V2...

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

Foreword

The desert sand flooded the desolate building. Conspiration and misunderstanding¹… this is how their love started.

Before all the story begins, who opened the door that lead to a thousand years? Turned all the landscapes and rotated all prayer wheels². Not for any other measure than to touch the other person’s fingertips.

Prologue

The most important word should never be complex; whether it is a thing or a person, the most beautiful and frightening³ years; and the person most difficult to forget.

Whether it was a hundred years ago, or a hundred years later, there has always been consort selection⁴ for the royals in Dongling Chaoge⁵. However, the most mysterious and most sensational selection happened in the 27th year of Emperor Rongrui⁶’s reign. It was not only because the beauties participating have prominent background, but also because of the three mysterious and strange set of questions administered.

It happened a month after the Dongling crown prince Shangguan Jinghao married the Princess Qiao Mei, the 2nd daughter of the Lord⁷ of the Great Northland Desert⁸, a territory of Dongling,

It begged no question, that crown prince married such consort⁹. The crown prince is a stunning figure. At the age of ten, he has offered the emperor a war-breaking strategy. The emperor’s most beloved son can only be matched by the most beautiful woman.

But how beautiful was this consort?

It is said that when Qiao Mei was twelve years old and the Northland was at war with other tribes, Qiao Mei walked through the confrontation of the two warring armies, and in a flash, all the bows and arrows held high by the enemy army fell down.

Because of this, people have given this beauty the name “Qingcheng¹⁰“. Only such beauty, capable of toppling down the state, can be the crown prince’s match.

But for the current consort selection, the emperor will now choose a consort for the crown prince’s younger brother, Rui Wang¹¹.

There is not much known about Rui Wang. Before his recent victory in Xianyang¹², everyone thought that he’s just an ordinary prince. One night when he was eight years old, his face was disfigured and his left foot was crippled due to a flood at his residence, and the prince became silent since then. His qualities are said to be ordinary; not as outstanding his brothers: Xia¹³ Wang, Xian¹⁴ Wang and Ning¹⁵ Wang, who are all skillful in both literary and martial arts. He is even more inferior to the crown prince¹⁶.

When the neighboring country Xixia¹⁷ launched a surprise attack to the borders of Xianyang, one of the cities in the Dongling frontier, most of the generals are deployed to other warring states, while the crown prince was newly married.

However, in the courtroom, Rui Wang suddenly appeared and petitioned to be recommended to be deployed. The reason for his petition was simple: it was his mother’s hometown. His mother, Consort Chang, had died of illness many years ago.

The reason in his petition is very simple. It was his mother’s hometown-his mother, Concubine Chang, died of illness many years ago.

No one expected the emperor to agree and send this ordinary prince to war, just as no one expected Rui Wang to actually defeat Xixia in one night, despite the fact that the Dongling army had suffered several defeats. Some people say that it was because of Concubine Chang’s blessing, while others say that this prince is in fact not a simple character..

While the Manchus were shocked, the emperor was overjoyed¹⁸ that he moved to design a consort selection in the Rui Wang Mansion with his three questions for the Rui Wangfei.

By this time, only the empress, the crown prince, the crown prince consort, the other princes, and the ministers will come to witness the selection. As Rui Wang, who has yet to celebrate, is still on his way home.

Although the emperor has more than thirty sons, in the end it will be just between the eldest or the most talented¹⁹. Hence, the successor to the throne will definitely fall on the eldest prince, Xian Wang or the second prince which is the crown prince. Xia Wang and Ning Wang also formed their respective factions and their strength can not be underestimated. But the aftermaths of Xianyang victory made a subtle change in political situation of the court.

Dozens of beautiful women are important courtiers’ families, the real ladies of famous families. The are four most prestigious names: Qin Qiuyu, the primus general’s daughter who is excellent in martial arts; Wang Yuzhi, the Imperial Master’s daughter known for her wisdom; Lang Linling, the Empress’ niece and had an illustrious background; and Qiao Rong, the Northland Desert Lord’s fifth daughter and Qiao Mei’s younger sister who is beautiful and stunning.

Who will become Rui Wangfei²⁰? Will it be one of these four women? Will there be unexpected results? Not to mention that the people have long been talking about it, and various gambling games have been set up. The major families of Chaoge have also made bets of their own.

So, how about you? Did you make the right bet?

The wheel of fate began an unpredictable turn from the consort selection. Some people are destined to meet and become that dripping blood²¹ at the tip of the heart. At this time, there is less than an hour before the consort selection contest. Less than a year before the emperor becomes ill that began the seizing of the throne²², and for Rui Wangfei²³ to compete with the Qingcheng beauty Qiao Mei at the palace banquet.

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Notes:

鬼魅扑朔 (guimei pu shuo) was used, guimei and can be literally interpreted as ghost/evil, but it is also a metaphor for someone who is very cunning and who engages to conspiracy to harm others; Meanwhile pu shuo, I’ve heard it most with the phrase mi li pu shuo which means difficult to identify or unravel. So I translated this rather figuratively, because that is how their story came to be: with all their misunderstandings

I hope I am not mistaken here that the 经筒 (jing tong) here refers to the 转经筒 (zhuan jing tong) a sutra / scripture turning tube. For the handheld versions, it rotates to be able to read the engraved scriptures. But there are some really big ones installed in temples and pagodas. It is said that by rotating the tube, it is a way of repentance, accumulating cultivation, praying against disaster etc.

步步惊心 (bu bu jingxin) as we are all familiar of this phrase (The title of the original and the best Scarlet Heart haha), it means being careful at every step.

选妃大赛 (xuan fei dasai) where it literally means xuan fei pageant. 选妃 (xuan fei) means selected concubine. This process is especially overseen and picked by the Emperor himself. But for this matter the fei that they they are actually talking about is the wife for the the Prince or Wangfei.

东陵朝歌 (Dongling Chaoge) As said in the previous notes, I was really confused about these places. But let us set this straight, I assume that in Kingdom of Dongling, Chaoge is the capital? Correct me if I am wrong.

荣瑞 (Rongrui) The current emperor’s regnal name. It literally means thriving and auspicious.

领主 (ling zhu) or the great lord.

北地大漠 (Bei Di Da Mo) Literally the North Great Desert but for the sake of this translation, I will use Northland… just like the Northland Bank in Genshin impact QAQ

妃 (fei) It generally means imperial concubine but as his main wife, I will use Consort for Qiao Mei

倾城 (qing cheng) translated in the dictionary as allure or beautiful, but just like in my info notes, I mostly hear this from the idiom (倾国倾城) or qing guo qingcheng meaning a beauty that is capable of overturning a country or a face that can launch a thousand ships.

睿王 (Rui Wang) or Prince Rui. I chose to retain the pinyin of their titles because I like how it sounds more than just the common prince word. Same goes to the other sons of Rongrui. Anyway, the Rui of Rui Wang is different from the character of the emperor’s regnal name. 睿 (rui) here means wise. So in effect, whenever he is called in his title, it sounds like he is being called as the wise prince. Spoiler: He is our ML: Shangguan Jinghong

咸阳 (xian yang) There is an actual place called Xianyang located the provincial capital of Xi’an.

夏 (xia) meaning summer, So Xia Wang sounds like he is the Prince of Summer; Spoiler: his name is Shangguan Jingcong, our 2nd ML, and he is the 9th prince

贤 (xian) meaning virtuous, so Xian Wang sounds like he is called the virtuous prince; he is the 1st prince

宁 (ning) meaning peaceful, so Ning Wang sounds like he is the Prince of Peace; he is the 5th prince

太子 (tai zi) the crown prince is Shangguan Jinghao, is the 2nd prince, our 3rd ML… sorta

西夏 (Xi Xia) literally Western Xia

the idiom 龙颜大悦 (longyan dayue) which literally means the dragon’s face is very happy describing his extreme joy, ah we lose so many cute idioms but it’s okay as long as you are reading this

立长还是立贤 (li zhang huashi li xian) is a phrase that means something is a choice between the eldest son or the most virtuous

王妃 (wangfei) is the title of the prince’s consort, just like the Wang, I shall retain the pinyin here

滴血 (di xue) literally dripping blood. In the ancient days, dripping blood was used (and believed) to distinguish the relatives. It is said that when the blood of relatives dripped together in water, they would coagulate. I guess this means that some people will meet and be destined to have connections aka be family

author wrote 九王夺嫡 (jiu wang duo di) which literally means 9 princes competing for the throne— this is a historical event in Kangxi’s reign when 9 out of his 24 sons started to fiercely and openly compete for the thronw. I dropped the whole idiom because we might confuse that the story will really have 9 princes and instead wrote competing for the throne directly.

Spoiler: I would like to point out here, since it was already introduced at the end of the 1st volume that Hailan’s identity after transmigrating is Qiao Chu. I just needed to punctuate that because it was quite evident that her name is never mentioned here in the 1st chapter so people might look for her. So hang on a bit, she will come.

TN:

Wow so many footnotes for this chapter. I can already feel that we are not in the ancient times. Finally we are at Volume 2! Wee! But the chapters are generally longer than Volume 1 so the update schedules will also be longer.

Anyway, I am trying to list down a character sketch with their descriptions and identities. So mind you, this is very spoilery especially with their incarnations. Please do click with caution.

Previous | Table of Contents | Next

Like this:Like Loading...