Chapter 11

The location for the selection of the beauties from Jiaozhou was arranged by Cui Manshu in a courtyard not far from the Jiangling City government office.

Firstly, the two eunuchs from the palace who were responsible for supervising the selection needed to be accommodated properly. Secondly, a group of unmarried women who came to participate in the selection would cause controversy if they were placed in a government office.

Auntie Zhao’s daughter, Su Zhen, was among the first batch of candidates.  Most of them were peasants and merchants, and they represented the largest number of candidates. Therefore, the selection process lasted for three consecutive days and was divided into four or five batches.

Su Mi was a candidate who entered through the back door, and she was grouped with the daughters of county officials and local landlords in Jiaozhou. The number of people was small, so they were only divided into two groups, morning and afternoon. Su Mi was assigned to the afternoon group.

Outside the high, light pink walls, Su’s carriage was quietly parked under the shade of an old tree.  The surroundings were empty, in sharp contrast to the nearby gathering of sedans, chairs, and horses.

Inside the carriage, there were ice bowls as usual. Su Mi wore a jade-colored embroidered flower dress, leaning slightly forward. The curves of her body were inadvertently revealed, making Chun Mei blush next to her.

Su Mi propped up the table with one hand and picked up a pastry from the table with the other. This would be considered her lunch.

“Miss, are you hot?” Chun Mei gently fanned her with a white silk fan.

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Chun Mei took a bite of the pastry and followed Su Mi’s gaze. “Miss, it’s all my fault. They asked me which family’s young lady you are, and I told them.”

When those people heard that her family’s master was from a merchant family, they purposely left their carriage alone and refused to join the others.

“That’s even better. It’s cooler over here, and they’re the ones suffering in the sun. It’s not our loss.”

Chun Mei had a look of grievance on her face, but after Su Mi spoke, she felt much better.

Although the current dynasty didn’t restrict merchants and even allowed merchant’s sons to take the imperial exams, the people still held on to the traditional ways, and merchants were considered lower-class. Su’s family was a well-known wealthy merchant in Jiaozhou and had a slightly higher status, while the small traders were considered even lower.

From time to time, the first group of women would come out, and they had been waiting until past noon before the first group finally finished screening.

Chun Mei helped Su Mi off the carriage, and Chun Mei held an umbrella to escort her to the door. The maidservants were not allowed inside, so she could only wait outside.

Su Mi smiled and waved goodbye, then turned and followed the crowd inside. The ladies wore veil hats and didn’t take them off until they entered the courtyard and placed them on the large stone platform.

Most of the other people were in groups of two or three, some of whom were familiar with each other. Su Mi stood alone at the end, looking peaceful and content. She looked around at the spacious and clean courtyard where they were standing, facing several simple-looking houses with blue tiled roofs, which seemed to lack any lively atmosphere.

Soon, a man dressed in blue silk emerged from one of the houses in the middle. He was pale and thin, appearing to be in his forties, but without a beard. He stood in front of the group of women who had come to audition, coughed a few times, and then spoke, with his fist on his mouth:

“Ladies, I am Cao Gonggong, a eunuch in charge of the inner palace. Please arrange yourselves according to the sequence number on the paper you received this morning and let me take a good look at you.”

His voice was thin and deep, and the women whispered to each other while fidgeting.

“I heard that all the eunuchs in the inner palace are like him.”

“Eunuch?  “

“No wonder he has no beard.”

“Hey, Qiao Meimei, do you even know the difference between eunuchs and men?”

Qiao Meimei blushed slightly at being called out. “Anyway, they’re obviously different, and I don’t know much about the others.”

These ladies in the courtyard knew that eunuchs were different from ordinary men, but they only had a general understanding and were unable to articulate the specifics. Su Mi was the same.

Soon, everyone had lined up according to their sequence number, forming five rows of about a dozen people each. Su Mi was at the very end, and she could see Cao Gonggong standing with his hands behind his back, looking at each woman when it was her turn. Some of the shorter women had their name tags confiscated, indicating that they had been eliminated.

The courtyard was spacious and lacked any shelter, and the afternoon sun was beating down. Soon, Su Mi’s face turned red, but her fair skin looked quite lovely when flushed. The other women were not as fortunate, as some of them had applied too much makeup and were now sweating it off.

“Does anyone have a handkerchief they can lend me?” The woman spoke in a clear and melodious voice, looking around, but apart from Su Mi, no one seemed to pay attention to her. After all, in this situation, who would want anyone else to look better than them?

Su Mi originally wanted to ignore it, but her eyes glanced around, and under the heavy makeup, she saw a small face with bright eyes and white teeth. When she smiled, she had two dimples. She was a pretty little girl who was probably younger than her. Her pitiful appearance softened Su Mi’s heart.

Su Mi took out a plain handkerchief from her sleeve and handed it to the little girl. “Here you go.”

“Thank you.”  The little girl smiled and wiped her face haphazardly, but ended up smudging more makeup on her face.

For some reason, Su Mi felt that she didn’t want to be chosen.

Cao Gonggong didn’t take long to make his decision. The little girl was in the row in front of Su Mi, and when it was her turn, Cao Gonggong looked at the name tag and, unlike before, called out, “Zhang Yue’er.”

“Okay.”

Zhang Yue’er was instantly deflated, and she hung her head while playing with her clothes. Su Mi saw this out of the corner of her eye and had a guess in her heart. It seemed that this was already settled beforehand, but it had nothing to do with her since she had already found a backdoor entrance for herself.

The selection inside the courtyard was proceeding methodically.

Outside the courtyard walls, Qin Yan had already gotten out of the carriage, with Feng Bao holding an umbrella behind him and the Magistrate Cui standing on the side with a flattering smile, almost offering to hold up Qin Yan’s robe hem.

“Lord Qin, should I go ahead and announce our arrival?” The implication was, of course, to make a grand entrance.

“No need.” “The Emperor’s business should not be delayed because of my arrival.”

“Of course, Lord Qin is thoughtful.” Cui Manshu was flattered with a smile.

Just as Qin Yan stepped into the courtyard gate, it was Su Mi’s turn.

Qin Yan looked at the woman in a light-colored, flower-embroidered dress not far away. Although she had her head down, he recognised her at first glance.

Seeing her once was not enough, but now that it’s the second time, she really knows how to choose her timing.

With such a big place like Jiaozhou, it couldn’t be a coincidence for him to meet her twice.

“Magistrate Cui sent me here to see your elaborate arrangement, right?” Qin Yan smiled.

He was naturally referring to Su Mi’s entire play and today’s “chance encounter.” Even Ling An didn’t figure it out. Cui Manshu had put a lot of effort into sending him a woman.

“My Lord, it’s not really an elaborate arrangement; it’s just that I always do my best when handling things.” Cui Manshu was delighted in his heart. As expected, having the chief of the Eastern Bureau come and take a look helped showcase his abilities in the selection of concubines.

Qin Yan chuckled at his words: “Okay, let’s go and take a look.”