Chapter 10: How Many Monkeys Are There, On the Tree and Under the Tree?

Hearing these rare words from the Emperor, Zhu Biao felt a sudden surge of deep emotion and was moved beyond measure.

"Your son will keep your teachings in mind! Your son is willing to follow in your footsteps..."

"No!"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand to interrupt, saying, "Biao'er, you absolutely do not need to follow your father's path."

As he spoke, his expression dimmed slightly.

"Your father has spent his whole life unable to escape the famine of his youth. You! From now on, walk your own path; do not imitate your father!"

Zhu Biao did not understand why and asked blankly, "Father... you..."

At this moment, the father and son locked eyes.

Looking at the indescribable meaning in Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, Zhu Biao, for some reason, suddenly thought of his four-year-old nephew.

Could the Emperor's change be related to his nephew, Zhu Gaoxu?

Zhu Biao was completely at a loss.

【Ding! Congratulations to the host for learning the contents of Zhu Gaoxu's secret letter in advance through the Simulation, and for alleviating Crown Prince Zhu Biao's illness through your words. The National Fortune of the Great Ming has increased!】

【The supreme and great Emperor Chat Group owner, Zhu Gaoxu, has received a reward: Overlord Strength!】

【Please continue your efforts, host, and improve the national policies of the Great Ming as soon as possible!】

Emperor Chat Group owner!?

Zhu Yuanzhang's pupils shrank violently.

What had he just seen!

That mysterious and omnipotent group owner who had never shown his face was actually his own imperial grandson! Zhu Gaoxu!!

Upon learning this fact, Zhu Yuanzhang was so shocked he nearly jumped up.

Furthermore, after seeing the words "improve national policies," he immediately realized how his good imperial grandson had solved the issue of the annual salaries for the imperial clan.

As of now.

In Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

Crown Prince Zhu Biao's heart-illness was the most critical matter.

Next was the issue of the imperial clan, which concerned the foundation of the state.

Following that were problems like corruption in the Great Ming.

"Let's go! That's enough for the Five Animals Frolic; let's go see this lad, Zhu Gaoxu!"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang desperately wanted to meet this mysterious imperial grandson.

To the side, after pondering for a moment, Zhu Biao said, "Your son believes that both nephews, Gaochi and Gaoxu, have talent. It would be better to have them study under Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Lv Ben, alongside Xiongying and Yunwen."

Lv Ben was his father-in-law, the father of Crown Princess Lv Shi, and the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, in charge of sacrificial rites.

"I was just thinking the same thing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily.

In the Simulation, Zhu Gaoxu had to rack his brains to get close to Zhu Xiongying; it was better to arrange it directly like this, saving his imperial grandson the trouble.

"Biao'er, your tolerance toward your brothers and nephews is a good thing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang could not help but recall that in the first Simulation, his imperial grandson Zhu Yunwen had directly abolished five Feudatory Princes.

Such a narrow mind could hardly accomplish great things!

At this moment, he no longer felt that Zhu Biao's benevolence was a bad thing.

At the very least, the various Feudatory Princes and brothers were sincere and devoted to this Crown Prince.

At this time, in the palace courtyard, Zhu Gaoxu, still hanging in the tree, was boasting to two children.

"Hey! Dare to let me test you two?"

The Prince of Jin's third son, Zhu Jihuang, and the Prince of Zhou's son by a concubine, Zhu Youxun, were stunned, then said in unison, "We two brothers are definitely smarter than you. You want to test us? Hmph!"

"Alright then! Let me ask you two," Zhu Gaoxu said mysteriously, "There's a monkey riding on the tree, and a monkey under the tree. How many monkeys are there in total?"

Zhu Youxun counted on his fingers: "One... two... eight monkeys!"

"No... wrong!" Zhu Gaoxu shook his head.

Zhu Youxun's face was immediately filled with annoyance.

Zhu Jihuang said somewhat uncertainly, "The monkey under the tree is dead, so there are only seven, right?"

"Wrong, wrong!"

Zhu Gaoxu continued to shake his head.

Then, Zhu Jihuang and Zhu Youxun guessed several more times in succession.

But the answers they received were all wrong.

For a moment, the two children felt quite discouraged.

Nearby, Commander of the Brocade Guard Mao Xiang was also pondering how many monkeys there actually were.

At this time, Zhu Youxun said with some dissatisfaction, "You must be talking nonsense. I learned arithmetic from my teacher; it's definitely eight monkeys!"

Zhu Jihuang also said indignantly, "That's right, you're just talking nonsense. We clearly calculated it correctly!"

"Haha! It's clearly because you two are too stupid!"

Zhu Gaoxu laughed loudly: "There's one monkey riding on the tree, plus one monkey under the tree, that makes two in total! You can't even calculate that; you might as well be my little underlings from now on."

Seeing this, Mao Xiang shook his head secretly.

He had originally thought the Prince of Yan's second son would pose some great challenge, but he hadn't expected it to be just a word game.

He was still just a child after all!

Aside from causing trouble, he only thought about being the king of the children.

Not far away, Xu Miaoyun took in this scene.

At this moment, she was truly quite curious; her second son was either tearing the house apart or chasing after little girls to arrange betrothals.

How on earth did he manage to gain the Emperor's appreciation with this sort of behavior?

Ennobled as a prince at four years old...

Throughout history, how many have there been?

If he goes back like this, I fear the second son will be even more insufferable in front of the eldest.

Xu Miaoyun felt somewhat helpless.

But no matter what the child is like, he is her own flesh and blood, and she still has to look after him.

Although she did not know why the Emperor valued her second son this time, this move had indeed pushed her husband, Zhu Di, to the forefront.

Thinking of this, Xu Miaoyun hurriedly called out toward the tree: "You stay here honestly; Mother is going to your grandfather's house first."

She intended to find her father, Xu Da, to discuss what deep meaning the Emperor might have.

"Mother, I want to go to Grandfather's house too, and I miss my little aunt."

Zhu Gaoxu liked Xu Da's youngest daughter very much, who was Xu Miaojin.

The latter could be said to dote on him to the extreme.

"Don't even think about it; serve your punishment properly and don't cause any more trouble."

Xu Miaoyun had just finished speaking.

Zhu Gaoxu, up in the tree, suddenly revealed a look of surprise and suspicion.

"I didn't expect the system to actually give a reward at this time!"