This time, the queen selected six women and included them in the harem.
These six women entered the palace in two batches. Three women entered the palace yesterday. They were Jiang Cairen, Sui Meiren and Chi Guiren.
The people who entered the palace with Su Wanti today were Wen Cairen and Ning Changzai.
The residences for the newlyweds were all arranged by the Queen.
Su Wanti and Wencairen lived in Yuxiu Palace together.
The head of Yuxiu Palace was Concubine Chun, who was originally an old servant of the Prince's Mansion. After Rongzhou ascended the throne, there were not many concubines in the harem, so he appointed all the old servants in the palace as high-ranking concubines.
Concubine Chun was about thirty years old. She had a pretty face, elegant manners, and didn't talk much. After talking gently with Su Wanti and Wen Cairen for a while, she went back to the main hall to read.
Wencairen is also a beautiful person, but she is also shy. When she talks to Su Wanti, her face is always flushed and her eyes are watery, but she hardly dares to look up at Su Wanti.
Today is the first day in the palace. The two talked for a while, got to know each other briefly, and then separated and returned to their own residences.
Su Wanti lived in the Yufu Palace of Yuxiu Palace. The palace was not big, but it was decorated very exquisitely and elegantly.
There is also a small stone pond in front of the hall. The pond is backed by a rockery. The water in the pond is clear, and there are several goldfish and a pond of lotus in it.
There is a patch of hibiscus planted on the other side of the rockery. When the flowers bloom, they look like peonies, with many and beautiful petals.
The color of the flower changes several times. It is white in the morning, like white jade, pink at noon, and deep red in the evening, as beautiful as clouds, which is very special.
Because there was a field of hibiscus, Rongzhou renamed the hall Yu Fu Hall.
According to the regulations of the harem of this dynasty, a noble lady should have a chief aunt, two maids in the outer palace, two maids in the inner palace, and one personal maid.
There is one chief eunuch, one eunuch in charge of the outer palace, and one eunuch in charge of the inner palace.
Because Su Wanti brought a personal maid with her, as soon as she entered the Yufu Palace, she saw two rows of eight people, bowing and standing in the courtyard to greet her politely.
The aunt in charge was called Qingye. When she and the eunuch in charge saw Su Wanti arriving, they hurried over with smiles on their faces.
"My servant Qingye is the head aunt of Yufu Palace."
"My servant Xiao Anzi is the eunuch in charge of Yufu Palace."
"This servant/slave pays respects to the noble lady."
Su Wanti smiled and asked the two of them to stand up without any formalities.
Before she left home, Mrs. Su prepared some silver for her to use for managing her affairs and rewarding her servants.
Su Wanti waved her hand to Yuzhu and asked her to give rewards to every palace maid in the Yufu Palace.
These people were arranged by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Their personalities and backgrounds were unknown. Su Wanti did not want to say much. She just gave them a few simple instructions and let them go.
Today is her first day in the palace, and there is nothing to do, so she asked Yuzhu to go and talk to Qingye to familiarize herself with the situation in Yufu Palace, and she went into the bedroom to rest.
Tomorrow morning, the newlyweds will go to Changle Palace to pay their respects to the Empress. She must stay in good spirits and be careful when facing the concubines in the palace.
The next day, the six newcomers to the palace got up early and washed up, and waited outside Changle Palace as soon as the sun rose.
None of them wanted to be late or violate the rules when paying their respects to the queen for the first time.
This time, Su Wanti wore a jade-colored wide-sleeved blouse, a sky-blue skirt, and a blue-green jacket. She wore a white jade hairpin and a pearl flower made of blue and green tourmaline beads in her bun.
As fresh as the mist in the mountains and the breeze on the sea, it brightens people's eyes and makes them forget their worries.
She originally thought that her fourth sister had won the emperor's favor because of her beautiful and colorful dress.
She thought that when the empress was selected, and even after entering the palace, she dressed herself according to her fourth sister's preferences.
Ever since she knew that the emperor was Rong Zhou, she completely gave up this idea.
Rong Zhou didn't spend much time with her, and they only met when they practiced sword in the bamboo forest.
Sword practice is always done at noon in summer.
Practicing sword is hard, and the clothes are thin, so Su Wanti would sweat profusely every time, and her clothes would be soaked with sweat.
Rong Zhou had seen her at her most miserable state, so in front of him, Su Wanti decided to just be herself.
The other people were not dressed too extravagantly. They all wore light-colored, plain clothes and their jewelry was not gorgeous. They all wanted to avoid being too conspicuous and attracting attention.
They waited for about half an hour, during which time other concubines from the harem also arrived one after another. When their legs were sore from standing, the gate of Changle Palace was finally opened.
The well-dressed palace maid politely invited the concubines in.
The six newlyweds stood in front of the hall, while the other concubines took their seats in order of rank.
They cast their eyes on the six newcomers in the hall with critical and scrutinizing eyes.
Some of the newlyweds felt uncomfortable, some were shy, but Su Wanti looked indifferent. She seemed not to care about anything. She just stood there politely with her head down, waiting for the queen to arrive.
"The Queen has arrived!"
The concubines all stood up and bowed to greet him.
In the hall, the queen sat at the top, with the noble concubine and the virtuous concubine sitting below her on the left.
On the right sat Concubine Shu and Concubine De.
Then came Concubine Chun, Concubine Shen, Liang Ronghua, and He Shunyi.
There is also a Xiaoyi and a talented person.
Including the six new concubines, there are seventeen concubines in the harem, which is not a lot.
The number of concubines is less than half of that of the previous emperor.
This was mainly because in the past few years, Rong Zhou was first busy stabilizing the political situation and then leading the army to fight. He was not interested in women, nor did he like to indulge in the harem.
Therefore, he was unwilling to take more concubines.
During his reign, he held only one draft.
Only four people were selected in that draft.
There are really not many concubines in Rongzhou's harem, which is why the queen insisted on selecting women to fill the harem.
If there are too few concubines in the harem, it would seem that the queen is not virtuous enough.
After the concubines paid their respects to the queen, the newlyweds would pay their respects and perform the ceremony.
Then, the newlyweds bowed to each high-ranking concubine in turn.
After one lap, the legs of several newcomers were completely sore and beads of sweat appeared on their faces.
At this time, the Queen smiled slightly and said, "Sisters, you can serve me in bed in three days. Then, you just need to wait in the palace for the eunuch to send a message."
Hearing this, the imperial concubine and the others couldn't help but look at these beautiful newlyweds with a hint of jealousy.
The emperor rarely entered the harem. With the arrival of these young and beautiful newcomers, how could these old concubines have the chance to sleep with him?
Only Concubine De gave birth to a princess, and the other concubines had no children. If they didn't fight for the emperor's favor, what was the point of living in this harem?
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