Fu Xiyu had just been helped out and sat down when someone outside announced that Concubine Xian had arrived.

The people who were chattering just now suddenly became quiet, and all looked towards the door with scrutiny.

Concubine Xian was wearing a light green palace dress embroidered with crabapple flowers and misty patterns. It was spring outside and the bright light was shining on her.

The aqua color made her black hair look even darker and her skin look even more like cream.

It does not compete with the beauty of spring, but it surpasses the beauty of spring.

If Fu Qianyu didn't know that Concubine Rou's body had been cremated, she would have almost thought that Concubine Rou had come back to life.

The room was eerily quiet. The scrutinizing gazes made Concubine Xian feel uncomfortable all over. She suppressed the discomfort and walked to the center of the hall, kneeling and kowtowed to the empress.

"Your Highness the Queen, I pay my respects to her. May the Queen be blessed with good health and happiness."

"Get up."

After Concubine Xian was helped to sit down, someone in the crowd said sarcastically, "Sister Xian, why are you here so late? Although the Empress has been so generous as to exempt us from paying our respects every day, this is your first time paying your respects to the Empress and you're here so late. Could it be that you're relying on your last night's bedtime to look down on the Empress?"

The person who said this was Concubine Jiang. She tried her best to win the emperor's favor at the New Year's Eve dinner, but she was obviously a person who was disliked by the empress dowager and was promoted to a concubine and even received a title.

How could she not hate it?

Concubine Xian remained calm. Despite Lady Jiang's provocations, her face still beamed with a bright smile. She stood up, knelt, and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I did not intentionally come late to pay my respects. I accidentally soiled my dress on the way here, and I was afraid that my untidy appearance would offend Your Majesty. That's why I'm late for today's greetings. Please forgive me."