After listening to her words, the Empress Dowager pondered for a long time before speaking.

“Building a summer palace would be too wasteful. Besides, Longevity Hill isn’t that big; there’s not enough space for renovations. Just have someone build a summer resort at the foot of the mountain.”

“That would be too unfair to the Empress Dowager.” Song Xibai hesitated.

"What's there to feel aggrieved about? How many more years do I have left to live? There's no need to waste money on me." The Empress Dowager waved her hand. "I remember that fake emperor was extravagant when he was in power. I'm afraid there's not much left in the national treasury or his private coffers."

Speaking of this, Song Xibai was also very angry.

The mess left behind by the fake emperor is just too much!

The Empress Dowager couldn't help but feel worried when this topic was brought up.

"Hopefully this year will be better, and nothing bad will happen."

The Empress Dowager herself didn't have much private treasury. In the past, she often had to subsidize the Zhu family, so she didn't have much left for herself.

However, after surviving a brush with death, she came to terms with it and no longer cared about material possessions.

Song Xibai helped the Empress Dowager back to her bedchamber, took her pulse, and felt that her pulse had improved a lot, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

Yuan Shen had just ascended the throne, and in this first year, she did not want anyone in the harem to die.

If that were the case, it would be very bad for Yuan Shen's reputation.

After spending some time with the Empress Dowager, Song Xibai finally got up and left.

After returning to Changqing Palace, Song Xibai finished her palace duties, went to see her two children, and only then did she have time to rest.

After Ronghua and Mengliang's marriage was arranged, the busiest people were not Yuan Shen and Song Xibai, but the Ministry of Rites.

Yuan Shen did not want to waste his energy on this matter, so he handed it over to the King of Wu.

King Wu had no choice but to work from dawn till dusk every day, engaging in verbal battles with the officials of the Ministry of Rites.

Originally, the princess's marriage should have been handled by the Imperial Clan Court, but Yuan Shen bypassed Prince Hui and let Prince Wu take over. The signal was very clear: he wanted Prince Wu to take over the Imperial Clan Court.

King Hui was not very willing and remained in a stalemate, refusing to relinquish power.

He originally intended to use his seniority to force Yuan Shen to submit.

But the King of Wu didn't care about any of that. He bypassed him and got straight to work with the people from the Ministry of Rites.

The selection of the princess's residence went relatively smoothly. Because the wedding was approaching, the Prince of Wu and the Ministry of Rites directly chose an official residence that had been confiscated earlier, which only needed to be modified.

Next came selecting people and preparing things...

During this time, the eldest princess indeed stayed obediently in the palace, just as Song Xibai had said.

With the eldest princess awaiting marriage and the second princess confined to her quarters, the imperial harem finally enjoyed a period of peace and tranquility.

Two months passed in the blink of an eye, and soon it was time for the eldest princess to get married.

Because it was the first princess of the late emperor to get married, and also the first happy event since Yuan Shen ascended the throne, it was quite a grand occasion.

The eldest princess received all the treatment due to her, which shows that Yuan Shen was very generous.

Consort Shen rarely left Cining Palace to escort the eldest princess to her wedding.

Looking at her daughter, whose face was flushed with shyness and joy, she felt utterly unfamiliar with her at that moment.

"You've got what you wanted."

Consort Shen spoke first.

I hope you won't regret it later.

The eldest princess was initially quite happy to see her mother come to see her off on her wedding day, but she didn't expect Consort Shen to say such a thing, and her lips immediately drooped.

"Don't worry, Mother, I will live my life well and I will never regret it!"

She slightly raised her chin, and her red lips uttered firm words.

At that moment, she firmly believed that she would have a comfortable and fulfilling life.

But will things turn out as she wishes?

not necessarily.

Consort Shen lowered her eyes and stopped speaking. Instead, she took the large red veil embroidered with golden phoenixes from the palace maid and placed it on the eldest princess's phoenix crown.

The red cloth fell down, obscuring her face and separating the mother and daughter from each other's view.

It also separated the two hearts.