Qingshan

Chapter 10 : Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Evening Star Courtyard

Heaven creates in chaos, yin and yang begin to intertwine, giving rise to difficulty, moving amid danger, Water-Thunder Tun…

I vaguely recalled this was from the I Ching, though I didn’t know its meaning.

Even without understanding, I held awe for Old Man Yao’s Six Lines divination. Tonight’s hexagram was so ominous that even he avoided it. If I went, how was that different from walking to my death?

I asked, puzzled: “Master, is it because my birth chart is strong enough?”

Old Man Yao thought: “Hm.”

I said weakly: “But all three of us have the same birth chart!”

Old Man Yao replied: “If those two get into trouble, who’ll pay their tuition? You can’t even pay yours, so you go. If you don’t want to, pack up and leave.”

I thought for a long time: “Fine, I’ll go.”

Chunhua led me to the main gate of Prince Jing’s Mansion, under the “Upright and Radiant” plaque. Two guards blocked us with halberds: “Token!”

She showed her token: “This is the mansion’s token, bringing someone from the clinic.”

The guards silently retracted their halberds, and the vermilion gate creaked open.

We lowered our heads, hurrying through the vast, solemn mansion, passing high red walls with gray tiles and two-story cloisters, their eaves painted with four-clawed golden dragons holding fire-warding pearls.

I glanced nervously at the black-armored guards—some standing watch, others patrolling, their eyes scanning sharply.

Chunhua whispered: “Did Physician Yao tell you the mansion’s rules?”

I judged that my original self likely hadn’t been allowed in the mansion before—this was my first time, hence her question: “Master hasn’t taught me. Please guide me, Miss Chunhua.”

Chunhua said: “Near Jing’an Hall and Mingzheng Hall, keep your head down, don’t look around. When you see our lady, don’t speak out of turn—answer only what’s asked. Whatever you see or hear in the mansion, never speak of it outside.”

“Understood.”

At an archway, a group of over ten women approached, carrying two wooden stretchers covered with white cloth.

These women were broad-shouldered and sturdy, likely strong servants from the mansion’s inner quarters.

As we passed, one stretcher jostled, and a slender, ashen hand slipped out. A woman expressionlessly tucked it back under the cloth, as if nothing had happened.

The group moved on, destination unknown for the bodies.

I said: “Miss Chunhua, you need to tell me what happened. What was that?”

“My lady had a miscarriage,” Chunhua said. “Those two were maids from Evening Star Courtyard, beaten to death.”

My heart tightened.

The inner quarters were brightly lit, with servants bustling back and forth, their expressions hurried and somber.

Outside Evening Star Courtyard, seven or eight maids knelt by the wall, crying and pleading innocence while over ten sturdy women whipped their backs with rattan sticks: “Speak! Who touched Consort Jing’s dinner tonight? If you don’t talk, you’ll all be beaten to death!”

Someone sobbed: “I swear I didn’t touch it!”

A sturdy woman snapped: “Still not talking?”

She grabbed a maid’s head and smashed it against the wall, killing her instantly!

I turned my head slightly. If I handled this poorly tonight, that could be my fate.

But as I neared Evening Star Courtyard, a massive icy current surged from the courtyard, flowing into my body. This current was several times stronger than the one from Zhou Chengyi!

Wait—where did this icy current come from? Why?

If the last one was Zhou Chengyi’s vengeful spirit because I helped Yunyang and Jiaotu catch a Jing Dynasty spy, these deaths in Evening Star Courtyard had nothing to do with me. Why the icy current now?

I thought urgently. There had to be a hidden pattern to the icy current. Only by finding it could I understand what it was.

Who was this current from? That was the key question.

Before I could think it through, Chunhua turned back: “What are you standing there for? Hurry up.”

I rushed to follow. The spacious Evening Star Courtyard had a rock garden and water features. The main building was a two-story cloister, surrounded by climbing roses, their green vines elegantly trimmed along the walls.

The courtyard’s refinement and calm starkly contrasted with the hellish scene outside, making even the rose vines seem eerie.

From inside the cloister, a woman’s voice roared: “Earlier, my lady felt something was off with that bowl of bird’s nest. Two hours after drinking it, she miscarried. Someone must have poisoned her! When the Prince returns and finds his heir gone, heads will roll!”

Chunhua called up from below: “My lady, the clinic’s person is here.”

“Come up quickly,” a gentle female voice said. “Have him check on Sister Consort Jing to see if someone poisoned her.”

Thump, thump, thump, I followed Chunhua up the wooden stairs.

In the second-floor room, a sheer gauze screen shielded the bed. A middle-aged woman sat outside it on an armchair, dressed in a plain silk robe with gold thread, a floral hairpin in her bun. She looked concernedly toward the screen, her voice gentle: “Don’t worry, Sister Consort Jing. There’s time—you’ll conceive again.”

From behind the screen, Consort Jing’s frail voice replied: “Thank you, Sister Consort Yun, for your care.”

In a corner, a black cat and a white cat were fighting, scattering fur everywhere, but no one intervened, as if allowing them to brawl.

The black cat, smaller, took a dozen kicks to the head, nearly knocked senseless.

But as I climbed the stairs, the black cat suddenly broke free, staring at my sleeve, sniffing. It tried to approach me, but the white cat pounced, dragging it back to the corner.

Chunhua led me to the second floor, addressing the screen: “My lady, the clinic’s person is here to examine you.”

A fierce woman glared at Chunhua: “Where’s Physician Yao? Why’s a wet-behind-the-ears kid here?”

Chunhua dropped to her knees, tearfully: “Physician Yao insisted tonight’s highly ominous and refused to come, even when I mentioned the Prince.”

The fierce woman’s face darkened: “The mansion’s own physician, and the mansion can’t summon him? What arrogance from this Yao!”

Consort Yun frowned: “I know Physician Yao likes his divinations, but not coming tonight is inexcusable. When the Prince returns from Jiangnan, I’ll report this truthfully. If the mansion can’t command its own clinic, we don’t need it.”

The fierce woman asked: “What about tonight? Just let it slide? What about my lady’s condition?”

Consort Yun looked troubled: “The Prince isn’t here, and Physician Yao’s a seventh-rank official. We’ll have to wait for the Prince to decide.”

The fierce woman said darkly: “Did you, Consort Yun, tell Physician Yao not to come?”

Consort Jing quickly said from behind the screen: “Chunrong, don’t be rude to Sister Consort Yun!”

Consort Yun smiled: “It’s fine, Chunrong’s just worried about you, Sister. How about this—since someone from the clinic is here, let him examine Sister Consort Jing first.”

Consort Jing said softly: “Alright.”

Chunrong, the fierce woman, glared at me: “What are you standing there for? Examine Consort Jing.”

I lowered my head, silent.

I didn’t know how to diagnose anyone…

And right now, diagnosing wasn’t the issue. Whether I got it right or wrong, trouble awaited.

Chunrong, seeing my silence, erupted: “Diagnose her!”

I thought for a long time, then bowed with a pained expression: “My apologies, my lady. I’ve only studied medicine for two years. First, I haven’t trained long with Master. Second, my skills are unrefined. I truly don’t know how to tell if Consort Jing was poisoned. For this, we need my master. I’ll go back now and try to convince him to come.”

Chunrong scolded: “You won’t even take a pulse and claim ignorance? Drag him out and beat him to death! Physician Yao’s a seventh-rank official, untouchable, but a mere apprentice? Beating him to death should be fine—it’ll teach the clinic what neglect of duty means!”

Four sturdy women stormed up, their steps thundering on the wooden floor, dragging me to be executed.

My hair was disheveled, my wooden hairpin fell to the floor, and my clothes tore under the strain.

Consort Yun sipped her tea, unconcerned. In this era, to nobles, an apprentice’s death was trivial, not worth a word.

“Wait, let me finish,” I struggled to say. “Though I’m not skilled in medicine, if Consort Jing was truly poisoned, I’m willing to find the culprit!”

The second floor fell silent, save for my heavy breathing.

Consort Yun set down her tea, eyeing me curiously: “Oh? You have that ability?”

She reassessed the disheveled boy, sensing his eyes growing steadier.

I asked quickly: “May I ask how many months Consort Jing was pregnant?”

Consort Jing’s faint voice came from behind the screen: “Five months.”

I said: “A five-month fetus is fully formed. If a potent poison caused a miscarriage in mere hours, the mother would die too! There’s no poison that only harms the fetus and spares the mother!”

The principle of abortifacients is to lower progesterone and induce uterine contractions, expelling the pregnancy tissue. For such drugs to work in a day, they’d target a fetus under three months.

Other causes for a five-month miscarriage include: first, reproductive organ diseases like uterine deformities; second, systemic illnesses like influenza, pneumonia, or organ failure; third, physical trauma; fourth, extreme emotional distress, like grief or shock.

I asked: “Consort Jing, have you been unwell these past months?”

Chunrong answered: “My lady was perfectly healthy before. Only these last few months has she had a poor appetite. When we consulted Physician Yao, he said it was just normal pregnancy symptoms.”

I didn’t take Old Man Yao’s word as reliable. Having read The Compendium of Medicine, I knew even a revered physician couldn’t escape the era’s limitations.

I continued: “Has Consort Jing recently suffered any physical trauma or extreme emotional ups and downs?”

Chunrong sneered: “What nonsense are you spouting? My lady’s of noble birth—how could she face such things? If you’re just stalling, it won’t be a simple beating soon.”

I suddenly said: “If it’s none of those, then it’s poison! But not from tonight—it’s from long-term poisoning!”

“Hm?”

“Are you sure?”