A Crane Cries in Huating

The lonely old courtier once shed tears of regret and grievance,

His unfilial offspring would feel sad because of their ignorance.

The boundless waves might remind him of the life in exile.[1]

Because the crown prince was bedridden, the New Year was rather bleak. Dingquan was not able to leave the bed to walk on the ground until around the Lantern Festival[2] and was confined to the study all day long. No one wanted to be near him unless absolutely necessary for fear that it would bring them bad luck right at the beginning of the New Year. 

One afternoon, the crown prince was dozing off at his desk in the study. In the compartment, A-Bao poured boiling water into a silver plate and moved the bamboo incense stove. The silver plate was heated by water, and the incense on the stove was sizzling. When Kouzhu turned around to see this. She rolled up her sleeves and said with a smile, “I’ll help you.” 

A-Bao smiled, “Are you back, Lady Xie—? Sister, please rest, I can do it by myself.” 

Kouzhu still stepped forward to help her to unfold the clothes and put them on the incense stove, then replied, “I just sent her away. She was fussing over all the trivial things for a while. It’s rare for her to visit His Highness, yet His Highness is sleeping again.” 

A-Bao nodded, “This lady is indeed rare.” 

Kouzhu said: “Yes, since the crown princess’s death, she has been considered the owner of the West Garden Inner Palace — In fact, there are only a few ladies in His Highness’s harem. You can count them with one hand. What else could she take care of? She is indeed a good person, but it is a pity that she isn’t fated to be with His Highness.” 

The two waited for the clothes to be incensed. They gossiped while watching over the incense stove. 

A-Bao asked casually, “Why?” 

Kou Zhu answered, “His Highness was married on his coming-of-age. Apart from Lady Yuan, His Majesty also pointed out four or five people. She paid her respects to Liangdi[3], who was only inferior to the crown princess. Although His Highness seldom pays attention to the harem, this Lady Xie is also an oddball. I heard that she was summoned only three or four times.” Pausing for a moment, she suddenly pinched A-Bao’s cheek, and said with a smile, “Thinking about it, she still doesn’t look good in His Highness’s eyes. Even though everyone pampers her, I don’t know why she still has such a dull complexion. Had she been born with your complexion, she might not have had such a superficial marital relationship with His Highness.”

Pointing at the clothes, she exhorted A-Bao, “Move more frequently to save charcoal. His Highness doesn’t like it.” This was a big deal, but the corners of her mouth were pulled into an unnecessary hint of a smile. Thus, what was supposed to be the slander of the slaves against the tyranny of their lord suddenly turned into a complaint of indulgence and affection.

Because he lived idly at home, Dingquan only wore casual wear[4]. Right now, Kouzhu was helping him wear his outside robe and arranging his loose hair into a guan, Dingquan then ordered to bring Supervisor Zhang in.

Author’s note:

The title of this chapter is from Jiang Yan’s 恨賦. “孽子” (See footnotes) should have meant b*****d/commoner son of royalty, but here it was borrowed just for convenience, no need to delve into it. 

Also, according to 宋史·舆服志 (Book about Song Dynasty clothes, rides, and hierarchy), the crown prince of the Song Dynasty often rode a horse. Considering A-Quan’s various bad experiences in the future, I gave him the treatment of the Tang Dynasty’s crown prince and got a vehicle to drive him. According to the system of the Tang Dynasty, the crown prince’s quadriga had three levels: the first was Gold Chariot, the second was One-horse Shay, and the third was Four-Window Carriage. They were respectively used to receive the crown princess into the palace, visiting regular court and before a suspension or execution. But I want you to know that since the popularity of stirrups in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, it became a trend among men to ride horses. In the Tang Dynasty, however, men rode horses instead of vehicles on grand occasions, and it was considered disrespectful to ride a vehicle (which is the exact opposite of the Han Dynasty). In the Song Dynasty, the nobles used fewer vehicles and mostly rode horses and sedan chairs.

TN Notes

TN Notes↲1From Northern and Southern Dynasty, Jiang Yan’s The Ode to Resentment (恨赋).↲2Fifteenth of the first month in the Chinese calendar.↲3The second-highest ranked person in the crown prince’s harem after the crown princess and the highest-ranking concubine.↲4褙子 – Bèi zǐ is a long-sleeved garment of varying length. The lapels aren’t sewn together and instead held together by a belt. It can be worn both above the underwear or as casual clothes.