The Great Ming Demon Pill: Your Majesty, please address me as the Crown Prince!

Inside the Prince of Han's Palace.

When Princess Wei, the wife of the King of Han, received the imperial edict, she was completely bewildered.

She never expected that her son would bring her an adopted daughter.

Moreover, she was to become the adopted daughter-in-law of her son when he grew up.

No, is that right?

Looking at Hu Shanxiang, who was sitting upright with a small package in his hand and a blank expression, Wei fell into deep thought.

To be fair, this girl is quite pretty.

Zhu Gaoxu, who was standing next to Zhu Zhanjun, grabbed Zhu Zhanjun's shoulder and laughed, winking at him.

"You little rascal, you've got some of your old man's talent."

"This girl is well-mannered."

"Most importantly, it's fucking awesome because it was stolen from the Crown Prince's palace!"

Mr. Wei was speechless.

She rolled her eyes at Zhu Gaoxu and whispered to Zhu Zhanjun.

"Zhanjun, she's four years older than you!"

"Didn't you say before that you didn't like women who were ten years older than you?"

Zhu Zhanjun said solemnly.

"She's different; she understands Tang Dynasty history."

Weiss: "..."

Zhu Zhanjun wasn't lying.

There is a formidable older sister in the family, Hu Shanwei.

Although the Hu family was a small and humble household, they still raised their daughters to be virtuous, well-mannered, and knowledgeable.

Although Hu Shanxiang was still a young girl, she was quite proficient in poetry, prose, and historical classics.

When Madam Wei saw Hu Shanxiang sitting there with her head bowed in a restrained manner, her heart softened.

She sighed, got up and walked to Hu Shanxiang's side, and said gently, "Good child, don't be afraid."

Hearing the voice, Hu Shanxiang looked up and met Wei Shi's gentle gaze. She timidly called out, "Your Highness, the Princess Consort..."

Lady Wei sat down beside her, gently took her hand, and asked softly, "Are you hungry? Did you not have a good meal in the palace?"

Hu Shanxiang felt the warmth coming from the back of his hand and whispered.

"A little."

Lady Wei smiled knowingly and instructed the maid beside her to order some dishes.

She then comforted Hu Shanxiang.

"From now on, this will be your home."

"If you lack anything, are short of anything, or have something on your mind, feel free to tell me."

"Our household doesn't have many strict rules, so you can just settle in comfortably."

Hearing these considerate words, Hu Shanxiang's originally anxious and uneasy heart gradually calmed down.

...................

The Eastern Palace.

"This is outrageous! This is too much!" Zhang was so angry that her face turned pale.

In just half a day, the fact that Lady Hu had been bestowed upon Zhu Zhanjun by imperial decree had become common knowledge.

As the Crown Princess, Lady Zhang naturally had her own spies in the palace. She knew the origin of the imperial edict: Zhu Zhanjun had personally gone to Zhu Di to request it.

Zhang could easily imagine that the old man was unaware that Hu had been summoned to the palace by her and then tricked by Zhu Zhanjun into giving him an imperial edict.

Now that the imperial decree has been issued, everything is settled.

Outsiders only knew that the future eldest grandson's wife, whom she had chosen in the Eastern Palace, had been snatched away by Zhu Zhanjun!

One woman may be insignificant, but doesn't the Crown Prince have any pride?

Doesn't the Crown Princess have any dignity?

Zhu Zhanji's face was also ashen, and his skin felt burning hot.

Damn!

Hu Shanxiang was just a symbol in his eyes, insignificant and meaningless.

But others don't think so!

Others will only think that Zhu Zhanji's future wife was stolen by that bastard!

Countless people secretly ridiculed him.

Moreover, if Zhu Zhanjun dares to seize Hu Shanxiang today, he might dare to seize his throne tomorrow!

He gritted his teeth and said.

"Mother, this boy is slapping the face of our Crown Prince's Palace."

"I swear I will not rest until I avenge this!"

Seeing this, Madam Sun quickly stepped forward, gently patted Zhu Zhanji's back, and showed just the right amount of indignation on her face.

"Your Highness, please calm down. It's not worth getting sick from anger."

"That Prince of Jiyang... really went too far."

"Although I am of lowly status, I feel indignant on behalf of Your Highness."

As she spoke, her eyes reddened slightly, as if she were experiencing the same thing herself, but she felt a quiet sense of relief and even a hint of joy.

If Hu Shanxiang really becomes the Empress Consort of the Crown Prince, wouldn't she have no chance of ever rising in the future?

Now that she has been intercepted by Zhu Zhanjun, although it has offended the Crown Prince, it has inadvertently cleared away a potentially huge obstacle for her.

She's probably the only one in the Eastern Palace who's truly happy.

Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi, standing to the side, looked grim and remained silent.

"Zhanjun, this is going too far."

Zhu Zhanji's eyes were red.

"Father, our Eastern Palace will not retaliate."

"Everyone else is treating us like pushovers."

Zhu Gaochi felt a tightness in his chest upon hearing this.

He knew perfectly well what his son meant.

Over the years, Zhu Gaochi used various methods on him, such as sending him all kinds of luxury items, beauties, and delicacies, and then coaxing him to enjoy himself. Once he accepted them, he would run to his father, the emperor, to report on him. He was quite aggrieved.

Now that it's his son's turn, he's being teased by Zhu Zhanjun in every way, and a surge of resentment is rising straight to the top of his head.

He gritted his teeth and said.

"Zhanji is right."

.......................

Three days later.

The temperature in Nanjing gradually dropped, and it became cool.

However, the topics of discussion in the city were quite lively, like oil being poured on a hot fire.

Teahouses and taverns.

"The serialized version of *Jin Ping Mei* in the newspapers is nothing but scandalous tales of women in their boudoirs and debauchery in the marketplace; it's utterly unbearable to read!"

"If such writings were to circulate in the world, wouldn't it corrupt morals and tempt people to depravity? Especially for women, children, and teenagers who can even read a few words, how could they possibly tolerate reading them?"

"And those so-called 'overseas tales' and 'new knowledge of things,' which talk about the sun and moon revolving around the earth, and all things being made up of dust... This is completely contrary to the sage's theory of 'interaction between heaven and man'! What else could it be but heresy and evil?"

Imperial College (Guozijian)

"What kind of investigation of things and extension of knowledge is this? It's clearly just a clever pretext for doing crooked and heretical things! Instead of reading the classics, they play with carpentry and iron-making machines. This is the lowly profession of craftsmen. How can they govern the country and bring peace to the world?"

"That new loom he invented, it looks fast, but do you know how many weavers have lost their jobs because of it?"

"This is competing with the people for profit and ruining the simple livelihood of our Great Ming! If this continues, with everyone chasing after profit, who will still be able to peacefully cultivate the land and study?"

Discussions like this began to gain momentum in Nanjing at some point.

Rumors are not afraid of being fabricated out of thin air; what is most frightening is that they are half true and half false.

No one knows where these messages came from, but they contained a mix of true and false information, and with the help of those with ulterior motives, they gradually formed a considerable wave of discussion.

Half a month later.

Fengtian Temple.

As the court session was drawing to a close, Zhu Di was about to signal Meng Ji to announce the adjournment of the court when suddenly a man stepped forward from the ranks of civil officials, holding a tablet, and walked to the foot of the imperial steps, bowing respectfully.

"Your Majesty, Chen Wen, a Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Rites, has a memorial to present!"

Zhu Di nodded slightly: "Speak."