After the evening meal, Empress Dowager Wang and Song Ci each sat at one end of the Arhat bed, holding tea, and chatting.
"Ah Ci, do you think I’ve been too harsh on that Madam of Mingyang Uncle’s Mansion?"
Song Ci swallowed a sip of tea and said, "What are you saying? What’s harsh about it? You are the Empress Dowager of the current dynasty, aren’t you? If you don’t like someone and want to lecture them, do you have to pick a day and see whose face to watch first?"
The Empress Dowager, the most noble woman under the heavens, the one most qualified to throw a tantrum, isn’t she?
Empress Dowager Wang laughed heartily, "You’re right. I just find them displeasing to the eye. They don’t even seem like proper young ladies, yet they parade in front of me, hoping to catch my favor for a bright future? They’re deluding themselves."
Song Ci: "Well, you can’t blame them for having ambition. There’s a saying, ’Try hard and an ox cart becomes a carriage,’ maybe they’ll succeed by chance?"
"Don’t deny it, let’s confess there’s always some man who fancies this path, right?" Song Ci eyed her.
Empress Dowager Wang was choked up, sighing, "Men really have endless blessings, but women... why does the world have so many constraints for women? Should a woman only remain loyal to one person for life?"
"Why not? There are women who keep face followers." Song Ci said indifferently, "Maybe somewhere, there are women with multiple husbands, and they can flirt outside too; that’s quite enjoyable." Googlᴇ search Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Empress Dowager Wang: "..."
Ah Ci said this without even blushing!
She coughed, sipped her tea, and said, "The Madam of Mingyang Uncle’s Mansion is really clueless. Her son indulges his concubine at the expense of his wife, and she still helps with the indulgence. Look at that lesser Madam, a vixen in appearance, how can she be presentable? From what I see, Mingyang Uncle’s Mansion is of no great use."
Well, if this sentence reaches the Emperor, Mingyang Uncle’s Mansion will directly fall to dust.
"Is that why you didn’t give them a meeting gift?" Song Ci did not forget that this lady didn’t even give those kids a silver shell.
Empress Dowager Wang: "No gift, why would I give anything to those I dislike? If I gifted them, don’t you believe they’d immediately brag everywhere that I favored them, as if I’d give them a ladder to climb high, what nonsense."
Song Ci laughed, "You are truly clear-headed in this world."
Empress Dowager Wang became interested, "What kind of saying is that? Do tell."
"It’s just... it’s late, time to wash up and sleep, see you tomorrow!" Song Ci put down her teacup, gracefully bowed, and left.
Empress Dowager Wang was annoyed and kept asking the attendants before going to bed, what "clear-headed in this world" meant.
Song Ci lay on the bed, staring at the canopy overhead, suddenly sat up, and asked the nanny adjusting the incense burner beside her, "Nanny, come here."
The nanny put down the small tongs, saw her looking mysterious, so walked over, "What is it, Madam?"
Song Ci lowered her voice, "Nanny, with the Empress Dowager’s visit to the Palace, could there be such an unlucky event as an assassination attempt?"
A typical plot device in palace dramas and novels, going to a palace or some such scene, an assassin is sure to appear.
The nanny was momentarily stunned, somewhat speechless, "Madam, what kind of nonsense are you thinking? There are over a thousand guards here, and troops stationed nearby, how dare an assassin come? Have you eaten deer meat and gotten heated to imagine such things? Shall I make you a bowl of coptis soup to calm down before you sleep?"
This nanny really has a wicked heart, actually suggesting to dose me with coptis.