Of course, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang's wish could not be fulfilled.
After all, Yunyi had drugged the Empress, so she did not give birth to a prince as she wished. The other two women had already given birth to daughters, so none of the three pregnant women were able to give birth to a prince.
In April, Lady Zhang gave birth to another daughter, the Fifth Princess. In September, Empress Hesheli gave birth to a daughter, the Sixth Princess. In October, Lady Zhaojia gave birth to a daughter, the Seventh Princess.
None of the three pregnant women were able to give birth to a prince, which greatly disappointed Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, but even greater misfortune was yet to come.
Just like in her previous life, the Empress was filled with anxiety during her pregnancy and did not want to relinquish her power and palace affairs.
Empress Hesheli was pregnant and had to handle heavy palace affairs, so she did not have a good pregnancy.
During childbirth, she experienced a difficult labor. In order for the child to be born safely, she ordered the imperial physician to prescribe labor-inducing drugs.
The medicine was extremely potent. As soon as she drank it, she felt intense abdominal pain. After a difficult labor lasting a day and a night, she finally managed to give birth to a... daughter.
Exhausted, Empress Hesheli looked expectantly at her personal maid: "Well, is it a prince?"
Seeing the expectation in her master's eyes, Fang'er couldn't bear to tell him the result. She stammered, her eyes darting away, and dared not answer.
Empress Hesheli grew anxious. She struggled to get up, wanting to take the child and see him herself: "Quickly, quickly bring the child to me so I can see him."
Fang'er dared not disobey and tremblingly handed over the newborn child.
As soon as the baby was born, Hesheli disregarded the fact that the newborn might catch a cold.
She impatiently opened the swaddling clothes and took a look, which finally made her give up completely.
If there was still a sliver of hope just now, now there is utter despair.
He slumped back onto the bed, ignoring the child, who was crying incessantly because she felt cold, without even glancing at her.
Fang'er couldn't bear it any longer and picked up the little princess, handing her over to the wet nurse waiting outside, which finally stopped the little princess from crying.
Lying in bed, Hesheli felt utterly hopeless; she had never imagined that the child she had given birth to with such care and effort would be a daughter.
She lay there listlessly, not wanting to say or move anything, ignoring even the faint pain in her lower body.
It was Fang'er who sent the little princess out to see Emperor Kangxi and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and only after returning did she discover Hesheli's unusual behavior.
As soon as she entered the delivery room, she smelled a strong stench of blood, which is normal for a delivery room to smell like that.
Fang'er remembered that the delivery room had been cleaned up by the midwives and the windows had been opened for ventilation before she left, so there shouldn't be such a strong smell.
When she arrived at the bedside, she noticed that Hesheli's face was deathly pale, and there were faint dark red stains on the blanket covering her.
Suddenly a bad feeling crept into her mind, Fang'er disregarded etiquette and stepped forward to lift the blanket to take a look. She was immediately horrified.
Hesheli was already on the verge of fainting when Fang'er's actions startled her, and she realized that something seemed wrong with her body.
Fang'er hurriedly ran out to call the imperial physician, an unusual action that made Hesheli, who was lying on the bed, feel uneasy.
She supported her weak body and shakily lifted the blanket. There was a shocking bloodstain on the sheet. She had suffered a massive hemorrhage.
No wonder my hands and feet were cold, my head was dizzy, and I felt weak all over. It's a pity that I was so immersed in my sadness that I didn't pay attention to my physical condition at all.
By the time the imperial physician came in to examine Hesheli, it was too late to save her.
Hemorrhage is inherently difficult to treat, and Hesheli's discovery came too late. Her emotional distress after learning the news exacerbated the hemorrhage.
After their best efforts to treat the patient, the imperial physicians all shook their heads, indicating that they were powerless to help.
Perhaps it was truly the last moment of her life, but Hesheli finally felt a touch of maternal love and asked the imperial physician to do everything possible to slow down her hemorrhage.
She cannot leave today, otherwise her newborn child will be branded as a mother-killer. She must at least wait until tomorrow. Once it is light, she will leave, and then the blame will not fall on her daughter.
And this was the last thing I could do for her.
After the imperial physician administered acupuncture to Hesheli, her condition stabilized temporarily, and she regained some strength in her hands and feet.
Hesheli whispered many arrangements to Fang'er, all concerning her newborn daughter. She wanted to make sure her daughter's affairs were settled before she died.
It was already past midnight, and as dawn approached, she rested for a while.
When dawn finally broke and Emperor Kangxi had just gotten up and had not yet gone to court, she instructed Fang'er to call the Emperor in, as she had something to say.
Facing Emperor Kangxi, Empress Hesheli expressed her deep reluctance to part with him and recounted many events from their wedding day.
These words also evoked Kangxi's memories. This was his first wife, whom he had accompanied for nearly ten years, from their marriage at the age of twelve until now.
They went through the early stages of his rule together, the most difficult time when Ao Bai was in power.
Looking lovingly at her husband, the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Empress Hesheri's eyes were filled with reluctance.
"Your Majesty, I must depart. Please take good care of yourself. Do not stay up late reviewing memorials again, and do not forget to eat because of important state affairs. From now on, I will not be able to accompany you..."
These heartfelt words brought tears to the eyes of Emperor Kangxi, a grown man. He could only repeatedly promise that he would be alright and that he would take good care of their young daughter.
With Kangxi's guarantee, Empress Hesheli was finally at ease.
Then her condition deteriorated further, and her voice became softer and softer.
As he watched Hesheli's hand fall limply from his grasp onto the bed, Kangxi froze, unable to believe that his wife had passed away.
In the thirteenth year of the Kangxi Emperor's reign, Empress Hesheli died in the Kunning Palace due to postpartum hemorrhage at the age of twenty-one.
This young girl, in the prime of her life, vanished and has been sleeping forever ever since.
Emperor Kangxi held an extremely grand funeral for Empress Hesheli and even suspended court for three days for the occasion.
Finally, Hesheli's posthumous title was Renxiao, and she became known as Empress Renxiao.
The daughter born to Empress Hesheli after a difficult childbirth was entrusted to the Empress Dowager for upbringing by Emperor Kangxi.
Besides the Empress, only Niohuru and Tong had official titles in the palace, one being Consort Zhao and the other Consort Tong, but they were not qualified to raise the Empress's legitimate daughter.
The Empress Dowager is too old, so the only suitable candidate is Kangxi's stepmother, the current Empress Dowager Renxian.
The sixth princess was taken to Shou Kang Palace to be raised by the Empress Dowager. Little did she know that she would lose her mother from that moment on.
With the Empress gone, the palace could not be without an empress for even a day. The successor was to be chosen from Consort Zhao, of the Niohuru clan, and Consort Tong, of the Tong clan.
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