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Silenced, Jing Wan’s Mischief (5)
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
“This is a good idea. Someone, go prepare wooden plaques, and send them to that side. And let the various young masters have their names written on there. Those that are unwilling, no need to force them, just tell them, those that perform well today, this princess will directly have their names submitted to his Majesty.”
This time, most likely not many will be unwilling.
The servant girls carried the wooden plaques and brush over, and divided into a few teams, starting together, though it didn’t take much time.
And on this side, under Jing Wan’s suggestion, they began drafting up punishments.
“What good ideas does big sister Luo have?” Yu Yao tugged on Jing Wan’s clothes, very much excited.
Jing Wan was full of smiles, but everyone all sensed that mischievous little intention of hers. “How about a belly-dance?”
Belly-dance? However, they suddenly recalled, this was punishment for the male side. Each and every one first looked to one another, trying to imagine that scene, seemingly very interesting. The Grand Elder Princess was greatly amused and directly agreed.
“And then, cross-dressing?” This was good.
“Appoint another gentleman to drink a jar of wine?” This was good too.
“One bowl of special beverage.” Afterwards, Jing Wan calmly told them how to prepare.
Once Jing Wan finished explaining, each and every one all stared at her in disbelief. This was too mean. Jing Wan faintly smiled, this was nothing. One has to know, because of the many taboos, the truly bad ones, she all didn’t dare to say out loud.
Perhaps having been enlightened by Jing Wan, the others’ mischievous ideas also came one after the other.
Because this side was laughing too cheerfully, the male guest side felt endlessly confused, and why did they feel a cold breeze behind their back?
On the male guest side, everything was mostly finished. “What about this prince?”
The servant girls looked to each other and then to Li Hong Yuan, “Wangye, that…….”
“What? In your eyes, is this prince not a gentleman[1]?”
They could only have the things passed over as they trembled. Li Hong Yuan was rather quite carefree in writing his own name.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Li Hong Ming suddenly smiled, “How about this prince also play? Although this prince has already married, that shouldn’t hinder anything right?”
Thus, with these two in the lead, the other princes, regardless whether they were married or not, all added their names.
When the servant girls returned with the wooden plaques, their hands and feet were still somewhat trembling. After questioning, they learned of the cause. Now, how are they going to play?
The Grand Elder Princess dispatched a servant girl again, “Have the contents of the punishment all told to the various wangyes and princes. Then, pass on this princess’s words, if a coward, feel free to take back your own wooden plaque, if you don’t take back and look for trouble after the fact, then don’t blame this princess for entering the palace and complaining to the Emperor.” That’s why, it was still the Grand Elder Princess that was the most aggressive and formidable.
Although it was just passing on a message to Le Cheng Emperor’s various sons, but the other young masters also turned pale in the face. Unfortunately, the Grand Elder Princess didn’t even give them the chance to be a coward.
In contrast, Li Hong Yuan rather became the most nonchalant one.
Game start.
However, they changed the thing used to hold the wooden plaques, using a cloth bag instead of a tray, first shaking it up, then reaching in to pick one.
It was no longer the noble personages picking wooden plaques, but rather changed into the young ladies picking one by one.
Those princesses and junzhu were all long eager to try. In the palace, there wasn’t anything as fun as this, so this while, they naturally were no longer reserved.
The first to get picked was actually an eleven twelve year old chubby little boy. When the news was passed on to the other side, everyone roared with laughter.
The chubby little boy sullenly walked to the female guest side, “I don’t know anything, so I’ll just directly received the punishment then.”
Everyone was greatly amused, and the Grand Elder Princess also waved her hand in agreement.
The little fat wonton probably felt that no matter what, it was all the same. On normal days, he didn’t embarrass himself any less after all. Thus, he casually picked a penalty pouch, and then waited for his ‘fate’s ruling’.
The little servant girl opened it up, and then covered her mouth laughing, “Master, it’s eating four chicken drumsticks.”
The little fat wonton first blanked, following which his eyes lit up, “Is it really just eating four chicken drumsticks?”
“Aiyo, aiyo, for a chubby little boy like you, how is this a punishment.” The Grand Elder Princess laughed so hard that she couldn’t straighten her waist, “At home, your family normally restrain you from eating too much, so today, this princess will add for you two more drumsticks.”
This time, the little fat wonton was overjoyed silly, and soon after, diligently went back carrying his six chicken legs.
Everyone on the male guest side, seeing the little fat wonton smiling to the point that his eyes narrowed into a line, gnawing as he walked, directly smirked. Naturally, there were also those elderly officials watching on happily. Aiyoo, to be able to eat well was a blessing.
Only the wonton’s own grandfather sighed. To be able to eat well was indeed a blessing, but eating eight meals a day, that stomach was just like a bottomless pit, unable to be filled up. If he keeps eating like this, although not worried that he’ll eat the family into poverty, but rather worry that he’ll become the second Zhong Qinwang heir. Peh, peh, that right now was a dead person, bad luck. However, right now, he also just couldn’t stop him from eating either!
“This youngster’s luck is quite good. For others, a couple of chicken legs can definitely be considered a punishment, but for him, this can be considered an enormous benefit.”
Before this side even finished discussing, the other side had already drawn the second name.
Even those that were calm on the surface, more or less still felt somewhat restless inside. It can’t be helped, even if one was a modeled scholar, one still wasn’t omniscient and omnipotent. What if they draw one that they don’t know, then they would still be penalized.
So who was the second unfortunate soul or lucky bastard?
“Sun Yi Lin.”
Actually, Sun Yi Lin and Luo Jing Bo had just returned not long ago. Of course, having disappeared for this long, they naturally didn’t just talk about Sun Yi Jia’s matter. So it can be said, while unclear of the circumstance, the two had written down their names on the wooden plaques. After learning about the situation, Sun Yi Lin just helplessly shook his head, while Luo Jing Bo appeared to be indifferent.
Sun Yi Lin didn’t expect that his name would be drawn this soon.
Everyone looked to this ‘renowned throughout the capital’ Gentleman Lin. Speaking of which, this one’s probability of getting punished shouldn’t be too high. However, there were many that wanted to see him make a fool of himself. Rather, it wasn’t completely out of malice, purely just wanting to see what it’s like for this one to embarrass himself.
Seeing Sun Yi Lin appear, the young ladies on the female guest side were all a little excited. This one was known to be noble like jade, peerless in the world. The four arts, literature and poetry, seemingly all proficient in. To want to see him display his talents under the public eye wasn’t easy, but definitely a great pleasure. But, they further wanted to see him get punished, what to do?
Even Sun Yi Jia was muttering next to Jing Wan’s ear. She was also a ‘wishing for the world to be in chaos’ type.
“Grand Elder Princess, it seems the young ladies all hope to see our Gentleman Lin get punished. How about just directly punish him?” A wangfei in the same generation as the Grand Elder Princess jokingly said.
Sun Yi Lin repeatedly bowed with his hands cupped in front, begging for mercy, “Asking everyone to please be lenient.”
“Lenient or not isn’t on us, need to see how good is your own luck. Enough, quickly pick one.”
Sun Yi Lin could only pick an embroidered pouch.
The servant girl opened it, “Master, it’s archery.”
Sun Yi Lin very obviously relaxed a breath. Although his archery wasn’t as good as others, it wasn’t considered weak either.
“Gentleman Lin, don’t rejoice too early, this archery isn’t as simple as ordinary target practice. If you don’t perform well, you similarly need to received the punishment.” A certain princess ‘kindly’ reminded.
Although he was already prepared inside, Sun Yi Lin’s heart still was a bit apprehensive.
He had a rather large range of bows to choose from, and not something already set by the rules. Taking the bow, he ascended the stage.
Afterwards, a bunch of ‘fully armed’ little cats and dogs were brought out, each one all with a red or green fruit fastened on its head, having them confined in a set area on the lakeshore, requesting that in half a incense’s time, hit all the green fruits. If a single arrow was to land on the animal’s body, then it will be considered a failure.
There were only three of the green fruits. Logically speaking, this wasn’t considered difficult. But Sun Yi Lin looked to the arrow that has been altered in order not to injure the small animals, and also to those little things that were running around all over the place as soon as they were let go of. Looks like today, the heavens want to end him.
However, he wasn’t allowed to think too much. The incense had already been lit.
[1] The address ‘gentleman’ (gong zi) is generally reserved for sons of officials or nobility, but in certain context it can also mean an unmarried young man.
T/N: I really don’t know what to say when people who choose to read historical fictions get upset at a story for being accurate to the social and cultural aspects of ancient history 🙃🙃🙃 like sorry the world setting isn’t pandering to your modern progressive ideals but it’s not like history can be changed based on one’s preference. God forbid ancient people in this novel act like how they did in actual history.
Besides this novel has always criticized a lot of the ancient ideologies in history through MC, but you can’t change an entire society’s way of thinking, that’s just unrealistic to real history. Understanding historical and cultural context is very important imo. If you think things in historical fiction are offensive to your modern ideals, wait till ya open a real history book, you’d be shook. I do hope people are aware that these novels were originally written for a chinese audience, there’s really only so much I can supplement in my footnotes.
On another note, every time wordpress changes the backend UI randomly for no reason, I die a little on the inside.
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Gente, eu sou amo gatos, tenho 16 , não nego que me sinto meio desconfortável imaginando a cena mas me fixo no fato que isso é uma história e tbm não posso ser hipócrita condenando as pessoas que comem carne de gato ou cachorro afinal, eu como carne de galinha, boi e tudo o mais que me aparece pela frente, não como carne de gato ou cachorro porque os acho fofos e nos acostumamos a vê-los como amigos e companheiros.
Não os critico por comerem qualquer tipo de animal, mas sim a maneira como matam por considerar que a carne fica mais saborosa se o animal for escaldado ou desmembrado ainda vivo
gostei muito do capítulo @Jen, espero que Li Hong Yuan seja punido com a dança do ventre kkkkk
Uhhhh let me preface this with I don’t understand Portuguese, so everything I’m going to say is based off of what google translate is telling me is.
I have no idea why you are under the impression that they are going to eat cats and dogs, because I definitely did not write anything close to that in my translations 😂😂😂 no one is going to eat any pets, the animals aren’t even going to get hurt. Also, it’s not normal for chinese people to eat pets. There might be people who do that exist, but it’s not something widely accepted.
I have written quite a lot of historical fanfics and to this day, I get hate for potraying slavery, human trafficking and the like…
I remember DSB getting so much hate for potraying historically accurate cnovels, it’s hilarious how people can be. I wonder if they nevee studied basic history…
I seriously question the quality of some people’s education, especially whenever I see reviews on historical cnovels. It’s worst when people judge ancient chinese culture with their own cultural background as basis. Or act like they’re on a moral high ground looking down on the culture. Omg or those people who are confused why ancient people aren’t thinking progressively, how shocked would they be when they open a history book for the first time in their life.
It’s funny you bring up slavery and human trafficking because I feel like no one ever bats an eye at this in historical cnovel, but god forbid ML act like how men did in ancient times.
In my AP English class, we were reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Some of the thing being discussed make me embarrassed to say out loud. Not to mention, my classmates were all in the top 1% of the school and top 10% of our whole town. These kids took various history classes and should have had the knowledge that made them understand but they didn’t. It took them so long to understand that love isn’t the only deciding factor in marriage, much less the other themes. Even when we were reading European historical novels, it was a mess. Goes to show that even if you earn high marks, it doesn’t mean you received a quality education. Makes me even more embarrassed considering my school district is in the higher end of rankings within the state…
Or you know, when the MC has other women raped and they don’t bat an eye, but wow, a woman who schemes against MC is a bitch. The MC can have many admirers, and the readers will love those men, but no, not those poor concubines the ML has because they all need to die and be eradicated.
It’s a bit of a egocentric mindset imo to view everything, especially another culture, only from one’s own perspective. How shocking is it that there are people in the world that think differently dun dun dunnnn lol. A lot of times I feel like people have a very idealistic view of the world, I really wonder where they get such optimism from.
That’s one of the main reason why I really can’t read polygamy settings in historical novels because I always feel bad for the other women. Perhaps in MC’s perspective it’s a good ending for ML to only love her and give up his other concubines, but from their perspective that’s really depressing. At least in modern settings ex-girlfriends can move on with their life, but that’s impossible in historical settings. It’s why as much as I think TBVW is a good novel I could never fully like it.
My only guess as to why so many readers are so harsh to ML for being an imperfect human being is that they’re reading novels looking for a husband themselves lol. Who cares that MC has opinions and mind of her own, it’s what the reader wants that’s important. What, not going to pander? Trash. The whole idea of self-inserts baffles me because it’s so terrible in storytelling. I once got someone threatening to give a 1-star review if something they don’t like happen in the plot. As if I have any control over the plot as a translator.
In many cases, it’s because they grew up privileged. Not necessary wealth-wise, but they grew up with things other people take granted, so it baffles them when it’s not the same. Of course, not everyone in their positions are like that—plenty of people read and expand their horizon but I’ve watched too many firmly believe they know everything and that their opinion is “right” and that really just astounds me to this day but you know.
I feel like that’s exactly why I love historical novels, both eastern and western. The MC is fun to follow, yes, but the narrative of the other characters are more interesting. In TBVW, I particularly love An pin and Hui fei, who are actually parallel characters now that I think about it. Both are unfavored women of the backyard who have neither political power from their maternal clan nor the affection of the Emperor and prince. In An pin’s case, she even managed to raise a son who was able to become an adult and a “close” adviser to the next emperor. Perhaps, if QQJ stayed the wooden doll she is, Hui fei might’ve ended being like An pin, or even Jing fei. It’s an interesting thought to ponder on.
Indeed, many of these stories work as self-insert novels, because most of the audience is like to do that and writers need to feed themselves. It’s also why stories like the other one you’re translating are more popular than stories like this novel.
This is why I stopped translating novels. Granted, I translated Japanese novels and the audience for those are more, uh, less vocal? than the audience for Chinese ones, but once they do start talking… ^^”
As translators, we only have the power to, at most, over-exaggerate or mellow down the tone. Most of the time, we just try to find the best way possible to transfer words and phrases form one language to the other. I really don’t know what they expect to happen by making those threats…
Ahah honestly, I could care less if people have firm ‘righteous’ beliefs as long as they’re not shoving that firm righteousness down my throat.
I enjoyed the historical and more commentary(?) aspects of TBVW, tbh I’m more of a Eight Treasures Trousseau fan. I guess because I grew up watching and reading chinese historical dramas and novels, so after 10+years TBVW just feels very simple to me, ahah I like more complex and darker stories, the normal ones just don’t do it for me anymore. But I really do love stories that make you think and analyze.
Yep. I know. I like this other story, but the rating is not that good. In the review, people hate it because of the polygamy and how ‘heartless’ ML is. But so far, I think it’s more realistic than other transmigrated novels, you know? As a Marquis, he couldn’t just ‘fall in love’ and dismiss the inner yard. Like you can hate a character, but don’t hate the story just because it’s not “progressive” enough, you have to see its theme, genre, and references.
I’d hate it if people give bad ratings to such good novels just because they’re in the wrong genre. It’s ancient chinese society after all.
Thanks for the chapter, Jen!
I hope Li Hong Yuan get punished as well (hopefully somebody will bold enough to do it xD).
Omg you know the funniest thing is when people who obviously don’t like the historical aspect of ancient chinese society continue to read historical cnovels like if they read enough it will magically become progressive and pander to their taste 🤣🤣🤣
Yeah this happens all the time, ML doing things that are morally wrong in our society but normal in the historical context, and everyone raging about in the comment section. Ofc its nice if ML has only eyes for MC and being nice and everything, but is not very realistic. The reader needs to adapt to the book they’re reading. But many times they won’t complain in a similar situation in modern setting like cold CEO being domineering and not respecting MC’s decision… and I dont see them complaining either in ancient setting when transmigrated MC kills everyone who goes against her or plans for them to be gang raped and married off to beastly men…
Thanks for the chapter 😘 im waiting for luo jing bo to show off his painting skills and amaze the world 😁 (with maybe a blushing SYJ as she watches?)
Lol some people are just hypocrites, or they think they’ll get moral points by flexing their moral superiority to us mere mortals. It’s funny how quick a lot are to kick ML under the bus in a story to show the world that they have better morals, yet they can completely overlook the slavery and other human rights violations in historical settings. Nobody ever bats an eye when a servant is killed or abused.
One funny thing I saw was someone saying how they like this novel but had to add ‘ofc not the ML’ and I’m just like this novel would not be the same without ML being the way he is, it would be really boring and very unrealistic.
Unfortunately, I dont think we’ll be given the chance to see. He won’t ever let himself do sth like those kind of punishments in front of others, and im sure he is just too outstanding in all fields to fail and be punished. I can only imagine him being punished by drinking the weird beverage but he would do so without changing his face 😂
Hehehe I know which novel you meant. I don’t usually comment but I finally did when people just ignore the political and comedy parts (which are more attractive imho) and keep on bashing the ML for living the way he was taught to (and NOT breaking the law). I realized it became my pet peeve when reading (especially ancient) chinese novels; readers who demand the ML to be so modern he would have difficulty to survive in that era… 😏
Wait… who got upset? 🤔 And my heart lurched when I read the part about them using live animals for target practice? Yikes. I’m gonna read this part with my eyes closed then. 😭
Thanks for the chapter, @Jen! 😁
But it also says the arrows are altered so it doesn’t hurt them 😂😂😂
Thanks for the update, Jen.💖
It looks like Li Hong Yuan wants to get punished by Jing Wan.😂