The Biography of Concubine Wen Xi in Qing Palace

Chapter 7 Draft
According to the ancestral system, the draft girls entering the palace should take the palace car to the outside of the Shenwu Gate. After a batch is collected, the eunuchs appointed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs will lead them into the palace and wait outside the Shunzhen Gate.

After entering the Shunzhen Gate, bypassing the Qin'an Hall is the Imperial Garden. This year's draft will be held in this Imperial Garden.

Wanyu got up early this morning, changed into a flag dress and a flower pot bottom, before the palace carriage came to pick her up, she ordered her servants to take her to the gate of Shenwu with a carriage.

One reason for this was to avoid Shu Shujue's injuries when Luo Shi sent her into the palace carriage, and the other reason was that it was extremely hot last night, and because she stayed up all night with anxiety, she thought about making preparations earlier.

Wan Yu stood outside the Shenwu Gate, and suddenly saw a book stand not far away, surrounded by many people listening to the excitement.

I couldn't hold back my temper for a while, thinking that it was still early, so I went to have a look.

The storyteller had a goatee, a round hat on his head, and a folding fan with splashed ink in his hand. He was chanting to everyone vividly:

"Zhuang Shengxiao dreamed of butterflies, Wangdi Chunxin entrusted cuckoos."

"Talk about the former emperor's noble concubine Dong E, who has been favored all her life but has an unlucky face. It's really true"

As he was speaking, his gaze swept across the crowd, and he settled on Wanyu, he swung his folding fan horizontally and pointed at Wanyu, and said, "Where is the girl from?"

Wan Yu stared at him with frowned eyebrows, feeling suspicious, but ignored him.

The man asked again: "Where are you going?" The words fell into the wind, and he pointed at the imperial city: "But you want to enter the palace?"

His words attracted all the people to cast their eyes on Wan Yu, her cheeks were flushed instantly, she turned around and ran away in a panic.

Behind him, the caller faintly heard: "In the dream, I didn't know that I was a guest, and I was greedy for joy all day long. At this moment, I will avoid each other. If there is a fate in the future, we will see you again."

Wan Yu only felt that the man was a lunatic, so she ran all the way, out of breath, and ran outside the Shenwu Gate, leaning against the wall and panting heavily.

After standing alone for about half an hour, I saw palace chariots approaching this place one after another.

Waves of beautiful women got off the palace carriages, all of them with heavy makeup and light hair, with gold and silver hairpins, which symbolized the spirit of water.

Most of them are about the same age as Wan Lai, and the oldest is no more than sixteen.

Everyone waited outside the Shenwumen, nobody knew anyone at first, but after waiting for a long time, the eunuch in charge didn't come out from the Shenwumen, so everyone started chatting left and right.

By nature, Wan Yu doesn't like the excitement, so after saying goodbye to the beautiful girl beside her, she walked towards the corner alone.

Afterwards, a palace carriage arrived late, and the driver stopped at the corner where Wanyu stood next to the Shenwu Gate, hurriedly dismounted and opened the curtain on the seat, took a low chair and put it on the ground, and respectfully invited the woman in the car to get off the ground.

Wan Lai looked at the horse's red eyes and was restless, probably because of the frightened crowd, she landed on the ground with her front hooves and scratched the ground backwards, as if she wanted to charge forward.

In the car, the woman was already standing on the low stool, Wan Yu hurriedly shouted to the coachman serving the woman: "The horse is startled, be more careful!"

As soon as the sound came out, the horse seemed to be frightened even more. It kicked the car behind it with its kick, and the car shook, knocking the leaning coachman to the ground. Yuzu stretched back and stood firm.

The horse neighed, Wanna saw that it was about to gallop forward, she couldn't bear to think about it, she took two steps forward to take the rein, she couldn't help making a "soo" sound, and stroked its mane to soothe her emotions.

When she was young, she learned the art of riding a horse with Ye Bilong, and she calmed down the frenzied horse with two or three strokes.

The coachman who fell to the ground was startled and sweated all over. He hurriedly helped the woman in the car to get off the ground, then knelt down and kowtowed to confess his guilt.

The woman is meek and gentle, leaning over to help the driver, not only did not blame, but comforted her: "I'm fine, just take care of that fierce horse, when it comes, it runs fast on the road, if you lose your temper here, it will hurt you." It would be a sin to see others."

The coachman hurriedly bowed his hands to the woman to thank her, then quickly took the reins from Wanyu's hand, bowed to her again, and led the carriage away from the crowd with lingering fear.

Wan Lai patted the dust on her hands, then looked around, seeing that her clothes were not covered with dust, she was relieved.

She raised her eyes and saw the woman smiling and walking towards her.

The woman has willow eyebrows and almond eyes, a cherry mouth and a delicate nose, and her hair is as black as ink. She is wearing a pink dress, and her hairpin is decorated with velvet flowers. There are few gold and silver embellishments, which make her a more pure symbol.

This appearance should be top-notch among this group of beautiful girls.Even Wanyu, as a woman, was fascinated by it.

The woman walked up to Wanyu, put her hands on her left waist, bowed her knees slightly to salute her, and said softly, "I just thank you for your help, so I won't make a joke in front of everyone."

Wan Yu smiled, and returned the salute to the woman: "You and I are both beautiful ladies in the palace, so we should help each other. It's a little effort, sister don't need to say thank you."

While the two were talking, inside the Shenwu Gate, the eunuch in charge came out with the roster in hand, and all the beautiful girls who were talking at the side rushed up, the eunuch in charge spread out the roster in front of him, and read it out loudly.

"The name of the name is Yinxiu, line up one by one, and then lead the eunuchs to enter Shunzhen's gate to be candidates."

"Niu Hulu Wannai, the daughter of Yebilong, the first-class assistant minister."

Wannai heard that the eunuch in charge called out her name, hurriedly bowed to the woman to say goodbye, and followed the eunuch in Shenwumen.

Later, I heard the eunuch in charge say, "Tong Rongyue is the daughter of Tong Guowei, the minister who leads the guards."

As soon as the voice fell, the woman followed Wan Yu closely, and said with a smile: "There are more than a hundred beautiful women on the roster, and your boudoir names are actually lined up together. We really are destined."

Wanyu was taken aback for a moment before she knew that this beautiful girl was Tong Guowei's eldest daughter, Tong Rongyue.

This person is familiar with Wanyan, his father, Tong Guowei, is the younger brother of the emperor's biological mother, Empress Xiao Kangzhang, so Tong Rongyue should be regarded as the emperor's direct cousin.

It's just that with such a background, she will also enter the palace draft, which makes Wanyu a little confused.

Seeing that Tong Rongyue is a kind and easy-going person, Wanyu doesn't set up defenses against her.

The two chatted very happily along the way, and the conversation was still full of laughter outside Shunzhen's gate, which made Xiu Nu who followed behind cast suspicious glances from time to time.

The two have similar personalities, and when they talk about speculation, Yu Shunzhen waited outside the gate for half an hour, and they are already considered sisters.

At the foot of the emperor, in the important place of the royal family, although all the beautiful women talked a lot, they only whispered in whispers, for fear that a reckless person would disturb the emperor and the empress dowager in the imperial garden, and be questioned.

But this harmonious scene was broken by a group of latecomers.

"It is said that the imperial garden is picturesque, and I see nothing more than that. In summer, when the sun is hot, the sisters take a look, and the delicate flowers are all bowing their heads one after another, without any vitality."

A woman dressed in a bright red flag dress stood out from the crowd of beautiful women.

Her face is thickly powdered, her forehead and wrists are covered with gold and silver objects, and the oriental beads on her neck are more conspicuous, round and clear, and it is difficult to find one or two in the palace to compare with it.

Beside her, four or five beautiful girls surrounded her in the middle, and they were full of flattering words.

The woman swayed and walked to the stone bench and table beside her, saw other beautiful girls sitting on the stone bench, looked them up and down, covered her mouth and nose with a silk handkerchief and said: "After all, they are from a small family, Mushen does not need to be mixed with fresh flower juice, even if you wash it clean and white, it will also smell pungent after being exposed to the sun."

Seeing all the beautiful girls on the stone bench staring at him angrily, the woman rolled her eyes with a sneer, and said disdainfully: "Look at it, why don't you hurry up and go to the porch to avoid the sour smell, and see you later If the emperor and the empress dowager smell it, this person will be thrown back to your mother's house."

As soon as this remark came out, all the beautiful women surrounding the woman laughed.

The beautiful girls on the stone bench felt humiliated. I stood up and wanted to argue with the girl, but was stopped by the people around me. I didn't know what to say in my ear, and everyone hid aside in desperation, and gave up the stone bench to the girl. sit down.

As soon as the woman was seated, the beautiful lady next to her was fanning and handing over the melons and fruits prepared by the maid beside her. People who didn't know it looked at it and thought it was some master of the harem who came here.

Rong Yue saw it in her eyes, but she really couldn't see it, so she babbled to Wan Yu beside her: "This woman is so arrogant, she has no morals at all, why are all the beautiful women next to her still bowing their knees to her?"

Wan Yu smiled, and whispered softly, "Sister Rong didn't hear it just now, what did the beautiful girl over there call her?"

Rong Yue thought about it for a moment, and answered 'Jin Yi', then saw Wan Yu looking at her with a smile, suddenly realized, she clapped her hands and said: "Guarjia Jin Yi, daughter of General Zhuobutai who conquered the South, relative of Oboi niece?"

Wan Lai nodded in acquiescence, and then dragged Rong Yue to a place under the shade of a tree, avoiding the Guerjia family.

Under the shade of the tree, the two looked at Guarjia with cold eyes, and saw that she kept directing the beautiful girls beside her to do this and that, as if she regarded herself as a serious master.

Mrs. Guarjia took the grapes from Xiu Nu, and Fang frowned as soon as he entered the mouth, and spat out in one gulp, saying arrogantly: "The grapes are very sour, and the food in the palace should not be too tight." Do you just pick out things that don’t enter the holy eyes and send us away?”

She lifted the plate of grapes placed on the stone table, and the plate fell to the ground and shattered, with plump and crystal-clear fruits scattered all over the ground.

Broken things are the most unheard of in the palace. On weekdays, if a palace maid accidentally breaks a dish while serving, she will probably be called unlucky and sent to the Department of Punishment.

Seeing everyone looking at him in horror, Mrs. Guarjia smoothed her hair disapprovingly, took out the powder box from her sleeve, and dusted the powder on her face.

(End of this chapter)