Chapter 691 - Going South

“From what you’re saying...you’re the only one who is suitable for this job?” Zhu Junfan deliberately asked in this manner.

Zhu Junyang hurriedly nodded his head and stated in a solemn manner, “This official believes that I am the most suitable one! This official will use my own life as a guarantee and will do my utmost to protect the great imperial envoy’s life. I am willing to sacrifice my own life if needed!”

Zhu Junfan angrily rebuked, “Don’t say it as if you have such selfless reasons! You’re protecting your own wife!”

“Who was the one who made my wife into the great imperial envoy ah?” Zhu Junyang arrogantly raised his chin up high.

“Quickly scram out of here! We still want to go back to sleep!!” Zhu Junfan furiously shooed the prince away.

Zhu Junyang saw that he had achieved his goal. As he was leaving the palace, he still had his usual constipated look on his face. However, those familiar with him would have been able to spot a glow in his phoenix eyes and tell that he was in an incredibly good mood.

Unfortunately, his good mood only lasted one day. On the next day, an imperial decree was sent out. It turned out that there were now two people in charge of the great imperial envoy’s safety. The other one was Zhu Junyang’s ‘archenemy’, the person he found incredibly annoying, Su Ran!

Zhu Junfan cackled inwardly, ‘Stinky brat. You think that by disturbing our sleep we would let you get your way? If we didn’t do something to make you unhappy, we wouldn’t be surnamed Zhu!!’ Alright ah, in actuality, he wasn’t surnamed Zhu in his past life!

‘Brat, don’t you just want to take advantage of this situation to have a sweet honeymoon, traveling leisurely, with your wife while she’s out on official duties? We will give you a nice third wheel then! Didn’t you give plenty of excuses why you had to go along, giving us no choice ah? Well, our reasoning is also perfect. The great imperial envoy’s status is too precious and her safety is of utmost importance. It’d be hard for one person not to miss something from time to time, so a second martial arts expert should be added to the trip! As for an expert, who in this empire can compete with Chief Steward Su?’

Consequently, the group of two that was heading to Jiangnan had now become three. As for the person in charge of the experimental fields in Jinling, Official Wu, he had been summarily ignored.

All of the maidservants and bodyguards at Imperial Prince Xu’s estate became excited when they heard the news of their masters heading out to Jiangnan. For the maidservants, being able to accompany their mistress when she left the capital to travel was a very status boosting event. Furthermore, right now was the start of the third month, where everything was growing and blossoming. Traveling to the south with its different climate and flora would allow them to appreciate sights they wouldn’t be able to see in the north. All of the maidservants in the masters’ courtyard did their best to show off their advantages to them in hopes of being selected to go on the journey.

However, His Highness had said that he planned on traveling lightly this time. He was only bringing Hou Xiaoliang as a bodyguard. As for the princess consort’s maidservants, she was going to bring one who knew martial arts and one to take care of her daily necessities. He was afraid that if they brought too many people along, it’d disturb their cuddling together as a couple.

The requirement that one of them know martial arts had eliminated many prospective people. Inside the inner courtyard, there were only five who had martial arts skills. Among them included a bodyguard who had retired from Imperial Prince Jing’s hidden bodyguard’s ranks when she was in her thirties and didn’t want to leave her spouse. She had been appointed as a small steward by Xiaocao in the inner courtyard.

Two of the other ones had been sent over by Sir Su and they were retired soldiers from the hidden guards. They were left in the main courtyard and were in charge of their safeties. As for the remaining two, it was naturally Xiaocao’s Chunhua and Qiushi, who had been with her for many years. These two were the most suitable to be picked to go along. They were not only very skilled at martial arts but they were also familiar with their mistress’s temperament and were able to manage her needs perfectly and up to standard. As expected, the mistress ended up picking Chunhua for this trip.

As for the maidservant to take care of Xiaocao’s personal needs, Xiaocao ended up choosing Wutong. Naturally, Hou Xiaoliang had also privately breathed a few words into the prince’s ear about this. Within the maidservants at the estate, Wutong had to be the one who had spent the most time with Xiaocao and had been performing very well for the past few years. She was also extremely loyal. In addition, she was gentle without being gutless, courageous without overstepping her boundaries, and Xiaocao was quite pleased with her.

Unfortunately, she was of age and there was Hou Xiaoliang staring from the side, so it was likely she wouldn’t be able to keep the maid by her side for much longer. The imperial bodyguards of an imperial prince were all ranked officials. She couldn’t have Wutong by her side, serving her, after she had become an official’s wife. If that happened, it was likely that rumors would spread about her, stating that she was treating her servants harshly.

The group of people arrived at the docks the day after the imperial decree came out and boarded a comfortable large ship. The Great Ming Empire’s shipbuilding technology was considered the most modern in the world at the moment. The large seafaring ships were all products from the imperial family. No matter whether it was in terms of safety or comfort, it was guaranteed.

At this time, the Grand Canal was unblocked and being renovated as it was the major method of transportation connecting the northern and southern parts of the empire together. It made it much easier to travel between the two areas. After entering the ship, the couple was granted the largest and most luxurious room onboard. Sir Su was in the room next to theirs. As for the old official, whose hair was turning white, he had been lodged in the room at the tail end of the vessel.

Although Official Wu had also taken a ship to travel to the capital, he had been on a private little ship. Whenever the waves or wind were more boisterous, the boat would rock heavily. This old official, who was over the age of fifty, was also extremely seasick the entire way there. By the time he arrived at the capital, he lost over half of his vitality.

Compared to now, he was standing steadily at the stern of the ship, gazing into the distance. On both sides of the canal, he could see the lush green scenery at the banks, while the aqua colored water completed the atmosphere. It felt quite surreal to him. As the ship steadily moved forward, he could hear the gentle lapping of the water and occasionally hear the sounds of some water birds singing...

He thought again about the experimental rice paddies back in Jinling. Now that he had been able to invite the expert from the agricultural sector over, he was sure that the paddies would be able to reach a high-yield status similar to the crops that had been experimented on in the capital. Perhaps, he had always wanted to imitate the seed breeding operation in the capital and establish one in Jiangnan. Thus, preparations must be made so that when the time came, the commoners of Jiangnan would also be able to live their lives with plenty to eat and truly become the prosperous people of the land of fish and rice! With his better mood, this old official didn’t feel seasick either and had the energy to ask to see the great imperial envoy to ask her for some agricultural secrets.

What sort of secret measures could Yu Xiaocao have? In her past life, she was truly a born and bred northerner. Although she had grown plants, she had only raised the northern crops, such as wheat or soybeans. She had never touched rice paddies in her life. Her only secret weapon was the little divine stone, which acted as her golden finger. However...recently the little divine stone very rarely came out of the multi-colored stone. Did it encounter some cultivation difficulties?

[You’re the one with cultivation difficulties! Can’t you think optimistically for once?] A fair and pudgy little baby appeared inside Xiaocao’s room. Then, at a speed that astounded the human eye, it slowly grew into a handsome and good-looking youth.

Yu Xiaocao was stunned silly by this sight. She asked in a flabbergasted manner, “Little Glutinous Dumpling...did your cultivation increase again? Is this a transformation or were you able to cultivate back your true body?”

[Don’t speak nonsense if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Cultivate my true body? I don’t need to do that. Isn’t this divine stone’s true body hanging out on your wrist ah? This is this human form that this divine stone has cultivated. How is it? Isn’t it handsome ah?] The youth looked quite proud and pleased.

Yu Xiaocao, on the other hand, was a bit regretful, “Argh! I still think your little golden kitten form is a bit more convenient. How can I possibly explain the appearance of a young youth with me this time?”

[Hmph! You’re already bringing your husband along, what’s wrong with bringing your younger brother along too?] The little divine stone rolled its eyes at her. It strolled back and forth in her room and picked up her cosmetics box. It picked out her makeup and even took out a jeweled hairpin and tried it on!

Yu Xiaocao burst out into laughter, “Why didn’t you choose a female form if you like cosmetics and jewelry so much? I could have dressed you up so beautifully that you could mesmerize the eyes of all the stinky men out there!”

“Who are you calling a stinky man?” Zhu Junyang had just walked in from the outside and saw that a strange youth had appeared inside his wife’s room. The youth was even sitting on the bed. The prince immediately frowned and a cold light shone from his phoenix eyes.

[Hey! What do you want? Want to fight? Come, come, come, let’s fight together. Other people may be afraid of you but this divine stone isn’t scared at all! I’ll slap you down instantly and you won’t be able to get up!] The sound of the little divine stone’s voice echoed inside his head. It was a familiar voice and had a tone that was asking for spanking, but it made it easy for Zhu Junyang to confirm this youth’s identity instantly.

“Men and women should not physically touch. If you’re using this form, you can’t just casually appear inside the princess consort’s room!” Zhu Junyang eyed the little divine stone with displeasure but didn’t respond to the stone’s provocations. Was there any need for him to squabble with a stone spirit? Wouldn’t that be lowering himself to the stone’s level?

[You’re the stone spirit; your whole family are stone spirits!] The little divine stone deliberately walked to Xiaocao and began touching her hair while pulling on her hand. When it saw Zhu Junyang’s face darkening, it felt quite gleeful in its heart, ‘Are you jealous ah? Go choke on it!!’

Yu Xiaocao ignored the childish actions of the man and stone and pushed the little divine stone away with one hand. She fixed her clothing and walked towards the door as she asked, “Xiaoliang, are you done preparing the fishing rods and bait like I asked you to?”

Zhu Junyang had originally wanted to take this opportunity to act sickly sweet with his wife, but his plan had been completely ruined by that stupid stone. It was so annoying! When he saw his wife going up on deck to fish, he followed her closely from behind. As he exited the room, a golden figure rushed past him through his feet.

Following that, he could Wutong’s surprised voice, “Isn’t this Little Glutinous Dumpling ah? It’s been a long time since I last saw it, so how did it appear on the ship?”

Yu Xiaocao shrugged her shoulders and casually said, “Who knows ah? This fellow always comes and goes as it pleases, so we never know where and when it might appear. Perhaps it found out that we were going out on a journey and hid in the luggage to board the ship!”

Wutong thought for a bit and thought that was quite reasonable. The cat was very small and it’d be very hard for people to spot it if it hid in a piece of luggage. It looked extremely cute right now as it lay on the deck of the ship, waving its tail around as it watched its master go fishing.

Wutong stepped forward and pulled the golden little kitten into her arms. She tapped its nose and said, “Don’t be naughty on the ship. You’re not allowed to climb on the ship’s masts. If you fall into the water, no one will go down to rescue you! Obediently watch your master fish. If we catch anything, we’ll add it to your food!”

The little divine stone didn’t struggle and instead allowed Wutong to help it scratch its itches with a face full of pleasure. Zhu Junyang glared at it angrily. It’d be better if it kept its cat form the entire time. Why did it have to take the form of a handsome youth? This fellow was definitely doing all of this on purpose!

He glanced again at the lazy little cat that was being cradled in Wutong’s arms. Zhu Junyang then cast a knowing look towards Hou Xiaoliang and his eyes glittered with an amused light.

Hou Xiaoliang felt the hair on his body rise when he saw his master looking at him. He wondered, ‘I don’t think I’ve done anything incredibly stupid or silly recently, right? Why is the master looking at me like that? Was there something wrong with the fishing poles and bait that I prepared for the princess consort earlier?’

“Shhhh, don’t be loud! The fish took the bait!” Wutong had a nervous expression on her face when she saw the fishing line in the water sway. She used a hand to cover the little divine stone’s face. The golden little kitten was stunned by this, ‘Hey! Who’s the one being noisy? By covering the nose and mouth, do you still want this cat to be able to breathe ah? If this divine stone was a true cat, I’d have suffocated to death ah! This is murder!’

Yu Xiaocao snatched the right timing and pulled sharply up on the fishing pole. A crucian carp about the size of a hand flew onto the deck. “Wow! It got caught! Your Highness, you’re too awesome!!” Wutong finally let her hand down and the little divine stone used this opportunity to jump out of her arms.

Hou Xiaoliang immediately scurried over and helped her to unhook the crucian carp. Then he put more bait on the hook and threw the caught fish into the prepared bucket that had some water in it. Hou Xiaoliang carefully glanced over at his master——Look, aren’t I being very thoughtful here?

Zhu Junyang looked at him briefly before picking up stool and placing it down next to his wife. He picked up a fishing pole and was about to sit down. Suddenly, the fishing pole in his hands was being pulled away by an external force. He waved an arm in that direction and was stopped by another person’s hand.

When he raised his head to look, he saw that it was that annoying fellow, Su Ran! Hmph, not only did that annoying guy disturb his close coupledom with his wife, but he was also trying to take his fishing pole away from him. If he had to endure this insult, was he still a man? Thus, he forcefully pulled the pole back towards him.