Spring Once More

 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 theseventh and youngest prince of Daxing Dynasty and was born of thesame mother as the emperor.

Xiao-Shun told me this.

Xiao-Shun is the youngprince’s trusted subordinate. The most trusted bosom servant. Thisis also what Xiao-Shun told me.He is helping the prince recover his memories. That’s why he isbeing so detailed. And the prince who has lost his memory is noneother than yours truly.

It was only yesterday that Iused my wealth of wits to mislead the guy who spoke with me intobelieving one thing: the prince not only died and came back to lifebut lost his memory, too. At that point, the other members of theprince’s residence split into two groups, one leaving to request apurification rite of water and earth and another heading to theimperial palace to deliver the news. When the priest and the ImperialGuards crashed into the ceremonial pavilion, I was sitting withMaster Su on the coffin lid drinking tea and talking up a storm.

Su Xingzhi, courtesy nameZhengyan, was the guy who chatted with me. I figured he must be somerelative of the prince since both the staff of the residence and thehead of the Imperial Guard was very respectful of him. He seemed likea guy used to being in charge of things. One word from Master Su beata million from me. Master Su said the young prince was only in a deepsleep and indeed regained consciousness rather than being reanimated.Therefore, everybody believed that the prince came back to life andwas not a zombie. The Guards returned to the palace with auspiciousnews for the emperor. As the entire residence knelt down incelebration of my rebirth, I struck the cla.s.sic pose of President Maoon the tower of Tiananmen to signify that I considered the fiascoover and done with. Immediately, a dozen or so people ushered me tomy private chambers to bathe and change my clothes. Some servants litfirecrackers to celebrate and to chase away the infelicitousatmosphere.

And that brings us to thepresent. I am now the prince who has lost his memory. I’m beingtold by my forgotten bosom servant about the prince’s past.

My guess is that Xiao-Shun isin his early twenties. With a head like a water deer’s, eyes like arat’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 wasmore 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 himthe most too because he knows the prince’s family history the best.

Daxing Dynasty has had fiveemperors since its founding. The previous emperor had a total offourteen sons. Three kicked the bucket before the current emperortook the throne, and four did the same afterward. The remaining sevenwere 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 receivedthe t.i.tle of Prince Tai.

But everybody speaks veryvaguely about the prince’s past. Clearly, they are trying to hidethings from me. I think back to the mumbled utterance of thedepartment head. I gather that this Prince Chai Rong wasn’t a frontrunner 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 nowthe most urgent issue is figuring out how to act and speak so as notto arouse suspicion.

“Oh, right.” Afterlistening to Xiao-Shun recite a bunch of stuff about the dynasty’shistory, I suddenly think of Su Xingzhi whom I haven’t seen since Ileft the shrine. “Y’know, that Master Su, who is he to ThisPrince?”

The royal prerogative ofreferring to myself in the third person comes out naturally, like itwas meant to be uttered by me.

Xiao-Shun shifts his eyes fora split second. “Oh, Master Su? He’s more than close with YourHighness. 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