Chapter 258 My biased mother wants me to adopt my younger brother’s son!
The Third Prince's attitude made the Third Princess and Princess Zhaohua ecstatic, but the mother and daughter were both smart people and knew that they had to keep a low profile for the time being. After all, the world was not yet open to the point where it was common for women to become heirs.
Princess Zhaohua also planned to secretly accumulate strength first so as not to immediately arouse the vigilance of her brothers.
Moreover, the Third Prince has not yet ascended the throne. If the old emperor knew that the Third Prince intended to train his legitimate daughter as the crown prince, he might change his mind and establish the Sixth Prince instead. This would not be a good thing for the Third Prince's family.
Although the old emperor supported the female inheritance bill proposed by Si Yuan, it was only because the bill was beneficial to the imperial rule. It did not mean that the old emperor was open-minded enough to accept his granddaughter as the heir to the throne.
Si Yuan was also clear about this. The reason why he could make the old emperor firmly support his reforms was because he was able to make the old emperor see the benefits of reforms.
People are selfish. When the old emperor saw that the reform was good for himself and the imperial rule, he was naturally willing to support it. As for seeking benefits for the people of the world at the same time, the old emperor just regarded it as earning a good reputation for himself.
Nymph's second child was born a few months later, a girl.
Cheng was actually a little disappointed in her heart. After all, she had been hoping to adopt a grandson to take care of her for the past few years.
But Si Yuan was not disappointed at all. He personally named the child Ning Xi and raised her personally, as if he had decided to train his granddaughter as his heir.
Seeing her father's attitude towards his daughter, Ningfu felt relieved.
The remaining part of his heart was completely relieved after seeing how much Cheng doted on Ning Xi.
Cheng was disappointed at first only because she had been looking forward to having a grandson in recent years, but unexpectedly it was a granddaughter. Later, she was worried that Si Yuan wanted to adopt a grandson and would not like his granddaughter. But after seeing Si Yuan's attitude, Cheng's disappointment naturally disappeared and she was filled with joy.
Although Cheng also had some ideas of favoring sons over daughters, this idea was based on the needs of the world - only sons could inherit the family business.
If a daughter could also inherit the family business, Cheng would not be obsessed with her son. She was very open-minded about this point. In her heart, both sons and daughters were her own flesh and blood. The reason why sons were more important than daughters was simply because sons could inherit the title and family business. If sons did not have this advantage, then there would be no difference between sons and daughters.
Cheng doted on her granddaughter Ning Xi. Perhaps because they were of different generations, Cheng even doted on Ning Xi.
Fortunately, Si Yuan was able to raise Ning Xi rationally, so that she would not be spoiled by Cheng.
Under Si Yuan's training, Ning Xi grew up year by year. It was indeed obvious that she was gifted since she was a child. After all, her parents were smart people and naturally would not give birth to a fool. With an experienced teacher like Si Yuan to teach her every word and action, it was even less likely that she would grow up in a wrong direction.
Ning Fu was the eldest daughter of Duke Chengguo's Mansion. Although she was already married, she often returned to Ning Mansion after her status changed.
Ningfu now spends half of her time living with her parents and daughter at the Duke of Chengguo's Mansion, and the other half of her time living with her parents-in-law, husband, and son at the Duke of Yingguo's Mansion.
But people always have their biases. In the Chengguo Mansion, she was born and raised in the master's house. She is also the heir. She has parents who dote on her and a lovely and spoiled daughter. Naturally, Ning Fu feels comfortable everywhere.
But it was the Duke of England's mansion. She was a daughter-in-law who married into the mansion from outside. Of course, she could not treat her parents-in-law as easily as she treated her parents. Her son also lived and received education from her husband, so he was not as caring as her daughter.
Ning Fu gradually became biased in her heart and cared more about the interests of the Duke Chengguo's Mansion rather than the Duke Yingguo's Mansion.
As the old emperor's health became worse, his suspicion became more serious. Even the third prince, who was designated by the old emperor as his successor, often suffered from misfortunes, not to mention Si Yuan, a powerful minister whom the old emperor feared.
Si Yuan could also clearly feel that the old emperor was becoming more and more wary of him, and it was almost reaching the limit of his tolerance.
Si Yuan was not an ordinary person. When faced with this situation, he did not think of retreating bravely and letting the old emperor put down his fear of him. Instead, he secretly planned to make the old emperor's condition worse, making him bedridden and unable to continue to be afraid of him.
Not long after, the old emperor passed away, and the third prince ascended the throne as the new emperor.
After the Third Prince ascended the throne, the first thing he did was to suppress the power of his former rival, the Sixth Prince. Although he was doing this before he ascended the throne, he did not have a legitimate identity and could only suppress it secretly, which was not convenient.
Now that the third prince has become the emperor, it is naturally easy for him to suppress the power of the sixth prince.
After the Sixth Prince's power was eliminated, the Third Prince would naturally place his own people in power, and his older sons and daughters would naturally also have to attend court to govern.
But what no one expected was that the new emperor not only allowed his sons to attend court to attend government affairs, but also allowed his only legitimate daughter, Princess Zhaohua, to attend court to attend government affairs.
Princess Zhaohua is the only woman currently entering the court. Even though she is the emperor's biological daughter and a princess, she is strongly opposed by all civil and military officials.
However, there were still supporters of the female inheritance bill, led by Si Yuan, who came forward to support Princess Zhaohua.
After all, their future heir is also a woman, and they certainly don't want their future heir to be excluded from the court.
If women could also serve as officials in the court, then after their daughters inherited the title, they would not have to worry about their family being away from the court in the future.
Princess Zhaohua was also a smart person. She knew clearly why Si Yuan and other supporters supported her, so Princess Zhaohua took the initiative to propose that women who inherited the title should also enter the court, and even the imperial examinations could allow women to participate.
Political games have nothing to do with gender, but only with stance and interests. Even though Princess Zhaohua is a woman, as long as she finds the right stance and ties the interests of people with the same stance to her own, she will naturally form her own power.
In particular, Si Yuan, the Duke of Chengguo who had held a high position of power during the previous emperor's reign, was the object of Princess Zhaohua's efforts to win him over. Princess Zhaohua even took the initiative to humble herself and show goodwill to Ning Fu and Ning Xi.
Princess Zhaohua showed her goodwill to Ning Fu and Ning Xi not only to win over Si Yuan, the Duke of Chengguo, but also to train her own right-hand men.
After all, there are too few female officials in the court, so it is very difficult for her, Princess Zhaohua, to compete for the position of crown prince. But if the number of female officials gradually increases, these female officials will become her natural support force.
After all, it was thanks to Princess Zhaohua that the female officials had the opportunity to officially stand in the court. It was impossible for them to help other princes to bring Princess Zhaohua down. Once Princess Zhaohua, a woman of the most noble status, was defeated and forced to return to the backyard to take care of her husband and children, then these female officials would have no choice but to withdraw from the court and return to the backyard.
This is what all ambitious women do not want to see, so these female officials will voluntarily support Princess Zhaohua, hoping that she can successfully ascend to the throne and create a world for women all over the world.
As for the princes, they were all surprised that Princess Zhaohua was actually competing with them for the position of crown prince. They knew that Princess Zhaohua was talented and capable. After all, their father had often used Princess Zhaohua as an example to scold them for their incompetence. However, as men, they had enjoyed the gender bonus since birth and naturally looked down on Princess Zhaohua's identity as a woman. They thought that no matter how talented Princess Zhaohua was, she would have to get married and would have to bow down and please them in the future.
Now that Princess Zhaohua was competing with them, they just felt annoyed - how could a woman like her compete with men like them for the position of crown prince?
When these princes dealt with Princess Zhaohua, they always brought up the gender issue of Princess Zhaohua being a woman.
The emperor was very annoyed when he heard this. Fair competition should be based on ability, not gender. None of his sons could compare to Princess Zhaohua, which made him feel ashamed.
The emperor had no preference between men and women, and he accepted the gradual appearance of female officials in the court.
Because he found that these female officials were sometimes more useful than male officials. Every female official who could break out of the blockade of men was an outstanding individual with outstanding abilities. Moreover, in order to prove that women are as good as men, they worked much harder than male officials.
The emperor was of course very happy to see his subordinates working so hard. As a cold-blooded emperor, he didn't care whether his officials were male or female, he made them all work for him!
He exploited every minister and official equally.
If female officials need to be used, then use them more.
The emperor's equal attitude towards female officials allowed them to gradually rise to high positions and their numbers increased.
What are the backgrounds of the women who can serve as female officials nowadays? They all came from noble families. After all, girls from humble backgrounds simply didn't have the conditions to study.
The aristocratic families saw that their daughters were gradually being valued after entering the court as officials, and were even more capable than the sons carefully nurtured by the family, and had brighter careers. The aristocratic families, who had always put family interests first, soon changed their minds and began to support their daughters to go further in their careers.
The power and influence behind the female official who has the support of her family is even greater, which is equivalent to the gradual growth of Princess Zhaohua's power.
Several mediocre princes began to panic. After all, they were suppressing Princess Zhaohua, but why did it seem that the more they suppressed her, the stronger she became?
So they started to make stupid moves. They joined forces with their mother in the palace and began to try to find a husband for Princess Zhaohua so that she could be married off.
They felt that a daughter who was married off was like spilled water, and that after Princess Zhaohua got married she was no longer qualified to compete with them.
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