November 18, the forty-third year of Kangxi's reign
The Shunzhen Gate of the Forbidden City slowly opened in the misty skylight, indicating that the triennial selection of beautiful girls has officially begun.
Women of the Eight Banners of Manchu, Mongolian and Han, as long as they are over the age of 10, are required to participate in the election. If for some reason they are unable to participate in the election, they must participate in the next election. Otherwise, they will not be able to get married even if they are 28 years old. Violators will be punished by the flag.
Participate in the investigation and punishment of crimes.
The beautiful ladies are waiting outside Shunzhen Gate at the fourth watch. There are double lights on each carriage, indicating which clan and flag the owner of the carriage belongs to.
Placement in the palace. The show girls who can stand here have been screened through layers of screening. Those with unclean bodies or disabilities have been excluded as early as the primary election.
The Niu Hulu family belonged to the Xianghuang Banner. Ling Ruo and the beautiful ladies from the same banner stood together and allowed themselves to be arranged by the eunuchs without saying a word. This is the imperial palace, the most noble place in the world and the place with the most right and wrong. If you cannot be careful in your words and deeds,
, I’m just afraid that when disaster strikes, I don’t even know where it came from.
The steward aunt of Zhongcui Palace had already led dozens of maids to wait in the courtyard. When she saw them arriving, she bowed slightly and said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "Good luck to you, my young masters. This servant is Hongling, the steward of Zhongcui Palace. From now on until
During the period when the little masters are officially entrusted, all the little masters’ food, clothing, housing and transportation
The slaves are responsible for taking care of them. In addition, from tomorrow onwards, the nanny will come here to teach the young masters about the etiquette in the palace, so as to prevent the young masters from being disrespectful when answering in front of the emperor." She glanced at everyone and said.
: "If there are no more problems for the young masters, then I will arrange a place for them to stay."
"We have more than a hundred people here. Does Zhongcui Palace have so many rooms to accommodate us?" One of the beautiful ladies asked doubtfully.
Hong Ling smiled slightly and said: "Of course it is not possible for one person to share a room, but it is still possible for two people to share a room. I know that all the young masters are wealthy and do not want to live in the same room with others, but please be considerate at the moment.
Second, I would like to thank all the young masters here."
Ling Ruo secretly thought in his heart, this man is very capable and blocked his words before others could attack him. As expected, no one in the palace is kind to others.
Many of the beautiful ladies frowned, but no one raised any objections. After all, no one wanted to offend anyone as soon as they arrived. Some were even secretly planning how to win over this young but shrewd young lady.
He is my aunt so that she can help him more.
Things became much simpler after that. After they were arranged to share a room with each other, the palace maid led them away, and Ling Ruo was arranged to share a room with Guo Luoluo Muyue, the daughter of the third official of the imperial court.
Two palace maids took them to a wing on the west side and saluted them. One of them, who was slightly older, said crisply: "Hello, two young masters. My name is Ruyi, and her name is Jixiang. She is responsible for taking care of this little girl."
In the courtyard, the two young masters can give instructions to the slaves if they have anything to do in the future. In addition, breakfast has been prepared and will be delivered to the master's room later. If the masters have no other instructions, the slaves will leave first.
"
"Thank you." Mu Yue nodded cheerfully, took out a golden melon seed from her white purse and gave each of them one. In today's world, one tael of gold can be exchanged for twelve taels of silver. Don't look at the small golden melon seeds, but they can be worth the price.
As a month's salary for an ordinary palace maid, Ruyi and the two happily thanked her and left.
While they were talking, Ling Ruo had already roughly taken a look at the furnishings in the room, and secretly praised that it was indeed a royal palace. Even the room for a beautiful girl of no rank was exquisite and elegant. Although there were two beds, she didn't notice it at all.
Crowded.
"I wonder what I call this sister?" A gentle voice came from behind. It was Guo Luoluo. She was looking at Ling Ruo who turned around with a smile.
Ling Ruoyang raised the corner of her lips, her smile was as light as the light on the horizon, and she said politely: "Don't dare, just call me Ling Ruo." The most worthless thing in the palace is the so-called elder sister, who has no sincerity at all.
What's more, this Guo Luoluo Muyue is by no means a simple person. You can tell just by looking at how she started to win people's hearts as soon as she entered the palace. Otherwise, even if she really wanted to reward her, there would be no need to reward her with such valuable melon seeds.
Mu Yue didn't seem to hear the unfamiliarity in her words, and took Ling Ruo's hand affectionately: "Just now when the carriages were sorted outside Shunzhen Gate, I remembered that my sister's carriage was ahead of mine. It must have been bigger than mine.
In this case, a sister is indispensable no matter what. From now on, when you and I live in the same house, I hope that my sister will take care of you."
"Just take care of each other." Seeing her sincere expression, Ling Ruo couldn't tell whether her words were sincere or fake.
Mu Yue turned her head and looked at Ling Ruo carefully, and sighed: "When I met my sister today, I realized that the ancients did not deceive me. The so-called ice jade is the flesh and the autumn water is the god. It refers to the beauty of the country like my sister. Comparing with my sister.
, my sister can be considered a fan of vulgarity. I think she will definitely be selected in this draft, and she will be granted the title of concubine and concubine just around the corner."
Ling Ruo frowned slightly and hissed: "Don't talk nonsense about this kind of thing. There are many outstanding girls in this year's show, and there are not a few who are better than me. What's more, even my sister is by no means as mediocre as you said.
, Besides, today’s wise and wise saint is definitely not a person who only pays attention to appearance. Relatively speaking, virtue is the most important.”
"Sister is too cautious." Mu Yue replied lightly, walked slowly to the table and poured a cup of tea. The pleasant fragrance of tea accompanied by the mist of water made her face look a little unreal, and her eyebrows were low, which made her look a bit unreal.
One can't see clearly what she is thinking.
She handed the tea to Ling Ruo, and when he reached out to take it, he seemed to be stunned for a moment when he saw her smooth and jade-like wrists. Then he took a closer look and said in surprise: "How can sister dress so plainly?"
Ling Ruo had no other accessories except a pair of jade earrings at the moment. There were only a few scattered silver foil bead flowers and an jade hairpin on her head. Only her clothes with goose-yellow silver patterns embroidered with begonia flowers were acceptable.
From a more eye-catching perspective, this outfit is indeed a bit shabby compared to other beaded and gorgeous beauties.
"I don't like complexity, so this is good." Ling Ruo replied lightly, not planning to say anything more.
"Is that really so?" Mu Yue smiled sweetly, showing a charming and charming look that she had not seen just now, "Since my sister refuses to say it, I will say it for you, Niu Hulu Lingruo - from the Fourth Grade Ceremony Lingzhu
My daughter is the sister of Ronglu, the second-class Jinshi in this department, am I wrong?"
"When the late Queen was still there, the Niu Hulu family was extremely prosperous. Unfortunately, after the late Queen and Concubine Wen passed away, the Niu Hulu family fell into decline. Now it has become a lower-class family.
, and my sister’s Amma even offended the Ministry of Etiquette
Lord Shangshu Shi, I heard that people in the winter can’t even make charcoal, so pitiful; and your brother, who could have been a good scholar and entered the Hanlin Academy, but why was he sent to Jiangxi based on his experience as a Chasi? " Mu.
Yue clicked her tongue and shook her head, seeming to really feel sorry for Rong Lu.
Ling Ruo's expression gradually turned cold. She had already seen that this Guo Luoluo Muyue had bad intentions, and the previous intimacy was just an act.
It was not that Mu Yue didn't notice the change in Ling Ruo's expression, but she didn't care. Instead, she smiled even brighter. Fu Yifu went to Jiangnan to customize the rose purple strands of gold and butterfly to wear a flower cloud satin brocade dress.
His eyes flickered and he said calmly: "Sister, you must really want to be selected in this draft, right? After all, this is the last chance to save the Niu Hulu family, but..."
Her weak, boneless fingers caressed Ling Ruo's beautiful face. Her touch made Ling Ruo feel sick. He took a few steps back to avoid her hand, "But what?"
Mu Yue clapped her hands and said with a smile: "But will my sister really have a chance? My sister's family has offended the Crown Princess Amma!"
Ling Ruo laughed angrily, "You don't have to worry about whether I can be selected. Besides, the crown prince alone cannot have the final say in the harem."
"It seems like sister really doesn't know anything. Then I'll tell you one thing." She leaned close to Ling Ruo's ear, her red lips exhaled, and said word by word: "I'm in charge of this draft."
It’s Concubine Rong, and Concubine Rong is the aunt of the Crown Princess. What does it mean to influence the whole body with one move? With my sister’s intelligence, it makes no sense that she doesn’t know.”
She smiled innocently, and Ling Ruo looked at her coldly. He didn't know what her purpose was in telling him this, but it was definitely not out of kindness. Although this woman was about the same age as her, her scheming was unfathomable, and she would never be just a person.
In order to achieve temporary advantage of words.
"Sister, the hairpin on your head seems to be crooked. Let me help you re-insert it." Ling Ruo had no time to refuse. She had already taken the hairpin in her hand. When she was about to insert it, her hand suddenly loosened and the emerald hairpin slipped out of her hand.
The hand fell to the ground, and there was a soft "ding" sound, and when you look at it, it has been cut into two pieces.
"Oh, I broke my sister's only hairpin because of my clumsiness. What's wrong with that? But I think you, sister, have a lot of money, so you shouldn't blame me for this, right?!" He said he was apologizing.
There was actually no apology at all, Ling Ruo even saw a deep smile in her eyes.
She was provoking! Thinking of this, Ling Ruo calmed down and said calmly: "It's just a worthless hairpin. There's nothing to blame. My sister is too unobtrusive. If nothing happens, I want to go outside."
Walk."
Staring at her back as she turned away, Mu Yue's expression grew colder. She was deliberately testing to see how far she could endure it, but she didn't expect that she could actually pretend as if nothing had happened. It was really not easy.
From the moment she met Niu Hulu Lingruo, she knew that she was a strong rival. The most indispensable thing in the harem was beauty; but similarly, if she wanted to compete for position in the harem, what she needed most was beauty, and Niu Hulu Lingruo
His appearance was enough to threaten her.
This threat was even greater than the noble ladies that Ama asked her to pay attention to before entering the palace, but fortunately...fortunately Niu Hulu Lingruo had a fatal flaw.
The root of the disaster has been planted, and it will burst out soon, and then... Haha, thinking of this, Mu Yue's mood suddenly improved a lot.