Lin Wan returned to the palace and followed her usual routine of eating, drinking and sleeping. On this particular evening, the Emperor did not summon her to his chambers, but there was no lack of excitement within the palace walls.

  It's none of Jiagui's business. Bai Xiuzhu was still smashing cups in her own palace.

  This matter had nothing to do with Lin Yu. However, on the second day's noon, a eunuch brought in a decree from Chang Le Palace into Jing Yue Pavilion.

  Lin Wan bowed respectfully and received the imperial edict, her face also not hiding a look of surprise, asking the eunuch: "Didn't the Empress Dowager only announce three noble consorts?"

  Eunuch Liu smiled and said: "In short, it's the Empress Dowager's intention. Young Master, hurry up and pack your things, and follow our family to go."

  Lin Wan looked at him tightly shut and didn't ask again. She raised her hand to instruct Chunxue and the others to dress herself up.

  Liu Taiping retreated to the outer hall with courtesy, and all the palace servants in the house couldn't hide their joy. Xiaogui stepped forward and said repeatedly: "The Empress Dowager actually summoned our young master, it must be that our young master has won the favor of the Empress Dowager..."

  The first snow silently looked at him for a moment, and Xiaogui immediately lowered his head, not daring to speak again.

  Lin Yantan said calmly: "The Empress Dowager's thoughts are not something we can fathom. If you dare to speak like this again, get out of Jingyue Pavilion."

  Everyone present knew about Lin Yurou's dignity and authority, knowing that she was a woman of her word, and for a moment, they all held their breath and didn't dare to speak.

  The first snow quietly stood behind her, dispersing Lin Yuan's hair for her to apply hair cream.

  After a moment, Chuxue's fingers paused in her hair, hesitating to ask: "Young Master... do you want to dress like the nobleman from yesterday?"

  Lin Wan paused slightly and said: "Forget it, just dress as you normally do."

  Lin Yan does not think that dressing plainly is a good idea.

  Jiaguiren deliberately tried to win the favor of Empress Dowager, but it was all for fame and fortune, where would there be any sincerity? As for Empress Dowager who had been in the palace for over 30 years, what kind of means hadn't she seen, what kind of person hadn't she met. Lin Yu didn't believe she couldn't see through this deliberate attempt.

  Actually, Lin Wan's thoughts about the Empress Dowager were also incomprehensible. She didn't understand why she had taken a liking to Jia Gui Ren, why she wanted to pass down the imperial concubine to serve her, and why she wanted to add one of her own.

  For now, we can only proceed with caution.

  Lin Wan quickly tidied up and followed Liu Taigong to Changle Palace.

  Arriving at Chang Le Palace, the one who came to greet her was still the same palace maid as yesterday. Lin Wan finally knew that her surname was He and the palace people called her Yun Piao Piao.

  Those who can get close to the Empress Dowager and gain her favor are all young people who followed her since they were young, whether in the Changle Palace or the East and West Six Palaces, no one dares to slack off. Lin Yu had secretly made up her mind about Ziyun.

  It's indeed too quiet after coming to the palace, it's said that being a high-ranking palace maid is prestigious, but all they do is deliver messages, which shows just how few servants there are in Chang Le Palace.

  Lin Wan gathered her thoughts and entered the grand hall, while Chunxue was led away by Zhiyun to wait.

  Inside the palace, there was a soft and gentle voice of a young woman. The three noble people had been summoned earlier than Lin Yu, and were now accompanying the Empress Dowager in conversation and laughter. After Lin Yu entered and took a glance, indeed, these three people were as calm and collected as they were yesterday.

  Jiaguiren and Wang Chengyi were both visibly shocked when they saw Lin Yuan, but their expressions quickly turned to annoyance. Lin Yuan knew from their reactions that they had not received any prior news of her visit to Chang Le Palace.

  It's also understandable that with so many opportunities to serve in front of the empress, who would want to add another competitor for themselves? This is the same logic as competing for imperial favor.

  Lin Wan knelt down to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager glanced at her briefly, noticing that she was wearing a palace attire with plum blossom embroidery in Xiangfei color, and nodded slightly for her to rise.

  Not a single word was spoken, no comment was made about her attire, and there was no discernible joy or anger in her eyes. This inexplicable coldness gave people an oppressive feeling. This is the majesty of an imperial consort.

  She took a deep breath before getting up. She only knew that she had been summoned to serve, but didn't know what exactly she was supposed to do. At this moment, the Empress Dowager was holding a Buddhist scripture and leaning against the couch, reading it. Jia Gui Ren was pouring tea into the teacup beside the Empress Dowager with a jade pot, and every time the Empress Dowager lifted her hand, she would cleverly hold up the teacup with both hands while reminding the Empress Dowager to be careful not to strain her eyes; Wang Cheng Yi was peeling pine nuts for the Empress Dowager on one side; Ye Cheng Yi was not in front of the Empress Dowager but rather at the northwest corner of the room, flipping through books in front of a multi-layered bookcase, presumably searching for Buddhist scriptures for the Empress Dowager.

  Lin Yan looked at them like this and felt that there was nothing left for her to do in this house.

  It's also wrong to stand stupidly by the wall. If you open your mouth and ask a question, Taohou will say "what am I doing", which is even more inappropriate. Serving people should be clever and have a sense of propriety to make the master comfortable, rather than asking the master what they should do.

  Lin Yu thought for a moment, then walked around to the back of the empress dowager's bed and winked at the palace maid who was holding the fan. The maid understood and handed the fan over to Lin Yu.

  Jia Gui Ren and Wang Cheng Yi couldn't help but look up at her in surprise. Fan-waving was the most tiring and thankless job, as one had to hold the fan with both hands in front of Feng Jia, keeping their arms raised all the time. Unless it was a palace maid who had been trained for years, no one could endure it for several hours. Moreover, this fan-waving task was done behind people's backs, and Empress Dowager couldn't see her, so why would she give up the opportunity to show her face on this rare visit to Chang Le Palace, just acting like a silent slave?

  Lin Wan silently picked up a fan with both hands and began to wave it slowly, exactly the same as the movement of the palace maid just now.

  Wang Chengyi curiously and secretly raised her eyes to glance at Lin Shi, looking at her movements, and couldn't help but exchange a smile with Jia Gui Ren. This Lin Shi seems to be really brainless! Looking at her wearing that bright-colored dress, I thought she was trying to show off, but looking at her actions now, it's more like she's really stupid. As a concubine serving the Empress Dowager here, you should serve better than the palace maid, but Lin Shi took over the palace maid's duties and did them exactly the same way, so what's the point of having you?

  The two of them secretly smiled to themselves in their hearts, and the effort they put into serving with their hands became even more vigorous. The one peeling the pine nuts peeled faster, and the one pouring tea lifted the spout higher.

  These four young girls each had their own thoughts, while the empress dowager lay lazily, her eyes fixed on the Buddhist scriptures.

  The empress had been reading for a long time, and the four of them had also been working for a long time. After a while, Ye Chengyi brought back two books. She knelt down in front of the bed, holding the books with both hands and presenting them to the empress without saying a word.

  Lin Wan couldn't help but narrow her eyes and look at her. Not speaking, huh? Jia Gui Ren and Wang Cheng Yi were both eager to speak up whenever they had the chance, thinking of ways to please Empress Dowager.

  The empress dowager raised her eyes to look at the book in Ye Chengyi's hand, "Hmm" and stretched out her hand to take another one from above, saying: "Find another copy of 'Miaofa Lianhua Jing'."

  Ye Chengyi went down at the sound. Lin Wan looked at the books on the top of the multi-treasured cabinet and was a bit tongue-tied. These ancient Buddhist scriptures were classified and placed in boxes, one volume at a time, and the boxes were placed on the three or four layers of the multi-treasured cabinet. Just by visual inspection, it could be seen that each box weighed at least as much as a bucket of water. In order to find the books needed by the empress dowager, they had to move them down one by one and put them back up again without making a single sound, nor could they drop anything. This kind of work was usually done by eunuchs.

  It seems that Ye Chengyi's life is not easy either. Jia Gui Ren and Wang Chengyi formed an alliance, picking up the most exposed and relaxed tasks, and Ye Chengyi was probably preempted by them, not knowing what to do, so he could only replace a eunuch's position.

  The empress put down the book in her hand and began to flip through the one Ye Chengyi had just brought back. As she stood up, Lin Wan saw that the empress had casually smoothed out her outer garment.

  Lin Yan immediately stopped fanning and walked to the side of the magpie-shaped brown glaze teapot, using tongs to add a piece of charcoal. She felt slightly relieved in her heart, that fan had been beating for more than an hour and was really tired enough, she had barely held on, and now she didn't have to beat it again.

  The empress dowager lifted her eyelids and glanced at Lin Wan, a smile appearing on her face for the first time. She opened her mouth and said to Lin Wan: "You've been fanning for half a day, you must be tired too, go down and help Ah Jia with dinner arrangements."

  Lin Wan hastily responded and bowed out of the palace gate. The three girls left in the palace looked at her back in disbelief - the Empress Dowager had hardly spoken all afternoon, even when Jiagui Ren and Wang Chengyi told interesting stories, she only murmured "uh-huh" twice. How did Lin Wan manage to get the Empress Dowager to say words of concern?

  A low-ranking concubine came to serve the empress dowager, does the empress dowager still care if she is tired or not?

  Could it be that the Empress Dowager really doted on her excessively?

  Lin Wan went to the side hall and found the head nurse of Chang Le Palace, telling her that the Empress Dowager wanted to pass on the evening meal. This task was considered completed. When she returned to the main hall again, the Empress Dowager said: "Alright, don't keep you all here today, go back."

  Then the four of them all backed out. The cloud mother had already led their respective palace maids to wait outside.

  Wang Chengyi and Jia Gui Ren led the way out of the palace, as usual chatting with each other. Ye Chengyi, who was lagging behind, bit his lip and walked up to Lin Yuan, saying: "The residence of the beautiful young master and the concubine are in the same direction, shall we travel together?"

  Lin Wan looked at her with respect, compared to the last time Jiagui's mouth-to-mouth sisterly affection was much more comfortable, and it wasn't good to refute. Ye Chengyi's face lit up with joy, and he followed Lin Wan together, but there was nothing to say along the way.

  Lin Yandan smiled faintly, thinking that Ye Xiu would take the opportunity to ask her questions and find out how she had won over the Empress Dowager. Unexpectedly, she didn't have such intentions.

  Lin Wan didn't think she was born taciturn, but one thing was certain - she was a calm and composed person. Just look at the two people in front of her, Jia Gui Ren and Wang Cheng Yi, who were talking while occasionally turning their heads to glance at her, clearly still harboring resentment towards her due to the Empress Dowager's previous words of concern, and because they had already fallen out with her, they didn't dare ask.

  Ye Xiu Xin's actions were just to show that she wanted to get along with Lin Wan. Lin Wan did not object and even somewhat agreed with this alliance, and in the future they would often come to Chang Le Palace, Jia Gui Ren and the two of them had already formed a faction, being alone was not good.