As the anniversary of Hu Shanwei’s mother’s death approached, her father Hu Rong went early in the morning to burn incense and paper money at the grave. From his food box, he took out a bowl of braised pork with rice, a bowl of clear fish ball soup, and a plate of salted eggs glistening with oil – these were his wife’s favorite home-cooked dishes when alive. The Hu family’s ancestral home was in Jining, and hometown flavors suited her taste best, though Hu Rong had now grown accustomed to Jiangnan cuisine and found the braised pork too greasy.
From their marriage as childhood sweethearts to their beloved daughter’s birth, from the family’s migration from north to south, to the clan’s destruction – Hu Rong and the woman forever sleeping in the tomb had shared only nine years of fate together.
Hu Rong burned a stack of paper money before the grave and stared blankly at the tombstone. He could no longer remember what his wife looked like.
He vaguely recalled she was a well-bred young lady, gentle and obedient. Having experienced wandering and displacement in his youth and witnessed his family’s destruction, Hu Rong had long abandoned any lofty ambitions. He was content to degrade himself into what his former clan would have despised – a merchant – doing some business to support himself and his daughter, living an ordinary life.
The Hu family had once been a prominent clan in Jining, but what of it now? All those “four haves” Hu family members with ideals, morality, talent, and perseverance were dead. Only Hu Rong, this “four nothings” Hu family member – without ideals, talent, qualifications, or perseverance – remained alive.
Staying alive was most important. Ideals and grand plans were all empty.
Throughout his life, Hu Rong pursued the ordinary and safe. But whose stubborn bull-headedness did his daughter inherit? She even refused to marry, insisting on being a female official and pursuing an official career. Neither he nor her mother had such a temperament!
Hu Rong sighed deeply before the tomb, “The child has grown up, her wings are strong, she refuses to marry and won’t listen to me. She insists on flying out into the world, but the sky is so dangerous – there are storms, sudden rain and lightning, fierce eagles. Never mind being a female official – what good is it even to be a high official? Our Hu ancestors were once illustrious too, but in the end, when the nest was overturned, only I survived.”
Hu Rong took out Hu Shanwei’s reply letter from his breast and read aloud: “‘All is well, do not worry. Father, take care of your health. Shanwei.’ Listen to this – I wrote her over ten pages, and she replies with just one sentence. What can I do? I’ve tried every method, but she just refuses to marry.”
At that moment, an east wind arose, lifting the unburned paper money from before the grave like burning black butterflies.
Worried about starting a mountain fire, Hu Rong quickly grabbed his water pot and chased after them. The paper money landed in a dirt pit.
Hu Rong extinguished the paper money and found the place somewhat familiar. Looking at the tombstones on both sides, he suddenly remembered: wasn’t this the burial site of his daughter’s deceased fiancé Wang Ning and his mother?
Years ago, when mother and son were buried together, Hu Rong had visited this place.
How had it been hollowed out?
Could there be grave robbers?
Hu Rong hurried to find the tomb keeper to report it.
The tomb keeper said, “A high official came here the day before yesterday and moved his mother’s grave to Zhongshan.”
“Zhongshan?” Hu Rong was even more puzzled. “Isn’t that place reserved for the ancestral graves of high officials and nobles?”
The tomb keeper said, “Exactly! Her son got her posthumously honored as some Grand Lady. The reburial day was quite spectacular.”
“Her son?” Hu Rong felt like he was dreaming. “Didn’t her son die long ago?”
The tomb keeper said, “He didn’t die – he came back and even became a high official.”
Hu Rong found this incredible. He hastily packed up the food from his deceased wife’s grave, carried the food box, rode his blue mule back to the bookshop, then took out the name card that Imperial Physician Tan from the Imperial Medical Bureau had given him. Using this card, he found the Imperial Medical Bureau next to the Eastern District Military Commissioner’s office.
Imperial Physician Tan was organizing the pharmacy when he heard someone surnamed Hu was looking for him. He thought Hu Rong had relatives or friends who were ill and needed his treatment.
Since that day they went together to the Jiaofang Bureau to hear “The Lute Song,” they had become friends. Hu Rong sold books, and whenever he encountered rare medical texts, he would always save them for Imperial Physician Tan.
Imperial Physician Tan came out carrying his medicine chest, but Hu Rong wasn’t seeking medical treatment. He said, “I heard that the Transmission Office publishes monthly court bulletins for officials, describing major and minor court affairs – who’s been promoted, demoted, or beheaded. As an ordinary commoner, I’m not qualified to see court bulletins. Could Imperial Physician Tan perhaps obtain a recent bulletin for me to look at?”
Imperial Physician Tan set down his medicine chest. “Our Imperial Medical Bureau doesn’t concern itself much with politics, and few people read the court bulletins. However, the Hanlin Academy is right next door – I’ll go borrow one for you. Wait here and have some tea.”
Imperial Physician Tan quickly returned with several recent issues of court bulletins. Hu Rong selected the most recent one and flipped through page by page, finally stopping at the Hongwu Emperor’s edict posthumously honoring Lady Wang, mother of Earl Yongchun Wang Ning, as Grand Lady of Earl Yongchun.
Slap!
The bulletin fell to the ground.
Slap! Slap!
Hu Rong viciously slapped himself twice.
About to strike again, Imperial Physician Tan thought Hu Rong had gone mad and quickly stopped him: “Brother Hu, whatever the matter is, we can discuss it. Don’t harm yourself.”
“The marriage annulment document! I personally went to the yamen to process the marriage annulment!” Hu Rong wanted to bang his head against the wall and die. “My daughter was previously betrothed. Later that man died on the battlefield, and my daughter refused to remarry, insisting on staying home as a widow waiting at the gate. To help my daughter remarry smoothly and prevent gossip, I personally wrote a marriage annulment document, shamelessly demanding Lady Wang sign and seal it. I even took the annulment document to the yamen to make it official.”
“Now that man has returned and been enfeoffed as an earl, but the marriage contract has already been destroyed by me!”
Hu Rong wept, “My daughter was almost a countess, but I personally destroyed her future!”
“Imperial Physician Tan!” Hu Rong grasped Tan Fu’s hand like a drowning man clutching a lifeline. “You’re widely knowledgeable – what should be done in this situation? Can my daughter’s marriage still be salvaged? Would it work if I petition the emperor directly? I’m willing to endure any suffering – climbing mountains of knives or rolling in boiling oil.”
After a long while, Tan Fu finally sorted out the cause and effect. He pulled Hu Rong into a room, closed the door tightly, and said, “You are a commoner, Earl Yongchun is an official. For commoners to sue officials is difficult – that’s the first point. Second, you annulled the marriage yourself. Even if you petition the emperor directly, you have no chance of winning. Third, previously your daughter insisted on not remarrying, preferring to stay home as a widow, while you secretly forced Lady Wang to sign the annulment behind her back. Now your daughter has decided not to marry at all and is content being a court female official, promoted to sixth-rank司言. If you want her to marry Earl Yongchun, she may not be willing. I think Brother Hu should first ask her opinion.”
Hu Rong said urgently, “What’s not to like about being a countess? A first-rank noble lady – we common people wouldn’t even dare dream of it.”
The image of Drug Official Ru floated through Imperial Physician Tan’s mind, along with her heartless words “don’t disturb my studies.” He couldn’t help but smile bitterly: “Female officials are different. Most choose lifelong celibacy. Many of them are originally daughters of distinguished families with talent and ambition. Marriage is a burden they must abandon. If they marry, they must give up their palace positions and leave – they can never return.”
Hu Rong sighed, “Women really shouldn’t read too many books. When they read too much, they forget a woman’s duty to bear and raise children. If they all acted like female officials – not marrying or having children – Da Ming would perish, and humanity would go extinct. Alas, I shouldn’t have taught her to read in the first place. Knowing a few characters would have been enough.”
Imperial Physician Tan advised, “Brother Hu, you absolutely must not act impulsively – you must endure. I’ll find a way to have someone tell your daughter about Earl Yongchun’s situation and ask her opinion. Don’t mess things up like last time and do more harm than good. Think about it – if you had originally let her have her way and stay home as a widow, when Earl Yongchun returned, would he dare not acknowledge this marriage? A糟糠wife should not be abandoned – if he didn’t acknowledge it, he’d be another Chen Shimei, and even the emperor wouldn’t forgive him.”
Hu Rong was naturally unwilling, but Imperial Physician Tan’s words were very reasonable and logical throughout, so Hu Rong could only suppress his feelings.
Who could Imperial Physician Tan turn to? Drug Official Ru, naturally.
Taking advantage of a gap while examining the little princess in Qianqing Palace’s side hall, Imperial Physician Tan said, “Could we speak privately for a moment?”
Drug Official Ru was determined to make a clean break and avoid lingering connections, so she cruelly refused again: “No.”
Imperial Physician Tan grew anxious and said in a low voice, “It concerns another female official’s future.”
Both Drug Official Ru and Imperial Physician Tan were kind people.
In a secluded place, Imperial Physician Tan recounted Hu Shanwei’s marriage situation from beginning to end: “…That’s how it is. Now he’s anxious and regretful, even considering petitioning the emperor directly to salvage things. I talked him out of it, telling him to first ask his daughter’s opinion.”
Drug Official Ru had never heard such a strange story. After a long time, she came to her senses: “No wonder when Hu Shanwei entered the palace, she didn’t even have shoes and her hands were covered with chilblains. So she had fallen out with her family over resisting marriage.”
Imperial Physician Tan said, “Brother Hu is somewhat pedantic, but his nature isn’t bad. Please ask Director Hu’s opinion to prevent her father from messing things up again – first destroying her marriage, then destroying her future.”
Drug Official Ru agreed and returned to the rear palace to find Hu Shanwei, explaining the situation.
Unexpectedly, Hu Shanwei’s expression remained calm: “Thank you for the kind reminder from Imperial Physician Tan and Drug Official Ru. I already knew about Earl Yongchun’s return. He and I… have met and severed all ties – from now on we have nothing to do with each other. The palace cannot send letters outside freely, so please trouble Drug Official Ru to have Imperial Physician Tan tell my father that first, I will not leave the palace, and second, I will not marry. I’m determined to serve the court loyally. Besides, the marriage annulment document has already been made official at the yamen. This so-called petitioning the emperor would only bring humiliation and disaster to our family. My father is timid – he definitely won’t dare act rashly.”
As fellow female officials who all sacrificed marriage for their ideals, Drug Official Ru understood Hu Shanwei’s choice. She didn’t have the common notion that being Earl Yongchun’s wife was more promising than being a female civil servant in the court, so she didn’t try to persuade Hu Shanwei to reconcile with Wang Ning.
Drug Official Ru sighed with emotion: “I used to think you were just lucky, with an unstoppable sharp energy that was truly enviable. I’ve been in the palace ten years, you’ve been here one year, yet you’re already my equal as a sixth-rank Director-level female official. Now I see I was short-sighted – today’s achievements are all what you deserved.”
To look down on even being Earl Yongchun’s wife – Hu Shanwei was no ordinary person.
After seeing off Drug Official Ru, Hu Shanwei immediately went to find Mu Chun. Now Mu Chun commanded one of the Imperial Guards units, the Right Yulin Guard, located in the palace’s southeast corner near the Eastern Five Residences, separated from Hu Shanwei’s residence by only a high palace wall. Meeting was very convenient for them.
Hu Shanwei told him about her father discovering Wang Ning’s return: “Before the Dragon Boat Festival, the Empress will bestow cakes and rice dumplings on ministers’ families. I’ll have the opportunity to leave the palace to deliver imperial edicts. Find time to arrange for me to meet my father. To prevent him from acting foolishly, I must stop him in person – just having Imperial Physician Tan relay the message won’t work.”
Mu Chun wanted to beat up Hu Rong and asked, “How will you stop him? Your father is really too…”
He dared not finish the sentence: really too deserving of a beating.
A day later, Hu Shanwei left the palace to distribute Dragon Boat Festival gifts to meritorious officials’ families. Passing Jiming Temple, she used the excuse of burning incense for her deceased mother and donating lamp oil money. Mu Chun, who had been waiting there early, led Hu Rong to a quiet room in the temple.
As soon as father and daughter met, Hu Shanwei held a sharp paper-cutting knife to her own throat. Hu Rong immediately cast aside his joy at seeing his daughter: “What are you doing? Put it down quickly!”
Hu Shanwei said coldly, “Father, the last time I did this was four years ago, when I drove the matchmakers from our home and warned those women never to come arrange marriages for me again. My determination now is the same as then. If Father again presumes to make decisions for me, I as your daughter cannot hate you – I can only return this life to you.”
Only then did Hu Rong completely extinguish his schemes. He knelt and wept, “I promise you, I promise you everything. Quickly put down the knife. What countess – nothing is more important than your life.”
Hu Shanwei slowly lowered the paper knife and slumped onto the arhat bed. Why were family members harder to deal with than opponents? Why did the future she had worked so hard to build nearly get destroyed so easily by her family? Though they were father and daughter connected by blood, why did they hurt her most deeply?
And all of this was still done in the name of loving her, “for her own good” – harming and destroying her!
Why?