At the end of June, Liu Jieyu gave birth to a young prince, but the little prince was physically weak. Within a few days of birth, his jaundice did not clear, leaving Liu Jieyu worried sick and weeping daily. To comfort her, the Emperor ordered the expansion of the Furong Pavilion gardens, still having Lin Hong design it.
In July, the project to bring spring water into the East Palace was completed. The outlet was beautifully constructed with stone, and the spring water was clear and sweet. The Crown Prince was very satisfied and ordered that all tea brewing and soup making for him henceforth use spring water. Lin Hong had originally intended to resign and return to his hometown after completion, but due to Liu Jieyu’s situation, he could only continue staying in Lin’an.
The Crown Prince had not forgotten to thoroughly investigate Zhenzhen’s background. In late July, East Palace Supervisor Yang Zicheng collected information initially gathered by the people he had sent out, listed it all before the Crown Prince, and reported: “The dynasty’s regulations state that those who leave their hometown and migrate elsewhere can register as residents after living there for one year. Following Your Highness’s orders, I sent people to Pujiang to examine Wu Qiuniang’s residency registration documents. We discovered that she had migrated alone from Ningguo Prefecture with her daughter Wu Zhenzhen, when the daughter was three years old. No husband accompanied them, and at registration she said her husband had died. I also sent people to Ningguo Prefecture to check Wu’s information, but according to the Pujiang registration contents, there were no archived records to verify – neither Wu Qiuniang nor her husband’s name left in Pujiang could be found. Upon closer examination of the documents left in Pujiang that year, we found that those from Ningguo Prefecture were all forged. It’s very likely that Wu Qiuniang bribed the official in charge of registration at that time, using fake Ningguo Prefecture household registration documents to register in Pujiang. However, those who went to Pujiang to investigate also inquired with Wu Qiuniang’s neighbors, who all said that when Wu Qiuniang first arrived, she spoke with a Ningguo Prefecture accent. So it appears Wu Qiuniang might indeed be from Ningguo Prefecture, or had lived there.”
The Crown Prince looked through these documents, pondered for a moment, then asked Yang Zicheng: “What about Cheng Yuan’s side – what have you discovered?”
Yang Zicheng said: “We’ve been keeping people watching him. Cheng Yuan has bought several estates outside the city. The one he visits most frequently is called Shi’an Garden, which he manages most strictly, not allowing outsiders to approach. All the servants and maids inside are deaf-mutes. I also sent deaf-mute people to apply for positions there, but they were all driven away and couldn’t get inside. Nearby people spread rumors that Cheng Yuan bought several beautiful singing and dancing girls to keep inside. I will continue finding ways to gather information about what’s inside.”
The Crown Prince said: “Good, continue watching Cheng Yuan. Not just Shi’an Garden – who he associates with daily, what he purchases, where he sends things – all need to be investigated clearly.”
Yang Zicheng bowed and said: “I understand.” He then requested instructions from the Crown Prince: “Should these pieces of information be told to Wu Dishan?”
The Crown Prince said: “No need for now. Wait until everything is completely investigated before telling her… These household registration documents, you can send them to Meng Sijiè to look at, have her copy them for safekeeping.”
Yang Zicheng acknowledged the order, gathered up the documents, and left.
After he left, Zhenzhen immediately entered with a pot of brewed tea and asked the Crown Prince: “Has Supervisor Yang discovered any news about my mother?”
The Crown Prince said: “Cheng Yuan is deeply cunning and does things without leaving any traces. We haven’t yet discovered your mother’s whereabouts. But I’ll assign more people to continue the investigation.”
Zhenzhen said “Oh” with some disappointment, set down the teapot, poured a cup of tea for the Crown Prince, then smiled and said: “Your Highness cannot drink strong tea and also finds brewed tea too light, but today’s tea was tasted by both Qin Sishan and myself. It’s very fragrant and mellow with a long-lasting sweet aftertaste. Your Highness will surely like it.”
The Crown Prince tasted two sips and said with a smile that it was good. After chatting with Zhenzhen about tea for a moment, he suddenly asked: “Have you thought it through?”
Zhenzhen asked in confusion: “Thought what through?”
The Crown Prince smiled: “In three more days, our one-month agreement will expire.”
Zhenzhen’s face immediately turned red, and she immediately stepped back two paces.
“Miss, you’ve always acted honorably – don’t renege on your debt…” Before the Crown Prince could finish speaking, he suddenly changed color, covered his chest with one hand, and bent over. “Zhenzhen, my stomach hurts.”
Zhenzhen stepped back even further, laughing: “Your Highness, I already know this trick of yours – it won’t work anymore.”
The Crown Prince was in such pain that he opened his mouth to gasp, forcing a smile: “Come help me rub it.”
“Still at it!” Zhenzhen continued laughing: “I know Your Highness’s scheme. You should try a different trick.”
The Crown Prince was too weak to argue. His head dropped and knocked on the table as he gasped in pain, large drops of sweat flowing down from both temples.
Only then did Zhenzhen realize something was wrong. She rushed over to support him and look him over, quickly calling loudly for the young eunuch outside the door to summon an imperial physician.
This illness was extraordinary, coming on fiercely. The Crown Prince first had stomach pain, then began vomiting repeatedly. Each time after vomiting bile, he had to fast from food and water for several hours before he could take in a little sustenance, otherwise it would trigger severe vomiting again. After several rounds of this, his whole body began to develop fever, burning in a daze, making it even harder to eat.
The imperial physician said the symptoms resembled food poisoning, but Qin Sishan, Zhenzhen, and the imperial physician together checked all the food the Crown Prince had consumed in the previous days according to the meal records. They found that all ingredients came from the safest sources, showed no signs of spoilage, did not violate any dietary taboos, and all meals had been tasted by either Qin Sishan or Zhenzhen before the Crown Prince consumed them – neither of them had any symptoms.
Imperial Physician Guo Siqi decided to first reduce the fever, then treat it as food poisoning. He prescribed medicine and instructed Zhenzhen and others that besides the prescribed medication, they could currently only let the Crown Prince consume light congee. But the Crown Prince’s condition continued to fluctuate – sometimes he could drink a bowl of congee, but sometimes the same congee would be vomited up shortly after consumption.
After more than half a month with no improvement, he grew increasingly weak. Both the Emperor and Empress came to visit, and seeing his condition, they were very anxious but helpless. Finally, the Empress Dowager also came with several palace women responsible for dining in the Northern Palace. After seeing the Crown Prince, she ordered Feng Xian to remain, saying to the Crown Princess: “Ling Fengxian is very skilled at making medicinal cuisine. Recently when I had stomach discomfort, I recovered quickly after eating the food she prepared. Let her stay in the East Palace for a few days to make some medicinal cuisine for the Crown Prince. Have the imperial physician examine it first, and if there are no problems, then let the Crown Prince consume it.”
Feng Xian, seeing the Crown Prince’s heart and abdominal pain, felt it was due to weak organ qi and pathogenic influences. She suggested using peach kernels, fresh rehmannia, cassia bark, fresh ginger, and polished rice to cook congee for the Crown Prince. Guo Siqi thought this was feasible, so Feng Xian went to prepare the ingredients. When fetching water, Yun Yingge, one of the palace women previously assigned to the East Palace, told her: “The Crown Prince has us use spring water brought from Phoenix Mountain for all his tea brewing and soup making.” Feng Xian then brought a white porcelain jar and had Yun Yingge take her to the water outlet.
While fetching water, an attendant came over to ask Yingge about the Crown Prince’s condition. Yingge chatted with him for a while, during which Feng Xian collected water alone. She suddenly noticed that the spring water gushing from the outlet seemed to carry some impurities as it fell into the white porcelain jar. Feng Xian picked it out and saw it was an extremely small piece of fungus, grayish-white in color, appearing to have been cooked. Feng Xian looked around the water pool again but found no similar substances. After brief consideration, Feng Xian quickly hid the fungus in her palm, poured out the water in the porcelain jar, and said to Yingge: “I just remembered – medical texts say it’s best to use well water for cooking this congee. Let’s go get well water instead.”
The Crown Prince didn’t vomit after drinking the peach kernel congee Feng Xian cooked, and he opened his eyes in the middle of the night after sleeping deeply. Since he had fallen ill, Zhenzhen had kept vigil for him every night, attending to his nighttime medication or meals. Now, hearing movement, Zhenzhen immediately woke and quickly came over to ask how he felt. The Crown Prince smiled slightly: “I feel better. But you – you haven’t had a full night’s sleep in many days, have you? Your eyes are circled in black and you look haggard.”
Hearing these words, Zhenzhen felt both comforted and heartbroken, nearly choking up: “Your Highness hasn’t spoken such a long sentence in a long time…”
“Silly girl…” The Crown Prince smiled and extended his hand toward her. “Come, lie down beside me.”
Zhenzhen hesitated and didn’t immediately comply.
Qin Sishan had conveyed Guo Siqi’s words to her: “His Highness is extremely weak now and must be very careful. When in contact with palace women, absolutely no sexual relations must occur, otherwise the consequences would be unthinkable.” Afterward, Qin Sishan had specifically instructed Zhenzhen: “You especially must be careful when serving His Highness. Don’t get too close to him and arouse his passion.” Therefore, during this period, Zhenzhen was very careful to maintain distance when serving the Crown Prince. When the Crown Prince was lucid and tried to kiss her, she avoided him. Now hearing the Crown Prince give such instructions, she naturally dared not easily comply.
The Crown Prince seemed to see her concerns and smiled faintly, saying intermittently: “Don’t worry, I won’t touch you. I just want to talk with you… Although the one-month agreement has passed, in my current condition, I wouldn’t take you as consort… If I were to die, you maintaining your pure body could still marry someone else. Otherwise, you’d live in solitude for life – how could I bear that.”
Zhenzhen’s tears immediately fell as she said: “Bah, bah, bah! What talk of dying – I forbid Your Highness to speak like that. Your Highness promised to protect me for life.”
After speaking, she resolutely walked over, got onto the bed, and gently lay down beside him.
The Crown Prince grasped one of her hands and said slowly: “I don’t know if this illness of mine can be cured. Let me instruct you first: If I don’t recover, you can marry someone – Lin Hong is fine, the Second Prince is fine, you can choose whoever you love. In the future, when you have children, if they look like you, when you come to pay respects to me, bring them to show me. If they look like their fathers, forget it – I don’t particularly want to see them…”
The first few sentences made Zhenzhen feel quite sad, but when he said the last part, Zhenzhen was both annoyed and amused. She couldn’t help but lightly pat him and whisper: “I don’t want anyone else – I only want Your Highness to get better.”
Then she turned on her side to embrace one of the Crown Prince’s arms, buried her face in his sleeve, and closed her eyes.
The next day, Zhenzhen decided to prepare all her own food and drink in the same quantities as the Crown Prince consumed – not only the same types as his, but consuming exactly the same amounts he did. She thought that in the past when she pre-tasted his food, she only tasted very small amounts, while he consumed much more. If the food contained poison, there might be situations where she wouldn’t be poisoned due to consuming smaller amounts, thus failing to detect the poison.
So when Feng Xian made soup for the Crown Prince again, she also served a bowl to Zhenzhen. Zhenzhen slowly savored it, then asked: “This soup was made with well water, wasn’t it?”
Feng Xian confirmed this and praised her sensitive palate. Zhenzhen immediately thought of how yesterday the Crown Prince had only drunk the peach kernel congee Feng Xian made, and for a day and night had not vomited, his spirits also comparatively good. Suddenly it was like a revelation: “It’s the water – it might be the water!”
Feng Xian asked calmly: “What water?”
Zhenzhen didn’t answer immediately but stood up and rushed out to find Lin Hong.
For over a month, the Crown Prince’s tea and soup had all used mountain spring water. Because the amount of spring water brought in wasn’t large, and fearing that many users would contaminate the water quality, the Crown Princess decided to let the Crown Prince use it exclusively – even the Crown Princess herself rarely used it. If the water was poisonous, although Zhenzhen and Qin Sishan pre-tasted the Crown Prince’s food and drink, because they consumed small amounts, they had no symptoms, while the Crown Prince, drinking tea and soup daily, would be poisoned… Zhenzhen felt very remorseful that she had previously only thought to check the ingredients but had forgotten to examine the water quality.
Learning that Lin Hong would be coming from Furong Pavilion garden that day, Zhenzhen waited for him at the exit of Jinyan Gallery. That day Zhenzhen wore a female official’s soft cap and round-collared shirt, with a leather belt around her waist. Seeing Lin Hong from afar, she performed a deep bow in the manner of men, calling: “Xuanyi Lang.”
Lin Hong, seeing it was her, was quite surprised and immediately stopped, standing two zhang away, also bowing deeply to her: “What instruction does Wu Dishan have?”
Zhenzhen explained that the Crown Prince was ill, and that over the past month, the only difference from his previous diet was the mountain spring water. Lin Hong immediately understood: “You suspect the water is poisoned.” He then said: “I personally selected the water source. Before deciding on it, I drank it myself for several days without any discomfort. I also had many imperial physicians examine it, and they all said the water quality was excellent before we adopted it.”
“I’m not questioning Xuanyi Lang or suspecting the water itself is poisonous,” Zhenzhen said. “Since the water pipes are made of bamboo, could there be decay and mold inside, causing the spring water to deteriorate?”
Lin Hong said: “That’s unlikely. The bamboo poles are newly made, there’s not much air inside the water pipes, and flowing water doesn’t stagnate – there shouldn’t be much mold.”
“Then could there be leaks at the bamboo pole connections, letting in impurities?” Zhenzhen asked again.
Lin Hong thought for a moment and said: “The connections were repeatedly tested – it’s hard for them to leak. If we’re talking about impurities getting in… we could check the pipeline to see if anyone has recently dug it up and removed the bamboo needles used for pipeline inspection.”
Zhenzhen had a sudden realization and thanked Lin Hong. Lin Hong said: “Wu Dishan need not be so polite. Please take extra care in looking after His Highness the Crown Prince when you return, and help him recover quickly.”
“I will,” Zhenzhen said. “Now my food and drink are exactly the same as his. If he suffers harm, I cannot survive alone either.”
Lin Hong fell silent. After a moment he asked: “Do you like him?”
Zhenzhen looked at him directly and said calmly: “I vow to serve my husband unto life and death.”
It was as if his heart was suddenly struck heavily by these words. Lin Hong was in such pain that he momentarily stopped breathing. Yet his expression remained calm, and the next moment he decided to meet her determined gaze with a smile, saying gently: “I wish Wu Dishan and His Highness the Crown Prince mutual respect and companionship until old age.”
“Thank you.” Zhenzhen also smiled and offered her blessing: “I wish Xuanyi Lang longevity and transcendence like an immortal.”
Lin Hong nodded, maintaining his smile as he stepped forward. He couldn’t help but remember her from the Wenqiao Inn in those days – on such pleasant, sunny days, she would often pick flowers from the garden to bring to him. Looking up to see him, her eyes would sparkle with golden fragments of sunlight, and she would smile charmingly, always calling out joyfully: “Teacher Lin!”
At this moment, as they crossed paths with each other, both smiling, they both looked straight ahead and continued forward. Yet in that instant of crossing, almost simultaneously, two tears fell from both their smiling eyes.