The empress was having trouble bearing children. Even though she was married to the emperor the longest, ever since they were both just teens, she was the only one that didn't birth him a single child. All the consorts already gave him one each, some even more than that, which left the empress in a depressing state. Her and the emperor knew each other for a long time. She was promised to him when they were both just children. Her father was a very high ranking official and the late emperor thought she would be perfect for his eldest son.
But after all, no matter how beautiful she was, she still needed give birth to an heir, otherwise she wouldn't be worthy her position. The emperor who used to see her on a daily basis was slowly shifting his attention to his younger concubines who already had at least one, if not multiple children.
The empress tried everything she could, calling in all the doctors from across the nation who each tried their own methods. Some of them tried herbs and medicine, others different excercised, yet nothing seemed to work. It was as if she was cursed to not be able to get pregnant. These kind of gossips made the emperor uneasy, not making the whole situation any better.
In the last attempt of finding a way to have a child, the poor empress sneaked out to visit those practiciants that she shouldn't be seeing. She was ready to try even their shady methods.
After visiting a few individuals that turned her down, one came up with an idea. He offered to try a curse that would help her but make other women around the emperor infertile. The empress wanted badly to have a child, but she told the man she needed to think about it.
On her way home, the carriage halted in front of a man with a cloak. He dropped a few herbs and fruits from his basket and was having troublr trying to pick them up. The empress had a very good heart so she crawled down and helped him without thinking, shocking her guards who didn't even have time to react.
"Thank you, kind lady," the man said, smiling. "I'm very thankful for your help."
"It was no trouble at all!" said the empress, smiling back at the stranger.
The man bowed his head and left, making the empress think nothing much of their exchange. She got back, running into the emperor, but instead of scolding her, he spent the night with her. The empress didn't even have time to think about going back to the shady man because in a short time, she finally became pregnant and not long later gave birth to a son.
After such a long time, the entire palace called him a miracle, singing him praises from sunrise to sunset. Exactly for this reason, the child was given the name "Yanzuo".
Unlike all the other children the emperor had, this son of his was well behaved since birth, barely crying, talking back or throwing tantrums. Throughout the years, he never caused any trouble, having wonderful results in his studies on top of that. It was obvious who the crown prince is going to be. Unlike everyone around him, he didn't pay it much mind. He wasn't that interested in becoming an emperor, he was way more interested in studying and becoming a teacher.
In a family amongst the common people or some lower officials this would be a great thing, but a prince wanting such thing? He became a laughing stock for this simple wish of his, making even his father not know if he should be disappointed or laugh at that poor boy.
These dreams were not much, but he still needed to get rid of them. By the time he was a teen, he didn't mention them anymore, quietly obeying his parents and teachers. Life seemed simple this way, considering the fact that he could still at least get the best education available. It did seem like it, but Qi Yanzuo was soon hit with the demand that he should get married and have children.
He could study in free time while still doing his duties as a prince but wanting for him to get married was another thing. No matter how much he wanted to protest, all he could do was lower his head and watch as his father arranged a marriage between him and a daughter of a scholar, Fei Hua.
This girl's knowledge was just as good as her looks, making her perfect in any way. Qi Yanzuo simply didn't have a reason to say 'no'.
He didn't love her though. That wasn't the point anyway.