Chapter 1646: Chapter 1646: Mislead (1)

Yang Ruxin scoffed, “This connection is hidden deeply enough. If no one investigates, who would have thought of it?”

“It’s said that the Crown Prince dotes on Lady Feng immensely, practically fulfilling her every request, even to the point of neglecting the Crown Princess Consort,” Du Man pursed her lips. “Rumors in the Palace even say that if the Crown Princess doesn’t get pregnant soon, they might let Lady Feng have a child first…”

Yang Ruxin’s eyes sparkled momentarily. What a level of favor this is! You should know that while in this era, polygamy is the norm for men, the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children is extremely significant. Within a family, the eldest son is expected to inherit the family business, unless the elders in the family are particularly biased and indifferent to others’ opinions, or the eldest son is genuinely incompetent; only then might another child take over the family line.

Thus, under normal circumstances, the legitimate wife is supposed to bear the eldest son or eldest daughter first. Only after the legitimate wife gives birth are the concubines allowed to bear children.

This is precisely why Gu Qingheng’s stepmother went to such great lengths to eliminate him after his mother passed away, when his father remarried. With him present, even if Zou Qiuyue’s son is also a legitimate child, he wouldn’t be the eldest son and thus wouldn’t qualify to inherit the family business.

And within the royal family, this is considered even more crucial. The Crown Prince must be born of the legitimate wife. If the legitimate wife hasn’t given birth, even if the concubine becomes pregnant, the child must be aborted.

Yet now rumors are spreading about letting Lady Feng bear a child first. If this is true, then Lady Feng’s status must be extraordinary.

However, isn’t the Crown Prince already twenty-seven? They’ve been married for two years. Of course, before this, there were women around him, yet there doesn’t seem to have been any pregnancies.

One woman without children might be an issue with the woman. Two women without children could be coincidental. But for all the women around him to be childless, not even pregnant—this likely points to the Crown Prince himself. Could it be that the Crown Prince is infertile?

Is infertility really so common in this era?

Should she step in to treat the Crown Prince, and use the opportunity to strengthen ties with the Crown Princess Consort?

This idea is good, but it wouldn’t be easy to implement, so she decided to set it aside for now.

“But by this calculation, the Crown Prince’s connections with the Meng Family are far weaker than King Yun’s. While she’s a concubine, she still counts as King Yun’s in-law. So why are the rumors saying that the Crown Prince is their supporter?” Yang Ruxin smacked her lips. “And if you consider it closely, the Meng Family even has ties with King Han. After all, Meng Keqing was originally chosen by King Han…”

Du Man nodded, “That’s true. Gu Ming casually forged a link with one of the Meng Family’s coachmen, and outwardly, the Meng Family has intentionally or unintentionally associated themselves with the Crown Prince. Yet, they completely ignore mentioning connections with anyone else…”

Yang Ruxin frowned slightly. Her intuition told her that something was off. For a family involved in overseas trade, those who can make smooth round trips are bound to collude with pirates on nearby islands. The pirates provide escort services for trade ships, and the families in turn supply resources to the pirates. Sometimes, they even facilitate their raids ashore.

The Meng Family would naturally be no exception.

However, despite having some wealth, the Meng Family is just an ordinary merchant family. They wouldn’t have such significant influence on their own. This requires tacit approval from the Governor’s Office, and the individuals involved must have military authority or control over the local military.