Reverse Scale
Even the Empress felt prickly at the explanation, let alone the others. However, it was Empress Dowager Lu who was especially frantic. Essentially, she was practically an outsider who was brought up with a shallow foundation. Let alone comparing herself with the Empress or Noble Consorts, Empress Dowager Lu was no match for even the lesser-ranked concubines who were backed by their own clans and families.
And amongst them, many were outwitted by Mu Mingtang. The Emperor and the Empress granted the girl many generous rewards, so even if the Empress Dowager Lu was willing to sacrifice her reputation to remain selfish, she still had to grant a reward once every 5 times the Empress did. After all, the slightest bit of her dignity must be upheld.
The Empress Dowager Lu was already not fending well, but having to watch Mu Mingtang bask in luxury every day was worse than torture. She spent a lot of money in the norm and today, she even wore a dress that was more expensive than gold to the banquet. When Empress Dowager Lu thought of Mu Mingtang spending money, enjoying her own life, showing off in front of her, the elder woman’s liver started to hurt as much as her anger rose.
After listening to Mu Mingtang’s so-called explanation, the Empress Dowager Lu became even more angry. She couldn’t even hold back her expressions as she immediately scolded, “You see, every wife in the nation is diligent and thrifty in managing the family finances. How can you manage a family with your behavior as a spendthrift? We can forget about the fact that you didn’t even try to come up with a reason for your extravagant expenses, but how can you be so daring to even snicker in happiness in front of me? I heard that you don’t even use spices and only use fruits to make incense. As the Empress Dowager, I haven’t even spent as much as you did, so how dare you, a mere Princess, even act this flippantly?”
In this case, Empress Dowager Lu simply couldn’t understand the younger girl’s words. Obviously, Mu Mingtang had implied just now that they earned even more every day than they spent. She practically hinted that, ‘as long as we can earn it back, you don’t have to give a damn how much we spend.’ Nevertheless, Empress Dowager Lu still came up with her own way of reprimanding the girl by lecturing her about how to take care of a family and have morals.
This scenario was the epitome of the chicken talking with a duck(1) indeed. However, Empress Dowager Lu ultimately held the title of ‘Empress Dowager’, so if she had to use the traditional method of authority to make the girl understand, then so be it. Mu Mingtang lowered her head slightly, taking it as if there was merely a gust of wind blowing by her ears. She wasn’t going to take the Empress Dowager’s words seriously, anyways.
(T/N: Refers to how one doesn’t understand what the other party is saying. It can also refer to two parties having no topics in common to talk about)
Afterwards, Mu Mingtang suddenly realized something— it was no wonder Empress Dowager Lu suddenly talked about her extravagance. It turned out that it was because of the incense?
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