Zhou imperial capital.

Ever since the news spread that the imperial palace would select palace maids, people throughout Zhou began to harbor all sorts of thoughts.

Especially the common folk under the Son of Heaven’s feet in the Zhou imperial capital.

Aside from ordinary households, quite a few wealthy families also wanted to send their daughters into the palace.

After all, if their daughter happened to catch His Majesty’s eye, then setting aside becoming a consort—becoming a low-ranked court lady, or even a palace lady-official, would still be a good outcome.

But the number of women who could be chosen to enter the palace was limited.

So besides some genuinely outstanding young women who were selected into the palace, many people paid money to the palace maids dispatched by the palace, hoping their daughters could get in.

Of course, ordinary young women could also go register with the local palace lady-officials on their own. If they passed the initial screening by the palace lady-officials, they could also enter the final evaluation in the inner palace—only the difficulty was extremely high.

That day.

Sili changed into clean, plain clothes, assumed a new identity, and once again went to the selection compound for the initial palace-maid screening.

Only this time, Sili carried a bit of emotion. Sili’s mood was not so good.

The reason was that not long ago, Sili had been screened out once.

At the time, Sili could not understand it no matter how much Sili thought.

Because the identity Sili had fabricated was spotless, the etiquette was beyond reproach, the looks were attractive—and the figure was even more so.

From what Sili understood, when a mortal dynasty selected palace maids, clean origins were most important, followed by looks and figure, because palace maids were to serve the emperor.

So Sili felt that by all logic, how could Sili possibly have been screened out?

What part did not qualify?

How could those other women be prettier than Sili?

Unwilling to accept it, Sili had subordinates from the Wind-Listening Pavilion gather information.

In the end, Sili learned that the reason was that the Empress Dowager in the palace feared that if a palace maid was too beautiful, the palace maid would win the emperor’s favor. So this round of selection had an unspoken rule: women who were too beautiful were also rejected.

After learning that rule, Sili’s chest heaved violently for a time.𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Sili had never imagined that the reason for being eliminated was being too beautiful!

And this time, Sili learned the lesson and disguised the face a little—keeping some charm, but not standing out too much.

Sili felt certain this time would pass.

It had to pass.

Today was the last day of palace-maid selection. If Sili did not enter the palace this time, it would be hard to find such a good opportunity again.

Arriving at the selection compound.

Everyone here was a woman. There was not a single man.

A palace maid led Sili into a room.

Inside the room stood thirty women with fairly pretty faces.

A palace lady-official paced back and forth before Sili and the others, evaluating their looks and examining their figures.

The palace lady-official even reached out to measure here and there.

Soon, the palace lady-official walked up to Sili and looked Sili over.

“Not bad-looking.”

The palace lady-official—around thirty—nodded, then the gaze fell to Sili’s neckline.

Today, Sili deliberately wore a loose dress to conceal the figure, so visually, Sili was pulled down to the upper-middle range.

But the palace lady-official still felt something was off.

The palace lady-official reached toward Sili’s neckline.

Sili froze for a moment, but still lightly bit the lower lip, fingers subtly tightening, forcibly suppressing the urge to slap the palace lady-official to death.

And when the palace lady-official touched Sili, the palace lady-official immediately froze.

After measuring, the palace lady-official stared at Sili in shock, eyes revealing envy—almost jealousy.

In the palace lady-official’s eyes, this young woman’s face was only above average, but the figure was outrageously exaggerated. If His Majesty saw this, could His Majesty really hold back?

And just as the palace lady-official was about to dismiss Sili—

Sili quietly took out a roll of banknotes from the sleeve and slipped it into the palace lady-official’s sleeve, then pleaded with watery eyes:

“Big Sister, this common girl lost a father young, and not long ago, Mother also passed from the world. A local bully wants to seize this common girl by force. Only by entering the palace can this common girl protect herself. I beg Big Sister to show pity. If anything is improper, this common girl will correct it.”

“…”

The palace lady-official’s brow twitched. The palace lady-official wanted to say, With that absurd figure that two hands can barely hold, how are you supposed to correct it? And what backwater village girl has this many banknotes?

But feeling the thick weight of the banknotes in the sleeve, the palace lady-official still accepted them, coughed a few times, and said,

“Your background truly is pitiful. We sisters under Heaven should have compassion. What is your name?”

“Reporting to Big Sister, this little sister is called Si Li,” Sili said softly.

“Si Li, is it.” The palace lady-official found the name in the registry and checked it off. “Wait in the courtyard and follow the others into the palace for evaluation. Remember—if you truly enter the palace, in the future, don’t wander in front of His Majesty too much.”

After speaking, the palace lady-official glanced once more at Sili’s neckline.

“And if you enter the palace, later on, it’s best to bind it up with a strap, understood? Don’t blame me for not warning you.”

“Yes, Big Sister.” Sili quickly thanked the palace lady-official.

After leaving the room, most of the women departed the courtyard. Only those who passed the selection remained.

An hour later, under the palace lady-official’s guidance, the final group—two hundred women in total—boarded carriages and headed for the imperial palace.

In the end, twenty would be chosen from the two hundred.

Before long, Sili arrived at the imperial palace, and was led through one hall after another for evaluation.

The people responsible for the evaluation were all palace lady-officials from the Empress Dowager’s side.

These palace lady-officials first checked whether Sili and the others still had their virginity.

Then they regulated speech and conduct, and examined etiquette.

If someone could read and write, that was an added advantage.

Each time, Sili sought an opportunity to quietly slip banknotes to these palace lady-officials.

An entire day passed. By dusk, when the sun set, the evaluation finally ended, and Sili passed smoothly.

“From today onward, you are palace maids. The inner palace is not like other places—you must speak with care and act with care! Tomorrow, someone will instruct you in palace etiquette.

Work hard.

Before long, two consorts will enter the palace. Those who perform well can go serve the consorts, and can even serve His Majesty!

Those who perform poorly will go wash clothes and boil water!

Do you understand?”

The palace lady-official named Jin Yin addressed the group.

“Yes, Big Sister,” the palace maids shouted in unison.

Jin Yin nodded and continued,

“I also know that many of you fantasize about winning His Majesty’s favor, a sparrow turning into a phoenix. But you had better refrain from flaunting yourselves before His Majesty. Otherwise, you will not keep your lives. Don’t blame Big Sister for not warning you.”

“Yes.” The palace maids answered again.

“Go rest. Tomorrow, rise on time at 5:00 a.m.”

With that, Jin Yin turned and walked away.

The palace maids returned to their own quarters to bathe, change, and eat dinner.

Night fell, and the darkness deepened.

When the palace maids sharing the room had all fallen asleep, Sili slowly opened the eyes and quietly got out of bed.