The Forbidden City, Eastern Garden.
A group of eunuchs gathered together, chattering endlessly about the new government office outside the East Gate.
His Majesty had acted with thunderous speed. The court deliberation had barely ended before the Eastern Depot's gilded plaque was hung up over there.
"When Jia Commanding Commissioner returns to the Capital, there'll be quite a show." A eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial could hardly wait.
The eunuch beside him agreed. "Exactly! Once he loses his temper, the whole Eastern Depot will be razed to the ground! Who does the Eastern Depot think it is, daring to reach into the Embroidered Uniform Guard's territory?"
They belonged to the Eastern Garden, so naturally they were servants of the old emperor. Their admiration for Jia Commanding Commissioner came from the bottom of their hearts.
As they spoke, faint footsteps sounded in the distance.
The eunuchs immediately fell silent.
A noblewoman approached with stately steps, her red skirt trailing along the ground and her hair adorned with pearls and jade. Two matrons accompanied her.
Though she was nearly fifty and faint crow's-feet already marked the corners of her eyes, her features remained exquisitely beautiful, her bearing utterly otherworldly. One could only imagine the peerless splendor of her youth.
"Your servants kowtow to the Imperial Noble Dowager Consort!"
The eunuchs pressed their foreheads to the ground, not daring to steal a glance.
The noblewoman before them was Consort Zhong of the old emperor.
Dowager Consort Zhong parted her red lips and said coldly:
"I hear a new Western Regions Spice Shop has opened in the Capital, with rare treasures among all its wares. Having nothing to occupy me, I intend to browse there. Have the Directorate of Ceremonial issue a passage token."
As soon as she finished speaking, the matron beside