Yun Guifei strode into the inner courtyard of the Diligent Governance Hall. The palace staff on both sides came forward to block her, repeatedly saying "The Emperor cannot see Your Ladyship now." Yun Guifei walked to the foot of the steps of the great hall, lifted her skirt and knelt down, saying: "You don't need to block me either. Don't worry, I know the rules and won't force my way in. I'll just kneel here for a while."

  The chief eunuch, Yao Fu Sheng, happened to be on duty outside and saw Yun Guifei's behavior was not like her usual self. Afraid of disturbing the Emperor, he also came forward to advise: " Concubine Yun, please calm down. The reason the Emperor is not seeing you now is because the Emperor has something to attend to. Once the Emperor finishes his business, he will naturally summon you. It's better for you to wait patiently in the side palace, why come here and make a scene?"

  Yu Gui Fei's expression remained unchanged, she knelt upright and didn't say a word.

  Yao Fu Sheng looked at her appearance, shook his head and left, thinking that this Rong Zhuangzi was likely to disappoint the Emperor. This exclusive favoritism wasn't something anyone could handle. Having been favored for just over a month, this mistress had already become disordered, it was unclear whether she was too frivolous or someone was jealous and trying to trip her up.

  Yun Guibao knelt down here, and it didn't matter. But this place was just in front of the grand hall, Yun Guibao perked up her ears to listen, and she faintly heard someone inside saying: "...Your Majesty doesn't know, but now the harem is stirring up a huge commotion... They say it's because there aren't enough ice blocks and life is hard, but in fact, it's because someone is monopolizing favor, and all the sisters are feeling uncomfortable..."

  Overbearing and pampered, who else could it be? Yun Gui Bin's face turned purple with rage, yet she didn't know what to do - of course she didn't dare to force her way in, but could she just let that Bai woman slander her?

  "Let's go back, elder sister..." Yu Guifei was beyond consolation and suppressed her anger, saying in a low voice: "Someone actually dares to frame us in front of the Emperor! These past few days, the Emperor has been favoring Father, even the Empress Dowager has to be careful... Isn't it enough that they forced me to kneel down and apologize in front of the Empress Dowager? And now they dare to offend me in front of the Emperor!"

  Chu Huaxin didn't care about the fingers of thousands pointing at her, she wholeheartedly vied for favor, also thinking that the Emperor would surely reuse her own father, and in her heart, she had added a lot of confidence. Even if she became the target of public criticism, what could be done? The Emperor would certainly protect her.

  "Big sister is now at the center of attention, those concubines who don't receive favor naturally speak ill of you, isn't it because they can't compare to big sister and are jealous? Big sister shouldn't bother with them."

  "Are they going to trample all over the palace? You've seen it yourself, just a few days ago at the Xī Yuè Yáo Tái, we suffered such great humiliation, saying that our imperial favor has broken the rules... Hmph, if I turn a blind eye, they will only become more and more arrogant in causing trouble for us!"

  Yu Gui Fei's mind was in a mess, she only felt that all the women in the harem were coming for her, the ice block incident, the little palace maid who carried water, and today Bai Shi came to slander... Who was plotting against her? Was it one person or many people? And Bai Shi was very loyal to the Empress, could it be that the Empress also wanted to deal with her? The Empress wasn't supporting Hua Xiang for the sake of dealing with Consort Shang, so why...

  But who knows what the Empress is thinking! The other day, Concubine De and the others knelt down to beg the Empress to advise the Emperor, saying that the Empress might also think they are reasonable, and was preparing to suppress herself. Consort Yu had no good feelings towards this Empress, the Empress could promote them in order to suppress Consort Xiang, but she could also take action against her for other benefits.

  "Never mind, elder sister." Tian Liangdi continued to persuade her: "Don't get too close to these unsavory characters. In my opinion, the emperor's favor is not something that can be rushed. If you give the emperor some space and gain a reputation for being virtuous, he will think you have good character, and it will be easy to gain his favor again in the future. Take today's matter, for example. If you magnanimously give up the opportunity to Bai Liangdi, the emperor will compare and definitely think that elder sister is understanding and won't listen to Bai Liangdi's slander..."

  "Shut up!" Yun Gui Fei cut her off with an icy face: "Don't say such things again. This palace entered the palace three years ago, and our batch of concubines was not outstanding, and Xiang Fei suppressed us, so only I and Liu Biyu were able to stand out, while the rest were relegated to minor positions... Outsiders think it's very glorious, but I've been struggling for three years and still haven't become a consort, nor have I given birth to a child. This palace gave in to Bai Shi today, tomorrow I'll have to give in to Lin Shi, what 'great favor' is there to talk about?"

  Her chest heaved up and down, gritting her teeth: "It's not that I'm impatient, but that I've waited long enough. The eldest son is already six years old, and Empress Sheng is pregnant with another one. The empress has no children but has the phoenix throne, and power. Only I have nothing."

  Tianliang Di looked at her angrily triumphant sister and shut her mouth tight, no longer speaking.

  Lin Wan sat alone in the side hall, silently gazing at the faint blue smoke emanating from the mouth of a bronze qilin beast on the desk. A ordinary palace maid stood by the door, occasionally coming forward to refill her white jade cup with tea, but refusing to utter a single word.

  Lin Wan knew that the people in front of her were tight-lipped, and she didn't rush to chat with the palace maid. She sat properly and drank tea. When the teacup in front of her was filled for the fourth time, she stood up and smiled at the palace maid: "Thank you for serving me. I've been sitting here for so long, and it seems that His Majesty won't summon me after all. I'll be leaving now."

  Lin Wan had never thought of seeing the emperor from the start, she only wanted to see the Chu sisters, and now that the sun was already overhead, it was time to go back.

  Today's banquet in Jiuzhou will no longer be quiet and peaceful. I have done what I should do, and there is no need to stay and accompany them to make trouble.

  In response to Lin Wan's polite thanks, the palace maid hastily said she didn't dare. Lin Wan picked up her own food box and handed it over to the palace maid in front of her, saying: "This is my painstakingly cooked sweet dew swallow nest porridge, I originally wanted to present it to the Emperor myself, but giving it to you is the same." As she spoke, she also stuffed five taels of silver into the maid's hand: "Please trouble yourself to present it to the Emperor for me."

  That palace maid had been serving the emperor for a long time and was no longer surprised by such things. The concubines would often use the excuse of sending food to curry favor, but in the end, they couldn't even see the emperor's face, and the things still had to be handed over through someone else. She smiled as she accepted the five taels of silver for her trouble and bowed: "Don't worry, young master, I will definitely do a good job with this task."

  Lin Yan smiled and walked towards the Da Gong Men. At the moment she went out, she deliberately turned her head to take a look, and saw that in the innermost Diligent Government Hall, two blurry figures were still kneeling.

  Suddenly gained a few more points of confidence in his heart.

  After returning to the palace, it was already noon. Lin Wan lazily rested on the imperial concubine's couch and smiled at Chu Xue: "These past few days, I've been going out at dawn to collect dew, and with great difficulty, I finally managed to make that sweet dew porridge. I'm truly exhausted."

  The first snow gave her a reassuring pat on the leg and said, "Young master has put in a lot of effort, the emperor will naturally appreciate it when he sees it, all your hard work is worth it."

  "I hope so." Lin's expression was somewhat vague, and it seemed like she had something on her mind.

  At this moment, Aunt Huan rushed back from outside. Chunxue took a look at her and quickly dismissed the servants, then closed the palace gate and stood guard at the entrance herself.

  Aunt Huan whispered in Lin Wan's ear: "Indeed, as the young master expected, the Empress Dowager's phoenix carriage has gone to Jiuzhou Qingyuan."

  "Has the empress gone?" Lin Wan smiled, and indeed she had guessed the empress's thoughts... Bai Xiuzhu came to this place today to ask for an audience with the emperor, it must be that the empress is going to take action. It's just unknown what kind of play the empress plans to put on? She only hopes that she won't make things too difficult for herself.

  I'm just a small character who makes a living by revolving around the big shots... I hope the empress won't take care of me along the way, and also hope that Rong Fei and Xiang Fei won't make any moves to disturb me.

  Lin Wan thought to herself and pinched two black pearls from the fragrance pouch at her waist, placing them in Han's palm, saying: "You handled things thoroughly, I'm very satisfied."

  Aunt Huan held the pearls in her hand, feeling their substantial weight, like silver, and knew they were genuine South Sea black pearls. She was well aware that these two small objects were worth more than a lifetime of monthly allowance she received while living in the palace. But the feeling of holding wealth in her hands wasn't joy, but rather fear and trepidation.

  I don't know if the poem has been released from the palace yet... That little girl is really her own niece, and just like herself, she's greedy for wealth. For a few gold bars, she dared to carry a water bucket to crash into Yu Guifei's mansion... When Huan thought of this, she couldn't help but look at her current master. This young lady was only 15 or 16 years old, about the same age as Shuang, and yet she had the nerve to scheme like that!

  Xiaoyuan's thoughts are meticulous, and her cleverness is astonishing. She must be a person who will achieve great things. Aunt Huan knows that once the arrow is shot, there is no turning back. Those rumors about Yun Guibao and Tianliangdi were all spread by herself, what retreat route does she have? Xiaoyuan's mistress is also on guard against herself, insisting that she personally go and tell the palace people about Guibao's gossip. If things are exposed, she will be the first to bear the brunt, naturally, she cannot betray her master. She can only hope that Xiaoyuan's mistress will rise to prominence, and by tying herself to this boat, she can also soar to great heights.

  Han's aunt was sweating bullets, and Lin Yan's heart was also a bit unsettled - today's big show wasn't easy to perform. If it didn't go well, all their previous efforts would be for nothing.

  Forget it, forget it. Man proposes, God disposes. This time, taking the risk to calculate the Chu sisters, in Lin Yuen's view, is an investment of a huge sum of money, only hoping to get the due profit at the right time.

  She waved her hand and ordered Nian Hua's aunt to withdraw, then lay down on the bed and fell asleep in her clothes.

  At this time, in the Jiuzhou Qingyan, as Lin Yuan had expected, a big show was being performed.

  Tuoba Hong had been relatively free for the past few days. Just this morning, a 600-li urgent report from Huguang was presented to the Emperor, saying that the embankment at the breach of the Yangtze River had been repaired, and if it didn't rain in the next few days, the flood disaster would be over. Tuoba Hong was delighted when he heard this, and immediately issued an edict to reward the officials of Huguang, encouraging them to continue their efforts, comforting the victims, opening granaries to distribute food, and promising further rewards if they did a good job. The imperial court, which had been gloomy for days, was suddenly cleared of its clouds, and Tuoba Hong walked quickly to his palace after the morning audience.

  In such a good mood, when he heard that Bai Liangji had "important matters" to report, he happily summoned Bai Liangji in.