"From the humble granddaughter of the Supreme Emperor of the Great Tang, Wanxi, with deepest respect:
Born with meager talent and ill-fated destiny, calamity befell my late father. For nine years, my heart ached, until one night brought complete enlightenment. Life’s course is not of our choosing. Cast into the imperial household, though bearing the title of a princess and bathed in royal teachings, my form is inferior to the willow, my essence frail as morning dew. Following the rules of the inner chambers, I grieve abandoning the nurturing love of my mother; receiving instruction in the palace halls, I shamefully hear of the withering pines in the cold. The waters of Yanping have dried, the Dragon Sword departs the spring; the Qin Jade Tower has collapsed, the Phoenix Flute is gone forever. May my imperial grandfather live ten thousand years, and all mothers a thousand autumns, in this prosperous and peaceful age where all under heaven find joy. With deepest respect, Li Wanxi."
Wei Shufen set down the plain paper for the eighteenth time, rubbed her eyes, and sighed. For the eighteenth time, she asked the other person in the room:
"Daogu Jingxuan, is this Yi Niang’s handwriting?"
"Wei Niangzi, this servant truly does not know," Jingxuan Daogu replied with a bitter smile. "I was never much literate—how could I recognize handwriting?"
After everyone else had left the room, Jingxuan had been ordered to stay with Wei Shufen and tidy up. But before Chai Yingluo departed, she had instructed, "Do not disturb the furnishings in the room," so the two of them had only picked up the fragments of Yi Niang’s wedding dress and ceremonial headdress from the floor. There was little else to do. The suicide note left by Li Yiniang, discovered by Chai Zhewei, lay on the writing desk. By the light of the lamp on the desk, Wei Shufen read it over and over.
The calligraphy was not particularly skilled, resembling more the careful strokes of a child practicing characters—each stroke distinct yet occasionally shaky. The phrasing, however, was elegant and poetic, with lines like "my essence frail as morning dew," "grieving the nurturing love of my mother," and "the waters of Yanping have dried, the Qin Jade Tower has collapsed," clearly expressing the young girl’s lament over her misfortunes, her sorrow at leaving her mother, and her resolve to abandon this world.
Wei Shufen’s gaze lingered on the opening self-identification: "the humble granddaughter of the Supreme Emperor of the Great Tang." Yi Niang made no mention of her murdered father, nor did she identify herself as "the niece of the current Son of Heaven," as if she harbored deep resentment over the palace coup at the Black Tortoise Gate nine years ago. The title "granddaughter of the Supreme Emperor" carried a faint hint of pride and accusation... Thinking back to the timid young bride-to-be she had seen just two days prior, it was hard to imagine such complex emotions and such resolute courage hidden beneath that pale, shy exterior.
The inkstone on the desk was dry, the brush tip stiff. It was unclear when Li Wanxi had written this note, only that she had retrieved it before her decision to hang herself today and tucked it beneath her pillow.
"Daogu Jingxuan," Wei Shufen asked, "you’ve been accompanying High Truth Master in the Temple of Common Vocation to oversee the wedding preparations for some time now, haven’t you? Did Yi Niang strike you as the kind of girl who would take her own life?"
Jingxuan sighed. "How should I put it? This servant didn’t see Yi Niang often. The young lady was pitiable—so obedient and quiet, doing whatever she was told. I never sensed any deep grievance or sorrow in her. But the heart is hidden behind layers of flesh—who can truly see into another’s mind? This afternoon, when the Empress visited and spoke with her alone, Yi Niang wept uncontrollably..."
"The Empress visited this afternoon? Today?" Wei Shufen was startled.
"Yes. What, Wei Niangzi didn’t know?" Jingxuan replied. "The Empress usually dislikes grand displays of pomp, but today she made an exception, arriving in the full ceremonial procession reserved for imperial consorts. The four-horse carriage was so large it nearly couldn’t fit through the courtyard gate! And her pheasant robe and jeweled headdress—ah, this old servant’s eyes were nearly blinded by the dazzle! Tsk tsk, to witness such a sight even once in a lifetime is worth it...""The Empress has been in poor health these past two years, yet she still goes through all this trouble..." Wei Shufen murmured to herself, though she understood that Empress Zhangsun wasn't just visiting her niece casually as an aunt. This was "the Empress Mother personally escorting the princess to her wedding," with all the ceremonial protocols of carriages and retinues. Being too casual would have been improper.
"This servant wasn't too far away and caught a glimpse. The Empress looked quite well, very happy, chatting and laughing with Lady Zheng and Lady Yang. She also brought Yi Niang many dowry gifts, saying they were private presents for her niece," Jing Xuan sighed with a smile. "After speaking with the two princess consorts, the Empress said she had something to discuss privately with Yi Niang and took her into the east wing room..."
"Is this the place? Yi Niang's chamber?" Wei Shufen asked.
Jing Xuan nodded. "Yes, this very room. Yi Niang didn't originally live here—she stayed in the western courtyard with four other sisters under Lady Zheng's care. But with the wedding preparations being so hectic, High Truth Master arranged for this row of east wing rooms to be refurbished comfortably for Yi Niang to move into until her marriage."
Wei Shufen turned her head to survey the bridal chamber. It was clearly newly furnished, with freshly whitewashed walls and thick, pristine window paper.
The Temple of Common Vocation, converted from the former Prince Qi's residence, wasn't designed for daily living—its main halls prioritized "grandeur and spaciousness," with beams set high above the ground and wide doors and windows. While cool and breezy in summer, in winter the north wind whistled through every crack; even ten charcoal braziers couldn't warm the space properly. Thus, a smaller heated alcove had been partitioned inside, though the ceiling remained abnormally high.
Beneath the beam lay an overturned tall stool. Wei Shufen realized it must have been Yi Niang's makeshift step. Princess Linfen Li Wanxi, fully dressed, would have moved some decorative item from the stool, placed it beneath the beam, climbed up, tied a silk noose, thrown it over the beam, placed her head inside, and kicked the stool away...
Shivering, she shook her head to dispel the horrific image and continued questioning Jing Xuan: "What did the Empress and Yi Niang discuss in this room? No one knows?"
"When the Empress requests a private talk, who would dare eavesdrop?" Jing Xuan sighed. "Everyone waited outside. The Empress called her personal maid in at one point. By dusk, she emerged and departed directly for the palace without returning to the main hall... After that, Yi Niang remained here alone. Who could have imagined she'd take such a dire step..."
This implied... that the last person to see and speak with Yi Niang before her death was Empress Zhangsun?
If Yi Niang's death was confirmed as suicide, wouldn't that heavily implicate the Empress? Could it even be construed as "frightened or pressured to death by the Empress's private words"?
The thought startled even Wei Shufen. This was the famously gentle, virtuous Empress Zhangsun, praised throughout the court as the model of maternal virtue since antiquity...
Footsteps approached outside the alcove as Chai Yingluo's voice drew nearer. Moments later, she entered with Prince Wu's Fourteenth Young Master and her younger brother Chai Zhewei.Wei Shufen had previously inquired with Jing Xuan and learned that Prince Wu's name was Li Yuangui, indeed the fourteenth son of the Supreme Emperor and a half-brother to the current Emperor. Born during the WuDe Era, he was only fifteen or sixteen this year—much younger than his niece and nephew, the Chai siblings. Though his status was noble, it was common knowledge that after ascending the throne in his later years, the Supreme Emperor had been remarkably vigorous, fathering over thirty children in less than a decade. Prince Wu was merely one among them and likely not particularly favored...
The daughter of the Wei Chancellor comforted herself with these thoughts, trying to dismiss her earlier rudeness and friction with Li Yuangui as she rose to greet Chai Yingluo and the other two. Fortunately, given the circumstances, no one was paying attention to etiquette. Once seated, Chai Yingluo dismissed Jing Xuan and cut straight to the point without preamble:
"Fourteenth Uncle, you said Yi Niang didn’t hang herself—she was strangled. Explain in detail. I’ll report to the Empress tomorrow and need to present the facts clearly. Whether it’s suicide or murder makes a huge difference. You can’t deceive me."
Li Yuangui sighed.
"This isn’t hard to determine. Yingniang, you studied medicine under Sun Yaowang—didn’t you notice the ligature marks on the back of Yi Niang’s neck when you were trying to revive her earlier?"
Chai Yingluo froze, then walked to the bed, lifted the corpse, and examined the back of the neck. Wei Shufen also looked and indeed saw two intersecting deep red ligature marks on Yi Niang’s delicate skin. Earlier, both she and Chai Yingluo had been wholly focused on saving her, and Yi Niang’s long hair had obscured her neck, so neither had noticed.
"If she had hanged herself by slipping her neck into a noose and kicking over the high stool, the rope would only have left marks under her chin and the front of her neck. How could there be marks on the back?" Li Yuangui said. "Clearly, someone caught her off guard, wrapped a cloth or something around her neck from behind, crossed and tightened it, strangling her to death before hanging her up to stage the scene."
His description was clear and precise, but his tone was detached, as if discussing the death of a complete stranger. Wei Shufen noticed Chai Yingluo giving Li Yuangui a complicated glance before she sighed softly and asked, "Anything else?"
"Yes." Li Yuangui nodded. "That’s just the first inconsistency. Have you ever seen someone who died by hanging? Even if not, you’ve heard descriptions, haven’t you? Their faces turn pale as paper, their tongues protrude—those aren’t just made-up tales. But Yi Niang’s face is completely different."
Wei Shufen involuntarily glanced down at the corpse again, only to quickly avert her eyes. Yi Niang’s swollen, twisted face was flushed red, and bloody froth had seeped from her lips—a horrifying sight.
"Blood rushing to the head, frothing at the mouth—these are signs of strangulation on the ground, right?" Chai Yingluo asked. "Fourteenth Uncle, did you learn this from coroners?"
Li Yuangui nodded without elaboration. Wei Shufen found it odd—why would a young imperial prince, the Son of Heaven’s own brother, have listened to coroners discussing such grisly matters?
"Earlier, you mentioned four inconsistencies proving Yi Niang was strangled. That was the second. What about the other two?" Chai Yingluo pressed.
Li Yuangui hesitated. "This isn’t very refined to discuss, but after struggling to death, the body relaxes, and it’s inevitable that... bodily fluids are released..."He pointed to the tall stand that had fallen beneath the beam: "If Yi Niang had hanged herself here, there should be traces of scent on this section of the carpet—but there are none. The scent I detected was over there, by the dressing bed under the window!"
Everyone in the room turned to look at the dressing bed by the west window. Unlit, the mirror stand, vanity case, and incense burner on the bed were barely visible. Li Yuangui pointed them out one by one:
"While you were reviving Yi Niang, I circled the room and traced the scent to the dressing bed. The mirror cover and vanity case were left open, and there were traces of urine on the seat. The murderer strangled Yi Niang from behind while she was sitting at the mirror doing her hair, then dragged both her body and the tall stand beneath the beam to stage the scene as a suicide. I suspect the incense burner was originally placed atop the stand, but the killer moved it to the dressing bed when he needed the stand to step on—or perhaps he noticed the urine smell and deliberately moved the burner to mask it."
"Exactly! That burner was indeed on the stand earlier!" Chai Yingluo slapped her knee. "The incense inside was even brought by me! When the Empress was about to arrive this afternoon, I came in to check on Yi Niang's preparations. The room smelled unpleasant, so I told her to burn some incense to welcome Her Majesty. But Yi Niang barely understood what I meant—she'd completely forgotten how to burn incense, poor child—"
She broke off with a sigh. Wei Shufen also felt a pang of sorrow. Her own household lived frugally and rarely burned incense or perfumed clothes, but they still kept the essential vase-furnace trio, and she had even helped her mother blend scented pills at home. Yi Niang, originally the Son of Heaven's eldest daughter and first princess, should have been surrounded by fragrance day and night—yet now she had forgotten even the basics of incense burning...
"Fortunately, Yi Niang's nurse, also a former attendant from the Crown Prince's Palace, remembered the old customs," Chai Yingluo continued. "The temple naturally had no ready-made incense or proper vessels, so I had the nurse find a clean tile, place it in a warming brazier, and gave Yi Niang my personal sachet to pick a couple of loose pills to burn for the occasion."
"So that's it. The incense was yours, no wonder..." Li Yuangui paused, swallowing the rest of his words.
The room still carried lingering traces of the incense—a subtle, profound fragrance. "Yes, it was mine. Blended by your late mother and given to me... Ah, never mind that," Chai Yingluo sighed. "Fourteenth Uncle, what's the last inconsistency?"
No one answered. Li Yuangui stared blankly ahead, his mind seemingly elsewhere.
Chai Zhewei, who had remained silent since entering, nudged his shoulder: "Fourteenth Uncle?"
Li Yuangui startled as if waking, cleared his throat, and continued: "The last inconsistency is this strangling cord used on Yi Niang... Look at it. Have you ever seen such a complicated noose?"
He bent down to pick up a long cord from beside the bed, which jingled faintly with movement. The two men and two women in the room passed it around until it reached Wei Shufen. Before she could examine it closely, Chai Yingluo suddenly gasped: "This belt... this belt—"
"What?" Li Yuangui pressed.
"The leather strap on the strangling cord..." Chai Yingluo's long lashes fluttered shut briefly. "This was personally bestowed upon Yi Niang by the Empress herself when she visited this afternoon."
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