"Did you hear me?"
Shao Chen stared at her for a few minutes with an open mouth.
"Ah … I didn't," he replied after successfully processing the question and remembering who the girl was.
The girl was a bit wondered by the pause Shao Chen made but she didn't mention it and started repeating her answer, "I said I only signed up myself because of my mom. I have never been interested in becoming the emperor's property."
"Emperor's property? Why do we have to be like that?" Shao Chen asked in confusion. If he thought about it again, he realized that he did not know anything about the harem. In fact, the first time he had ever heard the term harem was from the Jiang sisters.
The girl stared at him in disbelief. She wanted to answer but Shao Chen's turn had come.
"What is your name?" the guard dressed in red asked with a deep voice. He stood on a stone platform and several sheets of paper laid on the platform table.
Shao Chen was still looking at the two elders in luxurious clothes with mouth hanging open. Saliva which pooled in his open mouth almost dripped if the guard did not shout at him.
"WHAT IS YOUR NAME, MISS?"
Shao Chen immediately swallowed the saliva. "Ah … ha?"
The guard almost lost his patience but still repeated the question.
"Shao Chen." Finally, Shao Chen answered.
"How old are you?"
"18" It was decided by the Jiangs after discussing it for a long time.
The guard wrote everything onto the paper and then turned to the two noblemen. They scanned Shao Chen from head to toe before nodding as confirmation.
"You are admitted. Please wait inside." The guard pointed at the building behind him which was rented only for this registration.
Shao Chen said nothing and went straight to the entrance. His eyes were still staring at the two noblemen with such a passion for money until they felt very uneasy.
"What are you doing stopping at the entrance like this? Come on!" The girl who was standing behind Shao Chen and also was admitted to the harem immediately pulled Shao Chen's hand and went inside the building.
Shao Chen reluctantly took his eyes off from his target then walked in
The building was only filled with 10 girls including her and Shao Chen. She was quite shocked because she did not expect that only 10 people were admitted from so many girls who were queuing up until they got their turn.
'How high level was the emperor girl's type?' she thought but didn't put it into words.
She pulled Shao Chen, who was still sad as he lost the two noblemen that had the potential to become the source of his money, to the empty seats in the corner. She sat down with a gloomy face.
They did not speak until Shao Chen managed to give up the chance and reminded himself about his more important revenge. He then turned to the girl who was looking down, contemplating something.
"You look sad."
The girl was a bit startled before forcing a smile. "I don't want to go into the harem. It's just that, I'm already 20 years old and my mom has been hooking me up with a lot of men but I rejected all of them because I still didn't want to get married. My mom had been so frustrated by this so, when she heard about the harem registration, she immediately forced me to sign up. I wish I did not pass the screening but unfortunately, I passed."
Shao Chen nodded. He did not understand the feelings of being forced because he had never been forced by anyone so he did not give any comment. After all, he also did not know how to comfort someone.
The girl laughed bitterly and tried to forget her sadness.
"You're Shao Chen, right? I am Feng Meifeng." The girl reached out her hand.
Shao Chen nodded then accepted the hand.
"You asked me why do we have to be emperor's property, right?"
Shao Chen frowned. "Do I?"
Feng Meifeng laughed. "You didn't remember?"
Shao Chen was 100 percent sure that he had forgotten about it so he nodded. "I have a bad memory," he explained.
"I see. Too bad. Even though your face is so pretty."
Shao Chen was not happy at all with the compliment because he was a man but he was happy that the result of the Jiang sisters' effort was praised.
"I surprised that you were asking about that. Don't you understand the meaning of entering the harem?"
"I don't know what harem is," Shao Chen replied honestly.
Feng Meifeng was amazed to hear that. Usually, people did not dare to do something they did not understand properly.
"Harem is the place where women all over the kingdom were gathered to comfort the emperor. if you are favored by the emperor, you can be promoted to be his concubine or even empress if you are lucky enough," Feng Meifeng explained as simply as possible after considering Shao Chen's intelligence.
Shao Chen was shocked to hear that. Now he understood why only women could enter the harem. There was one thing that was bothering him now.
"Should we serve the emperor in bed too?" he asked cautiously.
Feng Meifeng's face turned bright red. She had never met a girl who spoke so bluntly, let alone about activities in bed.
She nodded shyly as an answer.
A thunderbolt struck Shao Chen. He was too shocked and his face turned pale.
He was used to dealing with women when it came to activity in bed but of course not with the same sex. With his simple brain, he believed that humans could only have sex with the opposite sex. So, he was afraid that if the emperor got on his bed to have that kind of activity with him, his identity would be exposed.
'This should not happen! I have to take my revenge. I can't be found before that!'
Assuming that Shao Chen was afraid of losing his virginity as a girl with someone he did not love, Feng Meifeng comforted him. "Take it easy. There must be a lot of girls in the harem. If you did not catch the emperor's attention, he won't notice you."
"Are you sure?" Shao Chen hoped what she said is the truth.
Feng Meifeng nodded confidently. She also intended to act like that so that the emperor won't notice her existence.
Shao Chen sighed in relief.
They fell silent again. Shao Chen was busy with his thought and repeated everything that needed to remember and pay attention for when he arrived at the palace. He did this activity several times a day as the Jiang sisters had suggested so that he would not forget other important things that had nothing to do with money so easily.
Before he forgot, he added a note to himself that he should not catch the emperor's attention dozens of times.
When he returned to his surroundings, several soldiers had ordered them to move into the horse carriages. They would head to the palace.