Heaven above, earth below—the Empress Dowager, reigning over court affairs, was herself the embodiment of both.
"Bow to the elders!"
With the crisp command, Chen Yi and Dong Gong Ruoshu stepped past the offering table and gracefully bowed before the Empress Dowager.
The Empress Dowager gazed at the scene, her eyes stinging as two silent tears fell.
Once, she too had been wed. But on the day of her marriage, the late emperor—madly intrigued by cultivation—had not appeared. She, being the second empress, had knelt alone before the previous Empress Dowager, and then performed her bows to an empty space.
As she reflected on days past, a sense of bittersweet nostalgia swept over the Empress Dowager. Yet, all that was history now. For this couple, they would not endure such loneliness.
For this day to come, she didn't know how long she had waited.
But it had finally arrived.
"Bow to each other as husband and wife!"
