Wait for His Royal Highness to get off court.
Translation Checker: jellypeaches
Editor: jellypeaches, Dobhsh
By the time Meng Huan woke up, it was ten o’clock in the morning.
He sat under the quilt with his eyes half closed, still in the process of waking up. The space beside him had long gone cold. He woke up in the middle of the night once, but by then, Lin Bozhou was already gone.
He sighed and got dressed to get something to eat. When someone standing by saw that he was awake, the servant immediately took a carriage to the Forbidden City to deliver the news to Lin Bozhou.
Due to Lin Bozhou’s strong possessiveness, he wanted to know Meng Huan’s every move like the back of his hand. When he learned that the youth had woken up, he made a sound of acknowledgement and was at ease, continuing to lower his head and draft rescripts in red.
Cui Renfang, the Grand Secretary, was old in age with white hair and a white beard. He was all smiles when he asked His Royal Highness a question between his official duties. “Your Royal Highness, what did you think of the theatrical troupe that Han-er brought yesterday?”
Lin Bozhou smiled. “Very good. It was just that the Royal Consort wasn’t in the mood to watch them perform yesterday. When he listens to them some day and is pleased, this Regent will inform Senior Cui.”
The Grand Secretary smiled. “That is good to hear. Han-er is an uneducated and unskilled young man; this humble subject worries daily about him staying useless. As fate would have it, he succeeded with a lucky stroke. If the performers he raised can make the Royal Consort happy, that will be the virtue of this humble subject’s ancestors.”
He flattered his superior cleverly. The corner of Lin Bozhou’s lips curled upward, and the expression on his face was also friendly.
However, the whole court, except for those with a hidden agenda who dared to speak with Lin Bozhou, remained at a respectful distance.
After all, in addition to being called Blind Royal Highness, Lin Bozhou also had the nickname of Cold-Jade Royal Highness. Cold Jade, also called Cool Jade, is as refined as jade, looking very clear and gentle but actually being very cold and hard, never gaining warmth.
In the court, Lin Bozhou showed a noble and benevolent face, but under that, he was covered in filth. He killed countless people and became a dark cloud hanging over the ministers’ heads.
It also just had to be the kind that no one could defeat, no matter what.
Just the thought of this brought them great rage. Lin Bozhou was, after all, not very old. If a man passes the official election examination in his thirties, he is old. If a man passes the highest imperial civil service examination in his fifties, he is still young. Many people would only take off in their official careers when they were middle-aged, while Lin Bozhou, who was merely in his twenties, was already considered the next generation.
But they just could not win.
After a brief chat, they each kept their heads down and continued to draft rescripts.
Lin Bozhou and Cui Renfang both harbored intentions that couldn’t bear daylight. They got along on the surface but had contradictory feelings on the inside. The smart people in court had long guessed that.
As an ambitious man, Cui Renfang had long desired to be an influential minister. When the new Emperor ascended the throne, he pushed aside public opinion and transferred Lin Bozhou, who was only twenty at the time, from Guzhou to the Imperial City as a puppet Prince Regent for him to control in order to keep the powerful Eunuch Faction at the side of the previous emperor in check. As expected, Lin Bozhou beautifully achieved his first goal.
—Winning over the emperor.
How could the Eunuch Faction, a group of servants without their manhoods, stir up large waves in history? The reason for this was that the eunuchs are the emperor’s close advisors and manage the emperor’s clothing, food, housing, and transportation. As the saying goes, the closer to the center of power, the better. The Eunuch Faction only needed to whisper words into the emperor’s ear at their own discretion and could thus stop debates or start rumors. Moreover, the Eunuch Faction can’t have descendants, so they are fully loyal to the emperor. This made the emperor put his trust in them wholeheartedly.
But as long as the emperor is clear-minded, even the most arrogant Eunuch Faction will be taken down immediately because the eunuchs are extensions of imperial power. If the emperor comes into his own, the court eunuchs would no longer be a problem.
At that time, Lin Bozhou, the Prince Regent summoned to be a puppet, had just reached his coming of age at twenty. As someone young in age and whose father was an abolished Crown Prince, he appeared very harmless. But who knew that after only entering the palace three times, he would gain the Emperor’s complete trust?
The young Emperor killed the Eunuch Faction and wiped out the court eunuchs for him. He listened and obeyed him, and henceforth he regarded all the ministers and teachers as nothing and only had this Royal Brother in his eyes.
And as expected, once Lin Bozhou gained the Emperor’s trust, he kicked Cui Renfang, who tried to regain control over him, out of his face. In his instant success, he took over the court and was now overseeing it with overpowering arrogance.
“…”
Just the thought of his plan from six years ago would bring pain to Cui Renfang’s old heart.
Lin Bozhou acted the same way back then, smiling gently while calling him ‘teacher’ again and again. Never would Cui Renfang think that he was welcoming a wolf into his house!
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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He thought that this would misdirect Lin Bozhou, but instead, Lin Bozhou didn’t buy into his trick.
Cui Renfang also sighed with sorrow often. How much danger and loneliness had this young Prince Regent experienced to make him so guarded and precocious?
Compared with the other man’s youth and spirit, Cui Renfang was getting older and was running out of chances.
With the official documents in hand, Lin Bozhou picked up a rescript and suddenly said, “Senior Cui, do you have thoughts on who will preside over next year’s capital evaluation?”
Cui Renfang made a bow and replied, “This humble subject expects it to be the Ministry of Appointments, together with the Department of Supervision in charge, like in the past, with members of the Department of Oversight filling in the gaps, and that would be it.”
Lin Bozhou made an acknowledging response with his eyes still on the rescript. “Since Senior Cui is a high official of the Ministry of Appointments, then the Ministry of Appointments is Senior Cui’s people. Please handle the capital evaluation with the utmost care.”
A thin layer of sweat broke out on Cui Renfang’s forehead as he nodded. “Understood.”
Lin Bozhou then called out to Chen Que, the Director of the Minister of Rites, who was sorting out the official documents, “Minister Chen.”
Chen Que hurriedly answered, “This subject is present.”
“The members of the Department of Oversight are mostly selected from scholars of the Imperial Hanlin Academy who scored well on the imperial examinations. That means they are your students from your Ministry of Rites.”
Lin Bozhou lowered his gaze and said calmly, “Now that the imperial court is impetuous, our capital evaluation must be legitimate. We must take the utmost care not to be taken advantage of by those who have the intention to use it as a tool for their factions.”
Cui Renfang, leader of the Zhuoliu Faction, as well as Chen Que, leader of the Qingliu Faction, got chills down their backs as they nodded in unison. “Understood.”
–
The weather was hot and dry without the slightest breeze.
Meng Huan ate brunch and finished his meal close to noon.
He got up too late, so instead of taking a nap after his meal, he found a pavilion to sit in while fanning himself.
So bored and so hot. He had no urge to do anything.
He hadn’t been sitting for long when he heard what sounded like singing in the distance and couldn’t hold back his curiosity. “What is that?”
Feng Zhi was confused. “What?”
“The singing, what is it?”
“Oh.” Feng Zhi replied, “That is the troupe that was invited yesterday. The Royal Consort didn’t want to listen, so the guest scholars called them away to perform a song for a price. They probably set up a stage to perform over there.”
“…” Meng Huan was silent.
What! Lin Bozhou bought it for him!
Bought! It! For! Him!
Bought! It! For! Him!
QWQ!
How could those guest scholars enjoy the troupes’ services before he did?!
Lin Bozhou stayed up late every day, exchanging his life for money. Was it just for you to enjoy?!
Just as Meng Huan was getting angry on behalf of Lin Bozhou, a figure approached him.
With a fan in hand, Shan Xing bowed with a smile. “Royal Consort, care to listen to some songs?”
Meng Huan flattened his lips in displeasure. Then he noticed that there was a performer beside the guest scholar who was smeared with powder. At the sight of Meng Huan, the performer knelt down and said, “Greetings to the Royal Consort.”
At first, Meng Huan thought that this was a girl, but the voice that came out of that mouth belonged to a male. Surprised by this, his eyes widened slightly.
The man immediately smiled and repeated in a female voice, “Greetings to the Royal Consort.”
Meng Huan gasped, “Wow.”
The performer appeared very pretty, with red smeared on the nose and cheeks and a vermilion hairpin on his head. He had a very slender figure, giving him a sense of delicate beauty.
Shan Xing tapped him on the shoulder. “Little flower fairy, go on, sing something for the Royal Consort.”
“…” Meng Huan wanted to say ‘Da mie.’
The little flower fairy walked into the pavilion, reached out with orchid fingers, and sang in a gentle, lilting voice.
“Female beauty captivates even the birds into chirping and beasts into howling, a beauty that exceeds even that of the natural world…”
Meng Huan blinked as his back stiffened in a way he couldn’t explain.
Originally, he thought that as long as he refused to go listen to the troupe, the original plot, where the original host’s friend took him away, wouldn’t be triggered. Unexpectedly, the person standing in front of him actually started singing?!
Would this undo the seal on the original plot?
Meng Huan tilted his head in puzzlement at first, but when the other person finished singing, he remained a good audience member as he nodded and applauded, “That was great.”
The little flower fairy seemed encouraged by his response. “If the Royal Consort likes it, the Royal Consort can call on this junior any time, and this junior will come at once.”
Meng Huan, however, suddenly gawked and realized that this man wasn’t using the ‘humble one’ address but ‘this junior’.
Performers were slaves, so in theory, he should address himself as ‘this slave’ or ‘this servant’ when seeing him.
Common people would address themselves as ‘this one’ when seeing him.
Candidates who passed the provincial-level imperial examination would address themselves as ‘this student’ when seeing him.
But the man in front of him was addressing himself as ‘this junior’. That meant he might have some status, and he must belong to a family of officials.
Meng Hurn felt that he had become smarter as he cast a disbelieving glance towards Shan Xing.
Shan Xing still had that same smug, punchable smile. “This is the grandson of the Grand Secretary, Cui Renfang. Introducing the Royal Consort, Young Master Cui, Cui Han.”
Meng Huan’s fingers around his fan loosened, and his mind went blank.
This name was somewhat familiar.
—But he couldn’t exactly place it.
“…”
Meng Huan: QWQ
After reading a book, he couldn’t remember any plot points, but he could easily recall where the male lead had driven his car. He was such a dirty-minded idiot.
Since that was the case, Meng Huan tried to be calm in order not to expose himself. “Yes.”
Instead, Cui Han said like an old friend, “This junior and the Royal Consort studied at Qinglu Academy in the past. We would usually greet each other during normal days, so Pingzhi, you don’t need to introduce me.”
“……”
Meng Huan murmured inside, So this was an acquaintance, huh?
Shan Xing gasped, “Is that right?”
Meng Huan curled his lips downward and could only say, “I hit my head against a pillar in the past, so I can’t remember some things.”
Cui Han replied, “No, no, it’s fine. It doesn’t matter if the Royal Consort remembers this junior or not, since at that time, I rarely interacted with you. It’s the Royal Consort’s relationship with Lu Nanxing that’s the best.”
At the mention of that name, Meng Huan’s expression froze.
This reminded him of something. It seemed that since Meng Xueming had been stuck in the Imperial Hanlin Academy for a long time without getting an official position and with the family’s poor financial situation, the original host could only get into school as the accompaniment of Lu Nanxing and was often laughed at by those rich young masters.
This Cui Han, the grandson of the Grand Secretary, was probably the one at the top of the food chain.
He didn’t know if Young Master Cui was among the ones laughing at the original host back then.
Meng Huan lowered his eyes, looking a little indifferent.
Cui Han, weighing Meng Huan’s words and observing his facial expression, said in haste, “Ahem, apologies to the Royal Consort.”
Not answering him, Meng Huan got up and prepared to leave the pavilion. “When will His Royal Highness be back?”
Shan Xing replied, “Usually at the hour of the monkey.”
Meng Huan flung his sleeves. “I will go and wait for His Royal Highness’s return.”
He didn’t know when this started, but he found that…
Without Lin Bozhou here, the compound was uninteresting.
The author has something to say:
Look forward to the scene when His Royal Highness returns to the compound and sees his bored wife waiting for him to get off work!
The translator has something to add:
Additional translation note (thanks jelly):
Female beauty captivates even the birds into chirping and beasts into howling, a beauty that exceeds even that of the natural world… (沉魚落雁鳥驚喧，羞花閉月花愁顫): A line from the opera, The Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu, one of the most famous plays in the canon. The original line comes from Scene 10, also one of the most important scenes in the play. This is how the plot goes: the female lead, Du Liniang, dreams of having a love affair with the main lead, Liu Mengmei, and when she wakes up, she gets so lovesick that she dies. But then she is received, so she can marry the main lead. Scene 10 contains the dream, but this line is part of the conversation where the female leader has with her maid, and is actually the female lead talking about how beautiful she knows she is (full confidence), and how it’s a shame that so few people have seen her beauty because she is so sheltered.
This is actually this translator’s own translation because the novel’s original text is different from the “canon” version as it contained things there were not quoted here, and there are few other existing translations of the original that jelly found and dissect:
“What if my beauty should amaze the birds and out of shame for the comparison cause fish to sink, wild geese to fall to earth, petals to close, the moon to hide her face while all the flowers tremble?” (Birch)
“No matter, if, at the sight, the fish dive deep or wild geese come down or birds squawk out in alarm, I only fear to shame the flowers, to make the moon hide away, and blossoms will quiver from sorrow” (Owen)
As another cultural note, the imagery used here is very very common for descriptions of beautiful people, like idioms about the most beautiful women in Chinese history. More specifically, there’s stuff about the four great beauties and a set of sayings: 西施沉鱼 (Xi Shi sinks fish), 貂蝉闭月 (Diao Chan hides the moon), 贵妃羞花 (Guifei shames flowers)—this one’s about Yang Guifei, 昭君落雁 (Zhaojun drops wild geese)—about Wang Zhaojun. Basically saying someone’s beautiful enough to mess with nature or shame nature, which are a pretty common metaphor in the cultural lexicon.
Shang Xing, what are you doing with a villain!?
Why so sus??🧐🧐
Thanks for the chapter
The image shows ✅✅
This looks like it could easily be the guy send to kidnap Huanhuan. Don’t get tricked little sheep!
Bet that cui han was indeed one of those laughing at the original host for his circumstances
Thank You for the new chapter （*’∀’人）♥
Huan Huan cuts off the plot because he doesn’t get the subtext!!!!!!
THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR BEING AWESOME!!!
I don’t trust this guy… Lin Bozhou – hurry up and return home to protect your dumb wife!
I think Meng Huan’s exit, with his “call me if someone interesting comes” attitude, compensates very well for being a dirty minded idiot 😄. The part he did remember is maybe more important than he thinks though. It might be why he keeps getting pressured by his “friends” if they see him as the scholarship kid, so to speak.
Thank you for the update!!!
There is so much fetishization in Chinese culture (meaning giving inanimate objects magical properties): objects of nature, stones, natural phenomena, cardinal directions, etc. In Western culture, this was the case, but in modern culture it is little manifested, while in China jade is still considered a good luck charm
Thank you for your translation 💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟💟
Possible Cannon Fodder?
Thanks for the chapter!
With friends like these… Faulty memory is buffered by Huan huan’s NOPE attitude, pfft. Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
Thanks for the chapter