After the Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival, beautiful girls from all over the country arrived in Beijing one after another.
Xiulan took the list of concubines, looked through it, and asked in surprise: "Madam, do you know how many concubines there are in total?"
"How much? Five thousand? Ten thousand?" Jiang Changning guessed casually.
"Less than ten thousand, seven thousand six hundred and ninety-nine."
"Hey, why don't you choose one more? It would be better to make a total of more than 7,700." Jiang Changning said with a smile.
"My queen." Xiulan called out in a reproachful tone.
Jiang Changning smiled nonchalantly and said, "Don't worry, it's impossible for all these 7,000 people to enter the palace."
There is room for people to live in the palace, but Emperor Xuanzhi will say that the treasury is empty and cannot afford to support people.
Among these more than 7,600 people, there were about 1,700 from the capital and nearby towns, and the other 6,000 were beauties sent from various places, all of whom were young girls between the ages of thirteen and sixteen.
On the sixth day of February, the talent show officially began. Preliminary selections were conducted in batches according to their grades. There were so many people that the selection lasted for seven days.
With the Queen Mother worrying about it, Jiang Changning did not pay too much attention to it, but she knew that she would definitely participate in the palace selection decided by the Queen Mother.
Is it really something a normal person would do to let the wife personally choose concubines for her husband
In mid-March, seven hundred beauties entered the palace.
There were too many people, so the beauties were divided into two groups. One group lived in Jingyi Palace, which was where all the other beauties lived, and the other group lived in Gantang Palace.
Upon learning of the Queen Mother's arrangement, Jiang Changning said calmly, "Very appropriate."
After the concubines learned the rules for two days, the day of the palace selection arrived. The empress dowager sent someone to Qiyuan Palace early in the morning to "remind" Jiang Changning to be present.
Jiang Changning was having breakfast. Upon hearing this, he smiled and said, "I'll definitely go there in a while."
After hearing this, Nanny Gong should have returned to Ciren Palace to report, but she waited there and did not leave.
This similar situation immediately reminded Jiang Changning of the year when the Queen Mother of Runan Prince came to the Zhuang family to adopt a daughter, and Guixi was also guarding her like this on the orders of Old Madam Zhuang.
Jiang Changning felt annoyed. He grabbed the cup beside him and threw it at the feet of Madam Gong. "If I don't go, will the Queen Mother send guards to take me there?"
That Nanny Gong was an old employee of the palace and followed Jiang Changning into the palace. She knew how Jiang Changning controlled her subordinates, which was simple and rough. She never listened to anyone's nagging, and secretly groaned when she saw Jiang Changning getting angry.
She didn't want to take this job, but the Queen Mother asked her to come, so she had to come.
"The Empress Dowager saw that I have good hairdressing skills, so she specially asked me to comb her hair." The palace nanny explained.
Jiang Changning sneered, "Are you asking me to dress up and compete with the other girls?"
The palace maid knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the Queen Mother would never have such an idea. I guess I am stupid and have misunderstood what the Queen Mother meant. I will take my leave now."
"Are you in such a hurry to report me to the Queen Mother?" Jiang Changning asked in a deep voice.
"I dare not." Nanny Gong lay on the ground, not daring to move.
Jiang Changning did not get angry with her immediately, and ate his breakfast leisurely.
After she finished her meal and rinsed her mouth, she pressed the corners of her mouth with a handkerchief before she slowly said, "Since you are good at combing hair, you can comb my hair into a unique bun today."
After a pause, she added: "If you comb your hair to my liking, I will reward you. If you do not, I will not forgive you."
When Nanny Gong heard this, she couldn't help but look troubled. This was going to be a difficult matter.
But she didn't dare not serve, so she got up tremblingly and said, "I will do my best."
She was old, her hands and feet were not flexible, and she had stopped helping the empress dowager comb her hair a long time ago. She just made up an excuse to get away with it, but she didn't expect Jiang Changning to be so serious about it.
Fortunately, Jiang Changning was not a really cruel person. Seeing that she was clumsy, he said, "Forget it. Just stand aside and wait. I'm used to Fangju, so let Fangju help me comb my hair."
Nanny Gong handed over the jade comb in fear and stepped aside.
"My queen, do you want a bun or a phoenix bun?" Fangju asked as she helped her comb her hair.
Fangju's hand paused for a moment, and then she helped her tie her hair up with quick movements.
Jiang Changning picked out from the jewelry drawer a pair of phoenix hairpins with pearls, a comb inlaid with ruby, a white jade bracelet, and earrings inlaid with hibiscus jade.
Jiang Changning had both status and the emperor's favor, but she was too lazy to wear the bright yellow queen's dress to show off her status. She wore a pink stand-up collar middle coat, a blue satin jacket, a scarlet skirt with colorful butterflies playing on it, and a dark blue cape.
This outfit made her look dignified and elegant. She was going to choose someone today, not to be chosen, so naturally she would not dress up in a flashy and charming way.
"Follow me." Jiang Changning glanced at Nanny Gong.
When Jiang Changning arrived at Zhaoyang Palace, the empress dowager had already arrived. She was wearing a navy blue wide-sleeved jacket with round floral patterns and a phoenix crown on her head, looking majestic and noble.
"The daughter-in-law greets the Queen Mother and pays her respects to her." Jiang Changning knelt down and saluted.
"Come on, take a seat," said the Queen Mother.
"Yes." Jiang Changning walked to the right side of the Queen Mother, sat down gracefully, and took the opportunity to look at the chair on her left.
When it comes to palace selection, how can Emperor Xuanzhi be missing
"Why hasn't the emperor come yet?" asked the Queen Mother.
Jiang Changning did not respond to the Queen Mother's words. She leaned back and raised her hand. Banqin took out a handful of dried fruits from her purse and handed them to her. She came to watch the show today.
At this time, the sound of cleaning whips was heard outside the hall.
Jiang Changning swallowed the dried fruit and said with a smile, "Mother, His Majesty is coming, you don't need to be anxious."
In front of the Empress Dowager, Jiang Changning stood up obediently and waited for Emperor Xuanzhi.
When Emperor Xuanzhi saw the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in the palace, he deliberately asked, "Mother, is your son not late?"
"You're not late, you're not late." The Queen Mother just wanted him to come.
Emperor Xuanzhi sat down on the left side of the empress dowager, "Mother, let's begin."
Jiang Changning glanced at him. So impatient
Oh, men’s words are full of lies.
Because of the Empress Dowager, Emperor Xuanzhi did not notice that Jiang Changning rolled her eyes at him, nor did he know that his idea of cutting the Gordian knot and leaving as soon as possible had led to misunderstanding.
The Queen Mother signaled to the eunuch to go to the back hall and bring in the beautiful ladies who had been waiting for a long time.
A group of five people, each dressed in their own unique style, to sum it up in one sentence, highlighting their own advantages and beauty.
The Queen Mother was very hardworking. In order to choose a suitable person for her son, she changed the rules so that these concubines no longer had to wear concubine costumes and could dress up freely.
The eunuch called out the names one by one and asked the concubines to come out and pay their respects.
On that first day, the beauties who participated in the palace selection all had fathers and brothers of high rank, and there were also daughters of noble families.
Wen Wanzhen, the cousin of Duke Dai Jian, is the first in the third group. She wears a pink dress and has her hair tied up in a bun with a gold hairpin decorated with flowers. There is a plum blossom painted on her forehead.
Seeing the graceful and calm figure, the Queen Mother thought that Emperor Xuanzhi might be interested in her, so she asked, "Emperor, what do you think of this?"
Emperor Xuanzhi looked at Wen Wanzhen nonchalantly and said, "Her eyes are too small. Can she see the road clearly?"
Jiang Changning almost choked on the dried fruit. These words were a bit poisonous.
The Queen Mother took a closer look and found that the narrow eyes were not small.
Well, the emperor didn’t like it. She waved her hand, and this group went down, and the fourth group came up.
(End of this chapter)