Zhu Ruyi obediently held Zhu Wenkun, though it was a little strenuous. Mainly because Zhu Wenkun was a bit chubby, and the boy was also very restless and active.

However, Zhu Yunying suspected that Zhu Ruyi was trying to deceive him and was ignoring some of Zhu Yunying's words.

Zhu Ruyi loved reading, writing, and painting. She had a playful older brother. Zhu Ruyi was used to helping her brother with his homework, and her handwriting even became more and more similar to his—this was no secret.

Little Zhu was quite clever and immediately said, "Great-grandfather, why don't you hold our Wenkun more? Wenkun is so chubby, he's the most fun!"

Old Zhu asked with a smile, "Would you be happy if we held Wenkun more often?"

Before little Zhu could answer, old Zhu looked at Zhu Yunying with a smile, "Ying'er, we remember when Yin'er was born, your father was still alive. We remember you didn't hold Yin'er much back then, did you? You were busy taking care of your father, busy arranging his funeral. You also had to take care of us, busy ascending the throne, how could you have time to hold Yin'er!"

Zhu Yunying sighed and said, "Grandfather, I know I've been biased enough."

Old Zhu glared at Zhu Yunying, but still reminded him, "There are some things we don't need to say, you already know them, and we can't nag you for long. We're still here, so we can keep an eye on you. If we're not here anymore, we won't be able to help you if you cause trouble, right?"

Zhu Yunying was even more helpless and said, "Grandfather, we know what we're doing, we really know. Yin'er is our Crown Prince, everyone knows that. Besides, we're not that biased towards Wenkun, we don't have any other intentions."

Old Zhu glanced at Zhu Yunying, then at Xu Miaoqing who was bowing her head and not daring to speak, and snorted coldly without saying anything more. Old Zhu was relatively at ease with Zhu Yunying. However, he felt that he still needed to give his granddaughter-in-law a little nudge from time to time.

Zhu Yunying was used to it. The reason the old Zhu would occasionally reprimand him wasn't just because the old Zhu never hid his favoritism, but also because it affected the stability of the empire, something the old Zhu had to take seriously.

Seeing that Zhu Yunying had both a son and a daughter, and that Zhu Yunying's lineage had flourished, Old Zhu was naturally overjoyed.

However, seeing that Zhu Yunying seemed to really like the chubby Zhu Wenkun, even Zhu Yunying himself thought Zhu Wenkun was quite cute. But no matter what, Zhu Wenkun was still the legitimate son, so Zhu Yunying's apparent worry wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Even though Little Zhu had already been made crown prince and was considered outstanding, Old Zhu understood that his precious great-grandson was actually only of average appearance, with his 'skill points' somewhat off; the boy was too enthusiastic about martial arts.

After having dinner with Old Zhu, Xu Miaoqing took Zhu Wenkun back to Chunhe Palace, while little Zhu naturally stayed in Qianqing Palace. As for Zhu Yunying, he left with the bouncy Zhu Ruyi.

Watching Zhu Yunying's retreating figure, Old Zhu asked, "Yin'er, your father likes Ruyi so much, are you unhappy about that?"

“Ruyi is a girl, we don’t care.” Little Zhu lay back in the chair and said lazily, “Great-grandfather, I am the eldest son, I am the crown prince of the Ming Dynasty. I also like Ruyi, she is the most intelligent. My father also said that neither my eldest aunt nor my youngest aunt is as intelligent as Ruyi, she is the most intelligent girl in our family.”

Old Zhu gently patted Little Zhu's head and said, "You're just like your father. Don't you know what we're talking about? Whenever something like this happens, you two pretend to be clueless!"

Little Zhu immediately grinned and said, "Well, who told me to be my dad's son? Of course I look like my dad. I also look like my grandfather. Outsiders who don't know me all say I have an air of nobility, that I look like a little gentleman."

“Affluent families nurture a noble character. You are both rich and noble, and you don’t look like an ordinary farm boy.” Old Zhu found it amusing and said, “Ordinary children know fear, but you dare to whip the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture with a horsewhip. You’re always reckless and don’t know fear.”

Little Zhu was unhappy and emphasized, "Grandpa Emperor, we learned this from you and our father. We are not lenient with officials; we must be ruthless to them when necessary. But we give ordinary people, even some scoundrels, some face."

Hearing what Xiao Zhu said, Lao Zhu couldn't help but laugh, and also felt that there was nothing wrong with what Xiao Zhu did.

Zhu Yunying naturally didn't need to worry too much about the old and young couple in the Qianqing Palace.

Holding Zhu Ruyi's little hand, Zhu Yunying asked with a smile, "Ruyi, why did your great-grandfather scold Wenjin again today?"

Zhu Ruyi had a headache and said, "My great-grandfather used to make Wenjin memorize the Four Books, but Wenjin couldn't. He was sent to university, but he still couldn't understand them. It's not that Wenjin is afraid of my great-grandfather, he just can't understand them. My great-grandfather got angry, scolded Wenjin, and even sent Shuangquan to deliver an imperial edict ordering Wenjin's mother to copy them."

Zhu Yunying didn't know what to say either; perhaps Zhu Wenjin was used to this kind of treatment. Even his mother, Consort Wang, had learned to do the same.

Sometimes, Zhu Yunying felt that he should marry a virtuous wife. Although Wang was beautiful, she was indeed somewhat superficial and lacked knowledge. Gradually, Zhu Yunying lost interest in her.

As for Wang's entry into the palace, that was quite normal; there was no shortage of women from high-ranking families in the harem. However, not all of these women were well-educated and sensible; many were spoiled, arrogant, and superficial.

In comparison, Xu Miaoqing and Lian Qiongqiong were much better. They might not be considered exceptionally beautiful, but Zhu Yunying did feel more relaxed and at ease with them. The palace was naturally full of beautiful women, but Zhu Yunying wasn't always so 'superficial'.

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