Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xuanyuan Min waved his hand as his eyes roamed around. “I’m so happy, they are all beauties. Next time when I am singing opera, I don’t have to worry about not having a partner,” he laughed.
Everyone in the palace gave a forced smile, and Xuanyuan Cheng gently said, “After Your Majesty selects an empress, you’ll get married in no time, so this opera… it’s better not to sing it.”
Xuanyuan Min lazily replied, “Oh, I’ll listen to the Regent King.” He retrieved the Ruyi 1 from the plate and turned to ask Xuanyuan Cheng, “Which family’s daughter does the Regent King favor?”
However, Xuanyuan Cheng maintained a kindly expression and smiled. “They are all good women who can please Your Majesty. However, from what I see, General Yangwei’s youngest daughter, Yiguang, is gentle and pretty. Perhaps she is more suited for Your Majesty.”
The eunuchs immediately stepped forward and placed Tang Yiguang’s tablet in front of Xuanyuan Min.
Without even looking, Xuanyuan Min repeated lazily, “Whoever the Regent King thinks is the best, is the best.” He raised the Ruyi and was about to throw it onto her tablet when Xuanyuan Cheng smiled slightly. Just before the Ruyi left his hand, Xuanyuan Min suddenly grabbed it again and glanced at Tang Yiguang. “Surnamed Tang?” He asked with a smile.
Tang Yiguang’s mind had already drifted far away…
“Surnamed Tang?”
Tang Yiguang was still thinking of Meng Fuyao’s, especially delicious sesame biscuits…
“Surnamed Tang?”
Xuanyuan Min had raised his voice on the final call and then curiously came down from his seat. He walked past Xuanyuan Cheng and just at the moment when his body blocked Xuanyuan Cheng’s, Meng Fuyao flicked her finger.
Tang Yiguang let out a cry of surprise as she was hit by Meng Fuyao on her tailbone and fell on the ground with a thud, knocking down the bronze crane in front of the throne as it rolled away noisily. The eunuchs hastily rushed forward to pick it up, and in the midst of the chaos, Tang Yiguang had already begun to cry.
“Ouch, ouch… pain…”
Xuanyuan Min personally supported her back up and scrutinized her face where the makeup had run. “Truly fragile, very fragile,” he said with a smile.
Xuanyuan Cheng’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he smiled again and said, “Physician Yushi’s daughter, Jian Xue, is famed in the city for being sensible and virtuous, truly a top choice in terms of character and appearance. She is a fine candidate as well.”
The eunuchs immediately replaced Tang Yiguang’s tablet with Jian Xue’s tablet. The girl herself was dressed in a simple and elegant light green and silver dress, clearly different from the other candidates who were dressed extravagantly. She did not move, but simply maintained her elegance and bowed slightly. On her head was a meticulously selected jade hairpin handed down from her grandmother, reflecting against the sunlight and shining on her five features, making her look even more vibrant.
Xuanyuan Cheng watched her and did a quick mental evaluation. He felt that although this girl was perhaps a little scheming, this kind of scheming girl would best know how to grab an opportunity when it presented itself. That was not a bad choice, either. He smiled and looked at Xuanyuan Min, his expression serene, and did not say anything.
Xuanyuan Min looked to be very satisfied as well and moved away from Tang Yiguang towards Jian Xue. He was about to speak when Jian Xue’s face reddened, and she lowered her head shyly. Xuanyuan Min’s expression wavered, and he reached out to lift her face. From the side, Xuanyuan Cheng’s eyes flashed as he sipped his tea happily.
“Achoo!”
Jian Xue suddenly sneezed!
At this moment, during the serious and quiet selection of consorts, the sneeze not only shocked everyone but when Xuanyuan Ming raised his hand, his expression changed to that of disgust—his palm was completely covered in mucus…
Jian Xue’s face paled in an instant. Sneezing was one thing a person couldn’t control, and she kept sneezing, one sneeze after another until she was completely exhausted and humiliated. Her vision turned black before her, and she let herself fall as she fainted…
Xuanyuan Min cleaned his hands on the handkerchief a eunuch had brought forward hurriedly and laughed as he turned to Xuanyuan Cheng. “Truly proper, very proper.”
Xuanyuan Cheng downed half a cup of tea and glanced at Jian Xue who was being supported to one side, then glanced at Xuanyuan Min again, his eyebrows creasing slightly.
Meng Fuyao shut her eyes in meditation. ‘Lady Jian, you’re so simple, you have the heart to hurt others, yet why didn’t you think of self-defense? It’s fine that you threw away the pearl powder that I gave you, but why didn’t you throw it farther away? Why didn’t you throw it away yourself? You don’t understand the pains of the common folk—such a precious powder, your servant wouldn’t bear to really throw it away. She would have hidden it and used it for herself, but her using it is the same as you using it. It’s actually itchy powder, usually harmless, but when you come into contact with His Majesty who loves using apitong essence, the powder will react, and you can await an endless flow of mucus… Poor thing, the title of Empress of Snot will probably follow you for life already, haha.’
Xuanyuan Cheng was no longer drinking tea but had straightened himself and looked at the candidates. Since two of his most favorable candidates for empress were eliminated, he naturally had his suspicions. Moreover, the next few candidates didn’t seem to have any further problems. Xuanyuan Min went around them, his brows furrowed as if he had not managed to find one he favored. Finally, Xuanyuan Cheng said, “Your Majesty, if you aren’t able to find one that you favor, you can choose the four consorts first and select the most suitable one another time…”
He had yet to finish speaking when Xuanyuan Min suddenly shut his eyes and picked up the ruyi from the plate, laughing. “I’ll pick whomever it lands on!” Then, he threw it into the air.
“Clang.”
The sound of the ruyi hitting the ground startled everyone.
Xuanyuan Cheng too scrounged his brows—select randomly? Even though he had a surprised expression—random was fine too; besides, things had already come to this point anyway.
The ruyi fell to the ground.
It skidded between Yuwen Zi and Hua Zhirong.
Hua Zhirong was so tense that her back was as straight as a rod and her eyes were fixed intently on the spinning ruyi. However, the ruyi soon came to a stop, landing on Yu Wenzi’s name.
Yuwen Zi!
The entire palace was so silent one could hear a pin drop. The only sound came from the shrill voice of a eunuch as he called out the name, and all the other candidates huffed in anger—not because they weren’t selected, but because the selection process was way too arduous and tortuous. All of the girls had waited with halted breaths, yet the pretty emperor purposely dragged the process on and made them anxious beyond relief.
Now that the position of empress had been decided, despite their disappointment, the girls were finally free. Only Hua Zhirong’s face was filled with hatred and anger as she glared at the jade ruyi in the golden plate—it had clearly moved towards her, so how did it slide to Yuwen Zi’s name?
Without any change in expression, Meng Fuyao received the ruyi and said, “Yuwen Zi expresses her gratitude!”
Xuanyuan Min personally went to get her and Meng Fuyao lifted her eyes, making eye contact with him. Both of them were smiling merrily, and one party’s eyes were filled with satisfaction while the other was clearly saying, “We’ll see, we’ll see”.
Xuanyuan Cheng was watching from the side, the steam from the tea he was holding clouding his deeply contemplating eyes. Naturally, he knew that Xuanyuan Min especially favored Yu Wenzi, and it seemed like he had actually done some preparation in order to select her today. However, he didn’t mind Xuanyuan Min’s little trick; if a member of the Xuanyuan family didn’t have any motives, then that would be abnormal instead. Now that he had selected his beloved as the empress, that was fine as well. At least he wouldn’t have any excuses not to see the empress. Moreover… He smiled behind the faint trail of steam. No matter what, since he had already given his opinion, Tang Yiguang and Jian Xue definitely had to be chosen. Since he did not make things difficult for Xuanyuan Min today, if Xuanyuan Min understood his intentions, he would know that he had already taken a step back. Hence, in the selection of consorts, the choices would naturally be clear.
He was very clear about it, but Xuanyuan Min seemed to be extremely satisfied at having a wife that he had forgotten about the four consorts, preparing to leave with Meng Fuyao. The eunuch supervising the rites coughed loudly and unnaturally, and an official beside him stepped forward and tugged at his sleeve. “Your Majesty, the four consorts…” he whispered.
“Oh…” As though he suddenly remembered, Xuanyuan Min waved his sleeve and announced, “Let the Regent King decide, I think anyone is fine, the delicate are delicate, the proper are proper.”
Following that, he pulled Meng Fuyao’s sleeve again and walked towards the palace. Meng Fuyao covered her face with a sleeve “shyly” and glanced back at the Regent King for help.
Finally, Xuanyuan Cheng couldn’t stand it any longer and cleared his throat. “Your Majesty, where are you going?” he said.
“Going back to sing opera,” Xuanyuan Min replied gleefully. “After singing… then we can talk about matters of the heart.”
The palace was filled with the sound of coughing as Xuanyuan Cheng replied, “Your Majesty, this is the empress, wouldn’t it be too demeaning to just drag her into the palace like this?”
Xuanyuan Min sighed and let go of Meng Fuyao’s hand, then asked, frowning, “When will the official ceremony be held, today?”
“When the common folks marry, they also don’t marry on the same day, but first pay a visit. There are also many ceremonies involved, much less for the royalty? According to tradition, the empress should be invited from the mother’s house and brought to the palace, but since Empress Yuwen’s family is far away in Changning and she has no other relatives in the city, the Regent King’s manor can be considered as her house. I will treat her as my real younger sister and send her off lavishly.”
Turning to the ministry of rites, he ordered, “Prepare to issue an announcement to the nation, the emperor is about to get married, and send invitations to the royal families of the other nations.” Following that, he smiled and stood up. He turned to face Meng Fuyao and bowed, saying, “It is a true honor for the Regent King’s manor to produce an empress.”
Meng Fuyao bowed courteously and reciprocated, “It is merely this little sister’s fortune, the credit goes to elder brother.”
She secretly shook off the goosebumps growing on her arms, suddenly remembering a very serious problem—It seemed like the Xuanyuan family’s succession tradition was something like “if the emperor dies, the younger brother takes over”, so Xuanyuan Cheng and Xuanyuan Min were both of the same generation as Prince Wenyi; now that she was “married” to Xuanyuan Min, wouldn’t that make her Zong Yue’s aunt?
‘Oh, hahahahaha…’
Aunt Meng envisioned a certain poison-tongued, cold, young man dressed in flowy white robes calling her “aunt”, and cracked a wry smile.
Xuanyuan Min eyed her strangely. ‘This woman is really not right in the head, doesn’t she know what position she is in already? It’s clear that Xuanyuan Cheng has let her into his manor because he doesn’t trust her and there is a high chance that he will test her again, yet she can still smile so carefreely…’
On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the twelfth year of the Zhaoning era in Xuanyuan, the royal Xuanyuan family had finally selected the empress from the Yuwen family. It also so happened that the new queen came from the north of Xuanyuan, from the Changning Wang tribe, and was distantly related to the Regent King. Hence currently, all the attention was upon the Regent King’s manor. After thirteen days, the Regent King’s manor would send Yuwen Zi off as a younger sister with a lavish ceremony for her to be wedded into the imperial palace.
