Zhang Qing Is Fated to Marry Qiong Ying; Wu Yong Plots to Poison Wu Li

Now to tell the story: Imperial Uncle Wu Li made the County Princess Qiong Ying his vanguard, while he himself led the great army behind her. Qiong Ying had just turned sixteen, a girl as lovely as a flower, and she was not Wu Li’s own daughter. She was originally surnamed Qiu; her father was Qiu Shen, a native of Mianshang, a place in Jiexiu County of Fenyang Prefecture. This Mianshang was the very place where, in the Spring and Autumn period, Duke Wen of Jin, failing to find Jie Zitui, enfeoffed the land of Mianshang to Jie Zitui. Qiu Shen’s family was very wealthy. At forty he still had no son, and his wife had died. Later he took as his second wife the daughter of Song Youlie of Pingyao County, and she gave birth to Qiong Ying. When Qiong Ying was ten, her maternal grandfather Song Youlie died, and her mother, Lady Song, went with her husband Qiu Shen to attend the funeral. Pingyao and Jiexiu were neighboring counties, more than seventy li apart. Because the road was long and they had to travel in haste, Lady Song left Qiong Ying at home and instructed the......