Wei Shubin was stunned for several heartbeats before realizing this woman had mistaken her for a newly entered imperial consort – her rival in love – likely deduced from her casual mention of “the imperial chamber in Yong’an Palace.” Her face flushed hot, and just as she was about to clarify, she suddenly held her tongue.
She had come to inquire about extremely secret matters from Yang Buyao, involving murder and incest, and had been worried that this imperial favorite wouldn’t tell the truth. Now that this misunderstanding had arisen through their conversation, she could pretend to be “questioning on imperial orders.” Yang Buyao, concerned about the crime of deceiving the Emperor, might not dare to lie. Why clarify when such an opportunity should be seized?
“To be honest, I’ve been arranging marriage matters recently, but encountered obstacles, and my position remains unclear,” Wei Shubin gestured to indicate she still wore unmarried maiden’s attire. “Besides mourning for the late Emperor, there’s another reason that greatly damages my reputation. If the truth isn’t investigated and made public to the court, I fear I’ll never be able to serve in the imperial household. The only person who knows the truth of this matter should be Lady Yang. Thus, I reported to His Majesty and came to seek your help. I beg for your sympathy and assistance.”
As she spoke, Wei Shubin performed a graceful courtesy, taking the chance to catch her breath. Speaking so carefully was truly exhausting, but she maintained her principle – I haven’t lied, every word is true.
“Please rise quickly. My condition prevents me from returning the courtesy, I’m mortified,” Yang Buyao hurriedly reached out to help her up. “Young lady is blessed with great fortune, and will surely achieve high status in the future. My daughter and I will need Miss Wei’s care, how dare I not do my utmost to comply? Whatever the matter is, young lady need only ask, and I will tell all I know.”
After both women were seated again, Wei Shubin exchanged a few more humble phrases before getting to the main point:
“At the end of the first month this year, at that wedding in Ganye Temple, in the case of Linfen County Princess’s death by hanging – Lady Yang and I were both at the scene of the crime, so there’s no need to elaborate on the details. At that time, I was forced by circumstances to confess to the murder – perhaps you’ve heard about this? When this matter reached Lizheng Hall, the Empress began to despise me…”
Her eyes reddened and she stopped speaking, silently begging “Empress, please forgive me.” Empress Zhangsun had indeed treated her with coldness and disdain, but that was due to her impoliteness. Now she was portraying the Empress as a jealous wife preventing the Emperor from taking concubines – enough to constitute the crime of slandering the Mother of the Nation.
But without speaking thus, how could she gain the trust of a woman like Yang Buyao? Looking up, she saw the Emperor’s sister-in-law nodding slightly, her beautiful face showing sympathy:
“So it’s that matter… *sigh*, it’s your fault for being impulsive. Of all things to say, why did you randomly grab that coal basket to wear? Now that they have something to hold against you, this is difficult… His Majesty doesn’t care about these things.”
“His Majesty doesn’t care, he just wants to solve the case soon, find the real murderer, to silence the gossip of the world,” Wei Shubin said earnestly. “I know that before her death, the Linfen County Princess was closest to Lady Yang, sharing everything. Though her death was disguised as suicide by hanging, when experts examined the scene, they found many suspicious points and confirmed it was murder. His Majesty also believes the culprit should be found and tried properly. This murderer… I beg Lady Yang to give some hints.”
Yang Buyao’s face tensed slightly, then showed that innocent curious expression again:
“How strange, why does Miss Wei believe I have any connection to the murderer or know who they are? Perhaps you don’t know, but the day after the incident, I was already questioned about this case, with your father Minister Wei present at the hearing. If I had known any clues about the case, I would have revealed everything then. Several months have passed now, memories are even hazier, how could I remember anything? I’m sorry I cannot help, Miss Wei, please forgive me.”
She was still very tight-lipped; it seemed some concrete evidence would need to be thrown out to push her. Wei Shubin thought for a moment, then said:
“I wouldn’t have come personally to visit, exposing myself, without some certainty to dare speak so boldly. The Linfen County Princess’s death was closely related to a romantic affair – does Lady Yang know of this?”
“Ah? A romantic affair?” Yang Buyao was surprised. “She was a young lady who had never left home, spent most of her life confined, and there were no men in the temple – who could she possibly have had an affair with?”
“This is indeed hard to believe, but after her death, investigators found a man’s jade thumb ring in her vanity box,” Wei Shubin said slowly, watching Yang Buyao’s expression closely. “That jade ring was of an unusual ancient design, a ceremonial item used by male royalty of the Shang and Zhou dynasties for archery, not a fashionable ornament. It was later identified as a personal accessory of the current Crown Prince, bestowed by Empress Zhangsun, and highly valued in the imperial family.”
“The Crown Prince’s accessory… in Young Lady Yi’s vanity box?” Yang Buyao still maintained an expression of surprise. “This is strange indeed, when did they ever meet? I never heard of this… Could someone have passed it to her?”
Wei Shubin didn’t follow this tangent, continuing: “When searching the Linfen County Princess’s former residence, they found some handwritten copies of romantic poetry and palace songs from ‘New Songs from a Jade Terrace.’ The Princess’s younger sister who lived with her testified that her sister obtained the original texts from you, Lady Yang, and that you had a semi-teacher-student relationship, often sharing private inner palace talk. The County Princess was of marriageable age, so this was normal and beyond reproach, but it suggests that if the County Princess did have a romance, you, Lady Yang, should know about it.”
Yang Buyao’s jade cheeks flushed slightly as she smiled: “You’ve investigated quite thoroughly… This, I indeed cannot deny. Those poems and books were borrowed by Young Lady Yi to copy when she came to my room. The sisters had unfortunate circumstances and never received a proper education. They learned a few characters from us elder sisters in the temple, and we taught them to read in our spare time, just to pass the days, chatting and entertaining ourselves. Miss Wei says Young Lady Yi’s maiden yearnings are not surprising – I think so too. She didn’t dare tell her mother, so she would talk with me about young girls’ foolish hopes, curiosity about the outside world, asking what sort of height and appearance in men was considered magnificent, how husband and wife should get along after marriage, and such casual talk. How could there be any real romance? You must know that place was like a prison – I fear she hadn’t seen any men since she was ten years old.”
This explanation was reasonable and smooth; Wei Shubin couldn’t immediately detect any flaws. After thinking, she continued:
“The Linfen County Princess lived in seclusion from childhood, staying out of worldly affairs – it’s quite puzzling why anyone would want to kill her. Someone mentioned an incident from ten years ago, at the engagement celebration feast of Imperial Son-in-law Chai’s eldest son and the County Princess when Young Lady Yi offered a cup of wine to the current Emperor…”
Just as she said this, she saw Yang Buyao’s expression change dramatically. For an instant, fear and panic distorted her originally smooth and delicate face.
Wei Shubin immediately stopped speaking, quietly watching the beautiful woman collect herself. During their last visit here with Chai Yingluo, Yang Buyao had already admitted that nine years ago, during the reinvestigation of the Eastern Palace poisoned wine case, she had secretly written a note revealing the wine pot’s location, helping the investigators solve the case. So regarding that attempted assassination of the current Emperor, who was deeply connected to Young Lady Yi and her father, as well as the entire Chai family, Yang Buyao was also an insider – she couldn’t deny this point.
The beautiful woman who retained her country-topping beauty despite approaching middle age sat reclined on the couch, lost in thought. After a long while, she finally spoke in her deep, languorous voice:
“That jade thumb ring you mentioned, the Crown Prince’s ornament, I thought it sounded familiar earlier. Now I remember, I probably know why… it would be found with Young Lady Yi.”