Outside the hall, the tunes of the opera singers rose one above the other, completely drowning out the cries of the concubines.
Song Zhao recalled the past events, thinking of all her scheming in the palace - only with the Dowager Empress was everything smooth sailing. She had wondered before - how could a woman who had immersed in the palace for years and brought down the previous emperor's consorts to become the Dowager Empress be so easily deceived, without the slightest suspicion towards her?
It turned out the Dowager Empress had long seen through everything.
Song Zhao thought she had outsmarted the Dowager Empress, but she didn't know her scheming had fallen right into the Dowager Empress' own scheming.
Song Zhao barely maintained her composure. She had been kneeling in front of the Dowager Empress' couch, but now she stood up and bowed deeply to the Dowager Empress.
The wind blew up her skirt folds, making the nearly extinguished candlelight flicker.
"This servant knows her mistakes."
She didn't try to defend herself anymore. After all, there was no need to put on an act when speaking to a clever person.
The Dowager Empress lightly murmured "hmm", slowly raising her eyelids. Her gaze was tranquil like a pond whose surface was calm but with unknown depths,
"Right and wrong are not for this widowed one to judge. In this palace, groups of women come and go. Outsiders see the glamor, but only we ourselves know that once entering this celestial household, just wanting to survive requires utmost effort."
She paused for a moment, breathing heavily, and patted the couch again, signaling for Song Zhao to sit down.
"In order to make one's own path go further and more steadily, who doesn't scheme? Who doesn't harm others? Since we're all the same kind, where can we draw the line between right and wrong?"
The Dowager Empress knitted her brows and gazed intently at Song Zhao, firmly grasping her hand, "If we really must distinguish right from wrong, then the one who wins in the end, no matter what she did, would be considered right."
Song Zhao understood the Dowager Empress' implications, but still had some doubts.
"When did the Dowager Empress uncover this servant's unsightly deeds?"
The Dowager Empress smiled, "Do you still remember what happened when you first met this widowed one before the trip to the Chengxing Hot Springs Villa?"
Song Zhao was surprised, "Back then, someone had tampered with this servant's court dress."
The Dowager Empress blinked calmly, "Although this widowed one had not met you then, when the Emperor came to pay respects, the concubine he mentioned most was you. The Emperor said you were innocent and pure."
The Dowager Empress suddenly laughed, inciting herself to cough several times.
Song Zhao handed over a cup of warm water for the Dowager Empress to moisten her throat, but she declined it.
"This widowed one thought - a woman who could be promoted as soon as she entered the palace could not possibly be that innocent and pure. So this widowed one ordered someone to tamper with your court dress to test you.
That day, if you had worn that dress to see this widowed one, wearing bright yellow would have been greatly disrespectful. Not only would the Emperor have punished you, even this widowed one would have disciplined you. If you had not worn it and tried to muddle through, it would have shown you had deep schemes. Then your path would have ended. However, this widowed one absolutely did not expect you to be Ru'er's daughter. That's why this widowed one allowed you to do as you wish that day, and did not expose you."
After hearing the Dowager Empress' words, Song Zhao broke out in goosebumps all over.
Although it was April, she suddenly felt very cold.
She never could have imagined the disaster she thought she had cleverly avoided that day was actually a death trap meticulously prepared for her by the Dowager Empress ahead of time.
If it wasn't for her birth mother's friendship with the Dowager Empress, she probably wouldn't even have had a chance to spar with the Dowager Empress at their first meeting before being eliminated by this biggest winner of the previous emperor's harem.
"This servant overreached herself, foolishly thinking my schemes were perfect. Turns out I was just making a joke of myself in front of the Dowager Empress."
"You overreached yourself, but your skills are still far superior to the Empress and Imperial Concubine."
The Dowager Empress said heavily, "You have ability and ambition, but your fault is being too impatient. To get revenge for your mother, you found ways to kill off your entire maternal family, which was equivalent to cutting off your support in the previous dynasty. That was an extremely foolish thing to do. If your maternal family was still around, relying on the Emperor's favor towards you, how could you have been confined in the Cold Palace for so long?"
All along, Song Zhao had only two purposes for entering the palace.
One was to use Xiao Jingheng's power to massacre the Song family and avenge her mother.
The other was to stay by the Emperor's side, constantly receiving imperial favor, defeating all the consorts in the palace, and becoming the most honored woman under heaven, never to be bullied and trampled again.
But these two points were inherently contradictory.
How could a woman without a maternal family behind her become Empress?
Song Zhao said lowly, "This servant did not think that far. This servant's greatest wish upon entering the palace was to avenge Mother. As for whether I could have the good fortune like the Dowager Empress in the future, this servant dare not hope for that."
"Good fortune? Do you think this widowed one won?"
The Dowager Empress gave a self-deprecating laugh, then indifferently said, "This widowed one struggled for a lifetime, but in the end lost my son and won a worthless reputation. What use is that? Women are inherently subordinate to men. Our glory and disgrace all depend on the favor of men.
So child, remember, the struggles in the harem will be a huge mistake if you focus on scheming and wrangling with those women! Only when power is truly in your own hands can you be called the winner."
The Dowager Empress became emotionally agitated as she said this long speech in one breath, clearly exhausted.
She heaved a long sigh, as if releasing all the resentment and dissatisfaction pent up in her heart for many years,
carried out of the heavily guarded palace by the invisible wind.
She suddenly grabbed Song Zhao's hand tightly, and said viciously through gritted teeth,
"You must become the winner. For your sake, for the sake of your children, and also... for this widowed one's sake."
