The servants outside the second gate had never seen the scene of the feast, but only heard that there were often guests in the inner palace to feast, and arranged a pair of young women in veils, dressed in gold and silver, dressed like fairies, waving yarns and dancing for the guests at the banquet. There were also those who played music, and they were all dazzled and lively, and these rumored women in the veils were all selected from among the inferior maids, and everyone secretly called them to feast and dance ladies.

Zining listened to a lot of discussions, but also confused, suddenly the children shouted one after another, "Banquet Dancing Lady, Banquet Dancing Lady!" The expression on her face changed, and she knew that she was dancing when she heard this title. I thought to myself, "Isn't that just a dancing girl raised by a big family, and some dynasties are called Kabuki." Dengshi's face turned red, and he whispered to the green ring: "We don't know how to dance, and we haven't practiced singing, let us go to be kabuki, are you driving ducks to the shelves, what are you kidding!"

Green Ring wrinkled his brows, biting his lip tightly, also worried, but he didn't dare to say anything.

Mama Qing watched the maids turn around, muttered for a moment, said "um", and said: "The face and body are passable, but the clothes and headdresses are too ugly, which man can look at such a rustic atmosphere? He raised his hand and waved back, and said in a long voice: "Take it away!"

Immediately, some stout mothers-in-law came up, grabbed the maids left and right, and left and right, and in a blink of an eye, two more mothers-in-law came, and also dragged Zining and Luhuan away. When the onlookers saw this scene, they were all deeply surprised, and whispered to each other, "Eighty percent are going to sell them to match the boy." ”

The old rules in the palace are that the maids who sell their bodies in the register serve until they are eighteen years old, and the master arranges marriages for them, and most of them are worthy of marrying the male servants in the palace. The maids who are better looking sometimes marry the younger nurses. But these maids have not yet reached the age of marriage, which makes everyone suspicious.

Luhuan was very frightened, and asked in a trembling voice, "Mama, where is this going?" Zi Ning also felt bad, just now she was going to see the soles of her feet to catch the thief, why did she suddenly take them all away?

I thought to myself: "Oh my God, I just escaped the catastrophe of life and death, is this going to push me into the fire kang again?" Her fright is not a little less than that of the green ring, and she is not familiar with the environment here, what is the matter with the slave and maid in the register, is there any personal freedom, can you kill and sell at will?

After thinking about it, before she had time to struggle and resist, she was pulled by a mother-in-law with strong arms, and said expressionlessly: "Aunt Xu also said just now, you have to choose a good appearance, you girl, don't make a fuss, if you have anything to say, go into the inner mansion and talk to the aunt in charge." The mother-in-law on the other side grabbed the green ring, and the green ring shook her head in fright, and couldn't help but exclaim: "I'm not going, where are you sending me-"

The mother-in-law ignored her shouting, dragged her to the middle of the yard, pushed her among the maids of the same age, and shouted fiercely: "Hmph, shut your mouth first, and you will know in a while." Immediately, Zi Ning was also pushed in, and the two of them stood still with each other, looked left and right, and saw the maid standing with them trembling, with tears in their eyes.

Zi Ning was shocked, turned her head and whispered to a maid, "You are all registered slaves, and you were also caught by Mama?" The maid nodded heavily, flattened her mouth and almost cried.

There were about thirty maids in this group, all of whom were sold slaves and maids in the outer gate of the palace, the oldest was eighteen years old, and the youngest was only thirteen years old. The body shape is different, short, fat and thin, and some of them have yellow muscles and thin posture, which is not outstanding. Zi Ning's eyes scanned, and she couldn't guess the situation in her heart. If you really want to sell them, you won't sell so many people at once, is there a shortage of money in the palace, and you want to sell the maid to subsidize the family?

She doesn't seem to understand the rules and levels in the palace, and she doesn't know how much money is worth selling a maid. I was nervous and thought, "What if I am separated from Green Ring and sold to two families, and I am alone and go to a strange place?"

At this time, Mama Qing got up and said, "Take them all to the courtyard of the front hall of the second gate, and wait for the aunt from the inner house to come and choose." ”

When all the maids heard that they went to the inner mansion, they all stood dumbfounded, dazed, not knowing why. Zi Ning was even more confused, so she had to temporarily suppress her doubts, thinking, "Follow them first, and you'll know what's going on after a look." She stretched out her hand and pulled the green ring, and the two of them followed the women's team out of the big courtyard together.

The onlookers also wanted to follow the excitement, but their status was too low, but they could not enter the second gate, and walked to the garden surrounded by ponds on all sides, and saw the maids entering in rows, and everyone had to come back in a hurry, discussing and guessing with each other along the way, what kind of person was this selection.

Entering the hanging flower gate of the inner house, the scenery in the courtyard is more empty, full of pavilions, water pavilions and ponds, flowers everywhere, and the shadows of the green trees are heavy one after another, which is dazzling to see.

The maids walked straight to the garden of the inner house, whispering all the way, but were interrupted by the mothers-in-law and reprimanded: "Since you have entered the second gate, you must abide by the rules of the inner courtyard! Let the people outside see it, when the palace lacks discipline!"

The maids stuck out their tongues again and again, but they lowered their heads, and did not dare to say a word more. A group of people walked across the shaded bridge and onto the cobblestone winding path. Lu Huan's face suddenly turned pale, he stretched out his hand to hold Zi Ning tightly, and whispered: "Do you want to send us to be concubines, it must be like this." Then I, then I might as well be a rough maid for the rest of my life, even if I don't marry......"

Her hands trembled coldly, and her voice trembled violently, and she was very frightened and frightened. Zi Ning heard about "Lady Girl" for the first time, and didn't understand what it meant, so she just wanted to ask her carefully, and saw a large group of people walking on the two forks in the road in front of her. Those red, green and green figures were blocked by flowers and trees, and they looked about it, and she stood on tiptoe and stretched out her head to look over, and it turned out that there were a few mothers-in-law leading twenty or thirty maids.

This group of people gathered together in the middle of the fork in the road, and there were nearly 100 people in the black press. Those maids were also counted out from the outer gate of the palace and from the courtyards and rooms of the palace, and they were all girls who had not yet been married. The young maids were not afraid, they looked left and right with a smile, curious that there were so many people, they only felt that it was very lively, their eyes widened, and they asked people one by one.

Luhuan's face turned even paler, and he muttered: "That's it, the house chooses a concubine, and we are all on board." The voice was sobbing, and his body shook violently, and his legs were weak and he almost fell. Zi Ning hurriedly supported her, and saw that the mothers-in-law were talking separately and had no time to supervise them, so she asked quietly: "Green Ring, what is the concubine, why are you afraid?"

The blood on his face completely retreated, and the green ring was pale and bit his lip, and his voice whimpered: "I heard my aunt say before that the rich and noble families selected some maids to be concubines, and if there was a happy event among the scholars, they would be promoted to marry a wife or win a battle, and they would send the concubine over as a congratulatory gift. The women all drew and signed the death certificate, entered the mansion of the scholars, or killed or handed it over, and their families could not interrogate. Those women who were sent as congratulatory gifts died more and lived less, and even death was extremely miserable, and the situation was worse than that of rough maids. ”

Although the voice was low, several maids next to him heard it, and their faces turned blue with fright, and they muttered to themselves, "What to do, what to do, I don't want to be a concubine." ”

Zi Ning's heart was half cold, the gift-giving style of this Great Jin Kingdom was so barbaric, and it was not enough to give gold, silver, jewelry, houses and fields, so he actually wanted to give away the girl as a congratulatory gift! I thought it was unfortunate to be a rough maid, but I didn't know that there were still maids. She shook her head secretly, no, after painting and signing the death certificate, she completely lost her freedom and became the private property of the scholars, and no one would pay attention to her life or death, so she didn't want to live such a miserable life.

She doesn't want to leave her relatives, yes, A-Niang is her relative, the only relative. She doesn't want to be a concubine, and she doesn't ask for anything else, just let her be a little dining room maid.

There is a deeper thought in her heart, if she becomes a concubine, not to mention life and death, she will never see a benefactor in this life. When she thought of the figure of the white satin brocade robe, her heart pounded, and this heartbeat made her unable to control herself, and she had to go with him for the rest of her life.

She liked him deeply in her heart, and she wanted to be with him in this life, she couldn't imagine giving herself to a strange man as a gift, and muttered: "No, I must not be a concubine!"

But at this time, if she is destined to be chosen as a concubine, who will help her and let her escape the tragic fate?

Zi Ning felt a burst of dazed despair, there was only one relative Lin Niang in this palace, and she was still unconscious. Lin Niang couldn't help her, although the eldest princess seemed to favor her, but after all, one was the master and the other was a rough maid, and the two had no intimate relationship.

And Aunt Xu's meaning, the choice of the maid is in accordance with the will of the eldest princess and the prince, and she wants to choose a neat and upright maid. She knew that with her own appearance, she would definitely be chosen, and even the green ring would not be able to escape.

In a panic, I suddenly thought of my benefactor, who was chivalrous and had a stunt. If he knew that she had chosen a wife, would he save her again? Although I was looking forward to it in my heart, I also knew that it was a pipe dream, and I didn't even know who the benefactor was, so how could I expect him to help again.

The mothers-in-law counted the number of women again, arranged the women in four teams, and told them to line up neatly, and go around the pond in front of them together, and after half a pillar of incense, they came to a large wide courtyard. I saw the shadow of the tree, the four corners of the courtyard were arranged with delicate and elegant rockery spring water, and the eaves of the main house were painted with five-colored and colorful carved beam patterns. A mother-in-law shouted loudly: "Stop, don't make a mess and shout, wait for grandma and aunt to choose a lecture!"

————