42 [The palace is so cruel] The sister who was robbed before entering the palace will light a wax for you

In three days, it will be the fifth day of the fifth month of May. According to the rules of previous years, on this day, a group of palace maids who have reached the age will be released from the palace, and a new batch of palace maids will be added to come in.

Among the new palace maids, there are family members of officials who have committed crimes, and they have been used as official slaves. This kind of general after entering the palace is to do rough labor directly, just do laundry, burn fire, and brush the toilet. Most people have been trapped in the circle of rough palace people all their lives, and they have survived to the age of either going out of the palace to find relatives to run to, or dying of old age in the palace.

There are also low-ranking official daughters or domestic slaves and maids sent by the palace concubine's family. These are usually assigned to various palaces to serve the nobles. Most of them will also slowly stay up with their qualifications and take the path of promotion of female officials in the palace. A small number of people who are both beautiful and scheming and can especially seize opportunities may be able to jump on the branches, be favored by the emperor, and become one of the nobles.

Of course, the promotion from a palace maid to a palace concubine cannot be too high.

For example, in the past, the lady of the Prince's East Palace, Zhang, who gave birth to a princess, was just a Zhaoyi. In general, beauties and nobles are not at the top.

Rao is like this, every year there are also a large number of pretentious, ambitious girls who want to enter the palace to brush the emperor's copy through various connections want to pour in.

Even if it was from the palace maid, there were no complaints.

For example, this Miss Zhao Qingrong and Zhao Er, she got up before dawn to dress up, her thin face was full of radiance, if there were tail feathers behind her, I was afraid that this kung fu would also be opened.

The whole Zhao family set out to send Zhao Qingrong to the Chaotian Gate outside the palace wall. It is a gathering place for the ladies to be admitted to the palace.

Before dawn, it was already full of people. The palanquins of various colors were messily placed, and from time to time they turned around and cried.

It was the girls saying goodbye to their parents.

Zhao Fengchun didn't want to come. He is a member of the first rank of the dynasty, and he actually wants to send his daughter to be a palace maid, how can this reputation be good?

There are many officials and officials who give his daughter here, and many of them recognize him.

Zhao Fengchun can't afford to lose this face.

But if you don't come, you can't rest assured. After all, Zhao Qingrong is the pearl that he has held in his heart for seventeen years and raised carefully, and he is still counting on this daughter to have a future and glorify her ancestors in the future.

So Lord Zhao followed secretly.

Seeing Zhao Qingrong hugging Mrs. Zhao crying, he also felt that his eyes were sour and his heart was astringent.

Duan was beaten by him, and was scared by the internal guard with a sword, and fell ill that day, but it also made people stand on their feet, and they wanted to send their daughter on this trip.

It's just that her sick and crooked appearance makes people feel really unlucky, and she is afraid that she will cry loudly and alarm others, so Zhao Fengchun let people watch, and she is not allowed to come out of the sedan chair, only through the sedan curtain.

Zhao Qingrong accepted a few pieces of flying money and a bag of broken silver that Mrs. Zhao stuffed to her, although there were tears on her face, her heart was so excited and happy that she flew quickly.

"Good boy, don't think about us after you go in, do your part." Mrs. Zhao wiped her tears and said to her, "Use the money where you should make it, don't let people think that we are petty." Grandmother knows that this palace has to be spent everywhere, and although we don't have much money, your mother still has a lot of dowry silver, which can be used as much as possible. ”

Zhao Qingrong shook his head and said: "Grandmother, forget it, my mother's money is in the Pei family's hands, even if she can move, she can't take it out for me." ”

"Fool, just say that I want to use it, can she still take it out to honor her mother-in-law?" Old Mrs. Zhao rolled her old eyes, revealing a little ruthlessness, "As long as you can come out, enter the eyes of the emperor, and become a mother, our family still needs to see the face of the old Pei family?" But if she dares to say half a word, I will let go of this old face and go to the gate of the Hou Mansion to make trouble, so that everyone in the capital knows how unfilial the women of the Pei family are, and they eat more inside and out. Look at it, when you become a mother and get the holy favor, I will give your mother a serious name and let her be your father's main room. In this way, no one will dare to underestimate you in the future, saying that you are a concubine or something. ”

Zhao Qingrong was moved by her grandmother's last words, and tears fell again.

"My granddaughter doesn't ask for anything else, I just want my grandmother to live a long life, I can't serve in front of you in the future, you have to take care of your health......"

The old lady hugged her heart again, sniffled and said, "When you are not a concubine, don't talk about the mother, even the queen can be the queen." Our old Zhao family will be pointing at you in the future, come up with some interest, don't let your sister lose face. ”

"It must not." Zhao Qingrong laughed with tears in his eyes.

How can you let your sister lose face? She's going to take her place!

The palace bell rang, the palace door opened, and a team of guards and eunuchs came out of it, and the steward held a sign for the palace ladies to line up and wait for the inspection. All the family members and relatives who saw them off rushed to the other end, and they were only allowed to watch from afar.

"Let's go." Zhao Fengchun hugged half of his face with a thick scarf and whispered to the old lady, "It's already lined up, we can't go up and talk, it's time to leave." ”

Duan choked up in the sedan chair and said, "Anyway, let me watch her walk into the palace gate." ”

"What can you do with it?" Zhao Fengchun was irritable, and when he saw that his family members were pushed to one place, there were so many familiar people in the crowd of flies and flies that he couldn't stand still.

"My meat, it's hard for my mother to see you in the future!" Duan, who had been suppressed in the sedan chair for a long time, finally cried.

Her crying seemed to have pressed some switch, and the women gathered together cried.

"What are you crying about!" Zhao Fengchun thought about keeping a low profile, but he didn't expect Duan's voice to make them conspicuous in the crowd, and scolded anxiously and angrily: "The girl is in the palace, if you are not happy for her, you will cry here, go home quickly, and be embarrassed by me here." ”

Duan's chest was tight, and the lord didn't allow her to come out to send her daughter, even if she cried twice, she had to be counted down by him.

Where has all his former tenderness and sweetness gone? Why are you so impatient with yourself in a blink of an eye? Duan Shi retracted, and there were doubts in her heart, but in the end, there were many people in the hall here, and she had to take care of her identity, so she had to endure it in a reluctant voice.

"Hey, isn't that Zhao Shangshu?"

Far away, a voice from nowhere startled Zhao Fengchun.

"Yes, look like him, but no. The daughter of the Zhao family is the queen today, how can Lord Zhao be willing to let his other daughters enter the palace as palace maids? You must be reading it wrong. ”

"Hehe, that's the same thing...... But I heard that the Zhao family seems to have a concubine, and she is seventeen years old this year......"

Zhao Fengchun felt that his old face was hot, and he couldn't wait to cover his ears and run home. He urged the palanquin man and left in a hurry.

There are almost 100 palace maids to be selected to enter the palace this year, and those who are called to go in to inspect the household paper and check the body, and the time required for each person is not short.

Although Zhao Qingrong came early, he was behind according to the order of the ranking.

Because the palace maids enter the palace for a period of one to three years, and are passed on by the old palace maids or grandmothers, the palace maids to be selected are generally twelve or thirteen years old, and the older ones will not exceed fifteen years old. Being so old as Zhao Qingrong is really eye-catching.

Not to mention that others are tired of standing or talking to each other, or slumping shoulders and shrinking their backs, only she, standing for more than an hour, still has a straight back, a calm face, and does not talk to people, just like a lonely and arrogant Hanmei, alone in the corner of the wall, but with low eyebrows and pleasing eyes, it looks very low-key. Gradually, the palace maids around noticed this person who was very arrogant on his face, but a little humble in his bones.

It's just that she doesn't talk, doesn't pick up, and always has an expression on people.

"What a stinky shelf, as if I thought I was amazing." A little girl who looked to be only twelve or thirteen years old took a sip and stopped teasing her.

Zhao Qingrong smiled slightly, looking at these half-grown girls who had not yet grown, a sense of superiority rose in his heart.

I'll remember you, little girls, when I become a mother, let you kneel and lick my toes one by one, and see if you dare to be arrogant.

Finally getting through her, she turned around and glanced contemptuously at the girls behind her, and walked into the house.

There was only one table in the room, and a eunuch stood guard at the door, asking her to come to the household papers, and check them one by one, and then she received a box on the side waiting to be sent to the palace to receive the file. Zhao Qingrong walked around the table, where there were three grandmothers who were specially examined.

Zhao Qingrong saw that there was nothing she knew. But think about it, Gongsun and Mama Hong are both serving the queen, and it is impossible for them to come here to inspect the palace maids.

Zhao Qingrong took a deep breath, thinking about the etiquette that Mama taught her, Ying Ying squatted down, and said: "The little girl Zhao Qingrong has seen a few grandmothers, and her father is Zhao ......, the head of the household."

One of the old women knocked on the table with a bamboo whip and interrupted her impatiently: "Who cares who your father is?" When he entered the palace, he was the person in the palace, just serving his master. Your parents sent you here, and until you are twenty-five years old and can leave the palace, they will no longer be your parents, and you can only remember the same thing from now on, your master! ”

Zhao Qingrong was choked by her words, and forced a smile: "Mama taught me a lesson." ”

"Undress!"

Zhao Qingrong knew that this was a level that must be passed in the palace, and he had to remove all his clothes, so that people could check whether there were any marks and smells on his body, so as not to collide with the nobles in the palace in the future.

It's just that she's a little embarrassed to let her dress in front of others like this.

Just slowly, the bamboo whip hit the back of her hand, and for a while it made her feel like she was back in that closed small courtyard, and she was taught by the two grandmothers to live and die.

Zhao Qingrong didn't say a word and began to untie his clothes.

Tremblingly, she let the three old women touch, pinch and pinch, and the old woman allowed her to put on her clothes.

But though the clothes were worn, the purse containing the money and silver in his bosom was confiscated.

"Mama, that's from the family." Zhao Qingrong said with a smile on his face, "I know that you are working hard today, and you will drink for a few grandmothers with a little broken silver here, but there is still some private money there......

"Palace people are not allowed to hide private money in the palace, this is the rule." The old lady's face was wrinkled like a chrysanthemum, and she said unceremoniously, "What are the rules, don't you understand?" All the things here have to be handed over to the chief steward, you have entered the palace, everyone is in the palace, what else do you need this money for? ”

As she spoke, the purse was swept twice in the old woman's hand, and then it was stuffed into her arms.

"Call the next one in!"

Zhao Qingrong was in a hurry, there were a thousand taels of silver there, a thousand taels! It is enough for a family of five to live without worrying about food and clothing for forty years, and this old woman is so good that she is actually black.

"You're so bold, my sister is the queen!"

"The queen will also have a sister who wants to enter the palace as a palace maid?" The old lady sneered, "See clearly, you are just a palace maid to be chosen, let's do things according to the palace rules, even if you get to the queen's mother, the mother can't say that I am not half of it." Maybe we'll be rewarded for the clear distinction between public and private. Drag it out, next! ”

Zhao Qingrong couldn't struggle, and was dragged out by the palace maid guarding the door.

"Give it back! Give it back! ”

"If you make any more noise, go back to your own house, there is no shortage of uneducated palace people like you in our palace."