Wei Shufen maneuvered her mount through the winding alleys of Guangde Ward, swerving left and right in reckless flight. At first, she managed to put considerable distance between herself and her pursuers. But as she turned onto the ward's cross-street, a large crowd suddenly blocked her path. The family-raised gray horse, always docile, refused to trample people and halted with a long whinny.
Dusk was falling. At the street's center, several bare-chested, curly-haired foreigners were performing with "fire meteors"—swinging some objects tied with ropes to create dazzling circles in the air, creating quite a spectacular sight. Three layers of onlookers surrounded them, cheering enthusiastically.
Wei Shufen, agitated and distracted, had no mind to watch carefully. With the crowd blocking her way, she could no longer gallop freely. She dismounted, dropped the reins, and dashed into the throng. Most were too absorbed in the clamor to notice her, but some did—seeing a finely dressed young woman running alone, they looked on in surprise.
If her family came asking, finding her would be no trouble at all.
Wei Shufen wove through the crowd, her thoughts racing, when she suddenly spotted a lavish ox-drawn carriage parked beside a grand, halberd-lined gate at the street's end. The guards, coachman, and servants had all gathered in the street to watch the spectacle, leaving the ox and carriage unattended.
Perfect for her to slip behind the carriage, deftly open the door, and quietly climb inside.
Luck was with her—the carriage was empty.
The windows were narrow, and the light outside grew dimmer, but she could still feel the comfortably arranged cushions and armrests. In one corner, a small brazier emitted a faint glow of red embers through its intricately patterned lid, keeping the interior from being too cold.
Wei Shufen didn't dwell on why such an ornate carriage would be parked outside a high-ranking official's residence at this hour. She simply exhaled deeply, sinking into the seat to soothe her aching body and pounding heart.
She would hide here for a while, wait for her pursuers to pass, then slip out and find another place to take refuge.
But where could she hide? How long could she last?
Two heavy iron hammers seemed to slam into her chest, and tears welled up again. As she wiped them away with a handkerchief, she sobbed and thought: by fleeing her arranged marriage and leaving home, she had brought great shame upon the Wei family. Her father, the chancellor, would surely be furious but would keep it quiet, ordering only a thorough search to retrieve her quickly and marry her off to that World-Mixing Demon King, Cheng Yaojin, in exchange for betrothal gifts...
A chancellor of the court and a duke-general—two families of such towering influence in Chang'an. Where could she possibly escape to? Who would dare shelter her against the combined might of the Wei and Cheng households?
Lost in despair, she was startled by a sudden commotion outside. It sounded like a group of people surging forward, followed by loud shouts, questions, and the celebratory clamor of a Drum and Wind Ensemble. Someone yelled, "Don't miss the auspicious hour—move quickly!" Dozens of voices responded in unison, surrounding the carriage on all sides. With a lurch, the carriage began to move.
Dazed by the noise, Wei Shufen barely had time to process what was happening. She opened her mouth to cry out but immediately shut it again. Her family was likely still nearby, searching for her, and might even have alerted the ward's patrol station. The entire Guangde Ward was unsafe. Perhaps it was better this way—once the carriage had taken her far enough from danger, she could find a way to disembark.
Or maybe she wouldn't get off at all. Anywhere would do.
After all... it didn't matter where she went.The carriage creaked and jolted along the road, surrounded by the sounds of laughter and chatter from people both ahead and behind. A band played up front, their music accompanied by the loud singing of several burly men. The songs carried clearly into the carriage:
"O brave lads... ponder carefully, observe inside and out, everything must be intimate, every detail must match... golden and silver vessels shower like rain, silks and brocades piled high as workshop walls..."
This tune seemed familiar... Wei Shufen gradually calmed her mind and suddenly realized—wasn't this the "blocking the carriage song" used to intercept newlyweds? Had she, by some strange twist of fate, accidentally sneaked into a wedding carriage meant for a bride?
It made sense. At this hour, with such a grand procession, who else besides a pre-approved wedding party could openly violate the curfew?
The eldest daughter of Chancellor Wei, fleeing her own wedding, had ended up in someone else's bridal carriage...
Tears streaming down her face, Wei Shufen sat in the pitch-black carriage, waiting patiently. She didn't dare press her face against the window to look outside, and she remained on edge, fearing someone in the wedding party might impulsively open the carriage door to peek inside. The journey was bumpy, and after what felt like a long time passing through the ward gate, they crossed another gate. The scent of dust seeping through the narrow window gradually lessened, replaced by the faint aroma of trees and grass.
This was troublesome. Had they already left Chang'an city?
Thinking of the wolves, tigers, and leopards in the mountains outside the city, Wei Shufen shuddered. The chill of the early spring night seeped in waves. Groping in the dark, she picked up the charcoal brazier inside the carriage and held it to her chest. This hand warmer was larger than the one she usually used at home, and its material and craftsmanship were far more exquisite. Besides charcoal, it contained incense, emitting a faint, misty fragrance in the darkness.
This carriage undoubtedly belonged to a wealthy family—but whose?
Before Wei Shufen could piece together any clues, the ox-drawn carriage came to a stop.
Outside, the clamor of gongs and drums grew louder, mingled with the laughter and shouts of a group of men. Listening carefully, she caught phrases like "the bride" and "hurry her out"—the groom's party had arrived at the bride's doorstep. But... did the bride's family live outside Chang'an city?
The carriage moved again, turning a corner and traveling a short distance before halting once more. With a clatter, the door was pulled open, and torchlight flooded in.
Having been in darkness for so long, the sudden light was blinding. Wei Shufen instinctively squeezed her eyes shut and raised a hand to shield her face. The person who opened the door gasped in surprise, clearly not expecting anyone inside.
The voice was male... Wei Shufen cautiously cracked open one eye to peek outside.
In the circle of torchlight stood three or four serving women holding various items, and among them was a slender young man in dark robes, staring at her in astonishment.
After a moment of silent scrutiny, the young man spoke:
"You... are you a maid from the Chai family?"
A maid... Wei Shufen straightened up, her mind in turmoil, unsure how to respond. She was clearly dressed in the bright, luxurious attire of a chancellor's daughter, her makeup vibrant—nothing like a servant. Though her presence here was admittedly bizarre...
"Oh my, the High Truth Master is so thoughtful, even sending a maid to deliver a hand warmer," came a woman's voice. "It's truly cold tonight. Young Yi Niang, riding all this way into the city, mustn't catch a chill..."Upon hearing the words "High Truth Master" and repeated mentions of "the Chai family" and "Yi Niang," Wei Shufen froze momentarily before suddenly realizing the truth. As the woman continued rambling—"First have her deliver the hand-warmer to Yi Niang, the front gate preparations have just begun, the groom's urging for the bridal makeup is still early"—Wei Shufen blurted out:
"Where is the High Truth Master? I have urgent matters to discuss with her!"
"Who exactly are you?" The lean young man frowned slightly, studying her with amusement. "You're no maidservant. How did you enter the Chai family's wedding procession?"
"I..." Wei Shufen swallowed with difficulty. "This humble one is surnamed Wei, a... guest at the wedding."
She wasn’t lying. She had indeed attended this wedding as a guest and had visited this bride’s "home"—two days prior.
Two days ago, she had also been dressed in formal attire, riding in an ox cart with her mother, Madam Pei, followed by porters carrying ceremonial gifts. The lively procession had exited the city through the northern Fragrant Forest Gate and entered the forbidden garden, where ordinary officials and citizens were barred from entering.
At the time, she had assumed they were delivering congratulatory gifts to the joyous bride’s family. But the further they traveled, the more it felt like they were heading toward a prison.
From Fragrant Forest Gate to the forbidden garden, past military camps along the way, and up to the temple gates, sentries were posted every five steps, checkpoints every ten. Watchtowers stood at each corner of the monastery, each manned by two guards standing back-to-back, the crimson tassels on their halberds clearly visible.
This "Temple of Common Vocation" occupied a vast area. Beyond the Black Head Gate stretched a long, deep front courtyard—one had to walk at least a hundred paces to reach the three-bay, five-rafter gabled vermilion gatehouse. Though many people moved about inside and outside the courtyard—servants and serving girls carrying ritual objects—the atmosphere was eerily silent. The female official who came to greet them wore an ingratiating smile, her manners impeccable, her voice unnaturally loud in the empty courtyard:
"What an honor for the wife of Chancellor Wei to grace us with your presence! The attendants have already gone to inform the Lady of the Late Prince Yin and the High Truth Master. Please wait a moment..."
Wei Shufen followed her mother through the main gate, glancing around. The temple courtyard was spacious and neatly arranged, with the main hall—a towering, open structure—standing alone at the center, far removed from the side chambers to the east and west.
It was clear that the buildings and grounds had been recently renovated. The soil beyond the old bricks and stones had been weeded, turned, and compacted. The roof tiles of the main hall varied in shade, the darker green ones obviously newly replaced. A few withered weeds still clung to the northwest eaves, their yellowed stems trembling in the early spring wind.
What had this courtyard looked like before the wedding preparations? After all, the residents were the families of disgraced criminals—who would spare them a thought in ordinary times? Wei Shufen’s impression of it being "like a prison" might have been closer to the truth.
On the gengshen day of the sixth month of the WuDe Era, Prince Qin Shimin, alleging that Crown Prince Jiancheng and Prince Qi Yuanji had conspired to assassinate him, led troops to slay them at Black Tortoise Gate.
Li Jian-cheng’s five sons—Prince Anlu Chengdao, Prince Hedong Chengde, Prince Wu’an Chengxun, Prince Runan Chengming, and Prince Julu Chengyi—along with Li Yuan-ji’s five sons—Prince Liangjun Chengye, Prince Yuyang Chengluan, Prince Pu’an Chengjiang, Prince Jiangxia Chengyu, and Prince Yiyang Chengdu—were all executed within a day or two. Ten boys, the eldest no more than nine years old. On that early summer morning in the sixth month, their blood soaked the soil of the front courtyard of the Crown Prince's Palace’s Virtue Hall so thoroughly that, months later, when the new occupants moved in, they ordered the entire courtyard’s old soil dug up and replaced.The remaining female members of the two families—Li Jian-cheng's principal wife Zheng Shi and her five daughters, and Li Yuan-ji's principal wife Yangshi and her six daughters—had vanished without a trace from the world. It wasn't until nine winters later, when news spread from the palace that Li Jian-cheng's eldest daughter had been enfeoffed as Princess Linfen and was preparing to marry the heir of Duke Qiao, Chai Shao, that many realized they were still alive, having lived all this time in the Temple of Common Vocation, which had been converted from the former Prince Qi's residence.
In the second year of the Zhenguan era, Li Jian-cheng was posthumously renamed "Prince Xi" with the posthumous title "Hidden," while Li Yuan-ji was renamed "Prince Hailing" with the posthumous title "Severe." Their principal wives thus gained the titles and ranks of princess consorts, and their daughters, according to protocol, could be enfeoffed as "county princesses." The wedding of Li Jian-cheng's eldest daughter, Princess Linfen, was given great importance by the court. Former officials of the Crown Prince's Palace, such as Wei Zheng, Wang Gui, and Wei Ting, were specially ordered to bring their families to congratulate and escort the bride, fulfilling the old bonds between ruler and subject.
Wei Shufen stood behind her mother, curiously wondering what the two princess consorts and the group of county princesses might look like. However, the one who came out to receive them was a familiar face—a stunning female official in her mid-twenties.
"Madam Pei, forgive my rudeness—ah, Shufen is here too? Please come in quickly! My aunt—Princess Consort Zheng—is entertaining the guests, and everything inside and out has been entrusted to Yingluo to manage. My apologies for any neglect..."
Amid the lively and crisp voice, Wei Shufen curled her lips and followed her mother into the hall, stealing glances at the female official. Her jet-black hair was adorned with a towering wig secured by a phoenix-head hairpin. She wore a cross-collared, wide-sleeved ruqun, and though the fabric was thick, the neckline exposed a generous expanse of snow-white skin, with the faintest hint of cleavage where the collar crossed. A birthmark on her neck, like a crimson plum blossom in snow, glowed vividly. In such chilly early spring weather, it was a wonder she didn't catch a cold.
"High Truth Master, blessings upon you—without your Taoist robes and in this official court attire, I hardly recognized you, haha!" Madam Pei laughed as well.
"What can I do? As you know, Madam, this is my younger brother's wedding. I thought I could slack off since there are several ladies managing the household, and my father is the guardian deity overseeing everything. But the Empress said the Temple of Common Vocation looked too shabby and lacked capable hands, so she issued an Imperial decree forcing me, as the elder sister, to come help my future sister-in-law's family and act as a stand-in maternal relative to send off Yi Niang—Princess Linfen—to her marriage. From the end of last year until now, I've been running around without a moment's rest." The female official sighed. "For a wedding, I can't very well boss people around in Taoist robes, can I? Outsiders would think it’s not a wedding but a funeral rite."
This elder sister spoke without the slightest filter. Wei Shufen burst out laughing. "So, High Truth Master, does this mean you’ve left the Taoist order and returned to secular life?"
"I’ve sent a memorial to the Supreme Elder Lord, asking to return to secular life for three days," the female official winked at her. "For now, I’m Chai Yingluo, the eldest daughter of the Chai family. Once the bride is settled into her new home, I’ll return to my Purple Void Monastery, burn paper to end my leave, and resume my duties as High Truth Master."
...This Taoist nun really comes and goes as she pleases.
Chai Yingluo wasn’t exaggerating when she said she "hadn’t had a moment’s rest." In the few steps it took to escort the Wei mother and daughter into the main hall, she repeatedly issued orders to the servants:
"Find the pheasant robes for the two princess consorts immediately—no matter which chest they’re buried in! If you delay, it’ll be your heads!"
"Move the congratulatory gifts from the Wei family to the altar in front of the Buddha—careful with them!"
"Don’t bother with that large patch of wasteland to the north—just pile the weeds from the courtyard over there!"Empress Zhangsun's appointment of Chai Yingluo to oversee the wedding at the Temple of Common Vocation was truly an excellent choice, Wei Shufen thought privately. Though this young female Taoist priest was youthful, she handled affairs with remarkable efficiency and decisiveness, displaying an air of a seasoned general that made everyone remark "like mother, like daughter."
Chai Yingluo's mother, née Li, hailed from Di County in Longxi. She was the only daughter born to the Supreme Emperor and his first wife Empress Dou of the Mu clan, making her the full elder sister of the current Son of Heaven and third among her sisters. When the Supreme Emperor and his sons raised their rebellion against the Sui dynasty from Taiyuan, this third Li sister—already married into the Chai family—had, as a mere woman, exhausted her family's wealth to pacify bandits in the capital region, forming the "Women's Army" that commanded seventy thousand troops to awe Guanzhong. Her efforts greatly contributed to the Taiyuan rebel forces' smooth entry through the passes and the capture of the capital to establish the Tang dynasty.
After the Tang's founding, the third Li sister was enfeoffed as "Princess Pingyang," receiving exceptional favor and affection. Tragically, her life was cut short—she died in childbirth during the sixth year of the WuDe era, leaving behind one daughter and two sons. The eldest, Chai Zhewei, had been betrothed since childhood to the eldest daughter of his uncle Jiancheng, making him the groom in this wedding. The sole daughter was none other than this Taoist priestess Chai Yingluo.
After escorting the Wei mother and daughter into the main hall where the Zheng consort of the late Prince Xiyin was receiving guests with her daughter, Chai Yingluo departed. Many noblewomen had come bearing wedding gifts, and Madam Pei immediately blended into the group of middle-aged aristocratic ladies, while Wei Shufen's attention was wholly captured by Princess Linfen sitting in attendance.
The bride-to-be, just two days from her wedding, showed no trace of joy. Her pale little face hung listlessly, and though she was eighteen by age, her delicate features and slight frame made her appear no more than fourteen or fifteen. Kneeling on the cushion, she fidgeted uncomfortably, twisting her fingers in her robes.
With no other young noblewomen present, Wei Shufen had no choice but to join her for conversation. But as she approached to greet her, she realized the princess wasn't merely nervous—she was utterly terrified and despairing, her entire body trembling as if Wei Shufen were some ferocious beast.
Is this what happens after being confined for nine years without seeing outsiders...?
When Li Yiniang spoke, her voice quivered:
"His Majesty and the Empress have treated us with... with utmost benevolence... My late father and Fourth Uncle, the Prince of Hailing, were... were wicked beyond measure and deserved their fate... The Empress Aunt is virtuous, personally bestowing dowry gifts as if I were her own daughter... Wanxi is... is endlessly grateful..."
Someone had clearly coached her in these praises of imperial virtue, but she delivered them in broken, incoherent phrases that would have driven any tutor to despair.
Wei Shufen tried valiantly to sustain conversation, but this Li Yiniang (whose childhood name was Wanxi), though two or three years her senior, possessed less worldly understanding than Shufen's eleven-year-old third sister. No matter the topic, she would only stare blankly with wide, innocent eyes, unable to continue the dialogue. Eventually, they could only discuss someone both knew—High Truth Master Chai Yingluo.
"The Empress was so wise to appoint High Truth Master to oversee the wedding at the Temple of Common Vocation. Since the groom is her full elder brother, she'll surely attend to every detail..."
"Yes..."
"Sister Ying is so noble—she's the only daughter of my third aunt... Also the sole granddaughter of the Supreme Emperor's first wife. You can see the heroic bearing of both Empress Taimu and Princess Pingyang in her..."
"Right..."
"When I first saw Sister Ying, she looked so familiar—just like my third aunt..."
"Mmm, Sister Ying is so kind to me too, taking care of everything for me..."Wei Shufen gazed at Li Wanxi, watching as she occasionally lifted her head with a faint smile, like a stroke of pale red brushed onto a blank canvas, or a lone bird flitting past in the lifeless stillness of a winter’s snowfall—gone in an instant. The eldest daughter of Li Jian-cheng could be described as delicate and refined, yet there was a distinct lack of vitality between her brows, her eyes dull and timid, shrinking away.
Such a quiet and docile young lady, married into the Chai family with her cousin’s care and her husband’s affection, should gradually grow more confident and cheerful, shouldn’t she?
That day, the Wei mother and daughter did not stay long. Madam Pei, Wei Shufen’s mother, was unwell, so after presenting the congratulatory gifts and exchanging pleasantries, she took her daughter home.
According to the ceremonial procedures drafted by the Ministry of Rites, two days later—on the wedding night, which was tonight—her parents were to come to the Temple of Common Vocation to see off the eldest daughter of Li Jian-cheng in their capacity as former palace officials. But that had nothing to do with Wei Shufen. An unmarried maiden like her shouldn’t have been present at such an occasion...
Yet somehow, through a twist of fate, she ended up seated in the wedding carriage prepared by the Chai family for Li Yiniang.
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