Disclaimer: This is edited MTL. Do forgive any grammar mistakes as they are my own and not the author’s. I may add some of my own words for clarity sake, but I will try not to change the meaning of the whole sentence. When the author uses 成语 / Cheng Yu, which is something like idiom-like phrases, I may just translate them in simple English if they are not very meaningful. Otherwise, I will add a translation note. An example would be ‘不三不四’, I would most likely translate it as ‘dubious’ depending on the context.

Edited by Clear

This chapter has a lot of references to mahjong.

Mahjong is a gambling game between 4 people. Each player starts with 13 random tiles and will need 4 sets and a pair of tiles to win. Different combinations are worth different points. 

Each player takes turns to change their tiles. They will take a tile and then throw one. Everytime they make a set through Gang/Pong/Chi, it becomes their turn. They can make a set with a tile that they take or by a tile that another player throws. There may be slight variations for the rules among different provinces in China and countries. 

Making a set

• Gang – Set of 4 same tiles
• Pong – Set of 3 same tiles
• Chi – Sequence of 3 tiles e.g. 1 bamboo, 2 bamboo with 3 bamboo or 2 bamboo, 3 bamboo with 4 bamboo

Winning

• Hu – Winning in any way
• ZiMo – Literally Self-Win, it means winning by getting the tile you need on your turn instead of by a discarded tile from another player

Edit: Shang Guan Yang surname is Shangguan, so I’ll be changing future references to his name to Shangguan Yang

I will be italicizing idioms used in the story. If the meaning is obvious enough, I won’t add a translation note below it.

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The whole afternoon, the steward kept hearing words coming from the courtyard that he had never heard in his lifetime before, “Pong”, ”ZiMo”, ”Gang”. He looked at the 3 youths who had lost everything on their body, barely leaving themselves in anything more than their underwear, but who still left the manor happily. He couldn’t help but laugh. 

[T/N: “Pong” and “Gang” are some moves used in Mahjong. “ZiMo” is a method of winning. This underwear means loincloth, I’m half sure the author is using it as a metaphor.]

Then he looked at their Crown Princess who had earned a pot full of money. The look of him counting the silver taels was no different from a rope of money.

[T/N: 钱串子/Qian Chuan Zi is a metaphor for a person looking greedily/excessively at a lot of money. It literally means rope of money. It’s also the name of an insect so I don’t recommend googling it.]

Yan Ke stored the money he won properly, ate dinner earlier than usual, and waited for the three men who unwillingly lost all their money to return for a rematch.

In the evening, Tang Qi brought forty-two silver taels with him, but along with the other two men, he once again lost everything and returned home with empty pockets.

Tang Qi touched his head. Which part of his brain had a problem? 

His salary was only thirty silver taels a month, yet he lost close to a hundred at Yan Ke’s manor today……

Forget it, he won’t do this anymore, fortunately he doesn’t depend on his salary from the palace for his livelihood, otherwise……

He’s afraid that even the money reserved for his future wife’s bride price would be lost.

[T/N: In Chinese culture, the husband will need to give a bride price to the wife’s family when marrying the wife.]

Tang Qi didn’t expect that his two other comrades would think the same way as him.

[T/N: This translation is correct. His comrades’ actions later don’t match their thoughts though.]

The next day.

When Tang Qi finished his palace work early, he intended to find Liu Kang and Shangguan Yang, but heard from the two manor’s stewards that the young masters left early in the morning without saying where they were going.

Tang Qi’s heart was still on the mahjong table in the Crown Prince Manor. He was a man who didn’t like the gambling den, but after playing the novel game yesterday, he realised that it was like an addiction. If it wasn’t for his empty pockets and Crown Prince Manor’s old steward urging him to leave, he would definitely have kept playing with Yan Ke till dawn.

“Pong! Yan Ke, don’t Mo a tile, I said that I’ve Pong already.”

[T/N: Mo means to touch/pick up a tile. When someone ‘Pong’, it means that it will now be that person’s turn to Mo.]

“I didn’t Mo.”

“I already saw your hand on the tile, you really didn’t Mo it?”

“Really didn’t Mo.”

“Okay okay, can you guys hurry up? I’m about to ZiMo.”

[T/N: ZiMo means to win by drawing the tile you need at your turn instead of through a discarded tile by other players.]

Tang Qi looked at the noisy courtyard and stood stone faced at the entrance wearing a dark look. Yan Ke saw him arrive and his eyes swept over him, but then he simply continued to play his tiles.

Seeing another rich family son who was pulled over to the mahjong table, Tang Qi glared at Liu Kang and Shangguan Yang. 

Shangguan Yang laughed sheepishly: “We couldn’t resist, and dragged along another person to recoup our losses.”

Liu Kang: “Yes, Yes, today was much better than yesterday!” 

Tang Qi’s eyebrows jumped, and he asked in surprise: “You won?”

Shangguan Yang: “No, yesterday I lost a hundred and fifty silver, but looking at the situation today, I may be able to bring half of my two hundred taels back today.” 

Tang Qi: “……”

After Yan Ke “Hu”, he gave Tang Qi his seat and let the veggie chickens peck at each other. He was woken up early in the morning to play mahjong. In his daze, there was an illusion that he had returned to his modern times.

[T/N: “Hu” means to win. Veggie chickens pecking at each other means letting the noobs fight each other.]

Yan Ke rolled up his sleeves and walked into the kitchen. He made three simple dishes and a soup, then carried a bowl and sat beside them to watch them fight. 

The others caught the smell of aroma from the dishes and looked at Yan Ke in unison.

Yan Ke: “……?”

“What do you guys want?”

Tang Qi: “What do we want? We played mahjong at your house and lost so much money to you, are our meals not going to be covered by you?”

Yan Ke nodded and pointed to the kitchen: “There should be enough food inside for five people.”

After they finished two mealtimes in the Crown Prince Manor, at night, Yan Ke couldn’t endure their presence anymore. The steward saw these few young men who usually acted in a respectable way, but who now stuck around their Crown Prince Manor, pulling their family’s Crown Princess, not letting the Crown Princess leave their table, as well as put on such shameless appearance. He didn’t say anything and went to find some shadow guards.

In the end, Tang Qi and the others were thrown out by the shadow guards.

The news of a novel entertainment within the Crown Prince Manor spread widely, and everyone sharpened their minds and used their connections to try to enter the Crown Prince Manor to see what it was about.

Yan Ke had no choice but to ask Tang Qi to make another mahjong set. In his mind, he was thinking that the people who were able to enter the Manor were all sons of rich families, and if they played on a smaller scale, it wouldn’t hurt their finances and wouldn’t end their livelihood. Thus, he decided to go along with them.

In a flash, three months passed by. As they entered the winter season, Yan Ke caught a cold. Although he was not as weak as before where an illness could make his whole body fall, he kept coughing intermittently for more than half a month.

His mahjong arrangement had increased from one table to two tables, but now he had to increase it to three tables. He also met a lot of new people, most of whom basically came in through their connections with Tang Qi and the others. All of them were well known and respected people in society.

From his point of view, he was still new to this kingdom, so in the future after his divorce, the more people he had a connection with, the more roads he would be able to walk.

This was a good thing.

As for Meng You, he assumed that Meng You knew about his wish for a divorce but was just acting very cheap. He probably thought it was embarrassing to have misunderstood Yan Ke’s feelings for him and this kept Yan Ke in suspense.

[T/N: 贱/Jian means cheap but it has a lot of meanings.]

However, all of that didn’t matter. The weather wasn’t hot now. Everyday, he would make two steamed buns, and the steamed buns had two massive words written on them, ‘Divorce’. He repeated the same thing for three months because he wanted Meng You, that cheap person, to see buns and puke at the sight!

[T/N: Divorce is two words in Chinese. So he wrote one word on each bun.]

The steward saw that Yan Ke had awoken, so he placed a warm heater in Yan Ke’s hand, took the fox fur coat held up by a maid, and fitted the coat properly on Yan Ke.

[T/N: This is an ancient heater, you can put coal inside it and start a fire to keep warm.]

The Lord Crown Prince had mentioned before that the Crown Princess was in poor health, so they had to serve him well.

Steward: “Crown Princess, someone from the palace came here.”

Yan Ke raised his head: “Oh?”

Steward: “I heard that it’s because people from the Crown Princess’s family came to our Kingdom.”

Yan Ke was startled and looked at the steward. If the steward hasn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t have known about this matter.

Chu Kingdom had sent people over. It must be because the Yue Kingdom hasn’t let Su Yu go after such a long period of time that they came to negotiate.

But, since it’s about negotiating, why didn’t they find him first?

Yan Ke: “I won’t make buns today.”

The steward nodded again and again. He didn’t know how many letters he had received from his family’s Lord Crown Prince in the past three months, saying that he should not let the Crown Princess make buns anymore.

He said it already, but……

The Crown Princess simply doesn’t listen to him!

Yan Ke: “I will make them for him tomorrow.”

Steward: “……”

The steward’s face sweated, and he asked tentatively: “How about…… we change it up for the Lord Crown Prince?”

Yan Ke: “I did change it~ Yesterday I made meat buns for him, the day before yesterday I made vegetable buns for him, and two days before yesterday I made sugar buns for him.”

Yan Ke patted the steward’s shoulder, and spoke in an understanding manner: “I was afraid that he would get sick of eating the same thing, so I made it for him in a variety of ways.” 

The steward put on a fake smile in a perfunctory manner.

Eaten steamed buns consecutively for three months, no matter how you change the ingredients, people would still get sick of eating it.

After Yan Ke had his breakfast, a sedan chair from the palace arrived outside the Crown Prince Manor. The steward gave Yan Ke a new heater, and then asked in a whisper if he wanted to be accompanied outside. 

Yan Ke shook his head: “Tang Qi is probably in the palace right now, and since I don’t know the way, they probably just sent someone to bring me there.”

Steward: “If the people from the Chu Kingdom find trouble with you over the city defence map, then the Crown Princess only needs to send the guards inside the palace to the Crown Prince Manor and have us informed.”

After months of living together, the steward had already decided to keep Yan Ke close to his stomach.

[T/N: 护犊子/Hu Du Zi literally means to keep close to his stomach, it’s a saying usually used for a mother wanting to protect their child.]

After they had set up mahjong at their house for several months, Yan Ke’s superiority had long since been lost, and now his winning rate depended purely on the hand he was dealt.

As soon as the steward who had decided to keep Yan Ke close to his stomach saw that Yan Ke had lost money, he would let a shadow guard throw out whoever won. Therefore, for a long period of time, those who played did not dare to accept Yan Ke’s tiles. They were afraid that after winning some teals, they would lose their seat at the mahjong table.

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Author has something to say:

The amount of silver taels may not be accurate, look at the officials casually, don’t analyse it too much~

[T/N: The author means that the salary of the officials, in terms of silver stones may not be accurate, don’t read too much into it.]

Love you all!

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