Translated by Uhei and edited by Cyrrene.
After nightfall, Luo Wei talked with Xie Yu in his own study at home about the affairs at court. They discussed everything, and at the end, they even talked about how Luo Zhiqiu wanted to arrange an engagement for Xie Yu with a family of fitting station1, yet Luo Wei did not talk about having met with Long Xing.
Wei Lan followed Luo Ze to the Fengwu General Zhao Henian’s residence as a guest. Luo Wei wasn’t against Wei Lan socialising with the generals in the army, and hence Luo Ze became all the more passionate about treating Wei Lan like he was the next Ning Fei.
The banquet in the palace was also at the peak of its rowdiness; it was a great show of happiness and prosperity2, both ruler and subjects sharing the same enjoyment. Heavenly music floated in the air as the dancers’ long skirts fluttered, powdered fragrance drifted3, it was truly an imperial banquet that would be reminisced4 for times to come after it was over.
The Chang clan’s lady sat in the wedding chamber of Hall of Literary Transcendence. It had been such a rowdy day, yet this place was so quiet she could hear the cry of insects outside the window. There were even six palace servants accompanying her in the house, but none of them spoke. The Chang clan lady heard this intermittent crying of insects, and grew even more nervous, even her palms were sweating. It was unknown how long she sat there for, right when the Chang clan lady thought this entire night would pass like this, the door was pushed open from the outside, and a litany of congratulations transmitted into the house. The Chang clan lady clasped both her hands together, and it was only by doing so that she could stop herself from shaking in front of others.
The Momo5 of Rites said the auspicious wedding sayings that had been passed down all these generations.
When the Chang clan lady heard the words ‘May you soon bear a treasured son’, her face couldn’t help but grow hot. Once the Momos no longer spoke, the Chang clan lady then heard a man’s voice say: “You may all leave, go out to receive your reward, you’re no longer needed here.” This should be her husband, the Second Prince Long Xuan then. This was the first time the Chang clan lady was hearing Long Xuan’s voice; it was certainly clear, mellow and mild in tone, but not a note of joy could be heard from it.
All the uninvolved people had been dismissed from the house, yet Long Xiang was still standing there.
“Why haven’t you left?” Long Xuan asked.
“You’ve drunk quite a bit today ah,” Long Xiang said: “Are you sure you can handle this tonight? How about getting Fu Yun to bring you a bowl of sobering soup?”
“Have you studied yourself silly?” Long Xuan tried to herd Long Xiang out of the house, “There are still a few younger brothers out front, you go host them on my behalf, just remember not to say anything that shouldn’t be said!”
“I blocked a few cups of wine for you, what words could I say that shouldn’t be spoken ah?” Long Xiang was pushed by Long Xuan out the door, and called out disgruntledly, “The lot of them too, because Imperial Father is over at San-ge’s place, they don’t dare go fuss with San-ge, and only stick here to fuss over your wedding. If any of them are that capable, I’d like to see them go to San-ge’s place ah!”
“Shut up!” Long Xuan rebuked Long Xiang fiercely: “You want me to give you a scolding even on a day like this?”
Long Xiang went to the front of the palace hall while muttering complaints in his mouth.
The Chang clan lady heard someone close the door to the room, and leaned her head to the side to listen carefully to the movements in the room. It seemed like there was only the two of them, her and Long Xuan in this house now.
Long Xuan took a glance at the Chang clan lady seated on the marital bed, her red veil was embroidered with the scenes of mandarin ducks’ courtship in water6 in gold thread. Long Xuan sat before the table, and took a piece of pastry to eat. He’d long been hungry; after bustling the whole night through, only now did Long Xuan have the time to eat something. Looking at the two gold-embroidered mandarin ducks, made Long Xuan think of the mandarin duck buckle that Luo Wei had again thrown into the Inked Pond, and his heart fell into disarray again. He served himself a cup of wine laid on the table, before he felt a bit better again.
The Chang clan lady had her head covered by the red veil and didn’t see, but had been listening closely to the movements in the room all this while. It’s just that princes had rules ingrained to them about their manner of eating since young, and could eat without sound nor stir. The Chang clan lady only knew that Long Xuan was in the room, but did not know what he was doing.
After Long Xuan ate some pastries, he walked right in front of the Chang clan lady.
The Chang clan lady sat silently, not noticing that Long Xuan was right in front of her.
Long Xuan extinguished the candle flame by the bedside with a wave of his hand.
Upon seeing the candlelight in the marital chamber had gone out, the old palace maids standing vigil outside the house revealed expressions of delight. It seemed the Second Prince and his spouse had settled for the night.
Long Xuan exited the house by climbing through the window. Fu Yun who had been standing guard beside the window immediately reported in a small voice when he saw Long Xuan coming out: “Your Highness, this slave has made all the preparations. What about the Prince Consort here?”
“You stand guard here,” Long Xuan lowered his voice and said: “Being a new bride for the first time she won’t take off her own veil, I’ll come back as soon as I am able to.”
“Yes,” Fu Yun said: “This slave will stand watch here.”
Long Xuan scaled the back wall of Hall of Literary Transcendence to get out, and managed to exit Hall of Literary Transcendence without being discovered by anyone.
“Your Highness?” In the marital chamber, the Chang clan lady plucked up her courage to call out, but after waiting for a good while no one replied to her. Chang clan lady didn’t know what had happened, the wedding night shouldn’t be like this, but the Chang clan lady didn’t have the guts to call out a second time, she could only wait miserably.
Tonight the Imperial Palace of Great Zhou would carry on the banquet until daybreak. Both ruler and subjects wouldn’t return until they were drunk. Yet within this gargantuan Imperial Palace, not every corner of it could be dyed with the air of festivity from the Princes’ grand wedding.
Take for instance the Hall of the Eastern Buddha deep within the palace, that enshrined the ancestral Buddha, yet was of no aid in cleansing the air of gloom from this palace hall.
Being a guard at the Hall of the Eastern Buddha was an undesirable job, just like today when two Princes were having their grand wedding and everyone ranked both high and lowly within the Palace got to receive rewards doled out by the Imperial family. Yet it was already late at night and no one had come to distribute reward money to this group of people.
“They couldn’t have forgotten about us could they?” There was a guard who couldn’t wait any longer, and asked their leader.
“It’s not just our place,” The leader of the guards comforted his subordinate: “In this Palace there is still the Cold palace, and the Lateral Courts7, and her Ladyship Concubine Liu’s E’ying Palace. Perhaps those areas haven’t received their reward either, those places are even worse-off than we are here.”
The guards looked in unison at their leader, as if to say, do you want to compare between matters weighing half a catty or eight taels8? Are we comparing who’s more tragic than the other?
“All of you just shut your mouths and do your work honestly,” The leader thought about his own words and also felt they were vapid, and said impatiently: “Would His Majesty shortchange us of our reward money? It counts as money in our eyes, but is that amount of silver considered money in His Majesty’s eyes?”
The guards were in the middle of such talk, when they saw that there was a steward eunuch leading his subordinate eunuchs this way.
“They’re distributing rewards now!” A guard called out in joy.
The leader wanted to rebuke this subordinate of his, but looking around at these people around him, each of them with their eyes lighting up, the leader decided to let it be. This was an abandoned area they had here, and could not be compared on equal standing with working at those good places like the Hall of Eternal Light. At those places you’d get reward money frequently; even if the Imperial family didn’t give rewards, the prominent officials often stuffed silver into those guards’ pockets. Then take a look at them, these Cold Palace guards who were also doing guard work, yet the comparison between these two groups of people could infuriate one to death.
The steward eunuch had begun to distribute reward money here according to the guards’ name register.
Not long after, another two eunuchs came carrying tiffins of food in both hands.
The leader looked at the eunuch walking in front; he knew him, it was the Imperial Kitchen gonggong that came to send meals to her Ladyship the Empress Dowager, “Why are you sending food so late today? The leader asked this gonggong.
“It’s the grand wedding of his Second Highness and Third Highness, this is especially ordered by the Emperor to be sent here for her Ladyship the Empress Dowager to partake in the joy,” This gonggong said.
“Then go on in,” The leader’s heart was occupied with thinking about his own share of the reward money, and seeing that this was a familiar face who came frequently to this Hall of the Eastern Buddha to run errands, so he didn’t ask in further detail. He ordered his subordinates to open a small door outside the Hall of the Eastern Buddha to let these two people in, and didn’t even cast a glance at the eunuch following behind this familiar one.
The Empress Dowager sat in a small shrine hall, in front of her sat a white porcelain Guanyin statue with a face of benevolence and pity in her eyes. The Empress Dowager silently recited Buddhist scripture, and with each line she read she knocked on the wooden fish once.
“Imperial Grandmother.”
Hearing this voice call out from behind her, the wooden mallet in the Empress Dowager’s hand fell to the ground. The Empress Dowager didn’t get up, but turned her body around rapidly while remaining seated. In front of her kneeled a person dressed in the robes of a lower-ranked eunuch. The Empress Dowager stared at this person’s face, opened her mouth for a long while before she managed to speak aloud: “Xuan’er!”
1. 门当户对 – literally, their ‘doors match’ and the ‘size of their households can be paired’. [Return]
2. 歌舞升平 – literally, ‘celebrating peace with songs and dance’ [Return]
3.香粉阵阵 – might be a reference to the poem 《十二月过尧民歌·别情》by Wang Shipu, about longing for someone while seeing the finery of spring, but suffering because they are not there. [Return]
4.回味无穷 – literally to ‘resavour and never find lacking’. [Return]
5. 嬷嬷 – senior palace maids that choose to stay in the palace even after they pass of age, and often serve as wet nurses or nannies for young princes. [Return]
6. 鸳鸯戏水 – A commonly used theme/scene for embroidering handkerchiefs and wedding garments [Return]
7. 掖庭 – area in the palace where the administrative offices are located and the low-ranking concubines are housed. [Return]
8. 半斤八两 – an idiom that refers to two choices that are both equally bad; not offering much to choose from. [Return]