In the prison cell, Cui Xun said to Madam Yan: “As long as you tell me what you know, I won’t make things difficult for you.”
Outside the prison cell, Li Ying said to Hu Nu: “As long as your grandmother tells him what she knows, he won’t make things difficult for her.”
Since leaving the palace, Madam Yan had endured countless hardships and was rarely treated with courtesy. She was so moved that her eyes reddened with tears, but she still said: “Assistant Minister Cui, I can tell you what I know, but I have one request.”
“Please speak.”
“I want to ask you to help me rebury Wan Xiang’s remains.”
She seemed afraid that Cui Xun would not agree, so she quickly continued: “In all of Chang’an, only you would dare to rebury Wan Xiang’s remains. Wan Xiang had a miserable life, with only a blind mother at home. After she died, I didn’t even dare tell her mother. A few years later, her mother also died. I want to rebury her remains next to her mother’s. If you agree to this, I’ll tell you everything. If you don’t agree, even if you beat me to death, I won’t say a word.”
Madam Yan’s hemp clothing was covered in patches, indicating her extreme poverty. But no matter how poor she was, she had still done her utmost to care for Wan Xiang’s mother in her old age until her death.
Cui Xun shifted his gaze from the patches on her clothes to her weathered face and calmly said, “Your grandson is very intelligent. If he had money for education, he would have a promising future. Do you choose money? Or do you choose to relocate Wan Xiang’s grave?”
Madam Yan was stunned. She seemed to struggle internally, but finally said, “Wan Xiang was my friend. I… I choose to relocate her grave.”
Cui Xun fell silent. He nodded and said: “Very well. I promise you that her remains will no longer have to be buried in the wasteland for the unclaimed dead.”
Madam Yan was overjoyed and repeatedly kowtowed: “Thank you, Assistant Minister Cui, thank you, thank you.”
Cui Xun stopped her kowtowing: “Tell me everything you know, in detail.”
Twenty-nine years ago, Madam Yan was just a cleaning maid in Empress Zheng’s palace, of low status and with little influence. Because of her dull nature, she was never much favored by Empress Zheng. Wan Xiang was older than her, had entered the palace earlier, and was much cleverer. When Madam Yan was beaten and scolded by Empress Zheng, Wan Xiang, unlike the other palace maids who would kick her when she was down, actually took care of her. She would secretly slip her medicine when no one was looking. Madam Yan was very grateful, and as time went on, she became good friends with Wan Xiang.
As Consort Jiang gained favor, Empress Zheng’s temper grew worse. Madam Yan was constantly blamed for trivial matters and suffered greatly. It was at this time that Consort Jiang’s elder sister, Lady Shen, approached her.
Cui Xun asked: “She wanted you to be her spy?”
Madam Yan nodded: “Yes, she gave me a lot of silver. She said Empress Zheng didn’t treat me well, and asked me to help her with something. She said she would treat me well.”
“And you agreed?”
“No,” Madam Yan said. “If Empress Zheng had found out, she would have beaten me to death. I didn’t have the courage. I didn’t want to have money but no life to spend it.”
“So you refused her?”
“Yes.” Madam Yan paused, her expression darkening: “But I didn’t expect that she would immediately go find Wan Xiang.”
“Wan Xiang agreed?”
Madam Yan’s tone was filled with pain: “I tried to dissuade Wan Xiang. I told her that we shouldn’t get involved in the disputes between noble people. For people like us, being able to live peacefully was enough. But Wan Xiang had a blind mother to support. She needed money, so she accepted Lady Shen’s offer and became Consort Jiang’s spy.”
“She secretly reported everything from Empress Zheng’s palace to Consort Jiang?”
Madam Yan hesitated, then said: “If it were only that, Wan Xiang wouldn’t have died.”
Cui Xun frowned slightly: “Then what happened?”
Madam Yan gritted her teeth: “She not only reported to Consort Jiang the things that happened in Empress Zheng’s palace, but also things that never happened.”
When Madam Yan indirectly questioned Wan Xiang and learned everything, she was terrified. Words that Empress Zheng had said and hadn’t said were all reported by Wan Xiang to Consort Jiang. Wan Xiang told Consort Jiang that Empress Zheng often cursed her and Princess Yong’an in the palace, hoping they would both perish soon. She also claimed that Empress Zheng had said that one day, she would turn Consort Jiang into a second Consort Qi. But in fact, Empress Zheng had never said such things.
Cui Xun frowned: “Why would Wan Xiang do this?”
“I didn’t understand at the time,” Madam Yan said with a bitter smile. “Later, I realized that Wan Xiang wasn’t Consort Jiang’s spy, but Lady Shen’s spy.”
Under Wan Xiang’s instigation, Consort Jiang grew increasingly resentful of Empress Zheng. In truth, although Empress Zheng was arrogant and domineering, she was not a malicious person. Faced with the Late Emperor’s love for Consort Jiang, she was jealous, angry, and resentful. She couldn’t understand why, as a member of the prestigious Zheng family from Xingyang, as the Late Emperor’s first wife who had accompanied him since he was the Crown Prince, and with her beauty and knowledge, she was still less favored than the lowborn Consort Jiang. The only thing she lacked was the ability to bear children. How could she be inferior to Consort Jiang in any way? Yet the Late Emperor showered Consort Jiang with affection while hardly sparing her a glance.
Empress Zheng couldn’t understand it. She did indeed often curse Consort Jiang in the palace and always sought opportunities to make Consort Jiang miserable, but she had never intended to take the lives of Consort Jiang and Li Ying.
Madam Yan continued: “Wan Xiang once reported to Consort Jiang that there was a problem with the ginseng soup Empress Zheng sent to Princess Yong’an. Later, she discovered that Lady Shen had poisoned the soup and then deliberately knocked it over. From then on, Consort Jiang firmly believed that Empress Zheng wanted to kill her and Princess Yong’an.”
Cui Xun asked sternly: “Wasn’t Wan Xiang afraid of being discovered?”
“She was afraid,” Madam Yan sighed. “She was terrified, but she had already boarded Lady Shen’s ship. How could she disembark? She could only brace herself and continue to follow Lady Shen’s orders, sowing discord between Empress Zheng and Consort Jiang. Consort Jiang harbored a deep hatred for Empress Zheng, but Empress Zheng was completely unaware of this. She even busied herself arranging the marriage between her nephew Zheng Yun and Princess Yong’an. But in Consort Jiang’s eyes, Empress Zheng’s arrangements had malicious intent.”
Cui Xun fell into silent contemplation while Madam Yan continued: “In the twentieth year of Taichang, Princess Yong’an drowned. Consort Jiang naturally assumed that Empress Zheng had killed Princess Yong’an. The Late Emperor was furious and ordered a thorough investigation. In the end, they discovered it was the work of the Prince Consort, Zheng Yun. Empress Zheng was deposed, and I was expelled from the palace. But Wan Xiang was promoted to the Food Service Bureau. I advised Wan Xiang to withdraw early and leave the palace with me, but she said she couldn’t leave anymore. She seemed to have already anticipated her fate. She gave me all the money she had and told me that if anything happened to her, she wanted me to help take care of her mother.”
Madam Yan’s expression grew increasingly somber: “A year later, perhaps Consort Jiang discovered that Wan Xiang had been deceiving her all along. She had Wan Xiang beaten to death. That’s everything I know.”
A brief account that encompassed the entire life of a pitiful woman. One wrong decision led to an irredeemable fate.
In this story, apart from Madam Yan, there were no innocent parties. Wan Xiang, who deceived Consort Jiang, was not innocent. Empress Zheng, who resented Consort Jiang, was not innocent. And Consort Jiang, who, a year later, despite knowing that everything was due to Wan Xiang’s instigation and that Empress Zheng had no intention of harming Li Ying, still sent someone to strangle Empress Zheng in the Cold Palace—she was the least innocent of all.
Consort Jiang’s thoughts at that time weren’t difficult to guess. Empress Zheng had been deposed, but Consort Jiang wouldn’t allow her to make a comeback. She wouldn’t choose reconciliation with Empress Zheng; she would choose to kill her to eliminate future troubles.
Such scheming was not much different from the Late Emperors. Years ago, when Empress Dowager Xue killed the Late Emperor’s mother and stole his son, the Late Emperor, although aware of the truth early on, remained patient and pretended to maintain a filial relationship with Empress Dowager Xue. Only when his power was sufficient did he finally move against the Xue family. Empress Dowager Xue was imprisoned in her palace and died of hunger and thirst, while her family was massacred. The depth of his calculation was chilling.
When Consort Jiang entered the palace, she couldn’t even recognize a single character. All her strategies could be said to have been taught by the Late Emperor himself. So even if she knew she had wronged Empress Zheng, she would never spare her.
Cui Xun thought that perhaps all the tenderness of the Emperor and his Consort had been reserved for their daughter, Li Ying. Perhaps only in front of Li Ying were they not constantly calculating emperor and consort, but simply Li Ying’s father and mother.
Cui Xun asked Madam Yan, “Why did Lady Shen want to sow discord between her sister and Empress Zheng?”
Madam Yan shook her head: “I don’t know. Perhaps she didn’t want to see her sister repeat Consort Qi’s fate, so she encouraged her to contend with Empress Zheng? Perhaps there were other reasons, but they’re beyond what someone like me would know.”
Cui Xun nodded. He asked one final question: “Jiang Liang, do you know him?”
“Yes, he was Wan Xiang’s partner. When the Late Emperor was suppressing the Miao tribes in Qianzhou, he was captured, castrated, and sent into the palace. Wan Xiang pitied him and was always kind to him. But after I was expelled from the palace, I don’t know what happened to him.”
Cui Xun didn’t ask any more questions. He only said, “Wan Xiang, she must have been quite a good person.”
Otherwise, Madam Yan wouldn’t have burned paper money for her for twenty-nine years, and Jiang Liang wouldn’t have plotted for twenty-nine years, all to avenge her.
Madam Yan was silent for a moment, then said: “In my eyes, she was a good person.”
When Cui Xun escorted Madam Yan out of the investigation hall, Li Ying was talking with Hu Nu. Upon hearing his grandmother’s voice, Hu Nu turned around and quickly rushed into her embrace: “Grandmother, you’re out?”
Madam Yan held him in her arms, tears flowing involuntarily: “Grandmother is out, I’m out.”
Hu Nu looked up at Cui Xun warily: “Elder Sister said you wouldn’t make things difficult for grandmother. She was telling the truth.”
Madam Yan was confused: “Elder Sister? What elder sister?”
Before Hu Nu could answer, Cui Xun turned his head and gazed steadily in Li Ying’s direction. Li Ying was looking at him with a smile. The setting sun cast a golden glow on her face, brilliant and radiant, like the dawn on the horizon, painting a gentle expression on her face. After a moment, Cui Xun shifted his gaze back and took a calling card from his sleeve. He said to Madam Yan, “Take my card and bring your grandson to Xuanyang Ward to find Lord Cui Songqing. When he first sees you, his expression might not be very welcoming, but don’t be afraid. Just tell him that you have a potential scholar here, and ask if he’s interested. Then let your grandson answer his questions. After that, he will nurture your grandson well.”
“Lord Cui?” Madam Yan asked timidly. “Such a high official… we’re so poor. Will he nurture Hu Nu?”
Cui Xun nodded: “Lord Cui has spent his life seeking talent for the Great Zhou. Regardless of wealth or poverty, he treats everyone equally. Your grandson is talented. He will like him.”
Madam Yan silently accepted the calling card and couldn’t help saying, “Assistant Minister Cui, you seem quite different from what others say about you.”
Cui Xun merely said, “Go now. Lord Cui takes a five-day holiday during the Cold Food Festival and Qingming Festival. He should be at home.”
Madam Yan nodded. She held Hu Nu’s hand, looking back repeatedly as they walked away. Hu Nu also kept waving to Li Ying. The grandmother and grandson, supporting each other, gradually disappeared from Cui Xun and Li Ying’s sight.