The convoy traveled for another three or four days and finally slowly entered Suzhou city.
The soft Wu dialect and the fragrance of lotus seeds.
The Shuiling Street in Yujing is filled with gold, jade, and cosmetics, creating an overwhelming wealth and luxury, while the Gusu City in the south of the Yangtze River is filled with a graceful tenderness and elegance surrounded by pools of water and mist.
Wang Xiuyu had written a letter to the person who managed the manor in Suzhou long ago. Since Rong Tang did not want to live in the manor, the person bought him a courtyard in the city. As per his request, it was across the street from the residence of the Suzhou prefect.
On the second day after Rong Tang moved in, Suzhou prefect Jiang Shanxing came to visit early in the morning, but was turned away.
Rong Tang was so excited about the new environment that he couldn't sleep the whole night. Early in the morning, as soon as it was light, he dragged Su Huaijing out to stroll around Suzhou city.
When he was in Beijing before, he would often open the map in the system space, and take a break from his busy schedule to check with the system bit by bit to see where there were still areas that were not lit up, where he could go again, and where he should go just for fun without any official business.
Rong Tang always thought that this task was very simple. After he completed it, God would give him a new body, and he would travel around the country alone.
But he always died halfway, let alone going out to play. No matter how many days Sheng Chengli was alive, God might make him spit out some blood to increase his sense of crisis. Rong Tang simply didn't have the time to go shopping.
But he was happy to go out. When he was having dinner in the largest restaurant in Suzhou, he looked out the window at the graceful dancing and singing on the pleasure boats on the lake in the distance. He then looked at the peddler wearing a straw hat selling lotus pods downstairs. His good mood, which had lasted for the whole morning, was instantly gone.
There was specially brewed green plum wine in the building. Su Huaijing sniffed the scent and poured a glass for Rong Tang for the first time.
The sweet aroma of wine brought Rong Tang back to his consciousness. He blinked and looked at Su Huaijing in confusion, but his hand did not touch the narrow wine glass.
Su Huaijing said: "It won't make you drunk, you can drink a little."
A little is definitely not too much. Rong Tang drank a little wine on his wedding day on March 18th, and he didn't dare to drink a single sip in the past few days, for fear of irritating the villain and causing him to question him coldly.
But Su Huaijing poured the wine for him personally, and it would seem a shame not to drink it.
Rong Tang picked up the wine glass hesitantly and took a sip, his eyes still constantly looking at Su Huaijing to prevent him from suddenly changing his expression.
Su Huaijing was so annoyed by his gaze that he asked with a smile, "Who am I in Tangtang's eyes?"
Rong Tang thought for a moment and said, "What a vicious person."
Su Huaijing raised his eyebrows slightly, with a playful look in his eyes: "When have I ever been more vicious than Tangtang?"
Rong Tang counted silently in his mind:
I went to see Shen Feiyi, I got married and drank, Rong Zheng went to my yard to give me a gift, I fainted in Songyuan... You even locked me up a while ago!
You say I have a bad memory, but your memory is ridiculously bad!
The more Rong Tang thought about it, the more wronged he felt. He glared at him, turned his head indignantly and took a big gulp of wine.
Su Huaijing was shocked, his eyes flickered, and he began to wonder with some insecurity.
Is he really so mean to Tangtang
Before he finished reminiscing, Rong Tang put down his wine glass, licked his lips with satisfaction, and said softly: "Forget it, I was just kidding."
Su Huaijing: “?”
Rong Tang said: "You are a very cute and kind child."
It is a hot summer day. The sun retreats from the clouds, the willows on the river bank droop, the waves on the lake reflect the sparkling light, people are hawking in dialect downstairs, and people are singing in the soft Wu dialect inside the building.
Su Huaijing looked at Rong Tang for a moment and smiled softly: "Thank you, husband, for praising me."
Rong Tang's ears gradually turned red. He told himself that it was due to the alcohol, and unscrupulously put the blame on the plum wine which might not even have 5 degrees of alcohol.
Jiangnan cuisine tends to be sweet, and Rong Tang felt that it was neither good nor bad when he tasted it. However, remembering Su Huaijing's preferences, he asked the waiter to recommend several sweet dishes, and even served two plates of pastries after lunch.
A plate of crispy fried lotus cakes and a plate of golden shrimp balls.
Rong Tang ate a ball one by one, and looked on with satisfaction as Su Huaijing picked up a lotus cake and ate it slowly, bite by bite.
He found that Su Huaijing was really elegant when he ate, at least much more refined than him. He didn't eat like a wolf, nor was he pretentious. He just sat there and ate a common pastry in a normal way, which was pleasing to the eye.
Rong Tang noticed that when he ate lotus pastry, less of the pastry skin fell off than others.
He sighed to the system that it was worthy of being trained in royal etiquette since childhood. The system rolled its eyes at him and became even less willing to pay attention to its host.
Su Huaijing didn't say anything. He finished a piece of lotus cake and saw Rong Tang pushing the plate towards him again. A smile appeared on his face. He didn't eat anymore, but asked, "Tangtang, do you still want to go shopping this afternoon?"
They spent the whole morning shopping and bought some fashionable fabrics, jewelry, and cosmetics from the Jiangnan region, intending to bring them back as gifts for the princess. The rest were storybooks and snacks.
Rong Tang sat in the chair. Seeing that Su Huaijing had no intention of continuing to eat, he lowered his eyes with a little regret, swallowed the golden shrimp ball in his mouth, and then shook his head: "No, I want to go back to sleep."
Su Huaijing was quite indulgent towards him. Upon hearing this, he handed him a handkerchief and asked him to wipe the marks on his mouth. He nodded and said, "Then I'll take you back."
Rong Tang rubbed his stomach and was about to agree, but he keenly realized that this sentence seemed to have other meanings. He frowned and asked, "Are you going out this afternoon?"
Su Huaijing smiled and nodded. Rong Tang asked, "Where are we going?"
Rong Tang was stunned for a long time.
There were still songs outside the building, people were still coming and going inside the building, silks and satins were flowing in an endless stream, the water level of Ling Lake was rising, but the people in the city were unaware and had no idea what was going to happen.
Rong Tang felt a little dry in his throat and felt a little dizzy. He wondered if it was because of the glass of plum wine.
He asked, “Why do we need to collect rice?”
The autumn crops are about to be harvested, and the rice on the market now will soon become stale. Although grain merchants are eager to sell them, the price will not be much cheaper. If Su Huaijing wants to do business, it is better to go to the village to collect the latest season's crops instead of buying rice from them.
Su Huaijing's eyes curved, and the villain in the original novel who regarded the lives of the people as worthless asked him with a smile: "Tangtang, haven't you remembered yet?"
"I said I want you to be happy. I said we are husband and wife, and I should bear half of everything you bear." He answered slowly, with a calm and natural smile on his beautiful face, which was three times more attractive than the mist and water of Gusu City. "You want to come to Jiangnan to escape the summer heat, so I will try my best to make sure you just escape the summer heat."
"If you can't do it, Tangtang, don't blame me, and don't feel guilty." Su Huaijing said to him softly, his phoenix eyes were clear, and he could see more clearly than the officials in the crane-like court robes in the Golden Palace.
He knew that they couldn't actually save many people.
Natural disasters cannot be changed, and they do not have any official duties. If King Ning Xuan himself came to Jiangnan, he might be able to put pressure on the governor, but a prince who is no more than 20 years old has come from afar, so they should just do their best to entertain him. If he interferes in government affairs, it would be an overstepping of boundaries.
They have two people and four hands, and their combined age is less than 40 years old. If they want to save the lives of tens of thousands of people, that is simply a fantasy and overestimating their abilities.
But Rongtang wanted to give it a try, so Su Huaijing accompanied him to try it, and told him in advance, "Don't feel guilty if you can't do it."
As long as they can save one person, their journey from afar will not be in vain.
Rong Tang stared at Su Huaijing in a daze. The midsummer sunshine of early June poured in through the window sill and shone on Su Huaijing's face. He suddenly realized that even if he thought he knew Su Huaijing well enough, this person could still give him a huge surprise at any time.
He really couldn't understand why such a person should be hurt again and again until he was forced to turn evil
Rong Tang felt a pang of bitterness in his heart, swallowed his throat, and said, "I'll go with you."
The system sighed silently, becoming more humane.
It stayed in a three-dimensional virtual space, looking at the two pixel-like figures in front of it, and wanted to ask its host: [Didn’t you say that you don’t want to be a savior? ]
Why give yourself so many burdens
But it couldn't ask, it just once again examined the big villain who was supposed to stand against the Heavenly Dao.
It found that it didn't know what was right or wrong.
-
On the fourth day after Rong Tang moved into the city, Suzhou prefect Jiang Shanxing was finally welcomed into the hall by the doorman.
At three quarters past three in the morning, the sun was already high in the sky, and the chirping of birds in the yard was much more lively and complex than that in the capital.
Rong Tang frowned as he drank a bowl of medicine, then looked at Su Huaijing with a bitter face and full of resentment.
The latter gently straightened his collar and asked in a low voice: "Tangtang wants to faint again?"
Rong Tang immediately became timid.
Collecting grain is not easy at all. Su Huaijing originally didn't want to take him with him, but if Rong Tang really insisted on following him, the villain would have no way to deal with him.
He was always reluctant to be mean to Rong Tang, but Tang Tang's body could not withstand such abuse by him.
In his past two lives, Rong Tang mostly worked behind the scenes for Sheng Chengli. He was capable of dealing with officials and using strategies to bring people down. But when he came to this water town in the south of the Yangtze River, listening to the dialect that he could not understand if it was spoken a little faster over and over again, and watching the faces of the businessmen who were making exaggerated statements for the sake of profit, Rong Tang found that he seemed to have forgotten how to negotiate.
It's not that he doesn't know how to do it. He is very rich. He is rich enough to buy several rice shops in Suzhou city. However, no matter how much rice is stored in those rice shops, even if he mixes it with stones and cooks it into porridge, it cannot feed many people.
For the first time, Prince Ningxuan's huge financial resources were stretched to their limits in the face of an unprecedented disaster.
Rong Tang missed Ke Hongxue more than once in these days.
Ke Hongxue is a man of great eloquence and his family is good at business. All of Sheng Chengli's business empires in previous lives were built by him.
Unfortunately, Master Ke just returned to Beijing after paying homage to his ancestors and he will most likely not come to Jiangnan again.
Rong Tang was stunned for a moment when he thought of this, and suddenly realized that Ke Hongxue took Mu Jingxu back to his hometown to worship their ancestors, which had never happened in his previous two lives.
Just like himself, they had put a lot of thought into helping Sheng Chengli to make his presence felt in front of Emperor Renshou. It was impossible for Mu Shaoqing to take leave and go back to his hometown with Ke Hongxue.
Rong Tang frowned. He didn't know why, but he always felt that the butterfly wings in this life were flapping too fast.
He walked to the hall with Su Huaijing. The governor of Suzhou had been waiting for him for a long time. He stood up quickly when he saw him, bowed and saluted: "This subordinate greets the Prince of Ningxuan."
There was no unpleasantness of being neglected, and even the multiple rejections seemed as if they had never happened.
Jiang Shanxing was over fifty years old and thin. There were some white strands in his hair under his official hat, and his beard was a little sloppy. At first glance, it looked like he hadn't had a grooming in many days.
Rong Tang felt a little relieved, knowing that he had chosen the right destination.
He smiled in return, ordered someone to serve tea, then sat down, looked up at Jiang Shanxing, opened his lips, and asked directly: "Prefect Jiang, is the flood season coming?"
(End of this chapter)