November 18, 43rd year of Kangxi

The Shunzhen Gate of the Forbidden City slowly opened in the misty sky, signaling the official start of the triennial show girl selection.

Manchurian, Mongolian, Han Eight Banner women, but all those who are old are required to participate in the election, if for some reason can not be selected, must participate in the next election, otherwise even to the age of 28 can not marry, violators by the banner without the unified participation in the investigation and punishment.

The show girl waited outside the Shunzhen Gate at the fourth watch, and each carriage had a double light on the tree, identifying which clan and which flag the owner of the car was, arranged in order, and the elder Tailin introduced the Shunzhen Gate to Zhongcui Palace for placement. The girls who can stand here are all screened through layers of screening, and those who are physically unclean or have disabilities are excluded as early as the primary election.

Niu Hulu's clan is subordinate to the yellow flag, and Ling Ruo stood with the show girl of the same flag and let the eunuch arrange it, and he never said a word. This place is the imperial palace, the most noble place in the world and the place with the most right and wrong, if you can't be cautious in words and deeds, you are afraid that you don't even know how it came to be when the disaster comes.

The aunt of the housekeeper of Zhongcui Palace has already led dozens of palace maids to wait in the courtyard, and when she saw them coming, she bowed slightly, and said without humility or arrogance: "You little masters are auspicious, the slave maid is the aunt of the housekeeper of Zhongcui Palace, Hongling, from now until the little masters are officially entitled, all the food, clothing, housing and transportation of the little masters are taken care of by the slaves and maids. In addition, from tomorrow, the teaching grandmother will come here to teach the little masters about the etiquette in the palace, so as not to lose the etiquette of the little masters when answering in front of the palace. She glanced at everyone and said, "If there is no problem with the little masters, then the slave and maid will arrange a place for the little masters." ”

"There are more than 100 people here, do you have so many rooms in Zhongcui Palace?" One of the show girls asked suspiciously.

Hongling smiled slightly: "One person and one room can't be, but two people can still have one room, the slave knows that all the little masters are daughters, and they don't want to live in the same room with others, but for now, please be considerate, the slave and maid have thanked the little masters here." ”

Ling Ruo secretly said in his heart, this person is so capable, and before others could make trouble, he blocked the words first, and there was really no one in the palace who was kind to him.

Many of the show girls frowned, but no one raised any objections, after all, no one wanted to offend people as soon as they came, and some people were even secretly thinking about how to win over this aunt who looked young but shrewd, so that she could help herself more.

After that, things were much simpler, after the arrangement was made for two people, the palace maid led the way away, and Ling Ruo was arranged to be with Guo Luo Luo Muyue, the daughter of the third official of the assistant leader.

The two palace maids took them to a side room on the west side and gave a salute, one of them was a little older and said crisply: "The two little masters are good, the slave maid is called Ruyi, her name is auspicious, and she is responsible for taking care of this small courtyard, the two little masters can tell the slaves and maids if they have something to do in the future, and the breakfast has been prepared, and it will be sent to the little master's room later, if the little masters have no other instructions, the slaves and maids will retire first." ”

"I'm tired." Mu Yue nodded with a pleasant face, took out the golden melon seeds from the moon-white purse and rewarded each of them with one. Now in this world, one tael of gold can be exchanged for twelve taels of silver, don't look at the small gold melon seeds, but they can be worth a month's share of ordinary palace maids, and the two of them thanked the reward happily and retreated.

As they spoke, Ling Ruo had already taken a rough look at the furnishings in the room, and secretly praised that it was worthy of the imperial palace, and even the room for the ladies of the rank and rank was exquisite and elegant, although there were two beds, they were not crowded at all.

"I don't know what this sister is called?" A soft voice came from behind her, it was Guo Luo Luo, who was smiling and looking at Ling Ruo who turned around.

Ling Ruoyang raised the corners of his lips, his smile was as light as floating in the sky, and he said politely: "Don't dare, call me Ling Ruo." "The most worthless thing in the palace is this so-called sister and sister, there is no sincerity at all, not to mention that this Guo Luo Luo Muyue is by no means a simple character, just looking at her as soon as she entered the palace, she began to buy people's hearts, otherwise even if you really want to reward, there is no need to reward melon seeds so valuable.

Mu Yue didn't seem to hear the rustiness in her words, and took Ling Ruo's hand affectionately and said: "When the carriage outside the gate was sorted, I remembered that my sister's carriage was before me, and I think it was bigger than me. ”

"It's time to take care of each other." Ling Ruo saw that her expression was sincere, and for a moment he couldn't tell whether this was sincere or false.

Mu Yue glanced at Ling Ruo carefully, and sighed: "I saw my sister today, and I know that the ancients are honest and do not deceive me, the so-called ice jade is the muscle, and the autumn water is the god, referring to the beauty of the country like my sister, compared with my sister, my sister can be regarded as a vulgar fan, I think my sister will definitely be selected in this draft, and the concubine and concubine will be just around the corner." ”

Ling Ruo's eyebrows frowned slightly, and he sighed lightly: "This kind of thing must not be said nonsense, there are many outstanding girls in this year's show, and there are not a few who are better than me, not to mention that even my sister is by no means as mediocre as you say, and today's saint is wise and martial, and he is definitely not a person who only pays attention to appearance, relatively speaking, virtue is the most important." ”

"Sister is too cautious." Mu Yue replied lightly, slowly walked to the table and poured a cup of tea, the pleasant fragrance of tea accompanied by the smell of water and vapor made her face look a little unreal, and her eyebrows and eyes were low, making it impossible to see what she was thinking.

She handed the tea to Ling Ruo, and when she reached out to take it, she saw that her smooth and jade-like wrist seemed to be stunned for a moment, and then took a closer look, and said in surprise: "How can my sister dress so plainly?" ”

Ling Ruo had no other ornaments on his body at the moment except a pair of jade earrings, even a few scattered silver foil beads and a jade hairpin on his head, only the set of goose yellow and silver patterns with dark embroidered begonia flowers on his body was quite eye-catching, and this dress was indeed a little shabby compared to other show girls with beads and beautiful clothes.

"I've never liked complicated things, so that's good." Ling Ruo replied lightly, not ready to say anything more.

"Is that really the case?" Mu Yue smiled and showed a touching and delicate attitude that Shicai did not have, "My sister refuses to say it, then my sister will say it on your behalf, Niu Hulu Lingruo - the daughter of Ling Zhu from the fourth grade ceremony, the sister of Ronglu, the second class Jinshi Ronglu of today's department, am I wrong?" ”

"When the first queen was still there, the Niu Hulu family could be said to be infinitely beautiful, but unfortunately since the first queen and Wen Guifei had fallen one after another, the Niu Hulu family has fallen, and now it has been reduced to a third-class family, and my sister's Ama offended Lord Shang Shushi of the Ministry of Rites, I heard that the winter can't even burn charcoal, it's really pitiful; and your brother, who was originally good enough to enter the Hanlin Academy as a Jishi, but was named Lu and released to Jiangxi according to his judicial experience. Mu Yue shook her head, as if she was really sorry for Rong Lu.

Ling Ruo's expression gradually cooled down, she had already seen that this Guo Luo Luo Muyue had bad intentions, and the intimacy in front of her was simply pretended.

Mu Yue didn't fail to see the change in Ling Ruo's expression, but she didn't care, but smiled even more happily, flicking the roses, purple wisps of gold and hundred butterflies that were specially customized for this draft, wearing a flower cloud satin brocade dress, and her eyes turned and said: "Sister must want to be selected in this draft, right?" After all, this is the best chance to save the Niu Hulu family, but ......"

Weak and boneless fingers caressed Ling Ruo's beautiful face, her touch made Ling Ruo feel disgusted, and she took a few steps back to avoid her hand, "But what?" ”

Mu Yue clapped her hands and grinned, "But will my sister really have a chance?" My sister's family has offended the princess's Amma! ”

Ling Ruo laughed angrily, "You don't have to worry about whether I can be selected or not, not to mention that the crown princess alone in the harem can have the final say." ”

"It seems that my sister really doesn't know anything, so my sister is a good person to tell my sister one thing in the end." She leaned into Ling Ruo's ear, her red lips exhaled Ruolan, and said word by word: "It is Rong Guifei who is in charge of this draft, and Rong Guifei is the aunt of the crown princess. ”

She smiled, innocent, Ling Ruo looked at her coldly, I don't know what the purpose of telling her to do this is, but it is definitely not out of kindness, although this woman is similar in age to her, but her scheming is unfathomable, and she will never just take advantage of her tongue for a while.

"Sister, the hairpin on your head seems to be crooked, I'll help you reinsert it." Ling Ruo didn't have time to refuse, the hairpin had been held in her hand first, and when she was about to insert it, her hand suddenly loosened, and the jade hairpin fell to the ground from her hand, "ding" a soft sound, and then it was cut in two.

"Alas, it's all because I'm clumsy and broke my sister's only hairpin, how is this good? But I think sister, you have a lot of adults, so you shouldn't blame me for that, right?! Said that it was an apology, but in fact there was no apology at all, and Ling Ruo even saw a deep smile in her eyes.

She's provoking! Thinking of this, Ling Ruo calmed down instead, and said indifferently: "It's just a worthless hairpin, what's to blame, my sister is too outward, if it's okay, I want to go outside for a walk." ”

Staring at her back as she turned away, Mu Yue's expression became cold, she was deliberately tempting, wanting to see how far she could endure it, but she didn't expect that she could pretend to be nothing, it was really not simple.

From the moment she saw Niu Hulu Lingruo, she knew that this was a strong rival, and the most important thing in the harem was beauty; But in the same way, if you want to compete for the top position in the harem, what you need most is beauty, and Niu Hulu Lingruo's appearance is enough to threaten her.

This threat is even greater than the few noble girls that Ama brought her to her attention before entering the palace, but fortunately...... Fortunately, Niu Hulu Lingruo had a fatal flaw.

The bane has been planted, and soon, it will soon burst out, and when the time comes...... Hehe, thinking of this, Mu Yue's mood suddenly improved a lot.