When heaven first brought forth the world, firm and yielding began to mingle, and hardship arose. Movement amid danger: water over thunder, the hexagram of difficulty at the beginning...
Chen Ji vaguely remembered that this seemed to come from the Book of Changes, but he did not know what it meant.
Even so, he held Old Yao's six-line divination in awe. Tonight's omen was so ominous that even Old Yao would give it a wide berth. How was going there any different from courting death?
He asked in confusion, "Master, is it because my birth chart makes me tough enough to withstand misfortune?"
Old Yao considered it. "Mm."
Chen Ji said weakly, "But all three of us disciples have the exact same birth chart!"
Old Yao said, "If anything happens to either of them, who'll pay me their tuition? You can't pay yours anyway, so you go. If you don't want to, that's fine too. Pack your bedding and go home."
Chen Ji thought for a long time. "All right, I'll go."
Chunhua led Chen Ji toward the main gate of the prince's residence. Beneath a plaque bearing the words "Upright and honorable," guards barred their way with long halberds. "Identification tokens!"
She showed her token. "This is a token from the prince's residence. I'm bringing someone from the medical hall over."
The guards silently withdrew their halberds, and the vermilion gates slowly opened with a long creak.
Heads lowered, the two hurried through the vast, deep-set residence. High red walls topped with gray tiles and two-story buildings rose beside them. Beneath the tiled eaves were paintings of four-clawed golden dragons, each holding a fire-repelling pearl in its mouth.
Chen Ji nervously glanced at the black-armored guards standing at attention. Some stood watch, while others patrolled, their eyes fixed on their surroundings like tigers watching their prey.
Chunhua asked in a low voice, "Did Imperial Physician Yao tell you the rules of the prince's residence?"
Chen Ji reasoned that his body's original owner should not have been qualified to enter the residence and that this was his first visit, which was why she had asked. "Master hasn't taught me yet. Please, Miss Chunhua, tell me what I need to know."
Chunhua said, "Keep your head down near the Hall of Peaceful Tranquility and the Hall of Bright Rectitude, and don't look around. When you see my mistress, don't speak out of turn. Answer whatever she asks, and whatever you see or hear in the residence, you must never tell anyone outside."
"Understood."
At an arched gateway, they came face-to-face with a group of more than ten women carrying two wooden stretchers, both covered with white cloth.
The women were broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, presumably strong servants from the residence's inner quarters.
As the two groups passed, one stretcher jolted and swayed, and a slender, bruised hand slipped out. One of the women expressionlessly tucked it back beneath the white cloth, as though nothing had happened.
The group went on its way. There was no telling where they were taking the two corpses.
Chen Ji said, "Miss Chunhua, what exactly happened in the residence?"
"My mistress miscarried," Chunhua said. "Those two just now were maids from Evening Star Court who were beaten to death."
Chen Ji's heart tightened.
The inner quarters were brightly lit, however, and servants and maids came and went in an endless stream, busy with who knew what. Everyone looked hurried and grim.
Outside Evening Star Court, seven or eight servants were kneeling by the wall, weeping and crying out that they had been wronged. More than ten sturdy women lashed their backs with rattan canes. "Speak! Who touched Consort Jing's supper today? If you still won't talk, we'll beat every last one of you to death!"
One of them sobbed, "I really didn't touch it!"
A sturdy woman shouted angrily, "You still won't talk?"
With that, the woman grabbed the servant by the head and slammed it against the wall, killing her on the spot!
Chen Ji turned his head slightly, unable to bear watching.
Yet as he approached Evening Star Court, he suddenly felt an icy current surge out of the court and flow into his body. This time, the icy current was several times greater than the one from Zhou Chengyi.
Wait, where had this icy current come from? What had caused it?
Before he could think it through, Chunhua looked back and urged him on. "What are you standing there for? Hurry up."
Chen Ji hurried after her. The spacious Evening Star Court contained ornamental rockeries and waterways. Its main building was a two-story structure, with climbing roses planted outside. Green vines wound their way up its walls, their carefully trimmed growth giving them an elegant appearance.
Just then, a woman's hoarse, furious voice rang out from inside the building. "My mistress thought there was something wrong with that bowl of bird's nest soup earlier. She miscarried only two hours after drinking it. Someone must have poisoned her! When the prince returns and discovers that his own flesh and blood is gone, he'll surely kill someone!"
When the voice fell silent, Chunhua called urgently from downstairs, "Mistress, I've brought someone from the medical hall."
"Come up quickly," a gentle female voice said. "Have him examine Consort Jing and see whether someone really did poison her."
Thump, thump, thump, thump. Chen Ji followed Chunhua up the wooden stairs.
In the room on the second floor, a gauze screen concealed the bed. A middle-aged woman sat upright in a grand armchair outside the screen. She wore a plain silk robe sewn with gold thread, and a floral hairpin with a plume was set in her bun. Looking concernedly toward the other side of the screen, she said gently, "Don't worry, Consort Jing. There's plenty of time ahead. You'll surely conceive again."
Behind the screen, Consort Jing said weakly, "Thank you for your concern, Consort Yun."
In a corner of the second floor, a black cat and a white cat were fighting, sending loose fur flying across the floor. Yet no one paid them any attention, as though deliberately letting them fight.
The black cat was small. As it took a beating, it was kicked in the head a dozen times, nearly kicking its soul right out of it.
But when Chen Ji stepped onto the stairs, the black cat suddenly broke away from the white cat and stared fixedly at his sleeve, its nose twitching. It tried to approach him, but the white cat caught it off guard, pouncing again and grappling it back into the corner.
Chunhua had brought Chen Ji up to the second floor. She addressed the screen. "Mistress, the person from the medical hall is here. Let him examine you."
At that, a fierce-looking woman turned to Chunhua and demanded angrily, "Where's Imperial Physician Yao? Why did they send a wet-behind-the-ears brat?"
Frightened, Chunhua quickly fell to her knees and said tearfully, "Imperial Physician Yao insisted that tonight was terribly inauspicious and he shouldn't go out. I even invoked the prince's name, but I still couldn't persuade him to come."
The fierce woman's face darkened. "He's the residence's imperial physician, yet the residence can't summon him? This Imperial Physician Yao certainly thinks highly of himself!"
Consort Yun frowned. "I know Imperial Physician Yao likes to divine good and bad fortune, but refusing to come tonight is a little hard to justify. When the prince returns from Jiangnan, I'll report this matter to him exactly as it happened. If even the prince's residence can't command the Imperial Medical Hall, we might as well do without it."
The fierce woman asked, "What about tonight, then? Are we just going to let it go? What about my mistress's illness?"
Consort Yun looked troubled. "The prince is away, and Imperial Physician Yao is an official of the Subordinate Seventh Rank. Ultimately, we must wait for the prince to return and make the decision."
The fierce woman said gravely, "Could it be that you told Imperial Physician Yao not to come, Consort Yun?"
From behind the screen, Consort Jing hurriedly said, "Chunrong, you mustn't be rude to my sister!"
Consort Yun smiled. "It's all right. Chunrong is only concerned about you, Sister. How about this? Since someone from the Imperial Medical Hall is already here, let him examine Consort Jing first."
Consort Jing said softly, "Very well."
The fierce woman Chunrong looked at Chen Ji and said coldly, "What are you standing there for? Come and examine Consort Jing."
Chen Ji lowered his head and said nothing.
Leaving aside whether he knew how to examine a patient, even if he did, there would be trouble whether his diagnosis was right or wrong.
Nanny Chunrong saw that he was silent and flew into a rage. "Examine her!"
Chen Ji thought for a long time, then finally cupped his hands and said, "My apologies, Your Ladyship. I've only studied medicine for two years. For one thing, I haven't been with Master long; for another, my skills are still lacking. I truly don't know how to tell whether Consort Jing has been poisoned. I'm afraid my master will have to handle this. I'll go back and try to persuade him now, and see if I can get him to come."
Nanny Chunrong berated him. "You say you don't know without even taking her pulse? Drag him out and beat him to death! We can't touch Imperial Physician Yao, but surely there's no harm in beating a mere apprentice to death? It'll show the Imperial Medical Hall what happens to those who neglect their duties!"
As she spoke, four sturdy women charged upstairs, their feet thudding on the wooden floor. They seized Chen Ji and began dragging him out to beat him to death.
His hair fell into disarray, his wooden hairpin dropped to the floor, and his clothes tore under the strain.
Consort Yun picked up her teacup and took a small sip, paying him no attention. If an apprentice died, so be it.
"Wait, let me finish," Chen Ji said, struggling. "Though I'm not skilled in medicine, if Consort Jing really was poisoned, I'm willing to find the culprit!"
The second floor suddenly fell silent, leaving only Chen Ji's heavy breathing.
Consort Yun set down her teacup and glanced over, studying Chen Ji curiously. "Oh? You have that ability too?"
Chen Ji asked rapidly, "May I ask how many months pregnant Consort Jing was?"
From behind the screen, Consort Jing said softly, "Five months."
Chen Ji said, "At five months, the fetus is already formed. If someone used a powerful poison to kill it within a few hours, the mother would have died too! There's no poison in this world that harms only the fetus without harming the pregnant woman!"
Abortifacients worked by lowering progesterone levels in the body, causing the uterus to contract and forcing the pregnancy tissue out. For such a drug to take effect within a day, it had to be used on a fetus less than three months old.
There were several other possible causes of a miscarriage at five months. The first was a disease of the pregnant woman's reproductive organs, such as a uterine malformation; the second was a systemic illness, such as influenza, pneumonia, or organ failure; the third was a physical blow; and the fourth was a severe emotional fluctuation, such as grief or fright.
Chen Ji asked, "Consort Jing, have you felt unwell these past few months?"
Nanny Chunrong replied, "My mistress has been in excellent health. Only in the past few months has she had a slight loss of appetite."
Chen Ji continued, "Consort Jing, have you recently been struck by anything, or experienced any great emotional upheaval?"
Nanny Chunrong sneered. "What nonsense are you spouting? My mistress is a golden branch and jade leaf. How could any of those things you mentioned happen to her? If you're only trying to stall for time, you'll get more than a simple beating to death later."
Chen Ji suddenly said, "Since it was none of those, then it was poison. But it definitely wasn't administered tonight. It was the result of poisoning over a long period."
"Hmm?"