Chapter 3
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 .
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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.