Chapter 1: Seeking a Daughter
"Master, am I truly destined to have no daughters?"
The man dressed in a bright yellow robe knelt solemnly on the cushion, with hands clasped in prayer, and looked devoutly at the colossal golden Buddha statue before him. He asked the monk standing behind him.
The monk was the abbot of Huguo Temple, known by the monastic name Dao Ji.
Dao Ji was highly cultivated and skilled in divination. Ten years ago, he predicted the national fortune for Eastern Chu, and much of it has come true over the years, thus earning him the deep respect of Emperor Yongning.
Today, Emperor Yongning brought his concubines from various palaces to Huguo Temple for blessings, ostensibly praying for favorable weather and peace for the coming year.
In truth, Emperor Yongning harbored a personal wish—he longed for a daughter.
He already had eighteen sons, yet not a single daughter.
For this reason, he had often been teased by neighboring monarchs, who, blessed with both sons and daughters, jested that he was destined for wealth through sons, a fate others envied.
Though it seemed like praise, each time Emperor Yongning heard it, he felt discomfort.
After seeing off the visiting monarch from a neighboring country, he immediately came to Huguo Temple to seek Master Daoji. Now well into his forties, he wanted to know if he would ever have a daughter. He needed a definitive answer.
After divining with turtle shells, Dao Ji spoke with eyes closed, "Your Majesty need not worry about this; you are destined to have a daughter."
"Really?" Emperor Yongning's eyes, usually as calm as a placid lake, lit up, and his voice brimmed with excitement, "When will my daughter arrive? I... I need to make arrangements..."
He wanted to build a luxurious palace exclusively for the little princess, to employ the finest craftsmen across the country to make the furniture, and to send people to the south to find the legendary delicate and smooth Silk, which bore a faint fragrance, to make curtains and bedding. He also wanted to...
There was so much he wanted to prepare for the little princess; he wished he could gather all the best things in the world for her, at any cost.
"Your Majesty, the princess has already been born."
"Already born?" Emperor Yongning looked bewildered, "Master, did you make a mistake in your calculations? I currently have only eighteen sons, no daughters."
Could it be that he somehow had a daughter without knowing?
Impossible!
He had always adored daughters. From the birth of the Eldest Prince to the Eighteenth Prince, he had been closely monitoring in hopes of a daughter, but ultimately, they were all sons.
So, it was impossible for a daughter to have been born without his knowledge.
"You currently have seventeen sons and one daughter," Dao Ji corrected Emperor Yongning.
Emperor Yongning rubbed his temples and thought carefully, "The Eighteenth died shortly after birth, didn't even live a day. Strictly speaking, I have seventeen sons, but I certainly have no daughter."
Dao Ji, however, remained firm, "There absolutely is."
Emperor Yongning waved his hand, "No, no, no, there isn't."
No matter how much Emperor Yongning denied it, Master Daoji stood by his divination result; Emperor Yongning indeed had a daughter.
As for where this daughter was now, when she was born, and how old she was, he could not predict.
All he could tell Emperor Yongning was that her fate was complex; though she endured hardships in her early years, she carried an air of dignity and fortune and was destined to be extraordinary in adulthood.
Wherever she is, there shall be favorable weather and peace.
After leaving Huguo Temple, Dao Ji's words echoed in Emperor Yongning's mind all the way back.
He believed in Dao Ji's divination skills, but he also knew he truly had no daughter!
Among his eighteen sons, each unmistakably a son; he could not have made a mistake.
Could it be possible that a daughter somehow ended up lost among the common folk?
This... seemed not entirely impossible.
In the ten years since he ascended the throne, he had toured the south several times and had relations with several dancers and singers along the way, and although precautions were taken afterward, absolute certainty was not guaranteed.