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Why Harem Intrigue When You Can Just Raise A Dog Instead? (Chp 31)

Chapter 31: The Spy (内鬼)

Translator: Nyamachi
English proofreaders: JimmyfromIT, 247reader

Meng Sangyu inwardly gritted her teeth and retreated two steps. She picked up A’Bao and collapsed on an embroidered stool [1]绣墩 (xiùdūn) are round drum-shaped ceramic or wooden stools with an embroidered cover. behind her. Her expression turned black one minute and white the next. It was gravely serious.

Emperor Zhou’wu stared anxiously at her expression, in case her fears escalated to the point where she might hurt herself. This attack was truly too malicious. It was seemingly directed at Virtuous Consort, but if one looked deeper, it was actually aimed at Imperial Duke Meng and the entire Meng family. If they were ever openly charged with this crime, the Meng family and their nine degrees of kin [2]九族 (jiǔzú) refers to one’s nine degrees of kin (construed as either the nine generations from one’s great-great-grandfather down to one’s great-great-grandson; or four generations of one’s paternal relations, three generations of one’s maternal relations, and two generations of one’s wife’s relations). would be put to death.

Nurse Feng picked up the cursed doll from the floor, her hands visibly shaking. In a quivering voice, she asked, “Your Ladyship, this… Calculating the Eight Birth Characters, [3]The Eight Birth Characters or 生辰八字 (shēngchénbāzì) are 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. the cursed target could very well be the Emperor!”

“His Majesty is the cursed target,” confirmed Meng Sangyu in a cold voice, gritting her teeth. Nurse Feng didn’t know the Emperor’s Eight Birth Characters, but Meng Sangyu and her father did.

“If someone were to discover this object… We… We would..!” If looks could kill, Nurse Feng’s eyes could have cut someone in half. Consumed with hatred, she was unable to finish what she was saying.  Bi’shui, Yin’cui, and even the two eunuchs had already started to clean up the spilt water on the floor. No matter what, they had to make sure that everything in the main hall, including the flower vase, was back to their original state. This was a dangerous situation. Fortunately, her Ladyship had discovered it early enough that there was still time to turn things around.

Meng Sangyu smiled sadly and spoke, her tone cold and grave, “To use black magic to plot against the throne… With Father’s achievements being so great, the charges against our Meng family will be even worse! Think about it: the daughter of a general who holds the power of a mighty army cursing the Emperor to death – for what purpose? To imitate the founder of the dynasty and stage a rebellion? If I was really accused of this, the charge of plotting against the Emperor to usurp the throne would be irrefutable! They can’t touch Father, so they targeted me instead. They plan on forcing me to plead guilty and puttong me under house arrest. When Father returns to Court to report his victory and thank the Emperor for his grace, they’ll seize the opportunity to use my crime as a cover, capture Father, and spread the word of these groundless, fabricated accusations. Afterwards, we will immediately be presented to the Court of Justice and executed. Afterwards, they will spare no time in slaughtering everyone related to the Duke of Protection’s mansion and the Meng family’s nine degrees of kin. We won’t even have a chance to protest the injustice being carried out against us! Once the news reaches the Meng family’s army, everyone will have already died and the army would settle down, unable to change history. This is truly a vicious strategy!”

After speaking, cold sweat dripped down her forehead and her face turned pale. She was chilled, down to her very soul. Only tightly hugging A’Bao could give her a modicum of warmth. Emperor Zhou’wu used his paws to securely hug her arms, focusing his entire being on trying to warm her up.

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If Sangyu could think of it, how could he not have thought of it too? Presently his eyes had long turned blood red and his killing aura surged. Killing loyal and upright subjects and throwing the Imperial Court into disorder! The Shen family has already fallen to this level! In the future when his soul returns to his body, the first thing he will do will be to sentence the Shen family and their entire clan to death! Let them taste the bitter consequences of their actions!

Meng Sangyu gently rubbed her cheeks against A’Bao’s back. She noticed that Yin’cui and the others had already cleaned up the chamber. All that remained was a bit of water from the vase. Some of the water was already evaporating from the inner heating, curling into white smoke. Soon it would disappear, leaving none the wiser. Seeing that everything would return to their original state, the fear in her heart slowly subsided. Now is not the time to continue being afraid!

She shook herself alert and petted A’Bao’s little ears. She whispered, “Darling, I know that you can understand. Listen, help me search the entirety of Bi’xiao Palace. There might be other suspicious things. After that, help me find the person who is playing tricks. When you find them, I’ll make some ‘Buddha Jumps Over the Wall’ Stew [4]佛跳墙 (fótiàoqiáng) Literally, “Buddha jumps over the wall” Stew – the name of a Chinese dish that uses many non-vegetarian ingredients. It’s so famous that it even has a Wikipedia page! Check out the recipe if you like! You can also find cooking videos about it on YouTube. for you to drink, how does that sound?”

Even if you didn’t say it, Zhen [5]朕 (zhèn) Literally “subtle” – an illeism Emperors used to refer to themselves. It changed depending on the dynasty. I’m trying out Gumi Vocaloid’s suggestion and using pinyin romanizations. Let me know what you think!! :D would still help you! Even as a dog, Zhen can still protect you! Emperor Zhou’wu barked twice and raised his nose to sniff every corner of the chamber. As expected, if there’s a first, then there will be a second. As insurance, the culprit had not only hidden a cursed doll in the flower vase, they had also stuck a human-shaped cursed paper talisman [6]Like the Japanese Ofuda except used for curses. Click here to read more about it! under Meng Sangyu’s bed. The cursed talisman had Emperor Zhou’wu’s Eight Birth Characters written on it as well as many drawings of vicious and graphic curse incantations.

Meng Sangyu tampered with the cooked dishes in the side hall to give the appearance of having eaten and quietly brought A’Bao to search her bedroom. Presently, she was in no mood to eat anything, but to mislead the spy lurking outside, she had to act like she was unaware that anything was amiss.

Emperor Zhou’wu also wasn’t in the mood to eat anything. Meng Sangyu tried to feed him a bowl of congee, but he shook his head and refused. How could he stomach any food when they needed to root out the spy and search the entirety of Bi’xiao Palace as soon as possible so that Sangyu could escape danger? This was his first time rejoicing about his dog form. If he wasn’t a dog, Sangyu would have been harmed by someone!

After finishing his search of the bedchamber, he headed back towards the side and main halls. He searched the study, the side rooms, the garden… He searched every nook and cranny of Bi’xiao Palace, not daring to miss a single spot. Meng Sangyu followed after him, puffing for breath. To onlookers, it seemed like the master and pet pair were playing. Bi’xiao Palace’s servants were long used to this kind of scene. One after another, they would pay their respects while looking on with a smile on their face.

Passing by a side room where servants lived, Emperor Zhou’wu stopped in his tracks and directly entered through the crack in the door, bounding into the room. Inside, three fifteen- to sixteen-year-old palace maids were sitting in a circle around a brazier chatting. Seeing A’Bao enter the room, they were momentarily dazed before their eyes lit up.

“A’Bao, come here!” A palace maid amongst the group beckoned over A’Bao with her hand, smiling.

Emperor Zhou’wu walked over and sniffed the maid’s hand. When he finished, he moved on to sniffing the next one and then the last one. After sniffing them all, he was baffled. This was because the three palace maids in this room used the same rouge, the same kind of incense, [7]In ancient times, Chinese people carried incense pouches on their person with different scents. Think of it as the ancient version of perfume. and the same hair oil. When sniffed, these three emitted the same smell. There really wasn’t much difference. He was sure that the person playing tricks was amongst the three, but he really couldn’t figure out who it was! If he were a real dog, he could probably tell the difference based on instinct and choose correctly. Unfortunately, he had only inherited the dog’s sense of smell and didn’t know how to apply this kind of intuition. Emperor Zhou’wu humphed twice, feeling extremely frustrated.

“A’Bao! Here you are!” Meng Sangyu appeared in the doorway at just the right moment, acting like she had been searching for him. She reached out her hands towards A’Bao. The three palace maids hurriedly stood up and paid respects to their master.

Casting away his frustration, A’Bao leaped into Meng Sangyu’s embrace. His little tail cheerfully waved back and forth. Meng Sangyu picked him up and hugged him, giving him a kiss on his mouth. Taking advantage of the fact that the maids were paying their respects, she murmured, “Which one is it? Point them out for me.”

“You may all rise.” Putting A’Bao down, Meng Sangyu called out towards the maids and subtly measured them with her gaze without attracting any notice.

Not only did she recognize these three palace maids, but she was very familiar with them. The youngest of the three was named Xia’dong. She was a new maid who had entered the palace this year. Her background was clean and her character was sincere and adorable. Meng Sangyu had immediately taken a liking to her and personally promoted her to work in Bi’xiao Palace. [8]When servants first enter the palace, they are general helpers with various duties until they are assigned to a department like the Imperial Kitchens or promoted to work in a specific palace under a consort. Out of the two remaining maids, the taller one was named Lan’xin and the shorter one was named Hui’xin. They were both servants that Meng Chang’xiong [MSY’s father] had painstakingly selected from the Meng family servants and put in a lot of effort to send into the palace. When Yin’cui and Bi’shui were older, Meng Sangyu planned on sending them out of the palace to marry so they needn’t accompany her until death within the confines of the palace. Therefore, Lan’xin and Hui’xin were the best choices to succeed Bi’shui and Yin’cui’s positions as head palace maids. Normally, Meng Sangyu heavily relied on them and trusted them deeply.

Meng Sangyu’s heart would be hurt no matter which of these three maids had betrayed her. However, she also couldn’t help but respect the extent of the mastermind’s power. Their influence even reached into the Meng family, and their spy had been buried this deeply. If it wasn’t for A’Bao’s cleverness, she would definitely have been unable to escape disaster this time.

Do not support theft! Support the translator and read this free at Nyanovels. This cat bows in thanks.

After thinking this far, she gazed at A’Bao with a gentle expression. The little guy circled around the three, turning left and right and sniffing left and right. By each person’s side, he barked twice, impartially and without exception. Then he diligently returned to her side, his little moist black eyes filled with guilt. Seeing him like this, Meng Sangyu tacitly understood. She briefly asked the three maids something trivial before picking up A’Bao and leaving without arousing any suspicion.

Once their master had walked a good distance away, the three maids returned to sit around the fire, smiling and laughing. It was difficult to tell who was innocent and who was the spy.

“Your Ladyship, you’ve returned.” From a distance, Yin’cui and Bi’shui quickly walked up to welcome the master and pet pair. The sky had wholly darkened as night fell, and the palace had already lit the lanterns. Under the light of a bright red lantern, their expressions took on a slight red shade, appearing very warm.

A faint smile broke through Meng Sangyu’s cold expression and she gave them a slight nod. Hugging A’Bao, she returned to the bedchamber. On the table laid the cursed doll and two cursed paper talismans. In addition to under the bed, the culprit had also stuck a cursed talisman in between the layers of the screen in the main hall. Placed in such a well-hidden spot, without A’Bao’s sensitive nose, who would have discovered it?

“Your Ladyship, did you find anything strange in the other rooms?” Yin’cui asked in a low voice.

Meng Sangyu shook her head.  “No, only these three places. Today’s success was all due to A’Bao!”

Bi’shui reported the results of her investigation to her master. “Your Ladyship, this servant inquired in secret: when the eunuch responsible for guarding the bedchamber left his post for a while, it’s unclear who entered the chamber unauthorized. Of course, it’s also possible that he might have taken advantage of his position and embezzled goods.”

“No, A’Bao already found the person responsible. It’s someone amongst Xia’dong, Lan’xin, and Hui’xin. It could also be two out of the three or all of them together. In any case, it’ll be fine if you keep an eye on the three of them. Before this matter is resolved, it’s of utmost importance to not startle the snake in the grass.” [9]打草惊蛇 (dǎchǎojīngshé) Literally “to beat the grass and startle the snake” – A Chinese idiom meaning to act rashly and alert an enemy.

“Yes.” Bi’shui and Yin’cui bowed as they agreed.

“Today was all thanks to A’Bao! Without A’Bao, our Meng family would be finished!” Meng Sangyu hugged A’Bao close and continuously kissed his face.

Emperor Zhou’wu huffed. On the one hand, he narrowed his eyes, enjoying the woman’s enthusiasm and initiative. On the other hand, he extended his tongue to lick her back. Today he was extremely pleased. Thus far, Meng Sangyu had always been protecting him. He never thought that he would also be able to protect Sangyu in return. Feeling this kind of fulfillment and success was unparalleled, even compared to when he ascended the throne.

The kissing continued before something terrible happened! A’Bao’s empty stomach suddenly let out a pitiful growl. In the quiet hall, it sounded even more grating to the ears. Emperor Zhou’wu used his paws to cover his face as he blushed furiously. Never before in his life had he been so embarrassed! Thinking back, it made sense. He was the Emperor and even before ascending the throne, he was still a respected and high-ranking prince. Who would dare to let him go hungry?

Meng Sangyu giggled and pulled his paws down. She rubbed his little tummy comfortingly and said, “I’m also hungry! Let’s go to the small kitchen and see if the Nurse prepared anything delicious to eat. I’ll make A’Bao some ‘Buddha Jumps Over The Wall’ Stew.”

Dinnertime had long passed but the lights in the small kitchen were still bright. Nurse Feng and two other maids were hard at work. Catching sight of their master entering the room, they quickly paid their respects.

“Is the food ready yet?” inquired Meng Sangyu, rolling up her sleeves, after placing A’Bao on a nearby table and telling him to stay away from the fire.

“Everything that needed soaking is ready to be simmered,” said Nurse Feng as she pointed to a pile of ingredients.

Meng Sangyu nodded as she layered slices of ginger, winter bamboo shoots, fragrant mushrooms, chicken, shrimp, tripe, salted fish, shark fin, and other such ingredients in a clay pot, added the soup base and placed it into a steamer basket to stew over a low fire.

Emperor Zhou’wu stared at her bustling figure from behind. She had changed into the simplest of gowns and tied up her hair using a strip of blue cloth. She had no other adornments, but he felt that this version of Sangyu was the most beautiful, even compared with all the beautiful women he’d seen in the past. Her appearance was like an ordinary commoner’s wife, busily preparing a meal for her husband so that upon his return home, he could have a mouthful of hot soup. Due to this fantasy, Emperor Zhou’wu’s heart couldn’t stop trembling.

In the warm and cozy kitchen, the aroma of the food gradually spread. After extinguishing the fire, the master and pet pair didn’t return to the bedroom to eat. Instead, they sat down on the bench in the kitchen to drink soup. There were no majestic furnishings, nor were there crowds of servants, but Emperor Zhou’wu only had to see the smiling face of the person in front of him to feel completely satisfied. The flavour of the soup in his mouth became the rarest, most delicious taste in the world.

Although the day started off rough with piercing winds and endless problems, it ended in warm and sweet tranquillity.

 


TL Thoughts:

Hi everyone!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I finished translating sooner than I thought. It had both mystery and fluffy sweetness <3 I liked the bit about cooking and food at the end. Has anyone tried ‘Buddha Jumping Over the Wall’ stew before? What does it taste like?

Let me know if you’d like me to continue using pinyin versions of illeisms, i.e. Zhen, Bengong etc. 🙂 Thank you Gumi Vocaloid for suggesting it!

As always, please let me know if you find any mistakes (grammatical or otherwise)!

Sending you all love and light while we go through this pandemic. I hope you’re staying as safe and as well as you can.

If anyone is looking for emotional support or finds themselves with some free time, I recently stumbled upon a game called ‘Kind Words.’ It’s a game about writing kind letters to people and receiving them in return. Messages are completely anonymous with a chill lo-fi soundtrack playing as you write. It’s a nice low-key way to help people and receive support if you need it.

Until next time,
Nyamachi

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28 Comments

  • Thank you so much for translating this great story! Hope you are staying safe too!

  • OMG you’re back!
    thanks for continuing this translation, i really like this one.

    • Hi Fitzy! Yes I’m back 😊 hope everything is well with you!

  • It’s been awhile, hope you’re doing well!

    I like the use of pinyin so it’s fine to continue using it haha

    Thanks for the chapter! 💕

    • It’s been a while, Kimmy! Thanks for saying hi ^ ^ as well as for the feedback 🙂 Hope you’re doing well too ~

  • I like to use pinyin, even to refer De Fei, Shu Fei etc. Would be great if you decide to do so…

  • Thank you for the chapter update and your hard work on this story! 💕💕💕💕💕💕
    Hope you are taking good care of yourself during these trying times. Stay safe and healthy! 💖💕💕💕

    • Thank you!!! 💕💕💕 You as well ☺️

  • Thank you so much for the chapter! I hope you and your loved ones are safe too 🙂

    The use of pinyin is nice for how they refer to themselves. I actually like Meng Sangyu’s Virtuous Consort title, it’s different.

    • My pleasure! And thank you!

      Using pinyin for how they refer to themselves is growing on me. It gives a feeling of having more cultural nuance.

      Hehe Clam from Pavillion was the one who translated that title.

  • Thanks for the chapter, hope you’re staying safe!
    I always wonder in chapters like this why they don’t destroy the evidence asap – imagine if someone happened to walk into the bedroom while they were in the kitchen – what a disaster! I’d be paranoid someone would find out and would want to dispose of all evidence straight away lol

    Like everyone else, I like the use of the pinyin. I think there’s a standard set of words which are often left in pinyin for historical Chinese novels (like furen, daren, yatou , bunyao (sp?) etc. etc.) The extent it was used in To Be A Virtuous Wife and Eight Treasures Trousseau is about my limit though – if too much is left in pinyin it becomes meaningless to me. Zhen, bengong etc. are all fairly common though.

    • Haha Ikr?? Or even if they decide to leave it, why don’t they at least keep it somewhere secure in case someone comes in?

      Thanks for the feedback! I haven’t seen furen, daren, yatou etc. in pinyin before. Buyao as in the dangling hairpins?

      • Yes, buyao! (I knew it didn’t look right…) I recognise all these words when I see them but have no idea how to say/spell them lol 😅
        Daren/furen/yatou are quite common (when you stop to think about it, it’s so weird that *these* are the words you pick up when reading Chinese we novels…)

        • Is it? What other words would you expect to pick up? :3 (*is actually curious btw in case that sentence gives off a different vibe. Tone is hard to detect by text sometimes)

          Personally, I find forms of address the hardest thing to translate. It’s hard to get the cultural context sometimes. E.g. 嬷嬷 (mómo) is commonly translated as “elderly lady” or “wet nurse” but you wouldn’t say “Old Lady X” in English and not every 嬷嬷 is a wet nurse either. Chinese has a lot of forms of respect based on age or status that don’t always translate smoothly to English. <- guessing this is why they're commonly written in pinyin

  • Oh, momo is another one that I’ve seen in pinyin. I think, especially (…or exclusively) for historical novel, terms that don’t translate well are best left in their original form with a note to describe the meaning. One novel that I’m reading uses “mammy” for momo and “childes” for… I forget the Chinese term but the one that’s meant for young noble men, gongzi? Just, ugh.
    Oh, another one is Wang-ye/the royal titles in general because sometimes they’re translated to “king” but you can’t have a king if you have an emperor, right? It can get confusing.

    I’m not sure I’d expect to learn any words when I read translated webnovels, but I just think it’s funny that, when you stop to think about it, the words that you do learn are… utterly useless in everyday life lol Like, if you were learning a language normally, you’d learn things like “water” “food” etc. but instead we learn “buyao” and “houyuan” and the different ways of referring to oneself (bengong, qie, zhen etc.)

    • I haven’t heard of “Mammy” (cross between mama and nanny?) good to know. Clam from Pavillion used “Nurse” so I kept it like that but I always have to check myself when translating since I normally write “Feng momo”.

      Titles for nobility don’t always translate well because the system is different from Western Nobility. Hmm I’d translate Wang as Prince or High Lord since technically King is taken up by the Emperor if you follow the Western monarchal hierarchy. Maybe I should make a post comparing the two at some point. It would be interesting to research and a good reference for me to use. Pinyin works too though.

      LOL so true. Hmm it’s kind of like that with anime too! (Do you watch any? :3) The first words I picked up were all the different honourifics (-chan, -kun, -sama, -dono) etc.

      If you wanted to learn some Chinese with me, I made a Chinese Language section and a Cultural Notes section that I’ll update from time to time 🙂

      • tbh I’m not even sure “mammy” is a word? I feel like “nurse” implies “wet-nurse” and I think most readers know that generally (at least in these novels) wet-nurses have a closer bond/are more trusted and important than other servants of the same age. Nevertheless, it’s probably the best translation not relying on pinyin? Incidentally, is Feng-momo her actual wet nurse?
        The thing that’s most mind-boggling to me is that the princes can have different ranks (or so I believe?) – like if a prince is favoured and/or does something good, the emperor can bestow him a higher rank? That’s completely different from the western-style of monarchy.
        I actual live in Japan and am studying Japanese 🙂 I don’t watch too much anime (mainly because I find it difficult to find ones that suit my taste? I feel like there’s much more variety in manga), but yeah, the honorifics were some of the first things I picked up too. I’ve never heard -dono used unsurprisingly, but occasionally I get the urge to try it out and see what my friends’ reactions would be lol (I haven’t yet haha)

        I bullied my friend into teaching me some Chinese (a full six sentences!) but I am *literally* tone deaf and so have no hope with the pronunciation ^^;;; as for written Chinese… after studying kanji it’s so weird to see. Some of them are the same/I can see how the simplified Chinese is derived, but for some of them… it’s so different (like “eat” is 食 in Japanese but
        吃 in Chinese?! – HOW?) I’ll check out your language section though!

        • I’m not sure if Feng-momo is her actual wet nurse. I’d have to go back and re-read to check 🙂

          Hmm true. The closest thing I can compare it to is the UK monarchy. When Prince William and Prince Harry got married, they were awarded the title of Duke and are mainly known by these titles i.e. Duke of Cambridge/Duke of Sussex. That is sort of similar to how when Chinese Princes reached a certain age, the Emperor would bestow them with the title of Wang and they’d move out of the palace and get their own mansion.

          That’s so awesome!! I’ve always wanted to live in Japan. How are you finding it?? I know a bit of Japanese – would you be wililng to exchange languages? ;3

          To my knowledge, -dono is slightly more common than -sama (basically anime only/very ancient time usage). If you’ve ever watched Rurouni Kenshin, they use it a lot there – samurai era~

          I got stuck at learning kanji because I kept reading them in Chinese. Japanese was derived from Chinese so I think they use more ancient/formal meanings of the word and adapted it.

          Like 食物 is food in Chinese and 食 is “to eat” in formal/literary/ancient Chinese. But the more colloquial way to say to eat is “吃”.
          食 (formal Chinese) = to eat
          吃 (Informal Chiense) = to eat
          用膳 is another way to say “to eat” but I’ve only seen this in a historical context.

          Haha ^^;; Sorry if I went too into my explanations. I love Chinese and languages!

        • It’s not letting me finish my message (maybe too long??)
          Where I was going with that was:

          食 (Formal Chinese) –> 食 (Old Japanese) –> 食べ (Modern Japanese)
          食物 = food in Chinese –> 食べ物 food in Japanese

          • …I’m British and yet… I’ve never noticed the similarity in this ^^;;; tbh this is the thing that trips me up the most when I read historical novels, because, at least the princes, have their own name, and then the title that was bestowed down to them – I’ll be reading and then half-way through realise that a character that was being talked about was actually so-and-so they were just using the title not the name. haha

            Hmm, I’ve lived here for five years but my Japanese is still really bad. I live in Tokyo and it’s a)difficult to meet people because everyone works so much and b)pretty accessible even if you don’t speak Japanese so there’s no pressure to really learn? idk, I feel like I’m always making excuses for myself so lately I’ve been really trying to push myself to learn more (but then Covid-19 happened) I’d be down to do a language exchange though I’m not sure how it’d work? ぜひしましょう!
            (As for Japan in general – it’s a really interesting place to live. Of course there are things that are not so good, but mainly it’s good)

            Ah, so in Japanese 食う (kuu) is the slangy way to say eat, 食べる is normal and 召し上がる (meshiagaru) is the formal.

            My (Chinese) friend knows what things mean when she sees kanji, but can’t read them at all, so I kind of understand you reading kanji in Chinese (I do the same in reverse when I see Chinese haha)

          • Fair, I’ve definitely done that before too. It’s hard to keep track haha

            Could you fill out the contact form on my site? We can start by connecting that way ^^

            Thanks! Learned something new ~

  • ‘Buddha Jumping Over the Wall is overated haha. I don’t like it at all. it just uses expensive ingredients.

    it’s really good that you translated the author note in the previous chapter as I was really frustrated by how hypocrite the emperor is being and about to drop. The Inner palace is in such a mess because of him and yet he only thinks of himself and his lower self.

    • Ah… Good to know! Now I know I’m not missing out~

      Thanks so much for your feedback about the author’s note (and thank you for not dropping <3). If I come across something like that again, I'll be sure to translate it as well. I hope you continue to enjoy Why Harem Intrigue :3

  • I actually like that the translation thus far had not been including pinyin terms and tried to stick w appropriate English translation instead. I feel they are more beginner friendly.

    Yes I am sure there are things that are lost in translation, but that is why we need translators and not MTL, cos literak translation do not work well. There are ways to convey the same meaning without doing word by word translation. Of course, this would mean more work for the translators.

    Anyway, thanks for picking this novel up.

    • Thanks for the feedback, Vashe! I’d be interested to know how you feel about the pinyin in later chapters as well~ Happy New Year!

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