"So, the old lady didn't personally witness the deaths of the mother and child?" Chai Yingluo pressed relentlessly. Ji Nan didn't answer the question, only gazing at her with a faint, bitter smile.
She didn’t need to answer. Even Wei Shufen knew that under such circumstances, the women and children of the Sui palace abandoned by Yuwen Huaji had little chance of survival. The regions east of the pass—Hebei, Qilu, Jianghuai—had been ravaged repeatedly by various armies during the chaos at the end of the Sui dynasty, leaving barely one in ten commoners alive. Once densely populated villages remained desolate wastelands stretching for miles.
If they had been taken as spoils of war into the eastern capital, enduring Prince Qin Shimin’s siege of Luoyang from the third to the fourth year of the WuDe Era... by then, the city had already descended into cannibalism, and it was said that noblewomen with smooth skin and tender flesh were particularly favored by the man-eating demon Zhu Can and his ilk.
The elderly nun closed her eyes and sighed softly, pressing her palms together as she murmured sutras:
"Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, when deeply immersed in Prajna Paramita, perceived the emptiness of the five aggregates and delivered all from suffering... Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form; form is emptiness, emptiness is form. So too are sensation, perception, volition, and consciousness. Shariputra, all phenomena are empty—neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. In emptiness, there is no past, no future, no present... no form, no sensation, perception, volition, or consciousness; no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, or mind; no sights, sounds, scents, tastes, touches, or dharmas; no realm of vision, nor even realm of mind-consciousness. There is no ignorance, nor extinction of ignorance, nor even old age and death, nor extinction of old age and death. There is no suffering, no cause of suffering, no cessation of suffering, no path. There is no wisdom, no attainment, and nothing to attain. Because there is nothing to attain, the bodhisattva relies on Prajna Paramita, and the mind is without hindrance. Without hindrance, there is no fear; far removed from delusive thinking, one attains ultimate Nirvana... Therefore, know that Prajna Paramita is the Great Bright Mantra, the Supreme Bright Mantra, the Unequalled Bright Mantra, capable of dispelling all suffering—this is truth, not falsehood..."
Amid the frail and weary recitation, Wei Shufen and Chai Yingluo took their leave and stepped out of the hall. Ji Nan didn’t even open her eyes to look at them, only having Yang Min quietly see them out. The three stood at the foot of the tea hall’s steps, but the delicate young man had nothing to say, only repeatedly apologizing.
From beyond the courtyard wall came a woman’s voice—likely that of the guest-receiving nun who had welcomed them earlier, Sima Lingji, the last empress of the Northern Zhou—issuing instructions to someone:
"...Take two pounds of dried apricots over to the west wall for your A Niang... No need for formalities, Fourth Sister. We share the same fate—it’s only right..."
Chai Yingluo suddenly strode toward the gate, nearly colliding with the guest-receiving nun, who was just entering. Wei Shufen followed behind her, catching only a glimpse of several women’s figures turning the corner of the wall before disappearing.
When questioned by Chai Yingluo, the nun explained that she was merely sending some candied fruits to their neighbors beyond the west wall—a simple gesture of goodwill. As she spoke, Wei Shufen studied this former empress of two reigns past, sensing in her demeanor something shared with Empress Xiao—both seemed to have transcended worldly concerns, untouched by the affairs of life... A similar air had been seen in someone else not long ago. Who was it?
After a moment’s thought, she remembered—the former Crown Princess Zheng Guanyin, who had once resided in the Temple of Common Vocation but had since moved to the palace’s inner quarters.
Chai Yingluo exchanged a few more words with the nun and Yang Min before leading Wei Shufen out of the temple. Donning her veiled hat outside the gate, she mounted her horse without hesitation and turned south. Wei Shufen quickly mounted and caught up to her, asking:
"Ying-jie, where are we going next?"
"Changling Ward, Princess Guiyang’s residence," Chai Yingluo replied with a laugh. "Come with me to visit my fifth aunt. We’ll have some private women’s talk."Wei Shufen was already quite familiar with her lighthearted and joking nature, so she simply smiled from her horse. She guessed that Chai Yingluo was actually going to see her fifth uncle-in-law, Yang Shidao.
Under threats and inducements, Empress Xiao must have told the truth. The next logical step was to ask Yang Shidao, the brother of Princess Dehua, whether he had heard any news about his sister since then. Although Consort Yang was a cautious man who disliked meddling in affairs, this time, since it concerned rescuing his own son, perhaps he would be more cooperative?
Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
Or rather, it wasn’t that he wasn’t, because they didn’t even see Consort Yang himself at Princess Guiyang’s residence. The plump fifth princess was quite affectionate toward her niece Chai Yingluo but said her husband had been extremely busy lately, often not returning home for three to five days at a time. It was said that due to the urgent military situation with the Tuyuhun, the emperor was issuing frequent edicts, and as the Zhongshu Ling, Yang Shidao had taken to staying at the imperial secretariat to draft decrees at any time.
Chai Yingluo listened with a smile, taking her aunt’s hand as they entered the inner hall. She then asked her to dismiss the attendants and whispered:
“Fifth Aunt, don’t blame me for speaking out of turn. Last time when I came with Fourteenth Uncle, didn’t I warn you that Uncle might… have a secret residence?”
“Pah! He wouldn’t dare even if he had eighteen extra guts!” The fifth princess slapped the table. “I’ve already interrogated your uncle’s attendants—they all said no. After executing two or three in front of them, I doubt those lowly slaves would dare lie to me!”
“What do servants know?” Chai Yingluo continued smiling. “These past few days, I’ve heard more rumors! Last time, I asked you to check if anyone in the household was sending out daily supplies. Did you find anything?”
“Well…” The princess hesitated. “There was… but when questioned, they said it was just monthly offerings to the Yang family temple… My trusted servants even followed them and confirmed it went straight to the nunnery. Those nuns are supposed to be detached from worldly affairs—surely they wouldn’t help some scoundrel keep a secret mistress?”
Chai Yingluo chuckled and said, “Fifth Aunt, you’re too kind-hearted.” She leaned closer, her voice dropping even lower into a hushed murmur. Wei Shufen, standing at the entrance of the hall, could no longer make out what was being said. She only saw the fifth princess shake her head at first, then nod reluctantly before finally saying:
“Fine, let it be so. It’s late today—stay here overnight, and tomorrow morning I’ll have someone take you to see… Ah, Yingniang, you’re right. Even if it’s true, it’s best I pretend not to know. At our age, if he has no shame, I still have my dignity to uphold…”
“It might just be a false rumor—Uncle is such an honest and upright man…” Chai Yingluo comforted her aunt with a few more words before settling with Wei Shufen in the guest quarters for the night. The two young women stayed until dawn the next day when the curfew lifted, after which Princess Guiyang ordered her trusted servants to escort Chai Yingluo out of the residence.
Surprisingly, the mounted retinue retraced the same route the two daughters of the Chai and Wei families had taken the day before from the Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns to Princess Guiyang’s residence. They headed west first, then turned north. Wei Shufen grew increasingly puzzled and asked Chai Yingluo about it, but the female Taoist only smiled and said, “Seems my guess was right,” urging the princess’s attendants to hurry. By midday, they arrived back at the gates of the Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns.
Turning right, they entered the southern gate of Xiuxiang Ward. On the right stood another temple, much smaller in scale than the adjacent Temple of Myriad Virtuous Nuns but surrounded by dense locust and mixed trees both inside and outside its walls, creating an atmosphere of secluded tranquility.This was likely the so-called "Yang Family Temple" mentioned by the Fifth Princess, with a wooden plaque inscribed "Temple of Compassionate Harmony Nunnery" hanging above the gate. As the princess's household servants led the way inside, they explained that this nunnery was originally established in the first year of the Daye era of the former Sui dynasty by Yang Zhao, the Sui Crown Prince Yuande, to honor the two great monks Shanhui and Yuanyi. After Yang Zhao died young from illness, a memorial tablet and portrait were enshrined here, and some of his imperial consorts also took vows in this temple. In the first year of the Yining era, when Yang Zhao's son Yang You was installed by the Tang family as the last emperor of Sui, he frequently visited to pay respects to his deceased father.
As they spoke, the abbess of the temple came out to greet them and inquired about their purpose. Chai Yingluo wasted no time with pleasantries, flipping out a palace pass and declaring, "By imperial decree to investigate a case," demanding to see the person sent by Consort Yang's husband.
This person was secluded in a row of shadowy side chambers in the eastern courtyard of the Temple of Compassionate Harmony. By the window, facing a mirror, was a woman with skin like snow and beauty surpassing flowers.
Wei Shufen had initially doubted whether Chai Yingluo truly possessed such extraordinary abilities to suddenly locate Princess Dehua of Sui after hearing Empress Xiao's cryptic words. But upon seeing the woman in the room, she realized her mistake.
They had indeed found a great beauty of the Yang family—but it was Consort Yang, Princess of Hailing, the current Son of Heaven's sister-in-law, not her aunt who had been sent for a political marriage.
Beauty capable of toppling nations truly defied reason, Wei Shufen thought. No wonder men often dismissed such women as "calamitous." When she had first seen Consort Yang at the Temple of Common Vocation, she had been naive, simply captivated by the woman's features and grace. Now, over a month later, though fully aware this woman was a prime suspect in several serious cases—potentially a venomous serpent of a woman—one glance at her still left Wei Shufen stunned by her peerless radiance.
This no-longer-young beauty exuded a delicate charm from her snow-white skin that seemed to spread like an ailment, permeating the air around her. Even the middle-aged, shaven-headed serving nun beside her shared the same refined and moving features. Consort Yang raised a slender hand, resting it on the nun's fair wrist as she rose from her seat to greet them, a mysterious smile playing at her lips.
Wei Shufen's gaze shot to her abdomen, and she gasped in shock.
Having assisted her mother through multiple childbirths and studied medicine with Chai Yingluo, she knew—though none of that was necessary. The way the great beauty cradled her abdomen and supported her chin was unmistakable.
The widowed Princess of Hailing, after nine years of solitude, was pregnant.
OpenNovel