They say that when the servants saw that Yuying had fallen and died, they immediately went to Jinluan Hall and reported it to the Empress, saying: “Imperial Princess Yuying has fallen and died!” The empress was shocked and reported it to Taizong, who sighed and said, “we had foreknowledge of this thing. We had asked the ten kings, ‘are all well?’ They said, ‘all are well, save for your Imperial sister, who is near the end of her life.’ And it is so.” People from both palaces came to mourn, but when they came to the blossoming trees, they saw the Princess was still faintly breathing. The Emperor quickly said, “stop crying! Stop crying! Don’t startle her!” He reached down and lifted the Princess’s head and supported it, saying, “Imperial Sister, wake up.”
The Princess suddenly turned around and called, “Husband, slow down. Wait for me!”
Taizong said, “Sister, it is us.”
The Princess opened her eyes and looked up. “Who are you? Take your hands off me.”1
Taizong said, “It is your Imperial Brother and Sister-in-law.”
The Princess said, “What Imperial Brother and Sister-in-law? My maiden name is Li. My childhood name is Li Cuilian. My husband is Liu Quan, and we two are people of Junzhou.” [Liang Kou Er … Chinese lesson] Three months ago, my husband scolded me for forgetting my wifely propriety and leaving the house without permission2 because I gave a golden hairpin as alms to a monk outside our door. I was so angry that I hanged myself from the beam with my white silk sash, leaving behind our son and daughter who cried day and night. My husband was sent by the Tang Emperor as an envoy to deliver melons to the Kings of Hell. The Kings took pity on us and brought us back to life. He was walking in front. I couldn’t catch up and tripped. How rude you lot are! You don’t even know my name, and you lay hands on me!”
We two are
Li Cuilian uses the phrase 两口儿 as a pronoun “we” to refer to herself and her husband. 两口 literally means “two mouths” and refers to a married couple. 小(Little/young)两口 means young married couple, and 老(Old)两口 refers to an old married couple.
Taizong heard this and said to the crowd, “She must have hit her head when she fell. She doesn’t know what she is saying.” He issued a decree that the imperial physician prescribe her some medicine, and helped Yuying into the palace.
The Emperor had just returned to the audience chamber when an imperial driver presented this memorial to the Emperor: “Your Majesty, the man who was sent to offer melons and fruits, Liu Quan, has returned from the dead and is outside awaiting an audience.” The Emperor was astonished, and quickly ordered that the man be brought in.
“How did the matter of offering melons go?” Taizong inquired.
Liu Quan replied: “I brought the melons to the Gate of Ghosts. I was brought to Senluo Palace, saw the ten Kings of Hell, and presented the offering along with your Majesty’s gratitude. The Kings of Hell were very pleased and send you their compliments, saying ‘What a trustworthy and virtuous man the Emperor of Tang is!’”
“What did you see in the Peaceful Realms?” the Emperor asked.
“I did not travel much in the Peaceful Realms and did not see much. King Yan asked me about my name and birthplace, so I told him the story of how I came to bear the offering of melons to the Underworld. King Yan sent for my wife and we reunited there in Senluo Palace, then he checked the Register of Life and saw that both my wife and I were to live long lives, and so dispatched a messenger to bring us back. I was walking in front, my wife behind. Luckily we made it back to the world of the living, but I don’t know where my wife is.” Liu Quan replied.
The Emperor was surprised and asked, “What did King Yan say of your wife?”
“King Yan didn’t say much of her,” Liu Quan said. “But the messenger did say, ‘Li Cuilian has been dead for a long time, and her body has not been preserved.” Then King Yan said, “The Imperial Princess, Li Yuying, is fated to an early death this day. Why don’t you borrow her body and send them back?’ I don’t know where the Imperial Princess is or where she lives. I haven’t looked for her yet.”
The Emperor heard this and was filled with gladness, and said before the whole court: “As we bid farewell to Lord Yan, we asked about the state of our palace and court. He told me all were well, but our Imperial sister was near the end of her life. Just now truly our sister Yuying fell beneath the blossoms and passed, but when we went to see her, she suddenly woke and said, ‘Slow down, husband! Wait fo me!’ We thought she had hit her head and was speaking nonsense, but when we asked her further, her story was very similar to Liu Quan’s.”
Wei Zheng stepped forward and said: “If the Princess is at the end of the life and woke up saying such things, it must be Liu Quan’s wife back from the dead. These things happen. Let’s invite the Princess here and see what she says.”
“We just send the royal physician in to her to treat her,” the Emperor said. “We don’t know how she is.” They sent one of the concubines into the palace to bring her. In the palace the Princess was yelling, “I’m not taking any medicine! This isn’t my house! My house is a peaceful tile house, not this house of lunatics with these garish doors! Let me out! Let me out!”
As she was yelling, she was brought to the audience chamber by several servants and a couple of eunuchs. “Can you recognize your husband?” the Emperor asked.
“What are you talking about?” Yuying said. “We have been together since we were engaged as children, we raised children together, how would I not recognize him?”
The Emperor asked the servants to assist her out of the chamber straight to the White Jade Steps. She saw Liu Quan and grabbed him, saying, “Husband, where did you go? Why didn’t you wait for me? I tripped and fell, then I was surrounded by these heathens all yelling at me. What is going on!”
Liu Quan recognized her words as his wife’s but didn’t see his wife’s face, and so was afraid to say she was his wife.
The Emperor said, “When mountains buckle it can be seen by man, but who can percieve when one life is substituted for another?”
Wise indeed is the Emperor! He brought out the Princess’s dressing case, clothing, and jewelry and gave it to Liu Quan as if it were a dowry. He issued an edict that Liu Quan be exempt from the draft, and bid him take the Princess home. The couple thanked the the Emperor and joyfully went home. There is a poem as proof.3
1 that you dare touch me? ↩
2 without a chaperone? ↩
3 let’s see if I bother translating this one… Apparently not! ↩
Etymology Adventures 