Chapter 3: Pointlessly Missing Another Chance

Part 7 – Flying White Style (飞白)

Translator: Nyamachi
Translation assistant: Petrified
Translation checkers: Nyamachi & Petrified
English proofreaders: 247Reader, Nyamachi & CelestialDumpling

Since the Princess’s engagement was decided, outside the palace’s usual custom of bestowing rewards, Shu’yi Miao and National Uncle Li’s family needed to exchange gifts each time there was a festival.

To celebrate the end of the seven-year [engagement], Shu’yi Miao assigned me the task of delivering the first gift of the new year ^[1]正旦 (zhèngdàn) refers to New Year’s Day – The first day of the first lunar month every year. to the Princess Consort’s family due to the fact that I was gradually growing older and was the Princess’ close attendant. ^[2]Huaiji is referred to as the Princess’ 身边祗应人 which literally means ‘at one’s side-respectful-agree-person’. The closest official title I could find was 祗候 ‘Eunuch Usher’, one of the many titles for Eunuch Attendants.

Even though we had the good fortune of meeting once, the Princess Consort, Li Wei, didn’t show much of a reaction upon seeing me. He was still as quiet as ever. The National Uncle was ill and resting inside, and so instead it was his wife, Madam Yang, who warmly welcomed me to sit. She ordered the servants to prepare tea and sat opposite to me, making small talk and showing concern.

After gazing at me for a long time, she smiled and said: “Senior Eunuch Liang is very talented; if you don’t mention it, who would be able to tell that you are a eunuch?”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and could only act as if she had praised me. After staying for a short while, I stood up to take my leave and hurriedly departed the Li residence.

Noticing that it was still early in the day, I went to search for Cui Bai’s address, which I had inquired about previously. Initially, I didn’t harbour any hope of finding him and only wanted to note down the location of his home so that I could come again in the future. Yet, I never expected that just as I arrived at his door, it suddenly opened, and someone strutted out. They wore a loose gown with wide sleeves and tied their hair with a head scarf. It was Cui Bai.

We were overjoyed to bump into each other and meet again. He quickly invited me inside, and after we exchanged greetings, he took out a recent painting and spread it out for me to see, saying:

“These last few years I’ve been wandering the mountains and rivers and was somewhat able to gain something from the experience. If it were not for the fact that I had used up all of my travel expenses, I’m afraid I still wouldn’t have returned home at this time.”

I thought of the matter of Qiuhe. Anxious that Cui Bai might already have had a wife, I intentionally inquired about it: “Zixi has freely travelled the world, does Madam Sister-in-law ^[3]Huaiji respectfully asks about Cui Bai’s wife, calling her “嫂夫人”. 嫂 (sǎo) means ‘older brother’s wife’ since Cui Bai is older than him. 夫人 (fūren) is a polite way to say Mrs. guard the house alone or does she accompany you on your travels?”

Cui Bai laughed heartily: “How could I have a Madam Sister-in-law? I only have a bamboo wife!”

Hearing this, I lowered my head and laughed.

“A bamboo wife” ^[4]Referred to as 竹夫人 (zhúfūren) in Chinese. is a woven pillow used in the summer made with bamboo bark or even the whole bamboo. It’s usually made in a cylindrical shape, and people would hug it to sleep to keep cool.

Cui Bai phrasing things this way clearly meant that he had still not married and settled down.

“I’ve long since wanted to travel the world, and many years passed while I was on the road. I only returned recently, hence up until now I haven’t taken a wife.” Cui Bai immediately exclaimed.

I asked again if he was engaged, and he said no, so I put my worries to rest and brought up Qiuhe, asking if he was interested in Qiuhe when he gave her the {Esteemed Guests at Qiupu River} back then.

Cui Bai also calmly admitted: “At that time, I had certainly given her that painting to convey that I was thinking of her. However, after pondering the matter, I felt that it had been a rather impulsive thing to do. I am merely a commoner, with neither a high-ranking post nor a family background that can match hers. Moreover, she is someone who resides in the palace – someone with whom I normally wouldn’t dare to form a connection in this life. I only hope that she didn’t interpret the symbol of the wild geese or my intention to give a betrothal gift as rude. It means enough to me that she’s kept the painting by her side.”

I explained to him in detail how Qiuhe had gained the favour of Their Majesties and had been able to obtain a promise from the Emperor. Then, I asked again if Cui Bai was still interested in taking her as his wife.

Cui Bai was quite pleasantly surprised and said: “If Miss Dong does not object to the fact that I do not have any scholarly achievements to my name and that I am merely a poor humble commoner, I will definitely conduct all the proper ceremonies ^[5]Cui Bai says: “我必三媒六聘，迎娶她过门.” 三媒六聘 (sānméi liùpìn) The Three Connections and Six Betrowthal Gifts, also called 三书六礼 (sānshūliùlǐ) The Three Books and Six Ceremonial Rites. These refer to the formal procedure for courtship according to traditional Chinese wedding customs. Read more here! to welcome her as my wife after she leaves the palace.”

I smiled and said that Qiuhe would surely not mind such material things. Cui Bai looked even happier. He fetched a brush and some ink and immediately drafted a Betrothal letter with the names of the last three generations of his family and his Eight Birth Characters. ^[6]生辰八字 (shēngchénbāzì) Eight Chinese characters in four pairs indicating the year, month, day, and hour of a person’s birth combined with their heavenly trunk and earthly branch. This was used for astrological purposes. He then entrusted me to pass on the letter to Qiuhe.

After returning to the palace, I quickly found Qiuhe and passed on Cui Bai’s reply to her. I then delivered the betrothal letter.

Qiuhe gave a beaming smile and repeatedly thanked me, but soon she became anxious again: “But if I suddenly tell His Majesty that I would like to leave the palace, would he permit it?”

I thought for a while and suggested that she inform the Empress first. “You’ve served by the Empress’ side for so long, and she is also fond of you; surely she would have your best interests at heart. Why not consult with her first and ask her to speak to His Majesty on your behalf?”

Qiuhe quickly did as we discussed. Two days later, she came to find me, walking with a spring in her step and seeming to be in glowing spirits. Things had evidently gone smoothly.

“I probed Her Majesty, saying that I wanted to leave the palace,” she informed me with a blush, “she was shocked, saying that I was still young. She asked if something had happened with my family that urgently required me to head home. I replied no, and after that, she quickly guessed the matter. After asking everyone else to clear the room, she then asked me if I… If I had someone in my heart…”

“You admitted it?” I asked her.

If not for her good mood right now, I would have worried more for her about the result [of this conversation.] I didn’t need to hear her answer and could already think of what had happened. She was someone who couldn’t lie and would have admitted it sooner or later.

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Qiuhe replied softly: “I only lowered my head, feeling so embarrassed I wished I could have buried myself in the ground. The Empress comforted me, saying that it was alright and to tell her if there was something on my mind; she would do her best to help me. Since that was the case, I stammeringly shared a little bit with her. Later when she learned of Cui Bai, she smiled and said: ‘That person is truly talented. He is a good match for you.’”

I was still somewhat apprehensive: “Did the Empress not say anything more after knowing that you and Zixi had a deeper connection before?”

She shook her head, and replied: “Afterwards, she didn’t speak for a while, and I couldn’t read her thoughts in the silence.

Later, when she looked at me again, she was smiling and told me: ‘Mutual love ^[7]两情相悦 (liǎngqíngxiāngyuè) describes a harmonious couple who are mutually in love and each others’ sunshine <3 without any grudges in a relationship ^[8]心无芥蒂 (xīnwújièdì) is the opposite of the Chinese idiom 心存芥蒂 (xīncúnjièdì) To hold a grudge in one’s heart. is one of the rarest things to come by in this world. You are a good child. I will help you succeed.’”

Hearing this, I also let out a sigh of relief. “Since this is the case, has she already agreed to let you leave the palace?”

“She agreed, but it will not happen now,” said Qiuhe. “The Empress said that since I had not yet reached the age that past maids were allowed to leave the palace and since there were no urgent matters to attend to at home, it would go against established practices if she only allowed me to leave the palace at this time. There would definitely be rumours within the palace. She suggested it would be better to wait until the Qianyuan Festival ^[9]乾元节 (qiányuán jié) A festival in the Song Dynasty celebrating Emperor Renzong’s birthday. next year when His Majesty has already planned to release a group of palace servants. She will mention this matter to the Emperor beforehand, bring up the past promise with him, and request that he include me on the list of people leaving the palace.”

The Qianyuan Festival was on April fourteenth. It was the Emperor’s birthday, which was five months away. Several years had already passed [since the promise], so waiting a few more days ought to be no issue.

I congratulated Qiuhe, but considering that her marriage was already settled, I also felt relaxed and joyful, as if I had resolved a load on my mind. What I had to focus on now was to deliver the Lantern Festival gifts to the Princess Consort’s residence and take the opportunity to give Cui Bai the good news.

“Huaiji, how are things outside of the palace?” Qiuhe suddenly asked with a smile, adding:

“I entered the palace when I was four years old. Other than the few times I visited some gardens, peeking at the green trees near the red walls from behind the curtains of the palace carriages, I am completely unaware of what the Eastern Capital’s market beyond the city wall looks like.”

For a moment, I was at a loss for words and didn’t want to tell her how my trip out of the palace was actually more like a dream.

The sight of the busy marketplace bustling with people seemed as if it came out of a long-scroll landscape painting. Even though I saw it with my own eyes, it felt as if my soul had left my body, as if I no longer had any way of blending in among them.

“You can take a look for yourself after leaving the palace.” In the end, I replied like this. “Later, with Zixi accompanying you, it will be easy for you to go anywhere you want.”

Every year on the fifteenth of the first lunar month during the Lantern Festival, the capital’s nightlife would always be especially lively.

Emperor Taizong had once issued an Imperial Edict to light lanterns during the five nights from the beginning to the end of the Festival.

Nowadays, people would light up lanterns past the five days of the Festival. The lantern market outside the East Glorious Gates would open from the first day of the first lunar month selling several hundred lanterns of all kinds, big and small.

The most spectacular scene of the lantern market was in front of Xuande Tower ^[10]宣德楼 xuāndé lóu) refers to one of the gate towers for the main gate of the Palace in the Northern Song Dynasty. The tall tower is a place to showcase the supremacy of imperial power as well as a stage for different events. where there would be a large-scale mountain shed ^[11]Something like this image. with colourful lanterns. Fairy stories were painted on the gable walls. There were also dolls made into the shapes of fairies and animals that could spout five streams of water from their fingers, and their arms could also shake.

When the colourful lanterns are lit, all sides are illuminated with gold and jade, beautiful and full of splendour, creating a vivid landscape. On the left and right city gates, grasses are tied together to form dragons, and green curtains are used to cover them.

Tens of thousands of candles are densely placed in them, winding around the dragon’s body, making it seem like the two dragons were flying when the lights illuminated them. There were also countless other giant dragon-shaped lanterns and flower-shaped lanterns. The endless stream of tourists was impossible to stop. ^[12]Admittedly, this section was edited from Google Translate. It wasn’t making sense to Nyamachi’s brain. If you’d like to learn more, here is some information about the Lantern Festival of the Tang and Song Dynasties, kindly found by Petrified. Note – the website is somewhat sketchy but has good info…

On the day of the Lantern Festival, His Majesty would lead the Imperial Harem and visit Xuande Building to watch the lanterns. The palace would light phoenix candles and dragon lanterns creating a splendid and picturesque scene similar to a painting. They were so majestic that they vaguely resembled the grand lantern show outside the Imperial City.

The eighth year of the Qingli era was considered a leap year, with an extra first lunar month.

During this extra month, the Emperor seemed to be in rather good spirits and wished to light lanterns in the Forbidden Palace on the fifteenth and recreate the grand view of the Lantern Festival. Thus, he raised the issue at one of the banquets at the beginning of the month where all the imperial harem was gathered.

Beautiful Lady Zhang was the first to agree, and many imperial concubines also voiced their approval. Even the Princess clapped her hands with delight saying: “Yes, yes, that’s great! I didn’t see enough of last month’s Lantern Festival!”

However, the Empress solemnly stood and knelt before His Majesty saying:

“The Lantern Festival is an annual holiday meant to be enjoyed once a year. There is no need to celebrate it twice. Moreover, lighting the lanterns each time is a considerable expense. If we were to hold the festival again, it would truly be considered an extravagance.

“Your Majesty often admonishes us for being wasteful with our spending. If the matter of lighting the lanterns were to spread outside the palace, the people would surely follow the example of their superiors, wasting manpower and resources. Would their actions not go against Your Majesty’s divine intentions? Hence, this concubine dares to boldly request that Your Majesty withdraw your command.”

The Empress’ few words until this point froze the Emperor’s smile, and his expression stiffened.

He remained silent for a long time, before finally smiling and helping the Empress rise with both hands saying: “Many thanks for the Empress’ honest chastisement. Zhen’s idea was short-sighted. There is no need to discuss the matter of lanterns further.”

When the fifteenth of the extra first lunar month arrived, sure enough, there were no special celebrations. His Majesty merely summoned the Empress, Princess, and several close imperial concubines to the Hall of Tranquil Blessings. They examined several books before ordering that Minister Li Tang’s compilation of calligraphy written in flying white style be brought over to them. ^[13]飞白书 (fēibáishū) Flying White Script is a special style of cursive script in Chinese calligraphy with traces of white in the strokes, making it look like a dry brush lacking ink. This Chinese article has a good image of it.

Flying white style is one of the eight styles of calligraphy, discovered by Cai Yong. ^[14]蔡邕 Cai Yong is a famous calligrapher from the Han Dynasty. He is known as the father of Flying White Style. It is used by Wang Xizhi and his son as well as Xiao Ziyun, ^[15]These two were among the 57 people who were famous in history due to their calligraphy skill using flying white style according to Baidu. and is a very popular style in the current dynasty.

The strokes are drawn flat, creating white traces between them as if white hairs were peeking out on a graying head of hair. The brush should be held lightly, lifting across the page like it’s flying, making the dried brush create streaks of white.

When documenting events, one needs to strictly control their strength; if the traces of white were too sparse or too thick, they were considered unacceptable. Thus, it was one of the hardest styles of Chinese calligraphy.

His Majesty wasn’t particularly interested in horseback riding or archery. He normally preferred to write calligraphy and was quite skilled in writing using the flying white style.

Upon seeing Minister Li Tang’s compilation of calligraphy written in flying white style, he selected several words with a dot stroke in them.

In total, he marked three hundred words, yet every word had a different style of writing. The three hundred dot strokes each had their own distinct shape, and one couldn’t help but appraise them favourably.

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The Emperor pointed at a character written in flying white style by Minister Li* ^[16]Possible typo! The subject suddenly changed to 李氏 instead of 李唐卿/Minister Li Tang. The suffix -氏 is usually used to refer to women… Also, 李 and 唐 are both surnames, so another translation could be “Minister Li’s wife, née Tang.” However, with -卿 added on at the end, we concluded it had to be some kind of minister in court aka. male. TL team wasn’t sure, so we went with consistency. If you’ve read the raws, please comment if we’ve made a mistake. and asked the Princess:

“Huirou, what do you think about how this character was written?”

The Princess stared at it and said: “So, dot strokes in flying white style can be written in so many different ways! Character strokes in flying white style almost resemble objects. Since he wrote these three hundred dot strokes, one could say that he used up all possible object shapes.”

The Emperor smiled but said nothing. He ordered for brush and ink to be brought over and immediately picked up the brush to write the character for ‘clear’ (清). It was still written in flying white style, and his strokes were vigorous yet plain and simple.

The three dot strokes in the character looked unique and were not included among the three hundred dot strokes written by Minister Li Tang. Not a single observer could resist exclaiming in admiration.

After writing this character, the Emperor did not set down his brush but rather offered his brush towards the Empress with an inviting gaze.

The Empress gladly took the proffered brush, dipped it in ink, and began to write. Under the Emperor’s character, she wrote the character for ‘pure’ (净). Her strokes were graceful and strong, and the two dots in the character were again not the same.

Everyone gasped in admiration and voiced their praise, yet the Emperor remained silent.

With a smile, he walked behind the Empress and slightly leaned over, his right hand holding the Empress’ as she held the brush. He guided her to write.

The couple’s intimate physical contact made the spectators return to their senses. Another dot stroke was added to the character for ‘clean’ on the paper. (浄)

That one dot resembled a flying swirl and was even better looking than the five dot strokes before it.

After writing this stroke, the Emperor didn’t immediately relinquish his grip. He continued to hold her hand while gazing at her gently from the side. The Empress also turned to look at him, and the couple smiled at each other.

At this moment, the Emperor’s gaze towards the Empress was something I had never seen before. In my memory, he had also not used this kind of expression to look at Shu’yi Miao and the other imperial concubines.

“Gentle and soft” – these two words truly were insufficient to describe his gaze.

When he first met the Empress, his gaze was bright and clear. It was almost as if they could see into each other’s hearts. Their smiles contained such deep tacit understanding that it was impossible to know just how many deep sentiments were left unsaid.

Thereupon, I remembered what the Princess had said about the Empress that night many years ago, ^[17]In Chapter 2 Part 3. and couldn’t help but think: In fact, the Empress may not necessarily be so “poor”.

However, I immediately recalled how the Emperor had accepted Miss Fan [as a concubine] and how he had rebutted Lady Miao with “So you’re determined to make all of the imperial relatives be surnamed Cao?” I became somewhat confused, unable to understand precisely what his attitude towards the Empress was.

It seemed as though the Empress had never obtained the Emperor’s imperial favour from the beginning, to the extent that she was not his original choice for becoming Empress. This was an open secret in the palace.

His Majesty’s first Empress, Madam Guo, was selected by Empress Dowager Zhang’xian. His Majesty didn’t like her at all.

Back then, His Majesty favoured another Beautiful Lady, surnamed Zhang. After she passed away, he favoured another pair of Beautiful Ladies surnamed Shang and Yang, respectively.

Empress Guo was resentful and repeatedly picked fights with the two Beautiful Ladies.

One time, Beautiful Lady Shang contradicted Empress Guo in front of His Majesty. Furious, the Empress advanced to slap. Beautiful Lady Shang across the cheek. His Majesty moved to protect Beautiful Lady Shang and Empress Guo was unable to pull back in time thus accidentally scratching the Emperor’s neck.

At that time, Empress Dowager Zhang’xian had already passed away. Without any more qualms, the Emperor finally unleashed his anger and proceeded to depose Empress Guo, issuing an imperial decree to grant Madam Guo the titles of Pure Consort (净妃) and the Powerful and Clever Immortal Teacher of the Jade Capital. ^[18]Here is the title in Chinese: 玉京冲妙仙师. We couldn’t find out what type of title this was. It seems to be an honorary title that could double as a Dharma name or Dao name. Since 仙师 was used, it seemed to be leaning towards Daoism instead of Buddhism. He bestowed her the name Qingwu ^[19]FYI 清悟 (qīngwù) means ‘clear understanding’, likely with the implication that she should know why she was demoted. and exiled her to live outside the palace.

All of the court officials opposed His Majesty’s decision to select a Step-Empress from his existing harem of imperial concubines, citing that if a concubine were to be promoted to the position of legal wife, the legitimate and illegitimate lines of descent would be inverted and that this absolutely must not be done.

Not long after deposing his first Empress, His Majesty issued an engagement by imperial decree to Cao Bin’s granddaughter and welcomed her into the palace, but he did not immediately confer her as Empress.

In those days, the Emperor was infatuated with a stunning beauty, a tea merchant’s daughter from the Chen Clan from Shou Prefecture. However, all the court officials presented memorials to the Emperor in succession, voicing their disapproval of the Emperor for “instating someone from such a lowly background the principal title of Empress.”

Tea merchant Chen’s title was “Zi Cheng”. “Zi Cheng Envoy” was originally the name of a minor imperial bodyguard’s official post in the local governmental office. ^[20]The title used here is 子城使 (zǐchéngshǐ), literally translated as “Envoy of Zi City” or “Sub-City Envoy”. We couldn’t find any corresponding title and decided to leave it in pinyin to match the context better. Please comment if you have a better translation we could use!

The Supervising Enuch-Official of the Imperial Medical Institute at the time, Yan Shiliang, requested to meet with the Emperor and asked him if he knew what government position was “Zi Cheng Envoy”.

The Emperor said he didn’t know, so Yan Shiliang proceeded to explain: “‘Zi Cheng Envoy’ is the bureaucratic title of a cabinet minister’s servant. If Your Majesty accepts a mere servant’s daughter as Empress, would that not disgrace the noble court ministers?”

The Emperor faced reality and expelled the Chen clan’s daughter from the palace. Finally, he selected Miss Cao, who was from an aristocratic background, as Empress.

“The Empress’ flying white style calligraphy was something she had learned after entering the palace.” Shu’yi Miao informed me afterwards.

“Sometimes when there was the rare opportunity to attend to His Majesty when he wrote calligraphy, she would widen her eyes and watch silently. When she returned to her own pavilion, she would then work hard to practice writing the character repeatedly. One day, His Majesty happened to visit her residence. Upon seeing that she was in the middle of practicing flying white style calligraphy and that her brush strokes were unconstrained and adorable, His Majesty’s interest was piqued, and he began to hold her hand and teach her. Several days later, he issued an imperial decree to confer her the title of Empress.”

The Emperor’s and Empress’ love bloomed from flying white style calligraphy. Hence, from His Majesty’s point of view, the Empress was most attractive when she was writing or drawing with a brush.

For the next three days, the Emperor allowed the Empress to stay overnight in the Hall of Tranquil Blessings.

Hearing this news, I unexpectedly felt quite happy.

If the Emperor was willing to accept the Empress’ advice and was growing closer to her with each passing day, then he ought not to refuse when the Empress brought up the matter of Qiuhe leaving the palace in the future.

Before the Lantern Festival, I had already informed Cui Bai of the Empress’ reply. At present, everything seemed smooth sailing, ^[21]水到渠成 (shuǐdàoqúchéng) Lit. meaning: where water flows, a canal is formed. It means that when conditions are right, success will follow naturally. almost as if all matters were heading towards a perfect outcome at their own predetermined time.

Yet, I did not know why – even though I was thinking this way, my heartbeat suddenly quickened without rhyme or reason with a thump.

TL Thoughts:

Hello dear readers,

It has been a very long time!! This cat hopes you’re all doing well and enjoyed the chapter. I finally had some energy for translating and posting today. Relatively speaking, this cat is doing much better than two-ish years ago when I went on hiatus. Thank you ever so much for your patience and warm wishes.

I am actively translating again with 247Reader and Petrified. There’s no set schedule for now, but hopefully we can publish more chapters soon ^^

Take care until next time,

Nyamachi

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