Being a woman meant inevitably dealing with many troublesome matters.
When Wei Shubin trudged into the gates of Purple Void Temple, soaked and mud-stained, her heart was full of grievances. She had only wanted to find Chai Yinglu to pour out her troubles and perhaps arrange another private meeting with Li Yuangui. But when she was led to the Abbess’s bedside, all those thoughts vanished into thin air, replaced by shock and distress, causing her to cry out involuntarily:
“Sister Ying, what’s happened to you?”
Having not seen her for some time, the once vibrant and vigorous Abbess of Purple Void Temple now had a sallow, puffy face with dark circles under her eyes, looking utterly listless. Despite the hot, humid weather, she lay shivering between thick quilts and blankets, her hands and feet ice-cold to the touch. Had she fallen seriously ill?
“Don’t be afraid… it’s nothing… I’ll be fine after a few days of rest…”
The female Taoist whispered reassuringly, and the serving maids like Jingxuan attending her bedside didn’t seem particularly alarmed or frightened. Upon sitting down and inquiring further, it turned out to be a woman’s monthly affair.
But Lady Chai’s menstruation was quite different from ordinary women’s monthly cycles. Probably because she regularly experimented with medicines and consumed elixirs, she would often go months without any signs, then when it suddenly came, it was as if the sun and moon darkened, mountains and rivers were swept away, winds whirled, and everything collapsed for thousands of miles. She described it as “having a millstone inside my body, grinding relentlessly from my hair to my toes,” leaving her only enough strength to shiver beneath the blankets.
She said she’d be fine after a few days, but according to Jingxuan, there had been times when the bleeding continued for three months, frightening her father, Prince Consort Chai, into making vows and offerings everywhere, even preparing a coffin to ward off ill fortune. In the end, it was her master, the Medicine King Sun, who rushed over and saved his female disciple’s life through a combination of acupuncture and medicine. This time, however, it didn’t appear as severe, and Chai Yinglu herself said it wasn’t life-threatening.
Even so, Wei Shubin dared not mention her troubles and instead helped the servants prepare medicines and attend to the patients daily. Though she hadn’t lived long with Chai Yinglu and hadn’t learned much medical knowledge, she could read and write and had organized many prescriptions. Having her by the sickbed to check pulses and verify prescriptions made everyone in the temple feel more at ease.
It was because she was currently so useful in the temple that Jingxuan, though knowing she had run away from home again, ordered everyone to keep quiet and not tell any outsiders that Young Lady Wei was here, effectively deciding to continue sheltering her.
After three to five days, Chai Yinglu’s complexion gradually improved. Though the bleeding hadn’t stopped, she could now take some food and rice porridge, and for several hours morning and afternoon, she could sit up in bed and chat with Wei Shubin. When she seemed in good spirits, Wei Shubin would tell her about the less dramatic events of recent days, such as “Wen the Seventeenth’s drunken criticism of the Eastern Palace,” but dared not mention matters concerning the imperial father, sons, and brothers.
On a day when Chai Yinglu was feeling better, she took the initiative to tell Wei Shubin about Li Yuangui’s debate with the court officials and his approved arrangement to seek a princess’s hand in marriage in Gaochang, leaving Wei Shubin with mixed feelings, unsure whether to feel fortunate or mournful. Jingxuan also shared the news that the Empress had approved Prince Wu’s petition and decreed that the Seventeenth Princess would marry Law Secretary Pei, with the engagement to be formalized after the Grand Emperor’s forty-ninth day memorial service.
Everyone’s major life events were gradually falling into place, such good news… Wei Shubin sighed inwardly. The female Taoist, her beautiful hair flowing over both shoulders as she reclined against a large meditation cushion, seemed to hear her unspoken words and smiled weakly, reaching out one finger to stroke Wei Shubin’s throat:
“Be patient, wait. Circumstances change constantly, don’t do anything foolish.”
Wei Shubin had pierced herself with a hairpin, breaking the skin, and a faint red mark remained on her flesh, noticeable only upon close inspection. Hearing Chai Yinglu expose her foolish act, her face flushed red. Just as she was about to find an excuse to escape, someone announced from outside, “Yang Kuzhen from Prince Wu’s mansion has come to visit the High True Master.”
Though she couldn’t see Li Yuangui, seeing Yang Xinzhi would be good too. Since Chai Yinglu was still not well enough to receive male visitors, Wei Shubin went out to greet him and indeed found Yang Xinzhi’s tower-like figure in the reception hall.
After exchanging greetings and expressing their feelings, they discussed recent events. Yang Xinzhi explained that on the day of the thunderstorm, Li Yuangui had left the Taiji Palace without permission, rushing to the military camps and other places, greatly displeasing both the Emperor and the regent Crown Prince Li Chengqian. They had sent people to find and reprimand him, and assigned guards to prevent him from running off again. So although Li Yuangui knew of Chai Yinglu’s illness and had wanted to visit her himself, he couldn’t get away these past days, and today finally had the chance to send Yang Xinzhi to inquire on his behalf.
Chai Yinglu’s illness was not something appropriate to explain to men, so Wei Shubin could only speak vaguely. Fortunately, Yang Xinzhi was always good at conversation, and seeing her reluctance to elaborate, he didn’t press further. Instead, he asked about Wei Shubin herself, whether her own family and the Cheng family were making things difficult for her.
At this topic, Wei Shubin felt as if her heart was being pierced by ten thousand arrows. She tried to speak several times but couldn’t get the words out. Her eyes burned but no tears came. She stared blankly at Yang Xinzhi for a long while until he became uncomfortable, his broad face forcing a smile as he tried to comfort her:
“Don’t be too upset, Young Lady Wei. If you don’t want to marry General Cheng, we can think of something together, perhaps find a place for you to hide for a while…”
“I might hide for a while, but can I hide for a lifetime?” Wei Shubin gave him a bitter smile. “Unless I go with you all to Gaochang, where heaven is high and earth is vast, my father and General Cheng probably wouldn’t have the means to chase and catch me for years… Otherwise, within and around Chang’an city, in the capital region and central plains, where could I go beyond their reach?”
“Even Gaochang might not be safe,” Yang Xinzhi chuckled and lowered his voice. “According to the Fourteenth Prince, His Majesty is already considering plans to open up the Western Regions. With the Emperor’s brilliant strategies plus the surprising tactics of Duke of Dai, General Li Yaoshi, who knows when the King of Gaochang might wake up one day to find his bedroom full of our Great Tang’s heavenly troops…”
“And perhaps the one leading those troops would be General Cheng, right?” Wei Shubin smiled bitterly. “It seems I can’t escape this marriage even if I hide at the ends of the earth or in the deepest crevice…”
“Don’t be so dejected,” Yang Xinzhi consoled her. “First hide away to buy some time. Once Kang Sumi that old foreigner gathers enough wealth to send to General Cheng’s household, even if it’s not enough fifty thousand bolts of silk to cancel the engagement, it should at least…”
“Wait, what about Kang Sumi gathering money?” Wei Shubin asked in shock. “What fifty thousand bolts of silk? Are you talking about the Cheng family’s betrothal gifts?”
“Ah? Young Lady Wei, you don’t know about this?” Yang Xinzhi was also startled, seemingly realizing he had let something slip, hesitating to continue. Unable to resist Wei Shubin’s constant urging, he finally explained Li Yuangui’s big argument with Cheng Yaojin, and his arrangement with Kang Sumi to borrow fifty thousand bolts of silk to “redeem” Wei Shubin’s marriage contract and restore her freedom.
The eldest daughter of Minister Wei listened with surging emotions, her vision swimming as all the blood in her body seemed to rush to her head, and then surge back down in waves. She steadied herself and asked thoughtfully:
“Fifty thousand bolts of silk is no small sum. No matter how wealthy Kang Suobo’s family is, how could a foreign merchant so easily lend such wealth to the Fourteenth Prince? And how will the Fourteenth Prince repay him in the future? Won’t this burden him with a heavy debt?”
Unable to evade her questions, Yang Xinzhi had to explain the agreement that Kang Sumi would accompany them to Gaochang and control Li Yuangui’s actions there, admitting glumly that they had already written and sealed the contract, which Li Yuangui could not back out of. Wei Shubin exclaimed, “Isn’t the Fourteenth Prince essentially pawning himself? How could the Emperor allow this?”
“That old foreign merchant is as cunning and crafty as an old fox,” Yang Xinzhi sighed. “By our thinking, this matter should be kept from His Majesty as much as possible, right? But he wouldn’t have it! He gave the Fourteenth Prince detailed advice to openly petition His Majesty and the Crown Prince, explaining all the benefits of having merchants accompany them, how it would save our Great Tang so much manpower and resources, and so on. It happened that the Crown Prince was serving as regent, young and inexperienced, so he approved the Fourteenth Prince’s petition. These days apart from keeping vigil at the Taiji Palace, the Fourteenth Prince can only go to Kang Suobo’s residence to discuss preparations for the journey, with guards following him everywhere, almost like an escort under arrest…”
He spoke more about related matters, trying his best to comfort Wei Shubin, but seeing her lost in a daze as if struck by lightning, not hearing a word, he soon took his leave.