EES - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Of course, neither the young women participating in the selection nor their families would suspect that the Emperor might simply be a stingy ruler. After all, they were not seeking a free meal through the selection. As they analyzed and pondered the Emperor's conduct, they remained thoroughly bewildered, convinced that he was profoundly inscrutable and beyond their comprehension.

[His Majesty must have a deeper purpose.jpg]

The ten selected young women, whose numerical ratings stood out, settled into Resting-Crane Hall. Unaware of what awaited them after their selection, they treated the event merely as another routine selection. Each carried worries and tension about the future, sizing up the other chosen candidates.

If the imperial harem is truly as treacherous and sinister as the rumors suggest, then everyone present here must be my future rivals... Some thought this, growing secretly wary to avoid being ambushed.

However, once they had settled in, the palace maids and eunuchs responsible for their daily lives did not take them to learn etiquette or artistic skills. Instead, they led them to an archive within the palace.

"This chamber stores copies of the county gazetteers from every county in the Xuan Kingdom. While you reside in the palace, you may come and go freely here to peruse the books," the head maid said after leading them in. "Furthermore, there are no restrictions on visiting the outdoor martial arts training grounds and other locations."

The young women waited a short while, hearing no further arrangements from the head maid, and could not help but feel puzzled. "Then what are we supposed to do during our free time?" they asked.

Lian Xun reacted quickly. After listening, she cautiously asked, "Could it be that His Majesty intends for us to spend our time in these places? But would that not be improper?"

The head maid answered rigidly and formally, "This is His Majesty's explicit order. His Majesty wishes to select a woman with outstanding talents across various fields as Empress, and has therefore revised the previous regulations."

"Outstanding talents..." Upon receiving this reply, the young women looked at each other, even more unable to decipher the Emperor's intentions.

Having temporarily shifted a bit of her attention to the Empress Avatar, An Lin quietly raised her eyes to observe the expressions of the ten high-stat talents she had meticulously selected. Some looked thoughtful, some frowned in confusion, some appeared indifferent, and some seemed rather dazed.

I wonder how many of these ten will ultimately prove usable.

An Lin sighed inwardly, somewhat troubled.

It was certainly gratifying to obtain high-stat talent through the selection method, but since young women rarely had opportunities to engage with politics, any exposure they had was likely limited to passing remarks overheard from fathers or brothers after work hours. Consequently, their overall [Governance] and [Politics] ratings tended to run lower.

Without those two attributes, high [Learning] alone was useless.

In other words, I would still need to discover and cultivate their talents myself.

Thus, An Lin's first arrangement was to have them read the county gazetteers. Through the brief descriptions within, they would grasp the underlying realities of each county's development, thereby absorbing the nutrients from this political soil.

Earlier, during the Palace Examination, An Lin had posed a question regarding the economy and monopoly issues of Yunzhou Prefecture. At the time, her plan was to dispatch whoever (aside from Qiancai) could provide a satisfactory answer to Yunzhou Prefecture to resolve the problem. In the end, however, apart from Qiancai, no one offered a solution that met her approval.

This time, An Lin placed the county gazetteers related to Yunzhou Prefecture alongside those of the other six prefectures and thirteen counties, waiting to see if anyone could identify Yunzhou Prefecture's problems.

As for the martial arts training ground, it was arranged with the Empress Avatar's physical training in mind, and also considering that among these ten young women, several came from military families and possessed notably high Martial Strength.

With the care of a farmer tending a field of little cabbages, An Lin checked each person's stats again. As she looked, she suddenly noticed something was off. Her gaze passed over them, then deliberately returned.

Wait... What is going on with Song Jinyuan's granddaughter's stats???

An Lin remembered checking Song Jinyuan's granddaughter's stats earlier. They had been perfectly normal then. How could they have changed while I wasn't looking???

Even the Emperor Avatar sitting in the study could not help herself. Gripping her brush tightly, a flash of [We are shocked.jpg] crossed her face in an instant.

The content hovering above Song Jinyuan's granddaughter's head had now transformed into this:

[Song Ling

Governance: ?? | Military: ? | Learning: ?? | Martial Strength: ? | Politics: ?? | Management: ?? | Ambition: ? | Loyalty: ?? | Prestige: ???]

...

Those question marks looked awfully familiar. The last time I saw a whole row of them was on Liu Guanglin.

An Lin saw Song Jinyuan's granddaughter press a hand to her forehead, looking unwell and unsteady on her feet. Once she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings, she froze, eyes wide with shock. Then she abruptly raised a hand and pinched her face hard.

Judging by that expression and reaction, it was clear... a new transmigrator had appeared.

But where was my recruit? Where was that person with a Learning stat of 71?!

All Song Ling had done was nod off on a film set, and she found herself transmigrated.

If it were just transmigration, that might not be too bad (?). The real issue was that by the time she realized she had transmigrated, she had already taken in her surroundings. These were unmistakably palace buildings, complete with eunuchs and palace maids, and a group of women in varied attire. Familiar with all the tropes of transmigration novels, Song Ling quickly formed a preliminary assessment of her situation.

She had presumably transmigrated into the body of a girl who had already entered the palace. Judging by her current status, she was not the Emperor's consort... Wait, had she landed in a palace-intrigue plot?

Song Ling felt a spike of panic.

If she really had a palace-intrigue script, would she survive even one episode?

Although she had transmigrated on a filming set, her profession was not acting. She was merely a newly hired junior screenwriter. She had joined her cousin's production team solely to gather material for writing an ancient-themed script. Where would she get the acting skills to compete in a palace intrigue? What was she supposed to do, charge into a palace battle headfirst?

Dazed and disoriented, Song Ling followed several other young women into the palace named Resting-Crane Hall. Vaguely, she felt the palace's name sounded familiar, but she could not quite place it at the moment.

When she approached, unsure of which way to go next, a young woman who seemed to know her gave her a strange look and said, "Song Ling, why are you still hanging around here? Then I'll head back to my room first?"

Did that mean this girl was Song Ling's roommate in the palace?

"Wait for me! I'm coming with you!" Song Ling hurried to catch up.

Back on the Empress Avatar side, An Lin watched the transmigrating Song Ling walk away, stood in place for a moment to think, and then, unlike the others who went to rest in their rooms or do other things, turned and left Resting-Crane Hall for the palace's martial arts training ground.

Wang Xiuwen was already waiting there. Seeing her arrive, he bowed slightly in respect and said, "Miss Ji, His Majesty ordered me to instruct you in martial arts."

"No need for formalities, Xiu... Chief Steward Wang," An Lin said with a nod. "Let's begin."

Wang Xiuwen said, "Forgive the intrusion, Miss Ji."

Next, she engaged in Simultaneous Control, practicing the fundamentals of martial arts with one half of her mind while reviewing memorials and sipping tea with the Emperor Avatar.

After the Emperor Avatar finished reviewing a stack of memorials, An Lin instinctively prepared to call Wang Xiuwen in to send the finished memorials to the relevant departments. Then she saw Wang Xiuwen earnestly teaching martial arts on the Empress Avatar's side, and finally remembered that he did not possess two avatars like she did.

Sigh. If only Xiuwen knew how to use a clone technique.

An Lin thought.

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