Rustle, rustle~~
Rain pattered against the upturned eaves, and palace lanterns swayed gently along the corridors.
Dressed in a dark red Phoenix Skirt, the Empress Dowager sat in a carved sedan chair with a book in her hands. Shielding its title with her broad sleeve, she studied it with bright, intent almond eyes, looking just like an empress dowager reviewing memorials while ruling from behind a curtain.
Hongyu, a woman of considerable beauty, walked beside the sedan chair, holding a palace lantern to light the Empress Dowager's reading as she murmured:
"The tunnel in the side hall has been dug through. I heard the craftsmen say you can go straight to Prince Jing's Manor, and if you keep going, you can even reach Wende Bridge."
The Empress Dowager cared quite a bit about this and instructed her:
"Make sure you speak to the Ministry of Works. Don't let them seal it off. Keep the stretch leading to Prince Jing's Manor open. Then, whenever I have nothing to do at night, I can leave the palace for a stroll. Taking the tunnel will be safe, too."
Hongyu hastily shook her head. "The tunnel's so deep, and there are rats. If it's just the two of us, Your Majesty, we'll probably be scared to tears halfway there."
"Strangers the first time, familiar the second. Last time was my first, so of course my heart was in my throat. Now that we know it inside out, what's there to fear...?"
As they chatted, the procession returned to the Palace of Eternal Joy.
The Empress Dowager's sleeping quarters were full of craftsmen and a filthy haze of dust, making them unfit to stay in that night. There were no other consorts in the Palace City, only the Empress, so while lodging elsewhere these