Director Cao said, “She is a person of my Palace Administration Bureau. Even if she dies, she must die with clarity—I won’t allow anyone to frame her.”
Cui Shangyi laughed coldly, “Now you’re also like a clay Buddha crossing the river, unable to protect yourself. Who can you still shield? I haven’t spoken because nothing we say matters! If Her Majesty the Empress can escape this calamity and remain alive, we might still have some hope. But if Her Majesty the Empress can’t wake up, all three of us must be buried with her!”
Hearing this, Director Song repeatedly chanted Buddhist prayers toward the nearby Qixia Temple direction, “Amitabha, Amitabha, I beg Buddha and Bodhisattvas to bless Her Majesty the Empress to awaken.”
Director Cao made a poisonous oath: “I have today entirely because of Her Majesty the Empress’s support and trust. If Her Majesty the Empress passes away, without waiting for His Majesty’s judgment, I’ll dash myself to death here and continue serving the Empress in the underworld.”
Speaking to this point, Director Cao’s eyes rarely reddened: “I’m truly useless! Watching helplessly as the assassin wielded a knife stabbing toward Her Majesty the Empress, my mind went completely blank with no reaction at all—I really want to slap my past self!”
Cui Shangyi’s beautiful face suddenly revealed a vicious expression, “It was Hu Shanwei who used the basket to subdue the female assassin—merit offsetting crime—so she has more hope of survival than the three of us. In case Her Majesty the Empress… Director Cao, don’t rush to seek death. We three should jointly bear responsibility and fish her out, then we can go die. We must leave a seed of fire to reveal the truth in the future and avenge us. We can’t die in vain! For the position of Court Ritual Director, I’ve climbed for over ten years! Dedicating all my youth, giving up marriage and children—I’m unwilling to accept this!”
Female officials were already one in a hundred selected from talented women, and Cui Shangyi was outstanding among them. She was also beautiful, spending her best years in the court, choosing not to marry, staking everything on this gamble, yet having to die unclear deaths—Cui Shangyi was unwilling.
Outside, the three highest-ranking female officials in the court removed their official hats and robes, anxiously awaiting Empress Ma’s return from death’s door.
Beside the sickbed, Emperor Hongwu looked at Empress Ma, holding her cold hand, murmuring:
“Zitong, Zitong, don’t leave me behind. You are my first wife, my confidant, my worthy helper. I command you—don’t die…”
Emperor Hongwu hadn’t carefully observed Empress Ma’s appearance for a long time. He suddenly discovered his wife’s newly grown hair was almost all white, the roots a frosty color—not that bright silvery white, but dusty frost color, grayish-white.
Her eyelids drooped, covering her lower eyelid lashes, slightly puffy. Her complexion was pale, her face skin like silk worn for a day, slightly wrinkled, spread across her face like a white pear left too long in a fruit bowl, having lost its moisture.
She was only fifty! How could she look so lifeless? She looked so strange, nothing like the empress who had accompanied him through most of his life.
Emperor Hongwu closed his eyes, recalling how he and the woman on the sickbed looked when they first married. Opening his eyes, red beauty had become white hair, yet his dependence on her grew ever deeper.
No one ages overnight—he had simply neglected her too long. The appearance in his memory remained frozen at some moment, unchanged. Even when seeing her, what appeared in his mind was still her past appearance.
Young couple, old companions—Emperor Hongwu wondered how his wife had suddenly aged, how she could immediately face death?
Without a companion? What to do?
Emperor Hongwu was someone who didn’t believe in fate. His lifelong habit was the more powerless he felt, the more he wanted to strike back from desperate situations. He frantically gripped her hand tightly:
“The Director Cao, Cui Shangyi, and Director Song kneeling outside are all female officials you personally cultivated. You understand their temperaments and characters best, knowing how to use talent and entrusting them with important tasks. For over ten years they’ve helped you manage palace affairs without ever making mistakes. If you leave like this, I will have them all executed! To accompany you below!”
“And that Hu Shanwei—last time I couldn’t dig out her eyes. This time she lived with the assassin for over ten days yet never noticed anything suspicious—her eyes were grown for nothing! This time I definitely won’t spare her. I’ll dig out her eyes and seal her alive in a tomb chamber as your burial sacrifice!”
“Yingtian Prefecture Magistrate, Jiangning County officials, assassin workshop clerks, neighbors… die, die, all die!”
Emperor Hongwu flew into a rage, cursing wildly. In his words, hundreds of lives turned to dust, even his spittle splashing on Empress Ma’s face.
He had never imagined Empress Ma would leave him. She was only fifty—how could she die?
If she died, why should these people continue living?
Sometimes imperial logic was just this domineering and ruthless.
Empress Ma slowly opened her eyes and said, “Your Majesty should not arbitrarily reward and punish based on personal emotions, otherwise what meaning would the legal book ‘Great Proclamation’ that you compiled and promoted have?”
Emperor Hongwu was overjoyed, “Zitong has awakened? Does the wound still hurt? Let’s return to the palace—this time I will definitely accompany Zitong until recovery.”
“It’s only an external wound—your concubine is fine.” Empress Ma had just awakened and was very weak. After a long pause she said, “Upon waking I immediately heard Your Majesty speaking of death and killing—your concubine doesn’t like hearing such things. As the saying goes, there are thousand-year thieves but no thousand-year thief-catchers. When your concubine was young, the dangers I experienced were a hundred, a thousand times greater than yesterday’s—didn’t I survive them all? If every time we killed all those serving and protecting nearby, then your concubine would long ago be completely alone—how could I be empress?”
“After long peace, your concubine became lax, so I ran slower and was carelessly stabbed by that assassin. Before assassination, the assassin deliberately spread rumors to provoke rear palace internal strife and alienate the princes. Consort Ding has been utterly loyal to Your Majesty these years, and Prince Qi and Prince Tan have always been filial to your concubine. If Your Majesty suspects Consort Ding, wouldn’t that play right into the assassin’s hands?”
Emperor Hongwu felt somewhat guilty, “I haven’t blamed Consort Ding.”
Empress Ma said, “Not only should you not blame her, but you should comfort and reward Consort Ding well, so others know Your Majesty is a wise ruler who can distinguish right from wrong, severely slapping the faces of those who sow discord…”
Emperor Hongwu, having lost and regained her, was overjoyed beyond measure. Whatever Empress Ma requested, he agreed to without exception.
Consort Ding, who had removed her hairpins awaiting judgment, was sent back to Xianfu Palace and bestowed with gold, silk, jade ruyi and other gifts. Prince Qi and Prince Tan, hearing the news, returned halfway to comfort their mother.
Director Cao, Cui Shangyi, and Director Song retrieved their lives and were handed over to the Palace Administration Office, which handled court criminal law.
Palace Administrator Fan, according to oversight failure crimes, recorded major demerits, fined their salaries for one year, gave each person fifty rod strikes, and ten nights of bell-carrying duty.
Since they still needed to serve the court, each was first beaten with ten rods, with the remaining forty recorded in accounts to be offset by future merits.
Bell-carrying punishment was divided into five sessions, twice monthly.
Thus, the invincible Director Cao of the palace also had to carry bells for punishment. From palace lockdown beginning, Director Cao held the bell while Cui Shangyi and Director Song stood on left and right sides. According to Palace Administrator Fan’s requirements, they walked slowly with standard steps. With each shake, the three shouted in unison: “All under heaven is peaceful!”
From night watch—first watch, second watch, third watch, fourth watch to fifth watch—from Qianqing Palace gate to Rijing Gate, then from Rijing Gate to opposite Yuehua Hall entrance, the route formed a huge isosceles triangle.
Walking four times nightly until dawn, walking and shouting, the route seemed extraordinarily long. After completing the full course, they often had no time to close their eyes for a nap before the next watch arrived and they had to set out with bells again. This was double torture of physical strength and spirit.
Chen Er’mei from the Imperial Kitchen Bureau brought midnight snacks, brewing ginseng tea to give the three senior female officials strength.
The first two bell-carrying sessions were manageable, but when departing for the last time between fourth and fifth watch, Cui Shangyi was so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open. “I can’t go on—I’m getting old. When I first entered the palace and made mistakes, I was punished with three consecutive nights of bell-carrying but never felt this tired.”
Director Cao glanced at her weakly, “You only had three nights—I’ve been punished with bell-carrying at least ten times.”
“You’re just too competitive, always wanting to stand out in everything. Do more, make more mistakes; do less, make fewer mistakes; do nothing, make no mistakes.” Director Song said, “Look at me—since entering the palace, I’ve never once been punished with bell-carrying.”
Cui Shangyi was amused, “So you’re Director of Handicrafts while she’s Palace Director—one character difference, worlds apart.”
Director Song wasn’t “ashamed” of this, “Palace Director and Handicrafts Director are both fifth-rank female officials drawing the same salary. Being cautiously prudent to achieve today’s success, I’m very content.”
Director Cao drank a cup of ginseng tea and picked up the copper bell, “Time’s up—last time, let’s go, don’t miss the hour.”
“All under heaven is peaceful!”
This was the darkest moment before dawn. The three female officials followed standards, walking slowly with proper steps, carrying bells for punishment, walking the long isosceles triangle route.
Finally reaching the endpoint—also the starting point at Qianqing Palace gate—tonight’s punishment ended. Dawn was breaking, a new day beginning.
Cui Shangyi, disregarding dignity, collapsed sitting on the steps and asked Director Cao, “How is Hu Shanwei? Has she awakened?”
Director Cao cast the copper bell aside, “Don’t worry—good people die young, but disasters live a thousand years. That person has great fortune—perhaps one day when we’re all dead, she’ll still be alive.”
Meanwhile, at Zhong Mountain temporary palace.
Though Hu Shanwei herself was motionless, her body was moving rapidly. She opened her eyes to find bamboo strips on all sides, books cushioning her feet. Looking through gaps in the bamboo strips, she found herself among fleeing refugees.
All refugees had terrified faces. In their haste, they only carried what they considered most precious. Some clutched gold and silver, dropping pieces while running, kneeling to pick them up, then being trampled to death by the crowd.
This scene seemed familiar—she realized she had returned to age six, the day Suzhou city fell and Chang Yuchun massacred the city. Father had put her in a book box and led Mother fleeing for their lives.
Mother was finally trampled to death by refugees. I can’t seem to remember what Mother looked like.
Hu Shanwei stood up from the book box, looking at that woman Father gripped tightly. The moment their gazes met, rouge became skeleton.
The woman’s body rapidly withered and blackened, layer by layer falling off like debris with the frequency of running, leaving only a skeleton in dress.
“Father! Let go of her! She’s not Mother! She’s a demon!” Hu Shanwei screamed in terror, her small fists pounding Father’s broad shoulders in warning.
Father, busy fleeing for life, didn’t stop. He ran while reaching to forcibly press her head into the book box, “Don’t come out—be careful of stray arrows hurting you!”
Just as he finished speaking, an arrow shot over, striking right into her forehead!
“Ah!”
Hu Shanwei woke with a start, realizing it was all a dream. Her forehead was wrapped in layers of gauze. Her head didn’t hurt much, but she felt very nauseous. The dangerous scene in the silkworm room flooded back:
The silkworm mother assassinating Empress Ma, her toppling the frame to block the silkworm room door, the silkworm mother crawling into the frame, her dragging the silkworm mother’s leg, the silkworm mother’s kick landing right on her forehead, the guards outside shooting random arrows into the silkworm room… no wonder she had that strange dream.
Haitang, sleeping on the footstool keeping night watch, awakened, “Court Lady Hu has awakened?” She touched her neck, “Court Physician Ru! Court Lady Hu’s fever has broken! She’s come back to life!”