Don't Be a Kept Man
Xie Su Zhi used her hand to hold her head up. The thin strands of her luxurious hair swayed slightly as she moved, briefly hiding the side of her face as if it was jade glimmering in the dark. She reached out her other hand to count,
“That year he became the laughing stock of the party, so perhaps he went back and powered through his anger. This noble consort remembers that three years ago he tried the exam, but he didn’t qualify for any ranking. Apparently Wu An Hou made him bow before all the known teachers and scholars at the Zhi Wen Institution. I didn’t think that he would actually make it this year.”
The maid laughed,
“This is called rewarding those who worked hard!”
Xie Su Zhi gave a soft “hmph” before saying,
“I, this noble consort would rather he be more stupid. If his rotten personality was not fixed, this kind of man going into court to be an official is only to the detriment of all the common citizens.”
Chen Miao Ping and Xie Yu Zhi were led by a maid inside into the palace and they just heard that phrase. Chen Miao Ping’s footsteps paused for a second, thinking that this noble consort was a straight ball.
The maid glided over to Xie Su Zhi and bent her knees with a bow,
“Noble consort, Second Master and Gu-Ye have arrived.”
Xie Su Zhi was just getting invested in the subject at hand and had not notice the both of them enter. Once she did however, Xie Yu Zhi was already in front of her and beside him was an attractive young man with a face that was definitely above the average person. She couldn’t help but take a few glances.
“With respect, we greet the noble consort, wishing you a long and safe life.”
Xie Yu Zhi and Chen Miao Ping were just about to do their bowing but were stopped. Xie Su Zhi made a stern face, purposefully showing that she was unhappy and said,
“We are all part of one big family. What are you doing, completing such worthless and empty gestures when you arrive here at Zhi Feng Palace? You won’t call me your elder sister after marriage?”
Xie Yu Zhi couldn’t help but laugh,
“My elder sister, what kind of words are you spouting out? This is only because we cannot be found lacking in our manners.”
Xie Su Zhi gave him a look,
“Who knows when you suddenly started following the rules to the letter? Just take your seat now.”
And then she turned her gaze back to Chen Miao Ping, looking at him from head to toe and then from bottom to top again, slowly taking in all the details. She complimented him half heartedly with a bit of truth intertwined,
“This must be our Flower Seeker of this exam period. Definitely one of excellence, with a good aura. This noble consort has not seen such a fine gentleman for quite a few years now. Our dear Yu Zhi does have a good eye.”
Chen Miao Ping helped Xie Yu Zhi sit down and smiled as he heard this. He waved his hand saying,
“Noble Consort, you compliment me too much. Since its inception, this capital is bloating with the amount of excellent scholars. And me, I have not done anything to deserve this reputation. Not to forget that there is the first rank examinee above me. Miao Ping as a simple Flower Seeker cannot be considered very important.”
Xie Su Zhi took in his actions under her eyes and internally nodded her head. She fixed her collar while thinking before responding,
“Which does remind me that you should be given something to do now. Han Lin Academy is a fairly fine place, but there are a lot of little things to be done. You look like someone who is intuitive, so it is a bit pitiful if you are not even a seventh rank official in such a place……”
Implying that she will be finding him a position.
Xie Yu Zhi smiled and looked at Chen Miao Ping. He pointedly said,
“Han Lin Academy is quiet and slow. It will be hard to have your name promoted.”
Han Lin Academy is where all the scholars come together. If there was a chance, perhaps in the future he could enter into the heart of it. But unless he was someone who shined brighter than everyone, entering into such a place was about leveraging your age and experience to build up your career.
Remembering the sharp pain from yesterday, Chen Miao Ping subconsciously stroked back and forth on his hand. He turned towards Xie Su Zhi and smiled. Underneath the shocked eyes of everyone here, he politely refused,
“There are a lot of things in this world that can become a shackle and fall underneath the idea of chasing after a dream aimlessly. And no matter how high or low of a position, as long as it is to help the country and its citizens, that is of worth. Miao Ping is still quite young, with little to no experience under his belt. To be able to calm his impulsiveness to study at Han Lin Academy would be good and so I humbly thank the noble consort’s faith in me.”
Xie Yu Zhi did not expect him to say this and looked at him quite strangely. Then he fixed his expression and said to Xie Su Zhi,
The Emperor walked quickly into the palace and lifted up Xie Su Zhi himself. He sat down with her and signaled Xie Yu Zhi and the rest to rise up and sit down. He smiled and said,
“There is no need for such greetings between Zhen’s beloved consort and Zhen1. Zhen came here quite coincidentally at the same time as Zhen’s beloved official Xie. He has taken his new decorated position and doesn’t even do anything, making it hard for Zhen to catch him.”
Xie Yu Zhi smiled,
Only this phrase and nothing else.
The capital has always leaned towards the literary arts over militant subjects, which created quite an imbalance in the imperial court assembly. To have a burgeoning Xie Yu Zhi that was suddenly crippled (in both matters of physically and spiritually for the court), the Emperor felt pain and pity. His eyes scanned over and found that there was an invisible backdrop Chen Miao Ping and thought that he looked familiar. He furrowed his eyebrows.
The eunuch beside him whispered in his ear to remind him,
“He is the current Flower Seeker Chen Miao Ping. He was wed to the second son of the Xie Family yesterday. Perhaps Your Majesty has forgotten but it was your own official imperial decree.”
The Emperor thought about it and then remembered. But his head was still throbbing in pain from the situation before and hearing any news related to the official examination, his expression immediately cooled. He looked at Chen Miao Ping and with an unflinching voice that one could not tell if he was happy or not, he asked,
“You are Chen Miao Ping? Quite prim and proper, quite a pair with Zhen’s beloved official Xie.”
On the surface Chen Miao Ping looked quite composed, and hearing this he rose up and bowed with his hands,
“Miao Ping thanks Your Majesty’s praise.”
He felt like he was on the edge of a knife and decided to keep his mouth shut. The more he spoke, the more likely he could be in trouble. He hoped that the other would only ask a few questions.
But it seemed that the Emperor did not want to let him go with just that and continued his line of questioning,
“Where are you from?”
At this time, if he was from Hu Zhou or Jiang Zhou he would most definitely be inching towards misfortune.
Chen Miao Ping lowered his head quite modestly and said,
“Miao Ping is from Jin Zhou.”
Xie Yu Zhi felt like the situation was getting out of hand and discreetly gave a glance to Xie Su Zhi. The latter signaled for him to not worry. Then she lightly laughed and shook the arm of the Emperor, saying,
“Your Majesty, it has been a few busy days for you and it is rare for you to come to see this royal consort. Why are you only asking Miao Ping and not asking about this royal consort?”
Hearing that Chen Miao Ping was of Jin Zhou, his expression warmed up quite a bit. He patted on Xie Su Zhi’s hands in comfort and said,
“All the ministers have handed in complaints of cheating in this official examination. Zhen is quite in pain. There is still that crowd of scholars waiting outside the Imperial Palace calling for an investigation and those old ministers cannot find a solution. Now that the Flower Seeker is here, Zhen wants to hear the opinions of this youth.”
Once these words were put out there, Xie Su Zhi could not in good faith stop him. She thought in her heart that at least there was still the face of Chang Guo Gong and His Majesty should not do anything to Chen Miao Ping. It was also fairly reasonable that he would do this. Perhaps, Chen Miao Ping could even be noticed and remembered by the Emperor and she became reassured.
The Emperor lifted and sipped on his teacup. As if it was a casual conversation, he said to Chen Miao Ping,
“The cheating situation that Zhen has just mentioned, have you heard of it?”
Chen Miao Ping slightly furrowed his eyebrows, never wishing more than anything that he was deaf,
Notes:
*1 Zhen: This is a reference call to “I” or “me” only used by the Emperor
*2 “deserves death”: a phrase that is usually said to the Emperor for being pointed out for doing something wrong or when you have done something wrong. It can be used in good faith or to save your life, kind of like placating the Emperor and saying that you know you did wrong/were guilty to ease the anger (if not said like in this situation where the Emperor is really just rebuking Xie Yu Zhi and not really outraged)
Special Notice on a schedule change!!!
Alrightie, so another announcement for a schedule change… as we have very much so been too optimistic and overestimated our pile of work on this novel. (´;︵;`) Chen Miao Ping’s smooth talking and bullshitting skills are seriously off the charts But, (you may have notice from my reply to comments…) that in turn creates a lot of work for me to research and translate as I mentioned in Chp 39 (in particular, trying to find an official english translation and if there is none, me pretend to be literary scholar and researcher haha), compared to the first volume where most things I already knew the equivalent (or closest to, at least) like the slang and lingo.
Plum is also kind of in the same boat, in the sense that there’s too much information that I have given them and trying to slim that down to something more readable, and to reach my goal of limiting footnotes (as that would be so much easier but it’s way too much jumping around for reading) is a lot for them. We have found ourselves to take frequent breaks and do it in small batches, but as it stands, it doesn’t exactly work out. (;´Д`)
So as much as I hate to change the schedule (especially when I am a reader myself and waiting for updates, gah), I will have to cut down one of the release dates, just so we can keep up some sort of schedule before overwhelming the both of us. For right now, we will just keep Mon, Wed and Fri as when chapters are released (starting from today) to hopefully catch ourselves a bit of a break (seriously, I have an immense appreciation for all those who translate historical genres and all translators actually because this is hard work, to find the right words).
At this point, I must also say I am very grateful and thankful to everyone who keeps reading (and liking and commenting and providing feedback), as time and time again, my motivation (and Plum’s) to continue really is because so many of you are enjoying this in some way and continue to read this translation ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁) Sincerely (and out of the bottom of my heart), thank you so much for all your support (and all those lovely comments and likes) to power me (and Plum) through!! I will see you Wednesday for the continuation of what’s going happen to Chen Miao Ping!
>>Edit: The phrase “Wei Chen” has been changed to “This imperial official” as Plum and I have discussed and thought it was better that way, but it seems the editing software did not want to save it and we didn’t notice the blunder before we released the chapter >: ( In any case, if you were questioning what that meant, wei chen means a third person to refer to oneself, to the emperor (cause you can’t really say me/I), and it’s basically to refer that you are a loyal subject to the emperor. Only pertains to males with positions(ministers/officials).
Chapter 43: CH 43
“That year he became the laughing stock of the party, so perhaps he went back and powered through his anger. This noble consort remembers that three years ago he tried the exam, but he didn’t qualify for any ranking. Apparently Wu An Hou made him bow before all the known teachers and scholars at the Zhi Wen Institution. I didn’t think that he would actually make it this year.”
The maid laughed,
“This is called rewarding those who worked hard!”
Xie Su Zhi gave a soft “hmph” before saying,
“I, this noble consort would rather he be more stupid. If his rotten personality was not fixed, this kind of man going into court to be an official is only to the detriment of all the common citizens.”
Chen Miao Ping and Xie Yu Zhi were led by a maid inside into the palace and they just heard that phrase. Chen Miao Ping’s footsteps paused for a second, thinking that this noble consort was a straight ball.
The maid glided over to Xie Su Zhi and bent her knees with a bow,
“Noble consort, Second Master and Gu-Ye have arrived.”
Xie Su Zhi was just getting invested in the subject at hand and had not notice the both of them enter. Once she did however, Xie Yu Zhi was already in front of her and beside him was an attractive young man with a face that was definitely above the average person. She couldn’t help but take a few glances.
“With respect, we greet the noble consort, wishing you a long and safe life.”
Xie Yu Zhi and Chen Miao Ping were just about to do their bowing but were stopped. Xie Su Zhi made a stern face, purposefully showing that she was unhappy and said,
“We are all part of one big family. What are you doing, completing such worthless and empty gestures when you arrive here at Zhi Feng Palace? You won’t call me your elder sister after marriage?”
Xie Yu Zhi couldn’t help but laugh,
“My elder sister, what kind of words are you spouting out? This is only because we cannot be found lacking in our manners.”
Xie Su Zhi gave him a look,
“Who knows when you suddenly started following the rules to the letter? Just take your seat now.”
And then she turned her gaze back to Chen Miao Ping, looking at him from head to toe and then from bottom to top again, slowly taking in all the details. She complimented him half heartedly with a bit of truth intertwined,
“This must be our Flower Seeker of this exam period. Definitely one of excellence, with a good aura. This noble consort has not seen such a fine gentleman for quite a few years now. Our dear Yu Zhi does have a good eye.”
Chen Miao Ping helped Xie Yu Zhi sit down and smiled as he heard this. He waved his hand saying,
Xie Su Zhi took in his actions under her eyes and internally nodded her head. She fixed her collar while thinking before responding,
“Which does remind me that you should be given something to do now. Han Lin Academy is a fairly fine place, but there are a lot of little things to be done. You look like someone who is intuitive, so it is a bit pitiful if you are not even a seventh rank official in such a place……”
Implying that she will be finding him a position.
Xie Yu Zhi smiled and looked at Chen Miao Ping. He pointedly said,
“Han Lin Academy is quiet and slow. It will be hard to have your name promoted.”
Han Lin Academy is where all the scholars come together. If there was a chance, perhaps in the future he could enter into the heart of it. But unless he was someone who shined brighter than everyone, entering into such a place was about leveraging your age and experience to build up your career.
Remembering the sharp pain from yesterday, Chen Miao Ping subconsciously stroked back and forth on his hand. He turned towards Xie Su Zhi and smiled. Underneath the shocked eyes of everyone here, he politely refused,
“There are a lot of things in this world that can become a shackle and fall underneath the idea of chasing after a dream aimlessly. And no matter how high or low of a position, as long as it is to help the country and its citizens, that is of worth. Miao Ping is still quite young, with little to no experience under his belt. To be able to calm his impulsiveness to study at Han Lin Academy would be good and so I humbly thank the noble consort’s faith in me.”
Xie Yu Zhi did not expect him to say this and looked at him quite strangely. Then he fixed his expression and said to Xie Su Zhi,
The Emperor walked quickly into the palace and lifted up Xie Su Zhi himself. He sat down with her and signaled Xie Yu Zhi and the rest to rise up and sit down. He smiled and said,
“There is no need for such greetings between Zhen’s beloved consort and Zhen1. Zhen came here quite coincidentally at the same time as Zhen’s beloved official Xie. He has taken his new decorated position and doesn’t even do anything, making it hard for Zhen to catch him.”
Xie Yu Zhi smiled,
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“This imperial official deserves death.”2Only this phrase and nothing else.
The capital has always leaned towards the literary arts over militant subjects, which created quite an imbalance in the imperial court assembly. To have a burgeoning Xie Yu Zhi that was suddenly crippled (in both matters of physically and spiritually for the court), the Emperor felt pain and pity. His eyes scanned over and found that there was an invisible backdrop Chen Miao Ping and thought that he looked familiar. He furrowed his eyebrows.
The eunuch beside him whispered in his ear to remind him,
“He is the current Flower Seeker Chen Miao Ping. He was wed to the second son of the Xie Family yesterday. Perhaps Your Majesty has forgotten but it was your own official imperial decree.”
The Emperor thought about it and then remembered. But his head was still throbbing in pain from the situation before and hearing any news related to the official examination, his expression immediately cooled. He looked at Chen Miao Ping and with an unflinching voice that one could not tell if he was happy or not, he asked,
“You are Chen Miao Ping? Quite prim and proper, quite a pair with Zhen’s beloved official Xie.”
“Miao Ping thanks Your Majesty’s praise.”
He felt like he was on the edge of a knife and decided to keep his mouth shut. The more he spoke, the more likely he could be in trouble. He hoped that the other would only ask a few questions.
But it seemed that the Emperor did not want to let him go with just that and continued his line of questioning,
“Where are you from?”
At this time, if he was from Hu Zhou or Jiang Zhou he would most definitely be inching towards misfortune.
Chen Miao Ping lowered his head quite modestly and said,
“Miao Ping is from Jin Zhou.”
Xie Yu Zhi felt like the situation was getting out of hand and discreetly gave a glance to Xie Su Zhi. The latter signaled for him to not worry. Then she lightly laughed and shook the arm of the Emperor, saying,
“Your Majesty, it has been a few busy days for you and it is rare for you to come to see this royal consort. Why are you only asking Miao Ping and not asking about this royal consort?”
Hearing that Chen Miao Ping was of Jin Zhou, his expression warmed up quite a bit. He patted on Xie Su Zhi’s hands in comfort and said,
“All the ministers have handed in complaints of cheating in this official examination. Zhen is quite in pain. There is still that crowd of scholars waiting outside the Imperial Palace calling for an investigation and those old ministers cannot find a solution. Now that the Flower Seeker is here, Zhen wants to hear the opinions of this youth.”
Once these words were put out there, Xie Su Zhi could not in good faith stop him. She thought in her heart that at least there was still the face of Chang Guo Gong and His Majesty should not do anything to Chen Miao Ping. It was also fairly reasonable that he would do this. Perhaps, Chen Miao Ping could even be noticed and remembered by the Emperor and she became reassured.
The Emperor lifted and sipped on his teacup. As if it was a casual conversation, he said to Chen Miao Ping,
“The cheating situation that Zhen has just mentioned, have you heard of it?”
Chen Miao Ping slightly furrowed his eyebrows, never wishing more than anything that he was deaf,
Notes:
*1 Zhen: This is a reference call to “I” or “me” only used by the Emperor
*2 “deserves death”: a phrase that is usually said to the Emperor for being pointed out for doing something wrong or when you have done something wrong. It can be used in good faith or to save your life, kind of like placating the Emperor and saying that you know you did wrong/were guilty to ease the anger (if not said like in this situation where the Emperor is really just rebuking Xie Yu Zhi and not really outraged)
Special Notice on a schedule change!!!
Plum is also kind of in the same boat, in the sense that there’s too much information that I have given them and trying to slim that down to something more readable, and to reach my goal of limiting footnotes (as that would be so much easier but it’s way too much jumping around for reading) is a lot for them. We have found ourselves to take frequent breaks and do it in small batches, but as it stands, it doesn’t exactly work out. (;´Д`)
So as much as I hate to change the schedule (especially when I am a reader myself and waiting for updates, gah), I will have to cut down one of the release dates, just so we can keep up some sort of schedule before overwhelming the both of us. For right now, we will just keep Mon, Wed and Fri as when chapters are released (starting from today) to hopefully catch ourselves a bit of a break (seriously, I have an immense appreciation for all those who translate historical genres and all translators actually because this is hard work, to find the right words).
At this point, I must also say I am very grateful and thankful to everyone who keeps reading (and liking and commenting and providing feedback), as time and time again, my motivation (and Plum’s) to continue really is because so many of you are enjoying this in some way and continue to read this translation ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁) Sincerely (and out of the bottom of my heart), thank you so much for all your support (and all those lovely comments and likes) to power me (and Plum) through!! I will see you Wednesday for the continuation of what’s going happen to Chen Miao Ping!
>>Edit: The phrase “Wei Chen” has been changed to “This imperial official” as Plum and I have discussed and thought it was better that way, but it seems the editing software did not want to save it and we didn’t notice the blunder before we released the chapter >: ( In any case, if you were questioning what that meant, wei chen means a third person to refer to oneself, to the emperor (cause you can’t really say me/I), and it’s basically to refer that you are a loyal subject to the emperor. Only pertains to males with positions(ministers/officials).
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