The Changchun Palace team travels back in time to Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace

Hailan was reprimanded by the Emperor and Empress for beating a palace maid without cause, which surprised the concubines in the palace. However, Hailan was not favored and had a low rank. As the New Year approached, this minor incident was quickly forgotten.

As the saying goes, "Once the Laba Festival is over, the New Year is just around the corner." After eating Laba porridge and Laba garlic, the first day of the Lunar New Year will soon arrive.

As Ruyi was being helped to put on her jewelry, Su Xin said, "Today is an auspicious day at the beginning of the new year. The whole palace will be having a banquet with the Empress Dowager. She will surely be pleased."

Ruyi said, "The elders all love a lively atmosphere."

At this moment, A'Ruo came in and said, "Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. This servant greets my master." She then kowtowed and said, "May my master be blessed with great joy, fortune, honor, and peace."

Ruyi said, "You're so good at saying auspicious words. Are you dressed up because you're late today?"

A'Ruo smiled and said, "It's such a nice gift from my master. I think today is a good day, so I should naturally wear it."

When Xin looked up, she saw that although A'Ruo had applied rouge and powder and changed into the blue woolen robe given to her by the Imperial Household Department, the rest of her clothes were just her usual clothes, only in brighter colors; apart from a simple cloisonné hairpin and a light pink winter flower in her hair, she had no other decorations.

Ruyi didn't say anything, but asked Suixin, "Don't you have two pieces too? Why don't I see you wearing them?"

Aruo's smile vanished, and she lowered her head, but secretly glanced at Suxin.

Su Xin thought to herself, "Sister Aruo gave me a blue woolen robe and a rose-purple gray squirrel fur coat. If I wear the blue woolen robe, I'm worried that I'll be wearing the same thing as Sister Aruo. But if I wear the gray squirrel fur coat, it might be a bit... eye-catching."

When A'Ruo heard that Ruixin had concealed the fact that she had taken all four garments, she immediately spoke up, repeating what the two had discussed: "That's exactly right. My lady, ever since Consort Hai was demoted, who in the palace doesn't fear the Empress's power? The Empress is usually frugal, and even if she doesn't openly demand that the concubines in the harem be like her, who dares to be extravagant now?"

Not only do none of the concubines in the six palaces use Jiangnan fabrics anymore, but even Consort Gao, who used to only avoid wearing fancy clothes when paying respects to the Empress, no longer wears clothes embroidered with gold and silver threads, pearls, or gold leaf, no matter when or where. Apart from a few fox and rat fur robes that are still valuable, she has no other precious clothes or jewelry.

The imperial harem now favors a frugal and retro style, and given everything that has happened in our palace, we servants dare not wear too many luxurious or expensive clothes, lest we cause trouble for our mistresses.

Ruyi's expression darkened slightly as she said, "The Empress has certainly established her authority by using Hailan to build a raft."

A'Ruo said, "My lady, this time it was Hai's carelessness that gave the Empress a handle to use against her. If Hai hadn't been punished so severely, tormenting her like that, and causing such a scene before the Empress, the Empress wouldn't have been able to punish Hai. Ye Xin and Ze Zhi even confessed to the Imperial Household Department about Hai's visit to Shou Kang Palace to see you, which dragged us into it as well. In the end, it's all Hai's fault. If you ask me, we should try to distance ourselves..."

Before she could finish speaking, Rui anxiously called out, "Sister Aruo!"

Ruyi said in a deep voice, "So you found out again?"

Aruo then realized she had let something slip and panicked. Ruixin quickly knelt down and tried to make amends, saying, "Her Majesty the Empress mentioned the Imperial Household Department's report on the injuries, saying something like, 'The torture was too cruel, and no medical treatment was given, causing the injuries to become severe, almost leading to death. They showed no mercy.' It was something I discussed privately with Sister Aruo. It was all my fault. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!"

Ruyi said, "Suxin, I know you are the most cautious and prudent. Get up."

She fiddled with her headdress and said, "Ye Xin belongs to the Xin generation and is the most senior palace maid under Hai Lan. I don't believe that Ye Xin would become disloyal because of a mere punishment. It's clearly the Empress who is taking this opportunity to make a fuss, and the Emperor has no choice but to give the Empress face. If you gossip about this in private or treat Hai Lan differently than before, then you are in the wrong."

Su Xin and A Ruo exchanged a glance and replied, "Master's teachings are correct, and we will follow your instructions."

Ruyi said, "A'Ruo, on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the Emperor has lifted the confinement. Go and invite Hailan, and let's go to Shou Kang Palace together."

A'Ruo was startled. When she went outside, she saw the palace maids with red velvet flowers in their hair. She said to them irritably, "You're the kind of girls who wear flowers on top of watermelons! Get back to work!"

Ruyi noticed that Su Xin's smile seemed a little forced, and assumed that she had been teased by A'ruo in private, saying, "That's just her personality."

Xin forced a smile and said yes.

In the Shou Kang Palace, the emperor, along with the empress, concubines, and children, paid their respects to the empress dowager.

The Empress Dowager sat at the head of the table, appearing respectful and filial to the Emperor and Empress, whose etiquette was impeccable, but her expression was quite unpleasant.

Since the emperor ascended the throne, he had tried every means to consolidate his power, but each time he was countered by the emperor and empress. Now, even if he didn't take action, the empress would still try to suppress him.

A few days ago, all the palace maids and eunuchs under her command were accused of accepting bribes and were replaced. She also purged the informants who had been among them. If she hadn't lost her temper, she almost would have taken away her two most capable subordinates, Cheng Han and Fu Jia. Now, she can't even get news from Bai Ruiji's side, let alone from the previous dynasty.

She felt annoyed at the thought of how smug those two were beneath their submissive exteriors.

The Empress Dowager held back for a long time before forcing a smile, inviting everyone to sit down, and then beckoning the children to come forward.

She took Yongzhang from the wet nurse's arms and teased him with a smile. Several other children also gathered around to play with Yongzhang.

Looking at Yonglian and Jingse, the two children born to the Empress, she felt that they were not as endearing as Yonghuang, so she asked the Empress to take the two children away and spoke only to Yonghuang.

The emperor's expression showed slight displeasure, but the empress remained calm, simply embracing the two children gently.

The Empress Dowager inquired about Yonghuang's recent situation. Yonghuang replied that his mother was very loving and took great care of his diet. She even presented him with a pine tree to comfort him as he missed his birth mother.

The Empress Dowager was taken aback.

She thought that Yonghuang, whose birth mother died early and who was the eldest son, must be a thorn in the Empress's side, and that she could find a way to make him work for her. She never expected that even Yonghuang would remember her kindness.

Then she noticed that the auspicious robes worn by the concubines below were almost all in the same style as the Empress's, mainly simple and retro, except for Consort Jia, who had previously sided with her, who was dressed in a more ornate style.

Oh, and there's Consort Xian, who also dressed in a luxurious style, but her clothes were old-fashioned, making people mistakenly think she was simple.

The Empress may seem gentle, but she is actually strong beneath her gentleness. She has only been Empress for a few months, yet she has managed to handle all matters, big and small, in the palace with remarkable skill. Now that she has firmly established herself, how could her power be so formidable!

It seems that giving her a private reprimand is not enough; if I don't dampen her arrogance in public, I, as the Empress Dowager, will truly have no place to stand.

The Empress Dowager paused for a moment and said, "Now that it is the New Year, a new year brings new beginnings. You are all so beautiful, so you should work harder to have children. The eldest son and the legitimate son are both noble, but whoever gives birth to your first prince after your ascension to the throne will be even more noble."

Here it comes again, Rongyin sighed inwardly. What ancestral rule is this about having the first prince after the ascension to the throne? If the first son after the ascension to the throne is truly so noble, then the Holy Ancestor ascended the throne at the age of nine, and the Prince of Zhi was the Holy Ancestor's eldest son. Wouldn't he be the most noble? How could he have been deposed as crown prince for cursing and imprisoned until his death after being stripped of his title?

At this moment, the Empress Dowager changed the subject and said, "Empress, you are my rightful daughter-in-law. I love you, but I also have to teach you."

Everyone was stunned.

Is the Empress Dowager trying to embarrass the Empress in public on the first day of the Lunar New Year?

The emperor put down his teacup with some displeasure and said, "Empress Mother..."

Rongyin stood up and bowed, saying, "Your subject will heed Your Majesty's instructions."

The Empress Dowager glanced at her and said, "Sit down." She added, "The Emperor has only three sons and one daughter. Now is the time to continue the family line, yet you have all the concubines dressed like women who have just entered the pass. Who is the Emperor supposed to look at with his eyes open? It's such a waste!"

Bai Ruiji suddenly smiled and said, "Your Majesty, you don't need to worry. His Majesty said that I am young and beautiful, and he will like me no matter how I dress. He also praised me for learning the virtues of thrift and cherishing blessings from Her Majesty the Empress."

Consort Gao, who already disliked Bai Ruiji, immediately sneered, "Oh, my dear sister, you are indeed young and ignorant. You speak as if you are so great. The Emperor praises my clothes every day for being simple and elegant, without any vulgarity or materialism!"

The Empress Dowager was both shocked and furious. Even Bai Ruiji had switched allegiance to the Empress? But given the gravity of the occasion, she couldn't afford to lash out. She suppressed her anger and said, "It's good that the Empress practices frugality, but she must consider the dignity of the harem and the Emperor. When the court ladies and ministers come to court, they can't see their revered masters dressed worse than them. It's like the Buddha in this temple; without its golden body and sandalwood pedestal, would the people still worship it with reverence? They'd only say, 'So shabby, so shabby!'"

Rongyin said, “Your Majesty’s admonition has terrified me. His Majesty spoke with me earlier about how many Manchus have forgotten their old customs after entering the Central Plains for many years. So I made a deer-tail velvet tinderbox to present to His Majesty. His Majesty taught me that not forgetting old customs does not mean blindly reminiscing about the past, but rather remembering the hardships of the founding of the Qing Dynasty. Only in this way can we constantly remind ourselves and not forget our mission to make the Qing Dynasty prosperous. In this light, I have been focusing on such trivial details as clothing, which has led my sisters to follow suit. I have fallen into a rut, and I am ashamed.”

The Empress Dowager felt a chill run down her spine. The Empress's words brought up the grand theme of the Qing Dynasty's founding principles in relation to the palace's clothing, and she also brought up the Emperor, while clearing herself of any wrongdoing. Instead, she made herself appear as the foolish person who had forgotten the founding principles of the Qing Dynasty, did not think about the prosperity of the Qing Dynasty, and even went against the Emperor!

Before she could react, Bai Ruiji suddenly smiled and said sweetly, "Since Your Majesty has mentioned the Bodhisattva, I have recently encountered some difficulties in understanding Buddhism and would like to ask Your Majesty for guidance."

The Empress Dowager realized that this was definitely aimed at her, and quickly said, "On such a festive occasion, we should be enjoying each other's company and listening to us talk about scholarship. What's the point?"

The emperor suppressed a smile and said, "My mother has been a Buddhist for many years, so her cultivation is naturally much stronger than ours. My mother is just teaching the younger generation, so what's wrong with that? Ruiji, you can ask me anything."

Bai Ruiji said, "I was ordered by the Emperor to copy the Diamond Sutra. When I came across a verse in the section on the Dharmakaya being formless, it said, 'If one sees me by form or seeks me by sound, that person walks a false path and cannot see the Tathagata.' I do not understand its meaning. I hope the Empress Dowager can enlighten me."

Consort Gao sneered again, "Someone like you, even if you copied the sutra ten more times, it would still be a superficial understanding. Let me tell you, do you really need to trouble the Empress Dowager?"

This means that only wanting to see the appearance and hear the sound is the wrong path and cannot lead to true enlightenment. She paused after explaining the literal meaning.

Bai Ruiji sneered, "As expected, the Imperial Concubine is clever. She only copied the sutra five times, yet she has made more progress than I have."

Seeing the Consort's dark expression, Chen Wanyin added at the opportune moment, "I have often heard the Consort's teachings. The Empress Dowager is advanced in years, and the Consort's cold ailment has not yet healed. It would be tiring for her to talk too much. Would Your Majesty allow me to speak on behalf of the Consort?"

The Emperor nodded, and Chen Wanyin said, “The Diamond Sutra says, ‘All forms are illusory. If one sees all forms as non-forms, then one sees the Tathagata.’ It also says, ‘To be free from all forms is to be called a Buddha.’ For example, when people worship Buddha, they worship Buddha statues. The Buddha statue is just the form of the Buddha. If they think that the Buddha statue is the real Buddha, and after worshiping it they want to be free from suffering and attain happiness, focusing only on famous mountains and ancient temples, Buddha statues and golden bodies, and scriptures, without thinking about the true meaning of Buddhism, without doing good deeds and accumulating merit, and without diligently cultivating themselves, then this is being attached to forms, seeking the Dharma outside of oneself, abandoning the essential for the trivial, and thus walking the wrong path, and not seeing the Tathagata.”

She was initially very nervous, but the more she spoke, the more fluent she became. After she finished speaking, she realized that what she had said seemed to contradict what the Empress Dowager had said, and she immediately said in a panic, "This concubine is talking nonsense, please forgive me, Your Majesty."

The Empress Dowager's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot, but the Emperor clapped his hands and laughed heartily, "Good, good! My concubines are all so knowledgeable and reasonable, even Rui Ji has improved a lot!"

He further said, “What Consort Wan said is very reasonable. I will use Consort Wan’s words to draw inferences from one instance to another. Superficial extravagance is nothing but an illusion. If we use extravagance to establish the majesty of the royal family and the national image, the people will follow suit and compete with each other, creating a trend of extravagance. This will inevitably lead to wastefulness, exhaustion of the people and resources, and the Eight Banners’ children indulging in pleasure. This is also a wrong path.”

When the late Emperor was alive, he disliked extravagance but implemented policies beneficial to the country, which earned him the trust of officials and the people. This is the way of an emperor. I wish to emulate the late Emperor, to be diligent in governing and to love the people, so that the country may become prosperous and strong, the world may be at peace, the people may live in peace and contentment, and I may accumulate merit for the world.

Rongyin suddenly had the illusion that the emperor from her previous life had been reincarnated into this small world, but when she thought of the emperor's usual behavior, she calmed down and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty is wise. The Sixth Patriarch Huineng once said that Buddhism is in the world and enlightenment is not separate from the world. Seeking enlightenment apart from the world is like looking for a rabbit's horn. Your Majesty talks about Buddhism but is not bound by it. You use Buddhism to prove your heart for the prosperity of the country and the nation. You will surely achieve great perfection."

The concubines also bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

The emperor was very pleased and praised Chen Wanyin, saying, "Wanyin used to say that she was clumsy with words, but now it seems that she was too modest."

This was the first time Chen Wanyin had been praised by the emperor, and she was both excited and apprehensive: "Your Majesty, I thank you for your praise. I was taught by an elder when I was young and have read some books and Buddhist scriptures."

With a wave of his hand, the Emperor immediately ordered that in addition to the festival gifts, Gao Xiyue, Bai Ruiji, and Chen Wanyin be bestowed many other gifts. He added, "Just as the Empress Dowager said, a new year brings new beginnings, and I should take advantage of this auspicious occasion to bestow many rewards."

Now that Consort Rui has agreed, I will bestow Yonghe Palace upon you. Once your confinement is lifted, you may move there. Consort Wan is respectful and learned; she shall be promoted to the rank of Changzai. Empress, have the Imperial Household Department prepare the investiture as soon as possible.”

Chen Wanyin was overjoyed and immediately knelt down to express her gratitude. Hailan, thinking that she was more senior than Chen Wanyin and that she had been demoted while Chen Wanyin had surpassed her, felt a pang of sadness, though she dared not show it on her face. Ruyi's expression was also not good.

Seeing the situation, the Empress Dowager could only force a smile and say, "I am happy that you have all made some progress. You may all leave now. I would like to keep the Emperor and Empress for a few words."