A few days later, Consort Nian was given a grand funeral in accordance with the rites for a royal consort. Although the funeral was magnificent, the scene was still heartbreaking, as the person had passed away and the family had grown distant.

Fortunately, she was granted the title of Imperial Concubine before her death, and her funeral was not shabby, showing no signs of being diminished despite the Nian family's loss of power.

However, Lady Nian was always domineering, and almost none of the concubines in the palace were on good terms with her. After everyone had dealt with her according to the rules, they returned to their respective palaces.

After the funeral, Cuiling and Baizhi, along with several old palace maids from Yikun Palace, came to Changchun Palace to request an audience with Consort Xi.

Several palace maids, dressed in plain robes, with red and swollen eyes from crying, knelt outside the gate of Changchun Palace, a sight that was heartbreaking to see. In addition, these were all people who had served Lady Nian for most of their lives, and Lanqin recognized them somewhat, so she met them.

As soon as the group entered the palace gate, they bowed deeply to Consort Xi.

"This servant greets Your Highness, may Your Highness live a thousand years!"

"Rise."

Lanqin raised her hand, gesturing for them to dispense with formalities, and sat upright in her chair, looking at the several haggard-looking palace maids before her.

Cui Ling bowed slightly to Consort Xi, her voice hoarse, and whispered with her head down, "Your Highness, we have come to see you today because we have something to ask of you."

The palace maids beside her nodded repeatedly. Lanqin felt a pang of sadness seeing their disheveled appearance and asked, "What's wrong?"

Cui Ling said, "Your Highness, we are all old palace maids who have spent most of our lives in this palace. Although we are old and faded, Consort Nian has left, and there is no point in us staying in this palace anymore. So we beg Your Highness to have mercy and let us leave the palace."

After Cui Ling finished speaking, Bai Zhi took the lead and led several palace maids to kneel on the ground and kowtow several times, saying, "We beg Your Highness to have mercy and let us leave the palace."

Lanqin nodded, understanding their purpose. She felt sorry for the group and thought about how loyal they had been to the Nian family all these years.

Although they had once been her enemies, now that Lady Nian was gone, these servants were all pitiful people with no one to rely on, so she thought it would be a good thing to let them leave the palace.

"You may rise now. I will arrange for you to leave the palace," Lanqin said.

Cui Ling, Bai Zhi, and the others were surprised that Consort Xi would agree so quickly, and they knelt on the ground to express their gratitude.

Lanqin summoned someone, took out some money, and said to the palace maids of Yikun Palace, "I will give each of you two hundred taels of silver. Take good care of it and find some work outside the palace."

These palace maids originally thought that it would be the best thing if Consort Xi could let them leave the palace, but they never expected that Consort Xi would be such a kind and righteous person.

Cuiling knelt on the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, kowtowing and expressing her gratitude.

"Your Highness, Consort Xie, you are truly a kind person. You will surely have great fortune in the future."

Bai Zhi knelt on the ground, supporting Cui Ling, tears streaming down her face. She had spent most of her life in the palace, never expecting such a good thing to happen.

Seeing the palace maids crying all over the place, Lanqin felt even worse.

"Alright, get up, all of you. If you keep crying like this, people will think I said something inappropriate."

"Yes, yes, this servant knows her mistake, this servant will get up now."

Bai Zhi helped Cui Ling stand up. At this moment, Consort Xi's maid brought silver and distributed two hundred taels to everyone.

The palace maids were all filled with gratitude and wished Consort Xi boundless blessings.