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Chapter 1287 Great Beauty

Hong Tao was determined not to see waste, so many good houses were empty and had to be put to good use. So after a simple interior renovation, the Eastern Palace and the Ningshou Palace where the Empress Dowager lived became the royal library and treasure house.

There are rare editions of ancient books from various dynasties, including the complete collection of the Yongle Encyclopedia, as well as tribute gifts from various countries that increase year by year. We also collect the more precious and distinctive ones.

However, this huge library and treasure house is only open to the inner court, and all the collections are originals. If there is a need, the Hanlin Academy must submit a petition to the emperor himself, and only then can they enter to view or print copies under the supervision of the Cuju team. Copies can be taken away, but the collections are never loaned out.

According to Hong Tao's plan, when these palaces become dilapidated due to age, they will no longer be renovated. Instead, they will be directly demolished and rebuilt with stones, specifically for the collection of historical relics, which will be easier to prevent fire and moisture.

As for what to do with the Forbidden City, half of it is still preserved. Anyway, it is a symmetrical building with a central axis, and one half can be used to deduce the appearance of the other half. From the perspective of historical and cultural relics protection, there is basically no loss.

In fact, even if the Forbidden City was completely demolished, as long as the things in the Royal Library and the Treasure House were not lost or damaged, future generations would still be able to know the full picture, even clearer than if they had the real objects.

The reason why later generations tried so hard to dig up physical objects is that ancient documents have been almost completely lost, and they can only rely on physical objects to conduct historical research, or speculation.

Ruan Qing entered the palace in the 1620th year of Jingyang (19), and it has been exactly years since then. From the young age of to nearly now, although she has taken good care of herself and has a broad mindset and does not have anything to worry about, her eyebrows and waist have become like an old woman, and she cannot hide it.

Concubine Liu looked even older. She was less than 54 years old but her hair was mostly white and had fallen out. Her body, which was not very plump to begin with, became an old lady less than 1.5 meters tall and weighing less than 70 kilograms. If she stood with Hong Tao, they would look like a typical mother and son.

She herself might have known all this, so she simply converted to Taoism and spent all day practicing in her own palace. She would not show up unless summoned by the emperor.

It was precisely because the emperor's only two remaining concubines were old and past childbearing age that the court officials encouraged the selection of concubines again and again. And the standards became lower and lower as the emperor rejected more and more concubines.

At first, the family had to be a Han official with a clean record, but later the word "official" was simply dropped, and only a clean record was required. Later, the prefix "Han" was also dropped, and all ethnic groups in the mainland and overseas territories were allowed, as long as the family was clean.

Hong Tao estimated that if he continued to resist for a few more years, even his clean name would be gone. As long as a woman was of the best childbearing age, looked like a human being, and had no serious illness, she could enter the palace and abuse the emperor.

Unlike the pomp and circumstance of the emperor visiting the harem in movies and TV dramas, there was no crowd following him or loud singing. Hong Tao was accompanied only by Wang Chengen and a few guards. Carrying two gas lamps, he walked into the Yongshou Palace where Concubine Ruan lived with ease.

The only difference from usual days was that the area within 100 meters around Yongshou Palace was blocked by the Cuju team led by Flathead Brother. Most of them hid in the dark, and only Flathead and a team of people were guarding the door.

"Wow...! Turn on the lights so I can take a closer look!" Striding into the main hall, Hong Tao suddenly howled, his eyes wide open.

At this time, there were only two women in formal attire sitting at the table playing Monopoly chess in the main hall. When they saw the light outside, they stood up to greet it.

Ruan Shufei still looked the same as she did 20 years ago, with a short stature, skin that was neither white nor black, round eyes, round face, round nose, and thick hair braided into a braid that was as thick as a child's arm and hung behind her head. However, she gained a little weight over the years, and some crow's feet appeared at the corners of her eyes. It was not her that made Hong Tao lose his composure, but the woman across the table.

This woman was at least a head and a half taller than Concubine Ruan Shufei. She wore a colorful, geometric-patterned double-breasted robe, a silk pullover skirt underneath, and a tall pointed hat similar to the ones landlords wore when being criticized. The hat was inlaid with gems and gold and silver accessories, and had feathers on the top, making her already tall figure even taller.

Although the dress was a bit strange, it did not surprise the well-informed Hong Tao. According to the records of the Ministry of Rites, Kazakh women should wear different hats at different stages of life.

Before marriage, a small round hat with a flat top can be embroidered, feathered, or decorated. This pointed hat is the wedding dress for the bride. The bride's family status can be known by looking at the precious accessories on the hat, not the clothes.

Being tall is not an exaggeration. With the opening of more ports in the Ming Dynasty to the outside world, more and more people with different skin colors and appearances from all over the world have come. There are relatively tall women in Europe, Africa, and Persia.

There were two things that made Hong Tao scream out loud: her skin and her figure. Her skin was so white that it looked like mutton-fat jade under the light of the gas lamp, and it was even translucent. As the saying goes, a white complexion can hide a hundred uglinesses, and this skin color and figure alone can be called stunning, at least very rare.

Her appearance lived up to this gift from God. Her eyes were big and straight, not hollow but full of spirit. Her face was three-dimensional, very Persian-like, but not too angular. Except for her straight nose, it basically conformed to the aesthetics of East Asians.

Is it enough to just have a good complexion and good looks? No, Hong Tao has some unique requirements for women's appearance. Appearance comes last, as long as they are not ugly. The degree of skin moisture is at the top, and it must be elastic and delicate.

The most important thing is the body shape, the proportions must be right. A big body with short legs is not good, nor is it that the legs are too long and the body is too short; being too thin and looking like a skeleton is not good, nor is being too fat and looking bloated.

Moreover, the neck must be slender, the legs must be straight, the waist and hips should not be too wide or non-existent, and the chest must be obvious but not too big to appear cumbersome.

The good thing about this princess is that she meets the standards in all aspects. She doesn't need to take off her clothes, just stand up, and Hong Tao can judge her connotation from the outline of her dress with an almost accurate guess.

"Your concubine greets His Majesty the Emperor..." Although Hong Tao's sudden appearance and shouting made the Kazakh princess, who was a little uneasy when entering the palace for the first time, even more nervous, her chest was visibly heaving.

But she had good self-control, and even so she didn't forget to greet him, and she spoke Chinese. But she was too stumbling and mumbling, probably because she learned it at the last minute.

"Excuse me, excuse me... Come, come, sit down and talk. Can you understand what I am saying? That's good. Does Aisha have any meaning in your language?"

Hong Tao was very satisfied that she was nice-looking and could communicate. So he took the opportunity to sit down and held the princess' hand, and began to ask about her well-being and chat about family matters. At this time, Wang Chengen retreated to the door, winked at the accompanying Cuju players, and quietly slipped out.

(End of this chapter)