After the emperor returned to the palace, I complained that Liang Ci combed my hair in a bun that was too funny, which made Guo Gonggong laugh, and Liang Ci only lowered his head and played with my hairpin without speaking, thoughtfully.

The selection in the palace began vigorously, and the families of the registered 'daughters' began to work in full swing.

This draft is different from previous years, and the show 'women' selected in previous years do not have many strict requirements for family background, most of them do some tea and sweep in the palace and serve the master. There are also 'daughters' from poor families who are running for election, hoping for good luck, in case they are caught by the emperor, and they will fly on the branches and become phoenixes.

And this time, it was the queen mother who personally presided over the selection of concubines for the emperor, enriched the harem, and extended the royal heirs. That is to say, as long as you can be selected and enter the palace, at least you will be a little master. If it is favored by the emperor and a person gains the Tao, the 'chicken' dog ascends to heaven naturally needless to say, if it is unsuccessful, the emperor and the queen mother will also give a reward to a 'door' dignitary.

In this way, it naturally 'fattens' the pockets of many people.

The participants in the selection are all high-ranking officials and dignitaries of the right age of the daughters, and their appearance and talent are all superior. Rao is like this, and most of them are still cut off for various reasons.

I heard that the degree of rigor of this selection is unprecedented, and the grandmothers in the palace have taken rulers to measure, requiring the length of the fit, the slenderness is suitable, the jasper jade is flawless, the texture is greasy and smooth, the hand is not left, and the dark fragrance floats. After the physical examination, it is necessary to observe whether the words and deeds are appropriate, and ask questions about the school boudoir, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. Only two or three out of ten of those who participated in the selection remained.

Qingqing naturally passed smoothly, and it is said that it has received a lot of praise. An Le Hou and his father went up and down, and a large pile of silver flowed out like water, as long as there was no accident, Qingqing would be stable when he entered the palace.

In the next few days, the days were very peaceful, but Liang Ci did not often stay in the mansion, and the wild stone that always came to the mansion to rub food was gone.

According to the news I got from Mu Lin at the beginning of the summer, people have been missing frequently in the vicinity of the capital these days, and the government has dispatched a lot of people to search, but there is still no clue. The layers of reports came up, which attracted the attention of Liang Ci, and he was busy looking for clues every day.

I was free, and I would often go to my 'drugstore' and find something to do. The shopkeeper said that these days, the business of the 'drug' shop is much better than before, and the manpower is a little tight. Xiao Hao called 'Chun' Ya and another little girl to help in the store, but they couldn't read, so they could only do some errands of running 'errands' to deliver 'medicine' and boiling 'medicine'. This is their strength, they are familiar with the 'door' and the road, and they have a well-behaved mouth and can endure hardships.

It happened that the doctor in the store had something to do at home, so I volunteered to act as the role of the doctor and see the patients who came to the store to grab the 'medicine'.

But whenever there are poor people, I will try to minimize the 'cost' of their 'medicine' prescriptions, and only choose the important and cheap 'medicine' materials to prescribe to them. If there are lonely and widowed elderly people, the 'medicine' fee will be reduced or exempted as appropriate. However, in just a few days, the news spread, and there was an endless stream of patients who came to see the doctor, and there were often long queues.

This is something I didn't expect. The shopkeeper didn't approve of my approach, not just because of how much money I made. What he was worried about was that other peers in the capital would attack him in groups and secretly stumble. After a few days, there was nothing to do, and I knew that it was stained with the light of the Qiwang Mansion, and others did not dare to make a mistake, so I gradually relaxed my heart.

In my spare time, in addition to the "waiting" and "making" the "flowers" and plants in the house, and reading the ancient books of the "medicine" collected by Liang Ci for me, I also went to visit the Zhongyong Marquis Mansion, thanked the mother of the wild stone for taking care of her these days, chatted quite closely, and officially changed my words, calling "father-in-law" and "mother-in-law".

Before I had time to visit my father in the Su family's other courtyard in Beijing, my father made a special trip to the 'drug' store to look for me. In addition to appreciating my approach, he gave me a small 'fine' seal, with which he could go to several 'medicine' shops near the capital to dispatch 'medicine' materials without 'spending' silver taels.

The father said that the affairs of Beijing and China had been arranged, and the third brother also got his wish, and took advantage of the light of the cool words in the household department, and his colleagues took care of him a lot. There's nothing he can't put at ease. The second palace election will be in the middle of next month, naturally there is the Hou Ye's Mansion to take care of it, and the family is busy, so he can't rest assured, he wants to rush back to Jiangnan as soon as possible.

Yan San has been released from the prison, and his father has seen it, so he naturally doesn't like him as a person, and he doesn't want to entrust Qingyin to such a well-dressed beast for the rest of his life. So my father decided to take Qingyin and Aunt Seven back to Jiangnan together.

It just so happened that the Hou Mansion sent an invitation to my father and me, saying that it was to congratulate Qingqing on being selected, and a family banquet was held in the Hou Mansion.

Originally, I didn't want to step into the big 'door' of the Anle Mansion again, and I would have any more entanglements with Qingwan and a few people. My father said that since he came to the capital, the family has not been able to sit down and have a meal together. This time, it will be counted as a farewell party.

It's just a meal, and I want to see Qingqing too. I always feel guilty about Qingqing in my heart. Because I was notorious some time ago, and I had a bad relationship with Qingjuan, I finally reported Qingqing's name.

Although Qingqing once told me that she was not disgusted with entering the palace, but as the saying goes: don't do to others what you don't want, I always feel that it was because of me, and I felt guilty for it.

I'll go to the scene, talk less, eat more, and that's it. Forgive them for being in front of their fathers, and they don't dare to be too rampant. only took Lan'er with him, took the carriage, and was familiar with the road, and deliberately rushed into the Anle Mansion before the luncheon began.

Mrs. Xu, Qingqing and others already knew about the emperor's canonization of me at the imperial banquet, and they all greeted me happily. Qingwan's face was slightly embarrassed, and she sat in the main hall, smiling at me very unnaturally.

Although I am now the county lord, I have no rank, and according to the regulations, I should naturally salute Qingwan and An Lehou. Mrs. Xu is a very eye-catching person, and she graciously stopped me before I saluted.

Aunt Qi and Qingyin both sat in an inconspicuous corner, very different from the invincible life of some time ago, and their faces were 'exposed' and haggard.

Since the accident, this is the first time I have seen Qingyin, the whole person has lost a layer of skin, the chin is pointed, the cheekbones are a little high, and the face is a little mean, which is similar to Aunt Seven, like a bearing carved out of a mold.

Especially when they saw me, the two people who had been sitting quietly looked at me in unison. The eyes are vicious and fierce, like a few thin blades of willow leaves, eager to peel off a layer of skin from me, and swallow the blood and 'flesh' into my stomach.

Aunt Seven and Qingyin categorically will not reflect on and review their mistakes, and now that something has happened and caused a tragedy, they always have to find someone to take responsibility for it, and transfer their hatred to others, so that they can feel at ease and make a posture of a victim.

The culprit Qingwan is their dearest person, so this hat is rightfully fastened on my head.

I didn't need to defend at all, I couldn't defend myself, and I didn't need to please them, so I didn't greet them, and I talked and laughed with Qingqing and Mrs. Xu. The two of them were hung in the corner, and no one was willing to take care of them, and how they behaved on weekdays can be imagined.

The third brother was busy these days and did not accompany his father. I know that Liang Ci secretly 'handed' him the responsibility of checking those fake household registrations. Because it was a secret investigation, in order not to arouse the suspicion of others, he used the excuse that he was familiar with the official affairs of the household department, and it was all carried out during the rest time of others, which was extremely hard.

The father talked about his intentions with An Lehou and Qingjuan, and the two looked at each other and were silent for a while.

Qingyin couldn't sit still, stood up, and said categorically to her father: "I won't go back to Yangzhou City, I won't go back to anything!" ”

"My father is talking to Master Hou, when will it be your turn to 'interject'? It's up to you to decide! The father scolded sharply.

When Qingyin was in the Su family in Jiangnan, she was most afraid of her father, but now for some reason, her courage has grown a lot, she glanced at Qingjuan, and said stubbornly: "I still have my sister in the capital to support me and be the master, and if I return to the Su family, I will be bullied and scolded, I want to stay in the capital and die and not return to Jiangnan." ”

Listening to her tone, it was obvious that she was instigated by Qingwan or Aunt Seven. Qingyin has always been indistinguishable from black and white, and she is almost obedient to Aunt Seven. I thought that the seventh aunt was worried that she would return to Yangzhou and be ridiculed by other aunts, so she encouraged Qingyin to stay in Beijing.

Father finally couldn't help it, glanced at the seventh aunt sitting on the side as if she was fine, and said coldly: "Shut up!" Isn't it enough for my Su family to lose face by you? For the first time in my life, Su Ziqing was pointed at like this, and I was disgraced. ”

Qingyin glanced at Qingwan quite aggrievedly, and saw that Qingwan was silent and did not help, and stretched out her hand to point at me and scolded: "How can I embarrass you, I am just calculated by others, unlike some people who hook up with each other, water 'sex' Yang 'flower', and now live in the Qiwang Mansion in a grand manner, which is not innocent." It's her who is ashamed, why don't you take her back to Yangzhou City to be disciplined? ”

Father didn't expect Qing Yin to dare to talk back to him, and he was so messing around, he was furious, stepped forward, raised his arm, and it was a resounding slap.

Qingyin was originally thin and almost weak in these days, and under her father's anger, a slap made her stumble a few steps and fall to the ground.

Aunt Qi screamed, left her seat, pounced, helped Qingyin up in distress, and said in a trembling voice: "Master, Qingyin is still sick now, how can she afford to be so ruthless?" ”

The father snorted disdainfully: "Now that I know that I am distressed, why didn't I do it well in the first place?" ”

Qing Yin howled aggrievedly when she heard this: "How can this be blamed on the 'girl'? ”

Half of his cheeks were already red and swollen, and there were five clear finger marks.

Aunt Qi stroked Qingyin's face distressedly, and couldn't cry: "No matter who is right or wrong, Qingyin is now raw rice and cooked rice, and it is irretrievable." That Yan San's family is a family of imperial doctors, and her family background is not bad, why can't she be fulfilled by her? If you have to go back to Jiangnan, Qingyin's body is broken and her innocence has been destroyed, what kind of family can she find? This is a lifelong shortcoming that has been criticized by others, how can Yin'er not be guilty, if you just follow Qingjuan, you will be wrong, right? ”