After that, he asked carefully, “Your Majesty, do you want to take a visit to the Mingyue Palace?”
To be honest, Emperor Lin was not yet mentally prepared to meet Xiao Lan and her idiot son.
He lowered his head and said nothing, but Peng Man understood what his Majesty meant and didn’t say anything more. After a while, Emperor Lin suddenly raised his head and questioned, “How many people are there who serve in the Mingyue Palace?”
In an abrupt haste, Peng Man wasn’t aware either, so he hurried off to find someone to look through the roster. Then, he replied, “In the Mingyue Palace, there are now only two palace maids who are serving the Honourable Lady Xiao Lan, one maidservant tending to the Fifth Princess, and an elderly maid who is old in age.”
Emperor Lin frowned and commented, “How can they be tended to with this mere amount of people? The Fifth Princess is still so young, and yet she alone had to take care of her mother,” He thought for a while and relayed an order, “Notify the Imperial Household Department to reallocate some servants according to the allowances by the position of Honourable Lady. Take a group of servants to tend to them— there must be no mishaps nor mistakes.”
In terms of the normal status of an Honourable Lady, Xiao Lan should have two close maidservants, one head palace maid, two other palace maids and two eunuchs to serve her.
However, since Xiao Lan fell out of favour before, causing the palace staff assigned to walk away, leaving them behind. Now that Emperor Lin has made an official decree, the Imperial Household Department naturally did not dare to neglect it and immediately whitelisted the palace staff who weren’t currently serving anyone else in the palace. After a selection process, they were sent over to the Mingyue Palace.
Emperor Lin couldn’t break through the obstacle in his heart as he was unwilling to go to Mingyue Palace. His offerings were not scarce however, sending gifts to the palace one by one. Except for the silk satin, the rest of his gifts were basically tonics. These tonics weren’t for the Fifth Princesses— anyone with a discerning eye would be aware that they were for Xiao Lan.
In addition, the palace staff who transferred over to the palace in irked jealousy collectively agreed that Xiao Lan had obtained a blessing in disguise.
After hearing this, Consort Mei broke three tea cups in her palace and gritted her teeth. She cursed, “A blessing in disguise indeed. However, it depends on whether or not she has a life long enough to enjoy this blessing!”
The palace maid Xixiang, who went with the Consort into the palace as her family’s dowry, was the person that Consort Mei trusted the most. While ordering people to clean up the living quarters, she whispered comfortingly, “Why should the Consort get angry over such an inconspicuous person?” She gently massaged the consort’s forehead and said as she smiled, “We have already arranged our people to infiltrate the palace. Their every move will be in the hands of the Consort from now on, so there’s no need to worry about not being able to ‘toy’ with them.”
Consort Mei opened her eyes before she curled her lips and smiled.
…
Suddenly there were many people in the Mingyue Palace. This made Qingyan and Yunyou become unable to get accustomed to it for some time. Xiao Lan was still ill, so Lin Feilu was the one who methodically arranged the tasks for the newly arrived palace workers.
Before they came, the new palace staff had heard that the Fifth Princess was clever, cute and very favoured, but they didn’t expect that the same five-year-old girl to be the one actually calling the shots in this palace. Listening to her childish yet clear voice admonishing them to be faithful in protecting their Madam, they all hurriedly responded.
After excusing the palace staff, Lin Feilu called Qingyan and Yunyou into the room and whispered, “Don’t leave personal matters to them for the time being and be alert at all times.”