In ancient times, many women hoped that they could enter the palace as concubines, but the life of the harem was not all glory, but more of a competition between concubines. There are many concubines in the palace, but the emperor has only one, and it is impossible to really achieve rain and dew, so there are many women who are not favored by the emperor in their lives. In the Qing Dynasty, there was a woman who entered the palace at the age of 13 and became a favorite concubine for 27 years, but became the only concubine who was drowned at that time.
This woman is the concubine of the Qianlong period, her family lineage was originally very noble, there were many powerful people who assisted the emperor in her ancestors, and she was also trusted by the emperors of previous generations, and more importantly, she was also of the same clan as "Zhen Huan", that is, Empress Xiaozhao, which shows that her background is extremely prominent. However, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor, her grandfather had supported the ascension of the eighth prince to the throne, so he became a thorn in the side of Yongzheng, who later succeeded to the throne.
After the Yongzheng Emperor ascended the throne, her grandfather had passed away, but the emperor still could not forgive the family, ordered the inscription of "criminal minister" on her grandfather's tombstone, and reduced their entire family to slavery, and all their property was confiscated. When Qianlong ascended the throne, he felt that the former emperor had punished them too heavily, so he ordered that she be removed from slavery and re-ranked as a nobleman of the Eight Banners, which also gave her the opportunity to participate in the draft in the imperial palace.
During the Qing Dynasty, all the Eight Banners noble girls who were about 13 years old had to participate in the draft, so the age of her entering the palace was also about 13 years old. After entering the palace, she was crowned as "Lan Guiren", which was already a very high position for the women who had just entered the palace, so she was full of expectations for her future, but she did not get the favor of the emperor, and was later demoted to "always exist". When she was alone for 27 years, she finally ushered in a turnaround.
In the 41st year of Qianlong, the emperor had entered the old age, and suddenly began to spoil her, and made her a "sincere concubine", and also let her accompany her on a southern tour. During the cruise, one night, she suddenly wanted to enjoy the night view of the ship, so she came to the side of the boat. As a result, she accidentally had an accident and fell into the water. When the patrolling guards rescued her, they found that she had long since lost her breath, and she had been holding on for 28 years, but finally got such an ending, which was really sad.
The emperor was very shocked when he learned of this, in fact, before that, the emperor's favorite Empress Fucha also died of a serious illness during the parade, which made the emperor very sad. For Concubine Cheng, although the emperor did not talk about how much he loved her, he also felt that she was very pitiful, and then ordered someone to place her in a colored coffin, bring her back to the capital for burial, and finally bury her in the concubine's garden. Throughout this woman's life, she spent almost all her life in waiting and emptiness, and eventually became the only concubine in the Qing Dynasty who drowned and died, and her life was extremely miserable.
Reference: Draft History of the Qing Dynasty