Before the wedding date of Yu Shu and Xue Rui arrived, a major event was first put on the agenda, that is, the harem election, and Emperor Yan was established. Personally handled by Yu Shu, the Kunling Bureau screened the school-age women in Beijing, considered the family background, appearance and conduct, and a total of 32 outstanding people were sent to the palace to face the saint, which was decided by Emperor Yan.

In the early morning of this day, when the draft girl was dressed up, she first went to the Kunling Bureau to verify her identity, and then took a carriage and was escorted into the palace by the Shenwei Army. Because Yu Shu wanted to go to the early court, he was not among them, so he ordered Situ Qinglan, the female imperial official of the Kunling Bureau, to lead him into the palace.

Among the thirty-two show girls, there are three candidates who are most likely to be crowned queens, one is Wei Manshu, the daughter of the Chengen Hou Mansion, as the niece of the Empress Dowager Wei, she has a few more chances of winning than others. The other is Dai Ying, the precious granddaughter of the old general Dai of Ning Guogong, not to mention the founding of the Dai family, this Miss Dai is said to not only be born with a beautiful national color, but also good at riding and shooting, according to the background of Emperor Yan, she should love such a woman. The last one is Emperor Yan's teacher, the youngest daughter of the contemporary Hongru Ji Hede, Ji Pujia, Ji Hongru is admired by the world, it can be said that after Emperor Yan moved the capital to Beijing, no literati in the previous dynasty died in the country, thanks to his lobbying everywhere.

As for who the final flower is, it depends on the meaning of Emperor Yan, this is not a weak monarch who relies on the ministers to support him to sit on the throne, he doesn't need to look at the faces of the ministers, he can make his own decisions.

The show girl entered the palace to take the Xihua Gate, got off the car and changed to walking, fortunately it was a good season for the autumn season, otherwise this way down to the Taihe Palace, the smell of sweat and makeup, how to enter the eyes of the long live lord.

Situ Qinglan has been a female imperial official for five years, and the number of times she has entered the palace can not be counted, she and the big eunuch sent by the master of ceremonies walked in front to lead the way, and walked through the side of the imperial garden without squinting, the autumn scenery is different and charming, the maple forest in the distance is like fire, there is a silver spring turbulence nearby, there is a slight commotion in the pile of women behind her, and the sound of laughter comes out, Situ Qinglan did not stop it, thinking of the situation when she entered the palace for the first time, how could they be in such a mood, at that time, she was trembling, just afraid of doing the wrong errand, how could she have taken care of the beautiful scenery in front of her.

She glanced back at the crowds of young girls, and there was envy in her eyes, knowing that some of them would ascend to the sky in one step and become the queen of Dayan in the world, so she could only sigh secretly for her fate.

I still remember that six years ago, Emperor Yan was still the king of Dongjing in the north of the town, and his mother, Mrs. Weiguo, who is now the Empress Dowager Wei, brought her daughter to Beijing, and held a birthday banquet in the palace, choosing a princess for King Beijing from the beginning. Who still remembers that day she guessed the four riddles of Mrs. Weiguo, saw the heirloom of the Jiang family, and once had the opportunity to win the throne of Princess Tianjing.

It's a pity that she missed this marriage at the wrong time. Later, she entered the Si Tianjian, not that there were no good people who came to propose marriage, but she was reluctant, she begged Taishu to take a hexagram for her, saying that the marriage had not yet arrived, and asked her to wait, and this wait until now, she is twenty-four years old, and if she waits, what year and month will it be?

Situ Qinglan's distant thoughts were immediately put away when they arrived outside the Taihe Palace, and first let Eunuch Sun go in to pass the word, and then listen to the announcement of her entering the hall to answer, leaving thirty-two show girls waiting outside for the roll call.

In the partial hall of the Taihe Palace, the Empress Dowager Wei and the eldest princess arrived first, and they didn't see the other concubines in the harem, thinking that the Empress Dowager Wei felt sorry for her niece and didn't want her to bow her head to a few palace concubines who were not high, so she simply didn't let them come forward.

"Weichen knocked to see the Empress Dowager, Niangniang Wanfu Jin'an," Situ Qinglan kowtowed first, and waited for Empress Dowager Wei to tell her to be exempt from etiquette, and then went to see Princess Jiang Huan. She was a little nervous in her heart, wondering if the Queen Mother and the princess still remembered her person.

Empress Dowager Wei saw that it was a female official, with a flower brocade patch embroidered on her shoulder, and she couldn't see her face clearly when she lowered her head, so she didn't pay much attention to her, and asked with a faint face: "What about you guys, why did you send you, didn't the mourning family say that she wanted her to supervise it personally?" ”

Situ Qinglan has been in the officialdom for a few years, how could she not hear that the Empress Dowager Wei deliberately provoked a thorn, and her words revealed her dissatisfaction with Yu Shu, so she replied respectfully: "Back to the Queen Mother, there is a court meeting on the seventh day of the first day today, and I will go to the court at a big point, I am afraid that I will not be able to delay the major event in time, so I ordered Weichen to take charge of the affairs on my behalf." ”

Empress Dowager Wei glanced at her, raised her hand, and someone from the palace held the roster of the show girl in front of her, opened it, swept her eyes, and said, "The emperor hasn't gone down to the court yet, so let's call a few people to come in and take a look at the mourning house." ”

As he spoke, he pointed out the names of seven or eight people with his fingertips, and the palace people wrote them down after looking at them, and walked quickly to the door to roll call, Situ Qinglan listened with his ears up, among them was the name of Wei Manshu, the daughter of the Chengenhou Mansion, and a few other little-known ones, but there were no other two popular candidates after the seal, and they asked people to wait outside.

A group of girls entered the side hall in a curling manner, Ying Ying bowed down, the skirt was spread on the ground like flowers blooming on the branches, indescribably pleasing to the eye, Situ Qinglan secretly raised her eyes, and saw a smile on the face of the Empress Dowager Wei, and her expression instantly became kind, not as if Fang Cai had a cold face, and was a little too majestic. looked at Jiang Huan again, sitting lazily next to the Queen Mother, looking lacking in interest.

"Get up."

Situ Qinglan turned her eyes again, and the first thing she saw was Miss Wei with a peach face, twenty-eight years old, delicate like a freshly picked cherry fruit, those radiant eyes, at a glance, knew that it was a baby who grew up in a honeypot.

"The emperor has a lot of opportunities, and he will come later. It's better to find something to do if you're bored at this time, the mourning family knows that you are all everyone's girlfriends, who is good at what kind of talent, you might as well let the mourning family appreciate it? ”

The girls looked left and right, but the first to stand up was a sweet-looking girl, pursed her lips and smiled to reveal two pear vortices, very flattering: "The Queen Mother, the little girl Gu Qingchen, the father is the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Gu Jingxue, the little girl is not talented, the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are not very proficient, but she has learned a wonderful method, can use the flute to blow the sound of a hundred birds, and allow the little girl to be ugly." ”

People who are about the age like such a lively and cute little girl, and the Empress Dowager Wei did not have a cold face because she stole the limelight from her niece, but asked her with a smile: "Did you bring a flute?" ”

Miss Gu nodded in response, took the piccolo hanging on her waist as a decoration, brought it to her lips, blinked her eyes and played, first learned larks, and then learned yellow orioles, sometimes crisp, sometimes melodious, and learned more than ten kinds of bird calls in a row.

At the end of the song, Empress Dowager Wei clapped her hands appreciatively, "This flute is played well, the mourning family remembers you girl, and I will count on you to relieve the mourning family's boredom in the future." ”

This sentence is equivalent to setting Miss Gu's future, and she is liked by the Queen Mother, as long as she is not a dull person, she will hold this thigh tightly, and the future will not be bad.

Miss Gu was overjoyed, but Wei Manshu was unhappy, pouting, and said coquettishly: "The Queen Mother likes that the Gu family's sister can play the flute, what should I do, Zhuzhu doesn't have those cute tricks, doesn't the Queen Mother like children?" ”

Who was present, who didn't know what kind of relatives Miss Wei and Empress Dowager Wei were, and being able to behave coquettishly in front of people shows that they are very pampered. Sure enough, Empress Dowager Wei was not annoyed, stretched out her finger and tapped her from afar, and said with a smile: "As far as you love Naqiao, since you don't know anything, you dare to enter the palace, aren't you afraid that the mourning family will take you away?" ”

Wei Manshu smiled, not afraid at all, and pretended to be helpless: "That Zhuzhu has to play a tune, so as not to provoke you." ”

Empress Dowager Wei counted the time, the emperor should be on the way here, so she asked people to go to the back and bring a guzheng prepared in advance, put it on the hall, set up a coffee table and an embroidered stool, put on the incense burner, and everything was ready.

Wei Manshu sat down in front of the piano stand dignified and generous, stretched out her fingers, and wore pink fake nails.

She does have extraordinary piano skills, just now that Miss Gu is a clever child, a few bird calls are rare to blow with a flute, it is really far worse than the majestic music of a hundred birds and a phoenix. The women waiting outside the hall heard this song, and they didn't know how they would feel.

But when Situ Qinglan saw this scene, the corners of her eyes became sour for no reason, no one knew that she had put a man she had never met in her heart many years ago, and she had expired promises and fantasies, all of which would be in vain today.

Bending to a high place, two people walked in outside the temple gate, one in front of the other without squeaking. A few show girls in the hall were minjue, and when they turned around, they saw a bright yellow golden dragon embroidered with five claws, and they knelt down in a hurry, but the sound of the piano did not stop, Wei Manshu gently closed her eyes, kneading the strings, and her beautiful side face was exposed to the emperor's gaze.

This was a stunning appearance, if it was according to Empress Dowager Wei's plan, the emperor should be moved at this time. However, she only missed one thing - Emperor Yan recognized this cousin who played the piano.

Emperor Yan is in his thirties, and he is not careless about the woman, it is difficult to impress him with his beauty, not to mention that he knows that this cousin is half a year younger than him, no matter how he is born, no matter how he is born, in his opinion, she is a little girl who has not grown up.

Emperor Yan's gaze only stayed on the little cousin for a moment before he moved away, he knew what the queen mother had in mind, it was nothing more than to let the Wei family produce an orthodox queen, and the fat water would not flow into the fields of outsiders. Half a month ago, he would probably have fulfilled his mother's wish, and it would be okay for the Wei family to be a little more noble, but the incident in the middle reminded him that filial piety is due, but if he is foolish and filial, it will cause disaster sooner or later. It is better to cut off this sprout as soon as possible, so as not to cause trouble in the future.

"These are the show girls selected by Kyori?" Emperor Yan crossed the crowd, followed by Yu Shu, who came with him after the next dynasty. The sound of the piano stopped abruptly, Miss Wei looked back, hurriedly left her seat, and knelt down with the corner of her skirt shyly and timidly.

"That's your Wei cousin, don't you recognize it?" The Queen Mother quipped. Emperor Yan praised the venue very much: "The eighteenth year of the female college has changed, my cousin has become more and more beautiful, and she can play the piano well." ”

This Jiang Huan was bored and was about to fall asleep, and when she looked up and saw Yu Shu, she immediately woke up, stood up and walked out, completely forgetting how the Queen Mother had told her before.

"I lost something important on the road, and I have to go back and look for it."

"Wait," Empress Dowager Wei told her not to stop, she was so angry that she couldn't count her daughter in public, Emperor Yan stepped forward and persuaded: "Hua Lan has always been unable to sit still, you just let her go." ”

Empress Dowager Wei is speechless, she originally arranged for Jiang Huan to add fuel to the fire, so that Emperor Yan could directly choose the daughter of the Wei family as the queen later, without a helper, how can this play continue?

Yu Shu clearly saw that Jiang Huan ran away when she saw her, and wondered in her heart, her face was like a nobody, Emperor Yan gave her a seat, and she sat down to watch the excitement, the beautiful little girl in the palace was dizzying. The most outstanding is the young lady who played the piano just now, who is from the Chengenhou Mansion.

Tsk, a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl is as tender as a green onion, can the emperor really do it?

She swept her eyes and saw Situ Qinglan standing in the corner, the corners of her mouth turned up, beckoning her to come over and stand behind her. Situ Qinglan has been with her for five years, and she is not as dead set on her as Shao'an, at least she is loyal, and she is worthy of her helping her and letting her get what she wants. Besides, doesn't the Queen Mother not know that she is not easy to mess with, so she wants her to taste it.

"Enlighten the saint, there are a total of thirty-two show girls who entered the palace this time, regardless of talent or family background, all of them are the best choice, here is the birthday eight characters annotated by the minister himself for them, please take a look at the saint."

Yu Shu took out the red post prepared in advance from his sleeve and handed it to Situ Qinglan behind him, and she presented it. This annotation on the character of the character has not even been read by the Empress Dowager Wei, and she can't help frowning when she sees this, and she is a little worried that Yu Shu will stir up the situation.

Emperor Yan didn't think about it so much, he looked at the female official who walked forward with his head bowed and broken steps, because he had never seen it, he inevitably looked at it twice, but he saw that she was wearing a well-cut sleeved robe, her figure was slim, she didn't wear a wig on her head, her hair was neatly coiled into a bundle behind her head, and she was only holding a small green jade crown with a big palm, and two strands of green silk hung down from the corners of her forehead, shadowing her gentle and lovely eyebrows, she was a very pleasing beauty. Standing in front of those young girls shows the beauty of her age.

Situ Qinglan hung her head and lifted the red post, not half a minute overstep, but in fact, her heart was beating hard, she knew that she was going to enter the palace last night, and she didn't sleep well all night. Emperor Fang walked in from the outside, she only dared to look secretly, and hurriedly looked, the heroic figure and the person secretly hidden in her heart became one, making her can't help but feel ashamed of herself, this is the most noble man in the world, and she can't tolerate her delusions. How does she deserve it?

Empress Dowager Wei's attention was all on the red post annotation, and she didn't notice the slightest subtle reaction between the emperor and the female official, and waited patiently for the emperor to read it before reaching out to come over. At first glance, he was relieved, Wei Manshu's life was very good, he was a blessed appearance of heaven, earth and people, and there was nothing wrong with it. Empress Dowager Wei glanced up at Yu Shu, smiled with satisfaction, and thought: Forgive her, she doesn't dare to make a fuss about this matter.

Emperor Yan did not say a word about this comment, so Empress Dowager Wei sent a message to let the show girls waiting outside the hall come in, no need to divide into several groups to meet, fortunately, the side hall is spacious enough, and more than 20 people come in at once It is not too crowded, but the eight who came in first stood at the front, and those who came in later could only be ranked behind.

The show girls reported to their homes and answered a few words, Emperor Yan recognized a person, and he already had a score in his heart, so he turned his head and asked Empress Dowager Wei's opinion: "There are so many people, my son is dazzled, according to you, who is enough to be qualified for the position of queen?" ”

Empress Dowager Wei obviously has a candidate, but she is too eager to show it, although her son is filial, he is not a person she can handle, so she considered it: "The pearl of the Ji scholar's family has both virtue and integrity, and the daughter of the Ningguo Mansion is lively, generous, intelligent and decent, and your uncle's manshu girl is demure and dignified and a blessed and long life, which one is good, and the mourning family is really difficult to choose." Which one did the emperor fall in love with? ”

The hearts of the three girls whose names she named were trembling and their palms were sweating, knowing that Emperor Yan's next words would decide their fate. There was a brief silence in the main hall, and the thirty-two ladies held their breath, waiting for the emperor to make a decision.

Emperor Yan's gaze swept over the young and immature faces, smiled slightly, and said: "I still think that to be the queen mother of the world, you must be broad-minded and tolerant. Come on, pass the order - the Ji family has a woman with both virtue and grace, and she is deeply in line with my intentions, and she is now the queen, and the canonization ceremony is scheduled for a month later, so let Si Tianjian and the Ministry of Rites step up their preparations. ”

The last sentence is to explain to Yu Shu: "Pick a good day." "Obey."

Empress Dowager Wei's smile froze at the corner of her mouth, and the emperor didn't even leave room for maneuver, so he made a decision, so that she couldn't persuade her, and she thought that the situation was nine out of ten, but it was a void. Looking at the little face of the daughter of the Wei family, where is there still Fang Cai's complacency, biting her red lips, she didn't cry out.

Subsequently, Emperor Yan successively named Wei Manshu as a concubine, Dai Ying as a concubine, and the rest of the daughters, and two Jieyu, two Zhaoyi, four beauties, four talents, and the rest were all ladies, filling the harem.

Empress Dowager Wei barely survived to the end, and then drove away on the grounds of physical discomfort, Emperor Yan knew that he had made his mother angry this time, but he was not in a hurry to make amends, and waved his sleeves and asked Yu Shu to go to the imperial study together. Subsequently, the celebrant came to send the new concubines and nobles to the harem, and Situ Qinglan also followed because of the errand on her body.

Out of the Taihe Palace, Emperor Yan didn't mention the matter of the future, he was a little absent-minded, so he didn't speak, Yu Shu took a few steps behind, and suddenly a low laugh disturbed his heart, he turned his head and saw a smile on her face, so he asked: "What do you want to do?" ”

Yu Shu hurriedly straightened his face, bowed his head and said, "The minister doesn't dare to speak." ”

didn't dare to say that it was related to him, Emperor Yan raised his eyebrows and became curious: "Say, forgive you for your innocence." ”

Yu Shu looked a little embarrassed, and said stubbornly: "The minister remembered that when the Holy Dragon was in the abyss, the Queen Mother once went to Beijing to choose a concubine for you, and also held a banquet in the mansion, invited many famous ladies, and the minister and the eldest brother also went together. ”

"Oh?" Emperor Yan remembered this incident, but he was not present at the time, so he didn't know what was worth laughing at. "And then what are you laughing at?"

"Well, the Queen Mother wanted to come here to test her character, so she came up with four puzzles, saying that one of these four riddles is the heirloom of the Jiang family, and whoever can guess it will have a lottery. Ahem, who would have thought that the so-called heirloom was actually a pair of cloth shoes. When everyone saw it, they didn't take it seriously, thinking that the Queen Mother was making fun of everyone. Yu Shu's laugh is obviously here.

Emperor Yan also smiled, and asked her casually: "Did anyone guess it?" ”

Yu Shu hesitated for a moment and said, "There is indeed one person." It is said that this person has just seen the saint, and it is the female imperial official in front of the minister. ”

Emperor Yan stopped suddenly while walking, turned around against the warm autumn sun, and couldn't see the expression on his face clearly: "It's her, married, right?" "It's a bit redundant to ask, at that age, you have a lot of character and talent, but I'm afraid you've already made a promise.

"No," Yu Shu half-lowered his head, didn't look at the emperor's face, and explained a few words: "Her life experience is indeed a little pitiful, her parents died early, she was sent to the fence at a young age, and then she relied on her own hard work, passed the Dayan exam, and entered the Si Tianjian, the minister is also a woman, and she can't help but take care of her more, maybe the minister has a bad head, she has a good learning, and she always refuses to nod when people propose relatives, so it has been delayed until now." ”

Emperor Yan patiently listened to Yu Shu talk about her life experience, and suddenly a trace of strangeness was aroused in his heart. There was such a shadow in front of me, and I only thought that she was born gentle and pleasing to the eye, but now that I know that she is a woman with softness and strength, I am more and more worried about it. She hasn't married yet, could there be a little reason for him here?

"What's your name?" He asked coldly.

"Situ Qinglan." Yu Shu had a smile hidden in his eyes, and he had to get closer to see it.

Emperor Yan silently read it once, Qinglan, this name is worthy of her. R1152