No one thought there was anything wrong with this; it was simply the proper etiquette between ruler and subject. Even if Xu Da were to be resurrected, let alone Xu Huizu, he would still need to greet Xu Miaoqing.

Once married into the royal family, one's status changes. No longer simply a daughter or sister, but also a 'ruler'.

Little Zhu was delighted and said, "Then let's go over there. My cousin should be at the East Palace by now. My aunt should be here too. I remember we sent someone to invite her, right?"

Shuangquan hurriedly replied, "Your Highness, Her Majesty the Empress summoned the Lady of Zhongshan to the palace earlier, and she is currently in the East Palace."

Little Zhu couldn't sit still in the Wenhua Hall either, and said, "That's good, let's go over first. I reckon Father will be there soon, since he said it's going to be a family banquet today."

This was an unparalleled blessing for Xu Huizu; ordinary officials would never have such an opportunity.

With His Highness the Crown Prince leading the way, and naturally also because of His Majesty the Emperor's decree, Xu Huizu had no problem going to Chunhe Palace.

Looking at her elder brother, Xu Miaoqing accepted the greeting politely and said, "Elder brother, there's no need for such formalities. I came to see Wenkun."

After rising, Xu Huizu knelt down again, still maintaining impeccable manners, "Your subject, Duke of Zhongshan, Xu Huizu, pays respects to His Highness the Third Prince."

Xu Miaoqing said with a hint of reproach, "Brother, I've already said there's no need for such formalities. Wenkun can't even speak clearly yet, why are you being so polite?"

Of course, he should be very polite. Xu Huizu knew that if he saw his nephew not showing proper courtesy, and word got out, it might become a rumor that the emperor's brother-in-law was arrogant and domineering. At that point, the censors would definitely launch a massive impeachment campaign.

The identity of a military officer is already sensitive, and the identity of a relative of the empress makes it even more sensitive. Xu Huizu would not give anyone any leverage against him; he could not bring shame to the Xu family, nor could he disgrace His Highness the Crown Prince.

Everyone knows that His Highness the Crown Prince's greatest support in the court is Duke Xu Huizu of Zhongshan. Before the Crown Prince ascended the throne and before he held great power, Xu Huizu felt that he had to hold on no matter what, and that no accident could happen, and that he could not affect His Highness the Crown Prince because of his own reasons.

Moreover, in Xu Huizu's mind, his nephew was a prince of the Ming Dynasty, so he didn't feel any psychological barrier at all.

At this moment, Little Zhu hugged Zhu Wenkun and said, "Wenkun, this is your uncle. You haven't met him yet."

Zhu Wenkun ignored his uncle and stretched out his chubby little hands, "Brother, hug me."

"Isn't this already a hug?" Little Zhu complained. "We're already hugging you, how much more do you want us to hug you? Hurry up, call him Uncle!"

By the way, the best app for reading aloud right now is Yeguo Reading (yeguoyuedu). Install the latest version.

This is clearly asking the impossible, as Zhu Wenkun isn't very good at speaking these days. He can barely address anyone outside his family. The little guy is currently only busy eating, drinking, sleeping, and laughing happily when someone teases him; he has no concept of anything else.

Although his nephew didn't give him any face, Xu Huizu still kept a close eye on him. Even if he couldn't get too close to his nephew, he was still his nephew, and most importantly, he was his sister's bloodline, and even more so, the Emperor's bloodline.

“Uncle, Wenkun is just too stupid,” Little Zhu said helplessly. “He doesn’t even recognize his cousin, who saw him a while ago. If you ask me, Wenkun just has a terrible memory.”

Xu Miaoqing said with a laugh, "You always talk about your brother. When you were his age, you didn't remember anything, let alone people."

Little Zhu retorted, "How could that be?! I'm Dad's son, and Great-Grandfather said I'm the same as Dad."

Xu Miaoqing became a little more serious and corrected him, saying, "When you were this age, you didn't remember anything, but your father was different. When His Majesty was this age, he spoke logically and recognized everyone in his family. His Majesty was precocious, as you know. I think Grandfather also said that His Majesty still remembers things from his childhood. How much do you remember?"

Little Zhu scratched his head; he really couldn't remember some things from his childhood. Not to mention anything from even earlier, he had virtually no recollection of many events from last year.

Xu Huizu was not surprised at all. He was more than ten years older than the emperor and empress, so he actually knew some things about them.

He had known for a long time that the current emperor was precocious, not only because of various rumors, but also because his father had mentioned it before. He still remembered his father's very emotional expression at the time, saying that His Majesty was an outstanding person of the era, and that His Majesty's grandsons were all dragons and phoenixes among men.

“That seems to be true.” Little Zhu said seriously, “Then it’s Mother’s fault. Grandmother could make Father precocious, but Mother couldn’t make us precocious too. Our father was born with knowledge and learned many things without a teacher. We can’t do that. No matter how hard we study, we can’t compare to even a fraction of Father’s ability.”

Xu Miaoqing found it somewhat amusing and said to her somewhat reserved sister-in-law, Li, "Sister-in-law, please don't be offended. Yin'er has always been raised by his grandfather, and sometimes he is not very well-behaved. He also admires His Majesty the most."

Little Zhu was displeased and muttered, "How are we unruly? We're only acting this way in front of our own family. If we're really talking about rules, we're more dignified than our great-grandfather and even our father."

Xu Huizu immediately smiled and said, "Your Highness is right. The court has praised Your Highness's demeanor quite a bit."

Little Zhu became proud and immediately started showing off, "We were taught by our great-grandfather and father, what don't we understand? We just don't act arrogant in front of our own family, otherwise everyone would praise the Crown Prince's extraordinary demeanor!"

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