Chapter 1136: Selection of Consorts and the Bestowal of Marriage

Chen Chen Guanlou made a trip to Hou Fu and immediately knew what the palace had been busy with. No wonder the Gu family had no time for Gu Yiyang for the moment.

The selection of consorts was drawing to a close.

Chen Chen Mengxun had returned home, and sure enough, within a couple of days an imperial edict would come down from the palace bestowing a marriage.

"Bestowed on whom?"

Chen Chen Guanlou asked curiously.

The head steward took a drag on his cigarette, blew out a smoke ring, and said, "The Third Imperial Prince."

"Decided?"

"Naturally!"

"To think it would actually be the Third Imperial Prince."

The Third Imperial Prince's birth mother was the Empress; he was a legitimate-born prince in the strictest sense, his status as orthodox as could be.

He had assumed that, true to the Emperor's nature, the Emperor would have bestowed Chen Chen Mengxun on the Second Imperial Prince or perhaps the Fourth—both of them born to Noble Consort Xiao. The Emperor doted on Noble Consort Xiao so much, of course he would give her the best.

"How did it end up being the Third Imperial Prince?"

The Third Imperial Prince's status was orthodox, yet he was not favored and did not enjoy the Emperor's regard. The Emperor's attitude toward the Third Imperial Prince was one of guardedness, perhaps tinged with a hint of guilt, but mostly outright suppression—blatant, unapologetic suppression.

Sometimes ministers, unable to stand by and watch, would step forward to speak a few words. The Emperor would accept their counsel with seeming humility on the surface, but in private he went his own way and continued to ignore them.

It was plain to see he had no intention of passing the throne to the Third Imperial Prince. Otherwise why, to this day, had he not granted the Third Imperial Prince the corresponding treatment—not even a Wang Jue. To this day he remained merely a prince!

What use was the title of prince? The treatment was miserably low. He had no separate residence, still living in the palace to this day. His monthly stipend and all the various allowances were even less than those of a favored consort.

A prince needs to live, needs to support the people around him, needs to socialize, needs to win over court officials. That little bit of money—ghosts could live on it. He could only count on support from his maternal clan. After marriage, he would count on support from his wife's clan.

Chen Chen Guanlou's sole expression at this marriage was a wince.

This marriage, one could say, was good—good in that the Third Imperial Prince's status was orthodox. One could also say it was rotten—suppressed at every turn, restricted at every turn; to develop would naturally be far harder than for anyone else.

"The Emperor guards against Hou Fu on one hand, wishing he could be rid of the Marquis as soon as possible. On the other hand he betroths Hou Fu's Miss to the Third Imperial Prince. What on earth is he scheming? Could it be he means to catch us all in one net!"

The head steward's expression had been fairly composed, but upon hearing 'catch us all in one net,' it became utterly indescribable.

"Could you possibly think of something more positive?"

"This marriage has a positive side? Tell me about it, let's hear it—I'll listen and see if there's any sense in it." Chen Chen Guanlou was perfectly serious; he truly wanted to learn, wanted to hear someone else lay out the benefits of this marriage from a different angle.

The head steward drew a deep breath, took a sip of tea to tamp down his rising temper, and said, "The Third Imperial Prince's status as a legitimate-born son alone is the greatest benefit."

"If one day—hypothetically, I mean hypothetically. Suppose the Emperor one day stubbornly has his way and deposes the Empress—would the Third Imperial Prince's legitimate-born status still be of any use?"

"You… could you not hope for something decent for once. That crow mouth of yours—stop with the hypotheticals. I'm about to be angered to death by you!"

The head steward made as if to pinch his own philtrum, as though he truly had been angered to death.

"Was it Hou Fu that intended to ally with the Empress through marriage, or was it the Empress's side that intended to ally with Hou Fu? One side should have taken the initiative, or both sides moved toward each other. Surely the Emperor could not have stubbornly forced the marriage on his own—Hou Fu couldn't possibly be that incompetent, am I right?"

A prince's marriage was, at its core, a contest of power. The Emperor could not yet cover the sky with one hand and arbitrarily dictate the marriages of the children of powerful ministers. There was always a process of contest and compromise.

The head steward said softly, "At the beginning, Hou Fu had several options. The lengthy selection process produced a few small mishaps, a few small incidents. In the end, both sides locked onto each other! That is the complete process."

"Is the Emperor happy to see you lock onto each other?"

"Unhappy or not, what can he do. Just as you said earlier, the Emperor may well be planning to catch us all in one net."

The head steward's face was livid. A perfectly good marriage, sullied by an ill omen. Downright unlucky!

Chen Chen Guanlou nodded repeatedly. "Makes sense! The marriage itself is a contest of power, and from the looks of it all three sides are satisfied. From the start, you never had your eye on Noble Consort Xiao's sons?"

The head steward gave a cold snort. "It was all step by step to where we are today—how could there be any 'had one's eye on' or not. In the end it was always the Emperor who issued the edict bestowing the marriage."

In just a few short sentences, the swirling machinations of this selection of consorts were laid bare. Who knew how many schemes, open and covert, how much calculation, how much plotting lay within.

From the looks of it, Hou Fu allying with the Empress through marriage was, for now, a win-win.

One side had real power, the other had orthodox status—each took what they needed!

Afterwards…

Chen Chen Guanlou went to visit Chen Chen Mengxun again. Looking at the young Miss's serene smile, she had gone through a round of tempering in the palace and could be considered to have reaped quite a harvest.

"How is it? Satisfied with the marriage?"

"It's all right! Many thanks to Uncle Lou for your concern. Had it not been for Uncle Lou's earlier pointers, I nearly fell into someone else's scheme in the palace."

"Nothing happened, did it?"

"I'm fine! The one something happened to is someone else."

"That Third Imperial Prince—is he the one you chose?"

Chen Chen Mengxun lowered her head and smiled. "Uncle Lou, rest assured. With this marriage, I have no dissatisfaction, no grievance."

"Very well then!"

Several days later, the palace indeed issued the edict bestowing the marriage: Chen Chen Mengxun was bestowed upon the Third Imperial Prince, and the Imperial Astronomical Bureau was ordered to select an auspicious day and set the wedding date so the marriage could take place soon.

Emperor Jian Shi, for his part, finally showed a little of a father's demeanor.

His son was to have a grand wedding, and at last he was willing to enfeoff his grown son with a title and bestow a residence. Now that the prince had a mansion, he need not hold the wedding inside the palace; once married he would have a household of his own and no longer be confined within the palace.

Only, with that, the Ministry of Revenue began once more to cry poverty. They pressed the Emperor to dig into the Shaofu for money to acquire a residence for the prince and prepare the wedding. A prince's grand wedding, no matter how frugal, would inevitably cost tens of thousands, even over a hundred thousand.

Bleeding out such a sum all at once, Emperor Jian Shi watched the silver flow out like water and felt a heartache he could barely breathe through.

For a moment, the Emperor entertained the thought that having too many sons was nothing but a drain. Two fewer sons would mean two fewer expenses! A careful calculation showed it could save several hundred thousand taels.

Emperor Jian Shi's mood, for a time, was far too complicated. Every son was an eyesore—every last one a debt collector, not a single one easy to manage. Even Noble Consort Xiao's sons could not escape being found tiresome.

Taking advantage of the festive occasion, the Gu family began to make moves, to fish their man out!

Their precious son could not be kept locked up in the imperial prison forever.

They were all the Emperor's 'brothers-in-law'—why was it that when Xiao Xiao Changsheng ran into trouble he could slip away, while their own precious son could only sit in jail?

Consort Shu also began to act, whispering pillow-talk.

Yet no one had expected that what was supposed to be a festive occasion was, in fact, the Emperor's agony. Silver flowing out with a splash—it's killing him!

Consort Shu's cleverness backfired. Not only was Gu Yiyang not released, she herself got a dressing-down. She became a laughingstock in the eyes of the consorts of the inner palace!

Infuriating!

So, all the various parties began to act, determined this time to drag Xiao Xiao Changsheng into a prison cell and give Consort Xiao a show of force.

There were no profound schemes or plots.

They simply seized a window of time—acting first before Consort Xiao could whisper in the emperor's ear, throwing Xiao Xiao Changsheng into the great prison. The charge was ready-made: Great Impiety!