In 1908, the maid in the palace urged Empress Longyu: "Niangniang, go and open your eyes for the emperor!.""Facing the breath-throating Guangxu, Longyu was like falling into the ice valley, and he didn't dare to approach lightly. A little eunuch shouted to relieve her embarrassment. After the death of Emperor Tongzhi, Cixi married her sister Wanzhen to Emperor Xianfeng's brother Yixun, and Guangxu was the son of the two. When Emperor Guangxu ascended the throne, he was young, and the government was controlled by the Empress Dowager Cixi. As an adult, Cixi delegated power to Guangxu, but after the failure of the Wuxu Reform, Cixi imprisoned Guangxu for ten years. She sent twenty eunuchs to serve Guangxu, in fact, to monitor all his words and deeds. Guangxu lost his freedom, and Cixi stipulated that Guangxu could only eat cold rice and cold tea when he ate, and he often couldn't eat enough. The windows of Guangxu's residence were worn out, and the harsh winter was like an ice cellar, but Cixi did not allow them to be repaired.
In October 1908, Cixi and Guangxu were both seriously ill and bedridden. Guangxu wrote: "I'm sick, if Lafayette leaves first, I must kill Yuan Shikai." This text was discovered by a small eunuch and reported to Cixi. Cixi said viciously: "I will never let him die before me." According to "Qing Palace Trivia", when Guangxu was seriously ill, there were only six people who served him, two of whom starved to death, and the rest were also hungry and cold. In the early morning of November 14, 1908, the imperial physician Zhou Jingtao came to diagnose Guangxu's pulse, Guangxu lay on his back, his eyes wide and pointed to his mouth, wanting to show his desire to drink, but there was no one around.
The valuables in the Guangxu Palace have long been stolen by the eunuchs, leaving only a jade tripod. In this way, Guangxu died in the evening of hunger and cold, and no one knew about it, until he was found, he had already died at the age of 38. Empress Longyu tearfully reported to Cixi, who rejoiced in her heart that she had won again. Emperor Guangxu was located in the fourteenth year of Tongzhi, and Empress Longyu was married by Cixi. However, Guangxu has no good impression of this cousin, it can be said that they are nominally husband and wife, but in fact they do not know each other. At that time, under the command of Li Lianying, Emperor Guangxu hurriedly ended his life and placed him in a coffin. Before the joint burial, the son of Emperor Guangxu was needed to "open his eyes" for him.
Eye opening refers to using chopsticks to pick a piece of cotton dipped in water and tapping it on the deceased's eyes. However, Emperor Guangxu had no heirs, and this task could only be performed by Empress Longyu. However, Empress Longyu herself was timid, and in the face of Emperor Guangxu before her death, she felt cringe, and her legs trembled like chaff. Just when Empress Longyu felt dazed and at a loss, a little eunuch shouted outside the door: "Oh no, Lafayette fainted!."This cry for help was like timely rain, which instantly sobered Longyu up. She rushed to the Qing Palace of the Empress Dowager Cixi with a sigh of relief. When she rushed to the Empress Dowager Cixi's bed, she saw that the Empress Dowager Cixi was lying on the bed, sleeping peacefully. It turned out that the little eunuch was just afraid that Empress Longyu would lose face, so he deliberately called to save her embarrassment.