This "older" palace maid is very tall, and her appearance is extremely beautiful and dignified. In terms of appearance, she is definitely one of the best among the ten palace maids. But what caught Yang Ning's attention was not the beauty of this palace maid, but her. She has a calm and elegant temperament. Other palace ladies may be excited, excited, or disappointed, or may be longing for the future, or hesitant. But this "old palace lady" is the only one who always lowers her eyebrows and lowers her eyes, with a plain expression on her face. There was no trace of emotion or anger. She was standing relatively far back, but her quiet and refined temperament made Yang Ning notice her at a glance.

Yang Ning couldn't help but be secretly surprised: She didn't expect that among the palace maids Long Qing rewarded her, there would be such an extraordinary temperament. She didn't know which palace she originally came from. There was no such outstanding palace maid at such an old age. It's a pity that I was lucky enough to be promoted to a concubine and become an "old palace maid". But this "old palace maid" was not lucky enough to be "pardoned" and released from the palace at such an old age. Instead, she was rewarded to herself. It's really a blessing. Making fun of people.

The rules of the inner palace of the Ming Dynasty. Every once in a while, the emperor would issue a "pardon" order and release a group of old eunuchs and "older" maids out of the palace. The maids released from the palace were generally in their twenties. "Old Palace Maid".

The palace maids who can be released from the palace are definitely lucky. Because most of the palace maids who have not climbed to the high branches to become concubines have a very miserable fate. They are lonely and depressed in the deep palace. If the master is not happy, he will die. The fate of Yu's death, and those who could survive, caught up with the succession of the throne, and were sent to be nuns in the royal nunnery that specially accommodated palace maids and concubines. From then on, Mu Yu Qing Lan lived their whole lives.

Compared with those palace maids who have returned to their "freedom", these palace maids in front of them are obviously inferior. But compared to most of the palace maids who lost their lives or became monks, they are lucky. Although they were given as their own slaves. But I am by no means the kind of mean and cruel "master". It is conceivable that these palace maids who are given to me at will are definitely not from rich and powerful families. Instead, most of them are from poor and humble backgrounds, and they are often sad. Tragic life experience.

Yang Ning cleared her throat and then said with a smile: "Sisters and sisters, welcome everyone..."

Yang Ning's rather novel opening statement immediately attracted the attention of the palace maids. The tense atmosphere also relaxed slightly. All eyes were focused on Yang Ning.

Yang Ning continued to smile and said: "Everyone must already know about our family's identity. We won't go into details anymore. There are just a few points that we would like to make clear. 1. The emperor gave you to our family. We are slaves and maidservants. But our family is kind-hearted. We would like to take the opportunity to free you. But unfortunately you are all given by the emperor's decree. Our family cannot let it go privately. It will cost you your head. Our family is here Let me first say I'm sorry..."

Yang Ning's kind and polite words immediately caused all the maids to whisper to each other. Only the tall and beautiful older maid had no expression on her face. There was just a hint of surprise and curiosity in the eyes that looked at Yang Ning.

"Of course. Don't despair. As time goes by, there will always be opportunities." Yang Ning added. "Second, since you are still here with us, I hope you will abide by the rules and be loyal to your country. We will not treat you badly. Oh, by the way. Although we don’t have any bodyguards in this house, please don’t think about running away. Given your status, you will be caught if you run away. You know better than our family how miserable the outcome will be. Our family will not be able to protect you when the time comes."

The faces of the palace maids showed frightened expressions.

In the Ming Dynasty, the slaves and servants of wealthy households were all registered. If they escaped and were caught, they would not be happy even if they wanted to die.

"3. Since you are our servants, our family will never treat you badly. Everyone has a monthly salary. Is it standard? Just...just double the standard you get in the palace. ." Yang Ning scratched his earlobe and said.

The faces of all the palace maids showed joy. Originally, as slaves who were rewarded, they never expected that their master would give them monthly money. Unexpectedly, this "new master" not only gave them more money than when they were in the palace. Twice as much. How could they not be overjoyed? Their affection for this "princess and princess" doubled. They were secretly glad to have met a kind and benevolent "master".

Han Yuniang, who had just come out of the backyard, happened to hear what Yang Ning said. She hurriedly stepped forward and pulled Yang Ning's sleeve. She whispered in Yang Ning's ear: "Brother Yang, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are when you are not a householder. How can you do that?" Giving this slave so much money is not a matter for just one or two people."

Yang Ning smiled slightly. It was so much, but it was not much. To be honest, the monthly money the inner palace gave to each palace maid was already pitifully small. Even if she doubled it, it was actually not much. In this day and age. If you want to win people's hearts quickly, you can't do it without money. What's more, I am definitely "rich" now.

"It's okay. Don't worry about the money. I'll find a solution. By the way, Ling'er has been settled." Yang Ning asked.

Han Yuniang was very smart despite her young age. She gave Yang Ning a word of advice and said no more. She knew that it might arouse Yang Ning's resentment. "It's settled. Follow the instructions of the elder brother and give it to Ling'er. My sister has arranged the best place to live. Next to the back garden and next door to the eldest brother." Han Yuniang naturally knew about the relationship between Shui Ling and Yang Ning.

Yang Ning said with satisfaction: "Very good, Yu Niang. From now on, when I'm not around, you can spend more time with Ling'er. You and Ling'er are close in age. I believe you two can get along."

Han Yuniang said playfully: "Brother Yang, do you need to say more? Sister Ling'er is so beautiful. She is gentle and kind. She gets along very well with Yuniang."

After whispering a few words with Han Yuniang, Yang Ning remembered that there were still a group of palace maids standing in the courtyard below the stage. He turned around and said: "Okay. These are the three points we want to talk about. I hope everyone can stay at our house in the future. We live in harmony here and live happily." After saying that, he said to Han Yuniang: "YuNiang, please arrange the residence of these people. Regarding the management assignment, you can ask Ling'er. She once stayed in the palace and is familiar with these. Understand."

Han Yuniang agreed and began to allocate the residences of these palace ladies. Since Han Shanlin and she had already known what kind of reward Yang Ning had received from the emperor, they had prepared residences for these palace ladies.

Everyone else followed Han Yuniang to the backyard. Yang Ning only stopped the older palace maid.

"I don't know how to call this sister." Yang Ning said, but her eyes looked at her up and down.

Although the palace maid was wearing an ordinary palace maid's outfit, she could not conceal her beauty and dignity. She did not show a trace of panic under Yang Ning's gaze. She just lowered her head slightly and said, "I don't dare to call you this for my father-in-law. I, my slave, Chen Xiang, have met your father-in-law." His voice was like an oriole coming out of the valley, clear and sweet. His conversation was also decent and generous. This made Yang Ning even more curious.

"Oh. Your name is Agarwood. The beauty of the country is the beauty of the country. You are indeed as your name suggests." Yang Ning complimented casually.

The palace maid named Chenxiang frowned imperceptibly. Her voice was a bit colder. "Agarwood has a humble body and the appearance of a willow tree. I don't dare to praise her so much as my father-in-law."

Yang Ning couldn't help but smile. Originally, he wanted to have a good relationship with this agarwood. Unexpectedly, he was regarded as a frivolous person. No wonder. In this era, many eunuchs are more perverted "sex maniacs" than normal men. .

Yang Ning straightened her expression. "Miss Chenxiang, I don't know which palace you belong to in the inner palace and what position you hold."

Chen Xiang hesitated for a moment and then replied: "Returning to my father-in-law. Originally, the slaves in the palace did not serve any master alone. They were female officials working in the Shang Palace Bureau."

"Female officer." Yang Ning was a little surprised. He thought that the maids given by the emperor this time were all the maidservants with the lowest status in the palace. But he didn't expect that there was actually a female officer from the inner palace among them.

The female official organization of the Ming harem was independent of the twenty-four eunuch yamen. It was divided into "six bureaus and one department". The six bureaus were Shang Gong, Shang Yi, Shang Fu, Shang Shi, Shang Bed, and Shang *. They were respectively responsible for internal affairs. The palace's etiquette, commandments, feather battles, food and clothing, etc. are in charge of the six bureaus; the first department is called the palace upright. It is in charge of inspecting the palace and issuing orders and punishments.

Female officials are selected separately for the royal family. It is much more strict than the selection of ordinary beautiful women. In addition to appearance, they also need to be intelligent, clever, and well-educated. Although their status in the palace is lower than that of concubines, it is higher than that of ordinary palace maids. The Ming Dynasty During the Hongwu period, there were more than three hundred female officials in the harem. But by the time of Longqing, the number of female officials had been greatly reduced. There were only a few dozen in the entire inner palace. So Yang Ning was naturally surprised that Longqing gave him one. Female officer. And looking at this female officer's age, she also serves as the Shang Palace Bureau, the head of the six bureaus. Her status in the female officer system is definitely not low.

"Miss Chenxiang, since you are a female official in the palace, you shouldn't be rewarded so easily. I don't know..."

"Going back to the father-in-law, there is actually a little bit of selfishness on the part of the slave. I have been in the palace for a long time, and I am getting older. I am even more tired of the complicated and trivial things in the Shang Palace Bureau. So when I heard that the emperor wanted to reward the palace maid to my father-in-law, the slave said I asked my father-in-law to take charge of this matter, so I was able to leave the palace and come here. I will ask my father-in-law to take care of him in the future. Chen Xiang will serve his father-in-law wholeheartedly." Chen Xiang replied smoothly.

"Oh, that's right." Yang Ning thought thoughtfully, then smiled and said: "Since you have this intention, it's just right. You have also seen that our inner house still lacks an experienced maid. Yu Niang She is still young and may not be qualified for the job. How about our family entrust this job to you. Since you have been the maid of honor for many years, I think you will definitely be qualified for this job."
Chapter completed!