Xia Niangniang - Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

The young emperor stands in front of the window and teases the bird in its cage, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Lost in his own thoughts, his hands pause in their motion as the oriental greenfinch hops in its cage as lively as could be.

The elderly administrator of palace interior stands behind the emperor, clueless as to why he was summoned before the benevolent ruler of the country. Having served for many years in the palace, he was deeply aware of the meaning to 'the will of the divine is hard to fathom,' so he bows his head and waits in silence for the emperor to speak.

The young emperor turns around and pursing his lips, says "The person who resides in the cold palace who has yet to come of age, slight of frame and sightless. Who is he?"

The administrator of palace interior mutters to himself for a moment, then bows and says "Though this humble servant(1) does not handle the affairs of the cold palace, one does from time to time hear rumors. The person master speaks of has resided within the cold palace for a long time. His blindness may have been caused by some sickness. He is a person of little significance thereupon his birth name is known by none. The people of the castle think it fitting to call him the blind concubine for his blindness and as over time, this is what he has come to be known as."

The young emperor says "Why do I(2) have no memory of neither his arrival into the imperial palace nor the reason for his banishment to the cold palace?"

The administrator hesitates and replies "This humble servant is not knowledgeable on this, and also the past affairs of the palace are many. If deeper investigation were to be undertaken into this matter, it may prove a heavy challenge. Your majesty must attend to many affairs of government each day. Several years ago, the supervision of all affairs of the imperial harem were assumed by the Emperor Dowager so it is not surprising that your majesty does not know of this.

The young emperor nods, turns around and continues to tease the bird. The chirping of the greenfinch is gentle and pleasant to the ear.

His lips curl up faintly as he recalls unintentionally meeting the young man yesterday in the cold palace.

The afternoon sunlight was intoxicating and the scent of flowers permeated the air. While taking an idle stroll in the imperial gardens, the sun of late spring and early summer clouding his senses, unbeknownst to him, he had long ventured far from the imperial gardens into a more secluded area of the palace-the cold palace.

The wild grasses and plants of the cold palace were left untended and flourished over a vast expanse of land as if it were to join with the horizon. A brush of wind swept up the flower blossoms from the ground. In the very moment he raised his sleeve, past the flower blossoms dancing in the sky, he saw him.

His gaze was immediately drawn to his pale face, his slender figure clothed in a simple white robe.

His content expression.

Smiling.

As if no one existed but him, but the shadow of the trees, the scattering of the flower blossoms, the splendidness of the sunlight.

His feet had moved on their own and entered the courtyard and he looked for a long time. He had even dismissed the greeting(3) of the servant.

What had attracted him?

He had no outstanding beauty to speak of, and furthermore, he was sightless.

A countless number of beautiful women reside in the palace, each of them possessing a pair of pretty eyes, whereas this one had none.

The young emperor sighs and summons for a servant.

The blind concubine basks under the sun in the small courtyard.

How can anyone pass up the good weather?

A light breeze carries with it the scent of green grass.

Yu Li dozes on his feet. Its warmth penetrates the thin material of the cloth and soothes his heart.

Xiao Bao also leans against the rattan chair dozing in light slumber.

A parade of footsteps from faraway seems to be headed this way.

Xiao Bao stands up in bewilderment, dusts off his clothes, and sees the administrator of palace interior standing in the entrance of the small courtyard leading a crowd of manservants and palace maids. Indeed, this gave him quite a scare.

What has become of the cold palace? Why does everyone suddenly see fit to pay us a visit?

The administrator makes a shushing motion with his hands and beckons him forward with his eyes.

Xiao Bao lowers his head to see that the blind concubine has already fallen asleep, so he carefully makes his way to the courtyard entrance and kneels.

He has never encountered this administrator before but remembering the beatings and punishments administered by the others, upon seeing this uniform attire and this badge, his calves begin to quiver and his palms break out into cold sweat.

But this administrator surprisingly allows him to rise to accept his orders.

A long unending procession of manservants and palace maids hold embroidered silk fabric quilts, glazed porcelain chinaware, exquisitely crafted fabric fans…so that he cannot help but take a quick peek.

The administrator whispers a few words to the person standing beside him. The person nods his head and as silently as they can, leads the manservants and palace maids into moving the many gifts of different sizes into the courtyard, arranging them in their proper positions.

Xiao Bao's jaws drop in astonishment.

The administrator says to Xiao Bao " These gifts, speak not of their existence to your master. Understand?"

Xiao Bao starts, hurriedly nods his head, "Yes, I understand."

"Nor will you mention one word of the gift giver."

Xiao Bao again nods vigorously, "Rest assured, even if Xiao Bao possesses the guts of a hundred men, Xiao Bao dares not speak a word."

"From this day on, I fear there will be many esteemed persons passing through the cold palace. You must go about your duties as in the past. Do not let your master sense any change. Beware of what comes from your mouth, you should know this."

Xiao Bao makes a gesture of agreement.

After a while, a servant comes forward to report, "Everything has been properly arranged."

The administrator nods and waves his hand to dismiss the servant. Then leaving behind a few last closing instructions, he leads the crowd of manservants and palace maids away.

Struck by a moment of pure stupefaction, Xiao Bao finally comes back to his senses.

What, what is this?

How many years has master lived in the cold palace? Never has anyone questioned this. Ordinarily it would take half a day for Xiao Bao to beg for some food to bring back. Why is this changing now?

He ran into the main house to take a look and his eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

The furnishings inside the house dazzled his eyes: sandalwood engravings, FuHai pattern flower vases, golden lotus candlesticks, peach patterned vessels…Heavens, is this still the cold palace?

As Xiao Bao gawked about in delighted astonishment, the blind concubine remained completely oblivious, holding his precious Yu Li to his breast as he lay on the old rattan chair.

However, Yu Li has just woken up, blinking its round penetrating cat eyes in silence, stilly.

Only after a long while does the blind concubine wake.

The afternoon rays spill on him through the breaks in the tree leaves like a blanket embroidered with gold thread, so soft and comfortable so that no sleep is enough.

With difficulty, Xiao Bao manages to move the new divan into the courtyard. Possessing neither a strong body nor strength, he can only move the object a little bit for each step he takes. The wooden base slides over the uneven ground, emitting a sharp noise.

The blind concubine stands up with Yu Li in his arms, hands smoothing over its soft cat hairs. "What's that noise?"

Xiao Bao has shed a film of sweat under the bright sun, but his voice is ecstatic as he says, "Master, come sit on this chair."

He supports the blind concubine to the soft divan, sits him down and slips off his shoes.

"How does it feel?"

" Oh my! How soft!" exclaims the blind concubine.

"It is! Master has said it." Xiao Bao cannot help but smile.

Yu Li slips out of the blind concubine's arms and somersaults comfortably on the divan, mewing in pleasure, tail swishing back and forth.

The blind concubine happily says, "Yu Li isn't willing to move!"

When Yu Li is happy, he feels even more happiness.

He has never used something like this.

Curiously, he asks, "Where did you find this?"

Xiao Bao remembers the administrator's instructions, thinks, then says, "I found it on my way back. Maybe one of the harem's concubines require it no longer and has discarded it near the cold palace."

The blind concubine seems to believe this and smiles.

What a treasure!

And even Yu Li likes it.

"Sorry to have troubled you to move it back here."

"If it pleases you, master."

The blind concubine gropes about for Yu Li's paws, then tugs him forward, "You must sit too. It's very comfortable."

Xiao Bao makes a sound of surprise. "No, that would be improper!"

"Nonsense. Come sit! It is really very comfortable."

Xiao Bao shuffles backwards. He dares not sit on the soft divan the emperor himself bestowed on the blind concubine!

Oblivious to Xiao Bao's thoughts, he presses down on his shoulders and pushes him to sit on the soft divan. "Isn't it soft?"

The split second Xiao Bao's bottom made contact with the material of the couch, he springs back up and cries, "Yes, very soft. But a servant does not have the good fortune to enjoy these comforts. As long as you find it comfortable, I am pleased."

The blind concubine is thrown off by Xiao Bao's actions.

YuLi, on the other hand, has no patience to acknowledge this pair of master and servant. Legs extended comfortably, he sinks deep into the divan.

The blind concubine sits back onto the divan, mindful of Yu Li, "but it really is very comfortable…"

"You really won't sit?"

Xiao Bao shakes his head like a rattle-drum, "No."

"Oh…"

The blind concubine is very confused.

This is very soft, indeed.

Why not sit?

Sighing, he thinks, this strange child…

This humble servant- Anyone who serves the emperor must refer to themselves in the third person using the title of whatever position they are in, for respect. For example servants actually refer to themselves as "slaves" if directly translated from Chinese but it means about the same as "this humble servant" in English.

I- In Chinese, the emperor would refer to himself as "zhen" and not "I" because it actually signifies his status as the emperor. However, for the purposes of translation, I'm just going to leave it as "I."

Greeting- This is equivalent to bowing to a king in Medieval European societies when you see them and then when you leave his presence as a gesture of respect and recognition of status called "gui an" but I wasn't sure how to translate this well so I just left it at that. Basically, you kneel and then bend your forehead to the ground with your hands on both sides next to your head and say, announce yourself, and wish the emperor a long life or something along those lines. And the bowing is not just done in the presence of nobility but to esteemed elders or parents too but don't take me for an expert on the subject.