Hu Shanwei ate heartily, went home and celebrated her own birthday. Tomorrow she will be 20 years old.
Hu Rong also came back. Because he came back late, Chen held her stomach and scolded her husband for being inconsiderate. She had not seen him for a long time and searched her husband, put his purse and keys in the bedroom, and did not allow him to go out again.
"Without money, who can you go and play with?" After scolding her husband, Chen put the purse key under her pillow and went back to her room to sleep.
In fact, Chen's request for money was fake. She really wanted her husband to stay with her. The due date was approaching and it was her first child, so Chen was very scared.
But Hu Rong would rather not take the money and rest alone in the study, not wanting to listen to the pregnant woman nagging in his ear.
Alas, at this time last year, she was still a gentle and lovely little wife, but as soon as this woman became pregnant, she changed and became a shrew.
At night, Hu Rong gently knocked on his daughter's door.
Hu Shanwei had been taking exams for a whole day and was extremely tired. She had already fallen asleep, but when she heard a knock on the door, her originally calm mind immediately became agitated: it turned out that her father still remembered that today was her birthday!
At that moment, the previous gap between father and daughter disappeared immediately, the ice turned into hot tea in an instant, Shanwei got up excitedly, dressed, and lit the oil lamp. The dim light could not conceal the brilliance in her eyes.
Hu Shanwei opened the door, "Father."
Hu Rong stretched out his right hand, "Have you spent the five taels of silver and one hundred yuan I gave you this morning? If there is any left, give me some. I'm going out for a drink with my friends."
The hot tea instantly froze into ice.
He didn't remember her birthday, he just came to ask for money. The light in Hu Shanwei's eyes went out, and she returned the remaining three taels of silver to her father.
Back in bed, the quilt was warm, but my heart was cool.
In the second half of the night, Hu Shanwei had a lot of messed up dreams. He dreamed that Chen gave birth to a child. She went from being an unpaid copyist to an unpaid nanny. She squatted at the wellhead all day washing diapers, and washed until her frostbite burst, revealing her white bones!
I also dreamed that she was kicked out of the house, penniless, and became a beggar on the streets. She froze to death on the street, and someone wrapped her body in a tattered mat and threw it into a mass grave.
I also dreamed that she was abducted by a trafficker and sold to a brothel, where she was forced to prostitute herself. Unable to bear the humiliation, she jumped into the Qinhuai River. The water was icy cold, and she didn’t know whether she froze to death or drowned…
When she woke up the next day, Hu Shanwei was covered in cold sweat. She thought that entering the palace as a female official was her only way to survive, so she must pass the exam!
In her short life, love had let her down, and so had her family. The only thing she had learned was the knowledge that stayed with her. All she could count on was what she had learned in her life.
On the day when the good news came, Hu Shanwei was hiding and copying books as usual.
During the ten days of waiting for the result, her heart was like a city full of windy catkins, floating here and there. Only when she held the pen could she calm down.
The sound of gongs rang out on Chengxian Street, and an angel holding the imperial edict walked out of the sedan chair supported by two little firemen. Behind them were two rows of Jinyiwei wearing big hats.
The angel asked, "Is this Hu Shanwei's home?"
The Jinyiwei behind him opened the address registered on the roster and said, "Yes, eunuch, Hu Shanwei lives in Hu's Book House on Chengxian Street. The owner of the household registration is Hu Rong."
Hu Rong behind the counter hurried over and said, "Yes, Hu Shanwei is my daughter. What did she do wrong? She is young and ignorant. If you have any questions, just come to me."
The angel said, "Please show us your household sticker."
Hu Rong nodded and bowed, no longer having the noble character of a scholarly family, and fawned in front of the eunuch, "Please wait a moment, sir. My wife has the key."
Hu Shanwei was overjoyed. She put down her pen, tidied up her desk, and prepared to go to her boudoir to pack her luggage.
The student who always read books for free and paid her three taels of silver for meals came to read for free again today. He saw the Jinyiwei outside looking for Hu Shanwei, so he asked her, "Why did they look for you? You are a girl who copies books at home every day, how did you offend the Jinyiwei? The Jinyiwei are not easy to mess with. The high officials in the court all stay away from them. You are quite brave."
Hu Shanwei didn't want to pay attention to him, but after eating the meal paid for by others, he had to explain, "I want to enter the palace as a female official."
After saying this, Hu Shanwei touched the desk where he had sat for more than ten years, as if he wanted to engrave the wood grain of the desktop into his heart. He turned and left, leaving the supervisor staring at him in amazement.
Stepmother Chen was getting weaker and weaker. She was dozing off when the sound of gongs and noise woke her up. She came out of her bedroom and saw the Jinyiwei standing at the door. She was startled and hurried over, holding her big belly, and said:
"I knew this troublemaker would get into trouble sooner or later! Hu Shanwei is hiding the books upstairs. I'll lead the way."
Hu Rong angrily said, "Shut up! You are talking nonsense! I want to divorce my wife!"
Chen puffed out her belly, looking like a general, "Divorce me! If you divorce me, your Hu family will be extinct!"
Hu Rong immediately wilted.
Chen said to the angel, "Father-in-law, this is all Hu Shanwei's fault. It has nothing to do with my husband. A 19-year-old girl who refuses to get married and stays at home eating and drinking for free, there must be something wrong with her! The girl is grown up, and she has become an enemy if she stays here. This is not the case. When you are at home, disaster will come from the sky—"
"Stop!" The angel raised his hand. "We are here to do business today, not to listen to family gossips. Hu Rong, where is your household registration?"
Hu Rong took the key from Chen's arms, unlocked the door, took out the household certificate, and presented it to him with both hands.
The angels and the Imperial Guards checked the household registration certificate. At this time, Hu Shanwei had already packed up his simple luggage and was ready to enter the palace.
Hu Shanwei was wearing plain clothes and a straw hairpin, with her face plain and her temperament different from that of an educated woman. She instantly made Chen, who was dressed in silk and satin, look like a fool.
The angel's eyes lit up. Now that his true identity had been verified, he unfolded the yellow plaque in his hand and said, "There is an imperial decree!"
Everyone knelt down to listen to the order.
The angel read: "The Ministry of Rites reported to the emperor that the positions of the imperial concubines were determined. Those who were knowledgeable in literature and mathematics and willing to enter the palace were selected. After preliminary selection and examination, forty-four qualified candidates were awarded thirty-seven taels of white gold each to support their families. The officials were also ordered to exempt their families from taxes and corvée labor, and to warn their fathers, brothers, and nephews to abide by their duties and not use their power to invade the government. Those who failed were each awarded twenty taels of white gold and sent back."
This means that after an examination, forty-four female officials were selected to enter the palace. In order to allow the female officials to have no worries, each of them was awarded thirty-seven taels of silver as a settling-in fee, and their families were exempted from corvee labor and taxes. The female officials were also required to advise and restrain their families and not to bully others just because there were female officials in their families.
Each unsuccessful candidate was given twenty taels of silver as travel expenses to return home.
Everyone shouted "Long live the emperor" three times.
Xiao Huozhe placed thirty-seven taels of silver on a red lacquer tray and handed it to Hu Shanwei, "Congratulations, Miss Hu, for being selected as a female official."
Hu Shanwei handed the tray to his stunned father Hu Rong, "I am going to the palace today. Once I enter the palace, it will be like entering a deep sea. I am afraid that we will never see each other again in this life. My daughter is unfilial. Take this money, father. The court will exempt our family from corvée and taxes. Father will no longer have a burden. Relying on the bookshop, he will be able to have enough food and clothing for the rest of his life."
Hu Rong refused to take it, muttering: "How did you enter the palace? You didn't even tell me about this. No, you can't leave. Once you leave, when will you be able to come back?"
The angel said sarcastically, "Hu Rong, if you disobey my order, you will be beheaded."
Hu Shanwei placed the tray on the bookstore counter, knelt down, kowtowed three times to his father, and said goodbye to his family.
Chen's sharp voice sounded, "I was wondering why she refused to marry. It turns out that she is old and has a big heart. She looks down on us common people and wants to marry into a rich family."
Chen blocked the door and said, "You're leaving now? You haven't kowtowed to me yet before you kneel down to say goodbye to your parents."
Hu Shanwei said: "My mother is buried in the loess. You are not worthy of being my mother."
"I am your father's legally married wife." Chen was humiliated in public. She sneered and pointed at Hu Shanwei's shoes and bundle. "Your shoes were made by me. This bundle is also the cloth I took out from my dowry. You eat my food and use my things. How can I not be worthy of being your mother?"
When Chen first got married, she was a good wife and mother, a good stepmother, and took great care of Hu Shanwei in order to deceive Hu Rong.
Hu Shanwei didn't even bother to greet them. He took off his shoes on the spot, put on his cloth socks, and walked out of Hu's Bookstore without looking back.
"You vicious woman! It was you who made trouble for Shanwei at home and forced her to leave home and enter the palace. I want to divorce her!" Hu Rong pushed Chen into the room and turned to chase his daughter.
Chen couldn't stand steadily and sat down on the ground, with a hot current flowing out from under her body.
Chen burst into tears and yelled, "I'm about to give birth! Hu Rong, do you want a son or a daughter?"
Hu Rong's left foot had already stepped over the threshold, but he paused when he heard the words.
Hu Shanwei sighed softly, no longer worried, got on the carriage, and said, "Let's go."
Everyone says that the greatest happiness in life is to get one's name on the list of successful candidates and to see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day, but Hu Shanwei, who got his name on the list of successful candidates, only felt sad at this moment.
The carriage stopped at the Xi'an Gate of the Imperial City, and the forty-four selected female officials lined up to enter the city. Hu Shanwei had no shoes, so she loosened her belt and lowered her skirt in the carriage, using the wide hem of her horse-faced skirt to cover her feet, which were only wearing cloth socks. She also deliberately stood at the end of the team to cover up her embarrassment.
White snow and flying willow catkins, red rain and falling cherry blossoms. Spring is back with the cuckoo's call. It was in this spring scene that Hu Shanwei entered the palace as a court lady.
But she had no intention of looking at the scenery of the imperial city. In order to hide her bare feet under her skirt, she tried her best to follow the team with small steps. She could not even take a step to walk, and let the white catkins and red cherry petals brush against her face.
At this time, she did not know that in the future, the Ming Dynasty would have five generations of emperors, and she would be the housekeeper of the imperial city, and she would control the Ming Dynasty court for five generations.
Who would have thought that when the famous Concubine Hu first entered the palace, she didn't even have a pair of shoes
From Xi'an Gate to Neifu, one must wait for a body search in the wet/wet house before entering the harem.
Hu Shanwei stood at the end. Her feet were very painful. The distance from Xi'an Gate to Neifu was equivalent to a Chengxian Street. Her cloth socks had been worn out and blisters had formed on the soles of her feet.
Someone threw a stone at her, and the stone hit her skirt. Hu Shanwei looked over and could not believe his eyes: it was the white-collared student in a [shirt. He was standing in the corridor, waving at her, holding a pair of long boots in his hand.
This is the imperial city, how did he get in
Hu Shanwei didn't dare to move. The white-haired student picked up a big stone and was about to throw it at him again.
Hu Shanwei had no choice but to walk over quickly.
Bai Kanjian put his boots on the ground, said nothing, pretended to put on his shoes, and then left.
Hu Shanwei put on his boots and rushed to the back of the team. He thought that this student entering the palace was like entering his own vegetable garden, and he could even bring her a pair of shoes. Who was he