The selection was finally decided by Shen Qingwan, and the news spread quickly. In order to successfully select a concubine, everyone could not ignore her existence, but her indifferent personality was more or less known in the palace. Even so, there were still people who came directly to her.
On this day, Shen Qingwan was sitting in the palace casually flipping through a book. The wind blew gently through the pearl and jade door curtain, blowing her light purple top embroidered with broken plum blossoms. A white pleated skirt made her skin more crystal clear, and the hem of the skirt slowly drooped to her feet.
She wore a pink floral glass hairpin with tiny diamond tassels in her hair. The tassels swayed gently, reflecting the flow of light waves as she kept turning the pages of the book.
"Empress." Lianyun held a sandalwood food box with an exquisite blue phoenix and peony pattern carved on it in one hand, and with the other hand she opened the pearl curtain and called out to Shen Qingwan.
"What's the matter? If it's nothing serious, we can talk about it later. Let me finish reading these pages first." She didn't look up, her focused eyes were still fixed on the book in her hands.
"This... I don't know if it's a big deal." Lianyun looked down at the food box in her hand and spoke with some difficulty. Hearing the hesitation in her words, Shen Qingwan raised her eyes and glanced at her.
"What's that in your hand?" He turned around, put a ginkgo leaf between the page he had just read, and then closed the book.
"This is the food box that Minister Lin asked someone to send just now. He said that it is for Your Majesty to taste." Hearing her question, Lianyun took a step forward holding the food box and moved closer to her.
"Minister Lin?" He took a look at the food box, and his dark eyes narrowed slightly. Minister Lin sent this food box during the talent show. Even if he didn't say it explicitly, the meaning was very obvious.
"Yes, I saw it was just a food box, so I took it. The person he sent just left. Do you want me to call him back?" Lianyun held the food box and looked it up and down for a while, wondering what Shen Qingwan was suspecting.
"Why would the Shangshu go to so much trouble just to send a food box for me to taste? He has it in his house, so why would we lack it in our palace?" She stood up from the wooden stool and put the books on the table aside, feeling that things were not that simple.
"Your Majesty is right. I was stupid. This food box looks small, but it is quite heavy. I felt my arm was sore after just holding it for a while." Lianyun had originally brought the food in with one hand, but now she was holding it with both hands. She originally thought that it was just some special cakes and snacks, but after hearing what she said, she became a little doubtful.
"Open it and see what's inside." Shen Qingwan raised her hand and motioned her to put the food box on the table.
“Yes.” Lian Yun responded and opened the wooden lid of the food box. What came into view was the neatly arranged jade-colored pastries, which looked very appetizing. “This…” Holding the lid of the box, she looked at Shen Qingwan in confusion.
"Take out this layer of cakes. Judging from the height of this food box, there must be a second layer."
After the second layer of the wooden box was opened, it suddenly shone with colorful light. When Lianyun saw it clearly, she couldn't help but open her mouth in surprise, because the pastries in this layer were no longer there, and instead, there were various neatly stacked jewels.
"Your Highness is really good at calculations. I was wondering why this food box is so heavy. It turns out there is a hidden secret."
Shen Qingwan pursed her lips and said nothing. The gold, silver and jewelry were placed in front of her. She just glanced at them and asked Lianyun to cover them up quickly.
Minister Lin was really impatient and directly sent these jewels. If it were someone else, they would have been tempted a long time ago, but in her eyes, these were not as meaningful as a book.
His eyes narrowed, and his originally calm face suddenly turned colder. The corners of his lips twitched slightly, and he uttered a few words, "Send someone back and tell them that I have a poor appetite recently and cannot eat sweets. Don't bother the Minister."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Lianyun covered the food box and picked it up. Seeing that she looked unhappy, she did not say much and quickly walked out of the room. As she instructed, she immediately asked someone to take the food box back to the Shangshu Mansion.
After hearing the news, Minister Lin was very angry. He had been an official for so many years, but he did not expect that the virtuous concubine would be so disrespectful to him and actually asked someone to send his gift back.
"Hmph," Minister Lin snorted coldly with his hands behind his back, "This woman is just ungrateful and pretends to be noble. In the future, I will definitely find an opportunity to get back at her."
To Shen Qingwan's surprise, Minister Lin's food box was just the beginning. In the past few days, there was an endless stream of gifts sent to her. In addition to gold, silver, and jewelry, there were also various kinds of silks and satins, and rare antiques, all of which she rejected one by one.
She has always been indifferent to these properties, and nothing will change now. She now suspects that Fu Yuheng has asked her to make the final decision because he sees that she will never accept bribes. But when she thinks of this, she can't help feeling a little disappointed.
Shen Qingwan could be said to be indifferent to this talent show, but someone couldn't hold back. In the past few days, there was an endless stream of people coming and going in her yard. Li Jieyu was so jealous that she wanted to find a reason to provoke them, but when she arrived at her yard, she found that there was no one there.
At this time, Shen Qingwan went to Wu Ling's yard to avoid being alone.
"I haven't seen you for some time. Today I asked Mo Lan to make the good tea that the emperor rewarded me a few days ago, so you and I can have a chat." Wu Ling was a little surprised to see her, but she had also heard about what had happened in the palace these days.
"I've thought about it, and I think there's only a quiet place left in your palace, so I'll come here to take a break from my busy life for a while."
The two were chatting in the yard and couldn't help but talk about the talent show in front of them. Moran brought out the brewed tea and some snacks, then retreated to the other side of the yard so as not to disturb the two people's conversation.
"I've been having a headache these past few days. You and I both like quietness, but the emperor has left the matter of the selection to me to decide. I feel that my palace has never been so noisy since I entered it." Shen Qingwan rubbed her brows and took a sip of tea helplessly.
"The emperor has entrusted you with this, naturally he has great trust in you. Now that the selection is over, there will inevitably be some turbulence in the harem. With the intertwined interests, it is inevitable that he will be courteous to you. It is also thanks to you that he can keep things stable. If it were anyone else, they would inevitably be moved." She smiled.
"I don't know what the emperor means," Shen Qingwan said, her eyes falling on the piano on another table in the yard, "Forget it, let's not talk about this. It's been a long time since I played music with you. Today, I feel like playing the piano."
"Then why are you hesitating?" Wu Ling raised the corner of her mouth, then smiled and led her to sit down and play the piano together. The melodious sound flowed from their fingertips and echoed in the courtyard.