The departure of Sang Wu, the favored imperial concubine, sent shockwaves through the entire palace and led to a significant shift in power dynamics within the harem. With her gone, others saw an opportunity to rise to prominence, and the rivalry between Lin Yuan, Chu Shi, Wen Pin, and other favored consorts was only just beginning.
Tian Pin's face was pale, and she didn't respond to Wen Pin's words. In her heart, however, she felt suffocated and had a sharp pain in her chest. Everyone knew that she was the most favored, but who would have known that the Emperor wouldn't allow her to bear children? At 31 years old, Tuoba Hong was even more ruthless than he was eight years ago. To eliminate any future threats, he wouldn't give Chu Shi's daughter, a general and minister's daughter, any opportunity at all.
Wen Pin mentioned the matter of the main position, Lin Yuan smiled and said: "It is only natural that Princess Heng takes the main position of Xianfu Palace. Chancellor Chu has made great contributions to the emperor, no reward would be excessive."
Tuoba Hong knew that Lin Yu was of humble origin, and her father and brother were even more mediocre. He heard in her words a hint of self-deprecation, so he quickly comforted her: "Don't always envy Tianpin. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. Although you don't have an outstanding family background, your loyalty to me is no less than Tianpin's. Don't worry, I won't look down on you because of your origin. Now Tianpin is the mistress of Xianfu Palace, but if it weren't for the incident in Jingren Palace, in my heart, you are very capable of taking on the role of mistress of Jingren Palace."
He suddenly remembered the fire at Jingren Palace. As for this matter, Tuoba Hong was somewhat speechless with grief and laughter, knowing that it was Shangguan Li who had set the fire, Shangguan Li being willful, because she didn't like Lin Xuan, among the thousands of palaces in the palace, why did she have to burn Jingren Palace. Jingren Palace is not comparable to a small place like Mirror Moon Pavilion, one repair costs tens of millions of silver coins. His heart ached for the silver, and he couldn't say anything to Shangguan Li.
Even Lin Yuan couldn't move in. Emperor Taizong of Northern Wei thought for a moment and said, "I'll have the Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Palace Bureau deliberate together to find a better place for Yuan."
As they spoke, snowflakes had begun to fall outside the pavilion, but it was only a light dusting and didn't disturb the crowd's enthusiasm for the view. Lin Yu got up and pulled the curtain behind the emperor a bit tighter, smiling slightly by his side: "Yu'er understands Your Majesty's kindness. As long as Your Majesty treats Yu'er well, what difference does it make where Yu'er lives?" She looked up at Consort Hui and continued: "Yu'er is currently only a Concubine, truly taking over the main palace would be unreasonable, better to live in a side palace and seek peace of mind."
This remark was a veiled criticism, and Tianpin's face immediately fell. Just as she was about to retort, Lin Yu pointed at the two beautiful red plum blossoms in the neighboring pavilion and quickly changed the subject: "Are these Palace Pink Plum and Bone Red Shui Mei? They are ordinary varieties, but their fragrance is different from what I've smelled before - sweet but not rich. Have they been newly transplanted?" As she spoke, a quick-witted palace maid had already gone out to pick some plum blossoms and brought them in. Lin Yu carefully plucked a petal and lightly sniffed it at the tip of her nose: "I thought the plum garden near Mirror Moon Pavilion was already the best, but I didn't expect there would be even better ones in the inner palace."
Tuoba Hong put a red plum blossom hairpin on Lin Yuan's hair bun, and smiled warmly: "Others can't see the subtle difference, you've lived in Jingyue Pavilion for a long time, appreciating plums every day, indeed cultivating some wisdom." After saying that, he glanced at everyone and said in a distant tone: "These were also transplanted from Linji Palace..."
Wen Pin and several others heard this and immediately turned black-faced again, secretly scolding Lin Yuan for being muddle-headed today. Normally, she seemed quite intelligent, but now she was making one mistake after another! After sending off the noble consort, the women in the palace were overjoyed, but you had to bring up the topic of the emperor forgetting her, why stir up trouble?!
"It's like that, huh......" Lin Yu's expression showed admiration: "I wonder how the imperial concubine cultivated them back then? The fragrance of these flowers is very elegant and lingers on clothes for a long time without dissipating. The consorts will know it's not an ordinary thing just by smelling it."
"They are all artisans from the Shang Gong Bureau who have been cultivated, and have been crossed with green plum blossoms. Although the color is still red plum blossom, the fragrance is different." Taizong Hong said indulgently: "If you like it, I still have some tree species in my place, all of which will be given to you."
Lin Yan smiled and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty! But Your Majesty is really petty, only thinking of me now. When you rewarded the plum tree to Xianfu Palace earlier, you forgot about me!"
Tuoba Hong was perplexed: "Empress Dowager didn't like plum blossoms, when did I ever bestow a plum tree on the Xianfu Palace? Her courtyard is planted with peonies."
"Where is it? The Emperor is deceiving me again!" Lin Yu said without any reserve, laughing and joking with Tuoba Hong: "It was just ten days ago when the concubine went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager in the palace, I smelled an unusual plum fragrance on Consort Tian's body, which was different from the plum fragrance I had smelled before. At that time, I thought Consort Tian had newly created a perfume? Today, coming to Qingrui Pavilion for a stroll, I saw these plum trees and suddenly realized that the fragrance was exactly the same, thinking it must be the scent of this type of flower." As she spoke, she pulled on Tuoba Hong's sleeve, dissatisfied: "The Emperor must have bestowed these high-quality plum trees on Xianfu Palace without letting us know."
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener had intentions. Tuoba Hong and Lin Yu played a joke, and gradually their faces changed. He immediately glanced at Tianpin's clean face with a cool gaze, like snowflakes flying outside the curtain: "Tianpin, have you been to Linti Palace recently? Changhe Guifei has been bedridden since giving birth, why would she summon you?"
Consort Tian had already sensed something was amiss and hastily knelt down, saying: "I didn't go...". As she spoke, a forced smile appeared on her face: "Hui Xiang's nose is really sharp. That day when I went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager, I indeed came to Chengrui Pavilion once, which was how I got the plum fragrance."
Tuoba Hong uttered an "oh" and didn't say anything else, but slightly lowered his head in contemplation.
Lin Wan smiled and said, "Why is Concubine Tian kneeling? Today the Emperor and sisters are playing together, not following the rules, where is the need for such solemnity?" She went to pull up Concubine Tian: "Concubine Tian has always been favored and trusted by the Emperor, it's very cold on the ground, if you do this, the Emperor will be heartbroken. Your Majesty, isn't that right?"
Lin Yan specially emphasized the two words "trust", and as expected, Tuoba Hong's face became even more solemn.
She secretly sneered, her nose wasn't that useful after all. It was the second day after the big fire at Jingren Palace, and all the concubines had gathered at Changxin Palace to pay their respects to the Empress Dowager. There were too many people, and she couldn't smell the scent on Concubine Tian's body.
Just a few days later, she secretly investigated the cause of the fire at Jingren Palace and found some clues. Although she knew that the fire was related to Shangguan Li without investigation, thinking about it again revealed some flaws - at that time, Shangguan Li had thought of a way to set the fire, but probably wouldn't have had the energy to send someone to set the fire! She also had to plan things outside the palace, and after giving birth, she was weak, and her subordinates were busy with no end in sight.
Furthermore, Tuoba Hong arrested the palace maids closest to her on charges of "not serving properly", which Lin Yan also knew about. At that time, due to Tuoba Hong's anger, all the people who could be used by Wang Liru should have been dealt with, making it even more impossible for her to complete the arson.
On the other hand, Lin Wan also found out that the people around Chu Huashang had been to Jingren Palace. In the records of Shang Gongju, it was discovered that Xianfugong had received an extra 100 catties of charcoal fire, and at that time, Lin Wan felt that something was wrong.
She guessed that after Shangguan Li produced, Chu Huashang must have met with her. Although they had been hostile to each other before, Shangguan Li was about to leave the palace, and under the circumstances of mutual benefit and taking what they needed, it was not impossible for them to cooperate once. Shangguan Li couldn't spare the energy to do it herself, so she left the task of setting the fire to Chu Huashang, who was more than happy to oblige!
Shangguan Li wants to suppress Lin Wan, which is also the goal of Chuhua Shuang. In the palace, there are no eternal friends or enemies. Chuhua Shuang, who understands the situation, knows that after Shangguan Li leaves the palace, she will lose her qualification for struggle, and this opponent will cease to exist. Finally, in order to deal with their common enemy, helping her out is not a big deal.
Lin Wan, Chu Huashang, Shangguan Li, and Xiao Huanghou are all extraordinary existences in the harem. Only they know the emperor's true thoughts. Therefore, the mastermind behind the burning of Jingren Palace can only be among them. If it were someone else, they wouldn't be able to guess the emperor's thoughts, and as soon as they thought about arson, they would fear that the emperor would investigate, where would they get the courage?
Moreover, as clever as Chu Huashang, she had long expected that even if Lin Yuan detected it was her, she could only swallow this bitter pill. If the Emperor were to really investigate the arson case, wouldn't he be contradicting himself by admitting "the great fire was man-made and has nothing to do with Heaven's warning"? And Lin Yuan knew this point, fearing to provoke the Emperor, dared not mention a word about "who burned down Jingren Palace".
Tuoba Hong heard this and looked at Chu Huashang on the ground, saying: "You get up first." He smiled again: "Huashang has always understood the rules."
Chu Huashang saw the cold intent in the emperor's smile, and her mouth twitched. She forcibly pulled her hand out of Lin Yuan's, stood up straight, and lowered her head, not daring to look at Tuoba Hong.
Lin Wan looked at her with a faint smile, took a plate of chestnuts and peeled them for Tuoba Hong to eat.
After Mei Shu's words, Taizong's interest seemed to have waned. A moment later, he said that government affairs were busy and he had to hurry back to Jianzhang Palace to review the memorials, dispersing the crowd.
Lin Wan and others bid farewell one after another and returned to their respective palaces.
In the depths of winter, Shanglin Garden has a unique charm. A thick layer of ice has formed on the surface of the lake, and the withered lotus leaves are scattered unevenly across the ice, mixed with a vast expanse of snow, giving off an air of "frosty mist, all white above and below".
Because she had just recovered from her injury, Lin Yu's body was still a bit weak. She couldn't stay out in the cold for too long and quickly wrapped her cloak around her, supporting herself on Chu Xue's arm as they hastened their pace. Just as they were hurrying along, a bright and clear female voice suddenly rang out from behind them, like a stone skipping across the surface of a frozen lake: "Yu'e is in such a hurry, could it be that she's rushing back to attend to the Emperor?"
Lin Yanting stopped in her tracks, turned around and indeed it was Consort Tian. She smiled softly and replied slowly: "So it's Consort Tian! Your Highness has always been calm and gentle, but today you seem to have lost your usual elegance, is it because the weather is too cold?"
