Chapter 704 Married Woman

These nails represent the voices of the princes. They do not want the princess to inherit the throne, so they jumped out impatiently.

The emperor looked at the restless civil and military officials in silence until the people below seemed to notice something was wrong and the discussion gradually subsided.

He said slowly, "I do intend to appoint the eldest princess as the Crown Princess. After all, she is the daughter of the Empress, the oldest and most intelligent. She has not made any mistakes in her recent assisted duties and has even achieved some minor accomplishments."

All the officials were in an uproar. The prime minister was the first to kneel down and cried out to the heavens, "Your Majesty, this cannot be done!"

At the table, Hu Xiner's heart was slightly lifted, and she was also worried about the outcome of the emperor's decision this time.

At this moment, an unexpected person also knelt down.

The emperor looked at him, seemingly furious: "Do you also want to disobey me?"

Many officials were also very surprised: "Hasn't the Duke always stood on the same side as Your Majesty? How dare he oppose Your Majesty's opinion today?"

Duke Xuanyuan said with a look of grief and indignation, "Your Majesty, the affairs of state concern the safety of the people of the world. You must not act out of loyalty!"

The Prime Minister and the Duke took the lead, and all the civil and military officials dared not disobey. Soon, they knelt down in a large group.

"What do you want to do? Do you want to force me to abdicate?!" The emperor was furious when he saw this scene.

"I dare not!" All the civil and military officials said in unison, turning a good banquet into a court remonstration.

Duke Xuanyuan's voice was as resounding as a bell: "We ask Your Majesty to reconsider. This is because the eldest princess is still young in terms of talent and experience, and as a woman, she is not suitable for handling state affairs."

"Besides, the eldest princess is known to be frivolous and unruly. If we rashly let her succeed to the throne, I'm afraid it will chill the hearts of the people!"

Normally, many civil officials were arrogant and thought that the Duke was just a military man, so they believed that he was vulgar.

But after the Duke said that, people really looked at him with admiration. His words were clear and logical, and he directly listed the various reasons why the emperor could not make the eldest princess the crown princess.

Even the officials who usually disliked him nodded, feeling that the Duke had hit the nail on the head.

"How could this happen?" Hu Xin'er asked softly, "Isn't the Duke of Guo your Majesty's man? Why is he publicly contradicting your Majesty now?"

Mu Qing shook his head solemnly. "Could it be that the Duke already has a prince who is secretly on his side, and that's why he was so anxious when he heard that His Majesty was going to give the throne to the Princess?"

Fortunately, their worries were unnecessary. Duke Xuanyuan pretended to oppose, but in fact he just wanted to put on a show with the emperor.

His Majesty had already discussed the questions he raised with him in advance, so his answers were fluent and more convincing than what he said himself.

He listed the figures of the Ministry of Revenue's increased revenue in recent days and told the whereabouts of the handsome men in the Princess's Mansion to prove that the Princess had noble character and high morals.

Soon, Duke Xuanyuan was "convinced": "In that case, the eldest princess can indeed become the crown princess. I have nothing to refute!"

The prime minister, who was about to speak up, looked at him in disbelief.

When did this warrior become so easy to refute?

The civil and military officials were extremely angry. Some smart ones pointed out directly that the Duke was in collusion with His Majesty. They took sides with various people, but no one would ever think of standing with the princess.

All of this is because of the eldest princess’ gender.

Just imagine, if the eldest princess were a man, would the fact that she took in beauties, which has been criticized for so many years, still be considered a stain?

No, if her gender was changed and she collected many beauties, she would at most be said to be a playboy and a womanizer, and in some situations, this could even be used as a label to gild her image.

Just imagine, she increased the income of the Ministry of Revenue with her own efforts. If she were not a woman, but any of the emperor's brothers stationed in various places, she would probably be very proud of such an achievement.

But just because she was a princess, she was assumed to have no ambition, be content with her lot, and just find a prince consort to marry and serve her parents-in-law.

Therefore, even though they watched the eldest princess's position rise step by step, and even though she was actually in control of the government, no one would think about anything else, but instead was full of confidence in selecting the prince to serve as his successor.

The emperor's words woke them up like a bolt from the blue - could this really be possible?

If you think about it carefully, there does not seem to be any clear stipulation in the rules of this dynasty that women cannot succeed to the throne.

Civil and military officials put forward their opinions one by one, and Duke Xuanyuan and the emperor rejected them one by one. They were full of confidence and would not tolerate any interference.

After hearing this, Hu Xiner knew that this matter was an inevitable trend, so she buried her head in eating.

A faint, familiar gaze looked over.

Hu Xiner looked up and found Zhao Yunxuan standing in front of her. "Excuse me, is there any room here?"

"Yes, yes!" Zhao Yunxuan is now a favorite of His Majesty. Isn't it easy for him to find a position?

He sat next to Hu Xiner. Although there was no danger, Hu Xiner was still trembling in her heart.

It wasn't her, because the look in the eyes of the person at the opposite table was so terrifying.

Mu Qing followed her gaze and couldn't help but frowned. There was no other reason. The person who was looking at Hu Xin'er was Xuanyuan Huili.

Today, she was wearing a willow green velvet jacket and skirt. A vicious look flashed in her eyes, and more of it was unspeakable resentment and obsession.

She used to be obsessed with Mu Qing, and even gave up her own marriage for this. She even wanted to frame Hu Xiner, which eventually ruined her reputation. Now, even if she wanted to get married, she couldn't, even if she offered her status as a duke.

Therefore, the person she resented was naturally Hu Xiner, and the object of her obsession was... Zhao Yunxuan?

She couldn't help but put down the chopsticks in her hand and glanced at Zhao Yunxuan with a complicated expression.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Yunxuan didn't think there was anything wrong, but asked with a smile.

His eyes were like the ancient poems in a Buddhist temple, calm and with a hint of Buddha nature, which made people's hearts calm down involuntarily.

After Hu Xiner glanced at him, she buried her head in eating again. She now felt that it was normal for Xuanyuan Huili to have such thoughts, because Xuanyuan Huili was proud and arrogant, and naturally wanted to find someone better than Mu Qing.

Coincidentally, Zhao Yunxuan has many similarities with her beautiful fantasy.

Zhao Yunxuan obviously didn't think so.

Hu Xin'er was busy eating, and Zhao Yunxuan just reached out to peel shrimp for her, which made the second lady of the Xuanyuan family almost hate her to death.

After the banquet, Xuanyuan Huili couldn't wait to find Zhao Yunxuan and asked, "Are you attracted to a married woman?"