HESHEN manages to escape from the palace, but he refuses to leave. Eventually, he finds DOUKOU. After DOUKOU wakes up, LIU QUAN gets down on his knees to apologize to her, above which he even hands her a dagger so that she can take revenge herself. JIAQING flies into a rage after learning about HESHEN’s escape, so he detains FENGSHEN-YINDE, GULUN PRINCESS HEXIAO, and FU’EN in the palace. LIU YONG reports that a secret passage is discovered in the Qianqing Palace, and one of the entrances even connects to the imperial harem. Listening to what CONSORT XIAN said, JIAQING is convinced that XIAOHERUI betrayed him, and angrily puts her under house arrest. Discovering that NOBLE CONSORT DOWAGER YING is up to something, JIAQING orders her expulsion on the accusation of conspiracy to murder royalty. Meanwhile, HESHEN is furious at CHANG MEI’s attempt to kill DOUKOU.… ...