Eight Treasures Trousseau

31

Chapter Thirty-One: Provocation

Seeing the Empress kneel, the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess could not still and followed in kneeling. Hua Xi Wan turned her head and saw Yan Jin Qiu standing at the side as though nothing was happening, so she followed in standing. It really wasn't comfortable to kneel on such a hot day on the ground.

"Aijia is old and weak, and is someone to be disdained." The Empress Dowager did not seem to see the Empress kneeling in front of her. The rims of her eyes were red. She seemed like a lonely senior who had lost all hope in her life. "Right now, even the palace attendants dare to bully aijia. What face does aijia have to live? Aijia should have passed with the previous emperor and should not have to stay in these cold rooms and eat these hideous things."

"Mother-Empress, do not be angry. Erxi will definitely punish those daring evil servants. You are the pillar of strength for Emperor and erxi. What face does erxi have to live if you say such things?" Before the Empress finished speaking, her tears started to flow. "It is erxi's fault. Mother-Empress, please open your mind, do not be angry. Otherwise, erxi will not have the face to meet Emperor."

The Empress knew something about the Department of Household Affairs occasionally neglecting Fu Kang Palace, but she had only said a few words and did not keep it on her mind. She had originally felt that with the personality of the Empress Dowager, she wouldn't expose the matter to the public. Who knew that the Empress Dowager had exposed the matter so openly? If the knowledge of this matter spread, wouldn't she and the Emperor become unfilial people?

The Great Zhao Dynasty governed by filial piety, and always emphasized respecting the elders and loving the young. The Empress Dowager was not the birth mother of the Emperor, but from the day she was venerated as the Empress Dowager, she was the mother of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager whom all of the court had to respect. The honored Empress Dowager being slighted and neglected by servants in the palace—no one would believe that it was the palace attendants being daring; they would only think that she, the Empress, was purposely neglecting the Empress Dowager.

However, no matter how angry she was because of the Empress Dowager's actions, the Empress only showed worry and regret. Her tears flowed from red eyes as she comforted the Empress Dowager and looked extremely filial.

"All right, you are the Empress but the matters of the inner palace are many and it is normal that you occasionally do not catch something." With a dejected expression, the Empress Dowager had a servant help the Empress up. She wiped the tears on her cheeks as she said, "It is aijia thinking too much."

The words seemed like they were forgiving the Empress, but in reality, this was setting the crime of being inattentive on the Empress' head. Moreover, the place where the other was inattentive was the Fu Kang Palace, and not any other place.

As Hua Xi Wan looked at the back and forth between mother and daughter-in-law, her heart couldn't help but tremble. The Empress Dowager suddenly raised this issue and with such a crude method—it was definitely because something had happened in the inner palace. Out of a need for self-protection, the Empress Dowager had exposed this matter.

It might be good for the Empress Dowager to have the matter known widely. If something happened to the Empress Dowager, then the people who knew about this matter would subconsciously suspect the Emperor and Empress. Even if it had nothing to do with the Emperor and Empress, the two would not be able to clear themselves and explain to other people.

"Empress Dowager, His Highness Sheng Junwang and Sheng Junwang Fei ask to see you."

It seemed that there were more people who wanted to watch. The Empress had not expected that Sheng Junwang would involve himself at this time. She even suspected that the Empress Dowager had purposefully planned this and was not giving her face in front of the two junwang. But no matter how she thought inside, she did not show it on her face. When she examined the Empress Dowager's expression, she found the other showed surprise as though she had not expected Sheng Junwang and his wife to arrive.