Rong Fei is not honored

Chapter 639 Drinking poison to quench thirst

Seeing Naren start crying again, the Empress Dowager suppressed the bitterness in her heart.

It's too late for regrets now.

Time cannot be turned back. Instead of clinging to what has been lost, it is better to calm down and think about what to do next.

The Empress Dowager helped Naren up and sat her down beside her. She then ordered the palace servants to bring hot water and personally wiped the mess off Naren's face. Looking at Naren's radiant face, which was no less beautiful than that of Consort Yi, the Empress Dowager felt reassured.

"What are you angry about? She, of the Tongjia clan, did indeed gain an imperial heir, but she may not be able to hold onto such a benefit."

Naren stopped sobbing. She knew that the Empress Dowager was much smarter than her, so even though she was very sad, she had to listen to the other woman's analysis.

"Please teach me, my great-aunt."

"It is an established fact that the Emperor favored the palace maids around Lady Tongjia. It is no longer important to dwell on whether it was the effect of your love potion."

The important point is that Lady Uya was already the emperor's woman, but after serving him, she was not given a title. Even if she were just a concubine, or the lowest-ranking concubine, what then? Without a title, she was not a mistress.

Like Consort Rong and Consort Hui, they were originally selected as bondservantes, but the Empress Dowager gave them official titles from the beginning, so they were no different from the ladies-in-waiting who entered the palace through the general selection.

Their duties, besides serving the emperor, were to produce offspring for the royal family.

However, those who had served the emperor without official status, such as Lady Wuya and Lady Juechan in the Qianqing Palace, would drink a contraceptive soup after their service.

Consort Shen's eyes widened, and she exclaimed, "Wuya is still a palace maid, so how did she get pregnant?"

“It’s impossible for the people around the Emperor to be negligent, so there’s only one possibility: because Uya was a palace maid of the Tongjia clan, the Emperor wanted to give Tongjia clan some face and didn’t bypass her to directly bestow the medicine, wanting her to handle it herself.”

Just as the Empress is the head of the harem, even when Empress Hesheli was alive, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Kangxi would not easily make decisions over the Empress, even if they were dissatisfied with her actions.

Firstly, this would affect the Empress's prestige and incite the concubines to rebel. Secondly, Kangxi was, after all, the Emperor, and it would be inappropriate for him to deal with harem disputes all day long. Thirdly, Kangxi did not want his harem to be controlled by the Empress Dowager again.

As for Lady Tongjia, she was not only the mistress of Lady Wuya, but also the head of Chengqian Palace. She had already embarrassed the Tong family because of the matter of serving the emperor, so she had to make up for it in some other way.

"But Lady Wuya is still pregnant!" Consort Shen said in disbelief.

"This is where the problem lies."

"If the Emperor wanted Uya's child, would Tongjia have needed to keep it a secret for three months?"

Consort Shen seemed to be deep in thought. Yes, she lived in the same palace as Lady Tongjia, yet she had not received a single word of it. This showed how well Lady Tongjia had hidden Lady Wuya.

But then she thought again and said dejectedly, "So what if His Majesty didn't want it before? Now that the child is already in his belly, does His Majesty really think he doesn't want it?"

"We can't do without an heir, but this anger has to be vented eventually. So who do you think will suffer in the end?"

"Who else could it be? It's either the Tongjia clan or the Wuya clan."

However... Lady Wuya is pregnant, and the imperial heir is her protective shield. Even if His Majesty wants to do something, he has to wait until Lady Wuya gives birth.

As for Lady Tongjia, she was the culprit and the one who orchestrated everything. After all, Lady Wuya was a servant, someone who could only be manipulated at will.

Consort Shen became more and more excited as she spoke, looking at the Empress Dowager with great enthusiasm, wanting to get a definite answer from her.

The Empress Dowager nodded, but did not tell Naren that in this game, Uya might not be a pawn with no choice in the matter.

"So what are you still worried about? Tongjia has defied the Emperor's will, and one day the Emperor will completely despise her."

Why did the Empress Dowager, knowing about Uya's affair, continue to cover it up, only to expose it three months into her pregnancy? It was precisely because she found out at this point that Kangxi was most furious.

If it were too early, Lady Tongjia could still claim she didn't know, but three months have passed. Even if Lady Tongjia didn't notice anything amiss, how could the servants in the entire Chengqian Palace not have noticed anything at all?

Since there were clues, why not summon the imperial physician? After all, Lady Wuya had served the emperor, and even if she was still a palace maid, it would be reasonable to invite the imperial physician to take a look.

But if the pregnancy progresses further, who knows what Tongjia is planning? If something "accident" happens, the imperial heir who is already three months pregnant may be fine, but the person who offended the imperial heir, even if they were truly unaware, will be covered in mud.

The Empress Dowager had considered whether Tongjia was plotting against the Empress, Consort Rong, or someone else, but could she afford to gamble?

Others only had the opportunity to meet with Uya when paying their respects, and even then, it was always Tongjia who would lead them out first. But Naren was different; she lived in Chengqian Palace, and the risk of something happening to her was too high.

Consort Shen sneered, "Is this because you see no hope of serving the emperor yourself, so you want to find an accomplice?"

"That's not quite right. If a concubine has no children, her position is unstable no matter what. You could say that having an heir is like having an extra life."

Consort Shen was somewhat unconvinced, but she knew that the Empress Dowager was right. Although Tongjia had angered His Majesty for a time, the benefits would come later if her scheme succeeded.

The Empress Dowager comforted her, saying, "If the Tongjia clan is truly intelligent, they should address their predicament at its root. Doing these things now is merely a short-sighted solution."

Yes, Emperor Kangxi did say in public that he would not touch Lady Tongjia, but the root of the problem did not lie with Lady Tongjia.

As long as she makes changes and stops acting "as if Empress Dowager Cihe has been reborn," and slowly spreads the news through the words of the palace elders, gradually changing everyone's impression, there will still be a chance.

As for Kangxi's situation, it was simple. Lady Tongjia, along with her uncle and father, went to apologize to Kangxi, confessing that she had indeed been tempted by greed and that was why she intentionally imitated Empress Dowager Cihe, and that she already knew she was wrong.

Since it's an imitation, rather than a genuine resemblance to Empress Dowager Cihe, even if it fails the first time, there will always be other opportunities in the future.

Unfortunately, whether it was because the Tongjia clan dared not admit their true intentions, or because the Tong family was unwilling to give up sucking blood from the corpse of Empress Dowager Cihe, they not only failed to solve the problem, but also made a seemingly clever but foolish move.

Yes, the Empress Dowager admitted that having an heir gave her a lot of room to maneuver. The emperor's temporary dissatisfaction was nothing, but the premise was that the Tongjia clan could really achieve their goal.

"Given the Emperor's temperament, once he realizes he has been tricked, he probably won't let Lady Tongjia have her way."