She swept a glance over the assembled ministers below and immediately spotted Xu Zimo seated at the very top. He still looked like an otherworldly immortal untouched by worldly dust—she wondered which woman could drag this man down from his pedestal. Shen Yunyun thought to herself with a hint of schadenfreude, then suddenly met Xu Zimo’s gaze as it fell on her. She offered him a friendly smile.
Suddenly, she felt a gaze land on her. Turning her head to look, she couldn’t find who was watching her. But she noticed many ministers secretly glancing up at her, and some noble ladies were also sizing her up discreetly. Being stared at by so many made her feel deeply uncomfortable.
Tang Yuan turned to look at her and asked gently, “Is the food not to your taste?”
“No, no, no, it’s fine,” Shen Yunyun quickly replied.
Tang Yuan curved his lips and said, “Eat first. We can talk after the banquet.”
Shen Yunyun, adopting a mindset of taking things as they came, decided to just enjoy the meal in peace. She let out a soft sigh, glanced at the sky outside, and thought to herself how her time was all jumbled up as she traveled between these worlds. She had arrived in the middle of the night, but now it was broad daylight outside. In theory, this should be her rest time. Her appetite wasn’t great either.
Seeing that she hadn’t touched her chopsticks much, Tang Yuan reached out to pick up a piece of fish for her. “Try it.”
“Thank you, but you don’t need to worry about me. I just don’t have much appetite right now.”
“Should I summon the imperial physician?”
“No need. It’s just that I should be sleeping at this hour.”
Tang Yuan: “...”
The people below, watching the interaction between Tang Yuan and Shen Yunyun, all asked each other who that young lady was. Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without defeat. They each harbored their own plans to send their daughters into the palace, but now a woman had appeared out of nowhere, so favored by the emperor that he personally served her food—this was a bad sign. Though their intentions differed, they now shared a common enemy, so they set aside their own conflicts to unite against her. Yet, despite their inquiries, no one knew where this woman had come from.
Halfway through the banquet, a minister, fearless of death, stepped forward as the first to speak. He knelt and said, “Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, I have a matter to report.”
“Present it at tomorrow’s morning court,” the emperor interrupted directly, as if knowing what he intended to say.
The minister’s words were choked back, and all his pent-up thoughts went unspoken. He stole a glance at the Empress Dowager, trying to gauge her intentions, but to his surprise, she spoke up: “Minister He, today is the emperor’s coming-of-age ceremony. If you have matters to discuss, come to the imperial study after the banquet.”
The minister had no choice but to retreat.
Shen Yunyun looked from the Empress Dowager to the emperor, feeling as though they were coordinating with each other. Throughout the banquet, many ministers tried to bring up state affairs, but the Empress Dowager deflected them all.
After a while, seeing that Shen Yunyun had little appetite and seemed rather fatigued, the emperor exchanged a glance with the Empress Dowager. The two rose and left in perfect sync.
As soon as they departed, the ministers lost all interest in continuing the meal. They hurried off, each rushing to their own connections to find out who that woman really was.
The Empress Dowager, the emperor, and Shen Yunyun walked together to the imperial study. The Empress Dowager said to the emperor, “Your Majesty, you have now come of age. It is time for me to return the reins of government to you. From now on, I will spend my remaining years in peace within the inner palace.”
Shen Yunyun’s lips twitched. The Empress Dowager was still young—did she really want to retire so soon? Could it be that they were playing out some script about a young, charming Empress Dowager and a half-immortal national advisor?