Chapter 1958 Search
Seeing the emperor frowning, the empress looked towards the screen, and the emperor followed her gaze. His eyes were not as sharp as when he was young, but he could still see their shadows cast on the screen as they huddled together to tease the eagle slave.
The Queen said, "She asked the imperial physician to prescribe medicine again two days ago."
The emperor frowned, "Why didn't anyone tell me? Did the qi disease come back?"
"It's not a respiratory illness. It's probably from sweating at night and inhaling it. I have some wind-heat, so I asked Zhou Man to prescribe medicine," the Queen said. "It's not very hot this year, and so many children in the palace are not sick. Even the eagle slaves look stronger than her. I really don't feel comfortable about her marrying into a wealthy family."
She said, "This child is already very thoughtful and considerate. Going to a family like that would be too exhausting..."
The emperor's heart suddenly sank, knowing that all his efforts in the past period of time were in vain.
He glanced at the queen reproachfully, "Why didn't Zi Tong tell you earlier?" She also made him lose face in front of Lu Hui and others.
The Queen took his hand and apologized, "It's my fault. I didn't expect Your Majesty to be so anxious. I've been so busy lately."
The emperor sighed at the tired expression between the empress's brows, and his already limited anger instantly disappeared. "My mother is seriously ill. You have to take care of her while also handling palace affairs. You are very busy..."
"But Mingda's marriage should be put on the agenda. I originally thought that... waiting for two or three years wouldn't be a big deal. Didn't you say it's better for girls to get married later?"
The queen nodded.
"But what the Queen Mother said is right. There are only so many good men. Mingda can wait two or three years, but they won't. So I thought I'd pick a good one first and then get married in two or three years."
The queen thought about it and simply pulled the emperor to the inner room to talk.
The Queen said, "You've been quite active these past few days. I was busy and didn't notice, but Mingda noticed it first."
The emperor said proudly, "She has always been thoughtful and intelligent."
The Queen said, "People around her are joking about what kind of a prince consort she wants."
The emperor asked curiously, "What did she say?"
The Queen sighed endlessly and said, "She said that she is a princess and naturally listens to the emperor. It depends on whether the emperor is trying to collude with her, win her over, or is he doing this for the few remaining days of her life."
The emperor was shocked and said sadly, "How could Mingda think so?"
Seeing his eyes redden, the Queen acted like a wronged child, feeling both angry and amused. "Why are you so upset? Mingda doesn't hold any grudge against you. She knows full well that as a princess, she's enjoyed the wealth and prosperity you and the Jin dynasty have given her, and that she should contribute to the royal family and the Jin dynasty. That child understands everything; all she can offer is a marriage."
The emperor immediately said, "I don't need her to conspire, nor do I need her to win me over!"
The emperor paused and said, "After dinner, I'll have Xiao Yuanzheng come and check her pulse. Those rumors about her having only a few days left were just random words the imperial doctors used to say when she was ill. How can you take them seriously?"
The Queen sighed, "You and I both know it's true. She's already been to the gates of hell twice. In the future..."
"She will be healthy in the future," the emperor said, refusing to accept Mingda's short lifespan. "Didn't Zhou Man check her pulse every few days? She gave her acupuncture. Yin Li's son has been through the gates of hell several times since he was a child. They said he wouldn't survive the next two years, but isn't he alive and well now?"
The Queen lowered her eyes and said, "But Zhou Man can't always follow her."
"Why not?" The emperor said directly: "I will give Zhou Man to her as a reward in the future."
Queen: ...
She tried to hold it in, but couldn't help it, so she clenched her fist and hit the emperor on the shoulder. The emperor, who was trying to argue, finally calmed down a little.
The Queen said angrily, "I'm talking to you about serious matters. Zhou Man isn't a palace maid. You can't reward her just because you want to."
The emperor couldn't help but mutter, "The royal palace already has a chief secretary. Why can't I give Mingda one?"
The Queen said quietly, "The Chief Secretary can resign. What if Zhou Man doesn't want to be an official anymore and wants to resign?"
The emperor laughed and said, "She will definitely be an official. If she doesn't want to be an official, just give her more land."
Queen: ...
The queen couldn't think of any words to object.
However, the topic had produced obvious results by this point. In his heart, the emperor had already given up the idea of marrying into a noble family, and began to look for young people in the capital who had a simple and solid family background, were talented in literature and martial arts, and had good character and appearance.
He searched his memory and found that he couldn't find any of them. The only one who could barely meet these conditions was called Bai Shan, and she was engaged.
However, even if he was not engaged, the emperor would not look down on him.
Although his family background is barely acceptable, he has both literary and martial arts skills, and his character and appearance are also good, but his widowed mother and grandmother are the head of the household. If Mingda marries into their family, it will be difficult for her to live alone in the mansion.
Isn't that the same as marrying into one of those wealthy families?
Not right, not right.
Besides, women have a lot of things to do, and three women has even more.
The emperor felt that he would have to ask Yin Li to check the situation of the unmarried young men in the Imperial College tomorrow.
You can only look for it in the Imperial College. After all, most of the outstanding disciples in the country will come to the Imperial College.
Only those aristocratic families would keep some outstanding disciples to teach themselves.
But he had already ruled them all out, so he wasn't worried.
It's impossible not to be anxious. The Empress Dowager's condition has worsened, Xiao Yuanzheng hasn't smiled for two days, and neither has the Emperor.
Yin Li was quite quick because he didn't have to spend much effort. He just went straight to Kong Jijiu and asked him to make a list of all the unmarried young men in the Imperial College who were between the ages of fourteen and twenty.
Kong Jijiu never thought that one day he would be involved in matchmaking, but he still asked the doctors to report the unmarried students in their classes.
Yin Li asked in the morning and got it in the afternoon. Then he took the list to the Imperial College and took charge. He first found their mid-year exam transcripts and eliminated anyone who was outside the top twelve.
There are only about twenty students in a class. If they are all ranked except for the top twelve, is there anything else to consider?
Yin Li simply drew a red line on the list, which eliminated most of the people on the list.
Then look at the family background. If the hometown is too far away or the family background is particularly bad, cross it out.
The next morning, he took the remaining list to the Imperial College and began walking around class by class, calling out names and asking them to stand up for him to see. He crossed out the unattractive ones and casually asked the rest of the students a few questions while looking at their faces, such as whether they were engaged or how many people were in their family...
Those with too many people were crossed out, not to mention those who were engaged, which were also crossed out directly.
Yin Li finished the work in just half a day. In the afternoon, he sorted out the remaining list and submitted it to the emperor, leaving behind a group of confused teenagers and young men in the Imperial College.
It's late, everyone go to bed, I'm going to practice more, see you tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)
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