"You're right, madam. I'm already deeply grateful for your kindness in taking me in. This new task is also quite easy, and I feel a bit guilty about it! So whenever I have some free time, I think about helping out around the house, but I didn't expect to neglect the child and end up offending Master Gong. Please forgive me, madam!"

  Song Yi smiled and said, "This is where you're wrong! In this household, there are only the two of us as masters now. Where can things go? Since there are already people working in each place, if you go and do their work for them, what will they do? Is it hard for me to hire people just so they can watch you work?"

  "Madam, it's all the fault of this old servant!" Zhao's mother had already become ashamed and stuttered, "This old servant didn't teach her good manners..."

  "In short, from now on you just focus on doing your part of the job and don't interfere with other things!" Song Yi smiled and waved her hand, signaling Zhao Mama to be quiet. She said to You Qingchun, "If they really can't handle it, report to me and I'll hire more people to share the workload - Nai Jie, you only have one child, if something happens because of a moment's carelessness, what will you do then?"

  You Qingchun's face was flushed with excitement as she repeatedly nodded in agreement.

  Song Yixiao sent her off and turned to Zhao's mother, frowning: "Nai Jie is a good talker, you should also pay attention! Just now, my husband told me that the place where the child ran into him was not far from the Lotus Pond!"

  "The old servant thought that after she and her husband parted ways, she was always unhappy, so having something to do could also distract her mind. So seeing her helping out everywhere, she didn't bother to intervene." Zhao's mother had always been relied upon by her and considered herself loyal, but unexpectedly, she was undermined by her own daughter, causing Song Yilai to lose face in front of her husband. This made her feel both guilty and ashamed, and with a slightly choked tone, she said, "I didn't expect that she would be so muddled as to not even take care of the child!"

  Song Yi smiled wryly at the situation and didn't say anything else, only saying: "After Mom goes back, advise Nai Jie a bit. She's still in her prime, with a delicate appearance, and it's not impossible that she'll meet someone good again later on. Why must she be so disheartened now when she's still young? In my early years under the rule of Liu Shi, didn't I also have a hard time? Didn't I get through it all by persevering?"

  After Zhao's mother left, Song Yi Xiao saw that Jian Yu Bai had not returned yet. She pinched her brow and called in Jin Xun and Qiao Chen: "About today's matter, do you have anything to tell me?"

  She asked this, not because she suspected the wet nurse, but because she had finally arranged for her own people to be in the backyard, so that as soon as there was any movement, she would know immediately - what happened? Yu Qingchun helped out everywhere to repay kindness, letting his three or four year old son run wildly around the courtyard, and it wasn't until Jian Yuba told her personally that she found out!

  Song Yi couldn't help but take advantage of the situation to make a joke at their expense.

  Who would have thought that Qiao Xing and Jin Xun exchanged a glance for a moment, and suddenly poured out a lot of grievances: "Sister You is extremely diligent, but also too diligent! Almost everything she sees, she wants to rush to do it herself, even the washing of the mistress's clothes, she remembers to lend a hand. The slaves are not trying to be lazy, but can't stop her. She has good intentions, this..."

  It turned out that Qiao Xin was actually Wei Mengying's predecessor, and as soon as she mentioned this, she immediately stopped talking.

  Jin Xun continued, "These things, we servants have thought were not proper for a long time. We're just afraid that if we report to you, Zhao Mama will find out and say we're intentionally making things difficult for her! So, who dares to speak up?"

  "It seems what Zhao's mother said was right - you really can't be spoiled!" Song Yi laughed angrily, "Zhao's mother is strict with you and you're afraid of her; I'm protecting you, but you're actually deceiving me!"

  Jin Xun was shocked by her words and hastily knelt down to apologize: "Madam, I know I'm wrong!"

  Song Yixiao was about to speak when she heard a noise outside, guessing that her husband had returned from the study. She didn't have the heart to say much more to them and only said: "You two each deduct one month's worth of money as a lesson, next time something like this happens again, I won't say anything more to you either. Hurry up and find someone to marry you off so that from now on you can be carefree and not have to worry about offending Zhao Mama!"

  Jin Xun and Qiao Chen reluctantly agreed.

  After they left, Jian Yu Bai indeed took a book and walked in, glanced at the two maids, sat down beside his wife and asked in a low voice: "Have you dealt with them?"

  "Hmm." Song Yi smiled and nodded slightly with a not-so-good-looking expression.

  "Let's have dinner then? It's getting dark."

  In the following days, when Zhao's mother and others reported things, they were all extremely careful, and Yu Qingchun also dared not to neglect his son again. The rules of the backyard were indirectly rectified.

  It's already the ninth day of the first month.

  Because of the precedent set by Qianqiu Festival on the fifth day of the first month, Princess Yushan, as the younger sister of Empress Su, was not very old and could not surpass her elder sister.

  "A small banquet is set up in the rear palace, and those who received the invitation are all women of the same age as me, so I won't go." Jian Yu Bai had previously told his wife, "You just bring a few congratulatory words to Yushan for me!"

  Although he was raised by the Empress Dowager since childhood, it does not mean that everything is allowed in the harem.

  In fact, apart from the Taihou's Mingren Palace, he had only been to Xianjia Emperor's Xuanming Palace and the Empress's Weiyang Palace - not to mention the Xianjia Emperor's bedroom, the Empress was his proper aunt, it was natural for him to visit her.

  Other consorts, including the birth mother of the Crown Prince, Consort Cui, who lived in the Xifugong Palace, he had never set foot in either.

  That was when we were young, now that we're all married, it's even more necessary to avoid talking about it.

  After all, the small banquet was set up in Jiang Xianfei's Mingguang Palace!

  Although it is said that they are afraid of being restrained by their juniors, from Empress Su to Concubine Jiang, all deliberately did not show up, but it's not like any outsider can come in.

  The only man who came in person was the younger brother of Princess Yushan, Prince Shu of Xuzhao, who was only eight years old and was brought over by the palace attendants to congratulate his sister before leaving soon after.

  Fortunately, Princess Yushan was not Nie Wuying, and she didn't feel neglected. After sending off the King of Shu, she was unaffected and chatted with everyone as usual - her focus was on the Su sisters, and for this reason, she even pushed aside her own sister, Princess Changxing.

  Song Yi laughed, and this sister-in-law was forgotten to the ninth cloud, but she was happy to be idle, taking advantage of the opportunity to take Nie Wu Xiang to recognize people everywhere, and also telling her good friends who had not seen each other for a long time, such as Xie Yi Ren, about their recent situation, and they were all content.

  Just when the party was in full swing, Princess Yushan suddenly stood up and said loudly: "What's so difficult? Let's go build one now!"

  While speaking, she led the way out - The palace maids on both sides hurriedly advised and pulled her for a while before everyone understood what was going on: Princess Yushan asked about Qingzhou when chatting with the Su sisters, and Su Shaoyao said, "Qingzhou has almost no snow in winter, but the imperial capital is not the case. These two days really want to go build a snowman!"

  So, Princess Yushan, who had been thinking of pleasing her future sister-in-law, decided on the spot to go and pile one outside the door!

  The palace maid tried to persuade her, but it wasn't good to complain about the empress's niece being too talkative, so she just said: "But today early in the morning, the virtuous imperial concubine ordered people to sweep away all the snow inside and outside, lest the guests slip and fall. Now that there is no more accumulated snow in the palace, how can you pile it up? Let's put it off for now!"

  Princess Yushan thought it was no big deal: "It's just that the Mingguang Palace doesn't have snow, not that there's no snow in the entire palace - next door, Lanqiugong is almost empty, we can definitely find a suitable place. Let's go there to pile up!"

  "But Lan Qiugong has just had a miscarriage——" The palace maid's words were cut off by Princess Yushan, who said carelessly: "She's not the main wife anyway, she can just live in Pinglan Pavilion! We don't have to go to her quarters!"

  So, the princess led the way to build a snowman, and her trusted palace maids couldn't stop her. Others wouldn't dare to spoil the fun either. So, everyone, whether willing or not, put on their fur coats and left Mingguang Palace in a grand procession, heading for Lanqiugong to find a place to play in the snow.

  Song Yixiao was not very willing - she had been uncomfortable for the past two days, and she was afraid of the cold. Previously, in the side hall of Mingguang Palace, she had been drinking hot rose dew by the heater, which was quite pleasant; now she had to brave the howling north wind to go out and play with snowmen in the icy and snowy weather, and she really didn't have any interest in it.

  So I followed the crowd into Lanqiugong and intentionally or unintentionally fell behind.

  After a while, Princess Yushan found a satisfactory place and started building a snowman with Su Shaoyao. Many people gathered around to help, but she saw that some people were chatting in twos and threes without lending a hand, so she also pretended to be stupid holding the brazier.

  After a while, the snowman under the princess's hands had only piled up to a mountain peak and hadn't taken shape yet. Nie Wu Xian tugged at her sleeve and said in a low voice, "Fourth sister, I want to change my clothes."

  Song Yi Xiao heard this and thought to herself that this was a good opportunity to slack off, so she walked over to Qing Jiang County Master and said: "I'll accompany Fifth Sister back to Ming Guang Palace?"

  "Don't bother." Qingjiang Junzhu said unknowingly, "I'll personally take you to a nearby place, so you don't have to walk all the way back to Mingguang Palace."

  Song Yi Xiao originally planned to return to Ming Guang Palace and not come again, but unfortunately the eldest sister did not cooperate, so she had to say: "Alright then."

  The mistress of Qingjiang County called out to a palace maid, leading them through twists and turns, and after a while they arrived in front of a building. The people inside the building were extremely surprised to see them. They heard the leading palace maid say: "This is the wife of Yan Country and Miss Nie, today they came to the palace to congratulate Princess Yushan on her birthday. Right now, the princess is playing with snow over there, these two want to borrow a place to change clothes!"

  The people in the building all responded, and in a chorus of voices invited them to enter. Then they said: "Madam had a miscarriage a few days ago and was unable to come out to greet you, please forgive her!"

  Song Yixiao forgot to look at the sign before entering the door, and subconsciously asked: "May I ask which virtuous person this is?"

  "It's a warm and gentle person." The palace maid lowered her eyebrows and said with a smile: "This is really a coincidence!"

  But Song Yi didn't want to face this warm and gentle person either, so after saying a few words of concern, she didn't take it to heart.

  It was just that she didn't expect that after changing clothes with Nie Wuyan, when they came out, just as she was about to say a few words of courtesy and leave, the curtains in the inner room moved, and the two ladies actually supported a weak and sickly woman walking out!

  Song Yixiao heard the noise and looked up, her eyes suddenly fixed: Pinglan Pavilion was exquisite, but the space was not large, and it could even be said to be cramped. Many places were dimly lit, especially where the woman came out.

  But she stood there, pale and ill-looking, with slightly furrowed eyebrows, yet like a patch of moonlight that suddenly falls in the dark night, in the dense forest, so beautiful that people who see her can't help but stare!