Empress Ma didn’t know what the mother and son were arguing about inside. After a quarter hour, Emperor Jianwen finally emerged. When Empress Ma was about to go in and continue persuading Empress Dowager Lu, her husband stopped her. “The Empress Dowager has promised me she won’t go make trouble at the Ancestral Temple. Have the imperial physician prescribe some calming and sleep-inducing medicine – she’ll be fine after resting for a few days. Zi Tong doesn’t need to come to Cining Palace to pay respects these next few days. The Empress Dowager needs quiet recuperation.”
“Yes.” Empress Ma was intelligent – though her mind was full of questions, she knew this wasn’t the time to ask anything. The emperor and empress walked back to the palace together, with Empress Ma only talking about the Crown Prince’s recent amusing antics along the way, as if the recent unpleasantness had never happened.
Empress Ma was skilled at managing relationships, truly a virtuous wife and loving mother, practically copying the mold of Empress Xiaoci. No matter how tense and chaotic things became inside or outside the palace, she remained serene and composed, silently bearing everything, as if nothing could displease her. She worked hard to shoulder worries and grievances, presenting only the peaceful side of life to her husband.
Since ascending the throne, Emperor Jianwen could only find moments of comfort and solace with his wife. In childhood he was a prodigy – beginning studies at three, composing poetry at five, designated heir apparent as a youth, participating in government affairs under the guidance of the Crown Prince’s Household. He had always been driven by Empress Dowager Lu and held to the highest expectations by everyone, hoping he would be perfect in every way.
Only his wife never pressured him, showing him unconditional kindness.
Emperor Jianwen held Empress Ma’s hand as they walked down West Long Street. His wife’s hand wasn’t as soft and round as before – her finger bones were distinct, pressing into his palm.
Emperor Jianwen gently traced his wife’s fingers with his fingertips. “You’ve gotten thinner recently. Are you very tired?”
Just dealing with your impossible mother every day is exhausting enough. Though Empress Ma thought this, she said aloud: “Haven’t Your Majesty also gotten thinner? Things will be better once everything settles down.”
Emperor Jianwen said: “The Empress Dowager won’t cause trouble these next few days. In a few more days, the capable assistant I’m requesting for Zi Tong will return to the palace. With her sharing your burdens, Zi Tong will be much more relaxed in the future.”
This was the best news she’d heard since becoming empress. Empress Ma was overjoyed: “Is Palace Supervisor Hu returning?”
Emperor Jianwen nodded. “The search party in Jinan came up empty, but Palace Supervisor Hu built a silver mountain at Guazhou searching for Supervisor Fan’s remains, letting us know her whereabouts. I’ve already issued an edict sending people to rush to Guazhou, commanding her to return to the palace immediately to resolve Zi Tong’s urgent crisis.”
After Empress Dowager Lu’s repeated disruptions, trying to interfere in both front court and rear palace affairs and seize power, Empress Ma’s gentle nature and filial obligations prevented her from refusing. Especially today’s chaos at Cining Palace made Emperor Jianwen realize his mother’s destructive power was too great. Empress Ma couldn’t handle her – only by bringing back Hu Shanwei, this formidable peacekeeper, could things be managed.
Emperor Jianwen had known of Hu Shanwei since childhood. In his memory, there seemed nothing she couldn’t handle – she was fierce enough to contradict even Great Ancestor Emperor and emerge unscathed.
Empress Ma was practically jumping for joy. “This is truly wonderful! With the Palace Supervisor position vacant and Supervisor Fan meeting with misfortune, people in the palace heard that Palace Supervisor Hu piled up a silver mountain seeking remains and were all moved, saying Palace Supervisor Hu has a benevolent heart. Palace Supervisor Hu’s return would truly be what everyone hopes for.”
Emperor Jianwen said: “Palace Supervisor Hu is someone who values relationships. When others show her peaches and plums, she’ll surely repay with fine wine. Previously when Empress Xiaoci passed away, she went to guard the mausoleum, raising deer and green peacocks for a year. Later when Noble Consort Duanjing, whom she served, died, she also grieved and wanted to leave the palace, but Great Ancestor Emperor needed someone to manage the rear palace and kept her. Now it’s Zi Tong’s turn. Treat her well, support each other in all matters, give her your backing and trust her. She’ll surely be devoted and serve Zi Tong wholeheartedly, giving you a peaceful rear palace.”
Emperor Jianwen really didn’t want to be overwhelmed with front court affairs during the crucial phase of stripping feudal powers, only to be interrupted by a pile of rear palace troubles requiring him to put out fires in the back courtyard. His mother wasn’t considerate, his wife was still young – Emperor Jianwen couldn’t bear to harshly blame his wife for poor rear palace management and could only seek outside help.
Empress Ma said: “This is natural. Worthy ministers shine when they meet enlightened rulers, but meeting incompetent ones only lets pearls gather dust.”
The imperial couple envisioned the future, but neither expected that Hu Shanwei had no intention of returning to the palace.
These past days, diving experts from across the nation gathered along the Yangtze River’s Yangzhou banks. Stimulated by the silver mountain, they displayed their swimming skills to salvage bodies. Corpses and even bones were recovered daily – over a hundred in total. Old cases of people packed in boxes and sunk with stones also surfaced, giving authorities new clues to pursue killers and make arrests.
This silver mountain truly stirred up tremendous waves. Watching the corpses and bones hauled ashore one by one, Hu Shanwei didn’t let the water ghosts risk their lives in vain – she rewarded them all with silver, bought coffins to properly bury these pitiful unclaimed remains, and hired monks to chant sutras for their souls so they wouldn’t remain as wandering spirits.
Hu Shanwei’s charitable acts earned praise and made her famous. She publicly said this was to accumulate merit for the missing Supervisor Fan, hoping for a miracle.
Money makes devils turn millstones. For reward silver, the water ghosts rolled in the turbulent Yangtze, repeatedly diving. Even pearl divers from the South Sea came upon hearing the news, cooperating with water ghosts to seek reward money.
Money can create miracles, and on an extremely sultry afternoon, a miracle finally appeared.
The combined water ghost and pearl diver salvage team came to Guazhou Wharf, saying they’d discovered a sunken ship on the riverbed. From the ship’s condition and painted characters, it was the merchant vessel from which Supervisor Fan had disappeared.
“But we discovered a secret… Look, brothers risked their lives for this information.” The water ghost leader drew out his words, glancing toward the silver mountain.
Hu Shanwei gave a look, and the bodyguard guarding the silver mountain shoveled silver into a winnowing basket and handed it to the water ghost leader.
After receiving the silver, the water ghost leader said: “We who make our living in the water know that while water is clean, affairs in water aren’t clean – dirtier than those above water. We’ve seen plenty of such things. If we speak out, we might face legal trouble in the future.”
Another shovelful of silver.
Only then did the water ghost leader tell the truth:
These water ghosts, to avoid fighting over corpses and working at cross-purposes, started from the incident site and searched downstream section by section. Corpses and bones recovered were sent to Guazhou Wharf, then reward silver was divided equally.
With the South Sea pearl divers joining, they could dive to deeper places and finally found the sunken vessel near a sandbar about two li from where the ship sank.
Summer river waters had swollen with undercurrents stirring riverbed sediment. This sunken ship was pushed by undercurrents until its bow pointed downward, half the bow stuck in mud, the deck surface pushed under the sandbar, leaving the stern in a bizarre vertical position.
The water ghosts could clearly see a large hole in the ship’s bottom.
“…This big hole was unusual – not from planks coming loose or rotting through from long-term lack of tung oil maintenance. The hole’s edges show clean breaks, clearly caused by someone chopping with knives or axes.”
Hearing this, Supervisor Cao beside them couldn’t contain herself any longer and shot up. “I knew there weren’t so many coincidences! Quickly take me to that sandbar.”
Supervisor Cui, formerly an Embroidered Uniform Guard spy, wasn’t surprised and said: “Now we can confirm the ship’s capsizing and sinking wasn’t accidental. But the question is – where is Supervisor Fan? We can’t see her alive or find her body dead.”
Hu Shanwei saw the water ghost leader again eyeing the gleaming white silver mountain, knowing he hadn’t finished speaking and needed silver to pry out each sentence. She gave another look. “I’m losing patience. I’ll give you three more shovelfuls – tell me everything at once, or I’ll have to find someone else.”
Silver clattered, nearly overflowing the winnowing basket.
The water ghost leader quickly continued:
Unable to breathe underwater with limited time before surfacing, the water ghosts built floating platforms on the incident site, using ropes to lower iron anchors to the riverbed. Then water ghosts hugged stones and jumped in, rapidly sinking, taking turns to examine the situation. When out of breath, they’d tug ropes tied to anchors around their waists while people on the floating platforms operated rope wheels to quickly pull exhausted water ghosts up.
Through repeated relay examinations, they discovered one very suspicious room in the broken ship: the door was locked from outside, and after nearly a month of river soaking, the copper lock was rusty and covered with water weeds.
“That’s all our current discoveries. Next we need to smash the copper lock… cough cough, underwater buoyancy makes smashing things very difficult. We all need to sign life-and-death agreements first – each hammer blow has its price.”
The water ghost leader said: “We’re not deliberately extorting your money. Based on our years of corpse recovery experience, this is a murder case. The person you’re looking for is probably inside. She’s also a female official – the character for ‘official’ has two mouths above it, meaning we common people would bear responsibility, maybe even lose our lives. Us going to smash the door and recover the body is much better than other water ghosts aimlessly fishing around outside.”
Hearing the door was locked from outside, the three female officials felt bone-deep cold in the summer heat: this wasn’t just murder – this was torture, making someone die slowly in terror. Who did this? Too cruel!
Supervisor Cao couldn’t stand it anymore, slamming the table as she stood. “Outrageous! Outrageous! If I find out who did this, I’ll tear them apart alive!”
Supervisor Cui clenched her fists, tears falling.
Hu Shanwei said: “You indeed took risks, but we can’t confirm the person inside is who we’re looking for. Silver isn’t that easy to earn. You need to smash open the copper lock and, after opening the door, bring up the corpse from the room. If it really is who we’re looking for, however heavy the corpse, that’s how heavy your silver reward will be.”
Hearing this, the water ghost leader’s eyes lit up, almost outshining the silver’s brilliance. “It’s a deal! Rest assured, ladies. Based on our years of corpse recovery experience, bodies continuously soaked in deep water don’t decay and deform easily. There will always be some features or personal items for you to recognize.”
Without delay, the three female officials immediately set sail for the sandbar floating platform.
Four floating platforms were set up on the river surface. Four water ghosts went down each time. Moving underwater was difficult – each person could only strike one hammer blow at the bottom before being exhausted and pulled up by platform crews. Once up, they were basically drained, some coughing violently, unable to dive again. No wonder they were called water ghosts – truly begging for rice from the King of Hell, earning life-risking money.
Over thirty people, one hammer each, finally smashed open the rusty copper lock.
Due to underwater pressure, even with the lock smashed, the door was hard to open. Water ghosts tied ropes to the door ring while people on platforms operated winches to pull the ropes, finally forcing the door open.
Almost the instant the door was wrenched open, a slightly bloated female corpse rushed out sideways from the room with the current. Water ghosts worked together – some guided the female corpse upward, others explored the room seeking personal belongings.
The female corpse was lifted onto the floating platform. Having been soaked too long, her hairpins and ornaments had scattered and been lost, her waist-length hair floating like water weeds.
Her eyes were wide open, revealing pale blue eyeballs, her face swollen, though the old contours were still faintly visible. Her skin had a layer of slippery, thin corpse wax, making her entire appearance somewhat unreal, like something seen in continuous nightmares.
She wore the purple round-collar narrow-sleeved flower gauze robe unique to female officials, embroidered all over with folded branch sunflowers and outlined in gold thread, with a pearl-linked gold-sewn red skirt below and black boots embroidered with small gold flowers.
Though no personal belongings had yet been found for proof, all three female officials – Hu Shanwei, Supervisor Cao, and Supervisor Cui – recognized this as Supervisor Fan at first glance.
No one would wear official robes to show off on a merchant ship full of commoners. Clearly, Supervisor Fan discovered the door was locked from outside, knocked with no response, fell into despair, and decided to die with dignity, changing into these clothes before death.
This female official who always maintained exquisite appearance – the female official she had once looked up to like a goddess when first entering the palace…
Supervisor Cui and Supervisor Cao embraced and wept while Hu Shanwei knelt beside Supervisor Fan’s corpse, seeming to feel Supervisor Fan’s despair and anger when help wouldn’t come and she changed into official robes to meet death, experiencing cold river water seeping through door gaps, quickly rising from her feet to waist, chest, neck, head…
Flames of revenge burned within her. Hu Shanwei gasped for breath like a drowning person, hot tears falling on Supervisor Fan’s stiff, swollen face covered with a layer of corpse wax.
How could they treat her so cruelly! She had already left the palace, decided to live peacefully away from worldly conflicts! Why wouldn’t they let her go! Using such slow, painful methods to end her life!
Why!
Water ghosts continued bringing up items from the sunken ship’s room, including a pure gold and white jade-carved peony flower jade belt that served decorative purposes over official robes.
Another water ghost brought up a cloth bundle. Hu Shanwei opened it with trembling hands, revealing an ivory nameplate – round, palm-sized. The front read: “Palace Supervisor Bureau, Palace Supervisor, Fan Shuzhen.” The back read: “Female officials must wear this plate; borrowing or losing it is punishable.” The spine bore a line of shallow regular script: “Made in Hongwu Year 28.”
Hongwu Year 28 was when Hu Shanwei left office and Fan took over as Palace Supervisor. This identity-representing ivory plate was made that very year.
Seeing this ivory plate, besides grief and hatred, Hu Shanwei felt guilt. Supervisor Fan had originally planned to work in the Palace Administration Office for life, never thinking of becoming Palace Supervisor. It was because she wanted to leave the rear palace that only Palace Supervisor Fan could immediately fill the Palace Supervisor position. When she made the request, Palace Supervisor Fan didn’t refuse, even saying if you get tired of wandering outside and find the outside world even uglier, wanting to return, this position could always be given back to you…
Three years had passed. She lived in secret marriage with Mu Chun outside, had a daughter, picked chrysanthemums beneath eastern hedges, living a leisurely, carefree pastoral life away from worldly strife. Meanwhile Palace Supervisor Fan became Supervisor Fan, continuing to bear heavy burdens in her place.
She had thought that with Supervisor Fan’s worldly wisdom, rich experience, strong palace connections, and the emperor’s trust, Supervisor Fan should have thrived in this position like a fish in water.
But unexpectedly, in just three years with a new emperor, Supervisor Fan was forced out of court and brutally murdered halfway through her journey.
What exactly happened in the court? What did that “Grave-Digging Song” hint at? Who did this?
Hu Shanwei had no time for grief, saying: “Guard this place – don’t let anyone destroy evidence of the ship being deliberately holed and the door being locked from outside. Go buy ice blocks to preserve Supervisor Fan’s remains. Also, trouble Supervisor Cao to report to Yangzhou Prefecture in the capital, saying a fifth-rank female official was murdered with witnesses and evidence complete, the body recovered. We need a coroner to come fill out death certificates and collect evidence.”
The incident site had passed Nanjing and was in Yangzhou river section, under Yangzhou Prefecture jurisdiction. Supervisor Cao wiped her tears. “I’ll go immediately. I’ve lived in retirement here – Yangzhou Prefect once came to pay respects to me, so presumably I have some influence.”
Supervisor Cui said: “I’ll buy ice blocks.”
Yangzhou was famously wealthy, accustomed to luxury. Many wealthy households and merchants had ice storage rooms.
Hu Shanwei continued standing guard on the floating platform, watching over Supervisor Fan’s remains, observing water ghosts continuously salvaging items from the sunken ship.
By dusk, with light too poor for diving, everyone transferred from floating platforms to boats and just reached shore when Supervisor Cui arrived with ice blocks and Yangzhou Prefect arrived with constables and coroners.
By official rank, prefects and Palace Supervisors were both fifth rank, so Hu Shanwei and Yangzhou Prefect sat side by side as she described the underwater situation.
Anyone who could serve as magistrate in this wealthy region was definitely no small player. Yangzhou Prefect instinctively felt Supervisor Fan’s bizarre death meant the killer was bold and ruthless – to create an “accident,” knowing it would implicate innocents, they still holed the ship and locked doors. The killer must be far more powerful than a local official like him.
Moreover, this involved the rear palace. Yangzhou Prefect immediately got a headache, thinking how to pass the buck. On the surface he wore a pained expression: “I know Palace Supervisor Hu is anxious, but though the sunken ship was found in Yangzhou territory, according to the ship owner’s confession from jail, the incident occurred in Nanjing territory. This case killed ten people, including fifth-rank Supervisor Fan, with five still missing. Now we’ve discovered the ship was deliberately sunk and Supervisor Fan’s room was locked from outside – such major cases involving murder of court officials aren’t something a small prefect like me can handle. I need to report to the Ministry of Justice for them to determine whether jurisdiction belongs to Nanjing, Yangzhou, or if it becomes a Ministry of Justice direct case. Until jurisdiction is determined, we dare not touch Supervisor Fan’s remains.”
Yangzhou Prefect feared trouble, which infuriated Supervisor Cao. “We have plenty of silver to buy ice blocks. At worst we’ll carry Supervisor Fan’s remains to the capital to file imperial complaints! I don’t believe it – serving the court faithfully for life, keeping secrets so carefully that even leaving office was low-key and simple, yet this is her fate!”
With the rabbit dead, the fox grieves. Yangzhou Prefect clearly wanted to pass the buck, delaying endlessly – when would this end? Hu Shanwei was also decisive by nature: “I agree with Supervisor Cao’s opinion. Let’s go to the capital immediately to file imperial complaints. Others may not care, but His Majesty won’t ignore this.”
These days Hu Shanwei had made a great show of piling a silver mountain at Guazhou for rewards. Yangzhou Prefect treated this like a great enemy, assigning extra personnel for security, fearing wealth would move hearts and cause riots. Now hearing Hu Shanwei would leave, he was secretly delighted but said: “Three female officials, please calm down. This matter cannot be rushed, still needs—”
Before finishing his words, earth-shaking horse hoofbeats were heard. A bright yellow banner fluttered in the distance on the post road – actually imperial palace guards from the capital!
The leading eunuch saw Hu Shanwei and immediately rolled off his horse, holding a bright yellow silk scroll: “An edict!”
Everyone quickly knelt to receive the edict.
“Summon former Palace Supervisor Bureau Palace Supervisor Hu Shanwei to return to the palace immediately and resume Palace Supervisor duties. By imperial decree!”