When the matter of the Prime Minister’s daughter’s marriage came up, all the men present fell silent, as it wasn’t their place to intervene. Chai Yaoluo sighed, releasing Lady Pei whom she had been supporting, and stepped forward to help Wei Shubin up from the ground.
“In such cold weather, you shouldn’t sit on the ground for too long…”
Wei Shubin’s legs were still weak, her body trembling, and she couldn’t stand on her own. She could only lean against Chai Yaoluo for support. Her ears were ringing as she heard Chai Yaoluo speak in a clear, strong voice:
“In this world, children’s marriages have always been decided by their parents and elders. This is the way of propriety, as it has been since ancient times, and cannot be defied. Parents naturally have their children’s best interests at heart, wishing only for their happiness and harmony after marriage, without any ulterior motives. Marriages arranged this way are all perfect and proper, leaving no room for outsiders to comment.”
The sarcasm in the phrase “ulterior motives” was too obvious. Wei Shubin saw her father’s face redden unusually, while her mother glanced at her with an apologetic expression. At that moment, the room seemed to thunder with the echoing words:
The Cui family’s daughter! Fifty thousand rolls of silk! The Cui family’s daughter! Fifty thousand rolls of silk! The Cui family’s daughter! Fifty thousand rolls of silk!
Wei Shubin suddenly understood why Chai Yaoluo was willing to risk offending the Prime Minister by interfering in another family’s affairs to help her. Such arbitrary arrangement of marriage by parents must have been a painful experience for her as well… But now was certainly not the time to dwell on that.
No matter how much others tried to help openly or secretly, only she could decide her fate.
“Shufen has been unfilial and disobedient, failing to repay her parents’ kindness in raising her. Running away from home has brought shame to the family name, an unforgivable crime,” Wei Shubin said to her parents, fighting back tears. “If Father and Mother insist on marrying your daughter into the Cheng family, I cannot defy that. My body and hair were given by my parents, and I should repay them accordingly. But my heart remains my own, and my hands and feet still obey my commands. Whether by knife, scissors, rope, or well… anyone will suffice.”
If she couldn’t decide on her marriage, at least she could decide on her death.
As expected, her parents burst into another round of scolding. Wei Shubin lowered her head in silence, too tired to listen carefully anymore. It had been an incredibly long day, and she felt exhausted to her bones, her whole body falling apart.
Everyone in the room probably felt the same way. It must have been past midnight by now, and Lady Pei, who was six months pregnant, looked particularly exhausted. After Wei Zheng finished this round of scolding and fell silent, Prince Li Yuanji of Wu, who had been leaning against the wall, spoke coldly:
“The young lady’s determination is admirable, and her timing is impeccable. With the death of the Princess of Linfen, the officials must prepare the funeral procession and observe the proper mourning rituals. If the young lady is determined to end her life, she might as well act quickly. Perhaps she could even earn the reputation of ‘dying in accompaniment of her former master’s daughter,’ which would sound better than dying from being forced into marriage by her parents, and would bring more honor to Minister Wei…”
…How could anyone say such things?
“Fourteenth Uncle, how can you speak so inappropriately!” the female Taoist priest, who was several years older than her young uncle, reprimanded with furrowed brows.
At least Sister Chai from the Chai family is on my side, Wei Shubin thought consolingly.
“—If something happened to Miss Fen, how could it be considered a companion burial? It would look more like suicide out of guilt…”
Guilt—
“You’re right, I was confused,” Li Yuanji rarely admitted his mistake, his voice still cold. “When my elder brother—the former Crown Prince Jiancheng passed away, Minister Wei was a former official of the Eastern Palace, always priding himself on his integrity and loyalty, yet there was no discussion of sacrificial death then. How could it be the young lady’s turn to sacrifice herself for righteousness?”
The sarcasm was so bitter that Wei Zheng finally couldn’t endure it anymore. With a “hmph,” he forcefully swept his sleeves and strode out the door, his angry footsteps echoing as he left.
Lady Pei also sighed, saying nothing more. She bowed slightly to Chai Yaoluo and the others, then followed her husband out the door.
So… had Wei Shubin temporarily escaped from her parents’ control?
With a sob, she began crying again, unsure whether from extreme joy or overwhelming sorrow.
Chai Yaoluo held her, offering words of comfort. By now it was very late, and everyone had already arranged places to spend the night at Ganye Temple. Since the matter had temporarily concluded, they bid each other farewell and returned to their rooms, with Wei Shubin naturally following Chai Yaoluo.
The female official’s sleeping quarters weren’t far from the east wing. Chai Yaoluo said, “Ah Fen, just share my bed and rest for a while, it’ll be dawn in an hour or two.” The two women entered the room, and servants came forward to help them wash up, remove their makeup, and change clothes.
The room was kept warm by the heating stove. Chai Yaoluo had Wei Shubin undress and get into bed first, before removing her robes. In the dim candlelight, the crimson birthmark on her snow-white chest was particularly striking.
Wei Shubin lay on her side in the inner part of the bed, pulling up the quilts, turning her head to watch as Chai Yaoluo changed. After removing the formal female official’s robes with their wide sleeves, the Taoist priest’s voluptuous curves were fully revealed. Children from wealthy families, well-fed since childhood, often grew tall and fair-skinned, and this woman in her mid-twenties was particularly tall, no less than a common man, with long, graceful arms and legs, and elegant movements—truly outstanding beauty.
Yet she would never be able to marry in this lifetime.
Wearing only her undergarments with her black hair loosely tied, Chai Yaoluo came over and lay down, asking Wei Shubin with a smile: “What are you thinking about while looking at me?”
Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Wei Shubin waited until she was covered by the quilt, then pointed at the red mark below her collarbone: “Sister Yao, is your courtesy name derived from this birthmark?”
“Indeed it is. My mother has the same red mark on her neck, and my maternal grandmother, Empress Mu, had one too. Although they differ in size, shape, and position, they truly show our blood connection. So when my mother returned to her maiden home to give birth to me in the eighth year of Daye, after I was born, my grandmother picked me up, saw the mark on my neck, and laughed heartily, saying ‘This mark that passes only to daughters has appeared again, this time it looks like Guanyin Bodhisattva’s string of beads…'”
Chai Yaoluo was truly exhausted, and as she chatted with Wei Shubin on the pillow, her voice became increasingly unclear. Wei Shubin, not wanting to disturb her further, stopped responding, and indeed, Chai Yaoluo soon fell into a deep sleep.
But Wei Shubin couldn’t sleep. She was tired too, and even more heartbroken and anxious. Mixed with her feelings of desolation and self-pity were gratitude toward Chai Yaoluo and despair about the future. She had seriously offended her father this time—would she never be able to return home?
She was only fifteen years old—was she really determined to spend the rest of her life practicing alchemy in a Taoist temple, staying away from worldly affairs, and learning medicine and writing books from this female Taoist?
Somehow… it didn’t seem like an entirely unacceptable prospect.
Lying quietly in bed, listening to the female Taoist’s long, steady breathing beside her, feeling the warmth radiating from her young body, Wei Shubin’s thoughts gradually settled.
This situation was somewhat similar to when she had stayed overnight at the Zixu Temple with her good friend Su Lingyu.
The Zixu Temple, managed by Chai Yaoluo, was located within the imperial gardens, just like Ganye Temple. Whenever there were women’s study society meetings, all participants had to travel out of the city and into the gardens. The journey was long, and if the lectures ran late, they would run into the night curfew, making it difficult to return home that day. Therefore, Zixu Temple also maintained guest quarters year-round for overnight stays.
Minister Wei Zheng and Secretary Su Dan were close family friends, so when their wives and daughters stayed overnight at the women’s study society, Wei Shubin would always share a bed with Su Lingyu, and the two young girls would share intimate conversations at night. Come to think of it… it was during one such nighttime chat that Su Lingyu had told her about Zixu Temple Master Chai Yaoluo’s marriage history.
She couldn’t remember who first mentioned “I heard the Empress is also coming to the women’s study society to listen to lectures and select the Crown Prince’s consort,” but Su Lingyu, still unaware of her fate at the time, had smiled and said, “I wonder how Upper Truth Master feels about helping the Empress select a consort.” Seeing Wei Shubin’s confusion, she added, “Upper Truth Master was originally destined to be the Tang Dynasty’s Crown Princess, didn’t you know?”
Wei Shubin truly didn’t know—thinking about it later, she understood why. The matter involved former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, and her own family rather avoided such topics, so no one had told her about it.
Su Lingyu wasn’t usually one to gossip, but unable to resist Wei Shubin’s repeated curious inquiries, she lowered her voice to the pillow and told her friend the story:
“The Supreme Emperor’s first wife, Lady Dou, who was posthumously titled ‘Empress Mu,’ passed away early, before the founding of the Tang Dynasty. About a year or two before her death, her third daughter—who later became Princess Pingyang—returned to her maiden home to give birth, and her first child was daughter Chai Yaoluo. Being her only maternal granddaughter, Lady Dou naturally adored her immensely. At that time, the former Crown Prince Jiancheng’s eldest son was already four or five years old, so Lady Dou arranged their betrothal, intending for her granddaughter to become the wife of the Tang Duke’s eldest grandson.”
Such arrangements to strengthen family ties were quite common in those times. Wei Shubin had just begun to understand when she noticed something didn’t add up:
“How could the former Crown Prince Jiancheng’s eldest son have been four or five years old before the founding of the dynasty? I heard that among the ten young princes executed after the palace incident in the ninth year of Wude, the eldest was only nine years old. The ages don’t match up.”
“The former Crown Prince was already twenty-nine when the dynasty was founded. Think about it—at that age, and being the heir of the Duke of Tang, how could he not have already been married with children?” Su Lingyu’s delicate voice carried a note of sympathy. “It’s truly a tragic tale. When the Supreme Emperor and the current Emperor raised their army in Taiyuan, the former Crown Prince only brought his fourth brother, the former Prince of Qi, fleeing from their old home in Hedong to Taiyuan. The rest of their family members were captured by Sui officials and sent to the capital. As the Supreme Emperor’s army advanced through difficulties, when they attacked the capital Chang’an, the city’s defenders Wei Xuan, Gu Yi, Yin Shishi, and others, showed their loyalty to Sui and strengthen the soldiers’ resolve to defend the city, executed all of the Supreme Emperor’s young sons and weak grandsons on the city walls, not sparing even the Li family’s women…”
Wei Shubin shuddered: “They killed even the children and women?”
“Yes, in times of chaos, human life was as worthless as grass—who cared about laws!” Su Lingyu sighed. “The former Crown Prince’s several children and wives, both primary and secondary, were all lost in that incident. The Supreme Emperor had originally intended to grant princely titles to these poor weak grandsons, following the precedent of posthumously honoring his third and fifth sons, but the former Crown Prince strongly declined, citing reasons of filial piety—that it would cause his father grief to remember these children who died before reaching maturity—and from then on acted as if those sons had never been born. Naturally, the Chai family’s young lady’s betrothal was also nullified. Later, the former Crown Prince took the current Lady Zheng as his consort, and in the second year of Wude, she bore him a son. The Supreme Emperor was overjoyed, naming this grandson of his eldest son ‘Chengzong,’ and granting him the title ‘Prince of Taiyuan’ after the place where the dynasty rose. Anyone with eyes could see that this was treating him as the Crown Prince’s son, intending to pass the great position to him in the future.”
“Was the Chai family’s young lady then betrothed to Crown Grandson Chengzong?” Wei Shubin asked.
“Yes. When the Tang Dynasty was founded, Princess Pingyang raised an army in Guanzhong to support the cause, achieving great merit. Being a woman, after the dynasty’s establishment, she could only be granted the title of princess and rewarded with gold and silk, unable to further display her talents. She often felt depressed about this. As the only daughter of the primary wife, she was especially favored by the Supreme Emperor. Although the Chai family’s young lady was several years older than the new Crown Grandson, she grew increasingly clever and beautiful, daily bringing joy to her maternal grandfather. Everyone thought she was destined to become the future Tang Empress. Unexpectedly, shortly after this second betrothal was arranged, Crown Grandson Chengzong, having lived only two or three years, died… of illness.”
“Ah,” Wei Shubin was stunned, “Two betrothals in succession… surely this would be considered ill-fated?”
“Indeed,” Su Lingyu sighed, “The Chai family’s young lady was truly pitiful—what sin had she committed? But after Chengzong’s death, rumors spread both inside and outside the palace that her fate was too strong, that she was a husband-killing White Tiger spirit. The former Crown Prince had several sons by then; after Chengzong, his eldest remaining son was Prince Chengdao of Anlu. However, Chengdao wasn’t born of the primary wife, while Prince Chengde of Hedong, born to Consort Zheng, was lower in birth order. When Jiancheng would succeed to the throne, the Crown Prince should rightfully be Chengde, the son of the Empress. Whether to continue the betrothal with the Chai family and if so, to which son—these matters remained unresolved for several years… until the later years of Wude.”
At the mention of “the later years of Wude,” Su Lingyu paused, coughing lightly twice. Wei Shubin understood her caution: during those later years of Wude, the three elder imperial sons—Crown Prince Jiancheng, Prince Qin Shimin, and Prince Yuanji of Qi—were locked in fierce rivalry, forcing court officials to choose sides, creating political chaos where every move could spark controversy.
“The Chai young lady’s father, Imperial Son-in-law Chai, had earned great prestige through years of military campaigns. In the sixth year of Wude, Princess Pingyang unfortunately passed away at a young age, deeply grieving the Supreme Emperor and her full brothers. For the former Crown Prince to break off the betrothal with the Chai young lady would have been unwise in terms of sentiment, reason, and political advantage,” Su Lingyu sighed. “Then rumors spread that Prince Qin’s wife was privately seeking to arrange a marriage between her eldest son—the current Crown Prince Chengzhi—and the Chai lady. The Eastern Palace, anxious about this, quickly arranged to continue the betrothal with Prince Chengdao of Anlu, meaning once again it would be Jiancheng’s eldest son marrying Princess Pingyang’s only daughter. This betrothal reportedly received the Supreme Emperor’s approval, but given the many ill omens, the formal engagement ceremonies were never completed… then came the ninth year of Wude.”
In the sixth month of Wude’s ninth year, whether the former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng’s eldest son from a secondary wife or his legitimate son from the primary wife—they were all eliminated by their second uncle Li Shimin in one sweep. Chai Yaoluo had “caused the death” of her third betrothed, all three being the living eldest sons of her maternal uncle Jiancheng.
“But the story of the Chai family young lady’s betrothals wasn’t over yet,” Su Lingyu shook her head. “During the end of Wude and the beginning of Zhenguan, the country was in turmoil. The Turks invaded straight to Chang’an’s gates, the former Crown Prince’s old followers were stirring trouble everywhere, rumors circulated that noble families would support the Supreme Emperor’s restoration, and consecutive years of natural disasters left refugees scattered—it was chaos both internal and external. During those years, Imperial Son-in-law Chai commanded the imperial guards as either the Left or Right Guard General. The current Emperor, having just ascended the throne, showed him special favor, and news spread within the palace that the Emperor wanted to betroth his niece from the Chai family to his eldest son Chengzhi, to become the Crown Princess.”
Wei Shubin was dumbfounded, never imagining that the young female Taoist had experienced so many marriage proposals and betrothals. Su Lingyu sighed softly:
“Princess Pingyang and Prince Qin were both born to Empress Dowager Dou, raised together by her side, and the siblings were naturally close. When Prince Qin married Lady Changsun in Chang’an during the late Sui period, Princess Pingyang helped greatly and was very close to Lady Changsun. After the dynasty’s founding, Consort Zheng and others in the Eastern Palace were newly married and not very familiar with Princess Pingyang. With the early betrothal between the families, the Princess couldn’t frequently visit the Eastern Palace with her daughter but visited Prince Qin’s mansion more often. Prince Qin and Lady Changsun also loved their young niece, so when rumors spread at the end of Wude that Prince Qin wanted to take the Chai young lady as his son’s bride, the Eastern Palace immediately believed it. The rumor seems not to have been groundless, otherwise, why would Prince Qin, after becoming Emperor in the Zhenguan era, still want his eldest legitimate son to marry her despite knowing she had already been linked to the deaths of three husbands?”
“The current Emperor… probably doesn’t believe much in talk of fate causing death to husbands?” Wei Shubin could only suppose.
Su Lingyu shook her head: “In times of plague and chaos, even those who don’t speak of supernatural forces are wary of such things. The Crown Prince is the foundation of the state—how could they risk it? The betrothal news circulated for a while, but then it was said that the Chai young lady—who was already fourteen or fifteen in the first year of Zhenguan—herself firmly declined this marriage to the Emperor and Empress, adamantly requesting to become a Taoist priestess. It caused quite a stir, but finally, both the Supreme Emperor and Emperor granted her request, issuing her a female Taoist credential and putting her in charge of the inner Taoist temple, Zixu Observatory, within the imperial gardens.”
“I see,” Wei Shubin nodded and sighed, “So the proposal to make the Chai young lady the Crown Princess was naturally canceled. The Crown Prince’s marriage has been delayed until now, and it must be awkward for the Empress to ask the Upper Truth Master to help select a daughter-in-law…”
Back then, as she and Lingyu whispered these casual conversations in bed at night, they treated it as just a distant story about someone else’s family. Neither imagined that not long after, an imperial edict would come down selecting Su Lingyu as the Crown Princess.
Since then, Wei Shubin hadn’t seen Su Lingyu again, except for one distant glimpse when she accompanied her mother to congratulate the Eastern Palace on the grand wedding. That slender figure, buried under layers of complex ceremonial robes and floral crown, bore no resemblance to the friend she remembered.
Less than a month after the Eastern Palace wedding, the former Crown Prince Li Jiancheng’s eldest daughter was also married, only to meet with this tragic disaster at her wedding. Chai Yaoluo had not only “caused the death” of her three betrothed husbands—her maternal uncle’s three eldest sons—but now had also “caused the death” of her uncle’s eldest daughter and new sister-in-law.
Yet now Wei Shubin lay beside this “White Tiger spirit,” listening to her deep, steady breathing, feeling only safely and warmly protected, and finally drifted into dreams.
Vol 1 – Chapter 8 – Historical Notes:
Regarding Li Jian cheng’s marriages and children, here’s a detailed explanation:
When Li Jiancheng died in the Xuanwu Gate Incident in the ninth year of Wude, he was thirty-eight years old. Working backward, this means he was twenty-nine when the Tang Dynasty was founded. As the legitimate eldest son and heir of the Duke of Tang, at this age, he almost certainly would have been married, and given the nobility’s common practice of keeping multiple concubines, it’s hard to imagine he didn’t have any children.
However, in official histories, his children appear very late. According to “Old Tang History, Basic Annals of Gaozu, Volume 1”: (In the sixth month of the third year of Wude) “Imperial sons were enfeoffed: Yuanjing as Prince of Zhao, Yuanchang as Prince of Lu, Yuanheng as Prince of Feng; Imperial grandsons were enfeoffed: Chengzong as Prince of Taiyuan, Chengdao as Prince of Anlu, Chengzhi as Prince of Hengshan, Ke as Prince of Changsha, Tai as Prince of Yidu.” Among these, Li Chengzong and Li Chengdao were Li Jiancheng’s first and second sons. Yet before this, in the first year of Wude when the dynasty was founded, Li Yuan had already granted titles to distant clan members and deceased sons from secondary wives. If Li Yuan had legitimate grandsons at that time, it would have been virtually impossible for him to skip enfeoffing them as princes and wait two years.
From this, we can deduce that Li Jiancheng’s registered sons, like Li Shimin’s sons, were all born after the founding of the Tang Dynasty. As for his daughters’ birth dates, the only known record is the epitaph of his second daughter Li Wanshun, who was born around the fifth year of Wude, suggesting that Li Wanshun’s only elder sister was likely also born after the Tang Dynasty’s establishment.
Li Jiancheng’s primary wife, Zheng Guanyin—according to her epitaph—only entered the Eastern Palace after the Tang Dynasty’s founding, unlike Empress Changsun who married Li Shimin during the Sui Dynasty. Her epitaph states: “Our august ancestor once leaped in the river, secretly manifesting the fate of ascension; the Crown Prince’s eldest son dwelled in the East, about to assume the position of heir. Where the wild geese settled, the river fish belonged. The consort’s beauty bloomed early, hastening from youth to coming of age; like climbing vines flourishing, drawing the light carriage to rise to imperial favor. She entered as consort to the great state at sixteen years of age; like the small star in the sky, flowing with verses of three and five.”
This creates a puzzling situation: if Li Jiancheng’s wife and children all came after the Tang Dynasty’s founding, what was he doing before age twenty-nine—had he become a monk? A more reasonable explanation is that when Li Yuan raised his army in Taiyuan, many of his relatives and clan members were arrested by Sui officials and commanders. Some of these “rebel family members” were executed, such as Li Yuan’s fifth son Li Zhiyun. Li Jiancheng’s primary wife and children also all perished at this time. The lives of women and children were not considered important, and for well-known reasons, they left no records in historical documents.
To add a few more points: According to the prevailing laws of the time, such actions by officials were illegal. Even if someone committed one of the “Ten Abominations” deserving complete family execution, only adult male relatives closest to the main offender would be executed—young children and female family members would only be confiscated as government slaves. For example, a leading Sui official named Yin Shishi, who killed Li Yuan’s relatives and desecrated his family graves, has a biography in the Book of Sui. After Li Yuan captured Chang’an, he took revenge by destroying the Yin family, but as the victor could afford to show magnanimity, Yin Shishi’s daughter and young son Yin Hongzhi were spared execution and entered Prince Qin’s household as slaves. Lady Yin bore Li Shimin’s fifth son Li You, and Yin Hongzhi later even rose to the position of “Director of the Imperial Stables,” causing trouble due to his status as an imperial prince’s maternal uncle.