JIAQING calls a secret meeting to discuss countermeasures with three senior court officials, during which LIU YONG suspects that PRINCE MIANNING probably fell into HESHEN’s hands as the latter secretly returned to the capital. To prevent ROYAL NOBLE CONSORT from having a miscarriage, JIAQING conceals PRINCE MIANNNING’s disappearance from her. On the other hand, CONSORT XIAN is devastated following a miscarriage, so JIAQING goes to visit her. She pleads with JIAQING, hoping that he will let NOBLE CONSORT DOWAGER YING return to the palace to look after her. HESHEN locates CHANG MEI’s whereabouts and goes to visit her but she refuses to see him. After learning that NOBLE CONSORT DOWAGER YING was taken back to the palace, HESHEN contacts DORJI on the sly to plot something big. CHANGDONG eventually gets rid of DOUKOU and flees to the capital, seeking shelter with CAO JINXI.… ...