jdhmnovel Chapter 16 The Noble Consort?!
Chapter 16 The Noble Consort?!
That evening, Chu Qingyin and the other selected ladies-in-waiting were arranged to live in Baihua Pavilion.
The Hundred Flowers Pavilion is a separate palace garden located between the inner and outer palace gardens. Since the previous dynasty, it has served as a place for young women to stay in the palace. On ordinary days, when there are no young women to choose from, it is left to fall into disrepair. It is only cleaned and maintained when a selection of young women is held.
Chu Qingyin and five other young ladies were assigned to an elegant courtyard, where several peach trees were planted and were about to bloom.
Just as I settled in, I heard footsteps outside the courtyard gate.
Chu Qingyin looked up and saw two girls walking from the courtyard across the street. One of them, wearing a pink gauze robe embroidered with begonia patterns, was her half-sister, Qiao Qingling.
The other woman, wearing a cross-collar ruqun with an apricot-yellow satin base and red and white floral embroidery, was Lu Mingzhu, the Lu family girl who had previously competed with Chu Qingyin for the shimmering satin at the silk shop.
These two actually got together?
Chu Qingyin raised an eyebrow, and Lu Mingzhu and Qiao Qingling also saw her, their expressions becoming somewhat subtle.
Even though Qiao Qingling was unwilling, she still forced a smile and walked over, "Sister, so you live in this courtyard."
Chu Qingyin smiled slightly: "My sister was selected too?"
When Qiao Qingling looked at Chu Qingyin's smile again, she felt a little creeped out. However, she remembered Aunt Jiang's teachings and decided to avoid any conflict with Chu Qingyin if she encountered her in the palace.
Regardless, getting selected is the priority.
So she nodded, revealing an innocent and obedient smile: "Yes, it's all thanks to my sister's guidance."
At this moment, Lu Mingzhu also walked over and snorted at Chu Qingyin: "Miss Qiao, I didn't expect to meet you again."
Chu Qingyin narrowed her eyes, secretly on guard.
Lu Mingzhu is a troublemaker; it's best to avoid contact with her.
"Yes, I never expected to meet Miss Lu here. Thinking about it, it must be fate," Chu Qingyin replied calmly.
Lu Mingzhu laughed and said, "That's right. I was just asking Miss Qiao what happened with that troublemaking scholar in your household a few days ago. I thought you wouldn't even get past the first hurdle, but I didn't expect this..."
She glanced meaningfully at Chu Qingyin's body and said with a smirk, "You really surprised me."
How could Chu Qingyin not know the sarcasm in Lu Mingzhu's words?
The most important part of the first test is to verify the chastity of the candidates. Lu Mingzhu is clearly implying that she and that scholar Lin have an ambiguous relationship.
"The selection was handled by palace maids, and the list of maids and eunuchs was finalized by Miss Lu's brother. I wonder if Miss Lu meant what she just said by questioning your cousin Lord Lu's incompetence, or if she suspected those maids and eunuchs of falsifying documents and deceiving their superiors?"
Chu Qingyin smiled slightly, while Lu Mingzhu's face turned pale: "You!"
Chu Qingyin: "What do you mean, 'I'? I was just going along with what Miss Lu said."
"What a sharp tongue."
Lu Mingzhu gritted her teeth: "But I advise you not to be so smug, otherwise..."
Before she could even utter a word of "otherwise," Qiao Qingling tugged at her sleeve.
Lu Mingzhu retorted, "Why are you dragging me into this?"
Qiao Qingling glanced awkwardly to the side, and Lu Mingzhu followed her gaze and was also startled.
Suddenly, Granny Fang appeared at the courtyard gate. Although she still had that expressionless old face, she seemed to have heard everything that had just been said.
Lu Mingzhu was filled with regret, and seeing Chu Qingyin's calm and composed demeanor only fueled her anger.
That cunning and treacherous Qiao Qingyin deliberately set a trap for her!
With the old nanny there, Lu Mingzhu didn't dare to cause any trouble and quickly led Qiao Qingling back to their courtyard in a huff.
Chu Qingyin sneered inwardly. These two cobblers dared to provoke her; they were simply overestimating themselves.
Looking again at Granny Fang at the courtyard gate, she was still standing in the same spot. Because of the distance and the fact that it was getting dark, Chu Qingyin could not see her expression clearly.
But she had a vague feeling that Granny Fang probably recognized her face.
She's not afraid of being recognized, but she's afraid of not being recognized.
After exchanging a few words with Granny Fang, Chu Qingyin closed the window and went back to her room to rest.
That night, perhaps because she had drunk an extra bowl of soup for dinner, Chu Qingyin was sleeping soundly when she suddenly felt an urge to urinate.
She frowned, got up, put on a light blue outer robe, and, carrying a lantern, headed towards the washroom.
The palace was unusually quiet at night. The lanterns under the eaves swayed gently in the chilly February wind, and the dim candlelight created an eerie atmosphere in the night.
Just as Chu Qingyin was about to reach the door of the washroom, a figure suddenly appeared at the end of the corridor.
It was an elderly woman, who was patrolling with a lantern.
When the old woman looked up and saw Chu Qingyin's figure, she froze on the spot, her eyes wide open as if she had seen a ghost.
"Your Highness...Your Highness?!" The old woman's voice trembled.
Chu Qingyin was startled. After a moment, she suppressed her urge to urinate and remained calm: "Granny, you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not the Imperial Concubine, I'm Qiao Qingyin, a newly arrived palace maid."
Upon hearing this, the old woman's face turned even paler.
Few people outside the palace knew Consort Chu's maiden name, but the elders in the palace did; it was Qingyin.
The young woman in front of me not only looks like the deceased Consort Chu, but she even has the same name!
The old woman scrutinized Chu Qingyin, her eyes filled with fear and confusion.
Chu Qingyin was extremely anxious at the moment and didn't have time to explain further. She simply said, "It's late and dark, so you probably can't see very clearly. Why don't you take a closer look tomorrow morning?"
Upon hearing this, the old woman held up a lantern and shone it in front of her face.
Upon closer inspection, there are indeed some differences, especially the cinnabar mole between the eyebrows, which the Imperial Concubine did not have.
"It must be my eyes playing tricks on me," the old woman stammered. "It's just... it's just that you look so much like..."
She stopped herself before she could finish speaking.
Chu Qingyin knew what she wanted to say, but she pretended not to know and turned to go to the washroom.
The old woman took a deep look at Chu Qingyin's retreating figure, then hurriedly turned and left.
Their steps were hurried, as if they were fleeing something terrible.
The next day, the palace servants were all talking about the same thing.
"Have you heard? There's a young lady in the Hundred Flowers Pavilion who looks remarkably like the late Consort!" a palace maid whispered.
"Really? How similar?" another palace maid asked curiously.
"I heard they're exactly the same! Even their given names are identical!"
Hearing these whispers, Chu Qingyin simply turned a page of her book with a nonchalant expression, though she felt a sense of anticipation in her heart.
Given how quickly rumors spread in the palace, it's believed that this news will soon reach the ears of the Empress and other concubines.
As expected, the Empress, Consort Shu, and Consort De also learned of this news, but they did not take it seriously.
"They just look alike. There are more than one or two women in the palace who look like Chu Qingyin. Does that mean they are all as favored as Chu Qingyin?"
The Empress chuckled, leisurely fiddling with the long, exquisite mother-of-pearl inlaid gold armor. "I think it's just a gimmick."
Consort Shu and Consort De were somewhat relieved after hearing the Empress's words.
After all, what the Empress said was true. During the last imperial concubine selection, the Empress selected several talented women and noble ladies based on Chu Qingyin's appearance. Later, those women who resembled her in some ways did not gain favor.
In this harem, everyone hates Chu Qingyin, yet everyone wants to be Chu Qingyin.
However, after Chu Qingyin's death, His Majesty rarely visited the inner palace. Even when he did come, he would sit quietly in Chu Qingyin's Lizheng Palace.
The concubines were all frowning over this. They really didn't know what was so good about Chu Qingyin that even in death the Emperor would still remember her so fondly. It was truly hateful!
Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
February 11th is the big day for the selection of imperial concubines.