"Where is Rong Ji?" Little Cheng Zi asked in confusion, then lowered his head and thought for a while before responding: "I didn't pay attention to Rong Ji's side... But this morning, I heard the rough servant eunuch who sweeps our gate say that Rong Ji went to Xi Yue Yao Tai to serve Empress Dowager again. Everyone knows that Empress Dowager likes Rong Ji, so it's not surprising."

  Bai Caiwei went to see the empress again? It seems that she has become smarter and knows that when something happens, she shouldn't rush forward impulsively by herself. Instead, she goes to take a look at what good ideas the kind-hearted, virtuous, and all-powerful Empress Dowager has.

  The empress indeed meant well for Bai Caiwei, teaching her the ways of survival in the harem without reservation, patiently instructing her on how to be a favored concubine. If not for the empress, it would have been impossible for Bai Caiwei to gain the emperor's favor when she spoke with him at the Temple of Diligent Government that day. Lin Yin felt that the empress was also very hardworking; teaching someone like Bai Caiwei must be quite troublesome! It was fortunate that she had such patience!

  Lin Wan thought of this and smiled lightly: "After all, why did the Empress Dowager like Bai Shi? Who can be clear in their heart? It's also hard for Bai Shi to have a good temper every day, but she is diligent and respectful in front of the Empress Dowager, often getting up early to serve her in the palace. Her respect for the Empress Dowager really makes us admire."

  Xiao Chengzi was also a sensible person and stood quietly without saying a word after hearing this.

  Lin Yan smiled and looked at him, saying: "You go down now, every day letting you run errands outside the palace is also tiring for you."

  Xiao Chengzi hastily and repeatedly said he didn't dare.

  After Xiao Chengzi stepped down, Lin Yuan's face sank and she let out a deep sigh.

  Haha, it's actually you, Chu Huaxin?

  Lin Wan's heart was clear, who made the biggest move last night, who is the one who secretly harmed herself. Because only she knew that Lin Wan's side would mess up the servant girl, and the emperor might find someone else to serve her, this opportunity tonight she didn't want to miss, so she made good preparations. Lin Wan didn't know how Chu Huaxin intercepted the emperor halfway, but others would not think that the emperor would abandon Lin Wan and find someone else, even if they met Tuoba Hong on the way without any preparation, it was not easy to succeed in getting favors.

  With the backing of the Chu family, she was able to find the poison powder and even had someone to help her sell her life to harm herself. These conditions were sufficient. It's just that her courage was a bit too great, and she could make such a ruthless move to put herself in a desperate situation.

  Chu Huaxin finally took action against herself. The feeling of falling from the exclusive favor was unbearable, and Lin Wan understood her hatred when she saw Chu Huaxin's dejected appearance at the tea party that day. However, there was no other way; Lin Wan had to bring her down in order to take her place.

  Obviously, Chu Huaxin is not a simple person either. She is not willing to give up, she does not admit defeat, and in her heart, she still has the ambition of being the crown princess of the six palaces, so she will never stop plotting.

  Besides, even if there was no Chu Huaxin, there would be others. Lin Yuen is currently the emperor's number one favored concubine, so who else can they scheme against?

  Lin Wan thought to herself that Chu Huaxin was the kind of opponent who should be eliminated as soon as possible. Although she couldn't touch Shang Fei, it didn't mean she couldn't touch anyone else.

  ***

  As today was also a day of morning court, Lin Wan couldn't help but gather her spirits to pay respects to the Empress.

  The scene in the Queen's Xiyue Yaotai Grand Hall was still the same. Lin Yu arrived neither early nor late, sat down and had tea with a group of women, listening to their gossip about Yunxiu Rong's favor last night. At that tea party, several concubines thought Yunxiu Rong would lose her favor from then on, so they ridiculed her, but unexpectedly she quickly regained it. The faces of these people today were full of awkwardness, and they didn't dare to speak in front of everyone.

  Yun Xiurong sat in the front seat, silent and unspoken, while her sister Tian Shujie was even more quiet, making it impossible to guess their thoughts.

  Everyone in the great hall arrived soon, and as usual, they waited for a while before the empress came out from behind. The empress was wearing rose-purple Shu brocade today, with intricate and beautiful patterns embroidered on the front of her dress and sleeves, sitting upright at the top with an unyielding demeanor. Lin Xun knew that this Shu brocade, cloud brocade or Su embroidery could show dignity, but the fabric was much thicker than the gauze that ordinary people liked to wear, and he didn't know how the empress endured it.

  Lin Yan understood that the queen was such a temperament, those thin and transparent clothes were comfortable to wear and could show her youth, but the queen thought it was too revealing. Fortunately, there were enough ice cubes now, and the entire Xue Yue Yao Tai Palace was filled with silver trays of flower, bird, insect, and fish ice sculptures, and two more plates were placed on the small table beside the queen; On the side, the palace maid kept fanning her, so it passed by.

  Along with the empress, Bai Xiuzhuo naturally came out as well. However, she didn't go down to sit today either, standing on the empty space beside the empress, together with the palace maid Quanqiu by her side.

  Lin Wan was somewhat surprised. The other consorts mostly had a disdainful expression, they looked down on Bai Caiwei's behavior of being willing to be a servant for others despite her noble birth, and yet had to admit that she was blessed to be promoted by the empress.

  The queen smiled and accepted the greetings of the crowd, and then asked everyone about their well-being, filling the grand hall with a warm atmosphere. Because yesterday they had received their share of jade, these women now had something to talk about, taking out their jade bangles, pendants, and earrings from head to toe to admire and discuss them. Although days filled with conversations about clothes and jewelry were trivial, it was also the only pleasure in the palace; if they didn't talk about these things, the consorts would become bored and start throwing bricks at each other, which wouldn't be a good scene.

  After a moment, the empress turned to the usually taciturn Chu sisters and smiled: "The bangles on Rong Yu's hands are quite unique. How is it that the jadeite looks blue? My eyesight isn't very good, and from afar I couldn't make out what color they were."

  Rong Yu didn't expect to be noticed by the Empress, so he hastily replied: "I heard from the people in the Shang Gong Bureau that this bangle is made of cold jade, hence its cyan color. Although such an item is more precious than green jade, it's still far inferior to the things in Your Majesty's palace."

  She was somewhat unhappy in her heart when she spoke, why did the empress have to make a fuss about her bangle. This bangle was still awarded by the emperor last night when serving the emperor, because of its exceptionally beautiful color, she didn't want to put it away and wore it on her hand when coming to pay respects to the empress the next day. The lessons of past experiences had taught Chu Huaxin to be clever, this time she would not let this good thing be seen by others, so she deliberately wore a palace dress with wide sleeves to cover it up... But how did the empress see this bangle even though she had hidden it well?!

  And he says his eyesight is bad! What a...

  The empress had spoken out and couldn't hide it anymore, so she could only show it off to the women around her.

  At this time, Liu Yanyu, who was sitting under the leadership of Chu Huaxin, smiled lightly and said while looking at the bangle: "Sister Xiuning has a big vision, and the cold jade worth a city is also said to be so easy. I think the color of this jade is transparent and should be of good quality, but I don't know where sister got it from. The only thing in my hand is a pair of cold jade cufflinks that were brought into the palace as a dowry that year..."

  Liu Jieyu had just finished speaking when Feng Zhuangji also smiled and said, "So it's Cold Jade. Many of the women in this palace like Warm Jade, but actually, Cold Jade surpasses Warm Jade in both color and value. It's just that because it's rare, nobody dares to hope for it." As she spoke, she turned her face to look at Chu Huaxin, asking in a clear and melodious voice, "Where did the jade of the Empress Dowager come from?"

  Chu Hua's face was tense, and she glanced at Liu Jieyu and Feng Zhuangji with a hint of suppressed disgust in her eyes. This woman surnamed Liu had entered the palace with her, and it wasn't bad that she had climbed to the position of Jieyu in three years, but she was always overshadowed by Chu Hua. After struggling for so many years, she still couldn't surpass herself, yet she dared to show off in front of Chu Hua! As for Feng Zhuangji, she was nothing, and she had never received much favor, her only achievement being taken as a follower by the Sheng consort...

  But the two of them actually seemed to have a tacit understanding, and they both asked him about the origin of his bracelet in unison!

  Chu Hua Xin had no choice but to say coldly that it was a gift from the Emperor. Immediately, some of the imperial consorts spoke up with a mixture of envy and malice: "It must have been bestowed by His Majesty last night, right? His Majesty truly dotes on Concubine Xiuning... we thought you had fallen out of favor after not being summoned for some time, but it seems that His Majesty has remembered you again. Congratulations are in order for regaining the Emperor's favor..."

  Lin Wan couldn't help but want to laugh upon hearing these words. These women were all talented, and the things they said were so sarcastic that they could suffocate people with their tone. It was as if Yu Xiu had lost favor just because she hadn't been summoned for a few days... Alas, Chu Hua Xin, look at what you've become now. Even though you're no longer in favor, everyone still treats you like a target, and they won't stop until they've beaten you into submission. You reap what you sow, and you thought you could replace Empress Xiang? You ended up getting pushed off the pedestal instead... Now, the consorts are still holding grudges against her for monopolizing the emperor's favor back then. The outcome of these women is really unbearable!

  At this time, Chu Huaxin's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. Others thought she was flying knives at Liu Yanyan and others, but in fact she was secretly peeking at the expression of the Empress Dowager - she felt more and more afraid of the Empress Dowager.

  This high and mighty woman always had an impeccable smile. She didn't speak much, in the halls where the concubines were vying for attention, she would sit silently at the top, coldly watching everything, only speaking up to mediate with a few words at the end of the disputes - of course, if Consort Yu Rou was present, even these two sentences could be spared for the Empress. But in Chu Hua Xian's eyes now, the Empress could always stir up huge waves in the entire harem with her sparse words and light movements.

  At first, I was able to have the opportunity to be favored by the emperor because the empress had promoted Hua Xiang. From then on, there was a situation where I and Shang Fei confronted each other for favor, Lin Shi and Bai Shi jumped up and down like clowns to divide the oil and water, and the other consorts were in a mess. Later, the empress was calculated by someone and lost her icy demeanor, and I somehow got involved, the empress in order to get out of trouble and also to promote Bai Shi, suppressed me... Chu Hua Xing has been thinking about what happened back then, she thinks that being calculated might have been the empress's intention.