Jia Hui and Jia Yi, the two sisters, returned to the residence of the imperial concubines. Because the assassination was indeed sudden, their food rations were increased as compensation.

After having a calming lunch, Changchun and Changyin finally appeared.

As the nannies who served the Empress before her marriage, Changyin and Changchun were quite prestigious. They brought three imperial physicians with them and had them examine each of them. In the end, apart from two particularly timid women who were somewhat frightened, the others were all fine.

Chang Chun and Chang Yin made sure the two frightened young ladies-in-waiting were settled before they began to relay the orders from above.

Chang Chun: "The Emperor and the Empress have decreed that all the candidates who have participated in the selection may return home, while those who have not participated will be arranged separately."

Although the women who did not participate in the selection could choose whether to stay or leave according to their own wishes, they could not say it openly, otherwise it would be considered dishonest.

After saying this, Changyin and Changchun left, but they didn't go far, staying within the area where the imperial concubines lived.

After the other candidates dispersed, the remaining candidates who had not participated were called in for talks one after another. In the end, only two of the ten candidates who had not participated were willing to leave and go home to get married on their own.

Of the two candidates, one was not particularly remarkable. She was a candidate from the Han Banner Army and came from a scholarly family. She knew she didn't have the status to be the principal wife, so she wanted to go back and marry on her own. Even if the person she married was of lower status, it would be better than becoming someone's concubine.

Another one is Jia Hui. Her plan to save the hero with her beauty failed. Given the Emperor's current favor towards that woman from the Fucha family, if she were to keep her nameplate, she could only marry into the imperial family. How could she be willing to accept that?

Because she was unwilling to accept it, she decided to make plans for the future. She thought to herself that it was lucky that the woman from the Fucha family escaped this time, but she didn't know if she would be so lucky next time.

However, this incident also made Jia Hui realize that the Emperor treated the woman from the Fucha family very well and protected her very closely. She would have to be well prepared for her next move.

She simply refused to believe that the Emperor could truly protect her.

She was indeed too hasty this time, and misjudged the position of that woman from the Fucha family in the Emperor's heart, but she won't do it again next time.

When Yunrong learned that the legitimate daughter of the Hesheli family had voluntarily given up her offer and returned home, she was not surprised, after all, everyone has their own ambitions.

When Jiayi heard that her elder sister was so willing to give up her place and go home, she thought to herself that her elder sister was truly devoted to her cousin.

The Hesheli family was very prestigious when the late Empress was alive, but that was all in the past. The Fujin's cousin was not a very accomplished person; he was just good-looking and could bewitch the pampered girls raised in seclusion.

Even if the imperial family is incompetent, they can't compare to that cousin who only has good looks. Moreover, the way that cousin of my elder sister handled things last time was really not commendable; he actually ran away by himself.

I don't know what my elder sister saw in him; he's so unreliable, it's really puzzling.

However, this had nothing to do with her. Her relationship with her elder sister was far from good. It was already a favor that her elder sister hadn't caused her any trouble after she caught her in that incident. She couldn't expect her elder sister to help her in the future. She would be extremely grateful as long as her elder sister didn't take advantage of her.

Jia Hui didn't follow her own plan at all, unaware that her half-sister imagined her as a love-struck idiot.

In fact, she had almost forgotten about her half-sister. In her mind, her half-sister was still her cousin. She only knew the general outline of what happened when she fell into the water. Her mother was afraid that she would develop feelings for that cousin, so she basically never mentioned the incident to her.

The household was kept very secret, and the people serving her naturally wouldn't mention their mistress's scandals. If their mistress was displeased, they would be the ones to suffer.

She didn't know, so naturally she wouldn't ask. And because she didn't ask, she didn't know that her half-sister had witnessed her meeting with her cousin in this body.

It was a stroke of luck that Jiayi escaped a disaster; otherwise, given Jiahui's ruthlessness, she might have silenced her if she knew such a weakness had fallen into someone else's hands.