At this point, Chai Yinglu’s long eyelashes closed, finally showing signs of fatigue and sorrow:
“I rarely met my cousins from eldest uncle’s family during the Wude years, yet the First Lady said I looked familiar as soon as she saw me. Initially, I thought she was just being flattering, but after more interaction, I realized she was so pure and simple-minded that she didn’t even know how to flatter… She also said I looked like my mother, which I didn’t think much of at first since everyone said that, but then I realized—that the First Lady was only five or six when my mother passed away, how could she remember what my mother looked like? What seemed familiar to her… was my face.”
On her first day at Ganye Temple, she hadn’t been careful, leaving her birthmark exposed, and she noticed the First Lady’s gaze lingering too long on her neck. Later, growing cautious, she deliberately concealed it and made indirect inquiries, determining that Li Wanxi hadn’t fully recalled the events from the Eastern Palace engagement feast.
Perhaps that simple-minded little cousin would never remember, and they could both live in peace… but as the wedding date approached, her father suddenly had an idea that she couldn’t talk him out of, leaving her no choice but to resolve to kill First Lady, determined not to let her enter the Chai household.
“Was the Consort Chai’s idea to bring out Princess Pingyang’s jade statue, usually kept in a secret courtyard, and place it in the main hall to receive the bride’s ceremonial respects alongside him?” Wei Shubin, her heart now numb with pain, had grown clearer in mind and asked this question while wiping away tears. Chai Yinglu gave her a smile and nodded.
Wei Shubin had seen Princess Pingyang’s jade statue in the Chai mansion’s small courtyard—it too wore a tall hat and flowing robes, with a red birthmark on the neck, almost identical to Chai Yinglu’s disguise when she poisoned the wine at the Eastern Palace—perhaps her undertaking of that deed was largely inspired by that statue. If Li Wanxi entered Consort Chai’s household and saw that statue and birthmark, no matter how simple-minded she was, she would likely recall that earth-shattering event from when she was nine, and deduce who had attempted to poison the current Emperor.
This risk was simply too great for Chai Yinglu to bear.
Once she decided to kill, she began arranging the details meticulously. After entering Ganye Temple, she easily gained the First Lady’s complete trust and discovered her budding feelings for Yang Xinzhi. She then spoke eloquently, claiming her elder brother Zhewei was of poor character and would mistreat his wife, even forging love letters from Yang Xinzhi to convince the First Lady to elope. Chai Yinglu dictated while the First Lady wrote that “suicide note.” As an imperially appointed Daoist priestess who often conducted funeral rites for noble families, she was familiar with the wording of epitaphs and memorial inscriptions, which is why when Ouyang Xun saw the “suicide note,” although he confirmed the handwriting was the First Lady’s, he pointed out that the phrasing had “a scholarly tone.”
Chai Yinglu also casually fabricated a story that Yang Xinzhi would have his friends pose as wedding cart attendants to abduct the First Lady during the procession, and they would hide from searchers in the Zoroastrian temple in Buzheng Ward—an idea inspired by her acquaintance Kang Sumi. Although she repeatedly warned the First Lady not to mention this to anyone, the young lady couldn’t help herself and asked her nurse Hebo about the “Hu Zoroastrian temple.” When Hebo suddenly mentioned this term during the investigation at Ganye Temple, it gave Chai Yinglu quite a fright.
With the forged suicide note ready, the question remained: why would a fine young lady, newly appointed as a county princess and about to marry well, commit suicide? Creating a suitable reason proved quite difficult, and Chai Yinglu worried about it for a long time. Claiming County Princess Linfen was “possessed and deranged” might fool others, but the Emperor and Empress were far too astute, and with the imperial face at stake, they wouldn’t easily believe such nonsense.
She could only consider the angle that “First Lady’s death would expose grievances and accuse Second Uncle and his wife,” but Li Wanxi was too meek and compliant—no one who knew her at Ganye Temple would believe she had the resolve for such a grand gesture. It wasn’t until the wedding day afternoon, when the Empress’s carriage arrived at Ganye Temple and she spoke privately with her niece, after which First Lady was seen crying heavily while seeing off the imperial carriage, that Chai Yinglu suddenly thought of a perfect reason for suicide—regardless of what the Empress had said to her niece, the simple-minded young lady had misunderstood it, and the more she thought about it, the more frightened and desperate she became, ultimately leading to her death.
At this point, the Daoist priestess looked up at the Empress with a smile and asked:
“There’s been a puzzle in Yinglu’s mind for a long time. What did Aunt say to the First Lady that day? She was truly frightened, and later when I entered her room to help with her makeup, she kept crying and wouldn’t tell me.”
Empress Zhangsun’s ivory-like face grew even more bloodless. After a moment of silence, she slowly said:
“Since things have come to this, there’s no need to hide it from you all. I remember asking her about two matters. First, I’d heard that Princess Hailing, Lady Yang, was behaving inappropriately, and since the First Lady was close to her Fourth Aunt, I wanted to hear what she might say before her marriage. Second… during those years when I accompanied His Majesty on imperial tours, leaving Chengqian to oversee the capital, I heard he often lingered overnight in that area of the imperial garden… I asked the First Lady if your cousin had ever entered Ganye Temple…”
Though she didn’t speak plainly, her meaning was clear—she suspected Yang Buyao of having an affair with her son Chengqian. Everyone in the chamber looked at Li Chengqian, who sat silently to the side, his fingers gripping his collar until they turned white.
Chai Yinglu gave a light laugh: “So that’s it. First Lady might have known about Fourth Aunt’s pregnancy and thought she was entangled in palace secrets, which scared her so. Regardless, we now had a reason for her suicide, and the Empress’s gift of that Shesheng golden belt made quite a suitable weapon for strangling. I waited until dark, had people light three large fires at the temple gate to distract the groom, and found my chance to slip into the side room…”
On the wedding night, as the chief coordinator, she needed to direct everything, so it wasn’t strange for her to go anywhere, and a temporary disappearance wouldn’t draw attention. The three bonfires shooting firework sparks and the Chai family’s wedding procession outside the gate were enough to captivate all the wedding guests. Seeing the First Lady’s chamber was clear of people inside and out, she entered, telling the First Lady to “quickly wipe away your tears and touch up your makeup, you need to look presentable before getting into the wedding cart.”
After the Empress left, the First Lady sat in her room crying until dark. Though the room was too dark to see clearly, Chai Yinglu was accustomed to reading scriptures and watching alchemical fires in the inner chambers of Mount Zixu’s cave, so the faint light from the courtyard lanterns filtering through the window was enough for her to act. As the bride sat at her dressing table, before she could light a lamp, a scarf was wrapped around her neck.
Li Chengqian let out a painful groan, holding his forehead:
“It was bad enough that you killed First Lady, a daughter of criminals of little consequence… but why did you have to make wild connections, using that jade ring and Mother’s personally bestowed golden belt and chain, dragging us mother and son into the murder case?”
“Because I didn’t want the case to be investigated too deeply.” Chai Yinglu glanced at the Crown Prince’s lover, her eyes showing tenderness and apology. “A county princess dying suddenly before her wedding was a major case that would shock both court and commons. If my plan succeeded, it would be best if the authorities could close the case as ‘suicide from shock.’ If there were doubts, the Empress might not be willing to bear the stigma of ‘forcing her niece to death with a single conversation,’ so I needed another way to make the Empress willing to accept closing the case as it was. There was no other option… I had to use that blood jade ring.”
After strangling the First Lady, she lacked the strength to lift the body high enough to hang it, so she had to use three connecting ropes to pull the body up and suspend it from the beam. After arranging the suicide scene, she took out the blood jade ring she had been carrying and carefully tucked it into the dressing-case on the table, positioned so investigators would find it during a thorough search without it being too obvious, allowing her to later deflect Li Chengqian’s questioning by claiming “it was too dark in the room that night to see.” After completing these tasks, she quietly slipped back to the temple gate to continue directing the wedding festivities.