Xiqiu instructed Tiancheng to escort Chief Duan out the door and hinted at him to reward him with silver.
Returning to the room, Madam Jiang and Tong Xiyan emerged from within, both somewhat anxious as they asked, "Why has the Empress Dowager summoned you to the palace at this time?"
Both had heard some of the matters regarding the Second Madam and Xiqiu. The Second Madam was now said to be mad, spending her days singing in her room, unaware of what songs she sang, causing everyone in the back garden of the Marquis Mansion to avoid and detour as though she were a viper, afraid of misfortune.
She was a Commandery Princess, the Empress Dowager's legitimate granddaughter. Since returning from Chengde, the Empress Dowager had been ill, recuperating in the palace, not even receiving the Emperor. Now that she had recovered, she urgently summoned Xiqiu to the palace, a gesture layered with implications not to be underestimated.
