Life Choices

Lei Yong went home and went to see his father. As soon as he entered the study, his father looked up from his documents.

"How is it?"

"It is fine."

"Not angry?"

"I told you the Emperor wouldn't get angry for something like this."

 "Well, you never know..." The Defense minister calmly said and rested his back in his seat and rubbed his head.

"Father, I've known the Emperor for fifteen years, even though I can't say I completely understand him, I at least know this much." Lei Yong said feeling a bit annoyed with the whole situation.

The defense minister looked at his son and then sighed, "I'm understanding your sister less and less these days...While she has never been timid, but she has never been so brazen before...When she returns tomorrow, she will immediately depart for Jiangchen city to stay with your aunt, at least until all this is forgotten."

 "Father, the Emperor wouldn't hold something like this against her. Also, she's my sister, at least for my sake, he w-..."

"Even if he doesn't take offense, there is still the Empress dowager. Can you guarantee that she won't act on it?" The Defense minister flatly said, narrowing his eyes at his son.

Lei Yong lowered his head, feeling even more dissatisfied.

"There's also Prince Yi..." The defense minister quietly said to himself in a low voice. Lei Yong's ears perked up, and he raised his head, "What about Prince Yi?"

"Haven't you noticed that he has been picking on Xing'er?"

 Lei Yong thought and said, "It seems to be, but that must be because he knows who she is and is indirectly targeting us."

"It would be good if that was all...but it doesn't seem that way, he has been oddly polite to me lately, there was even a time he raised his cup to me." He sighed and continued, "...it seems there might be something more to it."

"Father, I think you are thinking too much. Perhaps it's just a different angle to bring you over to his side." Lei Yong said dismissively, believing that his father was reading too much into the situation.

 "That is exactly what I fear. The Emperor is one thing, but Prince Yi is an even shakier ground."

"Father, the Emperor is a good man..."

"Good or not, the palace is not an easy place. I would rather not have my daughters be embroiled in the conflicts of power..."

"Father, I -"

"I haven't even argued with you over the fact that you went to submit her name behind my back and now you are being willfully blind..." The Defense minister said with strained voice with containing anger.

 "It was what she wanted. It is better to let her try and fail than for her to hold onto this regret for the rest of her life."

"She is a naive child who knows nothing but you are not." The defense minister said with a frown.

"Father you have always taught us to be brave in life and make decisions based on what we can live with and not what seems convenient and easy. To Xing er', the palace and this competition are the decisions that she can live with and I made the choice to help her with the same conviction..."

"I may not have watched her grow up all these years, but I can at least see from the way she has performed in this competition that she is not as naive as you think she is. If in the future, we come to regret these decisions, then we will be able to live with that too, knowing that it was our choice. I will take my leave now." Lei Yong finished then bowed to his father and left the study.

The defense minister sighed as watched his son's departing back.

{...These children, should I be proud, angry or sad?...}

 At that time, their parents had refused to submit Lei Xing's name no matter how much she had pleaded. Lei Yong had just returned from the battlefield. He had been gone for 8 years, going from one battle to another with the current emperor, and had missed watching his sisters grow up.

They had often exchanged letters, and he had often mentioned the prince in his letters. It seemed that Lei Xing had fallen in love with the Emperor through his words.

When she couldn't persuade her parents and the deadline was looming, she ran to Lei Yong pleading in tears to help her participate in the competition and that she will forever live in regret if she did not participate.

Seeing her looking so miserable, his heart was moved, but still, he felt hesitant about sending her to the palace and tried to persuade her against it, but she said that if she did not go then she would be unable to live.

 Seeing her so resolute, he decided to help, the least he could do was help make her dreams a reality after being absent for so many years. Furthermore, he trusted the emperor to take care of her, if not out of affection for her, but at least for the sake of their friendship. So, he had submitted her name behind his parents' back.

His father found out and kept this secret from his mother, simply telling her that he changed his mind and that it would be a disservice to the emperor to not include her. His mother was angry with his father for days because of this, Lei Yong felt guilty, but his father warned him to keep it quiet, and so he complied.

Eventually, Lei Xing was able to placate their mother, reassuring her that this was for the best and was also what she wished for and so peace was able to return to their home.

 Lei Yong walked away feeling complicated. While he meant what he said to his father, he couldn't help feeling worried for Lei Xing.

{...I hope you don't regret this in the end...}

***

The afternoon of the next day, carriage after carriage arrived at the palace. The ministers along with their wives and their teenage and older children, arrived at the palace gates and flocked in, holding gifts for the Emperor and Empress dowager.

While this banquet was deemed to be in celebration of the candidates for the concubine selection, in actuality it was the celebratory banquet for the new Emperor's reign and the Empress dowager's rise to power.

The celebratory banquet had been delayed the last three months since the Emperor took office because of the funeral arrangements for the late emperor. Then soon after that of his Empress who had passed away due to immense grief at the loss of her Emperor, it seemed she was restraining her grief to watch the current Emperor assume the throne.

It was announced that she passed away in her sleep that night following his coronation ceremony, there is also a rumor that she had committed suicide.

No matter what her cause of death, the Emperor was greatly saddened and so did not have the will to hold a celebratory banquet.

 The Emperor had left the palace for war at the young age of 12 and had never returned until the last Emperor died, he wasn't even able to be there for his last words. While the current Empress dowager had been imprisoned in the cold palace for the last 15 years, so the families of the ministers were incredibly curious as to what they really looked like and also came along with presents to curry favor with them.

The families were seated according to their rank, the seats closest to the emperor's platform were reserved for the candidates, save for Prince Yi's place which was not moved.

 After a while, the Emperor and the Empress dowager's arrival was announced, and everyone got up and bowed as they walked in, after they all sat back down, the Emperor said some words to welcome them.

The candidates then filed in soon after, they were all dressed beautifully in extravagant white garments with gold threaded designs all over it, their hair was all put up in a complicated bun and adorned with beautiful headpieces, and they had on extravagant drooping earrings and necklaces, they truly looked like imperial wives at this moment. They all bowed to the emperor and empress dowager and were then directed to their seats by Ling mama.

 Lei Xing felt a bit disgruntled by this seating arrangement, somehow she had ended up seated next to Prince Yi, she had no choice but to take her seat as directed, as it would be weird if she protested.

{...Is someone trying to play an annoying joke on me? It's not funny -_-)'...}

 Lei Xing calmly took her seat and faced forward and delved into her thoughts. She spent the last two days since the events of the last round contemplating what her next steps would be after today.

She was aware that she had virtually offended the three most powerful people in the country, so she was aware that she must definitely not get into any sort of trouble in the future, otherwise, they could use the opportunity to just kill her.

{...Frankly, it's best to just leave the capital city...but where would I go?...}

 Lei Xing frowned. This was as far as her plans had gotten. She could either live as quietly as a mouse and hope no trouble comes her way, but even mice still get troubled by cats despite how they hide and run so fast, so this plan was unreliable and honestly depressing to her.

The other plan of leaving the city, hit against a wall, she knows nowhere and no one, so where could she go. She rationalized that she could probably convince her parents to send her to some relative in some other city, but she wasn't really comfortable with the idea of going to live under a stranger's roof, especially given how restricted life here could be.

{...Won't it be worse living with some relative...also what if they abuse me or something? It's not like there's a phone for me to call the family here to ask for help...I'd basically be a sitting duck...}

 Preferably, she would like to set out on her own and maybe start a business somewhere, but that required a lot of money, not only for living expenses but also to hire adequate protection, these are dangerous times. It would also be hard to convince her parents to let her set out on her own given the times, but before worrying about that, she needed a destination.

{...I would have to do some research once I leave...maybe I can go to some other country or something...Yes, that Jiu country sounds like a delightful place...I can already envision myself sitting on the prairie with some jiu "wine" admiring the grassland scenery or perhaps a beautiful cherry blossom setting with petals floating around...peaceful, beautiful and serene...}

 Lei Xing smiled to herself.

"What's so amusing?" She heard a voice from her left ask, and her smile instantly vanished, and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes, "What? Do you also find this "congratulatory" gifting session hypocritical as well?"

Lei Xing remained silent and pretended like he wasn't talking to her.

{...I'm not sure what to say to that...yes, offends those two above and no, could offend you...and I think I've racked up enough offenses for one month...}

 Prince Yi looked at her for a while, smiled, and then turned back to watch the noble men and women stepping up one after another with gifts, expressing their congratulations and scoffed as he watched the gifting session while sipping his wine and refilling his cup with a sarcastic smile plastered on his face.

When the gifting session was over, dancers filtered in and music began and servants servant served food. There were various performances from acrobats performing to willowy women dancing.

 Lei Xing was enjoying the show as she ate, she had always loved things like this, she was a huge fan of Cirque du Soleil, Shen Yun, Cavalia odyssey...in short, anything that involved acrobats, synchronized dances and theatre performances, she loved and would splurge to secure great seats, this and her electronics were the only things she spent money lavishly on, once in a while.

Prince Yi finished off another cup of wine, refilled it and looked at Lei Xing, her eyes were fixed on the performances. She was enjoying them with a small smile taking occasional sips of wine and tea.

 He frowned and observed her for a while, then he said, "Your skills are quite unique."

He watched the smile on her face disappear, and she glanced at him lightly, saw him smirking, and then looked back to the stage, somewhat annoyed.

{...Are you insulting me?... I thought you had moved past this...wait, should I maybe apologize about before?...No, wait, why should I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong...but still...}

 Lei Xing glanced at him again and saw him still looking at her with a smirk and then looked forward again.

{...No, no, he looks like the sort to make my life more difficult if I apologize...plus, it's not like I want to be friends or anything...Ignoring him is fine...I'll just play dumb...}

 The rest of the night, Lei Xing felt uncomfortable, she didn't look his way again, but she could feel Prince Yi looking at her.

{...This is annoying, can this night end already...I want to go home...}

 Eventually, all the candidates were called forward, they filed to the front, bowed, and awaited their fates. Lei Xing heaved a small sigh of relief when she got up and was glad the banquet was getting to the point.

{...Finally...}

 The Empress dowager spoke up, "You have all done your best and showcased your..."

{...Yeah, yeah, we know we did, fast forward, please...}

 Lei Xing was so anxious for this to be over, and finally, an eunuch rolled open a scroll and began to read the names of those who succeeded.

Lei Xing watched on as the names were read and the candidates walked up the steps to the first landing of the platform, her three courtyard mates' names: Lady Jin, Lady Yu and copycat, Lady Lian had already been called.

There were already seven of them up there, and more were still being called. Lei Xing sighed in her mind.

{...Exactly how many concubines does 1 man need? If I remember correctly there was even some emperor who had 3000...how that doesn't kill you, is beyond me, I have a headache just thinking about it...}

 In the end, there were 12 names called, and Lei Xing was not on it, she wanted to laugh and jump up in glee, but she restrained herself and controlled her expression.

The other candidates beside her all wore forlorn expressions. Lei Xing didn't bother to try to copy that for fear that she would end up bursting into laughter, so she just maintained a cool expression.

Amongst those who failed were Lady Mudan, Lady Baihe, and Lady Mujin, just as Lei Xing said they joined her in failure. Their expressions compared to the other candidates were even worse, they looked like they wanted to kick themselves.

Lei Xing happened to be standing near them and had glimpsed their expressions and wanted to laugh.

{...I know I'm not one to talk, but next time, control your mouths...hahahaha...}

 The Empress dowager gave the failed candidates a condolence speech and gave them various parting gifts, and then they were directed to leave the hall.

Prince Yi watched as the group of failed candidates bowed and made their way out, and smiled.

{...This is good too, I don't have a Princess consort yet, and I think she will do nicely, there is also the added bonus of the Defense minister...I wonder between a son and a daughter, who would he choose?...or better yet, between a friend and a sister, who would the son choose?...}

 Lei Xing calmly walked out with the group while she was doing cartwheels on the inside.

{...I made it, I really made it...I'm done with this Royal BS...FREEDOM!...}

***

{...*What the hell are you doing?!!...}