The selection process was rushed and hurried. When the final list came out, Fu Han had no time to intervene.
With no way to retreat, one could only take it step by step. Fu Xinghe chuckled lightly. If only she knew who was orchestrating this… “Are you smirking?” Fu Yunxiao seemed to have found proof, pointing at the corner of Fu Xinghe’s mouth.
At that, the entire family turned to look at Fu Xinghe, their expressions a mix of “I knew it,” “You won’t learn until it’s too late,” and “You’ll regret this eventually.”
Fu Xinghe’s lips stiffened. Tsk, her professional smile really needed work. She whispered to Fu Yunxiao, “A soldier’s respect after three days apart wait until the selection is over, I’ll prove myself, and you’ll apologize to me.”
Fu Yunxiao scoffed, “How will I apologize?” Fu Xinghe replied succinctly: “Money.”
“Vulgar.” Fu Yunxiao rubbed his hands together. He already knew Mother often gave Fu Xinghe secret funds she must have saved quite a bit. “If you fail and stay low-profile during the selection without drawing the Emperor’s attention, I’ll give you two hundred taels. If not, you give me two hundred taels.”
“Deal.” Fu Xinghe’s eyes curved. She was broke and in dire need of her second brother’s generosity.
The selection was in two days. Mi Dinglan hired people to train Fu Xinghe in etiquette, tailored new clothes, and earnestly advised her, “In the palace, act discreetly. Do not quarrel with Lady Sheng, and avoid disturbing His Majesty…”
Fu Xinghe replied casually, frowning, “Should I wear heavy makeup?”
Just in case, in an extreme scenario, she accidentally encountered Meng Dongting. Applying a layer of powder would at least prevent him from recognizing the familiar texture of her skin.
Fu Xinghe was tall, not petite. But her face was like creamy jade, delicate and fair, softer than a peeled egg. If the tyrant Emperor was sharp enough, he might notice the difference.
Mi Dinglan almost fainted. “What are you thinking? You want to attract His Majesty’s attention? Did what I just say go in one ear and out the other?”
Seated on the beauty couch, adjusting Fu Xinghe’s new clothes, Mi Dinglan suddenly felt something under the bedding. She lifted it and found a romance novel.
Flipping through, she saw the title The Dashing Duke and the Clever Female Thief, and a small synopsis describing how the female thief used her unconventional ways to attract the Duke, making him unable to resist…
The book mentioned that the thief would always disguise herself differently, never repeating her makeup or appearance. Mi Dinglan’s mood was complicated. “Better not believe everything in books. You were still thinking about this, weren’t you…”
It was Fu Xinghe’s first time seeing the book. She closed her eyes and assured her mother, “I won’t let myself get selected.”
Although Fu Han often disagreed with the new court policies and the Emperor’s harsh methods, he never spoke ill of him, implying he trusted Meng Dongting would not bother to force a marriage with Fu Xinghe. His attitude toward the Fu family was: “Out of sight, out of mind.”
Fu Xinghe tossed the book aside and asked Mi Dinglan, “Mother, don’t you feel my room is missing something?”
Mi Dinglan looked around. Preoccupied before, she hadn’t noticed that the room was now much cleaner. The elaborate silks and gold ornaments Fu Xinghe favored were gone.
“I’ve packed them all away.” The Fu family appreciated simple, elegant aesthetics like bamboo and plum but the original daughter had always been extravagant. Mi Dinglan praised warmly: “Pure as a lotus, naturally beautiful. You are the best as you are.”
From her words and actions, Mi Dinglan realized she had doubted Fu Xinghe’s promises before, but now, seeing her daughter’s changes in daily life, she finally felt reassured. Her daughter had grown up.
Meng Dongting did not care much about the selection, and the palace had no female attendant overseeing it. Everything was simplified. As the selection ceremony neared its end, a group of hopeful girls waited for the Emperor’s decree, while he was still in the study reviewing memorials.
A eunuch reported twice, but Meng Dongting ignored him. Li Xiaozheng teased that he wasn’t even paying attention to choosing a bride, then invoked the Empress Dowager’s concerns: “Before leaving for Cishou Temple, the Empress Dowager confided to me that she’s nearly fifty and has no daughter-in-law. Even an elderly woman outside the city has a daughter-in-law to serve her soup when ill.”
“The Empress Dowager fears her selections might not please His Majesty, so He handles it Himself. By the time she returns, no one can guarantee who’s in the harem,” Li Xiaozheng recalled. “She has two nieces…”
“Enough.” Meng Dongting put down his pen. Though he disliked extra women in the palace, he preferred picking a few well-behaved ones himself rather than leaving it to the Empress Dowager.
The former harem was far away; Meng Dongting was impatient. He suddenly thought having a consort oversee the harem would be convenient to delegate the matters and leave him undisturbed.
He needed to choose this person carefully. Meng Dongting walked quickly. He hated wasting a moment on this. “Li Xiaojing didn’t come, right?” he asked casually. Li Xiaozheng smiled bitterly. “She’s unwell. Couldn’t come.”
Meng Dongting, acting like a playboy, left the entire harem to wait. Li Xiaojing, his younger sister, had a secret crush; if she entered the palace, heartbreak was inevitable.
Meng Dongting’s concern was only for the sibling bond with Li Xiaozheng. Li Xiaozheng understood and excused his sister: “She’s unwell,” keeping her away from the fickle man.
Li Xiaozheng then added, “Does Your Majesty remember the Grand Preceptor’s daughter?”
“Hmm.”
Li Xiaozheng smiled knowingly. Compared to his own sentimental sister, Miss Fu’s bold personality suited Meng Dongting better. He wanted to see the Emperor troubled by a woman. That would be satisfying!
Unfortunately, she was the Grand Preceptor’s daughter. Meng Dongting’s reforms were imperative; no matter how outstanding the Fu family, he wouldn’t give an extra favor.
With the real candidate absent, the other girls awkwardly followed the routine: playing instruments, painting, reciting moral texts flirting subtly with the heavens.
Fu Xinghe, having risen early, was already tired. In every assessment, she ranked near the bottom, consistently second-to-last.
As the sun reached its zenith, shining on the open hall, it made everyone drowsy and restless. Waiting for the Emperor, surrounded only by low-ranking maids and eunuchs, some began to lose composure. Rivals glared at each other fiercely.
“Fu Xinghe, let me see what you’re writing.” A sheet was snatched away. Fu Xinghe looked up to see the newcomer unfamiliar at first, but intuition told her this was Sheng Bailu.
Sheng Bailu was the original daughter’s nemesis, also from a scholarly family. Comparison was inevitable. The original daughter was incompetent, and Fu Xinghe naturally outshone her. The added annoyance: in the entire capital, only Fu Xinghe and Sheng Bailu dared to declare they would marry no one but the Emperor.
Now they were public rivals, facing off to the end. The paper was a copy of palace rules; everyone had the same content. Sheng Bailu was deliberately provoked.
Feigning curiosity: “Grand Preceptor personally taught you. I suppose you write beautifully ” Having seen the original daughter’s messy handwriting, she expected the worst. But looking down, she saw a neat small regular script modest, yet passable.
Sheng Bailu choked. Was this deliberately practiced for the selection? Clever. She then passed the paper around, saying, “Look! She even got the character for ‘reserve’ wrong!”
Fu Xinghe remembered not to argue with Sheng Bailu, only smiling faintly: “Didn’t your father tell you cheating is forbidden?”
Seizing Sheng Bailu’s hesitation, she quickly reclaimed her paper, lowering her voice: “Indeed, the Grand Scholar was never the chief examiner.”
Sheng Bailu hated Fu Xinghe mentioning family, snapping, “I’ve already put down my pen! How could I cheat?”
Fu Xinghe raised an eyebrow, sat quietly, and ignored her. Internally, she noted the selection’s sloppy execution and the lack of decorum allowed Sheng Bailu to act up.
Fu Xinghe feared only that Sheng Bailu’s “mistake” would be overheard. After the Literary Gathering, she had memorized traditional characters, yet occasionally simplified characters slipped in.
Seeing Fu Xinghe calm, Sheng Bailu, drinking tea indifferently, realized she herself appeared foolish. Anger flared.
Fu Xinghe sipped her tea, her professional smile at Sheng Bailu flawless. Sheng Bailu froze, shook her head, fists clenched. She realized Fu Xinghe had changed, and learned to confuse others. Panic set in, How could Fu Xinghe smile like that? Even she was dazzled…
Sheng Bailu’s mind raced. Then she noticed: “I heard you went to a brothel at the start of the month to annul your engagement with Lord Wang. Were the girls charming? Your smile… different from before.”
Sheng Bailu frowned, feigning concern: “Fu Xinghe, don’t mimic a brothel girl’s flirtatious smile for Lord Wang. Women should not show their teeth. Be more restrained.”
Her words reminded everyone of Fu Xinghe’s engagement and her brothel visit, criticizing her smile as licentious. All eyes turned to Fu Xinghe, curious to see a courtesan’s smile.
Fu Xinghe’s face hardened. Recalling a past life incident where a couple misjudged her smile at a hotel and slapped her, she realized the same expression could be interpreted in countless ways.
She closed her eyes, thinking how she had handled that couple. They were blacklisted from every star-rated hotel. Endure now, avenge later.
Rubbing her fingertips, she opened her eyes with calm. Her gaze shimmered like the stars over the river, silently forgiving all scrutiny. Everyone was stunned. They felt as if meeting a serene Bodhisattva, lowering their eyes in awe, never imagining the brothel context.
A palace maid approached to collect papers. Sheng Bailu returned to her seat, sensing she had lost ground. Spotting a small stone, she angrily kicked it. It rolled to a maid’s feet.
“Th-the maid is at fault…” The maid blanched and knelt quickly. “It’s fine.”
Fu Xinghe inwardly rejoiced. With eunuchs present, her wet clothes would naturally be changed. Delaying a bit would keep the tyrant Emperor from noticing her.
Fu Xinghe glanced at the smug Sheng Bailu, giving her a subtle approving look.
Sheng Bailu frowned, worried Fu Xinghe might try to seduce the Emperor with wet clothes. “I’ll go with you!” Fu Xinghe silently refused. If Sheng Bailu followed, she might miss the Emperor.
Sheng Bailu linked arms, grabbed the smeared paper, and exaggeratedly blew on it, smudging the ink entirely. The large sheet almost blocked the entire view.
Fu Xinghe let Sheng Bailu fuss, wearing a sincere smile. The better Sheng Bailu handled it, the more Fu Xinghe liked it. Sheng Bailu exclaimed, delighted to showcase Fu Xinghe’s “mistakes”: “It’s ruined!”
Fu Xinghe, however, was even more satisfied, though she said with feigned worry, “What shall we do now?” Sheng Bailu set the paper aside. “Let’s change clothes first.”
Fu Xinghe was about to mask her smile when the white sheet dropped, revealing Meng Dongting standing before them.
Her smile froze. Her mind blanked. Meng Dongting… how long had he been watching? Sheng Bailu was already stunned, cheeks flushed.
Meng Dongting’s gaze swept over them. The white sheet fell: one gaze cold and sharp, the other radiant and smiling. Hearts were not aligned.
Suddenly, Meng Dongting paused, eyes scanning the smudged characters as if to burn the paper with his glare.
“It’s you.” Fu Xinghe’s heart raced. She lowered her head as if a blade pressed her neck. Her blood ran cold. Everyone held their breath, fearing Fu Xinghe had offended the Emperor, anxiously recalling if they had spoken to her.
Sheng Bailu panicked, but saw Meng Dongting wasn’t looking at her. Fu Xinghe gripped her dress, realizing the fault was hers alone. She knelt, staring at the tall, graceful Meng Dongting, a hint of pride in her eyes.
She thought: Both of us failed to bow properly, yet His Majesty confronted Fu Xinghe and spared me. Was he… intentionally protecting me?
Sheng Bailu’s ears turned red. Meng Dongting’s gaze fell on Fu Xinghe’s knuckles. He sneered: “Scared? Then why run?”
Everyone around: ??? What was the relationship between these two? Fu Xinghe, unsure which matter he referred to, bowed her head further, sincerely: “Your servant is guilty.”
Meng Dongting: “Only want one child? Shall I support you?” Everyone: ???
Fu Xinghe: “…” Even the prince discussed how many to bear? “support” mean? Only the Empress had the authority to be provided for… Could it be a hint at being made Empress?!