CH 53

Chapter 53 - Bewitching Fei

Su Yu watched jealously as the Emperor patted the little fat ball and the little guy didn’t resist at all. He looked like he was being trampled by the Emperor.

“Why is he so obedient in your hands?”

“Zhen is the Son of Heaven.” An Hongche said smugly.

Is there a relationship between the two? Su Yu rolled his eyes and reached out to try to touch the little chubby cat secretly, but the Emperor immediately moved his hand away and did not let him touch it.

“Don’t believe it?” An Hongche naturally saw Su Yu’s contemptuous look.

He raised his eyebrows, put the kitten in his hand on his lap, and stretched out a finger.

“Raise your paw!”

His younger brother looked up helplessly at his elder brother, and slowly stretched out a paw and placed it on the finger extended by His Majesty the Emperor.

“Wow!” Su Yu looked at the Emperor admiringly.

“Such a small cat is actually willing to obey!” The Emperor was very receptive to Su Yu’s worship and redoubled his efforts.

“Change to the left paw.”

The kitten stiffened for a moment and stared at his elder brother with a bitter face. “Brother, can cats understand left and right?”

“Cough.” An Hongche gave a dry cough and glared at his younger brother, signaling to stop being wordy.

His Majesty King Zhao had to change his left paw to touch the Emperor’s fingertip.

“Good boy!” Su Yu exclaimed. The cat can even distinguish left and right, it was almost catching up to Sauce.

“Roll over!” The Emperor nudged the furry head with his finger.

His Royal Highness King Zhao glanced at his elder brother who was addicted to playing and faced his threatening look. The meaning was very clear. “If you don’t obey, I’ll pull out your fur.”

Slowly bowing his head, he rolled over in the same place, then looked angrily at his elder brother who was abusing his power for the sake of winning the smile of the beauty, this incapable ruler!

“Eh? Can it play dead?” Su Yu’s eyes lit up. The kitten was so funny.

“Play dead?” His Majesty frowned. “How can cat play dead?”

“It is…” Su Yu explained, it was to shape your hand like a pistol, and “Pa” shoot the cat, and then let the cat lie down and pretend to be shot.

An Hongche looked at his younger brother with his eyebrows raised, got it? Then he pointed his evil finger at his younger brother. “Pa!”

His Highness King Zhao froze for a moment, and fell to the ground with a “plop”, glaring at Su Yu with resentment.

Disregarding the suffering of his subjects and coming up with wild ideas, this Demon Fei!

“Good boy!” Su Yu was so excited that he took a small fish pastry and broke off a corner to feed it.

The Demon Fei wants to bribe Benwang with food, Benwang… Benwang is a man of character, that can bend and stretch…

The kitten immediately opened its mouth and took the tasty fish pastry into its mouth. Hmm, it’s so delicious.

The two played in the hall until dusk when the Empress Dowager sent a message.

The agarwood was originally an ordinary incense, but two drugs were added to it. The Empress Dowager asked King Zhao to identify the origin of these two drugs, and among them, the sleeping medicine was from Chen Zhaoyi’s place, while the medicine that moved a man’s passion unexpectedly appeared in Lu Guifei’s palace.

Chen Zhaoyi complained tearfully that because she often woke up at night, that was the tranquilizing incense given by the imperial physician.

However, Cen Cairen lived in Chen Zhaoyi’s Chunhua Palace, and the red sandalwood box was taken away by the eunuch in Chunhua Palace. If someone said it had nothing to do with Chen Zhaoyi, no one would believe it.

“Empress Dowager, this concubine is only a Zhaoyi. Even If Xian Fei is killed, His Majesty would not favor this concubine, ah!” Chen Zhaoyi broke down in tears.

“That’s hard to say.” De Fei said coolly.

”A month ago, you were seen arguing with Cen Cairen in the Imperial Garden.”

“This concubine doesn’t like Cen Cairen, but she is at least a member of this concubine’s palace. If something happens to her, this concubine can’t get away with it. How can a normal person do such a thing to the detriment of themselves?” Chen Zhaoyi gritted her teeth and secretly sneaked a glance at Lu Guifei.

She quarreled with Cen Cairen in the Imperial Garden at that time, but in fact, it was at the behest of Lu Guifei.

Because of Cen Cairen’s flaunting temperament, many people knew that her family was connected with Su Yu. So, Lu Guifei instructed Chen Zhaoyi to teach her a lesson at a place where Su Yu passed, so as to win Su Yu’s sympathy and let the two people more involved, then they would find a chance to catch him and her receiving each other privately and kill two birds with one stone.

Who would have expected Su Yu to return the 1000 taels of silver to clear the relationship with her, Cen Cairen also unexpectedly agreed so the plot was killed at the cradle.

De Fei raised it up at this moment, but on the contrary, it became evidence against Chen Zhaoyi. Chen Zhaoyi was about to break a silver tooth.

Lu Guifei was now busy enough looking out for herself, she glared at Ye Yuan, who was tied into a dumpling, and her face turned white with anger.

The drug was supposed to be a good stimulant for her to use when the Emperor turned over her nameplate one day. At that time, when Ye Yuan entered Yexiao Palace, she gave her some to let her find a chance to seduce Su Yu, but Su Yu never looked squarely at those palace maids, so she gave up on this idea.

Who would have thought that this little hussy would add a dose of medicine to the seamless plan like drawing legs on a snake!

Today, Lu Guifei and Chen Zhaoyi tried to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it. A lot of complex schemes were superimposed, but instead, they caused a lot of trouble.

“Empress Dowager, after such a big incident happened in the imperial harem, this concubine feels ashamed. Also hope that Empress Dowager removes this concubine position as Guifei.” Without making any excuses, Lu Guifei knelt on the ground with a plop and spoke in a tearful voice.

The Empress Dowager idly looked at the cup in her hand and slowly said.”How many times has Aijia said that the Emperor’s body is weak and can’t stand all this, and told you to manage the imperial harem well, but you are good enough to use it first yourself.” Unhurriedly, like an ordinary aunt chatting with a niece, however, there was no trace of warmth in her voice.

Lu Guifei was truly scared now. After so many years, she understood the Empress Dowager the best, ordinary trivial matters would be left to her, but once it hurts the Emperor, she will never leave the matter at that.

“The Empress Dowager removed the position of the Guifei and ordered Lu Shi to think about her mistakes behind closed doors and not to step a foot outside Yuluan Palace. Chen Zhaoui has been locked up and Ye Yuan has been put to death.” The little eunuch who passed on the message told the story of what happened in Ci’an Palace in detail.

“The Empress Dowager said that this is how it is today, depending on Emperor’s thoughts.”

An Hongche frowned at the news, it was hard to understand the complicated means of the imperial harem.

“Go back to Muhou and say that Zhen knows.” The Empress Dowager meant that the handle had already been handed over to him.

She was waiting to see what he would do in court before the Empress Dowager would think about how to take care of these imperial concubines.

After the eunuch was sent away, Su Yuu remembered that it was time to cook a meal. The idle Emperor took his younger brother in his arms and followed him to the kitchen.

The Emperor couldn’t help in the kitchen, but fortunately, he didn’t add to the chaos. He just walked around Su Yu and watched him cook curiously.

“What’s the matter?” Su Yu was stir-frying when a warm body suddenly stuck to him from behind him, put his arms around his waist, and rested his chin naturally on his shoulder.

“I’m a little tired.” His Majesty yawned, and the fatigue from fighting with the State Teacher in the afternoon emerged at this moment.

“Go back to sleep first, ba. I’ll call you when I’m done.” Su Yu was held by the Emperor and his heart beat faster. He was worried that he was going to spoil the stir-fry.

“Not going.” He rubbed his nose against Su Yu’s neck willfully. His Majesty insisted on not letting go, while His Highness King Zhao, who was squeezed between his elder brother’s chest and his sister-in-law’s back, kept struggling to climb up.

The author has something to say:

Small Theater:

<Your Majesty, Let’s PLAY Incapable Ruler Record>

Traveling the mortal world for a concubine’s smile

Meow Gong: Seventeenth Uncle an express delivery of a basket of kittens!

Tricking the dukes with the fire beacon

Meow Gong: Eat grilled fish on the roof today!

✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦

Benwang -> this king

bend and stretch -> adaptable to circumstances

drawing legs on a snake -> to ruin the effect by adding sth superfluous / to overdo it

tried to steal a chicken only to end up losing the rice used to lure it -> to try to gain an advantage only to end up worse off / to go for wool and come back shorn

handle -> information that can be used against sb)

Traveling the mortal world for a concubine’s smile -> Yang Yuhuan – or Yang Guifei, as she was also known – was the best-loved concubine of Emperor Xuan Zhong, whose reign of 43 years between 713 and 756AD was the longest of China’s Tang dynasty. Yang was one of the ‘Four Beauties of ancient China’ and is famous for her love for the Emperor. She is perhaps less known, however, for her love for the lychee, her favourite fruit. She adored it so much that the Emperor had couriers ride night and day to bring her the sweet treat from Guangdong, some 1,900 kilometers away from her home in the capital.)

Tricking the dukes with the fire beacon -> On the Great Wall, around every 3-5 km , you can see a beacon tower. It was a device used for military alarms. When there was a danger of invasion, the fire would be lightened on the tower to send alarming messages. In Chinese history, there is a widely-known story related to the beacon tower. It is about a king tricking his marquesses with beacon fires.

King You, the last king of the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 771 BC), was a foolish and self-indulgent ruler so addicted to beautiful ladies. He seldom handled the national affairs, but only asked his marquesses to search for top beauties in the whole state for him. Once someone persuaded him to care more about the affairs of the state but was dismissed by the fatuous king. A marquess called Bao Xiang proposed the same and was sent to jail.

In order to save his father, Bao Xiang’s son offered King You a very beautiful young lady named Bao Si, gaining the king’s great satisfaction. He was attracted by Bao Si and stayed with her all day long. However, the beautiful lady never smiled after she was brought to the palace. No matter how hard the king entertained her, she never gave a single smile, which made King You quite frustrated.

Knowing what was troubling the king, a minister named Guo Shifu came up with an idea. He suggested to the king, “The beacon towers built before on Mt. Lishan to send alarm messages no longer have any use in such a peaceful age. However, you can use this to gather marquesses in a very short time. Only if you lighten the alarming fire of the beacon towers, they will hurry to save you. Afterward, you can just tell them that it is a joke and dismiss them then. Bao Si must be entertained by the reactions of the marquesses.” King You thought it reasonable and adopted the “great” idea.

As expected, the marquesses and soldiers assembled immediately and got prepared for the fight as soon as they saw the alarming fire lightened by their king. However, to their disappointment, they found there was no enemy invading at all. Then the king said that it was just a joke and there was no battle or danger. The marquesses and soldiers were so angry knowing they were teased but could say nothing. Seeing the scene, Bao Si was delighted with the response of the marquesses and burst into laughter for the first time.

King You was glad to find the idea came into effect. He rewarded Guo Shifu with 1,000 liang (an ancient Chinese unit of measurement) gold, which left an idiom of Yixiao Qianjin in Chinese, meaning “a smile costs 1,000 liang gold”. The king took advantage of his marquesses’ trust and played the trick several times, making the soldiers and marquesses irritated. Later in 771 BC, the state was invaded by an ethnic group called Quanrong, and the capital was surrounded. King You hurried to lighten the alarming fire to gather his troops. Nonetheless, no one came to his rescue. Nobody believes the liar anymore. The Western Zhou Dynasty got finally demised.

Orluros's Vault of Secrets: Hi everyone, this time the extra was a little difficult to translate, so I had to ask for help from a fellow translator and research a little. What I found seemed interesting so that's why the explanation this time is so long