The 27th year of Rongrui Emperor’s reign, Rui Wang’s Mansion.
It is already third watch of chenshi¹, and the time for the selection for the rightful Rui Wangfei² will start at sishi³.
“Move over! Please squeeze in~ squeeze your milk⁴ to the ditch-ah!”
Some people clearly didn’t have a good temperament in the crowd. Their voice were crisp, but they were quickly drowned in the sound of the others.
In front of Rui Wang’s Mansion was a dense crowd of people. In front of the crouching green Qingzhang stone lions were hundreds of tall and strong guards with sheathed swords to block the people that continues to crowd towards the door of the residence.
The gate of the mansion was half-open, seven or eight protocol officials⁵ were in front of the courtyard. They are followed by many servants, everyone is looking nervous.
When it was already halfway chenshi⁶, there were still no signs of the palanquin anywhere. The people who came to have a glimpse of the beauties are already anxious. However, they didn’t know that for security, the mansion had a secret passage. The emperor, his ministers, and various ladies have long entered through this route and pulled off a Chencang⁷ move.
On the side, the always calm chief guard Fan Rusu is now frowning slightly. One cannot even see the end of the crowd. The four-way street is now filled with people, even more bustling than it was when the crown prince married his consort a month ago.
The people have started betting, being one of the pleasures of the folk. But in reality, there is a big political implication on who will be chosen as the Rui Wangfei.
The candidates came from the families decreed⁸ by the Emperor and they were from of the Xia Wang camp, the Crown Prince camp, or the Xia Wang, and the Ning Wang camp. Even the ministers who were did not belong to any party sent their candidates. Once these neutral ministers are married to the Rui Wang mansion, it meant gaining this prince’s support. It is intriguing whether Rui Wang will choose to ally with one of his brothers, or become someone like Tai Shan⁹ and build a camp of his own. Nevertheless, no one can figure out the emperor’s intentions.
“Lord¹⁰ Fan.”
Fan Rusu was startled, only to see the middle-aged man donned in blue robes beside him and faintly continued, “Your Excellency must keep an eye on him, that person will arrive soon, don’t let the people startle him. This offense is not something you and your family can bear.”
“Thanking gong gong¹¹ for the advise.”
Fan Rusu hurriedly bowed to Eunuch Mo, the Emperor’s close attendant, and has a prominent position in the palace.
The Emperor has already entered the mansion. It is within reason that Eunuch Mo should have been with him inside long ago. But since he is by the gate at the moment, something must be up.
Because the person the eunuch is talking about was the Crown Prince! If it were not for this reason, the protocol officials would not be so nervous! The crown prince did not take the back door, but chose walk on the main gate. But could have been the mystery behind this?
He is a famous captain of ten thousand men, and his immediate boss¹² is the emperor’s confidante. While most of his comrades have jumped into respective political parties of each powerful princes, he has always adhered into his father’s teaching and remained neutral. Today, he is under the order of the great chief to guard the Rui Wang’s Mansion to maintain order.
He has already met the crown prince several times both on duty and in the palace. The man didn’t usually speak much. He only remembered that time when the court was fiercely in dispute and the prince just stood out, raised his eyes slightly, and said a few words; then the hall was suddenly silent.
Fan Rusu dare not think anymore, he recruited the two deputies beside him, whispered a few instructions, and gazed towards the crowd to check. He remembered the obscene words heard earlier, glanced back in that direction.
The other party, the one who said such words seemed to surprise to meet his eyes. The person quickly turned his head away. He looked like a seventeen or eighteen year-old boy with a feminine¹³ face.
His heart was slightly startled; this person does not look ordinary. Between his eyebrows are extremely heavy with colors of anxious worry. He was about to look closely, but heard the sound of shouting; the crowd was quickly lined up, and two sedan chairs under the escort of dozens of guards came to the gate.
At the same time in the crowd, the youngster who had just turned his head sideways was fiercely squeezed by another man who appeared beside him.
Previous | Table of Contents | Next
[character sketch]
Notes:
[1] 三刻 (chen shi) 7-9am, so the third watch equivalent in the modern clock is around 7:30am
[2] again, 王妃 (wangfei) is the title of the prince’s consort, just like the Wang, I shall retain the pinyin here and thereafter. Rui Wangfei is the consort of Rui Wang aka Shangguan Jinghong, our male lead
[3] 巳时 (sishi) 9-11 am
[4] Coming through in a crowd is supposedly written as 挤入 (ji rù) but what was written is in the story is 挤乳 (ji rǔ) which means squeeze breast/milk which was like a homonym. The person is using obscene words which caught Fan Rusu’s attention
[5] 礼官 (li guan) etiquette officers
[6] halfway of 三刻 (chenshi) which is 7-9am is 8:00am
[7] 暗渡陈仓 (an du chencang) is an idiom that refers to the strategy of Liu Bang when he crossed the Wei River but was repairing the plank road as diversionary tactics. So it was generally used in diversions of cheating, Doing one thing overtly for a more covert intent.
[8] the term used was 朱笔 (zhubi) it is a red brush used by the Emperor to approve decrees
[9] 泰山 (Tai Shan) is capable carpenter who was let go from his workplace, only for his manager to realize years later that his works were work of art.
[10] 大人 (daren) it also means big person or adult, but can also be translated as master or Lord or official
[11] 公公 (gong gong) court eunuch
[12] 侍长 (shi zhang) what the slaves call their masters/boss
[13] what was written was 眉目清秀 (mei mu qing xu), but I believe the actual idiom here is 眉清目秀 (mei qing mu xiu) which literally means graceful eyebrows, bright eyes ~ it only means that this “boy” is actually a girl, so I just put feminine.
Kaye's Ugly Translations 
Many thanks
:O it’s a crowd
LikeLike