【Don't be angry, Master. Let's talk about our things.】
The adults nodded in agreement. Yes, yes, yes!
Little Immortal Lord, please don't mind us!
My divine artifact, tell me quickly!
Lord Zhou Yanzhou and his wife, Madam Zhuo, are first cousins.
"Consanguineous marriage?"
From Yue Fuguang's tone, any intelligent person would know that something was wrong, especially from the seemingly casual look she gave Zhou Qingyu.
It didn't escape the eyes of the people present, especially Zhou Qingyu herself, who for some reason felt a sense of unease.
His father, Zhou Yan, wasn't much better off than him.
Yes, the host knows the dangers of consanguineous marriage, especially since these cousins were fifteen and less than fifteen years old when they got married, their bodies were not fully developed, making conception difficult, let alone since they were close relatives.
Madam Zhuo, wife of Lord Zhou, conceived a child two years after marrying Lord Zhou, but the child was stillborn.
She became pregnant again the following year, but miscarried after only three months. Later, she became pregnant with her current husband, Zhou Qingyu.
In the years following Zhou Qingyu's birth, Madam Zhou suffered three miscarriages before finally conceiving again when Zhou Qingyu was five years old.
By this time, the concubines in the Zhou family's backyard had already given birth to two sons and one daughter for Lord Zhou. Madam Zhou's desire to give Lord Zhou another son became even more urgent.
Just when Madam Zhou was five months pregnant, her second younger sister, Xiao Zhuo, was newly widowed. Madam Zhou felt sorry for her sister's situation, who was also pregnant, and worried that she would be bullied by her husband's family. So she wanted to take her to live with her.
Madam Zhou, the couple's aunt, felt sorry for her niece and also considered that it was not appropriate for her to live in someone else's house after she had just become a widow.
So they rented a small house next to the Zhou residence, with only a courtyard wall separating the two houses, so they could take care of her nearby.
So Xiao Zhuoshi moved next door to the Zhou residence. After ten months of pregnancy, the two sisters surprisingly went into labor on the same day.
It just so happens that it all started when Xiao Zhuo came to visit her sister.
Their mother, Madam Zhou's younger sister, Old Madam Zhuo, had stayed at Little Zhuo's place two days in advance, just in case her youngest daughter went into labor without any elders to take care of her.
When the two sisters had children together, Old Madam Zhuo was the busiest.
That night, Madam Zhou gave birth to a deformed male fetus, which died shortly afterward.
Then, Xiao Zhuo gave birth to a daughter.
The eldest daughter gave birth to a deformed child, a punishment from heaven, which terrified Old Madam Zhuo half to death.
"Divine retribution? Blame everything on God! It's all the adults' own doing!"
Zhou Yan, who had done wrong, looked embarrassed, and a suspicious flush appeared on his originally ashen face.
"Isn't it normal for children born from consanguineous marriages to be deformed or intellectually disabled? But these ancient people didn't understand; they all thought it was divine retribution."
Madam Zhuo was afraid that this matter would affect her eldest daughter's status in the Zhou family, since the Zhuo family had already declined and usually relied on the Zhou family, their in-laws, for help.
Also, in order to ensure that her youngest daughter, who had become a widow at a young age, would have a future, she suggested that her two daughters switch children.
The two sisters thought about it and agreed. Madam Zhou did it for her own sake and for the reputation of the Zhou family.
Xiao Zhuoshi also wanted to be able to remarry and didn't want to have a child as a burden. If she gave birth to a boy, she would have someone to rely on in her husband's family in the future.
But now she has given birth to a daughter, and if she doesn't remarry, the two of them will have a difficult life in the future.
So they announced to the public that Madam Zhou had given birth to a daughter, who later became Consort Xian, Zhou Yunxin.
Because of her grief over her deceased husband, Xiao Zhuo's health deteriorated, and the baby boy she gave birth to was too weak and died shortly after birth.
When did Zhou Yunxin find out that she was not a biological daughter of the Zhou family?
When she was eight years old, Xiao Zhuo visited the Zhou family with her remarried husband, who was originally a failed scholar.
Because Xiao Zhuoshi's dowry was quite generous, marrying her would give him money to continue taking the imperial examinations. Moreover, he later learned that Xiao Zhuoshi had an older sister who was the wife of a government official in the capital.
They were even more willing to marry her. So, less than a year after giving birth to Zhou Yunxin and returning home, Xiao Zhuo remarried.
This scholar, named Tan Qi, relied on his wife's dowry to take the imperial examinations for seven years, and he actually passed and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). This is also why it took Xiao Zhuo eight years to go to the capital.
Out of selfish motives, and hoping that Zhou Yunxin, already a favored young lady of the Zhou family, would take better care of her younger brother from the same mother, six-year-old Tan Yiming told Zhou Yunxin about her true parentage.
"So, after being forced to enter the palace and unable to be with her lover, Zhou Yunxin harbored hatred for the Zhou family, to whom she was not related by blood?"
Yes, even after she gained favor, the Zhou father and son did not receive promotions or wealth. In fact, because she often whispered in Emperor Mingxi's ear about how she was not favored in the Zhou family and how much she suffered, the father and son suffered a lot because of this.
Emperor Mingxi looked embarrassed. He didn't consider himself an easily swayed emperor, but it was really because that bitch Zhou Yunxin had nagged him so many times.
The mere mention of it brings tears to a beautiful woman's eyes, and it all happens in bed—who can resist that? So they made things difficult for the Zhou father and son.
In all honesty, he had no intention of doing anything to his subjects and father-in-law. Although he did not promote them, he did not offend them either.
As a father himself, he was somewhat biased towards his younger son, so how could he expect his ministers to treat their children equally?
The adults standing beside the Zhou family father and son all looked at them with sympathy. They finally understood why Consort Zhou, who was so favored in the harem, had not used her favor to gain benefits for her father.
This is not because she is virtuous, nor because she is arrogant and spoiled due to the emperor's favor, nor because she seeks personal gain for her relatives.
Rather, these relatives are not close, and there may even be enmity between them, so naturally they will not seek any benefits for them.
Her biological younger brother, Tan Yiming, and her stepfather, nominally her uncle-in-law Tan Qike, benefited greatly from their relationship with Consort Zhou.
Tan Qi, a fellow Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination), rose from the seventh rank to the third rank in just over ten years. His speed of promotion and wealth was like riding a rocket!
Her younger brother, Tan Yiming, was even worse off in school because of his sister. He bought an official position and later harmed many respectable women. He should be castrated and sent to the palace.
Both of these individuals are key members of the Ninth Prince's faction and its future members.
Emperor Mingxi: Is the palace a garbage dump? All sorts of unclean things are castrated and sent in!
Those adults who are still waiting to gain seniority and become superiors: I'm genuinely envious of Tan Qi, who doesn't even know which government department he's in right now.
Only the Vice Minister of Revenue's slightly lowered eyes moved. Tan Qi? If he remembered correctly, there was a clerk in their Ministry of Revenue named Tan Qi, a newly arrived official with connections.
So it was through Consort Zhou's connections?
He didn't even need to look up to know that His Majesty's expression was definitely not good. It seemed that Tan Qi was about to leave after only arriving...
"Didn't the Zhou family father and son help the Ninth Prince?"
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