Seeing the seriousness on her face, Ms.Luo didn’t tease any further. She said directly, "Someone from the county yamen had a conversation with Lord Land Officer. I happened to see this when I went to visit my mother-in-law. I overheard that Lord Land Officer was told to gather all the young ladies and young wives in the village. They said it was for a selection process."
"What did you just say?" Yang Chuxia frowned, then turned to Ye Zi’an, "Is that how the selection process works? Why would they come to the village? Shouldn’t they find eligible women in the village and take them to the town for a few rounds of selection, then to the county?"
Ye Zi’an also found this strange but said nothing more.
"The traditional selection process is certainly not , and the selection would not take place in the entirety of Great Zhou." Ye Zi’an thought about how Ms. Luo and the others didn’t fully understand, so he pulled Yang Chuxia aside and spoke softly, "Regardless of whether they were selecting palace maids or consorts, they would pick from the offspring of officials, whether they were from the County Governor’s house, to the Prime Minister’s house, or even to the noble houses. The chosen ones would become consorts, and those not chosen would become palace maids. This time, however, I heard that the selection was carried out across all of Great Zhou."
"But didn’t they say last time that the imperial edict would only reach Funan at the end of August? Even if it extends to Quanya, it should be in September."
Ye Zi’an thought for a moment, "I guess we’ll be summoned in a bit. Don’t go out yet. Let me go ask Mu Shaoling first."
"That might be better." Yang Chuxia nodded, "This matter is too weird. Why are the young wives also involved?"
She thought to herself, could it be that the Emperor’s desperation had reached the extent that as long as a woman was beautiful, he wouldn’t care whether she was married or not?
While Ye Zi’an was preparing to talk to Mu Shaoling, Mu Shaoling came by.
"I just received news." Mu Shaoling said as soon as he entered, "Let’s go take a look at the situation."
"You don’t know what’s going on either?"
Mu Shaoling shook his head, "The message Linhao told me when he came back from the village and the information I received were conflicting. I’m afraid someone’s trying to reap the rewards quickly, and going off on their initiative."
"Well, in that case, let’s go take a look."
Speaking of which, Yang Chuxia and her party prepared to head to the village. Halfway there, they met Yang Dayong, who was coming over with a message.
"Uncle Dayong, is everyone from the village at the entrance?"
Yang Dayong nodded, "Almost. My father is still ringing the gong." Seeing that Ms. Luo was also following them, he didn’t ask how they knew.
"How many people came looking for my granduncle?" Yang Chuxia asked.
"Four? Didn’t my aunt say there were three?"
Yang Dayong replied, "Another one came later - an old woman."
Yang Chuxia felt more and more strange about all this. She looked back at Ye Zi’an and Mu Shaoling, who were calm, and decided not to say anything.
When they arrived at the village entrance, sure enough, Lord Land Officer was still ringing the gong. Behind him, two people were seated with two bailiffs standing guard by their sides.
Then they heard Land Officer Yang shout, "Men, and old women, step to one side! Wives with children over five years old, stand to one side, as well as girls under twelve. The rest of you line up and stand in order."
"Lord Land Officer, why are we lining up?" Yang Lichun had married Li Anshun from the village, who was Auntie Li’s son. She was among the crowd and asked.