Imperial Uncle Chapter 6

Translator: foxghost tumblr
Beta: anotherslashfan dreamwidth
Guest proofreader: greendestiny tumblr Original by 大風刮過
Translation Master · Names and Reference

Liu Tongyi is in court dress, so he needs to go home and change.

Both Qitan and I came to court in casual clothes. At the gates to the Imperial City, I say to Qitan, “If you’re anxious that someone may seize the item in the meantime, you can go ahead of us and reserve a spot, while I accompany Chancellor Liu home to change. You must wait for us to arrive before making your purchase.”

Grat.i.tude written plain across his face, Qitan says, “Great! Then I will be on my way, uncle — you must remember to bring along banknotes!” And leaping onto the back of a horse, he gallops off like a gust of wind.

I give Liu Tongyi a little smile. “This nephew of mine is just too impatient. He tends to be careless at whatever he does.”

“His highness is as swift and decisive as a storm. Certainly by the time he reaches your highness’s age, he’ll be as discreet in thoughts and deeds as you.”

Is this meant to praise me, or insult me? Ransi must have some misconceptions about me still, but since these words came out of his mouth, I love to hear them even if they were insulting. That he would insult me to my face is evidence of his proper and unyielding moral character.

I give Liu Tongyi another smile. “Chancellor Liu, you’re too kind. While it’s true that I have already reached such an age, I still find myself somewhat careless and lacking in the handling of affairs. That’s why my nephews largely think of me as a peer of their own generation. I can never comport myself like an uncle in front of them.”

From where we are at the inner city gate, we’re still some distance to Liu Tongyi’s palanquin yet; I intentionally allow my steps to slow, taking my time to walk and chat.

Thankfully Liu Tongyi isn’t overly cautious when speaking to me. He counters my a.s.sertion with, “The age gap between your highness and the other princes was never so wide to begin with. They probably think of you quite differently from Prince Shou and the other of your peers.”

Of my older cousins such as Prince Shou and Prince Xiang, the most senior is already in his fifties. If my dad were still alive today he’d be around the same age. Thinking about it, it really doesn’t seem like I’m in the same generation as them. And so I tell him, “Chancellor Liu, these words of yours had the immediate effect of making me feel renewed, like I’m a young man again.”

Liu Tongyi smiles. “Your highness is too kind.”

I take my carriage, and arrive at the grand chancellor’s official residence1 alongside Liu Tongyi’s Palanquin. Before he climbs into his palanquin, he asks me, “Your highness won’t be going home to retrieve your banknotes?”

“I don’t believe for a moment that the wine cup Qitan speaks of really was used by the King Wen of Zhou. It’s most likely a fake. Let’s have a look first; there’ll be plenty of time for banknotes after the item has been identified as the real deal.”

Liu Tongyi nods, “That’s true. And presumably the antique dealer would have no fear that two princes could take his wine cup and not pay for it.”

“Naturally. To say nothing that we also have Chancellor Liu as a guarantor.”

Liu Tongyi’s brows arch a smidgen. “Oh, so that’s the reason why your highness insisted on dragging me along.”

I sigh. “Aiyoh, that’s not good. Chancellor Liu has found me out.”

Liu Tongyi smiles in his quiet way and disappears into his palanquin. I return his smile and climb into my carriage.

The occasion of my carriage entering the grand chancellor’s residence is causing an appropriate stir among the household; stepping off of the carriage, I count one steward and four pageboys changing colour at the sight of me. But Chancellor Liu excels in the management of his household, so apart from those few, the rest who steal glances at me only dare do so hiding in corners. As I sit in the main hall, I can discern some slight curiosity in the eyes of the maids and pageboys bringing me tea, but their expressions remain respectful and ordinary.

Liu Tongyi hasn’t yet married, but his residence is most tastefully decorated, not at all inferior compared to mine — the one who has a wife.

Speaking of a wife, I am once more reminded of the princess and my head starts throbbing again.

Luckily that’s when Liu Tongyi appears, having finished changing into casual dress. He’s donned a jade coloured silk outer garment2, and replaced his official’s black silk hat with a hair tie to match his s.h.i.+rt; losing a bit of implacability, gaining a few degrees of natural grace. I find myself once again able to forget about the princess for the moment.

He stands in the hall. “Your highness, are we leaving now?”

I stir myself up, “By all means. Let’s go.”

That wine cup selling merchant Qitan spoke of works out of a large floating pavilion3 on a river in the capital’s outskirts. By the time Liu Tongyi and I make our way there, the evening has darkened; the lanterns on the pavilion have already been lit.

I find Qitan seated in the lavishly outfitted guest reception hall, wine cup in hand, looking at some girls dancing in costumes reminiscent of the silk road4.

There are a few more people here besides him; some of whom I believe I recognise, all of whom are likely to be the children of the capital’s aristocratic families. Qitan rises and runs to me, acting as though he’s a high official out in plain clothes on an envoy mission, and pulls my sleeve as he whispers, “You’re finally here. Oh, Chancellor Liu, you’re here as well. Uncle, none of these people here know who we are. Don’t blow our cover.”

I make a noise of agreement, thinking to myself: with you strutting around the capital all day long, how many people wouldn’t recognise this mug of yours? Aren’t they just pretending not to know you?

Qitan leads Liu Tongyi and me to our seats. And although those already seated seem indeed unmoved, their gazes drift incessantly in our direction.

Prince Huai, Chancellor Liu, and Prince Dai on an excursion to a floating pavilion together; by tomorrow, the entire imperial court will surely learn of this marvel.

I ask Qitan, “Where is this wine cup you wanted to buy? It can’t be the one you’re holding, can it?”

Qitan laughs. “How can it possibly be the one I’m holding? I was just waiting for unc— waiting for you, uncle, and young sir Tong, and that’s why I haven’t given Merchant Xu leave to bring it out.” Then he turns to someone sitting to one side, “Merchant Xu5, those I was waiting for have arrived. You can bring the item out now.”

That Merchant Xu looks to be in his forties, with a face the colour of red sandalwood. Slightly plump and clad in clothes that are neither too new nor too worn, he looks rather guileless actually. Facing our party, he answers in the affirmative, and bowing, he turns, disappearing behind a side door, presently coming out with a wooden box.

He places the wooden box on top of the table before us, and taking great care slowly opens the lid. It turns out that there’s another box inside, and once he opens that one, there’s another box in that. It’s not until he opens the fifth box that crimson silk is revealed.

That knick-knack really is wrapped up with quite a bit of ceremony.

Merchant Xu lifts the bundle wrapped in red silk, and as though he’s towing a delicate raw egg yolk, presents it to Qitan.

Qitan rubs his hands, takes it from him, and opens it layer by layer.

A tarnished copper wine cup lies on the red silk, recounting the pa.s.sage of eons and the change it witnessed.

Seeing how corroded it is, it may not be so strange if it really was used by the King Wen of Zhou.

As though for fear of sullying it with his fingerprints, Qitan examines it, turning it over and over in his hands with the cloth. Then I takes it from him to have a look. Qitan guides me from my side, “Uncle, look at the shape of this wine cup! Then look at this pattern! There’s no doubt that it’s a relic from the Shang-Zhou era! Now take a look at this corrosion — such a thick green coating of patina can’t possibly have acc.u.mulated in less than a thousand years.”

His bright, burning gaze seems about to go right through my hand and my outer robe, scouting out the exact location of my banknotes so as to draw them out.

Without saying a word, I pa.s.s the wine cup to Liu Tongyi.

Liu Tongyi holds the cup in his hands, gives it a look. “Merchant Xu, from what I can see, this wine cup seems not to be from the Shang or Zhou dynasties.”

I had already foreseen this; so I smile.

Merchant Xu looks stunned all over. “Young sir, please do not speak without thinking. I’ve always done honest business. How could I ever dare produce a fake to dupe you, my honoured guests?”

Qitan looks even more stunned all over. “Liu — young sir Tong, take a more careful look. It’s clear at a single glance that this relic is quite old and full of history. If it’s not from the Shang-Zhou period, then what period did it come from?”

Liu Tongyi sets the wine cup back onto the table, and mildly conveys, “As far as I can tell, it was made last year.”

Night has fallen now, dark and deep; with starlight above me, I return to my estate.

Qitan felt exceedingly dejected; Liu Tongyi has determined that the wine cup was indeed a fake, and a real shoddy fake at that. He said, making a fake like this is extremely easy to do. First make a mould according to the relic one wishes to make a copy of, melt a pot of copper and you can cast as many as you like. Then toss it in some grease, and alternate burying it in silt and drying it in the sun a few days at a time over and over. In the end, after eight months of having been buried in the earth and soaked in water, it will end up covered in spots of patina, giving it the look of being primitive and having seen many years.

It is well known to all that outside of the three great cancers, the imperial court also lays claim to two sharp advantages; the first being Chancellor Liu’s sharp eye, the second being Chief Yun’s sharp tongue.

Qitan felt particularly torn up over Chancellor Liu’s eyes making such a judgement. Thereupon someone else present at our table called for the authorities, and they dragged Merchant Xu to the yamen6 and confiscated his merchandise.

Liu Tongyi went to look in on the proceedings with great interest; of the several large trunks of merchandise belonging to Merchant Xu, aside from the wooden boxes — which were genuine — nearly all were forgeries.

The yamen’s bailiffs threw the fakes all over the boat. Gold, silver, copper, iron, jade and lapis lazuli7, gleaming beneath candlelight and so very pretty; it’s too bad that the look on my nephew Qitan’s face wasn’t pretty at all.

I said to him, you’re a young man — you must experience some setbacks. We can only gain experience by getting burned.

Acting like none of this had anything to do with him, Liu Tongyi stood to one side, picked up a little something and started fiddling with it.

I strolled over to look, and found him playing with a round and smooth jade stone; white jade, suffused with a cloud-like scarlet pattern, crystalline, lovely. I suspect this was raw material Merchant Xu kept for making his fake relics. It had some red to begin with, and with a little dye he could have turned it into a bloodstone, carved it into a seal belonging to some luminary of a previous dynasty.

Liu Tongyi looked at it, then he swiftly returned it; the bailiffs would likely have to take everything back to the yamen later, to present it all as evidence.

Qitan had been deeply wounded by the wine cup. Once we came out of the floating pavilion, he said he still had some things to do and left. He’d probably gone off drinking somewhere.

In order to avoid looking too conspicuous, Liu Tongyi and I shared a carriage from his residence on the way over. That carriage is delivering me back to my estate first. I step down from the carriage in front of the gates and thank Liu Tongyi, “Thank you, Chancellor Liu — you have gone to a lot of trouble on our behalf this evening.”

Liu Tongyi also steps off the carriage, and standing by it, he smiles at me. “You’re most welcome, your highness.” In the night breeze, the slight s.h.i.+fting of his jade-coloured garment resembles the ripples on a lake.

I produce something from my sleeve and hold it up before him. “I hope you’ll kindly accept this little offering.”

Liu Tongyi stares at the object with a mild look of astonishment.

I laugh. “This is what’s called ‘presenting the Buddha with stolen flowers’; I can only hope that you will turn a blind eye and not notify the Court of Judicial Review’s yamen and have me arrested. Such a small little stone — I have a feeling that it’d make no difference whether it’s missing from that pile of counterfeited items or not.”

There’s a barely perceptible curve at the end of Liu Tongyi’s eyes. “Your highness, you’re not just asking me to turn a blind eye. You’re asking me to accept stolen goods.”

Sounding forlorn, I ask him, “You won’t take it then, Chancellor Liu?”

The curve at the end of Liu Tongyi’s eyes deepens. He takes the stone from my hand, and lifts his sleeve in a gesture of thanks. “Thank you, your highness. I will be on my way.”

I watch as he climbs into his carriage, and as it drives off into the night. This one single evening is nearly tantamount to the past ten years I’ve lived.

So Liu Tongyi’s normally austere and pedantic image seems not to be entirely genuine.

I did not judge him wrong, after all.

If he seriously was a pedant, however could he have become Grand Chancellor at such a young age?

I enter my estate stepping on the warm night air, and as soon as I walk through the threshold I can feel right away that something isn’t right.

By a small side door, someone is stamping his feet. “Aiyoh, Prince Huai, you’re finally home.”

This person’s presence startles me for a second.

You can’t be serious. It’s the middle of the night. How’s that possible …

I tear towards the main reception hall, and the display of ceremony I walk by tells me that it is indeed quite possible.

I take a moment to straighten my clothes before striding into the main hall. As I’m about to bend my knee, a familiar voice from the seat of honour stops me, “Uncle, you’ve finally come home. Don’t worry about the formalities — there’s no need to be so proper when you’re meeting me at home.”

I bow. “Greetings, your majesty. I had no idea that you were coming. Please forgive me for the discourtesy of not being there to kneel and greet you.”

In the centremost seat of the main hall’s row of seats reserved for the most honoured of guests, my emperor nephew says impatiently, “Uncle, do straighten out your tongue and talk to me properly.”

I have no choice but to rise, and with a smile on my face I ask him, “Your majesty, it’s the middle of the night. What are you doing here?”

That seems to have satisfied his majesty. Leaning back in his chair, he takes the tea as a young eunuch offers it to him. “This evening I heard that the rift in your family has become quite the cataclysm. Princess Huai attempted to hang herself, and the other suspect threw himself headfirst at the wall and tried to bite his own tongue off. Mother isn’t feeling well and doesn’t have the energy to involve herself, and I was told that no one has seen you since you came to the palace. With problems of such magnitude I felt obliged to personally come to your estate and take care of some of these household duties in your stead. I wonder if you’ll begrudge me for meddling in your business?”

So it seems the internal affairs of my household have been driven to this state in the short time between my going to the palace and coming back here.

Before another moment can pa.s.s, I say, “I am most ashamed that my household affairs have alarmed your majesty. That your majesty shows such favour for myself moves me to tears.”

Eyes downcast, Qizhe pushes the floating tea leaves on his tea aside with the cup’s lid. “You’re having to be both 'most ashamed’ and 'moved to tears’, you work so hard, uncle, you must take better care of yourself. I heard that you spent this evening listening to music on a floating pavilion with Chancellor Liu. Are you perchance still yearning for more?”

The grand chancellor’s official residence sounds like a house, or at most a siheyuan, but traditionally they’re sprawling estates; the House of the Huangcheng Chancellor is on 25 acres. ↩︎

So Imperial Uncle takes place in a nameless imaginary dynasty some time after Tang and before Qing. That’s all we know, and DFGG doesn’t go into the specifics of what people wear, and I don’t want to lock it down to anything either. At times, the clothing descriptions will seem kind of vague. Here’s the wikipedia article on ancient Chinese clothing. ↩︎

Traditionally, these things are translated as painted boats. That’s the literal translation, but they’re far closer to a barge with a pavilion built on top of it. Floating restaurants are a kind of 'painted boat’. Here’s a Chinese wikipedia article with lots of pictures. ↩︎

Xiyu, actually, which was kind of synonymous with the silk road, mostly I used silk road because it brings to mind 'desert’ while the word 'Xiyu’ brings to mind nothing. ↩︎

There’s no real equivalent to 老闆 (boss) as a t.i.tle in English; but it’s a t.i.tle used for merchants. Not 'shopkeep/manager’ which is 掌櫃. It’s important to keep in mind that merchant is generally considered the lowest of the four occupations. ↩︎

Yamen — if it made it into , I use the pinyin as is. To save you a click, it’s defined as “the headquarters or residence of a Chinese government official or department”. Here’s it in wikipedia. ↩︎

Liuli is usually defined as 'probably’ lapis lazuli. Or at least, probably what we called lapis lazuli pre-Song dynasty. ↩︎