Can men give birth?
"I'm not human, I was a fox spirit in my past life," Shen Yulou said with a smile.
"No wonder he's a fox!" Chi Yuan suddenly realized.
"He's still too young to maintain his human form." After saying that, Shen Yulou kissed Chi Yuan's cheek.
"Does he have a name?" Chi Yuan asked again.
"Yes, his name is Chi Yu'an."
"I named him that in my past life, didn't I?" Upon hearing this name, Chi Yuan felt a strange sense of confidence and familiarity.
It was as if he had been caressing this name for many years.
"Congratulations, you guessed right." Shen Yulou kissed him again.
What species was I in my past life?
"You? You're a dragon."
What kind of dragon is it?
"Ten-clawed golden dragon".
"Huh? Aren't dragons supposed to have a maximum of five claws? Why..."
Seeing that Chi Yuan was about to continue asking questions, Shen Yulou immediately interrupted him.
"You have to attend court tomorrow. It's late, go to sleep early." Shen Yulou pushed him down, covered his mouth, and forced him to shut down.
——————————————
When Chi Yuan was woken up by Qian He the next morning, he felt dizzy and lightheaded.
To be honest, he didn't sleep well last night; he felt like he was having bizarre dreams all night.
He tucked the blankets around the fox cub and Shen Yulou, then went to the morning court in a daze.
Today's morning court session proceeded as usual, with officials simply reporting on the progress of their tasks and offering subtle advice to Chi Yuan.
They told him not to be obsessed with beautiful women, but to focus on consolidating the foundation of the dynasty.
Chi Yuan dismissed their nonsense.
"If you have something to report, speak now; otherwise, the court is adjourned." The humble eunuch's high-pitched voice rang out, signaling the imminent end of the court session.
"Your Majesty, I have important matters to report." The Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, wearing a xiezhi crown, a blue lotus sash, and a deep red official robe, finally stepped forward after everyone had finished their rambling.
The emperor's majestic voice rang out, "Granted." The emperor wore a twelve-tassel crown, with twelve jade strings hanging from the front and back, obscuring his eyes.
This prevented the officials from accurately discerning the emperor's expression, thus making them more cautious in their speech.
“The night before last, a murder occurred in a private residence by the Qijiang River. The deceased was a famous salt merchant from the Jiangnan region, aged thirty-five. His body was discovered the day after his death when his servants were cleaning his study.”
"The person died without a single wound on their body, and the coroner's examination revealed no signs of poisoning or internal injury, suggesting a sudden and violent death."
Qijiang, one of the eight largest rivers in the Qi Dynasty, is located at the intersection of the bustling capital and the wealthy Jiangnan region, where a network of official roads also converges.
Convenient transportation has brought a variety of trade opportunities and countless riches to the two places.
Those who lived along the Qishui River were either powerful government officials or wealthy merchants.
"However, I have discovered something about this person."
After the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review finished speaking, he took out a piece of green jade the size of a fingernail from his sleeve, as if it had been pried off from some ornament.
"This piece of green jade was found under the crevices of a woman's dressing table in the man's residence. It was discovered during a thorough search ordered by the official."
"This jadeite is translucent, with a fine and flawless texture. Occasionally, images of mountains and water can be seen. In my opinion, it seems to be a jadeite variety unique to the Qishui area, a Jingfei jadeite."
“When I placed this jade in the sun to observe it, I did not find anything unusual. However, yesterday, a candle in my house accidentally fell over and burned a lot of paper in my study.”
"This jade pendant just happened to be placed on one of the sheets of Xuan paper."
"After I extinguished the flames, I discovered that some of the surface of the jadeite had been burned away, revealing a totem on the inner layer."
"It's a Chiwen (a mythical creature)."
As soon as the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent.
Before the Qi Dynasty unified the world, the world was divided into eight parts, with each of the eight states occupying one of the eight major rivers of the Qi Dynasty.
These eight countries are Sheng'an, Jingyu, Kangshou, Yuanyin, Fuman, Yaosi, Bijun, and the Qi Kingdom, which now unifies the world.
Each country has its own corresponding sacrificial totems, such as the golden phoenix, the pixiu, the bi'an, the golden dragon, the xiezhi, the bifang, the baize, and the chiwen.
These totems were all national symbols that were familiar to everyone back then.
Chiwen was, in fact, the totem of the Sheng'an Kingdom.
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