The selected young ladies who failed to make the cut were sent back directly along the original route, while those who were chosen had to wait in a separate pavilion until everyone had been selected and then would leave one by one.
In their group, only Yu Lan and La Yue were selected. The two obediently followed the leading eunuch to the pavilion.
Besides those who were originally expected to be chosen, Bai Xiaodie was also among them, which completely surprised Shen Layue, although she didn’t show it.
Things really were changing.
Meanwhile, Bai Youran, the legitimate daughter from the Bai household, kept her distance from Bai Xiaodie. Apart from the Bai family, there were no other pairs of sisters selected.
However, Shen Layue’s selection did draw many sidelong glances. Her outfit that day had already led many to believe she wouldn’t be selected, so nobody expected her to make it.
Layue silently counted in her mind; there were already nineteen selected maidens in the pavilion.
Her position in the selection process had been relatively late, so she assumed even if a few more were chosen, it wouldn’t be many.
Indeed, only two more girls were added by the end, bringing the total number of selected maidens for this round to twenty-one.
Not long after, the deputy eunuch supervisor, Lai Fu, led a group of junior eunuchs to arrive and greet the selected maidens.
He then spoke: “The selection for today is complete. All of you are the cream of this batch of candidates. Shortly, I will arrange for instructresses to visit your homes. This will last ten days. All of you young ladies should await the emperor’s decree with composure.”
“Thank you, Master Eunuch.”
Layue had always obediently followed behind the others. In truth, among these people, only two had worse family backgrounds than hers. Her ranking was relatively low.
Gradually, everyone made their way to the palace gates, where a line of carriages had already stopped. These were the carriages sent by families in the morning to pick up their young ladies.
Layue obediently kept her head lowered and followed at the end, watching the young ladies ahead of her get into their carriages one by one.
Jinxin and Jinling stood quietly to one side, unlike some other families’ attendants who were chattering noisily.
Yulan’s maid, Lan’er, had already rushed to Yulan’s side.
After bidding her farewell, Layue boarded her family’s carriage.
They all understood that not coming out earlier meant their young lady had already been selected.
Actually, the two maids were barely able to contain their excitement, but recalling their young lady’s previous instructions, they forced themselves to remain calm.
Upon returning home, they saw that everyone from the household was already waiting at the gate.
As Layue’s carriage arrived, the Shen family quickly knelt down to greet her.
After helping everyone up, Layue followed the elders of the household into the main hall.
It was evident that everyone was overjoyed.
Even the second madam, who usually barely acknowledged Shen Layue, was beaming with delight.
“Good, good! I always knew you’d make it,” the dowager lady said, holding Layue’s hand tightly.
Layue had been tired from the whole day’s selection process. Seeing her fatigue, the dowager dismissed everyone and led Layue to sit on a couch, leaving only the dowager, Layue’s father, and Layue in the room.
“Tired?”
“Yes, I haven’t had anything to drink or eat all day.”
Seeing Layue pouting, the dowager felt a pang of heartache: “I’ve already given the orders. Dinner will be served shortly.”
Then she looked at Layue’s outfit: “You must be exhausted. After dinner, take a good bath and change into something more comfortable to rest.”
Actually, the dowager had not been very supportive of Layue’s choice of outfit before, but since Layue insisted, she hadn’t expected it to have no negative impact.
Understanding the dowager’s thoughts, Layue didn’t hide anything and spoke to her grandmother and father: “Actually, I dressed this way on purpose.”
Layue’s father raised his eyebrows.
The dowager naturally knew she had done it on purpose but didn’t understand the deeper meaning.
“It was also thanks to Grandmother. It was because you found an old instructress, Madam Yu, that I could take advantage of this. You might not know, but when Madam Yu was younger, she served in the palace when the empress dowager was still a noble consort. Back then, during the empress dowager’s selection, she wore exactly this shade of crimson red and wore jasmine hair accessories. However, after that, she never wore that color again. I think there must be some hidden story behind it. But now that she has reached her current position, even if there was something behind it, it must have long since faded away. Naturally, I didn’t copy her completely. This way, I wasn’t too obvious. Even if the emperor was suspicious and questioned it, I wouldn’t be afraid. After all, haven’t I often worn crimson red at home before?”
She didn’t expect Layue to be so meticulous, and the dowager was slightly taken aback.
“Have you been planning this since before?” Layue’s father put down his teacup.
Layue smiled: “I wouldn’t call it planning. If I were still a naive girl, I would be devoured by others once I entered the palace. I must think three steps ahead for every one step I take.”
“Yue’er has really grown up,” her father sighed.
Layue rarely saw this side of her father. Since her mother’s death, he had been distant towards them.
“Father must have heard my conversation with my brother that day.”
Layue’s father didn’t hesitate and nodded.
“Then there’s no need for me to explain further. Father has been an official for many years and naturally understands things better than I do. But there is one thing I still want to remind Father about.”
Her father gave a slight nod, and Layue continued: “No matter what you hear about me or how I behave in the palace, please don’t ask questions or get involved. You must believe that even if I can’t protect myself, I will certainly not harm the Shen family.”
“You…” Layue’s father looked into her eyes as if he wanted to say something, but eventually just sighed and said nothing.
“I will discipline everyone in the Shen family.”
“That’s good.”
That night, the instructress arrived, and Layue obediently greeted her. Naturally, anyone sent by the palace to serve as an instructress was no simple person, and her expression was unreadable. Shen Layue didn’t know if this instructress had any backing, but she just followed her normal routine to learn.
Not particularly outstanding, nor particularly clumsy.
***
In the palace.
The empress dowager and Emperor Jing Di Yan Che were chatting casually.
When Emperor Yan Che first ascended the throne, besides the empress, there were only eight people serving him. After the empress passed away, he did not hold a grand selection but instead promoted Song’s daughter, General Song Da’s daughter, to the position of Virtuous Consort. He also promoted Zhao’s daughter, daughter of Grand Secretary Zhao, to the position of Virtuous Consort.
Besides these two, the other six were also granted titles as per tradition.
The empress dowager naturally liked seeing her son expanding his harem.
Selecting twenty-one young ladies at once made the empress dowager extremely happy. Her son was overly self-disciplined and not particularly interested in women. Having a more populated harem was better.
“This afternoon, I had Lai Fu send the list to Mother. Do you think this arrangement is appropriate?”
The empress dowager nodded: “I’ve seen it. There’s one person I’d like to slightly elevate in rank. As for the others, follow Your Majesty’s wishes.”
Emperor Yan Che raised his eyebrows. He had already guessed whom his mother wanted to mention.
“This Shen family’s daughter, Shen Layue, let’s promote her from the eighth junior concubine rank of Wanshi to the seventh junior concubine rank of Changzai.”
“As Mother wishes. I have one question, though. I wanted to ask Mother yesterday. I’m curious why Mother seems to favor this Shen Layue so much?” Since Emperor Yan Che was the empress dowager’s biological son, their relationship was naturally close.
The empress dowager gazed at the jasmine flowers in the palace, thinking for a long time: “Back then, when I was selected for the harem, my stepmother disliked me and schemed against me. I also wore this shade of crimson red, which caused quite a few embarrassing moments and almost led to my disqualification. All these years, I’ve never worn crimson red again because I didn’t want to be reminded of that day. I never expected that when I saw her yesterday, I suddenly realized that I had already let go of those memories long ago.”
“It turned out to be like this. No wonder Mother paid special attention to her clothes.”
Actually, at the time, the emperor had already noticed the empress dowager’s interest in Shen Layue’s outfit. He was a person who liked to have everything under control and immediately arranged for his inner guards to investigate Shen Layue. However, he found out that she usually liked wearing bright colors, so it seemed she wasn’t intentionally imitating the empress dowager.
“She’s quite an interesting girl.”
“As Mother wishes, let’s grant her the title of seventh junior concubine, Changzai. However, this Shen girl doesn’t quite match her portrait. In the portrait, she was depicted with phoenix eyes, but in reality, they aren’t very noticeable.” The emperor had already seen portraits of all the selected maidens before.
“Eye makeup. She applied eye makeup.” Although the empress dowager was no longer young, she still had an interest in cosmetics and attire. How could she not notice that Shen Layue’s eye makeup was a bit unusual?
It seemed this Shen girl was also quite thoughtful.
“Her phoenix eyes do have a seductive quality. There’s a rumor outside that I don’t like seductive women, so perhaps she intentionally avoided that by altering her appearance. Actually, I do dislike seductive women. However, with only eight people serving the emperor in the palace, how could I feel at ease? The royal family needs to flourish and have many offspring.”
The small thoughts that could be noticed by them were tolerable.
The empress dowager had been immersed in palace intrigue for many years. At the time, she hadn’t felt anything about Shen Layue’s outfit, but afterward, she had some suspicions. However, since the emperor hadn’t said anything, she understood that it wasn’t intentional.
***
Under normal circumstances, a few days after the selection, someone would come to announce the imperial decree. This time was no exception.
All members of the Shen family knelt in the main hall.
“Shen Layue of the Shen family is graceful and intelligent, gentle and refined. She is specially granted the title of seventh junior concubine, Changzai. By imperial decree.”
As usual, they quickly handed silver to the eunuch who delivered the decree, and he accepted it without refusal.
After politely declining the Shen family’s invitation to stay, the eunuch had to return to the palace to report.
They respectfully saw him off at the door.
Shen Layue finally felt relieved.
At the very least, she had achieved her first goal.
She didn’t know the titles granted to the other selected maidens, but there would be time for that in the future.
With so many people selected this time, it seemed the empress dowager and the emperor truly wanted to enrich the harem.
The Shen family was even more delighted. A seventh junior concubine was already quite good. After all, in the palace, which selected maiden didn’t start from a low rank? Usually, they started around the seventh or eighth junior concubine rank and worked their way up.
Jinxin knew she would be accompanying the young lady to the palace, which made her even more excited, although she wasn’t just a simple maid anymore. Despite her excitement, she didn’t show it on her face.
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