Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 197 This is the princess, this is my son

Oh no! Seeing Tang Yu's expression, Zhu Youjian wished he could slap himself.

"You, you, you!" Zhu Youjian was furious. "How can you be even better at shirking responsibility than me? How can you face your ancestor Tang He?!"

"What is 'retreating'?!" Tang Yu looked bewildered, but he still knelt down with a thud.

Zhu Youjian slapped him on the shoulder, and Tang Yu's heart skipped a beat. But then he heard the emperor say, "Don't go back yet. Stay and have dinner. It's this year's new rice."

"Huh?!" Tang Yu looked up in surprise.

There were also women at the table. When Tang Yu saw the Imperial Concubine approaching, he hurriedly stood up and bowed. Wanwan nodded to him and said gently, "No need for formalities."

She knew Tang Yu, and she even remembered more officials than the emperor himself. After all, the emperor was a lazy person, while she was destined to be a busybody.

A moment later, a little girl peeked in through the multi-folded wooden door. Zhu Youjian's eyes lit up, and he stretched out his arm toward his eldest daughter, Chou Chou.

"Father, food!" Chou Chou took her hands off the wooden door and wobbled over like a little duck.

Wow!
Behind Ugly, another small figure peeked out. He was blocked by the evil door frame and watched his sister slip away, but he couldn't catch up. He was so anxious that tears streamed down his face.

Chou Chou stopped and looked at her younger brother with a puzzled expression. Then she returned to the door frame and tried to step over it, but her foolish brother could never learn. He just stared at the door frame with tears streaming down his face, angrily pounding the wooden door frame with his little hands, and then crying loudly in pain until Zhu Youjian came forward, grabbed his shirt from behind, and lifted him up.

"They asked you to look after two children?!" Zhu Youjian asked, frowning.

Wanwan shook her head and said, "It was Chou Chou who went to Chuxiu Palace to bring her younger brother over."

"Where's Zhouzhou?!" Zhu Youjian asked in confusion.

Sun Shiwan said helplessly, "Chou Chou doesn't like to play with Zhou Zhou, and Zhou Zhou doesn't like Chou Chou either. They fight when they're put together."

"Uh!" Zhu Youjian scratched his head and said awkwardly, "I saw that the three of them were getting along quite well when they were together."

"To be precise, they were all fine when you were there," Wanwan explained.

"What?! And it's still unobservable?!" Zhu Youjian was stunned. He asked with some concern, "Then won't Zhouzhou have no one to play with?!"

Sun Shiwan remained silent. Zhu Youjian was somewhat troubled. Could children really have such obvious likes and dislikes? He worried that this was actually an extension of the conflicts between their mothers. Since the children played the role of obedient children in front of him, wouldn't the concubines also act two-facedly?
Someone like Sun Shixiu, who's so calculating, would probably have a hard time getting along with other women. Sun Shiwan also has a bad temper; although she doesn't lose control of her emotions, her restrained anger is even more frightening.

The Empress… Thinking of the Empress, Zhu Youjian’s head ached even more. After being reprimanded, the Imperial Father-in-law’s family behaved themselves for a while, but recently they’ve forgotten the pain and started causing trouble again. They haven’t done anything seriously wrong, but they like to use their status as the Imperial Father-in-law and Imperial Brother-in-law to freeload and enjoy the feeling of being superior. In short, they’re ruining the reputation of the royal family.

They'd mingled with those nobles and amassed quite a fortune! Zhu Youjian questioned them, and Zhou Kui said, "This money wasn't something he asked for; it was all given to him voluntarily by those nobles. He even handed over the account books, saying that if the emperor needed it, he could just take the money. We're all family, after all; their money is the emperor's money." Zhu Youjian's mind went blank. This guy's got some expert advice! He even knows how to use a strategic retreat to gain advantage and play the moral blackmail game! But Zhu Youjian wasn't going to let them get away with it. Under Zhou Kui's despairing gaze, he gladly accepted the account books and then sent Tang Yu to the Zhou residence to fetch more silver.

He brought back 30,000 taels of silver and handed it over to Empress Zhou, but she secretly sent 3,000 taels back! Zhu Youjian was somewhat disappointed in her. Legally speaking, the relationship between husband and wife is the primary kinship, but unfortunately, the father and daughter had known each other for over a decade, while he and Zhou had only been married for a few years. In the end, he had only been deluding himself!

Sigh, Zhu Youjian tried to stop thinking about these unpleasant things. Seeing Tang Yu's eyes glued to the two little ones, with a look of utter tenderness on his face, Zhu Youjian realized that this guy really did like small animals.

“This is the princess,” Zhu Youjian introduced, then pointed to the little one in his hand and said, “This is my son.”

Upon hearing this, Tang Yu's lips twitched, and he quickly stepped forward to pay his respects to the princess and the prince.

“Sigh, just a token gesture is enough. You’re a grown man, there’s no need for you to kneel before a child,” Zhu Youjian said, stopping him.

Not only Tang Yu, but Zhu Youjian also ordered that no one in the palace was allowed to kneel and bow to the princes and princesses. The palace maids who helped take care of the children were only allowed to keep an eye on them. They were never allowed to do things for the children that they could do themselves. For example, now that the children could crawl and walk, they were allowed to walk on their own. They were not allowed to be carried and coaxed all day long.

The eldest daughter, Chou Chou, was born on the 14th of the eighth month of the first year, and is now almost a year old. The eldest son and the youngest daughter were born on the same day, the 1st of the tenth month. One was born at midnight and was born in the early morning, while the other was born very quickly in the early morning. Therefore, Zhou Zhou is only one hour older than Zhu Youjian's eldest son, while Chou Chou is two months older than the two younger ones.

The difference is that Chou Chou has already learned to walk like a duck and to utter words in two-word phrases, while the other two can only quack and need to hold onto things to walk, and most of the time they crawl on all fours.

"Eat more, make sure you're full. Otherwise, word will get out that the emperor is treating people to a meal and not letting them eat their fill," Zhu Youjian said earnestly.

Tang Yu nodded repeatedly, quickly eating a few more bites of the dishes in front of him. Poor thing, he almost finished the whole pot of twice-cooked pork by himself, barely touching the other dishes. Zhu Youjian sighed, got up, took the plate away, and placed a bowl of Dongpo pork in front of him.

"Do you have children?!" Zhu Youjian asked casually.

"Your Majesty, I happen to have a son and a daughter. My son is currently studying at a private school in England, and my daughter is almost of marriageable age," Tang Yu said hesitantly. "The Shi family has sent a matchmaker to ask my daughter to marry his third son."

"You agreed?!" Zhu Youjian frowned.

"I am unwilling, but I dare not refuse. I can only delay because my daughter is young."

"Shi Laifeng?! You rejected him. I think he's about to beg for his life. Why bother with him? If he has nowhere to go, you can send him to the palace. If he doesn't want to, that's fine with you."

Zhu Youjian felt his foot being stepped on, but he pretended not to notice. Sun Shiwan puffed up her cheeks, turning into a pufferfish's puff, while Chou Chou, thinking her mother was teasing her, giggled.

My son is really an eyesore, so I prepared some food and a golden spoon and let him fight on his own at a small table. The palace maids were anxious but were not allowed to feed him, so they could only clean up the messy battlefield from time to time.

(End of this chapter)