"I heard a woman screaming and entered the room to find Yi Niang hanging from the beam. I immediately held her body, trying to lift her out of the noose to save her as quickly as possible. But no matter how many times I tried, her neck remained firmly lodged in the loop. The hairpins from her headdress fell and shattered, yet nothing worked. In the end, I called in Xinzhi—he's tall and strong—and he jumped up to cut the noose with a knife before carrying Yi Niang down..."
A single lamp flickered dimly in the secluded inner chamber as the slender young man, Li Yuangui, spoke slowly. The other three could not tear their eyes away from the strangling cord that had taken Li Yiniang's life.
This was not a single length of silk but rather three connected straps: a long brocade scarf, commonly worn by women in winter, knotted into a small loop around the girl’s neck—no wonder she couldn’t be lifted free. The ends of the scarf were each tied to a leather belt, and the two belts were threaded together over the beam. The entire setup formed two interlocking loops. Of course, when Yang Xinzhi rescued her, he had cut through the scarf portion of the larger loop with his small knife.
What a complicated strangling cord.
Of the two leather belts, one was adorned with nine rhinoceros-horn plaques, while the other, of higher status, bore gold plaques—reserved for princes and noblewomen of the second rank or above. The presiding court lady, Chai Yingluo, pointed to the rhinoceros-horn belt:
"This one was among Yi Niang’s wedding attire. As a county princess marrying, her eight-flower hairpins, eight-patterned pheasant robe, socks, shoes, ribbons, sash, and leather belt were all prepared by the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs. I personally delivered the complete set and helped her dress before Her Majesty the Empress arrived this afternoon. As for this gold-plaque belt—"
Chai Yingluo paused and sighed. Wei Shufen asked, "Did the Empress personally bestow it upon Yi Niang?"
Chai Yingluo nodded.
"This afternoon, the Empress and Yi Niang went into this room to talk. The rest of us palace attendants waited outside the door. I noticed the Empress’s personal maid holding a lacquered box and asked what it was. She and I were familiar, so she just smiled coyly and said it was a gift for Yi Niang. By evening, everyone saw it. She also mentioned it was originally made for the Crown Princess—Consort Su has a slender waist, and Yi Niang is even thinner, so a single bolt of material sufficed for two belts... Since she mentioned 'slender waist,' it must have been a waistband... Later, when the Empress summoned her, she carried the box in and came out empty-handed. That lacquered box—"
Glancing around, Chai Yingluo pointed to a stack of cases on the clothing chest by the eastern wall.
"It’s right there. Inside was likely this gold-plaque belt. Indeed, last month at the Crown Prince’s wedding, the Crown Princess Su Shi also wore one like this. The Empress overstepped protocol to bestow it, allowing Yi Niang to marry in grand style—it was truly meant as a kindness..."
Yet the very gift had become the weapon that took her niece’s life.
Wei Shufen gazed at the gleaming gold-plaque belt, feeling as if its shimmer carried a sinister, venomous aura—much like the thick mist spreading through this cold, night-curfewed temple.
If Yi Niang truly was the kind of outwardly gentle but inwardly resolute woman who would stake her life to accuse her uncle and his wife of fratricide, treason, and usurpation—and to make this death as sensational as possible—then hanging herself on her wedding night with a belt personally bestowed by Empress Zhangsun was indeed the best choice. Only...“Yi Niang did not hang herself,” Li Yuangui stated firmly. “When a normal person resolves to hang themselves, they are usually in a state of emotional turmoil—shaking their head and trembling hands—and wouldn’t have the patience to do meticulous work. She could have simply tied three pieces of silk together into a long cord, thrown it over the beam, made a single loop, slipped it around her neck, kicked over the high stool, and it would have been done.”
Yet this noose was a complex double-loop structure. Wei Shufen shook her head, somewhat puzzled. Chai Yingluo also frowned and said, “If Yi Niang was strangled and then hung up, how could that have been done?”
“It’s simple,” Li Yuangui stood up, righted the high stool from the ground, and gestured as he explained:
“Move the high stool over here, place Yi Niang’s body face-down on it, then use a silk scarf to form a small loop around her neck. Fasten two leather straps together, tie one end to the loose end of the scarf loop, then the murderer steps onto the high stool, throws the other end of the long leather strap over the beam, grabs the hanging end, and pulls hard to lift Yi Niang up. Once she’s at the right height, tie the hanging end to the other loose end of the scarf loop, closing the large loop. Step down from the stool, lay it flat. That’s how the illusion of suicide was created.”
Wei Shufen blinked, taking a long moment to fully grasp the sequence of actions, then exclaimed:
“The murderer must have been a tall, strong man… Strangling a living person, then moving the body up and down—such a high beam wouldn’t have been easy.”
“Using whatever was at hand to strangle does seem like the method of a strong man,” Li Yuangui mused, “but it’s not necessarily so. Yi Niang was also a delicate young girl. If she was suddenly attacked from behind, she might have been completely unable to resist. And this double-loop hanging method doesn’t require the murderer to be particularly tall or strong.”
Chai Yingluo added, “If the murderer really did strangle Yi Niang from behind while she was sitting at her mirror doing her hair, it means Yi Niang was very familiar with this person and completely unsuspecting. In this world, no strong man could so freely come and go from Yi Niang’s inner chambers—she’s been confined for nine years. This place probably doesn’t even allow male flies to enter…”
The female Taoist gave a bitter smile and concluded:
“Therefore, at least four points prove Yi Niang was murdered, not a suicide: the strangulation marks on the back of her neck, her flushed face with blood overflow rather than pale with protruding tongue, the urine on her dressing bed, and the strange knot on the strangling cord. Right, Fourteenth Uncle?”
Li Yuangui nodded silently.
“But this suicide note—” Chai Yingluo sighed as she picked up the plain paper from the desk. “Fourteenth Uncle, what do you make of Yi Niang’s suicide note? Tomorrow when I enter the palace, I’ll have to present this. How can I tell the Emperor and Empress that Yi Niang wrote a suicide note renouncing the world, and just as she was about to kill herself, someone murdered her—”
“The suicide note might be forged, since none of you recognize Yi Niang’s handwriting,” Li Yuangui replied. “Tomorrow, when Zheng Niangzi is feeling better, you can show it to her first to verify whether it’s truly Yi Niang’s own writing.”
Chai Yingluo nodded and added, “Aside from the suicide note, there’s another point that doesn’t make sense if someone came in to kill her. Have you thought about that, Fourteenth Uncle?”
“What?”"Oh right, you wouldn't know about this. After the Empress left in the afternoon, Yi Niang said she wanted to be alone and didn't allow anyone to enter her room. It was almost dark by then, and until the incident late at night, her eastern side chamber remained unlit. With the evening's busyness and shortage of hands, since she didn't call for anyone, no one paid attention—but it's certain the room stayed dark the whole time. If someone took advantage of the chaos and darkness to sneak into the warm chamber, committing murder, moving the body, tying the noose, climbing up and down—all would have to be done fumbling in the dark without alerting people passing by outside. That would require exceptionally good eyesight..."
Wei Shufen recalled that after entering the main courtyard from the eastern annex, she had indeed seen the row of eastern side chambers shrouded in darkness, with no lights ever lit. Li Yuangui also pondered aloud:
"This is indeed strange. Even if Yi Niang hanged herself, she would have needed light to tie the noose, move the high stool, and throw it over the beam. How could she do all that in complete darkness? If we follow my theory that she was murdered while sitting at her dressing bed facing the mirror to do her makeup, then the small lamp on the dressing table should have been lit—otherwise how could she see her reflection? Unless—"
Li Yuangui's expression suddenly turned grave as if he'd thought of something:
"Yingniang, when the Empress visited this afternoon, I received her and then withdrew—you know this. About what time did the Empress and Yi Niang have their private conversation in this room? And when did the Empress leave? At that time—was it already dark?"
This rapid series of questions left Wei Shufen somewhat confused. But when she realized what Li Yuangui was implying, she couldn't help but take a sharp breath, straighten her back, and widen her eyes.
Heaven and earth bear witness—was he suggesting that Yi Niang might have been... strangled by Empress Zhangsun herself?
If the Empress and Yi Niang had their private conversation before nightfall, naturally no lamps would be lit. The Empress could have used the excuse of "personally helping her niece with her makeup" to have Yi Niang sit at the dressing bed, then strangled her from behind, staging it as suicide. After tidying up, she could have exited, pretending to exchange a few words with Yi Niang inside telling her not to come out to see her off, even instructing others not to disturb her... While this made logical sense, what about motive? And to harbor such suspicions about the nation's mother was practically treasonous.
Chai Yingluo's lips parted slightly, as if turning over the same thoughts. She stared at Li Yuangui for a long moment before responding:
"Fourteenth Uncle, what nonsense are you thinking!"
"Naturally it's nonsense," Li Yuangui admitted, though his tone remained calm. "But this matter is too tragic—Yi Niang was innocent and pitiable. To find the real culprit, we must eliminate all suspects one by one..."
"Then you can eliminate the Empress first," Chai Yingluo said bluntly. "When the Empress finished speaking with Yi Niang in the afternoon and left the warm chamber, Yi Niang personally saw her out—all the way to the doorway, witnessed by many. Yi Niang looked unwell then, her eyes red and swollen from crying, her makeup ruined, but she was undoubtedly alive."
Wei Shufen unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, feeling somewhat embarrassed for the detective prince Li Yuangui. Li Yuangui himself remained unperturbed and pressed further: "And it wasn't dark yet at that time?"
"No, it was just the beginning of dusk. The Empress told Yi Niang to stop and return to her room to fix her makeup, to which Yi Niang bowed respectfully. After the Empress left the courtyard, Yi Niang closed the warm chamber door herself and told the maids not to disturb her as she wanted peace. From then on, no one saw her again—I've already questioned people after returning from the western courtyard's Eldest Aunt, and the sequence of events is correct."Li Yuangui nodded. "I never seriously suspected the Empress. When I held Yi Niang's body to lift her down, I noticed her body was still warm and pliant—she hadn't been dead long. If she had been killed at dusk and hung there for so long in this cold weather, her body would have already stiffened."
Now he's backtracking with convenient words... Wei Shufen shot Li Yuangui a covert glare. For a moment, she had genuinely believed she'd been dragged into an "Empress murder case," with a high likelihood of being silenced!
Chai Yingluo also snorted. "How dare you entertain such thoughts about the Empress, who is so virtuous and noble? You deserve to have your tongue cut out and heart gouged! If you're so bold, why not voice these suspicions before your second brother? I bet Uncle would kick you straight into the Haichi Pond!"
"That might not be the case," Li Yuangui replied calmly. "Even if the Empress didn't personally commit the act, and even if Yi Niang truly hanged herself, this matter still can't be separated from the Empress."
That much was true. Yi Niang had died using the leather belt personally gifted by the Empress after their conversation. Given her unique status, no matter how one looked at it, this death was inextricably linked to Empress Zhangsun—not so easily dismissed.
Chai Yingluo sighed. "Suicide doesn't make sense, yet murder comes with a suicide note. How am I supposed to report this to His Majesty and the Empress tomorrow? Ah..."
"Sister."
The bridegroom Chai Zhewei, who had remained silent since entering the room, suddenly spoke up in a soft, chilling tone:
"There's another possibility."
"What possibility?" The other three turned to look at him.
"Perhaps Yi Niang neither hanged herself nor was killed by the living..."
Wei Shufen froze for a moment before grasping the implication in Chai Zhewei's words, her limbs turning icy. Chai Yingluo also said, "What do you mean? Not the living? Are you saying... Uncle and Fourth Uncle..."
She couldn't finish, but Wei Shufen understood her thoughts.
The series of complex actions leading to Yi Niang's death had all occurred in darkness—something difficult for the living to accomplish. If the spirits of Yi Niang's deceased father, Fourth Uncle Prince Qi, and their ten brothers and cousins were wandering the old Qi residence, they might not have been able to bear Yi Niang's harmonious facade with the current Son of Heaven and his consort. So they might have drawn out her soul and taken her life...
"This marriage has been plagued by misfortune from the very beginning," Chai Zhewei continued in a low voice. "Even before the engagement, there were constant upheavals. The betrothal banquet stirred up a huge scandal, and then Uncle's entire household was slaughtered... Could it be that our two families have stumbled upon some forbidden curse?"
Wei Shufen studied Chai Zhewei. The bridegroom had, at some point, loosened the ribbon under his chin and removed his six-tasseled crown, leaving his topknot exposed—a somewhat comical sight. Yet his expression was grave:
"The marriage between Uncle's family and ours was arranged by our late grandmother even before the Tang uprising and founding. Sister, your three betrothals all... Yi Niang and I were doing fine, yet at the last moment, this happens. Could it be that someone simply can't stand to see the Chai family and... Uncle's family united in marriage? Over all these years, if these events are mere coincidences, they're far too bizarre to believe."
After a moment of silence, Chai Yingluo parted her cherry lips and uttered a single word:
"Scram."
"..."
"Who had three betrothals? Keep spouting nonsense, and I'll slap you silly."Wei Shufen felt a bit like laughing, but given the circumstances, she couldn't bring herself to do so. Suddenly, a man's cough came through the western window—the voice was all too familiar, making Wei Shufen jump straight up from her seated position on the bed.
"High Truth Master, forgive the intrusion. This humble one is Pei of the Wei family. May I ask, is my daughter Shufen here?"
It was her parents speaking outside the window. Wei Shufen's legs went weak, and she nearly collapsed to the floor again.
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