The Empress Dowager seemed to have not heard Xiaosuisuiâs question as she stared at the portrait before her. It depicted a man adorned in a Dragon Robe, wearing a crown, with a short mustache beneath his nose.
"Grandma! This man looks so much like Father Emperor! Is he the previous Emperor, Grandpa?"
This time, the Empress Dowager heard Xiaosuisuiâs question clearly.
She glanced at the portrait, a complicated expression in her eyes.
"The previous Emperor... why did you have to engage in such unspeakable activities? Sleeping around is one thing, but dying on a womanâs belly... Look at our imperial son, your only child. Heâs now so traumatized he canât even choose a wife."
Xiaosuisui stood before the Empress Dowager. The entire Fengxian Hall was empty. Every time the Empress Dowager came, she would stand before the previous Emperorâs portrait and curse him, causing all the palace maids and eunuchs in Fengxian Hall to flee at the mere sight of her. Thus, whenever the Empress Dowager berated the previous Emperor here, Xiaosuisui was her sole audience.
"Oh, previous Emperor... why couldnât you control that thing of yours? Itâs fine for you to expand the Royal Family, but you should at least have checked people out before favoring them, right? Now look, all that âfavoringâ cost you your life..."
Xiaosuisui listened as the Empress Dowager cursed the previous Emperor. She didnât understand many of the words. However, she could piece together enough to gather that her Grandma was very angry with their late grandpaâso angry that she couldnât help but scold him even after his death.
"You certainly had your fun, pleasuring yourself to death! But youâve ruined your son! Heâs almost twenty-five and still unwilling to marry. Whenever I pressure him, he comes and mourns you. Oh, previous Emperor, why havenât the Emperorâs cries summoned you back to advise him? Heâs your son! Why canât he learn from you and put more effort into his harem, instead of it being empty even now?"
The Empress Dowager pointed at the previous Emperorâs nose and cursed. Xiaosuisui watched, her head tilted upward. After what felt like a very long time, the Empress Dowagerâs throat was dry from all the scolding. Xiaosuisui, too tired to stand any longer, had already plopped down onto the floor. Only then did the Empress Dowager finally stop.
"Oh, my dear! Are you tired from standing? Come, Grandma will carry you. Letâs go bow and pay our respects to the previous Emperor and Emperor Taizong, let them know that our Royal Family has a new little Princess."
The Empress Dowager lifted Xiaosuisui up, glared one more time at the portrait in front of her, and said, "Previous Emperor, look at all the trouble youâve caused! Youâve even made it so I canât hold my own granddaughter!"
With that said, she carried Xiaosuisui towards the East Great Hall of Fengxian Hall.
From afar, a young palace maid, seeing the Empress Dowager leaving, breathed a huge sigh of relief and secretly went to send a message to the Old Madam of the Ji Family.
"The Empress Dowager has just finished offering sacrifices to the ancestors with the Eldest Princess in the West Great Hall and has come out."
Upon hearing the palace maidâs words, the members of the Ji Family all breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, the worship is over? Did the Eldest Princess kneel before the revered ancestors?"
The Old Madam of the Ji Family couldnât help but ask.
The palace maid shook her head. "The West Great Hall is where the portraits of Emperor Taizong, the Empress, some imperial concubines, and the previous Emperor are kept. They just finished their offerings, and neither the Empress Dowager nor the Eldest Princess kneeled. However, they are now heading to the East Great Hall. Thatâs where the memorial tablets of the revered ancestors are enshrined. They should kneel there."
Upon hearing this, Old Madam Ji and the others present grew alarmed, and their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.