The Former Empress Dowager had truly grown cold-hearted by then, letting go and moving out of the palace to reside in Yixiang Palace to live out her years, no longer concerned. From that point, the harem began to be shrouded in dark clouds of chaos.
Latterly, as the princes in the palace were successively harmed and met untimely deaths, the Former Empress Dowager, fearing that the Late Emperor would have no descendants left to inherit the good land, felt compelled to intervene.
It was during this time that the Emperor caught the eye of the Former Empress Dowager and was taken under her protection in Yixiang Palace for a few years until he moved into the Eastern Palace.
In her final years, the Former Empress Dowager's health increasingly deteriorated, and the Emperor frequently visited to pay his respects, continuing to do so every year on festivals even after her death.