If not abolished

Chapter 213 Preference (3)

Zhu Di was silent for a while. He had always had conflicting feelings towards the prince. He wanted to enjoy the affection between father and son, but when he thought about the monarch and his subjects, the future, the throne, and other things, he could not have real feelings for the prince. Zhu Di also understood the problems raised by Concubine Wang. The queen often said that he was partial to the King of Han. Now think about it, he was not always partial to the King of Han. After all, the prince was his first son, and he had high hopes for him. When did it start? He began to be partial? Even when he was still the Prince of Yan, he had thought about not asking for the title of Crown Prince for the Crown Prince. Zhu Di kept thinking about it, wondering when it started. Yes, it was when the Crown Prince fell ill and had difficulty walking. The imperial physician said that the Crown Prince would have difficulty walking in the future and would not be able to ride a horse. After hearing this result, Zhu Di was sad at first. He had been brave and good at fighting all his life, but his son could not even ride a horse. Such a gap was difficult for him to accept for a while. From then on, day after day, year after year, seeing that the Crown Prince not only had difficulty walking, but also became fatter and fatter, and at this time, there was the King of Han who was exactly like him in every aspect, his mind slowly changed. If the Crown Prince did not have Agui, Zhu Di would not have given the East Palace to the Crown Prince. He knew, he had always known, the consequences of favoritism, the confrontation between the two sides, he had to balance power, and he was not simply thinking of the King of Han yesterday, it was just that during this period of time, after the King of Han left the capital, the prince might have been tripped up by others when doing things in the past, but now, the prince's position is stable, and the court officials all follow the prince, he can only give the prince a warning again.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty..." Concubine Wang watched Zhu Di thinking without disturbing him. When she saw that he was almost done, she called out.

"Hmm..." Zhu Di came back to his senses from his long-lost thoughts.

"Your Majesty, what have you been thinking about for so long?"

"I was just thinking about the prince's childhood. My beloved concubine was right. I was not thoughtful yesterday. By the way, it's the prince's birthday today. How are you going to celebrate it?" Zhu Di asked.

"Well, I heard the Crown Princess mention it before. She said that the Crown Prince is frugal and doesn't plan to have a big celebration. The family will just have a reunion dinner. But the Crown Prince was reprimanded by His Majesty yesterday. I don't know if he is still in the mood now..."

"This... I can't possibly be the one to apologize to him and have someone give him a reward. The prince should understand, right?" Zhu Di knew that he did have some faults, but he was the emperor and also a father. It was impossible for him to apologize to his son. He couldn't bring himself to do that.

"I hope so. However, the prince has always been a sensible and steady man. He will definitely not take this to heart." Concubine Wang also knew the prince's character. He forgave his two younger brothers for treating him like that in the past, let alone his own father. Besides, His Majesty has often suppressed the prince over the years. The prince must have gotten used to it.

When Zhu Di heard that the prince was sensible, he felt bad or something, and suddenly said, "Why don't you go and ask? If they're having dinner or something, we can go and take a look..."

Concubine Wang looked at Zhu Di in surprise. She didn't expect Zhu Di to say this. "Your Majesty, why do you suddenly want to go? This is a bit against the rules. It's not common for a father to go to celebrate his son's birthday. Just give a gift."

Zhu Di said, "What rules? My rules are the rules. Besides, the court officials are used to guessing. I'm afraid that when they hear that I scolded the prince yesterday, they will start to guess whether I am dissatisfied with the prince. Now I am going to celebrate the prince's birthday to dispel their doubts."

"Your Majesty just wants to go, and you even bring up the court officials as an excuse. In that case, I will go and ask. It's a good opportunity for me to go with Your Majesty." Concubine Wang saw through Zhu Di's thoughts at a glance. When the Prince of Han was around, it was true that whenever there was a conflict between Your Majesty and the Crown Prince, the ministers would start speculating whether Your Majesty was going to depose the Crown Prince. But now that the Prince of Han has left Beijing, such things basically don't happen anymore. It's just an excuse.

Zhu Di was not angry when he was exposed, but just urged to go and take a look.

When Concubine Wang sent someone to get the news, she heard that everything went as usual on the Crown Prince's birthday. She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, "Fortunately, it's good. It seems that the Crown Prince is not angry with Your Majesty. As I said, the Crown Prince is the most generous."

"That's right. The prince wouldn't dare to be angry with me." Zhu Di also felt a lot more comfortable.

"Then your majesty, let's get ready to go there later."

"Yeah." Zhu Di nodded.

In the blink of an eye, it was night. In the main hall of Rouyi Palace, except for Concubine Guo who was absent due to illness, all the other concubines and concubines who had children came.

When Zhu Zhanji and Hu Shanxiang arrived, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess had not come out yet.

After the two sat down, Hu Shanxiang looked at Zhu Zhanji walking tensely and asked in confusion, "Why does your highness look so nervous?"

Zhu Zhanji was indeed nervous, his palms were sweating, "I'm just worried that I won't do it well later. What if it doesn't taste good?" Although he had practiced for a long time, he was still a little worried when the time came.

Hu Shanxiang held his hand and comforted him, "Don't panic, Your Highness. Just follow the instructions you practiced. It won't be bad. It's Your Highness's love for the Crown Prince."

Hu Shanxiang then realized that Zhu Zhanji's hands were sweating. "Your Highness has been on the battlefield before. Now it's just a small bowl of longevity noodles. It will definitely not be a problem for Your Highness."

"Well," Zhu Zhanji took a deep breath.

After a while, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess came out.

"Prince, the Crown Princess is here."

Everyone stood up and saluted.

"Long live the Crown Prince, and long live the Crown Princess."

"Everyone, get up." The prince said after sitting down and raising his hand.

Unexpectedly, as soon as everyone sat down, they heard a voice announcing: "His Majesty has arrived, and the Imperial Concubine has arrived."

The Crown Prince, the Crown Princess, Zhu Zhanji and Hu Shanxiang looked at each other and saw surprise on each other's faces. How did His Majesty come here?

The prince thought: No way, I just celebrated my birthday and had a meal, I didn’t do anything else, my father wouldn’t come and scold me personally, would he?

But no matter what, everyone could only suppress their thoughts and surprise and hurried to the door to welcome the emperor.

"Your Majesty, long live His Majesty." Everyone said in unison.

Zhu Di and Concubine Wang had just arrived outside the door. After Zhu Di asked someone to stand up, he walked in with Concubine Wang.

The prince was confused. What did his father want to do?

At this time, everyone except Concubine Wang had this question.

After Zhu Di sat down, he looked at the puzzled expressions of the crowd. He coughed and glanced at Concubine Wang. Concubine Wang looked like she was saying, "Your Majesty, you decide for yourself. I will not help you."

Seeing that she didn't move, Zhu Di had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "Well... I happened to be free with the imperial concubine, so I took a walk and saw the East Palace was brightly lit. I was curious and walked in to take a look. It happened to be the prince's birthday, so I thought of coming in to ask for a glass of wine. I have also prepared a birthday gift."

"It is my honor that Your Majesty can come." The prince knew that this was the biggest concession Zhu Di could make. As long as he didn't get scolded, everything else was fine.

"Then sit down, why are you standing all the time?"

Originally, everyone was going to present birthday gifts before the meal, but now that Zhu Di came over, everyone was so shocked that they didn't know what to do and suddenly became quiet.

"Agui, what birthday gifts have you prepared for your father?" Zhu Di looked at the crowd and didn't know what to do, so he had to break the peace.

"Your Majesty, the birthday gift that I have prepared for my father this year will take some time to prepare, so please let me leave for a while." Zhu Zhanji stood up and bowed.

As soon as these words came out, everyone was very curious about what good things His Royal Highness the Grandson had prepared for the Crown Prince. Zhu Di immediately said, "In that case, then you can go."

"Father, since we are waiting anyway, why not check on others first?" the prince asked, thinking that if we just sit here and do nothing, it would be stressful for everyone.

"Oh, okay. Then I want to see others'." Zhu Di agreed.

In fact, the birthday gifts from other people were not much different from those in previous years. After all, the prince had everything he needed, and the gifts were just the same.

There were more valuable items such as antiques, calligraphy and paintings, more thoughtful items such as some handicrafts made by the concubines themselves, and things prepared by the children. In short, there was not much difference from previous years, and the prince rewarded and praised them one by one.

Zhu Zhanji didn't come back for most of the day, and Zhu Di wondered, "Why did Agui take so long?"