Zhu Gui no longer had any scruples in his heart. That night, Zhu Gui and Xu Miaoqing finally became a real couple.
The next day, Zhu Gui got up very early. He looked at the lazy and sweet smile of the person beside his pillow, stroked her hair with his hand and whispered, "I will definitely live up to you in this life."
After washing up, Zhu Gui came to the courtyard. The servants of the Xu Mansion were busy. When they saw Zhu Gui coming out, they all said hello.
At this time, Xu Yingxu also came to the courtyard. When he saw Zhu Gui, he was stunned for a moment, then came over to greet him and said, "Your Majesty, he looks good today."
"Really?" Zhu Gui touched his face. If there was a mirror in his arms, he would definitely take it out and look at it.
"By the way, where is the princess? She needs breakfast." Xu Yingxu said.
"She is still resting, so she probably won't eat. I will prepare some snacks for her later. Let's go."
Zhu Gui said and led Xu Yingxu out of the yard.
After breakfast, someone from Dai Wang's palace came to deliver a message, saying that the emperor's oral order had arrived, allowing Zhu Gui to enter the palace.
So Zhu Gui said goodbye to everyone, and then came to the palace with Xu Guogong.
Today is the day of going to court. Although there have been no morning meetings recently, the emperor has been going to court recently.
It's just that Zhu Gui is already a vassal king, not a court official, so he doesn't need to go to court.
So the two parted at the Meridian Gate.
Zhu Gui came towards the East Palace. He wanted to wait until the court meeting was over before meeting the emperor. During this time, he could go and see the emperor's eldest grandson Zhu Yunwen.
However, he was stopped as soon as he arrived at the East Palace. The reason was that the emperor's eldest grandson had gone to court with the emperor.
Moreover, at this time, white satin was hung everywhere in the East Palace, and several times more guards were gathered at the main entrance, as if no strangers were allowed to enter.
When Zhu Gui saw this, although he was dissatisfied, he had no choice but to go to the side hall and wait.
After almost half an hour, a eunuch came out from the back door of the side hall.
"Your Highness, the emperor has summoned the prince in the imperial study. Can you please go with me?"
Zhu Gui could only get up and go to the imperial study room with the other party.
The little eunuch stopped at the door of the imperial study, then explained the situation to the guard at the door, and then let Zhu Gui enter the imperial study alone.
Zhu Gui entered the imperial study and walked around for a few times before discovering Zhu Yuanzhang sitting on the east couch.
What surprised Zhu Gui was that in just one month, Zhu Yuanzhang looked so haggard that he could hardly recognize him.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang was still wearing a dragon robe at this time, his aura was much weaker, his face was covered with wrinkles, and his eyes were bloodshot.
He seemed to hear footsteps and raised his head slightly. After seeing Zhu Gui, he nodded to him and then said in a weak voice: "Is it Zhu Gui? Come here."
"Yes, father." Zhu Gui walked up to Zhu Yuanzhang.
The closer he got, the more he could feel the aura of grief surrounding the other person.
It seems that Zhu Yuanzhang did have the most affection for Prince Zhu Biao.
"Zhu Gui, the prince has died of illness, you already know about this, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang said with a sigh.
Zhu Gui nodded and did not speak. It was not that he was pretending to be deep, but he really didn't know what to say at this time.
As the saying goes, talking too much leads to mistakes, and he didn't want Zhu Yuanzhang to catch his tongue.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes flashed with anger, and he continued: "You arrived in the capital yesterday, right? Why don't you come directly to the palace to see me?"
It seems that even without the Jin Yiwei, Zhu Yuanzhang is still very well-informed, and the reason he wants to trouble anyone can be said to be random. After all, he is the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Gui immediately knelt down and said: "Please forgive me, my father. The prince died of illness, and I was also very sad. However, the rush of half a month made me very tired. If it weren't for Xu Guogong's insistence on his daughter's eagerness, I would not be here either."
Will go there."
Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhu Gui for a long time, and then said: "My health is getting worse day by day. Coupled with the prince's incident, I feel more and more sick while grieving, so I decided to mourn the prince in the near future, and then
Xinli Yunwen is the crown prince."
"According to my opinion, it will be passed on to him soon. What do you think about this?"
"My son, I don't dare to interfere with the government's affairs. I will obey the emperor's orders in everything." Zhu Gui said while lying on the ground.
"Do you really have no idea?" Zhu Yuanzhang stared at Zhu Gui who was lying on the ground, and his voice turned cold.
"I don't dare." Zhu Gui could only say bravely. He could feel two cold eyes on his back.
"Humph, you don't dare? The prince wrote a letter before he died, in which he strongly recommended you to take over as the prince. If you don't dare, why don't you tell me what this letter is about?"
Zhu Yuanzhang slapped the table in front of him, and echoes came one after another in the empty imperial study room.
"What? Such a thing could happen? But I am thousands of miles away and know nothing about this matter. What do you want me to admit?"
Zhu Gui was stunned for a moment. He did not expect that the prince would value him so much, but this brought him a lot of trouble.
This matter itself had nothing to do with him, but Zhu Yuanzhang used this matter to question him. This aroused Zhu Gui's temper, and he couldn't help but raise his head and look at Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang did not expect Zhu Gui's reaction to be so violent, and was stunned for a moment, but he immediately threw the letter at hand to Zhu Gui.
"See for yourself. The prince actually recommended you like this. This is something I didn't expect. Please tell me how you did it?"
Zhu Gui's mouth twitched, but he still picked up the letter on the ground and read it.
The content of the letter is just as Zhu Yuanzhang said. It is full of praise for Zhu Gui, saying that he is a "talent in governing the world". Only in his hands can the Ming Dynasty survive for generations. It also lists some of Zhu Gui's ideas and clearly states that
If Zhu Yuanzhang doesn't believe it, he can go to Datong Mansion to verify it himself.
After Zhu Gui finished reading, a wry smile appeared on his face.
He had a very pleasant conversation with the prince because he felt like he had met a confidant. He couldn't help but talk about many future generations' views on the political affairs of the Ming Dynasty, many of which were not his own.
But now he feels a little regretful. He didn't expect that this would cause him a lot of trouble.
He knew that even if Zhu Yuanzhang favored the crown prince Zhu Biao and established a new crown prince, he would not have any advantage over Zhu Yunwen because Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Biao were so similar when they were children.
It is precisely because Zhu Yuanzhang attaches great importance to Zhu Biao that the throne can only be passed to Zhu Yunwen. Even if Zhu Yuanzhang has so much, it is considered a violation of the rules of the past dynasties, but who made him the emperor?
But now Zhu Biao's deathbed letter made Zhu Yuanzhang suspicious of Zhu Gui.