She and Xiao Yanchen Were Cousins!

Everyone fell silent when they heard that.

Twenty-five? She had died at just twenty-five?

On the surface, everything that had happened seemed understandable, but everyone knew in their hearts that such immense pressure should never have fallen on a young girl.

But they could hardly blame the crown prince, who had been gravely injured for his country.

So they could imagine why, as the country drifted ever closer to disaster, its overwhelmed officials had turned accusing eyes on the crown princess, who had never even entered the Eastern Palace and held the title in name alone.

As one prince after another came to grief, Great Qi was battered by wind and rain, with no suitable heir.

If the crown prince had had children, perhaps they would not have had to hand the country over to the seventh prince.

Or, once it became clear that the seventh prince was a muddleheaded ruler, they could have placed the emperor's eldest grandson on the throne. With the crown prince's former reputation for virtue behind him, he could have won the people's hearts and taken his place by right.

With one more choice, perhaps there would have been one more chance to save Great Qi.

And because the crown prince had no children, all of this had shaken the very foundations of the country.

Wei Baozhu's expression was numb, tears bursting from her eyes like a broken dam. She trembled all over, utterly devastated.

All she had wanted was to marry the older cousin she had admired since childhood and stay by the side of the most honored crown prince.

Why? Why was this her fate?

The history books of later generations would surely condemn her for it too.

Xiao Yanchen sighed deeply, a cold gleam flashing in his eyes. Whether it was the mysterious woman behind the scenes or the forces that would harm him and his brothers in the future, he would spare none of them.

Shen Anxin's heart ached as she listened, and she felt powerless against the deeply ingrained beliefs of the people in ancient times. How could a girl as radiant as a rose be swallowed up by fate like this?!

[Damn it, it's all the fault of those villains stirring up trouble behind the scenes! I can't deal with them for now, but... Wei Baozhu's fate can definitely be changed! I say so!]

Those words were like a sharp blade cleaving through the darkness.

Everyone jolted in surprise and looked up in Shen Anxin's direction as one.

Her? Did she have a way?

The Duke of Wei, who had been trapped in despair and grief-stricken anger, felt as though his muddled brain had been struck by a stick.

His mind began racing, and he abruptly turned to look at Emperor Hongyao.

Emperor Hongyao nodded calmly.

With Shen Anxin here, how hard could it be to change the young girl's fate?

The timing of the natural disaster was a coincidence. They could simply avoid holding the wedding that day, and there would be no public backlash.

Without a serious disaster, the fighting at the border was unlikely to become severe, and nothing would happen to the crown prince.

As for the venomous snake lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike at the women around the crown prince, they had no way to guard against her when they did not know who she was.

But as long as they changed the first two things, most of Wei Baozhu's fate would be changed.

Of course, the safest option was undoubtedly not to marry the crown prince.

All the ministers thought of this. Their daughters could all potentially marry the crown prince, and all of them could be targeted and framed by the madwoman.

But if the risk could be controlled, the chance to enter the crown prince's household and gain a rank in the future imperial harem seemed worth the gamble.

Once everyone had calmed down and learned that the crisis could be resolved, their thoughts returned to the position of crown princess, each with their own ideas.

The Duke of Wei hurried to comfort his wife and daughter, explaining the situation to them.

As it happened, Shen Anxin and Chacha had also begun discussing the matter.

Chacha: [Host, do you want to help Wei Baozhu secure her position as crown princess? Your earlier attitude made it seem like you didn't approve of the marriage.]

Everyone was taken aback.

Shen Anxin's thoughts had been so full of indignation on Wei Baozhu's behalf that they had forgotten how thoroughly she had disapproved when she first heard that Wei Baozhu was to be the crown princess.

Wei Baozhu had finally recovered somewhat, but now her back stiffened with tension again. She did not want Shen Anxin to reject her, especially when she had only just changed her opinion of Shen Anxin.

Xiao Yanchen glanced at Shen Anxin. He knew from her tone that she was only rejecting Wei Baozhu as a candidate, not entertaining any other thoughts. If it had been someone else, she probably would have just eaten melon and watched the excitement.

Shen Anxin paused. [Oh, that! It has been bothering me, actually. I definitely don't want her to meet such a miserable end, but as for her position as crown princess...

Although it's normal in ancient times, I just can't accept it psychologically. She and Xiao Yanchen are cousins! Isn't that fucking in! cest!?]

Everyone eating melon: ???? What?????

In what? Cest what?

They were maternal cousins, not brother and sister.

The second batch of members were completely baffled and felt that Shen Anxin's words made no sense.

But the first batch knew that Shen Anxin's soul was not from their world. Perhaps in her world, marriage between cousins was considered improper, which was why she felt that way. Everyone could understand that.

No one took Shen Anxin's words to heart, assuming it was simply a difference in customs and rules.

But Chacha's next words made all their pupils quake.

Chacha: [It can't be helped. Ancient people didn't know about recessive genetic diseases. Their ethical reasoning wasn't based on how closely related people were by blood, but on clan and surname.

In their eyes, people with the same surname belonged to the same family, while those with different surnames were more distantly related. But from the perspective of blood relations and genetics, the chances of having a deformed child are the same.]

Everyone: A deformed child?!!!!

They knew the ancient saying: those of the same surname do not prosper together.

That was why, both at court and among the common people, custom opposed marriage between cousins of the same surname and supported marriage between cousins of different surnames. This had been accepted since ancient times; it was a matter of rites and law, of rules. But if asked exactly why...

Though they could not explain the reason, children born to relatives of the same surname were indeed more likely to be weak and sickly or die young. But cousins of different surnames weren't...

No way...

No...

As everyone recalled what they had seen in their lives, a creeping chill began to run down their spines.

Several officials had married their cousins, and their eldest legitimate sons and daughters did seem less healthy than the children born to their concubines. This had led to many schemes and struggles in their households.

The son of one of the ladies present had died young. She had investigated her entire household over it, suspecting like a madwoman that one of the concubines had played some trick and harmed her child.

Among the common people, if such a thing happened, they would at most sigh over their bad fortune. They would never connect it to blood relations.

And now they were being told that even if the surnames were different, marriage between maternal cousins was just as harmful to their offspring as marriage between paternal cousins?

The shock of this information was too much for everyone to accept, and they stole nervous glances at Shen Anxin.

Shen Anxin: [Sigh, I really want to educate them about it, but they definitely wouldn't understand. This is a conclusion that took a long time to reach through medical research.

Under the laws where I came from, direct relatives couldn't even think about it. As for collateral relatives, anyone who shared a paternal or maternal grandparent, whether they had the same surname or not, could never get a marriage certificate from the state.

Only by the fourth generation, when the blood relationship was more distant, would the state issue a certificate.]

Everyone was dumbstruck.

This was something her people had discovered through research?

And the country Shen Anxin had once lived in had even written it into law to restrict marriage between close relatives?

If it did not benefit the development of the country, why would it have been written into law?

Could it be true?

Chacha: [This really isn't something you can warn them about, host. After all, having a deformed child is only a matter of probability. Plenty of people who have healthy children would definitely argue against it, and habits that have lasted for so many years in ancient times can't be changed. Everyone thinks there's no problem as long as it hasn't happened to them. Besides, there are considerations like marriage alliances between families and strengthening their power.]

Shen Anxin: [True. Even where we came from, there are still countries that cling to old rules and only want people to marry within their clans. But after so many years and generations, the problems are quite serious. Everyone says their heirs and descendants are lucky if they can even maintain a human form.]

Everyone felt their skin crawl. If close relatives kept marrying generation after generation, would it really come to that?

Chacha: [Besides, children dying young was common in ancient times. It can't all be blamed on marriage between close relatives. If you warned them, they'd think you were spreading lies to mislead the public.]

Shen Anxin: [Yeah. Just look at Wei Baozhu. She seems to be only sixteen or seventeen, and she's already supposed to marry and have children. That not only harms a woman's body and can shorten her life, but it's also bad for the child's health. Women here have children far too early. Some have several before they're twenty. It's frightening. No wonder so many have difficult births.]

Chacha: [Ancient times needed a large population, so naturally people had children early. They believed more children meant more blessings, but they didn't know that having children according to scientific principles was the real way to have more children and more blessings, with quality too.]

As Shen Anxin and Chacha's conversation wandered further off course, everyone else had turned deathly pale. The young girls who had yet to marry were especially frightened.

They had previously thought that sixteen made them grown women, but hearing this, they suddenly felt they were still young.

Emperor Hongyao and the ministers could think of nothing but scientific principles, close blood relations, and the age for having children.

They had been shocked at first, but in the end, they did not question what Shen Anxin and Chacha had said. After all, some of it did have a basis in reality.

Cousins who married each other were indeed more likely to have children with problems than men who took unrelated outsiders as concubines.

In some places, girls gave birth at thirteen or fourteen, and often both mother and child died. Even when they gave birth safely, the women mostly lived short lives.

So the information Shen Anxin had provided should be true.

The next question was whether these rules should be changed. Even knowing they were wrong, what upheaval would result from changing the ancestral family rules like this? None of them could say for certain.

They could only wait for Emperor Hongyao to decide.

But the ministers had already made up their minds in secret: their children must never marry close relatives. Even if they were already betrothed, they would explain the reason and break off the engagement.

Those whose children were already married could do nothing about that. They could only tell them to wait until the woman was eighteen before thinking about children. If they could not have children later, or if the children they had were born with problems, they could not be blamed.

The princes had only one conclusion in their minds after hearing all this: they would not choose cousins as wives, nor would they let the women in their future households bear children too early.

Xiao Yanchen glanced at Shen Anxin. It seemed his marriage was completely out of the question now...

The corners of his mouth curved up involuntarily, and a trace of secret happiness actually welled up in his heart.

On the other side, Wei Baozhu finally could not hold back and burst into loud sobs.

She had gone from learning of her miserable fate to thinking there was a turn in the road, only for this matter of incest between close relatives to snuff out her little flame completely.

She knew there was no hope left for her marriage to her crown prince cousin.

"Father, Mother, can I just listen to the first part and not the rest? Boo-hoo..."

The young girl wept like a pear blossom drenched in rain, bitterness filling her heart. She had studied hard as a child and always hoped to become crown princess, only for more than a decade of effort to come to nothing. It was as if her life had suddenly lost all direction; her Dao heart was utterly shattered.

The Duke of Wei and his wife could only scramble to comfort her.

Shen Anxin, of course, noticed none of this. It was not that she was carefree, but that Xiao Yanchen had found a reason to take her out of the imperial garden before things spiraled out of control.

The high-ranking ministers had arrived in high spirits with their families, only to return home with their heads hanging low. When others asked, they could not explain and could only discuss it among themselves in small groups.

The empress and the imperial consorts had also suffered quite a shock.

Their attention was no longer on the little matter of marriage alliances, but on the futures of their precious sons!

From one palace after another came the sound of consorts clutching their sons and crying until they could hardly breathe, frightening the palace servants into thinking their masters had all been possessed.

Even the empress, usually dignified and composed, fainted outright when she heard that her son, so outstanding and perfect, would spend years confined to a sickbed before finally dying.

That night, the Imperial Medical Bureau was run off its feet again, its physicians sighing repeatedly.

The previous day, they had kept watch at the Hall of Bright Radiance, taking charge of ministers who kept fainting. Tonight, they were stationed in the imperial harem, taking charge of consorts who kept fainting.

What on earth was going on?!

Those who tried to find out why were met with people who knew but looked unable to speak of it, while those who did not know were utterly baffled.

Meanwhile, Shen Anxin, who had caused all of this, remained completely oblivious. After slacking off in the Hall of Bright Radiance, she happily feigned weakness from illness again to dodge work and leave early.

In the empress's palace, Empress Wei had finally steadied her emotions. Looking at her son, who was patiently comforting her, she still could not help sighing. "Fortunately, fortunately a lucky star like Miss Shen came to our Great Qi. Otherwise, I wouldn't dare imagine what would happen to you and Baozhu..."

Xiao Yanchen's voice was gentle, but his gaze was firm. "Don't worry, Mother. Everything will be taken care of. Trust me and Father."

Empress Wei nodded, then her face filled with worry. "If Baozhu won't do, then the choice of your crown princess..."

Xiao Yanchen coughed. "According to Miss Shen, women should only have children after eighteen. The girls here today are all still young."

Empress Wei grew anxious. "But nowadays, the eighteen-year-old women in the capital have long since married. Most of those left have something wrong with them. If you have to wait for the other girls to grow up..."

Xiao Yanchen said, "I'm in no hurry."

Empress Wei said, "How can you not be? You are..."

In the original future, he would have died without an heir, ultimately shaking the foundations of the country. Empress Wei no longer cared about imperial rules; she only wanted her son to have descendants early.

Xiao Yanchen patted Empress Wei's hand reassuringly. "Mother."

Empress Wei met Xiao Yanchen's gaze and paused. She knew her son fairly well: that look meant his mind was made up, and he would not marry for the time being.

Empress Wei suddenly remembered Miss Shen, who dressed as a man. Although she had become an attendant to the crown prince for a special reason, she would now be at her son's side wherever he went.

Such a remarkable girl might be just right for crown princess?!

"What about Miss Shen, then? Once she's eighteen, we could propose a marriage to her," Empress Wei suggested.

Xiao Yanchen froze.

That brief moment was enough to make Empress Wei's eyes light up. There was hope.

Then she saw her son shake his head with a soft laugh. "She's most likely unwilling to marry into the imperial family and become crown princess. Please don't do anything, Mother. She's very important to Father and to Great Qi. We mustn't trouble her with private matters."

Empress Wei naturally knew that Shen Anxin was extraordinary and had to be treated with great care. Otherwise, Emperor Hongyao would not have issued a decree forbidding the families of all officials from harassing Shen Anxin and the Marquis of Shuoping's Residence, with the severest violations punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the family.

But Empress Wei was watching the crown prince's attitude.

He had only said that Shen Anxin was unwilling. He had not said that he himself was unwilling.

There was a world of difference between the two.

Empress Wei understood now. Her son definitely felt differently about Miss Shen than he did about his cousin.

In that case, she would have to spend more time with Miss Shen.