After the hot and bustling summer passed, the refreshing and pleasant autumn arrived. Just when people thought they would finally have peaceful days, rumors spread about an upcoming imperial selection.

The atmosphere in the capital region suddenly grew tense.

Why? Because ordinary people generally didn’t want their daughters to participate in the imperial selection.

After the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, the imperial selections were basically conducted in the capital region, specializing in “eating the grass close to the nest.” After Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established the direction of “selecting beauties from humble origins and forming marriages with common folk” for the imperial family, the royal house basically stopped forming marriage alliances with meritorious nobles and high officials, instead selecting girls from humble families to marry into the imperial household.

But even among humble families, many households that cherished their daughters didn’t want to send them for selection, because the emperors of previous dynasties all had the barbaric custom of human sacrifice for burial. Even some consorts of vassal princes were sacrificed for burial. Except for families with the intention of using their daughters’ lives to exchange for glory, ordinary households didn’t want their daughters to take such risks, and they all tried various methods to evade the selection.

Later, Emperor Zhengtong abolished the barbaric custom of human sacrifice, and the situation of common folk evading the selection slightly improved. However, the subsequent Emperor Chenghua exclusively favored Noble Consort Wan, who was seventeen years older than him, and even deposed the empress for this consort!

If even an empress could be deposed, what about ordinary concubines? Noble Consort Wan’s son died young, and she didn’t want to see other consorts give birth to children, becoming an expert at inducing abortions. Many palace maids and concubines were tortured to death, so common folk again dared not send their daughters for selection.

The next emperor nearly died at the hands of Noble Consort Wan and decided to only have one empress for his entire life, with no other consorts in the harem. For selected beauties entering the palace, it was the beginning of living widowhood with no opportunities at all. Naturally, common folk didn’t want to send their daughters to become widows and waste their youth.

By the time of the next emperor, Emperor Zhengde, he simply only liked married women and prostitutes, having no interest in the properly selected beauties brought into the palace. He didn’t even see the empress for over ten years. Common folk were even more afraid to send their daughters into the palace. Emperor Zhengde simply died without heir, and the throne fell to his cousin, the current Emperor Jiajing.

Due to the Ming Dynasty’s generation after generation of barbaric burial customs and the endless succession of eccentric emperors, the people of the capital region would tremble with fear whenever they heard about imperial selection.

The current Emperor Jiajing ascended the throne at sixteen, young and promising. At that time, his health was still good, and when selecting an empress and harem consorts, some families among the common folk were willing to send their outstanding daughters for selection, feeling that this diligent and promising young emperor was different from those eccentric emperors of the past.

However, reality harshly slapped them in the face, making the common people feel that sending daughters for selection was actually sending them into a pit of fire – there was no worst, only worse.

Emperor Jiajing was still acceptable at first, but later he became obsessed with cultivating immortality and taking elixirs. His temperament changed drastically, and he became harsh and ungrateful toward both the empress and consorts, successively deposing two empresses.

There was even a period when he was superstitious about a Taoist priest named Tao Zhongwen, using young girls’ first menstruation to refine immortality pills. That batch of selected beauties were deliberately chosen to be young – little girls who hadn’t yet had their first menstruation. After being selected, they were kept in one place and treated as “medicine people,” fed drugs to induce first menstruation in order to collect “medicinal materials.”

These drugs caused extreme harm to the selected beauties’ bodies. Some died, some were crippled. After their first menstruation was induced, they couldn’t eat during their periods and could only eat mulberry leaves and drink dew like silkworms. After their bodies were ravaged in this way, they were discarded by the court like medicinal dregs.

Even those “fortunate” enough to be taken home by their families and later married off to others rarely could conceive and bear children, because those menstruation-inducing drugs were extremely potent and would cause the selected beauties to be barren for life.

After taking the immortality pills, Emperor Jiajing became violent and easily angered, often whipping consorts and palace servants. A palace maid named Yang Jinying couldn’t endure the torture anymore and conspired with more than ten other palace maids to strangle him with white silk while he slept. But in their panic, the white silk formed a dead knot and they failed to strangle Emperor Jiajing to death. This was the shocking “Renyin Palace Incident” that stunned the court and the country.

More than ten palace maids along with two consorts were all executed, bloodbathing the palace.

Palace maids rebelling was unprecedented in all dynasties, yet it happened during the Jiajing reign, showing just how violent and cold-blooded Emperor Jiajing had become after taking “immortality pills.”

The “Renyin Palace Incident” had passed eighteen years ago. The stinking Taoist priest who had bewitched Emperor Jiajing into using first menstruation to refine immortality pills was also dead. The elixirs Emperor Jiajing now took were mainly made of metals and stones. After taking them, he wasn’t as insane and violent, showing some restraint, and no longer beat palace servants to death.

However, the “Renyin Palace Incident” left deep psychological trauma on the common people of the capital region, making them feel the harem was a pit of fire. Upon hearing about an upcoming selection, families with unmarried young women of appropriate age hurried to find ways to evade the selection.

Some sent their daughters to southern relatives to hide; families without southern relatives sent their daughters to hide with relatives and friends in remote mountain valleys; if there really were no trustworthy relatives or friends to entrust their daughters to, they could only hastily find a man and quickly marry off their daughters.

Therefore, as soon as news of the selection spread, the business of suona horn players in the capital region suddenly boomed!

Weddings and wedding banquets were being held everywhere. Suona horns were indispensable instruments, and various dowry shops also had booming business, earning profits beyond their wildest dreams.

Even more extreme cases occurred: when families really couldn’t find suitable matches in their vicinity, they would go stroll the streets. Upon seeing what appeared to be an unmarried young man, they would drag the youth to their homes, pestering and cajoling him to write a marriage contract, willing to give away a wife without asking for a single coin in betrothal gifts, holding the wedding ceremony that very night.

This absurd drama of street bride-groom catching became more and more intense. Some strict families even forbade unmarried men from leaving their homes to avoid being caught as son-in-laws. Once the rice was cooked, even if it meant marrying a village girl or a shrewish market woman, they would have to accept it.

With such panic among the people and continuous unrest, this angered Huang Jin, the Chief Eunuch of the Ceremonial Directorate and Eastern Depot Director who was responsible for this selection.

If this continued, how many selected beauties could be chosen from the capital region to participate in the palace reselection?

If the selected beauties were all ugly and unseemly with few presentable ones, wouldn’t that invite ridicule? Where would Eunuch Huang’s face be?

The saying goes that gold is revealed only after great waves wash away the sand. To select outstanding beauties, there must be enough “sand” to eliminate. Without even reaching the basic number for selection, what kind of beauty selection was this!

To retain enough eligible participants, the Ceremonial Directorate and Eastern Depot alone couldn’t accomplish this, so Eunuch Huang requested help from the Embroidered Uniform Guard to find ways to calm the phenomena of seeking refuge with relatives and friends, chaotic marriages, and street groom-catching in the capital region.

Huang Jin was Emperor Jiajing’s grand companion when he was still in his princely residence – that is, the eunuch who accompanied the prince in his studies. He was a proper graduate of the Ceremonial Directorate’s inner academy, learned and talented, deeply trusted by Emperor Jiajing, who affectionately called him “Companion Huang.”

For the past ten years, every time Emperor Jiajing reviewed death sentences, Lu Bing would bribe Huang Jin and his subordinate eunuchs to help place Ding Rukui’s case file at the very end.

Therefore, when Huang Jin made a request, Lu Bing naturally agreed, ordering the various agents stationed throughout the capital region to secretly investigate whether families had daughters of appropriate age according to their territorial divisions, compiling this into registers to hand over to the Eastern Depot.

Eunuch Huang distributed the registers, having his subordinates lead people according to the lists. Thus, mending the fold after the sheep were lost, they prevented those young women planning to flee and hide to avoid selection.

Next was dealing with those people catching grooms on the streets. Lu Bing also had a clever plan for this.

In the capital region, Baoding Prefecture, Front Gate Street, at a teahouse.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was going to continue their “entrapment operation.”

Lu Ying, dressed as a commoner, said to Wang Daxia: “It’s your turn to go on stage.”

Crack – Wang Daxia used iron tongs to crack a walnut. “Why is it me again?”

Lu Ying pointed to himself. “I’ve tried several times, but no one pulls me. You’ve already been pulled eight times – you’re the most popular among us all. If you don’t go, who will?”

Embroidered Uniform Guard Wu Xiaoqi chimed in: “That’s right, I’ve only been pulled twice. People here all like son-in-laws like Centurion Wang. I understand – if I were a father, I’d also hope to pull such a handsome son-in-law from the streets.”

Wu Xiaoqi was the only son of the sacrificed Wu Mask. After his father was killed by Yan Shifan’s assassins, he inherited his father’s position and came to serve in the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He didn’t want to guard warehouses and only wanted to follow Lu Ying out in the field risking life and limb.

During the operation to destroy two White Lotus sect strongholds, he performed outstandingly and even saved five comrades who couldn’t swim in Jishuitan. Based on merit, he was promoted from a common soldier to a minor bannerman, so everyone called him Wu Xiaoqi.

Wang Daxia was completely unwilling, pointing at Lu Ying: “You’re handsome too, so why don’t they pull you?”

Wu Xiaoqi laughed: “Because our chief naturally has a ‘strangers keep away, don’t mess with me’ look. Who would dare pull someone like that as a son-in-law? The father-in-law would probably get beaten up by his son-in-law.”

Wang Daxia was different. He had clear eyes and a brilliant smile, looking like an innocent young man who hadn’t experienced much of the world or society’s harsh lessons – the type who looked very easy to deceive and was obviously a virgin.

Moreover, this was Baoding Prefecture, not the capital Shuntian Prefecture. No one here recognized Young Master Wang. If this were the capital, which common people from the five districts of east, south, west, north, and center would dare pull Young Master Wang as their son-in-law?

Wang Daxia ate his walnut and sighed: “Never would I have thought that joining the Embroidered Uniform Guard would not only require risking life and limb, battling wits, courage, and luck with opponents, but I’d also have to sell my body!”

Life wasn’t easy. Wang Daxia’s path of preserving his chastity for Wei Caiwei was quite arduous. Sometimes circumstances beyond his control required sacrificing his body.

Lu Ying poured him a cup of tea. “Don’t worry, we’ll be secretly following the whole time. As soon as they force you to marry, we’ll immediately appear and rescue you. Commander Lu needs to return Eunuch Huang’s favor, so we must quickly stop this evil trend of street groom-catching among the people.”

Wang Daxia drained the tea in one gulp. “I’ll listen to you this time, but this is the last time. I’m returning to Shuntian Prefecture today.”

I haven’t seen Wei Caiwei for nearly seven days!

Lu Ying said: “This is the last operation in Baoding Prefecture. Tomorrow we go to Yongding Prefecture, and you’ll need to sacrifice your looks once more. I guarantee Yongding Prefecture is the last place. After deterring Yongding Prefecture, we’ll return to the capital. Otherwise, we can’t report back to Commander Lu.”

When an official of higher rank suppresses, there’s no choice. Wang Daxia had no alternative but to comply and quickly finish the task.

Wang Daxia dressed shabbily but neatly, looking like a son from a down-and-out family. He strolled the streets, liked browsing expensive bookstores but couldn’t afford to buy a single book, standing there reading for free, repeatedly being driven away by shop owners: “Don’t dirty our books – if you’re not buying, don’t flip through them randomly.”

After being driven away twice, he was targeted by a “premeditated” matchmaker: handsome, innocent and pure gaze, young and naive, a powerless and penniless poor boy who was easy to control – give him a little sweetness and he’d fall for it.

The matchmaker approached: “Young man, want to read books for free? I know a place where you can read as much as you want. Come with me.”

The captured Wang Daxia was brought to a study in a three-courtyard compound on the outskirts of Baoding Prefecture. The study wasn’t large, but it had quite a collection of books. Inside was an anxious middle-aged man who took one look at Wang Daxia and immediately took a liking to him, ordering someone to bring a cup of tea: “You’ve walked such a long way, you must be thirsty. Come, drink some tea first.”

Wang Daxia drank it. After drinking, he felt dizzy and his vision blurred – he couldn’t even see the words clearly. The middle-aged man said: “You can read any books here as you please, but before reading, you need to sign a document. If you damage any books, you’ll have to compensate at original price. Come, sign and put your fingerprint here.”

With that, the middle-aged man handed over a marriage contract, deliberately folding up the text above, leaving only the signature area visible.

Wang Daxia, dizzy and confused, wrote a name: Wang Boda.

His father Centurion Wang was named Wang Boda.

After Wang Daxia signed, he fainted. The middle-aged man took out red ink pad, dipped all five fingers of his right hand in red, and pressed them next to the name with a smack. Mission accomplished. The man said: “Someone come – escort the new son-in-law to the bridal chamber.”

Author’s Note: Daxia: Please call me the little expert at trapping my father, thank you~