"Help! A tiger—!"
The sky was already darkening. Wei Shufen had been assisting Chai Yingluo at the Temple of Common Vocation until evening. Only after Princess Linfen Li Wanxi's remains were encoffined and sent off did the two women return to the Purple Void Monastery, located west of the temple.
Jingxuan Daogu stood waiting outside the monastery gate, seemingly with something to discuss with Chai Yingluo. After alighting from the carriage, Wei Shufen felt an urgent need to relieve herself. Having visited the Purple Void Monastery many times, she was familiar with the layout. After a quick greeting, she entered alone, heading toward the courtyard east of the main hall where Chai Yingluo resided.
Before she could reach the courtyard gate, a sudden gust of wind whistled past, carrying a pungent odor. Something warm, furry, and utterly unknown pounced on her with such force that it knocked her to the ground instantly.
"Ah... ahhh! Help—!"
A gaping maw filled with rows of sharp fangs loomed before her, its barbed crimson tongue lashing toward her face. Wei Shufen screamed until her voice cracked, flailing her limbs wildly. Amid the chaos, she faintly heard the shrieks of maids and servants, until one voice suddenly rose above the rest:
"Atun! Atun! Damn beast, come here!"
The wild beast atop her recoiled slightly, its mouth moving away from her eyes, allowing Wei Shufen to finally see clearly:
She had been pounced on by a man-eating tiger.
"Help! A tiger—!"
A whip cracked through the air with a sharp whistle. The beast let out a low growl and agilely leaped back, landing a few steps away.
Wei Shufen lay sprawled on the ground, twisting her head to see a young man wielding a long whip rushing over, lashing out desperately. The massive, spotted predator stood its ground, tilting its head to squint at Wei Shufen, then at the whip in the youth's hand. With a flick of its leopard-like tail, it turned and sauntered away.
Leopard... wait, a leopard's tail?
As her initial terror subsided, Wei Shufen propped herself up slightly to get a better look. Indeed, the creature had rounded ears and a small face, its body not overly large, covered in spots rather than stripes. The furry face glancing back at her bore two thick black tear lines—clearly a leopard, not a tiger... But how had a leopard ended up inside the Purple Void Monastery?
Had one of the deities enshrined here manifested its mount in the flesh?
"Atun! You incorrigible rogue!"
Chai Yingluo's voice rang out again. She hurried over, and the leopard sidled up to her, rubbing its head against her waist and winding its tail around her legs affectionately. The Master of the Purple Void Monastery gave the leopard's head a light slap, scolding it even as her face broke into a smile:
"Leaping onto pretty girls at first sight—after all these years, you still haven't kicked this habit! What you need is a good thrashing!"
Turning back, she apologized to Wei Shufen:
"My deepest apologies, A Fen. Please don't be angry. It's all Bao Nu's fault for not tying it up properly. This wretched beast is actually quite timid and wouldn't harm anyone—it just has this unfortunate tendency to fawn over pretty young women. A decades-old habit in this aging tomcat, impossible to change. I apologize on Atun's behalf."
So this leopard was actually Chai Yingluo's pet, and its name was "Atun"... Wei Shufen glanced at the creature's plump limbs and the long belly fur nearly brushing the ground. Well, the name fit.
The young man who had rushed over with the whip to rescue Wei Shufen was Bao Nu, the leopard's keeper. Now he stepped forward, gripping Atun's collar sheepishly as he bowed his head to endure Chai Yingluo's reprimands. Around seventeen or eighteen years old, he wore the attire of a eunuch, his deep russet skin and sharp features suggesting mixed Hu barbarian ancestry.Chai Yingluo handed the leopard over to him, scolding as she went to help Wei Shufen up, brushing the dust off her clothes. Wei Shufen had already calmed down, though her voice still trembled slightly:
"It’s... it’s nothing, Sister Ying, you’re too kind... Is this a hunting leopard trained for the hunt? A Fen has heard of them before but never seen one in person. I heard these leopards only come from Persia in the Western Regions and are extremely rare. I never expected Sister Ying to have one."
"Exactly. This fellow was supposed to be a hunting leopard, but I ruined it," Chai Yingluo chuckled, glancing back at the leopard. "It was a gift from a Hu merchant in Shu to my father during the WuDe Era. They sent a pair of freshly captured hunting leopards to Chang’an, but the female died after giving birth to this little one, and the male didn’t last long either, unable to adapt to the climate. Back then, trade routes weren’t open, and no Hu slaves skilled in taming leopards could be found in the city. So I raised this beast like a house cat in my room. It grew up, but it’s fat, stupid, and cowardly—utterly useless for hunting. Just a bit of fun, really. When the Female Academy holds gatherings, I always have Atun tied up in the courtyard to avoid frightening the ladies..."
The plump leopard seemed to understand they were talking about it, flicking its black-tipped tail a few times before eyeing Wei Shufen and taking a step forward. But after just two steps, it suddenly glanced back at the whip in Bao Nu’s hand, let out a mewling sound, and scurried behind him to hide.
Wei Shufen couldn’t help but laugh, her fear dissipating. Chai Yingluo turned to the leopard keeper and asked, "Earlier, Jingniang said you took Atun out for a walk this afternoon, and he found traces of intruders?"
"Yes," Bao Nu bowed slightly to his mistress. "About two li northwest of the temple, in a hollow with a small pond. Atun caught the scent and led us there. We found a cold campfire by the pond, along with rabbit fur and entrails. I also found this."
From his robe, he produced a mostly tattered leather pouch and handed it to Chai Yingluo. Wei Shufen leaned in to look. The pouch had a narrow mouth and a wide belly, typical of the water bags used by Hu people, but its spout was bound with a horn-like material. The surface was smooth and pure, carved with intricate patterns of intertwined dragon-horses—a masterful work.
"This water pouch is quite valuable," Chai Yingluo murmured, frowning. "The leather part is torn, but the horn spout could be reused if fitted onto a new bag. It looks like something a high-ranking Hu merchant or noble would carry—why would it be carelessly discarded in the wild? This doesn’t seem like the work of poachers."
The forbidden garden was vast, deliberately stocked with deer, rabbits, and wild boars for the imperial family’s hunting pleasure. Though commoners were barred, the guards were too few to prevent desperate folk from sneaking in to poach or fish. The Imperial guards usually just beat and chased them off—routine by now. But a horn-spouted water pouch like this was no commoner’s possession.
"I also noticed trampled grass and torn cloth strips on the thorns near the fire," the young leopard keeper reported. "It looked like several people had fought there. On the way back, I got caught up talking with Jingniang and others, so I didn’t keep a close eye on Atun..."
Chai Yingluo thought for a moment before returning the horn-spouted pouch to Bao Nu with instructions:
"Lock Atun up properly, then go to the Northern Bureau Seven Camps and find the Colonel on duty. Tell him I sent you and explain what you saw today—give him this item too. If the Colonel takes it seriously, lead his men to inspect the fire site. Beyond that, don’t speak out of turn or meddle in anything else."The defense of the forbidden garden was managed by the "Northern Bureau Seven Camps" established by the Son of Heaven a few years prior. All seven camps were stationed within the garden, so reporting the presence of intruders to the garrison officers was standard procedure. Bao Nu acknowledged and left, while Jingxuan Daogu, who had approached unnoticed, said to Chai Yingluo:
"The place where the outsiders lit the fire is so close to our Purple Void Monastery, and we have no soldiers guarding it. This servant feels uneasy! Should we inform the garrison general and request an additional squad of guards to be stationed here?"
Chai Yingluo shook her head:
"It’s no use. The imperial guards are severely understaffed now—even the Supreme Palace and Great Peace Palace can barely maintain full rotations. How could they spare guards for our little monastery? You’d be better off organizing our own people to arrange night patrols."
"The imperial guards are severely understaffed?" Wei Shufen couldn’t help but ask. She knew that after the Turks surrendered in the fourth year of Zhenguan, the empire had entered a golden age. The Emperor, citing the Supreme Palace’s dampness as a trigger for his chronic illness, left the capital every year to "escape the heat." In recent years, he had spent over half his time at the Jiucheng Palace in Qizhou, three hundred li northwest of Chang'an, taking most of the imperial guards with him. Back then, the shortage was understandable—but now, the Emperor was clearly staying put in the Supreme Palace...
"You didn’t know?" Chai Yingluo glanced at her. "Late last year, Duke Yaoshi Li Jing led an expedition against Tuyuhun. Many officers from the Southern Bureau Sixteen Guards volunteered to join the western campaign, leaving their posts to be filled by the Northern Bureau Seven Camps as they saw fit. Oh, I even heard that the fourteenth uncle begged to join Duke Yaoshi’s campaign, only to be scolded bloody by His Majesty and sent back..."
The two women chatted idly as they entered the courtyard to prepare for dinner and rest. Jing Xuan had already arranged a guesthouse for Wei Shufen, warm and comfortable, complete with hot bathwater, fresh clothes, and maids to attend to her. Wei Shufen was deeply grateful.
After dining with Chai Yingluo, Wei Shufen returned to her guest quarters for a proper hot bath and changed into a set of casual robes—the undergarments were brand new and made of fine silk, though slightly loose, likely tailored for the taller Chai Yingluo. A maid dried her hair with a warm, scented towel and loosely tied it up for sleep, eliminating the need for further adornments.
As two maids carried out the large bathtub, Wei Shufen faintly heard the sound of bells and chimes outside the window. She asked the attending maid, "Is that the evening service in the Three Purities Hall?"
"Yes," the round-faced maid replied with a smile. "Since the abbess has returned, the others naturally dare not neglect the daily rituals. Earlier, I heard Sister Jing instruct someone to deliver ritual items to the hall—perhaps the abbess intends to oversee the service herself."
Wei Shufen considered this. Since her hair was still damp and she wasn’t ready to sleep, she might as well take a stroll to clear her mind. Donning an outer robe and slippers, she stepped out, following the covered walkway past the guesthouse as the sound of bells and chimes grew clearer and more resonant.
Both the Purple Void Monastery and the Temple of Common Vocation were Inner Sanctuaries within the forbidden garden. However, the Purple Void Monastery, presided over by the noblewoman Chai Yingluo and frequently visited by the Empress and court ladies, enjoyed generous patronage. Built against mountains and water with a front hall and rear garden, its numerous courtyards along the central axis were meticulously maintained, a far cry from the desolate state of the Temple of Common Vocation.The sky had darkened completely, with only the last deep orange glow of twilight behind the western clouds outlining the layered eaves and wind chimes of the main hall, the Hall of Three Purities. A flock of unidentified birds circled above the roof, gradually settling into their nests. Wei Shufen stood on the veranda, gazing blankly at the scene, when a sudden wave of melancholy washed over her, bringing tears to her eyes.
Chai Yingluo, Jing Xuan, and the other senior figures had all been very kind to her, but how long could she stay here? Could she live here forever, never returning home?
"A Fen."
Turning around, she saw Chai Yingluo approaching along the veranda from the direction of her own living quarters, preceded by a maidservant carrying a lantern. The female Taoist had clearly just bathed, draped in a fox-fur outer robe, yet her hairpins and bun were neatly arranged, her spirits high, without a trace of fatigue.
"Ying-jie... you're still up too?"
Chai Yingluo shook her head with a smile. "I still have things to do—I need to prepare ingredients for alchemy. Today at the Hall of Established Governance, I noticed the Empress's health isn't good. She's been exhausted since giving birth to the Twenty-First Princess last year, with no respite. She needs nourishment."
"Can I go with you and learn a bit?" Wei Shufen asked. Part of her reason for staying at Purple Void Monastery was to study medicine. "If Ying-jie doesn't think A Fen is too foolish, please accept me as your disciple. Master above, accept this disciple's bow—"
"Stop, stop," the Taoist nun laughed, pulling her up before she could bow. "With my meager skills, how dare I take on a disciple? I've only learned scraps from the great master Sun Yaowang. Over the years, I've moved between palaces, monasteries, and noble households, treating ladies for their luxurious ailments and childbirth-related illnesses. As for the epidemics, dysentery, wounds, and abscesses common among the common folk, I've barely seen a few cases, let alone treated them. The noble ladies spread exaggerated tales, calling me the 'Female Hua Tuo' or some divine healer, but I know my own limitations."
"Sun Yaowang was already renowned as a divine physician during the Sui dynasty, and in all these years, I've never heard of him accepting disciples. For a lovely young lady like Ying-jie to earn the Medicine King Immortal's favor, he must have seen your intelligence and natural talent," Wei Shufen flattered earnestly.
"I just worked hard. From the age of six or seven, I followed my late mother in and out of the Medicine King Immortal's 'Thousand Gold Abbey,' playing while learning to identify herbs and meridian charts. By fifteen or sixteen, I formally entered the abbey as his disciple. It's been over ten years now, and I still only dare to treat women and children—at most, adding my own frail elderly grandfather..."
The two women strolled slowly along the corridor as Chai Yingluo chatted casually.“Actually, Master Sun is quite humble and still refuses to accept my formal apprenticeship rites. But after over a decade of my persistence, he no longer objects when I call him ‘Master’—my teacher is a particularly amusing person. Back when he agreed to teach me alchemy and medicine, he openly admitted three reasons: first, my mother holds a high position and has a formidable temper, so he dared not offend her; second, he vowed to specifically collect medical treatments for women and children’s ailments, but as a male commoner physician, he had limited opportunities to personally examine and treat female and pediatric patients. He genuinely wanted to train a female physician to help him gather and verify symptoms and treatments; third, my family, being imperial relatives and a princess’s household, has power and wealth, which greatly aids his ambition of compiling medical texts. Oh, and though he refuses my formal apprenticeship rites, he has no qualms about accepting tuition fees. Whenever he returns to Chang’an after two or three years of traveling, he always takes away carts of gold, silver, silk, and medicinal herbs to establish Disease Workshops and Blessed Field Houses in other regions…”
Wei Shufen giggled and asked, “Why did Master Sun make a vow to specifically collect treatments for women and children’s diseases?”
“I asked him that too,” Chai Yingluo replied, her expression turning more serious. “My master vaguely mentioned once that his own first wife and early children likely died from childbirth-related illnesses. Over decades of practicing medicine among commoners and occasionally being summoned by noble families of the Zhou and Sui courts, he observed that whether it was the Grand Physicians, Medicine Supervisors, or Imperial Attendant Chiefs, or even itinerant doctors in the streets, most preferred to focus on common male ailments while dismissing women and children’s diseases…”
“Why?”
“Silly girl,” the female Taoist sighed. “Isn’t it obvious? In this world, whether in grand mansions or humble huts, family wealth is controlled by husbands and fathers. When men themselves fall ill, they spare no expense to seek treatment for survival. But when it comes to women’s childbirth or children’s illnesses, the head of the household starts calculating. If the medical costs are too high, they simply forgo treatment—after all, a wife can be replaced, and children can be born anew. Medicine itself is considered a lowly profession, scorned by society. Physicians, having no other aspirations beyond profit, naturally neglect diseases that don’t bring financial gain. My master lamented this injustice, saying that in the cycle of heaven and the laws of the world, no inequality is greater than this.”
Wei Shufen unwittingly thought of her father’s attitude toward her mother and herself, her chest tightening and eyes reddening again. Noticing this, Chai Yingluo smiled and draped an arm over her shoulder.
“Learning medicine doesn’t have to happen in these couple of days. You’ve been running around and feeling down—go back to your room and rest properly. I’ll be busy these next few days and may not have time for you. Tomorrow, I must first go to the Temple of Common Vocation to sort through Yi Niang’s belongings, then deliver them to her memorial at my home in the afternoon. If you need anything, just ask Jingniang—don’t hesitate.”
Wei Shufen still wanted to accompany her, but as she stretched slightly, exhaustion and soreness seeped from her bones. Knowing her physical limits, she nodded but then asked,
“Sister Ying, may I go with you to the Temple of Common Vocation tomorrow to help sort things? Yi Niang’s case is deeply tied to my family… If there’s any way I can assist, I’d do anything.”
After all, she was still the “prime suspect in Princess Linfen’s murder”—though no one seemed to truly believe it. The sooner this case was resolved, the sooner she could find peace.Chai Yingluo pondered for a moment. "That works too. Having an extra helper will make things easier. We just need to set up a lookout post at the gate of the Temple of Common Vocation first. In case your father, Minister Wei, suddenly shows up again, it'll give you time to send word and hide..."
Wei Shufen burst into laughter. Chai Yingluo's smile blossomed like a flower as she wrapped an arm around Wei Shufen and led her through the guest courtyard gate. She personally escorted her to her room and instructed the maid, "A Yuan, take good care of the young lady." Patting Wei Shufen's cheek, she told her to get some rest early.
This female Taoist, only about ten years older than Wei Shufen, exuded a more reassuring and protective aura than her own mother. Wei Shufen had already begun to feel secretly that even if she truly had to spend the rest of her life in this Taoist temple—taking vows, studying medicine, and writing books—it might be an acceptable future after all.
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