Chapter 247 (2/2)

However, today she had heard from one of her son's personal bodyguards that the Yu Family's young girl was able to bring her youngest son back to reason with one sentence. Princess Consort Jing's eyes lit up. It was as if she was someone who had previously lost her way in a maze but now knew which direction to go.

The Yu Family's daughter eh? Uh huh! That little girl was quite likeable! Although she was born in a farmer's family, she didn't have the airs and pettiness of someone from a lowly birth. When she was interacting with her, the little girl was neither servile nor overbearing. Her manner was naturally cordial and made people feel comfortable. She was also talented at cooking medicinal cuisine...the most important part was that she was able to calm her youngest son down! The more Princess Consort Jing thought the more she thought that the little girl was the perfect person to become her son's future wife.

What about her status? That absolutely wasn't a problem!! Prince Jing's Estate wasn't a family that was mired in tradition and insisted on a bride with a high position!! That being said, wasn't the little girl the adopted daughter of General Fang? The emperor himself highly trusted and valued General Fang. Once construction on the Tanggu Harbor was finished, General Fang was naturally going to get a promotion. Then that little girl would also have her status rise. She would become the daughter of a third ranked official. In the eyes of outsiders, that was more than enough to match with her son, and it would actually be a very good match!

What about age? A man being five to six years older than his wife wasn't considered outrageous, right? There were couples in the capital that had a twenty to thirty year gap between the man and woman! Furthermore, wasn't General Fang almost ten years older than his wife ah? The two of them had a great relations.h.i.+p and were a loving couple envied by many people. That being said, having the man being older was a good thing; he would know how to take care of his wife then!

However, the little girl was only ten years old right now. If her son wanted to bring this bride back, he would have to wait a few more years. Waiting was fine. As long as he had a goal, it was still much better than waiting around with no goal and despairing!

Now that she had a solution to her youngest son's marriage problems, Princess Consort Jing felt as if a weight had fallen off her shoulders. She felt giddy and light inside. She didn't worry about whether these two had any feelings for each other! She knew her son's personality. If he really didn't care about that little girl, why would he snap back into reason after hearing one sentence from her?

As for whether Yu Xiaocao wanted to marry her son, Princess Consort Jing also didn't think this was a big problem. Familiarity bred fondness. In the future, she was going to create more opportunities for them to meet more frequently. Her son's looks were similar to hers, so he was quite handsome ah! She was quite convinced that there wasn't anyone in this world who could resist such a stunningly handsome face!

Your Highness, was this called self confidence or narcissism?

Before Princess Consort Jing could make an opportunity for her youngest son to meet the little girl again, Zhu Junyang sped back to the capital with a few of his bodyguards. He had neglected his duties back at the capital in order to take a break to visit his lady mother. If a resolute person wanted to take ahold of this, then he would be in a lot of trouble. Even being a relative to the emperor might not save him from something like that.

Luckily, his trip to Tanggu Town wasn't without any progress. The Yu Family's astonis.h.i.+ng ability to grow the new plants was more than enough to get him out of this problem. Zhu Junyang lowered his head to look at the corn seedling that was wrapped with some cloth at the bottom of its roots. He had taken this from the Yu Family's fields. When that little girl found out that he was bringing it back to the capital, she especially gave him a bottle of water and reminded him repeatedly to water the roots with a few drops from time to time. This was to avoid the corn seedling from dying of thirst.

Zhu Junyang couldn't help but smile whenever he remembered that little girl reminding him. She had such an adult expression on her tiny little face. Eh? Why was he thinking about that little girl again? Didn't he already make a decision to stay far away from her and that the best thing to do was to stop thinking about her too? Zhu Junyang frowned fiercely. What was going on with his emotions?

Since he was afraid that the corn seedling wouldn't survive the journey, Zhu Junyang spent all of his time traveling, eating and resting on the road. The route that usually took three days to complete ended up only taking them less than two days. He had just gotten back home, washed up, and changed when the emperor summoned him to the palace.

Inside the imperial study, Jianwen Emperor pointed at the table full of notebooks accusing the royal prince for misconduct. A faint smile was on the emperor's face as he remarked, ”Junyang ah, look at this! It hasn't been half a month and you've already caused this much trouble for me! Some of these are accusing you of taking advantage of my favor while others are accusing you of neglecting your duty. A few even accuse you of not regarding me, the emperor, with respect...do you have an explanation for me?”

Zhu Junyang didn't feel any displeasure coming off of the emperor. He calmly looked around the imperial study. Among the few trusted aids and officials was the Minister of Revenue, who looked quite worried. Zhu Junyang stayed expressionless within this atmosphere that smelled faintly of malice. He placed the flower pot within his hands lightly on the table in front of the emperor.

The emperor looked at the vigorous plant within the pot and then cracked a joke, ”What is this? Are you giving me a present in front of all of these officials? And in such a grandiose and confident manner? I don't think there's another person as bold as you, Zhu Junyang. If you want to bribe us, then you need to tell us just what this precious plant is, right?”

”Corn!” Zhu Junyang cherished each word that came out of his mouth like it was worth gold. His love of silence really made the emperor want to smack him a few times. Do you dare to say this even more abruptly?

The Minister of Revenue's eyes lit up and he scurried closer to look at the plant carefully, ”Royal Prince Yang, are you saying that this stalk is a corn seedling? Prince Yang, you were able to plant and grow corn?”

The few plots of land that were set aside on the imperial farms did not have their experiments go well. In some of the plots, the corn seedlings grew spa.r.s.ely and were quite fragmented. Those fields had a very low yield. The other plots of land produced plenty of corn seedlings, but they weren't vibrant and lively. All of them were yellowing as if they didn't get enough nutrition. Some of the more experienced farmers sighed when they saw this and then said that it looked as if they might not even produce enough corn to get the seeds they used back.