Yue'er snorted and said, "Where is the palace irritable, this is slandered!" She suddenly understood that her previous thoughts were completely wrong, the queen mother was not a deliberate omission, but she had never been taken into account at all, and the identity of Concubine Duan existed in name only, and she was not even as good as a low-level servant.

"Yes, thank you Queen Mother, then I'll go draw a lot and see how lucky!"

"Okay, then you go early."

She Shanggong's tone was teasing, she nodded and turned to leave, the two little palace maids smiled evilly, and when they turned around, they stuck out their tongues at Yue'er and Rudong.

Rudong took Yue'er and walked towards Ciming Palace, her heart was full of resentment, and said: "Renming Palace is too bullying, Concubine Duan is a princess of a country, isn't she afraid that Dali has ideas?" ”

Yue'er thought in her heart: "If I don't come, Concubine Duan's life will get worse and worse, and if this continues, it will be a matter of time before she is demoted or abolished." ”

Ciming Hall is in the northwest of the imperial city, in addition to the West Palace, the palace people are also called Ciming Palace, in fact, the Baiyu Palace is also in the west, but by the southwest, the distance between the two sides is not close or not far, the moment of walking is half a stick of incense, this Ciming Palace covers an area of more than ten acres, look at it from afar, red bricks and green tiles, the momentum is also magnificent.

When I arrived at the west gate of the West Palace, there were already eight concubines standing there looking forward to it, they were all drenched in the rain, and they didn't even dare to hit the umbrella, looking respectful.

Yue'er frowned secretly, and thought to herself: "She Shanggong deliberately sent me a decree at the latest, so that I could draw lots last, it seems that he doesn't want me to come to the banquet!" ”

In front of Yue'er was a red-clothed attendant, not very old, only fourteen or fifteen years old, she glanced at Yue'er and said curiously: "Sister, why are you still wearing a veil?" As soon as she asked, a palace maid beside her hurriedly pulled her sleeve and said in a low voice: "Master, this is Concubine Duan!" ”

The red-clothed waiter was startled, and hurriedly turned his head, never looking at Yue'er again, as if he was avoiding the plague god.

"Mother, we'll draw it last, I'm afraid we won't be able to draw it."

Rudong's face was full of disappointment.

A middle-aged palace maid walked over with two little palace maids.

This palace maid is about thirty, wearing an orange palace dress, a round face, with a smile on her face, she nodded to the two little palace maids, one of them took out a stick holder, and the other took out nine bamboo sticks and put them in.

"Are you all here, now the lottery begins, and the nine of you will come in first-come, first-served order!"

Rudong whispered: "It is Zhou Shanggong who speaks, nicknamed Hidden Knife in Laughter, and ranks sixth among the female officials in the harem." ”

Yue'er nodded, her brain turned quickly, and at this moment, she had thought of a countermeasure, she quietly picked up a stone, moved her fingers, and bounced it out of the stick.

I only heard a soft sound on the ground, the stone hit the lower part of the stick, the sticker fell to the ground, and the nine bamboo sticks inside fell out, Yue'er was quick to move, pretending to help pick it up, and the two little palace maids said in a panic: "Don't do it, don't do it, let's do it!" The two thought they had accidentally knocked over the lottery.

Yue'er touched a bamboo stick and flicked her fingers twice, but she didn't pick it up, but got up and stepped back.

Zhou Shanggong's face changed, and he said to the two little palace maids: "You guys be careful, don't be careless." ”

The two little palace maids responded while putting the nine bamboo sticks back into the stickers.

Zhou Shanggong nodded at the first concubine and said, "You start." ”

At the front was an elderly woman, who carefully drew one of the bamboo sticks, which had a piece of red wax at the end, and she was overjoyed and shouted, "I have won, I have been drawn!" ”

Zhou Shanggong smiled: "Congratulations to Li Fengjun, the first one will be drawn, please wait here-"

Li Fengjun couldn't hide the joy on her face, she looked at the other eight people, her smug look was overflowing, and the rest of the concubines, except for Yue'er, couldn't see their expressions, they all showed jealousy.

Then four people in a row did not win, and those people looked very depressed.

The sixth person is a waiter surnamed Liu, she won the second branch, and stood next to Li Fengjun happily, the two looked at each other and smiled, and when they looked at others, they seemed to have risen to a level, as if they were on top.

Now there are three concubines left, and the chance is to choose one of the three.

Rudong didn't know what Yue'er thought in her heart, she felt that she seemed to be confident, she couldn't help but be a little strange, and said secretly: "Could it be that Niang Niang is very sure?" She really regarded Yue'er as a concubine at this time.

Zhou Shanggong smiled: "Haha, see which of you is lucky, next!" ”

The seventh lottery was a seventeen or eighteen-year-old waiter, her expression was very nervous, her fingers repeatedly selected on the last three bamboo sticks, and finally selected one, but she drew half of this lot, put it back, and picked the side one.

The bamboo skewer is drawn, and the end is colorless.

The squire's eyes were gloomy.

Now there are only two bamboo sticks left, and the red-clothed attendant in front of Yue'er stepped forward with some trembling, stretched out his hand and moved repeatedly on the remaining two bamboo sticks.

"Sister, if you don't dare to make a choice, then let my sister come first, okay?"

Yue'er teased in the back, she was last in line, and she had no choice at all.

The red-clothed squire gritted her teeth and pulled out a bamboo stick, but she didn't dare to look at it, and covered it with her hand.

Yue'er stepped forward and took out the last bamboo stick, and without looking at it, she folded it into several pieces.

Zhou Shanggong was stunned.

"Concubine Duan, what are you doing!"

Yue'er laughed and said to the red-clothed waiter: "Sister, I'll give you the opportunity to reveal it, now let's see your luck, right?" ”

Only one of the two teams can win, either this one or the one destroyed by Yue'er.

The red-clothed squire carefully removed his palm, and under the eyes of everyone, the bamboo stick finally came out, and it was colorless on it, that is to say, the last red skewer was left for Concubine Duan.

The women were stunned, and Yue'er proudly walked in front of Li Fengjun and Liu Shiyu.

The concubines who didn't win the lottery all showed jealousy, and one of the beauties in blue had a very vicious look.

The muscles on Zhou Shanggong's face trembled twice, but he still smiled: "Okay, congratulations to the three, please come with me." Then he turned and walked towards the hall.

Yue'er laughed secretly in her heart, just now she knocked over the bamboo tube with a stone, she aimed at a red stick, and then pretended to bend down to pick it up, but she didn't pay attention to it and scraped off the red wax on it with her fingernails, so only two of this tube of sticks are red sticks, even if she is the last to draw, she will definitely win.

This is Yue'er in the Hundred Flowers Class, Brother Hui told her the trick routine, now that it is used here, Zhou Shanggong and the others did not see the flaw at all, they just thought that God favored Concubine Duan and let her get the last chance, in fact, Yue'er was lucky, these three bamboo sticks were temporarily prepared by Zhou Shanggong, if they were painted with red paint, they would not be scraped off at all.

Zhou Shanggong said to Rudong and other palace maids standing outside: "There are a lot of things in Ciming Hall today, don't stand stupidly here, give me something to do!" She said to a palace maid Nunu, and the palace maid waved her hand to Rudong and the others and entered the side door.

Yue'er and the three followed Zhou Shanggong and also entered through the west gate.

This west palace is huge, there are front and back halls and a number of side halls inside, Yue'er walks inside, dazzled, the palace here is carved beams and painted buildings, painted gold and color, can be called extravagant.

Zhou Shanggong led the three of them through the side hall and walked into the main hall through a small door.

Yue'er's eyes lit up, only to see that this is a huge palace, which is brightly lit, a passage with a red carpet runs through both ends, one end is the palace gate, one end faces south, it is a platform with gold paint, the platform is inlaid with many gems, there are three sets of tables and chairs on the platform, in addition to the queen mother and queen, there is also a set for whom I don't know who to prepare.

A large carpet was laid under the platform, like a stage, and behind the hall was a row of screens.

Yue'er counted, there were about eighty or ninety tables on both sides of the passage, each table had melon and fruit snacks on it, the upper seats were on both sides of the red carpet of the passage, one table and one chair, the middle seat was behind the upper one, one table and two chairs, the lower one was at the back, one table and three chairs.

Zhou Shanggong led the three of them to the corner closest to the door, pointed to a table behind him and said, "The three of you are sitting here, remember, wait for the banquet to begin, you must not move around at will, and you must not talk nonsense!" ”

Li Fengjun and Liu Shiyu should be together, looking flattered.