Zhu Gaochi's fat face has clear eyes and small eyes, and his face also shows a simple and honest attitude.
"This is natural! The three brothers Chen and I are closest to my uncle, and my uncle also loves Chen and me the most. So every year, no matter the winter or summer festivals, I and my uncle will communicate with each other and send each other some local specialties and other things!"
He said and smiled again, "My nephew is close to my uncle, and my uncle is good to my nephew. Isn't that a natural thing?"
What he said was matter-of-fact and without any pretense, making it impossible for anyone to find anything wrong with him.
"Then why are you so close to Xu Zengshou?" Zhu Yunxi asked again with a smile.
"Avoid suspicion!" Zhu Gaochi said seriously, "My uncle is the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army and holds an important position. As the sons of the vassal prince, I naturally have to avoid suspicion!"
"Oh?" Zhu Yunxi smiled again, "To avoid suspicion? To avoid suspicion of what? There is no silver here, three hundred taels, or melon fields and plums?"
As he said that, he sneered again, "Could it be that in your hearts, Gu is so unforgiving that he is suspicious of even your uncle?"
The exchange of words between them was so fast that Zhu Gaoxu and Zhu Gaosui beside them looked confused.
Okay, why are you suddenly involved in your uncle's house?
"Your Highness, please forgive me. Your Highness is broad-minded and naturally won't think of anything!" Zhu Gaochi said with a smile, "But there are many people in the capital, so it is inevitable that there will be people who like to talk and gossip. I am also the son of the vassal prince, how many censors are there?
All the officials are watching, just in case...I mean just in case, just in case there is someone who wants to invite someone to be named. Your Highness is confusing right and wrong, and I can't explain clearly even if I'm full of words!"
"It's okay to talk about ministers, but it's not nice to talk about uncle!"
"In contrast, my brother-in-law has no power or position..."
"Well, Xu Zengshou has no official position and is light-weight. He is an idle man in the capital. When you interact with him, you don't have to worry about others gossiping, right?" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile.
"Exactly, exactly!" Zhu Gaochi smiled, and then sighed slightly, "Sometimes, it is quite difficult to put the word family love on ministers!"
After he finished speaking, he sighed again, his chubby face full of loneliness and sadness.
It was as if he had accepted his grievance and couldn't help himself.
"The fat guy can act! He can talk!"
Zhu Yunxi cursed in his heart and said with a smile, "You, you think too much!"
After saying that, he continued, "Aren't you afraid that your shadow will be distorted if you are upright? If you are upright, no matter how others distort the movements between relatives, I will not believe it! On the contrary, if something happens to you, even if you are not close, I will
Don’t you know?”
"It's time to move around. If your father is King Yan, he would really have to say something to avoid suspicion! You three brothers, why are you thinking so much!"
At this point, Zhu Yunxi changed the topic, "Have you settled down in your residence this time in the capital?"
This time is different from the past. Last time the three brothers could live in the palace, but this time they couldn't.
"Otherwise!" Zhu Yunxi thought about it and continued, "I will make arrangements for you!"
"No, no, no!" Zhu Gaochi said hurriedly.
Let Zhu Yunxi arrange it, wouldn't the three of them become caged birds? Wouldn't their words and actions be exposed under the eyes of others?
"On Taiyuan Lane next to Honglu Temple, there is a house where my father lived when he came to Beijing. I and others live there!" Zhu Gaochi said hurriedly.
"Woo!" Zhu Yunxi nodded, "That's fine!" He continued to smile, "Is there a shortage of manpower over there? Turn around and ask some eunuchs to come over!"
"No need, no need!" Zhu Gaochi said hurriedly, "I don't need anything!"
"Putting aside the identity of Gu, you and I are cousins. Just now you talked about family ties, why are you so polite to Gu now!" Zhu Yunxi smiled and said, "Come here!"
The bastard lowered his head and came in from the outside, "My slave is here!"
"Chuanggu's oral instructions were given to the internal officials and supervisors, asking them to send people over to serve the three grandsons of Prince Yan's family!" Zhu Yunxi said loudly, "Also, let's take a look at what is missing over there. Everything that is missing will be taken from the palace.
Make up for it!"
"Yes! This is what I will do!"
After giving the instructions, Zhu Yunxi looked at Zhu Gaochi with a smile, "It's just a matter of words. If you continue to be humble, you will be alienated!"
Zhu Gaochi had no choice but to stand up and salute solemnly, "My lord, thank you for your kindness!"
As he said that, he glanced sideways at the other two brothers.
The third child Zhu Gaosui suddenly woke up, stood up and saluted, and at the same time slightly kicked Zhu Gaoxu sideways.
Zhu Gaoxu was thinking about how to meet Lan Yu, "How dare you kick..."
However, he immediately woke up and saluted accordingly.
"That's all, we're not outsiders!" Zhu Yunxi said with a smile, "Come here, come here, just talking and not eating. Today is a welcome feast for you. After you have settled down and rested enough, we will come into the palace to serve you."
The old man kowtows!"
As he said that, he continued to laugh and said, "You are here, and Uncle Fifteen will be here soon. This year's Chinese New Year will be very lively!"
~~~
The next morning, Zhu Yunxi accompanied the old man to have breakfast.
Because of his health, the old man's diet has become much lighter.
The old man sat with his legs crossed and felt quite unhappy when he saw that there were no pickles, pickled meat, salt eggs, etc. that he liked on the table.
"Damn it, I'm so old, and you still have to take care of the food! Ah, how many more days can we eat? I eat so little water every day, the worms in my stomach are starving and thinning!" The old man said dissatisfiedly
, "How many more days can we eat? Can't we just leave it to our own will?"
Zhu Yunxi personally served a bowl of millet porridge to the old man, "Grandpa Huang, Ning'er cooked this for you when he got up in the morning. It contains jujubes, which is best for nourishing the stomach!"
"Ning'er is still sensible, you are just a talker!" The old man held the bowl, blew on it, and then started sucking along the edge of the bowl.
He drank half the bowl in one go and curled his lips and said, "It's so sweet, not much to eat!" After saying that, he glanced at Zhu Yunxi again, "Those three guys, are you settled?"
Zhu Yunxi knew who the old man was talking about and said with a smile, "I live in the house where my fourth uncle used to live. The waiters have been sent over!"
"Well, among the three brothers, the eldest is quite sensible!" the old man said.
"What Grandpa Huang said is that Gao Chi is a serious person!"
"He actually has a temperament similar to your father's, really!" The old man smiled and said, "Wilted!"
At this moment, Pu Bucheng bowed and came in from the outside.
"Your Majesty!"
"Say!" the old man said, holding the bowl of porridge.
"Master Fifteen is back!" Pu Bucheng whispered.
"Old Fifteen is back!" The old man was immediately overjoyed.
"So fast!" Zhu Yunxi was also a little surprised. "Yesterday's letter also said that there is still some distance to go!"
"Fifteenth Master changed horses along the way and came at a lightning speed..."
Before Pu Bucheng could finish speaking, the old man had already said loudly, "Quickly, let him come, let's take a look at him!" With that, he arranged his hair with his big hands, "We haven't seen Old Fifteen in a long time! I don't know.
Our old fifteen, even though he is getting stronger, he is still getting darker!"
~~~~
After half a stick of incense, hurried footsteps were heard outside the hall.
"Father, my son is back!"
Zhu Zhi's loud voice sounded, and the old man sitting on the throne in the palace immediately stood up, "Old Fifteen, come in quickly, come in quickly, it's cold outside!"
The palace door was pushed open by two eunuchs.
A dusty figure came in, knelt directly at the door, and kowtowed heavily, his voice a bit choked.
"Father, my unfilial son, Old Fifteen, is back!"
"It's good to come back. How unfilial!" The old man smiled and stepped forward, "I heard that you were very conscientious in Liaodong. You also took the lead in this war and did not ruin the reputation of our Zhu family!" At this point, the old man said
He bowed in person and held the other person's shoulders with his big hands, "Get up quickly. My family is not so polite. You have traveled all the way. You must be tired! Have you eaten yet? I asked someone to prepare wine and rice for you. Your mother and concubine know that you
I’m coming back, I cried a lot in the back!”
The old man talked nonchalantly, and he felt a little sad when he said it.
"Hey, I sealed you so far away and I won't be able to see you for several years." The old man patted his son's already thick shoulder, "Fortunately, you are an adult now and a man!"
"Father! I miss you every day!" Zhu Zhi raised his head with tears streaming down his face.
"Good boy, we know you are filial. You have always been good..." As he spoke, the old man paused, looked at the scars on Zhu Zhi's face, and asked loudly, "What's going on?
?" Immediately, he looked back at Zhu Yunxi, "How did you do this? Do you know?"
Zhu Yunxi knew about this, but the old man concealed it in the military report.
"My son was defeated at Dalinghe, and his guard capsized. He was chased by the Tatars like a lost dog!" Zhu Zhi gritted his teeth and said with tears, "At that time, my men were out of ten, and I was both angry and ashamed!"
"As the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I have the deepest hope of my father. I am unable to defend the border and have lost my master and humiliated the country. I feel even more terrified and ashamed!"
"And when I think about it again, the loyal and brave men who followed my ministers suffered heavy casualties, and the people on the border were massacred by the Tatars, I feel even more heartbroken!"
"On that day, I cut my face on the battlefield and swore an oath to avenge this deep hatred! If I don't take revenge, I am willing to fight to the death on the border!"
Zhu Zhi was already bursting into tears, "Thanks to the protection of the emperor, I can finally kill the Tartars and avenge my great revenge!"
"You!" The old man looked at his beloved son and suddenly became furious, "You bastard! You bastard! You're the one who got bitten by your mother! What will I do if you die? You don't learn from the motherfuckers, and you still want to learn from the ancients about cutting their faces.
....."
Cursing, the old man groped around, pulled off the cloth shoes from his feet, and beat him all over his head and face.
"You don't care about your body, hair, and skin, so much!" The old man scolded while beating him, "You have such a good face, but you cut it like this! We'll beat you to death for being an unfilial son! You're always willing to die to prove your ambition!"
Did your father give birth to you just to let you die?"
"Winning or losing is a common thing for a soldier. Just fight back next time. Are you going to harm yourself? Are you worthy of me giving birth to you?"
Bang bang bang, Zhu Zhi didn't even try to hide from the old man's whipping.
Instead, he hugged the old man's thigh and cried, "Father! My son was in Liaodong, when the war was at its fiercest, and he was thinking about one thing!"
The old man's cloth shoes paused for a moment.
Zhu Zhi raised his head with tears streaming down his face, "I thought that if I could see you again before dying in battle, I would really die without regrets!"
"You!" The old man sighed, lost his cloth shoes, and stroked the scars on his son's face with his big hands, "Damn it, our Lao Zhu family are all such stubborn beasts!"