Preposterous. Ludicrous. Completely out of hand.
Behind closed doors, these were the words and phrases used most commonly by court officials to describe His Majesty's latest set of decisions.
And who could blame them? The heir of Prince Zhenhai, a warlord's son, breached the rules against leaving his father's territory to visit the capital without permission and trawl through its brothels in a flashy show of decadence. And what did the emperor do? He insisted Xie Qinzhen had been officially called in by secret summons, rewarded such blatant disregard of authority by bequeathing him the title of Duke Xianglin, Duke Vanquisher of Jungles and in the biggest slap to the face of everyone who had disapproved of the imperial marriage between two men, betrothed him to the youngest son of Grand Tutor Lu Yang.
(1) Fragrance of books: a metaphor for a family that comes from a long line of literary and intellectual fame.
(2) One singing another harmonising: an idiom describing two individuals echoing the same opinion or acting in tandem to achieve the same goal.
A/N: Thank you very much for reading and for the lovely gifts, comments, golden tickets, and power stones! <3
This chapter is 2 days late because I was asked to work this weekend due to so many people calling in sick. Very frustrating because this always happens at the end of the term... On a happier note, I have changed rotation to the emergency department and have a much more fixed set of hours now, so hopefully more writing can get done!