The eldest daughter of the former Prince Xianwang Li Jiancheng of the Great Tang Dynasty, the County Lady of Linfen, hanged herself in her chamber in the eastern wing of Ganye Temple on her wedding day.
The floral crown she wore fell to the ground, its jewels scattering across the floor. Several beads splashed against Wei Shubin’s face, stinging her skin. Wei Shubin rubbed her face and pushed herself up from the ground, but lacked the strength to stand. She could only stare blankly at the tall, thin youth in purple robes who was cradling the hanging body.
“Yang Da! Xinzhi!”
The youth in purple robes shouted, drawing more people into the room. First came Yang Xinzhi, a man as tall and strong as an iron tower, followed by several men and women who crowded into the warm chamber. They moved aside the obstructing screen and worked together to lower the woman hanging from the beam, apparently placing her on the bed in the innermost part of the chamber.
“Fourteenth Uncle, Zhiwei, Xinzhi, all of you go out. We don’t need the groom and his attendants here—it’s too crowded!” A steady, authoritative female voice called from within. “Go find some water, wine, medicine, blood, anything! And I need an able-bodied woman to help me with Yiniang, quickly!”
As Wei Shubin’s mind began to clear, she rubbed her eyes and looked around, noting that there didn’t seem to be any “able-bodied” women present. Finding courage from somewhere unknown, she pushed herself up against the wall and walked step by step to the bedside.
The three men in the room backed away from the bed. A young female official sat on the edge, one arm supporting the hanged woman’s waist, holding her head down over the side of the bed with her black hair hanging down, while her other hand continuously patted the woman’s back. Seeing her struggle, Wei Shubin hurried forward to take over holding the slender body, only to find it completely rigid and lifeless to the touch.
Indeed, after trying everything—pressing acupressure points, administering medicinal broths, and various other methods—it was finally the tall, thin youth in purple robes who spoke:
“Yingniang, stop wasting your effort. Let her go peacefully.”
At these words, several women in the crowd gathered outside the chamber began to cry out simultaneously. The female official sighed deeply and stopped her efforts, laying the body flat on the bed and pulling up the quilt to cover her:
“This foolish child… why did she have to do this!”
Wei Shubin looked at the face on the pillow beside her. Among the disheveled hair was a small face with distorted features, blood-red beneath the powder, with traces of blood around the mouth and lips.
Was this the same County Lady Li Yiniang she had met two days ago? That shy, quiet, and delicate young woman, the eldest surviving child of former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, who had endured so much suffering at such a young age? Just when she was about to escape this imperial prison through marriage, she ended her pitiful and tragic life in such a horrifying manner…
The women’s crying outside the door became increasingly heartbreaking:
“Your fate was so bitter… Xiangniang… why… my dear young lady… ah…”
The female official who had been attempting to save her moved her gaze from the corpse, seemingly just noticing who had been helping her with the rescue attempt, and showed a slight surprise:
“Ah Wei, it’s you?”
“Upper Truth Master,” Wei Shubin tried to stand to bow, but her legs were too weak to support her. She could only nod in acknowledgment, “It’s me… I… I have a favor to ask…”
“I just heard from Yang Da that you wanted to see me, but I really couldn’t get away,” Upper Truth Master Chai Yingluo said with a hint of apology. “Did you come with your father and mother to send Yiniang off for her marriage? They should still be outside…”
Wei Shubin shook her head, tears welling up:
“I didn’t… Father and Mother don’t know I’m here… Upper Truth Master, please save me…”
Grabbing the female official’s wrist, the daughter of Minister Wei pleaded, shaking: “Sister, save me… otherwise, I’ll have to hang myself too…”
The candlelight in the room wasn’t particularly bright, casting large shadows from the High Truth Master’s tall hairpin ornaments across her jade-like face, making her expression momentarily unreadable.
“It seems you’ve encountered some troubling matters too,” Chai Yingluo sighed. “But I can’t attend to you right now. This is my elder brother’s bride, who suddenly decided to end her life for no apparent reason…”
Wei Shubin looked at the female corpse on the bed, then turned to look at the groom, Chai Zhiwei, standing before it.
He was easy to recognize as the eldest son of Princess Pingyang and the Duke of Qiao, wearing the ceremonial “chi mian” wedding attire with a six-tassel crown and three-emblem robe, looking quite noble and dignified. He was a young lord of about eighteen or nineteen, considered handsome and properly mannered. Now he stared at his bride whom he was about to meet and take home, his face full of confusion.
Wei Shubin herself was fleeing from marriage, preferring death to marrying that old demon Cheng Yaojin. But if the husband were a noble youth like Chai Zhiwei… what kind of hysteria would make the former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng’s eldest daughter prefer hanging herself to marrying him?
“Binniang, wait for me a moment. Zhiwei, stop standing there in a daze. Fourteenth Uncle, go out and dismiss the wedding party, send someone to inform my father at home, he’s still waiting for the bride’s arrival. I also need to explain this to the noble ladies, and tomorrow I must report to the palace,” Chai Yingluo pressed her hand to her forehead, her voice revealing deep weariness. “Ah, how am I going to explain this to the Empress…”
At the mention of the “Empress,” Chai Yingluo paused, her eyelashes fluttering twice, and her tone suddenly became decisive:
“This is what we’ll do. I’ll go to the palace first thing tomorrow morning to report the death. We’ll say the County Lady of Linfen, the eldest daughter of Prince Xi, suddenly suffered an attack of heart disease and died by hanging. She was already a member of the Chai family, so we’ll request the Emperor and Empress’s gracious permission to take her body back for the funeral.”
“No,” the thin youth in purple robes called “Fourteenth Uncle” spoke up, “Li Yiniang Wanxi was not a suicide. She was strangled to death.”
The room fell silent. A cold wind blew through the window cracks, making the scattered pearls on the ground roll slightly with a rustling sound.
“Fourteenth Uncle, mind your words…” Chai Yingluo had just begun to frown when Wei Shubin simultaneously blurted out:
“How do you know? — Who exactly are you?”
This purple-robed youth who kept contradicting everyone and causing trouble was truly irritating, and Wei Shubin couldn’t contain herself anymore. Seeing her expression and tone, Chai Yingluo, still red-eyed, laughed and smoothed things over:
“My apologies for forgetting introductions. This is His Majesty’s fourteenth brother, Prince of Wu, who came today as the male marriage witness to send off his niece Yiniang. Fourteenth Uncle, you’ve met Minister Wei’s eldest daughter?”
What… he was a royal prince… Wei Shubin was momentarily stunned.
How had she scolded this youth when they first met? “Young man, you should mind your words”?
The Fourteenth Prince of Wu seemed somewhat uncomfortable too, barely acknowledging Chai Yingluo’s introduction with a slight nod, only emphasizing his previous point:
“Yingniang, Yiniang didn’t commit suicide. I’ve found four suspicious points that prove she was strangled and made to look like she hanged herself. She…”
“Lady Yang!”
Outside the warm chamber, someone shouted in alarm. Those inside looked out to see the strong youth Yang Xinzhi bending down to support a middle-aged woman wearing ceremonial robes.
Wei Shubin didn’t recognize who she was, but heard Chai Yingluo call out “Fourth Aunt” as she went out to help direct people to assist her, then asked: “Where’s First Aunt? She should know about this.”
Chai Yingluo was the daughter of Princess Pingyang, the third daughter of the Emperor Emeritus. Former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng was her first uncle, and former Prince of Qi Li Yuanji was her fourth uncle. Today’s bride, Li Jiancheng’s eldest daughter Li Wanxi, was the daughter of her first aunt, Madam Zheng. After all this commotion, news of the death must have spread throughout the entire temple—why hadn’t the mother appeared yet?
Just as Wei Shubin thought of this, she heard a servant woman outside reply: “Madam Zheng has been kneeling in prayer at the Buddha Hall. She’s very weak, and when someone went to tell her the news, they were too direct, and she fainted on the spot. She’s just been carried back to her room, and the people from the west courtyard are asking the Upper Truth Master to come check on her.”
So that was it—she had fainted from the shock of grief.
Chai Yingluo sighed and replied “I’ll go right over,” then turned back to those in the warm chamber: “The wedding party outside must be getting impatient, and there are people at the Fanglin Gate and throughout the city streets, including those waiting to intercept the wedding procession. Go take care of these matters first. Ah Fen—if you don’t want to see your parents, you’ll have to wait here in this room—are you afraid?”
Wei Shubin looked at the corpse on the bed beside her, and while she was indeed somewhat scared, compared to being caught by her parents and forced into marriage…
“I… I’m not afraid, Sister Ying, go attend to your business…”
Chai Yingluo nodded, saying “I’ll send Jingniang to keep you company,” then turned to the men saying “Let’s finish the matters at hand, then come back to discuss this in detail.”
What she said made sense; this wasn’t the time for careful analysis of the case. Even the Fourteenth Prince of Wu nodded in agreement, tugging at the still-dazed Chai Zhiwei: “Let’s go take care of things first.”
The groom had been standing there in a daze since entering the warm chamber, silently staring at his bride’s corpse. Now he gave a low response and turned to leave, but suddenly turned back, bent down to grasp the quilt on the bed, and pulled it up over Li Yiniang’s distorted, blood-stained face, gently covering her features.
Something in Wei Shubin’s heart was tenderly touched.
Chai Zhiwei and Li Yiniang probably didn’t share any deep feelings. Although this engaged couple were cousins who could have grown up together, after the palace upheaval nine years ago, Yiniang and her sisters had been confined to this Buddhist temple, likely never seeing their cousin again.
A few days ago when she accompanied her mother to offer congratulations, she had heard about the Chai family’s attitude toward this marriage. Li Yiniang had been betrothed to Chai Zhiwei during the Wude era when she was still the Crown Prince’s eldest daughter and certain to be made a princess, while Chai Zhiwei, though the eldest son of Princess Pingyang, had lost his mother, and with no one to maintain imperial favor in the palace, was considered slightly inferior.
After the Zhenguan era began, the fortunes of both families were completely reversed. Yiniang became an orphan of a criminal, and some advised the Imperial Son-in-law Chai Shao to break off the engagement for his son, saying “With your eldest son’s bloodline, background, and talents, it wouldn’t be difficult to seek marriage with one of the current Emperor’s princesses.” Chai Shao firmly refused: “Our family won’t do such a despicable thing. The betrothal gifts have been exchanged, and the young lady is already considered our family’s daughter-in-law. Her father’s crimes shouldn’t affect a married-out daughter. Our family will go through with this marriage.”
Chai Shao, the Imperial Son-in-law of Princess Pingyang, had been known throughout Guanzhong since the Sui Dynasty for his righteousness and loyalty. The unified effort of his father, son, and siblings to gloriously welcome a fallen princess of the previous dynasty should have been a beautiful tale—but now, all their careful preparations and busy efforts had come to nothing.
All Chai Zhiwei could do for his bride who never crossed the threshold was to cover her face in death.
Sighing, the Chai family’s eldest son straightened up and suddenly said:
“What’s this?”
Wei Shubin had already risen from the bed and was standing beside it, watching as he grasped the corner of a paper protruding from under the pillow and pulled it out.
It was a plain note folded into quarters. Chai Zhiwei unfolded it and held it up to the lamplight, revealing writing that filled the page.
After quickly reading through it, Chai Zhiwei raised his head to look at the Prince of Wu, his expression grim:
“Fourteenth Uncle, you were wrong. Yiniang did commit suicide. This… is her suicide note.”
Vol 1 – Chapter 4 Note:
1. Chai Zhiwei, as the legitimate eldest son of a Princess and a Duke, wore the “Chi Mian” (絺冕) for his wedding attire.
According to the New Tang History, Volume 25, Records Vol 1 – Chapter 14 on Vehicles and Clothing:
“For those of third rank and above with a ducal title, their legitimate sons may wear the Chi Mian for weddings. Sons and grandsons of fifth rank and above, and sons of ninth rank and above, wear the Juebian (crown). Commoners wear borrowed crimson official attire for weddings.”
The “Chi Mian” was a lower-ranking version of the “Mian Fu” (冕服) ceremonial attire series – similar to the formal robes with hanging tassels on the headpiece commonly seen worn by emperors in historical dramas. While the basic style was similar, rank was distinguished through patterns and ornaments: “Six tassels (liu liu 六旒), three emblems (san zhang 三章): Chi and Fenmi patterns on the upper garment; Fu and Fu patterns on the lower garment.”
According to formal ritual records, these robes were not exclusive to emperors – high-ranking officials also had their versions of these ceremonial robes. In Dunhuang cave murals depicting wedding scenes, there are images of grooms wearing the Mian Fu. In these murals, the bride is shown on the left wearing blue-green wide-sleeved robes with a round fan covering her face. [Note: The referenced image can be viewed on the author’s Weibo under Vol 1 – Chapter 4 annotations.]