After the audience, Consort Tong led the women to the Imperial Garden. The young ladies-in-waiting rose with shy smiles and followed Shu Rong out, leaving the officials' wives behind.
"Little darling, they are at the prime of their youth. If men saw them, they would definitely be dazzled." Madam Yin Genjue smiled and said she didn't care how many people came to the backyard. Anyway, during the selection process, they were in the military port in Shandong and didn't have time to entertain them.
Since entering the military port, Yinti had long since put the women in the backyard in the courtyard. After half a year, Yinti had forgotten about them.
"Your talents are quite impressive, sister-in-law, I don't have such talents!" Qingyan covered her mouth and laughed.
She was taught by Yinzhen from a young age, and her talents were only passable, enough to pass the first talent show in the imperial examination.
"Little darling, do you need talents for life now? It's just a little fun in life. The housekeeper doesn't even have enough time, who has time to think about those talents?"
The princes had been working hard all day, and after returning to the temple, they still had to deal with some memorials, so they simply didn't have time to listen to these musical pieces.
"Your Highness, these young ladies are quite remarkable. They are beautiful, excellent in calligraphy and painting, and even good at needlework!" Consort Rong began to gesticulate excitedly again.
Consort Hui was somewhat surprised. Consort Rong should be a person of discretion, so why was she emphasizing the matter of the imperial concubines this time? Could it be that there were people from the Ma Jia clan among the imperial concubines?
"Sister-in-law, Consort Rong is acting strangely." Even someone as oblivious as Qingyan noticed it, let alone these shrewd people.
Yin Genjueluo was also stunned. How could Consort Rong be so tactless?
"Little darling, look at that person, doesn't she look like Consort Rong?" Yin Genjue Luo looked among the women to be selected for the imperial concubine selection and found one who looked very much like Consort Rong.
Qingyan tilted his head and glanced into the crowd of candidates for the imperial concubine examination. Sure enough, there were two or three familiar faces among them.
"As expected, Consort Rong also has a new one. Could it be that she's planning to send this person to another prince's harem?" Qingyan leaned slightly towards Lady Yingenjueluo and said with a stern face.
"Of course, otherwise, she wouldn't be holding onto us like this. You need to understand, the Third Prince no longer has the support of military power. Consort Rong will definitely have Lady Ma Jia select the young ladies to be sent to Yinti and Yinzhen's harem." Lady Yin Genjueluo laughed coldly.
The clan leader of the Majia clan has a legitimate daughter who is to be selected as a concubine next year. Therefore, the Majia clan has been thinking about making her their best assistant.
A sarcastic smile appeared on Qingyan's face. Ma Jia's idea was too good. They even considered replacing Qingyan with this girl. According to Yinzhi's thinking, one was a girl in her late teens, and the other was a woman who was about to have two children. Yinzhi would definitely choose the former, but Yinzhen would choose the latter.
"Sister-in-law, just say you want to give Ma Jia a resounding slap in the face. Sister-in-law, Consort Rong will definitely focus her attention on you. I have to admit, Consort Rong is really ruthless; she even sacrificed her own legitimate daughter." Qingyan felt a chill in her heart. Perhaps, the education the noble ladies of the Eight Banners received was to sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of their families.
As Yin Genjueluo and Qingyan laughed and discussed the affairs of the young ladies-in-waiting, a slight sadness crept into their hearts.
Within two short hours, all the young women had taken to the stage and began to showcase their best talents.
As the event drew to a close, Qingyan could no longer sit still and asked Sulan to whisper a few words to Consort Tong.
"Let the eldest son's family send the banquet back!" Consort Tong finally understood that the women had come for Yinti and Yinzhen, so letting the two of them leave first was probably the best solution.
"This servant understands!" Su Lan didn't dare to delay and quickly went over to tell Qing Yan.
Lady Yin Genjue Luo and Qing Yan left the Imperial Garden first. The officials' wives looked at their backs in surprise. At the royal banquet, no one dared to leave early.
“Your Highness, the First and Fourth Princesses have been behaving improperly. They left before we had even left the banquet!” Tong Guowei’s wife protested. Tong Guifei glanced at her mother.
"Madam Tong is being a bit too concerned. His Majesty warned her this morning to leave the banquet early!" Consort Tong said nonchalantly.
Madam Tong Guowei's face instantly darkened. Consort Tong was showing her no respect at all. It seemed that Consort Tong had grown too powerful.
At this moment, Qingyan and Yingenjueluo slowly walked towards their courtyard and found that at the end of the corridor, there were two girls dressed in pink imperial concubine costumes. Their faces were flushed with embarrassment, and they stood there trembling on three-inch flowerpot soles.
They had been standing there for two hours. They were illegitimate daughters, and the family focused on cultivating legitimate daughters. They were just stepping stones for the legitimate daughters.
"Were those two waiting for us specifically?!" Qingyan muttered to herself.
Outsiders have mentioned that Qingyan was pampered by Yinzhen and has a soft heart. If one could make their situation sound pitiful, Qingyan would definitely help.
"She must be waiting for you!" Madam Yin Genjue Luo had heard the rumors about Qingyan and was amused. Qingyan was a well-behaved and sensible person, but not one to give in easily. "She must want to enter the Fourth Master's harem."
Qingyan pouted, wondering to herself why those people always had to ask her for help.
“Sister-in-law, shall we change our route?” Qingyan was not prepared to face these people. “I don’t want to go through all that trouble again. If it were any other time, she would have been curious and would have gone through the trouble of dealing with those young ladies. But now, she’s a bit tired.”
Yin Genjue Luo turned around and helped Qing Yan walk step by step into the courtyard.
The young ladies stood at the end of the corridor, watching helplessly as Lady Yin Genjue Luo and Qing Yan turned the corner. They frowned slightly, wondering why the two wives were not playing by the rules.
"Little darling, we still have almost 20 days to go. We can't keep hiding like this!" Yin Genjue Luo Shi didn't want to deal with the situation either. They were used to staying in the military port and didn't have these social obligations. Now, suddenly having to return to their old ways was a bit of a shock to them.
"Who says otherwise? It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality," Qingyan remarked.
Within the naval port, they held the highest status, so the other women flattered them.
Once they entered the capital, their status changed. They had to deal with their sisters-in-law and other officials' wives, all of whom were arrogant and haughty. Relying on their good relationship with their mother's generation, they would act like elders and scold her.
Just now, when they were walking towards the Imperial Garden, Qingyan ran into a clueless person who was supposedly a friend of the Jueluo clan. After saying a few words, he went straight to the topic of the selection process and, acting like an elder, advised Qingyan to be magnanimous, while taking every opportunity to talk about how wonderful his own eldest daughter was.
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