"Hm?!"
Jian Shang knitted his thick brows and looked at Zhi Ji, then at everyone else present. Each had their own thoughts, but no one spoke up in agreement.
It was not hard to guess why Zhi Ji objected. After all, the Huan King still had no children, and he was a sovereign. If he adopted a son, that boy would, in theory, become the crown prince of the Huan Kingdom, second only to the Huan King.
Indeed, if the Huan King never had children of his own, this child of the Zhong Clan might very well become the Huan Kingdom's future king.
That was hardly impossible. The Huan King himself was an Otherworlder, and he was not a man given to unbridled lust. Having children would genuinely be no easy matter.
What was strange was that none of the Huan Kingdom's consorts had spoken yet, but Zhi Ji was already so anxious. It was like posting a sign saying, "No three hundred taels of silver buried here"-her designs on the Huan Kingdom's throne stood exposed for all to see.
At that thought, the contemplative crowd could not help giving Zhi Ji rather peculiar looks.
"That isn't what I meant..."
Zhi Ji's pretty face flushed as she protested indignantly. By the end, even she felt her explanation sounded feeble. She glared fiercely at Jian Shang and sent him a private voice transmission:
"The Zhong Clan's roots run deep, and its current generation is ambitious, though relatively rational. In ancient times, every great state had an office called Sima, and some lineages adopted Sima as their surname. Cheng Bo Xiufu married the daughter of Hu Kai, the founding lord of Anding, and had two sons. The elder was Zhong Geng, the younger Zhong Xin. Zhong Geng succeeded his father as Grand