Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 54, The Interesting Boy

Lin Zhou sometimes felt quite helpless. There was really nothing he could do about his low level of education. If he had studied hard, would he have just gotten a junior college diploma and been done with it?

He went to a vocational college specializing in art, but the worst part was he couldn't even draw. It all started when he was caught playing cards with classmates during study hall in his second year of high school. The homeroom teacher caught them all, called their parents, and then practically persuaded him to become an art student…

I'm not an artist, I just went to a vocational college. My major was fine arts, but I specialize in billiards. I had a girlfriend from the mountains, but my family disapproved and broke us up...

Asking someone like this to learn poetry, literature, ethics, or moral principles is pointless; he'd be better off dead. All he has to rely on is a bit of petty cleverness and a fairly quick mind.

When he traveled back and forth between time travels, he did look up information. The moment the Baidu Encyclopedia appeared, he had reading difficulties. He could only read the trivial details. After reading for a long time, he remembered that it was 1145. That was because Yue Fei died in 1142, and this year was the third year since Yue Fei died.

Oh, the new year is almost over and it will be the fourth year...

He's the kind of person who's just pushed along by the days. If he can do it, great; if not, so be it. Who cares about the surging tide or grand narratives? He just lives one day at a time. His mentality is completely that of "I don't know anything at work, so I'll just coast along."

To reiterate, aside from the girls in the entire Da Nai Nai area, all other desires come second.

Just as he was leaning back and resting with his eyes closed, the door to the woodshed was suddenly opened, and there stood the princess with a cold face.

She showed no kindness to anyone, except for a cold snort when she saw Lin Zhou.

"You three bastards, come out here!"

The three of them walked out of the woodshed with their heads down and followed the princess all the way to the side hall, where there was a meal of porridge on the table.

The princess stood by the window, looking out with a cold expression, but didn't say anything more.

"Let's go eat!" Hongliu tugged at Lin Zhou's sleeve.

"Is it edible? Is it your last meal before you're executed?"

"What the hell?"

The three of them had been freezing all night, and this bowl of hot porridge was a lifesaver. They devoured it like wolves, but the few meatballs were all snatched up by Yang Ti.

"How could you be like this!"

"You two ate the chicken leg last night, can't I even have a meatball?"

The brother and sister started arguing again, but then the princess stepped forward and snorted coldly, and the two immediately stopped.

"You two finish eating and get back inside. From today onwards, Wulin is under house arrest and is not allowed to leave the house! If you run away again, you can go back to the capital to be with your grandfather."

Hongliu stuck out her tongue and stopped arguing. Instead, she glanced at Lin Zhou and poked him in the waist.

"Stop fooling around..." Lin Zhou said in a low voice.

Seeing her daughter's shameless and provocative behavior, the princess was furious and kicked Hongliu in the buttocks: "Have some self-control!"

Hongliu shrank back and dared not speak anymore. At this moment, the princess came to Lin Zhou and took a good look at him for the first time. She found that he was indeed upright and honest, unlike those with shifty eyes. He seemed to be a knowledgeable and reasonable person.

After a while, she slowly spoke: "As for you, our Wanyan family is royalty, and royalty has its own rules and dignity. I know who Wulin is, and she won't obey my orders, but as a man, you should have the responsibility of a man. I hereby make three rules with you: First, if you want to marry a noblewoman of the royal family, you must obtain official rank, either literary or martial, and how you obtain it is your business. Second, before marriage, you must not have any physical intimacy; this concerns a woman's reputation, and you should understand this. Third, I don't care whether you are from the Song or Liao dynasties, you must not philander. If I find out you have gone to brothels, I will have my own ways of dealing with you."

"Um, I..." Lin Zhou said, both amused and exasperated, "Me and her..."

"What? What else do you have to say?"

Lin Zhou glanced silently at the girl whose face was already flushed red, and then at the murderous princess. He simply couldn't bring himself to give that explanation.

It wasn't that he particularly liked the red willow, but rather that if he didn't acknowledge this part of his life, he would be killed. Simply because of the imperial authority.

Their family was indeed considered easy to talk to among the nobility, but even so, they were still royalty. Lin Zhou knew about the misunderstanding, Hong Liu knew, and even the prince and princess knew, but after this commotion, his relationship with Hong Liu was now common knowledge.

The fact that Hongliu got into a fight and that the prince personally intervened to bail him out in his son-in-law's name meant that these things could no longer be kept secret.

At this point, if he were to say, "We're just ordinary friends," it would be unconvincing. Not only would it be unconvincing, but it would also imply that he was humiliating the Wanyan family.

It's true that he was uneducated, but that doesn't mean he didn't understand human relationships and social customs. His experience in the streets and alleys had made him a seasoned veteran of the Southern Song Dynasty.

"But...Your Highness, what role do you want me to play?"

"The talent of a top scholar or the bearing of a general."

At this moment, Hongliu and Linzhou were speechless, but Yangti suddenly laughed: "Mother, wouldn't it be more straightforward if you just refused them both? Isn't this putting people in a difficult position?"

"That's right, Mother!" Hongliu finally realized what was happening. "He's not even a candidate for the imperial examinations, how can you expect him to be the top scholar?"

"You two traitors!" the princess roared in fury. "Wulin, you are a princess! A princess of the direct line of a prince! You need to know your situation. He doesn't have these things. Even if you elope with him, the main family won't let you off the hook. Your children will be bastards, neither Song nor Jin, without official status, household registration, or travel permits. They'll never be able to hold their heads high. After you die, they won't even get a couple of acres of meager land. You're young and don't care about the future, but I've been there. Let me tell you, love and affection can't put food on the table! Even if you don't think about yourselves, you should think about your descendants!"

After hearing those words, Lin Zhou felt the impact even more deeply than the other two. He knew all too well what it meant to not be able to register his household. Although he had indeed been forced into this situation by a series of misunderstandings, there was really no room for escape now, since he still had to make a living in the Song Dynasty.

He stopped Hongliu, who was still arguing with her mother, and nodded with a somewhat helpless smile: "I understand, Your Highness."

"You may go back now," the princess waved her hand.

Lin Zhou responded and turned to leave. As soon as he left, Hong Liu slammed her chopsticks on the table and stormed off in a huff. Her sullen demeanor was somewhat endearing, but it also left one feeling helpless.

"What are you laughing at!" The princess looked at her son. "Go, kneel in the Buddhist hall, you troublemaker."

"Hey... Mother, I..."

"go!"

Yangti left looking miserable, while the old mother stood there with a serious expression, her mind filled with the expression on Lin Zhou's face just now.

From astonishment to confusion, then to a degree of understanding, and finally to a resigned acceptance, it's quite interesting. It's neither the tragic fervor of a typical scholar nor the indifference of a street urchin; rather, it's an air of worldly experience.

Just then, the prince strolled in, smiling at his wife, "You know what, that kid's got some interesting qualities."

"how?"

The prince sat down and picked up the remaining half pot of porridge in the clay pot to eat: "He has a very high reputation in the South City. It started because he disguised himself as a Taoist priest and cured thousands of people under the guise of testing medicine. Then he also presented the Song court with methods and medicines to prevent and control the plague. He also used his evil reputation to distribute porridge and rice to people in the South City."

As he spoke, he recounted to his wife, bit by bit, what Lin Zhou had done: "He's supposed to be from overseas, but his actions are rather suspicious."

"Whose family are they?"

"Qin Hui's men," the prince said with a chuckle. "The glass Buddha you treasured and the two precious sundials he gave you were both obtained by him."

The princess raised an eyebrow: "All of it was him?"

"Yes, it's all his fault. He's made a fortune off that silly son of his," the prince said with a chuckle. "He's quite an interesting lad. No wonder Wulin is so obsessed with him. What woman could resist a man like that?"

"Is he married?"

"No, there was just a maid."

"Replace the maid with a servant boy."

The prince clicked his tongue: "No, you don't need to be so protective of your son. If you keep such a close eye on him, he'll get annoyed with you. Alright, alright, he's not even your son-in-law yet."