The Cining Palace still smells of sandalwood, accompanied by the rhythmic sound of wooden fish being struck.
Ever since Bai Yiran gave birth to the deformed child, the Empress Dowager lost hope in her, handing over all public property to Wuyou and warning Bai Yiran not to touch it. This is one of the reasons why Bai Yiran has not interfered in these matters over the years. The fact that Bai Yiran has retained her position as Empress is already a favor from the Empress Dowager, out of consideration for her maternal family and the Emperor.
In her youth, the Empress Dowager had participated in palace intrigues for many years, which left her with chronic health problems. As she aged, her health deteriorated, and she became powerless to handle many matters. She eventually relinquished her involvement and retired to the Cining Palace, where she chanted scriptures, prayed to Buddha, and ate vegetarian meals.
After the sixth year of the Liang Yuan era, few concubines were able to see the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager disliked Bai Yiran, and Bai Yiran felt the same way. She hadn't set foot in Cining Palace for six or seven years, and the two aunt and niece were like strangers. Today was a rare occasion for her to visit.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, the Empress requests an audience." Liu Mama, dressed in a dark brown long dress, approached and whispered in the ear of the Empress Dowager, who was chanting sutras with her eyes closed.
The Empress Dowager, who had been calmly chanting sutras with her eyes closed, suddenly opened them. Her eyes were not cloudy like those of an old person, but bright and clear. She stopped striking the wooden fish in her hand. Liu Mama immediately stepped forward to help her up.
"Oh? The Empress is quite a rare guest!" The Empress Dowager adjusted the hairpins at her temples, her tone tinged with sarcasm.
Her niece was the type who wouldn't visit unless she had a reason. Although the Empress Dowager had long since retired from worldly affairs, she still knew about what was happening in the inner palace.
Consort Xian would visit him every month with Qingchen, and he was well aware of the situation in the harem. It was all for the sake of Consort Rou's unborn child. In any case, the Empress would never be able to have children in this lifetime, so adopting one was normal. The fact that she had only now come up with this idea was later than he had expected.
If the Emperor had brought this up when their relationship was at its best, there would have been no need for him to beg the Empress Dowager. Given the Emperor's favor towards her, she could have chosen any offspring in the harem. Even the eldest prince born to Consort Xian was a possibility.
At that time, Bai was still only thinking about securing his favor, believing that he was young and would have plenty of opportunities, and he disdained adopting concubines and letting others benefit from it.
Now that I have nothing, I can only hope for the offspring I once despised.
"Yiran greets her aunt." Bai Yiran smiled, her smile perfectly curved. When the Empress Dowager saw her for the first time, she felt as if she had been through a lifetime; Bai Yiran had changed quite a bit in the long time since she had last seen her.
Although it was still the same face, it bore the marks of time. Heaven had not been kind to her, and her unparalleled beauty had been tarnished by the elements. No wonder Emperor Liang Yuan lost interest in her and his love for her.
"Your Majesty, please rise!" The Empress Dowager fiddled with the prayer beads in her hand, her eyes slightly narrowed, giving her an air of profound mystery. The difference in how the two addressed each other revealed the closeness of their relationship.
"Aunt, it's been so long since I've seen you, you look so much better! I really envy you!" Bai Yiran pretended not to notice the Empress Dowager's distant tone, sitting beside her with a fawning expression. He had already mentally prepared himself for a cold reception before he arrived, but everything was worth it to achieve his goal.
Bai Yiran endured the humiliation and hardship, showing considerable patience. No matter how indifferent the Empress Dowager was, he always greeted her with a smile, which made people look at him with more respect.
"Your Majesty is a rare guest here. I haven't seen you for several years. Today, I see that you have indeed aged a lot. It seems that you haven't taken good care of your health all these years. No wonder the Emperor has taken a liking to another woman."
The Empress Dowager spoke very rudely, like a loud slap to the face, and Bai Yiran's face turned a little pale.
With a forced smile, Bai Yiran forced a polite smile and sighed, “My aunt has been a devout Buddhist for many years and is radiant. I am ashamed of myself; in recent years, I have become much more haggard. I have no ability to keep the Emperor’s heart, and others have taken advantage of the situation.”
As he spoke, Bai Yiran's eyes filled with tears, and he began to sob. Although he was old, his tricks of feigning innocence and pitifulness had not diminished, and his pitiful appearance truly made people feel sorry for him.
“My niece is now in her thirties and has no children. She can’t compare to her aunt who has the Emperor’s filial piety. I’m afraid she will be banished to the cold palace in the future, where she will live a lonely life and die of old age.”
"Alright, stop putting on this act for an old woman like me. Just tell me what you want me to do for you. Even if I don't like you, I won't stand by and watch my Bai family's daughter be bullied by outsiders."
Men and women are ultimately different. Men admire a woman's gentle, tearful, and delicate demeanor, while women see it as the cloying behavior of a hypocrite or a manipulative woman. The Empress Dowager, having been immersed in the inner palace for many years and witnessed countless power struggles, disdained Bai Yiran's low-level tactics and was too lazy to bother with him.
No matter how much he disliked Bai Yiran, she was still his blood-related niece, and he was willing to help her as long as it didn't jeopardize his own interests.
"Aunt, I still want a child, even if it's a princess, it doesn't matter, as long as I have a child by my side." Bai Yiran's eyes sparkled with anticipation; she was determined to have Su Yun's child.
Firstly, Su Yun and she look alike, so their child wouldn't be much different, essentially making it her child with the Emperor; secondly, Su Yun is favored, and adopting her child would make the Emperor more wary, perhaps even allowing him to control her.
"Of course, it's best to raise a child from a young age. They'll be closer to you when they grow up. Right now, the only pregnant concubine in the harem is Consort Rou." The Empress Dowager touched the Buddhist prayer beads on her wrist and smiled meaningfully. Wasn't it obvious that she wanted Consort Rou's child?
To him, it was nothing more than a minor concubine rank; getting Rou Pin's child would be a simple matter of a few words. But he didn't want his niece to get her wish so easily. Back then, she had relied on her good relationship with the emperor to make her, the empress dowager's aunt, suffer quite a bit.
What goes around comes around; we can't let this niece think she's a pushover.
Several days passed, and the Empress Dowager maintained her lukewarm attitude. Bai Yiran's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly she was growing anxious and began to set her sights on Wuyou. She had known all along that the Empress Dowager trusted Wuyou, and she was jealous of it. Clearly, she was the eldest legitimate daughter of the Bai family, yet her aunt trusted a concubine's daughter so much—where did that leave her?
At this moment, she could only humbly ask Wuyou for help, especially since the idea itself was Wuyou's.
Unexpectedly, before he could take any action, the Empress Dowager had already acted first. Emperor Liang Yuan and the Empress Dowager had a good relationship, after all, they had relied on each other for survival in the past. The Empress Dowager did not have a strong desire for power, and after her son came to power, she never interfered, focusing wholeheartedly on Buddhism, and there was no conflict between them. Emperor Liang Yuan would still listen to what the Empress Dowager said.
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