Empress Dowager Guo was left somewhat dazed by these words.
She wanted to reprimand this unfilial son who dared to drive a wedge between her and her many relatives, yet Cao Mao's words were genuinely spoken with her interests in mind.
In her forty-odd years of life, this was the first time anyone had separated her from her family and spoken of her own interests.
Empress Dowager Guo said hesitantly, "An old woman like me... apart from my clan, what interests of my own could I possibly consider...? Don't let Guo Jian and the others hear you say this..."
"Hah! So what if they hear?!"
"Mother! If anyone dares to harm you, I will take up my sword and kill him!!"
Cao Mao spoke with great agitation.
"Your interests are not the Guo Family's interests! Whatever interests they have can only be those you bestow upon them!"
"If anyone in the Guo Family dares to place his own interests above yours, I will kill him!"
Empress Dowager Guo was startled by Cao Mao's furious manner, as though she were meeting this young man for the first time.
"All I want now is to live quietly and keep to my place. There is nothing else I want. You needn't act like this."
"Mother, living quietly and keeping to your place-isn't that precisely where your interests lie?"
"Given your position, how could a peaceful life be easy to attain? Would the Grand General allow it? Would the military chiefs in the provinces agree? Would the ministers at the Imperial Court be willing?"
"They will keep stirring up trouble, running about for their own interests, and never let you have peace. Take this past year alone: you wanted to live quietly and keep to your place, but did you get your wish? The