The Golden Hairpin

"The source of the second story comes from Prince Kui, who is also present here today." She paused, glancing at Li Shubai, who gave a slight nod before she continued, "Three years ago, when Pang Xun rebelled, Prince Kui was ordered to lead an expedition to Xuzhou, joining forces with six military governors. On the day Xuzhou fell, he rescued a pair of thirteen- or fourteen-year-old girls who had been abducted by Pang Xun's subordinates. One of them, surnamed Cheng, mentioned she had come to seek refuge with her aunt, Lan Dai, only to learn upon arriving in Xuzhou that her aunt had already relocated to Yangzhou due to the chaos caused by Pang Xun. She gave Prince Kui a silver leaf-vein hairpin, but as he had no ulterior motives toward these two girls of unknown origin, he discarded the hairpin after the Cheng girl left. From beginning to end, because their faces were smeared beyond recognition, Prince Kui never remembered their appearances."

After finishing this account, she noticed the thoughtful expressions around her. Empress Wang merely pressed her lips together in silence, so she added, "The above are two stories recounted by others. What follows is my own speculation, pieced together from the clues I've uncovered so far. Of course, if anyone disagrees, they may dismiss it as mere conjecture—Several months ago, the palace began preparations for Prince Kui's selection of a consort. Around this time, Feng Yiniang of the Yunsiao Troupe received a letter asking her to escort the daughter of an old friend to the capital. This daughter was none other than Cheng Xuese. Feng Yiniang didn’t question why the request didn’t go to Lan Dai or other former sisters. Owing a debt of gratitude, she traveled north to Chang'an, picking up the girl in Puzhou before escorting her into the capital. However, it was then that she discovered the person who had entrusted her with this task—her old friend—now held a position high as the heavens themselves. She might have been overjoyed at first, but in the end, once the selection of Prince Kui’s consort was finalized, she swiftly vanished from this world—after all, as an insignificant pawn privy to the truth, she was destined to be discarded."

"Meanwhile, Feng Yiniang’s junior sister, Chen Nianniang, came to the capital searching for her. Yet with one roaming the streets and the other in grand mansions, the two never crossed paths in a city of a million souls. Chen Nianniang ended up destitute until she coincidentally met Jinnu. Jinnu helped her pull strings to perform before the Emperor and Empress, but as she wasn’t particularly favored, she settled for entering Prince E’s household instead. Prince E assisted her in searching the Ministry of Revenue for Feng Yiniang, which was how I learned of Feng Yiniang’s murder. Later, I handed Feng Yiniang’s belongings to Chen Nianniang, who agreed to help me retrieve a painting currently in Lan Dai’s possession, specifically requesting that Xuese deliver it to Chang'an. That painting was the 'Portrait of the Six Yunsiao Maidens,' created by the artist husband of Mei Wanzhi for the six of them. Like the small portrait in Chen Nianniang’s possession, the painter Cheng’s skill was extraordinary—each figure lifelike and instantly recognizable."

"Just two days ago, Cheng Xuese, having received the letter, finally arrived in Chang'an from Puzhou with the painting. Yet this very act led to her demise. After the portrait was seized, she became the nameless, headless female corpse in the Guangzhai Ward canal!"

Empress Wang sneered coldly, "Such conjecture! You just said Xuese was brought to Chang'an by Feng Yiniang months ago, yet now claim she traveled alone from Puzhou to Chang'an a few days ago. Are you suggesting there are two Xuese in this world?""There were indeed two," Huang Zixiang said, gazing at Empress Wang with a voice tinged with both pity and sorrow. "The two young women Prince Kui saved in Xuzhou were of similar age. They met while fleeing, supporting each other until they reached Xuzhou. After failing to find their relatives, they fell into the clutches of evil, each willing to sacrifice herself for the other—truly bound by life and death. Eventually, they arrived in Yangzhou together and later moved to Puzhou with Landai. The other woman was named Xiao Shi."

"Then, of these two who came to the capital one after the other, which one is the real Cheng Xuese?" Huang Zixiang fixed her eyes on Empress Wang, enunciating each word deliberately. "I will mention just two minor details. First, before Wang Ruo disappeared, I once visited her residence in the Wang household. She was still asleep, seemingly trapped in a nightmare, murmuring a name in her daze—'Xuese, Xuese!'"

Empress Wang's body trembled violently in an instant. Her face turned an unnerving shade of purplish-blue, sending a chill down the spines of all who saw her.

Yet Huang Zixiang appeared oblivious. She took a deep breath and continued, "Second, when Jinnu performed before you, Empress, the moment she saw Wang Ruo, she exclaimed, 'Impossible... If that's the case, how could Prince Kui's consort be her?' You see, Empress, even Jinnu knew who her master's true daughter was. Yet Mei Wanzhi, who abandoned that daughter, had no idea that the woman standing beside her was Xiao Shi—someone entirely unrelated to her."

Empress Wang sat frozen like a clay or wooden statue, utterly unresponsive. Motionless in her chair, her once-enchanting face was now lifeless.

She seemed like a corpse, as if her soul had been torn to shreds by demonic hands. There she sat—no breath, no expression, her wide eyes unfocused.

A deathly silence filled the Yanji Hall. Everyone stared at this woman, usually so dignified and imposing, now completely shattered by just two sentences from Huang Zixiang.

"Empress Wang, perhaps you never imagined that Feng Yiniang, whom you so casually erased, had a life-and-death companion in Chen Nianniang. Jinnu once mentioned that Cheng Xuese bore a striking resemblance to you. So the moment Chen Nianniang saw Xuese and the painting she brought, she understood—who was the daughter of an old friend, who was the one who sent Feng Yiniang to the capital, and why Feng Yiniang ultimately met her end. That’s why she didn’t bring Xuese to see me as promised. Instead, she arranged for Xuese to stay at Jinnu’s residence and deliberately spread rumors that the portraits of the Yunshao Six Maidens contained clues to an extraordinary dance. Through Prince E’s words and the gossip of Jinnu’s sisters, who frequented the Inner Conservatory, the matter of that painting eventually reached the palace. And you—you absolutely could not allow that painting to be seen. Because among those depicted, one was none other than yourself.""Xuese, who had been rescued by Prince Kui in Xuzhou, was so stubborn and obstinate. From the age of fourteen to seventeen, she waited—until her mother, whom she believed to be dead, sent Feng Yiniang to bring her to the capital, promising to arrange the best life for her. Yet she still refused to give up waiting. At the same time, perhaps blaming her mother for her father’s destitution and early death, as well as her own turbulent life of displacement, she harbored an inexplicable hatred for the mother who had abandoned her since childhood. She conspired with Xiaoshi, reasoning that after twelve years apart, her mother surely wouldn’t recognize her, and Feng Yiniang, who had only briefly met them once when they fled to Yangzhou at fourteen, wouldn’t recognize Xiaoshi either. So she had Xiaoshi go to the capital in her stead—perhaps also hoping she might seek out the general who had saved them both back then. Yet neither of them could have imagined that Xuese’s mother now held such a position, nor that the person who singled Xiaoshi out among the crowd for the arranged meeting would be the very man who had saved them years ago—the one Xuese had waited for three years!"

Silence. A deathly stillness.

Huang Zixiang raised her voice, finally tearing open the last festering wound: "Empress Wang, the woman you had killed in the night of Chang’an and discarded in the ditch to replace Jinnu—she was your own daughter, Cheng Xuese!"

Empress Wang remained motionless in her seat. After a long, long while, large teardrops suddenly rolled from her wide, unfocused eyes. She buried her hands in her hair, trembling violently as she pressed her head, as though her mind would explode if she didn’t.

At last, she spoke, her voice hoarse and broken: "You lie... You... lie..."

Huang Zixiang stood unmoving before her, watching the woman shattered by her words, feeling a surge of complex emotions in her chest—pity mingled with fury. It was as though the spirits of Jinnu, Feng Yiniang, Xuese, and the beggars of Chongren Lane, all killed by Empress Wang’s hand, were howling their grievances through her veins, impossible to suppress, their pain her own.

And Empress Wang murmured those same words over and over: "Lies... lies!"

Her fragmented denials turned the emperor’s face ashen. His hands gripped the armrests of his chair with such force that his knuckles whitened, though he seemed unaware of it.

Empress Wang’s beautiful face twisted. Clutching her head, she let out a chilling, gritted laugh—a grotesque smile forced through the tears streaming down her cheeks. In this moment, the woman who had always been composed and dignified teetered on the brink of collapse: "Nonsense! This is... sheer nonsense!"

Wang Lin, consumed by rage and panic, signaled Xianyun and Ranyun to restrain Empress Wang, then hastily bowed to the emperor in apology. "Your Majesty, this eunuch Yang Chonggu must have bewitched the empress! How else could she utter such ravings? She is the eldest daughter of the Langya Wang family—how could she possibly have come from a brothel of singing girls...?""Wang Lin." The emperor looked at Empress Wang's desperate and distraught state, his face also turning cold. He fixed his gaze on Wang Lin before him and said slowly, "Speak the truth. Tell me clearly what happened twelve years ago! If I find even a single word to be false, I will ensure no descendant of your Langya Wang clan ever holds office in the Great Tang again!"

Wang Lin turned to see that Empress Wang had gradually come to her senses, sitting there dazed as if regretting her earlier outburst, yet still trapped in that sorrowful frenzy, unable to extricate herself.

An inexplicable fear and despair welled up in his heart. He could only prostrate himself on the ground, his voice hoarse and trembling as he said, "Your Majesty, this subject deserves death ten thousand times over. I do not seek Your Majesty's mercy, only that the punishment falls upon me alone and does not bring calamity upon the Wang family. This matter was entirely my own scheme and manipulation. Even the empress... at the time, she was coerced by me!"

The emperor cut him off sharply, "Do not try to absolve others—just tell the truth!"

"Yes..." Wang Lin pressed his forehead against the cold stone tiles, his voice filled with despair and sorrow. "Your Majesty, after the Hou Jing Rebellion, the Wang family suffered heavy losses, and our lineage dwindled. By twelve years ago, the Wang family had only four or five male descendants left. Among them, the only promising one was my Yun'er... and then there was Wang Fu, the Princess of Yun by your side at the time..."

The emperor thought for a moment before saying, "I remember her. A pity she was short-lived, passing away barely half a year after coming to my side."

"At that time, Your Majesty was still the Prince of Yun, residing in the Sixteen Estates after being relocated by the late emperor. After Wang Fu's death, the Wang family was grief-stricken, yet unwilling to lose the position of a princess consort. We thought Your Majesty might look favorably upon her sisters because of Wang Fu, so we invited Your Majesty to a banquet, where several young ladies of the Wang family were presented to you."

The emperor nodded slightly, his gaze shifting to the empress. She sat like a wooden statue, silent, her wide eyes staring at him blankly. She had regained her senses, but knowing the truth was out and there was no room for further deception, she could only look at the emperor with a gaze full of humble pleading and sorrowful grief, tears welling in her eyes, refusing to speak.

The emperor looked at the empress in her disoriented state—this woman who had accompanied him step by step for twelve years, now like a crushed white peony tinged with yellow. Anger and sorrow warred within him, and he clenched his jaw, turning his face away, unable to bear the sight of her.

"That day, all the daughters of our family were presented before Your Majesty, yet Your Majesty remained indifferent, conversing and laughing as usual. We knew you already had Lady Guo—now Consort Guo—by your side, and apart from Wang Fu, the Wang family had no particularly outstanding women, so it was natural you paid no attention to the others. At the time... the empress was introduced merely as a well-born lady from a fallen family, teaching our daughters the pipa in our household. We... had her perform a pipa piece to conclude the banquet." Wang Lin said bitterly, "But who could have known Your Majesty would fall for her at first sight? You asked me which branch of the Wang family she belonged to, and I... in a moment of folly, for reasons I still cannot fathom, claimed she was Wang Shao, the illegitimate daughter of our eldest branch..."

"Yet when she entered my household, all her household registration documents were complete, with no signs of forgery," the emperor said coldly."It's... the truth is, the Wang family happened to have a daughter named Wang Shao who was left at a Taoist temple due to poor health, but she passed away shortly before that day. However, her household registration was still in Langya City and hadn't been canceled. I... I saw how much Your Majesty adored her at the time and thought of providing her with a clean identity. It didn't seem like a big deal—just sending the few people who had seen her and her attendants back to Langya would suffice. And for our declining Wang family, having another potential royal consort was an urgently needed blessing... So I discussed it with her, and Empress Wang... she agreed."

"Not a big deal..." The emperor laughed in extreme anger, turning his cold gaze toward Empress Wang. "But none of you expected that I would cherish her so deeply. Over twelve years, she rose from a minor concubine in the prince's residence to become a Zhaoyi in the palace, then a Virtuous Consort, and finally gave birth to a prince and became Empress Wang!"