C58

Chapter 58 - Gong Dou

The old granny put on an uncaring expression and said sternly, "women, please take it back. Take off your clothes and lie down on the bed. "

That old wet nurse had obviously embarrassed Qin Luofei, her voice was loud enough for people outside to hear.

Qin Luofei had no choice but to keep the banknotes. She could only close her eyes and allow the old wet nurse to inspect them.

"Pass."

When Qin Luofei left the pavilion, she discovered that out of the hundred women s, only twenty or so were left, and most of them had been beaten back.

Du Qingcheng, Qin Luoyu, Mo Ling Rong, Lin Huijiao, Shangguan Die and a few women that Qin Luo Fei was not familiar with.

After this torment, everyone still had some lingering fear in their hearts, so they didn't fight like they usually did.

They only had one last hurdle left and would see the empress dowager and the emperor tomorrow.

On the morning of the second day, women had already lined up in two rows in the courtyard. Since the early morning, they had not eaten a single mouthful of food.

Qin Luoyu pursed his lips. She had never eaten anything good before. Because a women ate something that was placed in a house, his entire body was covered with red patches. Even now, they had not faded and he was still sent back home.

Aside from Du Qingcheng, the rest of the women s were not as beautiful as her. Her choice of poem was not unexpected, it was just that the way he gained the emperor's favor depended on his own methods.

Du Qingcheng stood by Qin Luoyu's side. She did not place Qin Luoyu in his eyes at all, as the biggest stumbling block in front of her was the Imperial Consort Leng. Only by eliminating the Imperial Consort Leng would she be able to obtain his cousin's favor.

Just as Consort Mo walked into the imperial garden with his personal palace maids, she saw them walking over.

"Big sister, what a coincidence." When Xiao Fei saw Consort Mo, he couldn't help but mock him.

When Consort Mo saw Xiao Fei, she lazily combed the black hair at her temples. She slightly pulled back his crescent moon shaped hair and coldly snorted, looking somewhat charming as she spoke. "Little sister Xiao, you're really early. Why aren't you with Imperial Consort Leng?"

Honorable Zhang who was with Xiao Fei understood the situation, and silently watched from the side.

Xiao Fei turned her eyes to the side, the tassels at the side of her hair dyed in the light of flowing pearls. Her lips were cool and gentle, as she said indifferently: "Big sister should have arrived earlier, it's a pity that the emperor has not yet risen from his seat accompanying Imperial Concubine, and will have to disappoint big sister."

Consort Mo was too lazy to bother with her anymore. She raised her hand to gently stroke the hairpin on her temples, and a warm ray of light flashed across her crystal clear tassels.

The hairpins on Consort Mo's head were newly bestowed by the Emperor. There were only two, one for Imperial Consort Leng and one for Consort Mo.

When the women in the palace never stopped fighting, they would fight back and forth for a man who didn't love them, so why must they suffer?

The two of them didn't like each other's looks, so they each led their palace maids towards the imperial garden.

Today's talent show is in the palace. The palace was on the south side of the imperial garden, a half-pavilion and half palace. Further west was the Empress Dowager's palace.

From the entrance of the palace to the entrance of the courtyard, dozens of young eunuchs and maid stood on both sides with their hands hanging by their sides.

Consort Mo and a few palace maids were a step too late, and just happened to bump into a few eunuchs and court officials walking towards them.

Amongst them, her father just so happened to be one of them. Her father was now a prime minister, and could be considered to be above tens of thousands of people. Her brother had military merits, so her Mo Clan could be considered as a powerful family.

The other person was General Mo. I heard that both of his daughters will enter the palace for the talent competition, especially when the Qin family's Second Miss is famous for their beauty. In addition to the military power the Qin family has, they should not be underestimated.

"Lord Father." As a concubine, even if he were to meet his elders, there was no need for Consort Mo to bow.

Other than General Qin, Consort Mo had never seen the other ministers before.

They were all important officials of the imperial court, but could be counted as the emperor's father-in-law. If Consort Mo guessed correctly, most of the young miss of these families would be chosen as the imperial concubine.

We have two prime ministers in the dynasty, and they are said to be trying to restrain a large outsider. Even though the relationship between the Mo and Du Families weren't stiff, they still didn't interact with each other.

After all, a foreign official was still a foreign official. Even though their grade was high, they still had to pay respects to the concubine s of the imperial harem.

"Greetings to Consort Mo."

"Seniors, please do not." Consort Mo helped him up.

Amongst the few ministers, there was only Prime Minister Du, he was the handsome one, although Consort Mo had never seen Du Qingcheng who was as famous as Qin Luoyu, looking at his appearance, he knew that he was worthy of the title of Prime Minister Du.

After the Consort Mo bid farewell to the few adults, she entered the courtyard. Seeing that the courtyard was tidily organized, many precious flowers were placed within the courtyard.

This courtyard was usually empty, but the Empress Dowager would occasionally rise up and recruit a group of people to the palace to sing for a few days. This was also a rare pleasure for the concubines.

Two eunuchs led the two into the palace, and the palace maid was stopped outside.

The interior of the palace was gorgeous. On the head was an exquisite picture, and beneath his feet was a thick red woolen carpet. In the middle of the palace was a large cauldron made of purple copper and gold.

The two sides of the palace already had light shadows hanging on top of them, the concubines was divided into two sides. Above them was the resplendent golden dragon throne. On both sides of the chairs, there were two carved phoenix chairs that belonged to the empress dowager and Imperial Consort Leng. The Consort Mo looked at them in a rather dazzling manner.

Consort Mo and Xiao Fei had the highest position, so they sat on the lower seats of the Imperial Consort Leng.

Consort Mo sat down on a mat made of golden silk that was carved with peony silk. Fruit and refreshments were already laid out on the table in front of him.

In the morning, Consort Mo was already hungry and ate two pieces. Seeing that all the concubines s had come, only the empress dowager, Imperial Consort Leng and the emperor had not appeared yet.

Unknowingly, Consort Mo had made a move on a beautiful lady. The girl seemed to be sick and was gasping for air, but the color between her eyebrows made Consort Mo surprised.

She had already been in the palace for a few years, but she had actually never seen this woman before.

Her status was also quite awkward. She was the emperor's enlightened palace maid. When the prince grew up, the empress dowager would send his palace maids to enlighten him. These types of palace maids were usually much older than the emperor himself. After the prince's estate was divided, some would take away the original palace maids, while others would remain obscure and unknown.

Before Huan Beauty had lost her favor with the emperor before she entered the palace, she heard that the emperor didn't want to see her either, so she could be considered to have long been tossed aside by the emperor, to have perished in the palace by herself.

To think that the Huan Beauty would be so beautiful, it was such a pity.

Seeing her gently lift her jade hand to lift up the stove she was carrying, the pure white petals in the furnace had already turned into wisps of fragrant and white ashes, sinking into the bottom of the furnace. She then took out a few pieces of chrysanthemum colored petals from her scented bag and placed them into the furnace.

Consort Mo was stunned for a long time when she saw the emerald hibiscus pattern on the tea cup.

"What is elder sister looking at?" The corner of Xiao Fei's lips revealed a slight smile, as she looked at Consort Mo with suspicion.

The Consort Mo shook her head slightly and said: "I only feel that the incense on my sister's body today is especially fragrant. I don't know what kind of incense it is, but I've actually never smelled it before."

When Xiao Fei saw the Consort Mo ask about the incense, her lips pursed up and she said faintly: "It's not really a good incense, but the Emperor doesn't like it. It's made with dozens of petals and then buried under a tree for a year. It's an ancient recipe that I collected from the people. It's no wonder big sister didn't smell it. "

The reason the Consort Mo didn't like her arrogant and domineering attitude the most was simply because of her power.

"So that's how it is. Then little sister, you need to make good use of her and let the emperor pamper her a few more times." Consort Mo snorted, and turned her head.

An unfavoured concubine had the nerve to show off in front of her.

The Consort Mo's eyes inadvertently swept towards the Huan Beauty beside her. Seeing her eyebrows droop slightly, she raised her Arm Wristband and tried tasting the fresh green bean cake on the short stick.

"The empress dowager has arrived." The empress dowager led the two old nuns into the palace. Seeing that the emperor and Imperial Consort Leng had not arrived yet, she couldn't help but express her dissatisfaction.

Everyone looked up and saw that the empress dowager was dressed in the "Cloud Dragon's Longevity" style of water and cliff pattern phoenix dress. She was dignified and magnanimous, bearing the dignity of a mother.

Her forehead was broad and clean, her eyes were like peach blossoms, she was plump and powerful, and her demeanor was elegant and rich.

According to the emperor's age, the empress dowager should also be over forty years old, but there didn't seem to be any traces of time left on her body, and she was still as beautiful as ever. She didn't know how beautiful she would be when she was young, and she couldn't blame the late emperor for pampering her so much.

The empress dowager's cold eyes swept over the crowd, her calm expression giving off a confident light. That unsurpassable arrogance of hers could only be seen from afar and not desecrated.

"This Imperial Consort Leng is really going too far. She can be late even at a time like this." The empress dowager's voice wasn't loud, but it was just loud enough for everyone to hear. It seemed that the empress dowager wasn't afraid of Imperial Consort Leng. She knew and perhaps hoped that she would hear it.

To the point where Consort Mo did not place much thought on the empress dowager and women, her gaze was faintly discernable as she looked at Huan Beauty beside her.

A cold light flashed through her eyes, and she quickly disappeared.

I wonder what Li mama said to the empress dowager's ears? The empress dowager's gaze turned towards the women outside the hall.

The empress dowager nodded slightly. "He'll be safe. I'm afraid he'll be a little boring."

"That's still due to her good fortune. If the empress dowager can't move the emperor even when she's helping her, that's still her life." Li mama whispered.

Her Majesty nodded slightly.

The four ministers sat on either side of the palace.

After the time it took to drink a few more cups of tea, he heard the young eunuch outside the palace sing, "The emperor has arrived."

Everyone paid their respects.

Qin Luofei, who was standing outside the hall, was secretly ashamed. This good sister of hers really did like to sing this kind of play, taking advantage of others at every turn.

Under the escort of numerous palace maids and eunuchs, the Emperor walked into the great hall while hugging the Imperial Consort Leng.

Imperial Consort Leng had a smile on her face as she leaned lazily against the emperor's chest, looking down at all living beings.