Chapter 914: Distinguishing Loyalty and Treachery at a Glance

Xinbao thought for a moment and said, "I don't want a crybaby. I don't know how to comfort her. I don't want someone like Wei Gui. I want someone like Sheng Chaohua, who is pretty and quiet, mature and steady, and has a better temper."

Emperor Mingpei smiled and nodded: "Yes, of course. Xuan'er will also study with Xinbao. In the first few days of fifth and sixth grade, you can also let them accompany Xinbao."

Xinbao was a little happy: "Won't that affect my brother's studies?"

Emperor Mingpei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if these few days are enough."

He patted his granddaughter's head and said, "After I choose, Xinbao can choose."

Xinbao nodded.

Then Emperor Mingpei thought about it and recruited Concubine Shu and the Sixth Prince's biological mother, who was originally Concubine Li, but was later promoted to Concubine Liang after the Sixth Prince was conferred the title of Prince Duanhe, as well as Concubine Ning, the biological mother of the Eighth Prince.

Emperor Mingpei warned him, "Because the Crown Princess is not here, I asked you to come and help. You women may judge people differently from men, so you all need to look at me carefully. Anyone with bad character, or someone who likes to scheme, or someone who is jealous and competitive... don't accept them. I know you have families, but if the person you recommend shows any disrespect to Xinbao in the future, you will go to the cold palace and accompany Liu Da Ying!!"

Several old concubines responded in unison.

It would be fine for Concubine Shu, but the sons of Concubine Liang and Concubine Ning all have jobs. Once there is any disturbance, their sons will be implicated. So even if they really want to support their family, they dare not say a word. No matter how important the family is, it is not as important as their sons.

Emperor Mingpei let the three of them go to discuss the matter, and summoned the Minister of Justice Wu Xingdong, the Minister of the Supreme Court Sun Changming, and the Left Censor-in-Chief Meng Kaicheng, yes, the three judicial officials, and said, "Since the three of you are able to try cases, you can naturally distinguish between loyalty and treachery at a glance. If there is something I cannot see, it will all depend on you three."

Three people: "..."

Not really. Really not.

Fortunately, the girls are still young, otherwise the emperor’s move would be really unkind. The emperor is getting more and more willful as he gets older... However, they didn’t dare to say anything.

Early the next morning, all the little girls were sent to the palace, more than three hundred in total.

After the morning court session, even the emperor's grandson Yan Shirong put aside his meeting and came over to choose with Ye Ye.

The emperor, the emperor's grandson, the prime minister, the cabinet, and the three judges are the first round of selections, the three concubines are the second round, and Xinbao is the last round.

Even the palace examination is not so strict.

In comparison, the choice of study companions by the two little grandsons seemed like a joke.

But no matter how much these old officials complained, the interview began.

The little girls came in one by one.

They are all pampered girls who seldom go out. Fortunately, the rule is that they cannot look up or raise their eyes, otherwise, when they come in and see a group of old men circling around, it would be like entering the Temple of Eighteen Arhats, and their legs would probably be so scared that they would go limp.

The emperor also designed a plot.

The little girl came in, bowed, and asked to write a sentence, anything at all.

But there was only paper, pen, inkstone... but no ink on the tray. No one knew what the emperor wanted to see. Anyway, the girls were trembling and almost crying. Some of them blew on the inkstone, some didn't know what to do, some begged for ink with a trembling voice, and some barely maintained the demeanor of a noble lady and politely begged for ink...

Everyone is different.

The emperor's brows never relaxed.

He thought those who were trembling with fear were cowardly, those who were breathing heavily were just hearsay, those who didn’t know what to do were stupid, those who begged for ink with a trembling voice were not calm enough, those who had good manners were too scheming and lacked the innocence of a child…

His handwriting was even more inadequate. He was afraid that his granddaughter would feel inferior if she read his good handwriting, and he felt that he was not worthy of being her reading companion if his handwriting was not good...

The sentences he wrote were not good either. He felt that the flattering ones were flattering, and he felt that the conventional ones were not suitable for his granddaughter...

The ministers did not have a chance to express their opinions. The emperor looked at more than 40 proposals in a row and rejected them all.

Finally, Yan Shirong couldn't help it anymore and pressed Yeye's hand: "Keep this, maybe Xinbao likes it."

They kept looking and looking... Several old ministers didn't even have breakfast. They were so hungry that they kept looking until noon, and they had only looked at less than a hundred pages.

So when Xinbao finished practicing martial arts and calligraphy, he hadn't finished choosing yet.

After lunch, we continued picking in the afternoon. We picked for a whole day. Out of more than 300 people, less than 20 were left.

Even the ministers were exhausted, and... they had already informed the empresses to come over for a check the next day, and then that night, Concubine Shu and her men launched a surprise attack and killed another seven or eight people.

This move was highly praised by Emperor Mingpei.

Before Xinbao came, Emperor Mingpei conducted a second review and eliminated four more, leaving only seven.

Xinbao was quite excited, thinking that he would see a room full of little girls after coming over, but when he came in, he saw only seven frightened young ladies.

There is no wrong version in the 1619 book forum!

Yes, all those who stayed were young ladies, some over nine years old and some over ten years old. They were all tall and pretty.

Xinbao raised his little face, looked at this one and that one, and thought it was good too… He turned around three times but couldn’t pick one out, so Emperor Mingpei waved his hand and said, “Keep them all!”

Yan Shirong was a worried person, so he turned around and made a suggestion to Ye Ye, and then talked to Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu.

Then, he called Sheng Chaohua out and had him, together with Yuan Shenjue, attend class with Xinbao and several little girls behind a screen.

Why?

Because although the fifth and sixth brothers were diligent in their studies, they were not very talented.

Sheng Chaohua was the oldest, started learning earlier, and was very talented in studying, so his progress was faster than theirs. Even if he tried to suppress himself, it could be felt that he was fast and learned quickly.

Not to mention Yuan Shenjue, Xiao Sanyuan, just sat there to accompany Xinbao.

So they can sit down and write their own articles, asking Li Songqing for advice while also taking care of Xinbao, without delaying either side.

Of course, the most important thing is that the two of them can avoid suspicion. After all, Yuan Shen is definitely not a shadow guard. It looks weird for him to sit among a bunch of children, but he doesn't feel at ease if he leaves.

In addition, one of Wang Ronggui's younger brothers was transferred into the palace to serve as a companion to the fifth and sixth graders, filling the vacancy left by Sheng Chaohua.

This is the son of Wang Ronggui’s third uncle, named Wang Ronghui. He is not very old and has only been in school for two years. His academic progress is about the same as his uncle’s. Yan Shirong happened to have met him before and had a good impression of him.

Afterwards, another oral order was issued from the palace.

The little princess's lessons began on February 12th. She arrived at the palace at 13:00 and ended at 17:30. She had one day off every five days.

In other words, the girls did not live in the palace and their schoolwork was relaxed.

Besides this, there is one more thing.

(End of this chapter)