Chapter 40: Imperial Concubine And The Empress

"Why does no one believe me when I tell the truth?" Jiang Ning sighed.

"Be quiet!" The Head Momo exclaimed coldly, "You are all ladies from noble and respected families. Aren't you all supposed to know any proper dinner etiquette? No speaking while eating or sleeping? Don't think that you're just eating. All the concubines and Masters in the palace will hear of this misconduct!"

All the girls immediately fell silent.

It turned out that the Momo had asked everyone to have a meal together to test their knowledge of the palace's rules.

Most of the girls couldn't help but feel annoyed.

Jiang Ning was the only one who acted as if nothing had happened. Since she couldn't finish most of the things on her plate, she just focused on finishing the steamed bun. Once she was done, she pushed her wheelchair back to her room to sleep.

She ignored the Momo around her.

The Momo also ignored her.

Another girl also decided to follow in Jiang Ning's footsteps and leave the room to retire for the night. However, she was stopped by one of the Momo, "Her ladyship the Empress and all the other Ladies and Masters have always advocated cherishing food. The other court nobles will not like it if the Young Lady does not finish her meal."

The girl, who was the daughter of one of the palace's Lords, frowned and retorted, "Jiang Ning hasn't finished eating either, yet she can leave?"

"If you don't care about being chosen like Lady Jiang Ning, then please go ahead," Momo said dismissively.

The young girl was immediately silenced. She went back to her seat and obediently finished the food.

The cripple of the Jiang family might have been lucky and passed the body test with her beautiful face. But when she meets the Empress and the Imperial Consorts tomorrow, she won't pass the exam as easily. 

Prince Yu was born to one of the Imperial Consorts, and neither the Imperial Consort nor the Empress would ever choose a cripple as their daughter-in-law.

That night, once everyone returned to their rooms, they all went to rest.

…

The following day, they were woken up before dawn, combed their hair, and dressed. They were only given one bowl of porridge in the morning, and after eating, they had to line up to go to the main hall of rites and wait for the Empress and the other concubines to give their permission to let them in for an audience. 

They also heard that His Highness Prince Yu would come and finally choose the girl he wished to marry.

This news made the girls extremely excited.

If anything, the girls were more excited at the mere mention of "Prince Yu". And to most, it was enough to make them blush.

They had never seen the prince in person before, but they heard that Prince Yu had the appearance of an immortal god and was very gentle and polite to everyone he met. And even though he was born from the Imperial Concubine, he was the most treasured prince amongst the others.

The Empress had no son and only had one Princess. The four remaining princes were all born from concubines, so it didn't matter to her which one of them would ascend to the throne.

Although the fifth prince's birth mother was only a noble, he had been raised by the Empress's side since he was young, so his status was higher than others.

The other two princes' mothers were mere Imperial Concubines and could not compete with them.

Prince Yu's marriage also garnered a lot of attention as he was the youngest of the princes.

The girls were all dressed up and followed the maidservant to the hall of rites.

The main hall of rites was originally the place where small palace banquets were held in the harem, and the ladies were temporarily placed in the side hall, which was quite spacious.

After waiting a while, the maid outside announced that the Empress and the Imperial Concubines had arrived.

The girls were giddy, scared, and nervous all at the same time.

Jiang Ning was the only one who was dozing off in her wheelchair.

She was already very sleepy and had woken up so early today for the preparation, so she was practically fighting to keep her eyelids open.

There were a total of sixteen girls. Since there weren't too many, they didn't need to split up, so they went in together.

As for Jiang Ning, she was pushed by Huang Ying. She followed at the back of the group and yawned from time to time.

The hall of rites was not a place for people to live in. It was not gorgeous, but it was spacious, bright, and well ventilated. In the slightly hot tail-end of spring, a cool breeze passed through the room, which made the room very comfortable.

Jiang Ning was sitting in the corner. Although the other young girls blocked her view, she could still see the legendary Empress and the Imperial Concubine.

The woman was not as magnificent and luxurious as she had imagined.

The Empress looked like she was in her fifties or sixties. Her hair was tied up in a bun, and she wore a green dress. On her shoulders was a yellow hairpin with red patterns. She was very tall despite only sitting down, and a little thin. After all, she was old and not considered beautiful, but she was noble and calm, and had a gracious disposition.

The Imperial Concubine sitting on her left was around forty years old, and she was indeed exceptionally beautiful.

Her hair was combed into two-ring buns behind her head, and the four long and thin flower hairpins on her head were unusually bright.

Just by looking at the noble concubine's elegant demeanor, one could know that her son, Prince Yu, must be very beautiful.