Standing behind the imperial physician, Doctor Liang looked at Kangxi's face and felt a chill in his heart. He naturally knew why Kangxi had fainted; in fact, Kangxi's body had long been drained by the so-called Taoist priest who claimed to be able to refine elixirs of immortality. The Taoist priest had still escaped, and Kangxi was furious, sending his secret guards to capture him again, but there had been no news.
Doctor Liang knew that Kangxi's health was beyond repair; no amount of tonics could restore it. Years of physical exhaustion, coupled with his past sword wound, chronic illness, and ultimately, his own indulgence in women, had combined to cause his current condition. Doctor Liang had managed to control Kangxi's headaches with Western medicine, but he couldn't stem the tide of Kangxi's decline.
"Who are you?" Consort Yi saw a young man standing behind the imperial physician.
"This servant was recommended by Prince Yong. My surname is Liang." Doctor Liang, already dressed in the robes of an imperial physician, had no choice but to bow to Consort De.
"I heard that you've been taking care of the Emperor's health all this time. Why didn't you say a word just now?" Consort Yi immediately jumped out and reprimanded Doctor Liang when she heard that he was recommended by the Fourth Prince.
Consort De glanced at Consort Yi, understanding the meaning behind her words, but with everyone present, she couldn't say anything and could only look at Doctor Liang.
"Your Majesty, what Physician Lin just said concerns His Majesty's health. I saw that he had already said it and had nothing to add, so I didn't say anything," Physician Liang said, bowing his head.
Consort Yi seemed unwilling to let Doctor Liang off the hook, and asked further, "You are by the Emperor's side every day, how come you didn't even remind him beforehand that his health was not good and he shouldn't be near women too much?"
Upon seeing this, Consort De immediately said, "This is a matter for the Imperial Household Department. Sister, how can you let an imperial physician advise the Emperor on when to engage in sexual relations?"
Just then, the person lying on the bed suddenly raised their hand and woke up.
Everyone immediately went to serve Kangxi, thus sparing Doctor Liang from Consort Yi's reprimand. Consort Yi, before Consort De could, sat down at the head of Kangxi's bed and personally placed soft pillows for him.
Consort De told the imperial physicians that Kangxi's condition absolutely could not be revealed.
The following day, Consort Yi began searching the palace, searching everyone who hadn't had their green headband removed. Although Emperor Kangxi had woken up, he lay there weakly, not fully conscious. Therefore, even if he knew what Consort Yi was doing, he had no strength to care. Furthermore, given his weakened state, he suspected someone had given him something.
Consort Yi had long disliked the young concubines who had been favored by Emperor Kangxi in recent years, so she took this opportunity to teach those concubines she disliked a lesson.
Every palace room was searched, and the pampered nobles had no choice but to swallow their anger and let the searchers rummage through their rooms.
After this commotion in the inner palace, some shady items were indeed discovered during the search. It's not necessarily true that these items were used on Emperor Kangxi; some were simply prepared but never had a chance to be used before being found. Because everything happened so quickly, Consort Yi sent people to search everywhere without telling them what they were looking for, only that it was the Emperor's order. Who dared to stop her?
"Sister, I have indeed found some things during the search. What do you think we should do?" Consort Yi asked Consort De as she arrived at Yonghe Palace with her entourage.
"What kind of things are these?" Consort De was surprised that they actually found something during the search.
"They're nothing but filthy things, truly vixens. Sister, the Emperor's health is so poor now, all because of these vixens causing trouble. I think we should kill them to warn others." A strange light flashed in Consort Yi's eyes as she spoke.
Consort De held the string of translucent jade beads in her hand and kept pushing it. Seeing that Consort Yi wanted to kill someone, she said, "His Majesty is not in good health. It's best to avoid bloodshed. Let's send him to the Cold Palace instead."
Consort Yi inwardly cursed her for feigned compassion and said, "Then let's do as you say, sister. But how do we explain things to the Emperor?"
Consort De glanced at Consort Yi and said, "Say it the way it should be said. They violated palace rules and were demoted to the Cold Palace, and there are good reasons for it."
Having received Consort De's approval, Consort Yi readily went to carry out her duties. In truth, Consort Yi herself understood that she no longer held the same sway over Emperor Kangxi as Consort De, and that most of her actions would still be based on Consort De's instructions.
After Consort Yi left, Ushiha entered. Seeing that Consort De's brows were furrowed, as if something was on her mind, she went up to Consort De and asked, "Zuma, what's wrong?"
After spending more than a month together, Ushiha learned a lot from Consort De and no longer wanted to leave the palace as before. His temperament seemed to have really calmed down a lot.
"Ushiha, why don't you accompany Zuma for a walk today? How about it?" When Consort De saw that it was Ushiha, the gloom on her face vanished, replaced by a smile.
Someone relayed to Consort De that Ushiha had a bad temper and was disrespectful, which made her somewhat worried. So she directly sent word to let her granddaughter come in and take a look.
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