I heard you’ve been spending time with the third young master of Shen, strolling and walking dogs together, chatting quite pleasantly. The third young master of General Shen was indeed clever, articulate, and remarkably, he was also an excellent painter, which suited my taste. My imperial uncle deliberately arranged for this third young master to approach me, wanting to dampen An Jin’s spirit. In my uncle’s words, he wanted to make An Jin understand that he wasn’t the only man in the world, especially since An Jin always looked down on others and was constantly thinking about how to oppose him.
This was hardly An Jin’s fault. My uncle inevitably brought up filling the harem each year and had never meant well towards him. With An Jin’s petty temperament, of course he would oppose him at every turn. My uncle was no pushover either, knowing An Jin was most sensitive about introducing other imperial consorts and would deliberately escalate the matter. In previous years, he would only nag a few words in my ear, but now seeing we had not yet had children, he became even more righteous in demanding that I let the imperial physicians examine me, adjust my condition, or even replace my partner. I ignored him, so he simply arranged several noble youths from the Southern Rui to constantly run into the palace under various pretexts, parading before my eyes, nearly driving An Jin to demolish the imperial study.
I cleared my throat and said seriously: “The third young master is indeed quite good. I’ve been thinking of finding an opportunity—”
His eyes turned cold, grabbing my arm: “Don’t you dare!”
I couldn’t help but laugh. He awkwardly glared at me and let go.
“What does it matter!” I said calmly: “I have already decided that when Afu turns fourteen, he will participate in the trial. As long as he passes the trial, I will establish him as the heir.”
“Your Majesty! This—is really inappropriate,” he shook his head repeatedly. “Your Majesty should have your own child. You should not delay having an heir because of the empress.”
“How does the imperial uncle know it’s the empress’s problem? It might be my own problem.”
