In truth, Jia She and Jia Lian’s intention was to hope that Ying Chun could work her way into the Crown Prince’s household.

No matter how wise and powerful the Emperor might be, he was already old. The Crown Prince was in the prime of his life and had much more room for development. There was really no need for Ying Chun to compete with Yuan Chun in the current Emperor’s harem.

The current Emperor’s harem was simply too crowded, and he had many sons as well. But the Crown Prince’s situation was different, and Ying Chun’s circumstances were also different from Yuan Chun’s. Yuan Chun had initially been left aside during the selection and had no choice but to enter the palace as a female official. Her path of development had been limited by her status. But Ying Chun was different—she was now properly going through the selection process, and if she passed, there was a chance she could be assigned to the Crown Prince’s household.

But how could Second Madam Wang possibly sit by and watch such a situation unfold?

If Ying Chun went to the Crown Prince’s household, what would happen to her Yuan Chun?

Without even thinking about it, she knew that the family would only support Ying Chun at that point, while her Yuan Chun would have to struggle through difficult days in the palace. Were they supposed to watch a concubine-born daughter enjoy blessings at the Crown Prince’s side?

That was impossible.

Second Madam Wang didn’t mention anything else, only spoke of Ying Chun’s temperament: “With her wooden personality, going to the Crown Prince’s rear courtyard? Within just a few days of arriving there, she’d be schemed against and lose her life. She’d be better off going to the Emperor’s harem, where her elder sister can protect her. Even if she’s a bit naive and dull, it won’t matter. You all know that Yuan Chun was born on the first day of the first lunar month. When we had her fortune told, they said she has great blessing. Right now she’s just temporarily in difficult circumstances, but once Ying Chun is there to help her, with the sisters united in purpose, she’ll quickly gain favor.”

What Second Madam Wang said was indeed a problem.

This was how she convinced the Matriarch. This granddaughter couldn’t even manage the people around her well, being controlled like this—how could they expect her to struggle and make something of herself at the Crown Prince’s side? That was really asking too much.

This also left Jia She and Jia Lian not knowing what to say. Ying Chun’s personality was indeed a big problem.

Jia Lian and Wang Xifeng felt very disappointed about this, though they still held onto hope. Wang Xifeng went to see Ying Chun privately: “Sister Ying Chun, the selection is coming up soon. Do you have a plan?”

Ying Chun hung her head: “Second Sister-in-law, whatever the family says, I’ll do.”

Apart from these words, she had nothing else to say.

She was simply going with the flow.

Wang Xifeng couldn’t help but frown. No wonder the Old Ancestor felt that Ying Chun should enter the palace to join her elder sister. If the family went to great lengths to arrange for her to go to the Crown Prince’s household, would she be able to stand strong? The Crown Prince’s side had fewer people, but that didn’t mean it was peaceful. He was the heir apparent—not a single person in his rear courtyard was simple.

If she entered and lost her life to scheming before long, the Jia family’s efforts would be wasted. It would be better for her to enter the palace. The Emperor still kept people in his harem, and not many Manchu noble ladies were being retained—this was also an opportunity. Whether it was Yuan Chun or Ying Chun, as long as they could fortunately gain favor and give birth to a prince, promotion in rank would be right before them.

At that time, the Jia family would be the prince’s maternal family and could help support the household.

Wang Xifeng said nothing more: “Since that’s the case, you should properly obey the training nanny’s instructions. Once you enter the palace, listen to your elder sister’s words.”

Ying Chun followed the nanny to learn the rules, but with a heavy stone weighing on her heart, after just one rain, she fell ill.

She knew her own situation. What could she do after entering the palace?

If she didn’t enter the palace, what good place could she go to? She could only take things one step at a time.

A physician was called for her, and others came to visit her illness. When Tan Chun came, she secretly advised her: “What are you doing? You’ve fallen ill even before the selection. Never mind other things—don’t you care about your own health?”

“The selection isn’t something where everything goes as you wish just because arrangements have been made. Otherwise, elder sister wouldn’t have faced so many twists and turns when she entered the palace, and she wouldn’t have ended up as a female official in Noble Consort De’s palace. If you participate in the selection this time and are smoothly retained, being directly arranged in marriage isn’t impossible either. Don’t always think about the unfavorable aspects.”

“If you’re fortunate enough to be assigned as a proper wife, even if life isn’t easy, by slowly managing things yourself, you can eventually make life work. You need to stand strong yourself first.”

“Even if you’re assigned to the imperial palace, with so many people there, one more person like you won’t make much difference. If you live your own life peacefully and properly, you can get by.”

“If you’re truly fortunate enough to conceive a dragon son, you’ll have security for the rest of your life.”

Jia Ying Chun listened with tears streaming down like rain.

She had no such grand ambition as entering the Emperor’s harem to bear princes. She only wanted to live peacefully and properly, finding someone decent to live with, but with the family’s situation being what it was, how could she have any say in it?

Seeing her only grieve without speaking, Tan Chun stamped her foot, only resenting that she herself wasn’t yet old enough. Otherwise, if she went for the selection, she would definitely fight for herself and fight for a future.

When Xi Chun came to visit her illness and saw Ying Chun’s sorrow, with her cool temperament she said: “The preliminary selection shouldn’t be a problem, but the reselection is hard to say. Even if you pass the reselection, it’s not certain where you’ll go. Apart from those masters above, who can say for sure? Elder sister, don’t frighten yourself first. Getting well is what matters.” If she really didn’t want to enter the palace, being selected wasn’t easy, but wasn’t failing the selection simple?

However, there wasn’t much point. Everywhere in the world was the same, nowhere was peaceful. As far as she was concerned, when she reached the proper age, she would cut her hair and become a nun, and then she wouldn’t have such troubles.

Whether or not she took their words to heart, Ying Chun’s illness slowly improved. She wouldn’t think about other things first—getting well before anything else.

During the period of learning the rules, the Xue family arrived.

After reaching the capital, they first visited the Wang family, then settled into Pear Fragrance Court at the Rong manor. They actively maintained their relationship with both families, and so they sent gifts to everyone.

Second Madam Wang was thoroughly satisfied as she received quite a few banknotes from Aunt Xue’s hands. With these, her daughter’s days in the palace wouldn’t be so tight. She was planning for her daughter’s sake. This money was given by the child’s aunt, and she had no intention of putting it through the public accounts—she kept it for herself. Wang Xifeng’s side also received silver income. She was currently the steward of Rong manor, and whoever might be left out, it wouldn’t be her.

Sometimes it was just that little bit of something that made all the difference in the effect achieved.

Aunt Xue had also come from being a household manager, so of course she knew the tricks involved. Even though these were her juniors, she still observed all the proper etiquette.

Ying Chun, Tan Chun, and Xi Chun also received gifts. Because Ying Chun was going to participate in the selection, the Xue family also sent quite a lot of fabrics and jewelry.

Xue Baochai watched Ying Chun about to go for the selection with some envy. According to the rules, she also had to participate in the selection, but first, she was only twelve now and not yet of age, and second, her brother had committed a foolish act. Now it had been glossed over, but she didn’t know whether it would affect her own future prospects.

Second Madam Wang and Wang Xifeng helped the Xue family maintain their dignity. Combined with the Xue family’s generous spending, they quickly gained a reputation for being magnanimous and amiable at Rong manor.

After settling in at the Jia household, the Xue family also visited the Lin household. Lin Ruhai received them.

When he was serving in Yangzhou, he had dealings with the head of the Xue family. Although it wasn’t explicitly stated, Lin Ruhai also knew that beneath the Xue family head’s status as an imperial merchant, he secretly also served as the Emperor’s eyes and ears. This was indeed a capable person. Unfortunately, one illness took him away, leaving behind orphans and a widow. Xue Pan was still young and certainly couldn’t continue serving as the Emperor’s eyes and ears. Moreover, he wasn’t clever—he was somewhat reckless and straightforward, and had even earned the nickname “Foolish Tyrant,” making people sigh that there was no one to succeed him.

His daughter was intelligent, but the limitations on women were too great. She could still help and advise a bit while at her natal home, but once she married out, it would be hard to say.

As for Xue Pan’s in-laws, no one bullied him in Jinling, but now that he had come to the capital, if he didn’t change his ways, sooner or later something would happen.

However, having had dealings with the Xue family head after all, Lin Ruhai specifically met with Xue Pan and gave him some advice.

Xue Baochai had already met the three Jia sisters at Rong manor. She believed that apart from that bit of difference in status, she was no different from them and wouldn’t be inferior to them in any way.

She had heard that the Lin family also had a younger sister, born with spiritual grace and intelligence, inspiring pity at first sight. She was quite curious.

As for the Lin family’s only son, when her father was serving in Yangzhou, she had accompanied her father on visits and had seen him. She had never met this younger Lin sister though—at that time she had been in the capital.

When the Xue family of three came to visit, the Old Madam didn’t want to see them. She directly declined, saying she was observing Buddhist devotions and wouldn’t see outsiders.

The Jia family wasn’t any good, and the Xue family wasn’t clean and innocent either. In the dream world, the Jia family bore heavy sins for Daiyu’s death, and the Xue family had also been an accomplice. Now the same situation certainly wouldn’t happen again, but the Old Madam still had a knot in her heart and didn’t want to see them and affect her mood.

Right now they had just arrived in the capital and didn’t yet know the depths of the capital. The longer they lived at the Jia household, the more they would learn, and there would be plenty of time for those two families to squabble. At that time, she would just watch the show. She also didn’t know whether this “Golden-Jade Alliance” could still come to be this time.

With the Old Madam not appearing, Yun Shuyao and Tang Wanxin received Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai.

Everyone up and down the Yun household also received gifts from the Xue family. Yun Shuyao had a share, and Concubine Mei and Concubine Chu also had shares—just differing in thickness.

Yun Shuyao looked at her share. She had to say that the Xue family truly lived up to their origins as imperial merchants—these gifts were not light.

Xue Baochai’s role was second only to the female lead Lin Daiyu. She was an important female supporting character in Dream of the Red Chamber. It had already been three years since their last parting, and Yun Shuyao still wanted to see her.

Upon this meeting, she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows slightly.

Never mind other things—these women with names and surnames in Dream of the Red Chamber, regardless of personality or birth, all had impeccable appearances.

Xue Baochai was twelve years old this year and had developed considerably more than before. She had lustrous flesh and bones, a face like a silver basin, eyes like watery apricots, and a rich and beautiful appearance—the kind many matrons liked for a daughter-in-law.

She was a different type from Daiyu.

Although Yun Shuyao had no blood relation with Daiyu, she had watched her grow up, so naturally she was more partial to Daiyu between these two.

This look was just a look.

As for affection, she had her own son and daughter, and loving them was enough.

Yun Shuyao’s attitude was indifferent—not cold, but not close either. Xue Baochai’s emotional intelligence was beyond question. Facing Yun Shuyao with a beaming smile, opening and closing her mouth with “Madam Yun,” and using the fact that Yun Shuyao had received them in Yangzhou before as well, her words were intimate, making those who didn’t know think their relationship was very deep.

Tang Wanxin became somewhat more courteous toward her after hearing this.

She didn’t know whether it was true or false, but if there really was a connection, being courteous wouldn’t hurt.

Xue Baochai was also someone who could speak well. Together with Aunt Xue, they praised Chen Yu’s achievement of third place in the palace examination again and again, and also spoke of the reputation he had gained as a talented scholar when he participated in poetry gatherings in the south, saying that after he achieved third place, his reputation grew even more and he gained people’s respect, and so on. Who in the Lin family wouldn’t love hearing these words?

Apart from this, Xue Baochai had accompanied her father to many places, and moreover, she had encountered many people and events in business. Through her clever words and wonderful speech, she told things that captivated Daiyu and the others, drawing them in. The relationship immediately grew closer.

Yun Shuyao couldn’t help but look at her with admiration. This temperament made her see, as if in an illusion, some career women.

No matter where they were, they could basically live their lives well.

If it weren’t for roughly knowing that she and Daiyu had a somewhat discordant relationship because of the male lead Baoyu, and that perhaps some friction had occurred between them, then purely based on not being resigned to mediocre circumstances and striving upward for oneself and one’s family while being able to maintain one’s bottom line—Yun Shuyao very much admired such people.

Often those who could better survive when encountering困境 were this type of person. For example, in the apocalypse, this type of person adapted the fastest and lived the best.

Now she was a salted fish. Before crossing over in modern times, in the eyes of outsiders she probably also had this personality. Otherwise, she couldn’t have gone from having nothing to buying her own little nest in that city where housing prices could be called astronomical.

Yun Shuyao thought for a rare moment about modern life, raising her wrist and staring absently at her well-maintained fingers that at a glance showed she lived in pampered luxury.

Although here she didn’t worry about food or drink and had no survival pressure, if she could choose… Yun Shuyao couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She would probably choose to return to modern times and continue being a corporate slave for that mortgage that still wasn’t paid off.

In the modern world, the difficulty was money. Here, apart from money, difficulties were layer upon layer. Thinking about the Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues, thinking about the mountains weighing down on women’s heads in this era—if one didn’t think more openly about it, the pressure could make one’s heart unable to breathe.

When leaving the Lin residence, Aunt Xue held her daughter’s hand: “My child, thank goodness for you.”

She looked at her daughter with much heartache. If the master were still here, how would they need to appear and maintain the relationship between the two families like this?

Her daughter had truly put in great effort today.

Xue Baochai smiled, her eyes glowing brightly: “This is what your daughter should do.”

Aunt Xue sighed and asked her son: “What did Lord Lin talk to you about?”

With Lord Lin’s status and position, to personally receive her son today—it had to be said that Lord Lin was a generous person.

Xue Pan scratched his head, stammering: “Didn’t… didn’t say anything.”

Seeing him like this, Aunt Xue wanted to sigh again: “Son, later you should go to the Jia family school and attend classes together with your brother Baoyu. I’m not asking you to take the civil service examinations—if you can learn something and maintain a good relationship with your brother Baoyu, that will be enough.” At the family school, surely her son couldn’t cause trouble, right?