The queen's fingers were clasped on the armrest. She herself had lifted up the emperor, so they also lifted up the ancestral teachings.

  How can she be so glib and go to the emperor's face to advise? She is not a censor, who dares to persuade, whoever gets involved will be unlucky. The emperor has never liked her, how can he give her a good look!

  Now that things have been stirred up, as the empress, if she doesn't take any action, she will definitely gain a reputation for being incompetent. Not to mention, the concubines will also vent their anger towards Chu Shi on her.

  She sighed and said seriously: "I will persuade the emperor myself. All of you get up."

  A group of people finally got up, one by one finding their seats, only the two Chu sisters remained kneeling because they had made a mistake. At this time, everyone suddenly stopped talking, which was vastly different from the lively scene just before where everyone was speaking in turn.

  Xu Ronghua made a bow and said to the Empress: "Today, the concubines have disturbed Your Majesty, it is really a sin. It's just that because of the ice block matter, the concubines are not convinced in their hearts, so they asked Your Majesty to take charge, and please don't blame them."

  The queen raised an eyebrow, looked at her and said: "What you all said is right, I naturally won't blame you." She paused for a moment: "In this palace, as long as you follow the rules and do things properly, the emperor and I will like it. If you don't know how to advance or retreat, and have those unseemly thoughts, then don't blame me for being ruthless."

  The consorts all rose and said: "We obey the princess's teachings." However, Consort Rong's body involuntarily swayed slightly.

  The Empress said something about being unaware of propriety and having improper thoughts... Concubine Mei's heart skipped a beat.

  The empress dowager had been busy all morning and was tired. Consort De also felt exhausted. In the end, everyone didn't want to sit anymore, so they dispersed early.

  The queen returned to the inner chamber and lay on the couch, lost in thought. The palace servants knew that their master's mood was not good, so they all lowered their heads and put on a solemn face, making the entire Xueyue Jade Platform feel gloomy. The head palace maid, Lian Dong, wanted to tell the queen that there were only enough ice blocks for fifteen more days, but she didn't dare mention it at this time, and was worried about what to do next.

  She wanted to go find Qiu Mama to discuss, but unexpectedly searched for half a day without finding anyone. Turning around, Qiu Mama came in running from outside and ignored her, directly entering the palace and saying to the Empress: "Your Majesty, just now an urgent message was delivered from outside, the Qi Guo Gong Fu and Zhen Nan Hou Fu have extra ice blocks. There are also many other mansions that haven't been asked yet, the capital is so big, we must be able to gather enough."

  Such good news couldn't bring a smile to the queen's face. She merely raised her eyes slightly and said, "Patching things up with whatever is available can naturally fill in the gaps. However, no matter how it's salvaged, the crime of my palace being incompetent has already been nailed down." As she spoke, she chuckled: "A thousand catties of ice, also taken from someone else's mansion, would have to be paid for at a higher price, at least three times more. Calculating it out, ten million taels of Snowflake Silver would all have to be borne by the Xiao family."

  The wet nurse lowered her head and stopped speaking. The empress rubbed her temples, saying helplessly: "Wet nurse, why is it that she just can't get along with me?"

  "Shen Rongfei disregards etiquette and law, her crime should be punished." Qi Ya said with gritted teeth when mentioning Rongfei.

  "There are many people in the palace who disregard etiquette and laws. I just don't understand, if Shang Fei's belly is a big target, giving birth to a son would make her eldest son not the only male heir, how could she tolerate it?" The Empress smiled somewhat mysteriously: "She just wants my position with all her heart?"

  "Can the title of Di Long be compared to that of Huang Long? She may also be secretly plotting against Xiang Fei, thinking of catching two birds with one stone." Qi Mama said, casting a glance at Lin Dong to close the door tightly, and then whispered in the empress's ear: "Your Majesty can't just sit back and wait for death. Since she dares to stir up trouble in the imperial family, we must expose her true nature! Let everyone in the palace see what kind of 'virtuous' person Rong Fei is!"

  Qī Niáng's ability to become the most trusted person of the Empress Dowager was not only due to her feelings, but also her abilities. She paused for a moment, and then said: "Today, when the masters came to pay their respects, I secretly took a look at them in the great hall, and that Xu Ronghua might be useful to us!"

  The empress glanced at Qi Mama: "Do you think there was any ulterior motive behind what Madame Xi said to me in the end?"

  "Xu Ronghua, although she is the Empress's pawn, rarely opposes the princess, even this time she didn't follow Concubine Liang and the others to make trouble. Her temperament is similar to that of the Empress, but she can't compare to Concubine Liang in terms of gaining the Empress's favor and promotion. This old slave thinks she doesn't have a loyal heart towards the Empress."

  "Girls can always tell."

  "The princess's eyes are as sharp as a torch, and the old slave has said these things today, I'm afraid the princess has already known them in her heart..." Qi Mama's face became even more respectful: "When the princess recommended Xu Ronghua to serve the empress dowager at first, it was because she saw that Xu Ronghua was different from people like Liang Yu... Xu Ronghua wants to please both sides, but the princess might as well make good use of her..."

  The queen smiled and nodded, saying: "It's good that there is someone like Xu Ronghua, otherwise if we were to suppress Xiang Fei by promoting Zhen Bin, wouldn't it be too easy for Rou Fei? However, Xu Ronghua is cunning and deceitful, and she's also skilled at muddying the waters. If we really let her do something for us, I'm afraid there won't be any good results..."

  "In the end, she shook her head: 'Forget it, this isn't a good plan. If Consort Rou can do something about it, there will be another move to make; if nothing comes of it, I'll just lose face.'"

  Actually, Xu Ronghua is not the kind of person that Empress would like, she likes people like Bai Xiuyi.

  The Empress Dowager looked at the Queen's face and asked: "That queen... must have made up her mind, right?"

  The queen smiled slightly and said, "Invite Bai Liangyi over in the afternoon."

  ***

  In the afternoon, Bai Xiuzhi had just received a message from Quanqiu and hurried over to the Empress's place.

  She had been serving the empress for some time. But somehow, every time she was summoned by the empress, she would get nervous, and this nervousness didn't improve at all as she spent more time with the empress... The empress's temper was gentle, and she treated her well too, but she always feared the empress too much.

  She walked into the Empress's Xiyue Yao Platform with short steps, walking along one wall and raising her head to look at the decorations in the bedroom. She thought to herself that the temporary palace was nothing more than this, as solemnly oppressive as the Changxin Palace, with phoenix patterns carved on the pillars and eaves in a uniform color, without any new ideas.

  The queen smiled at her and pointed to a plate of lychees on the small table in front of her, saying: "They were rushed over from Zichuan by fast horse, only one plate was obtained, try some."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty." Bai Xiuzhu sat down beside the Empress. The Empress was never stingy with herself, she thought.

  After a moment -- Bai Xiuzi seemed to have thought for a while, before speaking with concern to the Empress: "Your Majesty is troubled because of the ice block, isn't that so?"

  The queen smiled and said: "You're so considerate of me. The food, clothing, and expenses of the harem all go through my hands, if something goes wrong, I naturally have to worry."

  It was indeed for this matter, Bai Xiuzi thought to herself.

  The queen summoned her every time with a purpose. Although she was not clever, she was at least the daughter of a noble family and would not be stupid like a little white rabbit. At least she knew that no one in this palace would treat you well without reason. The queen supported her, and she also had to pay back.

  She forced a smile and said to the empress, "Those slaves of Ruan's family have been punished for theft, Your Majesty can deal with them as you see fit, just don't exhaust yourself."

  The empress smiled but did not speak. Bai Xiuzhen's brain was a lot worse than Ruan Shi's, the empress disliked useless Ruan Shi, but she liked Bai Xiuzhen's appearance very much.

  She took a peeled lychee from the palace maid's hand and said casually, "I heard that you had another argument with Lin on your way to Xing Gong."

  Bai Xiuzhen's hand trembled and her face smiled awkwardly: "Concubine was momentarily impulsive..."

  "Alright, I'll just remind you of this. You can change slowly over time." The Empress was not angry, but rather spoke to her with a serious and heartfelt tone, like an elder: "You're young and have a competitive streak, it's not a big deal. But let me advise you on one thing, the more you act like this, the less the Emperor will like you. Think about last time when Lin Shi was ill, you were competing with her in the Mirror Moon Pavilion, and as a result, she schemed against you, right? After that, the Emperor rarely summoned you to serve him at night. Now, Yun Guibei and the others have risen to power, and the two factions of people led by Sheng Fei have taken over the Emperor's heart, does he even remember you anymore?"

  The words were spoken softly, but the meaning behind them made Bai Xiuzi's heart tremble with fear. She thought about it and realized that she hadn't been favored much lately. If this continued...she would lose the emperor's favor and become useless!

  "She bit her lip and said: 'It's just that I'm not good enough... Your Majesty, the Empress, I will definitely do better in the future!'"

  "It's fine as long as you understand in your heart." The queen nodded, her words becoming more and more sincere: "The palace knows that you're not the kind of girl who likes to scheme and plot. You have a straightforward temperament, it's really hard for you to compete with those people who are full of evil intentions. But we're all women in the harem, we can't control our own fate. If you don't learn these things, sooner or later you'll be bullied by them until you're left with nothing."

  Bai Caiwei nodded in agreement, listening intently. Although she didn't understand what great use the Empress had for her, she knew that every time the Empress taught her these principles, they were golden rules that a woman might not even understand after colliding with the walls of the harem for a lifetime. She may not be clever, but she would always try to remember the Empress's words.

  In short, she was very grateful to the empress dowager.

  The empress continued to say to her: "This time, there is also a good opportunity. You do as I said, if you do well, it's not difficult for the emperor to favor you again..."