CHARACTER INDEX
Ashina: Princess of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Kayla's bride-to-be.
Heli: Chieftain of the Tongluo tribe, a teenage boy who is at great risk of being usurped by his nephew (who is already over 30).
Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince, a contender for the throne.
Zhou Yunqi: The Fifth Prince, supporter of the Third Prince.
Zhou Xianchun: The Seventh Prince, a contender for the throne.
Kulun: A tarkhan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, tasked with overseeing Ashina's wedding in the Wu Dynasty.
Hu Qing/Liang Hongfei: Lord of the Liang clan, Kayla's friend and supporter.
Housekeeper Li: Formerly Matron Li, Kayla's loyal servant.
Sun Zhong'e: A middle-aged woman who works as Kayla's retainer.
Li You: A hot-tempered man who works as Kayla's retainer.
Shu Ling: A woman who works as Kayla's retainer, sent to guard Feng Yi.
Feng Yi: A good-natured merchant who was pulled into Kayla's plots.
Zhao Yuanji: One of Zhao Wenyuan's uncles, sided with Kayla against the Grand Duke and was involved in her coup.
Sun Ruhui: Left Secretariat of Justice, Kayla's supporter.
Liang Shen: Minister of Justice, former Lord of the Liang clan and Hu Qing's older half-brother.
Qu Boyong/Xiang Daozong: Lord of the Xiang clan, sought revenge against the Grand Duke in Book 1 and was reinstated by Kayla as a political ploy to get herself out of jail.
Chen Caichun: Chamberlain of the Court of Judicial Review and Kayla's supporter. Younger sister of Chen Jian, a young Imperial Investigator.
Li Que: A Senior Investigator in the Imperial Investigator Bureau, supports Kayla.
Ji Fangluo: A pregnant woman who entered Qu Boyong/Xiang Daozong's revenge plot when her weak-hearted father was dragged in. Kayla wanted to recruit her in order to prevent Ji Fangluo from falling into the hands of someone who wishes to have information to hold over Kayla's head.
Chujiao/Jing Shuyou: Wenyuan's childhood sweetheart and personal serving girl, she was in truth the cousin of Qu Boyong/Xiang Daozong, and was sent to infiltrate the Zhao household at a young age. Kayla realized Chujiao was a potential threat upon seeing the red jade gifted to Chujiao by the late Imperial Princess, and abruptly distanced herself from Chujiao, eventually taking the young woman hostage against Qu Boyong before returning her as a gesture of goodwill for the coup against the Grand Duke.
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Kayla leaned back in her carriage seat, resting her head on the wall. She was on her fifth draft of how to tell the Emperor about the new policy in a way that the Empress Dowager couldn’t use against her, and nowhere close to finishing. Thankfully, the Emperor seemed determined enough to back her against even his own mother, at least for now.
My path grows narrower the further I walk, Kayla rubbed at her temples. What I’m doing will benefit the Emperor a great deal, but it insults almost everyone else.
If she was complacent, Kayla would be torn to shreds sooner or later. Her marriage with Ashina made it more difficult to destroy her for the time being–but that was also temporary. The young princess might even become a threat in the future, if things went badly.
I’d better strengthen my ties in the North, she decided. That young Commander from the Tongluo…Heli, was it? I can make use of him.
She thought back to what she had seen of the teenager from their brief interactions.
Commander Heli’s parents are dead, his uncles and nephews want to usurp him, and from the way he carries himself, I doubt he gets much support from his grandfather. The boy subconsciously exuded the air of a wounded wild animal in a hostile environment. If left alone, he probably would grow into a ruthless leader, but Kayla doubted he could survive that long. Without help, the young Commander would be replaced soon enough.
Then I'll start with him.
No one would make a more loyal ally than a kid with no other patron to rely on. Kayla knew all too well how desperate an isolated teenager could get, especially when their only parental figures were growing more disappointed in them by the day.
When you’re that desperate, you’ll do anything, Kayla thought grimly. She subconsciously glanced in the direction of Ashina’s carriage as the gates of Luoyang came into sight.
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The delegation was welcomed with great fanfare as they entered the capital. The Emperor’s eunuchs came to meet them several miles outside of the city, where they had prepared a red outfit and white horse for Kayla well in advance.
Kayla made the switch to horseback as they continued on towards the palace. The roads were lined with people for miles, growing more crowded as they entered Luoyang.
The Emperor had mobilized the Imperial Guards to keep the streets clear as they entered the gates. Clamors and cheers filled the air, with people pressing forward from either side as they craned and stretched their necks to get a better glance at the procession. The windows and balconies of nearby buildings were packed full of curious onlookers, with some daring youngsters climbing out onto the roof eaves. A number of Imperial Investigators stood guard over the rooftops, and Kayla knew there were at least a dozen hidden men for each one that was visible to the civilian eye.
Her ears were filled with a crackling static sound by the raucous noise about her. There were thousands of eyes watching the procession go by with a singular gaze–a grand display that the Emperor had painstakingly prepared to show off the marriage. He had taken great effort to turn the alliance from something spoken of derisively into a stirring spectacle.
Kayla kept her back straight and a calm smile on her face as they proceeded towards the palace, a pleasant warmth curling up in her stomach.
How many people would remember this day? How many of them would speak of it to their children in future years? A sudden burst of affection swelled up inside her for these people who lived their tiring, uneventful days the way she once did, with a hunger for something better and a hope for their lives to remain peaceful.
The crowd thinned as they reached the palace. Trumpets and horns sounded out as the procession entered the gates and went into the main courtyard. A slew of palace musicians had been stationed on either side of the path, dressed neatly in their official uniforms. The whole court had turned out, lining the main courtyard with civil officials on one side and military officers on the other. From the looks of it, the Emperor had gathered every official in the capital to welcome Princess Ashina.
Distantly visible from below, the Emperor himself sat inside the main hall, wearing the most formal of his robes. Serving girls with large, artfully crafted fans stood behind him, with Imperial Guards on either side. All three princes stood near the throne, their eyes keenly watching the procession as it came closer.
The horsemen all dismounted, Princess Ashina also coming out from her carriage to proceed on foot. But despite Kayla tugging at the reins, the eunuch leading her horse went on unfazed until they reached the bottom of the steps towards the main hall. Kayla’s heart did a somersault, flip-flopping about like a dying fish, but she quickly resigned herself to the Emperor’s extreme display of favor.
She dismounted when the eunuch finally brought the horse to a stop and waited for Ashina to catch up. They climbed the stairs side by side and knelt before the throne, in perfect sync without glancing at each other even once.
“Zhao Wenyuan humbly greets His Majesty the Emperor and the Imperial Princes!” Kayla said, projecting her voice. Beside her, Ashina also knelt gracefully.
“Ashina greets His Majesty the Emperor,” Ashina said.
Kayla withheld a smile. Ashina was as prideful as one would expect a princess to be–there was no reason for her to greet a prince on her knees when they were of equal status, and so she wouldn’t.
“Please rise,” the Emperor said, lifting a hand towards them. Kayla and Ashina stood up.
“Princess Ashina, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to our country,” the Emperor greeted her. “I trust that Wenyuan has properly arranged for your journey?”
“Thank you, Your Majesty. Duke Zhao has been most thoughtful,” Ashina replied.
“The Princess is too kind, I only did what I could to my limited ability,” Kayla said modestly.
The Emperor beamed at them affectionately. The conversation smoothly rolled through the formalities and Kulun-tarkhan’s introduction, and they soon moved onto the welcome banquet. One of the Emperor’s eunuchs discreetly passed along orders to come to the Emperor’s quarters later that night, after Ashina and the Turkic delegation had been properly settled in and accounted for. Kayla nodded her acceptance, and the eunuch slunk away again.
Kayla went through the greetings and conversations at the banquet like a well-oiled machine, letting the event wash over her like an ocean wave. Though everything proceeded with carefully-engineered smoothness, Kayla was more than relieved when it came to an end. Once Ashina had been escorted off to her temporary residence and Kayla had taken her leave of the Emperor, she headed straight back to the Zhao household with her guards. At her prodding, Hu Qing headed off to his own household despite his complaints about dealing with the Liang clan.
The familiar sight of the Zhao household appeared in the carriage window. The senior servants came out to greet Kayla outside the gates, along with Sun Zhong’e and Li You. To her relief, Shu Ling and Feng Yi were also present, Feng Yi beaming happily at her from Shu Ling’s side.
“Welcome back, my lord,” Housekeeper Li greeted her, the other servants and retainers echoing along.
“Thank you,” Kayla replied, glancing subtly at the gates. “It’s good to see all of you again, especially the faces I haven’t seen in a good while.”
Feng Yi’s smile grew even wider, making him seem more like a child than a middle-aged man. Kayla nodded at him and Shu Ling before catching Housekeeper Li’s glance.
“Oh, I’m guessing that my relatives are here?”
“Right inside the gate, my lord.”
Kayla stepped into the outer courtyard, where all the Zhao clan members of some importance had gathered. She accepted their greetings and congratulations before insincerely inviting them for a drink, desperately hoping they would refuse. Led by Zhao Yuanji, they respectfully declined with the excuse of letting her get some rest and all filed out again.
They came all this way just to greet me? They’re as docile now as they were with the Grand Duke, Kayla thought to herself. She wasn’t too sure how to feel about that.
Housekeeper Li interrupted Kayla’s thoughts as she came over.
“Left Secretariat Sun is waiting for you inside, my lord,” Housekeeper Li said.
“Wonderful,” Kayla muttered. “I was hoping he would be.”
She caught sight of Sun Ruhui as she stepped inside the Inner Quarters.
“My lord,” he greeted her, bowing his head slightly.
“Sun Ruhui, it’s so good to see you!” Kayla said, taking hold of his shoulders. “It’s only been a few weeks, but it feels like such a long time.”
“I’m glad to see you well, my lord,” Sun Ruhui said, his eyes crinkling as he smiled. “Chamberlain Chen is on her way–she thought it best to keep an eye on the Princess’ journey to the residence after the banquet, just in case of any improprieties or unpleasantness on the way there.”
“How thoughtful,” Kayla said. “I should’ve considered that. Why don’t you tell me what’s happened in my absence while we wait for her?”
She had agreed with the Imperial Investigators and the Court of Judicial Review to receive sparse reports during her absence, omitting any and all sensitive information save for emergencies. There was no point in taking chances while traveling with a foreign delegation–if someone wanted to fish out information via microexpressions the way Hu Qing did, Kayla didn’t trust her face not to give things away.
“A lot has happened, my lord. The Seventh Prince has been at the Third Prince’s throat since you left,” Sun Ruhui said. “I was almost a little surprised at how aggressive he’s been. He showed no signs of being prepared prior to this, but he certainly made his move swiftly enough.”
“I suppose I should’ve expected this,” Kayla muttered. “He’s always had it in him. He probably sensed that I would never be of help to him and decided to do things his own way.”
And he probably had help from Liu Boyue.
“By all rights, the way he’s acting should have incurred the displeasure of the palace given how much trouble he’s making, but he has the Empress Dowager’s backing these days,” Sun Ruhui said, his tone careful as he glanced at Kayla’s face.
“That was fast. I didn’t realize I had irked her to the extent she would do something that went against the interests of the court,” Kayla said in surprise.
“I doubt it’s because of you, my lord. The Emperor’s asserting his authority and moving to completely cover the sky with one hand, and where does that leave her? She’s had power for so long, it’s not easy for her to relinquish it,” Sun Ruhui said. “More so since politics is tangled up with familial relationships. I doubt she can act in a completely rational manner when it’s her own son who is pushing her out.”
“Well, that may be the case, but Xianchun isn’t exactly an easy person to handle. How long can she keep him on a leash with that temper of his?” Kayla said. Sun Ruhui didn’t reply, a small crease passing over the center of his forehead.
But then again, everything’s relative. If I’m the one she’s using as reference, then Xianchun might actually seem like a better choice. The Empress Dowager already knows his temper, so she won’t be too upset even if he acts out. But Wenyuan was always the docile one, so she took that way more personally.
Kayla winced a little at the thought. “Never mind, she’ll probably be able to use him for a while.”
Sun Ruhui inclined his head slightly in response.
“Let’s get back to the topic of Xianchun–tell me what he’s been up to,” Kayla said. “Xiang Daozong also received a position from the Empress Dowager, didn’t he? Is he siding with Xianchun?”
“Not that I know of, I believe the Imperial Edict Bearer has been acting to prevent such a thing. The Seventh Prince’s faction has moved to impeach a number of Kuang’s supporters on various grounds of immorality, corruption, and dereliction of duty–notably, all of the officials he’s seeking to impeach are tied to the Shu clan in some way,” Sun Ruhui said. “The Third Prince was able to handle him with ease, using four ounces to lift a thousand pounds.”
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“Minister Liang’s case?” Kayla guessed.
“Minister Liang’s case,” Sun Ruhui confirmed. “The Third Prince’s faction has a solid case when it comes to impeaching Minister Liang for being unfilial, disloyal, and violating succession laws by posthumously voiding the will of his father and the status of his stepmother. He easily backed the Seventh Prince into a standstill, but the Seventh Prince retaliated by raising accusations against one of the generals of the Shu family using an old misconduct case that had been closed years ago.”
“The one where he was accused of disciplining soldiers extrajudicially? I thought that was dismissed in his favor,” Kayla said.
“Yes, but with the Shu clan’s current position being so precarious, it’s enough to stir up a wave they can’t withstand,” Sun Ruhui agreed. “The Third Prince was infuriated when the accusation was made at the convening of the court, but managed to bring his reaction under control swiftly.”
Kayla frowned. “He never loses his cool in public,” she muttered.
“I suppose every man has a soft rib,” Sun Ruhui agreed.
“Then is Fifth Cousin alright?” Kayla asked.
“I believe so. The case isn’t going anywhere. The Third Prince pointed out that there were no legal grounds for reopening a case without new evidence, and quickly discredited the new witness they had produced. But the case has brought the Shu clan back into the spotlight, and hardly to their benefit,” Sun Ruhui said.
A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. “My lord, it’s Chen Caichun.”
“Come in!” Kayla stepped over as Chen Caichun entered. “It’s good to see you, Caichun.”
“Welcome back, my lord,” Caichun greeted him.
“Thank you for going to check on the princess, it’s very thoughtful of you,” Kayla said.
“Not at all, my lord. I’m just doing my duty.”
Kayla nodded and gestured for both of them to sit.
“We have a lot to talk about,” she said.
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The room was silent for a long moment after Kayla finished recounting the events of the journey and her new policy plans.
Kayla glanced between Sun Ruhui and Chen Caichun, both of who had deeply thoughtful frowns on their faces.
Is it that bad?
“It’s doable, isn’t it?” Kayla prompted.
“Indeed,” Sun Ruhui agreed. “It’ll be difficult to argue against it with how you’re framing the policy, and it certainly would set the foundation for any large-scale reforms you may wish to undertake.”
Chen Caichun nodded. “There will be resistance, of course. There’s a reason why such a thing has never been enacted despite ample resources, but the court might finally gain the momentum to push it through this time.”
“Extremism is always a convenient excuse,” Kayla agreed.
“But it would certainly make things difficult to navigate when it comes to your marriage,” Sun Ruhui said. “If the Princess finds out her father’s true role in all this…”
“That can’t be helped. I’ll deal with that when it happens,” Kayla said.
“It bothers me that the khagan acted so rashly, given that he’s known for being a careful man with keen political acumen,” Sun Ruhui admitted. “And even if he were desperate to settle matters due to upcoming conflicts with the Western Turkic Khaganate, this doesn’t seem like a reasonable route to take–he already has an alliance, he would’ve been better off cooking a frog in warm water than stabbing straight in.”
“I think it really is his doing though,” Kayla noted.
“I don’t doubt that, my lord, but this doesn’t add up. There must be something we’re missing here,” Sun Ruhui said.
“Are we sure this isn’t just how he does things? I mean, my grandfather was considered to have keen political acumen, and he absolutely did things this way,” Kayla pointed out.
“That may work for a faction, but not for a country,” Caichun jumped in. “We should keep our eyes sharp and continue observing for now. Whatever the missing piece is, it’s definitely crucial.”
“You guys have a point. Is the communication infrastructure policy still good to go?”
Caichun and Sun Ruhui nodded hesitantly.
Kayla sighed in relief. “Great. But that aside, communication infrastructure isn’t enough. It’ll allow us to actually rake in the taxes and fines we’re due, but we need to do more than that. I think we need to establish satellite administrations in the Shu area and Shanxi. And I’m not speaking of just the regional administration we have at the moment, we need branches of the central government there.”
Sun Ruhui and Chen Caichun frowned almost in unison.
“You mean to establish a separate court in those areas? That’s just asking for rebellion,” Chen Caichun pointed out.
“No, of course I don’t mean to establish new courts or whatever, I mean as in…special development zones,” Kayla tried again. “We can push forward agriculture reforms within those zones under the direct supervision of the central government, and test any economic policies as well. More importantly, we can use them as strategic zones for supervising policy rollouts and preventing civil unrest. These two regions are practically perfect for rebellions and establishing autonomous control–they’re both surrounded with natural barriers on all sides and have ample fertile land in the center. If we don’t grab it first, who knows what kind of people will? A lot is going to go down in the next few years, we need to be strategic about cutting off our opponents’ back routes ahead of time.”
It was difficult to launch a successful rebellion to usurp the dynasty from either Sichuan or Shanxi, but it wasn’t so difficult to break off from the rest of the country during times of chaos. If everything went smoothly, which was unlikely, that wouldn’t be a problem.
But I can’t take that chance. I have to plan for the worst, in case we either can’t fend off the invasion, or the country’s devastated enough from natural disasters that people will start declaring independence from the dynasty. With the communication infrastructure cutting down on how much the clans could glean from the dynasty’s pot, then they’d have less allegiance as well. We might just be substituting one problem for a more pertinent one if we’re not careful.
Sichuan alone had been occupied by rebels at least a dozen times throughout history from what Kayla could remember. If that would happen when the country was already on the brink, the results could be catastrophic.
“The Shu region and Shanxi are indeed easy to defend and hard to attack,” Chen Caichun admitted after a moment of thought. “But the administration of such zones would be difficult, to say the least. It would be easy for the official in charge to gain too much power, and once that power has been given out, it’s difficult to take back.”
“I agree with Chamberlain Chen, my lord. There’s a reason why local governors are given limited powers and shuffled about on a regular basis,” Sun Ruhui said worriedly. “If we’re already planning to start doing so with the military officers as well, then we can’t create an opening where civil officials may take advantage of the power vacuum to establish themselves.”
“That’s fair enough, but that’s what the communication infrastructure is for. Daily reports and periodic surprise inspections will be mandatory, and if we have nation-wide data coming in on a daily basis, it’ll be hard for them to hide anything, especially if we also monitor market prices,” Kayla said.
“Market prices? Merchants won’t go along with it,” Sun Ruhui said. “They already engage in all kinds of tax evasion and fudging the books, it’s impossible that they would report prices to the central government.”
“No, I doubt they will. We need to drastically expand the functions of the Ministry of Revenue, or otherwise establish a whole new bureau to deal with this,” Kayla admitted. “But we need to have regularly updated market information from the entire country if we want to get things done–that’s the only way we can actually monitor corruption and tax evasion, and also to avoid sabotage. I already know that people will be engaging in malicious compliance to destroy my policies, that’s what happens to every reform that reaches into the pockets of the elite.”
“I suppose so,” Sun Ruhui acceded. “But having the infrastructure is different from being able to use the infrastructure. If your proposal pushes through, which I’m sure it will, we’ll have far too much information to go through on a daily basis for the existing system to handle. Even if the Imperial Investigation Bureau and Court of Judicial Review dropped everything to monitor what was coming in, we would still be unable to deal with the sheer volume of the information. The army of secretaries who work through the reports that are made to the Emperor are but a small sliver of what we would need.”
“And that’s not even counting those who would maliciously submit large amounts of useless information in order to drag down efficiency,” Chen Caichun pointed out.
“Yeah,” Kayla muttered, wistfully thinking to the computer systems of her own world. "Caichun, from what you know, how good are the transcription spells in use these days?”
“They’re not great,” Caichun admitted. “The Bureau uses higher-grade ones, but even those are difficult to use, since they can’t match the right characters to the sounds. We might as well not have any, for the most part. They’re only used to supplement Investigator testimonies for when a confession was elicited through deception outside of an official interrogation.”
“Well, that’s too bad, but I don’t think I need to worry about that until the second phase. What about spells for locating specific characters in a text?” Kayla asked.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” Caichun said, a small frown of confusion on her face.
“Say I wanted to find the character for Zhao in a document, is there a spell that could tell me where the character appears?” Kayla explained.
“Not that…I know of,” Caichun said hesitantly.
“That’s fine, I suppose. The Hanlin Academy still has a lot of scholars without any real positions at court, don’t they?”
“I suppose we could use them–though some of the Hanlin scholars might be somewhat unenthusiastic for what they might see as a waste of their time. After all, many of them are from good families, or they have relatives who serve or did serve as officials. But perhaps you could enlist your godfather’s help,” Sun Ruhui said.
“Good idea,” Kayla agreed. “We can also recruit some young scholars who haven’t taken the civil exam yet. It would achieve two goals at once in meeting the manpower shortage and also in breaking the chokehold that the clans have over civil service.”
“You would have to establish another taskforce to supervise them,” Sun Ruhui said. “The material cost for this might make it a relatively affordable option, but the manpower costs are another story.”
Kayla heaved a sigh. “You’re right…it’ll all add up quickly, and this’ll be a consistent expenditure too. Do you two have any ideas?”
“Speaking of costs, I drafted a directive for you that would allow the court to confiscate the assets of the Grand Duke’s accomplices,” Chen Caichun said. “It’s not quite what you asked for, but it should allow us to requisition the total sum of what they stole from the state or received in bribes from their clans rather than from their personal assets alone. That should generate a significant amount of funds. It’s not a permanent solution, but it’ll buy us time to prepare for the rain before the storm arrives.”
“An excellent piece of work,” Sun Ruhui chimed in.
“I don’t have it with me right now, but I’ll send it to you shortly,” Caichun promised.
“Excellently done! I look forward to it,” Kayla said. Caichun lowered her eyes, smiling at the praise.
“In any case, I believe this policy is worth it, regardless of the costs,” Sun Ruhui said, pulling the conversation back to the topic at hand. “What this country needs is not a gradual process of change, but a dose of strong medicine. Having a system that allows us to properly monitor local administration is absolutely crucial.”
“I’m glad to have your support on this,” Kayla said. “Then I will present my proposal to the Emperor tonight.”
Sun Ruhui and Chen Caichun nodded. Sensing that the meeting was over, they rose to their feet.
“Then we’ll leave you to prepare, my lord,” Sun Ruhui said.
“Thank you,” Kayla replied. Sun Ruhui took his leave, Chen Caichun lingering behind.
“My lord, I spoke to Ji Fangluo while you were away, and she is willing to serve in your household,” Caichun reported.
Kayla’s face stretched into a wide smile. “Wonderful, Caichun. You really are a miracle worker!”
Caichun bowed her head slightly. “I am unworthy of such praise, my lord. Ji Fangluo is close to giving birth, so I arranged for a doctor recommended by Senior Investigator Li to watch over her. I would recommend waiting at least until the child has reached a hundred days to actually employ her in any tasks.”
“Of course, you’re absolutely right. And I’ll cover the costs of the doctor. I don’t actually need her to do anything, I just need to ensure she doesn’t do anything for someone else,” Kayla said, softly sighing in relief. “You’ve taken a great burden off my shoulders, Caichun.”
Caichun hesitated briefly before speaking. “I’m glad to be of service. But on that note, Ji Fangluo had a single condition.”
“Yes?”
“She became closely acquainted with Miss Jing Shuyou while living as neighbors, and appears to be very sympathetic towards Miss Jing. Ji Fangluo asks for you to meet with Miss Jing one final time before your wedding as her condition for joining your household,” Caichun said.
Kayla paused for a moment, breathing in sharply. “Chujiao,” she said quietly. “She wants to see me?”
“I saw Miss Jing briefly, but she only inquired as to your wellbeing,” Caichun admitted. “I believe she did not wish to voice the request herself and asked Ji Fangluo for help.”
“I suppose I should meet with her,” Kayla said. “It feels almost like a lifetime ago that…anyways, I accept.”
“It could become a problem if your meeting becomes known to Princess Ashina, may I recommend meeting her in a safe house?” Caichun’s tone was careful as she spoke, as though she were broaching a delicate topic. Kayla was briefly reminded of a nurse she had spoken to in the emergency room years ago, but quickly shook off the unsettling memory.
“Good idea,” Kayla agreed. “I’ll have Zhao Chao arrange it for me.”
Caichun bowed her head. “Then I’ll take my leave now.”
Kayla nodded, her stare growing distant as Caichun left the room.
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Cultural Notes
Tongluo: One of the Tiele tribes.
路走窄了/Path has become narrower: A Chinese folk saying that means to have narrowed one's actions through one's own choices, often by insulting someone.
Riding a horse in the palace: This was a privilege granted to very few individuals even throughout the entire history of Ancient China. Riding a horse within the palace was forbidden to most, often even to the Crown Prince–only those who had been granted special permission by the Emperor could do so without incurring serious consequences, and receiving permission was a sign of enormous favor.
冕服/Mian outfit: This referred to the most formal set of robes worn by the Emperor during important occasions, this remained relatively unchanged throughout Chinese history and is still the most iconic outfit associated with the Emperor. Below, to the left, is an example of the robes the Emperor would be wearing (though this picture is from the Ming Dynasty, scholars believe the costume to be relatively similar to the mian outfit of preceding dynasties). And the picture to the right is an example of the serving girls with fans.
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8e/Wanli-Emperor.jpg/300px-Wanli-Emperor.jpg] [https://p5.itc.cn/q_70/images03/20220906/18103c87d3e444de8c36d97ec325900c.jpeg]
一手遮天/Cover the sky with one hand: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to take full control, to dominate the situation.
游刃有余/To wield the knife with practice and ease: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to have full control over the situation due to experience, talent, or preparation, to the point of having plenty of space to maneuver with ease. Comes from the pre-Qin classic Zhuangzi, a Taoist classic, where it described someone who was able to carve up a butchered ox with such practice that the blade dances between the bones.
弹劾/Impeach: A phrase referring to the specific process of impeachment in Ancient China in which reports were submitted to the court and the Emperor to attack/accuse an official or noble/royal.
四两拨千斤/To dial a thousand pounds with four ounces: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to accomplish a great feat with minimal effort/input, or to defeat something much bigger. It has Taoist origins.
滥用私刑/To inappropriately employ extrajudicial punishment: This can mean performing illegal torture to extract a confession/information, or using extrajudicial punishments that are either illegal due to the nature of the punishment, or that you do not have the status to employ.
软肋/Soft rib: A Chinese phrase referring to someone's weakness or soft spot.
温水煮青蛙/Cooking a frog in warm water: A Chinese proverb that means to slowly up the ante/pressure while coaxing someone into complacence. The saying goes that if you try to cook a frog in boiling water, it’ll jump out. But if you place it in a pot of cool water and slowly turn up the heat, the frog will not react until it’s too late.
割据一方/Cutting off and occupying a region: A common phenomenon during times of civil unrest, especially between dynasties. Warlords would often establish themselves as a local ruler over a certain region.
蜀地/Shu lands: Refers to the region of modern day Sichuan province, which is surrounded by natural barriers on all sides with fertile ground in between. It's notoriously difficult to attack and easy to defend, and has been occupied by warlords over a dozen times throughout Chinese history.
山西/Shanxi: A province in China that is surrounded by mountains and rivers on all sides that makes it difficult to attack from any direction, with ample arable land at the center. It's been occupied by warlords around 9 times throughout Chinese history.
枉费心力/Waste your heart's energy: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to waste your effort.
一举两得/Gain two things with one move: An Ancient Chinese proverb, equivalent to "kill two birds with one stone."
未雨绸缪/Prepare for the rain before it falls: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to plan and prepare ahead of time.
翰林院/Hanlin Academy: An elite scholarly institution in Ancient China, composed of scholars who completed literary and secretarial tasks for the Emperor and the court, as well as conducted academic research on important texts and classics.
循序渐进/Go orderly and proceed gradually: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to take things slowly, to make changes in a gradual fashion.
一剂猛药/A dose of harsh medicine: A Chinese saying referring to traditional herbal medicines that contain high concentrations of natural chemicals that have drastic effects on the patient, often saved for when a patient is in a dangerous condition and the doctor has to prescribe an unusually strong concoction that might have some side-effects but would keep the patient alive long enough to actually have the side-effects (which would often be mitigated by more herbal medicines). This is often used as a metaphor for taking drastic action.