Although Ciyun Temple was an imperial temple, it stood in a remote area. It had rained the previous night, making the path here somewhat muddy. Si Huahuan lifted her skirt and stepped over the temple threshold, and as expected, she spotted a few mud spots on the tips of her gold-thread embroidered shoes.
She frowned, and Wei Zi, walking beside her, immediately understood. She knelt down and carefully brushed the mud away with a handkerchief.
Si Huahuan hated rainy days more than anything, yet she had no choice but to come today.
When tough methods failed, one resorted to gentle ones; when reason fell on deaf ears, one turned to metaphysics.
Incense smoke curled and swirled inside the temple. Instead of heading for the crowded main hall, Si Huahuan wandered through several smaller, more secluded side halls, all the while observing the monks within.
It was said there was a divine fortune-teller in this temple whose readings were extremely accurate, yet not everyone could meet him. An encounter depended entirely on fate. Some people came for three to five straight days and still left empty-handed, while others stumbled upon him by chance when they had no intention of looking.
Eventually, she reached the last quiet side hall. There sat an elderly monk with a long white beard, meditating with his eyes closed. Hearing footsteps, he slowly opened them.
“Miss, what brings you here?” The monk’s voice was weathered and deep.
Si Huahuan asked, “Are you Master Jingkong?”
“I am indeed.”
Si Huahuan walked over, took a slip of paper from her sleeve, and handed it to him. “I want you to read the birth charts of these two people.”
The old monk unfolded the paper. His dim eyes scanned the writing, then he lifted his head and studied her facial features carefully. Suddenly, a faint smile appeared on his face. “So it is you. You are here to ask about marriage, aren’t you?”
Si Huahuan ignored his cryptic opening remark and gave an unwilling snort. “Just do the reading.”
The monk didn’t even lift a finger to calculate; he spoke right away. “This birth chart is perfectly compatible with yours. It is a match of the highest order.”
Her expression changed instantly upon hearing this. “How can you say that? You haven’t even done a single calculation yet!”
The monk remained calm and unhurried. “I have made no mistakes in several decades of practice.”
“Then it must be a coincidence.” Si Huahuan placed her hands on her hips. “Calculate again. What is incompatible with the birth chart on the left?”
“This… I cannot determine that.”
She never expected him to refuse so bluntly. She frowned and looked him up and down, then glanced at Wei Zi, her eyes clearly conveying: Is this the so-called divine fortune-teller you spoke of?
Divine fortune-teller? He looked nothing more than a charlatan to her.
She snatched the paper back from his hand, turned around, and walked out without a backward glance.
Once outside the hall, she grumbled angrily, “Master Jingkong? More like Master Deceiver! How could he figure anything out with just one glance?”
“Your Highness, please lower your voice.” Wei Zi quickly looked around to check their surroundings; fortunately, no one was nearby. “Most of the noble families in the capital come to Master Jingkong to have their birth charts compared. It’s said that every couple he declares compatible lives in perfect harmony and grows old together.”
Upon hearing this, Si Huahuan stumbled and nearly tripped over her own feet. She steadied herself, then turned to glare at Wei Zi. “Perfect harmony and growing old together? And you still brought me here? Wei Zi, do you want to kill me?”
Wei Zi replied with a hint of grievance, “You only asked which temple was the most accurate for marriage readings…”
She didn’t ask which temple was best for ruining a marriage…
Yao Huang’s eyes lit up with an idea. “Your Highness, I’ve heard there is a master in the southern part of the city. He doesn’t just predict good or bad fortune; he can also resolve calamities for people. It just costs a little more silver.”
Yao Huang was the best informed among them. She knew everything that happened inside the palace, and often picked up news about matters outside the palace from other maids.
To Si Huahuan, any problem that could be solved with silver was not a real problem.
At this point, she had no choice but to try anything that might work. She urged, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go immediately.”
Before leaving, she went to the main hall to pay her respects, bowing to every Buddha and bodhisattva alike. She prayed fervently that her marriage to Xie Yun would never proceed smoothly.
When they arrived at the fortune-teller’s shop, a man was just walking out, his face glowing with happiness. He carefully put away a paper talisman in his hand and kept muttering excitedly, “It’s accurate, truly accurate!”
Yao Huang and Wei Zi lifted the curtain on either side for her. As Si Huahuan stepped inside, she was hit by a strong smell of old incense ash.
The shop was small. Yellowed diagrams of the Eight Trigrams hung on all four walls. On the table stood a bronze statue of some unknown figure. Seated before it was a middle-aged man with a long, thin face and a thin mustache.
Seeing a customer enter, he lifted his eyelids, rolled his eyes all over her, and finally fixed his gaze on the jade pendant at her waist. He stroked his mustache with his index finger and thumb in a deliberate, knowing manner and said, “Please take a seat, Miss. Are you here to ask about marriage or children?”
Si Huahuan placed the paper slip with the two birth charts on the table. “Compare the compatibility of these two people.”
Master Chen took the paper, squinted his eyes, and frowned deeply. He remained silent for a long time.
Si Huahuan’s heart skipped a beat. I knew that Master Jingkong must have made a mistake, she thought. Their charts are definitely incompatible. At the very least, Xie Yun’s chart is destined to bring me harm.
“These two people…”
Si Huahuan leaned forward eagerly, only to hear him continue, “Their charts are perfectly compatible. It is a match made in hea—”
“Nonsense!” Si Huahuan slammed her hand onto the table and stared straight into his eyes, speaking slowly and distinctly. “Check again carefully. There must be something incompatible between them.”
Master Chen was startled by the sudden bang and leaned back so far he nearly fell off his stool. He regained his balance, looked down at the paper again, and said with great difficulty, “Miss, these birth charts truly are compatible. Their five elements complement each other, and their destinies align perfectly…”
“Enough, stop talking.” She cut him off.
She felt sick just listening to him go on.
She stretched out her hand; Yao Huang placed a silver ingot in her palm. She slammed the silver onto the table before him. “Is this enough to make you see some incompatibility?”
Master Chen stared at the silver ingot. He swallowed hard, slowly drew it toward him, and slipped it into his sleeve. Then he pretended to perform a calculation on his fingers.
“Well, if we must speak of incompatibility…” Master Chen nodded his head with an air of absolute confidence. “If this young man was born during the Xu hour rather than the Shen hour, his chart would clash sharply with yours. Marriage would be absolutely inadvisable.”
Her eyes lit up. “Is that true?”
“Absolutely true,” he replied. “The remarkable thing about these two charts is that they are perfect matches—yet they would be completely incompatible if it were not for this tiny difference.”
A smug smile spread across Si Huahuan’s face. She snatched the paper back from him, picked up a brush resting on the inkstone, and immediately changed the character for “Shen” to “Xu”. She did it swiftly and decisively, without the slightest hesitation.
“If you dare to deceive me…” She narrowed her eyes, and the threat in her tone was unmistakable.
Master Chen waved his hands repeatedly. “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare. You may take this to anyone else, Miss. I guarantee they will tell you this is an extremely inauspicious match.”
Only then was she satisfied. She folded the altered birth chart and tucked it into her sleeve, then tossed another silver ingot to him. “For your trouble.”
She stood up and left immediately, walking briskly with her skirt fluttering behind her, and quickly vanished around the corner of the street.
Master Chen watched her leave, shaking his head. “A strange person, truly strange.”
Then he looked down and touched the two large silver ingots.
Strange, yes—but rich! We need more customers just like her!
Si Huahuan returned first to Yong’an Palace to write out the revised birth charts neatly on two separate slips of red paper. Then she hurried straight to the Imperial Astrology Bureau. Her heart was pounding; she felt both excited and nervous.
The guards at the gate recognized her as Princess Kangle and dared not stop her. She passed through unimpeded and arrived before the Director of Astrology. She handed him the two red papers.
“Could I trouble you to calculate the relationship between these two birth charts?”
“Not at all, not at all,” the Director replied hastily. He could never presume that a request from Princess Kangle was any trouble.
He unfolded the papers, holding one in each hand, and examined them closely.
Under the table, Si Huahuan twisted her handkerchief nervously between her fingers. She had already planned her next move in her mind. As soon as he confirmed the charts clashed, she would take the Director—her key witness—straight to her father, the Emperor. She would do everything in her power to stop the marriage to Xie Yun.
She imagined Xie Yun’s expression when the engagement was broken off—how his plan would fall apart, and how his face would look even more bitter than if he had eaten a bitter gourd. She had to suppress a smile and felt immensely pleased just thinking about it.
“Ah!” The Director suddenly cried out in shock. “I have never seen birth charts so utterly incompatible in my entire career. May I ask Your Highness whose charts these are?”
Perfect!
Her scheme had worked. She stood up and motioned for the Director to follow her. “Come with me immediately. We are going to see His Majesty.”
The Director was thoroughly confused but dared not disobey. He followed the Princess all the way to the Zichen Palace, still in a daze.
As it happened, the Empress was also present. She was discussing the marriage arrangement with Emperor Jiaping.
As soon as she entered the hall, Si Huahuan announced, “Father, Mother, I just sent the birth charts of myself and Xie Yun to the Imperial Astrology Bureau. The Director says…”
She turned to the Director. “Master Ming, please repeat what you told me just now.”
The Director was well aware of the proposed marriage. When he realized these were the charts of Princess Kangle and the Marquis of Ming’an, his face turned pale.
Both the Emperor and the Empress looked at him intently.
Beneath their piercing gazes, the Director nervously licked his lips. He had no choice but to present the two red slips and speak with great reluctance. “Princess Kangle and the Marquis of Ming’an… Their charts are in direct opposition; their natures are as incompatible as fire and water. If they are forced into marriage, at best, their household will never know peace. At worst, their lives will be in danger…”
“Father, you heard him!” Si Huahuan exclaimed. “Xie Yun was born to bring me harm. We absolutely cannot be forced to marry!”
Emperor Jiaping looked grave. “Is this truly accurate?”
“Uh… I will return at once and have my staff recalculate and verify the results several times over,” the Director stammered.
“Wait a moment.” The Empress took the red papers from the Emperor. “There is a mistake regarding Jingchu’s birth hour. It should be the Shen hour, not the Xu hour.”
The Emperor leaned in to look as well.
“I could not possibly be wrong about this,” the Empress said. “It was definitely the Shen hour. Do you remember, Your Majesty? Jingchu was born right in the middle of a palace banquet.”
That banquet had been held to celebrate the triumphant return of the General of the Flying Cavalry. At the time, General Yunhui was expected to give birth in about ten days. Before the banquet had even begun, she had suddenly gone into labor. Imperial physicians were summoned urgently, and one hour later, she gave birth to a baby boy right there in the palace.
It had been considered a double blessing. The Late Emperor had been overjoyed. Not only did the Xie family receive rewards, but every minister in attendance was also given a gift.
“I remember,” Emperor Jiaping nodded.
The Director fell silent, thinking deeply. Suddenly, realization dawned on him. “If he was born in the Shen hour… then these two charts could not be more perfectly compatible!”
Si Huahuan felt her temples throb violently, and her vision began to blur.
The Emperor looked on with keen interest. “Explain yourself.”
“The birth charts of Princess Kangle and the Marquis of Ming’an nurture and reinforce one another. Their marital destinies mirror each other, and there is no conflict whatsoever in their fates. This is a match bestowed by heaven!” The Director spoke with great emotion. “I have not seen such perfect compatibility in decades of service!”
Before the Emperor and Empress could even react with joy, a loud thud echoed through the hall.
“Zhenzhen!”
“Your Highness!”
Si Huahuan’s eyes rolled back, and she fainted away in utter despair.