After Consort Liu told Xiao Yuan about what Emperor Liang Cheng and Empress Gu had discussed, Xiao Yuan sat in silence. Consort Liu didn't know if her son already had a girl he liked outside, but since Emperor Liang Cheng had decided on the Crown Princess, it was probably a done deal.

Consort Liu wanted to ask Xiao Yuan what he thought, but she couldn't bring herself to ask since the two had been separated for so many years. In the end, she could only sigh softly and say, "Yuan'er, your father is always doing this for your own good. You are the crown prince, and you not only have a great responsibility now, but you will also bear the weight of the entire Liang people in the future. I have been in this palace for more than 20 years, from a little girl who knew nothing to now. What I have seen most is how your father has gone to great lengths to balance various forces and how he has managed to extract benefits for the people from these forces. Your father has not actually lived a life that he is happy with."

Xiao Yuan nodded, knowing that his mother was worried that the matter of the Crown Princess would create a rift between him and his father, so she went to great lengths to make him understand the hardships his father had endured.

Xiao Yuan smiled and said, "Mother, I am well aware of Father's hardships. I just haven't thought about whether I can treat my Crown Princess well after she marries me, or whether I will disappoint her in the future."

Upon hearing this, Consort Liu looked at Xiao Yuan in surprise. Xiao Yuan smiled, took Consort Liu's hand, and said earnestly, "No matter who becomes my Crown Princess, they must live a good life with me in the future. We will have children together. While I am in the court, my Crown Princess must guard my home front in the harem. I hope she is a capable and kind-hearted person like Mother Empress. I have always remembered why my mother and I lived in the Cold Palace for so many years. Over the years, I have been thinking that although the harem is also a barometer of the court, what if I could control the court? My harem only needs to set a good example for all women in the world."

Consort Liu looked intently at her son, who had been separated from her since childhood. When her son first left, she was heartbroken and felt like she was dying. With the encouragement of her nanny, she managed to persevere through her longing for her son. Now, her son had returned, but in a place she didn't know, he had grown into such a responsible person.

Consort Liu looked at Xiao Yuan with satisfaction and said gently, "Good child, truly a good child."

After Xiao Yuan left Consort Liu's place, Chen Wufu reported to Emperor Liang Cheng in detail about the meeting between the mother and son, and even the conversation between them. Emperor Liang Cheng listened in silence for a long time before sighing slightly and picking up his pen to continue reviewing the memorials on his desk. However, the slight upturn of his lips revealed the monarch's mood.

Emperor Liang Cheng's decree caused an uproar among families in the capital with daughters of marriageable age. Emperor Liang Cheng chose the eldest daughter of Empress Gu's cousin as the Crown Princess of Crown Prince Xiao Yuan. The Imperial Astronomical Bureau selected an auspicious date and time for the Crown Prince's wedding, and the Ministry of Rites began preparing the six rites for the Crown Prince. After hearing that the decree had been issued, the people of the Ministry of Rites immediately got busy.

The families who originally wanted to compete for the position of Crown Princess were very dissatisfied. There were so many young ladies in the capital who hadn't even been properly seen by the Crown Prince, yet the Crown Princess was decided by a single decree. Meanwhile, the young ladies who had fallen for Xiao Yuan after meeting him began to inquire about the situation of the Gu family's new Crown Princess.

The Gu family's main branch did not reside in the capital, but instead lived in their ancestral homeland, a small town about two hundred miles from the capital. Empress Gu's grandfather and father were both great Confucian scholars of their time, and the Gu family also aimed to cultivate their own descendants into great Confucian scholars. Therefore, the Gu family was a family of scholars, but the most numerous members were great writers who established their own theories. Few of them served as officials in the court. It was for this reason that the Gu family became the leading family of upright scholars in the Great Liang Dynasty.

Empress Gu's cousin was a free-spirited person. A few years ago, he won the top spot in the second class of the imperial examination. After studying at the Hanlin Academy for a few years, he resigned and returned home. He either traveled around or taught his children at home and wrote his reading notes. Whenever he published a book, it would be sold out.

The daughters of the Gu family had to study with their brothers from a young age. Not only did they study, but they also had to learn how to manage the household and run the estates and shops. Therefore, the daughters of the Gu family were in high demand, not only because the Gu family had produced an empress, but also because the daughters of the Gu family were outstanding. This time, the Gu family did not expect that Emperor Liang Cheng would choose a crown princess from the next generation of the Gu family.

As soon as the decree of marriage was issued, Chen Zhaoci pulled Xu Rao aside and asked what he thought of the Gu family's daughter. He wondered if she might be too rigid because she came from a scholarly family, and whether she and Xiao Yuan would clash in personality and have a troubled life together.

Xu Rao patiently said to Chen Zhaoci, "Although the Gu family is a scholarly family, their children are not bookworms. Otherwise, they wouldn't have produced two great Confucian scholars in a row. You can tell from Empress Gu that their daughters have been carefully educated. I think His Majesty chose a Crown Princess from the Gu family for the Crown Prince, which means His Majesty is planning to leave these nobles in the capital waiting."

Seeing that Chen Zhaoci didn't quite understand, Xu Rao smiled and said, "Among so many noble families in the capital, how many of their sons are promising? Not only are there few, but many have become纨绔 (wan ku, spoiled brats). Every day, there are fights and brawls among the sons of nobles in the streets of the capital. The Prefect of the Capital is afraid of offending people, so he often tries to smooth things over. If the family that the Crown Prince marries has such纨绔子弟 (wan ku zi di, spoiled brats), they will only become a burden to the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess in the future. The Crown Princess also has her own family. She can't just ignore her family. But if the Crown Princess is made to suffer because of those good-for-nothing sons in her family, won't it be the Crown Prince who suffers in the end?"

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