With a slight pursing of her luscious red lips, Su Yushan scoffed, "I don't want to see you. You're so annoying."

"What did I do wrong again?" Hongli tried hard to reflect, but did not realize where he went wrong. "I have already explained what happened just now. Apart from that, I don't think I have offended you."

"You explained too late, making me angry for an hour for nothing, and the more I think about it, the angrier I get!" That's why she turned away, unwilling to face him.

Hongli sighed with a helpless smile, "This is not my fault, it's my daughter's fault. Who told her to come in like that? I'll give her a beating tomorrow to vent your anger."

He's really good at scheming. "I'm angry at you, not our daughter. Don't even think about shirking responsibility."

"What can I do to stop you from being angry? Or why don't you hit me?"

After a moment's hesitation, Su Yushan made a deal with him, "Don't touch me tonight, we'll sleep separately, maybe I won't be angry tomorrow."

Without a second thought, Hongli refused outright, "No way. I'd rather you hit me than not touch you."

Amidst their banter, Hongli reached out to tickle her, but Su Yushan tightly protected herself, preventing him from succeeding. As they played, he suddenly heard a gurgling sound, immediately stopped, and gently stroked her flat, smooth belly, his eyes crinkling slightly.

"The little glutton is clearly hungry, but he stubbornly insists he has no appetite and doesn't want to eat. Now he's starving, isn't he?"

"I really didn't have an appetite back then! I'm not lying." She was so angry she was full, how could she possibly eat?

"Why do you have no appetite? Is it because I said I wanted to add charcoal to Lan Rong's food?"

Hongli asked the question knowing the answer already, and Su Yushan felt it was necessary to explain it to him clearly.

"If you care about the Empress or Consort Rong, I won't mind. But I can't stand you being nice to Consort Xian. Firstly, because she saved your life, and secondly, because she might have harmed my child."

Hongli met her gaze and nodded solemnly. "I know, I know everything. What you're worried about won't happen. I won't care about any other woman but you."

Su Yushan then turned around to face him, hugged him tightly, and felt quite relieved. "That's good."

Just as the two were expressing their feelings for each other, her stomach growled again at an inopportune moment. Hongli offered to have someone prepare a meal for her, but she didn't want to trouble him.

"I just brushed my teeth, I don't want to eat anything, otherwise I'll have to brush them again."

"Then let's do it again! We can't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Or do you want me to eat you?"

What kind of time is this to be joking around! Su Yushan, annoyed, lightly punched him. "I'm so hungry, how could I possibly have the energy to eat you?"

Hongli coaxed, "Then get up and have some food. It's hard to be hungry."

She was indeed feeling unwell, and she herself was almost at her limit. But it was late at night, and she didn't want to trouble the palace servants any further, so she said there were pastries in the room, and she would eat some to fill her stomach.

She descended from the tent, draped in a robe, and sat down at the table to eat pastries. Hongli followed her and thoughtfully poured her a cup of hot tea.

"Slow down, don't choke."

After eating and drinking her fill, she brushed her teeth with a bristle brush before returning to her tent with peace of mind.

"Are you full?" Hongli smiled at her, his words carrying a hidden meaning. "As the saying goes, what do people think about when they're well-fed and warm?"

Without hesitation, Su Yushan replied, "I miss Zhou Gong!"

Before she could finish speaking, he flicked her nose. "Don't be dreaming, you're full. Now it's my turn to eat you."

Sensing that he was up to no good again, Su Yushan immediately made an excuse, "But I'm sleepy!"

"Don't go to sleep right after eating; you need to move around a bit to prevent indigestion."

He really went to great lengths to win her over! Every time he could come up with a different excuse, and she always had to rack her brains to outwit him.

But every time, she couldn't win an argument with him, and in the end, she always ended up being taken advantage of by him in a confused and clueless way...

After learning of Hongli's true intentions, Su Yushan was no longer jealous. The next day, she instructed the Xixin Division to add ten catties of charcoal to Xianfu Palace every day.

Lan Rong thought that Su Yushan was a stingy person and she didn't get along with her, so she would definitely not agree. But unexpectedly, the charcoal was delivered!

Lan Rong was puzzled. "What does Su Yushan mean by this? How come she's become so generous and hasn't made things difficult for me?"

Qiu Cha pondered to herself, "Perhaps it's because she helped Hai Changzai first, so she's embarrassed to refuse your request?"

Lan couldn't know the real reason, she only knew that her plan had failed and Su Yushan had added fuel to the fire, so she could no longer find an excuse to have her heart ailment relapse!

Why is Su Yushan acting so unpredictably? What a blunder!

In fact, the Empress Dowager was also paying attention to this matter. A few days ago, Lan Rong even came to Cining Palace to talk about adding charcoal. The Empress Dowager did not express her opinion, but instructed her to go to Jingren Palace to ask Su Yushan for instructions.

The Empress Dowager had planned to benefit from the conflict between the two, but to her surprise, Su Yushan agreed so easily.

Granny Mei chuckled and sighed, "It seems that Consort Chun is a sensible person and did not make things difficult for Consort Xian because of a small grudge."

The Empress Dowager, however, did not think so. "Consort Xian said that Consort Chun initially refused, but later changed her mind. It was probably Hongli who reminded her, otherwise how could she be so virtuous?"

With Hongli (Emperor Hongli) guiding her, the Empress Dowager had no chance to find fault and could only let Su Yushan continue to manage the inner palace.

Su Yushan was walking on thin ice, but she had no way out but to face the challenges head-on and continue managing the affairs of the harem.

The Empress was confined to her quarters for six months before being released at the end of the year to attend a palace banquet.

Having just been made empress, she was stripped of her power, and the empress felt that she had become a laughing stock of the world.

After this incident, she lost a lot of weight and her spirits were not good. The Empress Dowager sent the imperial physician to treat her. The physician said that the Empress's illness was caused by her heart and her mind was depressed.

The Empress Dowager advised Hongli to visit Changchun Palace when he had time, saying that if he changed his attitude, the Empress might recover. However, Hongli refused to go again. He had lost all patience with Yuying and was no longer willing to put on a show.

If he doesn't want to come, then he doesn't want to come! Yu Ying didn't dare to hope for anything more, lest she say the wrong thing and offend Hongli, and be confined to her quarters again.

When she was in the Prince's residence, Gao Xiuwen helped her manage the household. After entering the palace, Consort Chun assisted in managing the harem. As the Empress, she was quite idle, always having the title but no real power.

Winter passed and spring came, and in the blink of an eye, it was the second year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign.

On this warm day, the Empress's mother, Lady Gioro, entered the palace to visit her daughter and also went to Cining Palace to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager.

Lady Jue Luo inadvertently mentioned her son Fuheng. Fuheng had studied in the palace and would occasionally come to pay his respects to the Empress Dowager. The Empress Dowager remembered him; the young man was intelligent, tall, and handsome, with the air of a noble young master.

The Empress Dowager praised the child for being intelligent and sensible, saying he would surely achieve great things in the future. She then asked Fuheng how old he was and whether he was married.

Jue Luo thought that he was only sixteen years old and not yet married.

The Empress Dowager pondered for a moment and said, "There's no rush. We can wait another year. Next spring, the palace will hold a selection of concubines to enrich the Emperor's harem. We can also pick a good girl for Fu Heng at that time."