Once the New Year passed, the Old Madam packed up her luggage. Before the New Year, her son had sent a letter saying he wouldn’t return so quickly. Moreover, her grandson’s teacher had also gone to Yangzhou, so he wanted the grandson to come to Yangzhou.

At the same time, in the letter he instructed her not to come because of the exhausting journey.

Although the letter didn’t state it explicitly, the Old Madam still understood the meaning. Since her son wouldn’t be in Yangzhou too long, when he returned, she would have to return with him—the travel would be too arduous.

After all, she was getting on in years. Although the Old Madam also missed her son, she still had the desire to live long.

So when her son said this, she silently dismissed the idea of going to Yangzhou.

She would just stay in the capital. If anything happened and her two granddaughters wanted to return to their natal home, with her here, they could come back anytime.

As for the others, her grandson had to go. Whether the concubines wanted to go or not, she wouldn’t force them—as long as one person went, it was fine.

She let them choose for themselves.

Hearing such words, Concubine Mei fell into dilemma. Should she go or not?

She had already made the round trip once, and even with people taking care of her, the journey was very exhausting.

Yun Shuyao didn’t care about the hardship of the journey. She wanted to go.

Children would leave her side one after another. Now her daughter had left, flying independently, and her son’s time of independence wouldn’t be far off either.

Next year he would participate in the autumn examinations. If he passed, he would then participate in the spring examinations, and then would be assigned an official position. At the beginning, he should be in the capital. If both were in the capital, that would be good—they could still be together. But if he were later posted elsewhere, who knew when they would meet again.

Thinking about Lin Ruhai’s situation would tell you—before returning to the capital, he had been serving posts outside all along.

Furthermore, she also wanted to see how progress was going there. If she could help so he could return to the capital earlier, that would be even better.

When Concubine Mei saw Yun Shuyao say she wanted to go, she almost without thinking stood up to say she also wanted to go.

She had asked her daughter and son-in-law—the Master shouldn’t be in Yangzhou too long, and the Master’s letter also had this meaning. She hesitated, and ultimately still didn’t stand up.

Concubine Chu also wouldn’t go. She said she would copy scriptures for the Master in the small Buddhist hall to pray for his blessings.

Daiyu also wouldn’t go. She also missed Father, but if she also went to Yangzhou, with all the siblings gone, wouldn’t only Grandmother be left at home?

She wanted to provide companionship at Grandmother’s knee. This way Grandmother wouldn’t be so lonely.

Hearing Lin Daiyu’s thoughts, the Old Madam’s heart felt like it was soaking in a hot spring—warm all over. Her eyes grew hot too. “Good child, good child…”

So the personnel were decided like this. Once the river thawed, Yun Shuyao and Chen Yu boarded the boat and set off.

The journey went very smoothly, unobstructed. There were no problems like damaged ship hulls or sick personnel.

Worth mentioning was that when they were about to reach Yangzhou, they received an invitation from the Xue family.

The Xue family head saw the message on the flags here and had people inquire. Learning they were from the Lin family, he sent an invitation. Although the Xue family had no direct kinship with the Lin family, his family’s matriarch and the Jia family’s Second Madam Wang were sisters.

Through this connection, they were relatives.

Because the other party was handling business matters with no womenfolk along, Yun Shuyao didn’t meet anyone. At first, she didn’t know that was Xue Baochai’s father. It was later when Chen Yu mentioned it, bringing up that the other party had a son called Xue Pan and a daughter called Xue Baochai, that she suddenly realized.

Lin Ruhai, who had received advance notice, had already sent people to the dock to receive them. From the dock they had to change to carriages before arriving at the Lin residence.

This was their family’s usual practice. When serving in office, there was an official residence, but as long as the term of service was somewhat long, Lin Ruhai was accustomed to buying residences according to his own preferences. In any case, the residences he lived in could be resold when he left office and would never lose money—most of the time he could even profit.

Now was the same.

Arriving at the Lin residence, Chen Yu saw Lin Ruhai and knelt down. “Your son is unfilial. For so long I haven’t provided companionship at your knee.”

Lin Ruhai forcefully pulled him up, extremely gratified. His height was almost catching up to his own. “Quickly, stand up.”

Compared to the father in Chen Yu’s impression, he was much thinner, and the dark circles under his eyes were quite deep too.

One could see from his face how exhausted he was.

Chen Yu truly felt self-reproach.

Previously when Father was injured, he should have come to attend to his illness.

Lin Ruhai said, “If you had really come, that would have been unfilial!”

That he was fine at all contained an element of luck. If his son had come, needless to say, those people would definitely have targeted his son to threaten him. He didn’t want to imagine that scene.

“Is your grandmother’s health still good?”

“How is your sister doing in her husband’s family?”

Chen Yu replied, “Grandmother’s body is healthy. Before the New Year, we even invited the imperial physician to take her pulse.”

“Both sisters are also well. Eldest brother-in-law is pure and kind, loving and respecting eldest sister.”

“On the Fourth Prince’s side, he’s also quite good to second sister, and even gave her a courtesy name.”

…

After he finished asking about the family’s recent situation, Yun Shuyao said, “Extend your hand for me to see.”

Lin Ruhai complied and extended his hand.

His body had now completely recovered; he was just somewhat overworked.

He smiled. “Now you can be at ease.”

Yun Shuyao also smiled. “For now, I’m at ease.”

At the same time, Yun Shuyao and Chen Yu also learned that His Majesty was going to make his fifth Southern Tour and would come to Yangzhou. This was why Lin Ruhai’s already busy life had gone up another level.

During this period, he either slept at the government office or slept in the study.

Now taking time out to talk with them, the delayed progress would have to be made up later by himself.

Kangxi was going on a Southern Tour? And coming to Yangzhou?

Yun Shuyao frowned. “Things were still so chaotic here last year. His Majesty is coming here—isn’t he afraid there are still fish that escaped the net?”

Lin Ruhai knew what she was thinking. “His Majesty naturally won’t have any problems. He’s the Son of Heaven, protected by Heaven.”

The personnel around him were definitely sufficient. Even if someone really wanted to seek death, the success rate would be very low. It was just that if he really encountered assassins here and imperial princes or grandsons were injured, Yangzhou would experience a great earthquake.

Moreover, even if they said it would be traveling light, could it really be traveling light?

It would definitely mobilize great forces.

“Where will the imperial carriage stay when it arrives?”

Lin Ruhai replied, “Perhaps they’ll go to Jinling. If they go there, they’ll probably stay at the Zhen family. If coming to Yangzhou, the prefect has already cleared out a wealthy merchant’s villa for His Majesty to stay in.”

Lin Ruhai was very busy. After speaking with them in the study for a while, someone came looking for him.

Before leaving, Lin Ruhai instructed his son, “Today first have someone send an invitation to your teacher. Did you bring your coursework?”

Chen Yu tensed. “I brought it, and it’s all completed.”

Lin Ruhai nodded. “Good.”

Then he looked at Yun Shuyao. “Inner household affairs—I’ll trouble you with them.”

With the Old Madam not here, naturally Yun Shuyao took over the household’s trivial matters.

Then Yun Shuyao discovered she had also become busy. Household matters were manageable, but following Lin Ruhai to attend some unavoidable banquets, her vigilance rose.

Because she discovered that many people here were eyeing the position of Lin Ruhai’s second wife.

They were naturally attracted to Lin Ruhai’s prospects and abilities. Forming a marriage alliance with him would gain them a third-rank official as son-in-law. This calculation was too worthwhile.

As for the age difference, they simply ignored it. This wasn’t unusual in the present day.

What did Lin Ruhai think? Did he have thoughts of remarrying?

Yun Shuyao couldn’t help but worry.

Back then, Jia Min said she would cut off his thoughts of remarrying. So much time had passed—honestly, even she was somewhat surprised, because several years had already gone by, and her son was almost of age.

What if Lin Ruhai no longer had this thought?

Relatively speaking, if she had to have a direct superior managing her, she would of course prefer to work for nothing without pay.

Who knew what kind of character her superior would have? If she were someone difficult to get along with, unless she no longer stayed with the Lin family, even if she became strong-willed, the legitimate wife would still hold righteous authority.

She counted—now in Yangzhou’s official circles, those with this intention basically included both the number one and number two positions. Moreover, there was a familiar family—the Zhen family.

They spoke of Zhen Yingjia’s cousin, who of course was currently in the bloom of youth.

Lin Ruhai had first married Jia Min from the Jia family, and now another daughter from the Zhen family?

Did they want him to marry daughters from both of these close old family friends?

No, that shouldn’t be right.

Very quickly, Yun Shuyao negated this.

If he were really to marry, Lin Ruhai definitely wouldn’t choose a Zhen family woman. They had past grievances and old hatred between them.

So it was one-sided wishful thinking on their part.

However, she still wanted to ask Lin Ruhai’s thoughts. Finding a time when he wasn’t so busy, she brought soup over.

Rather than speculating here endlessly, she might as well ask directly.

“Master, yesterday didn’t we go to the Li family banquet? At that time, I heard some words. Is Master preparing to remarry?”

Hearing her words, Lin Ruhai lifted his eyes from the documents, looking at her with some amusement. “What’s this? Has someone come looking for you?” Was she jealous?

Yun Shuyao sighed. “Yes, listening to those words, I almost thought that not actively welcoming a great family’s daughter into the household was insulting to Master. What a sin.”

Hearing this, Lin Ruhai restrained the smile on his face. “Pay them no mind.”

Yun Shuyao knit her brows. “Then Master’s thoughts are…”

Hearing this, Lin Ruhai simply stood up. “Shuyao, you’re worried?”

Yun Shuyao lowered her eyes. “Master, I am worried. I’m Master’s concubine and naturally have no right to say much in this regard. It’s just that my heart can’t help but feel uneasy. If a madam with poor character came above me… it wouldn’t be as comfortable as now. Not all legitimate wives have noble character like the late Madam.” Not making things difficult for concubines, not being particularly close to children born from concubines but also not making difficulties or setting obstacles—this was a point where Yun Shuyao greatly admired Jia Min.

Especially since Jia Min had feelings for Lin Ruhai too.

If their positions were reversed, she would have long since been unable to bear it and faked her death to escape.

Some things didn’t matter if feelings weren’t involved, but if feelings were involved, eyes couldn’t tolerate even a grain of sand.

Lin Ruhai hadn’t expected she would speak so transparently. His heart warmed, and he gave her a definite answer. “Rest assured, I won’t remarry.”

He embraced her. “If you hadn’t entered the Lin residence back then with your status established, I would have married you. But without that beginning, we wouldn’t have met.” So there were no ifs.

“My not remarrying is good for you, for Chen Yu, for Ying Yu and Luo Yu, or for Daiyu.”

Lin Ruhai was satisfied with the current situation of the inner household and didn’t want to test human hearts.

“Don’t mind their words. They don’t know your abilities either. In my memorials, I’ve explained all your contributions. When His Majesty makes his Southern Tour to Yangzhou this time, he may summon you for an audience. Prepare yourself first.” Lin Ruhai also didn’t know what His Majesty would do, so he didn’t dare speak too definitively.

If all went smoothly, his handover would be at that time too.

“At that time, when merit is rewarded, everything will be decided by His Majesty. At the very least, there will be words from him. With His Majesty’s words first, when you go out, no one will openly give you cold treatment anymore.” When saying these words, Lin Ruhai’s eyes seemed to contain light.