This decision was also made because after such a long journey, everyone in the entourage was exhausted from top to bottom. She herself was in a foul mood, and thus saw this as a good opportunity to rest for half a day.
That was how Yue Fuguang saw it, but Shen Jian, Feng Tang, and Wei Shouyi had no idea about her reasoning!
Now, including the small fry Wu Yong, the core members of the "sprinkling squad" had all gathered. The four of them sat in Shen Jian’s tent, eyes locked on each other, none willing to speak first.
What could they say? Could they say that the Young Mistress had done something wrong?
In their hearts, they shook their heads furiously. To put it bluntly, the Young Mistress bringing rain to Dayan was a monumental favor and act of grace. Even if she did nothing at all, who would dare to complain?
It didn’t affect her standing in their hearts in the slightest.
They had all witnessed toil along the way with their own eyes. Dayan owed the Young Mistress far too much.
Shen Jian looked at the three colleagues whose mouths were as tightly shut as clam shells and had to start a topic himself. "Lords, once we finish with Lianzhou Precture, only Hezhou and Jizhou remain. At our current pace, it should take no more than half a month for us to return to the capital."
Following Dayan’s seasonal temperatures, Yue Fuguang's team had gone south first and then north—though slightly delayed, the impact on the planted seeds was minimal.
Now they had reached the northernmost border of Dayan, encompassing Lianzhou and Hezhou, where not only were large tracts of her fiefdom located, but the borders of both prefectures also formed the location of Sanchadi.
The three of course understood Shen Jian’s implication. The Young Mistress might not care about others, but these two prefectures were her own people.
"The Young Mistress has had a long and difficult journey. It would be good for her to rest a few more days," Feng Tang said, gazing toward the distant fields. They had been meticulously tended by farmers. That morning, after the crops in the fields had drunk their fill of rain, a faint hint of green was already beginning to show.
"We all know how much the Young Mistress values the Second Miss and the Fourth Miss. Yet the Fifth Prince came to propose marriage without so much as a prior word." Wu Yong grew more dissatisfied as he spoke. "Isn't that a breach of propriety?"
Strictly speaking, as a minister, he was overstepping by commenting on a member of the imperial family.
But deep down, all three—including Shen Jian—agreed with Wu Yong. Although the Fifth Prince held the status of a prince, to the nation he was less significant than a single finger of the Young Mistress.
In Wu Yong’s view, it was the Fifth Prince who had truly overstepped!
"As I see it, the Young Mistress doesn’t only value the Second Miss and the Fourth Miss. Even your sister, Minister Wu, and Minister Feng’s son are also highly regarded," Wei Shouyi said with a smirk.
Wei Shouyi was currently wearing a smile. In just a few more days, they would reach Sanchadi. His son had been away from home for two years guarding this place. As a father, he didn't say much, but he deeply missed the child.
He spoke of the Young Mistress cherishing those from the study group, but his mind was on the people of Sanchadi—also her own folk, people toward whom they must act cautiously, especially regarding marriages.
Those of their generation would be best advised to inform the Young Mistress in advance.
Yue Fuguang had no idea that her actions that day had led Wei Shouyi and the others to such a misunderstanding. If she knew, she would surely think herself more wronged than Dou E.
Was she the kind of person who meddled in the marriages of other people’s children? She wasn’t a matchmaker, looking after who married whom.
Why was she so angry today? It was simply because she feared that her fourth sister, in consideration of family ties, might meekly accept Fifth Prince Xie’s proposal rather than offend someone from royalty.
Over the past few years, even with her, a celestial master, overseeing the Yu family, and her grandfather and great-uncle watching, no one had dared to grow arrogant or dismiss the emperor’s authority.
Yue Fuguang’s self-interest lay elsewhere. She couldn’t control others, but when it came to her own people—especially the women—she wanted to spare them the bitterness of marriage as much as possible. At least in the choice of a spouse, they should enjoy the greatest possible autonomy.
Given their family's status, there was simply no need to trade the girls’ marriages as bargaining chips.
At this point, Shen Jian felt that the four of them seemed to be talking about different things yet somehow about the same matter.
Shen Jian tentatively asked, "Should we jointly submit a memorial to His Majesty?"
They were toiling hard outside, and they hoped that certain people in the capital could restrain themselves. Daring to stir up trouble behind the scenes while the Young Mistress was away?
Even without the Young Mistress saying much, those around her couldn’t help but overthink things!
The Young Mistress was contributing to the nation, yet a prince who enjoys the people’s offerings was ‘sneaking around and stealing her home base.’ What exactly did he think he was doing?
"Minister Shen, your proposal is workable!" Feng Tang’s eyes lit up. He had once thought that Shen Jian, being the emperor’s nephew and the Fifth Prince’s cousin, might not be on their side. It seemed he had been mistaken.
Although they had seen the Young Mistress receive His Majesty’s letter, there were matters they needed to voice regardless. It was their duty as ministers.
His Majesty must not let his guard down just because the Young Mistress had left the capital. And he must not assume that, having helped Dayan resolve the drought, she’d not one day leave in displeasure!
The memorial those three, alongside Feng Tang, drafted to the emperor was earnestly cautionary and brimming with sincere advice—one wonders if, when Emperor Mingxi read it the entreaty, he would angrily accuse them of rebelling against heaven and order.
On the other side, the two members of the Yu family—Yu Mochun and Yu Huaixian—were also writing letters home themselves.
They could see clearly what Fuguang valued in Sister Xin: it wasn’t opposition to the betrothal herself per se; rather, she did not want Sister Xin to resign herself to a forced acceptance out of a variety of reasons.
"Uncle-Four, tell Great-Grandfather, he must not consent early to this marriage. At least wait until we return," he said.
Vuguang had sent letters home and to around her midday and then started two personal letters to her family and Xin themselves—to Sister Xin. The family home therefore not make any quick marriage decisions with announcement; truly ruthless, this Fifth Prince.
If only he had fine alternatives, like going for a placatory marriage tiebinding with another region… After serving closely with Yue Fuguang and her staff all the time, Huaixian had actually met Ambassador Princess Gantang, from the south state. Excluding the identity southern her herself, she was more than asufficient counterpart for Fifth Prince.
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"You put stronger gone from past..."
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