Princess Ning'an was spitting everywhere, spatting on Zhu Ping'an and trying her best to put the blame on him. In her mouth, Zhu Ping'an became an unforgivable villain, a hypocrite, and a filthy person...
Princess Du Kang nodded slightly while listening, but her mind was already on flipping the cards.
The bright sunshine outside shone into Rongfu Palace, onto Princess Ning'an, and onto Concubine Du Kang's face. One looked like a vibrant lily, and the other looked like a graceful peony. The two of them formed the most beautiful scroll in Rongfu Palace.
This beautiful picture was broken with the arrival of King Jing, and Princess Ning'an's complaints and slanders against Zhu Ping'an also came to an end.
"Zhen'er pays respects to Concubine Du. I heard that she was not feeling well, so I specially selected the best medicinal herbs from the mansion to visit her. I wish Concubine Du a speedy recovery. Greetings, brother and sister. I haven't seen you for a few days. You have become more beautiful again."
Prince Jing, accompanied by several palace maids and eunuchs, visited Rongfu Palace with some gifts and supplements. He respectfully greeted Concubine Du Kang, then greeted Prince Yu with a smile, and then praised Princess Ning'an for becoming more beautiful.
"Your Highness Prince Jing is so thoughtful. No need to be polite, please take a seat. Sui'er, serve tea to His Highness Prince Jing." Concubine Du Kang smiled slightly and ordered the palace maid to serve tea.
"Fourth brother is here."
Prince Yu also greeted Prince Jing with a smile, but his smile was a little stiff. He felt extremely pressured to be with this outstanding and competitive royal brother.
In comparison, Princess Ning'an's attitude towards King Jing is not much better than that towards Zhu Ping'an, and is even worse.
"What are you doing here? You are not welcome here."
Princess Ning'an's pretty face was dark and cold. She was quite rude to the uninvited guest, Prince Jing. She stretched out her pink little finger and pointed at Prince Jing, then pointed at the door, indicating that Prince Jing should go back to where he came from, as he was not welcome in Rongfu Palace.
From Ning An's words and deeds, we can see that his attitude towards Prince Yu and Prince Jing, who are also his brothers, is completely different. Ning An regards Rongfu Palace as his own home and is very affectionate to Prince Yu, but he regards Prince Jing as an outsider and is very hostile to him.
"Haha, who has offended our Ning An again? Tell my brother, and I will vent your anger for you."
Prince Jing was not angry at all for Princess Ning'an's coldness and rudeness. Instead, his handsome face smiled even more gently.
"Come on, Fourth Brother, can we please stop pretending? It's okay for you to pretend in front of others, but why do you pretend like this in front of your own family? Wearing a mask all day long, aren't you tired?" Princess Ning'an rolled her eyes and pouted her lips to sarcastically say to King Jing.
Even though Ning An was so unabashedly mocking King Jing, King Jing remained calm and smiling. The look he gave Ning An was gentle and tolerant, giving the impression of an older brother doting on his willful sister.
Princess Ning'an was extremely irritated by King Jing's eyes, just like a bullfighter seeing a red cloth. King Jing didn't say a word and didn't do anything, but just this look made Princess Ning'an almost crazy.
"I'm really scared of you, Fourth Brother. Can you please stop pretending? You may not be tired of pretending, but I am tired of watching you. Father is not here, who are you pretending to be respectful and humble to?!" Princess Ning'an crossed her arms, rolled her eyes at King Jing, then looked up at the ceiling of Rongfu Palace at a 45-degree angle and gave King Jing a disdainful chin.
"Haha, my sister is joking." King Jing smiled and shook his head.
"Hehe~~" Princess Ning An rolled her eyes and chuckled, her pretty face full of sarcasm, "Fourth brother, you talk like Second Brother, act like Second Brother, walk like Second Brother, even you have to laugh like Second Brother, aren't you tired? Even if you imitate him, you are only you, and you will never be Second Brother."
It was as if someone had pressed the pause button on King Jing. Although the smile on his face remained, it was paused for 0.01 seconds. However, King Jing soon continued to smile gently, as if the pause just now was an illusion to outsiders.
"Haha, I am really unworthy of such praise from the imperial sister." King Jing smiled slightly.
"Please stop being so self-indulgent. Who praised you?" Princess Ning'an glared at King Jing angrily.
"Didn't my royal sister tell me that I was learning from my second brother in everything? Haha, when we see a virtuous person, we should strive to be like him. My second brother will always be a role model for us. If I could do even one-tenth of what my second brother does in everything, I would wake up laughing in my dreams." King Jing smiled brightly.
"You've tried to draw a tiger but ended up drawing a dog. Stop dreaming. The Second Emperor is kind-hearted by nature, like a god. But you, haha, you'll never learn even a single thing from the Second Emperor, hum." Princess Ning'an glared at King Jing and snorted coldly at the end.
"The road ahead is long and arduous, but I will continue to explore. In fact, I am not only learning from my second brother, but also from any wise man. As the saying goes, there must be a teacher among three people. Only by continuous learning can we constantly improve ourselves. My sister's confidence and courage are worth learning from, my brother."
Prince Jing continued to smile, gentle and generous, and this smile kept coming and going, making Princess Ning'an seem even more willful and unruly.
"Hypocritical, your father shouldn't have named you King Jing, he should have named you King Zhuang." Princess Ning'an rolled her eyes.
The second emperor they both mentioned was Prince Zhuangjing Zhu Zaihe, who died last year and was born to Concubine Wang.
Prince Zhuangjing was the only prince appointed by Emperor Jiajing. The previous eldest prince, Zhu Zaiji, died at one month old, so he was the only one appointed by Emperor Jiajing posthumously. Only Prince Zhuangjing was officially appointed by Emperor Jiajing.
When Prince Zhuangjing was born, he was very beautiful and cute, and looked 70% like Emperor Jiajing. It is said that Emperor Jiajing only took one look at him and insisted that Prince Zhuangjing was full of immortality and was a god from heaven reincarnated to earth.
Prince Zhuangjing did not disappoint Emperor Jiajing. As he grew older, he looked more and more like Emperor Jiajing, and was even more handsome. His words and deeds were all extraordinary. He was kind, gentle and sunny, always smiling. He was very respectful to Emperor Jiajing and served him as respectfully as if he were worshiping a god. He once said, "I dare not raise my hands all the time because God is above me." Emperor Jiajing could not be more satisfied.
Not only did Prince Zhuangjing respect Emperor Jiajing, he also took good care of his younger brothers and sisters, including Prince Yu, Prince Jing, and Princess Ning'an.
In addition, Prince Zhuangjing was intelligent and capable, very decisive, and had great political wisdom. He was unanimously supported by ministers from both the court and the public, and was simply the ideal crown prince in Emperor Jiajing's mind.
Therefore, despite Tao Zhongwen's adage that "two dragons cannot meet each other", Emperor Jiajing still appointed Prince Zhuangjing as the crown prince in the 18th year of Jiajing, when he was seven years old. When he was seventeen years old, he held a grand coming-of-age ceremony for him and officially conferred him the crown prince's golden seal, intending to make him regent while he devoted himself to alchemy and cultivation. However, no one expected that on the third day after the coming-of-age ceremony, Prince Zhuangjing suddenly died of illness.
It was from then on that Emperor Jiajing became more convinced of the motto "two dragons cannot meet" and abided by it.
Therefore, Prince Yu and Prince Jing were ordered to move out of the imperial palace last year and build their own palaces outside the palace.
In fact, if we were to ask who the prince that Emperor Jiajing was most satisfied with was, it would definitely be Prince Zhuangjing. If Prince Zhuangjing were still alive, Prince Yu and Prince Jing would have no chance at all. Even if the eldest prince was still alive, Emperor Jiajing would probably still appoint Prince Zhuangjing as the crown prince.