Story of Yanxi Palace, Chapter 159: Blood Scripture

   What was there to regret?

   Using people as stepping stones, climbing higher step by step—that had always been his dream, hadn’t it?

   “Chief Steward Yuan.” A young eunuch entered the room. “There has been an incident involving Wu Shulai.”

Yuan Chunwang stood with his hands behind his back, gazing out the window, and said calmly, “Speak.”

“After drinking, he spoke carelessly in front of his disciple and said many bad things about you.” The young eunuch continued respectfully, “Later, he unintentionally mentioned that he holds leverage over the Empress Dowager and plans to ask Her Majesty the Empress Dowager to intervene on his behalf.”

“…I see.” Yuan Chunwang pondered for a moment, then nodded. “By the way—who gave you this information?”

The young eunuch glanced at him, then lowered his eyes. “It was his disciple.”

At that, Yuan Chunwang could not help but laugh.

See? Everyone was just like him—ruthless, willing to use others as ladders. What was there for him to regret?

“Go and invite Chief Steward Wu to come,” Yuan Chunwang said slowly, turning a pair of wenwan walnuts in his hand. “I have some things I wish to discuss with him.”

In the secret chamber, there was no light of day.

Wu Shulai slowly regained consciousness. After a moment of confusion, he struggled in the chair and growled, “Who is it? Which bastard tied up your grandfather?”

His hands were bound behind the chair back, and a black silk cloth still covered his eyes. Suddenly a hand reached forward, pulled the blindfold away, and a voice laughed: “It’s me.”

When he saw the face clearly, Wu Shulai’s complexion paled. “Yuan Chunwang… I’ve already let you take my position. What more do you want?”

Yuan Chunwang had helped the Empress eliminate the great threat of Wei Yingluo; naturally the Empress would not treat him poorly.

Using “negligence in supervision” as an excuse, the Empress Dowager removed Wu Shulai from his position and gave the post to Yuan Chunwang instead.

Some positions are easy to lose but extremely difficult to regain. Wu Shulai was like a consort banished to the cold palace—utterly disheartened. Every day he drowned his sorrows in wine, occasionally venting his anger with a few bitter complaints.

—Yet who could have imagined that, after closing his eyes and opening them again, he would find himself tied up here.

“I warn you, don’t do anything rash.” Wu Shulai said sternly, his voice trembling with both fear and fury. “Even though I’ve fallen from favor now, I was still promoted by the Empress Dowager. You… ah!!”

A short dagger plunged into his thigh. Fresh blood gushed out, splattering onto Yuan Chunwang’s hand.

Releasing the dagger’s hilt, Yuan Chunwang drew out a handkerchief and carefully wiped his fingers.

“So you’re one of the Empress Dowager’s people,” he said with a smile. “Then I have even more reason not to let you live—lest you go running to her to complain…”

With that, he yanked the dagger out. Blood spurted again. Wu Shulai screamed in agony and hurriedly shouted at Yuan Chunwang, “Stop, stop! I’ll tell you a secret—trade it for my life!”

“A secret?” Yuan Chunwang shook his head. “I don’t believe there’s any secret worth your life.”

“There is! There is!” Wu Shulai cried. “I have a deathbed letter from Lady Wenshu!”

“Lady Wenshu?” Yuan Chunwang raised an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

“She was His Majesty’s wet nurse!” Wu Shulai gasped between pained breaths. “Back then I was just a lowly eunuch in the Anle Bureau. I was attending her when she was on her deathbed. This letter has been hidden for ten years—I originally kept it to save my own life. Now I’m giving it to you, giving you this enormous secret! Just let me go, let me go, all right?”

Yuan Chunwang gave a dazzling, beautiful smile. The torch burned on the wall beside him, casting his face half in light, half in shadow. “That depends on whether this information of yours is truly valuable…”

One letter was enough to change a person’s fate.

One bowl of medicinal soup was also enough to change a person’s fate.

After the matter of the contraceptive decoction, Yanxi Palace had truly become a cold palace. Few people remained. Apart from a handful of loyal ones, the rest had either been sent away by Wei Yingluo or had left of their own accord.

Ming Yu carried in the meal tray. “It’s time to eat.”

Only Wei Yingluo, Xiaoquanzi, and Zhenzhu were left in the room. Xiaoquanzi, who had once been a petty thief, had the sharpest eyes. He immediately noticed something. “Sister Ming Yu, your face…”

Ming Yu’s face was caked with a thick layer of powder. As she moved, chunks of it flaked off and fell—like a country girl who had suddenly struck it rich overnight, completely clueless about proper makeup or grooming, simply slapping an entire box of white lead powder onto her face.

“The small kitchen isn’t operating anymore, so these dishes all come from the Imperial Tea and Meal Bureau,” Ming Yu said softly, setting the food in front of Wei Yingluo with her head lowered. “Lotus root is the freshest at this season, and there’s also longevity greens. This millet cake with barn grain is especially delicious—please try it later.”

Wei Yingluo stared at her face. “Sit down and eat with me.”

Afraid Wei Yingluo would see through her, Ming Yu refused at once. “Even though only a few of us are left now, we still can’t break the rules. I’ll go eat with the others downstairs.”

She hurried away, leaving Wei Yingluo sitting motionless, chopsticks untouched, staring blankly at the food on the table.

That evening, Xiaoquanzi slipped quietly back in from outside. “Mistress, I’ve found out everything.”

The dishes on the table were barely touched—actually, the midday meal had barely been touched either. With something weighing on her heart, Wei Yingluo had no appetite. She turned to look at him. “Speak.”

“Yes.” Xiaoquanzi replied, “Today when Ming Yu went out, she was harshly bullied by Concubine Shu. Her hand was injured, and there’s a bloody scratch across her face…”

“…Nalan Chuxue.” Wei Yingluo murmured the name, then let out a mocking laugh. “I don’t go looking for trouble with others, yet others insist on coming to provoke me. Xiaoquanzi, do I look like someone who will swallow humiliation and keep silent?”

She was not.

She could strip off her wedding dress and rush into the palace to avenge her deceased sister; she could also put on a wedding dress and marry Hongli to avenge the Empress. What “enduring humiliation”? She was clearly a person who would seek revenge for even the smallest slight.

Yet, people often forgot this about her.

No matter. She would make them remember—make them recall exactly what kind of person she was…

A few days later, at Shoukang Palace.

“Empress Dowager.” Naran Chuxue personally presented a scroll of sutra. “This concubine has hand-copied one volume of the ‘Universal Gate Chapter of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva’ to pray for Your Majesty’s health and peace, and for the blessings of Jixiang.”

The Empress Dowager had someone receive it. “Concubine Shu is thoughtful.”

Naran Chuxue pressed her lips into a gentle smile. Her posture of respectful obedience closely resembled that of the late Empress. Knowing that both the Empress Dowager and the Emperor missed the late Empress, she deliberately imitated her in every way: “This concubine has heard that Your Majesty still lacks a copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra. If Your Majesty does not disdain it, this concubine is willing to continue copying sutras for you.”

“No need.” To her surprise, the Empress Dowager smiled. “Consort Ling is already copying the Avatamsaka Sutra.”

Naran Chuxue’s expression changed instantly. “Consort Ling?”

The bead curtain stirred, and a figure emerged from behind it, also cradling a scroll of sutra in her arms. She smiled and said, “Empress Dowager, today’s copying did not yield much insight; the writing feels dry and dull. It seems I must first go study Master Chengguan’s commentaries and annotations.”

The sutra was unrolled in the Empress Dowager’s hands. Lu Wanwan let out an involuntary gasp and cried out, “Blood sutra?”

Naran Chuxue stared fixedly at the white silk handkerchief wrapped around Wei Yingluo’s wrist. The silk was snow-white, yet half of it had been stained crimson with blood. She enunciated each word: “You copied the sutra with your own blood?”

Due to blood loss, Wei Yingluo’s smile was somewhat pale. “The Mahāprajñāpāramitā Śāstra states: If one truly loves the Dharma, one should use one’s own skin as paper, one’s own bones as brush, and one’s own blood as ink. Only then does it demonstrate true sincerity and devotion.”

Naran Chuxue gnashed her teeth and picked at faults: “This paper is so ordinary. For Consort Ling to copy sutras for the Empress Dowager with such perfunctory materials— isn’t that rather careless?”

Wei Yingluo remained calm and composed: “Concubine Shu uses magnetic-blue paper, deep indigo in color and shimmering with flowing light—truly incomparable to ordinary paper. After all, a single sheet costs one tael of silver, enough to buy eighty liters of rice or fifty catties of fresh fish for an ordinary common household.”

Hearing this, the Empress Dowager frowned, displeased. “Concubine Shu, copying sutras is meant to cultivate the mind and nurture virtue. Such extravagance and waste are unbecoming. From now on, you need not concern yourself with it anymore!”

With that, she turned to Wei Yingluo. Her brows relaxed, and her smile became kindly. “It is truly touching that you are so devout. Starting tomorrow, accompany me to Yinghua Hall to pay respects to the Buddha.”

Wei Yingluo bowed her head. “This concubine thanks the Empress Dowager for her grace.”

Afterward, the Empress Dowager pulled her aside to chat, completely ignoring everyone else. Naran Chuxue felt as though the time dragged on like years. When the Empress Dowager finally retired to rest and the group emerged from Shoukang Palace, she could no longer hold back. Turning viciously to Lu Wanwan beside her, she complained bitterly: “What a Wei Yingluo! The moment she saw there was no hope with His Majesty, she immediately latched onto the Empress Dowager! I went to such trouble preparing magnetic-blue paper, and it ended up being treated as a fault!”

Lu Wanwan tried to soothe her gently: “Sister Nalan, the Empress Dowager is deeply devout in Buddhism, so palace women often copy sutras to please her. But have you ever seen anyone dare to copy with their own blood? This isn’t something that can be finished in a day or two. The Avatamsaka Sutra has eighty-one full volumes—it will take more than ten years to copy, and once she has promised the Empress Dowager, she can never stop.”

“Hah, I’m afraid it won’t even take ten years.” Naran Chuxue gave a venomous laugh. “Perhaps in three or four years at most, she’ll have bled herself to death!”

“Bled herself to death?”

Naran Chuxue and Lu Wanwan spun around quickly—only to find Wei Yingluo had somehow appeared behind them without a sound.

“Her Ladyship Consort Ling.” Lu Wanwan hurriedly curtsied to her. Naran Chuxue beside her, however, was somewhat reluctant. Relying on the favor she currently enjoyed, she refused to perform the proper greeting toward this “disgraced consort” standing before her.

The very next moment—slap!

Naran Chuxue clutched her face, staring at the other woman in disbelief. “You…”

“Concubine Shu.” Wei Yingluo fanned her slightly reddened hand and gave her a radiant smile. “No matter how far I’ve fallen, my rank is still far above yours. The next time you dare to overstep, it won’t be just a slap.”

The reason people dared to bully those from Yanxi Palace was simply that they thought Yanxi Palace had lost its backing.

Now, with the Empress Dowager as such a powerful patron, who would dare to casually lay a hand on or show disrespect to anyone from Yanxi Palace? This Naran Chuxue was a prime example.

Wei Yingluo, leading Xiaoquanzi, slowly walked past Naran Chuxue. At this moment, Naran Chuxue seemed to have come to her senses. No matter what she thought in her heart, she no longer dared to show any outward disrespect. She stood obediently to the side, as if respectfully seeing Wei Yingluo off.

Xiaoquanzi’s face was flushed with excitement. Upon returning to the palace, he specially went to the small kitchen and prepared a plate of braised pork to celebrate. But Wei Yingluo merely glanced at it, tapped the dish with her chopsticks, and said, “Take this dish away and share it with Ming Yu and the others.”

“Master…” Xiaoquanzi said, stunned. “Is this dish not to your taste?”

Wei Yingluo shook her head, gently stroking the handkerchief on her wrist, and murmured, “The Empress Dowager once had a blood sutra, but over time, its color darkened and turned black. She often sighed, saying that only a blood sutra personally copied by a monk who abstained from meat and observed vegetarianism could retain its pure blood-red hue, with characters even faintly golden…”

Xiaoquanzi stared at her in astonishment.

Wei Yingluo looked up and gave him a pale smile. “From today onward, I too will observe a vegetarian diet.”

Using blood as scripture — to gain a patron, to secure… the Empress Dowager’s protection for all of you.

Inside Shoukang Palace, the scent of sandalwood incense lingered like agarwood.

Aunt Liu placed the first volume of the blood sutra before the Buddha statue, then returned to the Empress Dowager’s side. “Your Majesty, why do you wish to elevate Consort Ling?”

Amid the wafting sandalwood fragrance, the Empress Dowager knelt on a golden cushion, slowly opening her eyes. As she fingered the prayer beads in her hand, she smiled with benevolence and kindness. “Wu Shulai was someone I promoted back then, but the Empress couldn’t wait to replace him, clearly showing her ambitious nature. If there were no Consort Ling in the Forbidden City… it would truly become the Empress’s world alone.”

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