Author: Yue Xia Die Ying

NOTES:

  1. 头冠 (tóu guān) – a crown
  1. 福袋 (fú dài) – “blessing bag”; Cloth bag symbolizing good fortune worn or kept under the pillow to ward off bad luck and evil spirits. Usually red coloured and often embroidered with symbols for good fortune.
  1. 弟 (dì) – younger brother; junior male
  2. 龙凤胎 (lóng fèng tāi) – dragon and phoenix twins; twins of mixed sex
  3. 文 (wén) – Copper coins used in ancient times; 1 liang of silver = 1000 wen
  1. 升 (shēng) – Unit of volume used to measure dry grains in ancient times
  2. 王妃 (wáng fēi) – princess; legitimate wife of a royal prince
  3. 纱帽 (shā mào) – gauze hat (I’ve chosen to translate this as veiled hat. From what little I’ve been able to glean from online sources, veiled hats for women are called weimao. You can read more about them at this link if you’re interested. Shamao are hats worn by officials to signify their job or position. I’m putting up a picture of a weimao because that’s the picture I’m seeing in my head but it may not be what the author meant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

Chapter 11 (Part 1) – The Hunting Grounds

Ban Heng had long known that his sister had gathered a pile of things from east and west in preparation for this autumn hunt such as all kinds of crowns* and riding boots and so on. He didn’t at all understand how his sister could turn something simple like going on a hunt into such a song and dance.

But seeing his sister’s appearance in fiery red clothes, Ban Heng’s chest swelled with pride. In the whole of the capital, only his sister had the ability to carry such a gorgeous red hue. With such a beautiful elder sister he had developed one good habit from an early age and that was precisely to view beauty as something as transient as floating clouds. Anyway, his sister’s beauty beat everyone else.

The two siblings walked to the main courtyard where Yin Shi was waiting for them. When she saw them come out, she stuffed the blessing bag* that she had personally requested a few days ago into their hands saying, “The sword has no eyes. You two should be careful.”

“Rest assured, mother. I will take care of Heng di*.” Ban Hua took the blessing bag, hung it around her neck and cautiously tucked it into her clothes. “Are you really not going with us?”

“You go. I don’t like all this horse riding and archery. Even if I do go, I can only sit in the camp in vain. Instead it’s better to sit comfortably in the Houfu with people to serve me.” Yin Shi smiled and touched the gold leaf crown on Ban Hua’s head. “This looks beautiful like it’s made just for you.”

Ban Hua looked at Yin Shi’s smiling face and bowed toward her cupping her hands like a man, “Mother, wait for me to hunt and bring back a few good furs and make cushions for you. ” 

“Just in time for winter. I was just thinking that the cushions at home were not soft enough.” Yin Shi laughed. “Now, leave quickly or you will be late.”

The two siblings said goodbye to their mother and followed Ban Huai out of the house.

It was also interesting that though Ban Huai was the descendant of a military family, he was not good at riding and archery. Usually he could manage riding a horse at a trot but when it came to  pulling a bow and shooting arrows, it was simply embarrassing. Fortunately, he didn’t take it to heart, no matter how other people scolded him for shaming the name of the general’s family. He didn’t go out and show off because of this. Noone knew who he had inherited such a good attitude from.

In the western suburbs of the capital, there was a large royal hunting ground with all kinds of animals in it. Even those animals which should not exist in the region of the capital would appear on the hunting ground obediently during the Emperor’s hunts.

“This year’s weather is favourable for crops, the grass is fertile and the horses are strong. It must be a bumper harvest year,” Emperor Yun Qing turned to his two sons who were behind him. “Do you know what the price of grain is this year?” 

The Crown Prince’s cheeks flushed bright red. How would he know the price of grain? Recently, his favorite concubine had given birth to a pair of dragon and phoenix twins*. He was so happy that he didn’t even know east from west and how could he still care about these things?

“Fu Huang, instead of asking your son this kind of question, you might as well go ask those ministers.” the Second Prince said cynically in hoodlum-like tones, “How will your son know these things that even Elder Brother does not know?”

Ever since the emperor had coerced him to marry the girl from Zhongping Bofu, there had been animosity between him and the Crown Prince, so much so that he unstintingly threw muddy water over the Crown Prince even in the presence of the emperor.

Emperor Yun Qing looked at these two grown sons of his. One was mediocre and the other was disobedient. He felt that if he looked at them any more, he would kick them off the horse.

“Jun Po, you come and talk about it.” The two biological sons were so worrisome and the emperor could only look to his beloved courtiers to find a little mental balance.

“Your Majesty, currently in the capital, polished rice costs six wen* per sheng* and brown rice costs 4 wen* per sheng*.” Rong Xia rode his horse to move forward a few steps, “The price is a little cheaper than the previous two months.”

“Ah,” Emperor Yun Qing nodded in satisfaction, “It consoles my heart to have a minister like Jun Po.” 

Hearing this, the Crown Prince blushed so red in shame that he looked like he was about to bleed, but the second prince glanced at Rong Xia in annoyance. However, it was a pity that Rong Xia didn’t even look at him, making him even more angry.

It was exactly at this time that the people of Zhongping Bofu arrived. The second prince glanced at Xie Wanyu, who was riding on horseback, and felt a bit fed up. Thinking that he had to actually formally marry such a commonplace woman as his wáng fēi* made him feel unhappy.

Xie Wanyu didn’t know that her future husband had already started to feel vexed about her in his heart. Thinking that she would meet the Second Prince on the hunting ground today, she hadn’t slept well the previous night and had to rely on thick makeup to hide the tiredness on her face. If she had looked up and glimpsed the Second Prince’s expression at that time, she might perhaps have become aware that this man, whom she was on the verge of committing her life to, may not be her beloved.

“Sister Xie,” Shi Feixian wore a pure white riding outfit and a veiled hat* on her head. She walked closer to Xie Wanyu before lifting the veil on her hat, exposing her cheek. “Unexpectedly, you arrived a step earlier than me.”

Xie Wanyu saluted her father, Zhong Pingbo, then rode her horse towards Shi Feixian and smilingly said, “I was still worried that you wouldn’t come today!”

Shi Feixian looked in the direction of Rong Xia but Rong Xia, who was talking to His Majesty, had not paid attention to her arrival. She was somewhat disappointed and turning to Xie Wanyu, said,  “The second prince is really elegant and charming.”

“There you go again!” Xie Wanyu’s cheeks flushed red, “If you make fun of me again, I will ignore you!”

“Fine, fine, fine! No more joking.” Shi Feixian had been continuously following Rong Xia’s movements from the corner of her eyes, but besides speaking with His Majesty, he was just talking to other ministers and had never looked at her from beginning to end.

“Da Da Da.”

A burst of clopping sounds from horse hoofs suddenly came from behind her. Shi Feixian looked back, only to see an excellent snow white steed carrying a red clad woman speeding towards this side. Though the woman was still some distance away from her, Shi Feixian’s intuition told her that this woman was definitely capable of attracting the attention of many people present there.

As the horse got closer, Shi Feixian recognized who she was.

Ban Hua! Unexpectedly it turned out to be her. Sure enough, it was her.

You can click the author’s name at the top of the chapter to see a list of her works in the original Chinese. If you’ve found this translation interesting, please do support the author if you can.

T/L’s meanderings:

I saw your comments on the last chapter and…. tadah! Here you go, guys. I’ve added some pictures. It was fun picking out pictures, especially of women in weimao. I found tons of much prettier pictures of ladies wearing veiled hats but I actually used one that was not visually stunning to me because it’s SFX wearing the veiled hat and the author describes her as pretty but not stunningly gorgeous. (Also because I low key don’t want to use a really pretty pic for SFX . Yes, I’m petty.)

Here are a bunch more that I found super pretty but didn’t want to use for SFX. The colour of the red one is what I’m picturing Ban Hua wearing except with way more embellishments and embroidery and jewellery.