Empress Dowager Guo had been living very well lately.
The ministers all adored her, saying every day that they hoped she would soon convene court and preside over affairs of state.
Gao Rou, in particular, kept coming to Zhaoyang Hall, and every time he came, he would remonstrate with the Empress Dowager with an air of righteous solemnity.
His remonstrances concerned nothing but trivial matters.
For instance, he said the Empress Dowager's clothes did not accord with seasonal rites and hoped she would correct this. He also said she favored the eunuchs too much, always sending them to carry out tasks, and ought to employ more scholars instead, and so on.
Yet rather than becoming angry at these remonstrances, the Empress Dowager actually delighted in them.
Cao Mao could not figure it out either. Perhaps the Empress Dowager felt this made her seem like a sovereign?
Did having an outspoken minister remonstrate with her make her feel that her presence mattered more?
Or perhaps she felt he truly had her interests at heart?
All one could say was that Gao Minister over the Masses might be somewhat lacking in strategy, but he understood the Empress Dowager thoroughly. Before him, who could have imagined that bluntly remonstrating with her could actually earn her favor?
When Cao Mao arrived with his attendants, Eunuch Guo was standing guard at the entrance. Seeing the emperor approach, he hurriedly bowed in greeting.
As the Empress Dowager's status rose, this eunuch's standing had also received an enormous boost.
But Eunuch Guo had not become arrogant again because of it.
When he faced the emperor again, his face was filled with respect.
Others might not see it clearly, but Eunuch Guo knew that everything happening now was the handiwork of the young emperor before him.
Even the