As a woman, one inevitably has to deal with many troubles.
When Wei Shufen trudged through the gates of the Purple Void Monastery, covered in mud and filth from scalding soup, her heart was full of grievances. She only wanted to pour out her woes to Chai Yingluo and seek her help to arrange another private meeting with Li Yuangui. But when she was led to the bedside of the monastery's mistress, all those thoughts flew out of her mind, replaced only by shock and heartache. She couldn't help but scream:
"Ying-jie, what happened to you?"
It had been some time since they last met. The once radiant and vigorous Master of the Purple Void Monastery now looked sallow, puffy, with dark circles under her eyes, utterly listless and sickly. Despite the sweltering summer heat, she lay shivering under thick quilts, her hands and feet icy to the touch. Had she contracted some serious illness?
"Don't be afraid... it's nothing... I'll be fine after resting a few days..."
The female Taoist comforted her in a faint voice. The maids and elderly servants like Jing Xuan attending by her bedside didn't seem particularly panicked or fearful. Upon sitting down and inquiring further, Wei Shufen learned it was simply the monthly cycle that afflicts women.
But Chai Yiniangzi's condition was quite different from ordinary women's menstruation. Likely due to her frequent experimentation with medicines and elixirs, she often went months without any signs, only for it to arrive suddenly like "the sun and moon darkening, mountains and rivers swept away, the wind wheel spinning wildly, ten thousand miles collapsing." She described it as "having a millstone inside my body, grinding endlessly from the tips of my hair to my toes," leaving her with only enough strength to shiver under the blankets.
She claimed she'd recover after a few days of rest, but according to Jing Xuan, there had been times when the bleeding lasted continuously for three months. Her father, Prince Consort Chai, had been so desperate he made vows everywhere and even prepared a coffin to ward off bad luck. In the end, it was her master, Sun Yaowang, who rushed over and saved his disciple's life with a combination of acupuncture and medicine. This time, however, it didn't seem as severe, and Chai Yingluo herself said it wouldn't be life-threatening.
Even so, Wei Shufen dared not bring up her own troubles, instead helping the servants daily with preparing medicines and tending to the patient. Though she hadn't stayed with Chai Yingluo for long and hadn't learned much about medicine, her literacy and experience organizing prescriptions made her a valuable presence at the sickbed, checking pulses and verifying prescriptions, which put everyone in the monastery more at ease.
Precisely because she was currently so useful in the monastery, Jing Xuan—though fully aware Wei Shufen had sneaked out from home again—ordered everyone to keep their mouths shut and not reveal to any outsiders that the young lady Wei was here, effectively deciding to continue sheltering her.
After three to five days, Chai Yingluo's complexion gradually improved. Though the bleeding hadn't stopped, she could now take some food and porridge, and during the mornings and afternoons, she could sit up against the headboard for a few hours to chat idly with Wei Shufen. Seizing moments when her mood seemed better, Wei Shufen shared some of her recent, less harrowing experiences, such as "the drunken Seventeenth Princess cursing the Crown Prince's Palace," but carefully avoided mentioning matters concerning the imperial family's fathers and brothers.
Instead, it was Chai Yingluo who, on a day when she felt slightly better, proactively told Wei Shufen about Li Yuangui's verbal battle with the court officials and how he had been granted permission to go to Gaochang to seek a princess's hand in marriage. Hearing this, Wei Shufen felt a tumult of emotions—sour and bitter, unsure whether to rejoice or weep. Jing Xuan also shared news that the Empress had approved Prince Wu's request, decreeing that the Seventeenth Princess would marry Pei Lvshi after the Supreme Emperor's forty-nine-day mourning period.
Everyone's lifelong matters were gradually being settled—good news... Wei Shufen sighed inwardly. The female Taoist, her beautiful hair cascading over her shoulders as she reclined against a large cushion, seemed to hear her unspoken words. With a weak smile, she reached out a finger and gently traced Wei Shufen's throat."Be patient and wait. People and circumstances are always changing—don’t act foolishly."
Wei Shufen had pricked herself with a hairpin, breaking the skin, and a faint red mark still lingered on her flesh, barely noticeable unless one looked closely. Hearing Chai Yingluo bluntly expose her foolish act, her face flushed crimson. Just as she was about to find an excuse to flee, someone outside announced, "Yang Ku-zhen from Prince Wu’s residence has come to visit the High Truth Master."
If she couldn’t see Li Yuangui, meeting Yang Xinzhi would still be a comfort. Since Chai Yingluo was still unable to receive male guests, Wei Shufen went out to greet him and indeed saw Yang Xinzhi’s towering figure in the reception hall.
After exchanging pleasantries and sharing their sentiments, they caught up on recent events. Yang Xinzhi explained that on the day of the thunderstorm, Li Yuangui had left the Supreme Polarity Hall without permission, causing disturbances near the garrison camps and greatly displeasing both the Son of Heaven and Crown Prince Li Chengqian, who was overseeing state affairs. They had sent someone to retrieve and reprimand him, assigning guards to ensure he wouldn’t wander off again. Thus, though Li Yuangui knew of Chai Yingluo’s illness and had wanted to visit her himself, he had been unable to break free until today, when he finally seized the chance to send Yang Xinzhi in his stead to convey his regards.
Chai Yingluo’s condition, however, was not something easily explained to a man, so Wei Shufen could only speak vaguely. Fortunately, Yang Xinzhi was tactful and didn’t press further when she avoided details. Instead, he turned the conversation to Wei Shufen herself, asking how she was faring and whether her own family or the Cheng household had been too harsh on her.
At this topic, Wei Shufen felt as though a thousand arrows had pierced her heart. She opened her mouth several times but couldn’t utter a word. Her eyes burned, yet no tears came. She stared blankly at Yang Xinzhi for a long while until he grew uncomfortable, forcing a smile onto his broad face as he tried to console her:
"Wei Niangzi, don’t be too disheartened. If you truly don’t wish to marry General Cheng, we can all think of a way together. Even if it’s just finding a place for you to hide for a while..."
"Hiding for a while won’t solve anything forever," Wei Shufen replied with a bitter smile. "Unless I go with you all the way to Gaochang, where the heavens are high and the earth is vast—someplace my father and General Cheng wouldn’t have the means to chase me down for years... But within Chang’an, the capital’s outskirts, or the Central Plains—where is there a place beyond their reach?"
"Even Gaochang might not be safe," Yang Xinzhi chuckled softly, lowering his voice. "According to Fourteenth Young Master, His Majesty is already planning to expand into the Western Regions. With the Son of Heaven’s divine strategies and Grand Commander Dai Guogong Li Yaoshi’s surprise tactics, who knows when the King of Gaochang might wake up to find Tang’s celestial troops surrounding his bed..."
"And the commander leading them might just be General Cheng, right?" Wei Shufen smiled bitterly. "No matter if I hide at the ends of the earth or the cracks in the soil, I can’t escape this marriage..."
"Don’t be so despondent," Yang Xinzhi comforted her. "Hide for now and buy yourself some time. Once that old Hu, Kang Su-mi, gathers enough wealth to send to General Cheng’s household—even if it doesn’t quite reach fifty thousand bolts of silk to annul the betrothal outright—it should at least..."
"Wait, what about Kang Su-mi gathering money?" Wei Shufen asked in shock. "What fifty thousand bolts of silk? Are you talking about the Cheng family’s betrothal gifts?"
"Ah? Wei Niangzi, you didn’t know about this?" Yang Xinzhi was equally startled, seeming to realize he had misspoken and hesitating. But under Wei Shufen’s relentless urging, he finally revealed how Li Yuangui, after a fierce argument with Cheng Yaojin, had sought Kang Su-mi’s help to borrow fifty thousand bolts of silk to "buy back" Wei Shufen’s betrothal and restore her freedom.The eldest daughter of Chancellor Wei felt her emotions surging, her vision swimming with dizziness as all the blood in her body seemed to rush to her head before ebbing away in waves. She steadied herself and pondered before asking again:
"Fifty thousand bolts of silk is no small sum. Even if Kang Sabao's family is wealthy, how could a foreign merchant like him be willing to lend such a vast amount of wealth to the Fourteenth Young Master so easily? And how will the Fourteenth Young Master repay him in the future? Won't he be burdened with crushing debt?"
Unable to evade the question, Yang Xinzhi had no choice but to reveal Kang Su-mi's condition—that he would accompany them to Gaochang to manipulate and control Li Yuangui there. With a pained expression, he admitted that the two had already signed a contract, making it impossible for Li Yuangui to back out. Wei Shufen gasped, "Doesn't that mean the Fourteenth Young Master is practically selling himself into servitude? How could the Son of Heaven ever permit such a thing?"
"That old foreign merchant is as cunning and crafty as a fox," Yang Xinzhi sighed. "In our view, this matter should be kept as secret as possible from His Majesty, right? But he insisted otherwise! He gave the Fourteenth Young Master detailed instructions to openly petition the Son of Heaven and the Crown Prince, listing all the benefits of having a foreign merchant accompany them—how it would save the Tang dynasty manpower and resources, and so on. It just so happened that the Crown Prince was overseeing state affairs at the time, young and inexperienced, so he approved the Fourteenth Young Master's request. These days, aside from keeping vigil in the Supreme Polarity Hall, the Fourteenth Young Master can only go to Kang Sabao's Office of the Protectorate General to discuss preparations for the journey. He's escorted by guards back and forth, as if under surveillance..."
He went on to explain more details, doing his best to console Wei Shufen. But seeing her utterly distraught, as if struck by lightning, he soon took his leave.
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