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 flipped through the patterns and chose a simple one she felt confident in making - a cross-collared style. She could handle sewing the edges, but the decorative patterns were a bit difficult. However, Princess Yu Yao also leaned in and pointed to a slanting collar style, tapping on it twice to indicate that she liked that one.


Xie Ning couldn't bear to choose the slanting collar style, as making the collar and trimming alone would be extremely challenging for her. Chief Palace Attendant Fang held back her laughter and gestured for Qingmei to take Princess Yu Yao out.


"This pale white fabric won't look good with dark threads."


"I picked a sky blue one." Naturally, dark threads wouldn't look good, but neither would the same colour as the fabric. Pale white was already a light colour, so using the same color thread would be too dull.


Chief Palace Attendant Fang nodded, "Sky blue or light blue would both be a great match."


Standing Together