Chapter 29: The Continuation of Offspring! (Please Read)
After Zhao Zhen asked for advice, Chu Hong struck while the iron was hot and wrote "On the Establishment of Successors in Past Countries and Families", which mainly explained how important the establishment of a successor is and how monarchs who had no successors in the past handled this matter.
Not long after, the emperor gave his blessing and Chu Hong was promoted to the sixth rank of Ying Fengzheng, and his life was actually as leisurely as before.
After all, the emperor was busy with all kinds of affairs, and had to deal with the advice of cabinet ministers on appointing a successor. How could he have the time to listen to a sixth-rank official preaching?
Even if there really was to be a lecture, the Hanlin Lecturer would be the main person to do so, so how could it be Ying Fengzheng's turn?
Chu Hong's statement that he wanted the emperor to delay the matter gave the emperor and his ministers a way out.
The purpose of the Prime Minister's admonition this time was mainly to prepare the emperor psychologically and let him know what his ministers were thinking.
As for the matter of persuasion, no one expected to succeed in one go, and everyone was prepared for a long battle.
The days were extremely leisurely. Chu Hong made friends, attended banquets, and at the same time found time to endure the corruption of feudal society.
Well. Criticism, harsh criticism!
Well... only by having a deep understanding can one maintain a rigorous attitude in criticism.
The days passed one by one, and another year passed with laughter and play.
That night, the moon was high in the sky, the night was gentle, and the courtyard was peaceful and tranquil.
Chu Hong lay quietly on the recliner, holding his soft and gentle wife in his arms. The cool and fresh air made him feel very happy.
"My dear husband, my hometown of Youyang has sent me a gentle and kind girl named Xin'er. Qiuyue Pavilion is still vacant. Why don't you take her into your room?"
Sheng Hualan was gently combing Chu Hong's hair when she suddenly said this.
Chu Hong closed his eyes slightly, enjoying the leisurely moment, "Madam, why do you suddenly want to take a concubine for your husband?"
Sheng Hualan's clear and gentle eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, and she gently touched Chu Hong's forehead, "Not long after my husband went to court this morning, I vomited continuously. I asked the doctor from Chunsheng Hall to ask about it, and he said that I was pregnant."
"Oh?"
Chu Hong, who had his eyes slightly closed, woke up instantly and carefully touched his wife's belly.
Having lived two lives, the feeling of life continuing is indeed wonderful. He originally thought that he didn't care about this kind of thing, but when it really happened, he couldn't help feeling excited.
"Good! I, Chu Hong, also have a child!"
"Haha! Rewards! Let someone give them out early tomorrow morning. One string of silver per person!"
Chu Hong gently touched his beloved wife's belly. His blood inexplicably boiled and he felt a special sense of responsibility in his heart.
Sheng Hualan gently combed Chu Hong's black hair, feeling very happy.
The Chu family of Yangzhou is a big family in Yangzhou. As a clan member, her most important task is to continue the clan's lineage, so that the clan can continue and be stable and peaceful.
In the past few months, no one has been more anxious about having a child than her. If she has not conceived a child after being married for a year, it may not only make the Chu clan despised, but also bring shame to the Sheng family and make her brothers and sisters suffer from ridicule.
Therefore, some time ago, she secretly sent a letter back to her parents' home, asking them to prepare one or two good girls to be concubines, at least so that she would not be branded as jealous.
According to Sheng Hualan's plan, her father Sheng Hong will be promoted to Bian Jing in a while, and her grandmother has an old sister who comes from a family of medical officers and is an expert in gynecology.
At that time, she would invite that person to Beijing, and then she would go back to her parents' home with the news that her grandmother was seriously ill and ask that person to help see if the reason for her inability to conceive was because of some physical problems she had when she lived in a remote and cold place when she was a child, and prescribe one or two doses of medicine for her to take.
Who would have thought that after the girl from her parents' family was picked and sent to her, and was about to be carried into her husband's room, she was actually pregnant.
This is also a good thing. After you get pregnant, your husband will definitely need someone to serve him. Instead of having an unfamiliar sister, it is better to send a decent girl sent by her parents' home into your husband's room. After all, she is sent by her parents' home, so it is easier to control her, right?
As the eldest daughter of the Sheng family, Sheng Hualan has been very sensible since childhood. No one knows better than her the troubles that a concubine cannot control.
Her mother was the second daughter of Grand Tutor Wang, and her status was so noble, but she lost her power to manage the household because of the emperor's preference for his concubine and his neglect of his wife. How absurd was it that the daughter of Grand Tutor and the legitimate wife, had her power over the household in the hands of a concubine?
The more Sheng Hualan understood century-old families like her husband's, the more she realized the importance of legitimate and illegitimate children, good and evil, which were the keys to maintaining stability.
Sheng Hualan considers herself to be a somewhat "calculating" person, so naturally she does not want to repeat her mother's mistakes, and has made some arrangements early on.
"My dear, I am pregnant. I am afraid I will not be able to serve you all the time. My family happened to send a beautiful girl to me. Can she serve you when I am not able to do so?"
Sheng Hualan reminded carefully.
Chu Hong felt extremely peaceful at the moment, but his blood was boiling. He said nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter whether there is one or not. Just follow Madam's arrangements!"
Sheng Hualan smiled brightly. She was loved by her husband and was the mistress of the household. She didn't have to serve her parents-in-law. Now that she was pregnant, she could also be controlled as a concubine. This was the life she had never dared to dream of before she got married!
The Chu family owned many properties and shops in Bian Jing. Sheng Hualan usually either managed the properties and shops and kept an eye on the money coming in, or attended some gatherings under the leadership of Chu Hong's master's wife Chen, where she would meet people and things, go fishing, or play with hammers. She was quite leisurely and comfortable.
Her only pressure was the issue of having children. Now that she was pregnant, the previous pressure instantly turned into joy. The greater the pressure before she was pregnant, the more relieved she felt now. She felt like "a light boat has sailed through thousands of mountains."
As for whether taking a concubine would have any negative effects, would Sheng Hualan be jealous?
To be honest, no!
In such an ancient world, taking a concubine was a very normal thing. If Sheng Hualan didn't take a concubine, she would even be accused of being jealous. Since she said she wanted to send someone into Chu Hong's room, she must have made the decision long ago. They would not do anything to test him in this regard.
After all, you have to pay it sooner or later.
Generally speaking, women do not mind taking a concubine, but they do have taboos about the concubine's background and the time of taking a concubine.
There is naturally nothing much to say about my concubine's background. She must be a girl from a good family with a clean background. No one cares whether her family is wealthy or not.
In terms of family background, prostitutes and the like cannot be sisters, as that would bring shame to the whole family. A woman who has been ridden by thousands of men and kissed by tens of thousands of people, you can play with her, but can you take her as a concubine?
In this regard, even geishas who sell their art but not their bodies absolutely cannot agree to this.
After all, this thing is said to be selling art, not selling one’s body, but who knows what the actual situation is?
If a powerful person was determined to test the quality of a weak woman who openly sold her art but not her body, how could he be stopped?
In addition to the inner constraints, officials who take prostitutes as concubines may also be impeached by the censors, who will consider it a disgrace to the court and cause them a lot of trouble.
In addition, there is the timing of taking a concubine and the judgment of jealousy.
If a woman does not take a concubine, she will be said to be jealous, but this also has a protection date, which is the date established as jealousy, and this date is roughly one and a half years.
The eldest son is the first son of the wife, and the first son is the first boy in the family.
But if a concubine has given birth to a child before the wife gives birth to a child, then the eldest son of the family will not be the eldest son of the family. At this time, the eldest son of the family will be the eldest son of a concubine.
Therefore, the man usually does not take the initiative to take a concubine within one year after the bride gets married.
This is mainly to make the bride pregnant within a year in order to establish the position of legitimate and eldest son. The bride's child is both the legitimate eldest son and the eldest son of the family.
Such an approach is essentially intended to purify family traditions, distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate children, and distinguish between good and evil.
There is certainly a difference between legitimate and illegitimate children, but there is also an order between the old and the young.
If the eldest son has an older brother above him every day, although the older brother is a bastard's son, it is not conducive to establishing the eldest son's authority.
Therefore, when a woman gets married, she will generally pay more attention to whether the man has concubines.
If the bride already has a concubine before she gets married, then the family is likely to have a bad tradition and the bride would not dare to or would not marry into this family.
Given some circumstances, generally speaking, if a bride does not get pregnant within a year or so, there will be some rumors.
At this time, the bride had to prepare for pregnancy while looking for a concubine to show that she was not jealous. If the bride did not get pregnant for about a year and a half, and did not take the initiative to take a concubine for her husband, she would inevitably be branded as jealous.
Well...Marquis Ningyuan's first wife was notoriously jealous.
One person brought his mother's family down.
At the beginning, when Lady Daqin married into the Ningyuan Marquis's mansion, it was a grand wedding with a ten-mile-long red wedding dress. Everyone said it was a good marriage. However, Lady Daqin had no children after ten years of marriage, and the Ningyuan Marquis was not allowed to take a concubine.
Ten years, ten years!
Ningyuan Hou grew from a "young man" to an "old man" in his thirties, but he has no children.
What should I do? Should I really not take a concubine to continue my family line?
You have to know that it’s the mansion of a marquis!
A marquisate with no heir?
At that time, Madam Qin was subjected to widespread criticism in Bian Jing, and there was no change even after she gave birth to the eldest son of the Marquisate.
After all, for a marquisate, one heir is enough?
If you give birth to one child every ten years, when will the next one be?
If something goes wrong with one of the offspring, the family will be completely ruined!
You can't give birth, but don't stop the marquis from taking a concubine to help you give birth!
She was jealous and had monopolized her husband for more than ten years, preventing them from having children. This made Da Qin's reputation extremely bad, and even her mother's family, the Dongchang Marquis Mansion, was looked down upon.
The female family members did not dare to attend high-end banquets. The Marquis of Dongchang was impeached by the censor for a long time and died in depression. The eldest son of the Marquis of Dongchang was a typical playboy. When he suddenly learned the bad news, he was exhausted and could not even support the Marquis's mansion. The huge mansion fell into decline in an instant.
Even today, that lady from the pre-Qin period is still a figure often mentioned by the noble ladies of Bian Jing, and they always speak of her with ridicule.
With such a person in front of her, it’s no wonder that Sheng Hualan is worried about her offspring.
Now, the boat has passed through thousands of mountains. Sheng Hualan lies quietly in Chu Hong's arms, and soon falls asleep with a smile on her face.
One night a few days later, at Sheng Hualan's strong suggestion, Chu Hong slowly went to Qiuyue Pavilion.
Hmm. How to describe it?
It has a unique flavor.
The corruption of the ugly feudal society!
Because the main plot of the TV series is after the Sheng family came to Beijing, the time delay in these pictures is a bit exaggerated, so please be gentle.
Today I wrote 6k. I originally wanted to write 8k for three chapters, but the third chapter is a bit watery. It mainly tells the origins of the three generations of the eldest lady of Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion. I found that it seemed a bit incoherent. It was a bit awkward to connect with the previous chapter, and the next chapter about the Sheng family entering Beijing was even more irrelevant, so I deleted it directly.
PK will start tomorrow, please follow me.
The plot will probably start to focus on power struggles tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.
The prime minister forced the emperor to abdicate, factional struggles, the little cabinet minister...ahem.
The Story of Minglan is too niche, and Zhu Tianwen’s first world, The Story of Minglan, is even more niche. I feel anxious when I look at my collection every day!
Please read on! Please read on!
(End of this chapter)