A little girl in blue clothes glanced towards the pavilion, then looked at the two people wrestling on the ground without any rules, with a gloating look in her eyes.

The young ladies didn't dare to stop him, and the palace maids didn't dare to touch him. The clever little palace maid ran to the pavilion to report.

At that time, the Imperial Concubine was twisting cakes with her brows slightly furrowed.

Helian Yu wondered: "Isn't it delicious?"

The Imperial Concubine put down the cake, her eyebrows slightly sad: "It tastes good, and the appearance is also delicate and bright. It has a bit of bamboo flavor, which reminds me of my hometown in Jiangnan."

"The Imperial Concubine misses her hometown, so please ask your father for permission to go back and visit her!"

The Imperial Concubine laughed and hid the worry on her brows: "We'll talk about it later."

Once you enter the palace, it’s not easy to leave.

When she went out of the palace in the past, she was either accompanying His Majesty on a private visit or accompanying His Majesty to offer sacrifices. There was one exception, when she stole His Majesty's badge and visited her seriously ill mother.

After stealing the badge, she was confined for three months. There was turmoil in the palace, and rumors spread that she had fallen out of favor. She was truly terrified at the time, and thought of many ways to win back favor.

Thinking about it now, I feel much calmer.

In fact, whether or not to favor them depends on Your Majesty, not on them.

Who among the newcomers who entered the palace in February did not compete for favor? Their methods of competing for favor were more novel than each other, but so what?

In just two months, two noble men have died. They were only sixteen or seventeen years old, and withered early like flowers.

The Imperial Concubine was feeling sad, and Helian Yu was thinking about asking Helian Sheng to take the Imperial Concubine for a stroll in the south of the Yangtze River, just to try to lure out Tao Niangzi, and let the Imperial Concubine relax, and Helian Sheng could also relieve the pain of a broken heart.

The little palace maid hurried over and knelt on the ground: "My Lady Imperial Concubine, Miss Ximen and Miss Chen are fighting."

The Imperial Concubine frowned and asked, "Did you stop him?"

"Your Highness, we dare not stop them, for fear of hurting the young ladies."

"Dai Yan, go over and take a look and bring the two young ladies over."

"yes."

When Dai Yan left, Xiao Linzi, who served in the imperial study, came over with a food box.

"Greetings to the Imperial Consort, Princess Zhaoyang, and all the ladies. I, following the order of His Majesty, have brought you a bowl of eight-flavor minced meat porridge. In addition, His Majesty invites Princess Zhaoyang to have dinner in the Yangxin Palace after the banquet."

"No--"

Before coming, Helian Yu asked someone to give the Third Prince a message, saying that he would go to see him after the banquet, and now he was about to refuse.

"Ahem." The Imperial Concubine interrupted by coughing lightly and smiling sweetly, "Zhaoyang, try it quickly. This eight-flavor minced meat porridge is a new creation of the Imperial Kitchen. His Majesty is thinking of you."

Helian Yu glanced at the ladies of each family, then looked at Xiao Linzi: "I know."

Xiao Linzi and a few young eunuchs hurried back to report. As soon as they left, Dai Yan brought Miss Chen and Miss Ximen, who had just fought, to pay a visit.

"Your humble servant pays respect to Her Majesty the Imperial Consort and Princess Zhaoyang."

The two men had messy clothes and hair, but their manners were very proper.

Helian Yu subconsciously supported her chin and looked at the two of them. Xingchun silently reminded her to pay attention to her sitting posture, and Helian Yu put her hand down.

"Tell me and Zhaoyang what happened just now?"

Miss Chen raised her head boldly, with two red marks on her round face. "To answer your question, Your Majesty, I and several other young ladies were praising the beautiful clothes of the maidservants beside Princess Zhaoyang, and Miss Ximen rushed up to me angrily, angrily scolding me for being ugly, and even said... that Princess Zhaoyang was just pretending to let the maidservants wear nice clothes!"

After Miss Chen uttered the last word, she fell to her knees again with a plop.

"Your Majesty, she is talking nonsense!" Ximen Luo stood there, pointing his finger at Miss Chen, extremely angry, "Chen Zhengzheng slandered me! She is jealous of my family background, so she accused me of a crime! I am innocent!"

The Imperial Concubine looked at Helian Yu and said, "What do you think, Zhaoyang? Today we are selecting a tutor for you. Why don't you make the decision?"

"Okay!" Helian Yu agreed without hesitation, "Xingchun, bring here all the people who saw the two young ladies quarreling. Cidong, go prepare some pens, ink and paper."

The ladies from each family looked at each other, not quite understanding what Helian Yu meant.

Do I need to sign and seal it?

Learning the Ministry of Justice's tricks? But to be honest, this Princess Zhaoyang really lived up to her reputation of being spoiled.

Helian Yu hooked his finger at Chang An, and Chang An obediently lowered his body: "Chang An, guess."

"Chang An is stupid."

"There's a reward for guessing correctly." Helian Yu showed the "gentle smile" he learned from Xie Rangchen, "Of course, there's a punishment for guessing wrong."

Chang An was skeptical about his master's "reward" and "punishment". His thick eyelashes drooped slightly, and his fair and handsome face made him look flawless. "Chang An guessed that His Highness wanted the witness to write down the dispute between the two young ladies to prevent anyone who wanted to collude with the testimony from speaking out and covering up for each other, confusing the truth."

"That's not right." Helian Yu's eyes fell on Miss Chen and Miss Ximen, "They both talked about me and fought in the palace. Let's punish them together."

Imperial Concubine: “…”

Exactly the same as your majesty! "As for calligraphy, when I select a tutor, I will naturally ask her about her knowledge. The first thing she needs to know is her handwriting."

Chang An felt guilty after listening to this. The handwriting of his master was really ugly.

"You guessed wrong."

"Chang An is willing to be punished by His Highness."

Chang An couldn't quite guess what it was, but he was sure it wouldn't be a beating or something like that. Precisely because it wasn't a tangible punishment, he felt a little uneasy in his heart, like a drifting log hitting the waves, a storm or the calm, which made people itchy and anxious.

Helian Yu took back his hand, placed it on the edge of the table, and called the two young ladies to stand up: "Stand up first. I don't know much about the palace rules, so I will punish you with a hundred strokes of the cane!"

Before the two young ladies could react, they were pinned to the ground by their own mothers, who begged for mercy together: "Your Highness, please forgive me! Your Highness, please forgive me! My daughter is too young to bear such a heavy punishment! I am willing to take the punishment for you!"

The Imperial Concubine just watched and did not participate at all, leaving the matter entirely to Helian Yu to handle.

Helian Yu frowned, "It's a bit heavier."

Before the two ladies had time to be happy, Helian Yu spoke again.

"But I don't have the patience to listen to their explanations. I just want to hear the truth."

Miss Chen said confidently: "What I said is the truth!"

Miss Ximen was equally confident: "I am not lying at all!"

Helian Yu waved his hand and said, "I will allow you to speak one last time. If you two still say different things this time, each of you will be punished with 100 strokes of the cane. If you say the same thing, each of you will be punished with one stroke of the cane as a warning."

Before Helian Yu finished speaking, Miss Chen repeated again: "Everything I said is true!"

She glanced sideways at Miss Simon.

Miss Ximen was so angry that she gritted her teeth, but she could not insist on her opinion any longer. She did not want to die in the palace just to get her momentary pleasure.

"Your Highness agrees."

Helian Yu began to dig up the past: "In other words, Miss Ximen really said that I dressed the palace maids in bright clothes just for show?"