Imperial Palace, Main Hall.
Zhu Rong obediently knelt in front of his father, Zhu Yuanzhang.
His fourth brother, the King of Yan, Zhu Di, was kneeling beside him.
Strictly speaking, he and his fourth brother, Zhu Di, were actually biological brothers from the same mother.
It was just that their mother, Concubine Wang, had died early.
Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bear to see the brothers lose their mother at such a young age.
Thus, he placed his fourth brother Zhu Di under Empress Ma's lap, while Zhu Xi was placed under Noble Consort Sun's lap.
However, in the Imperial Palace, the two brothers often met each other. In addition, they were born from the same mother, so their relationship was naturally closer than that of the other princes.
However, in terms of dealing with people, Zhu Rong was far more popular than Zhu Di.
From the emperor and empress to his younger siblings, nephews and nieces, there was no one who did not like him.
In the end, Zhu Rong was a person who had lived two lives. In his previous life, he was considered a person with some achievements and knew how to deal with interpersonal relationships.
On the other hand, his fourth brother, Zhu Di, was now a complete hothead.
Although Zhu Rong knew that his fourth brother would be the Iron Blood Emperor who would establish the backbone of the Ming Dynasty in the future.
For example, at this moment, the two brothers were kneeling in front of their father.
Zhu Di was like a proud fighting rooster. He raised his head and puffed out his chest as if he had not done anything wrong.
Zhu Rong, on the other hand, had an honest and well-behaved appearance.
In the main hall, Zhu Yuanzhang walked around expressionlessly, but his face was as dark as water, as if he would flare up at any moment.
The surrounding princes did not dare to make a sound. Anyone could tell that their father was currently suppressing his anger.
Seeing that something was wrong, Zhu Biao quickly said,"
"Fourth Brother, Fifth Brother, where have you been?”
Before Zhu Xiong could say anything, Zhu Di cupped his hands calmly and said,"
"Reporting to the crown prince, this minister's younger brother went to memorize.”
When Zhu Xiong heard this, he immediately cried out in his heart. This idiot was just stoking the fire.
As expected, when Zhu Yuanzhang heard this, he couldn't control himself. He immediately grabbed a big golden hammer from the guard and wanted to hit him.
He only raised the big golden hammer in his hand and felt that it was a little heavy. If this fellow went down, his son would probably be ruined.
After throwing the golden hammer away, Zhu Yuanzhang began to look around for something to hit people with.
She happened to see Song Lian's ferule in the lecture hall and immediately grabbed it, ready to fight.
However, looking at Zhu Di's calm face, she couldn't bear to make a move. She could only throw the ferule away angrily.
Zhu Rong heaved a sigh of relief. No matter how mischievous his son was, the old man still couldn't bear to hit him.
Zhu Yuanzhang suppressed his anger and said,
"You dare to lie to your father? He even memorized it outside the main hall?”
Zhu Di said calmly,"
"Reporting to Imperial Father, Teacher said that he wanted to memorize, but he didn't say that he had to memorize it in the main hall.”
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that this kid still dared to talk back, he sneered and said,
"Sure, sure. You're going to memorize, right? Alright, come, come, then recite it for me!”
As he spoke, Zhu Yuanzhang walked to the lecture hall with his hands behind his back and sat down.
"Let me tell you, it's fine if you memorize it well, but if you don't, watch how I deal with you! Come on!"
Zhu Rong was stunned and looked at the old man, feeling puzzled.
The old man must have been so angry that he was muddle-headed. It was obvious that he had been schemed against by his fourth brother, Zhu Di!
With Fourth Brother Zhu Di's intelligence, he would have already memorized the things that Song Lian taught him.
As expected, seeing that the old man wanted him to memorize, Zhu Di opened his mouth and said,
" Confucius said: To govern with virtue is like Beichen…"
Zhu Di memorized the second chapter of The Analects of Confucius.
The surrounding princes were stunned.
Even Song Lian was surprised.
Zhu Yuanzhang was also a little surprised, and the anger in his heart lessened slightly.
"Not bad, your little brain is quite…"
Halfway through his sentence, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately paused. He had come to his senses.
"Hey? Little bastard, you dare to scheme against your father?”
Zhu Yuanzhang was naturally unwilling to let go of this clever son. He immediately shouted,
"Men!"
Seeing this, Crown Prince Zhu Biao quickly cupped his hands.
"Imperial Father, you are not joking!"
The old man, Song Lian, also came back to his senses.
"Your Majesty, you are not joking!"
The princes also pleaded,
"Imperial Father, you are not joking!"
With so many people pleading for mercy, Zhu Yuanzhang was at his wit's end. There was really no punishment.
Thus, he looked at Zhu Rong impolitely.
"What about you? You went to memorize too?"
Zhu Rong really wanted to say yes, I'll go memorize it, I can recite the entire Analects of Confucius backwards.
However, after experiencing Zhu Di's incident, Zhu Xiong did not dare to say that.
The old man had already fallen for Fourth Brother's trick once. If he were to learn from Zhu Di, he would feel that his butt would bloom.
Zhu Xiong scratched his head and tried his best to put on a simple and honest look.
"No, my son went to farm."
"Huh? Farming?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was not the only one who was stunned by this answer. All the princes present were stunned as well.
Zhu Di glanced at Zhu Xiong and thought to himself.
Fifth Brother! Was he stupid? Why was he looking for such a lousy reason?
Zhu Biao glared at Zhu Rong. He was usually a smart person, but why did he become muddle-headed at the critical moment?
The old master was so angry that he laughed. These two sons were really more troublesome than the other.
At the very least, Fourth Brother would find an excuse to memorize.
This fifth brother was good. He directly told him that he went to farm. Could he tolerate this?
"Farming? What a good farming method! Your old man had fought hard to conquer the Ming Dynasty, provided you with food and clothing, hired the best teachers to teach you, and just wanted you to farm?”
Zhu Yuanzhang grabbed a book on the podium and wanted to throw it at Zhu Rong. This time, he was really angry.
Zhu Xiong quickly explained,"
"Because Sensei Song taught me, your son has already memorized it. I was just thinking that Imperial Father often said that although our Zhu family sits high in the court, we must not forget our roots.”
"Thus, I had a sudden impulse to experience the life of the common people.”
"As the saying goes, when you eat porridge and rice, you should think about how difficult it is to come by.”
"Our Zhu family was born as ordinary people, and it's all thanks to Imperial Father's great talent and strategy that we can have today. However, Imperial Father's family business, as sons, we naturally can't sit idly by and enjoy the fruits of his labor.”
"You have to understand how difficult it was for Imperial Father to walk this path back then, and how hard it was for the commoners at the bottom.”
"Only by experiencing the hardships of the people at the bottom of the society can we, as sons, appreciate the hard-earned life today.”
Zhu Xiong's words stunned everyone present.
Zhu Rong thought to himself, Good fellow, really good fellow! This Fifth Brother was indeed eloquent. He could even come up with such an excuse about farming.
Zhu Di secretly glanced at his younger brother and secretly gave him a thumbs up.
Awesome!
Zhu Biao looked at his fifth brother with a gratified expression and nodded in satisfaction.
Among all his younger brothers, Zhu Biao was certain that the fifth brother, Zhu Xi, was the one he had the most faith in.
This kid was smart and knew how to come up with things. Moreover, he could flexibly resolve every predicament.
With these words, his father would definitely not find trouble with him anymore.
Even Song Lian, the great scholar, was thinking about what Zhu Rong had just said.
"A bowl of porridge and a bowl of rice should reflect on how difficult it is to come here. Great talent, great talent!"
At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang finally came back to his senses. The way he looked at Zhu Rong changed.
Fifth Brother, this child! A promising talent! He knew how to look at the root of things!
In the future, you will definitely become the thousand-li steed of my Zhu family!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。