The Blessed

In Fuling Palace of the empress dowager, in the harem of the imperial palace

"Unbelievable! How could he marry a farmer as his first wife? Your Majesty, you can’t approve of this memorial. As a prince, how could he first wife be a man? And a farmer? I won’t allow such absurd thing to happen!”

Usually, if the emperor’s brothers wanted to marry their first wife, they needed to get the emperor’s approving first. So, as early as when they set out, Yan Shengrui had already let Yan Shan to send the memorials of marrying Ling Jingxuan as his first wife into the palace at full speed. When receiving it, the emperor also had no idea what to do, so he could only go to the harem to ask advice from the empress dowager and Yan Shengrui’s mother Noble Consort Yun. But when the empress dowager saw the memorials, she got so mad that she even forgot that Noble Consort Yun, the empress and other concubines were all there, with that well-maintained face with undisguised anger.

"Mother, please calm your anger. It’s not that Ling Jingxuan is without a single redeeming feature. He not only led civilians of whole Cangzhou to grow late rice, but also grew out sorghums on tens of thousands of mu saline-alkali land and greatly relieved the pressure of the civilians there. Now of His Majesty’s inner sea controlling and fish raising in the rice fields, it all had his credit. So to the whole kingdom, he has performed meritorious service.”

Chu Yunhan who was wearing the empress’ phoenix robes explained with no mood swing on his face. The empress dowager who had always had a word with him snapped, “So what? If he has contributions, His Majesty can reward him at most. How would he a farmer be Shengrui’s first wife? I will never approve of it!”

Most importantly, she heard that farmer was a demon and had given birth to three sons for Shengrui. If the position of the first wife was given to him, his children would be the legitimate sons. Shengrui was holding the military power in his hands and he said he did not care about the throne before. But who knew after he had his sons? What if…No, anyhow, she would never allow that demon to be Shengrui’s first wife!

"Mother said right. Throughout the whole Qing Kingdom, which meritorious official has ever married a man as his first wife? Oh, sorry, My Empress, don’t get me wrong, of course you and Consort Huajun are exceptions.”

The woman who talked wearing the noble consort’s clothes with exquisite makeup on her face and a slim body and looked in her early thirties at most was Noble Consort Xiao. Actually she was forty already, mother of the first prince and fourth prince, and the already married Princess Jiayang was also her daughter. Although she was still a noble consort, she had been favored by His Majesty and the empress dowager all those years. Plus, the position of the empress had been vacant for some time, so both in the east and west harem spread her forces. Anyone with brains knew that she was the actual empress of the whole harem.

“Noble Consort Xiao, you overthink things. I’m not that kind of petty person.”

Chu Yunhan threw her a cold sweep, then elegantly took up his tea cup and took a sip. The empress dowager had had a problem with him and always tried to find a chance to help Noble Consort Xiao get rid of him, pity that since he came back last year, he had been behaving more prudently, giving them no chance at all. Plus, he still had His Majesty’s favor. Except that she found a chance to have insulted him when she asked her to wait on her side when she was ill in Fuling Palace last winter, she had never found a chance ever since.

"That is good. I’m only afraid you may overthink things. Mother, since that’s His Highness Sheng’s personal thing, why don’t we listen to Consort Yun’s advice?”

After throwing a punch in a ball of cotton, Noble Consort Xiao hated it but could only shift the attention onto His Highness Sheng. What worried the empress dowager was what worried her. So she would never allow anyone to grab the throne that only belonged to the imperial big son.

“Oh? Sister Yun, any idea?”

As shrewd as the empress dowager was, how could she not understand what she meant? Yan Shengrui’s mother Consort Yun had always been a pushover. But after all, she was his mother. As long as she didn’t agree, what could Yan Shengrui do? Besides, he couldn’t put the blame on them. One stone with two birds, why not?

"I will listen to you and His Majesty."

The beautiful Consort Yun gave a decent and graceful smile, kicking the ball back secretly. A flash of anger flashing across the empress dowager’s eyes, she again pulled her hand and said earnestly, “Nonsense! Shengrui is your kid. And that’s his marriage thing. Even His Majesty and I have to listen to your advice. Don’t worry. Whatever your opinion is, His Majesty and I will respect it.”

Though she said so, anyone with brains knew that she was only pushing her to oppose this marriage. And once she said that, whatever pressure they gave, it was Consort Xiao’s thing, which totally had nothing to do with them.

"Don’t worry. Just speak your mind. I also won’t allow Shengrui to act wildly.”

The emperor also knew what they meant. After his words came out, one could tell he also approved of them. Chu Yunhan on the side made a slight frown that no one could notice, and his gloomy eyes also turned to look at Consort Yun. She’d better not be a drag of them!

"Since so, I wish you could make him.”

"What?!"

Obviously not expecting her to say so, the empress dowager exclaimed. Yan Shengzhi also frowned, but soon the empress dowager hid herself well. She tried to convince her, “Have you really made up your mind? That guy is not only a low farmer, but also a demon. And he is a man. Aren’t you afraid that Shengrui may be people’s laughing stock?”

ƥαṇdαs ηθνε| The empress dowager just couldn’t understand why she so easily accepted a demon as her daughter-in-law!

"Well, you know, Shengrui has never been close to me. Every time he came back victorious, she never came to visit me in my palace. In the past, it’s not that I never urged him about his marriage. But every time, he just flung his sleeves and left. This time, finally he found one himself, though with low background, and a man, anyway, he has his offspring. So, I really dare not expect more.”

Consort Yun gave a faint smile, the spring breeze like smile dazzled everyone’s eyes. Although this beautiful woman got on in years, she was still indescribably beautiful.

"No, I won’t agree with this. Your Majesty, you should leave Shengrui’s memorials aside. Let him go to see me once he comes back!”

Seeing their scheme failed, the empress dowager had to play the bad person herself. Whatsoever, she would never allow those few bastards to become Shengrui’s legitimate sons, or even the little princes in the future!

"Mother, calm down, I also have this intention. Then we’ll talk about it after Shengrui comes back."

Yan Shengzhi also felt helpless. He meant to come for a solution here, but still went nowhere.

Before Ling Jingxuan arrived in the capital, dark waves already started to flow under the imperial palace, let alone those big families. It wasn’t hard to imagine how many difficulties and sarcasm they were gonna face after they arrived in the capital. But, given Ling Jingxuan’s personality, he wouldn’t care about it at all, right? If they pushed him too hard, he’d directly get rid of them. Facing those people in the capital, he would never show mercy like how he treated those farmers in the village. One could foresee that the capital would have a work-shaking change because of his appearance.