The second day of February is not a momentary effort.

Although it is a flash of effort, in some people, it is the words "living like a year", which is not enough to describe the state of mind, among which the life of Chongqi's father and son is the most difficult.

It is unusual for a family to have two girls in the last ten places.

Sai Shang Ah has been idle for a long time, recalling that day when he was given the "Curb Bilong Sword" by the emperor, he sent 2 million taels to fill the military salary, and led the division to fight the prestige of Long Hair, as well as the bitter situation of being defeated and arrested, being imprisoned for punishment and confiscating the army outside the customs, as if he was in another world.

Who knew that the son would win the champion, and now the granddaughter has the hope of being in the middle palace, even if the title of "Chengen Gong" is not his turn, but the noble relatives of the pepper house, the seniors are respected, and there is great hope of revival.

Glory and wealth, if it is really like a dream, it will come for no reason, and there is no basis for going, and it is easy to dismiss if you are worried for a while.

Now it is the Eight Banners clan, especially the Mongolian Banner people, all of whom have ardent expectations, and at that time, they have to express their condolences, and they have to do some spirits and make some insincere entertainment, which is the most embarrassing.

The closer the days go, the more eager the heart of gain and loss, Chongqi feels more like a year than his father.

In such a mood like a prisoner waiting to be executed, he heard a rumor, which made Chongqi really can't be moved!

This rumor is that his daughter has no hope of being selected, because of the year of birth, she has committed the taboo of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

His daughter was born in the fourth year of Xianfeng, Jiayin, Xiao Hu, and the Empress Dowager Cixi was born in the fifteenth year of Daoguang, Yiwei, Xiao Yang, if Xiao Hu's people are selected and are in the middle palace, the Empress Dowager Cixi will become a "sheep falling into the tiger's mouth", which is not trivial, and must be avoided.

This cannot be said to be nonsense. Chongqi knew that the Empress Dowager Cixi was very particular about these festivals, the emperor was born by her, and she was in power, as long as she had this concern, her beloved daughter would be among the excluded.

This is truly "fate"! Chongqi was worried for a while, but he was able to accept his fate.

However, these words can only be put in the heart, and when they are said to be spread to the palace, it is a catastrophe, so they are prepared to be selected as usual on the surface, and on the day of "February 2, the dragon raises its head", at the time of ignorance, he personally accompanied his young sister and beloved daughter to the Shenwu Gate to wait for the decree.

On this day, the palace was really lively, and the Fujin and women of the near branch were called into the palace one after another to help the grand ceremony after the establishment, and the location was still in the Qin'an Hall in the imperial garden.

For a long time, there were officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who entered the hall and laid out two chairs, which were the thrones of the queen mothers of the two palaces, and another chair was set up on the east side, which was where the emperor sit.

On the imperial case, there is a handle inlaid with jade Ruyi, a pair of red satin embroidered purses, and another silver plate, with ten colored head sticks, and the queen of Tongzhi is selected from these ten color head lots.

The bell struck eight times, the emperor served the queen mother of the two palaces, and a group of noble ladies led by King Chun Fujin followed, and the minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was waiting for the envoy to pay a salute was made, and then was ordered to bring the ten selected show girls into the palace.

The girls in the Eight Banners are all here, all of them are peerless gods, and their actions and demeanors are extraordinary and steady.

The day before, he had already performed the ceremony, so he entered the palace, stood in the position where he should stand in a hurry, divided into two rows, and calmly made a big salute, only to hear the Empress Dowager Cixi say: "Stand up!" ”

Ten people are lined up in two rows, according to the official rank of the father and brother, the first time is considered a re-election, the queen mother of the two palaces has already discussed the stop, first choose four from the ten - as long as it is in the last four, then it is decided to say goodbye to the parents for a long time, and welcome the life of the deep palace.

These last four will be a queen, a concubine, and two concubines, and the concubines who are sealed at this time, as long as they do not make mistakes and go step by step, will one day become the imperial concubine.

The Empress Dowager Cixi was confident, and unhurriedly picked up the first lottery and read it to the Empress Dowager Ci'an: "Alut clan, the daughter of the former deputy capital Sai Shang'a. "After Saishan'a returned the pardon from the army, he was rewarded with the title of deputy commander, which was a military attache of the second grade, and the grade was quite high, so his youngest daughter was ranked first.

"Stay, won't you?" Empress Dowager Cixi asked.

"Good!" The Empress Dowager Ci'an agreed.

So the youngest daughter of Sezanne knelt down and gave thanks. The following "put" three "brands" in a row.

"Pick up the brand" also has to be grateful, and in fact, for some show girls and her parents, this is a real grace, because in their view, being selected into the deep palace is equivalent to being sent to prison.

The last one in the first row is the daughter of the prefect Chongling, whose surname is Hesheli, and in terms of appearance, she is the leader of the ten.

In this moment, the favor of the specially invited emperor, his eyes always stayed on her face, so when he saw the Empress Dowager Cixi hesitating with her colorful head, he couldn't wait to pull the sleeve of the Empress Dowager Ci'an and let her say: "Stay!" ”

Fortunately, just when he wanted to make a move, the queen mother of the two palaces exchanged an agreed look, and finally never put up the sign again.

Chongqi's daughter and Feng Xiu's daughter stood together, Chongqi's title was "Hanlin Yuan Day Talks about the Note Official Servant", and Feng Xiu's criminal department members are all from the fifth grade, but Hanlin's status is much higher than that of the division in the ministry, so they are ranked first.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi had not finished reading her lottery, the Empress Dowager Ci'an spoke.

"Of course this stays!"

She had already seen that something was wrong, and her wishful thinking was not easy to play. Therefore, when Shufangzhai was resting, he sent the emperor away under the pretext of sending away the palace maids and eunuchs, and wanted to talk to the Empress Dowager Ci'an first.

"Sister!" She originally wanted to use an inquiring tone to ask who the Empress Dowager Ci'an wanted? When the words came to his mouth, he felt that it was better to express his wishes directly, so he changed his words and said: "I look at Fengxiu's children, but they are blessed and stable. ”

"It's too young." Empress Dowager Ci'an shook her head, "The emperor himself is not childish, and with a fourteen-year-old queen, it's not like words!" ”

The Empress Dowager Ci'an talks about people and things, and rarely has such a sharp and decisive tone, and the Empress Dowager Cixi was so surprised that she couldn't think of words to refute her for a while.

"I think it's Chongqi's daughter! The appearance is not very good, but after the establishment is in virtue and talent, not in appearance. Besides, he is two years older than the emperor and much more sensible, not to mention anything else, at least taking care of the emperor to study, and he can benefit from her. ”

It is inconvenient for the Empress Dowager Cixi to say that "the sheep falls into the tiger's mouth", although she has always paid attention to the eight characters of the palace after the election, as long as she is in harmony with the emperor, is it a crime with the queen mother? It wasn't in the table, so she only barely said: "Then ask the emperor what he means!" ”

So the empress dowager of the two palaces passed a decree and summoned the emperor to meet. (To be continued.) )