The eldest sister was reborn and the younger sister traveled through time. I just want to survive.

Yushui helped Dongyu clean the snow behind her and sighed, "It's hard but there's nothing we can do. Who can control what God does? Sister Dongyu, warm yourself up before entering the inner hall. The young lady is still sick!"

Yan Muxi in the inner hall heard the conversation between the two and said, "I'm not that delicate. Yu Shui, let Dong Yu come in directly!"

Dong Yu helplessly spread her hands towards the rain, turned around and entered the inner hall. Her whole body was wet and cold. She did not go to Yan Muxi, but squatted beside the brazier, warming herself and said, "Miss, don't worry too much. I see that the sky outside is not as gloomy as the past two days. The snow should stop soon."

Yan Muxi leaned against the soft pillow and sighed, "Let's hope so! If the snow continues to fall, I wonder how many more poor people will have to sell their children next year."

After her body was warmed up, Dong Yu walked to the bedside and said in a low voice, "I have inquired clearly. The northwest began to snow three days earlier than Luodu, and the snow was much heavier than in Luodu. The heavy snow blocked the roads and made it impossible to march. If the tens of thousands of reinforcements really changed their route to the northwest as Miss expected, they are probably blocked by the heavy snow halfway. According to this situation, there will be no war in the northwest in a short time."

Hearing this, Yan Muxi felt both worried and fortunate. A heavy snowfall would be a disaster for the poor people, but it would be a blessing from heaven for the Northwest Army.

The snow fell intermittently for more than ten days until the end of the twelfth lunar month, when the sun finally came out. As the New Year was approaching, every household should have been busy preparing New Year's goods and having family reunions, but it was extremely deserted due to the cold winter and snowstorm.

There were also many collapsed houses in Luodu City, but fortunately, it was under the emperor's feet, and the affected people were quickly properly resettled.

On the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Empress Dowager returned to the palace, issued an imperial decree to reduce the expenses of the harem, and summoned all the concubines to donate money and supplies to the victims.

The new emperor had not yet ascended the throne and there were no more than ten concubines in the palace. Moreover, the concubines received only a small amount of silver allowance every month. Asking the concubines to donate silver was actually bleeding the families behind them.

Moreover, since the Empress Dowager had taken the lead, the ladies below her naturally had to follow suit. In short, any official who wanted to keep his official hat dared not tighten his purse strings and spend some money.

In the harem, the Empress donated 5,000 taels of silver, Concubine De and Concubine Jia donated 3,000 taels of silver each, and the two talented women came from humble backgrounds and tightened their belts to scrape together 500 taels each.

The virtuous concubine bypassed the empress and donated a full 50,000 taels of silver. As a result, she not only received the commendation of the Empress Dowager, but was also released from house arrest early.

As everyone knows, Yan Muxi entered the palace as a merchant's daughter. The thing merchants have no shortage of is money. The other concubines thought that she would be able to match Concubine Xian and donate tens of thousands of taels of silver. Unexpectedly, she only donated four thousand taels of silver, which was mediocre and unremarkable.

The next day, when she went to Changchun Palace to pay respects, Concubine Xian's chin was raised to the sky. When she saw Yan Muxi and his servants entering the palace, she said in a sarcastic tone, "Some people! They just take up positions but do nothing. Tsk tsk tsk tsk, a merchant girl, how can she sit on the throne of a concubine with such a smug face? When her family and country are in trouble, she is reluctant to spend even a little money."

Yan Muxi greeted the Queen calmly, and after being called, she walked straight to where Concubine Xian was.

When Concubine Xian saw Yan Muxi approaching, the pride on her face turned into panic, and her right hand shook unconsciously a few times, "What are you going to do?"

Yan Muxi sat down at the side, her lips slightly raised, "What can I do? Of course I have to sit down! Could it be that Concubine Xian thinks that I can't sit here?"

The virtuous concubine heaved a sigh of relief and snorted disdainfully, "I didn't say you can't sit down. You can sit wherever you want. It has nothing to do with me."

Yan Muxi said "Oh" and turned his head away and ignored Concubine Xian.

The virtuous concubine felt choked by Yan Muxi's indifferent attitude. She donated a full 50,000 taels of silver, the only one in the whole palace. She should be proud today, but there was no reason for her to suffer humiliation.

"The country is in trouble. As a merchant, why did Concubine Yan only donate 4,000 taels of silver? Could it be that your Qian family has fallen so far that they can't even give out 10,000 taels of silver?"

Yan Muxi turned her head back and asked, "Sister Xianfei, do you care about our Qian family?"

Xian Fei was full of anger. "Don't talk nonsense. I am blaming you, Yan Fei. You have a lot of money, but you are reluctant to donate it to the poor people who were affected by the disaster. You are too selfish."

Yan Muxi asked back in a calm tone, "How did Concubine Xian know that I had a lot of money? And how did you know that I had a lot of money but was unwilling to donate it?"

"Your Qian family is a merchant family. Isn't it obvious that you have a lot of money?" Concubine Xian raised her chin high and spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.

Yan Muxi put away the smile on her face and pretended to be angry, "Sister Xianfei, don't you know? Our Qian family just donated one million taels of silver to the Dafeng treasury not long ago. Even for merchants, it takes time to make money. It's not like you can just stretch out your hand and make money. And our Qian family is a small family, not as good as Dingnan Marquis Mansion. Taking out tens of thousands of taels of silver is just plucking a few hairs."

Upon hearing this, Concubine Xian was even more smug. "How can a mere merchant like your Qian family be compared with the Dingnan Marquis' Mansion? Our Marquis' Mansion is a big family with a great fortune, but it's just a few tens of thousands of taels of silver. Ah! It hurts~, Mammy, why are you pinching me?"

Nanny Qin pulled Concubine Xian a few times, but it was useless and she could only pinch her. Fortunately, she pinched her in time to stop her from doing the same thing. "Just now, my hand cramped and I hurt you by mistake. As you get older, your body will always have some minor problems. I hope you won't blame me."

The other concubines all covered their lips with handkerchiefs, for fear of accidentally laughing out loud.

Concubine Yan's few words made Concubine Xian lose her composure. Before, she only knew that Concubine Xian was arrogant and domineering, but she didn't know that she was so brainless.

A few tens of thousands of taels of silver were nothing to a noble family, but Marquis Dingnan had only been in business for less than fifty years, and there were no businessmen in his family, so taking out fifty thousand taels at once was extremely eye-catching.

The virtuous concubine's unbridled display of wealth was equivalent to telling everyone that the Dingnan Marquis's mansion was embezzling money. If this was heard by an interested censor, it would be difficult for the Dingnan Marquis to avoid being reported.

Concubine Xian rubbed her painful shoulder in dissatisfaction, and faced the exaggerated winking of the nanny, only then did she realize that she was almost led into a trap by Concubine Yan.

She turned around angrily and glared at Concubine Yan fiercely, but when she saw that she was actually smiling with her eyes curved, she wanted to write the word "mockery" on her face. She was so angry!

In order to win the first prize, she donated all the money she had saved, but in the end she still had to endure the anger. Why? She really wanted to tear off this disgusting skin of Concubine Yan and step on it hard...

Oh! Forget it, she had to remember her mother's teachings. If she could beat him, she would beat him. If she couldn't beat him, she would run away immediately. Patience is the key to success. When she had a chance next time, it would not be too late to save face.

When the Grand Empress Dowager returned to the palace, the Empress led the concubines to Ci'an Palace first, and then the Empress Dowager led everyone to Yiju Hall to pay a visit to the Grand Empress Dowager.

After the greeting, the Grand Empress Dowager asked the Empress Dowager and the Queen a few questions as usual, then sent away all the concubines, leaving only Concubine Shu, who was also a daughter of the Hua family.