章 9: Imperial Edict and Unrest in Court
" Shen Shi Lian, the first legitimate daughter of prime minister, is virtuous in nature and is filial to her parents. With the death of late prime minister's legitimate wife Shi Lian has been performing her filial piety with devotion. While according to Dawang (the King), the honorable 6th princess can be described as ' wen liang gong jian rang' . Wen means 'warm', liang means 'good', gong means 'respectful', jian means 'frugal', and lastly rang means 'to yield'. Therefore, our 6th princess is kindhearted with a very good and respectful temperate, along with being as gentle as a lamb.
Now that Shi Lian is out of her filial piety Dawang, the son of heaven, the dragon of the kingdom, has decreed a marriage between Shen Shi Lian and the 6th Princess, Wu Ying Yue, title bestowed 'Shenghuo'.", the imperial eunuch professionally read the edict loud and clear shocking everyone present in the vicinity.
After he was done reading he closed the edict and rolled it. Still no one made a sound and a pin drop of silence resided over the busy street. While Chou Lian listened to the edict her face was neutral, and no one could detect any change in expressions. But inside she was like, "WHAT?! W..Wait..a..moment! Am I hearing it wrong? Is it some kind of joke? But the emperor does not have time to waste joking with her. Is this real? MARRIAGE? On top of that a woman? Isn't LGBTQ+ illegal in this dynasty and at this era? What was going on?"
While Chou Lian was screaming and pondering in her mind she heard the imperial eunuch clearing his voice, " First Lady Shen, come forward to take the edict."
Chou Lian stood up and walked to the eunuch took the edict in her hands, " Shen Shi Lian accepts the decree. Thanks to Dawang for such a grace and blessing. Long Live the Majesty, long live the dragon, long live the son of heaven.", said gently then bowed respectfully to the imperial eunuch. Chou Lian had to accept the edict as rejecting an imperial edict is seen as a treason in the dynasty and the immediate punishment is hanging the person to death. Now Chou Lian had no death wish after already dying once. Hence with reluctance in her heart she had to accept it in front of everyone.
"Wait a minute...Imperial Eunuch did the decree say 6th prince or 6th princess? Did this common woman heard wrong?", Dong Tong Yen suddenly cautiously asked the imperial eunuch without getting from her kneeling position.
"Prime minister's wife you heard it right. The edict says 6th princess thus, First Lady Shen is certainly going to marry the honorable lady Shenghuo.", the imperial eunuch replied to Dong Tong Yen with a smiling voice, "Congratulations to the Shen family."
At first, Dong Tong Yen was angry and nervous that Shi Lian would end up marrying a Prince. If it did happen she and her kids would have to always bow her heads in front of Shi Lian which she absolutely cannot tolerate. This little pest deserved to rot alone in that little courtyard. But when she learned that it was a marriage between two women it gave her such a satisfaction. Even though the other is also from the imperial family, but is an woman nonetheless. It is such a disgrace and never heard of two women to ever get married. Though no one would have the guts to bad mouth the royal family, but Shi Lian's reputation would be tarnished throughout the capital. Moreover, as they are both woman Shi Lian can never get pregnant with a boy to win favor, as could have been the case if it was a prince she was getting married to.
Therefore, Dong Tong Yen was actually really pleased with this outcome. After Chou Lian accepted the edict she heavily rewarded the imperial eunuch and the servants in happiness. The imperial eunuch nodded and the servants all thanked Dong Tong Yen and the Shen family loudly. While Chou Lian felt a headache from all these.
"First Lady Shen, you have to board the carriage with us as the Emperor has summoned you to the palace.", the imperial eunuch said as the palace servants stuffed Chou Lian into the imperial carriage without giving her the chance to change her clothes to make her look more presentable to the Emperor.
On the other hand, at the court of Emperor, there was a agitated environment with all the officials and ministers kneeling in front of the Emperor. They all were doing this to revoke the edict that the Emperor has sent to the Shen manor. Today, at morning court it was announced that the First Lady of Shen will marry the 6th princess into the royal family. Once every men heard it, the morning court was thrown into chaos as every minister was against the marriage as they felt it went against the common customs.
" Bixia, please give this matter another thought. From the existence of life it has always been 'yin' and 'yang'. Procreation is the meaning of life for a woman. A marriage between two woman is unheard of. This goes against the heaven. A woman is supposed to be with a man, and carry all the responsibilities of a man's family. The future generation would look down upon us if such a unsightly thing is recorded down.", the rites' minister tried to reason with the Emperor to prevent a marriage which seemed disgusting to him; while all the other ministers present agreed with him, including prime minister Shen.
" Cultivator Ruan, where did the sun rise from today? It's really shocking to see all the ministers agree on a single matter. They are not arguing with each other anymore, but wants to go against me, huh?", the Emperor said in a pissed tone while looking coldly over all the ministers.
"Bixia, do not worry. Let me explain it to them.", cultivator Ruan said as he bowed to the emperor in respect. The emperor nodded signaling cultivator Ruan to continue.
"Every official present here is educated and keeps a lot of knowledge, so have you all heard about 'The Mingyun Ceremony?", cultivator Ruan said slowly but in an impactful steady voice.
Hearing about the Mingyun Ceremony every official were shocked. Who hasn't heard of it? It is such a powerful ceremony to look for one's fated other half, but not only will they be their other half but will possess the ability to protect them from poor health, and it even believed that the other person found through the ceremony could bring back their partner from death. However, the manual to carry such a ceremony has said to be destroyed many years ago, and it has a major disadvantage of ruining a portion of ones cultivation.
"My great-great-great grandmaster had the opportunity to once stumble upon the manual of the Mingyun Ceremony in the Treasure Land, a holy utopia with infinite treasure that opens once a hundred years, and with great diligent he had studied. From then on he passed it on to his disciples, and from my own master I have also mastered how to perform the ceremony. It is well known fact that 6th princess is extremely sick and every imperial doctor is failing to detect what sickness the princess actually has. Therefore, even though it is extremely dangerous I took some blood from the 6th princess and performed this ceremony. In performing the ceremony I did lose 1/3 of my cultivation power, and through the Mingyun Ceremony it was discovered that First Lady Shen, Shen Shi Lian, is the important other half of 6th princess. As a result, in order to save the princess this is the last resort. The princess is extremely sick and there is no other way to save the princess.", cultivator Ruan explained the reason for the marriage without giving anyone any chance to protest.
"This is the will of Heaven. This is the will of the Jade emperor. So does anyone wants to against the Emperor, the son of heaven; or does anyone wants to go against the will of Jade emperor?", cultivator Ruan announced to the minsters and officials with a cold smile, which made all of them break into cold sweats.
'Go against the Emperor?! Go against the Jade Emperor?!' It is treason! This can cause them to lose their noble title and official position! Who could now protest?!
As everyone quieted down, the Emperor spoke nonchalantly at that time, "Is anyone against the marriage of 6th princess and First Lady Shen?"
" We do not dare, Bixia! Bixia is wise! We wish 6th princess and First Lady Shen happy marriage, and pray the 6th princess for a fast recovery!", every minister and official in court replied respectfully to the Emperor.
Once the court ended, the Emperor returned to his work room, as he took his sit he asked cultivator Ruan, "Has that Lady arrived yet?"
"No, your majesty. But it seems she is on her way.", cultivator Ruan said as he prepared tea for the Emperor.
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