Chapter 16: Miss Handicap (16)

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The next morning, Su Kui was dragged out of bed by Lu Yao, who reverently told her, “Mrs. Tan from the Office of Etiquette is coming over to give you a lesson on palace etiquette.”

Upon hearing that, Su Kui raised her eyebrows with indifference and asked, “Do I look like I need to learn those things?”

Lu Yao was silent and speechless.

Then, without saying anything else, she pulled the blanket back over her. Su Kui turned her body away, and as she closed her eyes, she lazily said, “Tell Mrs. Tan from the Office of Etiquette that I won’t be able to attend because I have fallen ill. The more serious you make it sound, the better!”

Lu Yao had no choice but to go out.

In the Imperial Academy of Arts’ spacious hall, over a hundred young girls lined up in neat rows and looked straight ahead in upright positions.

At the head of the crowd was Mrs. Tan. Clad in a purple court uniform, she was standing straight, and the look on her face was cold as well as stern.

Her eyes swept across the rows of girls in front of her like icy blades. Those who met her gaze averted their eyes as they did not have the courage to make eye contact with her.

Suddenly, Mrs. Tan stopped. She narrowed her eyes, and her gaze lingered on the third spot in the second row.

That spot was empty!

Silence fell upon the hall for a moment as if the air had frozen solid.

Being surrounded by the depressing atmosphere, the girls became so frightened that they held their breaths and dared not move.

It was simply unbearable. Mrs. Tan did not say a word during the whole time, and her expression was as cold as ice.

After a long pause, Mrs. Tan pointed at the empty spot and asked in a chilling tone, “Where is the girl in this spot?”

Wherever her eyes landed, the girls lowered their heads involuntarily.

“Well?!” Mrs. Tan raised her voice. “Have you all gone deaf? If everyone behaves like that, there is no point in you being here. Why are we wasting our time then? You may as well just pack your bags and go home!”

She spoke firmly and loudly, her voice echoing through the air in the hall. 

Low sobs started to become audible in the crowd, and they were accompanied by whispers of, “Why is she asking us? How should we know!”

“That’s right, who gave her the right to talk to us like that—”

Before the sentence was completed, Mrs. Tan’s gaze fell on the sixth girl in the front row. “You, out of the line!”　　

The girls burst into an uproar, but the sobbing seemed to be contagious, and it started spreading uncontrollably. 

The girl in the sixth spot was dressed in a peach-pink gauze dress. Her powdered face made her look really beautiful. Meanwhile, her long, jet-black hair was coiled into a snake bun, and it had a golden hair ornament with pearls dangling down. They swayed slightly as she moved. 

When the young girl noticed that many people’s eyes were on her, her pretty cheeks turned red. She took a step forward and said in anger, “I’ll come out! Do you know who I am? You’re just a servant. Why are you being so arrogant? We are here in the palace for the preparative concubine selection, not to listen to your scolding! If anything happens to me, will you be able to bear the consequences?”

Her words were like a thunderclap to the crowd. It shocked the girls who had been crying into silence.

The grand palace maids who were serving in the hall lowered their heads. ‘There are always going to be a few fools,’ they thought.

Mrs. Tan sneered. Her face was ice-cold, and it gave people the illusion that pieces of sharp icicles would fall from her mouth when she started to talk.

“You must be the third lady from the left imperial chancellor’s residence, Yu Yingying. You are indeed beautiful.” In just an instant, the coldness on Mrs. Tan’s face faded as if the ice had melted away.

Yu Yingying raised her head at once, and her fearful expression was soon replaced with a smug one.

It looked like she was saying, “I knew it! I knew this old servant was just a paper tiger. She’s powerless!”