After the ancestral worship ceremony in Fengyang, he ran away. He felt he needed to go to Chaohu Lake to see the navy and catch fish and crabs. If he brought back white shrimp, silverfish, and river crabs, he wouldn't only avoid being scolded when he returned to the capital, but he would also receive many rewards from his elder brother, the Emperor.
But who would have thought that the retired emperor wouldn't go directly back? He came via Henan, apparently saying he would go from Chaohu to Wuhu, and then sail down the river to return to the Land of Abundance. It seems he wasn't planning to travel by land, but by boat.
Well, that's it. The famous King of Wu hadn't even had his fill of fun at Chaohu Lake when he was caught by the retired emperor. His fate was pretty much predictable.
Looking at his lazy grandson, Old Zhu gritted his teeth, "Your imperial brother sent you back to your hometown to pay respects to your ancestors, and you actually did that?! Huh, can't you be a little more capable? Go back and report before coming out to play, is that so hard?"
Zhu Yunwen, head bowed, remained silent, while the old Zhu continued to berate him, "If this were any ordinary civil or military official or member of the imperial family, with your reckless behavior, you would at least be demoted to commoner status if not beheaded. Day after day, you show no improvement and all you do is travel and enjoy the scenery!"
“Great-grandfather, Second Uncle is here to catch crabs for our father.” Little Zhu came to the rescue in time and said, “Our father loves to eat big crabs. Countless people have been sending crabs as tribute. I remember last time in Yingtian Prefecture, the shopkeeper said that our father had eaten crabs at his shop.”
When the emperor has a particular fondness for something, his subjects will follow suit. Since the emperor loved to eat crabs, many officials and military officers naturally paid close attention to this matter. If a region where an official was stationed produced high-quality crabs, they would naturally want to offer them as tribute.
"There's no way your dad would eat the crabs from that restaurant!" Old Zhu said irritably. "That's just nonsense. If you said your second uncle ate the crabs, we'd believe you."
Zhu Yunwen said hesitantly, "Grandfather, I don't eat crabs. They're mostly shells with hardly any meat. I don't know why you like crabs so much."
Old Zhu, ever protective of his own, found another reason to scold, "You're a fool! You don't even know how to enjoy life properly. We're too lazy to explain to you what crabs taste like; you wouldn't be able to tell. You just swallow them whole, what flavor could you possibly taste?!"
Zhu Yunwen was used to it; in his grandfather's eyes, his elder brother was always the best. His brother liked crabs, so crabs were naturally the best. If others didn't eat crabs, it meant they didn't know how to enjoy life or how to eat properly.
"In our younger days, we hoped you would improve and be able to help your elder brother," Old Zhu sighed dejectedly. "But now, it seems you'll be protected by your elder brother for the rest of your life, and maybe even by Yin'er. We'll have to teach Yin'er a lesson in the future, lest we raise another good-for-nothing!"
Zhu Yunwen didn't care, mainly because he had been scolded so much that he had developed some immunity to it, and such things were nothing to him.
If any other member of the imperial clan were scolded like this by Emperor Zhu, they would surely tremble with fear. But Zhu Yunwen understood that as long as he lowered his head and pretended to be reprimanded, his grandfather would definitely not do anything. What did it matter if he was scolded a few times?
"Great-grandfather, we'll teach our brother ourselves," Little Zhu said confidently, still full of anticipation. "Our brother will be a great general someday, and he'll help us when we're fighting on the front lines. Like brothers fighting tigers..."
Old Zhu hurriedly said, "That won't do. You are the Crown Prince, so your younger brother should be granted a title of King. Your father will probably give your brother a more prestigious title of King. If we think about it now, the title of King of Han would be acceptable."
Zhu Yunwen didn't care at all; the title of prince was a sign of status. As the Prince of Wu, his status was naturally very high. As for the Empress, she had just given birth to her second son, who would likely also have a rather prestigious title when he grew up.
Zhu Yunwen was truly helpless; he hadn't had enough fun yet. But he really had no choice now. He didn't dare to sneak away, mainly because if his grandfather really got angry, there were probably only two people in the world who wouldn't care.
So this time, we should just obediently follow Ying Tian. If we want to go out and have fun, we can find another opportunity next time. Anyway, it's not that difficult for members of the Ming Dynasty's imperial family to travel now.
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