"Gulp."
His Adam's apple bobbed. Tea leaves swirled in the cup, steam rising from it. Liang Qu swallowed and abruptly rose to his feet. "Could it be that Your Majesty intends to set a precedent for all under Heaven and grant Pingyang Prefecture to me?"
The Sacred Emperor glanced at Liang Qu, lifted his teacup, and lightly skimmed off the foam.
"Yes. Not only Pingyang—Chizhou below it as well."
"Hiss... That's too much, too much."
"It is merely one prefecture and one province. What is that? Yuhang beside Pingyang, Xihe across from Jianghuai, Tianchang above it."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
"Dream on." The Sacred Emperor spat out a tea leaf and closed the lid. "Sea Merchants, Lan Province, Jiang Chuan, bordering the stable Great Marsh... Present-day Pingyang is among the foremost prosperous lands under Heaven. If I gave you Pingyang, I might agree, but the ministers throughout court and countryside would not, nor would the kings enfeoffed across the realm."
Having been rather full of himself, Liang Qu felt somewhat awkward and scratched his head. "So I still have to leave my homeland?"
"Unless you are willing to become an 'Imperial Clan King.' Then you may maintain the status quo: no fief, but the court will give you a sum each year, roughly equivalent to the tax revenue of one Jiangnan prefecture, sparing you the toil that wears down the body."
Liang Qu's eyes lit up. "That's good! That's good!"
"Fine." The Sacred Emperor laughed. "Since Minister Liang agrees, I shall find the Ministry of Rites another day to pick a date and summon the eligible women of the imperial clan. See which one suits you."
"Why summon women?"
"To choose a fine match and marry on an auspicious day, of course." The Sacred Emperor spoke as though it were only