At this point, Old Zhu was quite confident, as he used to be born in the Year of the Pixiu. This wasn't due to Old Zhu's old-fashioned farmer's mindset; he was rather domineering and conservative when it came to economic matters.

But things are different now. Old Zhu doesn't need to worry about the court's silver reserves, so if some petty scoundrels want to cause trouble here, Old Zhu can just watch calmly. In fact, watching those self-proclaimed clever clowns jumping around is quite amusing.

This stemmed from trust in Zhu Yuanzhang, which in turn reflected Zhu Yuanzhang's greater confidence in the strength of the Ming Dynasty.

"Great-grandfather!" Little Zhu ran happily to the Qianqing Palace and climbed onto Old Zhu's bed on all fours. "Great-grandfather, why are you still sleeping? Let's go out and play!"

Old Zhu rolled over, looking like he didn't want to talk to Little Zhu. Sometimes, even Old Zhu couldn't stand this brat.

Just as Old Zhu expected, Little Zhu perched on Old Zhu's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Great-grandfather, it's your birthday! Yin'er and Dad have prepared a gift for you. Would you like to see it?"

Old Zhu perked up, turned around and hugged little Zhu to his chest, "Tell me, what did you and your dad prepare for us?"

"But Dad also said we're not allowed to tell Great-Grandfather." Little Zhu nestled against Old Zhu's chest and then said mysteriously, "Dad prepared two gifts. One is a birthday robe to take to the court. Dad had Mom have it prepared for Great-Grandfather and his descendants. We wrote the second largest 'longevity' character, which is smaller than Dad's. We even helped our younger siblings write some characters!"

Old Zhu couldn't help but laugh. He was well aware of this matter and had been looking forward to it for a long time.

Old Zhu was a man who valued family ties, and he naturally had high expectations for the filial piety of his children and grandchildren. Old Zhu didn't necessarily need those seemingly wealthy treasures; what he needed was the filial piety of his descendants.

Emperor Zhu was naturally looking forward to this longevity robe. Every descendant of his was required to personally write the character for "longevity" and hand it to the Empress, who would then lead Emperor Zhu's daughters and granddaughters in embroidering it by hand.

This may seem a bit redundant and slightly troublesome. But sometimes, a sense of ritual is just necessary.

Little Zhu became even more smug and said to Old Zhu, "Dad, us, and Mom are making a cake. The sweetest and most delicious cake is made by Dad. We've tried making it several times, but we can't get it right."

As if remembering something, Little Zhu whispered to Old Zhu, "Great-grandfather, our father said that we can't tell you about this. But Yin'er is the best, so we told Great-grandfather. We didn't tell anyone else."

The saying "A wise man keeps away from the kitchen" was not a profound truth to Zhu Yunying. This saying, too, was a misinterpretation by pedantic scholars. Many people, based on their limited understanding or for their own benefit, have consciously distorted this statement to an absurd degree.

Old Zhu was delighted. Of course, he cared a lot about his grandson's and great-grandson's cooking. Whether it tasted good or not was one thing; as long as his grandson and great-grandson were filial, Old Zhu knew it would be the best meal.

Patting Little Zhu's bottom, Old Zhu scolded, "You little monkey, your father told you not to tell anyone. Now you've told us, what are we going to do?"

“We’ll only tell Great-Grandfather, not anyone else,” Little Zhu said confidently to Old Zhu. “Great-Grandfather, we’re the smartest.”

It's not so much a matter of laughing or crying, but mainly because Old Zhu was extremely satisfied with this precious great-grandson.

However, Old Zhu still had to teach him a lesson: "Yin'er, your father is the emperor. From now on, you should listen to him. You must remember that he is your father, and he is also the emperor of our Great Ming Dynasty. You cannot go against his wishes."

Little Zhu nestled against Old Zhu's chest, vaguely aware of some things. "But Dad also said that we should be filial to our great-grandfather. As long as our great-grandfather is happy, that's all that matters. Dad also said that we should make a scene in front of our great-grandfather and say that he likes us the most."

Well, this little rascal can't keep any secrets at all. Although Little Zhu won't tell everyone everything to others, he's a real blabbermouth to his great-grandfather and his father. He'll tell them anything, which is quite intimate.

Old Zhu smiled too, growing more and more fond of his beloved great-grandson the more he looked at him. Old Zhu naturally understood that this was a sign of his grandson's filial piety.

My grandson is all grown up now, so he can't always act like a little rascal. But that's alright, we have a precious great-grandson, who's at that age where he's just as adorable and funny as he is.

"Make a fuss, make a fuss right here in front of us, we like it." Old Zhu laughed and coaxed Little Zhu, "We don't like your dad, your dad is too smart, raising him when he was little wasn't as fun as raising you."

Little Zhu was overjoyed and jumped up, saying, "Great-grandfather, we're the most fun! Great-grandfather loves us, and so do our parents! Our second uncle and aunt also love us! Great-grandfather, we're the most fun kid in the Ming Dynasty, isn't that right?"

Old Zhu nodded eagerly. In his eyes, this wasn't Little Zhu praising himself; it was just Little Zhu's innocent words, expressing the most truthful facts.

"Great-grandfather, our father has a map." Little Zhu snuggled into Old Zhu's arms again and whispered boastfully, "Our father said that we should study hard so that we can take over all those lands in the future."

Old Zhu chuckled and said, "Oh? Your dad's finally willing to show you the map? He put a lot of effort into making it; he wouldn't normally let anyone else see it. Not to mention anyone else, even your mother probably hasn't seen it."

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