ALT chapter 1.3 A sunny day covered by snow

       Jiang Xuening doesn't know what a steam engine is.

       But You Fangyin always said that she was not from here, but came from a far away place. A place that she could not go back to anymore.

       She also said that there was a huge secret in the previous dynasty. If they knew about it, anyone with even a little brain would not take a wrong step in this battle.

　　It's just a pity that she knew about it too late.

　　You Fangyin faintly sighed and gave a bitter smile: "Being bullied in this era where even the birds don't poop[1], whoever likes to transmigrate, just let them transmigrate then!"

　　Jiang Xuening hadn't heard such vulgar words for a long time already. She was in a trance for a while, but when she thought of the time, she suddenly raised her voice and called out, "Xie Daren[2]!"

       The vermillion palace walls were covered with pure white snow.

       There was a dense mass of people outside the palace door.

       As if Yan Lin was pressing down the sword on the side.

　　The leader stands tall, but he doesn't answer.

       Jiang Xuening knew he could hear it.

       This is the most thoughtful person in the whole Da Qian Dynasty.

       The skin of a saint, the heart of a devil.

　　The Imperial Teacher of two dynasties, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, how many people respect him, admire him, and look up to him? But they don’t know that under this noble and clean appearance, what is hidden is a heart full of hostility and murderous intent. Under the Sword of state[3] given by the Emperor, was a massacre that turned the river and moat into a red water with the blood of the royal family. A pair of hands that play the piano and learn the literary are closely linked to the life of the entire Xiao's clan, and the corpses of those that were implicated are stacked like a mountain.

　　This is the only person she can't please even after exhausting all her resources.

       "You killed the royal family, put the Xiao clan to death, and destroyed the Heavenly Sect. You are the one who holds the authority and also holds my life in your hand. It stands to reason that I am not qualified to make terms with you." Suddenly a tear fell from the bottom of Jiang Xuening’s eyes, and it burned on the back of her hand. "I have used a lot of people in my life, but thinking over it carefully, I own Yanlin, and Yanlin also retaliates against me; I use Xiao Dingfei and Zhou Yinzhi, and they also used me to get to the the superior position; I calculated Shen Jie, and now I have to be buried alive with him and go to the underworld together. I do not owe them..."

       The fate of drifting bold and unconstrained throughout one’s life, passed just like this.

       The dagger was in her sleeve.

　　She gently pulled it out, and the cold light that flashed from the blade, was reflected in her eyes and on the gorgeous golden Buyao[4] that was on the side of her temple.

　　Jiang Xuening's body trembled, and her voice also trembled. The bottom of her eyes were full of tears but she was not even qualified to cry. She only said every single word as if she was weeping in blood: "But there is only one person who has been pure and upright all his life, and has strict rules and regulations. I threatened and forced him to go astray and tarnished his reputation for half of his life. He is a good official. I sincerely hope that Xie Daren still remembers when we were on the way to the capital that year, the favor of Xuening feeding you blood, and use my life in exchange for his life. To let him live... "

       Who would have predicted that the ungrateful and cold hearted Empress who seems to have no heart, would one day exchange her life for a trivial Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Punishment?

       Was it because she has no heart, or was it because no one has been able to warm her heart yet?

       The person outside the palace door stood still for a long time.

　　After a long time, a plain word was finally heard: "Approved."

       What a beautiful voice.

       It's still like a long time ago.

　　Jiang Xuening smiled in relieve and resolutely raise her hand——

       "Puff."

　　When the sharp dagger cuts through the blood vessel on the slender neck, it was just like the sound of tearing the paper. What accompanied it, was the clanging sound as if someone's sword falling to the ground outside of the palace door. 

       She also fell down.

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[1] where even the birds don’t poop: a place that lacks the necessary conditions needed for development, that even the birds do not want to come.

[2] Daren : something like ‘Your Excellency’.

[3] Sword of state : A sword of state is a sword, used as part of the regalia, symbolizing the power of a monarch to use the might of the state against its enemies, and his or her duty to preserve the right and peace.

[4] Buyao : a hair ornament for ancient women in China. A hairpin that was inserted into the hair, with tassels or pendants hanging on the hairpin head, which swayed along one’s step.

TN : I will use the mix between Chinese and English, because sometimes, it’s hard to accurately translate the title to English. And ouch, my brain hurts after translating this part. Too much time spent finding the right words. Also, transmigrator, everyone? I just finished reading this story, and the ending….hmmm.. I can say that I like it! No spoiler, please hahaha.

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Character List and Rank

Character List and Rank for A Lady's Tranquility

Will just dump it all here. Sorry for also putting the Chinese here, as I'm too lazy to edit it again so I just copy-paste it from what's in my word processor.

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Title and place :

勇毅侯府 : Yongyi Marquis Mansion. YL’s house.

勇毅 Yongyi : a title given by the Emperor, translated as ‘brave and steadfast’.

姜府 : Jiang Mansion. JXN’s house.

乐阳长公主 : Eldest Princess of Le Yang (as cheerful as the sun).

庶 Shu : Children born from a concubine.

大人 Daren : Your Excellency, a man with noble character and lofty aspiration.

临淄王 : King of Linzi (a district’s name). SJ’s title.

世子 Shizi : the eldest heir (usually eldest son from the legal wife) that was going to inherit the family’s title.

文华 Wenhua : excellent literary works.

会极 Huiji : Pillar of Meeting.

金陵 Jinling : Xie Wei’s hometown.

尚仪局 Shangyi Bureau : Government office’s name. The literal translation is ‘greatly respected ceremony’.

Characters :

姜雪宁 Jiang Xuening / Ning Ning (JXN) : the female lead.

婉娘 Wan Niang (WN) : JXN father’s concubine that raised JXN since she was a baby.

燕临 Yan Lin (YL) : the Young Marquis from Yongyi Marquis Mansion. JXN’s friend when she returned to the capital for the first time.

平南王 King Pingnan : a King that plotted a rebellion.

沈玠 Shen Jie (SJ) : the Emperor’s biological younger brother.

尤芳吟 You Fangyin (YFY) : JXN’s friend.

萧定非 Xiao Dingfei (XDF) : Minister of Official Personal Affairs (1st lifetime).

周寅之 Zhou Yinzhi (ZYZ) : Commander of the Imperial Guards (1st lifetime).

沈芷衣 Shen Zhiyi (SZY) : Princess of Le Yang, the Emperor’s sister.

谢危 Xie Wei (XW) : Former Imperial Teacher (1st lifetime).

沈玠 Shen Jie (SJ) : King of Linzi. JXN’s husband, the Emperor (1st lifetime).

姜侍郎 Assistant Minister Jiang : JXN’S father.

延平王 King Yanping

公公 Gong Gong : the old appellation for eunuch.

Things :

古琴 Guqin or simply qin: a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument.

ALT chapter 1.2 A sunny day covered by snow

        The road to the seat was not so smooth, so in this short life of hers, there were quite a few people like Yan Lin.

       For example, Xiao Dingfei, the Assistant Minister from the Ministry of Civil Service.

       For example, the Commander of the Imperial Guards, Zhou Yinzhi.

　　Even Shen Zhiyi, the Eldest Princess of Le Yang who perished in the Barbarians Tribe later…

       It’s just that, no one had thought that the teenager from the past would make a comeback. After the victory at the border, Yan Lin casted himself to Xie Wei, and under the banner of “cleaning up the ‘evil’ ministers by the Emperor’s side”, he returned in armor, led the army to encircle the capital, controlled the entire Forbidden City, and put her in confinement.

       Shen Jie was poisoned, bedridden with a lingering illness, and ignored the political situation and power in the imperial government.

       He went in and out of her palace grandiosely. When he came, he always ordered the palace people to withdraw, and sometimes with a drowsy alcohol in him…

　　Whether it was inside or outside the court, no one dared to say anything.

　　Everyone knows that he is Xie Wei's right arm.

　　When Xie Wei slaughtered half of the palace, it was him who led the soldiers to guard the gates of the palace to prevent anyone from escaping. When Xie Wei confiscated the Xiao clan's properties and executed the nine generations of the Xiao family, it was him who led the people to break open the tightly closed door of the Manor and catch the men and women, old and young…

　　Now, he and Xie Wei, the former Imperial Teacher, are standing outside of her palace.

       Shen Jie has already died, leaving an imperial edict ordering her to administer the state from ‘behind the veil’.

       However, the crown prince who came from the imperial clan that has yet to ascend the throne, was beheaded on his way to the capital by the uprising rebellion party from the Heavenly Sect, and his head was hung on the city gate.

　　Now, it’s her turn.

       Jiang Xuening blinked gently. Her thick and curly eyelashes cast a faint shadow under her eyelids, which made her look a bit desolate with the unpredictable changing in the world at the moment.

       You Fangyin looked at her with some disappointment.

　　However, she had put down the incense chopstick, covered the incense burner, took the big square brocade box on the table and opened it. Inside, there was the Imperial Jade Seal to hand down the state’s power, and a letter that she had written and sealed two hour ago.

　　Inside the Empress's decree, she wrote that she volunteered to be buried alive with the former Emperor and asked the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, Xie Wei, to support the country, assist the government in handling affairs, and select a virtuous monarch to succeed the throne.

       Jiang Xuening suddenly raised her head and looked out of the window.

       At some point, the snow that had been falling all night long, had stopped.

　　The dazzling sunlight came out of the dark clouds, and fell into the windows of the gloomy palace, casting a bright light down.

       She murmured: "If I had known that the ending would be like today, why did I have to anxiously bother with all the efforts from one place to another? It's better to travel thousands of miles, to see the rivers and mountains, and become the free bird that I have always dreamed about. In this life, it's a mistake to enter the palace wall in the end. It’s just a cocoon of prosperity.... "

       You Fangyin was silent without any word.

　　Jiang Xuening then asked: "Fangyin, if you were given a choice, would you still do it again?"

       You Fangyin is the strangest one among everyone that Jiang Xuening has ever known.

       She was originally the shu[1] daughter from a Count Mansion. Clumsy and pitiful. One day, she fell into the water and suddenly had a great change of temperament afterwards. From then on, she became the focus of public attention, engaged in trades and got rich. She issued a bill and established a Chamber of Commerce. In just a few short years, she became a leading merchant in Jiangning Prefecture.

　　It is not even an exaggeration to call her ‘You Half-A-City’[2].

       It's just that she was unlucky. In the court battle between the monarch and his officials, she first stood in the wrong line. Although she later defected to Xie Wei, she was also being guarded against these days and was put into confinement in this palace.

       They were both in a miserable situation together, but they became a confidant that told one another everything instead.

　　Jiang Xuening heard her talk about her experience of starting from scratch, and many of them were novel. Also heard her complained that when she had visited foreign countries during her  business trips, even a steam engine had never appeared.

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[1] shu : children born from a concubine.

[2] ‘You’ is her surname, and her wealth is ‘half-a-city’.

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ALT chapter 1.1 A sunny day covered by snow

 

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TN : Hello, Flio here. I'm a fan of Chinese novel. This is my first time trying to translate a story. I like this story very much, so I want to share it with like minded people. It's hard to even churn out one part of the raw's chapter for me because of all the terms, politics, poems, etc. that needs more time to translate it as accurate as possible, and I also have to live my real life too. For now, I don't have any set schedule yet for posting, and I have not yet churn out the next part too. So, please be patient with me. For some terms, I will use the original one (such as the title) and I will prepare the glossary page too. If I forgot anything, please feel free to comment on it. Thank you, and here you go.

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ALT chapter 1.1 A sunny day covered by snow

       "When I was very young, Wan Niang told me that the most noble woman in the world is the Empress, and the palace where the Empress lives is called the 'Kunning Palace'. I asked Wan Niang what Kunning Palace is like."

       "Wan Niang said, she also didn't know.”

　　"I sat under the eaves of a house that leaked with rain in the village and thought, if I could become that goose in the sky which just flew past, fly to the prosperous capital, fly to the Forbidden City and see what Kunning Palace looks like, how good would it be?"

       The Palace door is closed because of the confinement and only a window on the left is open.

       The sky is gloomy with a dim ray of light.

       In the Kunning Palace, which used to be lively in the past, not even the shadow of a palace servant could be seen now.

　　Only Jiang Xuening was sitting on her knees in front of the table, holding the incense chopstick with her white and slender fingers, and gently plucking them into the low and short hill censer inlaid with gold on the other end of the table. The wispy smoke floated leisurely from its pores. Her golden and rusty phoenix robes spread out long behind her, and the complicated cloud patterns faintly swam in the darkness with a little glittering.

　　"Later, I really went to the capital. Heavens played a big joke on me. It gave me an arrogance that I shouldn't have but let me grow up in the countryside. I am not a famous beautiful lady in the capital and didn’t have the bearing of a lady from a noble family. But it still put me in this prosperous place and fighting field, and only gave me a good skin.... "

       Jiang Xuening's appearance is very bright and colorful, burning just like a lotus.

       Her eyebrows are graceful, the tail of her eyes is slightly raised, and the sandalwood lips were dotted with vermilion red. It was a natural charm. Because of the fact that she has been in charge of the Phoenix Seal and being in a high position over the years, she has developed a rare grace and dignity.

　　When she lowered her eyebrows and closed her eyes, it could even make people’s hearts beat with excitement.

       You Fangyin stood still behind her for a long time and listened to her faintly dusty voice. Thinking of her life of scheming and striving for fame and profit in the eyes of the world, she suddenly fell into a trance.

       There was even a kind of sorrow that rose from her heart.

　　They all knew, that she couldn't escape anymore.

　　Jiang Xuening suddenly laughed: "Fangyin, during this period of time, I have always been thinking, am I really wrong?"

       When she was a child, she was raised by Wan Niang. She didn't know her own status and acted wildly in the mountains and rivers, fields and gardens outside the countryside. She was a bird that no one can control. Only Wan Niang's rouge and powders could make her go home.

       Wan Niang was a girl bought and raised to be sold, and is a woman among women.

　　She said that this world is the men’s world, only men can conquer it; and women, as long as they conquer men, they will also conquer the world.

       After tossing around and returning to the capital, she met Yan Lin, the Young Marquis from the Yongyi[1] Marquis Mansion. He took her to dress up as a man and played around recklessly in the capital. Even her father and mother didn't dare to discipline her too much, they were quite like a childhood sweetheart.

       Later, the Yongyi Marquis Mansion was implicated in the case of King Pingnan’s rebellion.

       Yan Lin’s entire family was exiled for thousands of miles.

　　At night, the teenager who had not yet been crowned, turned over the high wall of the Jiang Mansion to look for her. With a hoarse voice, he held her hand firmly: "Ning Ning, wait for me, I will definitely come back to marry you."

　　Jiang Xuening said to him: "I want to marry Shen Jie. I want to be the Empress."

       Then she remembered again that Yan Lin in his teenage years was looking at her with a kind of sharp look, like a struggling cornered beast with red eyes and tightly clenched teeth.

　　That night, the teenager faded away all the greenness, let go of her hand and turned to escape into the darkness.

       Five years later, she was already Shen Jie's Empress.

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[1] Yongyi : a title given by the Emperor, translated as ‘brave and steadfast’.

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