Unveil: Jadewind

"I overslept, and taking a carriage would be too slow. I need to ride to the Temple of Common Vocation. A Fen, can you manage?"

"Uh... it's not far, so I probably won't fall off..."

Wei Shufen certainly knew how to ride, but as she mounted the horse with Jing Xuan's assistance—grasping the stirrup and pulling herself up—she caught sight of Chai Yingluo effortlessly vaulting onto her horse without even using a mounting block or a servant's help. With a single lift of her left leg and a swift pull of her right hand, she flipped onto the saddle, her wide Taoist robes and sleeves not hindering her in the slightest. Wei couldn't help but worry whether she could keep up with Chai's pace.

Fortunately, the distance from the Purple Void Monastery to the Temple of Common Vocation truly wasn't far. The two women, accompanied by a few maidservants, galloped their horses and arrived within the time it took to eat a meal, already spotting the Black Head Gate of the temple in the distance. Just days ago, the gate had been adorned with red decorations, exuding the festive air of a bride's departure. Now, it was entirely draped in plain white hemp cloth—the joyous occasion had turned directly into mourning.

The temple's halls and side chambers within the courtyard were naturally even more desolate. The three large bonfires lit in front of the main hall on the night of Yi Niang's wedding still left behind unburned charcoal and firewood, hastily pushed aside to make way for the coffin's departure. The number of servants and maids in the temple seemed drastically reduced. Apart from the guards standing watch in the corner towers outside the gate, only one or two maids were seen sweeping or opening doors as Wei Shufen followed Chai Yingluo from the temple entrance into the western courtyard.

The western courtyard, where the wife and daughters of the late Crown Prince Li Jian-cheng resided, was far more crowded. Led by Zheng Guanyin, the principal consort of the Prince of Hidden Repose, the remaining four daughters all emerged in plain mourning attire to greet them, along with their maids and servants, filling the courtyard with a somber presence. Zheng Guanyin bowed deeply and said:

"This guilty woman humbly welcomes the Empress's envoy. My daughters and all our servants are gathered here. High Truth Master, you may search as you please. If any forbidden items are found, I alone shall bear the responsibility."

With a wave of her sleeve, the doors of the main house, east wing, and west wing were simultaneously flung open by the maids, creating a startling clamor. Startled, Wei Shufen noticed the four princesses looking fearful, the youngest—a girl of about ten—hiding behind Zheng Guanyin. Chai Yingluo also seemed momentarily taken aback before quickly saying:

"Eldest Aunt, please don’t misunderstand. Yingluo has not come under imperial orders to conduct a search. I merely wished to see if Yi Niang had any cherished personal belongings that could be taken to accompany her in death—a gesture to comfort the departed. Naturally, I would not intrude into others' private quarters. Please close all the doors; the weather is bitterly cold."

As she spoke, the maids she had brought hurried to shut the doors of the main house. Zheng Guanyin watched coldly without interference, then said:

"Yi Niang usually shared the east wing with her youngest sister. All her remaining belongings are in that room. High Truth Master, please help yourself."

She turned to return to the main house but paused and turned back to ask:

"Has Yi Niang's burial date been decided? Will she be interred at the Hidden Mausoleum?"

In the ninth year of the WuDe Era, after the current Son of Heaven executed his brothers, he posthumously honored his eldest brother Jian-cheng as the Prince of Hidden Repose with the posthumous title "Hidden," and his fourth brother, the Prince of Hailing, Yuanji, with the title "Violent." Both men, along with their ten executed sons, were buried in the Gaoyang Plains west of Chang'an, forming a cluster of tombs. Within the city, there was also a memorial temple, its scale exceeding norms. People often referred to this burial ground as the "Hidden Mausoleum." Zheng Guanyin was asking whether Yi Niang would be buried beside her father, like her executed brothers.

"My father has already submitted a memorial and received imperial approval. Yi Niang will be buried in the Chai family ancestral cemetery on the Xianyang Plains, as the bride of the Chai family's legitimate heir," Chai Yingluo replied.

"Yi Niang was granted the title of princess, albeit a minor one. Still, she was of imperial blood...""My late mother is also buried in the Chai family ancestral tomb. As the biological daughter of the founding Empress and recognized for her virtue and merits, she was posthumously honored as 'Zhao,' with a funeral procession featuring front and rear Feathered Canopies, a Drum and Wind Ensemble, a Grand Carriage, Command Standards, and forty Ceremonial Swordsmen, along with Valiant Tiger Armored Soldiers pulling the hearse," Chai Yingluo said, raising an eyebrow at her eldest aunt. "Yi Niang was the bride of my late mother's eldest son. When she joins the procession, she'll be buried beside my mother, with all rites befitting a county princess. Our family will not mistreat her."

This airtight argument left Zheng Guanyin with no room for rebuttal. With a cold expression, she curtseyed again and turned to lead her daughter back to their own bedroom.

Letting out a long sigh, Chai Yingluo and Wei Shufen entered Yi Niang's old bedroom in the eastern wing. As they looked around, the female Taoist complained:

"Aunt has truly lost her mind. Before the incident, she was fine. I’ve been running around this courtyard for so long, working myself thin, and she even started calling me 'Yingniang' to my face. But now that this has happened, she’s taking her anger out on me—as if I’m the one who killed her! Besides, when Yi Niang was alive, as the legal mother, she never treated this stepdaughter particularly well. What’s the point of nitpicking now that she’s gone?"

Perhaps Lady Zheng was triggered by Yi Niang’s death, reminded of her three sons who had been successively engaged to Chai Yingluo—especially her own biological son, Prince Chengzong of Taiyuan—making her resent this woman who had nearly become her daughter-in-law... Wei Shufen mused silently while offering a few words of comfort to Chai Yingluo and carefully examining Yi Niang’s chamber.

This young girl’s bedroom... was truly desolate.

Wei Shufen had seen Yi Niang’s bridal chamber in the main courtyard before the wedding. Though not luxurious—with exposed beams and such—it at least had freshly varnished doors, windows, and walls, along with new and sturdy carpets, bed curtains, charcoal stoves, and screens. The red brocade bedding embroidered with floral patterns carried a festive air.

But this bedroom where Yi Niang had lived before... how to put it? The windows had been newly papered, and the bed, seating, desk, and cabinets were sturdy and complete. A large bronze stove stood on the floor—nothing was missing in terms of furniture, yet everything looked crude, neglected, and devoid of warmth or life. Earlier, Lady Zheng had mentioned that Yi Niang’s younger sister still lived here, naturally with her wet nurse and maids, yet the room remained this barren.

"Her sisters are pitiable too. When I entered this temple last winter, the windows in both wing courtyards hadn’t been re-papered for two or three years. The holes were so large they were patched haphazardly with straw and old cloth," Chai Yingluo sighed. "Aunt’s bed had a broken leg, and with no way to repair it, she propped it up with a few bricks. I couldn’t bear to see it, so under the pretext of preparing for the wedding, I had the Palace Service Department replace and fix everything necessary."

"Sister Ying is truly kind and generous," Wei Shufen praised.

"The provisions for the two consorts and eleven county princesses are allocated by regulation, and the Empress checks in yearly. Staples like grain, meat, vegetables, sewing supplies, cloth, and winter fuel aren’t lacking, but human nature is fickle. Expecting the palace officials to meticulously care for this forgotten place is asking too much," Chai Yingluo sighed. "I can’t manage everything either. Take incense burning, for instance—it’s second nature to us. On the afternoon of Yi Niang’s wedding, when the Empress was about to arrive, I told Yi Niang to burn some incense to freshen the room. She just stared at me blankly, not understanding what I meant. When I asked, it turned out no one had sent any incense to the Temple of Common Vocation in nine years! She’d entered the temple as a child and had long forgotten what incense even was. Thankfully, her Heba wet nurse remembered, so we ended up using the lily-scented pills from my personal pouch..."She had already mentioned this matter before, and bringing it up again led to another sigh. Wei Shufen murmured in agreement while noticing a bookshelf in the room, sparsely filled with dozens of volumes. She walked over and pulled one out—it turned out to be a text from the Lingbao Jing . She picked out one or two more, only to find miscellaneous divination and hexagram records.

She found it slightly odd. The popular educational books for women of the time were Admonitions for Women and Biographies of Exemplary Women , among others. If the purpose was merely literacy, then some primers on classics, histories, or texts like Quick Access and Thousand Character Classic would be normal. But Yi Niang and her sister were noblewomen of the inner palace—why would they be reading Taoist scriptures and divination texts?

Chai Yingluo also approached, bending down to pull out a cloth-bound volume from the bottom shelf. The label read Shengxuan Jing . She shook her head, opening the cloth bag and pulling out the scroll as she chuckled, "Could it be that Yi Niang and her sister also want to join the Purple Void Monastery and become Female Taoist Priests under my guidance…"

Before she could finish, the words on the scroll caught her eye, and she immediately fell silent, lowering her head to examine it closely. Wei Shufen also moved beside her to look. The scroll, labeled as a Taoist scripture, actually contained palace-style poetry from the New Songs from the Jade Terrace , with the first poem in view being Emperor Jianwen’s Thoughts in the Golden Chamber :

"The wanderer has long not returned, / On whom shall I, his wife, rely? / The sun shifts, my lone shadow stirs, / Ashamed to see paired swallows fly."

Chai Yingluo exhaled, shaking her head at Wei Shufen with a smile:

"Young maiden, don’t read such books too carefully—there are even more explicit and vulgar ones later. Your father, Imperial Censor Wei, particularly despises the ornate Qi-Liang style. I’ve read his ancient-style reflective poems—expansive in imagery and robust in spirit. Though not mainstream, they reveal the integrity of a remonstrating official, which I greatly admire. If your father knew I showed you these, he’d likely storm into my monastery tomorrow, burn down the Three Pure Ones’ statues, and drag you home."

Wei Shufen laughed. "Ying-jie is right. My parents always shake their heads at Emperor Jianwen’s palace-style poetry and forbid my siblings and me from reading it. But I wonder how Yi Niang and the Fourth Young Lady got their hands on this collection…"

She pulled out a few more volumes from the bottom shelf and opened them one by one. Sure enough, there were scattered fragments of Qi-Liang palace-style poetry like New Songs from the Jade Terrace and Collected Works of Emperor Jianwen of Liang , all disguised with solemn labels. Flipping through them, Chai Yingluo couldn’t help but smile:

"That HeBa insists Yi Niang was a pure maiden with a heart like still water—I doubt it. She was already eighteen by East Asian reckoning, confined year after year in this forbidden temple. How could she not feel the pangs of spring or autumn’s sorrow?—Oh, this handwriting!"

Chai Yingluo’s exclamation made Wei Shufen hurry over to look. The Female Taoist Priest was unrolling an old piece of paper, on which was copied another love poem from New Songs from the Jade Terrace :

"The high hall looms solemn and vast, / The great house chills, desolate and drear. / A breeze stirs the inner chamber’s drapes, / The setting sun lights the courtyard clear. / Pacing beneath the cloudy eaves, / I sing, leaning on painted beams…"

The calligraphy was far from masterful—straight strokes, childish lines, neat but clearly untrained. Wei Shufen found the handwriting somewhat familiar, and upon realizing, she too gasped:

"Wasn’t Yi Niang’s suicide note written in this same hand?"

"A-Fen, search again to see if there are more books copied in this handwriting. If we can confirm these are Yi Niang’s own writings, we can take some and ask a calligraphy expert to verify them. That should determine whether the suicide note was truly hers or forged by the murderer."

This made sense, and Wei Shufen grew excited. The two women rummaged through the shelves and found several more scrolls with similar handwriting—all love poems between men and women.Yi Niang's nurse, HeBa, was still locked in the woodshed at the back of the courtyard. After some thought, Chai Yingluo said, "That woman would rather die than admit these love poems were copied by Yi Niang." She then summoned the fourth daughter of the former Crown Prince, who had always shared a room with her elder sister.

The fourth daughter was just an eleven-year-old girl, timid and shy. She entered the room, called out "Sister Ying," and immediately buried herself in the female Taoist's embrace. Chai Yingluo held her, coaxing and questioning her gently. Without much effort, the girl admitted, "These poems were all secretly copied by Eldest Sister at night. She told me not to tell anyone, especially not Nurse HeBa."

"Then where did she get the original books from which she copied these poems?" Wei Shufen interjected.

The fourth daughter tilted her head and thought for a moment, then pointed at the scroll with the line "The high hall is lofty and grand" and said, "After she finished writing this page, I saw Eldest Sister give a book to Aunt Four in the eastern courtyard..."

Could it have been borrowed from Consort Yang, Princess of Hailing, the widow of Li Yuan-ji?

Chai Yingluo slapped her forehead:

"I guessed it! It must be so!"

"What?"

"This Temple of Common Vocation—wasn't it originally the residence of Prince Qi during the WuDe Era? These books in Yi Niang's boudoir must have been left behind by my frivolous fourth uncle. After the sixth month of the ninth year, the entire estate was bestowed upon General Yuchi, and his family came to confiscate and move things. Presumably, all the valuable and useful books were taken away. The leftovers, which no one wanted, were only accessible after Aunt Four, Yi Niang, and the others moved in..."

Chai Yingluo asked the fourth daughter a few more questions to confirm that the love poems were indeed in Yi Niang's handwriting, then had her nurse come in to take the little girl away. The two women then carefully placed the scrolls into a book cover and stored them away. Chai Yingluo looked relieved: "I'll steal some time in the next couple of days to personally visit a calligrapher for verification."

"Sister Ying, which calligrapher do you plan to consult?" Wei Shufen asked.

"Your question... seems to leave few options," the female Taoist mused. "Ouyang Xun, the Director of the Palace Library; Yu Shi Nan, the Imperial Librarian; or Chu Suiliang, the Head of the Hongwen Academy. It’s pretty much limited to these few. That should suffice, right?"

The calligraphy of Ouyang Xun, Yu Shi Nan, and Chu Suiliang... They were indeed "authoritative masters," worthy of the title. But to ask them to authenticate these juvenile copies of love poems by a young girl—the calligraphers would probably complain about the strain on their eyes...

Chai Yingluo seemed to be entertaining the same thought, a smile playing at her lips:

"Yi Niang may appear obedient and docile on the surface, but she has a mind of her own. No wonder—their lives are so dull. When they come across these slightly sentimental poems, they lose themselves in fantasies. Ah, I don’t think it’s a big deal. If she can marry into my family smoothly and my elder brother treats her well, the young couple will surely live in harmony..."

Wei Shufen also didn’t think a young girl copying a few love poems was a serious matter—she herself had secretly read many such forbidden books, and clearly, the female Taoist Chai Yingluo had read even more. Li Wanxi had her little secrets, but overall, she was still a shy and timid woman—her pale, bloodless face, her nervous stuttering, her slender fingers trembling incessantly... Fingers?

"Sister Ying, that jade ring we found," Wei Shufen paused, then corrected herself, "the men's jade ring Prince Wu found in Yi Niang's dressing case—could it be related to these love poems?"

"Oh," Chai Yingluo seemed to have just remembered that as well. "I didn’t see the ring. What did it look like? What color was it? Just an ordinary white jade ring? A bit larger in size?"Wei Shufen shook her head and described the peculiar ancient style of the taotie-patterned pale green blood jade ring to Chai Yingluo—its sloped edge with a notch carved beneath and a hole on the other side for threading a silk cord. Yesterday, in front of Empress Zhangsun at the Hall of Established Governance, she hadn’t been able to explain it so clearly due to the urgency.

The female Taoist listened quietly, her crescent eyebrows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"It sounds... truly suspicious. I’m inclined to believe Heba’s claim that the ring didn’t belong to Yi Niang..."

Before she could finish, footsteps sounded at the door. Wei Shufen turned to see Jingxuan Daogu entering. The nun approached Chai Yingluo and whispered a report:

"This servant just questioned some of the attendants. The lady guessed correctly—last evening, someone from the Great Peace Palace came..."

Chai Yingluo snorted softly, a cold smile playing on her lips. "It must have been someone from Consort Yin’s entourage, no doubt?"

"The people here didn’t recognize the eunuchs or maids who came," Jingxuan replied. "They were delivering funeral gifts, but someone spoke privately with Zheng Niangzi, keeping others from hearing—exactly as the lady predicted."

No wonder Zheng Guanyin had been so hostile toward Chai Yingluo today. It likely had much to do with the visitors from the Great Peace Palace last night. Wei Shufen recalled Chai Yingluo’s words—that the Great Peace Palace was now effectively under Consort Yin’s control, with the Supreme Emperor as her puppet. Her heart tightened. What vicious scheme had that shrew concocted now?

Footsteps sounded outside the window again, this time urgent and loud, thudding all the way to the door. Li Yuangui’s voice rang out, hoarse and sharp:

"Yingniang? Is the High Truth Master in this room? Yingniang? I have urgent business!"