Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Zhen Huan Chronicles, An Ling Rong

“Eldest Miss!”

A shout suddenly came from outside. Li Si Qi’s awareness snapped back. She opened her eyes at once and called out, “Little Teapot!”

“Master, I’m here!”

“How are things?”

“Master is An Ling Rong now. The one calling you outside is Concubine Xiao. Today, you just arrived in the Imperial Capital and are staying at an inn. Five days from now, Master will enter the palace under An Ling Rong’s identity to take part in the selection.”

“That timing isn’t bad.”

Li Si Qi got up and asked again, “What is An Ling Rong’s wish?”

“Have a son, become the Empress Dowager, and take good care of her mother.”

“And her father? She doesn’t care about him anymore?”

“That’s up to you. She has no demands about him.”

“Fine.”

Li Si Qi stood up and gave instructions as she spoke, “Get me a few decent pieces of embroidery. Prepare a little gold and silver, too.”

“Yes!”

As soon as Little Teapot’s voice fell, a small bundle appeared out of thin air on the table beside Li Si Qi.

“Concubine!”

Li Si Qi opened the door and spoke gently. “Why aren’t you resting?”

“I already dozed off for a while.”

Concubine Xiao, in her early thirties, had worry between her brows. “Eldest Miss, we don’t have enough silver. I’m going out to buy some cloth and thread. Over the next two days, we’ll do some embroidery work, earn some money, and get you a better set of clothes.”

After coming to the Imperial Capital, Concubine Xiao finally realized that the clothes on Eldest Miss were not only rough, but also already out of fashion. She did not have much jewelry either. How was Eldest Miss supposed to take part in the selection like this?

“Concubine, I think we should find a proper place to stay.”

Li Si Qi did not want to keep living in this kind of seedy inn. Besides, once she was selected, an etiquette matron would come to teach rules and manners. She definitely did not want to move into the Zhen Residence and get tangled up with Zhen Huan again.

“Eldest Miss means… we rent a courtyard?”

Concubine Xiao could not help calculating the silver in her hands. Without realizing it, a bit of difficulty showed on her face. “If we rent a courtyard, I’m afraid it will take quite a lot of silver.”

“If we can, let’s buy a small courtyard home.”

Li Si Qi picked up the small bundle on the table and untied it right in front of her.

“This…”

Concubine Xiao was shocked. Inside were several silver ingots and several gold ingots, along with a few delicate pieces of embroidery. Altogether, they were worth a thousand taels of silver.

“These were secretly saved by my mother as my dowry.”

Li Si Qi lied with a straight face. “Concubine, please take these things. First, buy a small courtyard home so we have a place to settle down. Then go through a broker to buy a few servants.

Oh, right – I need two maidservants. It would be best if they have skills, and they don’t need to be too old.”

“Alright. I’ll go right away.”

Seeing that it was still early, Concubine Xiao decided to handle it immediately. She gathered up the items on the table and left. Li Si Qi sat down. “Little Teapot, give me a Beauty Pill, a Skin-Beautifying Pill, and a Hundred Poisons Pill.

An Ling Rong only looks pretty in a mild way. If I want to make it in the harem, how can I attract that dog emperor without a good face?” Little Teapot agreed. “Her looks really are average.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have ended up so miserable.” Three pills appeared out of thin air. Li Si Qi took them and stuffed them into her mouth.

“Her features are decent. There are five days to reshape them. I won’t become a peerless beauty, but at least I’ll look better than I do now.”

“Master, don’t worry. An Ling Rong’s voice is pretty good…”

“No. I don’t want to be ‘An Little Bird.’”

Li Si Qi looked disgusted. “We’re here to torment scum, not to sing on a stage.”

“Master, don’t forget – An Ling Rong’s father is a ticking bomb too.”

“Later, we’ll make him take a Puppet Pill and have him behave obediently.”

“That works too.”

… Evening came. Concubine Xiao hurried back. She brought two maidservants with her. “Eldest Miss, I thought they looked pretty good, so I bought them.

I went to see a courtyard home too, but the location is a bit out of the way. I’ll go look again tomorrow.”

“You’ve worked hard, Concubine.”

Li Si Qi poured her a cup of water. “No rush. As long as we get it arranged before the selection, that’s fine. The place really can’t be too remote.

Little Brother will need to study in the future, so try to pick a better area.”

“Eldest Miss, you mean…”

Concubine Xiao grew excited. Her son was eight this year. He had started learning long ago and showed some talent for studying. An Father could not find any famous teacher, so Little Brother An had been studying with a licentiate.

For Little Brother An to have a chance to study in the Imperial Capital was the biggest surprise of all for Concubine Xiao.

“I’ll find a way to bring Mother and Little Brother to the Imperial Capital as well.”

Li Si Qi nodded to her. Her gaze shifted to the two maidservants. They were about fourteen or fifteen, with decent posture. Their heads were slightly lowered, and they looked calm and composed.

“What are your names, what backgrounds do you have, and what can you do?”

“Replying to Eldest Miss, this servant is called He Hua. This servant can do needlework and dress hair, and used to be a servant in the Zhang Residence.”

“Replying to Miss, this servant is called Gui Xiang. This servant can make tea and keep accounts, and used to be a servant in the Ma Jia Clan residence.”

“Sounds good.”

Li Si Qi looked at the maidservant with the steadier temperament, Gui Xiang. “You can read and write?”

“Replying to Miss, this servant once served a miss in that residence and helped manage her account books, so this servant can write.”

“Looks like you’ve both served masters before.”

Li Si Qi said, “I won’t say much else. Since you’ve come to my side, you will be my people from now on. He Hua will be renamed Lu He, and Gui Xiang will be renamed He Xiang.”

“This servant thanks Miss for granting a name.”

Lu He and He Xiang bowed. With two maidservants attending her, Li Si Qi finally carried herself like a proper young lady. The next day, Concubine Xiao continued looking for a courtyard home. Li Si Qi had Lu He and He Xiang take Puppet Pills.

She took out silver and instructed the more quick-witted Lu He, “Go out and buy me two sets of good-quality clothes.”

“Miss, should we buy jewelry too?”

Now that she was a personal maidservant, Lu He knew very well how shabby this Eldest Miss was. Other than embroidery, she basically had nothing presentable on her.

“Mm. If you see any suitable jewelry, you can buy a few pieces too.”

Li Si Qi was not lacking those things, but she did not plan to take them out yet. She handed Lu He two gold ingots as well. “Buy what you think is right. It doesn’t have to be too expensive, but it should be appropriate – and don’t buy cheap junk.”

“Yes. This servant remembers.”

Lu He took several hundred taels of silver and went out shopping. Li Si Qi kept He Xiang by her side and made sachets with her. After entering the palace, she would need sachets to hold the silver she used for tips. On the third day, their group moved into a small courtyard home.

They spent eight hundred taels of silver to buy a small home with one courtyard, barely enough for seven or eight people to live in. Li Si Qi also told Concubine Xiao to buy an older middle-aged couple – the woman to work in the kitchen, and the man to guard the gate. Time flew by in the blink of an eye. After everything was arranged, Li Si Qi rode in a carriage into the palace.

This time, she did not arrive late. Her clothes and grooming were not shabby either. She slipped the steward matron some silver, and everything went smoothly all the way to the Selection Hall.

“Move!”

A familiar sharp scolding rang out. Li Si Qi turned toward the sound and finally saw the arrogant Sister Si Ji. This time, she had deliberately avoided everyone just to keep from running into her. Yet there she was, yelling at a plain-looking candidate.

“Do you not have eyes? You saw me and still ran into me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose.”

The candidate blushed bright red with shame and apologized in a small voice.

“You got my clothes all wet.”

Sister Si Ji nearly twisted her nose in anger. “Kneel down and apologize to me!”