The Final Protocol
On the nineteenth day of the eighth month, in the twenty-fourth year of Kangxi, Imperial Noble Consort Tongjia passed away.
Emperor Kangxi arrived at Chengqian Palace to find the servants kneeling in absolute silence. Consort Tong was weeping by the bed. Chunzhi, the loyal maid, knelt before the Emperor to execute Tongjia's final, calculated psychological strike.
"Your Majesty," Chunzhi said, her voice steady despite her red eyes. "Her Ladyship departed peacefully. She left a final message: she considers this an escape from her prolonged suffering, and begs that you and Consort Tong do not grieve for her."
Kangxi stood frozen, staring at the lifeless body of his cousin. "Did she have any regrets?"
"Only one," Chunzhi replied softly, delivering the killing blow. "Her Ladyship said, 'It is a pity I do not have the fortune of my aunt, to see my deepest wish fulfilled and be buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum.'"
The words hit Kangxi like a physical blow.
Tongjia's aunt was Empress Xiaokangzhang, Kangxi's biological mother. She had never been Empress in life, only elevated to the title posthumously by Kangxi so she could be buried alongside his father, Emperor Shunzhi. Only a recognized Empress possessed the right to be entombed in the main imperial mausoleum with the Emperor.
Memories of his mother flooded Kangxi's mind. He remembered her fading away, dying of a broken heart because Emperor Shunzhi had abandoned her for another woman. His mother's dying comfort had been the knowledge that, in death, she would finally be by her husband's side.
By invoking his mother, Tongjia had weaponized Kangxi's deepest childhood trauma. She framed her desperate ambition for the Empress title not as a grab for political power, but as a tragic, humble plea from a dying woman who simply wanted to be with the man she loved for eternity.
Kangxi's hands trembled. The guilt he had harbored over his recent suspicions regarding her involvement with the Tiandihui rebels vanished, replaced entirely by remorse.
He turned to his head eunuch, Liang Jiugong. "Draft the edict. She is to be posthumously crowned Empress."
***
The Ripple Effects
Within the hour, the decree echoed throughout the Six Palaces.
In the Eastern Palace, Crown Prince Yinreng was reviewing his studies when the news arrived. He paused, his brush hovering over the paper.
'Year twenty-four?' Yinreng's mind raced. 'In the original historical timeline, Tongjia died in the twenty-eighth year. Her death has been accelerated by four years.' He immediately recognized that the timeline was fracturing, likely due to his own actions and the butterfly effect of the Tiandihui assassination plot. However, analyzing the cause was less important than managing the immediate political fallout.
"Bring me my mourning clothes," Yinreng ordered his eunuch, Xiaozhuzi. "Remove all brightly colored decorations from my quarters immediately."
"Your Highness," Xiaozhuzi hesitated. "The Emperor has not officially summoned the princes yet. As the Crown Prince, you have special privileges—"
"Do it," Yinreng snapped, his tone brooking no argument.
Yinreng understood his precarious position. Because Kangxi openly favored him, his servants had become dangerously complacent, assuming the rules did not apply to the Eastern Palace. But Tongjia was now officially an Empress—making her the legal mother of all imperial children. If Yinreng, as the heir, showed any disrespect or delay in mourning his "mother," his political enemies would stockpile the incident as ammunition to use against him later. Survival in the palace required flawless adherence to protocol.
Elsewhere, the news triggered vastly different reactions.
In the Eastern Fifth Residence, Yanyan—the Tiandihui spy embedded in the First Prince's faction—stared out her window.
'Did she die of illness, or did she choose to die to cut the trail?' Yanyan deduced the truth quickly. Tongjia had committed suicide to protect her clan from the rebellion's fallout. With her death, the rebels had lost their highest-ranking pawn.
Yanyan looked down at her own stomach. Consort Hui had secretly fed her sterilizing drugs; she would never bear a royal child. Her path to power through motherhood was severed. With Tongjia gone and Kangxi's attention likely shifting, Yanyan realized she was completely isolated. She needed a new strategy to survive the First Prince's faction.
In Yonghe Palace, Consort De (Uya) sat in stone-cold silence.
Her son, the Sixth Prince Yinzuo, had been murdered through Tongjia's machinations. Yet, Tongjia had died cleanly, escaping all earthly justice, and was now elevated to the ultimate supreme rank of Empress. Worse, Uya was now legally obligated to kneel and weep before the coffin of her son's murderer.
'You won this battle, Tongjia,' Uya thought, her fingernails digging into her palms. 'But you are dead, and I am alive. I will endure this humiliation, and I will outlast all of you.'
***
The Emperor's Guilt and the Prince's Counter-Play
The mourning period was grueling. The imperial family was expected to kneel day and night before the coffin in Chengqian Palace.
In the Imperial Study, Kangxi looked at the empty desk beside his own—Yinreng's desk.
"Is the Crown Prince still kneeling at the mourning hall?" Kangxi asked Liang Jiugong, frowning. "Did I not order him to return and rest?"
"His Highness refused, Your Majesty," Liang Jiugong replied carefully. "He insists on fulfilling his full filial duties."
Kangxi's chest tightened. He remembered a time years ago when he had strictly enforced protocol, isolating Yinreng from his brothers to maintain the "dignity" of the Crown Prince. Yinreng had cried, begging for the right to just be a brother, not a political icon. Kangxi realized that Yinreng was kneeling now not out of grief for Tongjia, but out of fear of breaking the rules and alienating himself further.
Driven by a mix of guilt over Yinreng's exhaustion and his own lingering grief, Kangxi made a drastic decision.
"Pass down a new edict," Kangxi ordered. "The late Empress was renowned for her benevolence. She would not wish to see the imperial children damage their health in her name. Therefore, the princes and princesses are permitted to mourn in rotating shifts. They no longer need to kneel continuously."
It was a blatant breach of traditional mourning protocol, designed entirely to give Yinreng a loophole to rest.
To offset the insult this abbreviated mourning might cause the Tongjia clan, Kangxi immediately added, "Furthermore, draft a decree elevating her father, Tong Guowei, to a First-Class Duke. And prepare to promote Consort Tong to Noble Consort by the end of the year."
Kangxi used political promotions to buy his son a reprieve.
That evening, taking advantage of his "shift" off, Yinreng arrived at the Qianqing Palace carrying a food container. Inside was a simple plate of dumplings he had "personally" prepared in his private kitchen.
Kangxi, who had been refusing food out of grief, was deeply moved. As Yinreng served him, the Crown Prince's eyes drifted to a row of wooden boxes sitting on Kangxi's desk.
These were the final traps Tongjia had left behind: a series of pre-made birthday gifts meant to be delivered to Kangxi one by one over the next twelve years. They were designed to ensure Kangxi never forgot her, acting as a yearly anchor to his guilt.
Yinreng recognized the manipulation instantly and moved to dismantle it.
"Imperial Father, it is good that you are eating," Yinreng said softly, his voice full of concern. "You said the late Empress would be uneasy if we damaged our health mourning her. But if you starve yourself... my Imperial Mother would be uneasy as well."
Kangxi froze.
Yinreng was not referring to Tongjia. He was referring to Empress Xiaochengren (Hesheli)—Yinreng's biological mother, Kangxi's first love, and the true, undisputed Empress of his youth.
The mention of Hesheli shattered the melancholic spell Tongjia had woven. Kangxi realized that by indulging in this overwhelming grief for his cousin, he was inadvertently neglecting the son of his greatest love.
Kangxi looked at the row of birthday boxes on his desk. The manufactured sentimentality suddenly felt heavy and inappropriate.
"Put those away," Kangxi commanded Liang Jiugong, gesturing to the boxes. He turned back to Yinreng, his focus completely restored to his heir. "You are right. I will not cause you, or your mother, any more worry."
Liang Jiugong quietly packed the boxes away, marveling at the Crown Prince's political lethality. With a single sentence, Yinreng had neutralized Tongjia's decade-long posthumous trap.
***
The Survivor's Departure
On the twentieth day of the tenth month, Empress Xiaoyi (Tongjia) was buried in the Jingling Mausoleum. She had achieved her ultimate goal.
On that same day, a modest carriage slipped out of the capital's gates. Inside sat Chunzhi, dressed in plain civilian clothes, clutching a new registry document and a bag of silver.
She had not committed suicide. Before dying, Tongjia had forbidden it. 'I could not protect Chunying,' Tongjia had said, referring to the first maid who died for her. 'But I want you to live.'
Chunzhi understood her true mission. Staying in the palace was useless; Tongjia had already secured her burial rights. But the Tiandihui secret still existed in the outside world. If the rebels ever exposed Tongjia's treason, her posthumous title would be stripped, her tomb desecrated, and the Tongjia clan exterminated.
Chunzhi stared at the road ahead, her eyes hardened with resolve. She was just a servant, but she was stepping into the shadows of the empire. She would use her life to hunt down any loose ends, ensuring that her master's pristine, elevated legacy remained untouched forever.