Chapter 1.1

[This is my first time translating and I would like to emphasize that I am not a professional translator and I don’t speak the Chinese language and English is not my language as well. I just want to share some good novels that I have MTL-ed. If you don’t mind these things then feel free to read and if you don’t just go away (don’t be a meanie XD).]

In the middle of a heavy snow in winter.

The people in the capital are anxious about the disaster the snow may bring. It has been snowing for several days. Surprisingly, this day the weather cleared.

The yellow glazed tiles in the Forbidden City were still covered with layers of white, but the snow on the Palace Road and the corridor has already been cleared. As the saying goes, the snow does not thaw the snow. In such a cold day the palace maids and eunuchs were all in a hurry.

Today is Empress Dowager Yi An’s birthday.

The Empress Dowager was not suitable to have a grand ceremony for her birthday for the former Emperor has only been buried for a year. However, the Emperor wanted to be a filial son to her Empress mother so he still ordered to have birthday banquet albeit a simpler one. Only women who belongs to third rank official families and above plus relatives of the Emperor were selected to attend the banquet at Ci Ning Palace in celebration of the Empress Dowager’s birthday.

In the Ci Ning palace, a normal tranquil day has been changed to a day of festivity.

The ongoing play in the back garden was filled with the sound of gongs and drums. Empress Dowager Yi An doesn’t really like this kind of noisy play, but the palace maids around her persuaded her saying that this was a folkway to ask for the blessing of long life. It’s also the wish of the emperor and the empress. The Empress Dowager knew that the emperor and the empress only wanted her to be happy. So, she just let it be.

After a busy day, the Empress Dowager was really tired. In the afternoon, she went back to the palace hall to rest.

Empress Dowager Yi An wore a yellow robe embroidered in gold with auspicious dragon and phoenix pattern. The crown and jewelry on her head were removed. She was so tired, she leaned on the soft pillow of the imperial concubine’s couch and closed her eyes.

The palace maid knelt in front of the couch and massage her legs gently. Seeing no movement above, the palace maid looked up carefully.

Just by looking at the Empress Dowager, who would have thought her grandchildren are all in the year of [1] wǔ sháo. It seems that the years have been kind to her, the Empress Dowager does not look like the Emperor’s mother but rather her sister.

Perhaps only such a woman can be deeply loved by the Emperor and be crowned queen of the six palaces. In the end, not only her son became the Emperor but she also became the most noble woman in the world.

The movement of the theater can still be heard faintly. The melodious and elegant song of the [2] Qīngyī ——

[The garden desolate for years is full of blooming flowers.

Spring confined in the doleful unattended garden keeps waiting for yet no one comes to appreciate.

How could I fully relish the enchanting sight on a fine day after knowing this?

Whose home has such a cheerful scenery?

In the morning and in the evening,

In the clouds and the green porch,

In the rain, in the wind, and in the mist.

I cannot bear to see the prime of my youth wasted.]

[原来姹紫嫣红开遍，似这般都付与断井颓垣，良辰美景奈何天，赏心乐事谁家院。

朝飞暮卷，云霞翠轩， 雨丝风片，烟波画船，锦屏人忒看的这韶光贱。]

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The Empress Dowager suddenly remembered when she was young.

At that time, she was just a young maiden. She was naive and innocent, like a green plum that was not yet mature. In the misty south of the Yangtze River, the future of the young girl was unknown. Who ever thought that she would be so lucky in the future.

She was only a [3] thin horse raised by a family in Yangzhou. She was bought by Chen family’s son-in-law and sent to Beijing by chance. She was sent to the east palace to be a concubine by Chen’s crowned princess for the crowned prince.

The ups and downs in between her life in the meantime will not be elaborated.  She was once weak and naïve until she was forced by the cannibalistic harem to become a woman with deep intention.

For the first half of her life, she was silent in the harem of the former Emperor. Except for the birth of the third prince, she was truly unremarkable in this beautiful palace. Until she was nearly forty, for the sake of her children and grandchildren she had to fight for everything.

Fortunately, she became the biggest winner in the end. One the day of the burial of the former Emperor, all the remaining concubines were moved to Shou Kang palace. She took the position of Empress Dowager as the Emperor’s wife and moved to the Ci Ning palace. She was supported by people all over the world and in time, she could be buried with the former Emperor.

No one can’t deny that she was blessed. Even Empress Yi An felt that she had taken great luck.

Luck?

But in this palace, the most despised thing is luck.

If you are lucky, you will be lucky for a while, but not for a lifetime.

Everyone thought that she must be happy to be the Empress Dowager. She also thought that she should be happy, but she always remembered the scene when the emperor was dying ——

He was ten years older than herself. He didn’t say it, but he always secretly went to seek the imperial physician to find the regimen to preserve one’s health.

Even so, he walked ahead of her.

Before he left, he held her hand and looked her in the eye. Though he didn’t say anything else, he heaved a sigh.

“I’ll wait for you in the imperial mausoleum…”

She buried her head in his hand, tears wet the palm of his hand, but her heart is full of confusion. As a woman in the deep palace, acting has become an instinct. She can’t tell why her tears flowed.

She knew that she would be buried with him when she dies. Even the first Empress didn’t have this honor. He had told her for a long time that the position beside him was only for her.

After his death, she couldn’t sleep well for two months. Later, she thought, isn’t it good? At last, she didn’t have to be careful and try to please him. She didn’t have to be afraid that the emperor’s heart would be unpredictable, or that other princes would press on her son’s head one day.

She is not greedy for that position, but after so many years, she must win, or she and her children and grandchildren will die.

So she can only win, not lose.

She won, she became the Empress Dowager of tens of thousands of people, she should be happy.

She is happy!

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“Niangniang, Empress Dowager Niangniang…”

Empress Yi An opened her eyes and saw the face of her confidant Qian Mama.

“What’s the matter? How long did [4] Āi jiā sleep? “

Qian Mama said in a small voice, “Niangniang didn’t sleep for a long time. It’s the servant who has something to report.”

The Empress Dowager frowned slightly. She knew that Qian Mama was not an aimless character, something must have happened. But her good dream was interrupted, which inevitably made her a little unhappy.

“The eunuch guarding the cold palace came to report that concubine Chen died.”

“Dead?” The Empress Dowager was stupefied for a moment, and soon recovered her composure. “When she dies, she dies. She is not young anymore. She really can endure it.”

The Empress Dowager sighed.

Qian Mama looked at the expression on her face, followed by: “It’s not that she can endure it. On the burial of the former Emperor she was on the verge of dying. She’s been hanging like this. It’s also your kindness. Rare medicinal materials flow to the cold palace like money. She also said that you have no good intention. This servant knew that if you hadn’t plea to help her, she would have died with the rebellious prince. And so she has lived for so many years. “

“When a man dies like a lamp goes out, do not exclude him. Tell them to bury her according to the regulations of an Imperial Concubine’s position, for the sentiments of our friendship of that year. “

Friendship?

The Empress Dowager chewed it silently, with some sarcasm and some melancholy in her heart. As for Qian Mama agreeing, she didn’t hear it at all.

Look, her biggest rival is dead. She should be happy.

The Empress Dowager fell asleep once more, and the opera singing in her dream——

T/N:

I think I just murdered a song. Pardon me my folks, songs are hard to translate. T.T

• [1] wǔ sháo – 舞勺 – generally refers to the age of 13-15 years for boys
• [2] Qīngyī – 青衣 – [the demure middle-aged or young female character type in Chinese operas]
• [3] ‘thin horse’ [shòu mǎ 瘦马] – was a term used to denote girls reared specifically for the purpose of supplying Yangzhou City’s [Jiangsu Province] market in concubines.
• [4] Āi jiā – 哀家 – I, me (self-referring by a widowed empress etc, used in historical novels and operas)

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