Quick Transmigration: Leisure

However, the female lead is still the female lead.

Ideas always take unexpected turns. At the last moment, she made a deal with her only remaining rival, the intelligent and powerful Fifth Miss Ye Xinrou.

He gave up entering the palace in exchange for help in avenging his mother.

Ye Xinrou is a woman of her word. Once she was certain that only she was on the list, she sent someone to eliminate the mastermind behind it all. She even helped the female lead return to her maternal grandparents' home to seek revenge, despite the Prime Minister's wife's attempts to persuade her to stay.

Prime Minister Ye certainly didn't want to waste such an excellent daughter. In the capital, there were many families waiting to be conquered by marriage alliances, each one a tough nut to crack.

But the female protagonist, unconcerned with marrying into a wealthy family, left gracefully. All her efforts were solely for herself and for revenge.

That's precisely what touches people's hearts.

Finally, Consort Ye made her move.

She became pregnant twice, but still kept it a secret. However, from the very beginning of the talent show preparations, she frequently paid attention to daughters of high-ranking families.

Ye Ruilan didn't want any concubines from well-connected families vying for her son's future position. She knew she had to choose between love and power; she understood that His Majesty was a man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals—where would she find genuine affection?

So why not make herself invincible, forcing everyone to treat her with utmost respect?

Apart from imperial relatives, the highest-ranking official positions in this dynasty were Grand Commandant, Chancellor, and Imperial Censor.

The position of Grand Commandant has been vacant since General Xia, and His Majesty has no intention of appointing anyone else, namely Xia Youmi's grandfather.

The Prime Minister is Ye Ruilan's father. No matter how chaotic things are within the household, as long as she has a healthy prince, everything will be hers.

Finally, only the granddaughter of Imperial Censor Zhou remained. Yet another woman infatuated with His Majesty, and not one to be trifled with.

As for the daughters of powerful officials, we can focus on a few troublesome ones, but the rest are not a threat.

Things are changing.

February has arrived.

On the eve of entering the palace.

Miss Ye has gotten into trouble! She was cautious and discreet, but she hadn't anticipated her maternal uncle's advance notice. The uncle, having learned of the situation, boasted about it at a gambling den. She happened to run into Imperial Censor Zhou, who directly impeached Prime Minister Ye.

Old Man Ye was no pushover; he immediately turned the tables on Censor Zhou, accusing him of paving the way for his granddaughter by deliberately spreading rumors. Censor Zhou, a man of high moral character and integrity, immediately declared that he would restrain himself and not allow his granddaughter to participate in the selection.

Let's leave aside how things got out of hand at the mansion.

Thus, both Miss Ye and Miss Sun were defeated.

I wonder how many of them actually benefited from this?

Meanwhile, the female protagonist also suffers repeated setbacks at her maternal grandparents' home.

First of all, she angered many old-fashioned people by involving outsiders in family affairs.

Secondly, everyone felt guilty! They had truly committed evil deeds and directly pinned the blame on the female lead, their "nemesis," back then. Being so openly brought back for revenge naturally provoked extremely strong resistance.

The clansmen first brought up old grievances, accusing her of being disloyal and unfilial, and of bringing misfortune to her relatives. Then they had someone stage an accident, claiming that the woman was willing to sacrifice her clan's secret treasure in order to curry favor with the powerful.

Ultimately, after driving the female lead away once, he even turned around and accused Ye Linghua of stealing the treasure. He wanted to sever all blood ties with her and expel her mother and maternal grandparents from the family genealogy.

Driven by resentment, the female protagonist nearly took her own life.

Fortunately, she was rescued by the male supporting character. The two had a heart-to-heart talk, and the male supporting character told the female lead that simply cultivating herself wouldn't be enough to shake her enemies; what she needed was power. In those days, women faced many difficulties, and the only way to truly transcend social classes was through marriage—marrying someone of high status and power.

Only by using someone else's strength against them can you truly achieve a satisfying result.

At this moment, the people sent by Fifth Miss Ye Xinrou to help the female lead received news that their young lady had ultimately been abandoned.

The female protagonist suddenly realized what was happening and decided on her next step: to continue using Ye Xinrou's methods to get herself into the palace.

The prime minister was naturally delighted; things had taken a dramatic turn for the better.

Everyone was paving the way for the female lead to enter the palace, including the Prime Minister's wife, the maternal clan of Concubine Rou, and even the male lead, Lian Shaoyuan.

He sensed the imbalance and wanted to give it another push.

At the end of February, after the palace selection.

One imperial concubine, two concubines, two noble ladies, and four ladies-in-waiting were appointed.

The official appointment will be conferred in early May after intensive training.

The dust has settled.

Ye Ruilan was not very happy.

The palace maid Qiaolan comforted her, "Your Highness, even if the Sixth Miss enters the palace, she won't cause any trouble. Didn't the master say in his letter that she is a pure-hearted and loyal person?"

"Yes! Your Highness, if you don't want to see her, just send her away from afar." Qiaozhu carefully combed the Consort's hair and chimed in from the side.

Ye Ruilan relaxed her tightly furrowed brows and fiddled with the string of beads in her hand.

"But Mother clearly said at the beginning that Ye Linghua's beauty was alluring and should not be underestimated. Yet, in just a few months, she went to great lengths to help her. With such methods, those few fools are probably no match for her."

Qiaolan and Qiaozhu exchanged a glance and began to try to defend themselves from different angles.

"Your Highness, in the end, it all comes down to the Lord's will." Qiaolan gestured to Ye Ruilan's abdomen and lowered her voice, saying, "Even if they wanted to arrange for another young lady to enter the palace, it would still be the same old thing. Our Lady has already taken the lead, so who do you think the Lord will side with?"

Qiaozhu nodded in agreement: "Your Majesty's proudest achievements are something no one else can match!"

Ye Ruilan smiled. It wasn't a big deal to become pregnant so soon after the mourning period ended. Once the new concubines entered the palace, good news would surely pour in.

During her time as a prince, she rarely conceived, because the prince didn't stay overnight in the inner courtyard very often. In addition, she intentionally avoided pregnancy and didn't want to give birth too early and harm her health, so there were only a handful of children in the manor.

Now that the country is prosperous and the people are strong, if there are no more than a large number of offspring, the throne will not be able to be held.

What she was proud of was that the child was born on New Year's Eve, a symbol of utterly humiliating the Empress. No amount of official business could prove her position was secure, but His Majesty's actions could.

"Qiaolan, give the order in a moment: divide the palace affairs into three parts. Yunlan Palace will be in charge of the inspection, and the others will be assigned to Consort Zhuang and Noble Lady Lu."

"Yes!" Qiaolan replied.

Consort Zhuang deserves respect due to her rank. Consort Lu, on the other hand, is completely subservient to her, so she should be given some tangible benefits as well.

Ye Ruilan was arranging the newlyweds' palace, sketching and drawing with great care.

The first to be targeted was Consort Shu, Xu Feiwei, who was the top choice in the selection process and ranked second only to Consort Xian, Xia Youmi. She also came from a good family and acted arrogantly and flamboyantly during the training of the young ladies, looking down on everyone.

Since that's the case, let's assign her to Consort Liang's palace as a principal seat, so that the two firecrackers can ignite each other's rivalry. Besides, Consort Liang's father is the deputy to Consort Shu's father. If we can use this power to bring down Consort Shu, Consort Liang's father can directly ascend to the position.

The two concubines were selected by the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel, and their names are Jiao Luo and Yu Yawang respectively. They are still young, one fifteen and the other sixteen, and their abilities have not yet been revealed. Therefore, their palaces are separated to prevent them from joining forces.

The two consorts are Miss Ye Linghua (Sixth Miss Ye) and Xue Xier, chosen from Jiangnan. It is said that Consort Xue is also a gentle and kind person, chosen from a family known for its fertility, and comes from a noble and scholarly family.

Arrange for her and her half-sister to be in the same palace, and see who is truly good-natured.

The remaining four concubines were all separated and went to keep each of the concubines from their time in the Prince's residence company. Concubine Sun was in the Cold Palace, so one of them was freed up to keep Consort Fang company.

Ye Ruilan felt a little better after throwing down her calligraphy brush.

She gently stroked her belly, her expression full of tenderness.