Ye Jingchen's eighteenth birthday is finally approaching.

The emperor attached great importance to this birthday banquet, requiring all officials of the fifth rank and above in the imperial city to bring their female family members to attend.

He did not give up the idea of ​​finding a crown princess for Ye Jingchen; on the contrary, as Ye Jingchen grew up, this idea became more and more urgent.

The purpose of this birthday banquet is to select a crown princess for Ye Jingchen.

He had figured it out. Just as Ye Jingchen himself said, the position of the crown prince was secure, and he didn't need any other help. Even if the crown princess's family background was a little inferior, it didn't matter.

As long as she is a daughter of an official from a respectable family, not unattractive, and intelligent, that's enough.

Using this standard, the emperor actually selected several women who met the criteria. He even hinted to the families of those women that they should perform well at the Crown Prince's birthday banquet. If they caught the Crown Prince's eye, even if they couldn't be made Crown Princess, they could still be made a Liangdi or Liangyuan.

The Crown Prince is currently deeply favored by the Emperor, and it seems that the other princes cannot threaten his position. His chances of inheriting the throne are very high. If he can become the Crown Princess, he will be able to rule the world as an empress in the future.

Even if she cannot become the Crown Princess due to her family background, even if she is only a Liangyuan, she will at least become a Pin in the future, which is enough to bring glory to her ancestors.

Therefore, the families that received the news were overjoyed and were all preparing for the Crown Prince's birthday banquet.

Xie Chang'an looked at the message handed over by An Dian with a gloomy face. He did not expect that the emperor would lower the requirements for the crown princess to such an extent in order to let Ye Jingchen get married!

What qualifications do the daughters of fourth- or fifth-rank officials have to stand beside Ye Jingchen? And what help can they offer him?

However, apart from the fact that the families chosen by the emperor had poor family backgrounds, they did not have any other particularly intolerable flaws!

However, it doesn't have any particularly outstanding advantages!

Too ordinary!

How could such an ordinary girl be worthy of Ye Jingchen?

Whenever Xie Chang'an thought about Ye Jingchen possibly spending romantic moments with one or more of these women, he couldn't suppress the resentment in his heart.

He couldn't even tolerate Ye Jingchen being close to Yun Shu and others he grew up with, so how could he possibly tolerate any other unrelated people?

The birthday banquet is still two days away, and this matter can be prevented as long as something happens to those women themselves.

The royal family values ​​appearance above all else. When selecting concubines for the royal family, the requirements for appearance are very high. If a woman has any abnormalities on her face on her birthday, she will absolutely not be selected.

He acted on his impulse, and even though those families were already under the close surveillance of the Emperor's Imperial Guard, Xie Chang'an still found an opportunity to poison them.

This poison will remain dormant in their bodies for a day, and then slowly take effect on the day of their birthday party.

At first, there might only be one or two red rashes, but as time goes on, by the time they arrive at the banquet, the rashes will increase, covering their faces, hands, and bodies... they simply cannot be hidden.

At that time, under the watchful eyes of everyone, they would have no time to think of a solution.

The emperor told Ye Jingchen the night before the banquet that he had selected several suitable girls for Ye Jingchen, and that he must choose at least one of them the next day, whether as the crown princess, a concubine, or a high-ranking lady.

Ye Jingchen was stunned after hearing this.

Just when he thought he would be going to the northern frontier soon and could enjoy at least two years of leisure without being pressured to get married, he never expected that the emperor would be waiting for him here.

But he soon realized something was wrong.

Given Xie Chang'an's control over the capital, it was impossible for him not to know the emperor's plans, but Xie Chang'an told him nothing.

Either Xie Chang'an doesn't care whether he gets married or not, or Xie Chang'an has already found a solution.

However, tomorrow is his birthday banquet. If Xie Chang'an has already resolved this matter, the emperor will not require him to choose a girl tomorrow, but will instead summon him and give him a good scolding.

If that were the case, the emperor wouldn't be in such a good mood.

Could it be that Xie Chang'an has returned to normal and is no longer interested in him, so he doesn't care about Xie Chang'an getting married?

If that's the case, then his birthday tomorrow won't be going to be easy.

He has no idea which families the emperor has chosen for his daughters, so he has no way of figuring out a course of action in advance.

Isn't Xie Chang'an far too unreliable?

After returning to the East Palace, Ye Jingchen was still thinking about this matter and, unusually, suffered from insomnia.

He never wanted to get married before, and he wanted to even less after transmigrating into the book.

Moreover, along with getting married came an even more dreaded issue: children.

He's a bit like Lord Ye in the story of Lord Ye who loved dragons. He likes children very much and is willing to take care of them, but he doesn't want to have children of his own and doesn't want to take care of his own children at all.

Other people's children and his own children are two completely different concepts in his mind.

Therefore, even without Xie Chang'an, he would never have married.

However, Xie Chang'an's changed feelings made him seem divinely inspired to refuse to marry, and he thwarted the emperor's plan without much effort.

But who would have thought that Xie Chang'an, who is usually very reliable, would actually let his guard down one day?!

"No, I have to go ask Xie Chang'an!" Ye Jingchen couldn't sleep, so he simply sat up in bed with a jolt.

"Chenxi, take me out of the palace and find Xie Chang'an," he called out to the empty and dimly lit bedchamber.

"It's not safe for a lone man to be out alone in the middle of the night." Chenxi appeared silently behind him, arms crossed, watching him.

"I have something very important to ask him. I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't ask him, and then I'll be showing up in front of everyone with huge dark circles under my eyes tomorrow morning to celebrate my eighteenth birthday," Ye Jingchen said quickly.

Chenxi didn't say anything more and took him out of the palace.

Once they reached the vicinity of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion, things became more complicated, as they had to both deceive the people the emperor had placed outside the mansion and evade the guards stationed there.

Chenxi and Ye Jingchen were extremely careful. By the time they sneaked into Chang'an Residence without alerting anyone, the night watchman outside had already struck the gong three times.

However, they were discovered by the guards stationed at the entrance as soon as they sneaked into Chang'an Residence.

However, upon seeing that the visitors were His Highness the Crown Prince and his bodyguards, the bodyguards hid again as soon as they appeared.

Ye Jingchen went straight to Xie Chang'an's bedroom.

Along the way, several guards peeked out from the darkness, but upon discovering it was Ye Jingchen, they all hid again.

By the time Ye Jingchen arrived at Xie Chang'an's bedside, even Chenxi had disappeared.

Only a copper lamp was left on in the room. In the dim light, Ye Jingchen could vaguely see Xie Chang'an's sleeping face.

Unlike Xie Chang'an, who always had a grumpy face when he was awake, Xie Chang'an looked much more pleasing to the eye when he was asleep.