After lunch, Zhuang Shi and Qi Shi tidied up the table with the maidservants, while Lin Xuan and Li Shi went to Li Shi's house together.

  When Lin Huan was five years old, his biological mother passed away. At the age of eight, he welcomed a stepmother named Li Shi. When Li Shi entered the household, Lin Huan had already learned to be aware and understanding, but at first, he wasn't very welcoming towards her either. The two people cautiously explored each other, occasionally having small conflicts over the years, but as time passed, their relationship improved, especially after Lin Huan got married and became a mother herself, she understood the difficulties of being a woman and a mother, and felt that her initial wariness and testing of Li Shi were unnecessary. Gradually, Lin Huan came to regard Li Shi as his own mother.

  After the two sat down on the couch, Lin Huan offered Li a cup of tea and poured another one for himself. Then he whispered to Li: "Mother, I heard from our Wang Ye that the Emperor has already revealed his intention, and it's likely that Yuan will become the Empress. Our family should also make preparations."

  Li's eyes moved slightly, her hand rubbed against the edge of the teacup, and her eyes drooped, lost in thought.

  After a while, Li asked: "What did the Emperor mean? Did he say to enter the palace as a concubine first and then be established as Empress, or to directly marry into the palace?"

  Although both entered the palace, these two ways of entering the palace as a concubine are different. This is just like ordinary people's family remarriage, the legitimate wife who was married with three books and six rites and the concubine who was promoted to be the legitimate wife cannot be equated, even if they are both concubines, the concubine who was promoted to be the legitimate wife is not as proper as the one who was married with three books and six rites.

  Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "That's not what I meant."

  Li sighed softly and put down the cup in her hand.

  "Mother, we must be careful at home. If the king can find out, it's unlikely that the Wu family won't know either. This time, Wu Guifei didn't become empress, and she and the Wu family will likely have many tricks waiting for our family."

  "Needn't worry about this, the Xuan Guo Gong Fu is not to be trifled with. Can it be that our Wu Guo Gong Fu is just a pushover? If they really want to force their way in, who knows who will end up getting hurt. Your two younger brothers are not so incompetent either."

  Lin Huan nodded and then sighed, saying in a low voice: "Yuanyuan will enter the palace, I really didn't expect it. Yuanyuan is a child I also like, before I was thinking that she and Xiao Wu could play together since childhood, later I would help Xiao Wu marry her, first because I am her aunt, when she enters my family's door I will definitely not mistreat her, secondly this royal family and Lin family being close relatives isn't better? Just as Ah Rou heard about this idea, she might also think it's good... but who can predict the unpredictable things in this world? Who would have thought that Er Mei would leave so early, our Lin family still has to send another girl into the palace."

  When she heard about her daughter's untimely death, Li's face also turned gloomy.

  Lin Huan continued, "Yuanyuan is a child we've watched grow up since she was little. Although she's clever and sensible, I'm really not at ease with her entering the palace. She's only fourteen this year, still so young, who knows what will happen once she enters the palace..."

  "Li glared at her and said, 'You're back to provoke me on purpose, aren't you? Again with your second sister, again with Yuanyuan, all to hurt my feelings.'"

  "Mother, what are you saying? I'm just expressing this one feeling."

  Mr. Li sighed and said: "Yuanyuan, this child, is the one I owe an apology to." As he spoke, his face showed a few hints of heartache and guilt.

  Lin Xuan saw Li's expression and regretted bringing up the unpleasant topic, so he thought for a moment and then brought up a happy matter, smiling as he said: "Right, Mother, the Emperor said he wants to give our family another Prince title, and Wang Ye has already decided that this title will be given to Xiao Wu in the future."

  Mr. Li listened with joy and straightened up, saying: "Oh, this is a good thing."

  In the previous dynasty, the nobility titles were granted according to the emperor's sons, except for the crown prince, all others were enfeoffed as princes of the blood. The eldest son of a prince of the blood was established as heir apparent, while other sons were enfeoffed as dukes. Dukes, except for their eldest son who became duke-heir, had their other sons granted the title of General of the Pacified Nation. This resulted in an abundance of princes and nobles by the end of the previous dynasty, causing a severe burden on the imperial treasury.

  After the founding of the country by Emperor Taizu, the system of granting titles to relatives was changed. The sons of the emperor, except for the crown prince, were either enfeoffed as princes or marquises. Princes and marquises, except for their eldest legitimate son who was designated as heir apparent, had their other legitimate sons appointed as Commandery Governors or Assistant Governors, while illegitimate sons received no titles.

  Qinghe King was a meritorious minister who followed the Taizu Emperor to conquer the world, and also a close relative of the royal family, so he got the title of Prince. By right, in the Qinghe King's mansion today, except for Lin Huan's eldest son who can inherit the title as the next generation of Qinghe King, Xiao Cheng can only get the title of Town Country General, while other sons can only mix with ordinary royal family members.

  Li said, "After Xiaowu, you can have the title of Duke, and then you won't have to worry about it anymore." Although the General of the Town is also a title, the treatment is far from that of the Duke.

  Lin Huan also let out a sigh of relief, smiling and saying: "Yes, Xiao Wu has been spoiled by me, and looking at the future, he may not have great prospects. In the past, I was always worried that if my husband and I were to pass away, what would happen to him? His older brother seems capable of taking care of him now, but in the future, he will also have children and grandchildren, and how can he take care of so many people? At that time, compared to his children and grandchildren, Xiao Wu may be left behind. Now it's good, with the title of Duke, even if Xiao Wu doesn't amount to much in the future, he can still live off the income from his fief."

  Li nodded, but then asked curiously: "But how did the emperor suddenly come up with the idea of granting your family a noble title?"

  Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "I'm not clear about it. Wang Ye seems to know, but he won't tell me. I tricked Wang Ye into saying a few words, and roughly speaking, it seemed that when the Emperor was still a prince, Wang Ye and Old Wang Ye had helped the Emperor and Empress Dowager."

  This old emperor's attitude towards Empress Dowager and the current emperor was also quite strange. When he was alive, he didn't show much favor to Empress Dowager, nor did he have a deep father-son relationship with the current emperor. It was even said that Empress Dowager was able to give birth to the current emperor because of her good luck, but surprisingly, when the old emperor died, his will stated that Empress Dowager should be buried beside him after her death.

  At that time, it was said that the old emperor issued this edict because he was afraid that after his death, the virtuous empress would seize power, so he wanted to hint to the new emperor to let the virtuous empress be buried with him. But no matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like it. First of all, when the emperor ascended to the throne, he was already a grown man with children, and wasn't someone who could be easily manipulated by women and children. Moreover, the virtuous empress's personality was gentle and kind, and she didn't seem like the type of person who would seize power or dominate others.

  However, Xianfei followed less than a year after the new emperor ascended to the throne. The real reason for this is probably long buried with the deceased and no one knows.