The fourth prince, who was favored by Consort Jia, was relatively well-behaved. The eighth prince was still a toddler, and Qianlong couldn't find a reason to punish him. However, recently the third prince had been acting very recklessly, following the eldest prince, so Qianlong decided to punish him as well.
The things Empress Fucha did before her death seemed ordinary, but for the suspicious Emperor Qianlong, they were enough.
Ji Huan smiled and said to the system, "Consort Chun has become Consort Su, and the next one will probably be Consort Jia. Empress Fucha is indeed the one who understands Qianlong best."
No concrete evidence was needed; all that was required was ambiguity, coupled with a death, to convince Emperor Qianlong of Empress Fucha's dying words.
Moreover, she thought that this time, it might not be so easy for Consort Ling to be promoted to the rank of Imperial Concubine without having children.
As one of the few Manchu concubines in the palace, she was favored and obviously had a better chance.
However, before that, she needed to comfort the "sad" Emperor Qianlong and let him know her "true feelings".
So the "literary and artistic talent" Ji Huan went online and started writing and drawing in her study.
Although Emperor Qianlong had not fully recovered from the grief of losing Empress Fucha, he had already begun to visit the inner palace, though he did not stay overnight.
On this day, Emperor Qianlong came to Xianfu Palace without having anyone announce his arrival. He went straight into the study and saw Ji Huan painting intently, so engrossed that she didn't even notice him coming in.
Of course, Ji Huan couldn't possibly have failed to notice such a large figure entering.
He approached Ji Huan and saw her painting a picture of concubines paying their respects to the emperor. It was a picture of concubines paying their respects to the emperor from the Yuanmingyuan. Everyone in the painting was smiling, and their eyes were focused on Empress Fucha, who was sitting at the head of the table.
Emperor Qianlong murmured, "Can this love be relived in memory? At the time, it was all in vain! Shuhe~"
Ji Huan hurriedly looked up, saw Qianlong, was surprised, and was about to pay her respects when Qianlong stopped her.
"My beloved concubine, there's no need for such formalities."
"Your Majesty, why did you come so suddenly? I was not prepared at all."
Emperor Qianlong, ignoring her question, looked at her painting and said, "You depict a scene from the Yuanmingyuan Garden! Last summer, the Empress was still alive, but this year... Why did my beloved concubine decide to paint a greeting painting?"
"Your Majesty and the Empress were deeply in love. I know that Your Majesty is grieving over the passing of the Empress. I thought of the Empress and realized that she was very kind to us newcomers to the palace. I couldn't help but create this painting so that I could remember her."
Emperor Qianlong was very confident that his concubines truly trusted his empress and missed her, so he nodded in agreement.
"The Empress is indeed very good. This painting is quite nice. Give it to me! Although I can paint, I can never paint a picture with the Empress's face in mind."
Ji Huan looked at Qianlong with a pained expression: "Tears are swallowed but no sound is heard. I only regret my past heartlessness. I rely on painting to recall my past. But my heart is so full of sorrow that I cannot paint it! Your Majesty must be too grief-stricken to do this."
The two looked at the painting and reminisced about Empress Fucha.
Ji Huan's painting is indeed very good. Although the empress in the painting is somewhat sickly, she is gentle and dignified, showing the temperament of the mother of the nation. The concubines smile in their own unique way, making the harem seem to be full of flowers and the scene is very lively and harmonious.
It perfectly matched Emperor Qianlong's expectations for his harem; it could be said that the painting touched his heart.
The news that Emperor Qianlong had brought a painting with him from Xianfu Palace quickly spread throughout the inner palace.
The generous Emperor Qianlong accepted her painting and, indeed, was not stingy, sending many fine items to Xianfu Palace.
Consort Ling could no longer remain silent about this.
She didn't interfere in Empress Fucha's death, nor did she interfere in the Seventh Prince's affairs, but she was aware of it. Empress Fucha's death was something she had hoped for. The two had very similar temperaments, and part of the reason she was able to gain favor was because she imitated Empress Fucha.
She began to gain favor precisely when Empress Fucha was ill and unable to serve the emperor. Empress Fucha's death was most advantageous to her. Of course, she knew that the living could not compete with the dead, but she did not intend to compete with the dead for affection. All she wanted was favor.
In her mind, Emperor Qianlong should have come to find her and reminisced about Empress Fucha with her. But strangely, he did not treat her specially. Instead, he treated Ji Huan differently.
There was a feeling that things were slipping out of her control.
And this feeling is very unpleasant.
Consort Ling, who is usually very composed, is now finding it hard to stay calm.
"Go and inquire about the news from Xianfu Palace. I need to know what the Emperor took away in the painting, and I also need to know every move of Consort Rou."
"Your Majesty, isn't it too much of a show to just have Consort Rou?"
Unlike Consort Ling's feelings, Consort Ling's confidants, although they felt that Consort Rou had the ability, never regarded her as a major enemy. They were confident that Ji Huan would not be able to have children under the operation of the Imperial Household Department, and even if the Emperor liked her, it would be of no use.
Consort Ling couldn't express her feelings to those around her, and frowned deeply: "I did it, and I naturally have my reasons for doing so."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
The bondservant class was powerful, but that was the whole system. Although Consort Ling had some considerable connections in the harem, she entered the scene later than her predecessors, so she mostly kept her hands clean and remained an observer, occasionally taking advantage of the situation.
The fact that they wanted to know Ji Huan's every move indicated a change in her personnel, which her confidants found inappropriate.
Consort Ling trusted her intuition, and that intuition led her all the way to where she is today.
In fact, Consort Ling's intuition was very accurate.
Emperor Qianlong did indeed like Consort Ling's temperament, but recalling Empress Fucha's dying words, he became more suspicious of the concubine who came from a bondservant background.
This suspicion turned Consort Chun into Consort Su, and her two sons and one adopted son were basically ruined. Even though she still held a high position, her future was now limited.
This suspicion also cost Consort Ling the opportunity to enter Emperor Qianlong's heart at this juncture.
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