I'm in the Red Mansion

It seems that Emperor Taizu of China was also an emperor with a strong murderous intention, just like Emperor Taizu of Ming.

Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, reigned for 31 years and killed about 150,000 people.

Although these people were not all officials, their family members were also implicated.

However, Zhu Yuanzhang also executed quite a few officials.

If one embezzled just a few hundred taels of silver, he might be beheaded, or even have his skin peeled off and stuffed with straw, which would be placed in the government office as a warning to future generations.

Now it seems that the Taizu of China is probably not much inferior to the Taizu of Ming.

Therefore, the great purge of Jiangnan officialdom also made officials from top to bottom throughout China tremble in fear.

They are just afraid that the next round of reckoning will come upon them.

……

The talent show hosted by the Ministry of Households has now come to an end.

All the beautiful women in the world, after going through layers of screening, are now sent to the capital.

Jia Cong was the founding emperor, very young, handsome, and had great civil and military skills, comparable to those of the ancient sages.

Therefore, women from all over the country who met the requirements signed up happily, fearing that they would not be selected.

This is different from other emperor's selections.

Not all women who meet the requirements are willing to participate in the talent show.

And this time, there were almost no women who were unwilling to participate in the audition.

It can only be said that Jia Cong, the founding emperor, almost meets all the fantasies of a young girl who is just beginning to fall in love about her dream lover.

In the end, the total number of women sent to the palace from all over the country reached as many as five thousand.

These are all women who have undergone preliminary screening.

These five thousand people will have to undergo another screening at the Ministry of Households.

However, this time the screening will not be as strict as the first time.

Just screening to see if there are any people who don't meet the requirements and get through.

If there is such a candidate, once he is sent to the palace, selected by the emperor, and eventually investigated, the consequences will be disastrous.

Soon, the Ministry of Revenue completed the second screening and sent all these women into the palace.

In the palace, you will face the final selection.

The last stage is for the emperor to make the selection himself.

These palace maids would enter the palace in batches, ride on mule carts and get off outside the Shenwu Gate. Then they would be led in through the side door by eunuchs in order and gather in front of the Shunzhen Gate.

Then, they would enter Shunzhen Gate in the order of the pre-arranged list for the Emperor to select.

During the review process, the candidate women had to be arranged in rows of six according to the imperial decree. If the emperor chose one, he would allow him to stay directly.

Generally, the number of people who stay in the end varies, and the maximum number may be hundreds.

The minimum number may be no more than thirty-four.

Because of the large number of people, this process will take several days to complete.

After the Ministry of Revenue completed its preparations, it reported it to Jia Cong, who had no choice but to accept it.

Well, actually, Jia Cong still had some expectations in his heart.

Select the most outstanding women in the country, gather them together and let them choose for themselves.

Jia Cong believed that any normal man would not remain indifferent.

Although Jia Cong thought he was a noble man who was above vulgarity, he was not immune to vulgarity.

On this day, Jia Cong arrived at Yanhui Pavilion in the north of the Imperial Garden early in the morning.

After he sat on the imperial chair, a maid from the palace soon came forward to ask for instructions.

Jia Cong nodded, and the nanny went out and called the first batch of beauties into the hall.

These concubines had been taught the rules in advance.

They walked into the hall shyly and timidly.

Then they lined up in a row in front of Jia Cong.

Jia Cong looked around and saw six women, some of whom lowered their heads shyly and dared not look at anyone.

Some pretended to be calm and half raised their faces so that the emperor could see their appearance clearly.

Another one even dared to raise his head and look bravely at Jia Cong.

And these six women were indeed carefully selected.

Each of them actually has an extraordinary appearance.

However, there were indeed quite a few beauties around Jia Cong.

There is no need to mention Queen Lin Daiyu and Imperial Concubine Xue Baochai.

Xue Baoqin and Qin Keqing are even more stunningly beautiful.

Although these six women were also very beautiful, they were slightly inferior to them.

After taking a quick glance, Jia Cong waved his hand.

The maid next to them knew that the emperor didn't like any of them, so she quickly spoke up and took them away.

The six women knew at this point that they had been eliminated.

All their fantasies were shattered at this moment.

Their eyes couldn't help but turn red, and some even started crying quietly.

The second group of six women were soon brought in.

Among this group, there was a woman of extraordinary beauty, who was not much inferior to Xue Baoqin and Qin Keqing.

It can be seen that there are countless beautiful women in the world, but none of them are smart and clever, and they all come from the Jia family.

However, although this woman is beautiful, her temperament is a little weak.

Jia Cong hesitated for a moment, then waved his hand and asked them to leave.

Soon, this group of women were also taken away, and the third group was brought in.

Jia Cong kept admiring it and it was a feast for the eyes.

However, he didn't choose any of the more than ten groups of women.

In fact, there are several women here who are not inferior to Lin Dai in terms of appearance or temperament.

However, Jia Cong just admired her but did not feel moved.

Food, sex and nature are part of human nature. Jia Cong is a normal man and does not reject women.

But he won't overindulge himself.

Therefore, Jia Cong had not originally planned to select more than one person in this selection.

In the end, just choose a few that you like.

Another seven or eight groups of women came in, and now there are more than a hundred beauties.

But the emperor still didn't choose any one.

This made the maids in the palace and the officials in the Ministry of Revenue feel uneasy.

Why didn't the emperor choose any of them?

Is there no one I like? Logically, it's impossible, right?

From a normal perspective, these women are already very outstanding.

But the emperor doesn't like it, and I don't know what kind of people he likes?

Unfortunately, the emperor didn't give any instructions beforehand, so they didn't know either.

Would the emperor not accuse them of failing to perform their duties?
At this time, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue could not help but feel terrified.

Several more groups of women entered the hall. When Jia Cong saw one of the women, his eyes lit up.

It’s not that she is so stunning, but this woman is so fragile that one can’t help but feel a desire to protect her at first sight.

She doesn't look like Lin Daiyu, nor does she look like Qin Keqing.

But her figure is also very good.

For a moment, Jia Cong was somewhat moved.

He couldn't help but point and asked, "What's your name?" When the woman heard the emperor's question, she was actually frightened for a moment.

My heart was beating so hard that it almost jumped out of my throat.

After a long while, she stammered, "Your Majesty, my name is Shen Wei."

Jia Cong nodded and said, "Okay, you can stay."

Hearing this, Shen Wei was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Seeing that the emperor had finally chosen someone, the maids in the palace and the officials from the Ministry of Revenue outside the palace all breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did they realize that the emperor actually liked this kind of ointment.

However, there has never been anyone of this type in the palace, from the empress to the noble ladies and concubines.

Even if the emperor didn't say it, it would be difficult for others to guess what he was thinking.

Next, more than a dozen groups of beauties came in, but Jia Cong still didn't choose any of them.

At this time, it was already noon.

Jia Cong waved his hand, paused the talent show, and went to have lunch.

If you calculate it this way, in the whole morning, he had only selected about three or four hundred people in a cursory selection.

The afternoon should be similar to the morning. At the end of the day, less than a thousand people will be selected.

This time, there were as many as five thousand beautiful ladies coming to the capital.

If you calculate it this way, it will probably take seven or eight days. In reality, it may take even longer than that.

After all, he still needs to deal with state affairs, and it is impossible for him to have so much time every day.

Thinking of this, Jia Cong decided to speed up the progress in the afternoon.

In the afternoon, you might as well join two groups at once.

In this way, the speed can at least be doubled.

After lunch and a short rest, Jia Cong started working again.

This time, two groups of beauties came in at once.

Jia Cong looked over and didn't see anyone he liked, so he waved his hand and ordered his men to take him away.

In this way, the speed can be much faster.

Jia Cong estimated that in one afternoon, about a thousand people could pass through.

This way, it will take three days to almost finish the selection, and it won't delay anything.

Two more groups came over, and Jia Cong still didn't make a choice.

Soon, two more groups of beauties came in.

Jia Cong looked around. Although there was a woman inside who made his heart beat faster, he hesitated for only a moment and was ready to wave his hand to let them all leave.

He is a miracle doctor himself, so he naturally knows the harm of indulgence.

Although women are good, their lives are more valuable.

Therefore, it is advisable to choose fewer.

Unexpectedly, just before he waved his hand, Jia Cong, who had taken a liking to the woman, took the initiative to bow and said, "I am Huang Rong, paying my respects to Your Majesty."

Hearing this, Jia Cong couldn't help but ask, "Your name is Huang Rong?"

Hearing this, the second daughter couldn't help but explain: "My original surname was Huang, but after reading The Legend of the Condor Heroes, I changed my name to Huang Rong."

I knew it, there is no such coincidence in this world, it turns out the name was changed later.

Huang Rong then continued, "Seven looms, spring silkworms spin all their life's silk, don't let them cut silk easily. Cut it without any reason, the fairy phoenix and fairy phoenix will be separated into two halves of the garment."

"I think that the poem written by Huang Rong has surpassed the original lyrics of Jiu Zhang Ji. The book The Legend of the Condor Heroes was probably written by Your Majesty, right?"

"No one else can write such a poem."

In The Legend of the Condor Heroes, Yinggu first wrote a four-piece song.

Later, Huang Rong missed Guo Jing and wrote seven and nine strokes.

I’m afraid these poems were all written by Mr. Jin Yong. They have certainly never appeared in this world.

The book The Legend of the Condor Heroes was written by Jia Cong.

However, his name was not published in the Daxia Monthly.

Therefore, not many people knew that the author was Jia Cong, and most of them were in the palace.

There is absolutely no way that Huang Rong could know this. She must have guessed it without a doubt.

Through this conversation, Jia Cong was quite fond of her cleverness.

Therefore, Jia Cong could not help but say: "Okay, Huang Rong, you stay, and everyone else can go down."

Huang Rong was very happy to hear this and said quickly, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

The other eleven women, however, secretly regretted their actions.

If they had known this would happen, they should have spoken up earlier.

It was a pity that Huang Rong snatched the initiative away from them. At that moment, several women wanted to imitate Huang Rong, either introducing themselves or reciting the poems written by Jia Cong.

However, Jia Cong waved his hand and had them taken away.

After Huang Rong, Jia Cong didn't pick anyone for a long time.

Soon, two more groups of women walked into the hall.

However, Jia Cong discovered that one of the women was like an ostrich, with her head almost hanging down to her chest.

She even quietly covered her nose with her sleeve, as if she was afraid that Jia Cong would see her face.

This made Jia Cong curious.

Jia Cong pointed at the woman and said, "You, raise your face and let me see."

When the woman heard Jia Cong's voice, her body trembled, but she did not immediately put down her sleeves and raise her face.

The nanny immediately shouted, "How dare you! Didn't you hear the emperor's order? Why don't you raise your head?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

The woman had no choice but to raise her head.

It was only after she raised her head that Jia Cong suddenly realized that he actually knew this woman.

It turned out that she was Shi Xiangyun.

Jia Cong couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Miss Yun, it's you? By the way, aren't you married to the Wei family? Why are you here for the talent show again?"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked.

This girl is not only an old acquaintance of the emperor, but has also been betrothed to someone else?

This is the crime of deceiving the emperor!

If one fails to do so properly, the entire family will be executed.

When Shi Xiangyun heard Jia Cong's words, her cheeks turned red with shame and she was almost speechless.

After a long while, she finally said, "Third Brother Cong, Master Wei didn't wait for me to marry him because he fell ill and eventually the marriage was cancelled."

"My uncle asked me to participate in the talent show. I was reluctant at first, but I couldn't resist their constant persuasion and finally agreed."

"Brother Cong, this is really, really..."

Having said that, given Shi Xiangyun's magnanimity and generosity, there is really no more to say.

At this time, the Ministry of Revenue officials outside the hall also learned what happened inside.

At this time, this official hated Zhongjing Hou Shi Ding and Baoling Hou Shi Nai to death.

These two old guys are such good-for-nothings that they actually concealed the fact that Miss Shi had been betrothed to someone.

Now that the emperor has recognized me, I’m afraid I’ll be in trouble!
At this time, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue even wanted to strangle the two old guys to death.

At this time, Jia Cong asked: "Sister Yun, what do you think? Do you want to enter the palace?"

Jia Cong had three parts of admiration and three parts of pity for Shi Xiangyun, but there was not much love between men and women.

However, if I don't let her enter the palace, her fate will be miserable.

That is why Jia Cong asked her this question. (End of this chapter)