The Zhu family can now be described as a harmonious and prosperous household, at least on the surface.

Whether it was the previous Zhu Yuanzhang (the First Emperor), the Second Emperor, or the current Zhu Yuanzhang (the Younger Emperor), their status as successors was established long ago. Not only did the emperor approve, but everyone in the court and the public knew this, and the imperial family members seemed to have no other objections.

Therefore, there was no struggle for the throne, nor any intrigue or backstabbing, because everyone knew their place and what they should do. Even Zhu Yunwen and Empress Lü, who seemed to have some ideas a few years earlier, were simply a laughing stock for their actions.

It looked lively, but that was just to give Zhu Yunying face; in reality, they posed no threat to him at all.

This is probably one reason why Zhu Yunying was quite magnanimous. Although he didn't particularly like Zhu Yunwen, there was no need to deliberately suppress him. It was enough to treat him as just an ordinary prince of the Ming Dynasty, and nothing more.

Now, everything is harmonious and prosperous in Zhu Yunying's family. Putting aside the status of little Zhu, his younger siblings are all quite obedient and sensible. His maternal uncle's family and his brother-in-law's side are also very understanding.

So, to be honest, Emperor Zhu Yunying was relatively worry-free, at least there weren't many palace intrigues, which saved him a lot of trouble.

If you're busy with palace intrigue all day, how can you possibly have the mind to govern the country? If you're constantly preoccupied with your maternal relatives and the imperial family, then you certainly won't be able to get a proper rest.

Little Zhu Wengeng was very happy, running around with his elder brother in the Qianqing Palace. "Brother, we're going to be made the heir apparent of the Prince of Wu the year after next! Brother, we don't want to be the Prince of Wu, we want to be the Prince of Han!"

Little Zhu grabbed Zhu Wengeng and immediately shook his head, saying, "That won't do. We have to save the title of King of Han for Wenkun. Second Uncle is the King of Wu, so you are also the King of Wu. How can the title be changed so easily?"

"But the Fifth Prince has changed. He used to be the Prince of Wu, we all know that!" Zhu Wengeng was still unwilling to give up and retorted, "The Prince of Wu is no good, he doesn't have the prestige of the Prince of Han. Otherwise, we'll become the Hegemon!"

Old Zhu rubbed his temples and said to Zhu Yunying, "We shouldn't have kept those two in the palace! Yin'er is well-behaved when he's alone, but once Wengeng comes over, they become more and more troublesome!"

Zhu Yunying took a leisurely sip of wine and said, "Yin'er is still a child after all, and he doesn't have many people of similar status to play with on a daily basis. Even his study companions are all of lower status than him. Only Wengeng is alright, after all, he is his younger brother and not much older than him."

Old Zhu thought it made sense and said, “You’re all the same, you’ve never had any playmates since you were little. Your father is a little better off, but you and Yin’er really lack a playmate. In our younger years, at least we had our older brothers to protect us, and we also had playmates like Tiande and Dingchen.”

Xu Da and Tang He were able to die peacefully not only because they possessed political wisdom and caution, but also because they were childhood friends with Zhu De. The relatives Zhu De designated for them were no joke.

Remembering something, Zhu Yunying said, "Grandfather, we also think it's time to repair the tomb of our great-aunt."

Old Zhu was taken aback, and said irritably, "You can't even take care of your own affairs, yet you're thinking about other things. Your great-aunt's mausoleum is being taken care of by Jiujiang, so it's none of your business."

Having a good understanding of Zhu Yunying, Zhu Yunying naturally knew that Zhu Yunying was pretending to be confused at this moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang had three older brothers and two older sisters. Although his eldest brother's son, Zhu Wenzheng, had made mistakes in his early years, he remained the Prince of Jingjiang. Zhu Wenzheng's son, Zhu Shouqian, was also incompetent, and although Zhu Yuanzhang punished him, he did not strip him of his title. The current Prince of Jingjiang, Zhu Zanyi, has inherited the title and seems to be showing some signs of being a wise prince.

The second elder brother, Zhu Xingsheng, died young, as did his son, Zhu Wang. However, Zhu Yuanzhang still enshrined them in the family temple and rebuilt their tombs in the Ming Imperial Mausoleum. The third elder brother, Zhu Xingzu, although he left no descendants, was also buried in the Ming Imperial Mausoleum and posthumously granted the title of Prince of Linhuai.

As for his two older sisters, the second sister was the eldest princess of the Cao Kingdom. Old Zhu never treated his second sister's husband, Li Zhen, or his nephew, Li Wenzhong, as outsiders.

As for the eldest sister, Old Zhu still held a grudge. This was probably because she married young and neglected her family, and also because Old Zhu was hunted down during his rebellion in his early years, but his eldest sister and brother-in-law refused to accept her out of the family for fear of being implicated.

So even now, Zhu Yuanzhang never mentions his eldest sister, only treating his second sister as his elder sister. His brother-in-law, Li Zhen, was posthumously granted the title of Prince of Longxi by Zhu Yuanzhang. It's important to know that Li Zhen, unlike Li Wenzhong, didn't have any military achievements. Zhu Yuanzhang even specially granted him the privilege of having hereditary princely titles.

If Li Jinglong hadn't been somewhat sensible, he would be the 'King of Longxi' now, instead of the Duke of Cao.

Compared to the second sister's family, it's hard to say about the eldest sister's family. In fact, when Li Wenzhong returned to his hometown to pay respects to his mother in his early years, he found the coffins of his aunt and uncle, which were already dilapidated. After submitting a report, Zhu, out of consideration for his reputation, conferred the title of Princess Taiyuan upon his eldest sister and the title of Imperial Son-in-Law Wang Qiyi upon his eldest sister's husband, Wang Qiyi.

Looking at Old Zhu, Zhu Yunying said, "We shouldn't say too much about the elders' affairs, but they are all family members. We understand that Grandfather has a grudge against Great Aunt. How about this, shall we have my cousin Jiujiang take Yunwen over there?"

Old Zhu glared at Zhu Yunying and said irritably, "Now that you're the emperor, do you still want to meddle in our family affairs?"

"You're talking as if this isn't our family matter!" Zhu Yunying said matter-of-factly. "They say that when a person dies, the lamp goes out. I think if our great-grandfather and great-grandmother knew this, they would surely scold our great-aunt. Besides, even for the sake of our great-grandfather and great-grandmother, we should give our great-aunt some face."

Old Zhu sighed and said, "If my eldest sister and brother-in-law had any humanity at all, we wouldn't have neglected them all these years. Forget it, we won't say anything now. Let's just consider it filial piety from the younger generation, and we won't get involved in this matter."

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