Chapter 1138: Settled

There were many concubines who had the same thoughts as Concubine Zhao. If the prince only started learning about intercourse at 16 years old, wouldn’t he have to be 16 or 17 years old to take a secondary consort?

But at this age, the prince should already be marrying his main consort.

Other than the Empress, all the concubines in the harem came from modest families. Their family backgrounds were not compatible with the prince’s. Even if they were the biological mother of the prince, they would not let their son marry their niece as the main consort. Therefore, they could only place their hopes on the position of the secondary consort.

A secondary consort who would give birth to the eldest son.

Because of the abolition of the vassal system previously, the concubines in the harem already disliked King Rong’s family. When they heard King Rong’s estate was also responsible for this change, it only intensified their frustration.

However, everyone was not as obvious as Concubine Zhao. Although they expressed their objections when they went to greet the Empress, their expressions were not as ugly as Concubine Zhao’s.

Li Jinghua said solemnly, “This is the rule of the Great Qi royal family, set by His Majesty and me after careful consideration.” The implied meaning was that they had to abide by it even if they didn’t want to.

The expressions of the concubines changed. They did not expect the Empress to be so domineering on this matter.

Concubine Zhao opened her mouth to question, but when she saw Concubine Xu and the others lowering their heads, she immediately shut her mouth.

‘Why should I be the one to step up every time?

Not only do I not benefit from it, I suffer plenty of disadvantages.’

Concubine Zhao shut her mouth and lowered her head like the others.

The Empress raised her eyebrows slightly when she saw this, and her initial anger subsided a little.

After everyone left, she sighed to Wen Cui. “It’s rare for Concubine Zhao to be so smart.”

Wen Cui thought of Concubine Zhao’s personality and shook her head. “I’m afraid it won’t last long. By then, it will still be hard on the Second Prince.”

Li Jinghua did not comment. “His Majesty treats the princes equally. How hard can it be on him?” What she cared about was the expressions of the concubines just now. Seeing as they were still quite respectful to her, she feared they all blamed Mu Yangling for it.

Recalling the hatred that Qi Haoran had caused some time ago, the Empress couldn’t help but sigh. “King Rong and Ah Ling probably don’t even know that they’ve offended others.”

Wen Cui said with a smile, “Your Highness, don’t worry. In His Majesty’s heart, all the concubines in the harem combined are not as important as His Highness and Her Highness.”

“Even so, it’s hard to guard against villains. Besides, these people are His Majesty’s bedmates. Also, they have sons…” Li Jinghua sighed. “I’m just worried about the future.”

Even if the Emperor and Qi Haoran could continue to have close brotherly ties, what about after he passed?

These Concubines could instill thoughts in their sons, and even if the Emperor’s sons combined could not shake Qi Haoran’s status, trouble was bound to ensue. When the time came, who knew what would happen?

At the end of the day, this matter was still their negligence. If they had communicated in advance, and let the Emperor or someone else propose the abolition of the vassal system, they would have avoided many troubles.

If only, if only.

Li Jinghua could only worry in her heart.

There wasn’t much action in the palace because Qi Xiuyuan had a strong control over the harem. As long as he did not want the news in the harem to spread, no one could spread the news to the outside world.

Hence, nobody outside of the palace knew about the imperial rules that he and Li Jinghua had set. It was only when the Crown Prince hosted the palace banquets and often appeared in front of the ministers, that everyone realized that the Crown Prince had already grown up and would be 15 next year.

However, not only did the Crown Prince not yet have a secondary consort, but he also did not have a concubine. This was obviously abnormal in the royal family, which had always married early.

Those who were worried asked the administrative officials of the East Palace. Only then did they know that the Crown Prince didn’t even have a handmaid despite being nearly 15. In other words, the Crown Prince still didn’t have any experience with intercourse at this age.

The ministers looked at the Crown Prince with worry in their eyes. When they discussed politics in the Imperial Study, a few ministers hinted to the Emperor that it was time for the Crown Prince to get married.

And before the marriage, someone had to teach the Crown Prince about intercourse. This could be considered an obscure reminder.

Unexpectedly, the Emperor smiled and outright told them, “It’s not appropriate for the children of the Qi family to get married early. The Empress and I have already agreed that the prince would only marry after they turn 17.”

“Your Majesty, every prince can take many secondary consorts and concubines before marrying their main consort. Why don’t we arrange for the Crown Prince to have secondary consorts first?” Yan Du suggested.

Qi Xiuyuan smiled faintly and said, “That’s the rule of the previous dynasty’s royal family. Why should Great Qi abide by the rules of the previous dynasty?”

There was silence in the Imperial Study. Did the Emperor mean that all the rules of the royal family had to be changed?

Qi Xiuyuan said, “The royal family of Great Qi doesn’t have the rule of taking a secondary consort before marrying the main consort. Since the first wife is the first wife, there’s naturally no reason to take a secondary consort first.”

What about concubines?

The ministers looked at Qi Xiuyuan. Since concubines didn’t have any status anyway, the princes couldn’t still be virgins when they properly got married, right?

Qi Xiuyuan smiled and began to talk about the preservation of health. He vaguely expressed that he was an Emperor who valued health and hoped that his children and grandchildren would be the same. Therefore, for the sake of their health, the royal family would only arrange for concubines after the princes turned 17 years old and then discuss their marriage.

In other words, the ministers were right—the prince would indeed remain a virgin until the age of 17.

The ministers: “…”

Some of them wanted to object. This was not a private matter of the royal family. If the prince only got married when he was 17 years old, he would definitely give birth late. This was not a good thing for Great Qi.

Qi Xiuyuan only sighed before shutting their mouths with one sentence. “It’s relatively early actually. Back then, I only got married after 21 years old, and King Rong only married his queen consort after he turned 18.”

After hearing this, what else could everyone say? Even the founding Emperor and King Rong had only gotten married at that age. How shameless could they be to ask the princes to get married earlier?

This matter was settled just like that.

Qi Xiuyuan took the opportunity to mention that he wanted to increase the minimum legal age of marriage. For females, it increased from 13 to 15 years old, and the upper limit was also raised to 20 years old.

The ministers looked at each other. Because the age of the prince’s marriage had been postponed, no one reacted much to changing this law at this time. After some discussion,the motion was passed.

When Little Treasure heard this, he was very happy. He said to his father, “Little Bear and I wanted to bring it up after the new year. I didn’t expect Royal Father to resolve it with just a word.”

Qi Xiuyuan was a little smug. “This is what it means to rise after restraint. If I mentioned this first, they’d definitely have argued and it’d already be not bad if the minimum legal age could be raised by a year. But because I mentioned the princes’ matter first, in comparison, they’d be more relaxed about it. Now that this matter is settled, you and Little Bear can shift your focus away from this. After the New Year, you can go out and temper yourselves. I’ll send you two somewhere.”

Little Treasure’s eyes lit up as he requested, “Royal Father, I want to go to the north! Little Bear said that the north is magnificent and majestic. I haven’t been there before.”

Qi Xiuyuan thought for a moment and nodded slowly. “Sounds good. There’s a large piece of territory that has just been seized back there, and the citizens must still be worried. It’s good for you to go and check on things.”

Little Treasure was elated. “Will Little Bear go with me too?”

Qi Xiuyuan shook his head. “Little Bear is going to the army. He’s different from you, so he naturally won’t be going to the same places as you.”

Little Treasure was disappointed for a moment, but it was quickly covered up by the excitement of leaving the capital.

“Hurry up and prepare for the palace banquet. Since this is the first palace banquet after winning the war, it has to be a grand one. There are also envoys from various countries coming to congratulate you. As the Crown Prince, you mustn’t mess it up.”

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