The old sacrificial priest wants to explain, but hesitates to speak.
He was not in a position to say that Zhuang Jinse had lost her memory and mistook him for her deceased husband, though this would not necessarily seem unconvincing to the Emperor.
But he just didn't want to say it, he didn't know why.
The Emperor: "Do you know the gravity of the crime of disrespecting a nation's dowager queen?"
The old sacrificial priest: "According to the law, I should be executed."
The Emperor: "Punished? I'll execute your nine generations!"
The sacrificial priest suddenly calmed down. Perhaps he smelt death, and no longer felt fear.
He knelt and said humbly, "I am an orphan, with no parents, siblings, or wife or children since my youth... The only person in my 'nine generations'... is me."
"You..." The Emperor was so angry, he picked up a bowl from the bedside table and throw it.
The old sacrificial priest didn't dodge.