After the kiss, Chen Mianmian continued with the serious matter, "Your Highness, what do you think men risk their lives for? Besides lofty ideals like leaving a loyal heart to illuminate history, in reality, it's for women and offspring."
If a woman is a man who is away from home for many years, she may have an affair; as for offspring, if a woman gives birth to another man's child, there is no way to detect it except for the unreliable blood test, and she can easily unknowingly raise someone else's child.
A woman who is slept with by another, whose child is raised by another—isn't all her struggle in vain? Therefore, I believe that the heir apparent should not accept the position of Marquis.
Bai Qingzhou chuckled, "What a tricky angle! I was almost convinced by you."
Shen Mianmian smiled, "Let's put the matter of inheriting the position aside for now and talk about the next thing. The young master hopes that the Marquis and his wife will stop interfering with you. Have you ever thought about why they are interfering in the first place?"
Bai Qingzhou's handsome face stiffened for a moment, then he slightly tugged at the corner of his mouth, "Because... I am incompetent."
Chen Mianmian shook her head, "The young master is not incompetent; he simply hasn't proven himself yet. It's like studying hard for ten years; if he doesn't participate in the imperial examinations, who will acknowledge that he studied diligently?"
Whether you are incompetent or not cannot be judged by their subjective opinions, but by the objective examination of the imperial examination. I believe that once the Crown Prince has proven his abilities, they will no longer judge you with their previous perspectives.
Bai Qingzhou suddenly realized and nodded in agreement, "But... what if I don't pass the imperial examination?"
Chen Mianmian pointed her slender finger to the dense mass of books behind her. "Haven't you read and memorized all of these books? After reading so many books, how could you not even pass the county-level examination? Is the threshold for becoming a county-level scholar really that high?"
"..." Bai Qingzhou.
"If you can't pass the county-level exam, then how about the preliminary exam? You won't even pass the preliminary exam, will you?" Shen Mianmian suddenly realized that she had inadvertently given herself away, and quickly changed her tone to a sweet and affectionate one.
"I will not allow Your Highness to belittle yourself like that. In my eyes, Your Highness is the most intelligent and talented. How about we make a deal: if Your Highness passes the imperial examination and becomes a scholar, I will bear you a child, how about that?"
The reason why Shen Mianmian made such a promise so easily was not because she thought Fengchu would not be able to pass the imperial examination, but because she knew that it would take time to pass that examination.
The imperial examinations were held every three years. Even if the young emperor was lucky enough to take the exam this year, he would still have to take six exams in total, with intervals between each exam. It might take one or two years to finish the exams.
A year or two later, the Prince of Jin rebelled, and the female lead went to the Regent. Her crisis was over, and she might have been able to travel out of the world.
Even if she's unlucky and Fengchu quickly passes the county-level exam and becomes a scholar, she can still offer him a rosy picture, encouraging him to keep up the good work and pass the provincial-level exam.
After the provincial examination, there are still the metropolitan examination and the palace examination, right?
Making empty promises is free; just keep making them for Fengchu.
She simply couldn't believe that Fengchu could pass the county-level exam, the provincial-level exam, the metropolitan-level exam, and then the palace-level exam within two years.
Whose cannon fodder has such a powerful cheat code?
That's why she dared to make such a boast, saying she would have a child with Fengchu.
As expected, Bai Qingzhou fell for it.
His eyes were wide open, and at this moment, those dark eyes were truly starry eyes, because they twinkled as if there were real stars in them.
"Really? If I pass the imperial examination and become a scholar, you'll have my child?"
"Ah, this..."
Why did Shen Mianmian suddenly have a bad feeling? "Hmm... how about... uh... becoming a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination)? How about we set it for the provincial examination? As long as you pass the provincial examination and become a Juren, we'll have a baby right away!"
But then, someone's starry eyes dimmed instantly, "...But just now, you clearly said 'scholar'."
Chen Mianmian's scalp tingled. "This... Your Highness, you've read so many books, you must have heard of the saying 'One effort, then decline, then exhaustion,' right? Taking exams is like fighting a war; you need to keep going until the very end. If you stop halfway, you might lose heart."
Besides, you're nineteen years old now, the prime of your brain development, the perfect time for studying. If you pass the imperial examinations and become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial-level imperial examinations), the Marquis and his wife won't interfere with your studies anymore.
After listening, Bai Qingzhou thought it made sense and nodded, "Okay."
Chen Mianmian was pleasantly surprised, "You agreed?"
“I agree,” Bai Qingzhou hugged the woman and buried his face in her neck. “You broke your promise once, you can’t break it a second time. If I pass the provincial examination, no matter what my ranking is, you have to agree to have the child.”
"Hmm, I agree." Chen Mianmian thought to herself—the saying goes, once is enough, twice is not enough, but three times is not enough. She only broke her promise once, so doing it again shouldn't be a problem.
Then I thought to myself—that damned young phoenix, he's been eating more lately and his strength has increased, he's making it hard for me to breathe.
"I agree, let me go," she said with difficulty.
"No, let's hug a little longer." His voice came muffledly from her neck.
"..." Okay, she could only endure it a little longer.
He was held tightly in a tight embrace, unable to move in his deep sleep. He could only move his fingers and toes, and his mind could still function.
Adhering to the principle that since she was idle anyway, she might as well find something to do, Chen Mianmian recalled the original text again.
In the original story, was the cannon fodder prince also so enthusiastic about having offspring?
It seems... they're not enthusiastic about it.
Why was she so sure? Because, strictly speaking, the cannon fodder prince's first child was not with the time-traveling girl.
After the prince and Jiang Yinjin got married, the time-traveling woman did not come to pay her respects, so Jiang Yinjin incited her wife to teach the time-traveling woman a lesson.
If the female protagonist had any sense, she should have tolerated it and given the prince some face. But the transmigrated woman was just a brainless cannon fodder; how could she possibly have the brains for that? She immediately started arguing with the madam.
The crown prince was caught in the middle, in a dilemma.
After the lady left, the time-traveling monster prince did not help him. The prince was both aggrieved and angry. At this moment, Jiang Yinjin brought two women to him, and the prince went to favor them in a fit of pique.
Of the two women, one of them was lucky enough to get pregnant on her first try.
Therefore, the Crown Prince's first child was not the time-traveling woman's.
If the prince were truly so eager to have a child, he would have already tried every means to have one with the time-traveling woman, instead of going to have a child with someone else.
Shen Mianmian frowned—why is it different again? She had clearly tried her best to maintain the main plot, could it be that because she avoided being framed by the female lead, it created a butterfly effect?
Bai Qingzhou noticed that the woman hadn't spoken for a long time, so he asked softly, "Mianmian, what are you thinking about?"
Chenmian lazily pulled herself out of her thoughts, "I wasn't thinking about anything. The prince hugged me too tightly, and I couldn't breathe. The lack of oxygen made my mind go blank."
Bai Qingzhou was startled and quickly let go of her, scolding her with heartache, "Why didn't you say so earlier if you were feeling unwell?"
Chen Mianmian winked and said in a high-pitched voice, "Your Highness, you're so annoying! I have professional ethics, I just have to accept whatever comes my way~~"
At the same time.
Peony Courtyard.
As soon as Jiang Yinjin returned to her room, the dignified and virtuous smile on her face vanished, replaced by anger and resentment. "Why did this happen? How could Bai Qingzhou challenge Madam? What went wrong?!"
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