Tong Guowei entered the palace to plead for forgiveness, weeping bitterly before Emperor Kangxi to the point where he couldn’t even stand, completely disregarding his dignity as a Duke.
His wailing echoed throughout the Palace.
When Kangxi rose to help him up, Tong Guowei refused to stand, choking out confessions of his crimes and insisting on punishment, putting on a full show of remorse.
Kangxi couldn’t possibly demote the noble rank of his maternal family that he himself had elevated, just because of the Imperial Consort’s foolish actions.
In the end, he settled the matter by docking Tong Guowei’s salary for three years.
When Wei Zhu brought the news to the side chambers, he couldn’t quite conceal his indignation.
The Imperial Consort’s actions had nearly cost Fang He her life, and now Fang He was confined to Qianqing Palace without freedom of movement.
Yet what was the outcome?
The Imperial Consort merely received house arrest, while the Tong family suffered only superficial consequences that didn’t affect their privileged position at court in the slightest.
Fang He simply smiled without comment.
Truth be told, she understood Kangxi better than anyone.
To some extent, this emperor resembled Geng Shuning capable of disregarding all personal ties for the sake of duty and political expediency.
She’d realized this ever since the Sixth Princess was sent to Chengqian Palace.
After all, no real harm had come to her in fact, she’d benefited from the misfortune.
Once the origins of the “Phoenix Destiny” prophecy in Jiangnan were fully investigated, what she’d “sacrificed” would earn her an even higher position.
She’d merely been framed, while others had been publicly humiliated by nobodies and fined-why should she expect special treatment?
Understanding, however, didn’t mean acceptance.
Some accounts she could settle herself with, why rely on others?
The next day, Fang He heard that Tong Guowei’s wife, Lady Hesheli, and their second daughter, Lady Wanying, had entered the palace to visit the Imperial Consort.
Reportedly, Lady Hesheli had openly and subtly reprimanded the Imperial Consort for her foolishness in Chengqian Palace, adopting an even loftier stance.
What the three women discussed privately remained unknown, but soon the entire palace knew the Imperial Consort had knelt in repentance overnight in Chengqian Palace’s small Buddhist chapel, falling gravely ill from exhaustion.
Fang He suspected the illness was born of rage.
Upon hearing the news, she remarked to Cui Wei, “It seems the Tong family’s imperial favor wasn’t unearned; they do have some clever members among them.”
Even using fate manipulation to frame someone was no small matter in the palace, yet the Tongs had managed the situation impeccably, leaving Kangxi no room for further punishment without appearing cold and ungrateful toward his maternal family.
As for Fang He’s feelings?
Well…who cared?
Cui Wei stomped her foot in frustration.
“You’ve got time to admire others’ cleverness while I’m watching you out-clever yourself to death!”
“The Imperial Consort’s illness-even sending gifts to the Sixth Princess in Zhongcui Palace without mentioning taking the child back-is all designed to win His Majesty’s sympathy.”
The Emperor had visited Chengqian Palace daily recently, yet hadn’t once come to the side chambers or even sent anyone to check on Fang He.
Even Wei Zhu had been reassigned to front palace duties by Liang Jiugong.
Cui Wei fretted, “At this rate, forget about transferring me over-soon His Majesty might forget you exist entirely! Aren’t you the least bit concerned?”
(Her real concern being that while she could serve anywhere, she’d rather not return the silver she’d already received!)
Fang He laughed softly.
“What good would concern do? Whether a man’s heart stays with you…”
Seeing Cui Wei staring eagerly, waiting to hear what nonsense she’d come up with, Fang He deliberately paused for effect.
She set down her brush first and pointed at the characters.
“How do you like my calligraphy?”
Cui Wei: “……Do you think I can even tell?”
Her handwriting was barely better than a dog’s scrawl.
Fang He burst into laughter, swaying like a flower as she walked to the side and sat down.
She poured Cui Wei a cup of tea and abruptly changed the subject.
“Do you know much about hunting dogs?”
Cui Wei thought to herself-whether she knew about hunting dogs was one thing, but to speak with irreverence, she knew herself quite well.
Right now, she was so agitated she could barely resist slamming the inkstone onto Fang He’s head.
“When I accompanied His Majesty to Northern Mongolia, I quite liked the Emperor’s hunting dogs-they looked so majestic,” Fang He said with a sly smile.
“They’re quite fascinating. Sometimes I could watch them for half an hour at a stretch.”
“The servants down below would call them ‘dog ancestors,’ pampering them with food and drink, yet these hounds would still pick and choose. If they weren’t pleased, they’d raise an unholy racket.”
A faint realization stirred in Cui Wei’s heart; she seemed to grasp what Fang He was implying, but an even greater incredulity arose…
Surely this ‘ancestor’ wasn’t referring to what she thought?
Fang He enthusiastically gestured as she continued.
“But when they’re in front of the imperial guards—those stern, unsmiling men—the dogs wouldn’t dare make a sound. And if they were rewarded with prey… their tails would wag like mad.”
“Not to mention when the Emperor is around. The less attention he pays them, the harder they try to catch his eye-even rolling over and playing dead.”
After finishing, Fang He blinked at Cui Wei.
“If I ever get the chance to join His Majesty on another autumn hunt in the north, I’d love to ask for one of those hounds to keep.”
Cui Wei: “…………”
You…
Are you thinking of keeping a two-legged one or a four-legged one??
Having rendered Cui Wei speechless, Fang He leisurely returned to her calligraphy.
Yesterday had been the Grand Empress Dowager’s birthday.
But because she had suddenly fallen ill-at her age, and with her recurring diabetes the grand celebration was called off.
Emperor Kangxi decreed that all eligible descendants and imperial relatives simply kowtowed in the outer hall of Cining Palace, presenting their gifts before leaving.
Who knew when the Grand Empress Dowager would see the surprise she had sent?
If Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang liked it, Fang He planned to use her own calligraphy as a template to create more items.
Things the palace already had, but which she could make even better-for the Grand Empress Dowager to bestow as gifts.
At this very moment, Su’moer was holding the gift Fang He had sent via Chunlai, presenting it to Xiaozhuang.
The box wasn’t large, no bigger than two palms.
Inside, resting on bright yellow brocade, were two translucent, glass-like objects that carried the familiar scent of mugwort and ginger, mingled with floral notes.
“Chunlai said these are the same fragrant soaps we usually use, but with added oils from face powders and a generous amount of mugwort- ginger oil.”
“They’re for Your Majesty’s hand washing and bathing, to bring some comfort,”
Su’moer explained, marveling at the box.
“If Chunlai hadn’t explained, I would’ve thought this was glass… Lady Fang not only gifted these glass soaps but also presented the recipe.”
When Su’moer first saw the glass soap, she nearly popped her eyes out in astonishment.
Because this translucent soap contained a complete character for “longevity” inside, making people think it was a natural auspicious sign.
Such an auspicious item wasn’t something one could simply buy.
Even if it had a price, it would be far beyond what Fang He could afford with her meager savings.
Who would have thought it was just a toiletry item?
To be honest, though it was called “translucent,” to Fang He, it appeared more milky-white and slightly rough upon closer inspection.
There was no helping it.
Based on her knowledge, she could only use glycerin as an emulsifier, then mix in distilled alcohol and almond oil to create the soap solution.
Halfway through the process, she hollowed out the soap to carve the “longevity” character, dyed it, then softened and fused it back together with heat.
Fortunately, in this era, it was convincing enough and didn’t seem too outlandish.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang held it in her hand and sniffed-it indeed carried the familiar scent of her usual mugwort and ginger herbal infusion.
She then took the recipe and found it rather intriguing.
Combining sesame oil and lye water produced a transparent fat, while the most expensive ingredient was the purified alcohol.
Overall, in Xiaozhuang’s eyes, the cost wasn’t high-what made it valuable was the cleverness behind it.
As long as the recipe remained secret, if the Imperial Workshops could produce it, it would make for a far more dignified gift by year-end than fabrics or jewelry.
Xiaozhuang smiled and handed the recipe to Su’moer to keep.
“I always said she was clever. But these days, she’s been unusually quiet in the Qianqing Palace-what’s she up to now?”
Earlier, Fang He’s claim about being destined for greatness had struck Xiaozhuang as half-truth.
The false part was naturally her fabricated identity, which everyone knew.
As for the truth…
Fang He’s fate might indeed be extraordinary.
Xiaozhuang didn’t believe Fang He could have bribed a renowned monk like Liaokong, nor that Dinglin Temple could be swayed into aiding her with relics.
Perhaps the Emperor had that power-but Fang He.
Since her fate was auspicious, Xiaozhuang grew even fonder of the girl.
Now that the Tong family had admitted their mistake and Fang He held the moral high ground, Xiaozhuang was eager to issue an edict summoning her into the palace.
Su’moer was both amused and exasperated.
“Yesterday, I asked Chunlai, and she said that apart from the day the Emperor summoned her after the incident with Lady Jia, these past few days, it’s as if she doesn’t exist in the Emperor’s presence…”
Xiaozhuang: “…Does he even remember how old he is?”
Was he throwing a tantrum after realizing he wasn’t as important to Fang He as he thought?
How childish!
“Fine, I won’t meddle. We still haven’t received word from Jiangnan-we’ll wait a little longer.”
Xiaozhuang couldn’t be bothered to decipher Kangxi’s thoughts.
Or rather, even if she liked Fang He, she wouldn’t tolerate Kangxi foolishly doting on her alone.
This back-and-forth wasn’t necessarily bad, but Fang He couldn’t stay in the Emperor’s quarters forever—it would be improper if word got out.
“By the time of the Banjin Festival, it should be settled. If the Emperor still hasn’t made up his mind, I’ll just issue an edict to bring her into the harem.”
In truth, Kangxi wasn’t that petty or at least, he had bigger things to worry about.
The negotiations with Russia, though softened by the deterrence of the Three Ditches Incident, had dragged on for a year without resolution.
Zhou Peigong stationed in Aihui and Langtan in Shengjing had both submitted memorials reporting traces of the Dzungars stirring trouble behind the scenes.
Langtan sent out scouts, and after most of them perished, only a handful survived to bring back accurate intelligence from the western deserts, which was then urgently dispatched to the capital via an eight-hundred-li express courier.
Galdan had already defeated the Kazakh tribes in the twenty-third year, significantly bolstering the strength of the western deserts.
Now, the three Khalkha tribes the Tüsheet Khanate, the Jasagtu Khanate, and the Setsen Khanate-were showing early signs of internal strife, while the western deserts were also mobilizing their forces.
Earlier, Kangxi had ordered the interception of the breeding horses from the Laksin tribe of the Setsen Khanate.
When Laksin showed no real urgency, Kangxi had already sensed the brewing chaos in Khalkha, which was why he had stationed Langtan in Shengjing.
Kangxi had meticulously studied the topographic maps of Khalkha.
If Galdan seized this opportunity to plunge the three Khalkha tribes into complete disarray and then brought them under the Dzungar Khanate’s control, the Qing dynasty would find itself in a precarious position.
Thus, he was even more eager to finalize the peace talks with the Russians.
At the very least, the Qing could not afford to face a two-front war openly.
With a treaty in place, even if the Russians secretly aided the western deserts, the Qing army was no pushover.
If it came to an open confrontation, the Russians would have no justification to intervene, making it much easier to deal with the western deserts.
Tong Guogang and Suo’etu were about to lead the diplomatic mission to Nerchinsk, while Tong Guowei and Nalan Mingzhu remained in the capital, responsible for supplying provisions and strategic support to the troops they commanded.
Kangxi was consumed with urgency to settle this matter as quickly as possible.
As for the Empress Dowager’s actions earlier…
Now was not the time to dwell on them.
Moreover, with Tong Jia gravely ill, even if he wished to punish her, he could hardly demand her life.
Helpless, he had repeatedly visited the Chengqian Palace to placate the Empress Dowager, ensuring that Tong Guowei and Tong Guogang could focus wholeheartedly on the peace negotiations.
Only after seeing off Suo’etu, Tong Guogang, and their entourage did Kangxi finally have the time to inquire about Fang He.
“Where is she?”
Liang Jiugong knew exactly whom the Emperor was asking about and replied cautiously, “Your Majesty, Lady Za is practicing calligraphy in the side chamber.”
Kangxi felt a subtle pang but replied indifferently, “And besides that?”
Had that wretch not once sought an audience with him?
Liang Jiugong inwardly groaned, certain his backside was in peril again, and racked his brains to cover for Fang He.
“Lady Za likely realizes her previous actions were improper. Lately, she has been exceptionally well-behaved-apart from sending Chunlai to the Cining Palace, she hasn’t stepped foot outside the side chamber.”
Kangxi scoffed inwardly.
Was that what passed for well-behaved?
That was laziness!
Still, though displeased, Kangxi had long understood that the wretch held no regard for him—even the Empress Dowager mattered more.
He had always prided himself on his self-control.
Having weathered disappointment and frustration time and again, he had gradually mastered his emotions.
In time, he would crush the Dzungars and ensure no one dared challenge the Qing again.
As for a mere woman, winning her devotion would hardly be difficult.
The principle of patience yielding results applied everywhere.
If he lost his temper in front of her, that wretch would probably revel in it.
Well, time would tell who would have the last laugh.
Kangxi said nothing more and rose to head for the Southern Study.
The peace talks with the Russians would likely conclude by the twenty-seventh year.
In the meantime, if Galdan interfered in Khalkha’s affairs prematurely and encroached on Qing territory, war could erupt at any moment.
He had no choice but to prepare in advance.
Soon, the Banjin Festival arrived.
News had arrived from the Jiangnan region more than ten days in advance, confirming everything Fang He had said.
Even the abbots and masters of major temples spoke of this remarkable female benefactor with far more praise than Fang He herself could have imagined.
Chunlai had already reported all of Fang He’s actions in detail, so he now knew exactly what she had done in Yu Village.
Through Yu Yinji’s connections, she had reached out to several eminent monks and abbots, leveraging generous donations and her uniquely extraordinary fate to leave a deep impression.
Kangxi couldn’t help but chuckle-it seemed even those beyond worldly desires weren’t immune to temptation.
Ten thousand taels of silver had bought quite the favorable response.
Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang sent word that after the Banjin Festival, she would issue an imperial decree conferring the rank of pin upon Fang He.
However, the decision of which palace she would be moved to still rested with Kangxi.
Among the currently unoccupied main palaces-Jingren Palace was used as a library, Jingyang Palace was too remote, and Yanxi Palace had long been uninhabited-none were suitable for relocation.
Of the remaining palaces with vacant rear halls, only Xianfu Palace, Chengqian Palace, and Yonghe Palace were options.
Given Fang He’s current relationship with the Imperial Noble Consort, Chengqian Palace was out of the question.
As for Yonghe Palace… Xiaozhuang wasn’t particularly fond of Consort De either and felt it wasn’t quite fitting.
Thus, when Su’moer came to report, she said, “Her Majesty believes Xianfu Palace would be suitable. The Noble Consort Xuan has acknowledged her past mistakes and has been well-behaved lately-she won’t cause trouble for Lady Za.”
More importantly, if Fang He gained favor and Kangxi visited Xianfu Palace frequently, Noble Consort Xuan might benefit as well.
But Kangxi had no intention of keeping Fang He confined to the rear halls.
He had brought her back to the palace-even scheming to win over that scoundrel’s heart-not to subject her to further grievances.
He merely replied, “This matter requires careful consideration. Once Her Majesty’s decree is drafted, have it sent to the imperial study.”
Su’moer, having served Kangxi closely in her younger days, understood his temperament well.
Upon returning to Cining Palace, she shook her head at Xiaozhuang.
“This servant suspects His Majesty has other plans.”
Xiaozhuang wasn’t overly concerned.
Noble Consort Xuan’s temperament… even if she claimed to have reformed, who knew if she’d relapse if she regained favor?
Now, Xiaozhuang only maintained a superficial courtesy toward her, offering some appeasement due to the unrest in Khalkha.
“In that case, have the decree sent to the emperor,”
Xiaozhuang mused before instructing, “And deliver that set of agarwood, tourmaline, and pearl jewelry from my collection to Noble Consort Xuan. Warn the Imperial Household Department not to let her suffer any grievances.”
Lady Liu promptly arranged for it.