Inside East Lin's Palace of Compassion and Tranquility.
A man in yellow robes stepped inside. Eunuch Mo immediately lifted the curtains for him, layer after layer, until he entered the Inner Chamber.
On the bed, an elderly woman lay half-reclining with her eyes closed, her hair streaked with white. Her ears twitched slightly, and when the man reached her bedside, she gave a scornful snort.
"How did you know it was me, Mother?" The Ruler of Eastern Lin had someone bring over a bowl of medicine. Steam rose from the black liquid; merely looking at it was enough to imagine its bitterness.
The Empress Dowager looked haggard. She slowly opened her eyes, but her eyeballs were gray. Paired with her aged, exhausted face, they made her look like someone whose soul had returned just before death.
She could not see. She could not see!
With great difficulty, she forced two hoarse cries of "Ah, ah" from her throat, but they were utterly useless.
Having been blind for so many years, she had long since learned to distinguish everyone by their footsteps.
"Don't be angry, Mother. I've come to save you this time." The Ruler of Eastern Lin ordered the medicine brought before the Empress Dowager, his tone growing increasingly sinister. "Mother, once you drink this, you'll be able to speak."
The Empress Dowager's nose twitched. Her eyes filled with terror and resistance, but someone quickly seized her face. That familiar force bore down on her. She remembered this feeling.
When she had been poisoned into muteness before, this very Eunuch Mo had gripped her face like this and forced poison down her throat.
She struggled desperately, crying hoarsely, "Ah, ah," and flailing her hands as she tried to knock over the bowl.
Smack!
Eunuch Mo's vicious slap left the Empress