Chapter 119: Choosing a Consort

Chapter 119: Choosing a Consort

Inside and outside the court, everyone thought that the Emperor was about to name his heir.

However, Zhu Yan, upon receiving the news, did not share this view. Having spent twelve years in the palace, especially the last five years in close quarters with the Emperor, she knew him too well. At the moment, in the prime of his life and health, the Emperor had no intention of appointing a crown prince. Moreover, he was not yet ready to part with her.

The crown prince, the reserve of the state.

Establishing an Eastern Palace would be akin to creating a miniature court.

The Emperor held tight to his power. After the annihilation of the Gaochang Kingdom and the successive defeats of the Uyghurs and tribal forces, opening up the Hexi Corridor, his prestige was at its peak. Few dared to contradict him in the current court.

There can be only one sun in the sky.

Even his deep affection for his son Aji did not mean he was willing to share power.

"Has anything significant happened recently in the Forbidden Palace?" Zhu Yan asked Qu Gu, knowing that besides the crown prince, princes were required to be assigned to vassal states upon reaching the age of fifteen - a rule and a tradition. Something must have happened to prompt the Emperor to send his princes to their respective states sooner.

Qu Gu shook her head, "I haven't heard anything. Shall I send Lü Ping'an to inquire?"

The Forbidden Palace mentioned by Zhu Yan referred to the imperial harem of Dayu Palace.

Since the completion of the Seven Stars Palace, Zhu Yan moved there with the Emperor and hadn't returned to Dayu Palace. Empress Liu did not interfere with the affairs of the Seven Stars Palace, where Qu Gu, serving also as the chief female officer, managed palace affairs with Lü Ping'an and Xing En.

The Emperor, however, would return to Dayu Palace for major festivals.

"No need."

Zhu Yan dismissed Qu Gu's suggestion. If Qu Gu was unaware, it likely wasn't due to issues with the consorts or concubines, but possibly the princes. Since last year, the youngest prince in the palace, Liu Xiurong's son, the Tenth Prince, had turned six and moved to Xie Xian Yuan to study at Ren Ben Ge.

She planned to wait for the Emperor to return and ask him directly.

Qu Gu handed over an invitation card. Zhu Yan didn't take it but simply asked, "Whose is it?"

"The Lady of Yan State."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yan was quite surprised.

The Lady of Yan State was the Emperor's maternal grandmother, the matriarch of the Xu family.

Since moving to the Qixing Palace, Zhu Yan had continuously received visitation requests from noblewomen, all of which she had declined, never meeting with anyone except for the Princess of Xiangyang and her stepmother, Mo Shi, just as she had done before leaving the Fuhua Palace.

Therefore, Qu Gu would not normally bring such requests to Zhu Yan's attention.

In previous years, the Xu family’s requests for meetings were sent by the Lady of Runan, Xie Shi. This time it was the Lady of Yan State, explaining why Qu Gu dared not refuse and brought the invitation to her.

"In my humble opinion, Your Highness should meet her. Before the end of the year, the Lady of Yan State fell seriously ill. It was said that the Xu family almost started preparing for her funeral, but she was saved by the chief physician, Li Yuanzheng, and several other imperial doctors. However, her vitality was greatly damaged and she hasn't been well since."

"She's unwell and still going out?" Zhu Yan recalled that the Lady of Yan State should be seventy-four years old. In this era, reaching such an age was considered a long life. Struggling to go out while ill must mean she has an urgent matter.

Zhu Yan opened the invitation and glanced at it. Indeed, apart from the Lady of Yan State herself, there were also the Lady of Runan, Xie Shi, the Lady of Yangwu, Chen Shi, and four young ladies from the Xu family.

She almost immediately understood.

The Xu family had been persistent over the years.

Zhu Yan placed the invitation on the desk in front of her and said to Qu Gu, "Leave it for now. The meeting isn’t for several days." On the fifth day of the first lunar month, the Empress would host a banquet for the imperial relatives at the Phoenix Chamber. The Xu family had carefully chosen the sixth day for their visit to Zhu Yan.

Zhu Yan intended to ask the Emperor about it.

However, that evening, after attending the grand court meeting at Hanyuan Hall, the Emperor didn't return to Qixing Palace until late at night. Zhu Yan had already gone to bed, but when she woke up the next day, she opened her eyes to find the Emperor gazing at her intently, with a focused and spirited look. Zhu Yan instinctively dodged his gaze.

She saw his attractive peach blossom eyes slightly upturned, smiling at the corners, and he said warmly, "Good morning, Ayan, you're awake."

Zhu Yan hummed softly, her hand rubbing her eyes was caught by the Emperor. Soon he leaned over her, pressing close in his usual urgent manner, like a fierce storm, relentless and overwhelming, leaving her feeling completely drained by the end.

After the Emperor helped her clean up, they had breakfast together, and only then did he let her rest.

Now fully awake, Zhu Yan decided to ask him directly, "Where do you plan to establish Aji's fief?"

The Emperor looked up at her, his eyes teasing, "Why don’t you guess?"

Zhu Yan hesitated slightly, considering the Emperor wouldn't want his son Aji too far away, she boldly guessed, "Luoyang?"

She remembered the Emperor once saying he would grant Aji a rich and fertile land. Luoyang was not only prosperous but also strategically located with natural defenses, an important geographical position, and close to the capital, reachable within a day by fast horse. It was also the secondary capital of the previous dynasty, serving as a gateway to the capital from the west.

After all, most princes' fiefs were to the east, south, or north of Luoyang.

"If you like Luoyang, once Aji is a bit older, we can change his fief to Luoyang for him to gain experience," the Emperor said.

Realizing she hadn't guessed correctly, Zhu Yan said, "I can’t guess, just tell me."

It wasn't Luoyang, could it be somewhere to the west of Luoyang?

As this thought crossed Zhu Yan's mind, she heard the Emperor say, "I plan to appoint Aji as the King of Jingzhao, with twenty-three counties under Jingzhao Prefecture, I’ll grant twelve counties as Aji's fief..."

Shocked, Zhu Yan blurted out, "What are you thinking?"

Jingzhao, the location of the imperial capital, is the foundation of the realm. Allocating twelve counties of Jingzhao Prefecture as the fief for a prince would likely drive the court ministers insane.

"Watch your language."

The Emperor looked at Zhu Yan disapprovingly, pinched her face, and then, unable to resist, caressed it gently, pulling her close into his embrace. "I’m doing this for you. This way, Aji won't have to leave the capital. Don’t think I don’t know your little scheme of wanting to accompany Aji to his fief. Forget about it."

Aji was already eleven years old.

But now was not yet the time to proclaim Aji as the Crown Prince. This was a solution he had pondered for a long time.

At the same time, to secure Aji's future position as Crown Prince, he planned to send the other princes to their respective fiefs early, to prevent them from harboring any inappropriate ambitions while staying in the capital.

"But there has never been such a precedent."

"If there's no precedent, then let one start with me," the Emperor said confidently. He was well aware that since the founding of the dynasty, to ensure the absolute safety of the capital and to prevent princes from meddling in state affairs, there had been no princely fiefs west of Luoyang.

So what?

His intention was simply to keep Aji in the capital for an extended period in the absence of proclaiming him the Crown Prince.

Zhu Yan, seeing the Emperor full of confidence and understanding his well-thought-out plan, realized it was a good strategy. Aji could stay in the capital, and she wouldn't have to worry about being sentenced to death before Aji turned fifteen.

Having understood the rationale, Zhu Yan didn’t inquire further. She pushed the Emperor away, stood up, picked up the invitation from the previous day from the desk, and handed it to him, "An invitation from the Lady of Yan State."

"You don’t want to meet her?" the Emperor asked, his tone somewhat certain.

Zhu Yan nodded, "You know I don’t like socializing."

The Emperor glanced at the invitation, "This time, you should meet her. Your maternal grandmother is unwell. Li Yuanzheng said she might only have a year or two left."

Pausing, he paid special attention to Zhu Yan's expression and added, "Ayan, you don't have to socialize. Summon the Princess of Xiangyang to the palace to support you. Just take a good look at the four young ladies. See if you like any of them. Either keep her to stay for a couple of days or have a longer conversation with her."

"What if I don't like any of them?" Zhu Yan asked the Emperor, staring at him.

"Then pick the one you dislike the least."

"You..." Zhu Yan frowned deeply, finding the Emperor stubborn on this matter. "Aji is still young; there's no hurry to choose a bride for him. Besides, his future wife should be someone he likes. Otherwise, an unhappy marriage would ruin the life of the young lady."

"How could it ruin her life? As long as she can honor the ancestral temple and extend the lineage, what's there for him not to be satisfied with? Besides, he can find many others to his liking later."

After speaking, the Emperor, as if suddenly remembering something, swept Zhu Yan up onto his lap, eyeing her with admiration, examining her from head to toe before speaking, "Ayan, you may control me, but you can’t control our son forever, preventing him from choosing and marrying beauties."

"If he can choose a bride he's satisfied with, maybe he won’t seek others later."

"How is that possible?" The Emperor looked at Zhu Yan with a guilty expression and quickly corrected himself, "Then let him be satisfied with one of the Xu family's young ladies. Out of four, there must be one he likes."

He remembered how his father had prepared only two options for him, and he still chose one from them.

Zhu Yan knew they would never agree on this matter, "Fine, I’ll meet them this time, but this is the only time. I won’t meet anyone else in the future."

"That’s fine. If you don’t want to refuse next time, I’ll do it for you," the Emperor quickly agreed, pleased that Zhu Yan was willing to meet the Lady of Yan State.

The four young ladies from the Xu family included two from the main branch, who were cousins, one from the second branch, and one from the fifth branch. The eldest, Shi Niang, was the late child of the Marquis of Runan, Xu Kang, and the twelfth daughter of Yangwu Marquis Xu Peng's family. Both were the Emperor's maternal cousins. Zhu Yan immediately ruled them out due to the generational difference.

The remaining two were the third daughter of the main branch and the sixth daughter of the second branch. The third daughter was the same age as Aji, and the sixth daughter was two years younger. The third daughter was extremely beautiful, a true beauty, while the sixth daughter was quiet and well-mannered, reminiscent of Empress Liu's dignified grace.

The Xu family had put great effort into this.

Visiting Qixing Palace, all the young ladies behaved impeccably, showing perfect etiquette in their movements and posture, which even made Zhu Yan feel somewhat inadequate.

The Lady of Yan State looked frail, clearly forcing herself to make the visit. As a first-rank noblewoman and an elder, Zhu Yan didn’t dare accept her full courtesy. She quickly offered her a seat and had Qu Gu personally assist her. After the formalities, the Princess of Xiangyang initiated the conversation, "Your little third niece is growing more and more like the late Empress Wen Zhen..."

This opened the topic.

Hearing this, Zhu Yan’s gaze returned to the stunningly beautiful third niece from the main branch. With her exceptional beauty, it seemed likely the Emperor had already chosen her for his son, or else the Princess of Xiangyang wouldn’t have pointed it out so deliberately.

It seemed the Xu family had already accepted this as the norm.

Despite the four of them wearing identical bright red brocade cloaks, Sanniang's beauty stood out. The red only served to highlight her fair skin and delicate charm.

The Emperor had already chosen his favorite, bringing her to be seen.

Author's note:

Today's update~~ Kisses~~ I see that some readers are asking if the story is finished. Not yet, there are still about two major plots left, along with a modern-era side story, approximately 150,000 words in total.