Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress
Chapter 1352 - 1359: Fight Fire with Fire (3)

Chapter 1352: Chapter 1359: Fight Fire with Fire (3)

"So, for the young ladies who wish to enter the palace as the Emperor’s companions, not only must you possess a noble character, you must also abandon the pretense of treating money as dung. Of course, you must also have a sufficient dowry to qualify."

Miss Ning, after hearing this, trembled and said, "Thank you for the guidance, Empress Dowager. Your servant has learned her lesson. May I inquire of the Empress Dowager, how much in terms of a dowry is needed to accompany the Emperor into the palace?"

Cai Wei laughed and said, "I am the Empress, and I married the Emperor with over a million taels in my dowry. Of course, the future concubines cannot be compared to me. For daughters from noble families with pure backgrounds and dignified demeanors, those with a dowry of nine hundred thousand taels can become Imperial Nobles; eight hundred thousand to be Empresses; seven hundred thousand to be Imperial Concubines; six hundred thousand to be consorts; five hundred thousand to be Zhao Yi; four hundred thousand to be Nobles; three hundred thousand to be Beauties; two hundred thousand to be Talents; one hundred thousand to be Chosen Attendants; fifty thousand to be Virtuous Women. Below that, you would be a palace maid. If your family lacks the funds but you still wish to accompany the Emperor, you must start as a palace maid. However, if you prove yourself and gain the Emperor’s favor, it is not impossible to rise in rank!"

After hearing Cai Wei’s speech, Miss Ning felt her heart go cold. Her parents only prepared a dowry of thirty thousand taels of silver for her. With such a meager sum, she couldn’t even qualify for the lowest status of Virtuous Woman. Before she could respond, Empress Dowager Mo angrily said, "This is absurd. By your account, the ranking of the Imperial Harem is no different from the sale of titles and offices. The future concubines could disregard their background as long as they came from wealthy families, allowing them to hold high positions. This is utterly ridiculous and laughable!"

Cai Wei glanced at Empress Dowager Mo and said coolly, "Mother should not take things out of context. I have never said that we would not consider the backgrounds and conduct of the future concubines. It is only that, on top of their backgrounds, conduct, and appearances, we also require a certain amount of dowry, which is not too much to ask. The ladies present here all come from families with hundreds of thousands in their estate. To allocate a dowry of one or two hundred thousand to their daughters will not hurt their primordial qi. It’s all a matter of whether they are willing to part with it or not!"

Empress Dowager Mo replied with a cold smile, "Back when I entered the palace, I brought only eighty thousand taels as my dowry and yet became the Empress of the Great Jin Nation for more than twenty years. I’ve never heard of any consort in the entire Imperial Harem who ascended in rank due to a generous dowry."

Cai Wei spoke unabashedly, "Mother, please don’t mention the past. When you were in the Middle Palace, you were bullied for more than twenty years by Jin Guifei, who came from humble beginnings, and not even your legitimate son could become The Prince. Who knows if it wasn’t because of your too thin dowry? If you also had a dowry as rich as a country, I suppose Jin Guifei wouldn’t have dared to bully you to such an extent, and the Emperor wouldn’t have had to suffer so much with you all those years!"

Empress Dowager Mo was publicly humiliated by her daughter-in-law and became so angry that her vision went black, almost fainting. She steadied herself on the table to keep from falling, but she clutched her chest, unable to speak.

Hong Xiuju, unwilling to accept this, said, "Empress Dowager, when Jin Guifei was favored in the past, she came from a low background with not a single copper coin in dowry, yet she was still favored for over twenty years, was she not?"

Cai Wei replied, "Jin Guifei and the Retired Emperor knew each other in their humble days and once took a blade for him. Such affection cannot be measured in money. If you had also helped the Emperor before you met him, you wouldn’t need any dowry now, nor any remarkable background, and would directly receive the Emperor’s favor!"

Upon hearing this, Miss Ning looked pale as she turned to her mother, eager to know how much dowry her mother could provide and what status it could bring her.

When Madam Ning heard Cai Wei’s words, she was already uneasy. Seeing her daughter looking at her, she sighed softly, shook her head slowly, and stood up to report: "Your Highness, my husband the Minister has always been an upright official, and our whole household relies solely on his modest salary and a few dowry manors to get by. We cannot afford the dowry Your Highness requests. Moreover, my daughter is frail as a willow, unfit to serve the Emperor. Let’s end the selection here. Your servant will take my daughter and we shall not dare to entertain any more foolish hopes."