Shen Yuezhuang was locked in the study, and the East Courtyard finally enjoyed three days of peace.
Thanks to Liu Yun’s foresight, Cuizhu had been forbidden from letting Shen Yuezhuang touch candles, burn incense, or fiddle with her own or Cuizhu’s shoes…
Thus, the study—a place packed with countless books—also narrowly escaped disaster.
After three days of calm, the preliminary examination for Great Liang’s imperial consort selection finally began!
The candidate consorts gathered in the main hall of Phoenix Splendor Palace. Each received a desk, separated by screens, with dozens of elderly matrons patrolling the hall.
Once inside, the candidates were forbidden to whisper or look around. Only after three bells sounded outside the hall did the matrons distribute the exam papers one by one.
The exam lasted two full hours. Just before noon, three more bells rang from outside, signaling the collection of papers.
According to Liu Yun, she could go home after the exam!
But since she hadn’t seen Pei Shangyu in years, and it was mealtime anyway—why not take advantage?—Shen Yuezhuang followed Pei Shangyu back to her current residence in Everlasting Joy Palace.
Everlasting Joy Palace housed many people. Aside from Pei Shangyu, who had lived there from the start, there were also Gu Qingzhi and He Dan, who had been reassigned to new quarters after the previous fire incident.
Gu Qingzhi and Pei Shangyu both stayed in the left side room of the main hall, while He Dan and her friend stayed in the right side room.
During meals, all seven sat in the main hall, but at two separate tables—left and right—like water from different wells that never mixed.
No one found this strange. Everyone understood that the best candidates for Empress were only He Dan and Pei Shangyu.
He Dan’s father was the Left Chancellor, second only to the Emperor, and had elevated many key officials at court.
As for Pei Shangyu, although her grandfather had retired from office, he was revered by scholars of the Jiangnan region and the incorruptible officials at court as the foremost Confucian master of the era.
Grand Preceptor Pei’s weight in the hearts of scholars was immense, and Pei Shangyu herself was the epitome of a refined lady!
Thus, whether in family background or personal character, these two were each other’s most formidable—and only—rivals.
Such a relationship naturally left them with little to say to each other. Every time they met, it was with this same cold aloofness.
But Shen Yuezhuang was never one to read the room, nor did she believe in silence at meals or during sleep. Watching Gu Qingzhi, who looked like she had something to say but hesitated, Shen Yuezhuang couldn’t resist grabbing the dangling hairpin tassels on her head and teasing, “So, Qingzhi, can you sleep alone at night now?”
Pei Shangyu immediately shot her a reproachful look. “Qingzhi is just young and not used to a different bed. You’re older—don’t tease her!”
That night’s incident had been concluded as an accident, so the matter of catching ghosts naturally couldn’t be brought up again, lest it give others leverage.
Gu Qingzhi understood. She leaned close to Shen Yuezhuang’s ear and whispered, “All thanks to Sister Shen!”
Shen Yuezhuang looked pleased. “See? There are no ghosts in the world, right?”
Gu Qingzhi nodded, then leaned in again and whispered, “But sometimes, Sister Shen looks way more dangerous than a ghost!”
“Oh, you little!” Shen Yuezhuang pretended to be angry, pinching Gu Qingzhi’s soft cheeks and kneading them. “Three days no see, and Little Qingzhi has gotten bolder! Tell me, have you found Sister Pei to be your protector?”
Her teasing words instantly lightened the atmosphere at their table. Seeing that Shen Yuezhuang wasn’t angry about her perceived disloyalty, Gu Qingzhi smiled in relief, showing two small canines.
She pouted, as if whining to her parents at home. “With Sister Shen as my protector, I’m not afraid of anything.”
Pei Shangyu shook her head with a smile, then commented with mock seriousness, “This is like using evil to fight evil!”
With the coldness at the neighboring table as contrast, this side seemed especially harmonious. But the peace didn’t last long. A palace maid arrived from the Empress Dowager’s palace, announcing that a carriage was ready to escort Shen Yuezhuang out of the palace.
The moment those words were spoken, the entire Everlasting Joy Palace fell silent for a heartbeat.
Shen Yuezhuang was carefree, having no clue about the procedures and rules of the selection. But everyone present—even the youngest, Gu Qingzhi—understood what leaving the palace meant.
Either she was being disqualified from the selection, or she was about to become a female official.
But in everyone’s eyes, being a female official was, at best, like Ruixue—a high-ranking palace maid with some authority.
And so, naturally, most of the people in the room assumed that Shen Yuezhuang was being disqualified for the arson incident.
Among them, Gu Qingzhi—one of the parties involved—found it the hardest to accept.
“Why? Hasn’t the Empress Dowager already punished Sister Shen? Why kick her out of the palace? She hasn’t done anything these past few days!”
The responding palace maid’s gaze was calm. “Miss Gu, I am merely following orders.”
Gu Qingzhi, usually timid, rarely pushed forward like this. Pei Shangyu, however, pondered for a moment, then looked toward He Dan.
Their gazes met across the distance, and without a word, they both saw the same message in each other’s eyes.
Yuyang!
Yuyang was the exam topic, personally chosen by the Emperor.
The preliminary exam for consort selection didn’t test female virtues or precepts. Asking about a place name was strange, but not particularly difficult.
Who among those present didn’t know the line, “The war drums of Yuyang shook the earth, shattering the Rainbow Skirt and Feather Coat Dance”?
Setting aside Yang Yuhuan’s identity as a princess-consort, it was reasonable to ask them to discuss the relationship between emperor and consort.
But… Pei Shangyu was the last to pick up her brush.
She hesitated.
Yuyang—the Battle of Yuyang! During the Han Dynasty, the Xiongnu constantly harassed the borders. It was after Wei Qing’s campaign at Yuyang that the Han Dynasty broke free from its passive position. After that battle came the famous lines: “I served as a cavalier of the Han, first following the valiant general to war at Yuyang. Who knows the bitterness of the border? Even in death, the hero’s bones are fragrant.”
The Colonel Who Chased the Prisoners—the young war god, Huo Qubing!
Now, the border suffered the same harassment from the Xiongnu. Now, His Majesty had specially decreed that women could hold office. Now…
Pei Shangyu had never imagined that one day, two words could make her feel her own heartbeat.
If she were a man, if she were in the imperial examination hall, she would have unhesitatingly believed that her sovereign possessed the grand ambition of Emperor Wu of Han, that he thirsted for talent, and that she could die for him with a willing heart!
But… her father had sent her to be a concubine in the harem.
Women in the harem didn’t need to die with a willing heart. They needed to remain silent, obedient, standing behind their sovereign.
Pei Shangyu knew she couldn’t be the only one who thought of that poem. In fact, most people probably found the former interpretation more fitting for the grand occasion of the selection, so they naturally dismissed the latter possibility.
But the matter of Shen Yuezhuang leaving the palace tipped the scales in Pei Shangyu’s heart.
The Empress Dowager couldn’t have brought her to the palace specifically to scold her and then kick her out. That defied logic and convention.
Pei Shangyu unconsciously clenched her fists. She watched Shen Yuezhuang’s figure recede into the distance, her heart pounding.
A female official…
~~~
Shen Yuezhuang had only eaten half her lunch when she was urgently summoned back to Longevity Palace. Once there, she didn’t even see the obviously busy Empress Dowager. She packed hastily and boarded the carriage, leaving the palace.
Outside the Yongding Marquis Manor, the Old Marquis (her father), her unlucky brother who looked like he was about to lodge a complaint, and the family’s number-one dragon (Chun Rui) were already waiting at the gate.
From a distance, Shen Yuezhuang stuck her head out of the carriage window, her face flushed with excitement, and called out, “Father! Chun Rui!”
Seeing that she was still in one piece, the Old Marquis breathed a sigh of relief. But as the carriage drew nearer, he suddenly remembered something. He pulled off his boot and hurled it at Shen Yuezhuang.
Shen Yuezhuang quickly ducked back inside, hearing her father’s booming voice from the gate.
“You little brat! You have to cause trouble even inside the palace! Burning down a building and claiming it was to honor our ancestors—if the ancestors knew how ‘filial’ you are, they’d be revived by anger! You…”
“Father, get to the point! Why should I have to use my allowance to pay for the house my sister burned down?”
“Miss, you…”
The commotion outside grew louder. Shen Yuezhuang quickly ordered the driver, “Don’t stop! Quickly, straight to the Grand Preceptor Mansion!”
