CH 10

Chapter 10: Sunset

The next day Yinzhen arrived at Wuyizhai on time. Yinyou hadn’t arrived yet. When Yinzhen sat down, the Crown Prince stepped forward and asked a few questions with concern, and Yinzhen responded one by one. Immediately, the third brother also came forward and said a few things, his face full of worry.

Yinzhen thanked them with a face full of gratitude, but then his eyes fell on the empty seat next to him and his gaze was as quiet as water, and others couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

“Eighth brother greets the Crown Prince, and all the elder brothers,” the eighth brother and the fifth brother arrived one after the other. After the eighth brother gave his greetings, he stepped forward and walked to Yinzhen’s side, “Fourth brother, please take care of your body.”

Yinzhen looked at the seven-year-old child who watched him with concern, got up, and saluted, “Thank you, eighth brother, for your concern.”

This eighth brother was not born high, but he already had a lot of thoughts. The two of them were saying niceties when they heard Yinyou’s greeting everyone.

Yinzhen watched Yinyou walking towards their sitting place. Although his walking posture didn’t look too different, he could still see that something was wrong. He stood up and gave Yinyou a slight hand, “Seventh brother, you’re late today.”

Yinyou seemed a little embarrassed when he heard this, and he blushed a little, “Yesterday I went to bed late, and so today I got up late. Forgive me, brothers.”

The Crown Prince teased him for a bit before letting him go. Yinyou then sat down in front of his bookcase. When he bent his knees, he frowned slightly, but in the blink of an eye his expression smoothed out. Then he picked up a book and read it, not different from usual. Yinzhen, who was reading beside him, held his book with some force.

In the morning, when several princes were studying, Kangxi came to check the princes’ homework again. This time Yinyou was not drawing, but studying obediently. When Kangxi entered, he did not let people announce him. Seeing that the princes in the room were serious, he sat on the top of the table with a serene expression. After spot-checking the homework of several princes, his face showed satisfaction.

Yinyou behaved in a disciplined manner. Kangxi did not praise him nor criticize him. Compared with the Crown Prince, the third brother, and the eighth brother he was indeed much inferior. Kangxi encouraged them with a few more words without forgetting to praise the Crown Prince on the way, before walking out of Wuyizhai with the holy majesty of the Son of Heaven [1].

Yinyou breathed a sigh of relief, a thin layer of sweat had already formed on the palms of his hands. One wondered if it was because of the heat or because of shock, but apart from a child’s admiration for his father, there was no extra emotion on his face. As he put the brush in his hand down and looked at the neat brush characters in front of him, he held a complicated smile at the corner of his mouth.

After finishing his meal at noon, Yinyou had just walked out the door when he heard the resentful voice of the third brother from behind him, “Eighth brother is really amazing, and this elder brother dares not compare with you.”

Yinyou couldn’t help but turn his head and saw the third brother looking at the eighth brother with a sarcastic expression. The eighth brother stood aside with a pale face, not daring to refute Yinzhi’s words. Thinking of Huang Ama’s spot-checking homework today, the eighth brother had indeed robbed the third brother of his limelight, no wonder the third elder brother embarrassed him.

Looking at the slightly thin figure of the eighth brother, Yinyou couldn’t help but sigh from the bottom of his heart. Although the eighth brother was a brilliant character, he was only seven years old after all. His mind was all on thinking about how to attract the attention of Huang Ama, and so he forgot that with his identity, he still needed to be hidden.

He retracted his gaze and continued to walk out. This level was still okay, like this he could learn a lesson and so, wisdom. Yinsi was still young now, and making mistakes now would not affect the overall situation. If he made such mistakes in the future, it can only bring him disaster. A pity that the reason why the eighth brother lost was exactly that he couldn’t help it. He endured for so many years, but when the abolished Crown Prince was deprived of his position and he himself was named Baylor, this difference make him dare to compete, but this only caused him and his mother to be scolded and so he fell short.

“Yinsi, the son of a slave” [1], these words sentenced him as a lowborn and humble person, which was undoubtedly a punishment for a prince. Yinyou even felt that this was obviously Kangxi’s own mistake, but he put his own blame on a woman and a child.

No matter how successful an emperor was, all of them had one specific shortcoming. That is, they didn’t think they were in the wrong. Just like the men recorded in history who used the excuse of a “beauty disaster” to explain the decay of a country, women like Su Daji [3], Xi Shi [4], Yang Guifei [5], and Chen Yuan Yuan [6]. It seemed that if there was a beautiful woman  around it would be enough to make men confused, make mistakes, and die.

Yinyou was also a man and he found this kind of idea ridiculous. If a single woman could really determined the rise, fall, and decline of a country, then were not men useless?

In the afternoon, the sun was still shining brightly. Because of his knees, Yinyou didn’t want to ride a horse and so instead he took a bow and arrow to practice his arm strength. Naturally, the eighth brother, who was reproached by the third brother, would not be with those brothers, so he also practiced bows and arrows with Yinyou.

After shooting ten shots in a row and shooting in the middle seven times, he felt that the results were pretty good and he was about to be baked by the sun. He handed the hot bow and arrow to his companion behind him, and said to himself, “This arrowhead is really dazzling.”

His companion [7], hearing this, replied with a smile, “Seventh brother, this arrow is not bright enough, how can you kill the enemy with this?”

“That’s true,“ Yinyou said after taking a sip of water, “This thing is more eye-catching  than useful.” After speaking, he turned his head to look at the eighth brother who was putting down his bow and arrow, and said, “Don’t you think so, eighth brother?”

The eighth brother Yinyou was slightly startled. Usually, Yinyou and him were not that close. When he was suddenly asked about this kind of thing, he couldn’t react on time, but he quickly smiled and said, “The seventh brother has a point.”

Yinyou smiled, glanced at the few eunuchs around him, and drank a few more sips before sighing, “Well, the eighth brother really thinks the same as me.”

The eunuchs waiting next to them didn’t even lift their eyelids for such an obviously polite conversation between the two little brothers. They just buried their heads conscientiously and didn’t dare to pry.

The eighth brother’s hand that originally took the bow and arrow paused slightly. He turned his head and glanced at Yinyou, who was already talking to the companion behind him. He took out a silver arrow and put it on the bow. When the bow and arrow flew out, the light refracted by the arrow stung his eyes.

He closed his eyes, and when he opened his eyes, his eyes were clear, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

After leaving school, Yinyou felt that his whole body was drenched in sweat. When he saw that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince with outstanding grace was also the same, he finally felt balanced. No wonder that many of Kangxi’s sons were heroic and good at fighting. Anyone who had been practicing their skills since the tender age of six would be great. Wiping his sweat, he walked towards Yinzhen who was dismounting, “Fourth brother.”

Seeing his flushed face, Yinyou asked the minion next to him to pour some tea for Yinyou to drink before saying, “Tell your servant to pack up and let’s go together.”

Yinyou nodded. Needless to say, someone would naturally take care of everything for him. After he and Yinyou said goodbye to several elder brothers, they slowly left the place.

Walking on the palace road, Yinyou squinted at the red sunset. The setting sun set against the resplendent Forbidden City, which made people feel it was infinitely magnificent. This feeling, only the real Imperial City can let the human body see it. This was the invisible majesty of the Heavenly Family.

“What are you looking at?” Yinzhen saw Yinyou’s steps getting slower and slower, and couldn’t help but follow Yinyou’s gaze, only to see the sky dyed red by the setting sun.

“Look at the sky.” Yinyou pointed to the sky, “Does it look like fire?”

“En.” Yinzhen nodded, “Like a fire burning the clouds.” But it was also the last bit of brilliance before the darkness. He looked sideways. Yinyou’s face was also dyed red by the setting sun. Somehow, it gave him a soft and comfortable feeling and his heart felt warm.

Yinyou’s eyes curved into a crescent moon as he smiled at him, “The scenery is very beautiful.”

Flustered, Yinzhen retracted his gaze, “En.”

The two walked slowly again, and the little eunuch and reading companion who followed behind were very cleverly a few steps away from the two of them.

“Fourth brother, I will accompany you to see such beautiful scenery in the future. When you build a mansion, I will go to eat there. If the future fourth sister-in-law doesn’t let me in, you have to help.”

“I don’t need you to, though?”

“Fourth brother, you are so stingy.” Yinyou poked Yinzhen, who was a head taller than him, on the shoulder, “If you accompany me, I will accompany you.”

“En”, the corners of Yinzhen’s mouth bent.

“It’s settled then, you must remember to not let fourth sister-in-law drive me away.”

“How can a woman interfere in our men’s affairs.”

“When you have Fu Jin [8], you won’t say that for sure.”

“I won’t.”

“Are you sure?”

“En.”

“Fourth brother, you keep saying the same thing.”

“E.”

“…”

______________________

▲ Footnotes 

To explain the last dialogue: Yinzhen keeps saying “嗯” which is “en” and it means “yeah”, “okay” and so. At the end, when Yinyou complains that he keeps saying the same thing, Yinzhen replies with “哦” which sounds like e, (almost the same thing as en, lmao) which in English it would be an “oh” and it’s also a sound of agreement, haha.

[1] Son of Heaven, or Tianzi, was the sacred imperial title of the Chinese emperor. It originated with the ancient Zhou dynasty and was founded on the political and spiritual doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. The secular imperial title of the Son of Heaven was “Emperor of China”. The title, "Son of Heaven", was subsequently adopted by other East Asian monarchs to justify their rule. The Son of Heaven was the supreme universal emperor, who ruled tianxia. His status is rendered in English as "ruler of the whole world." The title, "Son of Heaven", was interpreted literally only in China and Japan, whose monarchs were referred to as demigods, deities, or “living gods”, chosen by the gods and goddesses of heaven. (Source.)

[2] 辛者庫賤者 xīn zhě kùjiàn zhě. In history, when Kangxi asked his courtiers who they wanted as a Crown Prince, most of his court claimed Yinsi, the eighth prince. He was indeed well-liked. This posed a threat to Kangxi, and so, in anger, he scolded, “Yinsi, the son of that slut/bitch/slave Xin, is not worthy”. The eighth brother’s most vulnerable point was always his mother’s status (she was a maid), and it served as a justification for him to not win the throne, but undoubtedly there were a lot of reasons for it. Others say that because he was the rival of the Yongzheng Emperor since Yinzhen won he got the right to write history as it pleased him, and this was his doing. Whatever it was, this is the official history that all Chinese people know about Yinsi and indeed sullied his reputation amongst generations. (Source.)

Let me leave you with a quote from “The Eldest Son (Quing Chuan)” by Ping Nian which talks about this same incident. This is a very famous incident, and if you’re reading a novel where Kangxi is the Emperor, it is likely you will encounter it.

“But for such a capable person, almost everything he owned was destroyed under Kangxi’s severe reprimand. In just a few days, he became a cloud and fell into the mortal world. From being sought after by everyone to being avoided. Honghui felt cold, not because of Yinsi, but at this moment he deeply felt what the emperor’s favor was. In the end, Yinhu lost his sacred heart and lost the favor of Kangxi, and that’s merely it.”

[3] Daji (Chinese: 妲己; pinyin: Dájǐ) was the favorite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in ancient China. In legends and fiction, she is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit who kills and impersonates the real Daji. Her identification as a fox spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang dynasty. She is considered a classic example of how a beautiful femme fatale can cause the downfall of a dynasty in Chinese culture. You can read her Wikipedia page.

[4] Xi Shi (Hsi Shih; Chinese: 西施; pinyin: Xī Sh) was, according to legends, one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China. She was used as a “beauty trap” by the political enemies of King Fuchai of Wu and “caused” him to lose all interest in political affairs, lose his army, and finally, he suicide. Xi Shi is referenced in the saying 情人眼里出西施, meaning “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” (literally: “in the eyes of a lover, Xi Shi appears”). Here’s her Wikipedia page.

[5] Yang Yuhuan, often known as Yang Guifei (楊貴妃, with Guifei being the highest rank for imperial consorts during her time), was the beloved consort of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang during his later years. She is known as one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. During the An Lushan Rebellion, as Emperor Xuanzong and his cortege were fleeing from the capital Chang'an to Chengdu, the emperor's guards demanded that he put Yang to death because they blamed the rebellion on her cousin Yang Guozhong and the rest of her family. The emperor capitulated and reluctantly ordered his attendant Gao Lishi to supervise her forced suicide. Wikipedia page.

[6] Chen Yuanyuan (1624–1681) was a Chinese courtesan who lived during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. She was the concubine of Wu Sangui, the Ming dynasty general who surrendered Shanhai Pass to the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and later rebelled in the Revolt of the Three Feudatories (Kangxi’s period, this incident is referenced in the first chapter of the novel). Chen's life and relationship with Wu later became the subject of a number of popular stories and legends, many of them focusing on her supposed role in Wu's fateful decision to defect to the Qing, thereby sealing the fate of the Ming dynasty. In one story popularized during the Kangxi era, when the peasant Li Zicheng rebelled against the Ming dynasty, he captured Chen Yuanyuan. This enraged Wu Sangui and made him side with the Qing dynasty to crush Li Zicheng's forces. Wikipedia.

[7] 哈哈珠子 hāhāzhūzi. I wrongly translated this word as “bracelet made of beads” in Chapter 6: Enrollment. In fact, it’s a Manchu word meaning young servant. It can be translated as little boy in Chinese. Baidu says “During the Qing Dynasty, some officials let their young children and grandchildren go to the emperor and the prince to do things, bring tea and water, or run errands, deliver letters, walk the dog, play with eagles, etc. Accompany you to read and write. The purpose is to cultivate feelings and get a good future in the future.” You can read more here.

[8] 福晉 fújìn. Fu Jin. In Qing dynasty, Manchurian word for wife. Baidu says: “It means madam and it is the title of royal and aristocratic women in the Qing Dynasty. In the Qing Dynasty, the wives of Crown Princ, princes, sons, and kings were called Fu Jin”. According to the habit, only the “Fu” is pronounced, but in modern film and television dramas, this rule is mostly ignored.”