Chapter 181 Are you always keeping an eye on me?"

Qianqing Palace.

Lao Zhu looked at the table full of food and secretly regretted it.

Since I arranged an errand for the eldest grandson, the grandson has not been in the palace for five days, causing him to lose his appetite for food.

"Erhu, will you come and have dinner with us?"

"ah?"

Erhu wanted to say that he had already eaten, but when he saw the resentful look in the emperor's eyes, he really couldn't refuse, so he could only bite the bullet and sit down to eat.

In fact, dining with the emperor is a very painful task. Even someone as close as Erhu can hide and hide whenever he can.

Because the emperor's royal meal is not necessarily more delicious, it is just safer.

In addition, there are many rules, it is difficult to sit still, and eating is strict, so no one wants to mess with this.

However, Erhu is relatively good. He is not very picky about food. He is the kind of person who eats whatever he is given and is very easy to feed.

With the addition of Erhu, the food on the dinner table quickly decreased, and Lao Zhu's appetite became a little better. He finally drank half a bowl of porridge and ate a plate of chicken and fried leeks.

Just as the two tigers were preparing to have a banquet, the eunuch outside the door suddenly reported that His Highness the Third Emperor Sun requested to see him.

Lao Zhu's face immediately showed surprise when he heard this, while Erhu almost choked on the boiled chicken. He thought to himself that he had eaten all the food, what would the three emperors and their grandsons eat later?

"Tell him to get in quickly!"

"Hmph!"

"When we were in the palace, we held his ears, but we didn't teach him any rules. He's only been out for a few days, but he's learned to be pretentious!"

Not long after, there was a sound of fast running, and then Zhu Yunxi came in through the small door of the side hall like a big rat, rushed in, hugged Lao Zhu and shook him.

"Grandpa Huang, did you miss me?"

"Have you missed me these past few days so much that you can't sleep well or eat well, hahaha!"

Lao Zhu was so shaken by his grandson that he almost fell apart. Hearing Nisun's words, he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"Who are you!"

"Come here, get this skinny monkey out of here!"

Zhu Yunxi is so mean and honest.

"You don't even know me, but I am your eldest son's eldest son!"

Lao Zhu, who originally had a stern face, immediately broke his guard when he heard this and burst out laughing. But he laughed for a while and then cursed a few times as if he was complaining.

"We sleep well and eat well every day, so we don't want you, a heartless little rebel!"

Zhu Yunxi had long expected that the old man would be angry, so he quickly explained after hearing this.

"My grandson, isn't this also sharing the country's worries?"

"You don't know, my grandson has been running all over the city and outside the city these days, and his legs are so thin from running!"

As Zhu Yunxi spoke, he lifted up his front skirt and showed Lao Zhu his thighs.

Seeing that he was so out of shape, Lao Zhu slapped him on the butt angrily.

"Stop being weird and sit down and eat!"

After Lao Zhu finished eating, he couldn't help but glance at the table. Seeing that the table was already in a mess, he couldn't help but glare at Erhu.

"Your mouth is too fast. Our eldest grandson hasn't eaten yet, and you have eaten all of it?"

Erhu held two buns in his hand and was about to stuff them into his mouth. Suddenly when he heard these words, he froze there, either eating or not eating.

"Your Majesty, why don't you humble yourself and put these two buns back?"

Lao Zhu looked disgusted.

"You've already caught it with your hands, how can our eldest grandson eat it?"

"Where's Lao Xu?"

Lao Zhu looked around and didn't see Xu Xingzu, so he immediately ordered.

"Come here, go to the imperial kitchen to convey the order, and hurry up and prepare some more food for our eldest grandson!"

When Erhu heard this, he stood up and said quickly.

"I am humble enough to go and deliver the message!"

Zhu Yunxi didn't dislike it at all. He directly reached out and picked up a bun and started to chew it. While chewing, he complained to Lao Zhu.

"Grandpa Huang, you don't know how miserable and tired your grandson has been these past few days."

"I haven't had a proper meal in several days. I only eat solid food on the road!"

"Look at me, have I lost weight?"

Lao Zhu looked at Dasun's big face getting fatter and fatter, but he couldn't tell that he had lost weight. Moreover, he even scorned Dasun's suggestion of eating solid food every meal.

He had already sent someone to find out. His grandson ordered noodles at the restaurant every day and took them on the road to eat.

Although it was very hard to travel and inspect, he did not wrong himself and had a good meal.

However, when Lao Zhu heard what Da Sun said, he still felt a little bit distressed.

After all, Dasun’s hard work along the way is real and not fake at all.

Moreover, according to secret reports from his subordinates, Dasun was very meticulous during his inspections and did not miss every workshop or process.

Every time I go to a place, I will carefully record what I see and hear. I will also chat with the craftsmen from time to time and ask about some details of production and life.

Every time Lao Zhu thinks of this, he feels sour in his heart. His behavior is just like that of his father...

When Zhu Biao went out for training when he was young, he was also very meticulous and conscientious, and he also paid great attention to the public sentiment.

Lao Zhu originally thought that this monkey was just a whim, and he would come back to complain to him after only a few days of work. He didn't expect that the complaint was really a complaint, but Nisun gritted his teeth and got the job done, which was greatly surprised.

met his expectations.

"Xiao Nisun, how do you feel after inspecting these days?"

Zhu Yunxi was chewing the buns when he suddenly heard these words and replied vaguely.

"too bitter!"

When Lao Zhu heard this, he secretly sighed in his heart, "I am just complaining about everything now. Our eldest son only complained about suffering when he went out to patrol the world."

At that time, the war had just ended, and prosperous places like Yangzhou were completely deserted, let alone the real remote rural areas.

However, Zhu Biao persisted all the way without saying a word of complaint.

It seems that this grandson still lacks experience. He should really be sent out again to see the real sufferings of the people.

"Those craftsmen lived a very hard life. They lived in a thatched shack without even a wall."

"And I don't eat well either. I can only eat a few bowls of dry rice with pickles, and it's like celebrating a festival."

"Grandpa Huang, what on earth were you thinking back then to create such a deceptive craftsmanship system?"

Lao Zhu was stunned when he heard the first few words, and secretly thought that this grandson was not complaining for himself, but for the craftsmen!

But when he heard the last sentence, Lao Zhu's temper suddenly rose and he shouted.

"You know so much!"

"You've only been eating for a few days, and you dare to ask me whether you're here. I think your butt is itchy again and you want to be whipped!"

Lao Zhu naturally knew the shortcomings of the craftsman household system. Even if he didn't know it at the beginning, after being emperor for more than 20 years, he received memorials every year stating that the craftsmen households had fled, and he could also realize that there was something wrong with the craftsman household system.

But he never wanted to change, or was incapable of changing.

Because collecting taxes has been a big problem since ancient times, especially for craftsmen who have no fixed residence and no permanent property in their name, it is even more difficult to collect taxes.

This year they are working in Jinling City, next year they may go to Peiping, and the year after that they may not know where they will go.

Therefore, it became a matter of course that they should be firmly fixed in the household registration of the craftsmen, and every move should be carried out under the supervision of the government.

But the most important reason why he was so angry was that the person questioning him was wrong.

If an ordinary person questioned it, he wouldn't care even if he was unhappy. But Zhu Yunxi questioned it, which made him a little angry. He felt that his authority as the emperor's grandfather had been questioned and he became less authoritative.

“Study more and see more, talk less and do less.”

"Do you think that after worshiping three masters, you can dictate our governance?"

"Let me tell you, you are still far from good!"

"No matter how hard it is for our craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty, it is better than it was in the Meng Yuan Dynasty. At least we have never killed anyone indiscriminately!"

"Go and find out how miserable the craftsmen were during the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, and then criticize our governance!"

Seeing that Lao Zhu was angry, Zhu Yunxi quickly shrank his neck and concentrated on cooking.

I secretly thought that those three masters were right. If they really followed the way they wrote the first version of the instructions, it would be weird if Grandpa Huang didn't hang himself up and beat him.

If not, you can just give up your job and re-recruit yourself to the main hall as a junior monk.
To be continued...