Back to Yongle: I’m No Longer the Silly Fool

One moment, I was the unlucky Prince Zhu Gaoxu, roasted alive in a copper vat by my dear nephew Zhu Zhanji. The next, I’d become the only son of a modern family of scholars! After eighteen years of hard study, I read in a history book that the Ming fell to a bunch of mere barbarians, and was so furious I spat blood on the spot. If I’d known this would happen, why the hell did I ever fight for the throne?

Then a bungee-jumping accident sent me back to the scene of my father Zhu Di’s enthronement ceremony. I looked at my father on the dragon throne, his murderous aura still hanging over him, then at my brothers beside me, each with a different look in his eyes. I immediately stepped forward and knelt:

“Father! Your son requests to give up his fief near the capital and guard Yunnan for the rest of his life!”

The entire court fell silent. Big Brother’s teacup tipped over, Third Brother dropped his jade tablet, and even Father was so startled that his jade scepter fell to the ground and shattered.