Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 557 Who Wants to Be Your Twilight Lover? ! (Subscribe!!)
After a while.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, dressed as officials and historians, walked out from a secret place in the garden of the Imperial Clan Court.

This garden is close to Taile Palace and its location is extremely remote and hidden, so no one has discovered it at all!
"Zhongba, even though we have disguises, it's still easy to be discovered!"

Queen Ma said with some concern.

"Haha, you don't have to worry about this, girl. How could I not even think of this?"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and continued, "To be honest, I've been here several times and I'm familiar with this place."

"I, Zhu Chongming, am a brother of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, I was assigned a sinecure in the imperial palace, responsible for taking care of the imperial horses. This has become my new identity."

"Whether it's the clan genealogy of the Imperial Clan Bureau or the list of officials in the Imperial Palace, there's a person named Zhu Mingtian!"

"So in a sense, I am Zhu Chongming now!"

“Who can doubt my identity?”

Zhu Yuanzhang said proudly.

"What about me?" Queen Ma continued to ask.

"Don't worry, sister. We have arranged everything for you!" Zhu Yuanzhang smiled. "You are now called Ma Xiulian, and you are the Empress Dowager Ma, your distant relative. You are now working as a female historian in Kunning Palace."

"You are here today at my invitation. Although we are not married, we are willing to be lovers in the twilight years!"

“So let’s watch the shadow play together today!”

"Who wants to be your twilight lover?!" When Queen Ma heard the words "twilight lover", her face suddenly turned red. "And where did you learn these words from?"

"Ahem, this is a word I learned from a shadow play I watched before. I think this word is very suitable for us!" Zhu Yuanzhang said truthfully: "It doesn't matter if you don't like it. This is just an excuse I made up. Sister, don't take it to heart."

"But your complexion is a little dull, so let's just say that coming to Ouyang Lun will be useful!"

"I don't know how this kid Ouyang Lun managed this clan mansion. The air here is much better."

Listening to Zhu Yuanzhang chattering non-stop, Empress Ma looked at Zhu Yuanzhang with a look of affection in her eyes, but she did not interrupt.

When Zhu Yuanzhang saw Empress Ma staring at him, he felt a little uncomfortable and asked quickly, "Sister, why are you looking at me like this? It feels a little weird."

"Zhongba, do you still remember when we first met and you took me to see a play? I suddenly felt like we had returned to the past. Your expression... and this scene are so familiar!" Queen Ma said with some emotion.

"Haha, of course I remember it. At that time, I was just a soldier who led Tang He's horse, and you were the adopted daughter of Marshal Guo, the object of pursuit of many young heroes. I can't believe that you would go to see a play with me!" Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be trapped in the memories of the past.

"Yes! In the blink of an eye, we are all old. You established the Ming Dynasty and became Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. All your energy has been focused on government affairs and state affairs, and I also need to take care of the harem..." Queen Ma felt a little emotional and lost.

Zhu Yuanzhang naturally understood what Empress Ma meant and said quickly, "Sister, I am sorry for you. You are a good wife and a good queen. The establishment of the Ming Dynasty is inseparable from you. Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, I was in the front and you were in the back to stabilize the rear and appease the troops, so that I don't have to worry about the future."

"You own half of the Ming Dynasty!"

"But I... am not a good husband." Zhu Yuanzhang said with some guilt: "Before the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, I was busy overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty. After overthrowing the Yuan Dynasty and establishing the Ming Dynasty, I have been focusing on government affairs for these years and neglected you."

As soon as the voice fell, Zhu Yuanzhang laughed again, "Sister, the situation is different now. Biaoer has succeeded to the throne. Judging from the current situation, Biaoer has managed the Ming Dynasty in an orderly manner!"

"The burden on my shoulders has suddenly become much lighter, and I have enough time to spend with you."

"It's almost time, let's go to the shadow play. If we go too late, there won't be any seats left."

After Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, he took Empress Ma's hand again and trotted towards their destination.

When the two arrived at the screening location, they immediately saw that a lot of people had gathered on the open space.

Queen Ma was also shocked by the sight of so many things.

"Zhongba, there are so many people."

"Haha, sister, didn't I tell you that every time this clan house wants to put on a shadow play, there will be a lot of people coming to watch it. Those who come are all free and not on duty. If everyone comes, I'm afraid the entire clan house won't be able to accommodate them all!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

"I thought there would be a lot of people, but I didn't think there would be so many. There are already hundreds of people here, and more are coming. I'm afraid the number will exceed a thousand by the end." Empress Ma said worriedly, "Chongba, with so many people gathering in the palace, aren't you afraid of chaos? You used to be the most taboo about these things!"

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "To be honest, I was really worried at first, but I asked Ji Gang to find out. If you want to enter the Zongrenfu to watch shadow play, you must first buy a ticket, and the ticket price is not cheap. I heard that it costs 500 coins per ticket. You can also buy a monthly ticket, which is shown eight times a month and only costs two taels of silver, which is half the price. There is also an annual ticket, which only costs twelve taels, which is half the price again!"

“So many people bought annual passes.”

"Secondly, not everyone can buy tickets. Currently, only people inside the palace can buy tickets. Eunuchs, palace maids, guards, etc. can all buy tickets."

"And those who have just entered the palace must work for half a year before they can buy it."

"Before entering the clan house, at least three security checks are carried out to ensure that people who come to watch the shadow play do not carry any dangerous items."

"Finally, there are no less than ten teams of guards patrolling the Zongren Mansion. It is impossible to cause trouble in the Zongren Mansion. In fact, the Zongren Mansion is even safer than our Taile Palace."

After listening, Queen Ma nodded and said, "Ouyang is a prudent child."

"What's the point of being safe? He's just afraid of death and worried that someone will assassinate him secretly!" Zhu Yuanzhang said with some disdain.

"Zhongba, I don't think you are much better than Ouyang. Aren't you always worried that someone will harm you?" Queen Ma directly retorted.

"Ahem." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled awkwardly and continued, "Sister, remember not to call me Chongba later, but Chongming!"

"Well, I'm not senile yet." Queen Ma nodded.

Just as Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were talking in a low voice, someone suddenly waved at Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Lao Zhu!"

"Here! Come here!"

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately turned around and looked at the person who greeted him. After seeing the other person's appearance clearly, he responded immediately.

"Old Zhao!"

"I'll come right over!"

Zhu Yuanzhang took Empress Ma's hand and walked over. "Sister, let me introduce you. This is Lao Zhao from the Imperial Hospital. We met while watching this shadow play!"

Zhu Yuanzhang introduced.

"Haha, I'm just doing odd jobs in the Imperial Hospital!" Old Zhao waved his hand and looked at Empress Ma, "Old Zhu, this must be your lover!"

"Yes, her name is Ma Xiu Lian, and she works in Kunning Palace!" Zhu Yuanzhang continued to introduce.

"The female historian of Kunning Palace is someone close to the empress dowager. She is very powerful and much better than us!" said Old Zhao with a smile.

"We all work for the royal family. There's no such thing as strong or weak." Queen Ma responded with a smile.

Today's atmosphere made her feel relaxed.

"Old Zhu, please sit down quickly. The shadow show is about to begin!" said Old Zhao with a smile.

"well!"

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma immediately sat on the small stools that had been prepared.

Soon everyone arrived and sat down in a large crowd on the wide open space. Some people even had no seats and stood on the side.

wow-

A huge white cloth was hung right in front of everyone.

"Everyone be quiet, today's shadow play will begin soon."

As the voice sounded, the scene immediately became quiet, with only the sound of breathing being heard.

Just when Queen Ma was still wondering how big the shadow puppet would be given the large white cloth, a ray of light shot out from behind her and hit the white cloth.

Then, under Queen Ma's extremely shocked gaze, pictures appeared on the white cloth, and these pictures were exactly the same as the real people!
This is not a shadow play, this is a real scene!
This. This is simply amazing.

As if he had guessed that Empress Ma would be amazed by the scene before her, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly said, "She's pretty, isn't she? This is one of the reasons why everyone loves to watch this shadow play!"

“This picture is not only extremely real, but also has sound.”

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang finished speaking, beautiful music immediately sounded.

Queen Ma was also immediately attracted, and then as the picture appeared, the sound of characters' dialogue was heard.

The whole person is completely immersed in it.

Soon the shadow play was over, and Zhu Yuanzhang, Empress Ma and others finally came to their senses.

"Girl, how is it? It looks good, right?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a smile.

"It looks good!" Queen Ma nodded truthfully, "But it feels a little short, not good enough at all!"

"Haha, this is where Ouyang Lun is cunning. Just like the Journey to the West we just watched, it is divided into dozens of chapters. It takes an unknown amount of time to finish reading it, and each chapter takes less than half an hour. It really makes people itchy!" Zhu Yuanzhang said unhappily.

"But this feeling of watching it over and over is quite good. Every time it's time to show it, I will prepare in advance. Only after watching it once can I sleep contentedly!"

"Your Majesty, when will the next episode be broadcast?" asked Queen Ma.

"The next time should be in three or four days. Don't worry, I will remember it and bring you here again." Zhu Yuanzhang said with a smile.

"Good!" Queen Ma nodded happily. This shadow play was indeed interesting, not only for the viewing experience, but also for the content of the shadow play.

"Sister, look, are those our grandchildren?" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at several young men in the distance.

Empress Ma looked in the direction of Zhu Yuanzhang's finger and nodded immediately, "It's them!"

"Ping An, Nana, Wei Wei, Xiong Ying, and Yun Wen! They are all here!"

"Hey, but why are they looking so sad? Could it be that they were bullied?"

"It seems to be true." Zhu Yuanzhang immediately muttered: "How can you, Ouyang Lun, treat our grandson like this!"

"Chongming, don't be angry yet. Maybe there is some misunderstanding here! Try to find out clearly first!" Queen Ma pulled Zhu Yuanzhang and reminded him.

"Okay, let's find out first." Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, then looked at Lao Liu next to him and asked, "Lao Liu, do you know those boys and girls?"

"Of course they know each other!" Old Liu said with a smile, "The two older boys, the darker one is His Royal Highness Zhu Xiongying, and the lighter one is His Royal Highness Zhu Yunwen. They are the legitimate sons of the current emperor. The future crown prince of the Ming Dynasty will most likely be one of them."

"The remaining ones are one boy and two girls. The boy is the eldest son of the Prince Consort, His Royal Highness Ouyang Ping'an, and the two girls are Their Royal Highnesses Weiwei and Nana."

Seeing that Lao Liu was very familiar with the Zongrenfu, Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted and said with a smile: "Lao Liu, you are amazing! You are in the Imperial Hospital, but you know so much about the Zongrenfu!!"

"I don't deserve it. I just do odd jobs in the Imperial Hospital and listen to the conversations of the doctors around me. I'm also relatively free so I know a lot of gossip!" Old Liu was modest and proud, and took the initiative to continue: "Old Zhu, although you are a member of the royal family, I believe that you definitely don't know as much as I do about these news."

"That's right!" Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and continued to ask, "Old Liu, I just saw that those young princes didn't seem very happy. Could it be that watching such a wonderful shadow play can't make them happy?"

"Hey..." Old Liu sighed, "Old Zhu! You've been dealing with horses all day, you probably still don't understand!"

"Ever since His Majesty sent His Majesty Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Xiongying to the Zongrenfu, this Zongrenfu has started their devilish education again!"

"I heard that the Prince Consort has set a study plan for these young princes. From now on, they must strictly follow the study plan! What they are learning is not the Four Books and Five Classics of the past, but morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor!"

"There are also math, physics, chemistry, etc. In short, it is completely different from the learning we have in mind!"

"Moreover, they organize exams every once in a while. If you fail an exam, you will be punished. I heard that even the great scholars of today would fail the exams prepared by the Prince Consort!"

"Ah - poor little princes, they have to suffer such torture at such a young age, it's really heartbreaking!"

"Old Zhu, if you were those little princes, would they be happy?"

"How can I be happy when he is so vicious?" Zhu Yuanzhang said in a deep voice.

"Yes, we thought so too. Unfortunately, this was decided by the Prince Consort, and no one dared to refute it." Old Liu shook his head. "I won't talk to you anymore. I have to go first. See you next time at the shadow play!"

(End of this chapter)