Chapter 157 True Dragon Son
Zhu Yuanzhang could truly relate to what Empress Ma said.

He took a deep breath and sighed, "In that case, I was wrong in the past. I was too harsh on him, which made him rebellious. I never thought that Shu'er could take care of others now."

The changes were so huge that Zhu Yuanzhang was overjoyed.

Clang clang clang.

But then I heard the sound of a bell, it was the sound of the time in the Qianhu Suo.

Soon, Zhu Chong came out of the classroom in high spirits.

But as soon as he looked outside, he was startled and quickly shrank back.

The three children who had followed him out in a line also became alert and shrank back one by one. Then, like Zhu Chong, they poked half of their heads out from behind the door to observe.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but feel angry and laugh at the same time, and said, "Zhu Chong, come out for me."

The big dog turned around and asked: "Who is Zhu Chong?"

Zhu Chong, however, was sullen. He walked obediently to Zhu Yuanzhang and immediately kowtowed: "Meet the Emperor, Father. Meet the Empress, Mother."

Zhu Yuanzhang still had a stern face, as if he couldn't bring himself to lose face for the moment.

Empress Ma said, "Get up, get up, child."

"Yes."

Empress Ma looked him up and down and asked, "Is it hard to study here?"

Zhu Chong glanced secretly at Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't help but widen his eyes out of habit and said, "Tell the truth."

Zhu Chong said, "Studying is hard, but teaching is quite relaxing."

Zhu Yuanzhang stared at him and said, "You just taught people that everything should be guided by profit. Is this suitable for teaching students?"

Zhu Chong hesitated for a moment, and then said, "But this is the reality. The world is bustling with people because of profit. If it is not for profit, why do those scholars study? Isn't studying for the purpose of becoming a better person? Why do merchants do business? Why do farmers cultivate the land? Why do gentry work so hard to buy land? Everyone is taking action for their own benefit, and they work hard. For example, if there is no benefit, why would you be the emperor?"

Zhu Yuanzhang remained silent. He did not dare to refute, fearing that if he continued to refute, the sacredness of the emperor would be exposed by his own son.

So Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Who taught you this?"

Zhu Chong glanced at Deng Qianqiu.

Deng Qianqiu was also convinced. The examples I gave at the beginning were clearly businessmen, scholars, and farmers. How could you draw inferences from them?
Deng Qianqiu had no choice but to say: "Your Majesty, what I mean is... people should recognize the nature of benefit, and then establish a set of effective etiquette and laws based on this benefit. The King of Qin only revealed the laws of how things work, but it is useless to reveal these alone, because even if you know it, what's the use? What the world lacks the most is people who can see through the mystery, and the truly capable ones are those who can prescribe the right medicine on this basis, establish a set of etiquette and laws, and guide everyone to be good."

Zhu Yuanzhang agreed with this and said with admiration: "This is the right advice for the country."

Of course, the admiring looks were directed at Deng Qianqiu.

Then he glared at Zhu Chong again and said: "Learn from Deng Qing's family carefully. Don't learn things halfway, otherwise you will end up making a fool of yourself."

Zhu Chong looked at Deng Qianqiu with mixed feelings.

These days, he has bothered Deng Qianqiu a lot, waiting for Deng Qianqiu to talk big and then run off to brag about it to others.

Gradually, he began to admire Deng Qianqiu. On the one hand, he took the initiative to learn, and he had no resistance in his heart. On the other hand, Deng Qianqiu's views on issues were indeed much more interesting than those of the old scholars, and many of them were even to Zhu Chong's liking.

But he still felt a little dissatisfied in his heart.

But now, he thought about it carefully, and perhaps even without realizing it, he had inadvertently experienced the joy of learning and imparting knowledge.

So after a little hesitation, Zhu Chong said straightforwardly: "I understand. I will study hard and live up to my father's high expectations."

"That's good." Zhu Yuanzhang looked pleased. "I'm very happy that you can do this. Look at you. It's rare for me to feel at ease."

Empress Ma couldn't help but burst into tears, and said with emotion: "Cong'er, you don't know that your father often couldn't sleep all night because of you, and he was always worried. If you are not tolerated by the world in the future, you will not only cause a huge disaster, but also your father will not be able to deal with it for you. Now that you can be like this, your father and I can rest assured."

When Zhu Chong heard these words in the past, he just thought that his father and mother were just talking about him.

But during this month, he was always thinking about the three children. When he saw them playing at the wellhead, he was worried that they would fall into the well. When he saw them coughing, he was worried that they had contracted some serious disease.

Now, listening to Empress Ma's words, Zhu Chong felt that he felt the same way, and immediately bowed sincerely: "Your son... Your son made father and mother worry, and it was really terrible. I will never dare to do it again. Your son will study hard with your teacher and will never do anything reckless again. Father and mother, please rest assured."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma could not help but look at each other, and they both felt horror in each other's eyes.

"Your humble concubine, your humble concubine...Your Majesty..." Queen Ma cried with joy.

Perhaps because of her pregnancy, Empress Ma was more easily emotional than usual.

She was a little incoherent and wanted to say something else, but she seemed too emotional. Suddenly, her face changed slightly.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly asked, "What...what happened?"

Empress Ma looked a little pale, but she shook her head and said through gritted teeth: "It's...it's nothing serious."

Zhu Yuanzhang frowned even more deeply. He knew Empress Ma best, and immediately asked, "Could it be...she's about to give birth? Why at this time...someone...someone, come..."

Zhu Chong was startled, thinking he had gotten into trouble again. But then he heard Zhu Yuanzhang say, "Go call the imperial physician."

Zhu Chong felt slightly relieved, but what he was more worried about was his mother.

You know, giving birth to a child in ancient times was like walking through the gates of hell.

Empress Ma was lucky. She gave birth to five sons and two daughters for Zhu Yuanzhang. The fact that she is still alive today may be related to her physical fitness which is very different from that of ordinary people.

But after all, the Queen Ma is no longer young. Even in later times, she would be considered an elderly mother. But in this era, she is old enough to be a grandmother.

Now... the birth is premature, which makes people even more worried.

Behind Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Jingjing had been following his father and mother silently. At first she was curious about everything but spoke little. But now she stepped forward and supported Empress Ma, her face full of worry.

Deng Qianqiu said: "Your Majesty, let's find a place to settle the queen first."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

So Deng Qianqiu quickly made arrangements and settled Empress Ma in this residence.

Soon, many people in the palace came.

There are imperial doctors and midwives in the palace who are responsible for assisting in childbirth.

Zhu Gang and his companions had also arrived. They all looked worried, but were timid when they saw Zhu Yuanzhang. They all lowered their heads and looked sad.

Zhu Yuanzhang paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. His brows were deeply furrowed and his face was ashen. He told several old palace maids to go in.

Deng Qianqiu ordered his men to block off the area near the government office before returning breathlessly.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to be impatient. There is no point in rushing such matters. Even if you rush, it will be useless. Your Majesty, please have some tea first and wait here for a while."

Zhu Yuanzhang thought about it and finally nodded in agreement.

Immediately, he sat down and looked at Deng Qianqiu. He seemed to want to appear calm and composed, so he pretended to be nonchalant and said, "Your Thousand Households Office doesn't look like a Thousand Households Office."

Deng Qianqiu asked puzzledly, "I wonder what your Majesty thinks it looks like?"

"It's like a hodgepodge." Zhu Yuanzhang said.

Deng Qianqiu smiled bitterly and said, "Your Majesty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hands and said hurriedly: "Okay. No need to explain everything. I don't mean to blame you. I use you here because I value your talent."

Deng Qianqiu nodded.

After a long period of busy work, order finally began to be restored.

Soon, the imperial physician came in and reported, "Your Majesty, the queen is indeed... about to give birth."

Zhu Yuanzhang's breathing became a little faster for no reason, and he asked hurriedly: "How long do we have to wait for mother and child to be safe?"

The imperial physician thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid it will take until midnight tonight or noon tomorrow. This place is simple and Your Majesty should not move lightly now... So..."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said, "Call all the imperial doctors to wait here, and all the other women in the palace who help with childbirth should also come here to take care of me. I will wait here."

"Yes."

Wait until midnight.

Zhu Yuanzhang never closed his eyes.

Outside the office, the sons also stood obediently with their hands down.

Deng Qianqiu was already feeling a little tired. He wanted to take a nap, but he didn't dare to be so impolite, so he had to stay awake.

It was two quarter past midnight.

Suddenly, a palace lady came hurriedly, looking extremely panicked, and said, "Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

Zhu Yuanzhang's face was already tired. When he heard the call, he shuddered suddenly and looked at the palace woman. He seemed to have noticed something, and murderous intent flashed across his eyes. He only uttered one word: "Speak!"

The palace woman was obviously frightened by Zhu Yuanzhang's expression, but she still said tremblingly: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty... There is something wrong. The prince in your belly is not in the right position... It has been unable to come out. The amniotic fluid has already broken. If it doesn't come out..."

Zhu Yuanzhang shuddered after hearing this. Under the candlelight, his expression was particularly creepy: "What did you say? Say it again."

The palace lady was so frightened that she almost fainted. She tried hard to force herself to stay awake, but she couldn't help crying timidly, saying in a sobbing voice: "I don't know... whether to save the eldest or..."

Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he almost jumped up and shouted, "I want them all. If there is any mistake... I will kill all nine generations of your clan."

The palace woman’s eyes went dark and she fainted.

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened, but his expression was grim: "..."

(End of this chapter)