Minister Zhong spoke with earnest gravity, his face a portrait of exhaustion. Just thinking of these matters made his heart ache as if sliced by a knife.
Ji Ruyan knew that in recent days, Empress Gu had been dropping hints, both subtle and overt, to the high-ranking officials in the Capital City with daughters, suggesting they consider their noble girls for becoming side consorts to the Sixth Prince.
Minister Zhong, the Emperor's trusted confidant, with a brother commanding the Fifty Thousand Imperial Guards in the Capital City, was undoubtedly Empress Gu's prime choice.
But Minister Zhong's daughter, Zhong Qiao, was the child he and Madam Zhong had cherished in their later years, doted upon excessively. How could they willingly give up a daughter they had cared for sixteen years, a treasure so precious they feared it might melt in their hands, to become a prince's concubine?
