Wei Shufen donned her long veiled hat once more and rode alongside Chai Yingluo, exiting the western gate of Guangde Ward where the Thousand Gold Abbey was located. They traveled north along Jingyao Gate Avenue, passing in a daze by the bustling eastern wall of the Western Market. For a while, they rode alongside water carts delivering water to the palace from Liquan Ward before entering the western gate of Buzheng Ward.
For a moment, she thought they were heading to the Zoroastrian temple in Buzheng Ward again. However, Chai Yingluo, leading the way, turned east at the crossroads within the ward and stopped outside a modest residence, instructing the attendants, "Go knock and announce my arrival."
The servants obeyed and knocked on the door. Wei Shufen also halted her horse, waiting. Just as she began to find the residence familiar, the wooden doors creaked open, and a refined young man stepped out, bowing to Chai Yingluo:
"Greetings, High Truth Master."
Attendant Gentleman of the Palace Yang Min, courtesy name Zhengdao, the only surviving grandson of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui dynasty.
A few days prior, while Wei Shufen and Chai Yingluo were on their way from the forbidden garden to the Fire Temple, they had encountered him by chance and followed him and his servants to this very residence in Buzheng Ward. Recalling it now felt like a lifetime ago.
Both women dismounted, and Chai Yingluo returned the greeting. The refined young man wore a pained, pleading expression:
"Yesterday, word came that my grandmother is truly unwell. Elderly and adhering to a vegetarian diet, she cannot endure much strain, nor should she be disturbed by the turmoil of emotions. High Truth Master, please show mercy..."
"What needed to be said, I already made clear to Attendant Yang yesterday," Chai Yingluo interrupted. "First, the imperial decree was personally issued by His Majesty and concerns matters of state. Second, it also involves the life and family of Prince Wu. Attendant Yang knows that I have studied medicine under Master Sun for many years and have some modest skill in acupuncture and herbal remedies. Even Empress Zhangsun does not disdain my services. If Lady Xiao is unwell, I doubt she would firmly refuse my visit to inquire after her health."
It seemed the two had already argued over this matter the previous day. Yang Min sighed and said no more, ordering his household to bring out his horse. He mounted and led the way.
After passing two intersections, just as the aroma of sesame cakes wafted from the northeast Fuxing Ward, Chai Yingluo announced, "We're here." Wei Shufen reined in her horse and looked closely. Yang Min had dismounted before a large gate on the northwestern wall of Xiuxiang Ward, which also looked familiar.
Ah, that day they had seen Yang Min emerge from this very gate. Inside, towering pavilions and multi-eaved pagodas rose high—a vast complex. Moreover, the gate opened directly onto the main street, unlike ordinary residences that could only face inward toward the ward. This was a privilege reserved for officials of the third rank and above.
Wei Shufen's own family residence had only been granted this modification two years prior, after her father was promoted to Chief Minister of the Chancellery, when the Ministry of Works dispatched official craftsmen to renovate their home. No longer did they need to navigate Pingkang Ward to enter or exit. Xiuxiang Ward was close to the palace and the northern city gates, home to many imperial relatives and nobles. Presumably, this grand estate belonged to some high-ranking official or noble—perhaps the residence of Empress Xiao of the former Sui dynasty... Or could it be the home of Empress Xiao's younger brother, the current Crown Prince's tutor and Duke of Song, Xiao Yu?
"This is the Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns," Chai Yingluo said as she dismounted.
...Very well. Wei Shufen quickly followed suit, lifting her skirts as she entered the temple gate. Yang Min led the way, familiar with the route, and entered the front courtyard, where he spoke quietly with the nun who greeted them.The courtyard was vast, dominated by a central pagoda towering three hundred feet high with a circumference of a hundred paces—the most magnificent structure at its heart. Several grand halls stood behind the pagoda, while the double-eaved pagodas in the side courtyards appeared dwarfed in comparison. Wei Shufen had accompanied her mother to many temples and monasteries in the capital for incense offerings and knew this layout was ancient, unlike the newer temple styles of recent years. The surrounding buildings, though spacious in framework, were dilapidated with broken pillars and missing tiles, clearly long neglected. Only a grove of apricot trees by the western wall bloomed brilliantly, their fiery blossoms like clouds of mist.
The Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns… She seemed to recall hearing this name somewhere before.
Numerous nuns moved about the temple, most elderly, all clad in black robes and appearing well over fifty. Two or three extremely aged nuns, supported by others, hobbled in the sunlight with canes. Their dignified expressions and indifferent demeanor contrasted sharply with the typical frail and sallow appearance of elderly monastics. The receptionist nun speaking with Yang Min looked to be over sixty, her shaved head covered by a monastic cap, her face deeply lined yet still bearing traces of former beauty—she must have been a great beauty in her youth.
The receptionist nun shook her head repeatedly as Yang Min spoke. He glanced back at the two daughters of the Chai and Wei families, then whispered something more. Finally, the nun sighed softly and said, "I’ll go ask… Please, esteemed patrons, wait in the layman’s hall."
Yang Min, evidently a frequent visitor, didn’t wait for guidance. With a gesture toward Chai Yingluo, he led the two women and their attendants eastward. Suddenly, Chai Yingluo asked him:
"That receptionist bhikkhuni—was her secular surname Sima?"
Yang Min paused mid-step and replied indifferently, "This official does not know and never inquired. This is the tea hall. High Truth Master, please enter."
The temple’s tea hall served as a reception area for visitors, furnished with seating and tea utensils. A novice nun attended to them, serving plain water in earthenware bowls—likely assuming the northern guests were unaccustomed to brewed tea. Yang Min invited Chai Yingluo to sit but remained standing by the doorway, unwilling to engage in conversation.
Unable to contain her curiosity, Wei Shufen whispered, "Sister Ying, why did you ask about that nun’s secular name? Do you know her?"
Chai Yingluo whispered back, "I sent someone here earlier to inquire, but they were driven away. Still, they recognized her appearance and said she resembled… the Empress of Northern Zhou’s Jing Emperor."
The Empress of Northern Zhou’s Jing Emperor.
Wei Shufen’s mouth fell open in shock.
Now she understood what this Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns truly was. Last year, while discussing the Crown Prince’s consort selection with Su Lingyu at the Purple Void Convent Female Academy, Su had recounted the story with a sigh.
Over fifty years ago, the heroic Emperor Yuwen Yong of Northern Zhou, who had conquered Northern Qi and unified the lands north of the Yangtze, fell ill and died. His son, Emperor Yuwen Yun of Zhou, notorious for his depravity and tyranny, abdicated within a year, proclaiming himself Supreme Emperor and installing his eight-year-old son, Yuwen Yan (later known as the Jing Emperor), on the throne. Five months later, he arranged for the young emperor to marry Sima Lingji, daughter of Sima Xiaonan, Duke of Yingyang and Pillar of State. At the time, Sima Lingji was barely over ten years old.Another year passed, and the Supreme Emperor Yuwen Yun died of illness due to excessive indulgence, leaving the reins of power in the hands of his father-in-law, the Duke of Sui, Yang Jian. Fearing Yang Jian's growing authority, Empress's father Sima Xiaonan rallied his followers and defected to the Southern Chen dynasty. Using this as a pretext, Yang Jian deposed Empress Sima and reduced her to commoner status. Within less than a year of assisting his grandson, the young Emperor Jing, Yang Jian usurped the throne, established the Sui dynasty, and brought an end to the Northern Zhou.
The last emperor of Northern Zhou, Yuwen Yan, survived for less than three months before dying suddenly at the age of nine. His young Empress, who had never even shared an intimate moment with him, returned to her family home as a commoner and lived in seclusion. By her early twenties, through the matchmaking efforts of her former mother-in-law—the Northern Zhou Empress Dowager and Sui's Princess Leping, Yang Lihua—she was married to Li Dan, the Governor of the Capital Region.
Over the following decades, Sima Lingji bore children, supported her husband, and fulfilled her wifely duties with diligence, yet she remained inwardly discontent. After all, she had once been the mother of the nation, though she had been too young to understand it at the time. As she grew older, watching her husband—a minor official in the Sui court—humble himself and scramble for petty promotions, she could never reconcile herself to her fate. When the Sui dynasty eventually fell, her children had already grown and established their own lives. One day, Sima Lingji suddenly claimed to have dreamed of the bodhisattva Guanyin enlightening her and insisted on becoming a nun, specifically requesting to spend the rest of her days in devotion at the Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns.
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