The palace was completely silent for a moment. After a long moment, his personal eunuch Lu Bao raised his head and whispered, "If Your Majesty is truly bored, why not leave the palace for a walk?"
He had no other choice. As the voices in the court calling for adopting a son from the royal family grew louder, His Majesty's face grew darker and darker.
The black energy on his body seemed to swallow them up every day.
They lived in fear every day, fearing that one day His Majesty would be unable to bear it and would kill them all.
Li Yuanqi sat for a long time with a dark face before he stood up and said, "Let's go out of the palace."
As soon as he stepped out of the palace gate, someone came to announce, "Your Majesty, Prince Yi is here and is waiting for you in the Shangshu Room."
He paused, thinking about why the old prince came to the palace, and his already bad expression became even uglier.
But this old prince is of a higher generation among the royal family. He has followed his royal grandfather since his generation and has worked tirelessly and loyally for the court.
Even when his father was still alive, he respected this old prince very much.
The prince is now almost eighty years old. Since he came to the throne, he has handed over the power to the prince of the palace. He himself is living out his life in the palace and rarely enters the palace.
Now that I have finally been able to enter the palace, it would be bad if I didn't see him.
Thinking of this, he turned around and went to the Shangshufang.
As soon as he entered, he saw the old prince, who was nearly 80 years old, tremblingly standing up to salute him.
He quickly walked over and supported the man, "Uncle, there's no need to be so polite. Sit down."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." The old prince sat down and looked up at the young emperor sitting at the top. He first asked with concern, "Your Majesty, are you doing well recently?"
Li Yuanqi: "I am fine, how is Uncle?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I am doing well as well." His wise eyes were filled with kindness as he looked at Li Yuanqi. "I heard that the court is arguing about the succession again today?"
Sure enough, the old prince came for this matter.
The curve of Li Yuanqi's mouth was flattened. He looked at the old prince intently, "Is Uncle here for this matter too?"
"Yes." The old prince stood up. "I know you don't want to hear this, and I also think you are still young and don't want to appoint an heir too early, but I have to consider the Li family's empire."
Your Majesty has been married for thirteen years and has not had any children.
Whether it is the late empress or the three concubines in the palace today, namely the noble concubine, the virtuous concubine and the virtuous concubine, there are dozens of high-ranking concubines such as Zhaoyi, Zhaorong, Xiuyi and Xiurong.
Not to mention the countless concubines, beauties, and imperial concubines under her.
There are even more concubines in the harem than the late emperor, but for thirteen years, His Majesty has not had a single child. Only a few concubines became pregnant but lost their pregnancies within a few months, and were unable to keep the baby.
If it weren't for the historical records that His Majesty urinated several times a night and that one of his concubines was pregnant, they would have suspected that His Majesty was dying.
Even so, some people in the court are forcing His Majesty to issue a self-criticism edict, saying that it is because of his lack of moral character that God has made His Majesty childless.
Of course, the minister who made this proposal is no longer in the capital.
"Uncle, I'm only twenty-eight now. Do you really have to force me?" A dark glint flashed in his eyes. "You've seen what kind of life I've been leading these years. There are so many concubines in the harem, but not one of them is my favorite."
Those people were all fertile women who were stuffed in by royal family members and ministers in the name of having offspring.
Some were from high-class families, some were from low-class families, some were fat and some were thin, and all kinds of people were in different shapes and sizes.
But when he saw those women, he just felt pressured, and when it came to flipping the cards, he felt extremely unhappy.
But there is no other way. This country must have an heir.
Therefore, every time he visited his concubine, he would choose a concubine who was in the fertile period, without any personal preference involved.
"Your Majesty, if you have a prince, you can marry whomever you wish. We will never interfere with your preferences."
This would have been impossible in the past.
According to the ancestral etiquette and laws, as an emperor, even if he eats a few more bites of his favorite dish, people will criticize him, let alone marrying a wife according to his own preferences.
But there is no way, because Your Majesty's situation is different now.
Li Yuanqi fell silent at this point. He knew the importance of the royal heir to the country.
He looked decisive and ruthless, as if everything was under control. But in fact, whenever it was late at night and everyone was asleep, he would start to wonder if he had done something that had angered God and man, so that after more than ten years, he still had no children.
As he remained silent, the old prince thought that he had persuaded him and quickly struck while the iron was hot.
"It's not that we have to adopt you right now. We're just selecting a few princes from the royal family and raising them in the palace. If we can give birth to a prince, we'll consider it training talent for the royal family. If that happens... we'll choose one you like from among these princes and adopt him. How do you think?"
Li Yuanqi picked up the tea beside him and said in a deep voice after a long while: "Let my uncle handle this matter."
Seeing that he agreed, the old prince was very happy, "Ah, this old minister will definitely do it for you."
At this point, Li Yuanqi no longer had any desire to leave the palace.
Within two or three days, the news spread throughout the court that His Majesty wanted to select royal family members of all ages to enter the palace for instruction.
It is said to be teaching, but everyone knows that in fact, it is just choosing the next successor.
In Prince Jing's mansion, Meng Tian, wearing a green cloak, walked from the back door of the mansion all the way to the courtyard of Prince Jing's son in the east courtyard.
"Why are you here?" Li Changheng took Meng Tian's hand. "It's getting colder now, don't catch a cold."
Meng Tian smiled and shook her hand back, "I'm not cold. Look, I'm not cold at all."
"Didn't you say you'd wait for me to find you? If you come here like this now and someone sees you, it will definitely be bad for your reputation."
"What's the reputation?" Meng Tian smiled carefreely. "The innocent are innocent. Reputation is for outsiders to see. You know, I never care about doing these things."
"What's more..." She looked up at Li Changheng with a smile, "The prince and I are in love with each other, so let them talk about it."
She was so free and dazzling, as if she was covered in a layer of light, and her smile went straight into his heart.
Li Changheng felt his mind wavering, and his love for Meng Tian grew even stronger.
"Okay." He pulled her into his arms lovingly, "Let them say whatever they want. This king knows that you are different from other women."
Meng Tian leaned shyly in his arms, but in her heart she was asking the system, "System, are you sure that the emperor will never give birth to his own children in this life?"
System: "The host is confirmed, don't worry."
Meng Tian: "That's good, then the throne must belong to the prince!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com