At dinner, several children came to the table together, and Min'er and Ming'er sat beside Zhu Yunjing on the left and right, waiting for the meal to be ready.
Zhu Yunxuan's eyes never moved away from Miner's body. Seeing this, Zhu Yunjing pinched Miner's hand and asked him in a low voice: "Mr. Er, can you go and sit with the little uncle?"
Min'er raised her eyes, looked at Zhu Yunjing aggrievedly, shook her head, and said nothing.
"Forget it, let him sit there, the child must have missed you after not seeing you for a month." Zhu Yunxuan didn't force it, let alone make the child uncomfortable, "Let's have dinner."
Zhu Yunqiong, who was sitting beside Zhu Yunxuan, looked at Min'er and then at Zhu Yunjing. Although she was puzzled, she wisely didn't ask any further questions. He is not really an ignorant child who doesn't know anything. After several years of hardships and hardships, his xinxing has been fully developed. He has even guessed Zhu Yunjing's identity from Yuan Bao and the others' names for Zhu Yunxuan. Come out, just pretend not to know it.
Yuan Bao wrinkled his nose and made a face at Yun'er: "Little idiot."
Xiao'er blinked her eyes, bewildered.
Zhu Yunjing took food for the two children, and Chu'er ate very politely, holding a small spoon to deliver the food to his mouth bit by bit, chewing slowly, not picky eaters at all. But it can be seen that the child prefers smooth eggs and a dish of crystal shrimps. Zhu Yunxuan also picked up a chopstick dish for him and picked a few more shrimps for him. Xiao'er smiled and bowed her eyes, and thanked him obediently: "Thank you little uncle."
"No need." Zhu Yunxuan smiled gently, but her heart couldn't stop being sour.
After dinner, Zhu Yunxuan and the three continued drinking tea and chatting, Yuan Bao took Zhu Yunqiong outside to play, but the two younger ones refused to leave, clinging to Zhu Yunjing for fear that he would disappear again in the blink of an eye.
Fortunately, they didn't make a fuss, and when the adults were chatting, they just obediently played checkers on the sidelines without making a sound.
He Huailing told Zhu Yunxuan about the origins of those pirates in detail. He obviously knew more than Zhu Yunjing. Although he still didn't know where those people's lairs were, he could roughly estimate that there were nearly ten thousand of them now. The thirty or so ships are indeed descendants of the remnants of the previous dynasty. Over the past two hundred years, many people have been captured from Dayan and Nanyang to their islands, so that they can continue to multiply.
"In recent years, we have also captured many thieves alive and interrogated them severely, but no matter how much we ask, we can't figure out the location of their lair. It seems that those middle- and low-level thieves don't know where the islands they are stationed are. They have to stay at the bottom of the cabin for nearly two hours every time they go in and out of the ghost creature, and they can't tell the direction at all."
Zhu Yunxuan was a little absent-minded, and kept staring at Min'er. After He Huailing finished speaking, he paused for a while, then he looked away as if he had just woken up from a dream, and asked ponderingly: "Then what are your plans now?"
He Huailing replied: "The thieves caught this time have already been imprisoned, and I plan to interrogate them tomorrow."
Zhu Yunxuan nodded. Seeing that he was still restless, Zhu Yunjing simply changed the topic and chatted about homework: "Yu'er has just studied with the master for a few months, and he is very good at reading and writing. He has made great progress. He is quite good. Smart, is a good seed."
Zhu Yunxuan looked at Min'er again, the little baby was staring at the chessboard with a serious face, thinking about what to do next, very seriously. After watching for a while, Zhu Yunxuan's eyes blurred with a smile: "That's good."
In fact, it doesn't matter if his son is not smart, he has a lot of patience, and he will just teach him slowly in the future.
"It's just that Yu'er is really soft-tempered and loves to cry too much, but it doesn't matter, he is only three years old, he will be fine when he grows up," Zhu Yunjing sighed with a smile, "In fact, he is like Your Majesty, Your Majesty If he can do it, he will naturally have no problem in the future.”
As if realizing that the adults were talking about her, Min'er raised her head, looked blankly at this and then at that, and argued in a low voice, "Min'er doesn't cry."
Several people laughed at the same time, Ming'er rubbed her eyes and jumped off the chair, snuggled up to Zhu Yunjing's side and acted like a baby: "Daddy, I'm sleepy, I want to sleep with you."
Chu'er also turned around, and looked at Zhu Yunjing eagerly: "Zhu'er also wants to..."
He Huailing pressed the shoulders of the two of them and reminded them: "Daddy just came back and is tired. Don't pester him, you are all obedient."
The two younger ones were not willing to listen, one of them was holding Zhu Yunjing's clothes tightly, Zhu Yunjing was very helpless, Zhu Yunxuan stepped forward and looked at Min'er expectantly: "Min'er, little uncle will take you to sleep. ?"
He bent down and stretched out his hands towards Yun'er, the little guy shrank behind Zhu Yunjing subconsciously, lowered his head, and told him in a low voice: "I want Daddy..."
Zhu Yunxuan was stunned, his eyes darkened a little, and he forced a smile: "Okay..."
Zhu Yunjing winked at He Huailing, picked up the children one by one, before leaving, Zhu Yunjing persuaded Zhu Yunxuan: "You should also go to rest earlier, don't worry, take your time, it will be fine after a while. "
Zhu Yunxuan nodded with a dazed expression, and watched the family of four go away in a daze. Gao An stepped forward and reminded him in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the servant will take care of you and rest?"
Zhu Yunxuan closed her eyes: "... let's go."
In the dead of night.
When Zhu Yunjing came over, Zhu Yunxuan was still reading under the lamp, wearing a thin outer shirt, his thin figure was reflected on the wall, making him look even more lonely.
Seeing Zhu Yunjing coming in, Zhu Yunxuan put down the book: "Brother, didn't you take the children to sleep? Why are you here again now?"
"I came to see you after I put the two little ones to sleep. You really haven't slept yet." Zhu Yunjing sat cross-legged on the couch and looked at him with a smile, "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"
"It's still early."
"It's almost the time of the day, is it still early? You, you just think too much. It's the first time I saw Yu'er today. He refuses to get close to you. Doesn't he feel bad?"
Zhu Yunxuan smiled wryly: "It's also my fault, I deserve it for him not wanting me."
Zhu Yunjing sighed: "Actually, at the very beginning, I was hesitant as to what to call me and He Huailing, but Min'er is the same age as Ming'er, and the two children grew up together, and Ming'er learned to call me Daddy." Soon, Min'er also started yelling, he learned from Ming'er, I couldn't bear to correct him, so I let him keep yelling like this."
"Brother... You don't have to explain this, I understand."
"Ah Xuan, do you still remember the scene when you were brought to the East Palace for the first time when you were a child?"
Zhu Yunxuan was stunned for a moment, then nodded: "I remember."
He naturally remembered that at that time he was scared and at a loss, it was his brother's smile that comforted him, and he has been relied on ever since.
"Yu'er is actually very similar to you. They are the kind that if you treat him well, he will remember it in his heart, repay your temper a thousand times, and never hold grudges. You have to be more patient with him and give him more love." It will take some time, and it will be fine."
"...I know, it was because I thought about it for a while."
"Also, don't look at Min'er's young age, he actually knows everything. First of all, I was negligent. I didn't manage the servants in the family well, and told them to chew their tongues in front of Min'er. In fact, Min'er was always They all have thorns, so he never argues with Ming'er. Every time Ming'er says what he wants, he just agrees. A child who is only a little over three years old understands this. I don't know how he learned it. Yes, it will be so distressing, and I dare not tell him categorically that I am his real father, or it will be even harder to tell him when you want to return him."
Zhu Yunxuan's throat felt sore, and after a while he said: "It's all my fault..."
Zhu Yunjing shook her head: "It's meaningless to say that it's not bad now. You had to do so at that time. I understand, but don't worry too much. He's soft-tempered and has the advantage of being soft-tempered. I'll take him back first. He even secretly asked me if my little uncle was angry with him, such a caring child really couldn't find another one with a lantern, so just laugh."
Zhu Yunxuan's heart tightened, and he hurriedly said, "Tell him that I won't be angry with him."
Zhu Yunjing comforted him with a smile: "Don't worry, I've made it clear to him, you stay here for a while, play with him more, and he will be willing to get close to you in a few days, so you can relax." Take it easy, don’t think about what’s there and what’s not.”
"… Um."
Zhu Yunjing's eyes fell on his wrist, touched the string of Buddhist beads that were so dark that they were almost fading, paused, and asked him: "When did you bring the Buddhist beads?"
Zhu Yunxuan subconsciously pulled down her sleeves, and said awkwardly: "It's nothing, just for peace of mind."
Zhu Yunjing didn't ask any more questions, and after hesitating, he talked about another matter: "Last month, Yuan Bao secretly took the two little ones to play in the Zhuangzi outside while He Huailing and I were not at home. Come back and tell me that Min’er suddenly disappeared while taking a nap that day. They searched everywhere and found the child in the yard behind. At that time, Min’er was still wrapped in a man’s coat. He said it was a good-looking uncle. Take him out."
Zhu Yunxuan's hands under the sleeves were slowly clenched: "... what happened next?"
"The kid didn't say very clearly. He just said that the uncle asked him what his name was, and helped him pick up the kite that had blown away. After that, I didn't allow them to leave the house for half a step. This has doubled, we went to Jiangnan this month, and when I came back, I also asked the housekeeper if he found anything suspicious, and he said no, and I never saw that uncle who didn't know where he came from."
Zhu Yunjing didn't say it clearly, but both he and Zhu Yunxuan knew very well who the most likely man was to take Min'er away.
Seeing Zhu Yunxuan's gloomy expression, Zhu Yunjing comforted him and said: "Don't think too much, after another half a month or a month, you will be fine if you take Min'er back to the palace."
Zhu Yunxuan unconsciously stroked the Buddhist beads hidden in his sleeve, and nodded: "...um."