Chapter 583: Disgruntled, She Did It on Purpose

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor; Dragon Boat Translation

The ministers were cursing and swearing when they saw a figure charging at them in the blink of an eye. She was like an arrow that had shot out from the bow, piercing through the biting cold wind. When she swept past in front of them, her speed lifted their robes. She even stirred up a gust of chilly wind which blasted on their faces until they hurt.

“Lord Zhang, did you see something pass by just now?”

“It… it seems to be a person.”

“It’s the Empress! It’s Her Imperial Highness the Empress!”

Behind Su Ying was a group of delicate ladies who were so exhausted that they were about to foam at the mouth. If they had known that running this lap would eat away half their lives, they wouldn’t have run even if they had to risk getting scolded when they went back.

Su Ying reached the finishing line easily.

Zhou Qing was already waiting by the side with a cloak and a heater. As soon as

Su Ying slowed down, Zhou Qing quickly stepped forward and shoved the heater into her hands. “Your Imperial Highness, please warm yourself up. The wind is so freezing that my ears are about to fall off.”

The wind was indeed quite cold, but it was nothing to Su Ying.

“After exercising, my body feels warmer.”

“Your Imperial Highness, what are you doing? How can Your Imperial

Highness choose the concubines for the harem like this? This is clearly making things difficult for them!”

The minister looked at his own daughter swaying in the cold wind and was almost heartbroken. Would the Emperor still like her if her little face became frostbitten?

Su Ying gulped down the ginger tea in her cup before turning to look at all the indignant ministers.

“Making things difficult for them? How am I making things difficult for them?”

“They… they grew up in the comfort of boudoirs. How can they withstand such grinding?” By tormenting them like this, wasn’t it equivalent to throwing a delicate flower into the cold wind to be trampled upon?

Su Ying’s lips curled up slightly. “If they don’t even have this small ability to escape, they will only become a burden to the Emperor when they encounter any trouble.”

These words rendered the ministers speechless. After all, Su Ying was also running with these girls just now.

If even the Empress who was much more noble than them could run, why couldn’t they?

“Zhou Qing, go and count the number of people. The top 49 can participate in

the next round of the tests.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

Zhou Qing took a pencil and paper and walked to the finishing line to wait.

These girls all had their number tags on them. She only needed to note down their numbers and she would know who they were.

All the ministers stood at the finishing line, hoping to catch a glimpse of their daughters, granddaughters, or even nieces.

However, they stood there for two to three quarters of an hour without even seeing the corner of a dress. It could be seen how fast the Empress had run just now!

Finally, after another fifteen minutes, someone came running in their direction.

The leader was General Wu’s daughter.

When General Wu saw his daughter coming in his direction, he couldn’t care less about his dignity. He clenched his fists and stomped his feet anxiously as he hollered, “Hurry, hurry up! Dash over here quickly with that last breath. You are almost at the finishing line!”

Miss Wu gritted her teeth and dashed to the finishing line with her last breath. General Wu hurriedly rushed over to support his daughter. “My good child, you really didn’t disappoint me.”

Miss Wu also practiced martial arts normally and her physical fitness was not bad. However, she was still exhausted after running one whole lap today.

After catching her breath, Miss Wu grabbed General Wu’s hand and asked anxiously, “Father, have you seen the Empress? Did she reach the finishing line before me?”

General Wu didn’t want to dampen his daughter’s confidence. After all, the Empress was almost an hour faster than her. “Mm-hmm. She has. She has reached it. She was only a little ahead of you.”

Miss Wu raised her chin somewhat proudly upon hearing that. “It seems that

I’ll be able to catch up to the Empress if I work harder next time.”

“It’s… it’s not entirely impossible,” said General Wu.

Over the next hour, the participating young ladies arrived at the finishing line one after another. Zhou Qing also recorded the number tags of the first 49 people.

Many of the young ladies who were running at the back had long given up. It was not that they did not want to run, but that they could not run at all.

Many of the young ladies were covered in snow after countless falls, and they looked extremely wretched.

“Father… The Empress clearly doesn’t want us to enter the palace, so she’s deliberately tormenting us like this.”

“Father, your daughter… your daughter fell very badly. It hurts so much pain.

Boo hoo hoo…”

Outside the palace gates was a sea of cries of grievance.

Many of the ministers had unsightly expressions on their faces as they stepped forward to argue with Su Ying.

Su Ying’s almond-shaped eyes narrowed. “Ministers, do you mean that the results of the competition just now don’t count? Do you want me to give them another chance and let them run again?”

When those young ladies who had just finished running heard this, their expressions changed drastically from fear. If they had to run again, they would rather die!

“Lord Ma, this is not considered tormenting people, is it? Her Imperial Highness is right. As a concubine in the harem, if she can’t even run two steps, what else can you expect her to do?”

“That’s right. When a woman gives birth, it is like walking through the gates of hell. The stronger her body is, the more children she can bear for the His Majesty.”

“This is clearly a fallacy. Didn’t my wife give birth to so many children even though she couldn’t run?”

“Lord Li, are you secretly praising yourself and mocking His Majesty’s ability?”

“Lord Liu, don’t slander me. When have I ever said such things?”

There was a huge uproar outside the palace gates. Su Ying frowned impatiently. “Record all the names properly. We will inform them again when it’s time for the next test. If these ministers feel disgruntled, just let all the girls run again.” “Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

Su Ying flicked her sleeves and left with a flourish, leaving behind a wave of cursing and swearing.

When Xiao Jin received the news, he was reading memorials in the Imperial study. When he heard Zhang Shuming’s vivid description of the situation outside the palace gates, he could not suppress the smile on his face.

“How naughty.”

Zhang Shuming glanced at the Emperor’s expression. Gosh! He could even detect the cloying sentimentality of love in the air!

“If the Empress truly did this, one couldn’t really find any fault with it, to be honest.”

The Empress only wanted to choose those women with good physical fitness to enter the palace. What was wrong with that?

Although the ministers were angry and wanted to scold, they couldn’t say anything because some of the women had advanced. What could they do when their daughters were inferior to others?

“Your Imperial Highness, how do you plan to test those young ladies after this?”

Su Ying closed her eyes and leaned back on the recliner, her fingertips tapping the table from time to time. “I will test their eyesight.

Zhou Qing approved of this. In the depths of the palace, it would not do if they had not sharp-eyed. The Empress was truly intelligent.

Su Ying didn’t let the young ladies wait too long. On the third day, she summoned to the palace all 49 women who had advanced.

Before this, Zhou Qing had even received dozens of money pouches filled with silver with the intention of finding out from her the contents of the second test.

Su Ying told Zhou Qing not to reject anyone and then split the gams with her 50-50. She also told Zhou Qing to tell those who came to dig for the news clearly that she would test their eyesight in the second round.

The content of the eyesight test was broader, but no matter how much those people asked, they could not find out more details.

All the young ladies were brought to Bright Virtue Palace.

Su Ying was already waiting in Bright Virtue Palace.

“Greetings, Your Imperial Highness..”

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