Mu Qing entered the palace gate of Chao Yang Palace with the palace staff and imperial physician, Wu Guifei was sitting in the main hall, playfully teasing the fourth prince held by He Baolin.

  To be honest, although He Baolin is a person from her palace, Wu Guifei did not have much interest in the children born to other concubines. Usually, she would bestow favors on He Baolin and the Fourth Prince with gifts. However, since it had been a long time since a child was born in the palace, when Wu Guifei was in the mood, she also loved to play with the little ones.

  Then Wu Guifei saw Mu Qing walking in with a large group of people.

  She sat still in her chair, her expression unchanged, still teasing the Fourth Prince in He Baolin's arms.

  He Baolin looked at Mu Gu Gu who led people in from outside the door, lowered his head and took a glance at the Fourth Prince, with a worried look on his face.

  After a while, Wu Guifei waved her hand to let He Baolin step aside, then raised her head, with the corners of her eyes raised, and looked at Mu Niangniang with a cold tone: "Wow, which gust of wind blew you, Mu Niangniang, into this palace's Shao Yang Palace?"

  Mu Qing knelt down and kowtowed, saying: "Greetings to Your Highness, may you live for a thousand years."

  Empress Wu didn't even call out, looking at her and saying: "Auntie is making such a big show, what's the precious business? Thinking of dismantling my Chao Yang Palace?"

  Mu Qing stood up straight, looking at Wu Guifei sitting high on the chair, and said calmly: "Yesterday, the inner and outer ladies attended the morning meeting and the small banquet in Changkun Palace. The queen informed that she was absent due to illness, and the empress heard that she was worried about her spirit and had difficulty sleeping and eating. However, the empress also heard that during the small banquet in Changkun Palace, Guifei set up a stage in Zhaoyang Palace to watch a play, which shows that Guifei's body is not as weak as it seems. The empress does not know whether Guifei's illness is real or fake, so she specially sent her maid with the imperial physician to take Guifei's pulse and dispel the doubts in the empress's mind."

  Empress Wu snorted and said coldly: "What if I'm really sick? What if I'm just pretending to be sick?"

  Mu Qing smiled and said, "If it's a real illness, Her Majesty the Empress should have already asked for medical help on behalf of Consort Gui, so as not to delay her treatment. But if it's a fake illness..." Mu Qing raised an eyebrow, revealing a subtle smile, then turned to instruct the imperial physicians: "Please have several doctors go and take Consort Gui's pulse?"

  Several imperial physicians bowed with their hands clasped together and prepared to step forward.

  The Empress Wu glared at Mu Qing, her hand slapping the armrest with a loud "slap", furious: "This palace sees who dares! Mu Qing, let this palace see clearly, this is the Chao Yang Palace of this palace, not your Long Kun Palace. This palace sees who dares to be wild here." As she spoke, she narrowed her eyes and looked at her, her long, narrow eyes flashing with a sinister smile: "This palace sees that you are actually a fake imperial edict."

  Her eyes turned cold, and she shouted: "Guards, take this fake edict's insolent slave out and beat him to death. I'd like to see whether you have more people or my Chao Yang Palace has more."

  The palace maids and eunuchs of Chao Yang Palace exchanged a glance with each other, hesitating and not daring to step forward.

  "Are you all idiots? Don't present it to me, I'll take responsibility for killing someone." She snorted disdainfully and continued scolding: "Let me tell you, when I was serving the Emperor, your masters were still learning to crawl with their legs apart. Now they come to me showing off, let's see if Lin Yi can show off or not."

  The eunuchs of the Zhao Yang Palace were ordered to prepare for the front, and the palace staff brought by Mu Qing also went forward to protect Mu Qing in front. The palace staff on both sides formed a confrontational situation.

  At this moment, the yellow brocade was lifted, and the hall was radiant. Mu Qing raised the seal in his hand, and then a palm-sized, tiger-shaped, sheep-fat white jade carved phoenix seal stood before everyone.

  Mu Qing said sternly: "The Phoenix Seal is here, I'll see who dares to be presumptuous."

  Everyone in the hall, including He Baolin, knelt down facing Feng Yin and shouted: "Long live the Empress!"

  Empress Wu stood up from her chair and stared at Mu Qing's phoenix seal, her eyes almost spewing fire.

  Mu Qing looked at her and smiled: "Noble Consort, seeing Feng Yin is like seeing the Empress, you..."

  Empress Wu's hands were tightly clenched into fists, and then reluctantly, she slowly knelt down.

  The object of the imperial seal is not ordinary, it represents the supreme right. Sometimes the meaning it represents is greater than the significance of the empress herself. Just like the jade seal, when the dynasty changes, why does the new emperor always look for the jade seal first? Because only those who hold the jade seal can make the throne legitimate.

  She Wu Yun could ignore the empress, but she couldn't ignore Feng Yin, which was also what she had been yearning for all her life.

  Mu Qing stood there in silence for a moment, making sure no one else dared to be presumptuous, before stroking the phoenix seal and smiling at Wu Guifei: "The Empress said that she is young and entered the palace late, so it's inevitable that her authority is insufficient. As for you, Guifei, you have been serving the Emperor for over a decade and have given birth to two princes, so the Empress fears that she lacks the necessary prestige and can only rely on the phoenix seal. Please don't take offense." He then added: "Guifei, may I now ask the imperial physician to take your pulse?"

  Empress Wu did not speak.

  Mu Qing glanced at her and then turned his head to signal to the imperial physician who was still kneeling on the ground.

  Changkung Palace

  Lin Xie sat cross-legged on the couch, looking at her own account book of Changkung Palace, with a relaxed and leisurely appearance, as if she didn't care about what happened in Zhaoyang Palace at all.

  Mu Lan stood beside her and asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, you ordered Mu Gu Gu and Mu Zhi to go to Zhao Yang Palace, are you going to deal with the Noble Consort?"

  Lin Xiao hummed and made a stroke on the account book.

  Mulan said with some worry: "Wu Guifei has a deep foundation in the harem and has served the emperor for many years, what if...". She paused and continued: "If you want to establish your authority, why not start with other palace consorts first, such as Hebaolin. I think dealing with her can also serve as a warning to the Shao Yang Palace."

  Lin Xiao smiled and shook her head.

  In terms of seniority, Mulan had served her for a longer period than Muzhi, but relatively speaking, she relied more heavily on Muzhi whether in the Wu Guo Gongfu or after entering the palace. She acknowledged Mulan's loyalty to her, but Mulan's temperament was not as bold and efficient as Muzhi's.

  Just like this time, she understood that Mulan was worried that she couldn't handle Wu Guifei and would become a laughing stock in the harem, so she suggested taking down smaller palace consorts first to establish her authority. Mulan might have had similar concerns, but unlike Mulan, who only worried, as long as it was something she ordered, she would charge forward bravely, even if it meant getting hurt. Mulan lacked Mulan's courage.

  In this harem, which of the concubines and consorts does not have a longer history than her? Like Wu Guifei and Cui Xianfei, they were already serving the emperor before he ascended to the throne. They are old hands. She is just a young girl in her teens, with no experience and no children. Relying on her family background and the status of empress, wanting to manage the harem well and make all the concubines, consorts, female officials, and palace maids obey her instructions, this is not an easy task.

  At this time, the harem didn't know how many people were watching her every move, so what she had to do now was to establish her authority and prestige.

  Since it's killing a chicken to scare the monkey, we must choose the biggest one. Once the largest and most disobedient chicken is knocked down, the others will naturally be subdued as well.

  If she only picks on the smaller ones, anyone with eyes can see that she's intimidated. This will only make Wu Guifei even more arrogant and the other palace consorts look down on Changkun Palace even more.