The show came to an end, and Jiang Yunshu said with satisfaction, "Thank you for your warm hospitality today, Empress Dowager."
"In a few days, I'll prepare something as well and invite you for some entertainment."
Empress Dowager Wu barely maintained a smile on her face. "Then I won't stand on ceremony and will wait for your invitation, Sister Jiang."
After bidding farewell to Empress Dowager Wu, the two walked in opposite directions—one returning to Weiyang Palace, the other to Fengyi Palace.
On the way back to Weiyang Palace, Taoye couldn't help but ask, "Miss, isn't Empress Dowager Wu being a bit too friendly toward you?"
"Back at the Marquis's Mansion, the eldest young lady always treated you..."
Jiang Yunshu understood Taoye's unspoken words. Back at the Marquis's Mansion, Jiang Zhaohua, though sharing the same father with her, looked down on her simply because she was the legitimate daughter while Jiang Yunshu was a concubine-born.
Now, the Empress Dowager was the most esteemed woman in the empire, while Jiang Yunshu was a nameless, insignificant concubine. The difference in their status was like clouds and mud—so why was the Empress Dowager being so friendly?
Jiang Yunshu replied, "It seems not everyone judges others by their background like Jiang Zhaohua did."
"Perhaps the Empress Dowager just wants someone to talk to?"
Jiang Yunshu thought the Empress Dowager was quite fond of chatting, pulling her into discussions about every act of the opera.
She understood Taoye's concerns, but no matter how she looked at it, this didn’t seem like a palace intrigue scenario.
The late emperor? Dead.
The current emperor? Only six months old.
The Empress Dowager and her, a eunuch's unofficial wife, scheming against each other?
Jiang Yunshu patted Taoye's hand reassuringly. "Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing."
She was willing to socialize with the Empress Dowager, but she knew friendships should develop gradually—there was no sense in confiding too deeply too soon.
With a new acquaintance, she wouldn’t pry into personal matters or reveal her own. Talking about food, music, or complaining about recent theater performances—those were the safest topics.
Translated to ancient times, today’s opera invitation was no different from "criticizing ridiculous drama plots."
Jiang Yunshu thought Empress Dowager Wu had arranged the entertainment well, and she herself had steered the conversation skillfully.
The two new friends hadn’t had a single awkward silence the entire time!
Jiang Yunshu asked Taoye, "Help me think—where and what should I arrange when I invite the Empress Dowager next?"
While Jiang Yunshu happily pondered how to return the favor, Empress Dowager Wu returned to Fengyi Palace, barely containing her fury.
Once the doors were closed and the servants dismissed, she swept everything off the table in a rage!
She had meticulously planned today’s opera invitation, hoping to uncover—
Was Jiang Yunshu submitting to the Chief Eunuch out of humiliation or willingness?
Did the Chief Eunuch desire her for her beauty or her forbidden status?
How did the two usually interact? Did the Chief Eunuch prefer women docile and tender or with a bit of defiance?
And what had she gotten in return?
"This opera was clearly written by some impoverished scholar who has no idea how noble ladies actually behave..."
"The husband guards the frontier while the wife stays home serving his parents for ten years. Then he returns with another woman, and the wife voluntarily steps aside? Even weeping about not wanting to leave the in-laws?"
"Tsk, what nonsense are men writing?"
"Operas for women should be written by women to feel authentic..."
Empress Dowager Wu had nearly lost her composure. She had schemed so carefully to learn about Jiang Yunshu and the Chief Eunuch’s relationship—and what had Jiang Yunshu talked about instead?
Not a single word she wanted to hear!
All her efforts—wasted!
Hosting Jiang Yunshu for this opera had cost her dearly.
An Empress Dowager’s allowance was generous, but Wu had spent fortunes buying the loyalty of countless palace servants!
After monthly rewards to her people, she had barely anything left—every coin had to be spent wisely.
Her family outside the palace was of modest means, offering no support. Instead, they expected her to secure official posts for them.
How could she possibly manage that?
Raising her son alone drained all her strength.
Empress Dowager Wu didn’t know if all children were this difficult or if someone in the palace was harming Tai An.
From birth, he had been frail, falling ill every few days, and was a night crier—often wailing inexplicably through the night, only to fall sick the next day.
She scrutinized Tai An’s wet nurses, alternating lavish rewards with dire threats. In just a few months, their rewards could sustain a common family for a decade.
Rewarding the nurses cost money. Buying the servants’ loyalty for information cost money... Her coffers were long empty.
The fresh fruits served during the opera weren’t even part of her usual allowance—she normally couldn’t afford them for herself.
Yet Jiang Yunshu had eaten her fruits, enjoyed her opera, and said nothing useful!
"She’s as slippery as an eel!"
Empress Dowager Wu smashed everything on the table, panting with rage. "Everything she said was absolute nonsense!"
When the servants entered to clean up the wreckage, they kept their heads down, swiftly and silently restoring order.
Empress Dowager Wu stormed into the young emperor’s chambers.
He had just finished nursing and was about to sleep. The wet nurses knelt silently in greeting.
When she reached to hold him, perhaps because of her furious aura, the quiet infant in the nurse’s arms burst into wails the moment she touched him.
No matter how she tried to soothe him, he only cried harder.
Finally, the head nurse dared to crawl forward and take him back, gently lulling him to sleep.
Already frustrated, the baby’s cries only worsened Empress Dowager Wu’s mood.
But once Tai An was peacefully asleep, gazing at her son’s face filled her with pure joy.
"Tai An... Tai An..." she whispered his name. "You must grow up safe and sound, just as the Chief Eunuch named you."
She didn’t know it was Jiang Yunshu who had chosen Ji Taian’s name. If she ever found out, her fury would know no bounds.
In her heart, Empress Dowager Wu vowed, "Everything I do now is for you..."
"For you, I’d do anything."
"When you grow up and reclaim power, you’ll protect me..."
"And execute every last person who ever humiliated me!"
Jiang Yunshu’s delicate face and Xie Lin’s icy expression flashed through her mind.
In twenty years, she would have every witness to her disgrace torn limb from limb!
