Just as they were talking about Qi Ronghua, a palace maid who was close to Qi Ronghua came from outside with gifts to congratulate Lin Yuqiao on her move. Before long, Zhang Wanxiang, Fang Cairen and Wang Cairen's gifts also arrived.

  Lin Wan was extremely favored, and her move to the Huayang Palace was a great joy for these four consorts. The emperor came to the Huayang Palace more frequently, and they were able to gain many benefits. Just seeing the emperor's face became much easier. Wei Zhaoyi also regained favor, and the entire Huayang Palace was almost in universal celebration.

  Lin Wan let the people open the gifts, and as expected, they were all valuable items with a flattering and pleasing meaning. Qi Ronghua sent a white jade ruyi to symbolize good luck. Zhang Wanyi gave ten pieces of Su embroidery and Ruan smoke gauze, which was the best thing she could get out of her hands as an unfavored concubine. Fang Cairen brought a pot of frost-dyed plum blossoms, she was skilled at arranging flowers, and the petals of the plum blossoms were originally pale yellow, she spent some thought to dye the edges of the petals with a circle of silver white, which was very rare, Lin Wan looked at it with surprise. The last one was Wang Caiyu, who was born as a palace maid, many years ago she had a night of favor from the emperor and then was abandoned, her life was very difficult, but she still personally embroidered a silk screen to give to Lin Wan.

  Lin Wan ordered the palace people to put everything away in the warehouse, but that one pot of plum blossoms, although it looked good, did not dare to be placed near her, and was only placed in the haitang flower bed in the back hall. However, Wang Cai's embroidered screen was taken out separately, and upon looking at it, the needlework was fine and dense, and when unfolded, it was about three feet square, and she couldn't help but say to Chu Xue and others: "Wang Cai put a lot of effort into this thing."

  Xiao Chengzi was always busy running errands outside, and with a bit of clever thinking, she spoke up: "In over ten days, it will be the eve of the Lunar New Year. The young mistress can't receive favors, this thing is time-consuming and laborious, but it's worth showing off. I'm afraid she's preparing it as a gift for Empress Dowager on New Year's Day."

  "Ah, you're right!" Lin Yufang only thought of this now. She furrowed her brow and pondered for a moment, wondering: "Why is she being so friendly to me? Wei Zhaoyi's seniority, rank, and imperial favor are all superior to mine, yet Wang Cairen is an old hand in the Huayang Palace, shouldn't it be more reasonable for her to rely on Wei Zhaoyi?"

  "Whatever the princess says..." Xiaochengzi was also stunned for a moment. Then he smiled and said, "Princess, there are many strange things in this palace. Take the main and secondary positions of the twelve palaces, for example. The relationship between them is very complicated. Many main position princesses oppress the concubines of the same palace, not to mention the mistresses of the side halls who suffer in silence every day. It's common for them to fight for favor. Then there are those who use each other, the main position gives benefits to the secondary position, and the secondary position must give back even more. There are also secondary positions that receive more favor than the main position, disregarding seniority and standing above the main position. Probably only Shuyu Princess of Yunqing Palace can get along harmoniously."

  "Do you think it's because Wei Zhaoyi treated Wang Caiyu poorly, so she turned to me for a way out?" Lin Yan smiled casually: "Forget it, there are many people like Wang Caiyu in the palace. When I was at Jingyue Pavilion, which is such a remote place, every day there were a large group of people coming to fawn and curry favor with me. Let Chun Tao go to the warehouse to fetch a few pieces of jade utensils as gifts for Wang Caiyu, I'm afraid she won't be able to bring out anything on New Year's Eve."

  Xiao Chengzi retreated with a puzzled expression, wondering why her usually cold-hearted master had helped Wang Cai's daughter today when she normally didn't care about the other concubines' flattery or attempts to win her over.

  This return gift means that he has accepted Wang Cai's flattery... The master is in favor and power, even if he wants to pick someone up, it won't be a lowly person like Wang Cai.

  Xiang couldn't figure it out, and in the end, Xiao Chengzi still went to deliver the gift honestly.

  ***

  From then on, Lin Wan settled down in the Huayang Palace. As the days went by, to be honest, living here was indeed better than the treatment at Jingyue Pavilion. The small pavilion was neither damp nor cold, and going out to stroll in the garden was just a step into the upper forest. Whenever Lin Wan wanted to listen to opera or music, she would order the songstresses from Liyuan to come and sing for her. She was favored, generously rewarded with money, and the singing girls were all willing to come. In the past, Zhang Wan'er couldn't even get anyone to perform a Huangmei Opera for her.

  The consorts living in the Huayang Palace all got along well. Wei Zhaoyi didn't need to be mentioned, she was a quiet and gentle person who would never pick on others. Qi Ronghua had no great ambitions and didn't know how to curry favor, her personality was also generous and likable, so she wouldn't bother Lin Yuen at all. Zhang Wan was simple-minded and naive, if placed in modern times, she would be considered silly and cute. The remaining two people were of low rank, with a petty and narrow-minded attitude, they tailed behind others every day, how could they dare offend Lin Yuen even a little bit?

  So Lin's days were like the big red lanterns and colorful paper cutouts hung outside during Chinese New Year, comfortable and festive.

  Before long, the Eve of the Lunar New Year finally arrived. As usual, a night feast was held in the palace, and all the concubines gathered at the Changxin Palace to dine with the Emperor and Empress regardless of their ranks.

  The Empress Dowager was old and easily tired, so she excused herself from attending the night banquet. However, Empress Xiao's health wasn't good either, but managing palace affairs was her strong suit. She naturally hosted a grand and magnificent New Year's Eve banquet. In the main hall of Changxin Palace, she even set up a stage and invited the famous "Qingyu Troupe" from the capital to perform a big play, creating a lively atmosphere.

  Lin Wan was full and content at the palace feast, except for not understanding the Peking Opera, everything else was satisfactory. At the third watch of the night, everyone gathered to usher in the new year, watching fireworks, and finally returned with satisfaction. The only downside was that the next day had to get up early to pay New Year's greetings to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Empress, and also to attend the grand ceremony, worship at the Temple of the Imperial Ancestors, which was very tedious and tiring.

  On the second day, Lin Yan reluctantly got up. In this era, people attach great importance to festivals, and if they are sloppy during the New Year, they will have bad luck for the entire next year. Celebrating the New Year with grandeur is like having good fortune for the whole year. Lin Yan didn't believe in these superstitions, but if she made any mistakes, others wouldn't let her off easily.

  She quickly washed and dressed in the four-product concubine's morning dress sent by Shang Gongju early, with several kilograms of red gold headdress on her hair bun, and a heavy body. Chuxue, Chutao, and others did not dare to slack off, following the rules, they applied thick rouge to her face, and carefully pasted flower-shaped decorations, according to the etiquette for a high-ranking lady's makeup, it was just like this.

  In ancient times, etiquette was more important than heaven, especially during the New Year and festivals, it's simply exhausting. I heard that among Qianlong's concubines, there were those who had miscarriages due to overly complicated rituals during worship.

  Lin Yan finally finished dressing up and was busy sending several dishes for the first snow. Let's eat something to fill our stomachs first, there's still a lot of work to do later.

  However, Lin Yufang stood up from the dresser, and the several kilograms of headdress made her dizzy. She had too much experience with falling in her past life, so she immediately grabbed Chunxue's arm to steady herself. Unfortunately, she couldn't exert any strength in her legs, and the weight on her head was like Mount Tai pressing down on her, making stars appear before her eyes. Her body slid softly to the ground along with Chunxue's hand.

  "Your Ladyship!" "Master!" The room was filled with shrill cries. Chu Xue was shocked and pale, embracing Lin Yuan tightly, but saw that Lin Yuan's face was deathly pale, her eyes somewhat dull. She repeatedly shouted outwards: "Quickly, quickly summon the imperial physician! Our lady is ill..."

  "First snow, goodbye." Lin Yuanshang still had the strength to speak. She reached out and grabbed Chunxue, shaking her head: "Now all the concubines have to go to Changle Palace for New Year's greetings, even if they're not feeling well, they have to prioritize meeting Empress Dowager. I loudly summoned the imperial physician, it wouldn't sound good if word got out."

  "What...what to do?" Chūxuē squatted down and, along with two robust palace maids, helped Lín Yuàn onto a chair. Lín Yuàn clutched at her chest, it was a kind of suffocating pain, not like the pain from the arrow wound relapsing, but had an unusually familiar feeling.

  Suddenly a string in her mind was plucked. "Let Xiao Chengzi go to that place," Lin Yan whispered, "don't disturb others."

  Chu Xue sighed and said, "Alright, there are many imperial physicians around him, they should be able to help the master. To say it's not entirely the fault of Imperial Physician Feng who didn't do his job properly. Why doesn't the master report this to the Emperor and have him replaced with a better imperial physician?"

  Lin Wan smiled as she listened: "Which place in the palace has the most turbid water? It's not those concubines' palaces that are vying for favor, but the Imperial Hospital! In the past, when Shen Fei poisoned someone, wasn't it because she had bought off many imperial physicians to help her cover it up, and thus deceived heaven and earth? Doctor Feng was already bought off by Empress Xiao, he just didn't have the guts to be Empress Xiao's confidant and poison me. But he also didn't dare go against the empress, so he really put his heart into treating me. Empress Xiao has a tight grip on everything, more than half of the people in the Imperial Hospital are her people, how could I possibly change doctors? I'm afraid that if I came across another one, they would be even worse than Doctor Feng."

  The first snow no longer spoke, and let Xiao Chengzi go invite people instead.

  After all the commotion, Lin Yu didn't even have time for breakfast and directly went to Chang Le Palace after finishing her pulse diagnosis. She wasn't feeling well in her stomach either and couldn't eat anything. Later, she would force herself to go to Chang Le Palace to pay her respects, and Empress Dowager would also invite the consorts to join her for breakfast together.

  They hastily made their way to the Changle Palace. The Empress Dowager normally did not show her face, but on New Year's Day she had no choice but to get up early to accept court greetings. The interior and exterior of the Changle Palace were all newly decorated, with the usual indigo blue and tea white palace streamers and curtains replaced by bright red and yellow ones, which were dazzling to the eyes. It was probably not what the Empress Dowager liked, but she had to do it for the sake of good luck on New Year's Day.

  Because the Empress Dowager was in good health, all the consorts came to Changle Palace for New Year's greetings. The Emperor and Empress also had to come together. Lin Yin arrived not too late, but the Emperor and Empress had not yet arrived, nor had all the consorts. Wang Shu Rong was leading a few consorts in paying respects to the Empress Dowager. Lin Yin followed the rules and performed three bows and nine kowtows, reciting lengthy congratulatory phrases, then presented her gifts with both hands.

  The Empress Dowager sat down and accepted the gift, gesturing to Lin Wan to sit down. Lady Zheng took the gift from in front of the Empress Dowager and opened it. The Empress Dowager took a glance and showed a hint of surprise on her face, saying: "This child is really clever, I couldn't tell from her usual behavior, and I've never seen her make anything like this before!" She handed the box to Wang Shu Rong and said: "You all take a look, what a novel thing! Aren't you usually fond of things like this?"