Quick Transmigration: Saving That Cannon Fodder

Arriving at the desk, the Empress flipped through the documents presented by her servants, listing the daughters of various officials.

This time, she wanted to choose a good girl for her Xiaoyu, at least before the emperor tried to cause trouble again.

Dongshuang stood to the side, and Dongshuang would introduce each one that the Empress turned to.

"The second daughter of the Minister of Rites is proficient in all the arts, including music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and is a true woman of talent."

Looking at the young and beautiful woman in the painting, the Empress nodded slightly and took out her portrait separately.

At this moment, the young eunuch announced that Prince Yu had arrived.

The Empress smiled gently: "Let him in."

As soon as Zhao Qiyu entered, he greeted his mother. The Empress beckoned to him and said, "Xiaoyu, come here. Your mother has selected a few young ladies for you. Take a look and see if there are any you like."

If Zhao Qiyu could find someone he liked, the Empress would prefer him to marry the person he loves.

Zhao Qiyu glanced at the table, shook his head without even clearly seeing the portrait:

"Your subject already has someone he loves."

He suddenly knelt on the ground: "I beg Mother to grant my request."

Although the Empress was somewhat puzzled, she immediately helped him up before asking, "Does Xiaoyu have someone he loves? Which family's daughter is she?"

Zhao Qiyu lowered his eyes and shook his head: "Not a heiress."

His gaze was firm: "The one I admire is a man."

The Empress looked slightly surprised. She pulled Zhao Qiyu to sit down beside her and asked after a moment of silence:

"Has Xiaoyu thought it through? Does she want to marry that person as her principal wife or serve as a concubine?"

The people of Dayue are open-minded, and in many places, men marry wives, though these are mostly families who cannot find wives.

If a wealthy young man wanted to be with a man, his family would usually take him back to be a male concubine.

Zhao Qiyu said earnestly, "Your subject wants to marry him as your princess consort, the rightful wife of the Prince of Yu, and will not take any more concubines in the future."

"How can this be? If you don't have a son or daughter in the future, it's not that your mother disagrees, but regarding the issue of offspring..."

The Empress looked worried. She wanted her son to have a better life so that when she was gone, at least Xiaoyu would have someone to rely on.

"Mother, I don't mind. Besides, there's my elder brother in the future. He said he wants to have eight children, so let my nephew take care of us in our old age."

Zhao Qiyu spoke with utmost seriousness, which surprised even the Empress:

"Zhen'er? Did he really say that?"

Zhao Qiyu nodded without any hesitation: "Yes, my brother will..."

"Mother, don't listen to his nonsense. Your son never said that."

Zhao Qizhen's voice came from the doorway, and then he hurriedly walked in.

"Well, Zhao Qiyu, how dare you speak of your imperial brother like that in front of the Empress Dowager."

As he spoke, he raised his hand to ruffle Zhao Qiyu's hair.

Zhao Qiyu quickly dodged away, laughing as he said, "I'm not talking nonsense. When my brother was little, he said he wanted to have eight children."

"That was when I was a child, how can that be taken seriously?"

He even tried to pull Zhao Qiyu's hair, but Zhao Qiyu laughed and hid next to the Empress.

Seeing the two bickering as before, the Empress looked at Zhao Qizhen with a loving expression, even feigning reproach:

"Alright, alright, let's get down to business."

The Empress repeated what Zhao Qiyu had just said, and Zhao Qizhen raised an eyebrow:

"Is the servant who shielded you from the arrow still in your residence?"

Zhao Qiyu knew he had guessed, after all, he still had several trusted confidants arranged by Zhao Qizhen in his residence.

He said, "I should repay his life-saving grace with my body. I love him and want to marry him."

"Do you know what you're talking about?"

It was rare for Zhao Qizhen to show a serious expression in the Empress's palace. He did not object to his younger brother marrying a man, but that man was a servant.

Zhao Qiyu didn't think his elder brother would agree to this so easily, so he could only look at the Empress with pleading eyes.

"Mother, Chi Xing saved my life, and besides, I have long been in love with him."

Zhao Qizhen: "That doesn't change the fact that he's a lackey."

Even the Empress fell silent this time. Her youngest son was a noble prince, and when her eldest son ascended the throne, he would be a prince second only to the emperor.

"Xiaoyu, why don't we take him as a concubine? If that doesn't work, we can make him a secondary consort?" the Empress suggested.

For a servant to become a prince's concubine is something that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to dream of.

In this place where social hierarchy is strictly defined, no wealthy young man would ever marry a servant, or even a concubine, who would be a lowly concubine.

Only those with good social standing could barely qualify as good concubines, let alone noble concubines; nowadays, one even had to become a secondary consort.

“No, he is different from other servants. Your son does not mind and can give him a new identity.”

Zhao Qizhen flicked his sleeve: "Are you really going to marry him?"

Zhao Qiyu nodded: "Yes, and from now on, there will only be two masters in the Prince Yu's mansion, him and me."

The Empress knew her youngest son well; once he made up his mind, it was irreversible.

With a sigh, the Empress said, "I'll bring him to the palace another day. I want to see what kind of beauty has captivated my son like this."

The Empress's relent meant she had agreed, and Zhao Qiyu, unusually childlike, clung to the Empress's arm and laughed:

"Thank you, Mother. I knew that you loved me the most."

Zhao Qizhen still had a stern face, and the Empress spoke again:

"Alright, stop scaring your brother. Xiaoyu is right. He has a low status, so let's just give him a status. It's a small matter."

Looking at her two sons, the Empress smiled gently:

"Remember, you are brothers, you should help each other and never sever your brotherly bond."

Zhao Qizhen assured, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely not let Xiaoyu suffer any more injustices."

Thinking of Pei Ming, Zhao Qizhen suddenly realized that it might not be impossible to accept Chi Xing.

Well, Chi Xing is better than Pei Ming. At least Xiao Yu will still live in the Prince Yu's mansion, and no one can bully him.

The Empress asked about Pei Ming again, and Zhao Qizhen told her about what had happened in the court.

"Just the engagement is annulled? There's no punishment for the Pei family?"

Zhao Qizhen was also furious, but the decision was made by his father, the emperor, and there was nothing he could do about it.

The Empress sneered, "It doesn't matter, there will always be a chance to teach them a lesson."

Fearing that things might change if things dragged on, the Empress immediately drafted an imperial edict to grant the marriage, specifying that Zhao Qiyu and Chixing would marry on a chosen date.

She was the Empress and had no other rights, but she could still grant a marriage decree. Once the Phoenix Seal was sealed, the imperial edict was directly given to Zhao Qiyu.

"Take him back. Once the child's identity is settled, I will inform your father."

Chi Xing's new identity was to be handled by Zhao Qizhen.

In the afternoon, Zhao Qiyu returned to his residence with the imperial edict.

He didn't show it to Chixing right away, but instead had lunch with him and talked about the Pei family.

“Little Leaf knows, let Little Leaf speak.”

Zhao Qiyu pointed to Xiao Yezi, who had just returned from gathering information.

Xiao Yezi smiled and said, "It's all burned down. The entire Pei family's house was burned to the ground, even the storeroom was emptied."

Zhao Qiyu: "How could the warehouse be emptied by fire? The Pei family can't possibly have only banknotes, can they?"

Xiao Yezi: "No, I heard that everything in the two warehouses was stolen. The thief came and went without a trace, and no one saw him."

When the Pei family went to the Pei residence the next day, all that remained was a charred, empty house; nothing else was there.