In the blink of an eye, the township test has been over for more than a month, everyone is looking forward to it, on this day, Tan Yin entered her mother's room, Mrs. Tan was reading the letter, saw Tan Yin come in, smiled and raised the letter in her hand, it turned out to be a letter from Li Zheng, saying that he was the third place in the high school township test, Zhang Ziqing also won, the two of them played in the city, visited other scholars, Li Zheng said that the Xuanwu Lake in Jinling is very beautiful, and I hope to be able to swim with the teacher and his wife in the future.

Seeing this, Tan Yin couldn't help but blush when she saw her mother looking at her with a smile, Li Zheng wanted to swim with her parents! .

The two were ready to return to their hometown to rest for a while, and then they were ready to go to the capital, and the letter was full of joy, and Tan Yin was naturally very happy.

Listening to what the eldest prince said, Gu Zijun and Zhao Xu were also hit, and they were all happy. However, Xu Linhai really ranked first in the Zhejiang Township Examination in high school, and everyone was in a complicated mood, and they could only sigh.

……

The surname of the prefect of Hangzhou is Du, and there is a single name and a government. Mrs. gave birth to a son and a daughter, and the concubine gave birth to a son and two daughters.

Mrs. Gao and Mrs. Du, the prefect's mother, were close friends in the boudoir when they were young, and the Gao family was in the business of a medical shop.

Hangzhou big salt merchant Wang Mu has a private garden Changchun Garden, known as the first garden in the south of the Yangtze River. Every spring and summer, the officials and wealthy merchants in the city will be invited to enjoy the flowers, especially there are three or four camellia plants in the Baozhu camellia, which are beautiful and fresh when they bloom, which is only seen in the south of the Yangtze River. Enjoying camellia in spring and lotus in summer are all a scene of Hangzhou.

On this day, Changchun Garden also issued a famous post, inviting dignitaries and nobles, celebrities and wealthy people to watch the lotus, and the old lady Du invited Mrs. Gao to bring a few young ladies together, in addition to appreciating the lotus, but there are other things.

The selection of concubines by the crown prince of this dynasty has always been produced in the official eunuch family of more than three grades, but this time it has been expanded to more than five grades, and Miss Du is among them.

Mrs. Du loves this eldest granddaughter the most, but Miss Du is unwilling to participate in the draft, she has been depressed and unhappy, Yanya suddenly changed some time ago, and she wanted to come to sympathize with the disease, so she hoped that several young ladies of the Gao family could also come to enlighten her.

Aunt Zhao, the concubine of Du Zhifu, was still on the side and said uninterestingly: "Ancestor, you feel sorry for the eldest lady, but you also have to feel sorry for a few small ones, although it is not a concubine, but you can't ignore it!" ”

"Who said I don't care, this court law says that the crown prince can only choose a concubine from the family of an official above the fifth grade to participate, this is still the emperor's grace, considerate of the lower officials, and Yan'er is also blessed to participate in the election. The second girl and the third girl can't run for election, what can I do? When the old lady saw Aunt Zhao, her face tightened.

Aunt Zhao saw that the old lady was unhappy, and didn't dare to say any more: she turned to Mrs. Du and said: "Sister is blessed, the eldest lady is so beautiful and moving, but as the life of the concubine, don't forget the two younger sisters, like that Su Guifei is also a five-grade official......" Aunt Zhao was about to continue, but was interrupted by Mrs. Du: "Hugh is talking nonsense: Guifei Niangniang is also what you can say." ”

"Auntie, there is nothing to do with the eight characters!" Miss Du said coldly.

When Mrs. Du saw that she was talking indiscriminately in front of outsiders, her face relaxed, and Aunt Zhao saw that Mrs. Du was angry, her face was bored, and she didn't dare to say more.

The old lady asked the girls to go to the garden for a stroll and talk to the old lady Gao herself.

Camellia is located in Changchun Garden in the garden, the middle garden is the essence of the whole garden, almost occupies more than half of the area, extremely exquisite, move to change the scene, there is no cave, a few people play for a while, then sit down in the pavilion on the rockery.

"Miss Gao, I'm really sorry, I don't know what my grandmother thinks, but I let you comfort me." Du Yan smiled bitterly.

"I was thinking about the sea. I go wherever he goes, I do what he likes, and I want to get his attention. “

"I know that he likes Huaisu's wild grass, and I heard that there is a family in Huzhou, regardless of decency, women disguise themselves as men to buy them in Huzhou, and the people don't allow it, so I will exchange a painting of Yan Zhenqing at home. He likes Bao Zhi Zhai's inkstone, so I will buy it with silver, and if the silver is not enough, he pawns the jewelry, which is really like a demon. ”

"When my father found out, he scolded me, saying that I didn't care about the decency of Miss Qianjin. But I think that I like him so much, I have to fight for it, or I will marry and have children like those ordinary official ladies. But I never thought about whether I hurt others, and it was also retribution, and I was rejected. Miss Du smiled bitterly.

"I don't blame you, don't blame yourself." Yanya saw her so sad, and sighed in her heart, she was also an infatuated woman.

"Although he was rejected, I didn't hate him, he never said he liked me, the words and inkstones I gave him Huaisu were returned, I was alone in unrequited love, blindly pleasing him, but he was not rare."

"I sighed all day long, and my grandmother and mother were worried about me. After hearing Miss Gao's refusal to marry, I also felt like I was slapped a few times, even if I love someone, what can I do if that person doesn't love you, and if I indulge in it, it's just self-torture, these days I slowly think clearly, and it's a lot better. Miss Du smiled: her tone was full of melancholy.

Tan Yin secretly sighed in her heart that this Miss Du was amorous, and thought that you were willing not to blame Xu Linhai, Yanya ostensibly dissolved the marriage contract by herself, but in fact, no one in the city knew that the Xu family wanted to refuse the marriage, and she suffered far more harm than you, but fortunately, Yanya was strong and calm, and finally survived.

Several girls comforted Miss Du a few words, Miss Du was also very moved to comfort herself when she saw that Yanya was injured, and she didn't blame herself too much, she felt a little less guilty, and her mood gradually improved, and she became close to the three young ladies.

"By the way, you want to participate in the crown prince's election of concubines? I heard that in the past, when the prince selected concubines, all officials of the third rank or above, who were unmarried and had to participate in the draft, this time it was expanded to officials of the fifth rank and above. But I heard that the daughters of officials below the third rank and above the fifth rank chose to participate," Tan Yin asked.

"Yes, my father hopes that I can shine on the lintel, saying that I am beautiful and moving, but I don't know that the most important thing in the world is beautiful women, and my family's status is not high, I can't even attract Xu Gongzi, how can I attract the prince of the East Palace." Miss Du smiled bitterly: "Fortunately, if you are not selected in this draft, you can return it to your family." My father had nothing to say. ”

Although Miss Du pursued Xu Linhai hard when he had not yet withdrawn from his family, she was so infatuated, and now she was sad, thinking of what happened to Yanya, Tan Yin really couldn't hate her.

Spring is bright, flowers are in full bloom, it is the most beautiful season of the year, but a few people are in a complicated mood, looking at this spring flowers is not bright enough.

Several people walked together for a while, and when Du Yan met an acquaintance, he stopped talking.

……

Tan Yin and the others continued to walk forward, the girls liked to be quiet, so they walked to a small road, the mountains and rivers on the side of the road were green, the greenery was verdant, the sound of the water was murmuring, and they went farther and farther.

Suddenly, I heard a few voices, and saw several young ladies and ladies sitting on the rockery by the pond not far away, one of whom was a young lady, dressed in white, slender and slender, elegant manners, born with a beautiful face and moon appearance, and at a glance I knew that it was everyone's beautiful lady; The other was a young woman, dressed in green, and rich and powerful.

Several girls wanted to retreat at this time, but they were afraid of making a sound, so they had to hide behind a tree.

"Ziyan, you are not stupid, my father and mother are determined to win the prince's choice of concubine this time, and they have already made many efforts, how can you be willful, you should dispel the idea as soon as possible!"

"My aunt is Your Majesty's concubine, so she can have the glory of the Zhang family. Now the crown prince is in full swing, and he will inherit the unification in the future and reign over the world. If my Zhang family wants to be rich and prosperous for a long time, hope can only fall on you, this is also what my aunt means, even if you don't think about yourself, you have to think about the Zhang family! ”

"Besides, the prince is handsome and eloquent, and all the girls in the world want to be favored by him. If you go to serve him, if you can be favored by him and give birth to a prince, it is also the creation of the Zhang family. The young woman in green persuaded bitterly.

"Sister-in-law, I understand your thoughts, and you are very good to me. You're afraid that I'll do something foolish, make my family lose face, and I won't have a good result. ”

The girl named Ziyan was originally sitting, but at this time she stood up, faced Tan Yin and them, and said in a condensed voice: "Father and mother are doing things for me, and my aunt is saying good things for me in front of the emperor and the concubine, they are trying their best, how can I not know." ”

"But when you think of the Zhang family, your aunt, and yourself, who thinks about me. I don't want to go to the palace, although my aunt is a concubine, she is still trembling all the time, for fear of making a mistake, the concubine's grace, the lady's weight, and my aunt is not tactful and obedient to anyone. ”

"You all think she's so dignified and satisfied, but I don't like it. I don't like to kneel down every time I see my husband, I don't like to bow down when I see my husband's other wives and concubines, I don't like to be terrified all the time, I am still a favorite concubine at one moment, and I will be beaten into the cold palace the next moment. I don't like to want to see my husband and listen to the edict. ”

The young woman couldn't help but sigh when she saw her solemn tone, thinking that although she had a graceful personality, she was not a cowardly person who obeyed her words, and that she was kind and didn't know how to live in the palace.

"Besides: Do you think that if I enter the palace, I can keep the favor of the Zhang family? I heard that the prince's vision is extremely high, and the beautiful young lady of the ordinary eunuch's house is not in his eyes at all, and I heard that the prime minister of the court and the young lady of the Shangshu family are all the color of the country, the talent of Yongxu, and the prominent status, how can there be a place for me, I am afraid that one is not good, but it offends them, and then there is no place to bury them, but it will affect my father and mother, eldest brother and sister-in-law. Purple smoke choked up.

When the young woman in green heard this, she could only comfort: "You are so beautiful and intelligent, the prince will find you good." Now that my father and mother have made up their minds, it is useless for you to think about it. ”

Ziyan turned around and said to the young woman in green: "Sister-in-law, Ziyan knows that her parents' orders cannot be violated, and her father and mother also want to find a good home for me." But as soon as I enter the palace gate, it will be as deep as the sea, and it will be difficult for me to see my family in the future, not to mention Lin Gongzi, sister-in-law, you just let me see him, so that I can die. There was already a crying voice in her speech, and it seemed that her sweetheart had also come to enjoy the flowers today.

"Alas, wronged, I promise you, fortunately, the handmaidens brought today are all your and my personal handmaidens, if you let your father and mother know, or the people who spread rumors and make trouble know, you can meet, but don't talk."

Ziyan choked and nodded, sad, and the two sisters-in-law left with the maidservants for a while.

"This young lady is Miss Governor of Zhejiang, the Zhang family was originally an ordinary scholar, and later the Zhang family's aunt was drafted into the palace, because she was gentle and beautiful, she was quite popular with the emperor, and she was named Concubine Rou. Concubine Zhang Rou is attached to Concubine Li, so that the Zhang family can be the governor. It's a pity that Concubine Rou only has one princess, no wonder the Zhang family is so scheming to go back this way. Yan Min looked at Zhang Ziyan who was going away.

When they went away, Tan Yin and the others sighed, there are many amorous women in this world.

……

After returning home in the evening, Tan Yin met the eldest prince and talked about today's daytime.

The eldest prince asked about the situation carefully and analyzed.

"Big brother, why do Miss Zhang and Miss Du have to participate in the draft? How could the official ladies of Hangzhou want to participate in the draft so intensively. Tan Yin felt that something was wrong.

The eldest prince pondered for a while and said, "If I'm not mistaken, it's going to change." These people were originally attached to the Li family, but now they want to participate in the prince's election of concubines, in fact, they are loyal to the prince and show that they have drawn a clear line with the Li family. ”

"I see, these people are really wall-to-wall, undisciplined."

"Officialdom is like this, plus life and death, how can there be any discipline!" The eldest prince sneered: "It's just that it's not necessarily as they wanted, and it's too late now." ”

"Big brother, will our Gao family be affected?"

"We are just small businesses, and in the eyes of these powerful people, we are just ants. After my uncle talked to me last time, I came back to investigate, and sure enough, one or two people with unclean hands and feet had something to do with the Li family, and I immediately disposed of them. "The eldest prince feels glad to come now.

Tan Yin heard what the eldest prince said, although the fate of these small people who rose to the top of the bucket drifted with the tide, but the fate of those nobles and nobles may not be able to be autonomous, she only felt that the court was treacherous and changeable, which was terrifying, and how could she have a stable hometown.