With only their trusted servants left in the hall, Madame Jingrou pretended to mention it inadvertently, but her meaning was obvious.

Lin Mengya pricked up her ears and came to Madame Jingrou’s side meekly as the background.

“Yes, Li’er is young, but he is Eldest Brother’s son after all. Besides, he is endowed with intelligence, and I can’t compare with him.” Xin Luan praised his nephew sincerely.

“Li’er is quite talented, but he is also a little impetuous and far less suitable for the position than you. I’m not sure if his succeeding to the position of the High Priest will be a blessing or a curse,” Madame Jingrou said.

After that, the two of them sank into silence.

After a long while, Xin Luan finally let out a long sigh and seemed to have let his guard down.

“Fortunately, you escaped from the Xin Family back then. Otherwise, you would have been plunged into the abyss of misery like me. Sis, since you’ve given up your place in the Xin Family, you should avoid getting involved in the affairs of the Xin Family. The current Xin Family has been different from what it used to be. If possible, I want to get away from there as you did,” Xin Luan said helplessly.

It seemed that he envied and tried to warn Madame Jingrou at the same time.

“Of course I know that. I gave up the position of the chosen witch, which means that I have nothing to do with the Xin Family. Nevertheless, you should know Xin Li and Eldest Brother’s intention better than I do. They are so ambitious that they may ruin the whole Xin Family,” Madame Jingrou said with emotion.

Lin Mengya raised her eyes to look at them.

Madame Jingrou was rarely overcome with emotion. Her eyes were even filled with tears. It seemed that she was not completely indifferent to the Xin Family.

After all, it was her family where she was born and brought up. It was reasonable for her to have such concern.

“Alas, Eldest Brother and Li’er are too ambitious. Neither you nor I can persuade them to drop their idea. Sis, we can only leave this to be settled by His Majesty and Yu’er,” Xin Luan said.

Did this mean that he refused to cooperate with Madame Jingrou?

Lin Mengya, who was keenly aware of the purpose of Madame Jingrou’s coming here today, was slightly surprised.

Madame Jingrou came to visit her cousin, and more importantly, to sound out his position.

However, the High Priest showed no flaw in his words. Lin Mengya believed that even Madame Jingrou was at her wits’ end with him at the moment.

Nevertheless, Lin Mengya had an intuition that Xin Luan was not as free of desire as he said.

After getting out of the Xiannan Hall, Madame Jingrou walked in a hurry with a grave expression, preoccupied by trouble.

Lin Mengya had thought Xin Luan, the legendary High Priest from the Xin Family, was a formidable man who was ambitious and resourceful.

Unexpectedly, he turned out to be such a cultured and sincere man filled with nostalgia for the old days.

Although Xin Luan did not seem to have revealed any useful information in his conversation with Madame Jingrou, Lin Mengya, who was very sensitive, still managed to get some information.

Xin Luan was on bad terms with Xin Li, but it was reasonable given that Xin Luan was in an awkward position at the moment.

Xin Luan was in his prime, but the Xin Family had chosen such an outstanding successor. Despite all his hard work over the years, he still lost to Xin Li, a young man from the Xin Family.

Moreover, Xin Luan definitely had a relationship with the Emperor.

Although there was no conclusive evidence, when they got into the Xiannan Hall just now, the piles of books they saw did not seem to be prepared for someone who was going to stay there for only one or two days.

Unless he intended to make a long stay here, it was impossible for him and his servant to carry these books here.

If Xin Luan had a relationship with someone else, he would definitely not live in the imperial palace.

Lin Mengya was even more certain of her guess.

When she returned from her deep thought, she saw Madame Jingrou stop in front of her.

Ningqiu had moved forward. Glancing at the crossroads and then at Madame Jingrou, she asked, “Madame, are you going to the Linqiu Pavilion?”

At the crossroads, one road led to the Fengyu Court, and the other one led to the Linqiu Pavilion.

The Empress had recovered for a few days, and Madame Jingrou was supposed to visit her.

But they were keenly aware that the Empress was difficult to deal with, so she would probably pick on Madame Jingrou again this time.

Lowering her eyes, Madame Jingrou suppressed her expression. No one knew what she was thinking.

After a while, she raised her head, but Lin Mengya felt that she seemed to be different from before.

“Let’s go to the Linqiu Pavilion,” Madame Jingrou said decisively in a soft voice.

Although Lin Mengya could not tell what exactly Madame Jingrou had changed, Madame Jingrou appeared to be more composed and peaceful than before.

That was weird. Why did Madame Jingrou make such a change after going to the Xiannan Hall to meet Xin Luan?

“Helan, come here.” Hearing herself called, Lin Mengya hurried to Madame Jingrou’s side and stood respectfully with hands down.

“Follow me there and act according to circumstances, got it?” Madame Jingrou said.

What did that mean? Lin Mengya raised her head and stared at Madame Jingrou for a few seconds before nodding.

Madame Jingrou seemed to have made up her mind. Even Lin Mengya was inexplicably reassured to see Madame Jingrou act like this.

Despite the doubt in her eyes, Lin Mengya was sure of one thing: they might not allow themselves to be bullied like before during this visit to the Linqiu Pavilion.

The Linqiu Pavilion, where the Empress lived, was as richly ornamented and extremely bustling as before.

Perhaps because the Empress had just recovered from a serious illness, plenty of imperial concubines, who had been on good terms with her all this time, eagerly brought all kinds of tonics to her chamber.

Lin Mengya and Madame Jingrou happened to arrive when a certain imperial concubine told a joke which made all the people in the chamber burst into laughter.

Madame Jingrou adjusted her expression and walked into the chamber with her usual gentle smile.

“Your Grace, I come at the wrong time, unaware that you and the other sisters are joking here. You won’t blame me for coming uninvited, right?” She said with no hostility in her gentle voice.

Lin Mengya turned to look at Madame Jingrou, who was standing in front of her.

It turned out that Madame Jingrou had gained the fighting spirit.

With her smile fading, Lin Mengya thought it would be a piece of cake for someone as wise as Madam Jingrou to defeat these small potatoes in the imperial palace.

Nevertheless, she was very curious about what made Madame Jingrou change so greatly.

“Humph, since there are a lot of uninvited guests, I don’t mind your coming uninvited.” On the bed, the Empress, who had been obviously in a good mood just now, said bluntly with her face darkening at the sight of Madame Jingrou.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

However, Madame Jingrou did not immediately admit her error and ask for punishment like before.

Instead, she walked leisurely up to the Empress and said with a gentle smile, “Well, since you don’t mind, I’ll disturb your gathering.”

The surrounding imperial concubines looked as if they had seen a ghost.

Seeing Madame Jingrou sit in the chair closest to the Empress, they failed to accept this kind of change at once.

“What are you here for?” The Empress was as shocked as the other imperial concubines, but she didn’t fly into a rage and just asked in confusion.

“I’m here to check on your health condition. I was panicked by your sickness this time. Although there are lots of affairs needing to be handled in the imperial palace, you’d better take care of yourself. From now on, don’t bother Her Grace with those insignificant things, got it?” Madame Jingrou said.

The last sentence was meant for the palace servants.

Madame Jingrou had been in charge of the imperial harem in name over the years.

However, relying on her status, the Empress had intervened in many things.

Madame Jingrou couldn’t argue with the Empress, so she could only let it be.

But now, hearing Madame Jingrou softly say those words that carried a sting, those palace servants, who attached themselves to the Empress, felt a little uneasy.

What made Madame Jingrou dare to treat the Empress like this today?

“How dare you! Come on, seize her!” The Empress, who had lain in bed with an extremely delicate look just now, shouted in rage and opened her pretty eyes wide as if intending to eat Madame Jingrou.

Everyone was shocked, but no one dared to move, because Madame Jingrou stood up and glanced lightly at them with her usually gentle eyes. Intimidated by her gaze, the palace servants, who were ready to seize her, stopped in their tracks.

“Sister, what are you talking about? In terms of rank, I’m a first-rank noble madame, what rank do you hold? Besides, His Majesty has long issued an imperial decree to empower me to take charge of the affairs of the imperial harem. You were kind and reluctant to see me occupied with work, so you helped me run things. Unexpectedly, you worked yourself sick. From now on, I’ll handle everything by myself so that I don’t have to bother you and you can take a rest and nourishment to regain your health,” Madame Jingrou said.

Her words not only enraged the Empress, but also astonished Lin Mengya.

Lin Mengya had considered Madame Jingrou as a gentle and agreeable woman. Who would’ve thought that every word she spoke would be as sharp as a knife and hit the nail on the head!

All the people in the chamber froze.

All of them were stunned. No one expected that Madame Jingrou, who usually didn’t even dare to speak a single word in retort, would actually say such harsh words that touched the Empress on the raw.

Somehow, no one dared to refute it.

They acted as if the gentle woman standing by the bed was the woman of the highest status in the imperial palace.

“Sister, you look pale. You’d better have more ginsengs and birds’ nests to nourish yourself so that all of us, especially those priests implicated by you, don’t have to worry about you,” Madame Jingrou added.

All the others gasped in horror. It should be noted that this was the Empress’s biggest sore spot at present.

Yesterday, the Empress caught a palace maid gossiping about this, then the palace maid was dragged out and almost beaten to death.

Madame Jingrou, who said that without hesitation now, was really going to fall out with the Empress.

“Serve your master properly, and feel free to go to my place to get anything you need,” Madame Jingrou said in a domineering and composed tone, as if she were the head of the imperial harem.

All the others could only lower their heads and listen to her. She glanced around the chamber, but fixed her eyes on no one. But they felt as if she had cast an indifferent glance at each of them.