"How is the crown prince?"
"Reporting to Your Majesty..." Inside the Palace of Earthly Tranquility, an old man in yin-yang ritual robes stroked his beard. "His Highness has suffered a severe depletion of vitality and will need a long time to recover. However, His Highness is still young, so recovery should not pose much of a problem."
"What else?" The emperor's voice sounded very cold.
At that, the old man glanced at Chen Qing, who stood nearby, and frowned slightly.
"It is fine. That boy is no outsider."
Chen Qing's face twitched. No, I am an outsider. Please let me go, thank you. I don't want to hear any of this...
Though his face was full of bewilderment at the emperor's words, the old man eventually nodded. "The fox demon took His Highness's primal yang using a Secret Method, damaging his foundation. Though his body can recover, as for having children in the future..."
"I understand..." The emperor waved a hand, a trace of weariness flashing through his eyes.
"Then this old subject will take his leave..." The sorcerer bowed respectfully and withdrew, bent at the waist.
"Then this student will take his leave as well..." Chen Qing followed with a bow, hoping to seize the opportunity to slip away.
"You stay!"
Chen Qing: "..."
Once the sorcerer had withdrawn, the emperor looked at Chen Qing. "Do you have a solution?"
"Your Majesty... aren't you overestimating me?" Chen Qing said helplessly.
"I would like to underestimate you, but the abilities you have demonstrated are indeed extraordinary." The emperor revealed a rare, gentle smile. "Rest assured. I keep my word. You rescued the crown prince, so I will fulfill my promise."
Chen Qing froze and looked up at him. Seriously? He's this easy to talk to?
"You will set out tomorrow. Take your official seal and assume your post in Liuzhou. I have already arranged for guards to fetch your family from Qi County. They will join you in Liuzhou before long."
Hiss...
The emperor was behaving far too normally, which instead made Chen Qing feel something was amiss, especially since he had deliberately let him hear about the crown prince becoming a eunuch...
Is he planning to have men disguise themselves as mounted bandits and ambush me on the way?
"By the way, my dear subject Chen, how old are you this year?"
I'm... his dear subject already?
Chen Qing found it strange, but still cupped his hands honestly. "Reporting to Your Majesty, this student is twenty-one by nominal age."
"Are you betrothed?"
Chen Qing's heart jolted, and a sense of unease surged within him. He desperately wanted to say he was already betrothed, but did not dare. What if the emperor was setting a trap, hoping to execute him on a charge of deceiving the sovereign?
"This student is not yet betrothed."
"Mm..." The emperor nodded. "My dear subject, becoming a jinshi at twenty makes you a promising young man. Now that you have attained scholarly honors, it is indeed time to consider marriage. I intend to bestow Princess Yong'an upon you in marriage. What do you think?"
"What?"
Chen Qing froze outright. He had imagined many possibilities, but never that this damned emperor intended to marry off his daughter!
Princess Yong'an?
That name sounds so familiar...
Damn, isn't she the one rumored to have been intended for that short-lived fellow Cui Yan?
"Well..." Chen Qing's heart tightened, and he hurriedly cupped his hands. "Your subject comes from an impoverished family. I fear I am unworthy of the princess's golden boughs and jade leaves..."
"You are unwilling?" The emperor's smile vanished, a cold gleam entering his eyes.
"This student pays his respects to his honored father-in-law!"
"Good, hahaha!" The emperor immediately burst into laughter. "There is no need for such ceremony. In that case, we are family now. The princess must observe mourning, so she cannot perform the wedding rites with you for three years. However, we can settle the engagement first. Before you leave the capital, I will arrange for you to meet Yong'an. You young people can get acquainted."
Chen Qing: "..."
Is he tying up my marriage prospects for three years?
What's the point?
"However, you are, after all, at an age when your blood runs hot. Making you remain chaste for three years would be somewhat inhumane. How about this? I will also bestow a beautiful concubine upon you!"
"Huh?"
Chen Qing was stunned again.
You can... take a concubine when marrying a princess?
Isn't this... a little too... generous?
"Take the beautiful concubine home with you, and there is no need to take precautions against pregnancy. Continuing the family line is a matter of great importance. I have looked into it; your family has few members. Making you wait for the princess would be rather unfeeling. I permit you to have concubine-born children first, but the title I grant you may only pass to a legitimate son born of the princess. What do you think?"
"This student thinks... isn't that rather inappropriate?" Chen Qing swallowed.
A beautiful concubine? And I can have concubine-born children first?
That hardly seems possible in any dynasty, does it? Having concubine-born sons and daughters before the princess even marries me-surely even a sheltered young lady from a family of modest means couldn't stomach that humiliation? Let alone the imperial family.
What exactly is going on?
"Ah, there is no need to decline. From Liuzhou to the capital, you rendered countless meritorious services along the way. In the end, you braved extraordinary danger to rescue the crown prince, earning the merit of protecting the nation. You deserve any reward."
As he spoke, he clapped his hands. "Come, first have a look at the beautiful concubine I have prepared for you!"
Chen Qing froze. Before he could say anything, he saw a graceful, lovely figure emerge from the room.
Looks like he even picked out the concubine in advance?
Chen Qing swallowed and looked over curiously. Once he saw clearly, he stood rooted to the spot as though struck by lightning!
That familiar medicinal fragrance, that familiar, gorgeous face...
"This humble woman greets her husband..."
Fuck!!
Chen Qing stared at her with wide eyes, then looked at the emperor. What the fuck, has he gone mad?-
"She's not dead?"
Wang Ye slowly sat down. The shock on his face had scarcely faded even after a quarter of an hour. Perhaps this was because the news was too astonishing, but the greater reason was that, being made into a puppet, he found it difficult to undo an overly exaggerated expression.
"Can you guess why?" Liu Yu asked as he poured the freshly brewed tea for Wang Ye.
Wang Ye gazed at the tea in thought. After pondering for a full half-quarter of an hour, he finally looked up and drew a deep breath. "Because of the crown prince?"
Liu Yu smiled and nodded. "Correct. Go on!"
"The crown prince had his primal yang taken. According to the Record of Strange Tales, those whose primal yang is taken by demons or ghosts lose their souls and become partially paralyzed in severe cases. In milder cases, their vital essence is damaged, leaving them unable to have children."
Wang Ye rubbed his fingers together out of habit and continued his deductions. "The crown prince has lost his primal yang, so the Golden Crow Bloodline cannot be passed down. Even if he succeeds to the throne, the succession cannot continue. His Majesty is already past sixty. Although he has surpassed the limit of every previous generation of the Golden Crow family and did not die suddenly at fifty, no one can say how much longer he can hold on..."
Ordinarily, Liu Yu would long since have silenced such audacious words, but now he nodded for him to continue.
Seeing that his master did not rebuke him, Wang Ye's heart grew ever gloomier, his unease ever stronger...
"His Majesty has few children. Only the crown prince has successfully inherited the bloodline. The other older princes all have defects because they failed to inherit it successfully, and they cannot produce children either. Although several noble consorts are pregnant, no one can guarantee that the princes born next will successfully inherit the bloodline."
"What else?" Liu Yu asked with a smile.
"And it is very dangerous!" Wang Ye said grimly. "The crown prince appears gentle and magnanimous, but he is actually narrow-minded, cold, and heartless. If he knows that the newborn princes in the inner palace threaten his position, he will stop at nothing. His Majesty needs the crown prince to keep the court officials steady, so he certainly will not openly fall out with him either. It will likely be difficult for those princes in the inner palace to survive to three and undergo the Golden Crow Ritual."
"Mm..." Liu Yu nodded. "Then what does that have to do with the Thousand-Faced Fox?"
"His Majesty suffered the painful loss of the empress and wanted nothing more than to tear the Thousand-Faced Fox into ten thousand pieces, yet he spared her at the last moment. There can only be one possibility: her value outweighs even His Majesty's feelings for the empress!"
An astonishing and terrifying thought suddenly surfaced in Wang Ye's mind. "That fox demon... is carrying the crown prince's imperial seed!!"
"I was right about you!" Liu Yu laughed and clapped his hands. "You dare to make such bold deductions. Like me in my youth, you have no fear of imperial authority. Only someone with your disposition can inherit the power of the Evening Elephant. You will surely go further than I have!"
Wang Ye abruptly raised his head and looked at Liu Yu. "Master... you..."
Master witnessed such a secret firsthand...
"Master, why did you tell me?" Wang Ye asked blankly.
"His Majesty believes I will keep the secret." Liu Yu smiled. "But he has forgotten that all who inherit the power of the Evening Elephant are people who will not be bound."
"Has His Majesty not considered the consequences?" Wang Ye could not help asking. "Will imperial offspring born of a fox demon still be human?"
"Inheriting two great bloodlines-if it succeeds, it will surely bring the Xiao Household into glory. This is His Majesty's final gamble!" Liu Yu put away his smile and said solemnly, "Remember, when someone's choices are excessively mad, they may seem unreasonable, but often they are actually forced by circumstances. His Majesty has reached the end of the road. This is a battle with his back to the river!"
At those words, the situation in the capital immediately flashed through Wang Ye's mind...
The Xiao Household's rule had never been stable to begin with.
On the military side stood the Duke of Qin's faction, supported by numerous bloodline families. On the civil side stood the sorcerers' faction, who had followed the emperor because of certain promises, not one of which had been fulfilled.
The crown prince could not have children, leaving the foundation of the nation unstable. If the Golden Crow Bloodline could not produce someone as powerful as the emperor, the Xiao Household... faced the calamity of clan extermination!
(Sorry, sorry! Mofang thought this had been posted, but when I checked, it actually hadn't. I've been so busy my head's spinning. My fault, my fault.)
The first volume is nearing its end. The next few chapters will enter a brief quiet period, hehe. The plot may not be as tightly paced as before, but there should be tension and release, hahaha.
I hope you dear readers will keep following and supporting the story. Mofang is about to enter the second round of PK, and the competition ahead will get tougher with every round. I hope those who like this book will keep reading and supporting it. Please!