Character Index
Lin Jie: Newly introduced character, a low-ranking Secretary.
Zhang Wuxian: Newly introduced character, a low-ranking Secretary.
Secretary Song: A half-Persian Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, he previously sought out Kayla as his patron after realizing that was his best option.
Wei Guang: The Imperial Edict Bearer and Kayla's godfather.
Zhou Kuang: The Third Prince.
Zhou Chenqian: Son of the Third Prince and Cao Shuyi.
Cao Shuyi: Wife of the Third Prince and mother of Zhou Chenqian, the prince's only child.
Zhou Yunqi: The Fifth Prince.
Zhou Xianchun: The Seventh Prince.
Liu Boyue: Strategist and former best friend of the Seventh Prince.
Ashina: Princess of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, came to Luoyang to marry Kayla but found herself in an increasingly precarious situation.
Kulun: A tarkhan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, tasked with escorting Ashina to Luoyang and overseeing the wedding.
Derin: A lady-in-waiting and chief attendant of Princess Ashina, came with Ashina to the Wu dynasty.
Lady Lin: A blind divinator who was acquainted with Wenyuan's mother, the Imperial Princess.
Chujiao/Jing Shuyou: Wenyuan's childhood friend and sweetheart, cousin of Qu Boyong. Kayla recently ended things definitely between Chujiao and "Wenyuan", in light of her upcoming marriage.
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Pale-faced officials streamed out of the Main Hall, some consumed with dread, some stirring with excitement. But all of them had felt their hearts drop into their stomachs at the Emperor’s full-blown fury.
A young secretary wiped at his forehead, quickening his steps to catch up with his friend. “Goodness, that was terrifying, I couldn’t stop sweating even though I had nothing to do with it! I’ve never seen the Emperor so angry before!” Zhang Wuxian muttered, scrutinizing the other man’s expression. Lin Jie’s face was unreadable as always.
The two worked in different Ministries, but they were both Secretaries, and had both been raised to a position in the capital from the provinces after Zhao Wenyuan had started his anti-corruption investigations. To some extent, they were both indebted to the man. Isolated from the social and informational networks of the capital and unwilling to fully commit to the neutral faction, the two had formed a strong bond despite their short time together.
“The Emperor was terrifying today, yes, but that’s not what really sets my hairs on end,” Lin Jie said.
“What, then?” Zhang Wuxian gave Lin Jie a curious look. “Do you have a close acquaintance in the Wang clan or something?”
Lin Jie scoffed. “If I did I wouldn’t have been stuck in the same position for so long. I speak of Duke Zhao.”
Zhang Wuxian frowned. “Now that you speak of him, he was pretty quiet today, wasn’t he? I’d have expected him to be at the very center of it all, but he didn’t even get a promotion out of it. But I suppose that makes sense. He’s gotten enough promotions for a good while.”
“Just because he kept quiet doesn’t mean he wasn’t behind all this,” Lin Jie replied, chuckling dryly. “Looks like Secretary Song had the right idea when he sought out the Duke as a patron.”
“You mean he came up with all this? I know he’s got some skills up his sleeve, but you’re overestimating him too much, aren’t you?” Zhang Wuxian asked.
“Then who do you think came up with it? The Imperial Edict Bearer?” Lin Jie shot back.
“I would’ve thought that the Imperial Edict Bearer was cooperating with the Emperor,” Zhang Wuxie admitted. “I mean, look how well the two of them were bouncing off each other earlier. Plus, the Imperial Edict Bearer is Duke Zhao’s godfather and the better statesman of the two–it would stand to reason that he would take charge of how to handle the incident.”
Lin Jie shook his head. “Then why are we only hearing about this now? This happened weeks ago. There’s been a full investigation without anyone, not even the Court of Judicial Review or the Ministry of Justice, being any the wiser. The Imperial Edict Bearer is too loyal to have kept something this big from the Emperor, and with the Emperor’s personality, he wouldn’t have contained his anger for this long. No, Duke Zhao purposefully withheld this information from the capital so as to wield it on his return. Mark my words–the policies will benefit him greatly, promotion or not.”
“But that means…” Zhang Wuxie muttered, trailing off uneasily.
“Yes, it’s just as you think. Green comes from blue but exceeds it–Duke Zhao’s influence will expand beyond our imagination, and we’re only just getting started. We’ve got a beast on our hands far more dangerous than the Grand Duke, and the Emperor doesn’t seem interested in muzzling him,” Lin Jie said.
“What tumultuous times we’ve come into,” Zhang Wuxie lamented. “Tell me then, what are we to do with an unmuzzled beast?”
Lin Jie’s face became grave. “We feed it.”
Zhang Wuxie gave him a look of disbelief. Lin Jie turned towards his friend, a strange half-smile on his face.
“We feed it, and hope that it does not eat us.”
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Kuang entered his household, greeted immediately by his son upon stepping inside the Inner Quarters. Laughing, he grabbed the squealing boy and swung Chenqian onto his broad shoulders.
The servants bowed and stepped out of the courtyard demurely as Cao Shuyi waved them away.
“My dear, you’re certainly in a good mood,” she said teasingly. Kuang gave her a bright smile.
“Of course, Shuyi, the gears of fate have been set in motion,” Kuang replied. “Great changes are ahead of us, and I’m well-positioned to make the most of it. Why wouldn't I be happy?” He set down Chenqian and let the giggling boy run off, stepping closer to Cao Shuyi and lowering his voice.
“There’s nothing set in stone, of course, but I have a feeling that this might be it,” he said quietly into her ear. “If I perform admirably in the implementation of Wenyuan’s policy, I’ll likely be named Crown Prince.”
Cao Shuyi let out a soft gasp of delight. “Truly?”
“Yes,” Kuang said, his smile widening. He pulled her into an embrace, Cao Shuyi tucking her head into the crook of his neck.
“Congratulations, this is excellent news!” Cao Shuyi said, her voice trembling with happiness. “Oh, I’m so happy for you!”
“Not set in stone yet,” Kuang reminded her, but the note of excitement in his voice gave him away. After a moment, Cao Shuyi pulled away, trying and failing to control her smile. She got the upper hand over her facial muscles soon enough, and placed a hand on Kuang’s chest.
“But my dear, whether it’s now or in the future, don’t forget that we must still be cautious,” she warned him. “Anger and joy must not be easily made visible to others.”
“You’re right, of course,” Kuang replied. He could tell that she also meant the angry outburst over Yunqi’s matter. His face grew somber, and he let out a deep sigh. “I just couldn’t contain myself last time. It won’t happen again.”
“I understand,” she said earnestly. “The problem is that few others can say the same. You’ll have plenty of opportunities in the future to reward Yunqi’s devotion to you, just keep that in mind, and you’ll find the fortitude to withstand your anger.”
Kuang’s eyes softened. “As you say,” he agreed.
Chenqian came running back around the courtyard with a crumpled flower in his hand.
“Father, here!” Chenqian said proudly.
“Goodness, did you pluck that from the gardenia patch?! I just planted those!” Cao Shuyi scolded him. Laughing, Kuang tucked the flower into his collar and pinched Chenqian’s cheeks.
“And you! Stop that, you’ll make his face all lopsided!” Cao Shuyi whirled on Kuang next.
“It won’t! I used to do this to Yunqi all the time when we were children, and his face is fine,” Kuang protested.
“I’d like to see you laugh about this when your son’s face ends up disfigured!”
At the mention of Yunqi’s name, Chenqian clambered at Kuang’s robes with his tiny hands until the prince scooped him up again.
“Father, Fifth Uncle still didn’t finish the story!” Chenqian complained.
“What story?” Kuang asked.
“The story from last time! Emperor Guangwu of the Han dynasty,” Chenqian said. “He never told me how Liu Xiu became the Emperor.”
Kuang made an exaggerated frown for Chenqian’s benefit. “Is that so? Well, where did he stop?”
“After Liu Xiu started fighting in the rebellion with his older brother,” Chenqian said.
Oh. That would explain it. Yunqi's probably worried that Chenqian would be upset by it. Kuang hastily forced a smile.
“Well, I’ll tell you the rest of the story another time,” Kuang said.
“But I wanna know how he became Emperor! Did his older brother give him the throne?” Chenqian whined.
“Another time,” Kuang promised.
He set Chenqian down, patting him on the back before pushing him towards Cao Shuyi.
“Right now, your father has work to do.”
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Xianchun’s face was an expressionless mask, but the tense lines of his body belied the tumult within.
“Third Brother knew about this.”
Liu Boyue stepped forward cautiously. “About the policy?”
“I’m sure of it,” Xianchun said. “The way he was reacting just right, just on time, I noticed it right off the bat. Wenyuan must have–that bastard! And there’s nothing I could do about it. I’d become a laughingstock if I brought this up without proper evidence!”
He turned towards Liu Boyue with a frown. “He’s already gained the initiative. This policy…it’s the beginning of a race, the final race, if I’m correct. But I’ve already fallen behind. What do we do?”
Liu Boyue considered it for a moment. “We still have time, my prince. This can’t possibly be the extent of the policies. The Emperor is just taking advantage of this incident to kick-start his reforms, but once the court’s fear fades away, they’ll start to poke holes at the necessity of the policy. Therefore, he must be acting first and then producing justification retroactively.”
“What do you think they’ll do next?” Xianchun demanded.
“The Emperor is weakening the major clans, but he cannot possibly do this without sufficient support. And from where would he draw that support? It must be the minor clans and newly wealthy,” Liu Boyue said. “They have enough resources and education to be of some influence if harnessed properly, but not the political power or money to pave their way without some serious backing. So if the Emperor dangles the possibility of officialdom before them, they’ll bite. But not without hesitation.”
“Taking on the clans is long overdue,” Xianchun said, reluctantly approving. “Their corruption and greed has gone on for long enough.”
“But where does that leave you, my prince?” Liu Boyue asked pointedly. “If the Third Prince attains great merit in the implementation of the reforms, he’ll most certainly win the throne.”
“I’d not obstruct a policy that benefits the country,” Xianchun snapped.
“Not obstruct the policy, my lord, just obstruct the Third Prince’s participation in it,” Liu Boyue assured him. “The Third Prince will have to spend a great deal of effort to rally the minor clans, but remember that the only way to avoid making a mistake is to do nothing at all–since he will act, there will inevitably be a slip-up. When that happens, we can gain the upper hand without getting in the way.”
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
“Third Brother doesn’t make nearly enough mistakes for it to matter,” Xianchun said impatiently. “His political sense is too astute–he’ll sense a slip-up before it can become a problem.”
“But not if he’s distracted,” Liu Boyue pointed out. “If we continue focusing on the Shu clan, or any other matters related to the Fifth Prince, the Third Prince will lose his cool. The two of them are…intertwined, you can say, to the extent where the Third Prince will not cut his losses even if he has to go under with his brother.”
Xianchun let out a cold chuckle. “What a touching brotherhood, huh? One would almost think they were born from the same womb instead of from different mothers.”
Liu Boyue sensed his chance. “The upcoming wedding is a good occasion, my prince. If we unearth something related to the Shu clan before then, it’ll affect the Fifth Prince’s behavior. It’s hardly as though he can miss the ceremony.”
Xianchun hesitated. “That goes too far, does it not? I’ve already gone far enough by attacking the Shu clan, now you want me to attack Fifth Brother directly?”
“My prince, if you wish to accomplish great achievements, you cannot be wavering and indecisive. Zhao Wenyuan’s already made his decision and abandoned you, and now the Emperor’s favor for him grows by the day, far more so than his regard for you,” Liu Boyue pleaded.
Edging forward, he carefully evaluated Xianchun’s face as he went on.
“Look at the Third Prince. He doesn’t care about the bonds of body and limb when it comes to you, his youngest brother. But when it comes to the Fifth Prince, he gladly gets dragged down by deadweight until he’s close to drowning. He willingly holds on to such a great weakness, but he has a strong maternal clan and in-laws to back him—and what of you, my prince? Can you say the same? You, who has no brother or mother to rely on? Can you afford to act in such a manner when you can scarcely keep afloat yourself?”
A muscle twitched in Xianchun’s face. Liu Boyue withdrew slightly, having successfully touched upon all of Xianchun’s sore spots. A long moment of silence stretched out as Xianchun’s face remained blank.
Just when Liu Boyue began to consider backtracking, Xianchun spoke.
“If you do not break ties when you should, you’ll be dragged into chaos by your indecision. Third Brother knows this principle well. In fact, he was the one who taught it to me in the first place.” He slowly turned towards Liu Boyue, a terrifying glint in his eyes. “If he can’t follow what he teaches, then…he can’t blame me for that.”
Liu Boyue bowed his head. “Understood, my prince.”
Xianchun waved a hand in dismissal, and Liu Boyue quietly left the room again.
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The Empress Dowager let out a humorless laugh, flicking her hand. The eunuch bearing the report hurriedly scurried out of the room.
She turned to the three senior eunuchs at her side. Ever since Wenyuan had been made the Director of the Bureau, the Imperial Investigators no longer reported to her unless ordered to by the Emperor.
“Well, don’t just stand there, what do you all think?” The Empress Dowager asked, a dangerous edge to her voice.
The eunuchs glanced at each other in frightened silence.
“Look at what a fuss they’ve stirred up,” the Empress Dowager remarked, ignoring the cowering eunuchs beside her. “The younger generation can’t hold their temper…how do they expect to accomplish larger goals like this?”
“It is as you say, Your Highness,” one of the braver eunuchs offered.
“The Emperor too, he’s hardly a youngster by now, and yet he’s getting carried away like this. Water can carry the boat or sink it–an all out attack like this will be met with harsh reprisals from the clans,” the Empress Dowager said. “We must balance this out somehow.”
“How so?” The eunuch asked.
“The clans will all fall upon the Emperor like a pack of wolves at the current rate, or otherwise unite to overturn the policy. They need a distraction, yes, something for them to chew on.”
They knew she was waiting for them to make a suggestion, but none of the eunuchs dared to speak. For one, the Empress Dowager’s influence had declined significantly and was hardly worth offending the Emperor for. But more importantly, no one wanted to be involved in these matters.
Somehow, within less than two months, three eunuchs had been removed from the Empress Dowager’s palace. One fool had died after poisoning Duke Zhao and himself, and the other two, both senior eunuchs, had disappeared after being ejected from their positions. There was bad luck amok, and no one wanted any part in it.
The Empress Dowager scoffed as though she could hear their thoughts.
“We’ll find something,” she said, more to herself than to anyone else. Her eyes flicked in the direction of the side palace set aside for the Turkic delegation. “In fact, we already have a good option available.”
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Ashina closed the scroll with trembling hands, stiffly setting the report aside. She refused to meet Kulun-tarkhan’s eyes as he watched her with concern, staring resolutely at a distant corner. The tarkhan had urgently begged an audience in the middle of the day, startling Ashina out of her appetite altogether. The man never had any good news for her before, and today was no exception.
Seeing that Ashina was refusing to give a response, Kulun remained still and silent for a moment before letting out a sigh.
“One would have thought that a man of his station…no, perhaps we should have predicted this from the start.”
Derin frowned, stepping closer to him. “Why-what are you speaking of?”
“Since that is how things are, it can’t be helped. But admittedly, this is far from the worst outcome.”
He turned to meet Derin’s gaze, finally gracing her with an explanation.
“This policy did not spring from a domestic event. Duke Zhao is using our actions to frame his own enemies,” Kulun said. “And admittedly, to better surveil us as well. But his vitriol is domestically directed–not towards us, that is.”
Derin reeled back, staring at him in disbelief. Instinctively, she glanced at her princess.
Ashina breathed in and out heavily, struggling against her urge to fly into a rage.
“And what, pray tell, does that mean for us?” Ashina asked through gritted teeth. “For me?”
Kulun was silent again.
“If he has not taken issue with Your Highness on this matter, then he likely would not do so in the future, especially now that he has publicly labeled this a domestic matter,” he finally said. “Should he behave inappropriately, or even coldly, in his marriage, it would cast suspicion upon that.”
Ashina stared at him, a faint ringing in her ears. She was going to rip his face off or she would explode, she was sure of it. Before she could fly off her seat and take a knife to Kulun’s infuriatingly unflappable expression, Derin stepped before her, facing down Kulun with fury in her eyes.
“Relying on his attachment to his own public image–for a man who has been known not to care for it?! You risk your princess, risk the peace of your country on that?!” Derin snarled.
Kulun lowered his eyes. “I apologize, my princess, Derin-hanim.”
Ashina let out a laugh in disbelief. “Leave,” she said, her voice almost hysterical. If she had to see him for a moment longer, she was sure she would stab her hairpin into his ear.
Kulun needed no additional prompting this time, and left with a bow. Derin turned towards Ashina with concerned eyes after firmly shutting the door behind him.
“My princess,” she began.
“Don’t,” Ashina managed to say. If Derin comforted her now, Ashina knew she would cry. Derin settled for placing a hand on Ashina’s shoulder, standing silently at the princess’s side.
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Kayla set aside the last of the scrolls, staring blankly at the pile. After weeks of tense anticipation, and even more weeks of nervous agitation before that, they’d finally gotten through the first step. For the time being, she had the upper hand. Things were going well, really, but she could still feel the cold dread chasing at her heels.
There was no repose, not even a calm before the storm, only a never ending battle. That, Kayla didn’t mind. But the thought of dealing with Ashina on top of that left her feeling strangely forlorn.
The princess was a likable girl in a fraught situation that she’d played no part in creating–as much as Kayla sympathized with her, the princess also weighed guiltily in the periphery of her thoughts the way that Chujiao sometimes did.
For one, they weren’t going to let the Khagan off the hook. They could lull him into a false sense of security for now, but he was going to pay. The Imperial Investigation Bureau was already working at full gear to conduct a full sweep of Khaganate agents, and that was only the beginning.
How long before the ripples from that reach us?
Kayla tried to quash the fretting in her mind, but it only grew louder as her meeting with Ashina approached.
Even if I tell her the truth, are we seriously expecting her to side with me over her family? Her, the adored apple of the Khagan’s eye?
“Honesty is always a good policy,” Wei Guang had prompted her. “Not too much of it, of course, given her…affiliation, but a little can go a long way if she senses that you’re opening up to her.”
Well said for a man who never married.
There was no guarantee Ashina would understand, or that she would even want to. Whatever fragile trust Kayla built up between them would come crashing down sooner or later, it was only a matter of time. Still, it was useful to have Ashina’s trust.
The thought prickled in her mind like a rebuke. Kayla pushed a hand through her hair, leaning onto her palm with a sigh as it came back down along the nape of her neck to her jaw.
I don’t want to hurt her. It would be nice if I could actually trust her, but that’s not a privilege I can afford. All she could do for now was to be courteous and truthful wherever possible, and hope that Ashina suffered less for it.
But if Ashina wanted Kayla to sincerely open up to her, as would be expected from a proper marriage, that was a different story. Kayla had only shown her true self to a single person since she’d arrived, and that had been Wenyuan. Sure, the old blind divinator lady had known, but that didn’t count in her book. Whether in her old world or in this one, Wenyuan had been the only one who truly understood who she was.
It had been a little too much for Kayla–she resolutely piled all that into the very back of her mind and determinedly shut it away. Only when she had become the only soul left in this body did it become possible to even broach the thought of her childhood, and even then sparingly.
Not that she hadn’t trusted Wenyuan, or that she hadn’t thought of him as her best friend and closest companion. But it had been years upon years of piled up silence that crushed even the possibility of discussing anything further back than her college years. Wenyuan had known everything, but thankfully, he’d never pried.
Kayla had gotten her fill of teachers and counselors telling her that her family wasn’t normal, wasn’t healthy, wasn’t right. It was the cautious concern that she couldn’t stomach, the careful inquiries as to whether Kayla was being abused at home. Which wasn’t the case. Which was never the case. Unlike the Grand Duke, her mother had never meant to cause any harm.
But by the time she’d gotten into college, Kayla was tired of walking the tightrope, of assuring her mother that they were fine, that she was grateful, of explaining over and over to outsiders why this was reasonable and that going against her mother wasn’t an option. Therapy helped, but it also made things a little bit worse. Then things had fallen apart anyways, in the most catastrophic way possible.
It had been the last time Kayla had pleaded with her mother before she’d been unceremoniously kicked out from the house, and that was the last time they’d spoken with each other. The thought of it made her nauseous even now, but in a way, it had been freeing. Since it was done with, it was done. So long as Kayla didn’t think about it, she had all her life out in front of her.
Wenyuan had understood. In the same manner that Kayla avoided Wenyuan’s more personal memories, those of cuddling with his parents or of tender moments with Chujiao, he avoided her sore spots in turn.
Kayla could feel her mood plunging again, and hastily downed the rest of her tea. The leaves had been steeping for too long. The cold, bitter liquid made her scrunch up her face.
Better to get it over with sooner than later. Kayla stood up from her desk, straightening her robes. She neatly tucked away the useless thoughts with practiced ease and went out to the carriage.
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Cultural Notes
似笑非笑/Seem to be smiling but not quite: A Chinese descriptor referring to the strange, transient half-smiles you might catch glimpses of when someone is experiencing complex emotions that they're not sure how to react to yet.
蒙在鼓里/Muffled inside the drum: An Ancient Chinese proverb meaning to pull the wool over someone's eyes, to keep something hidden.
青出于蓝而胜于蓝/Green comes from blue but exceeds blue: An Ancient Chinese proverb from the pre-Qin era, it is often used to express being surpassed by one's children or students. It's worth noting that there's a lot of discourse over just what the color "青/Qing" really should be, a lot of people think it's a shade of azure or cyan, while other think it's a rich and vibrant blue-green, but most often, the character is used to describe the color green in the context of leaves as they occur in nature, so it's safe to say that it probably means green.
汉光武帝刘秀/Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of Han: Yunqi was telling Chenqian the story of Liu Xiu, the Emperor Guangwu, the founder of the Eastern Han dynasty (the Han dynasty was split into two parts thanks to Wang Mang, the guy from the dogblood incident mentioned in previous chapters). Liu Xiu originally joined the rebellion against Wang Mang led by his charismatic older brother, Liu Yan. The country was in chaos at that point in time, with rival rebellion factions everywhere, so Liu Yan's group eventually joined up with the Green Forest Rebellion. At that point, the movement wanted to coronate a new Emperor, and many people supported Liu Yan. However, Liu Yan's enemies feared that the man would be too difficult to control, and forcibly coronated a puppet ruler, who found an excuse and killed Liu Yan.
Liu Xiu did not immediately seek revenge, but demonstrated extraordinary loyalty and submissiveness until he was trusted enough to be sent to Hebei to subjugate rival factions in the area. At that point, Liu Xiu declared independence from the ruler and eventually declared himself the rightful Emperor. Liu Xiu went on to gain control over rival factions and became a diligent, if not perfect ruler. From my own experience back from my teen years, telling a five-year-old child about Liu Yan's death might upset them pretty badly. I had to explain to a bawling five-year-old that "yes, I understand you don't want him to die, but you need to understand that all of the people in this story have been dead for a very long time", which obviously didn't help.
喜怒不形于色/Joy and anger are not easily visible from one's expressions: An Ancient Chinese expression originally used to describe Liu Bei from the Three Kingdoms Era. It essentially means that he has good control over his reactions.
占领先机/Grab the first chance: An Ancient Chinese proverb.
手足之情/The bond of body and limb: More accurately translates into the bond of hand and foot, an Ancient Chinese proverb used to describe brotherly bonds, which are like limbs of the same body.
优柔寡断/Weak, soft, and indecisive: An Ancient Chinese proverb used to disparage someone, usually a weak ruler or leader.
同胞所生/Born from the same womb: Since polygamy was pretty common in richer households back in Ancient China, one might have a lot of half-siblings, but not as many full-siblings. It was usually expected that the latter would get along better, usually being raised together by the same mother. Since Kuang and Yunqi are half-siblings just like Kuang and Xianchun, Xianchun takes on a slightly mocking tone to describe this relationship.
当断不断反受其乱/If you do not break things off when you should, you'll be dragged into chaos afterwards: An Ancient Chinese saying.
水可载舟亦可覆舟/Water can carry a boat but water can also sink a boat: An Ancient Chinese saying that is usually used to refer to the relationship between the ruling class and the people, but can also be used to describe the relationship between the ruling class and the subject. Here, the boat refers to the dynasty and its rulers. They can keep afloat by the support of the people/subjects, but can also be overturned by them.
人人自危/Every man fears for their own safety: An Ancient Chinese saying that is used to refer to a situation in which every man is out for himself or cannot trust others, or where every man is afraid of what their own fate will be.