She looked up at the sky like Lin Wan, and then saw the golden full moon that was as yellow as a grain of rice. She only realized that she had forgotten to appreciate the moon just now at the banquet, remembering that she was fortunate enough to catch up with her sister's tribute song, otherwise she would have been scolded. Then, she was tense and recited poetry for the emperor, fearing that she would make a mistake. Finally, after getting the emperor's praise, she still had to busy herself observing the expressions of the emperor and the surrounding concubines, guessing whether the emperor had any intention of favoring her, or if others had any intention of excluding her... The banquet was so exhausting, where did she have the leisure to appreciate the moon?

  The moon in the sky is really beautiful, and she wants to take a good look at it now, but she can't. She looks at Lin Yuan who appeared unexpectedly across from her, feeling uneasy in her heart. She doesn't understand what Lin Yuan's purpose is in finding her, she knows that many of the women in this palace are suitable for being taken advantage of and are often plotted against when they let their guard down, which is why most of the consorts in the palace won't go out at night or to remote places, everyone is afraid...

  The darkness invading her made her feel fear from the bottom of her heart, and her feet instinctively wanted to escape, but she endured it, her eyes fixed on Lin Yuan's face.

  Chu Huashang had a gentle and beautiful face, but her eyes were fiery. I wonder if her sister noticed this? Lin Yan smiled, then seemingly unintentionally fixed her gaze on Chu Huashang's arm, making an astonished expression: "Ah, sister, what happened to your hand..."

  Chu Huashang suddenly pulled back her hand, and the wide sleeve immediately fell down to cover the wound. She felt a bit embarrassed, shaking her head repeatedly: "It's nothing, I was in a hurry to attend the banquet and accidentally got hurt, thank you for your concern..."

  Chu Huashang didn't want others to see her wounds, because those neat scars would reveal at a glance that they weren't from falling down. She was unwilling for people to know about the pain and humiliation she had suffered in private.

  She was indeed injured, but only scratched the skin, and it wouldn't hinder anything. After the night banquet ended, Chuhua Xing instructed her to bring the emperor over, and she said something wrong: "All those previous reasons have been used up, I don't know how to persuade the emperor today". As a result, Chuhua Xing thought of a good method, she grabbed Chuhua Shuang's arm and pulled out the golden hairpin from her head. The pin scratched on the skin was really painful, she shouldn't have said something wrong to get herself into trouble...

  Chu Huashang tightly grasped her own sleeve. Perhaps it was because she had lived in the Chu family for a long time, and the humble circumstances of the past few years made her more sensitive than ordinary people. Even if she was humiliated and insulted behind her back, she still had to make every effort to put on a brilliant appearance on the surface, and absolutely could not let outsiders know about those embarrassing things that happened to her... In front of Lin Yuan and these outsiders, she was still the daughter of the prestigious Chu family.

  "Really nothing's wrong? I have some good medicine powder in my palace..." Lin Yuanyuan was full of concern.

  But Chu Huashang really didn't want to talk about it, Lin Yu looked at her and finally had to shut up. She stepped aside with Chu Huashang, a handkerchief was quietly stuffed into her sleeve from her own hand.

  Lin Yan walked away decisively and never looked back at Chu Huashang.

  Everything in the quiet depths of night disappears with the arrival of dawn. The people in the palace all wear masks, and those who appear to be sisters on the surface may be unknown inside, while those who seem to have no intersection or even enemies on the surface may still be colluding with each other inside.

  ***

  Because of the turmoil in the palace the night before, Lin Wan spent a lot of effort to get out of bed on the second day.

  Panside Chunyun and Chutao hastily attended to her dressing. Chutao saw that Lin Yuan's eyes were slightly dull, so she took out a copper-embossed Jingdezhen powder box and opened it: "Young Master will use the Jade Hairpin Cream today, which contains the juice of Sufangmu, and can somewhat conceal your complexion..."

  Chu Tao used a hairpin to scoop out some of the pure white cream from the box and mixed it with water in her palm, pretending to apply it to Lin Yuan's face. Lin Yuan silently watched her, then suddenly raised her hand and knocked over the box, coldly saying: "You dare to present such inferior cream before me? There are indeed some slaves in Mirror Moon Pavilion who don't put their master in their eyes!"

  Lin Wan was not particularly kind to the people under her, but she was also clear in rewards and punishments, never treating them harshly. It was rare for her to get this angry. Chun Tao was so scared that she knelt down and kept kowtowing: "I dare not be slow in serving Young Master... This Yu Zhui Gao is distributed by the Shang Gong Bureau, all the princesses in the palace use this..."

  "So you're saying that I, the imperial concubine, should use such inferior rouge like those out-of-favor concubines and present myself to the emperor with an unattractive face? Especially today. I didn't sleep well last night, and this jade powder can't even cover up the dark circles under my eyes!" Lin Yu's face had turned pale, which was quite frightening to the people below her, and all the palace maids in the room knelt down.

  Chu Tao had a bitter taste that she couldn't express, she knew that Yu Zhui Gao wasn't the best rouge, but it was also not bad. The only one better than it was the extremely precious Ning Yan Fen, which only the Empress Dowager, the Queen and Consort Sheng had...

  Lin Yanchen sat quietly, but the atmosphere in the room became increasingly terrifying. Not to mention Chu Tao, even the other two little palace maids were scared stiff. After a while, someone finally spoke up: "This servant has a beauty-preserving method, and would like to try it on Young Master."

  Lin Wan's expression slightly cleared up, and she looked at the person who spoke and said: "Very well, Chu Yun. If you can satisfy me, I will definitely reward you heavily."

  "Only then did Chu Yun say: 'This method is not ordinary, and we need to ask the young master to go to the kitchen first to get some arsenic...'"

  "Arsenic?" A palace maid immediately exclaimed in shock: "How can such a highly toxic substance be used on the young master..."

  Lin Wan, however, did not get angry again. Chu Yun knelt down and said: "A small amount of arsenic is harmless. Moreover, after mixing the arsenic with wood ash, rose petals, and white orchid powder into the rouge, the toxicity is already very low. When applied to the face, it will make the skin exceptionally fair, and even the blue color at the bottom of the eyes and the dullness on the cheeks can be easily concealed."

  Chu Yun was boasting about her own abilities, and Lin Wan's face showed a look of admiration. She ordered the little palace maid to go and fetch the arsenic. Just then, Chu Xue came in and stopped the maid who was about to leave, saying: "The young master's body is precious, this method sounds effective, but it will ultimately harm him."

  Lin Yu slightly frowned and looked at Chu Xue: "It's just occasional use, not long-term, what's the harm. Moreover, the complexion of palace women is the most important, if the skin is whiter than ordinary people, it will be better than ordinary people, even for this point, it should be tried."

  The first snow had nothing to say. Had to say: "Then I'll go get it myself, if someone else does it, hiding the poison will be a disaster."

  Lin Wan also thought so and let her run there herself.

  After a while, the first snow brought things over, and after the first cloud took over and adjusted them well, they were mixed into the Yu Zhui Gao. The white frost was colorless and odorless, but because it had been mixed with flower powder, the color of the Yu Zhui Gao became even more bright red.

  After adjusting it well, Chuyun first dug out a large piece and applied it to her own hand. After a while, when nothing happened, she applied it to Lin's face.

  Lin Yan gazed at her reflection in the mirror, and indeed, her face was whiter than usual. As it turned out, Lin Yan had also heard of this skin-whitening method from ancient Europe, which was quite effective. It's said that European noblewomen during the Middle Ages were a bunch of weirdos - they used lion urine to wash their hair for extra shine, wore hoop skirts that squeezed their internal organs, and sported high hair buns adorned with fruit hats infested with all sorts of insects. Lin Yan felt grateful she hadn't traveled to that era.

  Who would have thought that a girl from a poor family in Izumo would also understand these things.

  Lin Wan thought and sneered, someone must have taught her on purpose...

  No matter what she was thinking, Lin Wan's face only had a smile. She praised: "This is really a good method."

  Yun let out a long sigh.

  Lin Wan's gaze passed over her and looked at Chun Tao, who was still kneeling beside her. She said coldly, "The queen's seat has never kept useless people. From now on, let Yutian help me with my hair, as for Chun Tao..." Lin Wan glanced at Chun Xue and instructed, "Just arrange whatever needs to be arranged."

  Yun understood what her master meant. She suppressed the wild joy in her heart and replied calmly, "I will serve the young master well."

  Yu Chutao was taken away in a state of despair. From this moment on, she was no longer the head palace maid, and whether she would become a low-ranking servant or be expelled from the Jingyue Pavilion depended on Yu Xue's intentions.

  "Chu Yun, you go down first and make cosmetics for me." Lin Yuan's expression was somewhat impatient. Chu Yun hastily retreated with a happy smile.

  Lin Wan waved her hand again, ordering the other palace maids in the house to withdraw, leaving only Chu Xue alone.

  "The first snow whispered a sentence: 'Is it... too risky?'"

  Lin Wan handed over the task of dressing up to Chu Yun, which means that from now on, Chu Yun can freely use Lin Wan's clothing, jewelry, perfume and other personal items. Such a position cannot be taken by anyone but a trusted person, and in the past, these tasks were handled by Chu Tao and Chu Xue.

  Lin Yandan smiled faintly and said, "If you don't give her a chance, how can she reveal her true nature?"

  Chu Xue understood Lin Wan's plan. The last time the nightgown incident happened, only the closest people could have done it. Lin Wan suspected Chu Yun the most, so she came to probe her personally; but there were also two other high-ranking personal palace attendants, Han Gu Gu and Xiao Cheng Zi, especially Han Gu Gu who was brought back from the traveling palace, with unclear background... So she sent Chu Tao to keep an eye on these two people.

  In this way, it is possible to advance and retreat freely.

  "But do you really think Shu Qi will follow your orders?"

  "Not necessarily. She's not someone I can control."

  Lin Wan said with a smile: "Forget it, let's focus on Jingyue Pavilion for now."

  A few days later, Lin Yueru was serving as usual in the Jianzhang Palace, and Shui Cong's fingers were exerting their strength to pinch Taizong's shoulders.

  Tuoba Hong pushed away the stack of memorials he had just reviewed, stretched out his legs under the desk, and let out a comfortable "hmm" from his throat, feeling extremely pleased.