“The second story comes from Prince Kui, who is present here today.” She paused, looking toward Li Shubai, and only continued after seeing his slight nod. “Three years ago, when Pang Xun rebelled, Prince Kui was ordered to go to Xuzhou to coordinate with six military governors to suppress the rebellion. On the day Xuzhou fell, he rescued two thirteen or fourteen-year-old girls who had been kidnapped by Pang Xun’s subordinates. One of them, surnamed Cheng, said she had come to seek refuge with her aunt Lan Dai, only to learn upon reaching Xuzhou that her aunt had already relocated her household to Yangzhou due to Pang Xun’s rebellion. She gave Prince Kui a silver leaf-vein hairpin, but Prince Kui had no designs on these two girls of unknown origins, so after the Cheng girl left, he discarded the hairpin. Throughout their encounter, because their faces were covered with makeup, Prince Kui never clearly saw their appearances.”
After relating this part, seeing everyone deep in thought and Empress Wang merely pressing her lips together in silence, she continued: “These were two stories told by others. What follows is my deduction based on the clues I’ve gathered. Of course, if you disagree, you can dismiss it as speculation—Several months ago, the palace began preparations for selecting Prince Kui’s bride. At this time, Feng Yiniang at Yunshao Yuan received a letter asking her to help escort an old friend’s daughter to the capital. This friend’s daughter was Cheng Xuese. Feng Yiniang didn’t question why the person didn’t seek help from Lan Dai or other former sisters, but because of past favors, she traveled north to Chang’an, met the person in Puzhou, and escorted her to the capital. However, it was only then that she discovered that the old friend who had entrusted her with this task had now attained such an exalted position. She might have felt joy at first, but ultimately, after the dust settled and Prince Kui’s bride was chosen, she quickly vanished from the world—Originally, such an insignificant pawn who knew the truth was destined to be discarded.
“Meanwhile, Feng Yiniang’s junior sister Chen Nianniang came to the capital searching for someone. However, with one in the streets and alleys and one in the high pavilions, among the million people in the capital, they never crossed paths. Chen Nianniang became destitute on the streets but by chance met Jin’nu. Jin’nu helped her gain access to perform before the Emperor and Empress, but she wasn’t particularly well-received, so she settled for entering Prince E’s household instead. Prince E helped her search at the Ministry of Revenue, and that’s how I learned that Feng Yiniang had been killed. Later, I gave Feng Yiniang’s belongings to Chen Nianniang, and she agreed to help me find a painting now in Lan Dai’s possession, specifically requesting that Xuese deliver it to Chang’an. That painting was the portrait of the Yunshao Six Women, drawn by Mei Wanzhi’s painter husband. Like the miniature in Chen Nianniang’s possession, Painter Cheng’s skill was exceptional, and everyone in the painting was lifelike, instantly recognizable.
“Just days ago, Cheng Xuese, who had received the message, finally arrived in Chang’an from Puzhou with that painting. However, this led to her demise—after the painting was stolen, she became that nameless, headless female corpse in the water channel of Guangzhai Ward!”
Empress Wang laughed coldly: “Such speculation—you just said months ago Xuese was brought to Chang’an by Feng Yiniang, yet nowadays ago she came alone from Puzhou. Are there two Xueses in this world?”
“Indeed, there were two,” Huang Zixia looked at Empress Wang, her voice carrying both pity and sorrow. “Prince Kui rescued two girls of similar age in Xuzhou. They met on their path of exile and supported each other to reach Xuzhou, and when their search for relatives failed and they fell into evil hands, they were willing to risk their lives for each other, truly sharing life and death. Finally, they arrived together in Yangzhou and later moved to Puzhou with Lan Dai. The other girl was named Xiao Shi.”
“Then, of these two who entered the capital one after another, which one was the real Cheng Xuese?” Huang Zixia stared intently at Empress Wang, enunciating each word: “I’ll mention just two minor incidents. First, before Wang Ruo disappeared, I visited her residence at the Wang family one day. She was still asleep and seemed to be having a nightmare, murmuring a name in her confused state—’Xuese, Xuese!'”
Empress Wang’s body trembled for an instant. Her face turned a terrifyingly ashen purple, making everyone who saw her shudder.
But Huang Zixia seemed not to notice, took a deep breath, and continued: “Second, when Jin’nu performed before you, Your Majesty, at the moment she saw Wang Ruo, she said, ‘Impossible… if this is true, how could she be Prince Kui’s bride?’ You see, Your Majesty, even Jin’nu knew who her master’s biological daughter was, yet Mei Wanzhi, who had abandoned this daughter, had no idea that the one standing beside her was Xiao Shi, someone with absolutely no relation to her.”
Empress Wang sat like a clay statue, completely unresponsive. She sat motionless in her chair, that face that once captivated all now lifeless.
She seemed like someone already dead as if her soul had been brutally torn apart by demon hands. She sat there, without breathing, without expression, her wide-open eyes unfocused.
A deathly silence fell over the entire Yanji Hall. Everyone watched this normally dignified and authoritative woman, now thoroughly defeated by just two sentences from Huang Zixia before her.
“Empress Wang, perhaps you never imagined that the Feng Yiniang you casually eliminated had a Chen Nianniang who shared her life’s destiny. And Jin’nu once said that Cheng Xuese looked very much like you. So when Chen Nianniang saw Xuese and the painting she brought, in that instant, she understood who was the daughter of an old friend, who was that old friend who had sent Feng Yiniang to the capital, and why Feng Yiniang ultimately died. That’s why she didn’t bring Xuese to see me as agreed, but instead had her stay at Jin’nu’s residence, and deliberately spread rumors about extraordinary music and dance visible in the Yunshao Six Women painting, using Prince E’s voice and Jin’nu’s sisters who frequently entered the inner palace teaching academy to successfully spread the word of the painting into the palace. And you absolutely could not let anyone see this painting, because among the people painted, there was one who bore your exact likeness.
“And Xuese, who had been rescued by Prince Kui in Xuzhou, was so stubborn and persistent, waiting from age fourteen to seventeen, until the mother she thought was dead sent Feng Yiniang to bring her to the capital, saying she would arrange the best life for her, but she still wouldn’t give up waiting. At the same time, perhaps blaming her father’s destitution and death and her own wandering life on this mother who had abandoned her since childhood, in her heart, she inexplicably hated her mother. She and Xiao Shi agreed that since her mother hadn’t seen her for twelve years and wouldn’t recognize her anyway, and Feng Yiniang, who had only briefly met them when they fled to Yangzhou at age fourteen, how could she recognize Xiao Shi? So she let Xiao Shi go to the capital in her place, perhaps hoping she would also look for that general who had saved them both years ago—but what they never imagined was that Xuese’s mother now held such an exalted position, and when Xiao Shi was arranged to meet people, the one who chose her was precisely the person who had saved them and whom Xuese had waited for three years!”
Silence. Dead silence.
And Huang Zixia raised her voice, finally tearing away the last scab: “Empress Wang, the woman you had killed in the night in Chang’an and discarded in the gutter to replace Jin’nu was your daughter, Cheng Xuese!”
Empress Wang still sat motionless, and after a very long time, large tears suddenly rolled down from her unfocused, wide-open eyes. She thrust her hands into her hair, trembling violently as she pressed her head as if without doing so, her entire brain would explode.
She finally spoke, her voice dry and hoarse: “You’re lying… you’re… lying…”
Huang Zixia stood motionless before her, watching this woman crushed by her words, feeling a complex emotion surge in her chest, compassion mixed with indignation, as if the slain Jin’nu, Feng Yiniang, Xuese, and those beggars from Chongren Ward were all howling their hatred through her blood, making it impossible to suppress, feeling their pain as her own.
And Empress Wang murmured, repeating those two words many times: “Lying… lying!”
Her few broken words made even the Emperor’s face turn ashen. His hand gripped the chair’s armrest, unknowingly using too much force until his knuckles turned white.
Empress Wang’s beautiful face was now distorted. While pressing her head forcefully, she laughed coldly as if mad, that forced grotesque smile accompanied by large tears rolling down. At this moment, this always dignified and composed woman was on the verge of collapse: “Nonsense, this is… absolute nonsense!”
Wang Lin, overwhelmed by anger and anxiety, his face ashen, gestured for Xianyun and Ranyun to hold the Empress, then hurriedly begged the Emperor’s forgiveness: “Your Majesty, it seems this eunuch Yang Chonggu has bewitched the Empress, making her speak such nonsense! She is a concubine-born daughter of the main branch of the Langya Wang family, how could she possibly come from some entertainment house…”
“Wang Lin.” The Emperor, watching the Empress’s desperately chaotic state, his face covered with a layer of frost, stared at Wang Lin before him and said slowly, “Tell the truth. What happened twelve years ago, tell it! If a single word proves false upon investigation, I will ensure your Langya Wang family never again has descendants serving in the Great Tang court!”
Wang Lin turned back to see the Empress gradually coming to her senses, sitting there blankly, as if regretting her recent loss of composure, yet also seeming still trapped in that grief-stricken madness, unable to free herself.
A nameless fear and despair welled up in his heart, and he could only prostrate himself on the ground, saying in a trembling, hoarse voice: “Your Majesty, I deserve death ten thousand times over. I don’t ask for Your Majesty’s forgiveness, only that you punish me alone and not implicate the Wang family. This matter was entirely planned and manipulated by me alone, even the Empress… at that time was forced by me!”
The Emperor cut off his words: “You need not cover for others, just confess the truth!”
“Yes…” Wang Lin pressed his forehead against the cold blue bricks, his voice desperate and sorrowful. “Your Majesty, after Hou Jing’s rebellion, the Wang family was severely weakened, with declining descendants. Twelve years ago, the Wang family had only four or five male descendants remaining, among whom the only promising one was my son Yun, and then, there was Wang Fu, who was at your side as the Princess Consort of Yu…”
The Emperor thought for a moment before saying, “I remember, unfortunately she was ill-fated and died after only half a year by my side.”
“At that time, Your Majesty was still Prince of Yu, moved to live in the Sixteen Residences by the Late Emperor. After Wang Fu’s death, the Wang family, while grieving, was unwilling to lose the position of a princess consort. Thinking that you might show favor to her sisters because of Wang Fu, we invited Your Majesty to be our guest, arranging for several of our Wang family young ladies to meet you at the banquet.”
The Emperor nodded slightly, his gaze turning to the Empress, seeing her sitting like a clay statue in her chair, silent, only looking at him with wide, bewildered eyes. She had come to her senses now, but knowing the matter was exposed and unable to make any other moves, she just looked at the Emperor, her gaze containing both humble pleading and sorrowful grief, tears brimming at her lashes, unwilling to speak.
The Emperor looked at the Empress in her current bewildered state, this woman who had accompanied him step by step for twelve years, now like a crushed white peony showing traces of yellow, making him both angry and hurt. He couldn’t help but bite his teeth and turn his face away, unwilling to look at her.
“That day, all my family’s daughters were before Your Majesty, but you maintained only a normal demeanor, chatting and laughing naturally. We knew you had Talented Lady Guo—now Noble Consort Guo—by your side, and besides Wang Fu, there were no particularly outstanding women in the Wang family, so it was normal that you didn’t pay attention to the others. At that time… the Empress was introduced as a daughter from a fallen noble family, teaching pipa to several young ladies in our household. We… had her perform a pipa piece for you to end the banquet.” Wang Lin said bitterly. “But unexpectedly, Your Majesty fell in love with her at first sight and asked this humble official which branch of the Wang family she belonged to. I… I had a moment of weakness, not knowing why I was so bewitched at the time, and said she was Wang Shao, a concubine-born daughter of our main branch…”
“Yet when she entered my household, all her household registration documents were complete, not appearing forged,” the Emperor said coldly.
“Yes… The Wang family had previously had a daughter named Wang Shao, who had been given to a Daoist temple due to poor health, but had died shortly before that day, though her household registration in Langya City had not yet been canceled. I… I saw how much Your Majesty liked her at the time, and only thought of finding a clean identity to give her to you, thinking it wasn’t a big matter, just needing to send back to Langya all the daughters and servants who had seen her. And our Wang family might produce another princess consort, which was an urgently needed blessing for our declining family… So I discussed it with her, and the Empress… she agreed.”
“Not a big matter…” The Emperor laughed coldly in extreme anger, turning to look at Empress Wang with a cold smile. “Only you didn’t expect that I would cherish her so deeply. In twelve years, she rose from a Wang family concubine to Palace Talented Lady Wang, then to Noble Consort Wang, and finally bore a prince and became Empress Wang!”