The Chief Palace Maid looked at the box and smiled, "Empress Dowager, this Prince Luling is quite amusing. Perhaps he's afraid you might be suspicious, so he went out of his way to gift you a box of dried plums, even drawing a picture on it. 'Return the favor,' he's saying, to have a proper exchange with the Empress Dowager."
The Empress Dowager's gaze moved away from the painting on the box and looked out the window.
Her expression was calm, "A proper exchange? That's what he should do. We can't just listen to what he says, let us see what he will do. I give him the throne, and he must provide me with peace in my later years to be worthy of me. He must also take good care of my maternal family, the Dou Family, and be kind to my maternal uncle's Cui Family, and only then is it a proper exchange."
The Chief Palace Maid nodded, "What the Empress Dowager has said is true."
She followed the Empress Dowager's gaze, also looking out the window.
