"Greetings, Empress Dowager!"
The Guo Family's Two Fools once again appeared in Zhaoyang Hall.
The Guo Family could no longer muster Three Fools. Guo Li was terminally ill and probably had only a few days left.
Guo Jian and Guo Zhi, too, now seemed to have lost every trace of their former spirit.
The Xiping Guo Family had once enjoyed great prominence, but after becoming implicated in treason, its members had been dismissed from office, its men slaughtered, and its women reduced to slaves.
Empress Dowager Guo's rise had delivered them from the danger of extermination, but they still could not compare with the deeply rooted great clans.
Once they lost the Empress Dowager's protection, they became a slab of fat meat, ruthlessly gnawed at by the other great clans.
Now they were no different from those humble families. They had no offices or titles, much less wealth. They had practically fallen from the clouds to beneath the earth.
Had the Empress Dowager summoned them privately, they probably would not have dared come again.
Shameless as Guo Zhi was, he could distinguish good from bad and knew who held sway now.
But this time was different. The eunuchs who brought the edict served the Empress Dowager and the emperor, so the Guo Family's Two Fools naturally offered no resistance and rushed over to pay their respects.
Looking at these two clansmen she had not seen in so long, Empress Dowager Guo remained silent for a long time.
Time truly flew like a shuttle. She still remembered how, not long ago, these relatives had been her support, their united wills forming a fortress. Yet now, every one of them had changed.
Empress Dowager Guo studied the two men before her. "I hear you have been doing quite well lately?"
Knowing her