The imperial villa in Rui Mountain was built by the mountain and beside the water, as it was a summer resort for the royal family. Inside, it was built according to the style of Jiangnan gardens. The seventy-two scenes, the harmony of heaven and earth, the four seasons pavilion, etc., cannot compare with the grandeur of the palace in the capital city, but are famous for their ingenuity and uniqueness. Lin Wan listened to the introduction by the aunt who served as a tour guide in the villa, and had some appreciation for the scenery of the villa in her heart. Unfortunately, it was too late today, and after rushing on the road all day, she was very tired, so she ordered to rest first.

  Auntie smiled and said, "The house has been cleaned up long ago. Lin Xiaozhu's residence is Qing Lian Ju, which is a refreshing place with lush green willows, and it's also close to the Saint's residence..."

  Lin Wan said, "Enough of your kind words. I know that the Emperor resides in the Jiuzhou Qingyuan, and the Empress resides in the Xiumen Yaotai, both of which are adjacent to the main hall. The arrangement of the other palaces depends on the ranking of the concubines, and as a low-ranking lady like me, I couldn't possibly live near the Emperor."

  "You're too modest, young master." The aunt continued to flatter: "You are favored by the emperor, even if the allocation of palaces is managed by the empress and follows palace rules, you should still be given a few humble dwellings. Take a look at Qinglian Residence and you'll understand, although it's not a grand hall, it has a serene and pleasant atmosphere, and is within arrow-shot distance from Jiuzhouqing Garden." She led the way forward with enthusiasm.

  Lin Yan just smiled and didn't say anything, quietly following her aunt. Behind them, Chu Xue, Chu Tao, and Xiao Chengzi carried big bags and small packages of their belongings.

  They, the noble ladies and their relatives, rushed over from the capital city, each bringing only a few personal attendants. The rough and miscellaneous chores were all handled by people prepared in advance at the temporary palace. This kind of place, the royal family comes to stay for only two months every year, and sometimes they won't even come. But no matter what, there must be a group of idle people here, waiting for the imperial carriage to arrive and serve them.

  These people are nominally palace staff, but in reality their status is far inferior to that of the palace staff in the capital. All year round, they have no opportunity to show their faces in front of their masters, what kind of future do they have? They can't even get a share of the leftover oil and water, it's really a waste of people. Just like Huan Gu Gu who is currently leading the way for Lin Yu and others, she has been struggling in the temporary palace for ten years, without money to curry favor with those in charge, she has never had the opportunity to be transferred to the capital.

  She had to try her best to fawn on Lin Xiaoyuan in front of her, who was Han's only way out. The emperor's favorite concubine, with a pull from her, she could enter the capital city.

  Qinglian House is indeed a good place. Next to it is the Biyu Pool, with weeping willow trees along the shore, and in the summer, the breeze blows gently across the lake surface, making it very cool inside. Upon entering, there is first a bright and airy Spring Welcome Hall, behind which is a flower-and-bird painting screen with artificial hills and rocks, and after passing through the corridor around the screen, one arrives at the main hall. The main hall leads to five side rooms, and although the house is not large, in front of and behind it are planted yulan, narcissus, and other flowers, and on the walls, which are painted a warm reddish-brown color, wafts a refreshing fragrance of mint, with vibrant patterns of peonies, auspicious clouds, and blue magpies. The entire main hall is exquisitely crafted in every detail.

  Lin Wan yawned and sat down on a carved ivory couch in the inner room, glanced around at the various porcelain and treasures, and was very satisfied: "This Qingliang House has always been taken care of by Aunt Huan, right? It's done well, these decorations are all my favorites."

  Huang's aunt listened to her praise, with a face full of pleased surprise.

  Lin Yan rewarded her with ten taels of silver and instructed, "Alright, you all can withdraw now. Chun Tao, go prepare some hot water for bathing, the rest of you don't need to attend to anything else."

  Aunt Huan said: "I don't know what dinner you want to have tonight?"

  "Let's go to Shang Shi Ju to get some light porridge and small dishes. I'm a bit tired, don't want anything too greasy."

  Then everyone in the house retreated, Lin Yu scattered her hair and let Chu Tao attend to her bath.

  Lin Wan slept very soundly that night, and when she got up the next day, the sun was already high in the sky. Chu Xue helped her get dressed, smiling and saying: "Young mistress slept late."

  Lin Yudao said: "It's rare for me to leave the palace, I feel comfortable in my heart and sleep well." She also smiled: "Xishan is a good place."

  The rules in the temporary palace were not as strict as those in the capital, except that the emperor had to attend court every day without fail. The concubines in the harem did not need to pay their respects to the empress every day. The empress was also lenient and had long since set a rule that they only needed to pay their respects on single days, with double days off.

  So today most of the concubines are sleeping in.

  The two were talking when a eunuch from outside came in and said to Lin Yu, "The June stipend has been delivered." This little eunuch was also someone from the temporary palace, and after saying one sentence, he still felt it wasn't enough, so he put on a flattering face and added, "Everyone at the Sixth Bureau is very attentive to Young Master, personally delivering it to your doorstep without finding it troublesome."

  Lin Yandan smiled faintly: "You're also a diligent one."

  "It is slave's good fortune to serve young master."

  Lin Yan waved her hand and let him go down. Then she nodded at Chunxue. Chunxue bowed slightly and went out to check the goods.

  Just as Xiao Nei Jian said, the lower officials provided Lin Wan with the best quality and sufficient quantity. Chu Xue casually flipped through them, saw that those few pieces of palace attire were all made of Ruan Yan Luo fabric, and nodded in satisfaction.

  However, when she turned to the account book of the palace, Chuxue's face didn't look good.

  "The young master, they didn't give us enough ice!" Chūxuē frowned and reported to Lín Yuàn.

  Now it's summer, the value of ice is more precious than those silver and gold jewelry. Lin Yu heard this and was slightly surprised: "Could it be that the person in charge of distributing goods made a mistake? Let Xiao Chengzi go to Shang Gongju to ask."

  Xiao Chengzi quickly ran back, but the news he brought was even more unpleasant. It turned out that Shang Gongju's place was already crowded with people from various palaces, all of whom were questioning Shang Gongju, and the palace maid in charge of Liang Concubine's side had a fierce temper and almost got into a fight with the palace staff of Shang Gongju.

  Lin Wan found it very funny and comforted Chu Xue and the others, saying: "Forget it, let's not follow Concubine Lan to make trouble. How many ice blocks do we have in total?"

  The first snow thought for a moment and replied, "Ice is not given to us once and for all, it's stored in the underground cellar of Shang Gong Bureau. Every day, the eunuchs deliver it to each palace, but the amount delivered each day is instructed by the princesses of each palace... Today, the manager handed me a notebook with 100 catties written on it, which is actually not enough for even half a month according to the usage in the capital... The temporary palace is cooler, if we use it sparingly, it might last a month. What do you think, Young Master? How much should we let them deliver each day?"

  Lin Wan said: "Let's follow the usage of the capital city for now and take a few days off."

  "The remaining days will be miserable."

  Lin Yan smiled and said: "It's not going to kill us. The people in the palace are very methodical in handling things, how could they miscalculate the accounts of each palace, and we can't even get what we want? It must be that the total amount is insufficient. Moreover, this shortage is suspicious, we are the royal family, and the suppliers are all imperial merchants, would they dare to cheat the emperor by shortchanging us? Chuxue, just wait and see, there must be a ghost in here, maybe it's an insider."

  Things in the palace are not as simple as they seem on the surface. Everyone in the palace is short of ice, and it's not easy to come to the temporary palace just to prepare for a hot death. This matter, I'm afraid someone is intentionally causing trouble, but Lin Yuer doesn't bother to care who it is, anyway it's not herself.

  The first snow was stunned.

  "Alright, no need to conserve ice blocks," said Lin Wan. "In any case, within two days, there will definitely be a solution to this matter."

  Inside the Imperial Palace, there was a lot of noise and commotion. The Empress's peaceful life in the Xiyue Yao Tai palace was also disrupted.

  The empress did not expect that as soon as she arrived at the temporary palace, she would encounter such a troublesome matter. She sat coldly in the main hall with two people kneeling before her, who were the head female official of the imperial wardrobe and the manager of the imperial household.

  Although Gong Zheng was a slave, he held the official position of Zheng San Pin, which was the first of the six bureaus. Even Lin Yu, the favored concubine, had to show him some respect on ordinary days. Zhu Dian was also a dignified and capable aunt in charge of affairs. At this time, these two people were kneeling and kowtowing, repeatedly saying: "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager is wise and just, but there has never been such a mistake in the palace before. The summer ice was already allocated long ago, but the tributes from the Liu and Chen families are not enough..."

  The Empress said with a frown: "Isn't ice something that is dug up in winter and prepared early on at the imperial merchants'?"

  "Your Majesty, it's just that the eunuchs had already prepared everything and counted the quantities, so I was quite at ease about this matter... but when it came down to it, they couldn't produce them." She took a few steps forward on her knees until she reached the Empress's feet, then whispered: "I heard them say that there were originally enough goods to fill more than thirty large cellars. But something went wrong with this batch being transported into the palace..."

  The empress listened with a cold smile: "Lost goods? Whether it's the capital or Xishan, they're all under the emperor's feet and at the foot of the imperial city. Is there still someone who dares to rob the imperial family openly? Besides, what's the point of robbing ice blocks one by one? This palace hasn't heard such a joke before." As she spoke, she raised an eyebrow again, seemingly unintentionally whispering to Gong Zheng: "If it's said that the slaves of the six bureaus are greedy for things, there might be some credibility to it."

  Gong Zheng and Zhang Dian immediately softened up, knocking their heads like garlic presses: "Your slaves dare not embezzle or bend the law..."

  Gong Zheng Ruan was only promoted to this position last year. As a third-grade official with real power, she held the fate and life of many palace maids and eunuchs in her hands. As a slave, she was even more glorious than her master, and she made a lot of money from it. She thought that if she could be the head of the palace for ten years, this life would be worth it. But unexpectedly, after less than a year, she had already messed up a big thing.

  She didn't dare look at the empress. The masters of the palace had no ice to use, such a big thing, the empress couldn't avoid being implicated, let alone her, a lowly servant.

  Could it be that the Empress is implying that all the blame should be placed on the Shang Gong Bureau? Madame Ruan felt a sense of injustice, as the task of transporting goods to the palace was handled by the imperial merchants, and the people inside the palace received them. The accident happened halfway through the journey, but when she questioned the lower-ranking officials, the palace staff who received the goods said that the imperial merchants had not delivered the items, while the imperial merchants claimed that they had already handed them over - who knows whose fault it really was!

  As for the imperial merchant Chen family, they are actually distant relatives of Empress Dowager Xiao's clan, with no close ties; the Liu family also has a powerful official in the court to rely on... It's not easy to get involved in the imperial business. This matter implicates the Chen family, and naturally, the empress would protect them, but does this mean that the Palace Bureau should take the blame? Her aunt Ruan has several heads to chop off.