Chapter 67: The Rebellious Sons of the Zhu Family
The mourning hall of the Prince’s Mansion.
Even if Zhu Yuanzhang emptied the ice in the cellar, he could only suppress the heat in the dog days of summer, but he could not suppress the anger of the princes.
Qin Wang Zhu Shuang sat on the ground with a majestic posture, speaking passionate words to his brothers and nephews in front of him, complaining that Zhu was getting too powerful.
"I'm telling you, even if you kneel down tomorrow morning, it will be useless. The old man is obviously taking his anger out on us!"
"Why did that good-for-nothing Third Brother get sick from exhaustion on the road and he blames us?"
“And you!”
"Zhu Su, didn't you just complain about being hungry? Do you think anyone is watching you?"
"In my opinion, if you are more careful, you should ask someone to tell your family and ask them to send a set of gifts and some food to fill the gap. By the time the old man remembers you stepmothers, it will be a long time before he remembers you stepmothers!"
The King of Qin did not inherit any of Zhu's brains, but instead inherited his bad mouthing habit 100%.
The princes in the mourning hall were already tired of kneeling, and now after hearing the Qin King's provocation, some of them immediately wavered.
The first to sit down was Zhu Su, followed by Zhu Su's good friend, the King of Chu Zhu Zhen.
These two are very petty. This time when they came to Beijing, they refused to move when they reached Jiming Posthouse, and then squatted in the post station to listen to news, fearing that their father would use force against them.
It was not until Zhu Gang, Zhu Shuang and Zhu Di arrived in Beijing one after another that the two men found out that their three brothers were fine, and only then did they set off for Beijing again.
Now seeing that Zhu Shuang, the second in command, was taking the lead, the two of them also sat down.
However, these two people were not sitting very comfortably, fearing that they would be killed like chickens by their father, so they planned to drag a few more people into the water.
By then, the law will not hold everyone responsible. Even if my father is angry, he can’t do anything to them!
"Don't just kneel there like an idiot. Didn't you hear what Second Brother said just now? We were all raised by our stepmother, and the old man never cared about us at all!"
With these two people as examples, others could not help but be shaken, especially Prince of Lu Zhu Zhaohui, who not only had the lowest seniority among all the princes, but was also pitifully young.
His father Zhu Tan died early, and he succeeded to the throne at the age of three, so he is only six years old this year.
This time, he went to Beijing to attend the funeral, and he hitched a ride with his seventh uncle Zhu Gui. Even though he was punished to kneel in the palace, he made an exception and brought a wet nurse with him.
Therefore, when he saw his three uncles sitting on the ground, his small body, which was already unable to bear the weight, immediately softened and he sat directly on his calves.
After that it was Zhu Gui's turn, but Zhu Gui was rather timid. He wanted to sit down and rest for a while, but he was also afraid that his father would come over and reprimand them, and would see them sitting on the ground with their legs spread out, and punish them for being disrespectful to their elder brother, the Crown Prince.
So he took a shortcut and patted Zhu Zhaohui's thigh, motioning him to lie on his legs.
Zhu Zhaohui didn't understand what was going on and thought that his seventh uncle was considerate and pitiful of him.
Little did he know that his shameless seventh uncle just wanted to use him as a cover.
The old man loved his young sons and grandsons the most. Even if he suddenly came to check on him and saw Zhu Zhaohui lying on his lap, he would forgive himself.
After these princes let themselves go, Zhu Di, who was still kneeling there, looked very different.
Zhu Shuang has always looked down on his fourth brother. Seeing that he was still pretending, he was the first to criticize him.
"oops!"
"I, the King of Qin, am useless. In the old man's heart, I have long been a rebellious son. The only thing missing is for him to put a word 'rebellious' on my forehead!"
"You are nothing like my fourth brother. You have done everything you should do, but the whole court praises you. The old man praises you even more!"
"Maybe, when we see them again in a few days, we will have to bow to them and submit to them!"
After hearing what Zhu Shuang said, everyone looked at Zhu Di in unison, making Zhu Di feel like a thorn in his side.
"Brother, I haven't offended you, have I?"
"You are in Shaanxi and I am in Beijing. We have nothing to do with each other. Why do you always pick on me?"
Zhu Di retorted to Zhu Shuang and then sat on his calf.
Firstly, his legs were numb from kneeling, and secondly, he didn't want to be too unsociable and arouse the jealousy of other brothers.
Seeing that Zhu Di did not kneel either, Zhu Shuang stopped targeting him and continued to criticize the old man's biased behavior.
"So, what do you think the old man is thinking?"
Upon hearing this, Zhu Su pretended to be stupid and asked.
"What are you thinking?"
Zhu Shuang pointed to the tablet in the mourning hall and said.
"Don't play dumb with me , I don't believe you don't know what I'm talking about!"
"Tell me, who does the old man want to pass the throne to? The fourth child, or the eldest grandson of the eldest brother?"
When Zhu Di heard this, a trace of displeasure flashed across his face.
"Second brother, Zhu Xiongying has passed away a long time ago. Why are you still mentioning the emperor's eldest grandson?"
Zhu Shuang snorted twice in dissatisfaction.
"Can the dead fight with the living?"
"Besides, the palace has been calling Zhu Yunwen's grandson the emperor's eldest grandson for many years, and my father has acquiesced to it. I don't believe you haven't heard it!"
"Then there is also Zhu Yunhuan, right?"
"I remember that they are less than two years apart in age, right?"
Prince of Qi Zhu Gui couldn't help but mutter a few words. He said this not to speak up for Zhu Yunhuan, but just wanted to argue out of habit.
Zhu Shuang sneered when he heard this.
"That kid won't do!"
"Too cowardly, far worse than Zhu Yunwen."
"I heard that Zhu Yunwen was a wise man since he was young. He was quick to learn, respectful to his teachers, and filial to his parents."
"I also heard that when my eldest brother was seriously ill, this grandson served him without taking off his clothes, which attracted praises from people inside and outside the palace."
Zhu Zhaohui, who was almost asleep, became unconvinced when he heard this. He was young to begin with, and once the child's competitive spirit came up, he didn't care about so many things.
"Second uncle!"
"My mother said that I am very filial and I am also very studious. Now I can recite the Three Character Classic!"
When Zhu Shuang saw his grandson suddenly interrupt him, he responded mercilessly.
"Are you worthy enough to compete with Zhu Yunwen?"
"Even though you and he are both grandchildren of the emperor, one of you is in heaven and the other is on earth!"
"Uncle, let me put it bluntly. How often can you see your royal grandfather?"
"If I'm guessing correctly, you don't even remember what your royal grandfather looks like now!"
"Your father wasn't well-received when he was alive, and you still want to covet the throne of the Ming Dynasty?"
"Second uncle advises you to give up this idea as soon as possible. Even if all of us uncles die, it will not be your turn to inherit the throne of the Ming Dynasty!"
When Zhu Zhaohui heard this, he burst into tears and questioned with a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
"Why can't I take the throne? I am also the grandson of the emperor!"
In fact, Zhu Zhaohui's words were just the angry words of a child. Not to mention that he didn't know what the emperor did, he didn't even know what the Prince of Lu did.
After all, he has only been weaned for a few years, so how could he understand so many twists and turns?
Seeing that Zhu Shuang was still stretching his neck to speak, Zhu Gui immediately retorted to him.
"Second brother, please stop talking."
"Zhu Zhaohui is still a child. If he gets angry and cries, you can comfort him!"
When Zhu Shuang heard this, he immediately shut his mouth. He was unwilling to even take care of his own child, so how could he be interested in dealing with this brat?
Just as Zhu Shuang was thinking about how to start a conversation, he saw Crown Princess Lu leading Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Yunhuan into the mourning hall. Behind the three of them were a dozen eunuchs, each holding a food box in their hands.
"This palace greets all the princes and nephews!"
"Yunwen, Yunwen, why don't you come forward and greet the uncles?"
"Yun Wen greets all the uncles!"
"Yun Yu greets all the uncles!"
Zhu Yunwen was very respectful in his etiquette, in comparison, Zhu Yunhuan was a little lacking.
But no matter which of them stepped forward to pay their respects, the princes just sat on the ground with no intention of getting up.
Zhu Shuang's eyelids drooped, pretending not to see it. Zhu Di did look at it, but it was better not to look at it. Instead, his sharp eyes frightened Zhu Yunwen shuddered all over and couldn't help but take a half step back.
Zhu Su responded with a smile, but it was a fake one. The King of Chu snorted, just as a greeting.
Only the King of Qi was relatively humble. He nodded towards Zhu Yunwen and said, "This child is really sensible." This was already the best response to him.
When Lu saw the expressions on the faces of the princes when they treated her son, she felt a chill in her heart.
If the old man really passes the throne to Yunwen in the future, his uncles will also be a big trouble!
We have to find a way to solve these troubles while the old man is still alive!
When Zhu Yunwen saw that his uncles didn't like him at all, his face turned dark.
He didn't want to come in the first place. He was busy memorizing his homework and didn't have enough time to waste on them!
However, his mother insisted on dragging him here, and he did not dare to disobey her, so he had to come anyway.
Now that he saw that he was not welcomed, he wanted to rush back to endorse his lessons.
Otherwise, if you fail to complete the homework of memorizing a thousand words, you will be laughed at by the uncles in the hall tomorrow!
Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen wanted to slap himself twice. Why was he being angry with that grandson when he had nothing better to do?
Now my grandson has nothing to do, and I am exhausted like a dead dog every day. I don’t even have time to sleep!
"Mother!"
"I have already greeted all the uncles, so I won't bother you any more. I will go back and memorize my lessons first!"
After saying this, Zhu Yunwen turned and left, leaving the embarrassed Lu to smooth things over.
"Please forgive me, my father is now personally supervising this child's homework. He has also assigned him thousands of words to recite every day. As a result, this child doesn't even have enough time to sleep..."
"My brothers, you must be hungry. The palace is not as good as the outside. You can't light a fire after noon. I brought some snacks and cooked food for you. Please make do with them for now."
"I will send someone to deliver hot tea later to help you brothers ward off the cold..."
As soon as Mrs. Lu finished speaking, the eunuchs and palace maids behind her came forward one after another, first set up a small table in front of each prince, and then respectfully took out plates of snacks and the like from the food boxes.
Seeing that everything was arranged properly, Mrs. Lu bowed to everyone and then left the mourning hall with the eunuchs and palace maids.
After Lu and his men left, Zhu Shuang picked up the pastry, squeezed it, and made another venomous comment.
"What kind of rubbish is this? It's so hard that it can kill someone. How dare you bring it to us to eat!"
This sentence was just an introduction, and he immediately turned the topic to Zhu Yunwen.
"The same thing happened to Zhu Yunwen. He really thought he had taken over his father's position and became the crown prince!"
"Look at what he did just now. Who was he showing that gloomy face to?"
"He hasn't even become the crown prince yet, and he's already disgraced us. When he becomes the emperor in the future, he'll capture all of us and bring us to the capital to chop off our heads!"
