This turn of events was indeed a dramatic reversal. The queen had come with great fanfare, but in the end, Lin Yu was rescued by the emperor and even received a reward to move houses. This news was undoubtedly a huge joy for those who lived on Mirror Moon Pavilion, no wonder Chu Xue was so excited. Lin Yu, who was washing her face with water, heard Chu Xue's words and immediately responded: "The emperor has not yet decided which palace I will be moving to, and you are already discussing not living here?"

  "This is also a matter of time." Chu Tao also said: "The emperor loves the young master so much, he will definitely choose a very luxurious and comfortable residence for you, in short, it's much better than here."

  Lin Yan shook her head and smiled: "What's wrong with the Mirror Moon Pavilion? Although it's remote, I'm happy to be quiet. If I move to another palace, with my current status, I won't be able to take charge of the main position, so I'll have to look at the face of the main position empress and live a life, and also get along with the concubines who live together day and night, how much trouble and noise are waiting for us? It's just a pity that the Empress buried the puppet in this place, so people can't live here anymore. Even if the Emperor doesn't favor me, I have to move."

  The first snow is quietly falling without a word.

  "Alright, you all go back and rest." Lin Yu waved her hand to instruct the palace people: "The courtyard can be cleaned up tomorrow, it's not late. Xue, come in and help me change my dressing."

  The first snow had just fallen, and she went into the inner room and closed the door again. She put down the bed curtain, lifted Lin Wan's clothes, and saw the scab inside that was torn open. Frowning, she said: "The Empress is really too much! Knowing that the young master has injuries, she still treats him like this. No wonder the Emperor wants to scold her severely!"

  Lin Wan said with a hint of disdain, "This is still considered mild, you didn't see Xiang Fei, who almost miscarried from being tormented." Her tone was somewhat stern: "Xiang Fei is a formidable character, her methods are in no way inferior to the Empress Dowager, and I even feel that she can see through situations more clearly than the Empress Dowager. Fortunately, the Emperor is also wary of her, although he dotes on her, he is always on guard against her, otherwise, with our abilities, how could we have survived under her nose until now?"

  "The queen is still the same." Chu Xue said, mentioning the queen with a hint of disdain: "What's the point of her being arrogant in the palace when she has the emperor to keep her in check? Having a noble birth is a good thing, but if it's too noble, it's actually not as good as being humble."

  "Yes, the Emperor dislikes those powerful and influential families, as well as women like the Empress who manipulate power..." Lin Yu said this much, her teeth clenched slightly, and she lowered her voice to ask Chu Xue: "The other day when I asked you to pass on a message to General Xiao, did anyone else find out?"

  During the days of house arrest, Lin Wan was at her wit's end. She would never sit idly by and wait for death, so under desperation, she thought of a not-so-good plan, which was to seek help from Xiao Zhen. Xiao Zhen indeed was someone who could be of assistance, since the last time Lin Wan was entangled with the Mongolian king and managed to escape unscathed, Xiao You, the Right Chancellor, had been deeply impressed by this imperial concubine and was convinced that she was a woman with boundless prospects.

  Lin Wan didn't make things difficult for him, so she wrote a letter asking him to find someone suitable in the court, not necessarily with a high official position or favored by the emperor, just as long as they could talk and wouldn't arouse suspicion.

  This matter is not difficult for Xiao Zhen, but the Empress Dowager is watching closely, and it's not easy for Lin Yuan to get the news out. Moreover, if such a thing leaks out, it would be a serious crime of forming cliques and meddling in politics, so she has to be extremely cautious.

  At the mention of this, Chunxue's expression changed slightly, and she quickly looked around before daring to respond: "Young Master, rest assured, I wrapped the item in a food package and brought it out. If news had leaked out, the package containing the item would have been opened for sure, and the person waiting outside would have known this and wouldn't have dared to snoop. It was delivered directly into Lord Xiao's hands. Lord Xiao is extremely astute; if he really saw that the package was damaged, he would definitely be on guard. Now everything is safe and sound, and Director Feng of the Imperial Observatory has also helped you speak up and clear things up, showing that this matter has been handled flawlessly."

  "It's all good now." Lin Yinan let out a sigh of relief and smiled, saying: "I didn't expect the Right Chancellor to be so good at finding people. The things that Feng Qingming from the Imperial Observatory said were impressive, not just to the Emperor, but even I was impressed. I came up with this plan without much hope, just hoping the Emperor would listen to a sentence or two and not believe too much of what Hui Ci and the Empress said. But unexpectedly, Mr. Feng is wise and bold, he fooled the Emperor into believing him, not only did he save us from trouble, but he also gained the Emperor's favor, in the future his career will definitely be prosperous."

  The first snow smiled and said: "Xiao Da Ren has been in the officialdom for a long time, this little thing is naturally done perfectly, it exceeded our expectations. Speaking of which, that Feng Da Ren from the Imperial Observatory was not entirely entrusted by others to fulfill their duties. Liu Da Ren was a scholar, stuck in the Imperial Observatory, unable to achieve his ambitions, even after many years as a official, he was only a sixth-rank official, every day's work was just divination and calculation, unable to serve the country or bring glory to his ancestors, it was really boring. This time, the Right Chancellor found him, he finally got an opportunity to rise up, in front of the Emperor, he could show off his talents and get recognition, not to mention that in the future, he would also get the support of the Right Chancellor and Your Majesty... Such opportunities are so hard to come by for ordinary officials..."

  Everyone is happy with this result, isn't it the best outcome? Lin Yu nodded and smiled: "Usually we live deep in the palace, not familiar with the imperial court. Now it seems that there are many people in the court who are talented but unknown, and Lord Feng is an example. We should pay more attention to finding such people in the future, they will be very useful."

  The first snow in her heart "thudded" and the relaxed smile on her face vanished instantly. The master Lin in front of her was such a terrifying woman...

  She has been serving in the palace for a long time, and she has never seen any concubine as bold as to make friends with courtiers. Lin Wan also has the courage to win over a right prime minister and is planning to win over more people... It's always been men who dominate the imperial court, but a weak woman, still a princess, dares to... What is Lin Wan's purpose in her heart?

  The empress tried to win over the court officials, but in the end, it was a heinous crime. The first snow bit her lip and wanted to persuade Lin Wei, but ultimately did not say a word, bowing her head in silence.

  Lin Yan seemed to be unintentionally probing her expression, and smiled slightly. Chu Xue was the first person to follow her, disregarding wind and rain, and went through thick and thin with her. The two of them supported each other all the way here, and her loyalty didn't need to be doubted at all. It's just that she was after all an ordinary woman, and for a moment couldn't accept this bold idea of hers that pierced the sky, which is also understandable.

  Fortunately, she was still a qualified confidant, and she chose to continue following her, following her to do life-and-death things. If the first snow couldn't withstand this fear, Lin Yan would really have a headache.

  Lin Yan fell into a deep sleep on such a tired night. The next day was fine, the snow in front of the door had melted away, and the sky was azure like a mirror, without a single cloud.

  The news of Shen Yunrong's death by imperial decree had already spread throughout the capital from the palace. When Lin Wan'er got up to have breakfast in the outer hall, the palace maids and eunuchs outside were discussing it in hushed tones, all talking about what happened last night. The Empress Dowager sent over a hundred palace staff to Yongshou Palace to clean up, following the Emperor's orders, to thoroughly eliminate the evil spirits, Yongshou Palace was sealed off from then on, and all of Shen's belongings were burned, with large-scale construction and ghost-quelling talismans being put up everywhere.

  Tuoba Hong was not a superstitious emperor, but he couldn't stand the fact that everyone in the palace believed it. In order to reassure everyone and to further tarnish the reputation of the deceased Shen family, he made a big fuss in the Yongshou Palace. As a result of this commotion, some things unrelated to witchcraft but equally shocking were found in the Yongshou Palace.

  Only a short while later, dozens of imperial physicians sent by the emperor himself went to each palace for diagnosis, accompanied by a large number of eunuchs led by Yao Fusheng. It seemed like an ordinary pulse-taking ceremony, but the scale was no less than a thorough search of the palace. All the concubines in the palace felt inexplicably puzzled, until after all the imperial physicians had finished their diagnoses, several consorts from some palaces were summoned alone to Empress Dowager's Changxin Palace. When they came out, each and every one of them was wailing uncontrollably.

  Because they had been personally told by the empress dowager that they would never be able to give birth again.

  The chief culprit was the secret medicine found in the Yongshou Palace. That thing, like the medicine that Shen Shi was demoted for privately storing toxic substances a few months ago, is not a product of the Central Plains.

  Apart from poison, privately-made dragon robes and dragon crowns were also found in the Yongshou Palace. Shen's evil intentions and ambitions are self-evident.

  When the final result came out, Tuoba Hong was furious. Among the concubines who were poisoned and lost their fertility by Shen Shi, as many as 15 people were affected, more than half of whom were the batch of beautiful women who entered the palace in the fourth year of Qianwu, and the remaining ones were old people from the Crown Prince's mansion. The concubines who entered the palace in the seventh year of Qianwu did not have a single poisoning case, presumably because they had not yet found an opportunity to take action. It is also unknown what method Shen Shi used to poison all the beautiful women in the fourth year of Qianwu, causing irreversible damage, and even Hua Tuo would not be able to restore fertility to these women if he were alive.

  Things got out of hand. The original crime of witchcraft did not cause much commotion, for two reasons: firstly, Emperor Xiaowen was different from Emperor Wu of Han and did not believe in this kind of vague accusation, nor did he want to make a big deal out of it; secondly, such things happening within the imperial family were too embarrassing, so they tried to cover them up. But when the news of poisoning the concubines broke out, Emperor Xiaowen had yet to speak, and the princes and nobles in the capital couldn't sit still. They had raised their daughters with great difficulty and sent them into the palace to serve the emperor in order to bring glory to their ancestors, but now their daughters couldn't even bear children, and they completely lost the opportunity to compete for the throne. Each of them was so angry that they were grinding their teeth and clenching their fists.

  The nobles and officials knelt in front of Emperor Taizong, wailing and crying out loud. The sound of their cries and shouts was so loud that it almost shook the roof of the Golden Hall, leaving Taizong speechless. Taking advantage of the Shen family's case, the officials brought out all the other crimes they had previously gathered against the Shen family. Over the years, the Shen family had secretly committed many wrongdoings, such as forcibly taking women, seizing mansions, and extorting money. Although everyone was afraid to expose them due to their powerful influence, today they were all outraged and eagerly reported these crimes to the Emperor one after another.