Eighty-three women passed the second round of selection. The number was neither large nor small. This was mainly due to the geographical scope of the selection. The emperor limited the selection to several prefectures and counties around the capital. If the selection had been opened up, the competition would have been more than ten times fiercer.
Of the eighty-odd women selected for the imperial concubine selection, more than half were daughters of dukes. There was no way around it; besides their higher social standing, these long-established families were also quite shrewd. After some maneuvering, the palace officials in charge of the preliminary selection only needed to loosen their grip slightly. These unspoken rules had been the same throughout history; as long as the bottom line was maintained, it was fine.
The emperor was well aware of this, but he was also willing to take these daughters of noble families into his harem to bear him children, so as to make the relationship between the royal family and the noble families even closer.
Today is the day of the imperial selection. The Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager, these three powerful figures, will grace the Imperial Garden with their presence to personally inspect the selected women.
Those selected to serve the emperor or be betrothed to members of the imperial family were given flowers; those not selected were given flowers. The young women waited in Yongning Palace, next to the selection site, until the chief eunuch announced their names according to the roster. They were grouped into fives, and only those summoned could go to meet the emperor with the palace attendants.
Su Han and the other candidates stood in the front hall of Yongning Palace. Although there were many of them, they did not make a fuss, only occasionally whispering among themselves. The candidates were allowed to sit, but they were afraid of wrinkling their dresses, so they all chose to stand as candidates.
Su Han didn't really mind the issue, but it was a shame to sit there alone in such a conspicuous way, especially since there were quite a few palace maids and eunuchs watching over Yongning Palace.
However, having been selected in the palace for a month, today is finally the end, and Su Han secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Summon the imperial concubines Liu Fangjun, Zheng Yurong, and others..." The chief eunuch opened the register and read out five names in order. "To the Imperial Garden for an audience!"
The five young women whose names were called quickly stepped out of the crowd, lined up under the guidance of the palace servants, and followed the chief eunuch out of the palace gate toward the Imperial Garden.
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, and the young women felt a sense of unease among themselves. Even some of the close-knit groups who had gotten along very well over the past month were now much more reserved.
Su Han wasn't affected much, since she hadn't made any "good friends" anyway.
In reality, because of her stunning beauty, she had an absolute advantage over all the other women and was ostracized by everyone from the very beginning. Even with the help of the Prince of Jingbei's mansion, she was still plotted against in both open and covert ways many times.
Fortunately, Su Han was also capable, which is why she was able to stay safely until today. However, Su Xiangru, who shared a room with her, was an innocent victim. She developed a face full of red rashes on the second day after entering the palace and had already been disqualified from the candidacy and sent back home to be handed over to the princess.
Su Han was very pleased about this. Although she hadn't planned to intervene, she wasn't happy to see Su Xiangru rise through the ranks. This time, having someone else take action actually saved Su Han a lot of trouble.
The other women rejected him, but Su Han didn't care much. After all, even if they were all selected to enter the palace, they would never become friends.
On the contrary, this feeling of being cleaned up and then picked over by others made her feel uneasy. After all, first of all, she was a boy, and secondly, she had once been a minor deity! Was there any deity in this world more miserable than her? She actually had to sell herself into servitude in this palace. (′;︵;`)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
