Yu Youyao felt a lump in her throat, and even her voice became hoarse.
“Cousin, can’t you abolish the emperor and reestablish him? I heard from Grandmother that although the Fourth Prince is the son of a concubine, he a good character. He’s also inferior and polite to others. He’s quite benevolent.’
Thinking about how she had never come into contact with the Fourth Prince and had only mentioned this from others, she felt that it was inappropriate. “No matter what, Cousin, you can also choose a talented and virtuous Yin family descendant from the imperial family to inherit the throne. This way…”
It was also to prevent the flames of war in the world and the people from being displaced.
However, when the words reached her lips, she ultimately swallowed them.
She knew that all of this was unrealistic after all.
Her cousin was right. The Great Zhou Dynasty was at its end. It was not that the dog emperor was at his end.
Natural and man-made disasters accumulated into disasters, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Once the famine erupted, the commoners would be in chaos, and the vassal lords would be in chaos. The Great Zhou Dynasty roots were already rotten and everything was hopeless.
All of this was because of her cousin’s scheme.
However, it was not the fault of her cousin’s scheme.
Those troubles had long been buried. It was only a matter of time before they erupted.
Yu Youyao took a deep breath. “I was just spouting nonsense just now. Cousin, don’t take it to heart.” She pursed her lips and said, “No matter what you want to do, I’ll support you. You have to remember to be fine regardless of what you do. Don’t worry me.”
The little girl kept her head lowered, her eyelashes trembling slightly, revealing the uneasiness and fear in her heart. Perhaps because she did not want him to see that she was worried, she lowered her eyes and did not dare to look at him.
Yu Youyao savored these words in her heart. Just these simple words were more beautiful than thousands of words.
It was as if no matter what happened, there was such a person beside her.
He helped her share her burdens, cut through the thorns, and shelter her from the wind and rain. Even if the sky fell, he could hold it up for her.
In that case, what was there to fear in this chaotic world?!
Yu Youyao looked up, her eyes bright and resplendent. “Cousin, you’re returning to Youzhou. During the Dragon Boat Festival this year, you can’t accompany me to watch the dragon boat race. When you come back, you have to make it up to me with a painting of the Dragon Boat Festival.”
In the past two years, it had been her cousin who had brought her to the moat to watch the dragon boat race with the Second Mansion. Her grandmother trusted her cousin more and more, and with the company of her elders, she let her be.
Zhou Linghuai chuckled. “Okay!’
This wasn’t the first time she had helped her cousin pack. Most of the incense, medicine, tea, and so on were usually prepared by her. He didn’t have to worry about packing and it would be done appropriately.
In the past two years, Zhou Linghuai had often traveled to Youzhou, so the Yu Residence did not interfere too much.
Back then, Zhou Linghuai had contributed to helping King Li of Zhou and his son resist the Di people and had a close personal relationship with King Yue Fei. He had also received a reward from the Imperial Court and could be considered to have gained the emperor’s approval.
There was no need to worry about the Yu Residence being implicated.
The next morning, after Yu Youyao got up, Chun Xiao brought a painting over to report, “Young Master set off for Youzhou at dawn and asked me to hand this painting to Young Miss.”
“Liar.” Yu Youyao puffed up her cheeks and was a little angry. “He clearly said yesterday that he would only leave the day after tomorrow.”
Chun Xiao lowered her head. “Young Master said that the sooner he leaves, the sooner he can return. The capital isn’t peaceful, and he’ll be gone for two months. He’s a little worried about Young Miss, so he wanted to go and return early.”
Yu Youyao felt a little better. She quickly took the painting from Chun Xiao’s hand and carefully unfolded it.
It was a painting of the Dragon Boat Festival. Under the tall Parasol Tree, there was a zither table with a Guqin and a zither on it. On the table beside it, there was a bouquet of flowers in a red vase. There were hollyhocks that were as beautiful as fire. In addition, there were dumplings, loquats, realgar wine, Wudu cakes, and so on.
If her cousin hadn’t returned to Youzhou, when the Dragon Boat Festival happened, she and her cousin would have hung a five-colored silk sachet at their waists and a calamus sword. They would have sat facing each other at the Eight Immortals Table, drinking realgar wine and eating dumplings. This would probably be the scene in this painting!
Yu Youyao was a little melancholic. She carefully put away the painting. “Did you give the five-colored silk sachet and longevity strand I prepared previously to Cousin?”
Chun Xiao nodded. “I’ve given them all to Young Master.”
After breakfast, Concubine Jiang came over. “In three days, it’ll be the Dragon
Boat Festival. The family has built a shed in the moat, which is next to the Zhenguo Marquis Residence and the Qi Residence. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, I’ll arrange for someone to go over early in the morning. In the morning, the emperor will go to the moat to participate in the sacrificial ceremony to pay respects to the dragon and worship the water god. Hundreds of officials will accompany him. The dragon boat race will be arranged at noon. Our family will go over at noon. I heard that the dragon boat race this year is very grand. Many families in the capital have prepared dragon boats…”
The dragon boat race was to pay respects to the dragon and worship the water god to to avoid a drought. It was to pray for the wind and rain to be smooth, to eliminate evil and resist calamities.
This year, the drought was getting worse. It did not seem surprising that the emperor would participate in the Dragon Boat Festival sacrificial ceremony.
Yu Youyao nodded. “We have to prepare more tea, snacks, fruits, and so on on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. It’s rare for Grandmother to go out, so I think there will be many familiar families who will go over to greet her.”
Moreover, she had also been conferred the title of county lord. The sisters she was familiar with would also come to look for her.
Concubine Jiang quickly agreed.
Yu Youyao sat under the porch and thought about what her cousin had said yesterday. Since the world was about to be chaotic, she should prepare for it as soon as possible.
In the past two years, she had taken out her savings from the bank one after another.
A portion of the banknotes in her hand had also secretly been turned into gold and silver.
Anything worth the price in the private vault was sold through the escort business.
Some businesses that were more involved with the Yu Residence had also been sold.
A portion of her assets had been transferred to the North.
She had a large sum of real money and silver in her hands. A batch of expensive pearls, jade, artifacts, books, calligraphy, antiques, and so on were also transported directly to Youzhou. They were placed in the private vault of the Yue Fei Kings Residence and handed over to her cousin to manage.
A large amount of real money would easily attract the attention of the Imperial Court.
Yu Youyao did not exchange all the banknotes. Instead, she bought a large number of medicinal herbs, cotton, rations, and so on through the escort business.
At the thought of this, she seemed to have been preparing to leave the capital a long time ago. Even if it wasn’t to Youzhou, it would be to the Xie Residence.
After knowing the cause of her mother’s death, she and the Yu Residence were at odds and were destined to drift apart.
In the afternoon, Yu Zongzheng left the government office and asked Wen Zhu to invite her to the large study in the front courtyard.
Zhao Da was guarding the door. When he saw Yu Youyao coming over, he quickly said, “Master said that when Eldest Miss comes over, she can go in directly. There’s no need to report.”
Yu Zongzheng was standing in front of his desk and using ink. When Yu Youyao came over, he seemed to have just finished writing. He glanced at her and put his brush on the table. He picked up the memorial. “Yao Yao, you’re here..