The room felt as warm as spring, heated by auspicious charcoal. The case files from the twentieth year of Taichang lay spread across the desk, gradually revealing the full picture of the great case that had caused blood to flow like rivers in Chang'an.
Li Ying began to read.
The Twentieth Year of Taichang, Sixth Day of the Tenth Month
Princess Yong'an Li Ying drowned in the Lotus Pond.
Because the pond was located in a remote corner of the palace, and because the princess had not allowed servants to accompany her, it was a full hour before palace attendants searching for her discovered her body.
When Emperor Taichang and Consort Jiang received the news, they rushed to the scene immediately. Before their daughter's lifeless form, they wept with shattered hearts. In that moment, they were no longer the emperor and royal consort who ruled above ten thousand—they were simply an ordinary couple who had lost their beloved child.
Empress Zheng arrived shortly after. She was Emperor Taichang's first wife, born to the prestigious Zheng family of Xingyang. When she saw Li Ying lying on the ground—pale, silent, soaking wet—she nearly fainted.
"Yong'an! How could this happen!"
Empress Zheng reached out to touch the girl, but the grief-stricken Consort Jiang violently pushed her away.
Consort Jiang had been born a palace maid, her father merely a merchant. She'd caught Emperor Taichang's eye because of her beauty and was taken as his consort. She was normally alert and steady, always cautious, never before having shown such disrespect toward the Empress.
The palace attendants watched in shock as the Consort shoved the Empress away from the princess's body, then screamed with all her might: "Stop pretending! It must be you! You killed my precious pearl! It's you! It's you!"
The Empress stared at her, stunned, then flew into a rage. "Consort, what nonsense are you speaking!"
"I'm not talking nonsense, it was you who killed my precious pearl!"
Overcome with grief, Consort Jiang crawled to Emperor Taichang's feet and clutched his robe, weeping bitterly. "San Lang, it must be the Empress who killed my precious pearl! She has never liked her. It must be her! You must avenge my precious pearl, you must avenge our precious pearl!"
The Empress, frightened, defended herself desperately. "No, San Lang, I didn't kill my precious pearl! I didn't!"
Consort Jiang glared at her. Casting aside her usual calm and gentleness, she gnashed her teeth and cried loudly: "You need not quibble! You were jealous that I received San Lang's favor; you were jealous that my precious pearl reinforced that favor. Since my precious pearl was born, you've used so many tactics against us, both openly and in secret. I've always endured silently for fear of implicating my precious pearl, but I never imagined you would kill her! You're heartless!"
Empress Zheng pleaded her case. "No, I didn't kill my precious pearl. If I wanted to kill her, why would I arrange a marriage between her and my family's nephew? I didn't!"
"You were merely using my precious pearl's marriage to regain San Lang's favor," Consort Jiang cried, "but San Lang still didn't like you, so you killed my precious pearl in a fit of anger!"
Empress Zheng also fell to her knees, crawling to Emperor Taichang. She clutched his robe, begging desperately: "San Lang, I admit, I arranged the match between Zheng Yun and my precious pearl to seek your favor, but I truly didn't kill my precious pearl, I didn't!"
Consort Jiang had cried until she was exhausted. "You couldn't bear your children, and now you've taken away my precious pearl. Why? Why?"
She stopped arguing with Empress Zheng and instead bent down to embrace the lifeless Li Ying. She kissed Li Ying's cold cheeks, just as she had kissed her tiny face when she was born, murmuring: "My precious pearl, mother is here. No one can hurt you anymore. Come back, come back to see mother. Mother cannot live without you, cannot… cannot…"
That night, Consort Jiang held Li Ying's body and cried until her voice grew hoarse, refusing to let go no matter who tried to persuade her.
Between Emperor Taichang and Consort Jiang, it had always been the emperor, the father, who indulged and spoiled Li Ying. Whatever Li Ying asked for, Emperor Taichang would grant. In contrast, Consort Jiang was somewhat strict with her daughter, always teaching her to conceal her sharp edges and be kind to others—teachings that cultivated Li Ying's gentle and kind personality.
No one expected that this cautious and self-disciplined Consort Jiang would become so fierce and overbearing due to her daughter's death. She even risked punishment by palace rules by openly confronting the Empress, all to seek justice for her beloved daughter.
Afterward, Emperor Taichang was so grief-stricken that he neither ate nor drank for days. Consort Jiang insisted that Li Ying's death was not an accident but murder, and that Empress Zheng was responsible. Empress Zheng vehemently denied the accusation. The imperial harem fell into chaos.
At Consort Jiang's insistence, Emperor Taichang secretly ordered the Dali Temple to investigate his daughter's death. The Minister of the Dali Temple at that time, Xu Ran, investigated for over ten days. He discovered that Li Ying had gone alone to the Lotus Pond after receiving a letter from her fiancé, Zheng Yun. Moreover, beside the pond—apart from the footprints of the eunuchs who had jumped into the water to retrieve the princess's body—there were no other footprints.
Xu Ran concluded that the princess had slipped and fallen while waiting for her fiancé by the pond, thus unfortunately drowning.
The princess's death was an accident, having nothing whatsoever to do with Empress Zheng or anyone else.
Emperor Taichang and Consort Jiang refused to believe Xu Ran's report. Xu Ran was related to the Zheng clan by marriage, and Emperor Taichang suspected he was covering for Empress Zheng. So the emperor ordered the Vice Minister of the Right, Cui Songqing, to personally investigate the case.
In the Great Zhou, the position of Vice Minister was ranked as first grade, essentially a prime minister. His appointment showed Emperor Taichang's emphasis on this case.
Cui Songqing was from the Cui clan of Boling, known for his upright and incorruptible character, famous for his integrity and capability. After taking over Li Ying's case, he first personally investigated the area around the Lotus Pond. He discovered that not a single drop of rain had fallen during the entire month of October, and the soil around the pond was hard and dry—making it impossible for someone to slip and fall.
Cui Songqing determined that Li Ying had not accidentally fallen into the water. She had been pushed in and drowned.
Given that Li Ying was gentle and refined by nature, and the palace maids all liked her, there was no possibility she had made enemies who would harm her. Therefore, the biggest suspect was indeed Empress Zheng, who held a grudge against Li Ying's mother, Consort Jiang.
Cui Songqing swiftly arrested Empress Zheng's maids and questioned them. They all unanimously proclaimed their mistress's innocence, insisting that Empress Zheng had not killed Princess Yong'an. Cui Songqing interrogated them one by one. One maid, unable to endure the torture, revealed some secrets.
It turned out that Empress Zheng, hoping to regain favor, had strongly recommended Zheng Yun to Emperor Taichang as a consort for his daughter. However, in reality, Empress Zheng's brother and sister-in-law—who were Zheng Yun's parents—were unwilling to accept Li Ying as a daughter-in-law. She was Consort Jiang's daughter, and Consort Jiang came from a merchant family. The Zheng family, on the other hand, belonged to the "Five Surnames and Seven Clans," a prestigious lineage. Zheng Yun's parents deeply despised Li Ying.
Regarding Emperor Taichang's selection of Zheng Yun as a son-in-law, although they did not dare to openly defy the imperial decree, in their hearts they disdained Li Ying greatly.
As for Zheng Yun, he too was unwilling to marry Li Ying. Partly because the princess's maternal family was of humble origin, and partly because Zheng Yun and his cousin from the Wang family had grown up together as childhood sweethearts with deep feelings for each other.
This marriage had been arranged by Empress Zheng without her brother and sister-in-law's knowledge. After everything was settled, they came to the palace to complain to her—a conversation the maid had overheard.
Upon learning this, Emperor Taichang was both sorrowful and furious. Li Ying was his precious pearl held in the palm of his hand, a princess of the Great Zhou. Merely because of her maternal family's background, she was so disdained. In his rage, he immediately banished Empress Zheng to the Cold Palace and secretly ordered Cui Songqing to dig three feet into the ground if necessary to find the truth about Li Ying's death.
When Li Ying read this part of the file, she froze for a moment. She smiled bitterly. "I never imagined that Zheng Yun's parents despised me so much."
Cui Xun said calmly: "People of that time had a saying: 'Better to marry a girl from the Five Families than to enter the imperial family.' Even imperial princesses were not as noble as girls from the Five Families. Naturally, they were unwilling to have a daughter-in-law whose maternal family was merchants."
"I'm even more surprised to learn that Zheng Yun had a childhood sweetheart cousin," Li Ying said dejectedly.
She recalled the few times she had met Zheng Yun. He had always appeared gentle and refined, courteous and proper in his speech, maintaining appropriate decorum. She'd had no particular feelings for Zheng Yun, but she'd thought that since he was the husband chosen for her by her father and mother, he must be the finest young man in the world. She had happily looked forward to the day she would marry him.
Who could have imagined that Zheng Yun's entire family despised her so deeply? That Zheng Yun himself viewed her as the villain who had torn apart his true love?
Li Ying felt utterly bewildered. As she had said, she had never done anything wrong in her life. Yet merely because of her mother's background, she was so despised by the Zheng family. Was being born into a noble family inherently superior? Was being born into a merchant family inherently inferior? Why was it that even though her mother had become a consort of the Great Zhou, and she herself was a bona fide princess—a golden branch and jade leaf above ten thousand people—she was still so despised by those officials?
Where did this reasoning come from?
Cui Xun looked at her. "Do you want to continue reading this file?"
Li Ying came back to her senses. She pressed her lips together, then nodded firmly. "Yes."
No matter how unpleasant the truth might be, she wanted to continue searching.
Under Cui Songqing's interrogation, another maid couldn't withstand the torture. She secretly reported that a few days earlier, the Empress had summoned Zheng Yun to the palace for a conversation. From the moment Zheng Yun entered the palace, he had seemed distracted, as if burdened with many worries.
Cui Songqing turned his suspicions toward Prince Consort Zheng Yun.
Zheng Yun was taken to the Dali Temple. As a son of a noble family, he had been pampered since childhood and could not endure hardship. Even before the torture instruments were used to frighten him, he confessed everything.
He said he hated Li Ying because her maternal family was merchants, which made him the target of ridicule among his friends. Moreover, he and his cousin from the Wang family had been childhood sweethearts, and both families were about to discuss marriage when Emperor Taichang suddenly bestowed the imperial marriage, forcing him to part with his cousin. This made him hate Li Ying even more.
As the wedding date approached, he could not bear to marry someone like Li Ying, a merchant's daughter. He harbored evil intentions. He wrote a letter inviting Li Ying to the Lotus Pond. When he saw the elegantly dressed Li Ying waiting expectantly by the pond, there was a moment of softening in his heart. But this softness was quickly overshadowed by the humiliation of his friends' ridicule and the hatred of being forced to separate from his cousin.
He took advantage of Li Ying's unpreparedness and pushed her into the Lotus Pond.
Li Ying had only cried for help a few times before sinking into the water. In his panic, Zheng Yun fled the scene.
He had harbored some hope that people would think Li Ying had died accidentally, but he never expected that Cui Songqing would track him down so quickly.
What happened next was known to all: Empress Zheng was deposed and, a year later, was killed by someone sent by the still-vengeful Consort Jiang. Zheng Yun's entire clan, down to the ninth degree of kinship, was executed. Blood flowed like rivers in Chang'an.
This case file seemed flawless. Zheng Yun had the motive to commit the crime and the opportunity. Moreover, he himself readily confessed. If Li Ying had been able to reincarnate, she too would have believed that the culprit was Zheng Yun.
After reading the last word, Li Ying slowly closed the file. She asked Cui Xun: "Deputy Minister Cui, do you see any clues in this file?"
Cui Xun asked her instead: "What kind of person did the Princess think Zheng Yun was?"
Li Ying tried hard to recall her memory of Zheng Yun. "Well-read, a perfect gentleman."
"Then what kind of person did the Princess think the late Emperor was?"
Li Ying was taken aback. "My father was a very good father."
"The late Emperor's posthumous title was 'Ming' (Enlightened)," Cui Xun said. "Besides being a good father, he was also a wise emperor. The late Emperor ascended the throne at a young age. During his reign, he promoted new policies and appointed worthy ministers. Such an enlightened ruler would not likely have been so blind as to select a husband of improper character for his beloved daughter."
"What is Deputy Minister Cui suggesting?"
"A consort personally selected by the late Emperor would not likely have been so impulsive as to murder a princess over a few taunts. Moreover, the person he killed was a princess of the Great Zhou, the late Emperor's most beloved daughter. No matter how noble his status, he should have considered the consequences of such an act."
His analysis was quite clear, but Li Ying suddenly realized something. "So Deputy Minister Cui never believed from the beginning that Zheng Yun was the culprit?"
She smiled bitterly. "Yet when I first found Deputy Minister Cui, you asserted with certainty that my case had been settled, that the culprit was Zheng Yun."
"Indeed, I never believed it," Cui Xun said calmly. "I simply didn't want to help you."
He spoke straightforwardly. Li Ying could only continue to smile bitterly. Since she needed his help, she couldn't quibble with him. She could only ask: "Then who does Deputy Minister Cui think the culprit is?"
Cui Xun did not answer directly. Instead, he tapped his slender fingers one by one on the table. After pondering for a moment, he said: "I think there is a very important person in this file who was overlooked thirty years ago."
"Who?"
"Zheng Yun's cousin, the Wang girl."
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