Chapter 236 No harvest
The day of the palace election

Unlike the preliminary selection, each of the beauties changed into the clothes and jewelry they brought from home. They gathered together in a cluster of flowers, looking radiant and dazzling. The smell of makeup was a little stronger, but not unpleasant.

Zhang Jiashi, who amazed everyone on the day of the primary election, performed steadily today. She wore a pink embroidered cheongsam that could not go wrong, and her hair was decorated with pearls, which was also a pink color. However, she has a cool and elegant temperament, and the pink makeup neutralizes her coldness and purity, and instead makes her look cute and adorable.

Today, when Yihuan looked at Zhang Jiashi again, she just felt something strange. She thought about how she was in high spirits when painting and sketched out a beautiful fairy with just a few strokes, but she didn't expect that she would attract Yinzhen to stop and take a look.

He asked in a somewhat sour tone: "There is a beauty, I miss her like crazy, Queen, tell me, which little beauty is grabbing your heart."

"Well, I just admired it." Yihuan didn't know why she felt guilty, and hurriedly explained, "This lady Xiu has the best appearance of this year. Even Nian pales in comparison to her. I was itching to record it. What do you think of my painting, Your Majesty?"

"Hmph." Yinzhen glanced at it casually without commenting on the painting. "I was wondering why the Empress was so busy these days. She couldn't be found during the day. It turns out she was busy admiring beauties."

"I just don't know whether this selection is for me or for the Queen."

Are you sick? Yihuan held back the complaint that she wanted to blurt out. The man in front of her was like a lion that was being stroked. She didn't know what was wrong with him now.

"I am here to congratulate His Majesty on his upcoming marriage to a beautiful woman, and to let His Majesty know about her in advance." Yihuan glanced at Yinzhen, completed the words on the painting, and had it removed.

"..." Yinzhen was speechless for a moment, and the couple changed the subject.

"Tangtang, Honghui doesn't like any of the palace maids I sent. There are romantic men in every generation of the Aisin-Gioro family, but romantic men can't be good emperors." Yinzhen was a little worried.

Yihuan's heart skipped a beat. This was the first time Yinzhen had clearly stated in front of her that he wanted to pass the throne to Honghui. She couldn't accept such a statement: "Honghui has been raised by me and is a little naive in this regard. He just hasn't figured it out yet."

"Hongyan is different. Now this boy only knows how to find pretty sisters to tell bedtime stories. He will definitely be a playboy in the future." Yihuan said gritting her teeth.

Yinzhen couldn't help laughing and didn't mention Honghui again, which made Yihuan feel relieved.

On the day of the palace selection, the Empress Dowager also came to join in the fun. She and the Emperor sat in the first seat, both of them had a calm expression and their faces were very synchronized. Yihuan sat below them and waved her hand to signal them to start quickly.

The beauties were divided into groups of five, and each group would be called out one by one. When the Empress Dowager was interested, she would ask what books they had read and what their hobbies and specialties were. The Emperor would remain silent, and sometimes even closed his eyes.

Yihuan was forced to serve as the chief judge of the interview. She now somewhat understood a certain music program in her previous life: why the instructor always asked what her dream was? With so many people, how could there be so many unique questions? Among so many identical questions, it would be great to have two brilliant answers.

Only half a morning had passed, and Yihuan was getting restless. If the emperor didn't speak, then no one would be retained. For those beauties who passed the preliminary selection but were not retained by the palace, there were generally two outcomes.

First, after the selection, the palace will issue a batch of imperial edicts to grant marriage to the grandmasters or ministers, which is a relatively good fate. Second, it is to be recorded, which is equivalent to the palace stamping you, saying that I don’t accept you now, but I may accept you in the future, so you can’t marry freely and can only delay.

For the listed beauties, those whose families have connections and money can use some influence to get approval from the palace early on, but it is common for those who have no background at all to waste their time and die of old age.

Seeing that the Emperor did not want to keep any of the concubines, and the Empress Dowager had already looked at her several times, Yihuan gritted her teeth and advised: "Your Majesty, the quality of this year's concubines is very high, and each is beautiful in her own way. What do you think?" "Well, they're okay." Yinzhen opened his eyes, said perfunctorily and stopped talking.

Yihuan didn't plan to continue persuading him. Due to her duties as the Queen, she had already done what she should do. As for kneeling down and begging Yinzhen to take in a concubine, she was crazy.

Seeing Yihuan keep silent, the Queen Mother could not help but speak: "Your Majesty, offspring are the most important thing. There is no such thing as a perfect person."

"The Queen Mother is right, next group." Yinzhen responded with a smile.

In this way, from the morning until the sun sets, the palace selection was finally over. Everyone's eyes turned to Zhang Jia, the person most likely to be selected, with a hint of gloating in their eyes.

What’s the point of looking like a fairy? The emperor did look at her a few times, but only a few glances.

In a sense, the first beauty pageant during the Yongzheng period ended successfully.

The Ulanara family specially learned about Yihua, the girl that Mingxuan had chosen. She was the eldest daughter in the family. Her biological mother was busy, and her stepmother used all means to suppress the son and daughter born to her first wife after she had her own children. Fortunately, the girl was strong. She protected her younger brother with one hand and protected her biological mother's dowry with the other hand. She was a man of her own.

Lady Ulanara hated her eldest daughter-in-law's confused temper the most, so she deliberately chose someone with a firm mind. Yihuan thought about it and decided to do as her family wished. After all, her mother was not young anymore, and she could see the white hair on her forehead the last time she came.

That night, Yinzhen took the roster and started to do the work of a matchmaker. He had obviously thought it through long ago. Many people came to Yihuan, and even more came to Yinzhen.

Yihuan watched silently from the side, thinking about the relationship between the two families in her heart, and gradually found it interesting.

Sometimes it seems that Yinzhen is just randomly matching couples, but if you think about it carefully, you can always find the connection between them. It turns out that not everyone can be the matchmaker.

When it was Wuya Huixia's turn, Yihuan saw that Yinzhen had appointed a noble Hanlin.

Seeing Yihuan's interest, Yinzhen would also explain casually: "This Hu Qing's family is talented, but too pedantic, so they are penniless. My cousin can live well with the dowry if she marries him. The Crow family looks like they are floating in the sky, but they are actually empty inside. Someone who is easy to control is the best choice."

Yihuan didn't say anything. She didn't know whether Huixia would be satisfied, but it was foreseeable that the Queen Mother would be angry.

As for Zhang Jia, Yinzhen pondered for a while and gave her to Prince Yu as a concubine.

Yihuan opened her mouth wide. Prince Yu was of course extremely noble, but he was old enough to be Zhang Jia's father.

"From now on, she will be the emperor's uncle. Remember not to mess up the generations." Yinzhen reminded Yihuan and continued to divide them.

Yihuan was a little speechless, but only the royal family could protect such stunning beauty. Since the emperor himself was unwilling to accept her, he pushed her to someone else.

That’s understandable, Yihuan thought uncertainly.