Li Zhenli knew that no courtesan should risk offending an official. If they were arrested, they wound be whipped to death and nobody would dare interfere. What is more, they were dealing with the most powerful and imperious minister in the royal court. Li Zhenli made up her mind and ordered two of her maidservants to help Xiangjun do up her hair and dress up.
Li Xangjun cried, “Mother, you are so cruel!” Seeing this, the two maidser vants, too timid to come for ward, retreated. Yang Wencong rolled up his sleeves and went to help. Seeing them coming over, Miss Li Xiangjun waved her fan to fight them off. With great effort, Li Zhenli, Yang Wencong and the two maidservants finally forced Xiangjun into a brightly colored dress.
When they grabbed her hands to drag her downstairs, Li Xiangjun cried out, “I would rather die than go downstairs!”
With this, Miss Li Xiangjun broke away and hit her head hard against the wall. At once, blood splattered on the wall, and the white fan on which Hou Fangyu had inscribed his poem was covered with her blood. Li Xiangjun fainted.
Seeing this, Li Zhenli and Yang Wencong became flustered. They hurried to help her sit up, covered her face with powder and bandaged the wound with white silk. Blood was streaming down her cheeks causing her hair to glue together. Yang Wencong could not bear to see the injured Li Xiangjun being taken away like that. Suddenly, Ma Shiying’s attendants began to shout again, “What the hell are you doing upstairs? If you don’t come down immediately, we will have to come up and get you! Hurry up!”
Yang Wencong was infuriated. He came to the stairs and shouted back, “You bastards! Let me see who the devil dares to go up there!”
One of the attendants replied, “Master Yang, we didn’t mean to offend you. It’s getting dark and we can’t go back to the Prime Minister without Miss Li Xiangjun.
Yang Wencong scratched his head and said, “Do not worry. You men wait here for a short while!” Then he went up the stairs.
“Ma Shiying will not give up unless he takes Li Xiangjun away today”, Yang Wencong told Li Zhenli. You can’t possibly avoid it. Look how badly Xiangjun hurt herself. W hat are you going to do?
With a melancholy face, Li Zhenli asked, “Master Yang, what do you think I can do?”
“I have an idea. Let’s see if you agree.” “What is it? Tell me and we shall see.”
“It’s very simple. You marry Tian Yang in place of Xiangjun”.
Li Zhenli was so angry that she spat at Yang Wencong and said, “Stop talking nonsense! I have never heard of anyone marrying in the place of another!”
“Why not,” refuted Yang. “If you refuse, the Imperial Office will have you both arrested, and you will quite probably be whipped to death!”
Li Zhenli thought it over and said, “That bastard is so old that he has lost nearly all his teeth! It would be an awful misfortune to marry an old man like him.”
Yang said, “But it would always be good for a courtesan to be married and start a new life. Anyway, Tian Yang is a wealthy man. If you marry him, you will live comfortably all your life. Now that Xiangjun does not deserve such fortune, you have the chance to replace her”.
“What if I am exposed?
“You are only a few years older than Xiangjun and still look young enough. Additionally, neither Ruan Dacheng nor Tian Yang has met Xiangjun before. If I say you are Xiangjun, who would ever know the truth?”
Li Zhenli sighed, “Oh, under the awful circumstances, if bad luck does not befall on me it will on Xiangjun. If neither of us marries Tian Yang, we shall both be whipped to death. It seems I have no choice but to agree to sacrifice myself and take Xiangjun’s place.”
Seeing that Li had consented, Yang urged her to dress up quickly. She quickly changed her clothes and said to the unconscious Li Xiangjun, “You take good care of yourself. I am going in your place.”
At that, Li Zhenli desolately climbed into the bridal sedan chair. Happy about his triumphant plan, Yang was walking on air. He spoke to himself, “Now, Zhenli is married to a top official, Xiangjun has preserved her chastity, Ruan Dacheng has vented his anger and Ma Shiying has showed off his power and prestige. I have killed four birds with one stone.”
