Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My family has had a single heir for four generations, and every generation has been steeped in the imperial court, holding real power in their hands.

My great-grandfather is eighty-seven. He has personally seen off three generations of the imperial family, and if he has not stamped a memorial, no one dares submit it before the throne.

My grandfather is sixty-three. He walks with a built-in tremor, yet even with shaking hands he can still revise the laws of the Great Zhou.

My father is forty-two. He sits in command of the Censorate, wielding his brush like a knife.

Even I had to tidy myself up, disguise myself as a man, and enter court as the Vice Minister of Revenue.

Because my father said no one was more reliable than oneself. Rather than recruit a live-in son-in-law, I might as well hold up this family myself.

The world curses my family for monopolizing power, with four generations all occupying key posts.

But no one knows that my family has been made up of loyal ministers through and through for four generations.

My great-grandfather sits firmly in the Grand Secretariat. Whoever harbors disloyal thoughts, he scolds.

My grandfather once took his tablet of office and hammered the Duke of Wei, who was selling official ranks and titles. The moment he opened his mouth, he could pin sixteen charges on the man.

My father said my great-grandfather and grandfather were both too blunt. “You cannot be like that. You have to understand how to maneuver.”

But my father never expected me to maneuver a little too hard.

The main issue was that after the previous Minister of Revenue was beaten unconscious during a policy debate, the post of minister had remained vacant.

So I, the Vice Minister, was the only one left to clean up the mess.

I worked diligently, running to Qinzheng Hall three times a day.

By the time my legs were about to give out, my great-grandfather was explaining memorials to His Majesty.

The moment His Majesty saw me, his eyes lit up. “Teacher, stop reading for now. Let us hear what good news Yan Yu has brought.”

My great-grandfather glanced sideways at me and said it might not be good news.

Awkwardly, I said, “Your Majesty, the national treasury truly cannot produce the silver to build Your Majesty a palace.”

His Majesty let out a great sigh when he heard that. “It is not that I want to build a palace. The rear palace genuinely has no more room.”

That matter was even more distressing. The Late Emperor gained the realm at forty-eight and only had His Majesty at fifty.

But His Majesty liked neither letters nor martial pursuits. To avoid having the next generation turn out like him, he forced a new path and adopted the strategy of sheer numbers.

The elegant phrasing was: among so many imperial sons, surely one would be naturally gifted.

That was why His Majesty had thirty-six sons and twenty-five princesses.

With no room left in the palace, building another palace was only reasonable.

My eyes shifted, and just as I was about to say something, my great-grandfather pointed his little hand at me.

“Yan Yu, do not start thinking up crooked schemes.”

I left Qinzheng Hall in embarrassment, but halfway out, I was summoned back by Eunuch Cen from His Majesty’s side.

His Majesty asked what scheme I had.

I said Duke Huguo had come to me a few days ago to buy an official post.

His Majesty said selling offices and titles was a capital crime.

I held up five fingers. “Five hundred taels of gold.”

His Majesty said, “Damn! How is he that rich?”

The next day, five hundred taels of gold were placed on His Majesty’s imperial desk.

His Majesty slapped his thigh and said money came quickly this way. “Young people have flexible minds. Solving the treasury deficit is just around the corner.”

But once the gold was accepted, we had to arrange a post for the man.

Otherwise, if word did not spread, who would come to me for favors in the future?

So Duke Huguo’s youngest son entered the Three Treasuries the very next day and became a Yuanwailang in charge of the pigments and inkstones used in the palace.

Duke Huguo felt the rank was a little too low.

But after I told him that a former Vice Minister of Revenue had once been the Yuanwailang in charge of inkstones, Duke Huguo left in high spirits.

My grandfather asked me if Duke Huguo was truly that easy to send off.

“Duke Huguo thinks this is the promise I gave him.”

Then I quietly added, “Duke Huguo may not necessarily live long enough to see the selection of the Vice Minister of Revenue after the next after the next.”

Even happier was His Majesty.

But after His Majesty had silver, the first thing he did was not build a palace. He put all of it toward military funds.

I felt His Majesty was a truly worthy ruler, so I worked even harder to fill the national treasury.

After a few rounds of this, I became His Majesty’s right and left hand.

His Majesty was overjoyed and directly betrothed the Tenth Princess to me.

I waved my hands so fast they nearly left afterimages. “Your Majesty! This subject’s whole heart is devoted to serving Your Majesty loyally. I truly have no mind for anything else!”

His Majesty waved me away. “I will certainly make sure my beloved minister is satisfied.”

After my family received the imperial decree, gloom settled over the entire household.

Only my father was studying which one the Tenth Princess was. “His Majesty has more than sixty children. I have never heard anyone mention a Tenth Princess.”

My mother said if there really was no other way, we should run.

I glanced at my great-grandfather, who was about to fall asleep, and my grandfather, who was pounding his legs, and rejected my mother’s suggestion. Mainly because where could we even run?

I steeled my heart. “If there is truly no other way, I will tell the princess that I am incapable.”

“When the time comes, I will have those beauties in the rear courtyard attend to the Tenth Princess.”

My mother sighed and said those people in the rear courtyard had been saved for me.

Once the marriage was finalized, the inner court worked itself into a frenzy. When the ministers saw how heavily I was favored, they rushed to send congratulatory gifts.

But when my mother looked at the princess, who was half a head taller than me, her face darkened even further.

Suspicion rose in my heart. Before lifting the veil, I dismissed everyone from the room and reached toward the slight bulge beneath the red skirt.

My hand had only reached halfway when a low, certain voice came from under the veil.

“Yes. I have a pee-pee.”

Me: ?!