Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

The fourth prince Hongli had never been loved by the emperor. Although he still expected affirmation from his father, he knew very well that even though the third prince Hongshi before him was not a promising one, his royal father had never considered him, as long as he was still listed in the imperial genealogy as the son of a lowly palace maid in the Old Summer Palace.

So, after Concubine Duan adopted him, he began to think about how to truly become Concubine Duan's son. But he was wrong in one respect. Concubine Duan had no intention of letting him seize the throne. After all, Concubine Duan was more accurate in judging people than a child like him.

Concubine Duan could tell at a glance that his temper might not be so good. Since he had a Sixth Prince from a prominent Manchu family, she could not easily go against the emperor's wishes.

The Fourth Prince really did not disappoint Concubine Duan. In response to the Emperor's questioning, he simply described the circumstances before and after the Third Prince Hongshi entered the room. He did not mention that Hongshi took a bite of a piece of dessert after he picked it up.

The emperor didn't react after hearing this. He just told Hongli to have a good rest and left. This disappointed Hongli so much that he couldn't help but turn around and ask Concubine Duan: "Mother Duan, does the emperor really not like me?"

Concubine Duan originally wanted to brush it off, but Hongli was sometimes really stubborn, so Concubine Duan had to give up her original plan. However, she always protected the emperor and could not say anything wrong about Hongli's biological mother, so she pushed all of Hongli's experiences onto the late emperor's eighth prince who was imprisoned in the Imperial Household Department.

"Your birth was not in your father's plan. That year, the late emperor's eighth prince, your eighth uncle, had a fierce fight with your father. Unexpectedly, the late emperor's eighth prince actually used such a despicable method as injecting drugs on the emperor. As for whether your birth mother was lucky or had some other calculations, in short, all of this was the sin of the late emperor's eighth prince."

Those in power generally like to vent their anger on others. Just like the emperor believed that Li Jingui's appearance there was definitely not accidental and helped him relieve the effects of the medicine. Even though he did not find out that Li Jingui had had contact with the eighth prince's residence, he still took his anger out on Li Jingui. He did not even give her any preferential treatment when she became pregnant. Even when Li Jingui died in childbirth, he was buried like an ordinary slave.

The emperor was even more contemptuous and even ignored the Fourth Prince, a child whose bloodline was in doubt. Even though the Fourth Prince had shown his face in front of the emperor through Concubine Wan, who was still the emperor's favorite concubine, when he was in the Old Summer Palace, the emperor still ignored him. It was not until he discovered that he had few children and could not afford to raise the Fourth Prince even if his bloodline was in doubt that the emperor went with the flow and let Concubine Duan raise him.

But after bringing the person back, the emperor discovered that the Fourth Prince was probably not an easy person to deal with. No matter how well he disguised himself on the surface, the emperor himself was a master of disguise, and the Fourth Prince was still very immature. How could he not see that behind the Fourth Prince's bright and clear appearance was all filth?

So, the fight for the throne in the Yongzheng Dynasty had not yet begun, but in fact the fourth prince Hongli had already been eliminated.

The queen was really smart. Not only did she not use any means to nail down the accusation when she was plotting against Yi Xin, she also completely cleaned up the mess on her own side. Even if the emperor used the blood dropper, all the things they found only vaguely pointed to the queen. She had already been imprisoned and seemed not far from being deposed, but if she really wanted to take this step, she had to have definite evidence to convince the public.

The incident of the Fourth Prince's poisoning soon came to an end with the execution of another group of palace maids in the palace, the suicide of several minor concubines of the late emperor, and the demotion of Concubine Li to a commoner and imprisonment in the cold palace.

The Queen was extremely disappointed and scolded Yi Xin and Hong Sheng day and night in front of Jian Qiu. Concubine Duan was also very disappointed. Although the Third Prince was no longer a good-for-nothing, he had not hurt the Queen at all. Instead, the poisoning made the Fourth Prince's body weaker and weaker, and even the riding and archery courses were exempted by the Emperor. Everyone knew that the best he would be in the future would be a leisurely prince.

However, Yi Xin still did some things. For example, she told Concubine Duan's people to Noble Lady Guaerjia that the red agate with eighteen beads given to her by the Queen was not clean, but had been soaked in musk and other poisonous substances that were harmful to the body. Because Concubine Guaerjia wore it every day, she was now childless.

Yi Xin was really curious as to why Concubine Guaerjia would choose to get close to the imprisoned queen after entering the palace. Even now, the queen's side was a cold place without any sparks.

However, Sang'er, who never had any ideas, gave an answer: "Why else? He must have been deceived by the Queen."

"When the queen was imprisoned, the charges were not made public. Even the other people in the palace only found out later that the queen was related to the oleander poison. The emperor also had no definite evidence, but he had already realized that the queen might have bad intentions towards the harem's offspring, so he used the excuse of the queen's headache to imprison the queen in the name of recuperation."

"This noble lady Guaerjia's family doesn't have many people in the harem, so maybe she doesn't know that the queen was imprisoned because she made a mistake. She probably always thought that the queen lost her power over the six palaces because of her poor health."

Not to mention, judging from the means the Queen used in winning over Concubine An, it is obvious that the Queen was taking advantage of the information gap when she won over Concubine Guarjia.

Hearing this, Xizhu couldn't help but sigh: "So, it is really important for the palace to have smooth communication."

Sang'er also nodded. Yi Xin couldn't help but laugh when she saw them like this: "This is only for others. We in Chengqian Palace cannot show that we are well-informed right now, especially when it comes to things related to Qianqing Palace. If we are not careful, we might be caught by others."

Yi Xin spoke lightly, but Xizhu and Sang'er listened carefully. They were the ones in Chengqian Palace who had the power and authority, and it was obvious how much the emperor doted on Yi Xin. But after all, apart from the former noble Wan and the commoner Shen Meizhuang, only Concubine Nian, who had been favored by the emperor for more than ten years and finally lost favor because of her second brother's excessive arrogance, could compare to Yi Xin. Therefore, Xizhu and Sang'er were more cautious in their daily actions, for fear that one careless move would bring disaster to Chengqian Palace.

Because Concubine Li Fei was also sent to the cold palace, Noble Lady Wan seemed to finally remember that her good sister Shen Meiyu was also struggling in the cold palace, so she specially invited Noble Lady An from the Yanx Palace to go to the cold palace to deliver things to Shen Meiyu.

No one knew what Concubine Wan was thinking. Concubine An had obviously distanced herself from her, but she seemed not to notice. She was still pretending to be very close to Concubine An, which made Concubine An feel embarrassed to turn against her. As expected, she went to the cold palace with her.

The people imprisoned in this cold palace are not simple people. During the previous emperor's time, many concubines who had fallen out of favor were sent there. In this dynasty, there are already two deposed concubines, Shen Meizhuang and Fei.

Because of their long-standing desire for power and freedom, those who were not strong-willed enough have gone crazy and died, and those who are still alive have mostly become walking corpses.

Shen Meizhuang was naturally afraid when she was sent to the cold palace, but she had a very loyal Caiyue by her side. The two of them made some embroidery every day and asked someone to sell it, which earned them a little money. Occasionally, they would get some help from Aunt Zhuxi, who served the empress dowager, so they could live a frugal life.

But Fei had been frightened by the story of Concubine Wan employing human pigs, and she had become mentally ill. After being sent to the cold palace, she went crazy, which caused a lot of trouble for Shen Meiyu.