Daming: I am the Crown Prince

Chapter 22: Parents have shortcomings
The emperor’s dining table was not always filled with delicacies from land and sea; it might just be some ordinary dishes.

On the one hand, it was a period of mourning, and on the other hand, Lao Zhu was relatively frugal.

Old Zhu pointed to the table and asked, "Is there anything that suits your taste?"

Zhu Yunhuan said simply, "I'm not picky about food. I just eat whatever I can eat and fill my stomach."

"Is it true?" Old Zhu looked at Zhu Yunhuan thoughtfully, and then said, "It was said that you never tire of fine food. Do you really eat anything?"

Zhu Yunhuan spoke frankly, "If you ask me, I still prefer dishes with lots of oil and salt. I have a strong taste. Beijing and Suzhou cuisine is delicate and exquisite. Some of it is good, but I don't like all of it."

Jingsu cuisine actually refers to Jinling cuisine. It has a long history and originated in the pre-Qin period. It is said that roast duck was spread to Beiping when Zhu Di moved the capital.

Lao Zhu sat down and asked again, "Do you like rice or noodles?"

"Noodles are edible, but rice is the main thing." Zhu Yunhuan handed Old Zhu chopsticks and said, "Move your chopsticks, move your chopsticks. If you don't move, I can't stretch my chopsticks."

Old Zhu was delighted when he heard this and said, "Just follow us to beg for food. As long as there's food to eat, there's no need to be picky."

Zhu Yunhuan glanced at Old Zhu and said, "If you really want to beg, you can take my father and brother with you. I will wait at home."

Old Zhu glared at me and said, "You're already begging for food, and you're still waiting at home?"

"That's not my turn." Zhu Yunhuan said, "I'm shy and embarrassed to beg for food."

Old Zhu was delighted and handed Zhu Yunhuan a steamed bread. "You are too thin-skinned to beg for food. Your father is even thinner-skinned. Don't count on your brother. We treated him like a treasure back then. He has never suffered and is picky!"

Zhu Yunhuan thought about it carefully and said, "It seems so. At that time, I liked to look for my brother. He always had plenty of delicious food, and the Royal Grandmother always prepared it for him."

Old Zhu asked with some surprise, "Do you remember anything?"

"I vaguely remember it. I was three or four years old at that time." Zhu Yunhuan explained, "At that time, the Royal Grandmother took my brother with her wherever she went. He was generous and always brought me some food. The Royal Grandmother didn't say anything, didn't hug me, didn't coax me, just looked at me and smiled."

Old Zhu was silent for a moment before he said, "After your grandmother and your brother left, no one brought you some snacks?"

Zhu Yunhuan ate a piece of steamed bread and mumbled, "I used to think that the Empress Dowager was partial to me, but now I think she is pitying me. Otherwise, my brother lives in Kunning Palace and comes to the East Palace to find me whenever he has something to do, and asks me to go to Kunning Palace. Isn't that what the Empress Dowager wants? It's just hard to say."

"There is no family affection in the royal family!" Old Zhu said with emotion, "Your royal grandmother felt sorry for you at that time, saying that you lost your mother when you were born. We also thought that no matter how poor you were, you should not lack food and clothing. We didn't dare to look at you too much, and your royal grandmother was the same, afraid that people would think too much and be worried. How could she not like her own children and grandchildren!"

Zhu Yunhuan nodded, looked around the table and asked, "I don't like steamed bread. If this is the staple food, give me two steamed cakes."

Old Zhu was silent for a long time before he said, "Chuibing, we stopped eating huibing after your great grandmother passed away. We used to like eating huibing, and your great grandmother made the best huibing!"

After saying this, Lao Zhu said to the eunuch next to him, "Send some steamed buns over."

Old Zhu immediately started to dislike Zhu Yunhuan again, "You just said you're not picky about food, but now you don't want to eat steamed bread but want to eat steamed cakes. You're really hard to please!"

Zhu Yunhuan took a few pieces of Chinese toon with chopsticks and said as he ate, "Steamed bread is edible, but it's not as good as steamed cakes."

Old Zhu looked at Zhu Yunhuan who was eating heartily and without any courtesy, and said with a smile, "There are many rules when eating with us. You can't talk while eating or sleeping. No one dares to take the food that I don't pick up with my chopsticks."

Zhu Yunhuan could understand it. It couldn’t be that the leader picked up the food and I turned the table!

"When your brother was alive, he must have been six or seven years old, and he was noisy when eating with him!" Old Zhu reminisced. "He was spoiled by your grandmother and had to be coaxed to eat. He had a good appetite, and he would eat like he was snatching food. We would drop our chopsticks several times while eating."

Zhu Yunxun glanced at Old Zhu and asked, "You're reluctant, right? Are you really willing to throw the chopsticks?"

Old Zhu was silent. His eldest grandson was difficult to serve during meals, but at that time Old Zhu had a good appetite and could eat several bowls of food. Usually, he did not need the Shangshenjian to deliver meals, but his sister cooked for him.

At that time, Old Zhu liked to go to Kunning Palace when he had nothing to do. His sister cooked and he played with his grandson. Even if it was just a few ordinary home-cooked dishes, they were delicious.

There were no rules for eating. When Old Zhu was in the mood, he would sometimes squat on a stool and eat his cake. When his eldest grandson was happy eating, he would directly pick up the plate and pour all the dishes into his own bowl.

It's been a while since that happened. When the eldest son was around, the father and son could still chat while eating. But more often, it was just Lao Zhu facing the food on the table alone, with no one talking to him. Even if someone ate with him, they were always careful.

Empress Ma was from Suzhou. Although there were both rice and flour, there were more noodles.

In Fengyang, there are rice, wheat, and a lot of pasta and rice. It just depends on personal preference.

When the freshly baked sesame cakes were served, Zhu Yunhuan thought they were good. They looked translucent and shiny in the sunlight. The crust was crab yellow in color, and the sesame yellow was as bright as gold. They were not greasy, and they fell apart after a little chewing. They were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

Old Zhu took the sesame cake and said, "This is the sesame cake your royal grandmother often made. She often said it was a horse hoof cake. She also said it existed during the Chen Sheng and Wu Guang uprising and was used to reward the rebels."

There are many ways to make sesame cakes, each with its own characteristics.

Zhu Yunhuan was not polite either. He took a small bowl and poured himself a bowl of soup so that the sesame cake would taste better.

Old Zhu knew that his grandson really ate sesame cakes a lot, or at least ate them often. If there was no oil tea, he would have soup with it, which was also good.

"It's a bit urgent. Why don't you ask someone to bring us a bowl of oil tea?" Lao Zhu took a bite of the sesame seed cake and said, "Don't pour out all the soup. Leave some for us, or we'll choke to death."

Zhu Yunhuan quickly swallowed the sesame cake in his mouth, "That won't do. The crown prince hasn't been appointed yet. Besides, if something goes wrong now, I'll be covered in mud."

Old Zhu really choked this time, and Zhu Yunhuan hurriedly handed the soup over.

Old Zhu drank a mouthful of soup and calmed down. He pointed at Zhu Yunhuan and said, "If I die unclearly one day, you will definitely be mad at me! I won't feel at ease eating with you brothers."

Zhu Yunhuan felt wronged, "Grandfather, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. If outsiders heard this, wouldn't they think something had happened to me?"

Old Zhu asked arrogantly, "Can what we say here be spread out?"

Zhu Yunhuan said, "A few days ago, a eunuch was beaten to death, and today someone dared to pass on a message. My grandmother is gone, and the rules in the palace are much worse."

Old Zhu was speechless for a moment, because what Zhu Yunhuan said made sense. The East Palace still had some skills, although some of the tricks were not presentable, but they almost worked.

Old Zhu is helpless when faced with such a grandson who always likes to sabotage others. This grandson is not afraid of beatings or scolding, and his scoundrel appearance is quite similar to that of himself in his youth.

The two of them chatted back and forth, talking about family matters and "state affairs", and the meal lasted more than a quarter of an hour.

Some eunuchs nearby were a little shocked, because the emperor usually had very short private meals. Not to mention a quarter of an hour, a cup of tea would be considered the end of a meal.

Not to mention that the emperor and his grandson were eating and chatting at the same time, and he seemed to be getting angry from time to time, which was something that no one had dared to think about before.

After eating and drinking, Zhu Yunxun touched his stomach and said, "I will go to the East Palace later. If I don't know, forget it. If I know, I will definitely go to see my brother."

Lao Zhu meant the same thing. If you don’t know, then forget it. But if you know, you will definitely go there.

Even though Zhu Yunhuan had a falling out with the Eastern Palace, he could not openly display his conflict and disregard family ties.

Old Zhu was a little puzzled, "Yun Wen wanted to stay with us, but you wanted to run away after you finished talking about things. Are you that afraid of us?"

"I'm not afraid." Zhu Yunhuan told the truth, "Grandfather, please give me a palace talisman. I will go out of the city to worship my mother in two days."

Old Zhu said directly, "It's not her death anniversary, you are not allowed to go!"

There is nothing wrong with offering sacrifices to Crown Princess Chang. But the problem is that Crown Princess Chang's mausoleum is now in the Eastern Mausoleum, and Crown Prince Zhu Biao will soon be buried there. If it is not her death anniversary, Zhu Yunhuan cannot be allowed to go there first.

Zhu Yunxun was silent for a moment before he said, "It's my brother's death anniversary."

Old Zhu stopped talking for a moment, then took out the palace talisman and threw it over.

(End of this chapter)