After the torrent of rain, everything under the sun seems extra bright and clear under the sun. His spirit high, the Emperor spontaneously decides to move the feast out into the palace’s big public square. The main table of the feast is set in a pavilion by a small lake surrounded by countless lanterns.
Sitting by Helian, Zhi Wei slowly sips her wine enjoying herself immensely. Of course she would enjoy it even it more if she wasn’t the recipient of so many stares.
In one short hour the news that Miss Feng suffers from bouts of madness attacks that has been witnessed by Prince Helian once already and just now by Prince Chu as well has circulated throughout the palace. Be it nobleman or their wives, all stare at Zhi Wei with curiosity…while Helian gets looks of pity and perplexity. Perplexity over why he would be interested in a crazy and ugly woman. Pity that men from the grassland wilderness are indeed a bit lacking in the head so that even their taste in women is odd.
Of course the unmarried misses’ feelings are not so forgiving and mild. They might not necessarily be interested in marrying into the far distance of grassland wilderness but that doesn’t stop them from admiring Helian’s handsome looks. After all, Prince Helian still fit a lot of girls’ idea of a dreamy hero and it is never pleasant to see something lovely being taken by someone else…especially by someone so unworthy.
Taking more personal offense the more they glare at Zhi Wei, the misses pull out their petite mirrors secretly in unison and silently lamented– oh, how could girls as lovely as us lose to someone as ugly as Feng Zhi Wei?!
Taking in all the various not so discrete stares, Zhi Wei calmly sips her wine and wonders silently how glorious it would be if this impressive speed of spreading rumor could be used on the battlefield.
The birthday star has yet to arrive so the seat at the top remains empty. Seated a step lower is the 2nd Prince and his wife, followed by 5th, 6th, 7th, and 10th Prince. Other than the youngest 10th Prince and Ning Yi, all the other princes are married. According to the rumor, there are two reasons why Ning Yi is still single. First, due to his bad health Ning Yi himself has asserted in the past that it would be unfair to marry someone’s precious daughter. Second, thanks to Ning Yi’s habit of frequenting brothels, all the government officials are afraid that his “other function” might be bad as well. However, Ning Yi’s influence has increased since the Crown Prince’s death so his marriage has become a hot topic. Judging by all the rumors, it seems like the Hu’s, the Chang’s and the Hua families are the biggest contenders. (They are all families who hold important government positions.)
Her lips forming into a wry smile as she glances over at the almost nonexistence transparent screen dividing the women from the princes, Zhi Wei wonders which one is Miss Hu and which one is Miss Chang. Sensing Zhi Wei’s gaze, Ning Yi looks up and promptly caused all the girls to puff up their chest, each certain that Ning Yi was looking at her.
Hmm… Prince Ning Yi’s attention is certainly all encompassing causing the roomful of flowers to bloom in unison…Zhi Wei smiles in amusement as she looks away to pour herself another cup of wine. Hmm…the wine in the palace is indeed full of flavor and rich in taste.
Pleasantly surprised to discover that not only does Zhi Wei drink wine but she exudes a carefree manner while doing so, Helian quickly pours her more wine and encourages her enthusiastically “Drink more, drink more! This wine is even rare for the palace.”
To prevent drunken misconducts, during palace feasts each table is only served one kettle of wine. Swallowing hard as he pours more wine into Zhi Wei’s cup, Helian ignores his own empty cup and continues to make sure Zhi Wei’s cup is always full.
The kettle is more than half gone, Helian pours again and watches Zhi Wei tosses back the cup in one smooth move. Longingly peering at the empty cup then at Zhi Wei’s clear gaze that is as sober as when she drank her first cup of wine, Helian expression turns to one of disbelief.
… Why is she not drunk, how can she not be drunk? He sacrificed his own yearning for the lovely wine in order to get her drunk but how can she not be drunk?!!!!
“Your Highness.” Zhi Wei tosses back another cup of wine before she laughingly says “I forgot to tell you a secret.”
“Ah?” Helian eagerly leans close.
“This level of alcohol.” Zhi Wei points at the kettle as she smilies tenderly “Under normal circumstance, I can drink two kettles.”
Helian, “……..”
Appearing quite intimate as they whisper with their heads together, Ning Yi lowers the wine cup that he had raised to his lips as his gaze once again sweep across the room. However, this time, all the girls feel like his icy look was for them individually and quickly shrink back into their seats.
Their sensibilities hurt by Ning Yi’s icy gaze, the noble girls become even more enraged when they turn around to see Zhi Wei is still leisurely enjoying her wine as Prince Helian personally fills her cup. They might not be able to vent their anger out on other noblemen and royalities but they could still bully an ugly crazy woman!
“Eunuch Wang!” A girl sitting not far from Zhi Wei abruptly stands up and calls out to the lead eunuch “The air in this area is too foul, please find me another seat.”
Lazily turning a cup in her hand, Zhi Wei looks over at the snooty woman. Hmm…the woman is pretty. She is probably an intellect as well judging by the haughty look on her face. After all, intellects tend to be that disagreeable to everyone around them.
Right after the woman finished speaking, someone else stood up “Please change my seat as well. That crazy woman stinks too much!”
Zhi Wei looks up again and laughs silently. Great! This one is no stranger. The 3rd daughter of Qiu Manor, Qiu Yu Luo. For someone who sat so far away, how sensitive her nose must be to be a victim of her foul smell. Plus, if you are so mad at me, then why do you keep eyeing the princes’ area?
Jumping on the bandwagon, a chorus of complaints quickly came, all from young women who want the lead eunuch to change their seats as well. Amidst the voices, Qiu Yu Luo complained the loudest, declaring that the dignity of the Emperor would be lost if they were to allow a crazy woman to have an audience with him. Her face flushed and her chest puffed up from “righteous” anger Qiu Yu Luo looks extra lovely, catching the attention of many of the princes…much to the ire of their wives.
Out of all the princes, Ning Yi was the only one who didn’t spare a single glance towards Miss Qiu. Seemingly completely unaffected by the impressive act put on by the preening girls, Ning Yi leans over to talk 7th Prince as he secretly pulls out a beautifully drawn scroll. Hiding behind the wine kettles, the two brothers look over the erotic pictures on the scroll with bright eyes…until they were caught by 7th Prince’s wife.
Severely disappointed, Qiu Yu Luo loses her temper, pushes away the lead eunuch and her mother who have been trying to calm her down, “If you won’t change my seat then I will change it myself.” However, that’s easier said then done. Qiu Yu Luo knows full well that in a palace feast all the seating are already assigned so she was only trying to show off to catch Ning Yi’s attention.
The head eunuch tries to calm her down again but someone suddenly butts in while holding a wine kettle “Don’t stop her, don’t stop her. I too think the air smell foul here. Everyone is wearing pounds of powder on themselves that I can’t breathe anymore.” Waving the eunuch away, the laughing voice continues “Go, go change seat for this miss who weighs 70 pounds herself with 30 pounds of powder, 40 pounds of jewelry totaling 150 pounds…There, that looks good to me over there. Airy, high and spacious. Great for looking and being looked at…the perfect place.”
Everyone follows his finger to look at where he is pointing…
To the rooftop of the pavilion…
Adding fuel to the fire, Zhi Wei rises her wine cup and grins “Your Highness, you are terrible at arithmetic, it is obviously 140 pounds.”
“Plus 10 pounds for the pimple.” Helian rises his own wine cup towards Qiu Yu Luo’s forehead, pointing out a small pimple that is almost invisible under the thick cover of powder “A toast to the pimple.”
The whole place was dead silent, completely stunned by Prince Helian’s harsh words.
Her secret hopes exposed for all to see, a humiliated Qiu Yu Luo froze not knowing what to do next. Not bothering to wait to see Qiu Yu Luo’s response, Helian has already turned away and smiles triumphantly at Zhi Wei. Sighing silently, Zhi Wei laments that she wasn’t even given a chance to show off. However, who knew Prince Helian could be so eloquent?
The silence drags on and makes Qiu Yu Luo’s humiliation seemed even more pitiful. Feeling bad for Qiu Yu Luo, 7th Prince looks questioningly towards Ning Yi but he just says nonchalantly “What an impertinent woman! Who is she calling foul smelling? I have long heard some women in the Capital would jokingly call the men from the grassland as barbarians but she dares to ridicule Prince Helian publically? If Father hears of this he would surely be angered immediately.”
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Question for you all. Would you guys rather I: 1. Skip over the most boring parts (political intrigue, unimportant secondary characters) but try to give you most of the story OR 2. Just translate the highlighted scenes of our two leads and skip over everything else?
Choice #1 would mean you guys will need to be patient through some scenes that might not directly have both of our leads interacting with each other but will give you a better overall picture of the story. However, I have to warn you, this novel is quite long so you will need to wait through some posts that are not as “exciting.”
Choice #2. You will have the juiciest parts of the story but will only get a general sense of the story- a great way to get a fill of our two leads’ story without all the fussy details.
I had started this translation project with choice #2 in mind but as more and more people expressed interest in the story’s details (in the questions via comments) I started leaning towards #1 and begin to translate scenes I might’ve chosen to skip such as today’s post. (The scene was mostly between Helian and Zhi Wei so I might’ve just summarized it in a sentence or two.) However, as I was translating this post I wondered if more of you would’ve rather if I just focused on our two leads so that’s why I am throwing out the question.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
I’d like more option 2 as we already have the overall plot from the drama (minus some changes) whereas I think the drama lacks in portraying the sweet scenes between our leads.
First, thank you for your hard work. Your translations really mend the disappointement born from the drama’s ending. I, for one, would prefer choice #1 to savour fully the story and somehow prolong the pleasure of reading. I plead guilty if that sounds a bit selfish (since obviously this would mean more work for you) and hedonistic. Whatever you decide, I would be grateful.
I personally hope you could do more of 2 since I think the drama did a pretty good job replicating the main plot points but would love to know Ning Yi and Zhi Wei’s relationship and dynamic in the book. So more juice please! Thank you so much for your persistence!
hei! thanks for translating at all! i love reading your posts.
i would appreciate #1, because i do not know the real story and i got the impression so far that even though the drama kept a lot of the story there are differences that would be interesting to see/ read about.
thank you!
I am torn between option 1 and 2 – I love long, detailed novels. However, you seem to have a good sense of what goes down rabbit trails and what we readers tend to want and focus on. Your judgment about this has been very good so far. Thanks for asking – I’ll vote for #2.
And thanks for doing all this translating – such a lovely gesture of inclusiveness!!
The 2 leads interactions please.
Choice 1 please. I think Choice 1 will also give us the details that I crave and will eventually also include the juicy bits as you put it between the protagonists. I find the humour from this author particularly entertaining and it comes out when you give the details. After all “omnia bona expectantibus eveniunt”…. all good things come to those who wait.
Thank you for the lovely translation.
Thank you so much for your weekly translations. Option 2 please! I’m interested in reading more about Feng ZhiWei and Ning YI’s relationship. This week’s translation was really interesting because it was so similar to the scene in the drama.
I’m usually a silent lurking reader, but I have to vote for #1 because I dropped the drama as soon as I knew the ending was not a happy one so I have no background on this other than it could have been a much better drama. Plus, we got to see Ning Yi’s jealous side here, so yeah, for me, definitely #1!
Firstly, thank you SO much for these translations! They make Mondays a treat. I vote for your original intention, #2, as I love to read Ning Yi’s interactions with Zhi Wei – even this one had subtle plays on their relationship. Gorgeous! It’s what I loved best in the TV version, however coy it became. And I think a lot of people here are reading your translations as a form of therapy after that far-from-satisfying TV finale!
Thank you too for your recommendation of Ten Miles of Peach Blossom / Eternal Love! Terrible CGI but I thought the acting was outstanding. Mark Chou was incredible. I’m watching Ashes of Love now so become well hooked on Chinese drama!
Thank you again. 😊
Ideally I’d have preferred the most shamelessly selfish option No.3 of translating the whole novel cover to cover but since that was never on the table I’d go for No.2 as I really wish the drama had showed more of their times together instead of finding ways to pull them apart at every chance.
I would choose No.1. We get to savor more of the story that wasn’t part of the drama. I love the special and intricate details of the story that wasn’t shown in the drama! This particular segment you translated is excellent and shows why I’d like to get a better overall picture. I certainly enjoyed reading this segment which showed how Ning Yi is a little jealous of Helian. If there was an option 3, I’d choose to have the whole book translated! But that’s a lot of work and I’m grateful for what I can get. Thank you once again for all your efforts! It is very much appreciated!
I’m extremely torn, but I will go with option 1 because I really enjoy the story as a whole. Thank you for your translation <3
Hi, thank you so much for translating, God bless you. Your lovely posts are my theraphy after the 70th episode. I’m so relieved and sooo happy to know they have a happy ending on the book. I’ve had enough hearbreaks since Zhi Wei-Helian’s wedding on the drama. I yearn to know more of Ning Yi-Zhi Wei interaction on the book, so I vote for option #2, please.
I’d like the #1 option, please. For those of us who have watched the full series and still haven’t had enough of the 2 lead characters as well as understanding what might have happened to Ning Yi after he ascends to the throne, and are desperately looking all over the net for more information (interviews, “making of” clips, this lovely blog, & more), and for those of us who can’t read the original novel, I think it would be amazing to see what the original story line actually intended without the changes made for the tv series. While waiting for your translations (repeating what many have said before, thank you for doing this for all of us :-), I am also waiting to find out if this book was published in non-simplified chinese, so I can try to read it (assuming an official english translation may never happen).
Please please stick with your original plan which is definitely choice #2 … and as always thank you gazillion for your hardwork 🥰
Like everyone one else, I am torn as well. I want more interaction between our two leads. In the drama, the scene between them was not long enough. I would like also to have more detailed about the storyline. I want both 1 and 2. I am greatly for you taking the time to translate the novel for us. My wish is that one day we will be able to purchase the book in English. You are fantastic thank you so much for your hard work. Love reading the details, it was true to form. In the drama, it was hinted at but you get a real sense when you read in the novel.
Choice 1 please. I think the book and novel are different enough that I would love to see how it was originally meant to play out. Thanks for all your hard work!
My preference would be for #2. It looks like you’ve got a pretty even split in the comments! 🙂
Hi!
As every one mentioned, thank you x1000 for taking to time to translate at all, as some have mentioned the whole book would have been a major treat ( you should consider sending a sample of your translations to the publishing house, who knows perhaps they would consider hiring you 😉 )
I would lean towards option 2 but include the love triangle of helian zhi wei and ning yi, as it definately adds to the chemistry, perhaps go so far as including all the major characters, if possible.
But so far your translations have been very satisfactory and the choices you have been making along with clarifications make it easier to get the bigger picture!
Thank you so much!!! <3
I agree!!
Already read the novel in Chinese, so my vote is for choice #2, just to relive the good bits.
Option 2 for the posts here. Would love more interaction between Ning Yi & Zhi Wei.
If you are silently translating the whole book, I’ll be one to buy it for sure!
Ah ditto on the ready to buy. I really really wish to read the whole novel!
Choice #1.
Sometimes the best moments need lead up and backstory to be fully appreciated.
Thank you
I prefer #1 because it already encompasses #2 as well. This really is my therapy after that terrible ending and I love the intimate scenes between all our leads but I have also really enjoyed the other scenes you have chosen to include as well as your side notes to more fully explain things that English readers may not know to catch on. I know it’s more work for you so I trust your judgement in whatever you decide. I have enjoyed everything you have done so far. Thank you!
Just to comment on what you have written Qiu Yu Luo, is she Zhiwei cousin. In the drama, I believe that was the name of her Uncle’s daughter?
Yes, that’s her uncle’s daughter.
HI,
I can’t thank you enough for all the hard work you’ve put translating this novel. Definitely a big help to those of us who can’t get over the series ending. Lol.
I think I’m gonna go with option 2, because like others, i just love seeing the interaction between the two main characters, but the scene between Helian and ZhiWei is interesting too. Haha. I’ll just leave that to you to choose the juicy bits for us.
Anyway, I just hope one day the whole book will be translated and published. <3
Option 2, please!
Man, I can seriously binge read that novel all day. Too bad my Chinese is so bad though, lol.
While I’m super interested in the storyline and hence option 1, what truly brings a smile to my face is the relationship between Ning Yi and Zhi Wei. Option 2 please…..
**And yes, you have my undying gratitude for translating these scenes for us. 🙂
As some people are saying, your translations have really been a needed therapy for me, in addition to looking at the making videos where Chen Kun and Ni Ni are having fun with each other. .
Difficult choice but I choose Option 2 with adding bits where Helian interacts? I cannot thank you enough!
Oh definitely choice 1, while I love the juicy parts between the two leads I also loveeee the rest of the story like this one which had more interaction between helian and zhi wei
Thanks lots for this really look forward to mondays because of it! 🙌
I say choice 2! because we’re familiar with the story already
Option 2 ! Thanks for you hard work!
Stick to what you are already doing now, which you said is #1. As I read it, option #1 encompasses both the larger context as well as the juicy relationship, which is what you’re doing already.
I am such a fan of your writing and very very grateful for your posts. (And I think your romantic scenes are crazy good!)
Keep it up. Much much gratitude.
While I would also like to relive the encounter between the two I am also interested in the finer facets of their personalities, ie in this post we see Ning Yi jealousy, how he handled it.
option #1 or option #2 is ok with me, always enjoyed your translation
^_^
so what’s your decision?
#1 or #2?
Sigh…you guys are really almost evenly split so as a few have suggested, I will probably just stick to what I have been doing thus far so pretty much a mix of option #1 and #2. 🙂
lol 😀
thanks for your translate
👐👐❤❤
Thanks for this week’s translation! I would go with option 2 too!
CHOICE #1. Pleeease.
I suggest you do whatever is easier and most suitable for you. We ‘ll be still grateful, whatever parts you translate, since Chinese is so difficult for us to be translated with any translation platforms and apps.
But whatever you choose to do, please oh pleaaaase, translate that boat scene you’ve mentioned before, the one when Feng Zwei seduces Ning Yi !
Their main interaction and affection is the only thing that the drama didnt give us and i see how many of us are hunger for that couple!
Thanks again and again for all your efforts!
(have you translated any Chen Kun’s interviews about TROP? i only found 2 translated parts in youtube, and its a shame that neither Croton nor Netflix have released the whole documentary and interviews translated. This drama is so great in many ways, but they didnt promote it much…what a waste!)
Do what you’ve been doing. 🙂 I’ll be here regardless. Summarize the less interesting plot points that give us a better picture of the story and translate the Ning Yi and Feng Zhi Wei moments. It’s long and consuming, but looking at your following, have you considered like a patreon to just translate all of it? I don’t know all the rules of copyright though? And possibly contacting the author or publisher for permission??? So maybe…? But perhaps i’m just being greedy, that’s a lot of work! Lol. Thank you for all the translations! They make my day. 🙂
Choice #1 please!!
Thank you for all the translations.! and the pictures that you add every week to the translation. You are the best!.
If you decide translate the book. I will buy one too.
Definitely option 1! There’s so much here to enjoy. However, a mix like what you’ve been doing is wonderful too.
Choice 2, please! And thanks so much for these posts!
Definitely choice 1. I like the context, especially the bits with sci fi time travel and political strategy. I did wonder if it might be easier for you to use a picture translation app for those contextual parts. That way you can just take a pic of the paragraphs and use the mediocre translation from the app for those parts and save your best work for the parts with our leads. Whatever you decide, I’ll keep coming back here every week! Thanks