The sun was shining brightly in the afternoon.

Di Baose, Guo Bing, and the female relatives from the Eastern Palace all arrived.

Huan Yue looked at the women, some plump and some slender, some so beautiful they could make fish sink and geese fall from the sky—they were absolutely gorgeous!

Xie Zhu turned around and ran away again. His second brother had so many beauties, so it was none of his business. As for the beauties in the Prince Zheng's mansion, his fourth brother would take care of them.

The eunuch brought in four beauties from the Prince Peng's residence.

Huan Yue sat in the Jixian Pavilion.

Di Baose and Guo Bing sat down, while everyone else stood.

The autumn wind is blowing here, it's alright.

The palace maids diligently squatted down to pick them up. The back hall was quite spacious, and even though the ginkgo tree was male, the ginkgo nuts would still fall over.

These four beauties are facing the Crown Princess.

Di Baose looks pretty, maybe her background is a bit lacking and she's a bit stingy, but I don't have high expectations.

Huan Yue said, "I promised my sister-in-law that I wouldn't send anyone to the Peng Prince's residence. Although this matter isn't under my jurisdiction. What are your thoughts?"

A beautiful woman knelt down in front of the Crown Princess, sobbing softly.

Di Baose quickly covered her nose; the stench was too strong!

The more the beauty cried, the more intense it became, so Di Baose angrily ordered: "Drag her away and give her twenty strokes of the cane first!"

Oops! The beauty was a little taken aback.

The eunuch didn't stand on ceremony. There were plenty of beauties like that, and quite a few bold beauties too.

Wang Chuyuan and Yu Anu were terrified as they watched the person being dragged away.

This strange and unsettling behavior is indeed not good; Fei and Gu tried their best to keep calm.

Another beautiful woman, with a scholarly air, reasoned with the Crown Princess: "What can we do?"

Huan Yue asked, "Don't you want to go home?"

Why go home?

Di Baose asked, "Don't you want to get married properly?"

hesitate.

Guo Bing was too lazy to say anything.

Ren Zhaoxun, who was standing idly to the side, said, "The way you're acting, neither a wife nor a concubine, could it be that you're thinking of going to the Prince Peng's mansion to become a lady-in-waiting? It seems like that's a possibility."

Princess Peng is pregnant. This beautiful woman's confident demeanor is unlike that of a concubine, although some kings do like this kind of woman.

If it were a lady-in-waiting, she would naturally follow Princess Peng.

The beauty's face flushed red with anger, and she angrily questioned the Crown Princess: "This is an insult to me!"

Huan Yue asked the remaining two, "And you two?"

A beautiful woman whimpered, "My family sent me out; I won't have a good ending if I go back."

The other nodded: "I don't want to go back."

Fang Tang charged forward with imposing presence.

Huan Yue took a look.

Fang Tang quickly composed herself, but then asked, "Why am I being made a lady-in-waiting?"

Huan Yue smiled: "The Empress's palace is now vacant, are you going there now?"

Di Baose laughed herself to death.

A group of people joined in with unrestrained laughter. Many were eyeing the Eastern Palace, but very few were so direct.

Fang Tang was so frightened that she dared not move.

Huan Yue asked, "Do you want to earn 20,000 a month for doing nothing? I could hire anyone for such a cheap job. There won't be a next time."

Di Baose laughed and said, "If you're so capable, go directly to the Empress's Palace. Otherwise, there are plenty of women in the palace who would be fought over."

The female historian was considered lowly, but her work was far more arduous, dirty, and exhausting than that of a female historian. Happiness is always relative.

(In terms of not being in the official ranks, those of the ninth rank are called "within the ranks," while those below the ninth rank are called "outside the ranks." Even those outside the ranks have ranks; after examination and selection, they can be promoted to the ranks and become "within the ranks.")

(For example, there were 18 clerks, who were of the first rank outside the official system; 36 scribes, who were of the second rank outside the official system; 6 village heads, who were of the sixth rank outside the official system; and 14 guards, who were of the seventh rank outside the official system. Female scribes were of the third rank outside the official system, which was relatively high.)

Di Baose asked the two beauties from the Peng Prince's residence, "Would you like to become ladies-in-waiting?"

The two quickly knelt down to express their gratitude.

Sometimes there's just nowhere to go. Going to Prince Peng's mansion would certainly be nice.

She was suddenly taken away and sent to the Eastern Palace. It was impossible for the Crown Prince and her half-brother to fight over women, but being a lady-in-waiting was acceptable.

Because Princess Peng needed a female historian, Huan Yue's choice was temporarily undecided; she was looking to Fang Tang.

Fang Tang became increasingly frightened.

That bookish, arrogant guy.

Di Baose asked curiously, "What gives you such confidence?"

The female official replied, "Is Grand Commandant Luo's granddaughter considered Luo Chenghui's cousin?"

Fang Tang interjected, "She is a concubine's daughter of the Huai family and has no bloodline of the Luo family."

A group of young women might not be quite sure. Sun said, "The third-ranked scholar from the Huai family?"

Di Baose looked at his own dowry bride, wondering if there was any gossip going on.

After thinking for a moment, Madam Sun decided there was no need to give Miss Huai face: "I heard that the third-ranked scholar has a childhood sweetheart..."

Miss Huai screamed, "Stop talking!"

The palace maid would have been slapped twice!

Di Baose insisted on hearing: "Did the Luo family force the top scholar, or did the top scholar covet wealth and status and ultimately make his childhood sweetheart his concubine? What kind of outrageous move is this?"

This happened a long time ago; Sun had only heard about it occasionally: "The childhood sweetheart ended up all alone and had no choice but to seek help from the third-ranked scholar."

Huan Yue glared: "Why doesn't this man help her properly? Why is he forcing her to become a concubine? Wouldn't it be better to find her a decent family so she can live a respectable life?"

Di Baose nodded: "The Huai family doesn't even have a name."

Miss Huai was quite strong-willed; she went and rammed her head against a pillar.

Huan Yue ordered, "Send her back to the Huai family. Don't let her run to the gate of Prince Peng's mansion and cause a scene."

Di Baose said coldly, "Then we'll ask the third-ranked scholar how he taught his daughter."

The eunuch dragged Miss Huai along.

Miss Huai struggled desperately, as if the Crown Prince were forcibly raping her.

Just then, Princess Yongjia arrived with two Consorts Pei.

Pei Huanying asked, "What is this for?"

Huan Yue ordered, "Send it to the Prince of Qi's residence."

The eunuch hesitated for a moment, but still sent the person over, while asking His Highness on the side. He figured His Highness wouldn't refuse the Empress's request.

Sending it to Prince Qi's residence is quite a good idea. Prince Qi's residence has a lot of people, almost more than the Crown Prince's palace.

Princess Yongjia remained silent, adopting the airs of a princess.

Pei Huanfeng remained silent, adopting a dignified demeanor.

Huan Yue said with satisfaction, "Now that you're here, let's pick some ginkgo nuts together."

Steward Di Baose: "Bring out all the small baskets. Pick one basket and exchange it for one tael of silver."

Fei Hegu muttered, "A basket of ginkgo nuts probably doesn't even cost a tael of silver, does it?"

Gong Zhaoxun was delighted: "This is the Empress's grace. If I collect ten baskets later, I will receive ten taels of silver."

Yu Anu looked at the basket, which wasn't very big, but ten taels of silver was quite a lot.

Huan Yue went inside to change his clothes and came out; it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

No one had any objections.

The eunuchs were busy on the side, keeping a close eye on the Empress to make sure nothing happened to her.

Before Pei Huanfeng could finish dressing, the Crown Princess was already climbing up that huge ginkgo tree!

The palace maids who were picking ginkgo nuts under the tree were all dumbfounded and quickly went to the pavilion or under the eaves to take shelter.

Huan Yue climbed up the tree and felt great!

The ginkgo leaves haven't turned yellow yet; if we knock them down, we'll lose a beautiful sight.

The ginkgo nuts were about 30% ripe. She stepped on a branch, which was thicker than her thigh, and gently tested it.

If you're not strong enough, it'll be difficult to break it, but climbing up is relatively stable.

She shook the branches one by one, letting the ripe ones fall off, and shaking the unripe ones a few more times.

Di Baose was under the pavilion, watching the ginkgo fruits fall like rain!

In no time, a layer of it covered the ground!

The old eunuch danced excitedly to himself, exclaiming, "A bumper harvest! This year we'll definitely have forty loads!"

Huan Yue shook himself down from the tree, covered in sweat.

Guo Bing looked at her and said coldly, "This tree is enough to keep you busy."

Huan Yue laughed and said, "There are a lot of people today, let's shake those two trees once."