"People around her? Isn't that acting against her orders while pretending to obey?"
To assassinate someone without Mei Meng's approval, whether for Mei Meng's benefit or under her banner to serve one's own interests, would look to outsiders like Mei Meng had done it. It would effectively force her into a fait accompli. At its worst, this kind of behavior amounted to betrayal.
Shen Tang sneered. "As if there's any shortage of people acting against orders while pretending to obey."
"Some people think they're clever. They try to read their superiors' minds, convinced they're doing what the other person most wants done. If they guess right, that's fine; the two sides naturally hit it off. But what if they're wrong? Mei Jinghe helped a disregarded Princess, reduced to a pawn in her father and brothers' power struggles, rise to become the Sovereign of Qi Country, with power over the entire nation. Do you think she did it all by herself? At the start, she may have built everything from nothing with only the Sovereign at her side. They could discuss everything together, and it was all simple. But as the power in their hands grew, so did the number of people around them."
Liao Qian heard a trace of rueful emotion in her words.
He said, "Having more people is a good thing."
Shen Tang disagreed. "There's strength in numbers. If everyone can work together, pulling in the same direction, then of course it's a good thing. But everyone has their own interests, ideas, and positions... When everyone wants something different, conflicts are bound to arise. Mei Jinghe serves the Sovereign to fulfill her own aims. Do the people who follow her all have the same aims? 'Love alone can keep you full' only happens in stories. There are always