"In that case, I can rest assured. After I am gone, Your Majesty must take good care of yourself and Jingse. I am not well and always feel that I owe her a lot..."
Empress Fucha talked on and on, reminiscing with Emperor Qianlong about their past. The two were young lovers and had two sons and two daughters together, sharing countless memories.
As she spoke, Empress Fucha's voice grew softer, and then she closed her eyes. Emperor Qianlong stared blankly at Empress Fucha, his heart filled with endless sorrow and grief.
"The Empress has passed away..."
As the eunuch's voice came from inside the room, soon, the sound of weeping filled the air.
The emperor soon returned to the capital, and during this time, Ji Huan's seasickness gradually subsided.
Upon returning to the capital, the Empress's grand funeral was held, and the entire court and the inner palace were on tenterhooks, as Emperor Qianlong's mood had been quite poor recently.
The concubines in the harem dared not appear before him.
During this period, because the eldest prince and the third prince did not show enough grief when mourning the empress, Emperor Qianlong directly criticized them for being improper and lacking in etiquette. Therefore, he reprimanded Consort Chun and stripped her of her title.
Thus, the biggest victim of Empress Fucha's passing emerged: Consort Chun, or rather, Consort Chun's lineage.
Originally, the sixth prince, who was originally the daughter of Consort Chun, had already fallen ill after falling into the water and was no longer destined to ascend the throne.
The eldest prince was the adopted son of Consort Chun, while the third prince was her biological son. Qianlong's reprimand of the two princes was tantamount to accusing them of being unfilial.
In the Qing Dynasty, which valued strict rules and traditions, being unfilial was essentially a death sentence for the emperor.
With this, the lineage of Consort Chun was completely finished.
There has been such a thing in history, but the title of Consort Chun was not affected. Now it seems that it must be the words of Empress Fucha on her deathbed that had an effect, Ji Huan thought.
As Ji Huan had suspected, it was clear that Qianlong couldn't possibly ignore the investigation. Following the trail of the two gossipers, he uncovered the identities of Consort Jia and Consort Chun. While there was no concrete evidence, the impression of their impropriety remained.
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