"Your Majesty, this is a list of regulations for the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet sent by the Imperial Household Department. Please take a look."

In the main hall of Kunning Palace, Hesheli Fangyi sat alone at the Eight Immortals table, with stacks of various accounts that had not yet been processed handed to her.

Granny Li and Tan Yun accompanied Hesheli Fangyi, and from time to time, they had to accurately deliver these accounts to their mistress based on Hesheli Fangyi's words.

"Remove this one, that one, and these ones from the list."

Hesheli Fangyi glanced at the list first, then reached out and tapped on the contents before stuffing it back into Tanyun's hand.

Tan Yun was taken aback at first, then looked up at Li Mama standing opposite her.

Granny Li nodded slightly and waved her hand. Seeing this, Tan Yun turned and left.

Watching Tan Yun leave the room, Granny Li quickly brought over some warm tea that had been cooled and placed it beside Hesheli Fangyi. "Your Highness, you've been busy for a long time, you should rest."

“Granny, there are still palace affairs to attend to. Let’s talk about them after we’re done,” Hesheli Fangyi said, rubbing her aching temples. She took the teacup, took a sip, and handed it back to Granny Li. “The Imperial Household Department’s accounts for this month are not good. Several things are significantly different from last month’s. We’ll send someone to investigate what’s going on later.”

Could it be that they're trying to mislead her since she's just taken over palace affairs?

"It's rare for the Empress Dowager to loosen her grip. If we can't seize this opportunity to turn the tide, we'll suffer too much."

Fearing that Granny Li might not understand her thoughts, Hesheli Fangyi explained, and then used one of the accounts as an example to tell her about the arrangements she wanted to make.

Regarding this, Granny Li was a little worried, "Wouldn't it be too obvious to plant someone?"

It's not that it's impossible to place people there, but Kunning Palace has only recently taken over palace affairs, and it would be easy to arouse suspicion from others (mainly the Empress Dowager).

"It just needs to be more obvious. Didn't the Niohuru clan send in quite a few more people before?"

Let's just stir things up and scatter these people and the original palace staff.

Even the Empress Dowager can't ascertain everyone's background. If we can keep one or two of our people safe, it'll be a profitable deal for us.

Hesheli Fangyi never intended to send all her people in, because that was simply impossible.

"Having tasted power, how could the Empress Dowager willingly hand over the reins of the palace to me? At most, by the end of the year, this power will still be taken back."

Therefore, Hesheli Fangyi doesn't have much time left. If she wants to maximize her benefits in the shortest amount of time, she has to continue to muddy the waters of the harem.

At this point, Granny Li finally understood what Hesheli Fangyi was planning. She had to admit that the plan was quite good, and it might even achieve more results than they had imagined.

Granny Li lowered her head. "Yes, I understand."

"Granny, I'll leave this matter to you," Hesheli Fangyi said, then continued to attend to her palace duties.

...

Mid-Autumn Festival Feast on the 15th of August

When Xiuning woke up early in the morning, she was in a bit of a daze, and she was even distracted when Chunyu was washing and dressing her.

"My lady, is my makeup not good?"

Chunyu glanced at the bronze mirror and thought the painting was alright, but was it still too ornate?

Xiuning shook her head. "It has nothing to do with you. It's just me. I have a feeling something went wrong at today's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet."

It was an intuition, and Xiuning couldn't explain why.

Is this some kind of palace drama rule, where something always seems to happen at some large banquet?

"Let's all be careful this time and try not to get involved."

Xiu Ning stood up, her hair, styled in a bun, swayed slightly with the tassels hanging down, making her face look exceptionally delicate and beautiful.

Chunyu nodded, "Don't worry, Your Highness, I understand."

As they were talking, the master and servant left Kaixiang Palace and hurried to their destination.

This year's Mid-Autumn Festival banquet was held next to the Peony Pavilion in the Imperial Garden, which boasts not only mountains and water but also flowers, trees, and shrubs, creating a pleasant and tranquil environment.

When Xiuning arrived, a crowd had already gathered around the Peony Pavilion, including Consort Zhang, who had been mentioned by Consort Nara as being unwell.

"Sister Nara, what brings Consort Zhang here?"

Xiu Ning walked to Consort Nara's side and was very curious about Consort Zhang, whose face was a little pale. Oh, she had a premonition that something bad was going to happen this time, could it be Consort Zhang?

Consort Nara looked helpless. "Who knew that we would call the imperial physician last night, and he's here today?"

Consort Nara was also surprised. She thought that Consort Zhang had made such a big fuss in order to stay in Xianfu Palace to rest during her pregnancy, but unexpectedly she insisted on attending despite feeling unwell, which was puzzling.

Xiu Ning could only exclaim in astonishment at the skill and daring of the person in question. With so many concubines and palace maids present, even the slightest mishap could cause Consort Zhang to suffer.

"Forget it, why bring her up? Sister, you live in Qixiang Palace, do you know anything about the situation in Yongshou Palace?"

Compared to Consort Zhang, Consort Nara was more concerned about Consort Shu.

Although Consort Shu suffered a miscarriage and her child died, once she makes her comeback, she will still be the most prominent high-ranking concubine in the harem, unless the power of the Niohuru clan is greatly diminished.

Xiuning replied softly, "The situation is peaceful, I haven't heard of anything amiss."

Consort Nara raised an eyebrow. "We might not even know if something happens."

Who could possibly send spies into Yongshou Palace? She certainly didn't have that ability.

Xiu Ning smiled, and the two stopped talking, leaving everything unsaid.

After a while, more and more concubines came to the Peony Pavilion.

Xiuning simply had Chunyu help her to her seat.

Looking down at the palace servants walking past her, Xiu Ning blanked out her mind, barely even responding to the system's attempts to speak to her.

"The Emperor and Empress have arrived!"

"Your humble servant/concubine greets Your Majesty and Empress."

Please have a seat.

Kangxi spoke, taking his seat in the main position, with the Empress following closely behind him.

Not long after the two were seated, the Grand Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager also arrived.

Well, Xiuning stood up again and bowed to the two of them to greet them.

After a flurry of activity, Xiu Ning sat down, her forehead already glistening with sweat.

Xiu Ning reached out and took out a handkerchief to wipe herself quickly. She let out a breath and listened to the people above exchanging pleasantries.

These were all empty platitudes, and these low-ranking concubines could only serve as background figures until the time was almost up, when the Emperor spoke, and the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet officially began.

String music plays as they dance gracefully.

The dancers, dressed in revealing attire, appeared in the hall, their every move a picture-perfect scene.

As Xiuning ate the dishes that were served, she watched the rehearsed song and dance performances, feeling that this scene would probably disappear soon.

As expected, before the dance had even finished a few complete segments, the sound of vomiting echoed throughout the hall.

Xiuning: ...As expected, a disaster banquet is bound to be a hotbed of accidents.