Regardless, Heban’s entire family was long dead, so no one would be implicated. Having her take the blame for the murder would be a clean and simple solution… At most, they could find someone else in the Eastern Palace to be named as Heban’s accomplice who had stolen the Crown Prince’s jade ring, convict them both, and thus conclude the case – this should satisfy the Emperor and Empress.
This solution, I could manage it, Wei Shubin realized with some surprise.
The current mistress of the Eastern Palace was her good friend Su Lingyu. Consort Su had only been in charge of the Eastern Palace for half a year; not all the Crown Prince’s old servants and favorites necessarily got along with the new mistress. Among so many people, there were usually one or two troublemakers who couldn’t be easily dismissed. She could seek an audience with the Crown Princess, discuss privately, take the opportunity to “clear the sovereign’s side,” and force a confession from someone to conclude the case, making it convenient for all parties. Yes, she could do this.
As long as she ignored her conscience.
Looking at Yang Buyao’s relaxed posture as she cooled herself and wiped away sweat, Wei Shubin thought that if it were this beautiful woman, she would do this without hesitation, wouldn’t she? Born to the former Sui imperial clan, orphaned young and raised by her uncle, married into the new dynasty’s Prince’s household, then experiencing her husband’s death, her son’s death, nine years of confinement, and becoming pregnant by her brother-in-law… She had spent her entire life circling the court, witnessing nothing but harshness, darkness, bloodshed, and filth. Being immersed in such an environment, she would naturally consider such actions perfectly justified.
“I appreciate Lady Yang’s kind intentions,” Wei Shubin said to her. “But… *sigh*, to be honest, I’m very afraid. Young Lady Yi was a living person – if she was truly killed by Heban, and the murderer is already dead, then so be it. But if it wasn’t the nurse’s doing, then the real killer is still lurking in the palace, and in the future… I seem to know too much already, what if one day…”
“Miss Wei, you needn’t think so much about it,” Yang Buyao smiled. “If you receive favor in the future, you’ll naturally be far from the gloom and resentment of the palace quarters, living in your palace residence, and then you can carefully select your servants. But right now, I see you’re taking things too seriously, still thinking of investigating the Crown Prince… Don’t, absolutely don’t. Don’t listen to palace gossip about His Majesty disliking the Crown Prince and favoring Prince Yue and such – those can’t be relied upon.”
“Is that so?” Wei Shubin questioned. Yang Buyao nodded:
“I speak from experience. In the imperial family, outsiders can’t meddle in father-son or brotherly relationships. Even for married couples… *sigh*… not everyone has the current Empress’s capabilities. You’ve just been selected, so you especially cannot offend the palace. Don’t look at how the Empress is often ill and gentle-natured and thinks you can do as you please. During the Wude years, in my dealings with my sisters-in-law, I learned just how clever and formidable that Second Sister-in-law was.”
Wei Shubin’s gaze unconsciously moved to her swollen belly. Yang Buyao noticed this and blushed slightly, turning her face away to look at the sky beyond the courtyard wall:
“We women of the Hongnong Yang clan, especially in these recent generations, have borne the empty reputation of ‘having beauty,’ being traded like commodities, picked and fought over – how could any of us make our own choices? We just drift with the current, living harsh and furtive lives… In early Wude, when Prince Qi was selecting a consort, his third sister came to our house to look me over, and made the decision immediately, without any consideration – no one even asked if I was willing. If I had half the fierce spirit of young Miss Wei, I should have dashed my head against a wall and died right then.”
“Ah?” Wei Shubin was surprised. “So Lady Yang originally didn’t want to marry Prince Qi? Was it because… he was ugly?”
She had heard Chai Yingluo speak of Fourth Uncle Li Yuanji and his marriage, knowing that Empress Dou’s youngest son was both ugly in appearance and vicious in character – even his mother couldn’t stand him. During the Taiyuan uprising, Li Yuanji was ordered by his father to guard their home territory, but within two years, he had lost the city and territory, fleeing back to the capital alone. The imperial court had intended to punish him, but his third sister Princess Pingyang pleaded desperately for him, and convinced their father Li Yuan to “find Fourth Brother a proper wife to manage him.” Li Yuanji already had concubines and children then, and privately told his full sister “I won’t be satisfied unless I marry the most beautiful woman in Chang’an.” So Princess Pingyang took charge of selecting his consort, conducting an extensive search and examination of beauties, and finally choosing Yang Buyao. After marriage, the couple seemed harmonious enough – at least no scandals were heard.
Yang Buyao didn’t directly answer her query, only sighing: “Our family was unfortunate, bearing the empty title of former dynasty’s imperial clan. The clan leaders and male relatives lived in daily fear that the new dynasty’s emperor would, like Emperor Wen of Sui, eliminate the old imperial clan. When they heard the new imperial family wanted to select our family’s daughter, they didn’t care if it was as a servant or concubine, didn’t care about our thoughts or situations – as soon as someone came asking, they immediately offered us up. Whatever unreasonable or cruel demands were made, they strove to comply. Alas… even today, it remains so.”
Before Wei Shubin’s eyes flashed the image of a boy’s corpse – Yang Buyao’s son Li Yuanji, killed after the Xuanwu Gate Incident by her close relative Yang Shidao and his wife. For a mother, such hatred and enmity should have been irreconcilable, yet Yang Buyao seemed… to have not fallen out with Yang Shidao or the masterminds Li Shimin and his wife.
“Lady Yang is not naive and simple like me,” she observed the beautiful woman’s expression as she spoke, “but your spirit might not be any less fierce. Dodder vine and climbing fern, husband and wife should be well-matched – such matters needn’t be judged by immediate results.”
Yang Buyao smiled calmly:
“I understand what Miss Wei means, and don’t blame you for thinking so. You grew up in an eastern gentry family, with your father teaching propriety and integrity from childhood, so naturally, you believe that sacrificing life for righteousness is the right path. As for me, I’ve seen all sorts of moral transgressions since childhood, but nothing surprises me anymore. In this life, comfortable living and maintaining dignified prosperity are fundamental. Competing for fame and power isn’t a woman’s business, yet women and children must bear the consequences of failure – that’s not fair either.”
So that’s how she thought. As long as she lived comfortably, everything else was like floating clouds.
This could also be a good motive for murder.
She had gone to great lengths to become intimate with the current Emperor and conceive, hoping her situation would improve, but Li Wanxi discovered this before the Emperor could make any decisions. Moreover, Young Lady Yi was about to marry into the Chai family and might let this slip, spreading the news. Yang Buyao, fearing public opinion would turn against her and prompt the Emperor to take harsh action, simply chose to kill the Linfen County Princess first. After all, she had already arranged with Yang Shidao to leave the temple and live in seclusion, thinking investigations wouldn’t lead to her…
If this was truly her plan, then it could be said to have basically succeeded. Wei Shubin’s suspicions of her had never lessened, even reaching their peak now, but firstly, she couldn’t find any evidence, and secondly, she couldn’t report this to the Emperor.
The two women sat silently on the bamboo bed for a while before the middle-aged attending nun emerged from the back door of the residence carrying a small lacquer tray with two cups of cold drink for them. Having talked so much, Wei Shubin was already thirsty and thanked her as she took a cup to drink. Yang Buyao also extended her delicate fingers to take a cup and sip, then returned it to the lacquer tray, smiling in thanks to the attending nun: “Thank you for your trouble, Venerable One.”
Wei Shubin watched her elegant drinking posture and unexpectedly asked:
“In the Eastern Palace poisoned wine case ten years ago, was the person who poisoned the current Emperor’s cup acting under Prince Qi Yuanji’s instructions? And did his elder brother Jiancheng later take the blame for the poisoning?”
When the case was reinvestigated after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, someone had used ladies’ daily makeup conch ink to write clues on a food box, secretly helping investigators find the poisoned wine pot in the Eastern Palace well, thus broadly concluding the case as “the former Crown Prince’s attempted poisoning.” Considering motive and who benefited, this provider of clues could be none other than Yang Buyao, and she hadn’t denied it last time either.
At this third mention, Yang Buyao’s expression was much calmer as she sat on the bamboo bed, stroking her belly and sighing:
“I have one request of Miss Wei. The Eastern Palace poisoned wine case has no connection to Young Lady Yi’s death, nor does it affect your prospects. I don’t wish to deceive you with lies, so I also ask that you stop inquiring about that matter and stirring up old grievances. On behalf of my late husband’s daughters and the child in my womb, I thank Miss Wei for her consideration.”
Speaking thus, she seemed to confirm that her former husband was indeed the mastermind behind the Eastern Palace poisoned wine case. Just as Wei Shubin was about to probe further, she saw her maid A Yuan hurriedly enter the courtyard and approach to whisper: “Miss Wei, a message came from the temple, asking you to return home quickly!”
“What?” It wasn’t surprising that people from Zixu Temple knew to find her here – she had expected A Yuan would quietly leave word before going out – but why would they suddenly call her home? The temple had been sheltering her from her family all along.
“Someone came from the Wei residence reporting that your mother went into labor last night and it’s not going well – there’s unstoppable bleeding. The Master has already rushed over and sent someone to inform Miss Wei…”
Before A Yuan could finish, Wei Shubin turned pale with shock and rushed out the door.
Note: After modern air conditioning became widespread, the younger generation probably has no memory of “cooling off outdoors in summer evenings,” right? Twenty years ago, there would have been no need to explain what a “bamboo bed in the summer courtyard” looked like. However, in the Tang Dynasty and before, “bed” referred to a broader category of furniture with more functions.
In the Zhenguan era, “chairs” were still not common furniture. It was very popular to place a huge bed-like platform with short legs on the ground, which could be used for sitting, sleeping, and storing things, similar to the kang still commonly seen in northern rural houses today, except it was movable and thus more convenient. For pictorial reference, see Figure 3 “Northern Qi Book Collation” showing such a large bed – one could sit cross-legged directly on it, place a folding stool on it to sit, or sit on the edge with legs hanging down. Placing such a bamboo bed in the courtyard on summer nights was very comfortable for lying down or sitting and chatting.