Princess Zhenbei wanted to fight for it again, "Just one Nanny Hong is too few. How about I follow Zicheng's example and give Zizhen two maids to do rough work and two servants to take care of her daily life?"
King Zhenbei waved his hand, "No need to go to such great lengths."
"Let her take care of simple things like dressing and washing herself. As for laundry and cleaning, when they arrive at the palace in the capital, have Matron Hong select two servants from there to take care of her."
"And Zicheng, he'll be seven next year. Shouldn't you marry off his two maids this year?"
According to the rules of the palace, once the young masters reach the age of seven, they are no longer allowed to have maids around them, even if the maids are ten years older than them and have changed their diapers.
According to this rule, neither Yu Zizhen, the fake son, nor Yu Zicheng, the real son, should have maids starting this year.
Princess Zhenbei felt that this account shouldn't be calculated in this way. She said, "I have already prepared a servant for Zicheng, but as for Zizhen..."
Princess Zhenbei felt that even if they continued to treat Yu Zizhen as a boy, she was still actually a girl. They couldn't possibly stuff a servant into her room, right?
"Zizhen will have to work harder on her side." Prince Zhenbei felt that this was no big deal at all. He had been in the army all year round and had always handled trivial matters by himself.
Thinking of his son, the Prince of Zhenbei couldn't help but remind the Princess of Zhenbei, "Zicheng, don't be too spoiled. When he turns ten, I will take him to the army to gain experience and be tempered. He is my heir. He must not be able to endure hardships and lead troops."
Princess Zhenbei nodded repeatedly, "Don't worry, Your Majesty, I know the seriousness of the matter."
She would never let her own son become useless and give those illegitimate children the opportunity to covet her son's inheritance rights.
The Prince of Zhenbei took the tea offered by the maid and took a sip. "Then it's settled. Tell Madam Hong to make preparations. I will have someone escort Zizhen and the others out of the northern border in three days."
Seeing that the King of Zhenbei was about to leave after saying this, Princess Zhenbei hurriedly said, "Madam Hong has already made preparations. But Master Bai has just recovered from a serious illness. Isn't he not suitable for long-distance travel?"
Prince Zhenbei disagreed, "Didn't Zizhen just recover from a serious illness? If a little kid like her can go, why can't Bai Tong, a martial artist, go?"
Princess Zhenbei: ...It was a mistake.
She wanted to leave Bai Tong, the outstanding martial arts master, to her son, and then give Yu Zizhen a mediocre martial arts master who was just passable to deal with him. However, the excuse she found in a hurry was really ridiculous.
King Zhenbei knew that she was biased again, and he felt impatient and subconsciously quickened his pace to leave.
"It's getting late, I'm going to the military camp." After saying this, the King of Zhenbei left without looking back.
Princess Zhenbei was so angry that she stamped her feet. She complained to her trusted nanny, "How can the prince be so mean! He has such a good martial arts master, but he didn't keep him in the palace to train more guards. Instead, he sent him to the capital to rot in idleness. Isn't this a waste of talent?"
In her opinion, Yu Zizhen was a girl, and it would be enough for her to learn some fancy moves like her. But the King of Zhenbei actually sent Bai Tong to her to learn the Yu family's spear technique, which was suitable for battlefield fighting! What else could this be but a pure waste?
The nanny didn't dare to say anything bad about the King of Zhenbei. They looked at each other and said nothing cautiously.
Princess Zhenbei didn't care. She complained a few words, and then her mind turned to Yu Zizhen, who didn't listen to her and insisted on leaving the house at this critical moment.
The fact that Empress Dowager Lu asked the princes and nobles from all over the country who held heavy military power to send their legitimate sons to the capital in the name of the emperor was not a sudden decision she made, but the final result of the struggle between the Lu family and the princes and nobles from all over the country over the past few years.
Because the news had been circulating for a long time, Princess Zhenbei had already made all preparations for today.
After giving birth to the child, she asked her mother to cooperate with her in a play that seemed to be secretive and did not want others to know about it, but in fact it left out some clues without leaving a trace, allowing people to unravel and dig out the inside story.
After the play was over, a piece of gossip spread throughout the North.
According to gossip, Princess Zhenbei actually gave birth to two sons instead of one son and one daughter. The reason why she announced it to the public as one son and one daughter was because one of her sons looked like she could not be raised.
The gossip also said that Princess Zhenbei secretly asked a master to read the fortune for the "weak and sickly" Yu Zizhen, and the master said that only by raising "him" as a daughter could "he" grow up successfully.
Simple-minded people could easily believe this gossip, but those who prided themselves on being smart and always liked to think deeply about things made up another so-called "real reason" for Princess Zhenbei to raise her son as a daughter.
They believed that the Princess of Zhenbei must have been afraid that her two sons would become enemies in the future because of fighting for the position of Crown Prince of Zhenbei, so she decided their status when they were still young.
Past life experience tells them that the closer the ages of brothers are, the more likely they are to scheme against each other for the position of heir, and eventually become enemies.
Otherwise, why do people regard twins and boy-girl twins as auspicious signs? The eldest son of the royal family, noble families, and aristocratic families can inherit more than 90% of the family property, but they don't want their eldest son to have a twin brother.
In their view, the trick played by Princess Zhenbei was just a common practice among noble families who gave birth to twins.
It’s just that other families would send the abandoned child directly to foster care elsewhere, but she was very creative and kept the abandoned child by her side, raising him as her own daughter under the pretext that he was “frail and sickly”.
As for her daughter, especially a "weak and sickly" one, Princess Zhenbei allowed her to "rest at home and not see outsiders" for several years. To outsiders who didn't know the inside story, it seemed that there was nothing wrong with her.
This seemingly harmless move not only prevented Yu Zizhen from accumulating connections, but also prevented him from teaching Yu Zizhen the things he should learn as an heir. It was simply perfect.
When the court issued the imperial edict to confer the title of Prince of Zhenbei on Yu Zizhen, these people not only did not overturn their own speculation, but instead believed that this incident just indirectly confirmed their speculation that "Yu Zizhen was an abandoned pawn."
In particular, the news from the Zhenbei Palace quickly confirmed what they had originally investigated, that is, Yu Zizhen was indeed the legitimate son of the Zhenbei Prince who was raised as a daughter because of his frail health.
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