The atmosphere of the Ming family, who had sent off the officials of the Ministry of Rites relaying the Imperial decree, was rather heavy.
Ming Jingzhou clenched the decree with shaky hands. It was as if it was not an Imperial decree embroidered with golden dragon and auspicious cloud pattern, but a thousand jin1Jin [斤] – It’s also known as catty and weighs about 500g in China. hammer.
“Third Uncle.” Ming Cunfu was worried that Ming Jingzhou wouldn’t be able to catch his breath and faint, so he quickly got up and supported him.
It was a good thing for his younger Cousin Sister to marry into the Imperial family but when he thought of whom Jiuzhu was going to marry, he was unable to utter the word ‘congratulations’.
There was no one in the capital who did not know how much the Emperor favored Su Guifei2Guifei [贵妃] – Usually translated to ‘Noble Consort’. I chose to keep a few titles in pinyin since they sound so much nicer. and doted on Chen Wang3Wang [王] – Commonly translated to ‘Prince’ but literally means ‘king’. This title was given to adult princes along with their separate residences outside the Palace as the Emperor was the only fertile male allowed inside the Palace. (Just extra info ahead) It can also be further divided into two categories: (a) Qin wang [亲王] – Prince of the first rank. It refers to the blood-related children of the reigning Emperor and, (b) Jun wang [郡王] – Prince of the second rank. This title was granted to the non-blood-related members or loyal subordinates, Su Guifei’s biological son.
When Chen Wang was less than fifteen years old, he was bestowed the title of a ‘wang‘ along with the eldest prince, who was five years older than him. At present, he was twenty years old. Although his mansion outside the Imperial Palace was built with gold and jade in glorious splendor, he was often made to stay overnight at the Palace by the Emperor. The other princes and princesses made a detour whenever they saw him.
There were rumors in the court that Chen Wang was the hidden crown prince. If it weren’t for Su Guifei’s humble background and the fact was Chen Wang was not the legitimate son or the eldest prince, the Emperor would have named him his heir long ago. Nonetheless, apart from the gorgeous face given by Su Guifei, Chen Wang had nothing that could be regarded as worthy of praise. Most of the officials in the court did not want him to succeed the throne.
Jiuzhu knelt on the ground. She looked at her sorrowful father and her heartbroken older Cousin Brother before lifting her skirt and getting up to take the Imperial decree gently from Ming Jingzhou’s hands.
“The Imperial decree says that Chen Wang is graceful, handsome and diligent in his studies. It’s good to have all of these virtues ah.” Jiuzhu rolled up the decree and stuffed it back into Ming Jingzhou’s arms. She patted his wrist: “Daddy, don’t be so sad.”
Seeing his daughter’s sweet and innocent face, Ming Jingzhou’s voice trembled: “Even the old lady selling melons in the west market praises her goods. Not to mention…”
Not to mention, this was His Majesty taking a daughter-in-law for his son.
Ming Cunfu coughed dryly, reminding his third Uncle not to say unpleasant words about the Imperial family: “Sister, third Uncle and me, your brother, are reluctant to let you marry.”
Back in that year when their family lost power in the court and were deposed to a bitterly cold land, his third Uncle entrusted his newborn little cousin to the clan elders for protection. After the current Emperor ascended the throne, he redressed the injustice meted out to his father and his two uncles, and re-called them to the capital, giving them the posts of court officials.
As the officials of the capital were not permitted to leave the city without an Imperial order, his third Uncle sent people to the clan’s residence in Lingzhou several times to pick up his younger Cousin Sister. In the beginning, the clan elders refused, using the excuse that his sister was unwell and thus, it was not suitable for her to travel long distances.
But his third Uncle and third Aunt really missed their child. A year later, after Cousin Sister was nursed back to health, they spent a hefty sum to invite a doctor to accompany the six-year-old little girl back.
As soon as his ‘younger Cousin Sister’ was brought back to the residence, his third Aunt had the feeling that something was wrong. Although that little girl looked a bit like her and his third Uncle, she suspected that this child was not her flesh and blood.
Later, it was discovered that not long after the three brothers were sent away, the people in the clan, in fear of offending the then powerful officials, dared not raise her. Consequently, they abandoned her in the wilderness.
The name ‘Jiuzhu’ signified her parents’ treatment of her like jade and pearl4Jiuzhu [玖珠] – The two characters of her name means ‘black jade’ (玖) and ‘pearl’ (珠) respectively. But those heartless clan people actually discarded their treasured pearl at will.
Third Uncle and third Aunt were deeply hurt once they learned the truth. They sent the fake Cousin Sister back to Lingzhou immediately and established their own ancestral hall, cutting themselves off completely from Lingzhou’s Ming family.
His father, second Uncle and third Uncle were from the same branch. After being exiled to the bitterly cold land, they supported each other and shared delights and common hardships5Shared delights and common hardships [同甘共苦] – It’s an idiom meaning ‘sharing the joys and sorrows of life’.. Naturally, they couldn’t bear this injustice too and jointly struck themselves off from the genealogy with third Uncle’s family. Since then, their three families had nothing to do with the Ming clan in Lingzhou.
Finally, a few months ago, Jiuzhu was found by him and his servants in a small and dilapidated Daoist temple in Lingzhou. The walls of the temple were mottled, the roof tiles were broken, and even the windows were cracked. It was in such a wretched condition that even mice seemed to oppose stopping by it.
His sixteen-year-old younger cousin sister was holding a big steamed bun with a look of satisfaction on her face as she nibbled it. Seeing him, she promptly hid it behind her and spoke out, “Is Young Master here to offer incense or for some fortune-telling? The Daoist Immortal of our temple is especially efficacious.”
Ming Cunfu looked at the altar of the statue of the Daoist Immortal that had amassed quite a lot of dust. He really couldn’t make out where its ability was.
But later, he still hoped that deity of this temple would be effective in granting wishes. After all, the two female Daoist priests of this temple told him that he was blessed and protected by the Wenqu star6Wenqu star [文曲星] – It is the fourth star of the Big Dipper and represents proficiency and skill in art, eloquence, and stuff concerning thought and thinking. It is very similar to Wenchang but the latter is more concerned with orthodox learning. and would surely pluck a branch of osmanthus from the Toad Palace7Pluck a branch of osmanthus from the Toad Palace [蟾宫折桂] – It implies success in the Imperial examinations. Here, Toad Palace refers to the moon, where the cursed moon goddess, Chang’e, who had turned into a toad, lived. You can read more about the myth of Chang’e: wikipedia.org. They also added that he would meet many people from the higher part of the nobility and would have a smooth and unhindered career as an official.
As a scholar, ah, which person wouldn’t like the idea of plucking a branch of osmanthus from the Toad Palace?
The deity better show some results!
“Sixth Brother Fu.” Jiuzhu pulled Ming Cunfu’s sleeve: “What are you thinking of?”
Ming Cunfu withdrew his thoughts. However, before he could get the chance to open his mouth and speak, hurried footsteps were heard from outside the courtyard.
“Is Mother back?” Jiuzhu quickly stepped towards the entrance, just in time to run into Shen-shi8Shi [氏] – It means ‘clan’ and it is used with a married woman’s maiden surname to address her., who was walking towards her.
Shen-shi, who was still a little anxious at first. But when she saw Jiuzhu standing at the door, her expression softened instantly: “Jiuzhu, why are you standing at the doorway? It’s already late autumn. Don’t let the cold winds blow on your face.”
Jiuzhu breathed in a faint scent of incense on Shen-shi’s body. She stretched out her hand to support Shen-shi by the crook of her arm and walked into the room: “Don’t worry, Mother. I have thick skin.”
The mother and daughter had not been able to spend a lot of time together but they were already very close. Maybe, this was precisely the invisible fate between a mother-daughter.
As soon as Shen-shi was seated, she instructed the servants to prepare some nourishing soup for Jiuzhu. Her eyes were filled with distress when she looked at her daughter’s little face.
This was the so-called ‘Mother thinks you are very thin’ type of thinness.
In her mind, Jiuzhu had experienced all kinds of hardships for the past ten-plus years. It was to the extent that whenever she saw the ill-fated people in the operas, she couldn’t help but associate them with her daughter. What would she do if her daughter also had such a miserable life?
Hence, after the breathing and delicate Jiuzhu stood in front of her, she developed the habit of stuffing food into her daughter’s arms from time to time. It was as if she wanted to crush, simmer and grind these fifteen years of maternal love into the finest powder and gently wrap it around her child so that she could always know that her mother had always loved and cared for her; most importantly, she never abandoned her.
Fortunately for them, Shen-shi liked to stuff her daughter with food, and Jiuzhu liked to eat. The overflowing stream of maternal love all rushed into JiuZhu’s stomach smoothly.
“I heard the gatekeeper say that the people from the Ministry of Rites came to issue an Imperial decree just now.” Shen-shi caressed the pouch in her sleeve. Inside it was an amulet which she had requested for her daughter: “What was it about?
“Those people came to relay His Majesty’s decree in which he expressed his intention of marrying Jiuzhu to Chen Wang as his Wangfei9Wangfei [王妃] – It is the position of the main/principal/legal consort of a Wang. The English equivalent of this term would be ‘Princess Consort’..”
“Which Wang?”
“Chen… Wang.”
“Which fei10Fei [妃] – Means ‘consort’. The Emperor usually had four consorts while a Wang was allowed to have a total of three consorts- a main consort or Wangfei and two side consorts or Cefei.?”
“Chen Wangfei.”
Ming Cunfu, afraid that his third Aunt would break out in anger, quickly added: “The principal fei.”
An instant silence shrouded the room. After a long time, Shen-shi fiercely shoved the half-fished amulet back into her sleeve.
What a useless deity, to not even be able to protect her daughter! What was the use of worshipping then?!
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became and stood up to go outside.
“Wife, calm down, calm down!” Ming Jingzhou quickly got up and pulled her sleeve: “If you have something to say, let’s close the door first and then talk slowly.”
Don’t rush to the Palace gate, or else you will lose your head!
Watching her parents play the game of push and pull, Jiuzhu held her face and asked doubtfully, “Is Chen Wang not good?”
Ming Jingzhou and Shen-shi turned their heads and looked at their daughter with eyes full of heartache and indignation. Their expressions were identical; it was as if their most precious and unique treasure was dug out and looted by the bandits.
“Come, let’s sit and talk slowly.” The people of Lingzhou were soft-spoken. Jiuzhu, who grew up in a Daoist temple in Lingzhou, was even more unaccustomed to coming in contact with outsiders. So, when she uttered the words in her tender and naive voice and acted coquettishly, the hearts of the husband and wife melted into a lump.
“This person, Chen Wang…” Ming Jingzhou wanted to say something but he hesitated. After quite a while, he sighed: “Father will enter the Palace to implore His Majesty to take back his command.”
“Is he incomparably hideous?” Seeing that her father didn’t want to mention this Chen Wang, the image of a ferocious-looking werewolf with bear-like arms emerged in Jiuzhu’s mind.
Lowering her head to touch her white and slender wrist, Jiuzhu suddenly felt that the nourishing soup brought by the maid lost all of its savoriness.
“Actually, he’s not ugly. But this person, Chen Wang…” Ming Jingzhou turned silent for a moment: “It’s hard to explain in a few words.”
Not only was he not ugly, but he also had a face that was desirable to all the young girls. But as a man and a prince, just having an attractive face was not enough.
Flinging the ferocious-looking image out of her mind, Jiuzhu looked at Ming Jingzhou with bright eyes: “Father, we should talk about it slowly.”
“Chen Wang’s birth mother, Su Guifei, was born in a merchant family. Ever since she entered the Palace, she had been the sole receiver of His Majesty’s favor. He transgressed the rules for the sake of Su Guifei and conferred the title of Wang to her son. Moreover, his title overshadows that of the other princes.”
Chen, the loftiest point, meant the place where heaven and earth came together11TL/N: I’ll just copy-paste the meaning of this character from my other translated novel. I’m… too lazy to type it out again haha. So, here goes the explanation: The character ‘Chen’ (宸) has two meanings — 1. Roof or eaves (original), and 2. Imperial residence (extended). Just like how the Imperial Palace is located in the center of the capital city (which is again, in nearly the center of the Empire/Kingdom), the North Star or ‘Běijíxīng‘ (北极星) is also located almost at the north celestial pole, the central point around which the entire northern sky turns while it holds nearly still in its position. Supposedly, this phenomenon is somewhat similar to what happens between the Emperor and his subjects. In the «The Analects», there is a sentence that goes as– The Master said, “He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps to its place and all the stars turn towards it.” (子曰：“为政以德，譬如北辰，居其所而众星共之。”). It had an incredible meaning. How could an Emperor select such a title for his young son?
“There is no Empress in the Palace. Why does it matter which niangniang12Niangniang [娘娘] – The rough English equivalent would be ‘Milady’. His Majesty likes?” Jiuzhu didn’t think it was that difficult to explain.
“You don’t understand.” As one of the court officials, the grudges and hostility between Chen Wang and his mother and the court officials were enough to compile ten books and even become the best-sellers when sold in the bookshops.
Ming Jingzhou straightened his official robe: “Chat with your mother and cousin. Father is going to enter the Palace to meet His Majesty.”
How could he let his adorable, innocent and lovely daughter, whom he was finally able to bring back with great difficulty, marry someone like Chen Wang!
“Father…” Jiuzhu stretched out her hand to stop him. However, her father’s figure was too resolute. She could only brush her hand on the corner of his clothes.
“Don’t stop him.” Shen-shi opened her mouth and stopped her: “Let him try. At least…”
At least, he would feel better that way.
“Drink the soup.” Remembering that the soup served by the maids hadn’t entered her daughter’s stomach, Shen-shi squeezed out a smile and brought it to her.
No male can stop her from feeding her daughter to her heart’s content.
“Madam.” The servants trotted over to the door to pass a message: “People from the Mingyue Palace have arrived to inform that Su Guifei has acquired a famous master’s calligraphy painting and wants to invite the Young Miss into the Palace to appreciate the painting.”
When did such a thing as appreciating a painting have anything to do with Su Guifei?
Shen-shi held the soup steadily and smiled at Jiuzhu: “Drink slowly, don’t be in a hurry. After you finish drinking, I’ll let someone accompany you back to help you freshen up.”
Jiuzhu drank the soup in two or three mouthfuls, got up and walked toward the backyard. From far, she vaguely saw the steward nanny of their family leading a middle-aged woman in purple outer clothing towards this side.
“That must be your family’s young lady.” Mingyue Palace’s female official stopped in her tracks and looked at the rear view of the figure in the distance, nodding and smiling at the nanny, “Although I haven’t seen her face, I realized with just a glance that your family’s noble daughter has an unsurpassed beauty.”
“Hehe, gugu13Gugu [姑姑] – This term means ‘aunt’ but it is also used to refer to the senior maids of the high-ranking women of the harem. praises too much.”
The steward thought to herself, you should slow down. From this much distance, one can’t even tell whether it’s the figure of a male or a female.
She had sighted this occurrence many times. Before marriage, the husband’s family praised the bride-to-be to the heavens but afterward, they criticized her left and right.
Was this female official trying to butter up their family’s Young Miss?
It was clear that she had taken a fancy to the Young Miss’s identity as a court official’s daughter!
The hearts of the people of the palace were all terrible.
“Chunfen, this phoenix-tailed hairpin is really heavy.” JiuZhu supported the golden hairpin beside her temple, awfully worried that it would fall off. This was made of pure gold. With just a glance, one could tell it was incredibly expensive.
The beads dangling by her temple swayed gently, making that little face look even more delicate and charming.
Being watched by a pair of limpid eyes resembling those of a newborn puppy, Chunfen’s heart softened into mush. She moved her gaze away at once: “Young Miss, you must dress properly to enter the Palace and meet Guifei niangniang.”
When she put down the jade comb, she accidentally put it on the very edge of the dressing table. But before it hit the ground or Chunfen could speak out, she saw her Young Miss grab the comb and put it back on top of the table.
“Young Miss,” The maid outside reminded in a low voice, “the carriage for the Palace is ready.”
Jiuzhu stepped into the carriage confidently. While she was still in the Daoist temple, she would only paint occasionally because her two Masters were too poor to afford pens, papers, ink and brushes too often.
However, they had always praised her for her accomplishments in painting. So, it should not be much difficult for her to appreciate a painting.
“Madam.” Seeing her solemn expression, the trusted maid beside Shen-shi comforted her, “Young Miss is yours and the Lord’s child. She is surely very gifted in painting.”
Shen-shi: “……”
It’s over…
T/N: Hi guys, I decided to pick up this absolute gem of a novel from one of my favorite authors. The updates till chapter 7 will be coming in a gap of 10 minutes. Do let me know how you like our adorable baby JiuZhu (≧◡≦)/
Thanks for reading ٩(๑❛ᴗ❛๑)۶! If you found any typos or want to suggest some corrections, feel free to do so in the comment section or in our discord server. And if you like my translations, please consider rating it on NU and supporting me on:
