While the Xiahou residence was holding its Dragon Boat Festival family banquet, the palace was likewise filled with music and dancing.
The reigning emperor, Emperor Zhou Xian, was already seventy years old yet still reluctant to relinquish the throne. Every year, batches of new maidens were selected, and by now there were far more than three thousand beauties in the harem.
Although the harem was full of consorts, imperial heirs had only begun to increase gradually in recent years. Before the age of forty, Emperor Zhou Xian had only one son. It was only after Consort Li entered the palace and gave birth to the second prince that the imperial clan started to flourish. Children arrived one after another, as if some switch had been flipped.
Consort Li therefore enjoyed great favor. The well-maintained, voluptuous beauty leaned bonelessly against the old emperor’s chest. With her slender jade fingers, she picked up a grape and fed it to his mouth. When he caught her fingertip between his lips, she laughed coquettishly and seductively, and the old emperor was so entranced that he could not bear to take his eyes off her.
However, no matter how favored Consort Li was, the empress’s rightful position as the principal wife could never be shaken. The Shangguan family’s power remained at its peak, firmly controlling the court.
The empress’s eldest son sat securely as crown prince. Although the emperor appeared to favor the second prince more, with so many children—especially sons born in his later years—there was naturally no longer any real distinction of status.
So long as the crown prince made no mistakes, ascension to the dragon throne was inevitable.
The ministers invited to the palace banquet all turned a blind eye to the debauchery at the head of the hall, watching the singing and dancing with unchanged expressions. They were already accustomed to it.
Amid the strains of silk and bamboo, a small eunuch suddenly tumbled into the hall from outside, panting. “Your Majesty! The Zhen-guo General requests an audience outside the hall!”
Upon hearing that name, a glimmer of clarity flashed through the old emperor’s clouded eyes. He pushed Consort Li aside and straightened slightly. “Summon him.”
As soon as his words fell, a young military officer in armor, wearing a sword and standing seven chi tall, strode into the hall.
His face was as refined as carved jade, yet his handsome features were filled with a chilling severity. His black eyes were sharp as a hawk’s. Though he did not glance sideways, the beautiful dancers in the hall were so frightened by his presence that they shrank back instinctively.
Not only were these inexperienced dancers intimidated—even many court officials were stunned by the iron-blooded aura he carried, unconsciously averting their gazes, afraid to meet his eyes.
When he reached the front of the hall, the man swept aside his robe and knelt, speaking with precise formality: “This subject, Chen Ting, returns to the capital by imperial command and pays respects to Your Majesty.”
The old emperor smiled broadly. “Rise quickly, my beloved minister. Someone, grant the Zhen-guo General a seat.”
A small eunuch eagerly stepped forward to take the treasured sword hanging casually at Chen Ting’s waist. The sword weighed nearly twenty jin, and the eunuch failed to steady himself, stumbling and nearly falling to the ground.
Chen Ting cast a faint glance at him. The eunuch was so frightened that he dropped to his knees, trembling as he cried, “General, forgive me! General, forgive me!”
“Useless thing! Have you been eating your meals for nothing all these years?!” Rong Baolin, the chief eunuch by the emperor’s side, kicked the little eunuch once, then piled on smiles as he bent forward to take the sword himself. “General, please don’t take offense. This wretch has never seen such a mighty divine weapon before…”
Chen Ting said nothing. He merely shifted the sword himself, with no intention of handing it over.
Rong Baolin immediately withdrew with great tact.
“My beloved minister is a pillar of the state. This time, repelling the Northern Tujue is a great merit indeed. Power, reputation—you already possess them all. I truly don’t know how to reward you any further,” the old emperor said perfunctorily from above. Chen Ting listened impassively. Sure enough, after finishing a stream of pleasantries, the familiar line followed. “However, you are already nearing thirty, yet you still lack a close companion at your side. This deeply concerns me.”
At this point, there was no need for Chen Ting to speak. Someone had already spoken on his behalf. “Your Majesty, haven’t you already bestowed marriage upon the Zhen-guo General several times before?”
Seven times, Chen Ting corrected silently.
The emperor had given him seven women. At first, they were all well-known noble daughters from prominent families in the capital, symbols of the emperor’s esteem for this meritorious subject. But more than half died on the road from the capital to Moyun City, and the rest died in the bridal chamber.
Seven bestowals of marriage—none succeeded. This matter actually had nothing to do with Chen Ting himself. He did not know why these women were so suicidal… Clearly, even after marrying him, he would not do anything to them.
No family raised their daughters for nothing. Legitimate daughters of great clans were important assets and tools for marriage alliances. Losing even one was painful enough. Losing seven—now, even if Chen Ting were truly innocent, no one was willing to push their own daughter into a pit of fire. One after another, they rushed to speak up.
“Your Majesty, please reconsider. Perhaps General Chen’s fate has not yet arrived. Why force the issue?”
“The previous marriages all failed. Your Majesty should refrain from forcibly playing matchmaker again…”
“Your Majesty attends tirelessly to state affairs; there is no need to trouble yourself over such minor matters… Of course, this is not to say the General’s lifelong happiness is unimportant, but affairs of state come first.”
“……”
Don’t think these old men were ignorant. By now, all of the capital was saying that Chen Ting was an inauspicious fiend—any daughter who married him would not survive the wedding night, killed by the bloodshed clinging to him.
Whether or not that was true, Chen Ting’s achievements overshadowed his sovereign. The old emperor’s insistence on bestowing marriages upon him could not possibly be well-intentioned. No one wanted to get entangled in this affair.
Seated at the head, Emperor Zhou Xian understood as well. If he continued pushing daughters of the capital’s noble houses onto Chen Ting, this pack of old foxes would truly bare their fangs. His eyes turned, and he said, “I have heard that the daughter of Prefect Xiahou of Moyun City is gentle and virtuous, in the bloom of her youth. Beloved minister, have you heard of her?”
The Xiahou family—connected by marriage to the former Yongning Marquis’s household, which had just been confiscated a few days ago—was now in a rather delicate situation.
It was said that, after the night the Shen household was seized, the two Shen sisters vanished without a trace. Whether they were alive or dead… or hiding somewhere, no one really knew. Everyone had their own speculations.
The old emperor had always turned a blind eye before. Now that he brought it up so suddenly—what exactly did he intend?
Prefect Xiahou. In Chen Ting’s mind immediately appeared the image of the lively, sharp-eyed old master Xiahou. He replied, “This subject has met Prefect Xiahou once.”
Emperor Zhou Xian laughed as he clapped his hands. “He has a young granddaughter of suitable age. How would it be for you to marry her?”
As soon as these words were spoken, the previously clamorous officials all fell silent.
Chen Ting hailed from the Duke of Rong’s residence and had been granted the rank of first-grade general at a young age. His principal wife should, by all logic, be a legitimate daughter of a grand family in the capital. Yet with a single sentence, the old emperor assigned him a girl from a remote city like Moyun, the granddaughter of a mere prefect—and even asked him what he thought.
The old emperor was testing and restraining him.
Everyone waited to see Chen Ting erupt. After a long while, they instead heard his calm reply: “Very well.”
Just like the previous times when Emperor Zhou Xian had tested him with bestowed marriages—no matter which family’s daughter it was, the response was always the same single word: “Very well.”
Watching Chen Ting’s expressionless face, the crowd suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.
This Zhen-guo General never rejected anyone outright, yet all his brides met untimely deaths afterward. Could it be that this was his silent form of resistance?
Outwardly, he did not refuse—but inwardly, had he already arranged each woman’s manner of death?
How impressive. This Chen Ting, who seemed so unassuming and inscrutable… his mind was actually so deep and unfathomable.
Pity that young lady from the Xiahou family—she was only sixteen this year.
The crowd silently lit a candle for her.