The autumn wind is bleak, and Yingtian Prefecture now has a more pronounced late autumn feel. This is especially true inside the Qianqing Palace.

This time, however, neither Crown Prince Zhu Wenyin nor Prince Zhou Zhu Su appeared at the Qianqing Palace. They both had other important tasks, so now only Zhu Gui, the thirteenth son of Emperor Zhu, the Prince of Dai, was allowed to meet the Emperor alone.

Zhu Gui was under considerable pressure. His mother, Consort Guo Hui, was the daughter of Guo Zixing, the Prince of Chuyang, and was considered quite favored. His elder brother, Zhu Chun, was now in charge of establishing the Goryeo Kingdom. This former Shu scholar already had a reputation for virtue, and now he had achieved considerable success. Of course, Zhu Gui also had a younger brother, Prince Gu, Zhu Hui, who did not enter the palace this time.

Zhu Gui felt truly unlucky, having to face two generations of emperors alone. He harbored a deep-seated fear of his father, the Emperor. As for his eldest nephew, it was absurd; although he was only four months older, he had never been able to compare to him since childhood. A prince couldn't compare to the eldest grandson of the Emperor!

Now that his nephew is the emperor, it means that there is a huge gap in their statuses, and they are now completely like ruler and subject.

Old Zhu looked at Zhu Gui and said lecturingly, "You've had a bad temper since you were little, just like your uncle."

Zhu Gui immediately knelt down; this was no small crime. His maternal uncles were Guo Tianxu and Guo Tianjue, who had plotted to murder Emperor Zhu. Although his mother was still favored, who knew if his father would take his anger out on them?

Zhu Yunying complained as he helped Zhu Gui up, "Grandpa, why are you saying all this? Thirteenth Uncle is cautious by nature, and saying these things will only make him overthink! Thirteenth Uncle, don't listen to Grandpa, he's getting old and likes to nag!"

Zhu Gui was now on the verge of tears. If he got up, his father would surely be displeased. But if he didn't get up, his nephew, the emperor, had personally come to help him up; would that be disobeying the imperial edict?

Just as Zhu Gui was in a dilemma, Old Zhu said again, "So, we were wrong too?"

As Zhu Yunying pulled Zhu Gui up, he said, "Grandfather, we've heard Grandmother say that the late Prince of Chuyang only had one daughter after his second marriage. People like Guo Tianxu and Guo Tianjue can't be considered the brothers of the late Consort Hui."

Old Zhu got anxious and glared at him, saying, "According to your logic, aren't your thirteenth uncle and your father brothers? Ask him again. Even if he's not that close to Guo Tianxu, what about his maternal uncle Zhang Tianyou from years ago? He can't escape that responsibility, can he? That scoundrel is the most harmful person. We suffered a lot in our early years because of his instigation!"

"Thirteenth Uncle, don't overthink it. Grandfather is getting old and likes to reminisce and bring up old grievances," Zhu Yunying said to Zhu Gui with a smile. "However, Thirteenth Uncle, what Grandfather said makes some sense. We were in a difficult situation the other day. Someone submitted a memorial saying that Thirteenth Uncle was arbitrarily whipping passersby outside, which was not good."

Zhu Gui could only kneel down again and quickly said, "Your subject knows his crime."

“It’s not that serious.” Zhu Yunying said, pulling Zhu Gui up. “It’s just that Uncle Thirteen’s temperament is indeed a bit too impatient.”

Old Zhu snorted and said, "He and your nineteenth uncle are practically twins. We liked him so much back then, but he was a violent person. If you ask me, that's just the bad thing about the Guo family."

"What does Uncle Eleven say?" Zhu Yunying disagreed with Old Zhu's bloodline theory. "Uncle Eleven is a scholar from Shu, and a virtuous man. He is currently governing his fiefdom in Goryeo very well. If we're talking about pacifying the people and winning their hearts, few can compare to Uncle Eleven. In the end, he is still a member of the Zhu family, not some Guo family!"

Old Zhu slammed his teacup on the table and said, "Fine, we'll remember that! When we see your grandmother, we'll have a chat with her! You're always trying to play the innocent. When you were little, you told her you still had Ma family blood in you, but now you only recognize the Zhu family?!"

This is really bad! Some old grudges from my childhood have been brought up again. What should I do?

Seeing Zhu Yunying speechless, Old Zhu immediately laughed, "You, you're such a scoundrel! Your grandmother and I have been completely fooled by you. You just say whatever comes to mind!"

“Thirteenth Uncle, Eleventh Uncle is in Goryeo now. Remember to write letters home to him often.” Zhu Yunying could only change the subject and said, “Now that Eleventh Uncle is not in Yingtian Prefecture, you should also keep an eye on Nineteenth Uncle. He’s causing quite a stir.”

Zhu Gui could only accept the decree; whether he truly cared was another matter entirely. He couldn't even take care of himself, let alone his younger brother.

In many situations, it's best to take care of yourself first. Even with siblings, you need to be mindful of your boundaries. It's also possible that not every older brother is inclined to take care of his younger siblings.

The family has long since separated, and the younger brothers have all started their own families and careers, so the older brother can't really say much.

At least that's how Zhu Gui saw it; he felt he only needed to mind his own business. His elder brother was currently a prince in Goryeo, enjoying great success and hardly caring about his younger brothers in the Ming Dynasty. As for Zhu Gui, while he was somewhat impatient, he hadn't committed any major misdeeds and could be considered a fairly well-behaved prince of the Ming Dynasty.

As for his younger brother, he seemed quite intelligent, but he was far too cunning and pretentious. To be honest, even though he was his own brother, Zhu Gui didn't really like him and preferred to ignore him; after all, he was already an adult.

Since that's the case, then they should just do their own job and not worry about anything else. Anyway, the Ming Dynasty's imperial family has nothing else to do now, and they don't need to think about the throne or politics. Those things have nothing to do with them. They should just live their own lives.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!