At the age of fifteen, Jin Cheng still had no consorts in his harem.
Historically, young emperors would often have palace maids introduce them to intimate matters by the age of twelve or thirteen, and formal selection of imperial consorts would begin by thirteen or fourteen.
Yet Jin Cheng was already fifteen, and there was still no movement on this front. The court officials grew so anxious that they submitted memorial after memorial urging him to act.
"Again? Are they never going to stop?" Jin Cheng threw a memorial to the ground in frustration. "These people are so annoying. Even my own family hasn’t pestered me about this, so why are they in such a hurry? Do they still think I’m a child?"
Eunuch Huang picked up the memorial and gently advised, "Your Majesty, the officials mean well. They simply don’t understand your determination to focus on governance."
"I really want to give them a beating, but that might be too much..." Jin Cheng flicked the brush holder on his desk, imagining it was the old ministers who had submitted the memorials.
Thunk—
The sound of the rebounding brush holder eased his anger slightly.
He flicked it a few more times before turning to give orders. "Go inform Prime Minister Shen that from now on, any memorials urging me to select consorts should be intercepted before they reach me."
"Ah? So... you won’t review them at all?" Eunuch Huang asked hesitantly.
Jin Cheng glared at him. "No! Let them get the message. If they keep bothering me with nonsense, I’ll make trouble for them!"
"As you command..."
Eunuch Huang withdrew to relay the order.
The emperor’s command was obeyed without question by Prime Minister Shen.
However, this measure did little to improve the situation. The emperor’s refusal to review the memorials only fueled the officials’ discontent. They avoided explicitly mentioning the selection of consorts but instead filled their memorials with historical anecdotes about exemplary emperors, subtly admonishing Jin Cheng for straying too far from tradition.
This infuriated Jin Cheng. "Vice Minister Wen! He’s gone too far! Does he think I haven’t read those historical records? I earned second place in the imperial exams—I know exactly what he’s implying! How dare he! Guards, punish him with three days of copying texts at home!"
"As you wish."
When the emperor gave an order, who dared to disobey?
Vice Minister Wen, duly chastened, fell silent.
But the other court officials refused to relent, especially the older, more obstinate ones. Risking punishment, they continued submitting memorials, determined to steer the emperor back from his "unorthodox path."
"Bastards! They should all retire and go home!" Jin Cheng was so angry he could barely speak coherently.
"Lady Fusheng has arrived," Eunuch Huang announced from outside the hall.
The young emperor’s head snapped up at the sight of the familiar figure in red. All his grievances surged forth as he pouted and cried, "Mother... did you hear how they’ve been bullying me?"
Xu Wan stepped inside and immediately noticed the scattered memorials on the floor. Unable to suppress a smile, she remarked, "Actually, I heard you punished another official. To the outside world, it looks like you’re the one bullying your loyal ministers."
Jin Cheng slumped in his chair, sulking. "They insulted me first."
Though the fifteen-year-old had long outgrown her in height, sitting there, he still seemed small and obedient, just like when he was a child.
Xu Wan walked over and gently ruffled his hair. "Chengcheng, they’re not entirely wrong. You’ve grown into a man now."
Jin Cheng lowered his eyes stubbornly. "All those women are strangers. I don’t like them. I only want Little Kui."
Xu Wan bent down to meet his gaze. "But Little Kui is only three years old. She doesn’t understand anything yet."
"I can wait. Even if it takes another ten years, I’ll wait." Jin Cheng lifted his head and grumbled, "Being emperor is so annoying. If I were just a marquis like Father was, no one would care if I married in my twenties."
Xu Wan laughed. "Your father only got away with it because he went missing! Otherwise, if he’d stayed in the capital unmarried past twenty, people would’ve criticized him just the same. Chengcheng... I know this isn’t what you want, but this is how things are. We can’t change it."
"Not even if I’m the emperor?" Jin Cheng didn’t understand.
Xu Wan shook her head. "No, we can’t."
The constraints of feudal society were deeply rooted, impossible to overturn so easily—even in modern times, such matters were difficult to resolve.
"Then what should I do...?" Jin Cheng deflated, slumping over the desk and poking at the brush holder as if it were the offending ministers.
Xu Wan patiently explained, "The reason you want to marry Little Kui is because she’s family, someone familiar. But your second uncle isn’t wrong—you could also choose from among the daughters of friends you know well. Yi Bai and Xinglu both have sisters of the right age."
Jin Cheng fiddled with the bristles of his brush, muttering, "I know they have sisters. But I only want Little Kui. She’s the only one born from you. The others aren’t."
Xu Wan rubbed her temples at this. "Please don’t call me ‘Mother’ while saying things like that!"
The implications were too unsettling.
Jin Cheng looked up at her and casually added, "I’ll call you that for now. Once Little Kui marries me, I’ll switch to calling you ‘mother-in-law.’"
Xu Wan: "..."
Her son, raised by her, now insisting on becoming her son-in-law?
This was beyond absurd!
Xu Wan thought for a moment before asking, "Didn’t you say when you were little that you’d marry the most beautiful girl when you grew up? Now you can choose any girl in the empire—isn’t that dream within reach?"
Jin Cheng grew even more irritated at this reminder.
He set down the brush he’d been fiddling with and snapped, "I only said that to show off! But now I’m stuck in the palace—how am I supposed to flaunt a beautiful wife? Mother, even if you wanted to be the mother-in-law of a stunning daughter-in-law, it’s impossible now. Our dreams are ruined!"
His cheeks puffed out in anger, making him look so childish that Xu Wan had to resist the urge to poke them.
She suppressed a laugh. "How is that impossible? Everyone in the palace would see her. And you could still take your empress out—there are official ceremonies, and you sneak out often enough as it is."
Jin Cheng pursed his lips, still finding fault. "Then she’d have to know martial arts. Otherwise, I can’t protect her—Buyan can only guard me alone."
Xu Wan countered, "Then choose from the daughters of military officials."
Jin Cheng immediately thought of General Pang and grimaced. "She wouldn’t be as slow-witted as him, would she?"
Xu Wan: "Huh??"
Stereotypes were truly harmful—now all she could picture was Madam Luo, a military family’s daughter, counting dates on her fingers.
Suddenly, Jin Cheng had a mischievous idea. "Mother! What if I set up an exam? The daughters of military officials could take it, and only those who pass get to meet me."
Xu Wan: "An exam???"
Was he selecting consorts or a female top scholar?
