An uninvited guest

"Congratulations, you have two healthy boys," Master Zhou congratulated Yu Dong as he handed the eldest born to her. Yu Dong looked down in her arms and was surprised to find no lotus cinnabar on his forehead. This boy was not a mer son but a son! 

"We …We have heirs now!" Chen Mi gasped as he looked at the small bundle of hope and faith that Yu Dong was carrying in her arms. It was heavily emphasized by the Late Empress that only sons or daughters could become the heirs of the family. Mer sons were not allowed to take on the name and the properties of the family.

In case there were only mer sons in a family, the properties of that family no matter how small would be taken away by the officials after the death of the head of the family leaving the widowed husbands and the mer sons.