The thought of her son possibly being locked up alone in the house to get vaccinated against smallpox, with no one to care for him and no way to see a doctor if he felt unwell, filled Jin with worry.
It was out of a mother's love that Lady Jin went to Hongli to plead for her son's life, asking him to leave one or two imperial physicians, since there were other young princes among them.
It was at this moment that Hongli finally remembered that besides Yongcong, Yongxuan and his eldest grandson Miande were also among those who had been vaccinated against smallpox.
It seemed that he had been too concerned about Yongcong. Hongli reflected on this in his heart and then sent two other people to take care of Yongxuan and Miande.
With this arrangement, Madam Jin felt at ease. Although there was only one imperial physician looking after her son, it was better than nothing, and she could feel a little more at ease.
After arranging the two people, Hongli focused his attention on Yongcong's affairs. This was his eldest son, whom he had only had after many years, and he couldn't afford to have anything happen to him.
However, things seemed to be going against their wishes. Ten days after the inoculation, Yongcong's condition worsened, and the imperial physician reported with trepidation that the Ninth Prince's inoculation had failed.
Emperor Hongli was furious and gave a strict order that the Ninth Prince must be cured.
Only after the imperial physicians nervously withdrew did Hongli reveal a hint of fear and worry.
Emperor Hongli was so worried upon hearing the news that Empress Fucha, Yongcong's biological mother, fainted on the spot.
From the moment the smallpox vaccination began, Fucha was very worried and prayed to the gods and Buddhas every day, hoping that her child would be safe.
But when the bad news came, her wish was dashed, and the immense worry caused Lady Fucha, who was already in poor health, to fall ill.
Hongli was worried about his son and his wife, and he was busy with both. In addition, he was also busy with important state affairs. He was also somewhat exhausted.
As time went on, Hongli increasingly felt that there were some problems with his body. His energy was not as high as before, and he often felt tired.
He didn't take it to heart, thinking he was just too tired lately and worried about his wife and son, which was why he had these symptoms.
On December 20th, twelve days after the inoculation, Miande was declared a success by the imperial physician. After three more days of recuperation, he was able to leave the house and return to his parents.
Shortly after Miande's success, Yongxuan was also successfully vaccinated and was taken back by the Jin family.
Seeing her son, who had lost a lot of weight, Jin felt a pang of heartache, but at the same time, she was relieved that her son was alright. She had heard that the Ninth Prince was not doing so well!
With her son unharmed, Madam Jin had time to gloat. After all, the Ninth Prince was always more valued than her own son, which made her uncomfortable. So, seeing Yongcong in trouble naturally made her happy.
Yunyi's eldest grandson was successfully vaccinated against smallpox. Yunyi asked Guarjia to take the child back and raise him properly, as he had suffered a lot this time and needed to recuperate for a while.
Guarjia was the child's biological mother, so naturally she loved her son dearly. Even without her mother-in-law's permission, she would make sure to nourish her son properly.
Besides mentioning this matter, Yunyi also gave her son some important instructions.
After Yongjie got married, he naturally entered the court to perform official duties, along with the second prince Yonghuang.
The two brothers were about the same age, but their abilities were vastly different. The elder brother was praised by everyone and was recognized as a person with a good character and strong abilities.
The second prince, Yonghuang, was different. He was arrogant, had a high opinion of himself, did a terrible job, and even bullied the ministers who worked with him because of his status.
Hongli saw all of this and made different arrangements for his two sons.
Yunyi is now pulling her son aside and giving him instructions, telling him to maintain his previous attitude and not to change anything.
Yongcong was on the verge of death. At this moment, the mother and son were in a very special position. They could not afford to do anything wrong, otherwise it would become a reason for others to criticize them.
Yongjie was a smart man and had been sensible since childhood. At this critical juncture, knowing that his younger brother was not good, and being the son of the Imperial Concubine, he naturally would not do anything bad.
Although Lady Nara had not been favored by the emperor in recent years, she knew that this was not a peaceful time. She had never disciplined Yonghuang due to her status, but she spoke a lot to her adopted son, which was a rare occurrence for her.
Unfortunately, Yonghuang had changed his mind and did not respect his adoptive mother, who was only a few years older than him. So he did not listen to what Nara said and continued to act absurdly.
When the Empress's legitimate son is in trouble, it is not a simple matter for either the court or the harem.
For the previous dynasty, if the eldest son had an accident, it meant that the position of heir would be vacant, and a struggle for the throne would be triggered again.
For the imperial harem, if the legitimate son gets into trouble, it means that their own children have a chance to covet that position, and they might even be able to advance further.
People inside and outside the palace were restless, and Empress Fucha was too ill to manage these matters, so the atmosphere in the palace had become somewhat strange recently.
During this period, Yunyi ordered Qingdai to keep the people of Chengqian Palace in check and reduce their outings. They were not to go out unless absolutely necessary, in order to avoid any trouble.
Yongcong's condition was getting worse and worse. Smallpox was a terrible disease, and in this era it was almost incurable. He was young and not very healthy, and he would not survive the inoculation if it failed.
On December 29th, after many days of perseverance, the Ninth Prince Yongcong finally succumbed to his illness and passed away.
Empress Fucha cried bitterly. Throughout her life, she was a virtuous empress praised by everyone, and she had never made any mistakes, either inside or outside the court.
As the wife of the Fourth Prince and as the Empress, she was filial to her parents-in-law, assisted her husband, bore children, and managed the harem. She was flawless in every way and almost perfect.
However, both of her two daughters died young, leaving her with only one daughter who grew up safely and stayed by her side.
The pain of losing three sons almost made Fucha Lady unable to go on. She unexpectedly fell ill with a heart ailment.
Hongli was saddened for a long time after losing his eldest son, but as the emperor, he quickly rallied and was able to handle important state affairs while suppressing his grief.
Although he had cheered himself up, his health was not without problems, though it was slightly better than that of Lady Fucha.
Li Yu was well aware of his master's physical condition. He reminded Hongli several times to summon an imperial physician to take a look, but he was stopped each time.
Hongli did not want to cause turmoil because of his health at this time.
Furthermore, every five days, Physician Zhang would come to check my pulse and he hadn't found anything wrong, so my body should be fine.
Hongli was not worried, firstly because he was confident in his physical condition, and secondly because he felt that he was just feeling unwell due to sadness, and that there was actually nothing wrong with his body.
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