The Emperor decreed the establishment of the Longchuan Autonomous Province, incorporating it into the map of Da Wei. At the same time, she ordered that Xiao Qing be named the Princely Heir of Longchuan, with his title recorded in the imperial genealogy.
Xiao Lin: “Wow, Your Majesty made our brother the Princely Heir!”
Xiao Qing: “Jealous? You can have it.”
Xiao Yunluo: “What does a Princely Heir even do?”
Xiao Qing said with a deadpan expression, “If anything goes wrong in Longchuan, the Princely Heir is the first one Your Majesty will make an example of.”
Xiao Lin shook his head. “No way.”
Xiao Qing: “The Princely Heir has to return to Longchuan. If I inherit my father’s position, I can never come back to the Capital City again.”
Xiao Lin shook his head frantically. “Definitely not.”
Xiao Qing: “…”
‘What a good little brother he is, completely unwilling to share the burden.’
While Xiao Qing was wallowing in his melancholy, Xiao Hong passed by and unceremoniously hauled him away.
Xiao Qing: ‘Oh, I forgot to mention the most important part. The Princely Heir has to work for the Emperor.’
‘I get sent wherever there’s a shortage of hands. An odd-job man for the Six Ministries.’
‘It’s tough and tiring. The only silver lining is that Your Majesty’s rewards are generous, I can learn a lot, and it guarantees a living.’
Now, every single member of the Xiao Family between the ages of fifteen and fifty had to work.
If you hadn’t worked for the Emperor, you’d be too embarrassed to even call yourself a scion of the Xiao Family.
Do well, and your whole family’s status rises. Do poorly, and everyone eats dirt.
During the New Year, all the members of the Xiao Family would hold a meeting. The current clan head, Prince Jing, would call people out by name and criticize them so harshly they couldn’t even lift their heads.
This has led all the members of the Xiao Family into a frenzy of internal competition.
You better not complain about the work being tiring. Be careful, or someone will out-compete you, leaving you with no work at all, so ashamed you won’t be able to face the rest of the family.
“Sigh…”
‘Life isn’t easy,’ Xiao Qing sighed. ‘And this is the Capital City I dreamed day and night of returning to.’
‘What else can I do? I just have to work my butt off.’
——-
While Xiao Yang was swamped with work, on the first day of the ninth month, Xie Liuzheng went into labor.
She was in pain for a day and a night, her screams terrifyingly wretched, but she just couldn’t give birth.
Xiao Yang had originally gone to check on her, but in the end, she was scared away by the horrifying screams.
‘I’m not having children due to emotional reasons, but these screams of childbirth are just too terrifying.’
‘It makes my heart tremble in fear.’
The Prince Jing Mansion had found several experienced midwives, and she had sent an Imperial Physician to stand by.
In this era, this was the most that could be done.
Prince Jing wasn’t waiting at the mansion. Instead, he had gone to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to kneel and pray to their ancestors.
When Xiao Yang found out, she went to the Imperial Ancestral Temple as well.
Prince Jing was kneeling and kowtowing with utmost piety.
Xiao Yang looked up at the ancestral tablets, but instead of kneeling and begging along with him, she took some incense, lit it, and offered it to each ancestor one by one.
An hour later, someone from the Prince Jing Mansion arrived. “My Prince, my Prince… she’s given birth! The Princess has delivered a big, healthy boy! Mother and son are both safe!”
Prince Jing bowed deeply one last time before slowly rising. He asked Xiao Yang, “Would Your Majesty like to go see?”
Xiao Yang: “There’s no rush. Let my brother take good care of my sister-in-law.”
Xie Liuzheng had gone through a great ordeal, but everyone was taking excellent care of her.
Her husband doted on her, her parents-in-law cherished her, and the maids and old servants attended to her meticulously. Xiao Yang only went to the Prince Jing Mansion on the third day.
The woman who had been screaming so wretchedly just two days ago now had a rosy complexion and looked quite well.
Xiao Yang raised a hand to stop her from getting out of bed to curtsy.
“Let’s dispense with the formalities at a time like this.”
Xie Liuzheng smiled. “I knew Your Majesty was the best.”
Xiao Yang saw her condition and breathed a sigh of relief. “How are you feeling?”
Xie Liuzheng let out a long breath. “Much better. Ten months… I’ve finally delivered the goods. I feel so light.”
Xiao Yang looked at her expression. “It’s only been a few days and you’ve already forgotten the pain?”
Xie Liuzheng: “It was painful, very painful. But when I look at the baby and Ah Lu, I feel it was all worth it.”
Xie Liuzheng’s face shone with a maternal glow and the happiness of being nurtured by love.
Xiao Yang watched her for a long moment, then suddenly chuckled. “That’s wonderful.”
Everyone has a different definition of happiness.
Enjoying life, choosing to be single—that’s a personal choice.
But getting married, having children, a loving spouse, and a harmonious family—that is also happiness.
Giving birth was very painful for Xie Liuzheng, but she felt it was worth it. That was enough.
‘Respect. Blessings.’
The wet nurse, having finished feeding the baby, came out from the next room holding him. Just then, Xiao Lv entered, quickly removed his outer robe, and went to take the child.
He carefully yet skillfully held the baby in front of Xiao Yang. “Would Your Majesty like to hold him?”
Xiao Yang quickly waved her hands. “No, no. I wouldn’t know how to hold him.”
However, Xiao Lv glanced at her and then suddenly thrust the child into her arms.
Xiao Yang: “…”
She instinctively caught the baby, her entire body stiffening, afraid to move, as if she were holding a ticking time bomb.
That audacious husband and wife were laughing outrageously.
Xiao Yang looked down at the tiny person in her arms. ‘He’s okay, I guess. Pretty cute.’
The child was named Xiao An. Prince Jing had chosen the name, hoping he would grow up safely, establish a family and career, and enjoy a life of peace and tranquility.
‘He’s certainly thinking long-term,’ she had to admit.
The new addition to the Prince Jing Mansion was a joyous occasion, but for some reason, the courtiers turned their attention to Xiao Yang.
One by one, they dropped hints, both obvious and subtle: now that a child has been born in the Prince Jing Mansion, isn’t it time to put Your Majesty’s wedding on the agenda?
‘Even being the Emperor doesn’t save you from being pushed to get married.’
Xiao Yang looked at the thick stack of marriage-urging memorials. ‘It seems everyone has been too idle lately. Time to ramp up the intensity.’
Before Xiao Yang could figure out how to make work for everyone, invitations from the Song and Ye families were placed on her desk.
The wedding date for Song Qingyi and Ye Shao had arrived.
Ye Shao’s sincerity had moved Song Qingyi and also won the approval of the Song Family.
The perennial second male lead had successfully claimed the top spot.
Xiao Yang wasn’t stingy. She bestowed many treasures upon Song Qingyi for her dowry and also gave Ye Shao a promotion.
‘This is the downside of knowing both the bride and the groom—you have to give two sets of gifts.’
Song Qingyi and Ye Shao were about to get married, and Xiao Cheng and Xiao Lan were also in the process of meeting potential partners.
It was as if everyone had suddenly reached the peak of one stage of life and was preparing to enter the next.
‘But if they’re the ones meeting potential partners, why do I have a copy of the roster?’
Xiao Yang was speechless, looking at the booklet in her hands filled with the names of well-bred young ladies. ‘Anyone who didn’t know better would think it was for me to choose my own concubines.’
“You’re choosing someone to spend the rest of your lives with. It shouldn’t be for me to decide.”
Whether it was bestowing a marriage or a name, Xiao Yang disliked it. She had no desire to interfere in the destinies of others.
Xiao Ziling was the only exception. That was because Xiao Ziling had no family left, and Xiao Yang was particularly fond of her, so she only made the decision after asking first.
Xiao Cheng and Xiao Lan exchanged a glance and took out individual name cards.
“These are the ones we’ve chosen. We ask for Your Majesty’s review.”
Xiao Yang: “…” ‘Are they incapable of understanding human speech?’
Xiao Lan and Xiao Cheng’s attitude was firm. They were close attendants to the Emperor; all their glory today was bestowed by the Emperor.
When they married, it wasn’t just about taking a wife to live with. It involved the wife’s family, her future noble title, and their children’s prospects.
A marriage wasn’t just an affair between two people, but about the future of two families.
They didn’t have women they were so in love with that they absolutely had to marry them.
Since it was a selection through matchmaking, it was naturally a selection based on qualifications.
And these qualifications, while aligning with their own wishes, must also be reviewed by the Emperor.
Xiao Yang gave up.
‘I’m not even twenty yet, but I’m doing the work of a fifty-year-old.’
But since they had put it that way, Xiao Yang still took a serious look.
Both had chosen young women from scholarly families of modest official rank and good standing.
Their status wasn’t particularly noble, and their family standing was a bit beneath them, but the choices were brilliant. It wouldn’t give the impression of forming factions, and at the same time, it left plenty of room for the Emperor to grant them promotions.
After reading, Xiao Yang raised her hand. “Bring them to the palace. Let me see them with my own eyes.”
‘If they insist I make the final decision, then I’ll just have to go by my first impression.’