After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Emperor Guangxi ordered this year's first hunting event to be organized, leaving Empress Qi behind with the excuse that "the harem cannot be left without someone to oversee," and Consort Qing was also left behind with the reason that "the Third Prince is young and needs care". Additionally, Consort De, Consort Xian, Princess Consort Duan, and several other concubines accompanied the imperial entourage.
When she heard her name called to stay behind, Empress Qi felt a chill run through her heart.
She knew that the incident at the Third Prince's full month banquet had left a thorn in Emperor Guangxi's heart.
Although in the past six months, he always came to Kunning Palace punctually every first and fifteenth day of the month, there seemed to be no topic to talk about between them. That sense of estrangement, of sharing the same bed but dreaming different dreams, had long made Empress Qi sense a crisis.
