61 Two announcements and a rio (1/2)

Two announcements were released by the palace before the day ended.The women in the harem will be auctioned off to the highest bidder tomorrow and the empress dowager will be conducting job interviews the day after.Both events will be open to the public. Anybody can bid for the women and anybody can vie for the job openings.

The announcement literally floored the entire kingdom.Auctioned the women in the harem? And what the hell were job interviews?

They soon learned about the latter when about a thousand servants and eunuchs were forcibly herded out of the palace under the stern eye of Yi Hai and the palace guards. The empress dowager had anticipated any objections or the possibility of looting by putting the palace under strict martial law. Guards were posted in the kitchen, the store rooms for supplies and the palace's treasures, and other buildings inside the large compound.

Luckily, the order for their job termination came so sudden that the servants and eunuchs were kicked out of the palace grounds before they even realized what was happening. Yi Hai then ordered a palace lockdown, posting guards at the gates and only letting those with legitimate business with the palace to enter.

The empress dowager struck at such lightning speed the ruling families were caught unawares. They didn't even have time to plan a response before the prime minister and his daughter were put in jail and the rest of the ministers placed under house arrest.

The impending auction rattled the collective teeth of the ruling families. Majority of the women in the harem were their daughters and sisters and to see them sold off like slaves on a block was not only infuriating but an insult to their dignity. They couldn't even plead to the emperor since the palace was closed and on lockdown. And they'd rather hollow out their own chests than beg that offensive whore who caused all of this for leniency.

The relationship between the ruling families and the imperial court had ceased to be smooth sailingafter Gu Fang showed his utter disdain for them by choosing the son he fathered by his maid as his heir rather than the child of his consort, who was the daughter of a duke.

It could be said that Gu Fang's disdain for his social class started when he accidentally impregnated his maid. He didn't say anything to anybody about what had happened but he knew it had been ****. He was drunk and the girl, Wei Ling, had cried and fought him bitterly. She was only fourteen years old.

Gu Fang was the product of his privileged background but his grandparents on his mother's family had been adamant about teaching him one thing: you do not take away something that the other person values. It was obviously an ironic saying since his grandparents were vicious hunters but he had lived with that code since he was young and it stuck with him throughout his adulthood.

He thought he had forgotten what it meant until Wei Ling, who had refused all his presents and the title he had wanted to give her. He later learned from one of the eunuchs that she had been betrothed to her childhood sweetheart, who later joined the army when Wei Ling broke the engagement. Wei Ling discovered she was pregnant but refused to tell her sweetheart the truth. She later died giving birth to Gu Fang's child, brokenhearted and destroyed. By him, Gu Fang, the emperor of Yuqui.

What he did to Wei Ling sobered Gu Fang up. His child, Gu Sheng, enabled him to become the much better man he would later become. But it had cost him something, that incident with Wei Ling. He told his mother he wanted to dissolve the harem. His mother didn't even bat an eyelash. The old empress dowager, however, was much more sophisticated than her son.Unlike him, she perceived the trouble his reign would have if the harem was disbanded. The harem had a very unique and special role in reining in the greed of the ruling class. It enabled the king to pretend to share his power with them and enabled them to pretend they have the power to take down the king when they wanted to.

But Gu Fang threatened to disrupt this balance by disbanding the harem. Mother and son had a serious talk. Gu Fang, for the first time after the **** happened, told his mother the truth. The empress dowager didn't say anything, just put her hand on her son's broad shoulder in silent comfort. But she was adamant that the harem not be dissolved.So Mo Chuo entered the harem and was given the title royal concubine more for political compromise than anything else.

Meanwhile, Gu Fang, who was well aware of the sexual history of the newest member of his harem, visited Mo Chuo only once. It was such a distasteful experience, he never called on any of his women to ever serve him again. After that, his mind turned to war and the harem languished for lack of attention.

And now, not only was the harem being disbanded, its inhabitants were also being sold off in a public auction no less, presided over by that foreign-born whore who should have been dead, gleefully bringing this dishonor to them as clearly as a slap on the face.

The announcement for the auction was for ten the following morning. As early as six, however, the crowd was close to bursting in the square where the auction will take place. Presiding over it was auctioneers Ming He and Sons, who were unwillingly pressed into doing so by a private message sent to them by the empress dowager. Refuse or Ming He's daughter, who holds a low position in the harem, will be sold off to a whore house. There really was nothing to say after a threat like that.

Fifteen minutes to ten, the carriages that carried the empress dowager and the emperor arrived. Yi Hai and about one thousand palace guards surrounded them. The onlookers gasped when the empress dowager got off the car and they finally saw her face.

She was very young and tall for a girl. Her face was white and her eyes black. Although she was dressed richly, the style of her clothes was a bit weird. She was wearing a red flowing robe that reached the ground. What made it different was that the robe was cinched on the waist yet opened from the waist down, exposing the long legs encased in a pair of slim pants made in a more rougher and stiffer material than the robe.

And unlike other women who dress their hair in elaborate styles, the empress dowager simply chose to bind her long length of black hair with a red ribbon threaded through the rich locks in a beautiful criss-cross pattern. She was breathtaking and the crowd's eyes were continuously glued to her even when she took her place in a dais erected besides the platform.

Gu Sheng, who looked pale and somewhat unnerved by the presence of the crowd, took his seat beside her. The empress dowager held his hand, the warmth of her skin seeming to calm him.

At exactly ten, Ming He, a small thin man with a goatee, welcomed the crowd and gave a little speech. Then the auction started.

First on the block was a woman of about twenty. She was dressed elaborately, with jewels in her hair and she looked somewhat pretty yet scared.She kept darting angry looks at the unsmiling people on the dais, her eyes shooting hatred at both of them.

”I bid five taels of silver for the young miss,” a middle-aged man who looked like a farmer started the ball rolling by calling out his bid. Ming He almost groaned out loud. The young woman was the daughter of the minister of agriculture who wasn't able to leave his house because the emperor placed him under house arrest. How dare this upstart who looked like he couldn't afford to buy a mattress bid for this socially reputable young woman? This was unthinkable, Ming He raged in silence.

”Five taels of silver?” Ming He said scornfully. ”Are you insane? That's not even enough to buy a meal at an expensive restaurant.”

”I'm not buying an expensive meal. I'm buying the leavings of a dead man, even if he was an emperor,” the man pointed out. ”Why should I offer more money for a used tire?”

Ming He's face darkened. He was about to snap back an answer when another man shouted.

”Seven taels of silver for the miss!”

”Ten!”

”Fifteen!”

”Twenty!”

”Thirty!”

The words rang out louder one after the other. Ming He's face was now blackened with rage. His gaze veered towards the dais. The empress dowager had a bored look on her face. The emperor's eyes were closed as if he was asleep. Ming He realized he was on his own, presiding over a raucous and out of control exercise designed to humiliate the families.

”Five thousand taels of silver!” suddenly, a strong and angry voice overrode the clamor.

Ming He looked towards the direction of the voice and saw a young man dressed in blue robes with his right hand raised up. The young woman on the platform suddenly gave a tearful sniff, her eyes locking with that of the young man. Ming He finally recognized him. The elder son of the minister of agriculture and the young lady's brother.

Before Ming He could say anything, another voice was heard above the tumult.

”Ten thousand.”

Everybody's head whipped towards the speaker.It was an older man with graying hair. He sat on a tree trunk, lazily looking at the crowd beneath his feet.

The young man stared at his rival, a storm of anger in his eyes.

”Thirty thousand!” he shouted angrily.

”One hundred thousand taels of silver,” the old man countered with a smile.

The crowd gasped. One hundred thousand taels of silver for a woman who not only had lost her bloom but her virginity as well. Was this old man an idiot? The lady's brother, on the other hand, blanched, his panicked eyes turning to the man standing silently beside him. The young man tried to say something but the other man angrily cut him off. The young man's expression turned ugly.He turned to Ming He and yelled defiantly:

”Five hundred thousand taels of silver!”

The crowd went wild.