If he wanted to tell her, he should have done so long ago. The fact that he hasn't said it yet probably means he doesn't want to bring it up. If that's the case, why should she ask any more questions?

After thinking it over, Su Yushan ultimately didn't say it aloud, "It's nothing."

She said she was fine, but he sensed something was off about her expression. He silently calculated the days, and Hongli guessed at a certain possibility.

"You went to Cining Palace today? Did the Empress Dowager make things difficult for you?"

Shaking her head slightly, Su Yushan denied it, saying, "The Empress Dowager didn't make things difficult for me. I'm a little sleepy right now, so you can go ahead with your work. I'm going to sleep."

After saying this, she turned around and closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.

Hongli felt something was amiss, so he went out to ask Changyue what had happened at Cining Palace that day.

Judging from the Emperor's tone, the master probably didn't say anything, and Chang Yue hesitated whether she should speak up.

Seeing her hesitation, Hongli's expression darkened. "What? Consort Chun is your mistress, but I am not? How dare you deliberately deceive me? What is your punishment?"

The emperor questioned him sternly, and Chang Yue dared not conceal the truth any longer, immediately revealing the facts.

"Today, Consort Xian told the Empress Dowager that there will be a selection of candidates next month, but there is nothing else of great importance."

A talent show? After a moment's thought, Hongli understood. He immediately got up and returned to the West Warm Pavilion, sitting down beside the tent.

"Yushan, Shanshan? Are you asleep?"

She wasn't actually asleep, but she was worried he would ask more questions, so she didn't answer and pretended to be asleep.

However, Hongli could tell from her breathing that she wasn't asleep at all, so he said to himself:

"I've been a bit busy lately, and there's something I forgot to tell you: the Miss Show pageant is next month."

Why did he suddenly bring this up after going out for a while? Could it be that the palace servants told him something?

Although Su Yushan was surprised, she did not respond.

Seeing this, Hongli became even more certain that she was not asleep. She was a light sleeper, and if she were really asleep, she would have woken up when she heard him talking. But she did not react at all, which was enough to prove that she was not asleep, but just did not want to pay attention to him.

Hongli, who had seen through everything, continued:

"This is the established rule. If I do not hold a selection of candidates, those eligible Manchu women will never be able to marry freely. Moreover, the selection of candidates is not only for filling the emperor's harem. The female relatives of the royal family are also selected from among the candidates. Therefore, the selection system cannot be abolished and must be carried out as scheduled."

He had said so much, and if Su Yushan didn't respond, he would probably keep talking. Left with no other choice, she pretended to be confused and gave a vague reply.

"People are taking a nap, why are you suddenly saying all this? You're disturbing my sleep, you're so annoying!"

"You're putting on quite a show," Hongli said, suppressing a laugh. "If I don't tell you the truth, can you sleep?"

"I was already asleep! You woke me up again."

She stuck to her story, and Hongli didn't argue with her. "Fine, let's just say you were asleep and I woke you up. It's my fault, okay? Are you happier now?"

Actually, what she cared about wasn't the talent show itself, but rather that Hongli hadn't informed her beforehand. With a slight pout of her red lips, Su Yushan gave a soft snort:

"I'm unhappy. Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I didn't take this matter seriously, and besides, you didn't ask, so I assumed you didn't care either." Hongli genuinely overlooked it; he wasn't deliberately hiding it from her.

"Whether or not new women enter the palace, it doesn't really matter. No matter how many women are in the harem, you know that I only have you in my heart."

She knew it, but she still casually joked, "Right now it might just be me, but if a stunning beauty comes along in the future, who knows, your eyes might be drawn to her instead?"

Hongli was used to seeing beautiful women and had very high standards; not just anyone could catch his eye. His slender fingers gently traced her cheek, his eyes filled with admiration.

"In my eyes, you are the most beautiful woman in the world, the most beautiful woman in the world."

She might still be able to live up to that statement now, but that might not be the case in the future. "But I'll get old!"

However, in Hongli's view, women of every age have their own advantages: "The older a woman gets, the more charming she becomes; how can those young girls compare?"

He really knows how to pick up on conversation, and Su Yushan was too embarrassed to say anything to him. "You have such a sweet tongue, you always know how to say nice things to coax people."

"I'll only ever coax you, I'll only ever be sweet to you." With that, Hongli leaned down and kissed her lips.

"Okay, it's nothing serious, don't be upset, go to sleep!"

Hongli coaxed her to sleep, and then he went back to reading.

After speaking frankly, Su Yushan finally felt at ease and stopped overthinking.

The sixth day of the second lunar month was the first imperial concubine selection after Emperor Qianlong ascended the throne.

Eligible women from the Manchu, Mongol, and Han Eight Banners were eligible to participate in the selection, which was conducted over eight days.

On the evening of the fifth day, the young women, each riding in a mule cart and led by their respective banner commanders, gathered outside the palace.

Two lanterns were hung on the side of each mule cart, indicating the banner affiliation of the selected woman and her father's official rank.

By the time they arrived at Di'anmen, it was completely dark. The mule carts entered in single file and stopped at Shenwumen.

The women would have to walk the rest of the way.

The preliminary selection was held in Jiangxue Pavilion, where five crabapple trees were planted. When the flowers bloomed and the wind blew, they looked like snowflakes, hence the name.

The newly arrived palace ladies were all very curious about the palace, but they behaved themselves properly and dared not look around, for fear that if they made a wrong move, they would be rejected.

The initial selection process involved a large and diverse pool of people. Neither the emperor nor the empress dowager participated; instead, it was conducted by senior palace maids. Anyone with too many moles, scars, irregular facial features, uncoordinated limbs, or an unusual odor was eliminated.

After eight days of rigorous selection, only a little over two hundred women remained out of several thousand.

They can go home to rest for now and come back to participate in the second round of selection in ten days.

The second round of selection was what they looked forward to the most, because it would allow them to see the Emperor.

The current emperor is not yet thirty, in the prime of his life, so naturally all the young women want to enter the palace as concubines.

However, who will be selected remains to be seen.

February 25th is the day for the second selection of imperial concubines.

As a Noble Consort, Su Yushan also had to participate in the second round of selection, choosing the young ladies together with the Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager.

The Empress knew she couldn't control the Emperor's mind. Her purpose in coming here today was to choose a wife for her ninth brother, Fuheng, because the Empress Dowager had promised that Fuheng's wife could be chosen from among the imperial concubines.

The task of choosing a wife for Fuheng has been handed over to the Empress, while the Empress Dowager focuses on selecting one for the Emperor. She must choose a woman even more beautiful than Su Yushan, hoping to steal the Emperor's favor from Su Yushan!