The Emperor's mood had been sour lately, with the Empress Dowager watching him closely.
Li Shengan said the pressure was immense.
Having sealed the imperial brush, there was no need to attend the morning court, and there were far fewer petitions.
Even if he were to spend his days indulging in the harem, eating and drinking with his young mistresses, the censors wouldn't say a thing.
But Zhao Junyao didn't want to go anywhere.
Yesterday, he visited the Empress Dowager, and the Noble Consort had followed right on his heels, putting on an act. It spoiled his mood entirely.
He didn't want to visit the Empress either. She was barely twenty but acted as if she were eighty. She carried herself with dignified propriety, but in reality, she was steeped in a dreary agedness. It was said that she had recently become obsessed with copying Buddhist scriptures. Wasn't that something only old ladies enjoyed?
