Xu Miaoqing was in a good mood and said to Zhu Yunying, "I usually only know that Yin'er is naughty and a bit playful. But today at my aunt's house, seeing Yin'er and the other children, I realized that our Yin'er is quite knowledgeable."

"Don't talk nonsense," Zhu Yunying said with a smile. "Our eldest aunt and youngest aunt have other relatives, including our cousins. They're from different generations, so we shouldn't talk nonsense."

Xu Miaoqing lightly patted Zhu Yunying, saying, "Your Majesty only knows how to tease me. If my grandfather heard this, he might give us a hard time."

"Who told you to have the surname Xu? Your Majesty the Emperor wouldn't approve of that." Zhu Yunying continued to tease Xu Miaoqing, "What Your Majesty values ​​most in this life is bloodline. If Yin'er and I were to try to lift the tiles off the three main halls, Your Majesty the Emperor would help us hold the ladder. If you guys dare to have such thoughts, you'll get scolded."

“Only His Majesty and Yin’er can be like this. I don’t think even Father Emperor would go to such lengths,” Xu Miaoqing said with a smile. “My aunt said that Grandfather Emperor is a grandparent who dotes on his grandchildren. He never spoiled Father Emperor like this before. If it weren’t for my aunt, we wouldn’t know how much His Majesty was favored and how intelligent he was. Outsiders only know that His Majesty was precocious.”

Remembering this, Zhu Yunying quickly asked, "By the way, were you aware of our reputation before? Besides the fact that we are the Crown Prince."

In fact, Xu Miaoqing is the 'best friend' of Zhu Yunying's two sisters, but she is not that familiar with Zhu Yunying. At most, she has only met him a few times.

Xu Miaoqing thought for a moment and said, "My father never talks about court affairs at home, and His Majesty didn't like being in court when he was young. I do remember that my brother mentioned His Majesty, saying that he was guarding the capital, but he only saw His Majesty from afar."

When Zhu Yunying was young, he really didn't like to show his face in front of the court officials, so many people could only hear about Zhu Yunying's 'precociousness'.

It's quite normal for Xu Huizu to serve as a guard in the imperial city; this is a privilege afforded to military officers, and many sons of military officers hold such positions. A high starting point makes them more likely to be favored by the emperor, and having military officers' sons serve as guards in the palace is a common practice.

Zhu Yunying looked at Xu Miaoqing and said, "In the past, we were well protected by my grandfather and father. My grandfather was in his prime and my father was also in his prime, so we didn't have to show our faces in court. But now, we sometimes have to let Yin'er go out."

Xu Miaoqing naturally understood this principle and said, "Yin'er is the Crown Prince after all, so he should bear these responsibilities."

“It’s alright now, Yin’er is still young,” Zhu Yunying said. “But it will be different in a few years, when many people will be eyeing our Yin’er.”

The reason Zhu Yunying said this was naturally because he knew some things; he knew that some things were unavoidable.

As the crown prince, young Zhu is bound to be watched by the entire court sooner or later. Even now, there are all sorts of people with various ulterior motives who want to stick close to young Zhu.

Zhu Yunying continued, "Grandpa is still here, so things are fine. But if Grandpa were to pass away one day, things would be even more difficult for Yin'er. We are also a little worried about these things. He is different from us; we matured much earlier."

"Your Majesty, please don't overthink it. Yin'er will understand when he grows up," Xu Miaoqing said softly, trying to comfort him. "Your Majesty is good in every way, but you overthink things and always want to do everything perfectly."

Hearing Xu Miaoqing say this, Zhu Yunying was also stunned for a moment, and after thinking about it carefully, it seemed to make some sense.

Well, to put it simply, Joo Yun-young had an excessively strong desire for control and liked to take on everything. He was even more power-hungry than Joo I, and in some ways, Joo Yun-young was more assertive than Joo I.

After all, Old Zhu still cared about his eldest son and grandson, and was willing to relinquish power. Young Zhu, on the other hand, seemed rational, but he clearly couldn't be completely open and honest about certain things.

It's no exaggeration to say that although Zhu Yunying treats the young Zhu very well now, he is wholeheartedly focused on grooming him. This is not only due to the importance placed on the future successor of the Ming Dynasty, but also largely because the young Zhu is too young and poses no threat to the emperor's power.

If little Zhu really grows up and can make his voice heard in the court, Zhu Yunying thought about it carefully and realized that it would be very difficult for him to be as unguarded as his father, Zhu Yunying, and to create something like the 'Executive Vice Emperor'.

Allowing the crown prince to observe and participate in politics is not a problem; many emperors did the same. However, having the crown prince directly review all memorials and process everything before submitting them to the emperor for approval is going too far.

Only Emperor Zhu could do something like this. No matter how good other emperors were to their crown princes, they could never do as well as Emperor Zhu.

"Daddy." Just as Zhu Yunying and Xu Miaoqing were chatting, a childish voice came from inside.

Zhu Yunying immediately looked outside the hall, where Zhu Ruyi was clinging to the threshold, her rosy face full of smiles.

"Come here." Zhu Yunying clapped his hands and said, "We haven't seen you for two or three days. We didn't ask anyone to call you, but you didn't even come to see us."

Wang Chengen carefully helped Zhu Ruyi step over the threshold. He knew all too well the emperor's affection for the princess.

Xu Miaoqing said with a hint of complaint, "The Imperial Concubine is very proper. I have asked her many times to let Ruyi come over, but she always hesitates. If His Majesty hadn't summoned her, she wouldn't have let Ruyi come at all."

"That's how it should be, after all, this is your palace." Zhu Yunying said with a smile, "Even if we dote on Ruyi'er, we should still have some sense of proportion. Fortunately, we only like this daughter, so it's okay to be a little biased."

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