The cause of the incident was that Empress Fuca Langhua, wishing to demonstrate her filial devotion, presented a meal to the Empress Dowager.
This Empress Fuca was actually quite decent. She summoned all the wives and concubines in Hongli’s harem, regardless of rank, and had them all appear before the Empress Dowager. Each woman presented a dish of her own.
According to Zhen Huan’s usual habits, when the eunuch beside her asked whether she would like to start with soup, she had no particular preference and simply hummed in agreement.
Then she saw Qingying approaching with a bowl of ham and chicken soup.
After a moment of kindness, Zhen Huan merely said that she had no appetite. In response, Qingying blinked slowly and innocently.
In a somewhat low, leisurely voice, she replied,
“I only wished to stimulate Your Majesty’s appetite with something flavorful. I never expected to interfere with Your Majesty’s meal. This is my fault.”
Stimulate the Empress Dowager’s appetite with rich flavors? No.
Send the Empress Dowager to her grave with a meat dish? Yes.
But considering Qingying dared to serve something like this in public, she probably wasn’t clever enough to be plotting against anyone.
Most likely, she was simply stupid.
Zhen Huan made no further comments about the dish. Just as she was about to have the next course brought up, she glanced over the table.
Good heavens.
Chicken, duck, fish, meat—everything imaginable was there.
Taking a deep breath, she instructed,
“Take it all away. I have no appetite.”
Hongli’s other Secondary Consort, Lady Gao, immediately blamed Qingying for ruining the Empress Dowager’s appetite.
Qingying suddenly dropped to her knees and began apologizing. While verbally admitting fault and urging the Empress Dowager to eat more, she continued holding up that very bowl of soup with both hands.
???
Hadn’t she just said she didn’t want to eat this dish?
If you wanted to apologize, if you wanted to persuade the Empress Dowager to eat something, couldn’t you at least offer a different dish?
Was she trying to force the Empress Dowager to drink her soup?
For a moment, Zhen Huan was speechless. She stared at Qingying in disbelief.
Qingying still wore that faintly aggrieved expression, but Zhen Huan’s attention was drawn to two fingers raised awkwardly in the air, their nail guards gleaming.
The other three fingers were tucked beneath the bowl, which had a base nearly a finger-joint high. They kept shifting back and forth as though they had been burned.
Was the bowl really that hot?
With a base that high?
And if Qingying’s hands could still be burned through such a thick base, then insisting the Empress Dowager drink the soup right now—was she trying to scald her to death?
Since Qingying refused to give herself an exit, Zhen Huan couldn’t exactly declare in front of everyone that the obvious meat dish wasn’t Qingying’s fault. The atmosphere became painfully awkward.
Fortunately, Empress Fuca stepped in to rescue the situation.
Quickly serving a bowl of rice porridge, she said,
“Imperial Mother, food is the foundation of the people, and rice is the foundation of food. Rice nourishes the body best. When the late Emperor was alive, he loved rice porridge most. Please have a taste.”
Look at that.
Just look at her emotional intelligence.
She knew how to speak, and more importantly, she knew to change the dish.
Instead of insisting the Empress Dowager drink that ridiculous chicken soup.
As Zhen Huan accepted the porridge, she noticed Empress Fuca’s hands.
Clean.
Bare.
The Empress herself hadn’t worn nail guards while serving food to the Empress Dowager.
So what exactly was Qingying acting so noble about?
Taking a small sip of porridge, Zhen Huan cast a meaningful glance at Qingying’s fingers, which were still fidgeting incessantly.
After allowing Qingying to rise, she watched the woman hastily hand the bowl of soup to the maid behind her as though throwing away a burning coal.
Once everyone had dispersed, Fuga soon came to report that Hongli had sent his chief eunuch, Li Yu, to deliver burn ointment to Qingying.
Zhen Huan rolled her eyes internally.
Qingying was really putting on an act.
They were probably never going to get along.
That evening, after an exhausting day of funeral rites, Zhen Huan headed toward the Emperor’s quarters with her attendants.
Unexpectedly, she found Qingying there as well.
Upon seeing the Empress Dowager arrive, Hongli worried she might embarrass Qingying again as she had earlier, so he quickly tried to send Qingying away first.
But Zhen Huan stopped her.
“I heard you visited your aunt today. What did she say?”
Qingying first cast an innocent glance toward Hongli before replying,
“My aunt said that she wishes to share the same burial chamber as the late Emperor, just as she shared his life.”
Although Zhen Huan already knew all this, she still found it absurd.
The imperial mausoleum did not contain only the Empress. It usually housed several favored consorts as well.
And the late Emperor already had Empress Chunyuan.
Of all things to wish for, why make her sole desire being buried with him?
Hadn’t they fought enough while alive?
After their relationship had deteriorated so badly, why insist on pressing her warm face against a cold shoulder?
“And what do you think?”
Hongli immediately tried to stop the questioning.
“This matter should naturally be discussed between Mother and myself, along with the court officials. Qingying is only a junior. Why should she speak out of turn?”
Zhen Huan raised an eyebrow.
Her bargain-bin son clearly wanted to protect Qingying.
But based on her limited understanding of the woman, Qingying was definitely not the type to appreciate such protection.
Sure enough, Qingying puffed out her lips slightly and looked at Hongli with wide eyes.
In that low voice of hers, she said,
“Your Majesty, I ought not speak out of turn. But the occupant of Jingren Palace is my aunt. Moreover, she loved the late Emperor wholeheartedly. I understand her feelings completely.”
When she said “understand her feelings completely,” she deliberately locked eyes with Hongli.
“I imagine that if I were in my aunt’s position and could not be buried with the man I deeply loved after death, I would suffer immensely. Therefore, after much thought, I wish to ask a favor of both Your Majesty and the Empress Dowager.”
Hongli glanced at Zhen Huan but remained silent.
With great interest, Zhen Huan asked,
“Oh? Let’s hear it.”
Let’s see what nonsense you’re about to come up with.
Qingying continued,
“Could my aunt be allowed to spend her remaining years at a palace retreat? If Your Majesty supported her there with the status accorded to an Empress Dowager, even without formally granting her the title for now, it would satisfy those who uphold the principle of legitimacy. And since she would have left the Forbidden City and received no formal elevation, those opposed might not object too strongly either.”
After hearing this lengthy proposal, Zhen Huan genuinely couldn’t stop herself from laughing.
What a pile of empty words.
After all that talking, she had resolved absolutely nothing.
Whether to grant the title of Empress Dowager.
Whether she would eventually be buried with the late Emperor.
Not a single issue had been settled.
How had Qingying managed to devise such a genius solution—one guaranteed to make both sides unhappy?
After finishing, Qingying once again looked at the Empress Dowager with those innocent eyes.
“Your Majesty, what do you think of the proposal?”
Hongli hesitated.
Seeing the hopeful look in Qingying’s eyes, he finally answered,
“If Imperial Mother believes it appropriate, then I suppose it could be considered.”
Zhen Huan was speechless.
The two of them really were made for each other.
The only question was whose intelligence was dragging down whose.
“What do you mean by supporting her as an Empress Dowager while refusing to grant her the title? Since when has there ever been an Empress Dowager in name but not in status—or status but not in name?
If the Emperor truly did this, would he be comforting those who uphold legitimacy, or poking them right in the lungs?
Ulanara wishes to become Empress Dowager and be buried alongside the late Emperor. Yet how long has it been since the late Emperor declared that he never wished to see Ulanara again in life or death?
How many officials still remember those words? They certainly aren’t all dead.
Does the Emperor want the entire realm to know that the very first thing he did after ascending the throne was violate his father’s final wishes?”
At this point, Zhen Huan looked at both Qingying and Hongli with indescribable exasperation.
“The Emperor has only just ascended the throne. This is precisely the time when he needs to establish authority in court. Why should he try to please both sides over such a matter?
Whether he grants the title of Empress Dowager or refuses it, either choice would be ten thousand times better than this attempt at compromise.”
As the Empress Dowager completely dismantled her proposal, Qingying’s complexion alternated between pale and flushed.
Her lips parted slightly.
With a stubborn expression and tears glistening in her eyes, she turned toward the Emperor.
Unfortunately, neither of the two people before her had any interest in appreciating the performance.
Zhen Huan merely glanced at her once before being so startled by the expression that she immediately lowered her head and began studying her teacup, determined not to look at her again.
Meanwhile, Hongli carefully considered both women’s arguments.
Only then did he realize that Qingying’s solution was merely a compromise between two opposing camps.
It solved absolutely nothing.
Hongli felt that being corrected by the Empress Dowager in this way had caused him to lose face.
Naturally, some of that resentment shifted toward Qingying.
As a result, he avoided looking at her.
However, he was unwilling to admit that he himself had failed to recognize the flaws in her proposal.
Nor was he willing to appear weak before the Empress Dowager, whom he secretly regarded with caution.
So he said,
“Everything Imperial Mother has said, I understand. But the resident of Jingren Palace is still Qingying’s aunt, and she was also Father’s wife. I do not wish to drive her into a corner.”
Zhen Huan understood that Hongli was merely being stubborn, using Qingying and the late Emperor as excuses to save face.
She had no intention of exposing him.
Instead, she replied,
“No one intends to drive Ulanara into a corner. The outcome of this matter depends entirely on what Ulanara truly wants—and on what the Emperor truly wants.”