Chapter 232: A Premonitory Dream?
Translator: DragonRider
Late at night. In the imperial temple.
The Ninth Princess had been having a very hard ti ever since she’d been penally sent to the imperial temple to be an un-tonsured Buddhist nun. In this place, there was no magnificent palace, no high-class delicacies, and no crowds of eunuchs, only terribly ugly, grayish clothes, a changeless nu on which all dishes were bland and unpalatable, a shabby bedroom, and a reticent handmaid. To make things worse, every morning she had to get up early for Buddhist matins, and there were Buddhist vespers at night. Overall, life here consisted of only two things: Buddhist chant and trance, which were driving her crazy.
Although her mother and elder brother had been having soone covertly take care of her, it didn’t make much difference. She was still stuck in this temple, and there was always soone following in her wake whenever she walked out of the main area, as if she were a prisoner never to have her freedom back.
On this night, as usual, the Ninth Princess threw a tantrum and exhausted herself before going to bed.
Incense had been lit in her bedroom. The aroma of it slowly wafted through the mosquito curtain and into the Ninth Princess’ nostrils.
...
The lofty palace was right in front of the Ninth Princess and she went wild with joy. Finally, she got out of that godforsaken temple and returned to the place she was familiar with.
“I knew it. Father would never really have beco a Buddhist nun. Father still favors !” crowed the Ninth Princess happily, hurrying towards the hall with the intention to look for her father.
On entering the hall, she found that it was full of kneeling people, all of whom were chorusing aloud, “Long live the emperor.”
The Ninth Princess was startled, fearing that she had done sothing wrong once again and might be sent back to the imperial temple. She anxiously raised her head to look at the one sitting on the throne, but whom she saw dumbfounded her.
“Brother?!”
Sitting on the throne was not his father but his elder brother, Zhou Mingci, the King Hui.
Her brother had ascended the throne!
Her brother had finally ascended the throne!
From now on nobody in the world would ever dare cross her!
The Ninth Princess gazed in utmost excitent at Zhou Mingci sitting on the throne and noticed that her brother was wearing a bluish white imperial robe with gold piping, which she had never seen before. She couldn’t help but fix it with a careful stare. The sleeves and lower hem of the imperial robe had been embroidered with wavy dark lines to make the robe exquisite and sumptuous.
As if he had finally observed the Ninth Princess’ presence, Zhou Mingci sitting on the throne said, “You ca, sister.”
The Ninth Princess jerked out of her trance and looked at Zhou Mingci delightedly. “Brother!”
She woke herself up with this greeting. The beautiful and imposing hall slowly faded away, and so did Zhou Mingci on the throne. Both of them were replaced by the dark bedroom, which was terrifyingly quiet.
Soone carrying a lamp walked over. The reticent handmaid asked, “Did you have a dream, Your Highness? Tomorrow the King Hui would co here to see you. You may relax and continue to sleep. Dawn will break soon.”
But the Ninth Princess could barely keep from wailing. She snapped, “Get out!”
She clearly had already returned to the palace and seen her brother sitting on the throne as emperor. How co she was still in this godforsaken place!
...
The next morning, the King Hui went to the imperial temple and t his younger sister.
The Ninth Princess’ haggard face made his heart ache. He asked, “Why are you not looking well? A bad night’s sleep?”
The Ninth Princess burst into tears at the sight of the King Hui. “I don’t want to stay here anymore, brother. Please figure out a way and get back ho!”
The King Hui had an awkward countenance. It was the emperor who had ordered the Ninth Princess to practice Buddhism without tonsure. Besides, it had been only a few days, and the emperor was still angry. Even if he was to help the Ninth Princess get back, he had to wait until the emperor’s anger subsided to take action.
But the Ninth Princess, who was unwilling to listen to the King Hui’s explanation, said, “Brother, our father has given up on . He would never let get back. Please help . You and mother are my only hope now.”
The Ninth Princess reached out her hands and grabbed her brother’s. With a beseeching look on her face, she implored, “Help , brother. Please.”
Seeing this, the King Hui instructed the others to leave and consoled his sister, “Just show so patience. I promise I’ll get you out of here the mont father cools off. Trust , sister.”
The Ninth Princess shook her head. “Father no longer has any love for , brother. Once you beco the emperor, I’ll regain my freedom. Yes, brother – you should mount the throne as soon as possible!”
The King Hui’s face paled and he hurriedly clapped a hand over the Ninth Princess’ mouth. “Stop that nonsense, sister. The Crown Prince is the heir to the throne.”
The Ninth Princess, her mouth held, was still shaking her head, a muffled sound emanating from her throat.
This gave the King Hui a terrible headache. Resigned, he huffed to the Ninth Princess under his breath, “You may repeat what you just said if you wish to die in this place, and I don’t mind dying with my sister.”
The Ninth Princess gradually recovered herself after hearing this remark.
The King Hui took his hand off the Ninth Princess’ mouth, heaving a sigh of relief. In an undertone, he reproved, “What got into you just now? Why did you say that so loudly? You want to get the two of us killed?”
The Ninth Princess, who also had a lingering fear on her face, flicked a glance at the door.
The King Hui said, “I don’t think any of them heard it. Don’t say that kind of crazy things again. Otherwise I won’t dare pay you another visit.”
The King Hui was the only one that the Ninth Princess could count on to help her, so of course she didn’t dare behave like that again. After calming down, she found her back drenched with cold sweat. Imdiately, she promised, “I won’t. I really won’t dare. Please don’t be mad at , brother.”
The King Hui looked at her, his countenance a mixture of resignation and vexation. Apart from anything else she was his younger sister, and his heart still ached for her. “It hasn’t been long since you were sent here. Though I want to get you out of this place, I have to wait until father’s anger subsided. Otherwise whatever I do will have the opposite effect. You have to endure this a few days longer. Mother is worried about you and has been having a hard ti trying to save you. Don’t let her efforts go to waste.”
The Ninth Princess gave a bob of her head. “I understand. I’ll wait for you and mother to save .”
After a few monts, she said, “The reason why I said that just now was because of a dream I had last night.”
The King Hui asked blithely, “What kind of dream?”
The Ninth Princess said in an undertone, “I dread that you were enthroned, and all courtiers chorused to you ‘Long live the emperor’ while you were sitting on the throne which our father sits in every day.”
The King Hui’s eyes briefly lit up. “Oh? That doesn’t sound so bad.”
The Ninth Princess chuckled. In the knowledge that her brother was no longer angry, she felt a sense of relief and continued, “I saw you wearing a bluish white imperial robe with gold piping, the sleeves and lower hem of it embroidered with wavy dark lines. It was just gorgeous. I’d never seen anything like that before.”
However, no sooner had she finished speaking than the King Hui’s face changed. “Did you say that it was bluish white, with gold piping, and the sleeves and lower hem of it were embroidered with wavy dark lines?”
The Ninth Princess nodded and gave a more detailed account of what she had seen in that dream of hers. “You were brimming with health and spirits just as you are right now. After I woke up, I felt that it won’t be long before you ascend the throne, which was why I said that nonsense just now. Please stop being angry with , brother.”
The King Hui slowly shook his head. “I’m not angry. What else did you see in the dream?”
After thinking for a few monts, the Ninth Princess also shook her head. “I’ve been suffering from insomnia since the day I was sent here. Even if I fall asleep, I always wake up with a start. The only occasion when I had a sound sleep was last night, and I dreamt about you, brother. Maybe it was because I subconsciously knew you’d co here to see today.”
The King Hui, however, didn’t think so, because the Ninth Princess was right about one thing – he did have a prince’s robe which was bluish white and had gold piping. It’d been rushed out only a few days ago, and its sleeves and lower hem were embroidered with wavy dark lines. It was very sumptuous, and he had specially had it made for the hunt eting. This robe had just been delivered to him, and his henchn, who were few in number, were the only ones aware of its existence. There was no way this matter had co to the Ninth Princess’ knowledge.
But now the Ninth Princess told him that she’d dreamt about it, and she’d also seen him wearing it sitting on the throne in her dream. What did this suggest?
The King Hui was more inclined to believe that his sister had had a premonitory dream, that this was so kind of herald!
After leaving the Ninth Princess’ room, the King Hui summoned the subordinates he’d planted in this temple and asked them about the Ninth Princess’ recent daily life. After hearing their replies, the King Hui was positive that it was impossible for the Ninth Princess to have known the existence of that robe. This gave his spirits yet another great lift.
“This is your reward. Make sure you take good care of my sister. If anything happens to her, all of you will be held responsible.”
“Rest assured, Your Highness, we’ll do whatever we can to take good care of Her Highness.”
The King Hui left the imperial temple in a good mood, and he appeared to be full of pep even on horseback. After an hour or so, the imperial temple was out of sight.
At a fork not far away from the city gate, he encountered a man riding over from the distance along the other branch road. He was wearing a white robe of a special style which bore so similarity to a Taoist robe, a bamboo tube tied with red string fastened to his felt.
The King Hui reined in his horse and looked at that man, a sowhat astonished expression on his face.
This branch road led to the Star Observation Platform of the Imperial Observatory, and that rider was a ssenger working at the Star Observation Platform. His bamboo tube contained a dispatch, and the red string around it typically ant it was to be delivered to the emperor.
On no account would his father summon any mbers of the Imperial Observatory, particularly those working at the Star Observation Platform, except for on the New Year’s Day, when by convention he would inquire the Imperial Observatory of their deduction of the run of international situation in the new year, making a token gesture towards praying to providence for blessings, because his father wasn’t really a believer in this kind of things – none of his predecessors had been, as a matter of fact.
Therefore, mbers of the Star Observation Platform never sent any letters to his father of their own accord, which was very sensible of them. Why did they suddenly deliver a dispatch to him on this occasion?
The King Hui believed that the Star Observation Platform would never have done this had there not been an important event. Sothing definitely had happened.
He opened his mouth and was just about to stop that man when he, maybe startled by the King Hui and his attendants who had abruptly shown up, was sent into a brief trance. anwhile, his horse seed to have accidentally trod on sothing and suddenly went restless, nearly throwing the ssenger off.
The King Hui gestured for his attendants to offer the man so help. After calming his horse down, the ssenger wiped sweat from his face, dismounted and said, “It’s a great honor to bow before you, Your Highness. Thank you for coming to my help.”
The King Hui nodded, suggesting that there was no need to thank him, then looked at the bamboo tube fastened to the ssenger’s belt and asked, “Why are you suddenly sending a letter to my father? Did anything happen?”
The ssenger replied, “I don’t know either. This is the result of the head star-watcher’s observation last night. I have orders from him to deliver it to His Majesty as a matter of urgency.”
The King Hui’s countenance grew thoughtful. “May I have a look at it?”
An awkward look appeared on the ssenger’s face. The King Hui imagined that he was going to refuse, but unexpectedly, the man inclined his head. “Thank you again for helping just now, Your Highness, but you must not let a second person read this letter, and what you’re about to learn must be kept in the strictest confidence.”
Sure enough, seeing he was so tactful, the King Hui smiled, “Of course.”
The ssenger unfastened the bamboo tube, removed the seal, fished a piece of paper out of it and handed it to the King Hui.
The King Hui, as if thinking of sothing, looked at him. “You’re not reading it with ?”
“I can’t, Your Highness,” said the ssenger.
The King Hui found this man fairly interesting. He then took the paper and glanced at it. At first he was confused, but after a few monts his face changed drastically and with that he abruptly fixed the ssenger with a penetrating stare. “You really don’t know what’s in this letter?!”
Seeing this, the ssenger shook his head. “I don’t, Your Highness. If you’ve finished reading it, please give it back to . I’ve returned the favor, and from now on we’re even. Now if you’ll excuse , it’s about ti I delivered this letter into the imperial palace.”
The King Hui, gazing at those words on the letter paper, suddenly had a murderous expression on his face, stifling a wild laughter. Instead of giving the letter back to the ssenger, he said, “Then you might as well go the whole hog.”
It had never crossed the ssenger’s mind that the King Hui would break his word. All the color drained from his face. “You!”
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