Feeling perturbed, HESHEN rushes to the palace and learns that QIANLONG coughed up blood; whereas QIANLONG pretends nothing happened, instead, he wants HESHEN to go out with him as promised. At the first Day of the Lunar New Year, all the court officials are gathering inside of the Yangxin Hall as well as outside. When QIANLONG announces the imperial decree, he suddenly passes out. Worrying that QIANLONG’s days are numbered, PRINCE YONGXUAN wants HESHEN to help him usurp the throne immediately, but HESHEN refuses, claiming the time is not yet ripe. ZHU GUI returns to the capital to make an audience with JIAQING, and even discusses with LIU YONG and JI XIAOLAN about how to deal with HESHEN. Once again, QIANLONG leaves the palace, and HESHEN arranges for a Tibetan doctor to attend to him, only to find out that he suffers from a rare poisoning!