Chapter 1048

We Cannot Make The Decision For You

The Fourth Prince suddenly asking for a marriage in an agitated manner stunned the Emperor. Even though he did not like this fourth son fighting over a wife with this favourite eighth son, he still asked out of curiosity: “Why do you wish to marry that lady? And even as a first wife, you do know the rule that daughters of concubines cannot be a prince’s first wife?”

The Fourth Prince kowtowed, his head touching the floor, saying: “This Son knows, but right now, This Son is only a prince who has been stripped of the right to the throne, given Ping Palace, not attending morning court and does not have the honour of being a prince. Therefore, This Son feels that it is enough that my first wife is a daughter of a concubine. In addition, This Son has been learning embroidery from the Feng family’s Third Miss for so many years and have cultivated feelings from this. This Son has already decided to marry no one else but her, I earnestly request for Father Emperor to consent.”

“Marry no one else but her?” The Emperor suddenly flared up, “What you mean is, you will marry no one else other than your Eighth Brother’s secondary wife?”

“Father Emperor! She is not Eighth Brother’s secondary wife yet!” The Fourth Prince hardened his heart today and challenged the Emperor, practically taking out all his courage from when he carried out the rebellion together with Xuan Tianye in the past, he spoke to the Eighth Prince Xuan Tianmo: “Eighth Brother, since you wish to ask for a marriage to Feng family’s Third Miss, you should ask for her opinion, right?”

Finally someone cared about Xiangrong, Feng Yuheng softly spoke to Xiangrong next to her: “Rather than Old Eighth, Old Fourth is more reasonable.”

However, Xiangrong did not have the heart to think about whether it was reasonable. She was shivering, feeling afraid and angry. Her small fists were clenched tight and her nails were causing her palms to bleed.

“Insolence!” The Emperor became angry, “Our consent to Old Eighth, since when are you allowed to cut in? How is she not Old Eighth’s secondary wife? Our word counts, Old Fourth, you rebelled some years ago, Us sparing your life was already being generous, but today, not only have you not repented, you even went against Our intentions in front of everyone and is fighting over a wife with your younger brother. In Our opinion, you do not have any love and respect towards your brothers and have no feelings of kinship towards your family. Today, if your Eighth Brother did not mention this, you will not mention it either. Once your Eighth Brother mentioned it, you come forward and also asked for this lady. Old Fourth, you are clearly going against your Eighth Brother, and against Us!”

“Father Emperor! This Son is not doing so! This Son truly likes Feng family’s Third Miss!” Xuan Tianyi did not hide anything, he did not care who he was up against and he did not care who would misunderstand. He was just anxious, if he did not take action, Xiangrong would be given to Old Eighth by the Emperor! That must not be allowed, Xiangrong could marry him, she could follow her heart and go marry Old Seventh, or just a normal commoner, it was fine as long as she was treated well. But it cannot be this Old Eighth! The reason why Old Eighth asked for this marriage, he knew it very well, just watching her get married like this, was it not the same as watching XIangrong getting pushed into a fire pit? Xuan Tianyi was so anxious that he did not know what to do, repeatedly kowtowing to the Emperor, saying loudly: “I beg Father Emperor to grant This Son’s wish! As long as Father Emperor grants This Son’s wish, This Son would rather not have that Ping Palace, nor the worth of a prince. This Son is willing to just be a commoner, I just plead for Father Emperor to agree!”

“Alright!” The Emperor forcefully hit the armrest of the dragon throne, shouting angrily: “You want to become a commoner, We will allow it, even if you wish to die, We can also allow it. But snatching your Eighth Brother’s wife, that is impossible!”

“Father Emperor!” The Emperor’s words caused Xuan Tianyi to fall into despair, he looked up at his father in the dragon throne who did not even bear to kill his own son after a rebellion, and felt he was a stranger. It was as if they had never known each other, and that he was just a stranger with authority and power. It was so foreign that no emotions were left.

Xuan Tianmo, standing at the side, watched all of this with a cold gaze, showing a hint of the joy of victory, he stepped forward and said: “Father Emperor, please calm down, your health is important. Do not harm your body because of This Son’s matter. If that is the case, This Son would rather not marry at all.”

The Emperor’s anger finally subsided a little after Xuan Tianmo spoke, he sighed deeply and told Xuan Tiamo: “Do not worry, Mo-er, for the girl you like, We will definitely decide for you. What noble lady or daughter of a concubine, what first wife or secondary wife, she can be whatever you want her to be, just carry her back to the palace.” After saying this, he begin to start searching below, asking as he searched: “Where is that Feng family’s Third Miss sitting? Come out and let Us take a look.”

Xiangrong grew more fearful, and at this moment, Xuan Tianyi gave up on pleading with the Emperor, he knew pleading this Father Emperor was already useless, so he looked towards Feng Yuheng. He knew Feng Yuheng cared for her sister Xiangrong greatly. Then as an older sister, she would not willingly push Xiangrong out at this moment, right?

But when he looked towards Feng Yuheng, he saw that Feng Yuheng did not immediately step up to speak for Xiangrong but stared in a certain direction. Xuan Tianyi did not understand and followed her gaze, quickly realising that Feng Yuheng was looking at the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua. He was stunned, was Feng Yuheng pinning her hopes on Old Seventh? What he could not obtain from the Emperor, could Old Seventh manage it?

Based on this point, Xuan Tianyi had a question mark in his heart, but talking about Old Seventh’s influence and appeal, he was not his match. He could not get his wish granted, but Old Seventh might just get it? But if he did get his wish granted, Xiangrong would become Old Seventh’s woman, then…… it would be like bamboo hitting water, achieving nothing!

Xuan Tianyi felt very conflicted, and at this moment, Xiangrong could no longer sit and not move. With the Emperor saying so, she had no choice but to stand up and approach the hall, then knelt down, allowing the Emperor to size her up.

Half a beat later, the Emperor spoke: “She is a girl with some standards, a pity that her family background is a little bad and her position is a little low. But that is fine, as long as Our Mo-er likes it, We will make an exception and allow you to enter Sheng Palace as a secondary wife. From now on, you have to take care of Mo-er well, manage his meals and home properly. Sheng Palace has not had a female master for so many years. In the days before a first wife enters, you still have to take up this responsibility. You, do you understand this?”

“Your Majesty!” Xiangrong looked up in frustration, blurting out: “This commoner……”

“Father Emperor.” Xiangrong was speaking, but from the prince’s table, a gentle and otherworldly voice was heard. In this kind of atmosphere, this voice felt very therapeutic, and it was as if once this voice was heard, the agitated flames which had formed due to the Fourth Prince and Eighth Prince fighting over a girl smothered. Everyone knew who that voice came from, everyone also knew only that person could produce that kind of voice, but everyone did not understand, at this time, the Seventh Prince actually spoke? Could it be that he also wanted to be involved in this matter? It should not be! It had been so many years, since when did the Seventh Prince ever set his eyes on a woman?

The Emperor also felt that it was strange. He looked towards the direction of the voice, but he only saw the Seventh Prince Xuan Tianhua stand up from his seat. He did not walk out into the main hall, wearing white robes, he was as elegant as a deity in a picture. This son had always given him an impression of holiness, whether it was in the past or now, he was able to say many things when it was in front of others, but he felt embarrassed saying the same things to this son. For example, right now, he was focused on making a decision for Xuan Tianmo and consenting to such a joyous matter, but he encountered obstacles one after another. He wanted to scold someone, but if another person had spoken, he definitely would have done it, but it just had to be this Seventh Son. This caused the words he wanted to scold to rush to the sides of his mouth and he could not say them out no matter what.

The Emperor suppressed his anger and asked: “Old Seventh, what do you have to say?” Saying this, he felt he was not forceful enough and quickly added on: “We have already consented to Old Eighth to take in this Feng family’s third daughter as a secondary wife. Our words are valuable and will not be taken back once said, if you are here to break apart the marriage, then leave it!” With one sentence, he planned to push Xuan Tianhua back.

But what Xuan Tianhua wanted to say was not the same as Xuan Tianyi, he was also not forcefully breaking up the marriage. He only reminded the Emperor: “This Son knows that Father Emperor’s words are valuable, and your words will not be taken back once said, that is why I am reminding Father Emperor, the year of the great flood in Da Shun, Feng family’s Third Miss contributed greatly to disaster relief, Father Emperor summoned her to morning court and in front of all the ministers, granted Feng family’s Third Miss with the promise that she can decide her own marriage. Father Emperor, what the ruler says in the morning court session is recorded in history.”

Once he said this, sitting opposite him, the corners of Feng Yuheng’s mouth lifted slightly. She knew, as smart as Xuan Tianhua was, he would definitely pick the most effective method to convince the Emperor to resolve this issue. Based on this, the actions of that Fourth Prince was still too shallow. Knowing that the Emperor was completely on Old Eighth’s side, he still went up against him. He wanted to marry who Old Eighth fancied and even granted her the position of first wife. Doing this, not only was he unable to rescue Xiangrong, it would have an opposite effect, causing the Emperor to become antagonistic and more determined to bestow Xiangrong to Old Eighth.

As expected, once Xuan Tianhua said this, the Emperor was stunned. He did not really what happened in the past, but once someone reminded him, he did have a vague memory of such a thing, but it was not that clear.

And after Xuan Tianhua mentioned this topic, the high ranking officials below who were on the Ninth Prince’s side got up one after another, and under the lead of the Right Prime Minister Feng Qing and Left Prime Minister Lu Song, they helped the Emperor recall that flood disaster, recalling the contributions made by Xiangrong and recalling that the Emperor did make that kind of promise.

Of course, all of them actually knew that the Emperor said such words that time to give Xiangrong a hand so she would not be controlled by the Feng family. But unexpectedly, the one who wanted to control Xiangrong in the end was not the Feng family, but this Emperor.

With so many people stepping forward as witnesses, the Emperor could not avoid this matter. Though his mind was more muddled with it came to matters related to Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui and the Eighth Prince, but he was not so muddled that he would deny what he had said in court. Or seeing this from another angle, on Imperial Concubine Yuan Gui’s end, she only controlled his heart, his emotions and this throne, and was unable to exert control on a large scale.

The Emperor remembered what he had said in court and the promise he made. But since he promised Xiangrong that she could decide her own marriage, then he could not assign a marriage to her now. Though his heart was biased towards Old Eighth, he could not deny what he had said in court in front of so many eyes. If not, how could he still be called an Emperor? Who would take what he said in the future seriously? Once the ruler of the nation took back what he said, what nation would this country be?

The Emperor looked at Xuan Tianhua, then looked at Xuan Tianmo, sighing in exasperation, saying: “Mo-er, We forgot that We have said such words before, We are afraid that in this matter…… We cannot decide for you.”