CH 22

After the passing of Bailu, the swan-geese flew south1, the weather turned cooler, the skies were gradually overtaken by the desolate atmosphere of autumn, while a murderous air was filling the world. Over the past few days, the sky has been gray and gloomy, hovering over people’s heads, and simultaneously pressing on people’s hearts.

T/N: Wow, this chapter is really exhausting to translate (just look at the number of footnotes), but Su Shiyu’s cuteness gave me strength…even though he sounds like a villain waiting to push Chu Mingyun when he least expects it ala Shen Qingqiu & Luo Binghe, I expect he’ll also be the one to offer rope if not accompany him on the way down…but this chapter can be boiled down to this:

Su Shiyu: This letter is written too normally to be Chu Mingyun!

Emperor: Yeah, but don’t you want to get rid of him? Or are you really gay for him?

1.Bailu 白露 (literally white dew) – the 15th cycle of the lunar calendar, or the start of the 8th lunar month. It marks the transition into autumn.

2.有头有脸的人物 – literally ‘people who have a head and have a face’, meaning all the who’s whos/anyone of renown in the town.

3. 十万火急刻不容缓 – Literally: an emergency involving ten thousand torches that would not allow for slowing down. Likely an idiom originating from the passing of military news.

4.休沐 – off-day declared for officials every 5 or 10 days depending on the post.

5.黑白丛横 – I translated it literally but I should also state that this is the title of a 2008 novel.

6. Meaning that they seem to recognise Chu Mingyun’s authority more so than the Emperor’s authority.

8. 愧不敢当 – commonly used to “modestly” reject praise, but here he’s sarcastically saying that Chu Mingyun’s body is a honor that’s too large a reward.

9. 戏谑之语 – cracking jokes. Basically he wants Su Shiyu to repeat the words he used to flirt with him.

10.事必躬亲 – needing to handle matters by oneself.

11. 将我一军 – xiangqi chess-related metaphor originating from using a move to capture the General chesspiece. It means to make use of something or circumstances important to the other party to put them in a dangerous situation.

12. 宣室殿 – Although it has the word for ‘Palace’, this building in the ancient imperial city is actually more like an discussion hall where the Emperor could receive distinguished subjects for private audience (sensitive matters related to the throne or imperial family). It is also mentioned in the Shiji under the 《贾生传》and the Tales of the Sanfu, 《三辅故事》

13. 鹬蚌相争，渔翁得利 – an idiom referring to two parties engaged in a conflict that results in heavy losses on both sides, only for a third party to take advantage of them. The snipe is a bird. This idiom originates from Liu Xiang’s (of The Western Han Dynasty) Strategies of the Warring States《战国策·燕策二》.

14. 疑问咽了回去 – literally swallowing the question back.

15. 眸色深敛 – okay this one stumped me a bit, I translated it as closely as possible but it might be a typo for 眸色极深 which just means that Su Shiyu had really dark eyes.

16. 不矜名节 – usually this phrase means that one does not use demand self-respect from others because of their status, but the way that Su Shiyu puts it here implies that he doesn’t know how to act with self-respect befitting his stature.

17. 青云直上 – to literally ‘rise in a straight line above the clear skies and clouds’.

18. 右扶风, 京兆尹，左冯翊 – the first character indicates a cardinal position relative to the capital, so ‘Jing’ Zhaoyi probably governs the central part of the capital when the Sanfu (三辅) were in power. These are titles, not names. See the previous chapter notes for more details.