His Majesty was ill.
No one in the inner palace knew where the news started spreading from but within a day, it reached the ears of the concubines who lived within the imperial city. Trapped within the limitations of their respective stations, they had no choice but to rely on the servants around them for more information. Some eunuch swore that he had seen the entire imperial medical bureau mobilising with Imperial Physician Fu leading the charge towards Qianqian Palace. Another maid insisted that all the memorials and scripts that His Majesty slaved over day by day had been transported out of Tianlu Pavilion and out through the gates that separated the inner palace from the administrative area of the imperial city. Presumably, they would be given to the cabinet to handle in the emperor's stead.
