Why has she come?
Noble Concubine Shih looked again toward the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager was watching the Fine Ladies standing in a row below, her face full of satisfaction. She occasionally gave the Empress a kind and affectionate smile. When the girl from the Shih family was called by name and stepped out to perform her curtsy, the Empress Dowager said directly, "Emperor... this child is one I have watched grow up, intelligent and clever..."
Zhao Junyao felt some displeasure in his heart. It stood to reason that after Noble Concubine Shih had entered the palace, the Shih family's daughter should have avoided the selection. Yet the Empress Dowager seemed to have completely forgotten this. Although it might not be a formal rule, it was still an unwritten custom.
"Mother..."
