The old sacrificial priest wants to explain, but hesitates to speak.
He was not in a position to say that Zhuang Jinse had lost her memory and mistook him for her deceased husband, though this would not necessarily seem unconvincing to the Emperor.
But he just didn’t want to say it, he didn’t know why.
The Emperor: "Do you know the gravity of the crime of disrespecting a nation’s dowager queen?"
The old sacrificial priest: "According to the law, I should be executed."
The Emperor: "Punished? I’ll execute your nine generations!"
The sacrificial priest suddenly calmed down. Perhaps he smelt death, and no longer felt fear.
He knelt and said humbly, "I am an orphan, with no parents, siblings, or wife or children since my youth... The only person in my ’nine generations’... is me."
"You..." The Emperor was so angry, he picked up a bowl from the bedside table and throw it.
The old sacrificial priest didn’t dodge.
However, due to the Emperor’s serious injuries, he lacked strength, and the bowl just crashed to the floor in front of the sacrificial priest.
This made the Emperor even angrier.
Gu Jiao came to the door. She did not wish to stand by, and started to push the door open.
Suddenly, a hand - its skin weathered by age - gently grasped her white wrist.
She turned her head, surprised, "Granny?"
If this person was not the Dowager Queen Zhuang, disguised as an old woman, who could it be?
"Granny, why are you here?" Gu Jiao asked.
Dowager Queen Zhuang answered authoritatively, "With such a big event happening, how can I not be here?"
One can’t say she had come out to play cards!
The Dowager Queen Zhuang said calmly, "You go wait outside, I’ll handle it."
"Oh." Gu Jiao obediently went to the stone bench in the Courtyard to wait.
Dowager Queen Zhuang stepped in through the door.
The Emperor’s angry voice abruptly ceased.
The sacrificial priest, who had been kneeling on the ground, suddenly straightened up!
He kneeled with such dignity!
Dowager Queen Zhuang, her face expressionless, glanced at the old sacrificial priest: "You can leave. There are issues that need to be discussed between His Majesty and me."
"Yes, your servant... retires." The old sacrificial priest did not dare to look at Dowager Queen Zhuang’s face directly. He kept his eyes lowered, performed a bow and then stood up to leave.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Prime Minister's Darling