As she spoke, her anger flared again, and she stood to descend the steps, seemingly intending to personally whip the servant. Wei Shubin quickly embraced her to hold her back, saying with a smile: “The Empress is famously skeptical of both Buddhism and Daoism. Sister Yuluo, if you bring her elixirs, you might even get scolded—all that effort for nothing. Rest a while and calm down, then we can consider what to do next.”
After much persuasion, Chai Yuluo finally waved for the beating to stop. Jingxuan helped the young maid away, while Wei Shubin sat with the temple abbess in the corridor to help ease her mood. Suspecting that Chai Yuluo’s outburst was connected to the Crown Prince brothers’ visit, she didn’t beat around the bush:
“Sister Yuluo, why do the Crown Prince and his brother keep coming to speak with you? What urgent matter do they have?” And why do you keep avoiding them?—the last question remained unasked.
Chai Yuluo heaved a long sigh, and seeing no outsiders nearby, answered glumly:
“Can’t you guess, Shubin? At Cihe Nunnery, my fourth aunt Consort Yang…”
“Consort Yang…” Wei Shubin paused, “The child she’s carrying… it is the Crown Prince’s?”
Chai Yuluo didn’t answer directly, only saying: “For nine years, Consort Yang has been confined in Ganye Temple, where no men were allowed to enter. Her only… opportunity was last autumn and winter when she stayed at my Zixu Temple to care for her daughter, Sixth Lady, during her recovery. At that time, many people came and went from my temple, I was busy with external affairs, and needed seclusion for alchemy—I couldn’t watch them constantly. After discovering Fourth Aunt’s pregnancy, I had Jingxuan investigate thoroughly to determine which man might have been with Consort Yang…”
She gave a bitter smile at this point and fell silent. Wei Shubin pressed: “So it was confirmed that the Crown Prince had committed incest with his aunt, causing the Princess of Hailing to become pregnant? And he secretly ordered Yang Shidao to move Consort Yang and her daughter from Ganye Temple to rest quietly elsewhere, to prevent the scandal from being exposed?”
Chai Yuluo’s crescent eyebrows furrowed as she tapped her knee with her fingertips without answering. Wei Shubin could understand her feelings. If this scandal spread, aside from the parties involved, Zixu Temple would be known as their place of illicit liaison, and Chai Yuluo, as abbess, would inevitably face consequences, surely losing favor with Empress Changsun. They had known about Consort Yang’s pregnancy for some time, but Chai Yuluo hadn’t dared tell the Empress “Your sister-in-law is carrying your grandson”—naturally for this very reason.
Was this why the Crown Prince and Prince of Yue kept trying to speak with her? Li Chengqian probably wanted to threaten Chai Yuluo into silence, while Li Tai… perhaps he had somehow learned of this matter and was trying to persuade Chai Yuluo to report it to his parents, hoping to further disappoint the imperial couple in their eldest son and create an opportunity for himself to enter the Eastern Palace?
“Sister Yuluo… you can neither agree to deceive the Empress nor openly refuse?” Wei Shubin asked with a sigh. Chai Yuluo herself might be fine, but her father and brothers needed to serve in court—the consequences of offending the Crown Prince were predictable. Yet completely appeasing the Eastern Palace and conspiring with Li Chengqian to deceive his parents? How could they fool the sharp-minded imperial couple? With Li Tai stirring trouble on the side when the plot was exposed, the Crown Prince might be secure as heir apparent, but Chai Yuluo, an insignificant female Daoist, would be the perfect scapegoat.
“You saw the Empress’s condition that day… ah.” Chai Yuluo shook her head. “From the second to seventh year of Zhenguan, she bore four children in six years, severely damaging her vital energy, which has never fully recovered. With so many worries, she suffers both internally and externally. Such shocking news that would disturb her heart and harm her organs—I truly lack the courage to report it to her directly. These days, I’ve been trying to find someone in Zhengzheng Palace to gradually, quietly hint at it to the Empress, to prepare her mentally. No matter what, such matters can’t be hidden forever. When the tenth month arrives and the child is born…”
A thought suddenly flashed through Wei Shubin’s mind, too dark and cruel—she quickly tried to suppress it. But the thought seemed to have a life of its own, constantly jumping and calling in her heart, pulling her thoughts involuntarily in that direction.
“Sister Yuluo,” Wei Shubin said slowly in a low voice, “The men of your Longyou old families… have never particularly cared about… women and children…”
Li Chengqian was neither a love-struck fool who disregarded life and death, nor a soft-hearted, indecisive coward. Though Consort Yang was an incomparable beauty, now that their moment of passion had created trouble threatening his position as Crown Prince, wouldn’t he… cut the knot with a swift blade?
Chai Yuluo looked at her quietly, expressionless, though her lacquer-black pupils flickered with an understanding of her meaning. The thought was too cruel and heartless to voice directly, and Wei Shubin didn’t want to say it explicitly. Chai Yuluo also refrained from speaking it aloud, only saying quietly:
“I’m waiting to see if, after some more time passes, there might be a good opportunity to handle this matter, or perhaps… it’s best never mentioned at all.”
The two women sat in silence for a long while, Wei Shubin feeling a chill in her heart, though she had no other solutions. Chai Yuluo changed the subject:
“Why have you run back from home today?”
Wei Shubin started with an “Ah,” having almost forgotten why she’d come. Not wanting to dwell on Consort Yang’s matter, she briefly recounted her conversation with her father, his revelation of the Emperor’s intention to send Prince Wu to seek marriage in Gaochang, and her request for Chai Yuluo to help make it happen.
Hearing that her young uncle was to be exiled to Gaochang as a prince consort, the female Daoist first covered her mouth and laughed, then composed herself and sighed: “This is one solution—given Fourteenth Uncle’s current situation, there isn’t a better way out. However… Shubin, I’m sorry for your hardship.”
Touched on a tender spot, Wei Shubin’s heart ached, but she quickly forced a smile: “Sister Yuluo is teasing again—Prince Wu’s life and reputation are what matter. Since I can’t persuade Father, and he’ll likely advise His Majesty against sending Prince Wu as envoy, we can only hope the Empress will take the lead in convincing His Majesty to make this decision.”
Chai Yuluo pondered: “Since it concerns the Da’an Palace princes’ marriages, the Empress’s involvement wouldn’t count as interfering in politics. But how to phrase it requires careful consideration… Ah, I have it.”
Her idea was to wait until after today’s conferment ceremony for the three princes’ consorts when the new Princess Zhao and others would pay respects to the Empress in the inner palace. That would be the time to speak—first taking advantage of the Empress’s good mood, and second, bringing up Prince Wu’s marriage would seem less abrupt and awkward. She added that she would handle this herself, and Wei Shubin shouldn’t accompany her, lest the Empress see Miss Wei and be reminded of the improper romance between young men and women, and Minister Wei’s eldest daughter’s defiant behavior—such chaos might muddle her thoughts. Wei Shubin knew she was right and agreed with reddened cheeks.
When the day came, Chai Yuluo indeed changed into court lady’s attire and entered the palace alone. Wei Shubin composed herself and dutifully copied medical texts and prescriptions at Zixu Temple, leading the temple maids in selecting ingredients and brewing medicines as instructed by the Medicine King Sun. At dusk, Chai Yuluo returned with an exhausted face, briefly describing the day’s festivities at Liangyi and Wanchun Palaces. When Wei Shubin pressed about “that matter,” Chai Yuluo only smiled and answered, “The Empress said she understood, nothing more.”
This meant the Empress hadn’t agreed to speak to the Emperor, but at least she hadn’t angrily refused—Li Yuanji still had a glimmer of hope. What Wei Shubin didn’t expect was that in the following days, she would hear more about the Gaochang war and peace situation from an unexpected source.
One morning as she was writing prescriptions in her room, her maid Ayuan came saying “The Abbess requests Miss Wei to meet a guest.” She nervously wondered if someone from home had come to call her back to the city, but when she reached the hall, the visitor turned out to be the newly invested Princess Zhao, née Pei.
Princess Pei wore a new bride’s attire and brought two maids, coming to Zixu Temple to express gratitude, as she knew that both Chai and Wei had worked hard to arrange her marriage. Wei Shubin had met her once at the Pei family estate in Weibei, while Chai Yuluo laughingly called her “Sixth Aunt” both publicly and privately—the three women were quite warm with each other.
After some casual conversation following their seating, Chai Yuluo asked about Princess Pei’s brother, Legal Secretary Pei. Princess Pei sighed: “Having sent me off in marriage, my brother has fulfilled his wish and planned to return to our old home in Hedong to continue guarding our late father’s tomb. But trouble has arisen at the Weibei estate, so he can’t leave yet and must stay a while longer.”
“What trouble at the Weibei estate?” Wei Shubin thought of the vegetable garden where she and Li Yuanji had stayed, asking with concern.
“You remember our stubborn old estate manager, Old Zhang?” Princess Pei asked, and seeing the two women nod, sighed: “The very day I left for the capital, he was arrested by the Xianyang County Magistrate and his men.”
Note: In ancient times, medicine, Daoism, and shamanism were interconnected. The familiar Sun Simiao, in his “Thousand Golden Prescriptions” series, specifically included methods for “flying and refining” stalactites. By mid-Tang, someone had attributed to him “Sun Zhenren’s Elixir Classic,” which contained the “Internal Sulfur Method of the Elixir Classic”—the world’s earliest black powder formula.
The novel’s “Chen Jin Liu Hui Dan” takes its name from the Daoist canon “Supreme Clarity Stone Wall Record,” traditionally attributed to the Sui Dynasty Luofu Mountain Daoist Qingxia Zi (Su Xuanlang) and edited by Tang scholar Master Chu Ze.
It’s recorded in the “New Tang History’s Bibliography.” It contains dozens of external elixir formulas. Among them, the “Gen Xue Dan Method” has one name… the ninth being Chen Jin Liu Hui Dan, the tenth being Ning Jie Ji Xue Dan.
Ingredients include “12 liang of tin, 1 jin of frost essence, 1 jin of special praise stone, 1 jin of red alum, 5 liang of niter, 6 liang of Supreme Yin Mysterious Essence, 1 jin of washing, 1 jin of white salt.” The refining process isn’t included here—it’s all made up anyway… The effects supposedly were “grind extremely fine, mix with date paste into pills the size of hemp seeds, take four or five to nine at a time, increasing to six or seven to nine, cures all diseases.” Don’t believe it at all—these elixirs were mostly poisonous, and you’d be lucky not to die immediately from taking them. (Emperor Li whimpers and cries)