Good morning Mr. Zhongtang

Chapter 46

Throughout the golden autumn and October, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been in a hurry, because it is rushing to repair the Chuxiu Palace, and the draft at the beginning of next month is imminent. They can't let the beautiful women enter the palace, but they have no place to live.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is busy, but the Yonghe Palace is quite leisurely.Because of Concubine Rou's precedent, the palace is much calmer now, and even Concubine Qi, who always likes to find fault with the nobles, has not moved much.

However, they must be paying more attention to the matter of drafting girls now, after all, this is a top priority for the harem.

In the first round of preliminary rounds, 72 people were confirmed, all of whom were girls of the right age from the officials' families in the capital. Because the current emperor has not established a queen, the queen dowager who has lived in the Palace of Compassion and Peace for a long time will choose together.

Throughout November, there was almost nothing else going on in the palace, and most of the people in the palace gathered to talk about these beautiful ladies. Whose lady left a sign, who was given flowers, who was born How are you doing? These are all topics that people talk about after dinner.

Although Yonghe Palace is not as popular as outside, but we can get some news from Nanny Gui and Jin Rong every day. For example, Nanny Gui is holding an embroidery pattern in one hand, while reading a book on the soft couch. The noble man said:
"The emperor admires the Man-Han family, and many of the show girls this year are from the Han family. Wang Caiyun, the second daughter of Wang Taifu's family, is both talented and beautiful. She is especially good at composing poems. It is said that she was particularly praised by the emperor. She is very beautiful. That's fine too."

Jin Rong went on to say: "Besides Ms. Wang, there are several outstanding ones. The third miss Fucha Ningyan from the Commander's family, and the fifth miss Zhao Qing'er from the Xuanwu General's House. I heard that Aunt Tong's family also has two outstanding ladies. , is the pair of twin sisters, Aunt Tong, does the Tong family have a pair of twin sisters?"

Tong Wanrou was studying scented tea. Hearing Jin Rong mention her, she couldn't help but look up at her, and after thinking for a while, she replied, "It seems that there are twin sisters in my uncle's family, but I remember that they are about the same age as me. Isn't it too big to come to the draft?"

Her words made Jin Rong and Nanny Gui couldn't help laughing: "Auntie, how old do you think you are, but you are only 17 years old, if you didn't marry early, maybe you would have been selected into the palace."

Tong Wanrou made a shocked expression and shook her head again and again: "I don't want to enter the palace."

Regarding the disdain on Tong Wanrou's face, even the virtuous person couldn't help but look up at her, put down the book, and said:

"Among you, only Wanrou is the one with a clear mind. Do you really think that once you enter the palace, you will be able to surpass ten thousand people? Don't even think about it. For this status, you have to bear how many other women can't even imagine. hard."

Tong Wanrou smiled at the virtuous man, and said: "Your lord is riding a tiger. You have a dragon species in your stomach, and it is the only dragon species in our palace. It is rare for a woman in the harem to survive to this point, right, sister .”

Tong Wanrou stayed in the palace for a long time, and she didn't have the initial fear of the virtuous person, and the virtuous person also regarded her and Nanny Gui as close relatives, so when they were together, they didn't need to pay attention to what they said. What, anyway, you can say anything, even if you occasionally tease the nobleman, the nobleman will not be angry.

The virtuous man gave Tong Wanrou a coquettish glance, knowing that it would be no good for this little girl to call her sister, but she also really liked this child's cheerful, upright, and clear-headed character, she seemed to know what she wanted a long time ago, and I have been persevering and working hard in that direction.

"It's just your poor mouth, don't let me catch you, and tear your mouth apart."

The sage said with a smile on his lips.

Tong Wanrou stuck out her tongue in fright, her posture was cute, and she was not at all outside, as the aunt in charge was dignified and serious, the three spent a leisurely afternoon talking and laughing.

After the end of November, it officially entered the twelfth lunar month, and the weather has become freezing cold.

After a month of selection, there were finally eight beautiful women selected, Wang Caiyun, the second lady of Taifu's family, Fucha Ningyan, the third lady of Fucha's supporting army commander's family, Zhao Qing'er, the fifth daughter of General Xuanwu, and Tong Jia's daughter. Twin sisters Tong Jiao and Tong Mei, Gu Zhizhi, the only daughter of the servant of the Ministry of Rites, Du Yue'e, the daughter of Feng Tianfu Yin, and Ma Jia Xianglan, the daughter of Baoyi Xiaoqi and the leader.

These eight beautiful girls were all agreed by the young master to enter the palace. They lived in the Chuxiu Palace and waited for the bedtime in a month. Who will come first, who will be higher and who will be lower, will be known for the first time in a month.

The tenth day of the twelfth lunar month is the day when each government meets the palace.

Since Tong Wanrou was in the palace, she planned to take advantage of this day to meet her elder sister who is now a concubine.Every year, only today is the day when my sister can come out of the bedroom and is arranged to meet her family.

Tong Wanrou started preparations the day before. With her salary, she bought a lot of charcoal and cotton cloth from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and made several food boxes for pastries. The quantity was so large that even Jin Rong couldn't help asking:
"Hey, if you know, you should go and have a look, but if you don't know, you think you're going to open a palace order. What's all this? Your sister is a concubine, and the concubine's palace still lacks these things?"

Tong Wanrou glanced at the large baskets around her, and couldn't help saying: "I don't know if she is lacking or not, but I just look at the faces of those people in the palace. They may not treat the concubine with the same care as the rightful master. Anyway, I will take care of her first." If my sister doesn’t want it, I’ll move it back and let’s use Yonghe Palace ourselves.”

Jin Rong shook her head: "After all, everyone came out, and they don't care about money at all."

The virtuous man just came out of the inside for a walk, his stomach was already clasped on his stomach like a small dustpan, and under the service of Tong Wanrou's three meals a day plus supper, his whole body became much rounder, and he looked very good .

Seeing her with her belly outstretched, Nanny Gui walked over, perhaps she heard Tong Wanrou and the others' previous conversation, and said to Tong Wanrou:

"I'm afraid these things are useful. Once the emperor and the courtiers, the people in the palace may not treat the late emperor's widows as their masters. I once saw a Taijie whose clothes had not been changed for several winters and summers." Yu. It's not that the emperor treats them harshly, but because there are too many of them. It's impossible to take care of them all."

Tong Wanrou imagined that Tai Jieyu, who had no clothes to change for several cold and hot days, couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness in her heart, she sighed softly, and decided to cut some more pieces of cotton cloth for her sister.

Last year, she followed Er Niang into the palace. Er Niang prepared some candied fruit for her sister. She thought that there was everything in the palace. Fewer and fewer, but she never made any demands on the family.

Seeing the palace started from Sishi. Tong Wanrou was the aunt in charge of the Yonghe Palace. She sent two young eunuchs to the place where she met the palace. She entered through the back door of the palace and saw Tong Yurou who had been sitting on the waiting table early. .

Although Tong Yurou was not wearing a winter coat from last year, it could be seen that it was made in the early years.

The formerly beautiful face became haggard in the palace, perhaps to make herself look better, she rubbed some rouge on her cheeks, but matching her pale complexion, it seemed more deliberate and made people feel sad .

When she saw Tong Wanrou walking in from the back door, she was startled at first, then went up to meet her, and asked Tong Wanrou:

"How did you appear in the palace?"

Tong Wanrou remembered that when she was a child, her elder sister kept singing to her, her voice was as touching as an oriole, but now her voice is also hoarse, and she no longer obeys the clear and clear voice before.

Tong Wanrou couldn't hold back the tears and she shed tears, Tong Yurou pulled her aside, seeing that although many people came to the palace at this time, everyone was looking forward to the annual family reunion when the time came.

Tong Wanrou briefly told Tong Yurou about her experience of entering the palace, Tong Yurou was only greatly relieved, and said to Tong Wanrou:

"It's better to do things in the palace than to be a concubine in the palace."

Tong Wanrou knew that earlier, Tong Yurou must have thought that she was also one of the beautiful women selected into the palace, and was worried for her, so she squeezed her sister's hands and feet, and said to her:
"How are you doing in the palace? Although I have also entered the palace, I am not qualified to visit you, so I have to wait until today."

Tong Yurou sighed faintly: "Is there anything good about it? It's just muddling along."

Tong Wanrou was moved: "Is life... hard?"

"..."

Tong Yurou didn't speak, and after a long time, she bit her lips and asked: "I told Er Niang last time, asking if she could find someone for me to go to Qingyun Temple to become a monk, did she do it for me?"

Last year's meeting at the palace, it was Wu Shi and Tong Yurou who were talking. Tong Wanrou could only stay outside and look at her sister from a distance, not knowing what she told Wu Shi. Looking at her expectant eyes, Tong Wanrou couldn't bear to let her down , nodded and said:

"I heard...it's being done. Er Niang went back to find someone that day, but you also know that Tong's family only looks prominent, but in fact it's just an empty shelf. Many people are not accounted for by our family. Otherwise, you etc."

Tong Yurou looked at Tong Wanrou, the corners of her lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn't say it, after hesitating for a long time, she finally just nodded and said in resignation:

"Okay. That's all I have to do."

Seeing her like this, Tong Wanrou felt extremely uncomfortable.The older sister, who was so energetic and lively and loved to laugh, has been in the palace for ten years, and she is as passive and haggard as an old woman. What kind of cannibal cage is this palace.

The elder sister asked her mother to find someone to let her become a monk. This is a thought that she is completely desperate for life. She would rather go to be a nun outside the palace than be trapped in this lonely palace.

But, how could Er Niang find someone to leave the palace for her?They wished that the more daughters of the Tong family would be in the palace, the better, and wished that all the daughters could be sent into the palace for the master to choose, even if they were slaves, in their opinion, it would be better than living outside the palace. better.

He handed over the things he had prepared to his sister, and told the little eunuchs to send them to the palace for her. Then, when the sisters said goodbye, Tong Wanrou stuffed two 100 taels of silver notes into Tong Yurou's hands, which was her entry into the palace. At that time, Fu Heng gave it to her for personal use, but she never had a chance to use it, so she gave it to her sister.

Tong Yurou hesitated for a while, but she didn't refuse. She reached out and touched Tong Wanrou's cheek a few times before turning around and leaving.

The whistling wind blew over, Tong Yurou shrank her shoulders, wrapped and wrapped the old thin felt around her body, and then walked towards her palace facing the cold wind.

(End of this chapter)