"Empress Dowager, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, the two Prime Ministers request an audience," a palace maid announced.
The Empress Dowager exclaimed in surprise, wondering what could possibly require the two prime ministers to come and see these two old women. She then hurriedly instructed a palace maid to invite the two prime ministers in.
No one but their Emperor could out-argue the civil officials' mouths. In addition, Gu Weizhi was a top scholar in the imperial examination. After he finished speaking, the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager even felt a sense of guilt that if the Emperor did not fill the harem, they would be sinners for all eternity.
He had failed his ancestors, the common people, and even his loyal ministers. It was as if the Great Zhou Dynasty would perish if the emperor did not have ten or eight sons.
While wiping away her tears, Gu Weizhi said with great distress, "Grand Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, the prosperity of the royal lineage is a matter of great importance to the country. I beg you two to consider this matter very seriously!"
The Empress Dowager's head was buzzing: "I understand. Your two ministers are very loyal. I will now discuss the selection of the Empress with you."
"Empress Dowager, it's not enough to have only one empress. We need to take in two more concubines so that the family can have more children as soon as possible. As the saying goes, if the east is dark, the west will be bright."
You can't expect five, six, seven or eight princes to crawl out of the Empress's belly, can you?
The Empress Dowager's brow twitched. These two old hags, do they really think my grandson is a seed-sowing machine?
"Alright, alright, I understand." The Empress Dowager had a headache.
Bu Feizhang, however, had a sudden inspiration: "Empress Dowager, Empress Dowager, why don't we invite all the eligible young ladies from noble families to the palace? The two of you could hold a tea party or a plum blossom appreciation gathering. Firstly, the Emperor could personally select them, and secondly, the two of you could personally observe the character of these young ladies."
The Empress Dowager thought about it and thought it was feasible, so she nodded.
Gu Weizhi then said, "If that's the case, it would be better if Princess An settled down soon. It's been almost a year since the late Emperor issued an edict at the beginning of the year ordering Prince An and Miss Lu to divorce. His Highness Prince An is already twenty-five years old this year, and it really shouldn't be the case that he doesn't have a woman in his harem."
The Empress Dowager agreed, saying that the continuation of the royal family could not rely solely on the Emperor. She nodded in agreement: "Alright, this matter will be handled by me and the Empress Dowager. The affairs of the court are heavy, and we still need to rely on the two prime ministers. I have noticed that the Emperor has been immersed in state affairs every day, barely getting any sleep, and he has become quite thin."
Seeing that the matter was settled, the two prime ministers dared not delay and hurriedly left Cisui Palace to get to work. The Empress Dowager's words sounded nice, but in reality, she was telling them to do more practical work so that even if the emperor had concubines, he wouldn't be too busy with state affairs to visit them.
You can't just marry concubines into the palace and expect them to have children on their own, can you?
Alright, let's get to work.
After discussing it, the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager decided to have the Third Princess, Zhu Ruoxiang, hold a plum blossom appreciation and poetry gathering at her Third Princess Residence. The date was set for the 26th day of the twelfth lunar month, the first day of the holiday in preparation for the New Year.
Of course, this was kept secret from Zhu Dan and Zhu Yu.
Otherwise, Zhu Dan would have had a thousand reasons to refuse the matter.
As for the imperial edict left by the late emperor that prohibited members of the Zhu imperial family from marrying for three years, well, the Empress Dowager smirked. She was the late emperor's mother, and she would abolish it!
A hundred years from now, when she's in the underworld, let's see what this unfilial son can do to his mother.
...
Lu Yucheng's body, which had been severely injured by Fang Shi, has fully recovered.
He officially took office at the Xishan Military Base earlier this month.
Qi Wanting is six months pregnant, but she is suffering from severe morning sickness, vomiting almost everything she eats. These past few days, her hands and feet have been swollen, and she's even inexplicably itchy all over.
Lu Yucheng was heartbroken, but there was nothing he could do. All he could do was threaten the little one inside his wife's belly every day.
If they said something harsh, the little guy would kick Qi Wanting's stomach a couple of times, leaving the couple both amused and exasperated.
Physician Jiang only said that this was a normal phenomenon, but it was rare to see someone like Madam Lu who had all the symptoms of morning sickness and was so severe. He had no good solution and could only tell Madam Lu to endure it for a few months.
For Qi Wanting, every day was torture, but when she thought about the child she and her husband were carrying, she felt that she could endure it.
Lu Yuyan had originally planned to stay at the Prince An's residence tonight. However, after being away for so long, he was worried about the condition of the medicines in the Prince An's medicine storehouse, and many of the medicines had run out and urgently needed to be refilled.
But when he learned of Qi Wanting's strong reaction, he rushed to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion.
After not seeing him for several months, the Duke of Zhenguo was overjoyed to see his second son return. He grabbed his shoulders and looked him up and down several times before laughing and saying, "Ayan, you've gotten darker and thinner, but you've become much stronger!"
"Father."
"I know about your affair with the prince. You did well!"
Lu Yuyan felt a little embarrassed. In modern times, he and his older sister were orphans, and few people praised them.
He and his sister didn't want to be separated, but the couples who came to adopt children either only wanted to adopt his sister or only wanted to adopt him; no one was willing to adopt two children at once.
So in the end, all the children their age were taken away, but they were the only ones left behind until they left the orphanage at the age of eighteen.
Ah Yan has lost count of how much hardship he endured and how many people scorned him.
Upon arriving here, the Duke of Zhenguo treated him like his own son, and even Consort Duan treated him and his sister as her own children, giving them the care and love of elders they had never experienced before.
Undoubtedly, he and his sister were lucky.
The Duke of Zhenguo took a deep breath with relief: "Now Southern Liang has no energy to deal with my Great Zhou, and it is even less likely that it will make such an unreasonable request as to marry a princess of Great Zhou."
Lu Yuyan blushed slightly and suddenly knelt down on one knee before the Duke of Zhenguo.
The Duke of Zhenguo was startled and quickly helped him up: "Ayan, what are you doing?"
"Son, son wants to marry Princess Ruoling..."
It has always been said that she would marry a princess, but on the way to the capital, Ruoling said that she wanted to marry Ayan.
The Duke of Zhenguo was taken aback at first, then burst into laughter: "I knew it! Why did you suddenly decide to go to Nanliang with Prince An? You little rascal, it turns out you've had your eye on Princess Ruoling all along!"
Lu Yuyan scratched his head sheepishly and chuckled.
The Duke of Zhenguo lightly punched his chest: "As expected of my son, Lu Zhongyi, you have good taste."
Lu Yuyan's eyes lit up: "Father, you agree?"
“Why not? Princess Ruoling is such a wonderful girl. Whoever marries her will be blessed. My son has such good taste. I’m overjoyed.”
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