Transmigrated Female Official

103 Bought randomly from a roadside stall (Seeking first-time orders)

Just as the selection process was in full swing, Luo Lifei was about to leave the palace to purchase supplies for the clothing department. Seeing the two long queues at the palace gate, her gaze involuntarily began to search...

After searching for a long time, they still couldn't find Chu Yilin. Then they saw Li Yan registering the people who had come to Enxuan one by one, so Luo Lifei moved closer to Li Yan and whispered, "Excuse me, sir, how many people have gone in already?"

Li Yan glanced at Luo Lifei, noticing that she was also dressed in an executive officer's uniform, and replied indifferently, "There are sixty people now."

“Oh…” she nodded, then asked, “Could I take a look at the list of people who went in before?” Seeing Li Yan frown, as if she was about to refuse, she made up another reason: “I just want to see if my brother came.”

Are you from out of town?

"Uh...yeah."

"Showing you the list is definitely not an option. If you mention your brother's name, I might reluctantly help you look it up."

Hearing Li Yan say this, Luo Lifei laughed awkwardly twice. She was a genuine Yancheng native, and her brothers had all joined the sect, so there was no way they would come to pay their respects. If she mentioned Chu Yilin's name, she was worried that Li Yan was from Guangrentang and might expose her, so in the end she could only bite the bullet and make up a name to cover it up: "Zhang... Wu! Yes, my brother's name is Zhang Wu."

Li Yan glanced at her suspiciously, then casually flipped through the registered names, reading them quickly, and said, "Zhang Wu has already gone in."

"Huh?!" Luo Lifei's jaw almost dropped to the ground.

"What do you mean? I already said your brother has gone in. As for whether he's been selected, we'll have to wait and see what the palace announces later."

Luo Lifei was both amused and exasperated by her own actions. She quickly replied, "Okay, thank you."

After purchasing all the necessary items for the clothing store, Luo Lifei wandered alone in the city, still feeling a tightness in her chest.

……

Chu Qingluo went straight to the Chu family after leaving the palace. Her first priority was to find Chu Yilin and ask him what he was really thinking.

"Oh, Third Sister, is today's selection over?" Chu Yilin said casually when he saw her arrive.

Seeing his indifferent expression, Chu Qingluo asked, "Second Brother, have you thought of a solution?"

"No, what countermeasures could I possibly have?"

"Quickly find someone to pretend to be a beginner."

"Ugh—don't even mention it, those girls are just too terrifying. I seriously suspect that once I'm in, I'll never be able to get out."

Chu Qingluo looked at him with a mixture of amusement and exasperation: "Well, that's still better than being a male servant to the Eighth Princess, isn't it?"

Chu Yilin shrugged nonchalantly: "That's not necessarily true."

Chu Qingluo was slightly taken aback. She tilted her head and stared at him, asking, "Have you suddenly become vain... or are you just giving up entirely?"

"Look at what you're saying." Chu Yilin was too lazy to argue with her and directly gave her the order to leave: "My lady, you should go do whatever you need to do. Don't worry about my affairs."

"Tsk." Chu Qinglu rolled her eyes at him: "No good deed goes unpunished."

As soon as Chu Qingluo returned to Ningxiang Courtyard, Jiuwei told her that Luo Lifei had arrived and was waiting for her in the main hall.

Logically, the executor shouldn't be able to leave the palace yet at this hour. Why is Luo Lifei here? Without thinking further, she hurried to the main hall.

Upon meeting, Chu Qingluo asked, "Shouldn't you be in the palace right now?"

Luo Lifei nodded: "I came out today to buy some things for the Clothing Pavilion. When I passed by the Famous Clothing Shop, I asked Gongsun Yu for the Chu family's address and then came here."

"What a rare guest! Is there something you need?"

"No! It's nothing." Luo Lifei finished speaking and then gave an awkward smile. "I just saw some trinkets on the street that I thought were pretty good, so I brought them for you to play with... Consider it a thank you for those delicious pickled treats." After saying that, she took out a wooden box and placed it on the table.

"This is?"

"Open it and take a look. I just bought it randomly."

"Why are you being so polite?" Chu Qingluo smiled as she picked it up and opened it. Inside was an oval-shaped stone inkstone, dark brown in color. "Wow—, it's so beautiful!" She held the inkstone in her hand, feeling its smooth and delicate texture, and couldn't help but say, "You really are something, suddenly being so polite to me like this, I'm not used to it."

"It's just something I bought casually on the street, it's not worth much."

Perhaps because she wasn't good at expressing friendliness, Luo Lifei's tone was still stiff. Fortunately, Chu Qingluo already knew her very well, so she smiled and said, "Then I'll accept it, thank you."

"...The imperial selection process has begun today, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has already started."

"Then...your brother..."

Seeing Luo Lifei's hesitant expression, Chu Qingluo sighed helplessly, "Sigh, it seems he's also planning to participate."

"……oh."

Although Luo Lifei didn't react in any particular way, Chu Qingluo still thought that she had special feelings for Chu Yilin. So she said, "Why don't we go sit in my yard? I made a swing there."

"Um... since you put it that way, I'll go take a look."

Seeing Luo Lifei's go-with-the-flow attitude, Chu Qingluo wanted to laugh.

She first let Luo Lifei try out the swing, then went to the small kitchen to make some fruit tea, and whispered a few words to Jiuwei as she did so...

Not long after, Chu Yilin appeared in Ningxiang Courtyard. "Third Sister, I heard you've made some new delicious drinks?" As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw Chu Qingluo and Luo Lifei sitting on the stone bench. "Ahem, Luo Lifei is here too?"

"Second brother, you've come at just the right time. This fruit tea is something I just developed."

Chu Qingluo had deliberately sent the Nine-Tailed Fox to the Bamboo Green Courtyard to spread the news that she had made a new drink, just to lure Chu Yilin, the foodie, out of his cave. She smiled and invited Chu Yilin to sit down, while also paying special attention to Luo Lifei's expression.

Luo Lifei ignored him, but shifted her body awkwardly.

Chu Yilin sat down in the empty space between the two of them and took a deep sniff. "It smells so good." He then poured himself a glass. After looking at it, smelling it, and tasting it, he said, "The color is vibrant, the aroma is enticing, and the taste is sweet."

Chu Qingluo chuckled and said, "This isn't some kind of tribute, there's no need to savor it so carefully. Just drink it down in big gulps."

Chu Yilin, however, didn't seem to care: "Even tribute items aren't like this."

"Okay, whatever you say." Seeing that Luo Lifei didn't say anything, Chu Qingluo said to her again, "The color of your rouge looks very nice today."

Hearing Chu Qingluo say this, Chu Yilin also took a closer look and asked, "This color... could it be the rouge I gave you?"

"No!" Luo Lifei denied instinctively. "...Of course not."

Luo Lifei looked very guilty, which made Chu Qingluo suspect that the rouge must be the box that Chu Yilin gave her.