Chapter Thirty-four When Shall the Spring Blossoms and Autumn Moon Cease? (IV)

　　Said:　　By the Yangtze’s head the willows greet spring; willow-down grieves the ferrying souls.　　A few calls of the wind-pipe leave the pavilion late— you go toward Xiang, I go toward Qin.　　After court that day, Emperor Zhongzong often returned to the inner palace and poured out the day’s troubles to Empress Wei: “Although I sit the throne, I cannot clearly judge which ministers are loyal or traitorous, nor how to weigh affairs. I have no one to depend on but you, Mother — yet I do not always know your thoughts. I fear misjudging what is light and what is grave and so displeasing you, leaving me all alone.”　　Empress Wei (the nine-tailed fox) replied, “Your Majesty speaks amiss. If the emperor cannot act of his own will and instead judges everything by others’ faces, whose realm is it — yours or the Empress’s?”　　Zhongzong protested, “I have no reliable confidant among the ministers. The able men are those close to Mother — I am in a bind!”　　Empress Wei answered, “Then, Sire, promote your own trusted men. Day by day, step by step, and so