Chapter 1: Love at first sight

Empire Wu is a beautiful country. The late emperor and his eldest prince fought in a war a few years back, with the neighboring countries and they finally achieved their peacefulness after almost 20 years living in restlessness.

That is why people really love and respect the eldest prince, who is now their emperor, Wu Zhang Wei.

Wu Zhang Wei ascended the throne after his imperial father died due to some illness. Under the rule of Wu Zhang Wei, no other countries dared to mess up or cause any riots.

Wu Zhang Wei is well-known for his extremely good-looking and unbeatable strength. Even though he is emotionless, many women and gers are dying to get his attention and desiring to be his bed warmer.

This includes the youngest son of the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Li, Li Shizen, has three children. The first son is an intelligent scholar. He was already married to his childhood love, who came from one of the noble families in the country.

The second child is a girl. She is also already married to the son of a minister. That guy came along with his father to the wedding of Li Shizen's son and there they met and fell in love with each other at the first sight.

The last one is Li Xiu Ying, a ger. The ger usually has a feminine figure, but without a big chest and a hole in the front side.

A ger can get pregnant just like a woman, however, the pregnancy rate is the same as a woman in his 40s, which is extremely low but not impossible.

Due to his gender, Li Xiu Ying is spoiled by his parents, to the point that he insists everything he wants must be fulfilled. Li Xiu Ying was born with a silver spoon. He got lots of servants to entertain his needs that even if he lost hands and legs he still can live leisurely.

Li Xiu Ying likes to attract attention. He likes to wear striking color robes and a face full of makeup. Whenever he walks around the market in the city, people will turn to look at him...in disgust.

Bright red lips, face too white like he's going to perform an opera, greenish-yellow robes, and a bit excessive hairpins. With such a look, Li Xiu Ying thinks he's the most beautiful ger, even more than a girl.

People didn't dare to say anything in front of him because they know his father is an important figure in the palace, but as soon as he walked past them, they started gossiping.

"I pity the Prime Minister Li and his wife for having such a retard son. They're a good person, how can they have a son like this?"

"True but they should be blamed too for spoiling and doting too much on that ger. That boy never thinks about his parents' reputation."

"Hmm... His brother and sister grew up well with a good manner and smart but when it comes to the last child.... haih.."

Two guys sitting in a restaurant can't help but talk about it when they saw Li Xiu Ying but things are being viewed differently by women.

"Gosh! Why would he walk with a chin pointing to the sky like that?! Does he think he got the beauty to be proud of?! Pei!"

"I think my servants are prettier than him."

A group of girls laughed out loud. They tried to make Li Xiu Ying notice them and make him feel angry and ashamed but the latter is too focused on the accessories sold in the market.

"I didn't get why he'd go out wearing something like that? Didn't he have servants that could help him dress up?" One of the girls said.

"Maybe his servants also got the same taste as him." They laugh again.

Another girl speaks up, "Maybe the servants can't say no to him as we all know everything must be going according to his way."

"Yeah. We can't say they pick up useless servants because his sister is looking fine. Even Madam Feng is in her late 40s but she still looks like in her early 30s." All of them nods, agreeing. They then walk away when Li Xiu Ying is no longer in their sight.

Li Xiu Ying walked around the market with his two bodyguards and a servant named Jing Yi.

Jing Yi always follows Xiu Ying wherever he goes. He's the only one who never complains about whatever Xiu Ying did. That's because Xiu Ying is his savior.

A few years ago, during a lantern festival, Xiu Ying walked around the city at night with his bodyguards. Suddenly, when he walked past a brothel, a guy was thrown to the ground. That guy is Jing Yi.

Jing Yi was sold to a brothel by his stepfather because of a huge amount of debt. However, Jing Yi refused to serve any customer and even dared to throw the glass when one of the customers started to grope him.

Due to this, Xiu Ying bought Jing Yi from the brothel and made him his servant. Since then, Jing Yi stays loyal to Xiu Ying no matter what people say about his young master.

"Jing Yi! Look at this! It's a new kind of face powder. The seller said it can give some blush effect because they mixed with flower petals. Do you think His Majesty will like it if I wear it?" Xiu Ying asked excitedly.

"Yes, Young Master. No matter what you wear or use, His Majesty for sure will like it because Young Master is really beautiful." Jing Yi said with no pretense in his words.

"Of course he will! Don't you know no one can compete with me in terms of beauty?" Li Xiu Ying glances at Jing Yi and rolls his eyes.

Speaking of His Majesty, the emperor of the country. Just like his sister, Xiu Ying also fell in love at first sight during his brother's wedding but the other person is Wu Zhang Wei.

As it was an invitation from his most important minister, the emperor attended the wedding.

When Xiu Ying saw the emperor, he couldn't stop looking at him. He even tried to initiate a conversation with him through his father, but the emperor just gave him a slight glance.

Since that day, Xiu Ying has been dreaming of marrying the emperor. He kept asking his father to bring him to the palace so he could meet his beloved but was rejected.

Li Shizen and his wife, Madam Feng started to feel worried. They are afraid that Xiu Ying will force them to set a marriage between him and the emperor. And if his wish is not being fulfilled, he'll threaten them to run away from home, which he did once before.

Xiu Ying didn't mind if the emperor took him as a concubine at first. He is sure when they get to know each other, the emperor will truly fall in love with him and even make him the empress. When that happens, he'll ask his husband to dismiss the imperial harem. He doesn't want to share his husband with other ugly women. His husband needs to look at and love him only.

Every day Xiu Ying has been thinking about these things. And lately, he's kinda forcing his father to ask the emperor to ask him as a concubine. Prime Minister Li is having a hard time.

He's in a dilemma. He doesn't want to disappoint his son but at the same time, he didn't dare to bring up such a topic to the emperor, especially when his son is famous for his bad reputation.

[In the palace]

Li Shizen standing straight inside a room, confronting the emperor. His palm is wet and beads of sweat started to form on his forehead.

"Yes, Prime Minister Li, what is the important thing that you want to talk about? It sounds so confidential that you asked for a private meeting." Wu Zhang Wei didn't lift his head, reading a report.

"*cough* Hmm... Yo- your Majesty, have you thought about adding more concubine to your imperial harem?"

The emperor continues looking at the report without uttering any words. Wu Zhang Wei is not even mad but the tense still can make someone's hair stands.

Hearing no reply, Li Shizen quickly apologizes for his bluntness. "So- sorry for being blunt and disrespectful! This servant just cares about Your Majesty's well-being. This servant deserves a punishment." Prime Minister Li quickly kowtowed several times.

Wu Zhang Wei puts away the report and lifts his head. "Rise. Zhen said before that if we're alone, no need to be so formal. Just say straight to the point what do you want to say?"

"Your Majesty... Do you remember my youngest son?"

The emperor hums but the truth is he barely remembers the boy. He just knows that the prime minister got a weird-looking ger son. Name and face, he didn't remember at all.

"Truthfully speaking, my son is quite fond of Your Majesty. He wished...wished... to be your majesty's con- concubine." Li Shizen shuts his eyes tightly, waiting for a slam on the table or something to fly to his head.

But none of it happened.

The emperor stared at him intently without saying anything. After a few minutes, Wu Zhang Wei sighs.

"Prime Minister Li, you do know that even those that have been placed in the imperial harem, no one and not once, Zhen touched. Zhen merely made them a concubine just to shut those who insist on Zhen to have an heir. So, you still want Zhen to make your son my concubine?"

The old man stayed still, silently. As a father, he can't bear to see his son living an unhappy life. But if he doesn't agree, his son will run away from home!

"Truth, to be honest, Zhen will treat him the same as others. Meaning, Zhen won't come near him and won't touch him. Is that what you really want?" Wu Zhang Wei continues.

Li Shizen takes a deep breath and relieves a heavy sigh.

....

After a month of arrangement, Li Xiu Ying is now the concubine of the emperor, Wang Zhang Wei. Concubine means the lowest rank in the imperial harem, but still, Li Xiu Ying feels happy.

He knows, one day, for sure, the emperor will fall for his charms and beauty and he'll become the mother of this country.