With Lady He collapsed, the upheaval within the Changping Marquis estate can be set aside for the moment.
On the other side of the city, the palace eunuchs had gathered the hundred-odd young ladies and noble sons chosen from the various clans into a plain courtyard not far from the palace gates.
Nursemaids who served beside the Empress Dowager had been waiting here for some time. Once the selected candidates were all assembled, they began to act.
This was the first round of the Great Jin's consort selection. Those under consideration were not permitted to descend from their sedan chairs; they waited while the nursemaids lifted the curtains and made a preliminary appraisal of the bearing and appearance of each household's young ladies and noble sons. Only those whose comportment was dignified and whose looks were excellent would be permitted to enter the palace.
The two nursemaids had already thoroughly explained to Bai Guo every detail of what would happen during the selection, so when his curtain was suddenly lifted, he was not particularly flustered. He simply reminded himself all the harder to control his expression and appear at ease.
"Features of moderate to superior quality. Bearing and conduct in proper order, neither arrogant nor agitated. Family background adequate." The palace nursemaid nodded, and the recording eunuch set down her words. Then she marked something beside Bai Guo's name in the register: "Passed."
In other words — he had made it through this round.
And with a future system at his side, Bai Guo quickly learned the outcome.
"Being an immortal is truly remarkable," Bai Guo said admiringly. He himself had not heard a single word from outside the sedan chair.
The system modestly replied: "To be honest, even I cannot hear very quiet sounds."
After a while, the system told Bai Guo that the palace attendants had already moved far away from his chair. Bai Guo finally relaxed and let out a tiny, quiet breath inside the small sedan. Then he sneaked into the pouch Nursemaid Gui had given him and broke off a corner of osmanthus cake to sweeten his mouth.
"Is the osmanthus cake good?" the system asked curiously.
Bai Guo paused: "Has the Immortal never eaten osmanthus cake?"
As a prenatal preparation system, it certainly had not eaten any such thing — but the system had its pride, so it could only continue the pretence: "The things of you humans — we systems do not eat."
Bai Guo blinked, then said shyly: "I momentarily forgot. The nursemaid did tell me that immortals like you are fairies and celestials who grow up drinking dewdrops."
System: "…More or less."
The palace nursemaids moved swiftly in their assessments.
When the first round ended, the morning dew had still not quite cleared — but of the original hundred-odd green sedan chairs, only thirty-six remained. All the rest had been turned away.
The thirty-six green sedan chairs were then quietly and smoothly carried through the crimson palace walls into the imperial palace.
"We have arrived at the Chuxiu Palace. All noble sons and young ladies, please step down from your chairs and proceed on foot."
The chairs stopped. Prompted by the palace attendants, the thirty-six who had been selected all descended their chairs in varying states of curiosity, nervous caution, or restless anxiety.
They were all young people in the flush of their best years, each dressed in fine, elegant clothing. The solemn grandeur of the imperial city had kept them tightly reined in until now, and when they looked at each other — as it happened, many of them were nobles they had known from their days playing together in the imperial capital. Those who knew each other well smiled and gathered to chatter; those less familiar but temperamentally suited found each other by eye and fell into easy conversation.
For a time, the Chuxiu Palace became quite lively.
Bai Guo stood quietly in a shaded corner, head slightly lowered. He was not good with words, and his speech was halting — he simply stared at the green stone slabs beneath his feet and quietly counted ants with the system.
"Hey, why are you standing here without talking?" A light tap landed on his back, and a bright, lively voice rose behind him.
Bai Guo turned. A clean-featured young man in a moon-white robe stood before him, his expression curious.
"I'm Tan Qingsong — who are you?" The young man asked with a cheerful grin.
It was the first time anyone had ever come to speak to Bai Guo of their own initiative. His palms grew slightly damp; his voice stumbled a little: "I… I am Bai Guo."
Tan Qingsong broke into a laugh and, entirely without ceremony, reached up and pinched his cheek. The smile grew even brighter on his face. "Wow, you're so cute!"
Bai Guo winced at the pinch but saw that Tan Qingsong's expression was completely open and guileless — entirely unaware of his own strength — so he just pressed his lips together and gave a bashful little smile.
The two of them stood in a spot that wasn't very conspicuous. Seeing that Bai Guo seemed reluctant to talk, Tan Qingsong didn't press, just tilted his mouth and lifted his hand to point toward the figure at the centre of the crowd — the most elaborately dressed young woman standing at the centre of a ring of admiring nobles, her manner calm and aloof.
"See her? That's Ning Anrong, the youngest daughter of the Duke of Ning."
Bai Guo vaguely recalled Nursemaid Ping mentioning this name — she seemed to be the late Empress's own younger sister, and was also one of those selected today.
"Have you heard the rumour going around outside the palace?" Tan Qingsong lowered his voice. "Word is that this selection has already been decided internally — there's already a chosen candidate for the new Empress. All the rest of us are here just to provide a backdrop for the future Empress."
It was understandable enough. With the late Empress gone, the position of Empress lay vacant, and the great families had been eyeing the seat with eager ambition. Yet Emperor Jingyuan, out of deep grief for the late Empress, had for three full years refused all proposals to establish a new Empress. It was only after the Duke of Ning's youngest daughter, Ning Anrong, had just passed her coming-of-age ceremony that Emperor Jingyuan suddenly relented, and the Empress Dowager's edict called for a wide-scale selection. The Duke of Ning's household, in turn, had wasted no time in sending the young woman into the palace — their intentions were transparent for all to see.
Viewed in that light, the rumours circulating in the streets seemed rather well-founded.
"By the way," Tan Qingsong said, "when the inner household attendants assign rooms shortly, share a room with me, won't you?"
Bai Guo blinked, still not having spoken — when the crowd suddenly fell silent.
"If I were you, I wouldn't have the face to walk into this palace." The Grand Preceptor's daughter, Li Xian'er, stood beneath a willow tree, chin tilted upward, a contemptuous sneer on her face. "Elder sister died, younger sister continues in her place — it truly takes the Duke of Ning's household's shamelessness to do something like this."
"Xian'er, stop talking," said her friend Qu Huayan, the younger sister of a vice minister of personnel, twisting her handkerchief and speaking softly.
Li Xian'er let out a cold snort: "Am I wrong to say that this younger sister has wronged her own elder sister?"
It was true that in the Great Jin, sisters sharing a husband was not particularly unusual — but Li Xian'er and Ning Anrong had never gotten along. Li Xian'er thought Ning Anrong was a prude who played cold only for show; Ning Anrong considered Li Xian'er an arrogant, embroidered fool. The two were well-matched in family background and had been compared against each other from childhood.
The Li family had not originally intended to send Li Xian'er into the palace; it was Li Xian'er herself who had thrown a fit until they agreed, insisting on competing with Ning Anrong inside the palace. Now she had found an opening and intended to use it to thoroughly embarrass Ning Anrong before everyone.
Her words weren't particularly loud, but Ning Anrong caught them. She simply pretended not to hear, smiled, and said to those beside her: "What dog is barking? It's making my ears hurt."
"Ahem."
Suddenly, a tall eunuch with a whisk in hand — clean-shaven, his face pale — appeared in the crowd at some unknown moment. A single soft cough, and without another word, he dissolved the confrontation before it fully erupted.
Everyone else came back to their senses too, collecting their instinct to watch the excitement.
"All noble sons and young ladies have surely been kept waiting — please now listen carefully. Those whose names are called, please come to the front." The great eunuch swept a glance around and waved his whisk, motioning for the small eunuch holding the register to step forward and begin the roll call.
As the small eunuch read through the names, the thirty-six people were arranged in rows of six. The great eunuch then stood before them and explained some of the simpler palace rules, and arranged the rooms where everyone would be staying over the coming days.
This was the second round of the Great Jin's consort selection. Those chosen would need to remain in the palace for periodic reviews of their conduct and bearing; only after the reviews were complete would they be presented before the Emperor.
The rooms in Chuxiu Palace were shared three to a room. Whether by coincidence or not, Li Xian'er and Ning Anrong were assigned to the same room — along with a third young noblewoman who, upon hearing the news, very nearly burst into tears on the spot.
The remaining noble daughters could not help feeling a rush of sympathy for this unfortunate young woman while simultaneously silently thanking their lucky stars.
After that, Bai Guo was assigned to the same room as Tan Qingsong and a beautifully-featured ger.
Once the room assignments were settled, everyone, weary from the journey, retired to their rooms to rest and tidy up, planning to reconvene that afternoon for deportment instruction from the palace nursemaids.
"We really are fated, Bai Guo!" Once they entered the room, Tan Qingsong grinned brilliantly, as though sharing a room with Bai Guo were the greatest fortune in the world. He pulled enthusiastically at Bai Guo's arm: "From now on, we're good friends!"
Bai Guo was overwhelmed and flustered, pressing his lips together to reveal two faint dimples at the corners of his mouth.
Tan Qingsong kept laughing as he walked over to claim the rightmost bed, making conversation with Bai Guo while he spread the bedding.
A while later, as if only now remembering there was a third person in the room, Tan Qingsong got up and walked over to the other ger, who was in the middle of putting away his clothing. He pointed to himself, then to Bai Guo, and asked with a smile: "I'm Tan Qingsong, and he's Bai Guo. What's your name?"
The other ger paused, then lifted his eyes from beneath long lashes. He was strikingly handsome, his features luminous and vivid. He looked at Tan Qingsong for a measured moment before saying coolly: "Wen Shushu. Son of the Jiangzhou Circuit Intendant."
