Adoption brings disaster

Practicing martial arts was hard work, and because of different customs, Chen Jiu accidentally annoyed the Seventh Prince. After coaxing him for a long time, when Chen Jiu finally relaxed, he was so hungry that his chest was sticking to his back.

When I looked at the time again, it was almost time for lunch. I had already given orders for today's lunch, which was yesterday's cold dishes.

Chunyu naturally protested against this arrangement, and I understood the logic. Regardless of the Seventh Prince's status or the various regulations in the palace, he should not be allowed to eat yesterday's cold dishes.

But in order to make the Seventh Prince understand that people should be responsible for their own actions, he was also told that food is hard-earned and should not be wasted.

So I also insisted. Chunyu saw that his bitter advice was ineffective, so he had to do it with a worried look on his face and not mention it again.

When it was time for lunch, I took on the pressure and asked the servants to reheat the food that had not been touched yesterday and serve it up.

Although the palace maids and eunuchs were terrified, they still moved quickly. Soon, the cold dishes from yesterday filled the entire table.

After reheating these dishes, their appearance was much worse, but they tasted better. I like this dish the most, so I pulled the Seventh Prince and started to feast on it.

The Seventh Prince had never eaten these things before, so naturally he didn't buy them.

He looked at the table full of cold dishes and was naturally unhappy. He frowned and said with a pout, "Just give me the leftovers."

I had anticipated the Seventh Prince's reaction, so I remained calm and simply explained, "This isn't leftovers. This is a cold dish. Leftovers are dishes that have been touched. This one wasn't touched at all yesterday, so I just heated it up today."

The Seventh Prince was disgusted with the cold dishes and leftovers, and didn't even touch his chopsticks. He just looked at me with a bitter and resentful look.

Seeing the Seventh Prince's expression, I also put down my bowl and said, "According to the law, you shouldn't eat this, but I think you should know why these dishes have been left until now, so it's only right that you eat them today."

After saying that, I picked up a chicken leg for him with great kindness.

The Seventh Prince looked down upon the chicken drumstick and angrily threw it and the bowl to the ground, saying through gritted teeth, "I won't eat it."

When the servants nearby saw that the Seventh Prince was angry, they all felt threatened and knelt down hurriedly to clean up the things on the ground.

While Chunyu was cleaning up, he glanced at me from time to time, his eyes full of worry.

I also know in my heart that I don't have absolute legal authority in this matter, so I can't push the Seventh Prince too hard.

After thinking for a moment, he discussed with the Seventh Prince and said, "If you can give me a suitable reason, I will ask the small kitchen to make some more."

"How can we eat so little food?" The seventh prince made up an excuse.

When I heard the Seventh Prince say this, I also laughed and said, "You usually have more dishes at meals because the Imperial Concubine is of a higher rank. You can have 32 dishes per meal, but I am of a lower rank, so I can only have 8 dishes at most per meal."

The Seventh Prince did not know about this. He looked at the four eunuchs beside him and immediately realized that what he said was true. He remained silent for a while.

Seeing that the Seventh Prince remained silent, I smiled and said, "If you want to eat thirty-two dishes, then work hard and strive to get promoted to the position of Lord Father as soon as possible. Then we can also have thirty-two dishes per meal."

After saying that, I picked up another chicken leg and placed it in the Seventh Prince's bowl, then continued, "But it's difficult to go from extravagant to frugal. How about this? You eat all these dishes, and then I'll ask the kitchen to make you something else."

Although these eight dishes are not large in quantity, the Seventh Prince and I, two children, certainly cannot finish them all, and the Seventh Prince also understands this.

So he picked up his chopsticks, poking this dish and turning that dish over, and said with disdain: "This dish is not good either. It will give you diarrhea if you eat it."

I didn't respond to the Seventh Prince. Instead, I pointed at one of the dishes and said, "Chongguang, do you know how much the ingredients for this dish alone cost?"

The Seventh Prince had no idea about this and didn't answer. I asked myself and answered, "Three taels of silver."

The Seventh Prince, upon hearing this, naturally expressed disdain, saying, "It's only three taels of silver, no wonder it looks so bad."

I felt a little angry when I saw the Seventh Prince's expression, but I also understood that as a spoiled child of heaven, he naturally didn't know the hardships of life, so I couldn't blame him.

I gathered my emotions and continued, "In a place like the capital where life is difficult, three taels of silver is enough for an ordinary family to live comfortably for a month. Just this table of eight dishes alone, if you really calculate it, is enough for an average family to live on for a year. Do you still think three taels of silver is too little?"

"I am a prince, how can I be compared with common people?"

This made me a little angry, but in this era, there was nothing wrong with it. On the contrary, it was my huge mistake to compare a lowly person to a prince.

I understood, but couldn't say anything more. I could only speak earnestly, "Chongguang, you must understand one thing: a prince should have the virtues of a prince. You should be grateful for the blessings of heaven and earth, remember the hard work of Your Majesty, and worry about the hardships of the people. If you only seek enjoyment, who can't be a prince?"

The Seventh Prince had no rebuttal for the moment, so he could only change his excuse and say, "But this all happened yesterday."

"I think you know better than me why yesterday's food is left until today."

I don't want to discuss this with the Seventh Prince. His tone is already a bit unfriendly.

"I just walked slowly, not intentionally being late. How can you blame me? These servants are so useless. These things didn't happen when I was with my mother." The seventh prince argued speciously.

I grabbed the Seventh Prince's hand, looked him in the eyes, and said, "Chongguang, you have to understand one thing. If you make a mistake and don't admit it, then I can also deny it if I make a mistake."

"Whatever you want." The Seventh Prince broke free from my hand and turned around to get angry.

I ate the chicken leg in my bowl and said quietly, "I was not wrong about what I did just now. You were just overthinking it."

I have only just met the Seventh Prince, and this is the only thing I can talk about.

But the effect was better than I expected. When the Seventh Prince heard this, he immediately turned around and stared at me sullenly for a long time before saying, "Okay, I was wrong."

Although I didn't know why the Seventh Prince admitted his mistake, I was still very happy. I hugged the Seventh Prince and explained the reason to him.

"Chongguang, you have to understand one thing. In the short term, dishonest behavior may feel good, but if you betray someone once and others find out, it will be hard for them to trust you again. So, you must think twice before you act, and always keep your promises."

When the Seventh Prince heard this, he blinked his eyes, looked at me cunningly and said, "I don't want to eat. I just don't want to eat. Is this an acceptable excuse?"

"That's certainly a good reason, but are you sure you don't want to eat it?" I asked gently.

Seeing that I was not angry, the Seventh Prince accepted this reason and said happily, "I am sure I don't want to eat."

"You don't have to eat, but I want to remind you of one thing. If you don't eat now, the next time you eat will have to be dinner. Are you sure you don't want to eat?"

The Seventh Prince thought about it and didn't think there was anything wrong, so he asked again, "Are we still eating these tonight?"

"The small kitchen will prepare something else in the evening, but there will still be only eight dishes at most. Because of my position, there can only be eight dishes at most." I explained patiently.

After hearing this, the Seventh Prince jumped up with joy and said happily, "Then I won't eat it. I'll eat it tonight."

After saying that, he ran outside.

I quickly grabbed him and asked again, "If you don't eat now, you'll have to wait until dinner. Are you sure you don't want to eat now?"

Seeing that the atmosphere was getting better, Chun Yu hurriedly said, "My two masters, the kitchen has prepared some gold ingots. Would you like to cook some for me?"

"I don't want to eat this either. I don't want to eat Yuanbao either. I don't want to eat now."

The Seventh Prince didn't like pasta to begin with, and seeing that I was so easy to talk to, he naturally stopped eating it and just wanted to go out and play.

"Then go and have fun. I'll call you when dinner is ready."

Then I told Tiandi Shanchuan to follow the Seventh Prince and take good care of him, asked Ada and the others to follow me, and asked Chunyu to lock the small kitchen, and I kept the key with me.

After doing these things, I had a good nap. Lack of sleep will prevent you from growing taller, and I don’t want to be a short person in the future.

When I woke up, it was already mid-afternoon. The Seventh Prince was sitting listlessly on a chair. When he saw me wake up, he hurried over.

I pretended not to see him, turned over and continued to sleep.

The Seventh Prince was unwilling to comply, but he did not dare to lose his temper, so he could only cry out, "My dear, I am hungry."

The helpless Tiandi Shanchuan and Chunyu who followed behind him all looked at me with pleading eyes.

Xiao Tao didn't finish him off this time, it seems Chun Yu did a good job of training him.

I looked down and found that Chunyu was holding Xiaotao's hand tightly and pinching him with his fingers. It turned out that it was not Xiaotao who had grown, but Chunyu who was controlling him.

"You didn't eat anything at noon, so I think you must be hungry now." I said as a matter of course.

"I want to eat, I'm so hungry." The seventh prince cried.

"The lunch dishes have been thrown away, and there is nothing left to eat now. Chongguang, please be patient for a while. We will have dinner early today."

"Don't you have gold ingots? Cook some for me. I'm really hungry." The seventh prince said pitifully, holding his stomach.

"Chongguang, you should keep your promises. When you didn't eat at noon, didn't I tell you that if you didn't eat at noon, you could only eat at dinner? You knew this and you admitted it, so you can only wait until dinner to eat."

The seventh prince started crying and making a fuss again, shouting that if he wasn't given anything to eat, he would starve to death. A group of servants stood by with their heads lowered, not daring to even breathe.

I waited until the Seventh Prince had cried enough, then pulled him into my arms and said, "Chongguang, you have to understand one thing. I can let you eat now, but you are not an honest and trustworthy person. I will find it difficult to believe you if you say anything else in the future."

The Seventh Prince was just a child, so how could he understand all this? I continued, "I like you very much, and I hope to be happy with you, but if I can't trust you, then we can't be happy together."

The Seventh Prince heard this, but he didn't cry or make a fuss. He just pouted and said, "I was wrong. I won't do it next time. I must eat well. Can you please give me something to eat?"

Seeing that my purpose of teaching was achieved, I gently said, "I will forgive you this time, but I will only forgive you once. I hope you will think twice before doing anything in the future and be a person of your word, okay?"

The Seventh Prince nodded and said in a tearful voice, "I won't do that again."

The seventh prince is still a very good child. Although he did many bad things under the pampering of A Da and others, he is not a bad person by nature and can recognize his mistakes.

I thought to myself that if I taught him for a while longer, he would definitely become very good.

"But there is one thing you need to understand. If I ask them to prepare it now, it will take about an hour. If you make fewer dishes, it should be much faster. Do you want to wait, or just make four dishes and eat earlier?" I asked.

The Seventh Prince hesitated for a while, then said unwillingly, "Four dishes are too few. Let's have four dishes today, and at least eight dishes from now on. No less."

I touched the seventh prince's head and gave the key to Chunyu. Chunyu hurried to make arrangements and even forgot the rules.

I locked the small kitchen, and there was not even a spark at this hour. I got the key and then I started to light the fire and cook.

Although the servants were all very capable, cooking was most important to the cooking time. No matter how hungry the Seventh Prince was, he could only wait.

Although the imperial kitchen had prepared all kinds of ingredients and cooked quickly, it was too far from Qianqiu Pavilion and it would take a long time to get it back. Of course, it was mainly because of my suggestion that no one mentioned this.

Although only the time of an incense stick had passed, the Seventh Prince felt like a much longer time had passed.

The food finally arrived. Maybe everyone was too anxious, so the food was a little mushy. Although it was not serious, there were still some smells and black things mixed in the food.

Chunyu brought the dishes up tremblingly, and the Seventh Prince quickly picked up his chopsticks and started eating with relish, as if he didn't see the black stuff, and kept saying that it was delicious.

I thought to myself, if the Seventh Prince had a kindergarten diploma, he wouldn't have been educated like this.

The Seventh Prince ate a lot for dinner, and I was worried that he would get indigestion, so I decided to take him for a walk in the garden.

The Seventh Prince was unwilling to go with me and wanted to go for a walk on his own. I could only say, "Go out for a walk to help digest your food. Don't cause trouble, and don't bully others. I'll have Ah Da and the others follow you. Keep an eye on the time, and come back quickly when it's almost time. You have to get up early tomorrow to practice martial arts."

I kept nagging like an old nanny for a long time before finally letting the Seventh Prince leave. I looked at the direction the Seventh Prince and the others were going, which seemed to be the direction of Taoist Tianshu, and I felt a little worried.

I was worried that they would cause trouble for the Taoist priest, but then I thought, the four of A Da were no match for the Taoist priest.

Moreover, Taoist Tianshu is a very sensible person and he shouldn't cause any trouble. So I didn't think about this issue and just spent my time reading storybooks on the recliner without mentioning it.

Predict what will happen in the future, and listen to the next decomposition.