"I have to say, it was rather unexpected," Xie Jianshen, the Heavenly Emperor commented the next time he summoned Zhang Fengxi to Golden Dragon Palace. "I know that the twins grew up quickly in the past five years, but I never expected Mingrui to take a wife as soon as he turns five."
A gasp escaped Zhang Fengxi's lips, momentarily catching in his throat. He lowered his head, instinctively offering Xie Jianshen a deferential gesture by crossing his arm across his chest.
"It was a declaration made in the heat of the moment. No need to take it seriously, Your Majesty."
Xie Jianshen scoffed.
"Good, that's what I want to hear, because various palace masters kept coming to either directly or indirectly submit a complaint."
Behind the facade of cordiality, whispers of ambition to breach the Golden Dragon Palace with their progeny simmered, a hidden current threatening to disrupt the fragile surface of peace.
