Ming Dynasty: Zhu Biao's younger brother, the most rebellious son in history

Li Shanchang was a little unhappy. What virtue and ability did you have, Liu Bowen, to go to the local area to protect the slaves?
In terms of status, I should be ahead of you.

Soon, Toghon Temur came in and was about to greet him, but was stopped by Zhu Biao: "Forget it, Xiao Qi, bring him a chair."

Zhu Biao signaled Toghon Temur not to be nervous. After Xiao Qi brought the chair over, he asked Toghon Temur, "What do you want to do?"

"I want to open a restaurant and sell fish and mutton soup."

Toghon Temur repeated what he had talked about with Zhu Kai, and then emphasized to Zhu Biao and the other two: "The Second Prince drank it once, and he thought it was good. He also thought I have this skill, so I want to try it."

"Opening a restaurant? That's not impossible."

Zhu Biao nodded, and then continued: "I guess you also know that His Majesty has no intention of punishing you, but wants you to choose your own life in the future. However, it is difficult to change one's nature. You need to get familiar with some customs and laws of the Ming Dynasty, including the living environment of the Ming Dynasty. His Majesty wants Brother Kai to teach you, but he is a little busy recently, so he can only choose someone else."

"Your Highness, please allow me to do this."

Li Shanchang volunteered to go and bring Toghon Temur away.

You, Zhu Kai, don’t need me, right?

Row!
I will lead him, and I will do it well, definitely better than Liu Bowen.

"Uh……"

Zhu Biao was speechless.

I just want to run a fish soup restaurant. Do I need you, the Prime Minister, to be my lord?

However, since Li Shanchang took the initiative to propose it, Zhu Biao had to give him face: "Okay, then I'll trouble you, Mr. Li."

Toghon Temur also expressed his gratitude to Li Shanchang. Li Shanchang looked at Toghon Temur with a rather arrogant look, and then handed Toghon Temur a decree from his family: "Come to my house to find me tomorrow."

"Yes."

Zhu Biao asked Toghon Temur some questions he might encounter in life. After learning that Toghon Temur was not in trouble and had Zhu Di's help, he stopped interfering.

Although Zhu Di was unreliable, he still had some connections in Yingtian Prefecture.

Toghon Temur returned home in a daze, holding the imperial edict given by Li Shanchang, and was a little bit unbelieving.

When he was on the grassland, he had heard of Li Shanchang's name and knew that Li Shanchang was a very capable man. Li Shanchang made an indispensable contribution to Zhu Yuanzhang's conquest of the world, but why did he take the initiative to teach him?
not understand.

After thinking about it for a long time without coming up with an answer, Toghon Temur simply stopped thinking about it.

He is just a king of a fallen country, and his life is not in his own hands. What else can he do?

When enemies come, we will fight them; when water comes, we will block it with earth. Even if I can't survive, I must settle my wife and son.

When Toghon Temur left the grassland, he only took Dibaonu's mother, Jilan. He thought that the future life would be much worse than before. Since he could not give Dibaonu wealth and glory, he decided to let Dibaonu have a complete family.

The next day, Toghon Temur got up early and went to Li Shanchang's mansion with the imperial edict. The person who came to see him was Li Fu, the steward of the Duke of Korea's mansion. He smiled very warmly, and people couldn't help but feel close to him when they saw him.

"You are Toghon Temur, right? I am Li Fu, the steward of the Duke of Korea's mansion."

Li Fu bowed to Toghon Temur, and then explained: "The master was recruited into the palace by His Majesty, but before he left, he asked me to take you to visit his family's shop. I heard that you want to do business in the future, so I want you to understand some of the rules of Ming Dynasty business. It just so happens that my family has some small businesses, so we can learn from them."

Of course, what Li Shanchang asked Li Fu to talk about was not only the rules of doing business, but also some strategies that the Ming Dynasty was implementing, such as how to treat the people and how to treat those who violated the law and discipline... Li Fu took Toghon Temur for a day and talked for a day. Toghon Temur felt overwhelmed, but Li Fu was still like nothing had happened and asked him, "Do you understand?"

"I understand a little, but it seems like I don't understand anything."

Toghon Temur was also an honest man and would not pretend to know something he did not.

Li Fu smiled and said, "It's okay. We still have a long time to learn. Now I just gave you a general introduction. We will have a long time for you to learn later. Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

"it is good."

Toghon Temur bowed to Li Fu in gratitude, but Li Fu moved aside.

The next day, when Toghon Temur came again, he had a notebook and a charcoal pencil in his hands. He wrote down everything Li Fu told him in the notebook and then went back to study.

For five consecutive days, Toghon Temur kept memorizing and reviewing, trying to thoroughly understand these knowledge points.

On the sixth day, Li Fu brought a key and said to Toghon Temur, "This is the key to a shop on Zhuque Street. It is an independent building with two floors. It is perfect for your fish soup restaurant."

"what?"

Toghon Temur was a little at a loss. "This, this is not good. I just want to sell fish soup. Two floors are too luxurious."

Li Fu was very pleased: "It seems that you have continued to study these days, but since you are my master's student, it would be unworthy of my master's status to just open a roadside stall. You can just take the key and open a store. Don't think about making money in the first year. The second or third year is the time for you to make money."

"The master said that he will give you two years to make mistakes. Only by making mistakes can you learn lessons."

Li Fu told Toghon Temur what Li Shanchang had taught him: "You are no longer a beginner. You need to make many mistakes to hone your abilities. The master said that as long as it is a problem related to money, it is not a problem."

"Ah, this..."

Toghon Temur hesitated for a while, but finally did not accept it: "Forget it, I just want to open a fish soup restaurant."

Li Fu was surprised that Toghon Temur refused the key, but he managed his expression well. Toghon Temur kept looking at him and saw that Li Fu was not angry, so he asked again: "Then, can I still come to study tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is the Little New Year. We will celebrate the New Year soon. Let's wait until after the 15th before coming."

Li Fu put away the key and said to Toghon Temur, "If you have nothing to do during this period, you can go out and take a look at how others do business."

"Okay, I remember."

Toghon Temur nodded heavily, expressed his gratitude to Li Fu again, and turned back home.

After returning home, Li Fu returned the key to Li Shanchang: "Master, he didn't want it. He said he only wanted to run the fish soup restaurant and didn't want anything else."

"This idiot." Li Shanchang was very dissatisfied, but he did not dwell on it. Instead, he asked Li Fu, "Where is his son? Did he go to find Liu Bowen?"

"No."

Li Fu shook his head and told the news he had heard: "The Fifth Prince took the earth guard slave to Liu Bowen's house once. He only stayed for a cup of tea and then went out to play. I heard that he was asked to go and become Liu Bowen's disciple after the Chinese New Year."

"This Liu Bowen is just being mysterious."

Li Shanchang was very arrogant. "Since Toghon Temur has no ambition, let him make his own choice. If he needs your help, just help him."

"Yes, sir."

Li Fu left the study, and Li Shanchang stood in front of the window, looking outside through the paper pasted on the door.

The New Year is coming soon, and the sixth year of Hongwu will also be over... This year has been really turbulent.

The sixth year of Hongwu is about to pass, and many people miss this year.

With the Mongols gone, there were no more enemies around the Ming Dynasty. Many people breathed a sigh of relief. Now they could finally develop the Ming Dynasty with peace of mind.

For those in the palace, this year is also a year worth remembering.

Zhu Kai got married, marrying two girls at once, and they were of prominent status. What is even more memorable is that both of Zhu Kai's wives were pregnant, and they would almost give birth by the beginning of next spring.

So, this year is particularly lively.

Everyone is stepping into the seventh year of Emperor Hongwu's reign.

Zhu Kai has had a smile on his face since he returned to the palace from the northern border. People are in high spirits when they are happy. Zhu Kai is about to become a father, which is the first time in two lifetimes.

In the palace, there are many elderly people who lived there during the time when Zhu Yuanzhang was the King of Wu. Zhu Kai is familiar with each of them. Also, because Zhu Kai never puts on airs and is very friendly with people in the palace, when these people see Zhu Kai, they will sincerely congratulate him.

"Thank you."

Zhu Kai also responded very sincerely, and then showed off to Zhu Biao who was following him: "See, when others congratulated me, I responded very politely. Isn't this a sign of my maturity?"

"You bastard, when someone congratulates you, do you still want a gift from them?"

Zhu Biao understood that Zhu Kai had always been very concerned about the phrase "be more mature". He was using this adult way to tell everyone that he was mature.

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang said, when a woman is pregnant, men really don't need to do anything. They just need to find someone to serve the woman and let them take care of her at all times and in every possible way. That is the limit they can do.

There is no need to worry about cooking. The chefs in the imperial kitchen are top chefs recruited from all over the world. They cook much better than Zhu Kai, who is a novice. Zhu Kai just throws them a few recipes and asks them to follow them. The meals they cook are better than Zhu Kai's.

Besides, a woman's emotions are very unstable during pregnancy, and the men in the Zhu family, especially Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Kai, are hot-tempered. Not only will they make things more cumbersome, but they will also be disliked by their wives.

This is what happened to Zhu Kai. He had been hanging around Xu Miaoyun and Feng Yuting for three days, but the two women disliked him and kept urging him to go out and play. He should either find a place to play in Fengxian Hall by himself or just not show up if he could avoid annoying them.

Zhu Kai was also helpless and could only leave Fengxian Hall.

When going to Kunning Palace for dinner, Zhu Kai kept sighing: "My father is right. When it comes to taking care of women, men really have nothing to do. I want to take care of them, but they find me annoying. If it weren't for their pregnancy, I would definitely enforce the family rules and let them know what it means to be the head of the family."

Ma Xiuying glanced at Zhu Kai and didn’t discourage him… You’re like a child who never grows up, and you want to be the head of the family?
Moreover, Zhu Biao's two wives were still there, which gave him some face.

Chang sat on a chair, eating melon seeds and said to Zhu Kai, "Brother Kai, look at what you said. I saw everything you wanted to do to take care of your two sisters Miaoyun and Yuting. The reason you couldn't do it well was because the midwives and maids were all elderly and experienced. How could a young boy like you know all this?"

"Brother Kai, you are much better than your elder brother. He is a taciturn person. Apart from asking me to take care of my health and rest more, he did nothing else. But I am happy to be free. If your elder brother is like you, I don't know how many times I have to quarrel with him every day."

Chang's words made Lu frown continuously.

My sister has no moral integrity at all. How can she criticize her own man in front of outsiders?

Especially since her husband is the prince, second only to the emperor.

But Ma Xiuying and Zhu Kai both looked as if nothing had happened and didn't care about what Chang said.

Mrs. Lu couldn't stand listening to it anymore, but she couldn't get a word in and could only watch from the side. Mrs. Chang and Zhu Kai chatted for a long time but didn't mention anything about asking for money.

After the meal, when Zhu Kai left, Chang said to Zhu Kai, "Brother Kai, the money in the East Palace is not enough. Bring some to my sister-in-law."

As she spoke, Chang pointed to Lu next to her and said to Zhu Kai, "From now on, the East Palace will be governed by Sister Lu. If there is anything she needs from you, you can give it to her."

"It's only natural that my sister-in-law manages the money."

Zhu Kai thought about it and said to Chang: "How about I give my sister-in-law a shop on the street and you run it yourself?"

a street?

Mrs. Lu couldn't help but open her mouth. How could Zhu Kai be so rich? He could just give away a street?

If there is a street, then the Eastern Palace will never be short of money, right?
"do not want!"

Chang would not be fooled and said to Zhu Kai, "If your eldest brother's money is kept with you, you will have ten or twenty streets in a few years. You only give us one. This business is too unprofitable."

deficit?
Mrs. Lu couldn't believe it. If she was given a chance, she would definitely do better than Zhu Kai.

Am I not more educated than Zhu Kai?
She felt that the Chang family looked down on her and thought that a woman like her could not do business...Xu Miaoyun, the daughter of a military general, could do business. I am the daughter of Lu Ben, well-read, so how could I not be able to do business?

In front of Ma Xiuying, Lu might not be so presumptuous, but now that she is only with Zhu Kai and Chang, Lu dares to put forward her request: "Second Prince, how about you hand over that street to me? I want to try doing business, so that the expenses of the Eastern Palace do not have to rely on the Second Prince all the time."

Before Chang could say anything, Zhu Kai next to her agreed: "Okay, let's consider it as a gift for my sister-in-law's child. I'll tell Miaoyun later and ask her to pick a street for you."

It's just a street, a small amount of money, not even money.

Mrs. Lu was a little impatient and went to Fengxian Hall to find Xu Miaoyun in advance. After Mrs. Lu left, Mrs. Chang grabbed Zhu Kai's ear and said, "Boy, are you planning something bad again?"

Zhu Kai pretended to be in pain and tilted his head towards Chang, mainly because he was worried that Chang would be tired from tiptoeing to reach his ears: "Alas, sister-in-law...you are so disloyal. I just gave your family a street, and you turned your face against me?" (End of this chapter)