Before three incense sticks, in the Tianzi box on the third floor of Zuixianlou.

There were two groups of people standing on the left and right.

On the left are twenty women in white, each with outstanding looks and different temperaments.

Standing at the front is a woman in palace dress with a light mole at the corner of her mouth, looking dignified and graceful.

To the back of her body is a beautiful and plump woman. Her eyes are full of charm. Her tight white dress is pure and has a mixed temperament.

Behind the woman in palace dress and the beautiful lady were eighteen women in white with uniform clothes and makeup.

On the right side of the box, in front of the observation deck, a tall and strong middle-aged man in a blue satin python robe stood with his hands behind his back, looking down at the lobby on the first floor. He did not even glance at the group of beautiful women on the other side of the box.

There was silence in the No. 1 box.

"This young master is finally here."

After Yue Niang knocked on the door respectfully and entered the box, a woman's voice sounded in the room.

Afterwards, the box continued to fall into silence.

Yue Niang put her hands in front of her abdomen and walked forward with her eyes lowered. She didn't raise her eyes, but she knew who was speaking.

Yue Niang came behind the person who spoke.

It was that beautiful woman who was one of the two women leading this group of divine ladies.

Yue Niang raised her hand and made a strange gesture on her chest:

She slightly bent her two fingers together and tapped the center of her eyebrows, right shoulder, and left side of her waist in turn.

The gorgeously dressed woman from Zuixianlou bowed her head. The cynical and frivolous expression on her face had long since disappeared. At this moment, she had an indescribable look of piety on her face as she whispered:

"The moon is split into two, and I leave and return."

As soon as these words came out, the eighteen other women in white, except Yue Niang, who were standing quietly behind the palace-dressed woman and the beautiful woman, all bowed their heads in unison and whispered devoutly:

"The moon is split into two, and I leave and return."

At the same time, they also raised their hands and touched the red eyebrow makeup between their white foreheads with two fingers - it was a strange-shaped flower-shaped forehead sticker. There were also two other places, the right shoulder and the left slender waist.

But it is covered by the white clothes, which makes it hard for people not to imagine whether there are similar red makeup patterns on the right shoulder and left waist under their white skirts.

If you look closely at this strange hand gesture painted on the chest, it looks like a waxing moon. Although it is incomplete, the moon phase is changing from waning to waxing...

After Yue Niang performed the crescent moon ceremony, she lowered her head and waited for instructions from the two women leading the way.

At this moment, she stared at the ground, not daring to look around the house.

In Lidi, there is a long-standing saying:

The most beautiful women in the world are all in the Music Bureau.

Where is the Music Bureau?

It was originally founded by the Empress Dowager Dugu of the current dynasty, with the main purpose of sheltering homeless girls and girls who were sold by their parents, and reducing the number of human trafficking of girls.

Let them have enough food and clothing, not die prematurely, and finally give them the right to make some choices about their future after they grow up...

Dugu had an agreement with the late Emperor of Dali that the Music Bureau would be under her sole authority and no other forces were allowed to interfere.

Later, as Dugu's power grew, under her governance, the power of the Music Bureau in the Dali court began to gradually expand, and its purpose and nature also underwent earth-shaking changes.

Nowadays, the Music House is the dream place for all the poor women in Lidi and the noble women who are unwilling to be ordinary and rely on men. Only the women who have not yet reached the age of marriage can join.

In this community, they can have a stable life with enough food and clothing and grow up. If they have ambition and talent, they will have the opportunity to be promoted all the way and even rise to the top.

According to one of the rules set by the current Empress Dowager, all the women in the Music Bureau are divorced women.

It is governed only by the divorced women themselves, and no man is allowed to interfere.

In addition, the belief that the Music Bureau has always promoted, such as the belief that Li Nu is a descendant of the Moon Palace Goddess, also makes them very cohesive.

After years of governance by Empress Dowager Dugu, and with the growth of batches of adopted orphans, the Music Bureau now has a complete and closed system of female officials independent of the Dali officialdom.

It had a far-reaching impact on the government and the people of Dali.

Right now, if you stand in the Music Bureau and look around, you will see tall ladies in white with slender waists.

However, there are different levels among them.

Among the white-robed women, the most outstanding and beautiful ones are called the Crescent Moon Women.

The selection process is extremely strict. In addition to meeting the rigid requirements of talent, character, appearance, and possessing special skills, one must also have a clean background.

Most of them entered the Music Bureau as early as they could remember, and their loyalty is very high.

In addition, the Crescent Moon Girl must be pure and innocent, a pure virgin who is not tainted by any love affairs, and has a devout faith in devoting herself to the bright moon...

Strict requirements like these make the Crescent Moon women noble and mysterious.

They were all decorated in the same way, with tasseled hair, different red flower-shaped forehead stickers on their foreheads, right shoulders, and left waists, and snow-white gauze skirts...

The Music Bureau also has a unified crescent moon ceremony.

'The moon is half-moon, I leave and return' is an old proverb that has been passed down in Lidi for a long time. It is the creed of the women of the Crescent Moon Lidi. This is no longer a secret in Dali. Many people in Dali have gradually strengthened similar beliefs...

The identity of the String Moon Li Nu is not static. If she violates the iron rules, such as getting involved in love affairs, or for other reasons, she will leave her identity as the String Moon Li Nu.

Then all these traces must be completely erased by the Music Bureau, and it must be ensured that the white jade of the Crescent Moon Girl who serves Mingyue is flawless and cannot be tarnished.

While they hold this identity, they also serve as female officials in the Music Bureau, forming the current female official system of Dali. This is also their identity to the outside world and in the court.

The women of Crescent Moon Li only obey Dugu, who is the most beautiful woman in the hearts of the people of Dali, the virtuous queen in the hearts of court officials, and the reincarnation of a goddess in legend.

The chief official of all the Crescent Moon Lady or the Great Lady Officials is the Grand Master of Music, who helps the Queen Mother Gudu manage the Music Bureau. She is the latter's absolute confidant, second only to the Queen Mother and above everyone else.

Under the Grand Master of Music, there were three important official positions: Fengyi Palace Director, Liyue Master of Ceremonies, and Caiyi Female Historian.

The Fengyi Palace Director was in charge of managing the palace affairs of Dali and thousands of palace maids, and was always by the side of Empress Dowager Dugu.

The Master of Ceremonies and Music was more similar to the original mission of the Music Bureau, which was to be responsible for the training and selection of young girls. At the same time, all the singing and dancing halls, restaurants, brothels and other lively places in Dali were under its jurisdiction.

For example, the Zuixianlou in the Xingzi town where Yue Niang is currently located is under the jurisdiction of the Master of Ceremonies and the Crescent Moon Girls under him.

As for the Colorful-clothed Lady, she is the most secretive and low-key Crescent Moon Lady in the Music Bureau. She seems to be responsible for some work such as collecting intelligence and supervising the court. This existence has always been elusive.

No one even knew her name except Empress Dowager Dugu and the Grand Master of Music.

These are also the three main areas of affairs of the Music Bureau in Dali.

As for the other Crescent Moon Ladies, they are all under the command of Fengyi Palace Director, Liyue Master of Ceremonies, and Caiyi Female Historian, and they assist them in managing the Music Bureau.

At this moment, the identities of the twenty beauties in white who suddenly appeared in front of Yue Niang were self-evident.

At this moment, she spoke with awe on her face:

"Grand Master of Music, Master of Ceremonies, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Zhao has heard everything about the famous furnace Pure White Cold Palace. From his expression at the time, I could not tell whether he was moved or not.

"But the pretty maid this young master brought with him seemed quite interested in our Lidi's unique famous furnace. She asked me a lot of questions, some of which I didn't know how to answer. But I did my best to answer according to what the adults told me about the famous furnace. There shouldn't be any omissions."

Yue Niang paused, took a few breaths carefully, and when no one spoke, she continued:

"I guess they are tempted. Mr. Zhao has already gone downstairs with the guests in the Xuan box.

"Everything has been arranged for Lady Luo... Luo Xiu. Once Young Master Zhao and his men are seated on the first floor, she will go on stage, following our careful arrangements."

Yue Niang's voice trembled subconsciously. She didn't dare to raise her eyes, staring at the trailing skirt of the beautiful and plump woman in front of her.

She never thought that she would be able to meet so many important people at once:

The Grand Master of Music who is in charge of the Music Bureau, his immediate superior the Master of Ceremonies, and eighteen distinguished female officials.

If I guess correctly, the mighty man wearing a blue satin python robe next to him is undoubtedly Li Mingyi, the regent of the current Dali court. He is the Dali Martial God, and his fiefdom is in the next county. He is a warrior comparable to the Golden Core Realm, and is on the same level as the Grand Master of Music...

By the way, there is also the old man with purple-gold eyes in the Di-number box next door. Yue Niang knows this man. He is Chen Er, the master of Ziwei Pavilion, also known as the old immortal Chen.

The fairy Su who suddenly came just now was brought up by her personally. However, no one knew what the two people from Ziwei Pavilion talked about in the next box.

Yue Niang was affiliated with the Music House Department and her status was not high. Like most ordinary girls in the Music House Department, she was grateful for the kindness of Empress Dowager Dugu and had longed to become a Xianyue girl to serve the Empress Dowager.

But in the end, she also faced the reality, came to Xingzi Town down to earth, and managed the Zuixianlou seriously...

At this moment, although these adults who have never met and can influence the political situation in Dali have come for two consecutive days, they are waiting in the Tianzi box.

But standing here, Yue Niang couldn't help but feel her heart and calves trembling slightly.

At this moment, after the woman in gorgeous clothes finished speaking, the house returned to the silence of a deep forest and a blue lake.

"Thank you for your hard work." The beautiful woman who spoke earlier said with a smile.

She has an elegant name, Snow Silkworm.

Yue Niang was happy but a little nervous, and waved her hands quickly, "It's not hard. It's a great blessing for me to be able to work for the Queen Mother and the adults."

At this time, the woman in palace dress who had been standing in the front and had been silent all the time, looking down at Zhao Rong downstairs, suddenly said:

"Did she have any final words?"

This sentence is a bit abrupt, but I don't know why.

Inside the Tianzi box, the beautiful lady named Xuecan and the eighteen string musicians with cold faces all looked towards Yue Niang at once.

The latter was stunned for a moment, then reacted quickly.

The Grand Master of Music was asking about the 'Luo Xiu' fairy, well, should I say the 'Luo Xiu' lady official...