Chapter 4: Bound to the Child-Bearing System and Became a Winner in Life Chapter 4 Cannon Fodder Minor Consort (4)

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Protagonist:

Shen Yao

Whatever she thought in her heart, she spoke with her mouth.

Because the time since she had crossed over was quite short, and she did not understand this world very well, Shen Yao kept her posture very low.

After hearing Shen Yao's question, Ji Shi said indifferently, "There are no imperial princes, but there are several imperial grandsons.

Back then, the two imperial princes the Retired Emperor favored most both left behind bloodlines.

Now seven years have passed; those children, the youngest is already twelve years old."

And in the Great Jing Dynasty, imperial princes can establish families and careers at sixteen, marry and have children.

Looking at it from the timeline, has it not arrived at the Great Jing Dynasty's most dangerous moment?

You must know that the two imperial princes the Retired Emperor liked, one died of illness and one died in battle back then; there was nothing shady between them and the Emperor, so toward the few imperial grandsons those two princes left behind, the Retired Emperor has always been extra protective.

After hearing Ji Shi's words, Shen Yao suddenly realized she had committed an empiricist error, thinking the struggle for the throne was only a battle among imperial princes; who knew it could also spread to the imperial grandsons.

Yes, imperial grandsons are also of the royal bloodline; as long as the Retired Emperor likes them, they are no different from sons.

Shen Yao corrected her expression, "Yao Niang's thinking was shallow; please do not disdain me, Grandmother."

Fine, no more pretending; Shen Yao simply revealed her true face in front of Ji Shi, just right to properly understand this bizarre Great Jing Dynasty from Ji Shi's mouth.

At this, Ji Shi was satisfied with Shen Yao's attitude; she nodded slightly, "Yao Niang, the Great Jing Dynasty has been passed down for over three hundred years.

Although the court is uneven now, the country has been peaceful for many years, the people live and work in peace; even if there is a succession of the throne, it will not affect the Great Jing's overall development."

Otherwise, why would there be so many ministers jumping up and down when the court is unstable right now?

Isn't it because they think they cannot earn earth-shaking merit from outside, so they scheme to see if they can scoop up a wave of 'From the Dragon' merit to boost their own family's foundation?

The dynasty and the great clans complement each other yet also love and kill each other; the older Ji Shi gets, the more clearly she sees this.

"The current Great Jing Emperor is Yuanhe Emperor, who ascended the throne seven years ago.

His father, the previous Emperor, is also the current Retired Emperor Qianyuan Di; during his reign he sired eight imperial princes and ten princesses.

Among them, three imperial princes and five princesses died young, and later another two imperial princes and two princesses passed away in childhood.

Now, not counting the imperial princes and princesses who have already married, only one imperial prince and two princesses still live in the palace.

Of course, after the Retired Emperor abdicated, he sired a few more imperial princes and princesses, but those people all live in Yichang Garden and have little connection with the palace.

Now, what Grandmother is going to tell you are those imperial princes and princesses from when the Former Emperor was on the throne."

Speaking here she paused; Ji Shi reached out, picked up the teacup to one side, drank a sip to moisten her throat, then continued.

"The current Emperor is the Saint's sixth son; when he ascended the throne he had just turned eighteen.

At that time, the Retired Emperor's most favored second son and fourth son had just met with misfortune not long before.

The Retired Emperor was grief-stricken to the extreme, directly vomiting blood and falling into a coma on the spot.

The Crown Prince had always been suspended and not established; the Retired Emperor's seventh son and eighth son were one twelve years old, one not yet three years old.

Therefore, Yuanhe Emperor smoothly ascended the throne in less than a month.

By the time Yuanhe Emperor had been on the throne for half a year, the Retired Emperor finally woke up; after another half month, the Retired Emperor took his consorts and offspring to live in Yichang Garden, until now.

During this period, even when one of Yuanhe Emperor's half-sisters was married off in a peace marriage, the Retired Emperor did not return to the palace.

Until this year, the sons of the two Prince who died early are about to come of age; Qianyuan Di made an exception and returned to the palace to personally select consorts for the two Prince's sons."

Speaking here, what Ji Shi wanted to say was already finished.

Shen Yao, realizing something, suddenly understood; originally so, no wonder this Imperial Selection, that Li Bu Shang Lang's daughter wanted to push her into the palace, because this person is probably calculating with the intention of marrying into a Prince's mansion.

Ji Shi smiled faintly, "It is good that you can think of it; this is also a helpless matter."

People go toward high places, water flows toward low places.

Don't look at Yuanhe Emperor being the Emperor now; compared to his several nephews, Yuanhe Emperor really has no competitiveness.

"We women, not speaking of court matters, just say Yuanhe Emperor has been on the throne for seven years, held Imperial Selection three times, the harem has twenty to thirty consorts, yet there are only three imperial princes; one can see this harem is not that simple.

And these years, Yuanhe Emperor's born imperial sons and daughters, without exception, all have the symptom of weak constitutions," like this, who would still dare send their own daughter into the palace.

Shen Yao was shocked by the several figures Ji Shi spoke out; she was not afraid, but this kind of thing, just hearing it, makes one feel the palace is strange.

"Caused by harem struggles?"

The consorts duel with magic among themselves, offspring are lost; that is inevitable.

After all, those who enter the palace, people like her who go with the flow are not many.

Everyone is ambitious, aiming for that unique throne.

Ji Shi nodded and shook her head, "Not entirely; there are also natural causes.

Not only Yuanhe Emperor's offspring; earlier Qianyuan Di, including the current married Yi Commandery Prince, also have difficult offspring; not only is it hard for those born to survive, even miscarriages during pregnancy are not few."

With such data supporting it, court ministers including the Emperor all tacitly accept that royal offspring are difficult.

Otherwise if it were truly caused by external force, the harem would have been cleaned up by the royal family long ago.

When there are many offspring, dueling can still be explained as too many; when there are few offspring, dueling is simply courting death.

Of course, Ji Shi saying this is not to say there is not a bit of struggle in the harem.

Where there are many women there are many disputes; concerning offspring, fights that should happen still happen, but not as severe as Shen Yao imagined.

"Crossing the line, the royal family will act themselves," Ji Shi spoke here, then reached out and pointed at the window outside, the smile at the corner of her mouth spreading, "These years, every year a few major and minor consorts die in the harem; could it be all these people got sick?" How could there be such coincidences; it is just a simple cover-up, leaving a layer of face for the royal family.

Shen Yao finished hearing Ji Shi's words, muttering in her heart about this Great Jing Dynasty royal family.

One cannot say it is not the same problem encountered in reality with the Song Dynasty.

The royal family's genes are no good, so the born imperial princes and princesses have huge casualties.

External environment also has an influence, but compared to one's own internal problems, it's still a case of the lesser witch meeting the greater witch.

Sigh.

Since that's the case, she can temporarily breathe a sigh of relief, as long as the palace isn't the kind of situation where they've killed until their eyes turn red.

In her system, the most numerous are various pills targeting offspring; even if the offspring suffers from congenital developmental deficiency in the womb, she has ways to solve it.

"Grandmother, now that His Majesty has three sons under his knees, what do you think Yao Niang should do upon entering the palace?"

Shen Yao once again probed Ji Shi's attitude.

Ji Shi looked at Shen Yao with a playful gaze, "I am old; an old woman's thoughts are not important."

"Yao Niang, when you enter the palace in the future, the Shen Family cannot help you too much."

"So, all of this, everything, you must rely on yourself."

Shen Yao scoffed in her heart, thinking that this cheap grandmother of hers was trying to play tai chi with her?

Unfortunately, things did not go as the other party wished.

"Yao Niang thinks that relying solely on herself, the days in the palace will probably not be enough to cope."

She has thin arms and thin legs; once in the palace, with no manpower, anything she wants to do will be restricted, which simply won't do.

Ji Shi once again fiddled with the bead string in her hand, "Yao Niang, how do you want to do it?"

Shen Yao smiled brilliantly, "Pool our strength, contribute money if you have money, contribute effort if you have strength; don't even think about taking advantage without paying anything."

Is her Shen Yao's advantage so easy to take?

Shen Yao's words successfully choked Ji Shi; looking at Shen Yao like a little fox, besides anger, there was even more sighing and gratification.

It seems that this granddaughter of hers, even living on the estate, has some wisdom.

Quite good, at least she doesn't have to worry about this child losing competitiveness the moment she enters the palace.

Since she has entered the palace, on the premise of not implicating the family, moving up will definitely be beneficial to the Shen Family.

In Shen Yao's generation, there are three legitimate daughters, all very good marriage alliance targets for the future.

But the premise is that Shen Yao fares well in the Imperial Palace; not even mentioning becoming the mother of an imperial heir, simply living well is a help to their Shen Family.

You should know that for families with women entering the palace, other sisters in the family do not need to participate in the second Imperial Selection; this is considered a transaction between imperial power and clans.

Shen Yao stayed with Ji Shi for not a short time; the two grandmother and granddaughter rarely met on ordinary days.

A face-to-face probing exchange like this would not happen if not for Shen Yao being about to enter the palace.

"The hour is not early; Yao Niang should not disturb Grandmother, please rest well, Grandmother."

Shen Yao stood up respectfully and left Ji Shi's room with a calm expression.

Ji Shi fiddled with the bead string in her hand with one hand, eyes watching Shen Yao go out, her expression indifferent; she was indeed old.

The departing Shen Yao did not know that her cheap grandmother, after listening to her output, would sigh with emotion.

Shen Yao is currently very relaxed and at ease; she has already learned quite a bit of news about the royal family from her cheap grandmother, and combining it with her survival experiences from several previous worlds, including her original world, she can easily infer that this mission might not be very difficult.

The reason is simple: the royal family's genes have problems, so someone like her, who only needs to give birth to healthy children and raise them to adulthood, is a treasure placed out in the open.

Would people lay hands on a treasure?

Perhaps Shen Yao doesn't even need to act against others; simply relying on her children to outlast people could send off the other ninety percent of unqualified offspring.

Tsk, not bad, not bad; if they can avoid fighting, they won't fight. Don't look at how Shen Yao likes to complain, but her nature is still that of a salted fish.

What Shen Yao values more is her own life and enjoyment; as for greater pursuits, forgive Shen Yao for not agreeing.

People, simply put, should be content and happy; she just hasn't lived enough, she doesn't like striving for power and profit.

"Shen Family Eldest Daughter."

Chunhua looked at the Young Lady, different from before, and called out tentatively.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Yao was in a good mood and looked back at Chunhua walking by her side.

Chunhua shook her head, hesitated, then opened her mouth, "I just feel that the Young Lady is different from before, the whole person is more relaxed and more at ease."

"Is that not good? After all, she is about to enter the palace."

Shen Yao looked up at the star-filled sky, like a chessboard, and felt that experiencing life after life like this was not bad at all; an alternative chance at immortality was a life many people could not ask for.