For some reason, as Mu Fulan’s gaze swept across those two open mountain gates, all of a sudden a strange sensation — as though entangled with something from her previous life — came surging toward her.
The pagoda forest in the rear mountain. The memorial shrine from her previous life. Xi’er, who had died by his own sword.
One scene after another, interwoven with one another, flashed across her mind.
She had a feeling.
As if by some unseen pull, she had been guided here, and had finally arrived at this place today.
The center of Mu Fulan’s chest began to pound wildly without warning. She instinctively closed her eyes, wanting to hold that sensation a little more firmly in her grasp.
But it was gone in an instant, like a flash of lightning — and in the next moment, had vanished without a trace.
She snapped her eyes open and looked toward the mountain gate again.
There was nothing there.
The morning glow had just risen over the clear and open sky, and the two gates of the mountain temple stood wide open.
She stared fixedly in that direction, as though even her very soul had been carried off by that feeling that had arrived so suddenly and departed just as suddenly, and could not yet find its way back.
“Imperial Princess, we have arrived.”
The maidservant, noticing nothing amiss, had already climbed down from the carriage, and seeing her still seated inside, staring out at the mountain gate without moving, called out to her.
Not far away, Xie Changgeng was swinging down from the saddle. As he dismounted, he turned and glanced briefly in this direction.
In her daze, Mu Fulan’s fingers loosened, and the warming curtain fell back into place.
She steadied herself, slowly turned, rose, and stepped down from the carriage.
The Empress Dowager was welcomed by the monks who had come down from the mountain and escorted into the temple. All those in the party of attendants, Mu Fulan included, entered through the mountain gates as well.
In that moment, the bells and stone chimes of the temple rang out together, and the sound of Sanskrit chanting rose from all directions.
The monks showed Empress Dowager Liu the utmost reverence. In preparation for her visit today, and also at Xie Changgeng’s request, no other incense-burning worshippers had been permitted to ascend the mountain three days prior. Beyond that, every other aspect of the reception had been arranged with the utmost care.
The sole exception was that the monastery’s elder, the Venerable Huiji, had not appeared.
Master Huiji was an enlightened high monk of deep Buddhist learning. He had originally served as the resident abbot of the temple, but several years prior he had relinquished the position of abbot to another and had since ceased to involve himself in worldly affairs.
The Empress Dowager had originally hoped that Master Huiji would personally recite the sutras for her, but upon hearing from the resident abbot that the elder had retreated into the rear mountain’s pagoda forest for meditation and was not receiving secular visitors, with no telling when he might emerge from his seclusion, she was informed that upon learning of the Empress Dowager’s visit today, the elder had left only this message to be conveyed on his behalf: that when the heart is sincere, the Buddha responds.
Disappointed as the Empress Dowager felt, she did not dare press the matter, and so had no choice but to let it go.
The entire morning was spent by the Empress Dowager in devout worship, chanting half of the karmic-relief sutra of Ksitigarbha. After a simple vegetarian midday meal and a brief rest, the remaining half was to be completed in the afternoon — only then would the merit of the day be considered fulfilled.
While the Empress Dowager chanted sutras devoutly in the Buddha hall, the titled noble ladies in attendance naturally recited along with her. After a half-day of chanting, every mouth was parched and every person weary from having risen so early in the morning. When they finally escorted the Empress Dowager to her resting quarters for the midday break, they each went their own separate ways.
Mu Fulan was just about to leave when she suddenly heard someone nearby call her name. She turned her head and saw a woman in her mid-forties, accompanied by several serving women, standing to one side and looking at her with a smile. Recognizing her as Princess Consort Qi, Mu Fulan paused in her steps, let a smile appear on her own face, and walked over to her, saying with a bow: “I must thank the Princess Consort for her kindness this morning. I ought to have come to thank you in person at that time, but it was somewhat inconvenient just then — I hope the Princess Consort will not hold my lack of manners against me.”
Princess Consort Qi smiled with warmth and benevolence, stepped forward, and reached out to take Mu Fulan’s hands, saying with a smile: “I only arrived in the capital a few days ago, and as soon as I arrived, I heard that you had come as well — I was very pleased indeed. Thinking of you from when you were small, I often saw you at court in those days and knew you were sensitive to the cold. It is a small thing; there is no need for such ceremony.”
Mu Fulan thanked her again.
This was the Empress Dowager’s resting area, not a place for lingering; the two of them spoke in low voices as they moved away.
Mu Fulan told her maidservant to go and fetch the fur robe to return it. Princess Consort Qi demurred, saying it was just a trifling thing and she should keep it.
“Small as it may be, it was the Princess Consort’s kind gesture in lending it to keep me warm — how could I not return it? I had already been intending to bring it back to the Princess Consort in person.”
Princess Consort Qi offered a few more polite objections, then smiled and said: “If the Imperial Princess is not weary, why not come and sit with me for a while? It would be nice to have a little chat.”
Mu Fulan nodded. Princess Consort Qi then took her by the arm and led her to her own resting quarters. They arrived quickly and went inside. After a few exchanged pleasantries, Princess Consort Qi suddenly asked: “I have heard that there is a renowned physician of the present day, surnamed Li — people call him Medicine Elder. He has been traveling from place to place as an itinerant doctor, and it seems in recent years he has settled in your region. I wonder if the Imperial Princess has heard the name of this Divine Physician Li?”
Mu Fulan immediately guessed at the purpose behind Princess Consort Qi’s show of friendliness.
She wanted news of the physician for her son’s sake — the heir to Prince Qi’s household, Zhao Xitai.
Zhao Xitai was a few years older than her. When Mu Fulan had lived in the palace as a child, Princess Consort Qi would often bring her son when she came into the palace. The young heir at that time, though he had been delicate since birth, had seemed in reasonable health back then — he was simply forbidden from running and jumping about as ordinary children did.
Though a great deal of time had passed, Mu Fulan still retained an impression of this childhood playmate from the palace.
Perhaps because of being so overly restricted from a young age, he was not much given to talking, and was very quiet.
Mu Fulan remembered that he had been quite good to her, and that whenever he came to the palace he would often bring her interesting little trinkets and curiosities from the world outside.
She had originally been quite willing to play with him. But then one day she saw him in the imperial garden, using a stone to cut an earthworm on the ground into segments. As the earthworm writhed and struggled, he had appeared greatly pleased.
That scene left a deep impression on her, and she felt a measure of unease. After that, she had gradually stopped spending time with him.
Then later, her aunt passed away, and she returned to the Kingdom of Changsha, and they had no further contact after that.
The last news she had heard of him was that he had been seized as a hostage by Xie Changgeng, and had died before she did.
Seeing Princess Consort Qi looking at her expectantly, Mu Fulan nodded: “Medicine Elder has indeed settled near Lake Dongting these past years, though he also goes out often on his travels. When I came to the capital, he had gone out, and it is not known when he will return.”
Princess Consort Qi’s eyes lit up at once, and she said urgently: “As long as the information is certain, that is enough. Imperial Princess, I have heard that this Li Medicine Elder has the reputation of a divine physician — that no matter what ailment a patient has, his medicine will cure it. Is that true or not?”
Mu Fulan met the two eyes of Princess Consort Qi, fixed upon her with eager anticipation, and shook her head.
“I will not conceal the truth from the Princess Consort. I have studied some medical principles under Medicine Elder since I was small — he is my teacher. My teacher often says that there is no physician in the world who can cure every illness, and he himself is even less of a divine physician — he is nothing more than an ordinary doctor, and feels unworthy of bearing such an undeserved reputation.”
Since Princess Consort Qi had not mentioned her son, Mu Fulan did not ask. Only thinking of how Zhao Xitai, this childhood playmate, had met in his previous life an end no better than her own, she felt a sense of the capriciousness of fate, and added: “Should the Princess Consort have someone in need of treatment, it would not hurt to seek out my teacher once he returns. Whether or not the illness can be cured, my teacher is a doctor of benevolent heart, and will do his utmost.”
In recent years, seeing her son growing older while his health remained persistently poor, Princess Consort Qi had grown anxious to find him a wife and establish a family. She had placed mistaken trust in someone claiming to be a divine physician and administered a harsh and aggressive course of medicine. The symptoms had initially showed some signs of improvement, but before long, the condition suddenly relapsed and grew worse than before. That so-called divine physician had fled in the dead of night upon causing such harm. Both bitter in regret and full of resentment, Princess Consort Qi had had no choice but to request Imperial Physicians to slowly tend to her son’s constitution over the following years.
A short while prior, she had again come across the name of Divine Physician Li Medicine Elder, and her heart had stirred. After arriving in the capital, she happened to learn that Mu Fulan, the daughter of Prince Changsha of the Kingdom of Changsha, was in the capital — so that very morning she had made a deliberate show of friendliness, hoping to inquire for information.
She had come full of hope, and now hearing Mu Fulan’s response, disappointment washed over her.
The Imperial Physicians had not been able to cure her son’s condition. Over the years, she had also encountered more so-called divine physicians than she could count, and in the end, far from being any help, they had only made her son’s condition worse. In all likelihood, this was yet another physician of undeserved reputation — an itinerant folk doctor who had gained a name for himself treating ordinary people’s minor aches and fevers, and whose reputation had then been blown out of proportion.
Disappointed as she was, Princess Consort Qi was unwilling to mention her son’s weakness before Mu Fulan, and vaguely said: “I only happened to think of it and asked you about it in passing. I understand now. If there is ever a need in future, I will go and seek him out.”
How could Mu Fulan miss the change in Princess Consort Qi’s manner?
But what she had said was the truth.
Medicine Elder had never called himself a divine physician. The words he said most often to Mu Fulan were that the way of medicine was profound and subtle — the deeper one immersed oneself in it, the more one felt one’s own skill to be lacking. Devoting one’s entire life to resolving difficult and complicated cases, and no more.
She did not expose this, and sat for a little while longer. When the maidservant brought back the fur robe, she returned it, thanked Princess Consort Qi once more, then rose and took her leave.
Princess Consort Qi was well aware of the hostility Empress Dowager Liu held toward the Mu Family of the Kingdom of Changsha. Although Mu Fulan had married Xie Changgeng and seemed at present to have also gained the Empress Dowager’s favor, who could say what the future held. She had come today with the sole intention of gathering news of the divine physician. Now that she had made her inquiry and come away disappointed, when she saw her taking her leave, she naturally made no further effort to detain her.
And so she smiled and rose, personally seeing her out. Mu Fulan asked the Princess Consort to stop there, then set off with her maidservants back toward her own resting quarters.
The number of titled noble ladies who had accompanied the Empress Dowager to pay respects today was considerable. The temple did have a section of ordinary guest quarters intended for visiting worshippers to rest, but it could not accommodate that many people, so an additional section of empty meditation rooms had been vacated for them.
The place where Mu Fulan was resting was separated from Princess Consort Qi’s by a long wall, connected by a circular gateway.
She walked along the passage toward it, just about to pass through the circular gate, when she suddenly noticed — from some distance away, at the far end of the long wall, near a corner where it turned — Cao Jin standing there, smiling, bowing slightly as he spoke with Xie Changgeng.
Each man had a few attendants behind him; they appeared to have encountered each other there by chance and stopped to exchange a few words.
A thought stirred in Mu Fulan’s heart. She told her maidservant to wait behind, then quietly slipped around behind the circular gateway, using a cluster of bamboo planted along the base of the wall as cover, and fixed her gaze upon those two men.
She had encountered Cao Jin frequently on her previous visits to the palace, but had not yet had the opportunity to see these two men meet face to face.
The distance was not particularly close, and she could not hear clearly what they were saying — naturally, even if there truly were something to be said, Xie Changgeng’s cautious nature would never allow him to transmit information in a setting like this. Nor had she intended to listen to what they were saying.
What she wanted was to observe their expressions and eye contact as they spoke.
Although Xie Changgeng’s back was turned toward her, Eunuch Cao Jin was facing her direction. His face she could see with complete clarity.
If her speculation were true, when facing someone with whom he shared a secret relationship, Cao Jin’s expression or gaze might betray some telltale sign.
Mu Fulan held her breath, eyes wide open, intently studying the smile on Cao Jin’s face — when without warning, a voice sounded behind her.
“Imperial Princess!”
Mu Fulan gave a start and spun around, and found behind her a richly dressed young man of about eighteen or nineteen — handsome of features, but with a face entirely devoid of color, carrying the air of someone long weakened by illness.
Though many years had passed without a meeting, Mu Fulan recognized him at a single glance.
Before her stood Zhao Xitai, the heir of Prince Qi.
She froze for a moment.
Zhao Xitai, however, seemed very pleased. He told the two servants following him to stop, and came hurrying toward her himself, saying as he came: “It’s me, Zhao Xitai! My mother sought the Empress Dowager’s permission, and today I was brought along as well, to have a great master pray for my blessings and ward off misfortune. This morning at the mountain gate, I saw you — I recognized you in an instant! We used to meet often in the palace when we were children. Do you still remember me, Imperial Princess…”
His gaze came to rest on Mu Fulan’s face, and his eyes did not blink, a faint gleam flickering within them.
Perhaps because he had grown somewhat agitated, a flush of red suddenly appeared on his formerly colorless cheeks, and he broke into a loud fit of coughing.
Mu Fulan sensed that things were going badly. She looked back — and saw Xie Changgeng suddenly turn his head, his eyes shooting over in this direction. She quickly left her original position and moved toward Zhao Xitai, feigning that she had simply happened to be passing through, and had coincidentally run into Zhao Xitai here.