Cihe Nunnery wasn’t large, and the side courtyard residence where Yang Buyao and her daughter lived had only two small buildings. The small courtyard behind the buildings was so narrow it couldn’t even fit a single tree.
A large bamboo bed had been placed in the middle for cooling off, and some potted jasmine and morning glory flowers lined the steps along the wall. In the height of summer, these unremarkable flowers bloomed vibrantly, with waves of thick jasmine fragrance wafting over, making Wei Shubin feel rather uncomfortable.
The high walls and small courtyard had only one advantage – they blocked the direct sunlight, providing cool shade from the summer heat. After sitting and talking with Wei Shubin indoors for a while, Yang Buyao said her “back and waist were sore and she wanted to get up and walk around.” Her belly was already so large it hindered movement, so Wei Shubin could only support her as they slowly walked in circles in the small courtyard.
“I forget how many years ago it was, but one day, Young Lady Yi and I were also walking and chatting like this in Ganye Temple, with her nurse Heban following beside us,” the great beauty Yang reminisced. “In Ganye Temple, everyone was from criminal families, so naturally conversation often turned to longing for the former palace and resentment of the present – I won’t hide this from you, Miss Wei surely understands. I forget what we were discussing, but as we talked, Heban told us a true story, with Young Lady Yi listening beside us.
“Heban spoke of around Wude years seven or eight when the Emperor summoned his grandchildren to the palace for family gatherings. She accompanied Young Lady Yi, the Grand Princess, into the palace, where she joined Crown Prince Chengqian and other seven or eight-year-old children in their noisy play. That time, Chengqian had just received a new toy he wore and showed off, saying his mother had just awarded it to him – some sort of Shang and Zhou royal archery thumb ring. The imperial grandchildren passed it around to play with for a while and that was that. In her heart, Heban criticized this, feeling that Prince Qin’s wife was extravagantly indulgent, giving such a precious and fragile item carelessly to children to play with. After returning to the Eastern Palace, she spread this story among the servants, and it reached the ears of Crown Princess Lady Zheng, who called her to inquire about the details. As it happened, the former Crown Prince had just returned to the palace then, and together they listened to her describe the scene.
“The former Crown Prince had returned half-drunk, and after hearing Heban’s detailed description of the archery ring, he slapped the table and sighed heavily, saying that the item had been forcibly taken from his hands when Prince Qin was young. It seemed that in those years, His Majesty and Empress Dou had given the ring to their eldest son, but Prince Qin somehow threw a tantrum and insisted on taking it from his elder brother. The former Crown Prince was naturally generous and didn’t quarrel with his younger brother over it. You can see that Prince Qin from childhood was already—”
At this point, Yang Buyao covered her mouth with her handkerchief and smiled slightly, swallowing the half-spoken words that would have “slandered the current Emperor.” As she waved her half-worn silk handkerchief, a small dangling hairpin at its corner caught Wei Shubin’s eye.
“After the Eastern Palace learned of the jade thumb ring’s whereabouts, then what?” Wei Shubin pressed. Yang Buyao shook her head gently:
“There was no ‘then what.’ According to Heban, they discussed it in the Eastern Palace and that was that. Perhaps Lady Zheng or the former Crown Prince passed this conversation to Consort Yin De and others in the back palace, who embellished it with other stories to provoke and tattle, driving a wedge between His Majesty and Prince Qin as father and son. There was nothing particularly unusual about this, but that year in Ganye Temple, when Young Lady Yi heard her nurse tell this story, she was very interested and kept asking many questions – about how her father was generous to others, how loving he was to his siblings and children, and so on. That’s why I remember that day’s events. Alas, poor young lady, losing her father at eight years old, all alone and isolated, she couldn’t help but imagine wildly, believing her father was the world’s greatest hero and an unmatched loving father. If that disaster hadn’t happened, and her father was still alive, he would surely have cherished his daughter immensely… In my view, these were just foolish fantasies.”
If the Xuanwu Gate Incident hadn’t happened and Yi’s father Li Jiancheng was still alive and had ascended the throne, then Yi and her sister would be princesses, naturally in a much better situation than now – no wonder she longed for her deceased father. Wei Shubin continued to probe:
“So Young Lady Yi learned from this that the jade thumb ring was originally her dead father’s possession, but what happened after? How did she obtain the ring?”
Yang Buyao lifted her head to gaze at the grey-blue sky visible from a corner of the courtyard wall, her tone indifferent:
“I can’t know this for certain, I can only guess and deduce. Young Lady Yi’s nurse Heban, though just a servant, had been the lady of a high official’s household – she was clever and decisive, quite formidable. I’d heard long ago from the elder sisters that when Young Lady Yi lost her mother at a young age, it was Heban who protected her, not letting anyone bully the young lady. Even in the Eastern Palace back then, everyone feared her somewhat.”
Why suddenly talk about Heban? Wei Shubin thought for a moment and asked: “Is Lady Yang suggesting that the nurse might have obtained the jade ring for Young Lady Yi?”
“There wouldn’t have been such an opportunity originally. But last year, when Ganye Temple began preparing for Young Lady Yi’s marriage, with Master Shangzhen and the inner palace staff coming and going, there might have been some of Heban’s old acquaintances among them… The elder sisters lived in the Eastern Palace for nine years, and with Heban’s capabilities and personality, she surely had some confidants working for her before. After the Eastern Palace changed hands twice, not all servants were necessarily replaced – among those unimportant cleaning servants in obscure corners, there might have been some who still had connections with Heban, maintaining contact indirectly. Perhaps they could steal items from the current Eastern Palace and pass them to her, to please the young lady.”
This deduction… seemed far too far-fetched.
At least it didn’t convince Wei Shubin to believe it, and more interestingly, she felt that Yang Buyao herself didn’t believe what she had just said.
The beautiful woman grew tired from walking and, supported by Wei Shubin, sat down on the bamboo bed in the courtyard. She smiled slightly at Wei Shubin:
“Miss Wei should understand something about palace affairs by now. To outsiders, the inner and outer courts seem completely separated, as unfathomable as the sea, but actually… if you know the tricks, it’s not hard to manipulate things from within. Miss Wei, you’re clever and deeply favored by His Majesty. As long as you can give outsiders an explanation that makes sense, and the Empress doesn’t investigate too closely, things can be settled.”
Wei Shubin realized Yang Buyao was giving her advice. Her ostensible reason for investigating was “to clear her name,” so she needed someone to take the blame as the murderer. Heban was already dead, and she had a blood feud with the Li Tang imperial family over the killing of her husband and son – plenty of motive for the crime. Now pushing everything onto the nurse, saying she had long plotted revenge, colluding with Eastern Palace insiders to steal the jade ring, then taking the opportunity that night to kill Young Lady Yi, and using the jade ring, belt, and other items to implicate the Crown Prince and Empress, doing her utmost to damage the imperial family’s reputation – it all seemed to make perfect sense.
As for who the real murderer was, Yang Buyao didn’t care one bit. Her smile was charming but hollow, carrying a kind of world-weary indifference born of seeing through everything.
“Has the current Crown Prince ever entered Ganye Temple? Did he ever have any contact with Young Lady Yi?”
Wei Shubin didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore and asked directly. To her surprise, the beautiful woman on the bamboo bed showed no alarm or vigilance, just smiled faintly again:
“I truly don’t know – a couple of years ago, when the Emperor was away from the capital and left the Crown Prince to oversee affairs, one day I heard servants rushing to tell each other that there was a handsome youth in purple robes with a jade belt watching the temple from the corner tower outside the wall. I went out to look too, and indeed, among his escort of guards, that finely dressed youth was dazzling. That’s the closest I’ve seen the Crown Prince to Ganye Temple – he probably never entered the temple gates… I hear the Crown Prince often hunts and plays ball in other parts of the restricted area, but Young Lady Yi and her sister couldn’t leave the temple, so how could she have private meetings with her cousin? Even if there were meetings – what of it?”
What of it? Did Wei Shubin plan to go tell the Emperor “The murderer is your eldest son”? The Emperor and Empress had no plans to depose the Crown Prince, at least not at present. What could she achieve by accusing the Eastern Palace, except bring disaster upon herself and her loved ones?
It would be better to push the blame onto the dead nurse and be done with it.
Moreover, Heban might not have been entirely innocent. Wei Shubin recalled when Li Yuangui first discovered that blood-stained jade ring in Young Lady Yi’s vanity box – she had been present too. They had asked Heban to identify the ring then, but the nurse had insisted firmly that it wasn’t Young Lady Yi’s possession and she had never seen it before. To protect the deceased’s reputation for chastity, Heban even risked her life by swallowing the jade ring.
If what Yang Buyao just said was true, Heban should have been able to recognize that item. Her behavior in Young Lady Yi’s room had been all an act – but for what purpose?
When she swallowed the jade ring and tried her best to conceal it, was it truly to protect Young Lady Yi’s reputation, or to cover for someone else?