CHAPTER 525: CHAPTER 281 GOING TO BECOME A MONK AGAIN_2

The Capital Mayor naturally knew the significance of these five Xiongnu bandits and repeatedly assured Liu Wu that they would be closely monitored.

Subsequently, Liu Wu entered the palace and reported Wuwei’s words to the emperor verbatim.

After hearing this, the emperor instructed Sun Kui to call Prime Minister He, Grandmaster Liu, and Shen Hu along with others to the Imperial Study.

The group discussed in the Imperial Study for a long time, only concluding around noon.

When Zhao Yao finished his studies, he was told by Tong Xi that the emperor had summoned the Xiongnu envoys during the morning court session.

"Is there a banquet for the Xiongnu envoys tonight?"

Although the Great Zhou did not favor the Xiongnu people and did not welcome them to the Great Zhou, now that they were here and had been for several days, it was only right and courteous to host a banquet for them.

"Tomorrow at noon; the emperor has ordered all ministers and princes to attend."

"So, there will be a good show to watch tomorrow then," Zhao Yao said with anticipation, "Tomorrow’s performance will surely be very exciting; too bad Fourth Brother is not here."

"Your Highness, according to my calculations, Dou Le is almost at Liangzhou, right?"

"Just a few days away," Zhao Yao said as he pulled a blade of grass from somewhere and held it in his mouth, "If the Xiongnu had not come, Fourth Brother might have been summoned back to the capital by Father. Now that the Xiongnu have arrived, Fourth Brother must remain in Liangzhou." Being rich in resources, Liangzhou would be responsible for supplies if conflict with the Xiongnu were to arise.

"Your Highness, is Prince Chu alright?" Tong Xi still remembered what Zhao Yao had mentioned before.

"Nothing major, just something happened to Sister Houci." Zhao Yao saw that Consort Li had sent Dou Le to Liangzhou and had thought something had happened to Fourth Brother; it turned out it was not Fourth Brother but his cousin Li Houci who got into trouble.

"What happened to Miss Houci?" Tong Xi asked with concern.

Seeing Tong Xi’s look of ignorance, Zhao Yao said with some surprise, "Didn’t I tell you?"

"Your Highness, you never mentioned it to me."

"Ah, I might have forgotten."

Tong Xi asked urgently, "Your Highness, what exactly happened to Miss Houci?"

"Sister Houci wants to become a nun."

Tong Xi was shocked: "Why become a nun again?" Before, Miss Kong had become a nun, how come now Miss Houci wants to as well, "Your Highness, why does Miss Houci want to become a nun?"

"Because she doesn’t want to marry anyone else," Zhao Yao added, "Other than Fourth Brother, she doesn’t want to marry anyone else."

"Miss Houci can’t forget Prince Chu, can she?"

"Most likely," Zhao Yao said, suddenly recalling a poem and lamenting, "What is love in this world, that makes people pledge life and death."

Tong Xi did not understand poetry, and hearing Zhao Yao’s words, was stunned.

"Your Highness, is Miss Houci going to die?"

"When did I say she was going to die?"

"Weren’t you just talking about pledges of life and death? Doesn’t that mean Miss Houci is going to die?" Tong Xi thought over it and felt increasingly certain, "Your Highness, isn’t that how the storybooks go, where the cousin can’t marry her cousin and so takes her life out of love? Miss Houci must be the same."

"Sister Houci doesn’t want to die for Fourth Brother; she just wants to become a nun, not marry anyone else." After Prince Chu married the Princess, the Li Family arranged a good marriage for Li Houci. The groom was one of the Li Family’s students, outstanding in both appearance and ability.

"Your Highness, I always feel that becoming a nun isn’t good; look what happened before with Miss Kong in a convent, she died afterward," Tong Xi said, "Your Highness, you must not let Miss Houci become a nun."

"Sister Houci wants to become a nun, but her parents disagree, so she can’t," Zhao Yao speculated, "Princess Li sent Dou Le to find Fourth Brother, probably wanting Fourth Brother to marry Sister Houci as a Consort."

"That’s great then, that way Miss Houci won’t have to become a nun and can marry Prince Chu," Tong Xi said with a smile, "Prince Chu should have married Miss Houci as a Consort long ago."

"Fourth Brother wouldn’t agree to that." In fact, he also didn’t approve of Sister Houci marrying Fourth Brother. Initially, he thought of Sister Houci and Fourth Brother as childhood sweethearts, and Sister Houci becoming his sister-in-law was not bad. Later, he remembered the prohibition of marriages between relatives in Zhao Yao’s dream world. Marrying and having children with someone you’re related to could result in peculiar offspring.

"Why not? Doesn’t Prince Chu like Miss Houci quite a bit?"

"Fourth Brother’s fondness for Sister Houci is purely out of sibling love. Now that Fourth Brother has the Princess Consort Chu, he would never marry Sister Houci as a Consort," Zhao Yao explained, "Besides, being a Consort is still being a concubine, and a girl from the Li Family cannot become a concubine. Furthermore, Fourth Brother wouldn’t allow Sister Houci to suffer the injustice of being his Consort."

"Yeah, it would indeed be a bit demeaning for Miss Houci to be Prince Chu’s Consort, but what if she’s willing?" Tong Xi said, "I have a feeling that Miss Houci would be highly willing to marry Prince Chu even as a Consort."

"She may be willing, but Fourth Brother isn’t," Zhao Yao said, as he thought of women in Zhao Yao’s dream world, he lamented, "Actually, women don’t necessarily have to marry and have children; they can also do other things."

"Your Highness, aren’t women supposed to marry and bear children? What else could they do?"

"There are many things women can do, like becoming doctors, teachers, or doing business..." as Zhao Yao talked about women becoming teachers, he suddenly recalled that most of the people in Lingnan were uneducated, let alone women, even men were.

When he visits Lingnan in the future, he has to launch a literacy program for the local people. Women too need to be educated.

Sister Houci is quite learned, it would be wonderful if Sister Houci were willing to go to Lingnan and teach people how to read and write.

Wait a minute, what was he thinking, wanting Sister Houci to go to Lingnan to teach women to read? But, actually, it’s not a bad idea. If Fourth Brother rejects Sister Houci and she gets heartbroken, he can persuade her to teach women to read. However, he couldn’t invite her to Lingnan or else Fourth Brother would discover all he had done there.

He would wait and see; if Fourth Brother really refuses to marry Sister Houci as a Consort, and Sister Houci insists on becoming a nun, then he would come out of the palace to persuade her to become a lady teacher and educate women.