“So Madam didn’t personally witness their deaths?” Chai Yingluor persisted. Jiman only gazed at her with a slight bitter smile, without answering.

No answer was necessary. Even Wei Shubin knew that under those circumstances, the palace women and children abandoned by Yuwen Huaji had little chance of survival. Throughout the eastern regions of Hebei, Qilu, and Jianghuai, the chaos at the end of Sui had left areas repeatedly ravaged by various armies, with barely one in ten commoners surviving. Villages once densely populated remained wasteland for thousands of li even now.

If they had been taken as war prizes into the Eastern Capital, during Prince Qin Shimin’s siege of Luoyang from the third to the fourth year of Wude… by then the city had resorted to cannibalism, with the smooth-skinned, tender-fleshed noble women reportedly particularly favored by man-eating monsters like Zhu Can.

The elderly nun closed her eyes with a light sigh, pressing her palms together as she chanted:

“When Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva practices the profound Prajna Paramita, perceiving the five aggregates as empty, transcending all suffering… Shariputra, form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form. The form itself is emptiness, and emptiness itself is formed; so too are feeling, perception, formation, and consciousness. Shariputra, all dharmas are marked by emptiness, neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing. Therefore, in emptiness: no form, no feeling, perception, formation, consciousness; no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind; no form, sound, smell, taste, touch, dharma; no realm of eye-consciousness up to no realm of mind consciousness, no ignorance and no end of ignorance, up to no aging and death and no end of aging and death, no suffering, origin, cessation, path; no wisdom and no attainment. Because there is nothing to be attained, the mind is unobstructed. Because there is no obstruction, there is no fear. Forever separated from distorted dreams, ultimately reaching nirvana… Therefore know that Prajna Paramita is the great bright mantra, the supreme bright mantra, the unequaled bright mantra, able to remove all suffering, true and not false…”

In the weak, tired chanting, Wei Shubin and Chai Yingluor took their leave. Jiman didn’t even open her eyes to look at them, letting Yang Min quietly see them out. The three stood at the bottom of the tea hall steps, the handsome youth having nothing to say except repeated apologies.

From beyond the courtyard wall came a woman’s voice, sounding like the guest-receiving nun – the last Empress of Northern Zhou, Sima Lingji – instructing someone:

“…send two jin of candied apricots over the western wall, to your mother… Fourth Lady, no need for such ceremony, we share the same fate, it’s only right…”

Chai Yingluor suddenly strode toward the gate, nearly colliding with the guest-receiving nun who was about to enter. Wei Shubin followed behind, only catching glimpses of several female figures disappearing around the corner of the wall.

The guest-receiving nun explained to Chai Yingluor that she was just sending some fruits and preserves to neighbors beyond the western wall, mere ordinary neighborly courtesy. As she spoke, Wei Shubin deliberately studied this empress of two dynasties ago, noting she shared a similar bearing with Empress Xiao – both seemed to have transcended worldly concerns, unburdened by all matters… This air seemed familiar as if recently seen in someone else – who was it?

After a moment’s thought, she remembered – Zheng Guanyin, the former Crown Prince’s consort who had lived at Ganye Temple and now resided in the palace seraglio.

Chai Yingluor exchanged a few more words with the guest-receiving nun and Yang Min before taking leave of the temple. Donning their veiled hats, they mounted their horses outside the main gate. Without hesitation, she turned south. Wei Shubin caught up and asked:

“Sister Ying, where to next?”

“Changxing Ward, Princess Guiyang’s residence,” Chai Yingluor answered with a smile. “Come accompany me to visit my Fifth Aunt, for some private women’s talk.”

Wei Shubin, familiar with her habit of treating serious matters lightly, smiled from horseback. She guessed Chai Yingluor was going to seek her Fifth Uncle-in-law Yang Shidao.

Under pressure and enticement, Empress Xiao had likely told the truth, so naturally, the next step would be to ask Princess Dehua’s brother Yang Shidao if he had heard any news of his sister afterward. Although the Imperial Son-in-law was a cautious man who avoided entanglements, perhaps he would be more cooperative when it came to rescue his son.

Unfortunately, no.

Or rather, it couldn’t be said whether he would, because they didn’t even see Yang himself at Princess Guiyang’s residence. The plump Fifth Princess was quite warm toward her niece Chai Yingluor but said her husband had been especially busy lately, often away from home for three to five days at a time. Reportedly, due to the urgent military situation with Tuyuhun, His Majesty’s edicts and orders were numerous, and as Director of the Chancellery, Yang Shidao was staying at the ministry to be available for drafting documents at any time.

Chai Yingluor just smiled at this, taking her aunt’s hand as they entered the rear hall. After having her dismiss the attendants, she said in a low voice:

“Fifth Aunt, don’t mind my meddling. When I came with Fourteenth Uncle last time, didn’t I warn you that Uncle-in-law might… have another establishment?”

“Hah! He wouldn’t dare, not with eighteen more lives!” Fifth Princess slapped the high table. “I’ve already interrogated his people thoroughly, they all say there’s nothing. I’ve beaten two or three to death – those worthless slaves wouldn’t dare lie to me!”

“What do servants and slaves know?” Chai Yingluor continued smiling. “These past days, Yingluor has heard more news! Last time I mentioned watching if anyone was sending daily necessities out from the household – have you noticed anything?”

“Well…” Fifth Princess hesitated. “There was… but when I investigated, it was just monthly offerings being sent to his Yang family temple… My trusted servant went along and confirmed they were delivered directly to the nunnery. Those monastics, with their six senses purified, surely wouldn’t help a scoundrel maintain a separate household…”

Chai Yingluor said “Fifth Aunt is too kind-hearted” with a smile, then put her mouth to her aunt’s ear, dropping her voice even lower to whisper rapidly. Wei Shubin, standing at the hall entrance, could no longer make out what was being said, only seeing Fifth Princess first shake her head then nod, finally saying with slight reluctance:

“That’s how it is. It’s late today – stay the night here first, and tomorrow morning I’ll have someone guide you to look… Ah, Yingniang, you’re right. It’s true, and I’d better pretend not to know. At our age, even if he has no shame, I still have my dignity…”

“It might just be a rumor – Uncle-in-law is such an honest, proper person…” Chai Yingluor comforted her aunt with more smiles, then led Wei Shubin to stay in the guest quarters. After spending the night, the next morning after the curfew lifted, Princess Guiyang ordered her trusted servant to guide Chai Yingluor from the residence.

The mounted party retraced the route Chai and Wei had taken from Wanshan Nunnery to Princess Guiyang’s residence the day before. First west, then turning north, Wei Shubin felt increasingly uneasy and questioned Chai Yingluor, who only smiled and said “I think I guessed right,” urging the princess’s people to hurry. Before midday, they arrived back at Wanshan Nunnery’s main gate.

Turning right and entering the south gate of Xiuxiang Ward, they saw another temple on the right side, much smaller than the adjacent Wanshan Nunnery, but with pagoda trees and miscellaneous trees densely planted inside and outside its walls, creating a secluded, tranquil atmosphere.

This must be the “Yang family temple” mentioned by the Fifth Princess, with a wooden plaque reading “Cihe Nunnery” hanging above the gate. The princess’s servant explained as they entered that the nunnery was first established in the first year of Daye by Crown Prince Yang Zhao of Sui for two virtuous bhikshunis, Shanhui and Yuanyi. After Yang Zhao’s early death from illness, his tablet and portrait were enshrined here for worship, and some of his consorts also took the tonsure here. In the first year of Yining, when Yang Zhao’s son Yang You was installed as the last Sui emperor by the Tang family, he came here several times to pay respects to his deceased father.

As they spoke, the abbess came out to greet them, inquiring about their purpose. Chai Yingluor didn’t waste words with her, producing her palace credentials and declaring she was “investigating a case by imperial order,” demanding to see the person sent by Imperial Son-in-law Yang.

This person was secluded in a wing room deep in the shade of trees in Cihe Temple’s east courtyard, sitting before a mirror under the window, her skin like snow, her beauty surpassing flowers.

Wei Shubin had been wondering if Chai Yingluor was truly so capable, of suddenly locating the former Sui Princess Dehua from Empress Xiao’s veiled words. But upon seeing the woman in the room, she understood her mistake.

They had indeed found great beauty in the Yang family, but this was Lady Yang, the wife of Prince of Hailing – the current emperor’s fourth brother’s wife, not her aunt who had been sent as a marriage alliance.

True beauty truly defies reason, Wei Shubin thought, no wonder men often dismissed it as “flood water.” If when she had first seen Lady Yang at Ganye Temple, she had been naive and simply captivated by the woman’s features and bearing, now after a month, though she knew this woman was a major suspect in several cases and possibly a venomous snake-hearted poisoner, one glance still left her stunned by the overwhelming celestial beauty.

This beauty, no longer young, emanated a delicate loveliness from her snow-white skin that seemed almost like an illness, spreading contagiously around her – even the middle-aged shaved-headed nun attending her had similarly refined, attractive features. Lady Yang raised one slender white hand to rest on the nun’s fair wrist as she rose from her couch to greet them, a mysterious smile playing at her lips.

Wei Shubin’s gaze shot to her abdomen, drawing in a sharp breath of shock.

She had experienced helping her mother through several pregnancies and had studied some medicine with Chai Yingluor, but neither was necessary. The great beauty Lady Yang’s self-conscious posture, supporting her belly, was too obvious—

The Prince of Hailing’s widow of nine years was pregnant.

Note: Lady Yang, the wife of Li Yuanji, was Yang Shidao’s niece. In the novel, she is depicted as being sent to recuperate at the “Yang family temple Cihe Nunnery,” the location of which was found through research in the “Study of the Two Capitals’ Wards in Tang.” There was a Wanshan Nunnery in the southeast corner of Xiuxiang Ward in the Sui-Tang capital, with Zhaocheng Nunnery to its west. Regarding the evolution of Zhaocheng Nunnery, the “Chang’an Gazetteer” records: “In the first year of Daye of Sui, Crown Prince Yuande established it as Cihe Temple for the nuns Shanhui and Yuanyi. In the first year of Yonghui, when the Daoist temple in Chongde Ward was abolished, its plaque and nuns were moved to this temple. In the second year of Xiantian, it was renamed Zhaocheng Temple in memory of Empress Zhaocheng.” Since this story takes place in the ninth year of Zhenguan, the temple would still have been called Cihe Temple at this time.