Now, when King Zhou saw how badly Daji had been frightened, he was flustered and at a loss. At once he issued a command ordering the palace attendants to burn the precious sword without delay. Who knows — perhaps because it was only whittled from pine, the sword could not stand the fire, and it burned away in an instant. The palace attendants reported that the command had been carried out. When Daji saw the sword burned, the demonic light about her grew strong again, and she was as lively as ever. Truly, there is a poem to prove it. It says:

Daji waited on the king as before, and a banquet was laid in the palace, where they drank and made merry.

Our story turns to Yunzhongzi. He had not yet gone back to Mount Zhongnan but was still in Zhaoge, when all at once he saw the demonic light rise again, flaring up and shining over the inner palace. Yunzhongzi nodded and sighed. “I only meant to use this sword to keep the demonic miasma down and keep the pulse of Cheng Tang’s house beating a little longer. Who could have known that the great reckoning has already run out, and that my sword would be burned? For one thing, the house of Tang is fated to perish; for another, the state of Zhou is due to rise; third, the immortals are to meet a great calamity2; fourth, Jiang Ziya is fated to enjoy wealth and honour in the world of men; and fifth, there are gods who want to claim their titles. Enough, enough, enough! Still, this poor Daoist has made the journey down the mountain: I will leave twenty-four characters behind, to be borne out for those who come after.” Yunzhongzi took out the Four Treasures of the Study and left his writing on the screen wall that faced the gate of Grand Preceptor Du of the Observatory3. It says:

When he had finished writing, Yunzhongzi went straight back to Mount Zhongnan.

Meanwhile, the people of Zhaoge, seeing that a Daoist had written a poem on the screen wall, all came to look at it and read it aloud, but none could make out its meaning. The crowd grew thicker and thicker and would not disperse. Just as they were looking, the Grand Preceptor Du Yuanxian came back from court. A great crowd was pressing round in front of his residence, and his attendants on either side shouted them out of the way. “What is going on?” asked the Grand Preceptor. The gatekeeper of the residence reported, “My lord, a Daoist has written a poem on the screen wall, so everyone has come to look.” From his horse Grand Preceptor Du looked and saw twenty-four characters, their meaning rather deep and not easily unravelled at once. He ordered the gatekeeper to wash them off with water. The Grand Preceptor went into his residence and turned the twenty-four characters over with great care, probing every hidden subtlety, but in the end he could not make them out. He thought to himself: “This must be the Daoist who came to court the other day and presented a sword, saying that a demonic aura was swirling round the inner palace. So there is something to it after all. Night after night I have watched the signs in the heavens and seen a demonic aura growing stronger by the day and swirling round the palace gates. Something ill is surely coming, and so he has left this mark. Now the Son of Heaven is sunk in debauchery and pays no heed to the government; powerful villains bewitch him; Heaven grieves and the people complain; the turn from rise to fall is there for all to see. We who received great favour from the late king — how can we bear to sit by and watch? I see the officials at court, civil and military, every one of them anxious and every one afraid. Better to seize the moment, draw up a memorial and remonstrate with the Son of Heaven with all my might, and so do my full duty as a subject. Not to buy a name for honesty or angle for fame, but truly for the sake of the state, whether it stands or falls.” That night Du Yuanxian wrote out his memorial, and the next day he went to the Office of Documents, not knowing who would be reading the memorials. As it happened, that day it was the First Chancellor Shang Rong. Du Yuanxian was delighted. He stepped up, greeted him and said, “Venerable Chancellor, last night I watched from the Observatory, and a demonic aura lay thick over the inner palace and ran right through it. Calamity is close at hand: what will become of the realm can be guessed. His Majesty neglects the government and leaves the laws of the court unattended; he feasts in the morning and revels at night, sunk in wine and women. The ancestral temple and the altars of the state depend on it, order and chaos hang on it — this is no small matter. How can we sit by and watch? I have drawn up a remonstrance expressly to present to the Son of Heaven. May I trouble you, Chancellor, to convey this memorial to the throne? What do you say?” When Shang Rong heard this, he said, “Since you have a memorial, Grand Preceptor, how could this old man sit by and watch? Only, the Son of Heaven has not come to the audience hall for days on end, so it is hard to put it to him in person. Today this old man will go with you into the inner court to see His Majesty and put it to him in person. How would that be?” Shang Rong went into the great Nine-Bay Hall and through the Longde Hall, the Xianqing Hall and the Jiashan Hall, then on past the Fengong Tower. There he met the chamberlain, who said, “Venerable Chancellor, the Shouxian Palace lies within the forbidden gates; it is His Majesty’s own bedchamber. No minister of the outer court5 may enter here!” Shang Rong said, “Do you think I don’t know that? Go in and announce for me: Shang Rong awaits His Majesty’s command.” The chamberlain went into the palace and announced, “The First Chancellor Shang Rong awaits Your Majesty’s command.” The king said, “What business brings Shang Rong into the inner palace to see Us? Still, though he is an official of the outer court, he is an old minister who has served three reigns. He may come in.” He commanded, “Summon him!” Shang Rong came into the palace, said, “Your Majesty,” and prostrated himself before the steps. The king said, “What urgent memorial have you, Chancellor, that you come all the way into the palace to see Us?” Shang Rong said, “Du Yuanxian, chief officer of the Observatory, watched the signs in the heavens last night and saw a demonic aura shining over the golden palace and shrouding it: calamity is close at hand. Du Yuanxian is an old minister who has served three reigns, one of Your Majesty’s arms and legs, and he cannot bear to sit by and watch. Besides, what is it that keeps Your Majesty from holding court day after day? You pay no heed to the affairs of state but sit deep in the palace, so that the officials are anxious day and night. Now your servants, not shrinking from death by the axe, dare to offend Your Majesty’s heavenly dignity — not to win a name for honesty — and beg Your Majesty to deign to hear us.” He presented the memorial, and the palace attendants on either side took it and laid it on the desk. King Zhou unrolled it and read:

“The memorial of your servant Du Yuanxian, officer in charge of the Observatory, on safeguarding the state and the people, quelling sprites and removing demons, for the glory of the ancestral temple and the altars of the state. Your servant has heard that when a state is about to rise6, auspicious omens are sure to appear, and when a state is about to perish, monstrous portents are sure to arise. Watching the signs in the heavens by night, your servant Yuanxian has seen an uncanny mist of ill omen, a demonic light coiling round the inner halls and a baleful air shrouding the depths of the palace. The other day, when Your Majesty came in person to the great hall, Yunzhongzi of Mount Zhongnan, having seen a demonic aura piercing the palace, came expressly to present a wooden sword to hold the demon down. I hear that Your Majesty burned the wooden sword and would not heed the words of that great worthy, so that the demonic miasma has gathered again, stronger by the day, soaring to the sky and piercing the Dipper — no small calamity. Your servant has thought on it earnestly. Since Su Hu presented the noble lady, Your Majesty’s court has lost all order, and dust gathers on the royal desk. Below the vermilion steps every kind of grass is sprouting; before the royal stairs the moss grows green. The government is in confusion and the officials have lost hope. Your servants can hardly come near Your Majesty’s face. Your Majesty is besotted with beauty and makes merry day and night. Sovereign and ministers never meet: it is as if clouds had hidden the sun. When shall we see again the glory of the answering songs7, when the arms and legs were glad and the head rose up, and look once more on the sun of an age of peace? Not shrinking from the axe, your servant risks death to speak out, so as to do some small part of his duty as a subject. If your servant’s words are not mistaken, I hope Your Majesty will soon give the royal word and have them carried out at once. Your servants await your command in uttermost fear and trembling! Respectfully submitted for Your Majesty’s hearing.”

When King Zhou had read it, he thought to himself: “Very well put. But the memorial brings up that business of Yunzhongzi getting rid of a demon. The other day that nearly cost Su, my beauty, her life; only by the protection of Heaven, and by burning the sword, was she saved. And today here is talk of a demonic miasma in the palace again!” King Zhou turned and asked Daji, “Du Yuanxian has sent up a memorial, and again he talks of demons preying on us. What is really behind this?” Daji came forward, knelt and said, “That Yunzhongzi the other day was a sorcerer from outside the world, who made up talk of demons8 to cloud Your Majesty’s judgement and stir up the people: that is using talk of demons to throw the state into disorder. Now Du Yuanxian takes up the same theme. They are all one faction, misleading the people and making trouble with their stories. The common people are as foolish as can be. Once such talk of demons goes round, those who were not alarmed take alarm of their own accord, and those who were not unruly turn unruly of their own accord, until the people are in a panic and none can rest easy — and disorder follows of itself. Trace it back to the beginning, and it all comes from being misled by this baseless talk. Therefore all who mislead the people with talk of demons should be put to death without mercy!” “You are quite right, my beauty!” said King Zhou. “Pass on Our command: behead Du Yuanxian and hang up his head for all to see, as a warning against talk of demons!” The First Chancellor Shang Rong said, “Your Majesty, this must not be! Du Yuanxian is an old minister who has served three reigns. He has always been loyal and good, devoted heart and soul to the state, ready to shed his blood and lay bare his liver. Morning and evening he thinks of nothing but repaying his lord’s kindness and answering his sovereign’s grace. It was out of sheer devotion that he spoke, because he could not do otherwise. Besides, it is his office to watch over the heavens and read the signs of good and ill fortune. Had he kept this back and not reported it, I fear he would have been impeached by the proper officials. Now, for remonstrating honestly, Your Majesty instead condemns him to death. Du Yuanxian will not shrink from dying: he will repay his sovereign with his life, go down to the underworld and count it a fitting death. But I fear that among the four hundred officials, civil and military, every one will think it unjust that Du Yuanxian should be put to death when he has done no wrong. I hope Your Majesty will consider his loyal heart, take pity on him and pardon him.” The king said, “You do not understand, Chancellor. If We do not behead Du Yuanxian, there will be no end to these slanders, and the people will be thrown into such a panic that there will be no peace anywhere.” Shang Rong would have remonstrated again, but King Zhou would not listen and ordered the chamberlains to see Shang Rong out of the palace. The chamberlains hurried him along, and Shang Rong had no choice but to go out. When he reached the Office of Documents, he found Grand Preceptor Du waiting for the king’s answer, with no idea that a calamity was upon him that would cost him his life. The decree had already come down: “Du Yuanxian has misled the people with talk of demons. Arrest him, cut off his head and hang it up for all to see, to uphold the law of the land.” When the chamberlain had read out the royal warrant, without letting him say a word, they stripped Du Yuanxian of his robes, bound him with ropes and cords and dragged him out through the Meridian Gate.

They had just reached the Jiulong Bridge when a counsellor came along in a robe of bright red. It was Mei Bo. Seeing Grand Preceptor Du brought along in bonds, he went up to him and asked, “Grand Preceptor, what crime has brought you to this?” Du Yuanxian said, “The Son of Heaven has failed in his government. We sent a memorial into the inner court, saying that a demonic aura lay thick over the palace and that baleful stars foretold upheaval for the realm at any moment. The First Chancellor passed it on, and it offended His Majesty. When the sovereign condemns his subject to death, the subject dare not disobey. Master Mei, the two words ‘rank and fame’ have turned to dust and ashes; all my years of a loyal red heart have ended cold as ice!” When Mei Bo heard this, he said, “You men there, hold on a moment.” He went straight to the end of the Jiulong Bridge, where he happened to meet the First Chancellor Shang Rong. “May I ask, Chancellor,” said Mei Bo, “what crime against the sovereign Grand Preceptor Du has committed, that he is condemned to death?” Shang Rong said, “Du Yuanxian’s memorial was truly for the good of the court: a demonic miasma coils round the forbidden gates, and an uncanny vapour shines over the inner palace. His Majesty listened to Lady Su and charged him with ‘misleading the people with talk of demons and throwing the whole populace into panic’. This old man pleaded hard, but the Son of Heaven would not listen. What can be done?” At this Mei Bo was so angry that his five spirits raged and the samadhi fire9 burned in his breast. “Venerable Chancellor, it is you who keep yin and yang in harmony10 and season the cauldrons of state. The treacherous you should behead at once, the flatterers put to death at once, the worthy recommend at once, the able commend at once. When the sovereign is upright, the First Chancellor need say nothing; when the sovereign is not upright, he must remonstrate with his lord in plain words. Now the Son of Heaven kills a great minister who has done no wrong, and a chancellor like you clamps his mouth shut and says nothing, putting it down to helplessness! That is to value your own rank and fame and make light of the arms and legs of the court; to fear death and cling to life, cherishing your own paltry body of flesh and blood and dreading the punishments of the king. None of this is what a chancellor should do!” He shouted, “You men there, hold on! Wait while the Chancellor and I see the king!” Mei Bo took Shang Rong by the hand, crossed the great hall and went straight into the inner court.

Mei Bo was an official of the outer court, so when he reached the gate of the Shouxian Palace he prostrated himself there. The chamberlain announced, “Shang Rong and Mei Bo await Your Majesty’s command.” The king said, “Shang Rong is an old minister who has served three reigns; his coming into the inner palace may be pardoned. But Mei Bo has entered the inner court without leave, against the law of the land.” He sent out the command: “Summon them!” Shang Rong in front and Mei Bo behind, they came into the palace and prostrated themselves. The king asked, “What have you two ministers to put before Us?” “Your Majesty!” said Mei Bo. “Your servant Mei Bo submits this petition: in what way has Du Yuanxian broken the law of the land, that he should be condemned to death?” The king said, “Du Yuanxian conspired with a conjurer to concoct talk of demons, to unsettle the army and the people, throw the government into disorder and slander the court. A great minister of state, instead of thinking how to repay the kindness he has received, he tells lying tales of demons to blind and deceive his sovereign. The law demands his death. To root out villains and wipe out flatterers is no excess.” When Mei Bo heard King Zhou’s words, before he knew it his voice rose sharply: “Your servant has heard that when King Yao ruled the realm, he answered to Heaven and was in accord with the people. He heeded the words of his civil officials and followed the plans of his military officers. He held court once every day, and together they discussed the way to keep the people at peace and govern the state; he put away slanderers and kept far from women, and together they enjoyed the great peace. Now Your Majesty has not held court for half a year. You take your pleasure deep in the palace, feasting every morning and revelling every night; you pay no heed to the government and will not suffer remonstrance. Your servant has heard: ‘The sovereign is the belly and heart, the ministers are the hands and feet.’ When the heart is upright, the hands and feet are upright; when the heart is not upright, the hands and feet go crooked. An old saying has it: ‘When the minister is upright and the sovereign wicked, the troubles of the state are hard to cure.’ Du Yuanxian is a loyal and good minister, one who could bring order to the age. If Your Majesty beheads Du Yuanxian, casting away a great minister of the late king and listening to the words of a seductive consort, you will do harm to the beams and pillars of the state. Your servant begs you, my lord, to spare Du Yuanxian a hair’s breadth of life, and let the officials, civil and military, look up to the great virtue of a sage sovereign.”

King Zhou heard him out. “Mei Bo is of one faction with Du Yuanxian. He has broken the law by entering the palace, making no distinction between inner and outer. By rights he should suffer the same punishment as Du Yuanxian; but since he has served Us diligently in the past, We will spare him for now. Strip him of his rank as Senior Counsellor, never to be employed again!” Mei Bo shouted at the top of his voice, “You benighted king! You listen to Daji and fail in the duty between sovereign and subject. Today you behead Du Yuanxian — but it is not Du Yuanxian you behead; truly, it is all the people of Zhaoge! As for dismissing me, Mei Bo, from my post, that is as light as dust and ashes: what is there in that to regret? But I cannot bear to see Cheng Tang’s inheritance of several hundred years lost at the hands of a benighted king! Now that Grand Preceptor Wen has gone north to war, the court has no one to hold it together, and every affair is in confusion. Day after day you, benighted king, listen to slanderers and flatterers, those around you blind and mislead you, and you lie deep in the palace with Daji, sunk in debauchery night and day. I can see the realm falling into chaos before my eyes, and I shall have no face to meet the late king beneath the yellow earth!” King Zhou flew into a rage and ordered the chamberlains, “Take Mei Bo away and smash his skull with the golden melons11!” The men on either side were just about to lay hands on him when Daji said, “Your handmaid has a proposal.” “What do you propose to Us, my beauty?” said the king. “Your handmaid begs to tell you, my lord: a subject who stands in the hall glaring with brows raised and eyes wide, cursing and insulting his sovereign, is guilty of the most heinous treason, an outrage against all order and nature; one death cannot atone for it. Let Mei Bo be held in prison for now. Your handmaid will devise a punishment to put a stop to the impudent memorials of crafty ministers and do away with wicked words that confound what is right.” King Zhou asked, “What kind of punishment is this?” Daji said, “It stands about twenty feet high and is eight feet round, with three fire doors, at the top, in the middle and at the bottom. It is cast in bronze, in the shape of a bronze pillar, and inside it charcoal is burned red-hot. Then all who mislead the people with talk of demons, insult their sovereign with glib tongues, do not respect the laws, presume to write remonstrances when nothing is amiss, or break the law in any other way are stripped of their official robes and their shoes, wrapped in iron chains and bound fast around the bronze pillar. It roasts and sears their limbs, sinews and bones, and in no time at all the smoke is spent and the bones melt away, and they are nothing but ashes. This punishment is called ‘the burning pillar12’. Without so cruel a punishment, crafty and slippery ministers and men who angle for fame will all make light of the law, and none will know fear.” King Zhou said, “My beauty, your method can truly be called perfect in beauty and perfect in goodness!” At once he had a decree sent out: “Behead Du Yuanxian and hang up his head for all to see, as a warning against talk of demons; hold Mei Bo in prison.” And another decree: “Make the instrument of the burning pillar to this pattern, and finish it with all speed.” The First Chancellor Shang Rong, seeing that King Zhou was set on wickedness, trusting Daji in everything and even building the burning pillar, sighed in front of the Shouxian Palace: “Now I see that the great cause of the realm is lost! Cheng Tang strove to be reverent in his virtue and was careful in all things, and so he received Heaven’s lasting mandate. Who could have known that when it came down to the present Son of Heaven, all at once he would abandon the Way? I can see the seven ancestral temples lost and the altars of the state a heap of ruins. How can I bear to see it!” And hearing that Daji was having the burning pillar made, Shang Rong prostrated himself and said, “Your servant begs to tell Your Majesty: the great affairs of the realm are settled, and all is well and at peace in the state. Your old servant is feeble and decrepit and no longer equal to so heavy a charge. I fear I may blunder and give offence to Your Majesty. I earnestly beg you to remember that your servant has served three reigns and held the chancellor’s seat these many years, truly ashamed to eat the bread of idleness. Even if Your Majesty does not dismiss me at once, what is to be done about your servant’s dull old age? I hope Your Majesty will spare what is left of me and let me go home to my fields and village, to eat my fill and drum on my belly under the bright sky. Whatever years remain to me will all be Your Majesty’s gift.” Seeing Shang Rong resign his office and decline to stay on as chancellor, the king spoke to him kindly: “Though you are in the evening of your years, minister, you are still hale and vigorous. But since you are so set on resigning, there is nothing We can do. Still, you have laboured long at the business of the court, devoted and diligent these many years, and it grieves Us to let you go.” At once he ordered the attending officer: “Send out Our decree: two civil officials are to be appointed, with four gifts of silk, to escort you home in glory to your native place. And the local officials there are to call on you from time to time and ask after you.” Shang Rong gave thanks for the king’s grace and left the court.

Before long all the officials knew that the First Chancellor Shang Rong had retired from office and was going home in glory, and they all came to see him off on his way. Huang Feihu, Bi Gan, Weizi13, Jizi, Weizi Qi, Weizi Yan and the other officials were all at the Long Pavilion14, ten li out of the city, to give him a farewell feast. Seeing the officials waiting at the Long Pavilion, Shang Rong had no choice but to dismount. The seven princes raised their hands in salute: “Venerable Chancellor, today you go home in glory, to be sure. But you are the elder statesman of the whole realm — how can you have the heart to be so cruel, tossing the house of Tang aside, cracking your whip and riding away? Is your heart at peace with that?” Shang Rong wept as he said, “Your Highnesses, gentlemen: even were I, Shang Rong, ground to powder and broken to pieces, I could never repay what I owe the state. Why should I grudge a single death, and steal a safe life by slipping away? But now the Son of Heaven trusts Daji and does evil without cause. He has made the cruel punishment of the burning pillar; he rejects remonstrance and kills the loyal. I remonstrated with all my might, but he would not listen, and I could not turn his royal mind. Before long Heaven will grieve and the people complain, and calamity and disorder will arise of themselves. If I stay on, I am not enough to help my sovereign; if I die, it will only make his faults more glaring. So I have no choice but to give up my post and await punishment, until some worthy man of talent and brilliance comes forward to show his statecraft to the full and save us from calamity and disorder. That is what is truly in my heart: I would never dare go far from my sovereign to look after my own safety first. Your Highnesses have offered me wine; I will drink a cup at once. After this parting, I trust, there will still be a day when we meet again.” Then, cup in hand, he made a poem to mark the promise of their next meeting. It says:

When Shang Rong had finished his poem, there was not one of the officials who did not shed tears at the parting. Shang Rong mounted his horse and went on his way, and the officials all went back to Zhaoge. But no more of that.

Now, King Zhou took his pleasure in the palace, and the government went to ruin. Before many days had passed, the officer overseeing the work reported that the burning pillar was finished. King Zhou was delighted and asked Daji, “The bronze pillar is made. What shall we do with it?” Daji had it brought for her to see. The overseer had the bronze pillar wheeled in: gleaming yellow, twenty feet high and eight feet round, with three tiers of fire doors and two rolling wheels beneath, so that it could easily be pushed along. King Zhou looked at it, pointed at Daji and laughed. “My beauty, this marvellous method, handed down by the gods and taught in secret, is truly a treasure for governing the world! Tomorrow, when We hold court, We shall start by burning Mei Bo on it before the hall, so that the officials learn fear. Then of course they will not dare to stand in the way of Our new laws or pester Us with memorials.” Of that night nothing more is told.

Now, King Zhou had burned Mei Bo on the pillar before the great Nine-Bay Hall to stop the mouths of loyal and good men who would remonstrate, and he thought his new punishment a rare marvel. What he did not know was that when the officials of both ranks, civil and military, saw this punishment and Mei Bo’s cruel death, there was not one of them who was not afraid: every man had a mind to shrink back, and every one a mind to give up his office. King Zhou went back to the Shouxian Palace. But no more of that.

Meanwhile, the great ministers had all come out beyond the Meridian Gate. Among them Weizi, Jizi and Bi Gan said to Huang Feihu, Prince Wucheng, “The realm is in turmoil, the North Sea is in upheaval, and Grand Preceptor Wen has gone far away to war for the state. Who would have thought the Son of Heaven would put his trust in Daji, make this burning pillar and cruelly destroy his loyal and good ministers? If word of this spreads to the four quarters and the lords of the realm hear of it, what then?” When Huang Feihu heard this, he took the five long strands of his beard in his hand and twisted them, and said in a great rage, “Your Highnesses, as this humble officer sees it, this burning pillar does not roast and sear a great minister: what it sears is King Zhou’s own realm, and what it roasts is the house of Tang. The ancients put it well: ‘When the sovereign regards his ministers as his hands and feet17, the ministers regard their sovereign as their belly and heart; when the sovereign regards his ministers as dirt and grass, the ministers regard their sovereign as a bandit and an enemy.’ Now His Majesty does not govern with humanity and has inflicted a punishment beyond the law on a Senior Counsellor. Within a few years there is sure to be calamity and disorder. How can we bear to sit by and watch it go to ruin?” The officials all sighed and went their ways, each home to his residence.

Our story turns to King Zhou. When he came back to the palace, Daji came out to meet His Majesty. King Zhou stepped down from his carriage, took Daji by the hand and said, “My beauty, that was a marvellous plan. Today We burned Mei Bo on the pillar before the hall, and none of the ministers dared put himself forward to remonstrate: they clamped their mouths shut, held their tongues and withdrew with nothing but ‘Yes, yes.’ This burning pillar is truly a wondrous treasure for governing the state.” He gave the order: “Lay a feast, to celebrate my beauty’s achievement.” Then mouth organs and reeds played together, and flutes and pipes sounded in unison. In the Shouxian Palace King Zhou and Daji made merry in every way, in pleasure without end, until before they knew it the drums and horns of the watchtower had sounded the second watch, and still the music did not stop. A gust of wind carried the music to the Central Palace, where Queen Jiang had not yet gone to bed. Hearing the music clamouring in her ears, she asked the palace women about her, “Where is that music coming from at this hour?” The palace women answered, “Your Majesty, it is Lady Su of the Shouxian Palace, still feasting with the Son of Heaven.” Queen Jiang sighed. “Yesterday I heard that the Son of Heaven, trusting Daji, has built the burning pillar and cruelly done Mei Bo to death — a horror beyond words. As I see it, this vile woman is bewitching His Majesty’s judgement and leading her sovereign astray, doing whatever wickedness she pleases.” At once she called for her carriage: “I shall go to the Shouxian Palace myself.” — Mark this, reader: in going there she could hardly help seeming jealous of a beauty, and I fear that trouble will start from this, and disaster is at hand. To learn what happened next, read the next chapter.