The Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters was in Jiangmi Alley in the southern city—from the northern third ring to the southern third ring, a long journey indeed.
Wei Caiwei walked out of Sweet Water Alley and came to the West Slope Street near the Drum Tower, planning to go to the mule and horse market to hire a carriage. Now that she had money, she was no longer a wandering doctor who went from street to street with a medicine chest to make a living. She need not worry about money—comfort was all that mattered.
Just as she emerged from the alley entrance, an empty carriage passed by, with the driver calling out to solicit business.
It was just like finding a pillow when one was sleepy.
Wei Caiwei flagged down the carriage and negotiated a price of half a tael to go to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters.
Wei Caiwei boarded the carriage. The compartment was clean with no unpleasant odors. The seats were covered with wool cushions, and on the small table nailed to the carriage floor were placed a teapot and teacups. When she touched the teapot, it was still warm—very thoughtful indeed.
However, Wei Caiwei was a doctor with some cleanliness habits, so she wouldn’t drink tea from the carriage. The carriage swayed, and having cleaned house all morning, she was somewhat tired. With the carriage rocking, she leaned against the soft seat to doze.
Wei Caiwei’s heart was concerned about Wang Daxia, so she didn’t truly fall asleep. Half-dreaming and half-awake, drowsily, sometimes she recalled Eunuch Wang from her previous life, sometimes the present Wang Daxia. Figuring they must be near the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters, she sat up, wanting to open the carriage window to see where they were.
But when she opened her eyes, everything was pitch black—the windows had been shut tight at some point.
Wei Caiwei groped to find the windows, but no matter how she pushed, they wouldn’t open.
Wei Caiwei thought the windows were stuck, so she went to push the carriage door, but the door wouldn’t open either—it seemed to be locked from the outside.
Terrible! This was a trap!
Wei Caiwei immediately snapped awake from her drowsiness.
She took out a fire starter from her pocket and lit it. In the faint light, she first kicked at the doors, windows, and wooden panels. The kicks produced muffled sounds. Wei Caiwei discovered that this carriage compartment had double-layered wooden panels with cotton stuffed between them for warmth and sound insulation.
Based on the journey’s length, they should still be in the bustling areas of the capital. The carriage raced through the streets, its wheels grinding over the uneven stone-paved roads. No matter how Wei Caiwei shouted, her voice was drowned out by the noise of the wheels and the clamor of the streets.
Truly calling to heaven brought no response, calling to earth brought no aid.
Wei Caiwei realized that continuing such commotion was futile and fruitless, so she quieted down to find other ways to escape.
At this moment, the carriage should still be within the capital. If it traveled to the deserted outskirts, she would be like a turtle caught in a jar, at the mercy of others.
She had to escape while still in the capital.
What to do?
By the faint light of the fire starter, Wei Caiwei’s gaze fell upon the warm teapot on the small table, and she thought of a method.
The small table was nailed to the floor to prevent sliding. Wei Caiwei took out her defensive dagger and pried out the nails from the table legs one by one.
After prying out the nails, round black holes were exposed. Wei Caiwei used her dagger to continue digging down from the holes, removing wood shavings and chiseling through a crack in the outer wooden panel.
It was just a crack the width of a page, but it was enough for self-rescue.
Wei Caiwei rolled up her sleeves, exposing her jade-like arms. She opened the still-warm teapot, poured out half the tea, then placed her arm over the teapot and used the dagger to make a cut on her arm, letting her blood flow.
Fresh blood flowed into the half-pot of tea. Just before it was full, Wei Caiwei sprinkled blood-clotting powder on the wound and wrapped it tightly with a handkerchief. Then she lifted the teapot and slowly poured the warm bloody water through the crack in the carriage floor.
The bloody water dripped through the crack like a crimson thread. As the carriage raced forward, it drew a seemingly endless red line on the dusty yellow streets—extremely conspicuous.
The red line also gave off a bloody smell, definitely not cinnabar or other dyes.
The pedestrians outside couldn’t hear the commotion inside the carriage, but they could see blood flowing from the bottom of the compartment.
Kind-hearted passersby began calling from the roadside, “Stop quickly! Someone in the carriage is bleeding!”
Ahead was Chaoyang Gate. The driver initially tried to bluff his way through, pretending not to hear. Not only did he not stop, he urged the horses to go faster.
But his luck was poor today—what terrible timing to encounter Captain Wu from the Shuntian Prefecture patrolling the streets.
Captain Wu saw the clear trail of blood on the street and immediately spurred his horse in pursuit, finally forcing the carriage to stop before Chaoyang Gate.
“Stop the carriage! What are you carrying? Are you deaf? We’ve been calling you for ages!” Captain Wu blocked the path on horseback.
The driver put on an act of suddenly awakening. “Oh, it’s a freshly slaughtered pig. The master is in a hurry, so I was rushing to deliver it and didn’t hear the officer’s words.”
Captain Wu, having dealt with various crimes for years, naturally wouldn’t believe this easily. He asked, “You’re just transporting a pig—why are the carriage door and windows locked so tightly?”
The driver explained, “Officer, you don’t understand. Today there’s no one guarding the carriage—it’s just me alone. I was worried someone might climb into the carriage from behind and randomly cut off some meat to steal. I’m driving at the front and don’t have eyes in the back of my head. I can’t afford to compensate, so I simply locked the door from behind.”
Captain Wu pointed at the windows. “People can’t squeeze through windows—why lock those too?”
The driver said, “I was afraid mischievous children might throw dirty things through the carriage windows and soil the pork. Then I really couldn’t explain to my master.”
Meanwhile, Wei Caiwei felt the carriage stop shaking—it must have been discovered by passersby and forced to stop. Though she couldn’t hear the conversation outside, Wei Caiwei desperately kicked the wooden panels inside the carriage and shouted loudly, “Help!”
Although the wooden panels had double layers with cotton insulation for sound, after the carriage stopped, some noise still reached Captain Wu’s ears.
Captain Wu dismounted and pressed his ear against the wooden panel to listen carefully. He couldn’t hear the cries for help, but he could feel the vibrations of the carriage panels—it was Wei Caiwei fiercely kicking the panels inside.
Captain Wu felt there was a living creature inside, not a slaughtered pig—unless dead pigs could come back to life. He said to the driver, “Get down and open the carriage door to have a look.”
Seeing he couldn’t fool his way out, the driver immediately leaped from the carriage shaft, jumped directly onto Captain Wu’s horse, and galloped away madly, disappearing into a nearby alley entrance.
“Chase him!” Captain Wu commanded his constables to pursue the driver while he went to borrow a large axe for chopping firewood from a roadside restaurant. He spat twice into his palms, then swung the axe fiercely at the copper lock.
Clang!
The copper lock was split right down the middle by the axe, the lock head fell to the ground, and Captain Wu opened the carriage door that was as thick as a wall.
Sudden bright light burst through the carriage door. Wei Caiwei couldn’t help but close her eyes. Captain Wu smelled blood, then saw a familiar person—wasn’t this the rumored lover of Commander Lu and Wang Yanei, Doctor Wei!
Confined space, beauty, blood… Captain Wu was experienced and understood the implications. He immediately closed the carriage door again to block the view of onlooking passersby, then split open the carriage windows from outside. He jumped onto the carriage to closely protect Wei Caiwei, then ordered his constables to drive the carriage to the Shuntian Prefecture headquarters while sending someone to report to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters.
His subordinate asked, “Who should we tell?”
Captain Wu, recalling all the rumors from the northern city, said, “Inform both Commander Lu and Wang Yanei.” New love and old love—couldn’t afford to offend either. As a mere captain, he couldn’t afford to offend anyone.
Wei Caiwei gradually adjusted to the light from the carriage window and said, “Thank you, Captain Wu, for the rescue.”
Captain Wu looked at the blood seeping through the white handkerchief on Wei Caiwei’s arm, the crack chiseled in the floor, and the bloody water remaining in the teapot. He immediately understood what had happened in the carriage.
Doctor Wei truly lived up to her reputation—she was no ordinary person. No wonder she had consecutively captivated Commander Lu and Wang Yanei.
Captain Wu asked, “Who was trying to kidnap Doctor Wei?”
Wei Caiwei shook her head in confusion. “I don’t know. It all happened too suddenly.”
Wei Caiwei thought carefully: if speaking of enemies, she had quite a few—from Yan Shifan and Minister Yan above, down to Wang Pozi whom she had already killed, oh, and the White Lotus Sect.
However, her most recent enemy was Eunuch Wei from Prince Jing’s residence. At Qionghua Island, she had argued with Eunuch Wei to protect the selected ladies. Could they want to kill her for this?
As for her pretending to have an imperial edict to protect Wang Daxia, at that time, apart from the Embroidered Uniform Guards, all the guards from Prince Jing’s residence had been silenced by Lu Ying and others. Prince Jin and Eunuch Wei shouldn’t know about it…
She couldn’t discuss any of this with Captain Wu, so Wei Caiwei simply acted as if she were frightened senseless.
Captain Wu said, “Don’t worry, you’re safe now. It’s too dangerous outside—who knows what kind of people are watching you. Let’s go to the Shuntian Prefecture headquarters first.”
Wei Caiwei sat quietly, carefully considering her enemies. Captain Wu had professional habits—he searched here and there, looking closely at everything. He even lifted up the sheepskin cushions on the seats to examine them, sniffing them with his nose. “This sheepskin cushion is new, still has a sheep smell—must have been recently bought.”
Captain Wu used his knife to cut open the back of the sheepskin to check for hidden items. He found a sunflower-pattern mark inside and immediately gave the cushion to his subordinate. “Take this to the leather goods shops and ask which merchant sold this.”
After searching the cushions, Captain Wu searched the seats. He knocked on them with his hand—they sounded hollow inside.
“Please excuse me, Doctor Wei.” Captain Wu swung his axe to chop. In just two strikes, he split the seat in half. Inside were indeed hidden items—rolls of books.
Captain Wu pulled out one volume. The cover read “Complete Tang Poetry,” but when he opened it, inside were scriptures that read: “Think of the beginning, without heavenly enemies, originally without everything, without mountains and rivers, without human relationships, chaotic void. The Old Primordial came to establish the world and seal it, bringing forth above and below, establishing the three powers, dividing the four aspects—”
As Captain Wu read, he became excited. “This is a White Lotus Sect treasure scroll, evil material used to bewitch people’s hearts and recruit followers.”
Wei Caiwei opened it to look. Although she didn’t know what was written in White Lotus Sect treasure scrolls, that phrase “originally without everything” gave it away. Before the Ming Dynasty, “originally” was written as “primordially.” The Ming founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang felt that “primordially” suggested the Yuan Dynasty’s return, which was inauspicious, so he changed “primordially” to “originally.”
The Ming Dynasty had been established for over a hundred years. Newly published books all changed “primordial” to “original.” Only books more than a hundred years old remained unchanged. But judging from the ink fragrance of this book, it was newly printed. Only rebellious organizations like the White Lotus Sect that opposed the court would continue to use the character “primordial.”
Captain Wu said, “From this evidence, it appears the White Lotus Sect was behind this.”
Wei Caiwei thought to herself: If the White Lotus Sect wanted to kill me, Ding Wu would surely have warned me in advance. Could it be that Ding Wu doesn’t know about this matter?
At the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters, ever since performing the ambiguous lover act before Eunuch Wei, Wang Daxia was safe. His wounds hadn’t healed, but the workaholic Lu Ying had dragged him to the office to continue working. Wang Daxia lay like a willow swaying in weak wind, like Xi Shi holding her heart, sprawled over a desk piled high with documents, moaning and groaning. “I can’t go on. This subordinate’s serious injuries haven’t healed—please, Commander Lu, grant me one day of sick leave.”
But while Lu Ying signed expense reports readily, granting sick leave was harder than ascending to heaven. “The doctor said they’re all external injuries. I’m not asking you to go on field duty—just process these documents.”
Wang Daxia tremblingly picked up a writing brush. “Please look, Commander Lu—this subordinate’s handwriting is shaking. I’m truly useless.”
Just then, Captain Wu’s subordinate came to report: “Terrible news—something has happened to Doctor Wei!”
Wang Daxia immediately abandoned his brush for military service, grabbed his embroidered spring knife, and somersaulted from behind the desk to in front of it, transforming from Xi Shi into the Hegemon-King of Western Chu. “What happened? Where is she?”
—
**Author’s Note:** Ban Xia: When I get ruthless, I even cut myself.