The Huan Emperor was a man, after all, and an emperor at that. He had every right to maintain three palaces, six courts, and seventy-two consorts. Who could find fault with that?
In an instant, everyone present began turning the possibilities over in their minds. Given the Huan Emperor's temperament and background, an Otherworlder wife would enjoy a status comparable to an empress. This was a business that promised a thousandfold return and a livelihood as secure as an iron rice bowl.
Some preferred radishes, others greens; everyone had their own tastes.
Women more beautiful and flawless than Great Huan's consorts were virtually impossible to find. But the Huaxia Nation had over a billion people, five or six hundred million of them women. Surely there was one who would catch the Huan Emperor's eye. Even if there wasn't, once they knew his preferences, they would create one...
Emperors were human, too, with the same seven emotions and six desires, and the temptations they faced were countless times stronger than those confronting ordinary people.
As far as women went, among the four great emperors of China's Divine Land, the Huan Emperor truly had the fewest.
Qin Shi Huang went without saying. Even the Western Chu Hegemon Xiang Yu and the Han King Liu Bang, neither of whom had appointed an empress, had at least a dozen women with whom they had confirmed physical relations, and already had several children.
And the Huan Emperor? He had only Great Huan's five consorts, and had actually shared physical intimacy with only three of them. He had no children at all. As for Otherworlder women, even of the two women most frequently linked to him in rumors a few years earlier, one had been killed by his own hand, while the other had not contacted