Not long after, Chu Xue learned the news of Qin Yuan's marriage from her mother, who visited her in the palace.

She was a little surprised, she hadn't heard any wind when Xiao Le'er was full moon last time, why did Brother Qin Yuan suddenly get married?

But it's right to think about it, Brother Qin Yuan is already twenty-two years old, and it is time to start a family, so Uncle Qin Mu and they can rest assured.

"Has Miss Luo's mother seen it? How is the character? She asked her mother curiously.

Mother smiled, "She is the daughter of Lord Shangshu Luo of the Ministry of Households, the Luo family has a good style, and Mrs. Luo is also known as a virtuous name, this Miss Luo family will naturally not be bad." ”

Since recognizing Qin Yuan as their righteous son, Chu Lin and his wife have become more and more fond of this young man, and they are naturally concerned about his affairs, so seeing that he has married a good family, the old couple are sincerely pleased.

Chu Xue was relieved when she heard this.

Fate has brought them to different people, this is a fact that cannot be changed, no matter what, she hopes that Qin Yuan can be happy.

After thinking about it, she smiled and asked, "Can the wedding date be set?" Now that we are close to the Qin family, we will have to give a big gift when the time comes! ”

"That's nature!" Mother smiled and replied, "I heard that the wedding date is scheduled for May next year, so your father and I need to prepare well." ”

Chu Xue thought for a while and said, "I also want to give a gift, but if I can't leave the palace then, my mother will help me bring it." ”

Seeing that her mother nodded in response, she instructed Ruyue Yanling, "Go to the warehouse these days to take a look, and you must find something that you can get your hands on." ”

"Yes." Both girls smiled and saluted.

After talking about the comforting things, Mrs. Chu looked at her daughter, and stopped talking, Chu Xue paused slightly, and said with a smile: "Mother can ask if she wants to." ”

The mother sighed, "I heard that the Queen Mother is going to choose a concubine for the emperor?" ”

She smiled slightly, "There is such a thing. ”

Her mother didn't know Song Chen's promise to her, so seeing that her mother was worried, she comforted: "For the sake of the emperor's heirs, the queen mother is naturally understandable in choosing a concubine." The mother was relieved that her daughter was fine. ”

Mrs. Chu didn't say anything more. Although she doesn't want her daughter to be taken away from her favor, her daughter is married to the Son of Heaven, and although she has always been favored, the harem is indeed a little clean now, and such a situation is always inevitable.

As subjects, even if they love their daughters, they can't make decisions about this kind of thing. I just hope that my daughter and granddaughter can always go well.

As before, knowing that Song Chen would come over for dinner at noon, Mrs. Chu left the palace and returned to Chu's mansion before noon.

~~

The capital is a place where the powerful and powerful gather, and there are not a few people who have received invitations to choose concubines this time. Everyone has their own ambitions, different from Luo Shu, Zhao Jing, the daughter of Zhao Xuan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, can hardly hide her excitement and is eager to try.

She is seventeen years old. Among the nobles in the capital, her appearance is superior, and her father is an important minister, so her heart is inevitably arrogant.

She doesn't look down on the noble sons who have proposed to her in recent years, although they are all from good families, and there are many people with outstanding appearance, but in Zhao Jing's opinion, these people are not worthy of her.

She thinks that with her own appearance, if she was born a few years earlier, she can always be a noble lady of the princess, and the person she envies the most is the daughter of the Duke of Peiguo, the current queen Xu Jinhe, because her husband has the ability, she was the princess first, and now she is the queen of the world. But helplessly, she was born late, and by the time she got married, there were few princes who had been crowned by the emperor himself, and all of them became families.

Just as she lamented the unfairness of fate, this sudden invitation gave her hope.

Wouldn't it be much better to accompany the monarch and become an imperial concubine than a princess who wants to live in a corner with her husband? Besides, today's kings are in their prime, and they are also first-class in appearance, so what a rare blessing it would be to be able to accompany the king?

Although I heard that the emperor favored Yi Guifei, Zhao Jing was not discouraged at all, she herself was also a beauty, and she was younger than Yi Guifei, she didn't believe it, how could a yellow flower virgin like herself be as good as a woman who had already given birth?

Just as Zhao Jing was full of confidence and was about to enter the palace for a banquet, her father Zhao Xuan, who had returned from the Scattered Dynasty, brought her good news - because their Zhao family had been following Pingnanhou, with Pingnanhou's connection, Empress Xu was willing to help Zhao Jing so that she could enter the palace smoothly.

Zhao Jing's confidence has doubled, the queen is the master of the harem, and the power of Pingnanhou in the court is not to be underestimated.

For a while, the Zhao family rejoiced and made full preparations for the flower-viewing banquet in ten days.

~~

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival in August, the Imperial Garden of the Imperial Palace ushered in a group of young ladies.

Although it is mid-autumn, most of the flowers can be found elsewhere, but the palace brings together famous flowers and plants from all over the world, coupled with the careful cooking of the gardeners of the Siyuan Bureau, the current imperial garden is still full of flowers. Wood hibiscus and begonias compete for beauty, golden cinnamon and red cinnamon are fragrant, there are thousands of chrysanthemums in full bloom, coupled with maple red leaves, gorgeous and dazzling, as far as the eye can see, the garden is a rare beautiful scenery in the world.

More than 30 young girls gathered in a garden and saluted the Queen Mother one by one. Even if the invitation is sent in the name of the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother must come to see it in person, and Xu Jinhe, as the queen, of course, must also come in person.

Li Jiaoyun and Chu Xue both avoided in their palaces, they felt that instead of going to see the young girls one by one, it was better to stay in the palace to see their children, so they found an excuse to ask Xu Jinhe for leave, Xu Jinhe of course agreed, in her opinion, she wanted to arrange people to enter the palace, without these two eyesore women, it would be much easier, so she couldn't ask for the avoidance of the two.

The girls who entered the palace today are all beauties with a peugeot appearance, and they all know that today is the choice of concubines, and everyone has carefully dressed up. The Queen Mother looked at the girls who came forward to ask for peace one after another, with a light smile on her face, her head slightly bowed, looking noble and friendly, while Xu Jinhe was always dignified in front of people, and on the surface, it was very suitable for her title of queen.

When he saw Zhao Jing who slowly stepped forward to salute, Xu Jinhe finally let go of the rest of the day, among the girls, Zhao Jing's appearance can be described as superior, and her family background is high, if she strongly recommends it to the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother should be able to see it. As for Song Chen, such a beauty, although slightly inferior to Chu Xue, is better than young, and she thinks Song Chen should want to taste something fresh.

Sure enough, when Zhao Jing reported to her home and got up, the Queen Mother's eyes showed a slightly satisfied look, and Xu Jinhe was a lot more down-to-earth.

When the girls asked for peace one by one, the queen mother also had a little bit in her heart, since the son let himself be the master, it is not a problem to select three from the good family background to fill the three palaces, as for the concubine in the future, it depends on the son, and when he has a favorite candidate, he is in charge, and it is rare for the son to make such concessions to her.

The maidens enjoyed the scenery in the imperial garden for half a day, and had a luncheon in the palace, and in the afternoon they all left the palace and went home.

It is rare to enter the palace once, to see the luxury and dignity of the palace with their own eyes, the girls can hardly suppress the excitement in their hearts, but everyone is also a little disappointed, they think that since they are the concubines, they can always see the true face of the Son of Heaven, but for most of the day, only the queen mother and the queen appeared, and even the rumored concubine Yi Guifei looked like in the country, but they didn't see it.

But if you can be selected to enter the palace, these are not mysterious things, and as for who can get the queen mother's blue eyes, it can only depend on their own creation.

After the flower-viewing banquet, Xu Jinhe was not in a hurry, and when the Queen Mother and her old man rested enough to pass on her, she spoke her opinion again, after all, she was the harem housemother, and she had the right to speak for the emperor.

After dinner, she came to Funing Palace to sit down, she didn't say anything first, only listened to the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother said: "Passing you here, there is nothing else important, the mourning family wants to ask your opinion, you have also seen these noble ladies today, I don't know if you have a suitable candidate in your heart?" ”

Xu Jinhe lowered his eyes and smiled gently, "The courtiers listen to the Queen Mother, but the Queen Mother is in charge." ”

The Queen Mother smiled: "The emperor is lazy and pushes everything to the mourning family, how can you stand by like him?" You are the master of the harem, and I have to ask you about this. ”

The Queen Mother took out a large register, flipped through a copy, handed it to her, and said, "The mourning family thinks that this is good, Hu Pingjiao, the granddaughter of An Guohou, what do you see?" ”

The Queen Mother's maiden name is Hu, Xu Jinhe understood as soon as she heard the origin of this Hu Pingjiao, this is the Queen Mother's own person, she took the roster and looked at it, she had a slight impression of this girl, she looked good, but she was not very old and only fifteen. It's so small, I don't know if Song Chen can see it. But she doesn't have to worry about this, since she is the person arranged by the Queen Mother, she just has to respond.

She smiled and nodded, "The queen mother's vision is really good, and her daughter-in-law also thinks so." ”

Because Song Chen only promised to fill the position of the fourth concubine, Chu Xue is already a concubine, not a concubine, so this time the full count, there are only three places, Xu Jinhe saw that the Queen Mother had arranged one, but she was afraid that if she didn't open her mouth again, she would lose the opportunity, so she continued to flip through the roster, and after finding out Zhao Jing's roster, she recommended to the Queen Mother: "The daughter-in-law today remembers that there is a noble girl who is outstanding in appearance and has a very good family background, it seems that it is this one, the daughter of Zhao Xuan, the secretary of the Ministry of War." ”

When the Queen Mother heard this, she took the roster, and she also thought about it, and nodded: "It's good." ”

So the position of the third concubine was booked again.

The remaining one is easy to choose, the queen mother casually chose a woman from a family with a good birthday, Xu Jinhe saw that her background was not strong, and she didn't have any opinions.

In just one day, the selection of concubines this time can be regarded as a result.

Although Song Chen said that he asked the Queen Mother to call the shots, after all, he was the one who was chosen for him, and on the evening of the second day, the Queen Mother ordered someone to invite Song Chen into Funing Palace and told him about the results of the concubine selection.

After hearing this, Song Chen did not respond immediately, but brought a piece of news: "A few days ago, an envoy from Jinli Kingdom came to visit, and the lord of his country intends to form diplomatic relations with me. ”

"That's a good thing." The Queen Mother put down the list of three concubines in her hand, nodded and said: "Dongfu, who is east of Jinli, has always been eyeing me, and it would be a great thing if Jinli could fall to me this time." ”

Song Chen thought so, and continued: "My son also thinks so, so he plans to leave a concubine for Jin Li and the princess Yusheng who came in person. ”

Only then did the Queen Mother understand that the original way for Jin Li to win over Daqi was to send a friendly princess, which was indeed more sincere than those inconsequential treasures, and they should give this princess who was about to come from afar a suitable seat.

The Queen Mother nodded and said, "Do what you want!" ”

After that, he picked up the pen and opened the roster, and removed the name of the girl who was finally decided.

Of course, her own people have to stay, and compared with the other two, Zhao Jing's background is higher, so of course there is more reason to stay.

Song Chen looked at the movements of the queen mother's hand and did not have the slightest opinion.

In fact, he didn't pay attention to the princess in the feather dress, in his opinion, since it was to fill the harem, it didn't matter who it was, if he could take care of the big things, of course he would do it.

At this point, the matter of choosing a concubine has settled.