chapter 4

(Reminder: To read the translator's notes, hover your cursor over the words underlined with dots.)

Chapter Four

Prince Tai, Chai Rong, is the

seventh and youngest prince of Daxing Dynasty and was born of the

same mother as the emperor.

Xiao-Shun told me this.

Xiao-Shun is the young

prince’s trusted subordinate. The most trusted bosom servant. This

is also what Xiao-Shun told me.

He is helping the prince recover his memories. That’s why he is

being so detailed. And the prince who has lost his memory is none

other than yours truly.

It was only yesterday that I

used my wealth of wits to mislead the guy who spoke with me into

believing one thing: the prince not only died and came back to life

but lost his memory, too. At that point, the other members of the

prince’s residence split into two groups, one leaving to request a

purification rite of water and earth and another heading to the

imperial palace to deliver the news. When the priest and the Imperial

Guards crashed into the ceremonial pavilion, I was sitting with

Master Su on the coffin lid drinking tea and talking up a storm.

Su Xingzhi, courtesy name

Zhengyan, was the guy who chatted with me. I figured he must be some

relative of the prince since both the staff of the residence and the

head of the Imperial Guard was very respectful of him. He seemed like

a guy used to being in charge of things. One word from Master Su beat

a million from me. Master Su said the young prince was only in a deep

sleep and indeed regained consciousness rather than being reanimated.

Therefore, everybody believed that the prince came back to life and

was not a zombie. The Guards returned to the palace with auspicious

news for the emperor. As the entire residence knelt down in

celebration of my rebirth, I struck the cla.s.sic pose of President Mao

on the tower of Tiananmen to signify that I considered the fiasco

over and done with. Immediately, a dozen or so people ushered me to

my private chambers to bathe and change my clothes. Some servants lit

firecrackers to celebrate and to chase away the infelicitous

atmosphere.

And that brings us to the

present. I am now the prince who has lost his memory. I’m being

told by my forgotten bosom servant about the prince’s past.

My guess is that Xiao-Shun is

in his early twenties. With a head like a water deer’s, eyes like a

rat’s, the sharp and jagged features tell me he’s a quick-witted person.

His limbs are nimble, and his speech is clear. I reckon there was

more than a dozen who came up to me claiming to be my bosom servant,

and this buddy was the most outstanding of them all. I appreciate him

the most too because he knows the prince’s family history the best.

Daxing Dynasty has had five

emperors since its founding. The previous emperor had a total of

fourteen sons. Three kicked the bucket before the current emperor

took the throne, and four did the same afterward. The remaining seven

were given the t.i.tle of grand prince. Fu, Ning, Ren, Kan, Duan, An,

Tai - so goes the order. Chai Rong is the youngest, so he received

the t.i.tle of Prince Tai.

But everybody speaks very

vaguely about the prince’s past. Clearly, they are trying to hide

things from me. I think back to the mumbled utterance of the

department head. I gather that this Prince Chai Rong wasn’t a front

runner for Mr. Congeniality, and that’s why he was killed. Well,

I’ve got all the time in the world to figure things out. Right now

the most urgent issue is figuring out how to act and speak so as not

to arouse suspicion.

“Oh, right.” After

listening to Xiao-Shun recite a bunch of stuff about the dynasty’s

history, I suddenly think of Su Xingzhi whom I haven’t seen since I

left the shrine. “Y’know, that Master Su, who is he to This

Prince?”

The royal prerogative of

referring to myself in the third person comes out naturally, like it

was meant to be uttered by me.

Xiao-Shun s.h.i.+fts his eyes for

a split second. “Oh, Master Su? He’s more than close with Your

Highness. It’s a pity Your Highness does not remember.”

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Dairytea: Love interest #1? OuO 

Master Su from the manhua

Chapter 5