Emperor Hongwu went to Xiaoling Mausoleum and returned the next day. He was in a bad mood when he came back. Three new favorites came to him to seek favor, but Emperor Hongwu just gave them jewelry and sent them away like coaxing children. He slept alone for several days and did not call anyone to sleep with him.
Hu Shanwei finally felt relieved. It seemed that the old witch had finally calmed down for the sake of his deceased wife.
In the re-selection interview, Concubine Cui Shu, who held power over the six palaces, sat in the main seat. The concubines in the main seats of the six palaces in the east and west all had the right to vote, and they sat on both sides surrounding Concubine Cui Shu.
In fact, the Crown Princess of the Eastern Palace should also be invited to serve as an influential judge in the interview and elimination rounds for the concubines. Unfortunately, she lost her voting rights and is still "recuperating" in the Eastern Palace.
The 180 beauties were divided into groups of ten. They first bowed and greeted Concubine Cui Shu and other ladies, and then introduced themselves one by one. Concubine Cui Shu and other concubines asked the beauties they were interested in a question, or a certain object or scene, and required the beauties to answer with poetry, calligraphy or painting, to test their ability to respond on the spot.
When it was the turn of the snake-killing girl Zhang Xiuchun, Concubine Cui Shu gave her a peony flower in a vase and asked her to improvise a poem about this flower. Zhang Xiuchun was born in a humble family and felt that she had no hope. She had been selected and eliminated countless outstanding women along the way. She became more and more courageous, so she was very relaxed. When she heard this, she pointed to the bamboo branches in the vase and said with a smile:
"My Lady, I am really mediocre at poetry. I am afraid that if I write something, it will offend the ears of you ladies. How about I play a folk song with the peony as the theme and bamboo leaves as the instrument?"
Concubine Cui Shu found it interesting and agreed to her suggestion.
Zhang Xiuchun broke off a bamboo leaf and just as he put it in his mouth, it broke when he blew it.
Everyone laughed. Zhang Xiuchun was not flustered. She broke off another leaf, dipped it in water with a handkerchief, and wiped off the lip balm on her lips. This time she succeeded. She blew the small bamboo leaf into a cluster of flowers, and the peony bloomed to welcome the spring.
Concubine Cui Shu was very satisfied and waved to her, "Come here."
Concubine Cui Shu personally pinned a bright red peony flower in Zhang Xiuchun's hair. Zhang Xiuchun had a dignified appearance, with clear and broad eyebrows and a full forehead. Although she came from a poor family, her youth and fearlessness suppressed the noble and vulgar look of the peony.
Looking at Concubine Cui Shufei's satisfied expression, Hu Shanwei knew that Zhang Xiuchun was destined to stay.
When it was the turn of Miss Guo Er, who came from the most noble family in this selection, the concubines saw her walking away slowly. Their features were somewhat similar to those of the former mistress of the harem, Concubine Duan Jing. They were immediately filled with regret and recalled the good deeds Concubine Guo had done when she was alive. No one made things difficult for her and no one dared to ask questions.
In fact, she relied on the benefits of her aunt, Concubine Duanjing, so none of the concubines present would be so tactless as to eliminate her - even if she had to be eliminated, it would be the last round when Emperor Hongwu would personally review it and then cross her name out.
Therefore, Miss Guo's visit to the interview was just a formality, and Concubine Cui did not dare to neglect her.
However, no one asked any questions and the situation became a bit awkward.
Seeing that the audience was about to get bored, Hu Shanwei asked, "You are good at painting. Take a look at this Miss Zhang. Is her appearance worthy of being painted?"
Miss Guo Er looked at Zhang Xiuchun, who was wearing a peony, and praised her: "Miss Zhang is extremely beautiful."
Hu Shanwei said, "In that case, how about you paint Miss Zhang and draw a picture of a lady with a flower in her hair?"
"Yes, it's Lady Hu." Miss Guo walked to the drawing table next to her and started painting.
A painting cannot be acquired in a short time, so Hu Shanwei ordered the next ten beauties to come in for interviews.
After about five teams, Miss Guo's hairpin-like lady was completed. All the concubines praised her and the scene became lively again.
When it was the turn of Ma, a member of the same clan as Empress Xiaoci, Concubine Cui Shu asked her to write a poem on the theme of Wing Chun. Ma wrote a poem called "Wing Chun in the Reducing Characters of Mulan Flower":
Liu Lang is old. No matter how the peach blossoms still smile. Willows weep by the pond. The wind blows into the Buddhist temple.
The song ends and the crowd disperses. It is like the tears on the Xunyang River. The east wind blows thousands of miles away. The setting sun is red all over the mountains and rivers.
Miss Ma is quite talented and was shortlisted for the final round.
However, even if Miss Ma did not perform well, she would still be remembered by Hu Shanwei because Emperor Hongwu took a liking to her. However, when Hu Shanwei read the content of Miss Ma's "Reduced Words Magnolia", he always felt a little sad and had a bad premonition, but then he thought that Miss Ma was still young and had never seen what true despair was. It was normal for young people to have the habit of pretending to be sad in order to compose new poems.
On the contrary, people like Hu Shanwei who have experienced many vicissitudes of life, see through the essence of life, still love life and want to embrace happiness, and at this age they like easy and auspicious things.
This time, half of the candidates were eliminated, leaving only 90. In fact, those who were eliminated were also very good girls. They had no problems, but they just lacked the favor of the ladies.
Therefore, after ninety girls were eliminated and taken out of the palace by their parents, officials in the capital immediately sent matchmakers to propose marriage. Even Princess Huaiqing took a fancy to the daughter of a minor official and sought marriage for her eldest son, Wang Zhenliang.
As the first princess to take the initiative to marry someone from the common people, Princess Huaiqing's move won the emperor's favor. Emperor Hongwu praised his daughter highly and specially appointed his grandson Wang Zhenliang as the general guarding the country. He also opened the inner treasury to prepare dowries for his future grandson's wife and gave her generous royal farmland.
Princess Huaiqing abandoned the custom of marrying into a wealthy family. The vassals in the capital were cautious and followed suit. Emperor Hongwu gave them dowries of varying values and encouraged wealthy families to marry daughters of lesser families.
In this way, except for a few who were determined to bring the women back to their hometowns to marry, most of the eliminated girls found their home in the capital and became noble ladies. Because of their past training together in Chuxiu Palace, they became close friends and would not feel lonely when they visited each other in the capital in the future. Of course, this is all a story for later.
In the final round, twenty-seven were selected from the ninety beauties, equivalent to choosing one from three, and Emperor Hongwu personally selected his grandson's wife.
Hu Shanwei handed over piles of thick lists of concubines to Emperor Hongwu, which recorded the concubines' performance from the preliminary selection to the present, the evaluations of the female officials, their personality traits, etc., filling three boxes.
Emperor Hongwu waved his hand and said, "Put it aside. I will look at it when I have time. I still have to review memorials."
Hu Shanwei said: "Your Majesty, the nine concubines and eighteen concubines are related to the future of Ming Dynasty for the next hundred years. You need to choose them carefully."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongwu sighed and said, "Okay, bring it here."
Emperor Hongwu looked at them one by one, and first kept the list of Miss Ma, a member of Empress Xiaoci's family, and ordered Mao Xiang: "Ask the spies in Shanxi to investigate the Ma family, and report all the relatives, grudges, crimes, and petty thefts of the five generations of the family."
After hearing this, Hu Shanwei thought: If the Ma family has a clean family background and is honest and reliable, I guess this Miss Ma will be married to the Crown Prince, but I don't know if she will be the principal wife or concubine.
Emperor Hongwu read very quickly, flipping through the pages one by one. He paused when he came to the list of Miss Guo Er. He secretly ordered the execution of Miss Guo Er's aunt with his own hands. He was just a little bit away from making Concubine Guo the empress.
Thinking of Consort Duan Jing, he naturally thought of his beloved tenth son, Prince Lu Huang. Emperor Hongwu closed his eyes, his eyelids trembling, and opened them after a while, sighing:
"The Guo family is still used to offering their daughters to the royal family to show their loyalty. I, Prince Ying (Prince Ying's wife is Miss Guo), and now the emperor's grandson, three generations of the Zhu family have had women from the Guo family. The Guo family is loyal, and I cannot ignore it. Miss Guo must stay."
Hu Shanwei sighed for the women of the Guo family. The Guo family had tasted the sweetness of offering beauties. As long as the royal family needed women, the Guo family would push their daughters forward. As for what the daughters themselves thought or whether they wanted to marry into the imperial family, it was not important at all.
This was the case with Concubine Duan Jing. Her greatest wish in life was to stop being a concubine and become a legitimate wife. She made every effort to achieve this... but in the end, she gave up in order to avenge her son.
Thinking of Concubine Duan Jing, Hu Shanwei felt sad. Are the things that these most outstanding ladies of the Ming Dynasty worked hard for really what they wanted
Not really. I'm afraid that except for Miss Guo II, most of them don't actually know what it means to marry into the royal family. Wealth and risk exist like twin brothers. Sometimes, when the imperial power crushes them, no matter how capable or outstanding they are, they cannot escape.
Most of them just want to give their family, parents and brothers a chance to succeed and bring prosperity to the whole family...
Emperor Hongwu read through the list of all the beauties in one go and had a rough idea in his mind. The next day, for the final round of the selection, two girls were grouped together to meet Emperor Hongwu, who made a decision on the spot. Those who were eliminated were given gold, silver, and silk, and were led out of the palace by female officials to be handed over to their parents.
Those who stayed were given a set of gold and gemstone head jewelry on the spot, and returned to Chuxiu Palace to wait for the imperial edict.
In the past, the Chuxiu Palace, where five people shared a room, was so crowded that one could hear the neighbors talking in their sleep. Now, there are only twenty-seven beauties left, and it immediately seems empty and lonely.
Hu Shanwei re-copied the list of 27 people and handed it to Emperor Hongwu to personally decide on the distribution among his grandsons. Hu Shanwei could not make the decision on such matters - nor did she want to make the decision. The responsibility was too heavy and a mere palace lady could not take on the responsibility.
Emperor Hongwu did not embarrass her and said, "Please invite Concubine Cui Shu here, and I will discuss it with her."
In terms of trust, Hu Shanwei is still not as good as Concubine Cui Shufei, who has been loyal to Emperor Hongwu since she lived in Prince Wu's residence.
Hu Shanwei was eager to get rid of the connection, so he hurried to the Yanx Palace to invite Concubine Cui Shu.
After doing all this, Hu Shanwei felt relaxed and went for a walk in the Imperial Garden, where he "accidentally met" the Crown Prince Zhu Yunwen.
After all, they are young and still have expectations for love and marriage. Hu Shanwei knew what the Crown Prince wanted to say and said with a smile: "Don't be anxious, Crown Prince. I estimate that there will be a result before sunset. The Emperor is anxious to have a great-grandson."
The crown prince blushed, "I'm not in a hurry. I don't know what Consort Hu is talking about."
Hu Shanwei said: "In this case, I will take my leave."
"Please stay, Concubine Hu." The Crown Prince chased after him, "That... that person... is it what Concubine Hu and I said at the beginning?"
Hu Shanwei chanted: "'Liu Lang is old. No matter what, the peach blossoms still smile. Willows are weeping by the pond. The wind blows them into the Buddhist temple. The song ends and the people disperse. It's like tears on the Xunyang River. The east wind blows thousands of miles away. The mountains and rivers are all red.' This is the improvised song "Reduced-character Mulan Flower" that person wrote. Does the Crown Prince like it?"
The Crown Prince praised her with excitement, saying, "It's a good song, and the lyrics are improvised. She must be a girl with a delicate heart and talent. I believe in the vision of Concubine Hu."
Hu Shanwei said, "Since she is a good girl, we should treat her well in the future, so as to live up to her memory of having come all the way to Beijing to participate in the election and fight her way through many difficulties to be in front of the Crown Prince. This must be the fate that has been cultivated for many lifetimes."
Hu Shanwei had a good impression of Miss Ma - for no other reason than that Miss Ma was fishing in the waterside pavilion that day, which directly frightened the old but still lustful Emperor Hongwu, and invisibly protected the other beauties from being taken away by this annoying old witch.
If Emperor Hongwu was determined to take his men away, Hu Shanwei would not be able to stop him.
The Crown Prince agreed, "Of course. She and I are husband and wife. We prosper together and suffer together. Treating her well is treating myself well. Don't worry, Concubine Hu, I will definitely treat her well. I swear, if I break my oath, I am willing to give up my country—"
Hu Shanwei interrupted the Crown Prince's oath and said, "Your Highness, please stop talking. I believe in you."
Anyway, once the imperial decree grants the marriage, I will leave the palace. I don’t know how you will live in the future.
When the Crown Prince returned to the Chancellery, he had no intention of dealing with the mountain of official duties. As he was intelligent, he remembered the "Reduced-Character Mulan Flower" that Hu Shanwei had recited once.
The Crown Prince wrote this song on a piece of paper and tried to add a new song, "Jian Zi Mulan Flower", but he was not satisfied with it no matter how he wrote it. He felt that it was far from perfect. He rolled up balls of paper into a small mountain in the wastebasket...
The next day, the imperial decree granting the marriage came down.
Miss Ma was the Crown Prince's wife, and Miss Zhao and Miss Wang were concubines.
The snake-catching girl Zhang Xiuchun was named the Prince of Yan's wife, and Miss Guo Er was named the Prince of Yan's concubine.
Hu Shanwei felt that there was no suspense about the position of the Crown Prince's Consort. However, despite Miss Guo's distinguished background, she was only given the title of concubine of the Prince of Yan. This was unexpected not only to Hu Shanwei, but to almost everyone.
However, later, as one imperial edict after another was issued, it was revealed that not only the Crown Prince's wife of Prince Yan was of unknown low-ranking military officer origin, but also the other crown princes' wives were of the same origin. In fact, the concubines had a higher origin than the principal wife.
Now, both the common people and the officials understood what "a gentleman's word is as good as law" meant. It turned out that Emperor Hongwu's words of "marrying people from the common people and selecting the land for land" were not just a pretense. He put on an air of being close to the people and just wanted to make his reputation of cruelty sound better after the Lan Yu case.
When Emperor Hongwu said he wanted to choose commoners as the Crown Prince's Consort and the Crown Prince's Consort, he meant it.
As soon as the imperial edict was issued, those noble families who had sent their daughters to the imperial selection were dumbfounded. They almost forgot to kowtow and express their gratitude, especially the Guo family. There were two marquises in the family, and their ancestors had posthumously conferred the title of Duke. They had a son-in-law and a princess, and they thought that if they could not become the Crown Prince's Consort, they could at least get a consort to the Crown Prince of a vassal state. But in the end, she was just a concubine
If it weren’t for the golden imperial edict, the Guo family would almost feel like they were having a collective nightmare.
However, the imperial edict had already been issued, and there was absolutely no reason to disobey it. He sent servants out to inquire and learned that the other seven princes' wives were all from humble families. He felt less resentful and gathered himself together to prepare for the wedding.
The day the imperial edict was issued was the day Hu Shanwei resigned.
In the Qianqing Palace, Hu Shanwei went to the old emperor to ask him to fulfill his promise, "Your Majesty, the selection has been successfully completed. I have tried my best to select qualified commoner Crown Prince Consorts and Crown Prince Consorts for the emperor's grandchildren. Now their wedding is approaching, and it is time for me to retire after my success."
The nine grandchildren were getting married, and the old Emperor Hongwu couldn't help but show some joy on his face, "Are you in such a hurry to leave? Don't you want to drink a glass of wedding wine before leaving?"
As a lesson learned from the past, the longer the night, the more dreams there are. Hu Shanwei dared not delay any further. "I appreciate the invitation of the emperor's grandchildren to the wedding. I have already wished you all a happy marriage in person. I hope you will live a good life with your wives and be filial to the emperor in the future."
The more anxious Hu Shanwei was, the more the Hongwu Emperor reminisced and chatted with her. "I heard from Empress Xiaoci that on your first day in the palace, you walked into the palace barefoot, and your socks were worn out. Did Mu Chun ask Empress Xiaoci for a pair of shoes for you?"
Thinking of the past, hot tears welled up in his eyes. Hu Shanwei tried his best to hold back the tears, "Yes, Your Majesty, Mu Chun gave me a pair of shoes so that I wouldn't make a fool of myself on my first day in the palace."
Emperor Hongwu pointed at Hu Shanwei's feet and asked, "Is that the pair of sheepskin boots?"
Hu Shanwei nodded, "Yes, I have kept them well and only wear them once a year during the Chinese New Year. I dare not wear them too much for fear of wearing them out. Today I am leaving the palace. I walked in with these shoes and I will leave the palace with these shoes too."
Emperor Hongwu sighed, "It seems that you have made up your mind to leave. However, you resigned from the palace and went to Yunnan to find Muchun. You haven't seen each other for more than three years, and you only communicated through letters. A lot of things can happen in three years. What if Muchun can't stand the loneliness and has another woman? Won't you regret it?"
Hu Shanwei held back her tears, and said with a firm look, "I have no regrets about entering the palace as a court lady, I have no regrets about resigning today, I have no regrets about liking Mu Chun for thirteen years, I have no regrets about wanting to spend the rest of my life with him, and if he changes his mind in the future, I have no regrets, I will just break up with him and will not get entangled. I am thirty-five years old now, I can choose my own path independently, and I can confidently bear all possible consequences."
"Very good, Empress Xiaoci was right about you two. You are both determined people." Emperor Hongwu clapped his hands and said to the person behind the screen, "Come out."
Mu Chun was so excited that he didn't even take a detour. He just walked in a straight line, overturned the screen, and ran towards Hu Shanwei.
The author has something to say: Good night everyone, I will send 100 red envelopes tonight
Congratulations to the reader Duan Yaojiu for receiving a 100-point red envelope~
№18 Netizen: Duan Yaojiu Comment: "Hu Shanwei" Score: 2 Published time: 2019-03-24 23:41:00 Reviewed chapter: 153
Human virtue can promote morality, not morality promoting human virtue
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