A woman was supported by two maidservants left and right. She is wearing a pink dress, with a fine silk wrapped on both sides. Her hair is lightly combed into an updo¹ with a gold leaf hairpin hanging like drooping clouds. With a smile and anger in her eyes, she looked out into the crowd.
Everyone swept by her gaze all felt light. Even if you could not see her full appearance, her romantic posture is already so captivating.
Fan Rusu saw that the guards were dazed by the woman. He coughed lightly and stared at everyone coldly. The two adjutants were the first to come back to their senses and they lead into yelling at the guards to maintain order.
At this time, the corner of Eunuch Mo’s eyes swept towards the protocol officials. A female official in the middle of the line came out and announced the newcomer, “Princess Qiao Rong has arrived.”
Fan Rusu thought it was completely strange. Every party has taken the secret back door. Then why is this Princess Qiao Rong walking through the front door alone?
Just then, it turns out that the carriage right behind Qiao Rong is the Crown Prince’s! But this is not in accordance with etiquette. The Crown Prince is a noble character and his carriage should naturally be in front!
He was still in the middle of wondering when he heard a collective gasp saying, “Is this a fairy?”
“Princess Qiao Rong already looks this good-looking, what more of her sister, the Crown Prince Consort who is considered the top beauty of the Northlands…”
“In my opinion, the position of the Rui Wangfei belongs to Princess Qiao Rong.”
“It’s a good thing I bet on her early.”
Suddenly, Qiao Rong’s veil fell down, and there was a sudden boom of chaos the sound of exclamation was endless.
Fan Rusu looked and saw that Qiao Rong’s beauty was incomparable. Everyone only glanced a little peek, and maid hurriedly tied the veil back to her face. A female protocol officer assisted her over, but people’s eyes still followed Qiao Rong.
When she arrived near Eunuch Mo, Qiao Rong stood in ceremony and smiled. She did not rush into the door leaving the female officer standing in front of the stone lion. Qiao Rong glanced at the second sedan chair with bright eyes.
Si Da and Mei Ren felt sour and glanced at Qiao Chu. The world only knows the two beauties: Qiao Mei and Qiao Rong, the daughters of the Lord of the Northland Desert and his official wife. Nobody knew that there is a concubine-born princess named Qiao Chu, whose appearance is not inferior to the two.
In order to prevent Qiao Chu from participating in the competition, the lord forced Qiao Chu to take the “Stunning Pill²”, resulting in a change in Qiao Chu’s appearance from someone so breathtaking to a face no different from that of an ordinary woman. If she does not take the hard-to-find antidote immediately, it will be difficult to regain her old appearance.
At this moment, the purple-clad youth who had been standing next to the second palanquin smiled gently and looked at Eunuch Mo. Eunuch Mo stood in ceremony and greeted, “Imperial Censor³ Wang also came.”
The young man in purple is named Wang Mang, the elder brother of Wang Yuzhi, one of the candidate in the consort selection. His father was a Tai Fu— a civil official of the first rank. He is still young, but very talented and already has achieved inspector position. He is also a good friend of the Crown Prince.
He reached out and pointed to the palanquin at the rear, Eunuch Mo understood what he meant, hastily nodded and announced aloud, “The Crown Prince has arrived.”
“Long live the Crown Prince.” The people trembled. They knelt down and shouted.
Si Da and Mei Ren are both surprised and delighted. So, this is actually the crown prince’s carriage?
“Kneel down.”
Before they can think it over, they heard Qiao Chu whispered her instructions. And with a sense of awe, they knelt down along with the crowd of worshippers. But even though they are kneeling, they watched Dou Ma vigilantly, fearing that he might do Qiao Chu any harm.
“You all may rise.”
The carriage curtain didn’t even move as the man’s faint voice resounded. Although the voice was warm and gentle, it carried so much power and strength.
Listening to his voice from afar, Qiao Chu squeezed the palm of her hand.
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Notes:
[1] An ancicent Han hairstyle, picture here
[2] 绝颜丹 (jue yan dan) literally the Absolute Beauty Elixir. But since the effects are the opposite of beautifying, I changed the name to “stunning” which can also mean to stun
[3] 御史 (yu shi) or can also be translated as Imperial Historian – an ancient position in charge of supervision
T/N:
Life is getting in the way so I’m getting a little busy. If you’re following my other translations, I am also in the middle of writing them. This just finished first because this has the least charactersso I uploaded it immediately. but I’ll upload the others as soon as I finish them.
I hope you are all well and safe!
Kaye's Ugly Translations 