In the first year of entering the palace, she was just a Lady of Talents.
In the fifth year of entering the palace, she became a Handsome Fairness.
In the tenth year of entering the palace, she aspired to become the Empress, since it was the only way she could hold onto everything dear to her, never to be taken away.
 She could protect herself, her children, and most importantly, be with him.
This was a path with no retreat; stepping back would be an irreversible calamity.
The bright yellow silk umbrella advanced, and the Emperor's procession slowly entered the city gate. The yellow silk umbrella, the sun-and-moon fan, the purple banner... At that moment, the sunlight dazzled the eyes. Empress Xie's phoenix carriage moved forward along the imperial road, meeting him halfway.

Empress Xie

Xie Ning didn't want to go at all, but she had no choice. She had heard that the Able Consort was going, so as a lowly consort, she couldn't possibly not show face.


She would rather stay in her room and spend time with her child than spend half a day getting dressed up like a statue, sitting there and playing politics with insincere people.


People were like that, they often had to do things they didn't want to do, even the emperor couldn't make an exception.


While she was getting dressed, Qinghe and Qingmei got into an argument. Qingmei said that the palace dress with embroidered lotus flowers in gold thread was beautiful, but Qinghe picked out the plain crimson-colored dress made of silver silk.


"The gold thread dress is too eye-catching."


"But everyone going today are all noble ladies, if our lady dress too simply they might look down on us."


Xie Ning smiled and listened to the two of them bickering, but in the end, she chose the crimson dress.


Waterside Pavilion