"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to the Empress Dowager!" Half a year has passed since Consort Tong gave birth. Today is the day the entire palace celebrates the Empress Dowager's birthday, and the concubines gathered at Shou Kang Palace early in the morning.
"Alright, all of you, get up! Please sit down!" The Empress Dowager looked much thinner, which made sense, as she had fallen ill after returning from Chengqian Palace and it took her almost two months to recover on and off.
"Consort Chen, you are now managing the harem and taking care of two children. Can you manage it all?" The Empress Dowager immediately started picking on Wanyi as soon as they sat down.
"I can manage, and besides, I have Consort Hui, Consort Rong, Consort Yi, and Consort Duan to help me."
The day after Consort Tong was imprisoned, Emperor Kangxi gave half of Consort Wen's palace power to Consort Wan, so she also had some palace power.
"It's good that you can manage." The Empress Dowager hadn't had much energy to do things before, but now that things are better, she's become active again.
"My dear Empress Dowager! I've been feeling suffocated lately, and I'm exhausted every day. The Crown Prince can't find anything wrong either. It's good to be young." The Empress Dowager lied through her teeth, preparing her agenda for the day.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager is in the prime of her youth. If we walked together, people who didn't know us would think we were sisters!"
Consort Wen, with her insatiable flattery, kept pleasing the Empress Dowager until she laughed repeatedly.
"You're not that young anymore!" The Empress Dowager clearly liked the compliment.
"Yes! Consort Wen is right, you can't see any wrinkles at the corners of the Empress Dowager's eyes at all!"
Consort Hui also said happily that she had been trying to establish a relationship with the Empress Dowager, but there had been no progress.
"You're all so sweet-talking. It's getting late, you should go home now!"
Seeing that it was getting late, the Empress Dowager dismissed them all, as there was a banquet to be held later. Now that the world was at peace, Emperor Kangxi was celebrating her fiftieth birthday.
"Your Majesty, I shall take my leave now!" Consort Wan was the first to leave, while Consort Wen remained at Shou Kang Palace.
"I see Consort Chen is quite arrogant!" The Empress Dowager subtly sowed discord as she watched Consort Wen staring blankly at Consort Chen's back.
"Sister Chen has always been like this, I'm sorry to have made the Empress Dowager laugh at me!" Consort Wen still felt a little reluctant, after all, if this happened, Consort Chen would surely die.
"Now that things have come to this, do you want to back out? Think about it, Consort Chen has children and even enjoys the Emperor's favor, while you have nothing. When she ascends the throne, you'll be left to live at the mercy of others. That will be unbearable!"
The Empress Dowager seemed to sense Consort Wen's intention to back down. How could she let her back down? Things had reached a critical moment, and without someone taking the lead, how could things proceed?
"Thank you for reminding me, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager. I will not back down!" Consort Wen was just lamenting that the two people who could have been sisters had now become enemies. She didn't know if it was right or wrong.
As soon as Wanyi returned to Yongshou Palace and sat down, she saw Granny Kong nervously walk in and whisper a few words in Wanyi's ear.
"Do you hate me that much?" Wanyi frowned, displeased.
"There's no such thing as hatred or resentment; it's just about moving towards that position. No one can remain indifferent to that position!"
Granny Kong felt that it was common for concubines in the harem to turn against each other, even if they were sisters, for the sake of the Empress's position and the Emperor's favor. Besides, the Empress and Consort Wen were only sisters by chance, and could not even be considered sisters.
"That's true, you do get a bit soft-hearted as you get older!"
Wanyi expressed her feelings verbally, but her actions were exactly the opposite. However, this time she still chose to let Consort Wen go, after all, she had to repay the favor of Empress Xiaozhaoren. But the Empress Dowager might not be able to get away unscathed.
After resting for a short while, she set off for today's banquet. Such a grand banquet, and it was her own birthday celebration. Wanyi couldn't understand why the Empress Dowager would curse her like this. It was truly something she had never seen before.
"Today is the Empress Dowager's birthday, so we have prepared a grand banquet for her. We hope that the Empress Dowager will have a good time!"
Emperor Kangxi was overjoyed to see that good news kept coming from the court and that Consort Yi in the harem had given birth to the Fifth Prince safely and healthily. So he ordered a grand banquet to be held.
"I am very happy, but I am not used to such liveliness as I prefer quiet," the Empress Dowager said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, I have your heart set on your birthday. Today, on the occasion of your birthday, I would like to present you with a gift. I hope you will like it!"
Consort Wen gestured to Li Yan beside her to hand the gift box to Granny Qiu, who was serving the Empress Dowager.
"Well done, Consort Wen! These different characters for 'longevity' are quite thoughtful." The Empress Dowager said happily as soon as she saw the gift.
"I'm glad Your Majesty the Empress Dowager is pleased. Sister Chen, what have you prepared for Your Majesty the Empress Dowager?" After speaking to the Empress Dowager, Consort Wen looked at Wanyi.
"I don't have as many thoughts as Sister Wen, so I just had someone find some warm jade to make a pair of bracelets. I hope Your Majesty the Empress Dowager won't find them offensive."
Wanyi knew it was about to begin, but she didn't know what reason the Empress Dowager would use to search her Yongshou Palace.
"The jade is of good quality, and it was quite expensive..." The Empress Dowager picked up the bracelet, but before she could finish speaking, it collapsed and broke in two. Wanyi felt a pang of heartache; it was a fine piece of warm jade, even though it was a gift from Emperor Kangxi!
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager, what's going on! Is the bracelet poisoned?" Consort Wen spoke first, but Emperor Kangxi didn't believe it. With a series of actions, everyone gathered at Shou Kang Palace.
"Since the Empress Dowager is in good health, why hasn't she woken up yet?" Kangxi said angrily to Physician Lu.
"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager is indeed unharmed. I cannot find any cause for her illness!"
Physician Lu remained calm and unhurried. Wan Yi stared at him speechlessly, realizing he had absolutely no talent for acting and had completely messed things up.
"Your Majesty the Empress Dowager seems to be possessed!" Consort Fang suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"I only made this guess because I saw that the people next door were like that when I was a child!" Consort Fang explained softly when she saw so many people looking at her.
“Your Majesty, Consort Fang’s words are unreasonable. Why not let the Imperial Observatory come and take a look? It will be clear at a glance!” Consort Wen echoed Consort Fang.
"Summon the Imperial Observatory!" Kangxi said speechlessly. After all, today was the Empress Dowager's birthday. If they couldn't find out the cause, they would have to give an explanation for her fainting in front of all the ministers and imperial wives.
Whether it was pre-arranged or the Imperial Observatory was so powerful, as soon as Kangxi announced the summons, the Director of the Imperial Observatory walked in.
"In my humble opinion, Her Majesty the Empress Dowager has been cursed!" The Imperial Observatory calculated with their fingers and came to the final conclusion.
"Does the Superintendent know which villain is so vicious as to dare to curse the Empress Dowager?" Consort Fang looked resentful, as if she herself had been poisoned.
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