Then her gaze settled on Lin Wan sitting in the last row corner, smiling and saying: "I heard that His Majesty got a wonderful person last night."
Lin Wan went up to the queen, made a deep bow and knocked her head on the ground three times. This was the etiquette for meeting the empress for the first time, but she was excused from serving tea. The empress looked at her twice, nodded slightly, and said: "You were busy last night, and you came to Changxin Palace early today to pay your respects. Your virtue is not lacking. Since you have accepted the favor, you must serve the emperor with all your heart in the future, and get along well with your sisters. We are all one family, and we should live in harmony."
The queen was indeed virtuous and magnanimous, able to smile so warmly while watching the concubines fling themselves at her husband. However, Lin Yin couldn't be bothered with whether the queen lived a painful or happy life, as long as she didn't oppose herself.
She lowered her eyebrows and knocked her head, saying "I obey the queen's teachings", and the ceremony of meeting the queen was over. After bowing to the queen, she still had to meet the high-ranking ladies below. Rong Fei had just seen her, Xiang Fei didn't come, and next were a group of big and small concubines, no matter what their rank was, they were all higher than herself.
The position of Zhaoyi was empty, and Lin Wan knew that there was a Left Zhaoyi Wei in the palace. However, she had heard that Wei had fallen seriously ill several years ago and had been bedridden ever since, unable to recognize anyone. She was being taken care of by the palace staff just to prolong her life. This Wei Zhaoyi also had some rumors circulating in the palace, with people saying that the Emperor treated her very well. Even though she was on the verge of death and couldn't wake up, he ordered people to take good care of her and not mistreat her at all.
Women of such age and high status in the palace were all made imperial consorts or concubines by the emperor when he was still a prince, which gave them some dignity compared to others. However, it is extremely rare for them to still be favored at this point.
Zhaoyi moved down, occupying two of the eight positions from the second rank. Zhao Shuyuan was a highly favored person in previous years, but now she is no longer as radiant as before, yet still receives the emperor's favor. The luckiest one is that during those most glorious two years, she gave birth to the Second Princess Longning, and afterwards even though she had days without imperial favor, her life was still better than others.
Wang Shurong was a taciturn person, she was the emperor's first woman, older than the empress, with an ordinary appearance and no children, these years have not been favored, just running to Empress Dowager in Changle Palace all day long, finally due to serving the empress dowager with merit and seniority, got a second-grade title. Perhaps the long-term lack of favor had worn away her temper, she was very gentle, nodded slightly and let Lin Yuan get up.
She, the Rong Gui Pin of Chu family, was a stunningly beautiful woman. When Lin Yin paid her respects, she raised an eyebrow and hummed softly, revealing her haughty attitude without a doubt. Lin Yin silently lamented in her heart, thinking that in the past, she had been in a similar position, playing tricks on her subordinates and secretly enjoying their humble and obedient appearance. But now, she too had to cater to others' vanity.
Alas, one must lower their head under another's eaves. Rong Gui Fei is a person extremely favored by the Emperor, enjoying imperial grace and power; who dares to offend her? That Xiang Imperial Consort is even more extreme, not giving any face to the Empress herself, let alone how she would treat others. Fine, she is willing to lower herself and play it small, only hoping that these high-ranking monsters won't target her.
However, for the time being, she seems to be relatively safe - although Bai Liangyi has already remembered her hatred towards herself, and some of the concubines present are also looking at her with a very unfriendly gaze, all because of last night's imperial favor. Fortunately, she was born into a low-ranking position, and there were still new consorts like Bai Liangyi and Tian Xiao Yi above her, so the thoughts of Sheng Fei and others were not on her for the time being.