No one knew exactly what was said, but what everyone could see was that after Kangxi had only taken one round, all three of his concubines in the harem fell ill.

Sick?!

The illness was quite severe, and the most seriously ill was Consort Liang of Chuxiu Palace. Her body was truly failing her, especially considering that she had sacrificed herself for her son earlier. Everyone said that a loving mother's heart is extremely heavy.

And so, the three mothers all suffered misfortune, and their three sons, who were in a fit of rage, were also thrown into a state of panic.

They all knew that before their mother fell ill, their father had brought people to their respective palaces.

What was said is unknown, but judging from the final result, it must have been something wrong on her side that displeased the Emperor, which is why she went to confront her own mother.

Alright, Yinqi instantly became incredibly obedient, no longer arguing or fighting, even though the ministers standing behind him were quite displeased.

But there was nothing they could do. Yinqi was the weakest and least capable of the three princes. Those who came here were only after a chance to gain favor and serve the emperor. They felt they were not capable enough to follow the other two princes (mainly because they were afraid of being looked down upon; princes weren't like garbage collectors who would accept anyone who offered themselves up).

Yinqi was honest, and Consort Yi was able to recover from her illness. After this experience, the mother and son understood Kangxi's intentions.

In particular, Consort Yi summoned Yin Tang and Yin E, using her own body as bait to send them directly out of the capital. Under the guise of praying for her own well-being, she sent them to various temples to offer incense and oil, completely severing the entanglements between Yin Tang, Yin E, and Yin Si.

I must say, this method, though crude, is effective.

Unable to find a chance to contact each other, Yinzhi, Yintang, and Yin'e could only watch helplessly as the two left.

No one understood better than Yinsi what the departure of Yintang and Yin'e meant to him.

There was no one else around him that he could use.

Once someone like Yinzhen or Yin'e, who were both obedient and useful to him, left, there would be no one else like them.

Yinzhi was very upset about this, but what could he say? He couldn't say anything, because the two of them went out to pray for their mother and adoptive mother. If he stopped them, wouldn't that ruin his reputation?

Although Yinzhi's reputation was already bad (after all, he was the eldest prince's man, and he took him away very quickly and decisively), every little bit of salvageable reputation was worthwhile.

Yinzhi was planning to give up, thinking that although Consort Yi was able to get Yintang and Yin'e away this time, it didn't mean that Consort Yi could do the same next time. Anyway, there was plenty of time in the future, and Yinzhi was not afraid that Yintang and Yin'e would escape from his grasp.

With this in mind, Yinzhi focused all his energy on the affairs of the court. As for Consort Liang, who was seriously ill in the harem, Yinzhi was reluctant to give up his power and could only try his best to have the imperial physicians treat her properly and postpone the treatment.

After all, Yinzhi didn't get to see Consort Liang very often; his daughter-in-law, Lady Guoluo, visited him more frequently.

Lady Guoluo disliked Consort Liang very much. She would love for Consort Liang to get into trouble so as not to drag Yinzhi down. It would be a wonder that she would tell Yinzhi about Consort Liang's health condition.

And so, with Consort Liang and Lady Guoluo's tacit concealment, Yinzhi had no doubt about Consort Liang's illness and continued to steadily develop his own power, striving to be established as the new crown prince.

In contrast to Yinzhi, Yinyu, because of his mother Tongjia Rongyue, gave up and stopped causing trouble.

Wow, such developments and changes really surprised Xiuning, who was hiding in the palace watching the excitement.

"Are you sure you didn't see wrong? Yinyu and Yinqi both gave up that position, only Yinsi is still holding on?"

It's really strange that after all this time, things turned out this way.

Otherwise, this would have been expected, after all, the biological mothers of Yinyu and Yinqi were Consort Tongjia and Consort Yi, respectively.

Both of them were high-ranking concubines in the harem, and even if they were not favored, they were still far superior to Consort Liang.

Yinyu and Yinqi were children who grew up under the care of their two biological mothers. No matter how much of a scoundrel they were or how much they wanted power, they would never actually make their mothers suffer. Therefore, it is quite normal for Yinyu and Yinqi to compromise with their biological father because their mothers eventually bowed down to them.

Only Yinzhi was able to grow up smoothly under Consort Hui's care.

Even at that time, Consort Hui adopted a hands-off approach towards Yinzhi.

However, even when allowed to roam freely, servants would follow them day and night, restricting the noble lady's access to them.

So, to be honest, there wasn't much of a mother-son bond between Yinzhi and Consort Liang. Moreover, after Yinzhi married a descendant of Prince An's family, Lady Guoluo, he focused wholeheartedly on cultivating himself for power, further diminishing his mother-son relationship with Consort Liang.

Thinking about it this way, as long as Lady Guoluo and Consort Liang can deceive Yinzhi, he really won't give up what he has for Consort Liang's body.

In essence, Yinzhi prioritized personal gain above all else.

Having figured all this out, Xiu Ning smiled.

"Spring Rain, how is Consort Liang? Is she able to hold on?"

This person's health was already deteriorating, and with Kangxi's latest move, he might very well be forced to retire prematurely.

Chunyu nodded and then shook her head. "It's difficult. The imperial physicians all say it won't last long."

The main reason was that Lady Liang herself had lost the will to live. It couldn't be said that she wanted to die, but it was close enough.

Xiuning: ...What is going on? You could get through it when you were young, but now that you're older and your son is all grown up, you can't go on living?

Xiuning found it strange, and her expression was somewhat indescribable.

Chunyu knew a little about it and whispered a few words to Xiuning about Guoluo's daughter-in-law.

I have to say, that's really not fair.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!