Jinghui's hands suddenly stiffened, then slowly clenched into fists. She said nothing, letting the empress dowager scold her. When the empress dowager finally finished scolding her, she stood up, moved the small table from the soft couch opposite to the bed, opened the food box, took out a plate of steaming dumplings, and then took out two pairs of chopsticks, holding one in her hand and placing the other in front of the empress dowager.
"Empress Dowager, this is the first time I spend New Year's Eve with you. I made these dumplings myself. They don't look good, but my intention is good. Please don't despise them." Jinghui said softly.
Facing such a docile Jinghui, the empress dowager felt as if she had punched cotton. In fact, this feeling was not new to her. Jinghui had been like this since she was a child, overly obedient and overly quiet, like a wooden stake.
"Don't use your mind here in the future. You are already an imperial concubine, but you still do the things that servants should do all day long. Don't you think you are too lowly?" The empress dowager said coldly, and did not take the chopsticks handed over by Jinghui. She frowned at Jinghui's expressionless face. The more she looked at her, the tighter her frown became. When she spoke again, her tone became more impatient. "Use all your thoughts on serving the emperor in the future. You are not young anymore, and you just gave birth. I'm afraid you won't be able to conceive in two or three years. Don't think that your face is exactly the same as your aunt's, so the emperor will be devoted to you. There is no shortage of seductive women in the harem who can seduce men. The emperor will get tired of you one day."
Jinghui still kept her head down and said nothing. She picked up a dumpling and slowly put it into her mouth. The taste of mushrooms and vegetables filled her mouth. It was salty enough and lingered on her lips and teeth, but she couldn't swallow it. She felt that the dumpling was too bitter, many times more bitter than the medicine soup she drank every day. It was so bitter that her eyes were wet.
But she finally swallowed the dumpling, along with the tears that had accumulated in her eyes.
She put down her chopsticks, slowly raised her head, and looked at the Queen Mother: "Yes, that's right. If it weren't for this face that looks exactly like hers, how could the Emperor have looked at me more? Naturally, the Queen Mother wouldn't have either, I would have died thirty years ago. In the final analysis, I'm just a wild child born by a singing girl, and I'm naturally lowly by nature. So even though I have a face that looks exactly like Xu's legitimate daughter, in the end, I'm just making a living by selling flesh."
"You...what do you mean by this?" The Queen Mother frowned and looked at Jinghui. She thought Jinghui was very strange. Normally, she would never say so many words in one breath, and she would never dare to look at her with such...sarcastic eyes. The Queen Mother felt a chill on her back when she was stared at by her. She unconsciously clenched the quilt tightly and scolded, "I cultivated you and let you grow up safely. I also took you into the palace and made you an imperial concubine. This is what all women in the world want. Could it be that I am harming you?"
"No, you didn't hurt me. You just..." Jinghui said slowly. She paused and looked at the Queen Mother's slightly nervous face with interest. Then she sneered, "You pimped for your own son with your own hands, and the target was me who called you great-aunt. That's all."
"You...how dare you say such things? It's simply lawless!" The Queen Mother was so angry that her eyes widened. She had never met such a bold person before. She pointed her finger at Jinghui and shouted angrily, "Who gave you the courage? How dare you talk to me like this?! Who gave you the courage?!"
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