C88

Dongfang Haotian was starting the talent show. This matter was initiated by the empress dowager, who found out that her influence in the imperial harem was not great enough. Those concubines had their own ulterior motives, and they were constantly thinking of how to use her instead of being loyal to her. This made her feel very vexed. She had wanted to lift a few of her trusted aides and subordinates, but Dongfang Haotian had no interest in those women, so she had no way of getting a hold of them. Thus, she took it as an excuse for the Emperor to announce that unmarried women between the ages of sixteen and eighteen were to enter the palace for the talent show.

Dongfang Haotian's reaction to this matter was very flat. When the Empress Dowager saw that he had no objection, she quickly went to find the Minister to hold a colloquium. She hoped to choose some of the daughters of the ministers to enter the palace. This would have two benefits, one was to win over the ministers, and the other was to gain a trusted aide to help her.

Due to Her Majesty's clear purpose, this time the talent show was voluntary and did not, as in the past, require all the women of the people to participate. However, there were still plenty of women and their parents who were in the limelight. Within a month, the Beijing Internal Affairs Bureau had only reported the names of 2,000 beautiful women.

The process of choosing a concubine was very simple. The palace eunuchs divided the ladies into groups according to age and arranged them into groups that were more picky. For example, getting taller, shorter, fatter, and thinner would all be eliminated.

The next day, these women were still in line. The eunuchs carefully observed the ears, eyes, mouth, nose, hair, skin, waist, neck, shoulders, back, and other parts of the body. Every single blemish was considered unsatisfactory.

On the third day, each of the eunuchs used a ruler to measure the five hundred beautiful ladies, including their hands, feet and arms. After that, he had the beautiful ladies walk a few more steps, just like how he had done in the beauty pageant. He had to eliminate another four hundred people.

At this point, there were only about a hundred people left. They were all summoned to the palace as candidates. Let the experienced ladies of the old palace lead them into the secret chamber, touch their chest, press their muscles, sniff their armpits, brush away part of them, and there are only fifty left.

These fifty people would stay in the palace for a month, and the experienced eunuchs and maids would carefully observe them. They would assess their temperament, opinions, and judge their strength, gentleness, and intelligence. That is to say, make a comprehensive evaluation of their character, intelligence, character, language ability and so on, and select 10 outstanding people as the final consort candidate.

Although there were very few people who chose to take part in the consort selection this time, they were all of the highest quality and each one of them had an extremely prominent background. It was either the daughter of a minister or the granddaughter of a pavilion elder. These women also knew that the background of the people around them was not simple, so they didn't dare to bully them. In a month, the ten women got along well.

The empress dowager looked at the women's documents. It was a pity that she didn't like them because they were all too intelligent. At this moment, she missed Leng Qiyue a little.

On this day, the empress dowager brought Xue Ling to the garden where the ten beautiful ladies resided. She wanted to see their reactions when they saw her. Ever since Leng Qiyue left the palace, the empress dowager had kept Xue Ling by her side, because the somewhat older members of the palace knew how much she had liked the ruyi. Now that a dog had appeared that was exactly like the ruyi, she had to act more truthfully, even if it meant acting.

"The empress dowager has arrived —" The eunuchs' shouts frightened the maidens. They ran to the door in a panic and stood in the courtyard, bowing together.

The empress dowager swept a glance over all the girls' faces before smiling. "So you're all beauties, all right!"

A bold and elegant girl said, "These servants' looks aren't even a thousandth of the empress dowager's."

The Empress Mother looked at the girl and nodded to her, and the girl's face lit up as if she were certain she would become a concubine. Her happiness was met with the supercilious looks from the other nine girls, as they each gnashed their teeth in anger.

The empress dowager smiled coldly in her heart. These women were not her trusted aides' first choice, but it was still advisable to take advantage of each other.

Her Majesty only sat for a little while before returning to the Palace of Benedict. When she returned to the Palace, she dismissed everyone and sat by herself at the dressing table with the golden lock in her hand, deep in thought.

After a long while, she sighed, "Little sister, big sister has let you down. If you hadn't made me eat the morning glory seeds, I wouldn't have missed the chance to participate in the talent show. Furthermore, he wouldn't marry a lousy gambler, but these are all nothing. The worst thing would be if you could bring me into the palace! Although we are blood-related sisters, I will still be jealous of you for enjoying the delicacies of the sea every day, having a high bed and soft pillow.

Xue Ling, who was originally lying at the side, noticed that something was off with the empress dowager's words. She immediately stopped dozing and pricked up her ears to listen.

The empress dowager sighed and continued, "Sister, sister did seduce the emperor, but the emperor was drunk and thought of me as you. He didn't like me at all. If you had given me the right to live in the palace and be happy instead of trying to drive me out of the palace, I would not have tried to kill you. Little sister, you are too kind and too trusting of your sister's fate.

Today, I saw those pretty girls, all of them as beautiful as flowers. Among them, there was one that looked quite similar to us, sigh … If my daughter is still alive, she should be eighteen. "

The empress dowager stopped speaking, while Xue Ling was stunned. He now knew that the empress dowager before him wasn't the real empress dowager, but the empress dowager's sister, Jin Yue's Jin Zhu. No wonder Ru Yi wanted him to give the box to the empress dowager. That was probably the empress dowager's last words. It was foolish of her to think about her sister even when she was dying.

In fact, Xue Ling was wrong. She had misunderstood Leng Qiyue, causing her to make a huge detour.

As for Leng Qiyue, it was already dawn after she finished reading the creations. She quickly put the book in her undergarment and rushed to class. In the end, he told her that she didn't need to go to class and that she would have to concentrate on reading for the next few days.

Seeing Han Liu's pleased expression, Leng Qiyue couldn't help but remark, "Look at you, eating with such a petty manner."

Han Liu was not annoyed. She smiled. "I am a vile character. What can you do to me?"

Leng Qiyue jokingly said, "When I return, I'll find a random man to marry you."

Han Liu's expression changed. She knew that Leng Qiyue definitely had the right to do so. After all, she was a imperial concubine and the empress dowager wanted to raise her into the throne. 'When the time comes, I'll have to wield a lot of power. Will she hold a grudge because I beat her up? Will she really find a random man to marry me? '

Leng Qiyue pushed Han Liu around and asked, "What's wrong? What are you daydreaming for? "

When Han Liu saw that no one was around, he kneeled on the ground and begged, "Empress, please don't marry Han Liu as you please."

Leng Qiyue pulled Han Liu up with a smile and said, "That won't happen. I was just joking. If we Han Liu want to marry, we have to do so as a husband. How could I bear to marry you so casually?"

Han Liu breathed a sigh of relief. "Empress doesn't hate this servant for hitting you?"

Leng Qiyue rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, when you hit me, why didn't you think about my identity? I was scared now, it's too late."

Han Liu muttered, "It's all because you're disappointing. That woman will be as rude as you. This servant isn't trying to take revenge on you for chasing me out of the palace, but hopes that the Empress can be a competent concubine."

Leng Qiyue nodded. "Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. I'm really tired, so I'm going back to sleep." After saying that, she was about to return to the student dormitory.

Han Liu hastened to stop her. "Qian mama told you to stay in her room for the next few days, so don't go back yet."

"Oh? It does seem like it happened, I forgot, hur hur. " Leng Qiyue turned around and walked towards Senior Servant Qian's room.

Han Liu replied, "You still have two days. Try to remember as much as possible."

Leng Qiyue turned around and gave her a brilliant smile. Just as she was about to enter the room, she heard a call from behind her, "Damned woman, stop right there."

Leng Qiyue turned her head in puzzlement, only to see Peony standing in the courtyard, glaring fiercely at her.

"Peony — —" Seeing an old friend, Leng Qiyue immediately forgot about the etiquette she had learnt these days. She lifted up her skirt and rushed over to give him a bear hug.

Peony also tightly hugged her, tears could be seen in the corners of her eyes. These two women who had experienced the same experience spoke of their longing to leave.

After a long while, Peony pushed Leng Qiyue away and scolded, "You have no conscience. Once you leave, there will be no news at all. If I didn't force Mo Tianyi to pretend to look for you, I wouldn't even know that you're still alive."

Leng Qiyue chuckled and said, "I've been locked up ever since I was arrested. My martial arts have now been sealed, how can I inform you?" I will never forget the fact that I didn't get news of you all, and only until I see Mo Tian did I feel at ease. "

Peony frowned. "What?" Your martial arts have been sealed? Why did that man put you in the cold palace? Did he change his mind? Aunt, can I go and kill him? "

Leng Qiyue quickly shook her head and said, "It's not his fault that I was locked in the cold palace. The heavens were playing with me. Originally I had the opportunity to return to the modern world on August 12th, but I was disrupted by the eclipse, so I won't be able to return. "

"So, what are your plans? Why don't you come to my shop and help out, or can I open up my shop for you? "

Leng Qiyue hurriedly shook her head. "I don't want your shop. I just want to play with the palace and defeat those stinking women, then make my son the emperor."

"Oh. "Since we can't go back, it's not bad to have an empress dowager or something to play with. You can also imitate Wu Zetian and Ci Xi." Peony was also a little moved. She wanted to play with him.

Leng Qiyue sighed. "I'm still the empress dowager. Right now, I'm nothing but an imperial concubine with no background or influence. If only my martial arts hadn't been sealed."

"Peony was about to say something when she heard a noisy commotion behind them." Seize that man and castrate him. "

Peony and Leng Qiyue turned their heads to look at the same time and saw that Mo Tian's female attire was in a mess, her hair was tied up in a bun, and the makeup on her face was a complete mess …