Yue Qingyin's eyes widened in surprise. "Is that really so? How can you say that? You must be referring to Ou'er in my palace. Although she knows that villain, she was fortunate enough to receive guidance from the Empress Dowager in the past. Surely, someone the Empress Dowager has instructed would not be like the villain in your palace. Could it be that you think the Empress Dowager's guidance was wrong?"
"Sister, sister, that's not what you meant!" Su Niaoyue blushed, only now understanding what Linghu Lan meant by "just".
Yue Qingyin was basically setting a trap for her.
She really couldn't understand how they could be vying for the emperor's favor when they hadn't even seen him in the few days since they entered the palace. Yue Qingyin was so eager to suppress the concubines so early on; she was truly ruthless.
"And what does 'sister' mean?" Yue Qingyin's lips curled into a playful smile, like a cat teasing a mouse.
Su Niaoyue bowed to Yue Qingyin, "I only wanted to remind you, I didn't mean to offend the Empress Dowager. I'm not good with words, please forgive me, Consort Xian."
"Get up! There's no need for such formalities between us sisters."
Linghu Lan took a sip of tea, her eyes briefly sweeping over Yue Qingyin, but she said nothing.
She glanced at everyone and smiled, "Is everyone here?"
Everyone rose from their seats and bowed respectfully, saying, "Your Majesty, we pay our respects!"
"My dear sisters, please rise! Sit down; you must be tired from your journey. Consort Xian, please kneel!"
Yue Qingyin was startled. What was bound to happen had finally happened, but it was more intense than she had imagined. She obediently knelt down, raised her head, and asked, "May I ask Your Majesty, what wrong have I done?"
"Your mistake lies in disrespecting the Emperor, a grave crime of disrespect! Just now, Sister Su was merely offering a kind reminder, yet you dragged the matter from a palace maid to the Empress Dowager. How can the Empress Dowager, of such noble birth, be compared to a mere palace maid? Furthermore, His Majesty governs the entire realm, and the Empress Dowager is the mother of the nation. All people are subjects of both the Empress Dowager and His Majesty. If every mistake is attributed to the Empress Dowager, how can His Majesty govern the realm? As the sage said, 'A son may have teachable talents or unteachable talents.' How can the mistakes of others be the Empress Dowager's fault? Do you know your crime?"
These words were spoken with righteous indignation. The concubines, who had seen Linghu Lan's smiling face many times, had never seen her so angry. They all held their breath and dared not breathe.
Yue Qingyin's beautiful face flushed red; this was a blatant attempt to sow discord.
Yue Huangyin was giving her a taste of her own medicine. Just now, she forcibly implicated the palace maid in the Empress Dowager's name to silence Su Niaoyue, and Yue Huangyin used the same reason to implicate her in the crime of disrespect. She is indeed not to be underestimated.
However, this was within her expectations. She composed herself and said in a low voice, "I was not thinking much just now. I know I was wrong. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."
Linghu Lan took two steps, her eyes darting around, revealing a shrewd glint.
"Since you've just entered the palace, I can't punish you too severely. However, it seems you haven't learned the rules very well. So, stay in the palace and copy the palace rules a hundred times. Once you've memorized them, you can come out!"
Someone in the room couldn't help but gasp, then quickly covered their mouth and swallowed.
This rule carries an extremely severe penalty.
The palace rules were extremely long; if you copied them a hundred times, your hand would probably be worn out.
Most of the people held their breath and dared not utter a sound, for fear of angering the Empress and being implicated.
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