why are you here in person?"

Xia Shouzhong was sweating with anxiety. When he saw Yue Ling finally coming back, he wiped his forehead with his sleeve, breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and greeted him, "You are finally back. Something big has happened."

"event?"

Yue Ling frowned when he heard this.

Now everything is safe and sound, and there is no news of any more wars in the Nine Borders. Yue Ling really doesn't know what big thing could happen. Could it be that Emperor Longyou is not feeling well again?
Nanny Wang was of low status and didn't dare to talk to her, but Yue Ling still noticed her.

He looked at Lin Daiyu, who nodded silently with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Yue Ling sighed helplessly, "You two can go to the room and talk first, I have something important to do here."

Nanny Wang felt relieved and bowed quickly, "Yes."

Afterwards, Zijuan stayed in the hall to serve, while Xueyan followed Lin Daiyu and Nanny Wang back to the room, with an unhappy look on her face.

Yue Ling invited Xia Shouzhong to take a seat and held the teapot, which was all drunk by Xia Shouzhong. When he knew that Xia Shouzhong was really anxious, he took the initiative to ask: "Don't panic, eunuch. As long as everything is fine in the palace, it's not a big deal."

Xia Shouzhong sighed, "Your Majesty is in good health, there is no problem. But this incident made His Majesty very angry, and he was delayed for several days. You just said that I came too, because Chief Steward Dai was called back to the palace, so I had to come even if there was a message."

Yue Ling perked up a bit, "What went wrong?"

Xia Shouzhong took a deep breath and told the story from the beginning: "This story has to start from the court session a few days ago. Originally, everything was the same as usual. The foreign envoys presented gifts to congratulate Your Majesty on the fourth year of his accession to the throne. At the same time, Prince Zhongshun also presented a painting, but he said that the painting was accidentally found by him when he was hunting from a wounded person who was being hunted."

"I just entrusted the matter to him, and he died of his injuries."

"Prince Zhongshun, the Marquis knows that he is the right-hand man of His Majesty. Even when Prince Kang's palace was in chaos, he was the one who maintained the safety of the royal family. Naturally, he would not have any other thoughts."

"But when the painting was presented, it turned out to be a picture of 'a thousand miles of starving corpses', depicting people in Suzhou cannibalizing each other, and a thousand miles of white bones, it was simply unbearable to look at."

"There is also a poem on the painting: Suzhou's misty rain is as dark as frost, and the prefect's injustice is heartbreaking. The rice and millet have become mulberry trees, and the people are weeping blood. The rich are chasing after profit and evil is rampant. The sky is crying as the fields are filled with starving people, and the sun is losing its light as the mountains of bones are piled up. I only ask the saint to see through the treacherous and return to me the way to peace and salvation."

Upon hearing this, Yue Ling suddenly realized that something went wrong with the conversion of rice to mulberry trees in Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

"Your Majesty wrote in a letter that he had ordered a strict investigation of the officials in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to supervise the implementation of the rice-to-mulberry policy. How come this has come up again now?"

Xia Shouzhong also sighed and tapped the table, saying, "This is the most horrifying part. The news we received before was that everything was fine. The rice-to-mulberry policy has been in place for almost two years and has achieved some results. It has really added nearly one million taels to the national treasury."

"Everyone in the court thought that this national policy was beneficial to the country and the people, but such a thing happened. But when we went to investigate, we only knew that Zhu Huailin, the governor of Suzhou, resisted the change from rice to mulberry. Later, due to the recent flood emergency, the river was suspected of being in disrepair, and the embezzlement of public funds for the river was exposed. Not long after, he committed suicide in prison out of fear of punishment."

Judging from the information Yue Ling had heard so far, there were only two possibilities for the murder of the Suzhou prefect.

First, the Suzhou prefect was indeed not clean. It was he who resisted the conversion of rice to mulberry for his own selfish interests and eventually died in prison.

Second, the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang were united as one. Because they opposed the policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees, they joined forces to set up a trap and had the Suzhou prefect die unjustly in prison.

From the emperor's perspective, he would definitely be more willing to believe the first one.

After all, changing rice to mulberry is a designated national policy, and it has also been effective. If it is continued, it can fill the national treasury and reverse many of the current problems. The death of only one person is not a big deal for the emperor, but if the entire Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces have problems, it is not a matter of one family.

Even if the guillotine breaks, it may never be able to cut enough.

When Xia Shouzhong came to him, it was obvious that Emperor Longyou was not an emperor who could deceive himself or others and was willing to whitewash the situation.

"This year marks the fourth year of your majesty's reign. In this year, the word 'four' is taboo. And you have committed such a crime. Your majesty is really angry."

"For this reason, Chief Steward Dai has returned from the imperial mausoleum and interrogated the Jinyiwei about their deployment in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He did not reveal any leaks. All the Jinyiwei in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have now been transferred back to Beijing for further arrangements."

There is no problem, but it is the biggest problem.

It was really bizarre that a fourth-rank prefect died in prison without any injustice, and even the local people did not complain at all.

Or could it be that the interest groups in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have already gained control over the local area to the point of manipulating public opinion?

Jiangsu and Zhejiang are prosperous, accounting for nearly half of the taxes in Dachang, with Suzhou and Hangzhou being the most prosperous.

After Hangzhou changed its rice crops to mulberry crops, the same thing happened in Suzhou. It was obvious how serious the problem was. If it was serious, it would shake the foundation of the country.

No wonder Xia Shouzhong was so anxious.

"What do you think of this, my Lord?"

Xia Shouzhong looked at Yue Ling, expecting him to say something with hope.

Yue Ling pondered for a long time, and then asked: "I am not very familiar with the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. The farthest I can go is to Yangzhou Prefecture. I wonder how the Suzhou prefect Zhu Huailin is doing as an official?"

Xia Shouzhong replied, "He has been the prefect for five years and has a certain reputation in the local area. Perhaps his family background is not so clean, but according to our understanding, he has not made any major mistakes."

Anyone who can be re-elected as a prefect in Jiangsu and Zhejiang must be a humble person, so it is normal that his family background is not very clean.

"What kind of injuries did the man who presented the map to the capital die of? Have the pursuers been found?"

"He died of multiple back sores and suffocation. Prince Zhongshun was hunting at the time and did not have many guards around him, so he did not chase him immediately and did not find the assassin."

"In other words, the person who presented the map learned of Prince Zhongshun's identity and gave the map to His Majesty. Then Prince Zhongshun risked His Majesty's wrath and presented it to His Majesty."

Xia Shouzhong nodded.

Yue Ling was silent for a moment. "There are many strange things going on. If we don't go and see it in person, I'm afraid it will be difficult to find any clues. Who is the foreign prime minister of Jiangsu and Zhejiang Province?"

"Zhao Deyong and the Minister of Revenue Zhao Gongjin are from the same hometown. Because they did a good job in converting rice to mulberry, His Majesty issued an edict to reward the two of them." Xia Shouzhong added.

Yue Ling nodded slightly, "I have to check."

Xia Shouzhong breathed a sigh of relief. "Since the Marquis thinks so, I will follow His Majesty's order and hand this handwritten letter to the Marquis. If the Marquis needs anything else, please let me know and I will convey it to His Majesty word for word."

……

The conversation outside was lively, and the atmosphere in the room was no less lively.

Lin Ruhai wrote several letters, but Lin Daiyu ignored them all. Even a letter discussing a matter with Yue Ling was blocked by Lin Daiyu on her own initiative.

But things couldn't be stopped. Lin Ruhai didn't know what the intention was, so he could only send someone to bring Lin Daiyu back.

Lin Daiyu was naturally unhappy, and when she saw the wet nurse who had taken care of her in the past, she could not muster any affection for the old nurse.

"Mother Wang, why didn't I see any other aunts come, but you are the only one who came?"

Lin Daiyu looked at Nanny Wang who was sitting next to her and couldn't help asking.

Nanny Wang smiled awkwardly, "It's not that I, an old woman, am eager to do the work. It's just that one of the two concubines is sick and the other is accompanying her, and there is no one else to serve in the room. The master knows that I am close to the eldest lady, so he had to send me here."

"It has been six years since the girl left home. She was still a little girl when she left, but now she has grown into a big girl, graceful and elegant, like a fairy. The master will definitely be delighted to see her."

But Lin Daiyu was not happy, "I don't want to go back."

Lin Daiyu did not hide anything and directly told Nanny Wang her wishes.

Nanny Wang was stunned.

I thought the most difficult thing after arriving in Cangzhou would be to deal with the Marquis, but I didn't expect that it was my own girl who didn't want to go back. No wonder the master said that he had not received a reply from the Marquis.

This all makes sense.

But it is difficult for Nanny Wang.

"Girl, you've been away from home for six years. Don't you miss home? The master always misses you and thinks about you so much. Don't you want to go back and see him?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head, "Mother Wang, please don't say anything. I can't go back."

"As long as Daddy is healthy, he is so busy with official duties that he can't be thinking about me all the time."

"Besides, when Dad sent me away, he was worried that he would not be able to educate me well enough. Now that Dad is in an important position, he should be able to educate me well. Could it be that Dad is going to remarry?"

Nanny Wang naturally knew how eloquent her daughter was, but it seemed that she became more and more eloquent as she grew older, leaving her speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

"As long as the girl is here, the master will not remarry. Besides, the master has a deep affection for his wife, so he would never think of that."

Lin Daiyu curled her lips and stammered, "But there are still two concubines."

Nanny Wang was old and did not hear Lin Daiyu's words clearly, so she asked again, "Miss, what did you say?"

Lin Daiyu shook her head. "Anyway, I'm not going back. Sorry for bothering you. I'll just go back to where I came from."

(End of this chapter)