When Tong Yurou first entered the palace, she was still a young girl. In less than two years, she rose from a concubine to a consort, her rank increased significantly, and she became more and more dignified.
If Qiulan used to dare to say funny things to please her master, now she is somewhat afraid of her master's authority.
Hearing Qiulan's reply, Tong Yurou felt relieved. Qiulan was very reliable, and she should be able to handle this matter without any problems.
After asking about this matter, Tong Yurou felt fine. It was already late at night, and she needed to wash up and go to bed quickly, as she would be busy the next day, the first day of the Lunar New Year!
In the Cining Palace, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang returned to her residence as usual, but Sumalagu stepped forward and whispered something to her.
Xiaozhuang paused for a moment while drinking tea, but quickly resumed her normal pace. Her brows remained unchanged, and her tone was indifferent: "Oh, is that so? Then let her come in and report!"
Having received the imperial decree, Sumalagu beckoned the palace maids outside the hall to come in.
Although she had changed her clothes, you could still recognize her as the white-clad palace maid who went into the water to retrieve the stove after Qiulan left.
After the palace maid entered, she first bowed before reporting to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang: "Your Majesty, this servant discovered something unusual tonight, which is suspected to be the work of a palace maid from Consort Tong's palace."
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang made no move or spoke. The palace maid continued, "I had some doubts, so I kept a close eye on the people around Consort Tong."
"As the palace banquet was about to end, I saw Qiulan, a maidservant of Consort Tong, go to the side hall where the wife of Prince Xiang was changing clothes. She even took something from the hall and threw it into the lake."
Upon hearing the name of Dong E, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang became interested and stopped the palace maid from continuing. She directly ordered Su Mala Gu to handle the matter.
Having been immersed in the inner palace for many years, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang could guess the whole story from just these few words, so there was no need to listen any further; she could just leave it to Sumalagu to handle.
This matter involves both the Tong family and the Dong E family, so the situation becomes clear. Without a doubt, it was the Tong family who plotted to harm the Dong E family.
After all, the affair between her son and Dong Eshi, a married woman, was common knowledge, so it was normal for Tongshi to take action after finding out.
The question is whether there were other people involved, how this was carried out, and who was responsible.
Sumalagu investigated quickly, and the results came out on the second day.
It was the first day of the Lunar New Year, and everyone inside and outside the palace was busy. Logically, the Empress should be in charge of palace affairs, but firstly, she was not favored, and secondly, she was still young.
Therefore, Emperor Shunzhi entrusted palace affairs to Consort Ning, the birth mother of the Second Prince, and Consort Tong, the birth mother of the Third Prince, to manage them together.
In addition, several Manchu consorts assisted him, but the Mongol concubines were not allowed to get involved.
It was because she held a portion of the palace power that Tong Yurou was able to plan what happened at the palace banquet last night.
Unfortunately, her plan was ruined by Boguor and failed.
Tong Yurou's plan was divided into several steps. The first step was to sprinkle water to lure Dong Eshi to change clothes in the side hall, and then attract Shunzhi to go there. However, she did not do anything, and Shunzhi went there on his own.
The charcoal fire in the side hall is problematic. After the protagonist, Emperor Shunzhi, and Consort Dong'e pass by, inhaling the contaminated charcoal will...
After that, Lady Tong could find an excuse to go to the side hall and witness their intimate moment, thus bringing the matter into the open.
Only a few people knew about the affair between Emperor Shunzhi and Consort Dong'e, and they all knew it in private. But after this incident, with this scandal, Emperor Shunzhi would be fine, but Consort Dong'e would be in trouble.
Tong Yurou wanted to bring this matter into the open, so that everyone would know about Dong E's shameful affair and thus prevent her from entering the harem.
Even if the plan fails, with this scandal, Dong E's situation after entering the palace will not be good.
Unfortunately, such a good plan was ruined by Boguor. In his anger, he called Dong Eshi away in advance, thus causing Tong Yurou's plan to fail.
Sumalagu consulted the imperial physician, who confirmed that the charcoal in the stove had indeed been tampered with, containing substances that could induce infatuation and arousal.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang is now at a loss as to what her son is going to do, since that Dong E clan woman is a married woman and also her brother's wife.
Boguer is still in the dark and unaware of the situation, while his son is determined not to give up. How will this be resolved in the future?
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was heartbroken over this son. Back in Shengjing, she and her son were an orphan and a widow. It took Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang a lot of effort to help her son ascend to the throne and she worked diligently for decades to stabilize the country.
Now that she has retired to the inner palace and returned power to her son, she thought she could enjoy her old age and live a life of leisure with her grandchildren, but her son has done something like this again.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang is not taking any action for two reasons: firstly, she is disheartened and doesn't want to deal with these troublesome matters; secondly, she is doing it on purpose, wanting her son to hit a wall and do something wrong, so as to prove how correct her words as an old mother are.
Heartbroken by her son, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang suppressed her temper and stubbornly ignored everything.
As the saying goes, "One who is neither deaf nor dumb cannot be a good father-in-law." Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang is now acting in accordance with this saying. She wants to see how well Fulin can manage without her supervision and interference.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang could ignore her own son, but she would not let this troublesome concubine, Lady Tong, get away with it.
The fact that Emperor Shunzhi and Consort Dong'e had a secret rendezvous was something that could be kept quiet in private, and even Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang couldn't stop it.
However, if this were to become public, Shunzhi's reputation would be affected, so Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang did not want to see such a thing happen.
Tong Yurou soon discovered that the Empress Dowager's attitude towards her had changed a lot recently. Originally, because of the Third Prince, the Empress Dowager treated her fairly well.
But recently, the Empress Dowager has been frequently ordering her to do things. These things are not difficult; they sound nice, but they are actually quite tedious little tasks.
Tong Yurou was puzzled, but she gradually figured it out. She must have been discovered that she had taken action.
The Empress Dowager was, after all, a figure who had ruled from behind the curtain, so it was quite normal that her little tricks were discovered.
After suppressing her doubts, Tong Yurou put aside her inner thoughts and pretended to be wholeheartedly committed to correcting her mistakes. Without any impatience or reluctance, she earnestly completed the tasks.
Sure enough, this situation only lasted for a short time, after which Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang returned to normal and stopped making things difficult for Tong Yurou.
Despite this, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was not fooled by Tong Yurou. She did not believe that Tong would change her ways and probably thought she was up to something.
It must be said that Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was right. Tong Yurou had not changed at all. With her personality, she would not be afraid after this incident. She would only secretly tell herself to be more careful in the future and not to be discovered.
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