Gan Qiongying's heart was pounding. She felt as if she had been taking an exam and had accidentally spilled the proctor's water, which then spilled right onto her own paper...

In short, I was more nervous than ever before, and under the scrutinizing gaze of that old woman, I swallowed my saliva frantically.

But the result was somewhat unexpected for Gan Qiongying, because the old woman sitting in the chair looked Gan Qiongying up and down countless times.

Despite his clearly dissatisfied expression, he never told Gan Qiongying to leave.

Finally, the other women finished combing their hair, and all the nannies got up. Gan Qiongying and the other women were taken outside to wait.

Several old women were talking in hushed tones inside the room, which was completely inaudible to those outside. Each of them exuded visible tension as they stared anxiously into the room.

A moment later, a servant came out of the room, went straight to Gan Qiongying, and said to her, "You stay."

Then he said to the servant standing next to the women, "Take them all out."

"Young man, are we not qualified?" One of the women bit her lip. She was strikingly beautiful with a high nose bridge and an exotic charm.

She should be the real minority. She glanced at Gan Qiongying, seemingly somewhat unwilling, wondering what she lacked compared to her.

He pulled out some silver from his sleeve and tried to slip it to the servant, saying, "Please be lenient, sir, and tell us exactly what we did wrong..."

Several women wanted to give some money when they saw this, but the waiter immediately pushed it away, looking at them rudely and saying, "Stop with the formalities, if it's not up to standard, it's not up to standard!"

"Then why is she qualified! When she was combing her hair just now, she pulled out a lot of the old lady's hair. When it comes to serving people, all of us are more suitable than her!"

Gan Qiongying: "..." How did this turn out to be a case of the female taking the lead?!

She didn't know why she passed; perhaps it was because most of the standards set by Li Hua were... based on her?

When Gan Qiongying heard the women start to make a scene, she quickly walked over to the servant who had told her to stay.

However, these women didn't cause any trouble. Who in the Crown Prince's residence would dare to act recklessly? As soon as their voices rose slightly, a gloomy-faced old woman came out of the room, and they had no choice but to hide their expressions.

It was truly terrifying. Most of the women were commoners, so they naturally dared not say anything more. Although they were extremely unwilling, they still followed the servant outside.

Meanwhile, the servant who had asked Gan Qiongying to stay behind said to her, "Come with me."

Gan Qiongying didn't inquire much. As long as she could stay here as a maid, she would always have a chance to see Li Hua.

If she had known exactly where Li Hua was leading his army, she would have intercepted them long ago, instead of going through all this trouble.

Fortunately, she passed smoothly. Gan Qiongying was secretly pleased, but the reason for her slight pleasure was that... if Li Hua set the selection criteria based on her appearance.

Wouldn't that mean we could find her very quickly?

Gan Qiongying followed the servant through several courtyards, eventually entering a very secluded yet magnificent courtyard.

"Wait here for a moment." The servant quickly went into the house, and a moment later a nanny rushed out of the house.

The old woman looked anxious, clearly troubled by something urgent. After looking Gan Qiongying up and down several times, she reached out and covered the upper half of Gan Qiongying's face.

Then he circled around Gan Qiongying a few times, looking at her figure and height, and felt that the more he looked, the more she resembled her. It would be even better if she were a little thinner.

However, the old woman's anxious expression immediately relaxed. She patted Gan Qiongying's shoulder and said to her, "Go inside and wait. I'll tell you the rules in a bit."

Gan Qiongying pointed to the house and walked towards it, thinking that the old woman was going to take her to see the master she was to serve. However, when she went inside, she found that she was the only one there.

Gan Qiongying didn't go all the way in, but stood at the doorway looking out. She vaguely heard the old woman say, "The kitchen will be stewing two bowls of chicken soup tonight as a thank you to Granny Liu and the others. Could you go to the kitchen and arrange that for me?"

As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve and handed it to the servant who had brought Gan Qiongying. The servant quickly bowed and scraped as he took it, and then disappeared into the courtyard in a flash.

The old woman who had taken Gan Qiongying in turned around and saw Gan Qiongying standing by the door. She smiled at Gan Qiongying and said, "This young lady is really beautiful!"

Unlike the coldness and strictness of the previous people, this old woman frowned when she first came out, but afterwards she always smiled at Gan Qiongying, and her words and actions were very polite and gentle.

He put his arm around Gan Qiongying's shoulder and led her inside. Soon after, he called over several maids from next door, who then began to help Gan Qiongying with her makeup.

Gan Qiongying looked completely bewildered. The old woman stood behind the mirror, putting pearl flowers in Gan Qiongying's hair as she said, "Look at you, you are truly dazzling and breathtakingly beautiful."

"In all my years, I have seen so many girls, but none of them have such a beautiful and refined air about them, like a darling of a golden house."

"Young lady, you are truly blessed!" The old woman hadn't even introduced herself, but at least she was telling the truth.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is returning to the city tonight and wants to take a concubine into his household. However, this morning, the thirty girls were sent to the Crown Prince, but the one he pointed to yesterday suddenly died overnight!"

"Although that girl looks similar to you and has a similar figure, she is definitely not as graceful and charming as you!"

"The ceremony for welcoming the concubine had already been completed, but she couldn't bear the overwhelming wealth and honor, and she just passed away! The entire Crown Prince's palace was caught off guard!"

"Heaven has eyes. Today, young lady, you happen to be here to participate in the selection of maids. Please listen to this old servant's advice. Serving as a maid, you may never get ahead in your life. Even if you are released from the Eastern Palace when you get old, the little money you save will not be enough to support yourself in your old age. If you marry a lazy drunkard or something, your life will be ruined!"

This nanny, with her silver tongue, managed to place Gan Qiongying, who had come to choose a maid, directly into the position of a concubine who was to be taken into the Crown Prince's room that night, even after the wedding ceremony had been completed, but who had suddenly died.