Transmigration: The Evil Mother-In-Law Is Actually Innocent!-Chapter 677 Fishing_1

Zhou Shuren relayed the sequence of canned responses. Now that Old Lady Song was absent, Zhou Shuren whispered, "The Emperor didn’t recognize Rongchuan, nor did he acknowledge Shen Yang as designed by the powers behind the scenes. Now he keeps the fake fifth prince as an obstacle and remains ambiguous with Shen Yang. This is fishing, and the game has barely started, yet quite a few have already been hooked."

The words he had drawn out must have already been known to the Emperor. Heh, interesting, truly interesting.

Zhulan said pensively, "The Emperor didn’t acknowledge Rongchuan, actually because he didn’t want Rongchuan to get involved. He is protecting Rongchuan!"

Zhou Shuren hummed in response and paused before saying, "So, the Emperor has always been a father first."

At the capital, the Emperor closed his eyes tiredly. These days had been exhausting, and his eyes felt dry.

When the Crown Prince heard a noise, he asked with concern, "Father, do you need to rest for a bit?"

The Emperor kept his eyes closed without opening them, "No escaping old age, the body just doesn’t keep up with the mind as one gets older."

He never used to take breaks before. Now, during the day, he needed to rest for an hour or two. Old age had set in.

The Crown Prince was closest to the Emperor and knew his father’s condition the best; his father hadn’t kept it from him, "Father, you are still very young."

The Emperor opened his eyes, teasing, "Then I will remain on the throne for another decade or so."

The Crown Prince choked a little, not having the heart to calculate how old he himself would be in a decade. Yet he couldn’t let it show on his face, "Then I would be truly fortunate."

The Emperor snorted. A Crown Prince who didn’t want to become Emperor was not a good Crown Prince. He knew his own son and stood up, "I will take a nap. These documents are for you now. Remember to have them all replied to when I wake up. Youth is a wonderful thing; work hard."

The Crown Prince eyed the stack of documents. Indeed, it was time to get to work. Who knew how long the Emperor would rest, "Yes."

The Emperor returned to the inner chamber to rest and lay down on the bed, signaling Eunuch Liu to massage his head. As time passed and Eunuch Liu thought the Emperor had fallen asleep, the Emperor suddenly said, "The Shen Yang that I asked you to keep an eye on, he should have returned by now, right?"

Eunuch Liu responded without a tremor in his hand, years of experience steadying him, "Yes, Young Master Shen has acquired a residence and is due to return to the capital in the next couple of days."

The Emperor signaled Eunuch Liu that the massage was enough; his head felt much more comfortable, "Keep watching him."

Eunuch Liu found it curious that such surveillance wouldn’t be assigned to the secret service but rather to himself. All he had at his disposal were some petty tricks. Eunuch Liu thought that the Emperor became harder to read by the day, revealing his true self only in front of the Empress and the Crown Prince. At other times, he was genuinely afraid of the Emperor.

What a pity that when he had spoken to the Emperor about stepping down, the Emperor had not agreed. His arms and legs were getting old, and yet he still had to serve loyally.

The Emperor hadn’t fallen asleep. His mind was turning over, recalling all the officials that Shen Yang had visited; quite a number indeed. It was just uncertain which among them was the fish, but there was no hurry.

It was afternoon in Jinzhou Province. Zhulan was the first to awake from her nap. Zhou Shuren was still encompassing their son, sleeping deeply. Zhou Shuren was especially good at indulging their son in rowdiness, and the little fellow had an extraordinarily daring nature, spoiled by his father.

Zhulan got up and signaled to Old Lady Song to comb her hair into a simple, loose style, thinking it was the afternoon already and no one would likely visit.

She then changed into looser garments and took up the prepared dyes to add color to the street scene painting. The painting had taken some time, as details had been continuously added over time. The main painting was very long, with many details of the street scene included.

However, Zhulan still was not satisfied with it, as many of the areas were not well painted, but she could not find the feeling to repaint them and had to leave it as it was.

Only a small area was left to be colored now, and to preserve it for a long time, a professional master would need to be found for further treatment.

Zhou Shuren did not know when he had woken up, but after Zhulan had finished everything, he spoke up, "When I find a fitting poem to pair it with, this painting can be left in our house as a family heirloom."

Zhulan turned around, "You’re awake, is our son awake as well?"

"The child is still sleeping. He played himself out today and won’t be waking up any time soon."

Zhulan stood up to wash her hands. "Then you have to come up with a good poem. Speaking of which, it’s a pity that there was no painting made when you paraded the streets as the second-place scholar. That painting includes Chang Lian and Rongchuan. Our family says that whenever someone passes the imperial examination and gets their name on the gold list, we make a painting. So, how many paintings will be left after we pass away?"

Zhou Shuren stroked his beard. "Not a bad idea, we’ll know when the time comes. For now, Chang Zhi has a very good chance as long as he doesn’t get sabotaged. Mingyun is also not bad. Ming Teng and Ming Rui need to put in more effort to have a chance. By this count, the young men of the Zhou family are all made for studying."

Zhulan laughed helplessly. "Our family has a second-place scholar, a Third-rank Scholar, just missing a Top scorer."

Zhou Shuren said melancholically, "That Third-rank Scholar is not ours; our family, for now, only has a second-place scholar."

Zhulan burst into laughter. Indeed, they could not afford a Third-rank Scholar in their household now. Rongchuan’s real father was the Emperor. In this ancient era that perfectly explains the era of competing fathers, no one could compete with Rongchuan.

Zhulan got up to check on her son who was restless in sleep due to fatigue, having kicked off his blanket. After covering her son with the blanket, she found Zhou Shuren had already come up with a poem by the time she came back.

Zhulan said, "We’ll find a master to work on it tomorrow."

"Alright."

For dinner, there were always wild vegetables, the fruits of Chang Zhong’s labor. Zhulan liked wild vegetable soup; even though the fiery energy of spring wasn’t that strong, it was good to reduce bodily heat.

After dinner, Zhulan announced her decision, "Starting from tomorrow, Chang Zhong will start learning characters under the tutelage of your fourth brother."

Chang Zhong asked, "Mother, why fourth brother?"

The nephews always avoided the fourth brother, especially Ming Teng, who would run at the sight of him. Chang Zhong had encountered this several times himself, making him also not very fond of the fourth brother.

Zhulan tapped her son’s nose. "Because almost all the children in the family were initiated into learning by your fourth brother—he has the experience."

Especially experience with handling naughty boys.

Chang Zhong asked, "Mother, why are the nephews so scared of fourth brother?"

"Because they get punished for being naughty. So you see, you are their uncle, and you need to set an example for your nephews—you must be obedient and not make a fuss."

Chang Zhong felt conflicted. He was the young uncle and needed to set an example for his nephews. "Mother, I don’t want to."

Zhulan cut off the little guy’s words. "You are the young uncle, you know."

Chang Zhong blinked his eyes, feeling that his mother was taking advantage of him, yet he didn’t know how to retort. "Father."

Zhou Shuren smiled warmly. "My son, in our house, your mother is the boss."

The cheeky boy, now you remember to call for father; where were these sweet calls when you were giving your old man a hard time!

Chang Zhong hung his head. "Mother, I’m going back to sleep."

"Go ahead, dear."

Zhou Shuren, "...."

Because he didn’t speak up for him, was his goodnight kiss canceled?

After her son left, Zhulan said: "This child is too clever, I don’t even remember what I was doing at his age, but certainly wasn’t as clever as him."