Palace Full of Delicacies Chapter 12

Part 2 of modern boi being shook at the liberalness of the AU he transmigrated into.

(Also, sorry for the wait, hope you'll enjoy regardless!)

C12. Laws

Consorts were chosen regardless of gender.

Su Yu suddenly felt like he had transmigrated to the future instead of the past. This society was a bit too liberal, wasn't it!

Lady Zhao rambled on about the benefits of participating in the consort selection. If he was selected, he could become at least a first-rank general after coming back a few years later. Even if he wasn't selected, passing the first round of selections would have the genealogy management office's attention, and the nobility rank might possibly go to Su Yu.

Su Yu was still in a state of shock and couldn't take in any of his mother's words; more accurately, he couldn't understand a word of what she said. He suddenly realised he lacked a lot of general knowledge about this world.

After taking the name sheet absentmindedly and leaving the rear courtyard, Su Yu looked up at the sky, then headed for the study.

The Su family had never been some scholarly household, but they were at least nobility, so they still had things like studies or libraries to show to outsiders.

After pushing open the dust-covered doors, the dust that flew off made the kitten in his shirt sneeze non-stop. Su Yu quickly waved his sleeves, patting the furry little head that had gotten dust all over it, and lit the candles in the candlestick with a fire-starter.

The study wasn't big and had a limited supply of books. Even after hunting around for a while with the candlestick in hand, Su Yu couldn't find any books that could help him with general knowledge. They didn't have anything like encyclopaedias in ancient times, so all he could refer to were the books about laws. But would a fish-selling family have law books in their study?

Seeing Su Yu so miserable, An Hongche couldn't quite understand why, so he reached out to pat Su Yu's face with a paw. Su Yu looked down, happening to look into the kitten's large eyes, and he somehow saw puzzlement in those glass-like eyes.

"I feel like I know too little about this dynasty, I've got to find a law book and read up some." Looking into this pair of eyes, Su Yu unconsciously felt like explaining to the kitten, even though he knew it couldn't understand him.

Hearing the words 'this dynasty', An Hongche's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Saucey, why would the imperial family want a male consort? This world is too strange." As he talked, Su Yu couldn't help but say too much, rambling as he searched among the books.

After coming to this unfamiliar world, he'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid. Su Yu had been living cautiously, afraid of giving himself away somehow, and he couldn't say or ask anything even if he didn't understand a lot of things. He only dared to let his guard down when faced with the little furball in his shirt.

The golden kitten pawed at the inside of the shirt, quietly listening to Su Yu's jabbering. His tail, hidden inside the clothing, waved about lightly, his amber-coloured eyes dark and shadowy.

"Ah, found it!" Su Yu exclaimed, digging a dusty book out of the corner. Even its cover was a little yellowed. When the dust was blown off, the words 'Laws of the Great An' were exposed.

…among those of noble lineage, all males and females of suitable age who are not betrothed or wedded are to participate in the selection of consorts…

…when a Crown Prince is appointed, the imperial harem shall be dismissed. Excluding all who have sired imperial descendants, females shall return to their families, males shall be granted nobility ranks according to their former ranks in the palace…

Su Yu lay on his bed, carefully reading the sections about the imperial family's consort selection and becoming more confused the more he read. The golden furball lay on its back near his waist, licking its paws out of boredom.

According to the records of the law, the imperial family of the great An dynasty was really an odd bunch. Choosing consorts regardless of gender could still be interpreted as the imperial family liking men, which could happen in particularly liberal dynasties, but the remaining rules just couldn't be understood. Once the Crown Prince was appointed, the consorts who hadn't sired children would all be dismissed; women were allowed to remarry, and men were given nobility ranks!

According to their ranks in the palace, noblemen could be promoted after being dismissed from the imperial harem. For example, getting to the rank of 'Consort' would make them an earl, getting to 'Noble Consort' would make them a duke, and getting to 'Empress Consort'…Empress Consorts were not dismissed.

"That's just ridiculous!" Su Yu was dumbfounded.

Hearing this, An Hongche shook his tail, climbing on top of Su Yu's head and looking downward.

"Then everyone should just enter the palace and be consorts, who would still go and achieve great things and defend the country!" Su Yu heavily suspected that this book of laws was a pirated copy his ancestors bought from a roadside stall.

You foolish thing, do you believe it is so easy to be a male consort? An Hongche jumped down from Su Yu's head, crouching on the law book. He tapped the corner of the page, which told of the various harsh restrictions on male consorts. For a male consort to be selected, there had to be a certain number of people from the imperial family who agreed, and they had to get extremely high ratings during the consort selection. One might say that people who could get selected had the right to be given nobility ranks.

Su Yu lay on his back, lifting his name sheet and looking at it over and over. In the centre were those gilded words, 'Su Yu, courtesy name Jintang'.

Even after being in this world for so long, Su Yu didn't know he had a courtesy name. He thought this body was about seventeen or eighteen years old, but he didn't expect it to be at least twenty years old.

"Jintang…" Running a finger over those two characters, Su Yu became a little spaced out. In his previous life, what had he been doing at age twenty? No one cared about him at home, and he couldn't pay the fees even after managing to enter university. So he'd go out early in the morning to work part-time, slaughtering fish and washing vegetable and being busy from morning to evening.

An Hongche crawled to Su Yu's chest, looking up at the name sheet. Jintang, this courtesy name was quite good.

Although Su Yu hadn't looked closely at the restrictions for male consorts, he understood that such a good thing wouldn't happen to just about anyone. Of course, the imperial family would be ultrcareful when selecting male consorts. Lady Zhao had thought about it too simply.

"For someone like me, it's no use going. The Emperor would only have eyes for me if he's blind." Su Yu threw the name sheet aside, deciding not to care about this anymore.

Such treason and heresy! The kitten on his chest got pissed at once, slapping Su Yu's head with a paw.

Su Yu took the chance to press the kitten to his face, nuzzling happily against the soft fuzz.

In the middle of the night, a slender, fair hand took the name sheet that had fallen under the bed. Pale lips pursed. So this foolish commoner had the gall to throw his name sheet away!

Other people had exhausted themselves trying to get into the palace, yet this moron didn't want to go! An Hongche sat on the bed, silently fuming for a while. Looking over at Su Yu, who was asleep and blissfully unaware, he dragged the man into his arms angrily. After cocking his head at the man for a while, he couldn't help but draw closer and give those soft lips a lick. He then tucked the name sheet into his sleeve.

So it shall be, then. How can I, who is so forgiving and benevolent, bear to see you commit such foolishness. I shall give you a little help. Let this be a reward for having served me well these days.

The next day, Su Yu forgot all about the name sheet. After waking up and getting ready, he set out for Arch Prince Zhao's manor.

The guest scholar from Arch Prince Zhao's house was very efficient. Last evening, he had recruited two cooks to help out, and An Hongyi told Su Yu to go to his manor and prepare one dish each day.

Su Yu let one cook learn to grill squid in the garden, had the other cook prepare seafood congee in the kitchen, and he himself brought a plate of Golden Butterfly Prawns to Arch Prince Zhao as a snack.

"Does Your Highness not need to attend court?"

"Elder Brother is ill, no need to attend court." An Hongyi fed the cat merrily as he ate.

The corner of Su Yu's mouth twitched. Even common folk would at least pretend to be grieved if they mentioned how their elder brother was ill, wouldn't they.

"The restaurant's redecoration begins today; you may go and take a look in the afternoon." As An Hongyi finished the last prawn, the grilled squids had also reached completion. After drinking some tea, he grabbed a squid skewer and began eating. "Hmm, not as good as the ones you cooked."

Su Yu gave the cook a few pointers, instructing him to control the fires, then chatted with Arch Prince Zhao about the restaurant's decorations. As they talked, the topic of the consort selections came up. He suddenly realised: since His Majesty was still sick, maybe the consort selections this year would be postponed again, which would save him a lot of trouble.

"The consort selection?" An Hongyi blinked, stealing a glance at the kitten on the table. "That depends on Elder Brother's mood."

Remembering that Su Yu was also a nobleman, Arch Prince Zhao laughed heartily, saying Su Yu should participate too. The restaurant's decorations would be finished within half a month, and there were still three more months left before the consort selections. This was enough time for Su Yu to earn lots to bribe the genealogy management office with. As for the imperial family's side, Arch Prince Zhao would definitely vouch for Su Yu.

Su Yu felt that talking to this unreliable Arch Prince Zhao about serious matters was just causing trouble for himself. In the afternoon, he went with the guest scholar to East Avenue to look at the decorations.

This small, two-room restaurant didn't need any elaborate decorations. The most important point was the making of that spiral staircase. The pawn shop below hadn't been willing to let Su Yu have a staircase outside at first, since it would block part of their shopfront. But after hearing that he was with Arch Prince Zhao, they shifted the warehouse immediately, even bringing refreshments for the builders without being asked.

Previously, when Su Yu had wanted to take back these two shop spaces, he'd discussed it with the owner. The shopkeeper had ridiculed him quite a bit then.

"We'll all be neighbours in future, it's only natural to help each other." The shopkeeper's face was full of smiles, as if he was a different person than the shopkeeper from a while back.

The builders hired by the arch prince's house were of course the best at their craft. More than ten builders started work at the same time, their speed almost as fast as those renovation companies from Su Yu's previous life. Less than ten days later, they were very nearly done, and half a month later, the place would ready to open for business.

"Saucey, it's time to get up. The restaurant's signboard is being unveiled today, and you've got to go be the fortune cat!" After Su Yu made breakfast, he went back to the room to look for the lazy kitten that was still asleep.

The green curtains flapped in the breeze. Su Yu smiled as he pulled the curtain aside; then, at once, he became froze on the spot.

The morning sunlight streamed in, shining on the simple wooden bed. The kitten who had been sleeping in the centre of the bed was gone, replaced by an unusually beautiful…man.

Oho? A man appeared…ohohoho…

New names:

Jintang = 瑾堂. (瑾='beautiful jade'; 堂='hall'; this is the simplest and most common meaning) Su Yu's courtesy name.

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Chapter end