There was no sound on the street, and Ah Fu had secretly peeked out of the unblocked crack in the window at first, and he couldn't see anything in the dark, but he could tell that he had been walking eastward.

Don't you have to go east? The Imperial City is in the east.

The car stopped once, and another girl came up. There was not much space in the ox cart, and there was almost no place for her to stay when she came up again, and a girl next to Ah Fu moved in, and Ah Fu also squeezed in again, and she sat down.

The four girls sat in a row, and although they were very close to each other, none of them spoke.

The new girl rubbed her hair oil on her head, it was a very strong fragrance, and Ah Fu's nose was smart, which made the smell dizzy. When the car finally stopped painting, she almost got out of the car with a crawling bone, holding on to the wheel and inhaling heavily.

Someone came to shout at them, there were still a few cars like this in the yard, the surrounding was a heavy night, I don't know when it was foggy, outside the yard was a chaotic world, nothing could be seen, I felt that this compound was like a desert island, floating alone in the middle of the water.

Ah Fu was led in with the others with a thin little baggage, the corridor was deep and long, the paper of the lantern was old, the yellow light was not too far, and the corridor was deep and bottomless. The woman leading the way in front was wearing a dusty dress that looked inconspicuous. But Ah Fu has studied in the embroidery workshop for a few months, and he can recognize at a glance that this is a good flat silk cloth, which is not shiny and the color is not bright, but it is very comfortable to wear, and it is not easy to fade and wrinkle, and ordinary people really can't afford to wear it.

Clothes specifications...... I haven't seen it either, it's someone from the palace, right?

Ah Fu hugged the burden in her arms tightly, as if this would make her more confident and less afraid.

The doors of the houses passed were closed, and some of the windows were faintly lit, while others were dark.

The sleeve suddenly tightened, Ah Fu turned his head in surprise, and a hand grabbed her sleeve.

A girl in the same car nodded at her a little timidly.

Ah Fu didn't say anything, and the woman in front of him pushed open a door: "You guys will sleep here tonight first, and enter the palace early tomorrow morning." ”

It turns out that this is not a palace yet.

"Be honest. If you make any mistakes, you will not only harm yourself, but also your family. ”

The woman's voice didn't fluctuate emotionally, but none of the four girls dared to pant loudly.

After she was gone, the four girls entered the house one by one.

The house is very basic, but very clean. There were oil lamps on the table, and several sets of bedding stacked against the wall, and Ah Fu silently took off his shoes and rubbed his feet. I've walked a lot today, and I've encountered so many things, I can't hold on.

"How do you sleep here......" complained the girl who had wiped a lot of oil on her hair, she was slender, a head taller than Ah Fu, and had a charm unique to a girl of cardamom age, delicate and childish.

Probably she hasn't slept in a bunk.

Ah Fu poured out a bowl of water in the jug on the table to drink, the water was cold, and after his body was sleepy in the car, the cold water suddenly slid down his stomach, Ah Fu shivered, and suddenly wanted to relieve himself.

Despite the complaints, the girls quickly set up their respective positions and lay down. This strange courtyard, the thick night fog, and the silence all around are a wordless, great deterrent. The little girls who have never left the house and have never experienced anything instinctively know to be cautious in their words and deeds.

Fortunately, the girl with a heavy head did not sleep next to Ah Fu, and she grabbed the window seat. Ah Fu slept in the back, and behind the shelf at his feet was the toilet.

Ah Fu had little time to worry about, and she soon fell asleep.

She was so tired.

In a dream, Ah Fu saw his mother smiling at herself, she smiled very beautifully, and took a lot of new clothes for her to pick and let her try. Ah Xi is also very good, and she calls her sister with delicious food...... Ah Fu also dreamed that he was going to get married, Liu Yushu wore a red robe and rode a horse to greet his relatives, Ah Fu smiled in the dream, very happy.

Then someone pushed her awake: "Hey, hey, get up!" ”

Ah Fu rolled over and opened his eyes.

A girl with big eyes was hurriedly tying her skirt: "Someone shouted outside, let everyone out." ”

Ah Fu didn't take off his clothes last night, and got up as soon as he lifted the thin quilt. The braid was very tight and there was no need to comb the hair, so I used a hair rope to plate the braid, poured water from the teapot and poured it on my face.

There were a lot of girls standing in the courtyard, some of them were older, and some of them looked even more childish than Ah Fu. Ah Fu himself looks like he is about ten years old.

It's no wonder that my mother was in a hurry to marry Ah Xi, I heard that there were also selections before, which were girls from fourteen to eighteen or nineteen years old, but now even such a young girl can't hide.

It's so small, can you go to that kind of place to work?

When everyone came out, they lined them up according to their age. Ah Fu was at Ah Xi's age, and he was a baby face, and he was in one place with some little girls, and the three girls who came in the same car yesterday were in other places. Someone came and led them on.

Ah Fu had no sense of direction at all, although it was dawn and the fog had not yet cleared, they were just so stunned, uneasy to follow the leader. They went out of the courtyard and onto a road paved with bluestone slabs. There are trees planted on both sides of the road, and the scenery in the distance is not clear through the fog, and the surroundings are very quiet, giving people the illusion of walking in the wilderness.

Dazed and frightened.

Ah Fu will never forget this day for the rest of his life.

They were herded into a large room like sheep, stripped off their clothes, examined one by one by a fierce-looking old woman, and then driven into a pool to wash their hair and bathe. There was a lot of commotion, some girls fell, some people got into their eyes, and there were ...... I don't know why, probably scared, shivering, panicked, but no one screamed. The silence around makes people feel as if they can't make a sound.

This silence has been with Ah Fu for a long time.

Compared to everything she experienced later, the silence was the first impression of this palace on her, and it was also the deepest feeling.

Life and death, day and night, are so quiet and depressing that people almost go crazy.

When they came out of the pool, their clothes had been taken away, and there were coarse white cloth shirts and red cotton silk skirts. Although it didn't look like someone had worn it, the color was old, and Ah Fu thought that maybe the fabric had been accumulated in the warehouse for a long time before it was made into clothes. The red color of the dress was as if it had fallen into water, heavy and not alive.

The girls who had changed their clothes were kicked out again, and it was another big yard. It seems that there are courtyards one by one, the specifications are the same, the doors, windows and pillars are the same, and even the sky you see when you look up is the same square and narrow.

A middle-aged eunuch stood in front of him to lecture these little palace maids, although his voice was a little sharp, but it was not harsh, but it sounded emotionless and flat. He spoke at length, and Ah Fu only remembered the one thing to be obedient.

Then several middle-aged women in gray cloth skirts came over, holding a booklet and reading their names in front of them.

More than sixty were named, but Ah Fu didn't count them, in short, less than seventy.

Someone asked, "If you are literate, stand on the left." ”

Ah Fu licked his lips, he hadn't drunk water when he got up, and now he felt that his mouth was very dry.

She is literate, but not very well-read.

Do you want to stand up?

If you are literate, it should be considered a skill, and perhaps the work to be done is a little easier.

But Ah Fu suddenly remembered what the master said when he was on the mountain.

The master said that in fact, if you don't know how to read or read, you will have fewer troubles.

Ah Fu hesitated, but just as she hesitated, several girls went out one after another and stood on the left. Ah Fu was a step late, and the man above said, "Those who have learned to embroider women, and those who are dexterous in their eyes, stand up." ”

This time there were more of them, and almost all the girls would do needlework at home, but some were more skillful, some were stupid.

Ah Fu will too, but it is not good to do. I learned from others for a few days, and then I figured it out on my own.

But she was so hesitant that the time had passed.

"If you know how to make grass and flowers, stand over there."

Ah Fu was in good spirits, she has done a lot in the past two years! In the mountains, the master often took her to plant some flowers and plants, which also taught her a lot of things.

She walked out of the queue and stood on the other side.

A girl suddenly asked timidly, "I...... My family farms and grows crops, but the flowers have never been planted......"

Ah Fu thought she was very interesting, and the person above waved his hand, so she also walked over quickly and stood next to Ah Fu.

The literate little girls had already been taken away, and when the people above asked if they were good at cooking, they were gathered together and led in the other direction.