"However, Empress Dowager Ashina did make a gesture of seeking peace. Princess Xie is, after all, a junior, and it wouldn't be right for her to really hold a grudge against her elder!"
The speaker was a nanny in her forties who was serving Empress Xiao.
She has delicate features, a refined temperament, and an air of scholarly elegance.
She was the only person Empress Xiao could be considered a confidante. She called herself Baiguo, and the palace maids and eunuchs would respectfully call her "Grandma Bai".
In fact, Bai Guo's surname is not Bai, and this name is not even her real name.
Like Empress Xiao, she was a person from the Southern Dynasties.
However, Bai Guo was not from a noble family; her family was a prominent family of doctors, with several imperial physicians among her ancestors.
Her fate was even more tragic than that of Empress Xiao.
When the late Emperor Helian Gui plundered Jiangling, Empress Dowager Xiao was abducted alone; her relatives and family were still in Jiankang and were not affected.
Bai Guo, however, was a native of Jiangling. Apart from her, her entire family had perished in the chaos of war.
Even Bai Guo herself, if not for Empress Dowager Xiao's intervention, would have become a concubine and ultimately been humiliated to death.
From that day on, she changed her name to Ginkgo – Ginkgo is poisonous!
She intends to become a poison, remembering the deep-seated hatred, and ultimately poison her enemy to death.
Although she couldn't find the specific soldiers who massacred Bai Guo's entire family, she remembered the instigator—Helian Gui.
In this respect, Bai Guo and Empress Xiao were of the same mind; they both harbored resentment towards Helian Gui.
For more than two decades, these two women, nominally mistress and servant but actually sisters, supported and cared for each other, stumbling and struggling in the inner quarters and the imperial harem.
Bai Guo played a significant role in helping Empress Xiao evade some of the underhanded tactics used by women.
The poison that Empress Xiao used to deal with Helian Gui was also carefully prepared by Bai Guo.
Colorless, odorless, and without a trace, even the imperial physicians believed that Helian Gui had suffered a stroke due to extreme anger and then passed away.
I never imagined that someone had poisoned me!
"Your Majesty, Empress Dowager Ashina's people have gone to Yuezhou. Shouldn't we also—" take some action?
Granny Bai said with some concern.
Granny Bai had witnessed the estrangement and indifference between her master and Helian Jue.
In the past, there was no other way. If Empress Xiao wanted to live and continue to maintain her dignity, she could not have a romantic relationship with Helian Jue and his mother.
Moreover, they had been separated for more than 20 years and had not spent time together day and night, so there was really no way to talk about feelings.
But things are different now. The late emperor has passed away, Helian Jue has ascended the throne, and Consort Xiao has become Empress Dowager Xiao.
Empress Dowager Xiao's "help" to Helian Jue was significant and could be considered a great favor.
There's definitely a chance to salvage the relationship between mother and son.
Even if we assume that this is the only way things can be between a mother and child, we can still think of other solutions.
For example, Empress Dowager Ashina took the initiative to build a relationship with Xie Yuan.
For example, Empress Dowager Xiao could have been a good grandmother and doted on her grandchildren.
There's always a way; as long as you put your heart into it, you'll eventually be rewarded!
Empress Dowager Xiao shook her head, "The more you do, the more mistakes you make; the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make; if you do nothing, you won't make any mistakes!"
"Helian Jue and I are nominally mother and son, but in reality, we are partners in interests."
Helian Jue helped her ascend to the throne of Empress Dowager, and she helped Helian Jue counterbalance Empress Dowager Ashina.
As for the relationship between mother and child—
Empress Dowager Xiao changed the night Jiangling fell.
Over the years, in order to save her life and climb the social ladder, she did many things; she has long since transformed from a human into a ghost.
Since we're not normal people anymore, why crave human emotions?
No amount of family ties or love can compare to tangible benefits and the power that can be held in one's hands!
Unlike Empress Dowager Ashina, she didn't have the resources to cause trouble!
All these years, she has nothing but herself!
Therefore, she walked on thin ice and racked her brains.
She doesn't ask for more; she only wants what she can grasp.
She would not rely on her status as the birth mother, nor would she consider herself a benefactor who "contributed the imperial seal" to boss around Helian Jue and his wife and children.
She settled down to be the Empress Dowager, ensuring her continued honor and wealth for the rest of her life.
"Your Majesty, why are you doing this to yourself?"
Granny Bai felt a pang of sympathy.
Her relationship with Empress Dowager Xiao had long transcended that of ordinary mistress and servant, and even surpassed that of sisters.
They are closer than family.
The two were more like each other's only one, two lonely souls comforting each other.
Having such a partner in this life is a blessing for each of them.
Therefore, Granny Bai was genuinely considering Empress Dowager Xiao's best interests.
Empress Dowager Xiao smiled radiantly, "Suffering? I am not suffering! I am the noble Empress Dowager."
“My three sons are still alive.”
"My son is the emperor, and my grandson and great-grandson will also be emperors!"
"I will become the most noble and happiest woman in the Great Zhou Dynasty!"
So what if she was dealt a bad hand? She still lived the life she wanted.
On the contrary, it was Empress Dowager Ashina who, despite having a winning hand, managed to ruin things to this extent.
But she still doesn't seem to learn from her mistakes and keeps making trouble.
Empress Dowager Xiao knew with her toes that this once incomparably noble and domineering Turkic noblewoman would one day meet a tragic end.
"I'm a vengeful and wicked woman! I really want to see the day Ashina gets her comeuppance!"
No one who isn't a mother can truly understand the despair and resentment of having your child taken away right after birth, without even being able to see them!
Empress Xiao's heart didn't harden overnight.
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