An Lingrong is reborn to live for herself.

Having received praise in Zhenhuan's palace the day before, Baojuan acted even more thoughtfully.

In fact, An Lingrong secretly sorted out the various events of her past life and discovered that Baojuan's words, whether intentional or unintentional, were all meant to stir up trouble in the harem, especially her relationship with Zhen Huan and Shen Meizhuang.

But what exactly is the reason? An Lingrong has two guesses. One is that when they first met, Shen Meizhuang mentioned that the person who has served her since childhood is the most considerate. Since then, Baojuan has been somewhat dissatisfied with Shen Meizhuang.

Secondly, after her father was imprisoned, Baojuan repeatedly mentioned to her that the Empress was the most powerful woman in the harem, constantly trying to persuade her to side with the Empress. It's possible that Baojuan had already been won over by the Empress at that time, or perhaps she had always been the Empress's person.

Therefore, when speaking in Zhen Huan's palace the day before yesterday, An Lingrong deliberately interrupted Shen Meizhuang. She then went on to praise Baojuan's competence, intending to appease Baojuan first.

Although An Lingrong could empathize with Baojuan, after all, she herself had once hoped to gain some respect in the harem, let alone Baojuan who had struggled in the harem for many years. However, having seen through this, she still kept a wary eye on Baojuan.

Counting the days, Xia was given a severe beating by Consort Hua on the very day that the concubines in the harem paid their respects to the Empress.

The figure was ruined before it even saw the emperor.

Only after that did Shen Meizhuang become the emperor's concubine and gain favor. And then came the humiliation of being sent back to the emperor's virginity. Those days were indeed difficult. But it doesn't matter, now we've started over.

Thinking of this, An Lingrong instructed Bao Juan to rummage through the bait she had brought and retrieve some of her most treasured possessions.

-

Three days later, early in the morning.

Baojuan woke An Lingrong up and then specially styled her hair into a fashionable palace hairstyle.

An Lingrong saw this but didn't say much, letting Baojuan busy herself around her.

Because no matter how she dresses today, there will be someone more dazzling.

After getting ready, she deliberately went out with Xia Dongchun. They walked towards Jingren Palace one after the other.

The events unfolded in much the same way as in my previous life.

Consort Hua's makeup was exquisite, and her head was covered with valuable jewels. The most eye-catching piece was the pearl between her brows, which was so lustrous that it was clearly priceless.

Consort Hua was elegant and graceful, but her words were extremely sharp. With just a few words, she left Consort Qi and Consort Jing speechless.

In the Empress's palace, he spoke freely and without restraint in front of a group of newly selected concubines, showing no regard for the Empress.

An Lingrong thought to herself that in her previous life she had never seen much of the world. At that time, she was only focused on hiding herself and had no time to pay attention to the confrontation between the Empress and Consort Hua.

Today, An Lingrong watched with great interest the back-and-forth between the Empress and Consort Hua, seeing how the Empress used the Eastern Pearl to subtly mock Consort Hua for being merely a concubine, and how Consort Hua, in turn, used the Eastern Pearl to ridicule the Empress for being old and faded.

However, that's not the focus today.

The Empress's palace has never favored the use of incense; instead, it uses fresh seasonal vegetables, fruits, and freshly picked flowers. Therefore, butterflies of unusual appearance often flutter about in the palace. The Empress finds this lively and thus follows these silent little creatures as they dance gracefully inside and outside the palace.

Today, for some unknown reason, several colorful butterflies in the courtyard keep flying into the palace. Every time they are chased away by the palace servants, they always find a chance to fly back in.

This back and forth caught the Empress's attention.

"What's all the commotion outside?" the Empress asked.

The young palace maid outside the hall hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Majesty, the butterflies in the courtyard were making a ruckus today, flying all over the hall. I was afraid they would disturb Your Majesty and the ladies, so I tried to chase them all away. But, but these butterflies are very stubborn. They just fly back after I chase them away, it's really..." The young palace maid's voice trembled as she spoke, clearly terrified.

"Oh? What kind of butterfly is it? I'd like to take a look." The Empress seemed intrigued.

Seeing the Empress's signal, Jianqiu went over and lifted the beaded curtain separating the inner and outer palaces. Sure enough, several brightly colored butterflies fluttered their wings and hovered among each other as they flew in.

The concubines present, finding this novel, began to whisper among themselves.

Consort Hua looked disdainful and said, "These are all lowly things, what's so interesting about them?"

Just then, Jianqiu suddenly said, "Your Majesty, look, these butterflies seem to be all surrounding Consort Xia."

Upon hearing that it was Consort Xia, Consort Hua's face immediately darkened. She glared at Consort Xia and said sternly, "Consort Xia, how dare you! Do you think this is? You've only just entered the palace and you're already harboring wicked thoughts! All the concubines in the palace are required to be dutiful and uphold the virtues of womanhood. But you, on your very first day in the palace, are already thinking of attracting attention. Are you perhaps trying to seduce the Emperor?"

Xia Dongchun was indeed incompetent. After hearing Consort Hua's words, she immediately knelt on the ground, her face flushed red, and all she could say was, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty is innocent..."

Seeing that Xia Dongchun was a disappointment, Consort Hua softened her attitude and said with a smile, "Consort Xia's clothes are quite nice today. I just wonder if someone has tampered with them."

Songzhi, standing beside Consort Hua, also laughed and said, "I've heard that there's a kind of fabric that has a honey fragrance that can attract butterflies from dozens of miles around to collect honey. I've heard that this fabric is woven with a special process, and its fragrance is subtle and cannot be smelled by ordinary people. Only after soaking the fabric in water and adding a few drops of vinegar will the fragrance slowly emerge."

"But I've also heard that although this material is rare, it can't be seen often because the fragrance that attracts butterflies is a slow-acting poison. If you smell it for too long, you'll become delirious and eventually become mentally impaired."

"Oh, so you mean, Consort Xia, did you intend to murder the Emperor? Or did you disregard his safety and arbitrarily defile the harem with filth?" Consort Hua's tone was calm, but the last syllable was drawn out heavily. The words "murder the Emperor" and "defile the harem" seemed like steel nails driven into the ground.

Xia Changzai turned deathly pale with fright and kowtowed repeatedly, saying, "Your Majesty, please investigate! I am innocent! I am innocent!"

An Lingrong secretly looked up and saw that the Empress's face was ashen, her lips tightly pressed together, and she remained silent. Jianqiu beside her was glaring angrily at Consort Hua and Songzhi beside her.

"Your Majesty, this matter concerns His Majesty's health. In my opinion, Xia's intentions are impure, and she should be dealt with swiftly."

An Lingrong secretly found it amusing; she knew the whole story inside and out.

Xia's dress was made from fabric bestowed upon her by the Empress on her first day in the palace, and she had it hastily made to curry favor with the Empress. Now, Consort Hua insists the problem lies with the fabric, implicating the Empress. Who knows how many people were involved, and what they did? The Empress is truly left speechless.

Xia, who had been trying to please the Empress, had unexpectedly gotten herself into trouble and was now left speechless and unable to explain herself. Unable to clarify her situation or speak out, she could only repeatedly say, "Your Majesty, please investigate," and "I am innocent," hoping the Empress would speak up for her.

The Empress was in a terrible headache, but Xia Shi was truly suffering from one as well, her forehead bleeding from the impact.

The Empress said, "Without evidence, Consort Hua cannot make such a judgment. Before entering the palace, all concubines learned the rules of the palace from their tutors. Poisoning the Emperor and defiling the harem are serious crimes that would implicate nine generations of one's family. Even if Consort Xia is ignorant, she would not commit such an outrageous act."

"If Your Majesty the Empress is still worried, you can have a palace maid strip Xia's clothes off and soak her in vinegar to see what happens. However, given that Xia has such ambitions, she must have used some methods to influence things, so it will be difficult to find any evidence. But I am foolish and ignorant, and since this concerns His Majesty's health, I would rather make a wrong judgment than let her off lightly." Consort Hua knew that she had gained the upper hand by striking first, and she became even more relentless.

"That's true." Hearing Consort Hua continue to try to implicate the Emperor, the Empress understood Consort Hua's meaning. Today, she would either have to implicate Consort Hua or depose Xia Shi, leaving her with no chance to rise again. However, the Empress was unwilling to give in to Consort Hua's wishes so easily.

Moreover, the eunuch who served during the palace selection said that the Emperor was greatly pleased to see Xia Dongchun that day. How could the Empress easily give up someone who could potentially counterbalance Consort Hua?

"Your Majesty, the ladies of our harem have long lived in the deep palace. Although we have heard of some strange things, none of us have seen them with our own eyes. In my humble opinion, whether there is really such a strange fragrance, and whether it is harmful to Your Majesty's health, we should ask the imperial physicians to take a look first." It was Jianqiu who spoke. Although it was not a very useful method, it did break the deadlock.

An Lingrong secretly gave Zhen Huan a wink, the meaning in her eyes was clear, and Zhen Huan nodded slightly in response.

An Lingrong breathed a sigh of relief. After all, she had dealt with Zhen Huan for a lifetime in her previous life, and she understood Zhen Huan's personality. The scheme she had set up today was to use Xia Dongchun's outstanding performance to divert the conflict to the Empress and Consort Hua.

I'm really afraid that Consort Hua will be too aggressive, and Zhen Huan's sense of justice will be overflowing, and she'll mess things up again.

Fortunately, Zhen Huan remained composed today.