Chapter 1137: Chess Piece

　　The old General Chunyu An did not have positive feelings towards this imperial family selection. In his opinion, when the new Emperor ascended the throne, he should first find a way to stablise his throne. Currently, the battle of Da Shun was imminent, not focusing on the affairs of war, why were they holding a selection now?

　　But viewing this from another angle, it was not as if a full harem would not help with the stablisation of the throne, it would just give his daughter a hard time.

　　“Master.” A hidden guard stood in front of Chunyu An, honestly reporting the recent events in the imperial palace, “Duanmu Anguo has been together with the Emperor the past few days, even staying over at the imperial palace last night, only leaving when the sun rose this morning. It was said that for the selection this time, Duanmu Anguo also chose some beautiful women as candidates to enter the palace, the portraits of those few beauties were shown to the Emperor first, the Emperor was very satisfied.”

　　“Un.” Chunyu An nodded, “When the Emperor was still a prince, he trusted Duanmu Anguo very much, and also relied on him a lot, currently, the relationship between the two appears to be getting better. It’s good, as long as Duanmu Anguo can help our Zong Sui take Da Shun, This Old Fellow will tolerate his over the top actions.”

　　“Lord.” The aide next to him said worriedly: “Duanmu Anguo’s wolf-like ambitions can be seen at first glance, does Lord not fear that he will replace you one day?”

　　Chunyu An laughed out loud when he heard this, “ Replace? He needs to have that ability first. Duanmu Anguo, he is so old that half of his body is in the soil, how much longer can he still jump around? As for the conflict with Da Shun that time, he had damaged all of his children, his Duanmu family does not even have any saplings left, what kind of waves does he still want to cause in Zong Sui?”

　　The aide thought for a while, also feeling that what Chunyu An said was reasonable, but he did not understand one point: “Duanmu Anguo does not have any descendants left, he is also in his twilight years, so why is he doing all of this now?”

　　“Hmph!” Chunyu An scoffed coldly, “He wants to borrow Zong Sui’s power to defeat Da Shun and take back the land he lost in the three provinces in the northern border, fulfilling his dream of revitalising the Duanmu clan. But he did not think, with his age, what is the use of taking back the three provinces in the northern border? Can he still give birth to a son?”

　　Chunyu An had great disdain for Duanmu Anguo, and he also had some misgivings over the attitude of Zong Sui’s new Emperor. Duanmu Anguo did bring a lot of soldiers to seek support from Zong Sui, but it was not to the point for the new Emperor to believe him to this extent. It was such that under the instigation from Duanmu Anguo, when the new Emperor was considering the issue of Da Shun, his thoughts changed in an extreme way.

　　At the beginning, this Zong Sui new Emperor only made plans to no longer submit to Da Shun’s jurisdiction, but with a few rounds of instigation from Duanmu Anguo, it actually turned into preparing troops to send to Da Shun, flipping things around so that Da Shun was under Zong Sui’s control! This alarmed Chunyu An.

　　Zong Sui resisting against Da Shun, this sounded inspiring, but in reality, Zong Sui did not possess that kind of ability!

　　Chunyu An did not understand this at all, but for reasons unknown, the new Emperor seemed to be especially confident about suppressing Da Shun. Chunyu An thought, perhaps it was because Duanmu Anguo was confident in obtaining the upper hand, in addition there was also Bu Cong who was Da Shun’s ex-General, so Zong Sui’s chances of victory did increase a little. This was a one-time gamble, if they lost, Zong Sui would fall, if they won, Zong Sui would achieve unification.

　　“Did you find out which women were sent in by Duanmu Anguo?” Chunyu An asked the hidden guard next to him.

　　That hidden guard nodded, “The investigations were done, there are four in total. Their identities would probably not be hidden, based on the Eunuchs in the palace, this will be publicised during the selection.”

　　“Four people…… this is out in the open.” The aide interrupted, “Since the Eunuch said that it would be announced, then it would definitely be announced, but since when is Duanmu Anguo so nice, only sending beautiful women to make the Emperor happy? In This Subordinate’s opinion, other than these four people, there will definitely be other woman also participating in the selection under the arrangements of Duanmu Anguo, it is just that no one knows about this. What we need to pay attention to are not these four beauties which were publicised but think of everything to find the other women hidden in the selection.”

　　“Un.” Chunyu An nodded, instructing the hidden guard: “Go tell Her Highness the Empress, pay more attention to the women from this round of selection, if there are any who try to grab the spotlight, their flames should be extinguished.”

　　Today, the first selection from Zong Sui’s new Emperor, the first batch of women prepared to enter the palace.

　　Early in the morning, other than the north side, the gates in the other three directions were fully opened, welcoming the carriages of the women who travelled over from various areas to participate in the selection.

　　The first group of candidates entering the palace numbered 58 people in total, they came from the families of the officials all over Zong Sui, all of them had a good background, their family history having gone through careful checks to prevent any mishaps.

　　However, when one person hid something, even 100 people cannot find it, in this procession of the women candidates this time, two people sat in a horse carriage, one young lady, one maid, the young lady was sixteen or seventeen years of age, wearing a light green blouse and skirt, her appearance was that of innocent beauty, and she dressed simply and elegantly, and it looked like she did not intentionally draw her eyebrows, powder her eyes and decorate with flowers like the other candidates, but because she did that, it emphasised that she was different from the others. She was like a clear spring under a hot day, such that other people could not help but look at her a few more times.

　　The young lady in the green clothes had a calm expression, she did not look happy, also not looking curious about her first time entering the capital, only quietly sitting in the carriage, even telling her maid who had pulled aside the curtains to look outside: “Put down the curtains! There’s nothing good to see, in the end it is only larger than the place we had come from and is livelier.”

　　The maid was obedient, putting down the curtain when her Young Miss said so, then she pulled her body backwards and faced her Young Miss, neither of them speaking.

　　The horse carriage travelled for some distance, and the young lady in the green clothes finally spoke again, asking the maid in front of her: “Do you know that other than us, are there any others who entered the capital under his arrangements?”

　　The maid shook her head: “This Servant does not know. It is said that her daughters are scattered across the world, but so many years have passed, we have also gathered information in the shadows, but we still do not know where the other people are hidden. For entering the imperial palace this time, the person who came to give the orders said, there is no need to know each other’s identity. There is also no need to care about others after entering the palace, only needing to do whatever is needed to live a good life. In the end, being able to live on in the imperial palace and obtaining the Emperor’s favour is the most important thing, without achieving this point, we are just a useless piece.”

　　“That’s right!” The lady in the green clothes sighed, “You are correct, only living on and obtaining the Emperor’s favour will be able to help him, else, we are only useless to him, he would not care about our life and death.” She scoffed coldly, “What father, having this kind of father is the most unfortunate thing.”

　　“Young Miss.” The maid quickly advised: “For words like that, do not say them anymore, we have already entered the capital, so we need to accept this arrangement from destiny. Thinking about the Master and Madam who are still in Jin Zhu province! If we do not act in accordance to that Duanmu Anguo, the lives of the Master and Madam and everyone in the manor will be at risk. Duanmu Anguo is vicious when carrying things out, if he displays that viciousness, killing everyone in our manor is completely possible.”

　　The young lady in green clothes could not help but shudder, thinking about that home in Jin City, thinking about her parents who raised her since she was young, and her grandmother, as well as her siblings, her heart which had been indignant gradually quietened down, a smile appearing on her face, “That’s right! For their sake, all of this is worth it. As long as they can continue to live a peaceful life, the grievance I am suffering is nothing.” As she spoke, she looked at the maid in front of her again, asking her, “Us people are all tools he had given birth to, I am, you as well, but I have parents who have loved me since young, until now, they do not even know that I am not their birth daughter, the past 16 years I have lived are still happy and blissful. But you are different, we are sisters, but since young, I am the master, you are the servant, do you…… feel that it is unfair?”

　　The maid shook her head with a bitter smile: “There’s no fair or unfair, I was arranged to this role ever since I was born, I have to acknowledge it even if I do not. Young Miss, even though we are all tools, once a tool is successful, then we will be free of that person’s control. I hope you will succeed, then under your wings, I can take cover and be safe for my whole life. And if you fail, it is very possible that I will need to replace you to accomplish the mission, and I…… do not want to.”

　　This maid lowered her head with a sad expression.

　　That young lady in green clothes understood her words, and now, they only have one path to walk. The maid was correct, only when they succeed could they have an opportunity to free themselves from Duanmu Anguo’s control, and if she had a chance in the future, she would think of everything to send him to his death. Only with Duanmu Anguo’s death could her life be lived stably, her parents would still be her parents, she would pretend that all of this had never happened, living a good life in the imperial palace, obtaining the greatest benefits for her maternal family.

　　In Zong Sui’s imperial palace, Her Empress the Highness Chunyu Qing was sitting in a pavilion, holding a book in her hands, reading it carefully with a frown. Palace maids and eunuchs serving her surrounded the pavilion, someone was holding tea, someone was holding desserts, there were even two Eunuchs with a chair placed next to them, making it easy for the Empress to sit down anytime to admire the scenery.

　　The new Emperor Li Jian still doted on this first wife a lot, not only did he give her the most valuable position of Empress, he also given her the highest authority in this imperial palace.

　　But Chunyu Qing knew, all of this was only because she was the daughter of the old General Chunyu An. Her own father held half the military authority in Zong Sui, and the new Emperor would still need some time to take back all of them, so he had no choice but to smooth things over with the Chunyu family. In reality, Li Jian did not have much feelings for her, the feelings between husband and wife were only bland as water, being courteous to each other.

　　For this state, other people saw it as very harmonious and it would even be praised. But to a married couple, being courteous to each other was the saddest thing.

　　Chunyu Qing looked that the book of names in her hand, feeling strangely frustrated. The personal maid next to her saw that even though Her Highness the Empress was holding the book, but she did not flip the page even after a long time, saying helplessly: “Your Highness, This Servant knows that you are unwilling to read this, but the candidates for the selection have already entered the city. The first round is hosted by Her Highness Imperial Concubine Wu and those people have already gone through the necessary questioning, but you still need to take a look and say something, else Her Highness Imperial Concubine Li would not dare to keep any of them.”

　　“Then don’t keep any of them.” Chunyu Qing tossed the book in her hand on the table, scoffing coldly: “It will quiet if none of them are kept, what is the good of having so many people enter the palace?”

　　“But this is approved by the Emperor.” The small palace maid was also very helpless, “Your Highness can just see it as having a lot of people enter the palace is to help stave off your boredom! It is tiring for you to manage the imperial harem as well, after this, there will be more people to help share the burden, it will reduce a lot of the frustration or worry!”

　　“That’s right! There will be people to share the burden of the tasks in the imperial harem, and there will be people who will share the Emperor.” She shrugged and smiled, a bitter expression surfacing on her face.

　　But at this moment, a Eunuch ran over, speaking softly next to Chunyu Qing’s ear when he reached her. Chunyu Qing then looked uncertain, asking in alarm: “How can it be?”