The Emperor Has An Illness

Names mentioned in this chapter (which can also be found in the glossary):

-廖青青(Liào qīngqīng)- Liao Qing Qing, the female lead. 

-景礼帝(jǐng lǐ ​​dì)- Emperor Jing Li, the male lead.

-费费(fèi fèi)- Fei Fei, the nickname of Liao Qing Qing’s child.

Current Ranking: Empress Dowager → Empress → Worthy Consort + Virtuous Consort →  Lady Li of Graceful Ceremony → Ye Liangyi + Wu Liangyi → Noble Lady Liao + Noble Lady Jiang + Noble Lady Liang

Fei Fei was originally crying, but when he heard Emperor Jing Li’s complaint, he and Liao Qing Qing stared at Emperor Jing Li blankly.

Without the slightest self-consciousness as an adult, Emperor Jing Li stretched out his arm and said, “Wifey, look.”

Liao Qing Qing, “….”

Emperor Jing Li was afraid that Liao Qing Qing could not see it. So he got down from the soft couch and walked towards Liao Qing Qing. Then, he pulled his sleeves up very high and showed the two rows of pink teeth marks to Liao Qing Qing. He deliberately emphasised, “Look! Fei Fei bit me.”

Fei Fei lifted his head to look at Liao Qing Qing.

Liao Qing Qing looked at Emperor Jing Li and then at Fei Fei. Finally, she looked at Emperor Jing Li and said, “Your Majesty, Fei Fei is still a baby.”[1]

“I[2] am also your baby.”

“….” How could a distinguished-looking man, the king of an empire, say such coquettish words? The corner of Liao Qing Qing’s mouth twitched, and she looked toward Fei Fei.

Fei Fei raised his tiny face and stared at Liao Qing Qing blankly.

Liao Qing Qing asked, “You bit him first?”

Fei Fei immediately lowered his head and interlocked his fingers, looking very aggrieved.

Liao Qing Qing squatted down and looked at Fei Fei.

Fei Fei called out, “Mum.”

Liao Qing Qing said, “Does your arm hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Your dad is in pain too.”

“…..” Fei Fei didn’t know what to say and looked blankly at his mother.

His biological mother, Liao Qing Qing, asked again, “Our Fei Fei didn’t know that biting hurt so much at first. That’s why he bit others, right?”

Fei Fei nodded. “Mm.”

“So, our Fei Fei isn’t wrong either.”

When Fei Fei heard this, his eyes instantly lit up.

Liao Qing Qing smiled and hugged Fei Fei. She said, “Now you know it hurts if you are bitten, right?”

Fei Fei nodded obediently.

“Then next time, don’t bite. Do you understand?”

“I! Understand!”

This child’s voice contained pure innocence and possessed a lot of positive points. Liao Qing Qing’s heart melted in an instant. She kissed Fei Fei on the cheek and said warmly, “Our Fei Fei is really amazing!”

It was as if Fei Fei’s heart was filled with butterflies dancing about. His anger, aggrievedness, sadness and fear all flew away. It only contained his mother’s sweet kiss. He raised his little arm and wrapped it around Liao Qing Qing’s neck. His small head leaned on Liao Qing Qing’s neck.

Liao Qing Qing laughed aloud and said, “Shall your daddy and we apologise to one another?”

Fei Fei answered, “Yes.”

Liao Qing Qing picked Fei Fei up and went to Emperor Jing Li’s side.

Fei Fei lay on Liao Qing Qing’s shoulder and timidly looked at Emperor Jing Li.

Emperor Jing Li also looked at Fei Fei.

Fei Fei hesitated for a moment. His tiny body leaned towards Emperor Jing Li and gave him a peck on his face. He couldn’t utter the words “I’m sorry”, but he used his actions to express it.

Emperor Jing Li reached out and took Fei Fei in his arms and gave Fei Fei a rare kiss on the cheek. Then, he said, “Fei Fei, this is called ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’” Fei Fei didn’t understand.

Emperor Jing Li added, “When you grow up, you will understand.”

Fei Fei nodded his head.

A smile appeared on Emperor Jing Li’s face.

Fei Fei returned to his usual lively self again. He uttered “ah, ah” in Emperor Jing Li’s arms. Emperor Jing Li and Liao Qing Qing didn’t understand him. The family of three gathered around the small wooden table to eat pastries.

Liao Qing Qing raised his eyes to look at Emperor Jing Li, smiling at the corner of her mouth.

“What are you smiling about?” Emperor Jing Li asked.

“It’s not something like ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Emperor Jing Li was embarrassed about having his pretence exposed. He used his hand to rub his nose.

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Liao Qing Qing said, “You’re just childish.” For him not to lose out in front of his child either.

Emperor Jing Li lowered his head and remained silent.

When Fei Fei lowered his head, Liao Qing Qing rose slightly and kissed Emperor Jing Li on his ear. She whispered, “Childishly endearing.”

Upon hearing that, Emperor Jing Li reached out to pull Liao Qing Qing’s arm at once and kissed Liao Qing Qing passionately on the lips.

When the two of them were kissing each other unwilling to separate from one another, Fei Fei shouted, “Mum!”

Liao Qing Qing and Emperor Jing Li immediately separated from one another. They reached out to tidy their clothes and hair. They turned to look at Fei Fei, who was leaning on the window and looking out. Fei Fei turned back in surprise and said, “Fly! Fly!”

He didn’t see them kissing.

Liao Qing Qing and Emperor Jing Li let out a sigh of relief simultaneously. Their eyes followed the direction of Fei Fei’s little hand to see two butterflies dancing outside the window.

“Butterflies,” Liao Qing Qing said.

Fei Fei said, “Fly! Fly! Catch!”

“You want to catch the butterflies!”

“Mm.”

“Let’s go. Let’s go catch butterflies.” When Liao Qing Qing said catch, she immediately got out of bed, carried Fei Fei down, looked at Emperor Jing Li and asked, “Your Majesty, do you want to catch butterflies.”

“I’m not going to catch it.”

“Then we’re leaving.”

“Mm.”

Liao Qing Qing and Fei Fei walked hand in hand to the courtyard to catch butterflies. They specially made a small net. The mother and son giggled and laughed.

Catching butterflies is such a childish thing!

Emperor Jing Li was unwilling to catch it!

But as he watched Liao Qing Qing and Fei Fei playing happily and laughing incessantly, he was tempted to do it too. In no time, he went over and joined them. The family of three caught butterflies in the courtyard.

Later on, they caught cicadas, monkeys and bean worms and so on. Emperor Jing Li, Liao Qing Qing and Fei Fei did it all together. Zhengqian Palace was filled with laughter at all times, making the palace maids and eunuchs very relaxed.

Just like that, a year had passed.

Two years.

Three years.

Four years.

……

Emperor Jing Li always accompanied Liao Qing Qing and the children to play around. No one inside or outside the palace expected the Emperor to love the Empress for so long.

Ever since the Empress was favoured, the Great Wei Dynasty did not hold a grand selection of concubine candidates. The imperial harem was still the same, and the one who had Emperor Jing Li’s true love was still the Empress alone.

But the Empress loved many more people.

Apart from the Emperor, there was also the Empress Dowager, Eldest Prince, Second Prince and Third Princess. The palace maids and eunuchs who served in Zhengqian Palace were aware of a small secret: His Majesty loved to be angry and had to be coaxed by the Empress.

Usually, when they saw that the Emperor’s face was not good, it was definitely the Empress who neglected the Emperor and rushed to find Her Highness, the Empress.

The Empress, Liao Qing Qing, was helpless. Emperor Jing Li was really too petty. He couldn’t stand seeing her being too affectionate to the children because he was jealous. Hence, Liao Qing Qing took the three children together to coax Emperor Jing Li.

Once Emperor Jing Li went out hunting and was accidentally injured, Liao Qing Qing and the three children were terrified. The four of them, mother and children, sat at the bed to keep watch. After Emperor Jing Li woke up, they almost burst into tears.

Liao Qing Qing’s eyes were red as she said, “Your Majesty, you have finally woken up.”

When Liao Qing Qing fell ill, Emperor Jing Li and the three children were kept watch by Liao Qing Qing’s side, except that Liao Qing Qing was sick for a longer time. She was ill for about six months and almost passed away on several occasions.

Dark clouds loomed over the whole imperial palace. When Liao Qing Qing was completely cured, Emperor Jing Li found a place where no one was around and lay on Liao Qing Qing’s shoulder, crying like a child.

Originally, Liao Qing Qing wanted to laugh. But she couldn’t control herself and shed tears too. Since that serious illness, Liao Qing Qing was not in good health. But it was not easy for her to chance upon such a blissful life; she could not give up.

She stopped being lazy and started working out every day. She also dragged Emperor Jing Li to work out with her.

So every morning, the palace maids and eunuchs who got up early either saw the Emperor and the Empress running together or saw the Emperor and the Empress dancing with swords together. At first, they felt it was strange, but they got used to it later.

Life was about exercise.

Liao Qing Qing’s and Emperor Jing Li’s insistence on daily exercise did produce results. Both of them were in good health and shape. When the children left the palace and built manors, they still looked young.

Empress Dowager was envious.

Liao Qing Qing then dragged Empress Dowager to exercise with her.

As they couldn’t bear to part with the Third Princess, Emperor Jing Li kept the Third Princess living in the palace and didn’t let her live in the Princess’s manor outside of the palace.

But girls can’t be kept for long.

After the Eldest Prince and Second Prince married, the Third Princess finally got married. She married a young and talented Grand General of good character, who fitted in well with the lively and active Third Princess.

The children all formed families.

Only Liao Qing Qing and Emperor Jing Li lived in the imperial palace. Emperor Jing Li became increasingly clingy to Liao Qing Qing as they grew older.

Whenever he had time, he would come to Liao Qing Qing’s side, and the two of them would eat together, sleep together, write together, and talk about the farm and the people in the imperial court. The two of them led their life to the fullest.

As for the harem, the grand selection and whatnot were not in their consideration long ago. Several years ago, many imperial subjects in the imperial court sent memorials asking Emperor Jing Li to distribute the favours, to select a concubine and such so as to avoid the Emperor favouring her too much and causing bad influence. Emperor Jing Li refuted every one of them.

After all these years, the people on Liao Qing Qing’s side were particularly contentious.

After breaking off relations with Eldest Master Liao, Eldest Master Liao’s side caused some trouble in reliance on Liao Qing Qing’s power. However, it was soon put to rest by Emperor Jing Li.

Liao Qing Qing’s father, Second Old Master Liao, and Ji Shi were content with the status quo. They worked diligently in their small position as magistrates, never causing any trouble.

Liao Qing Qing’s younger brother, Liao Qing En, was a competent man. He was a top scholar in the imperial examinations and was now an official in the cabinet.

As for the Eldest Prince, Second Prince and the Third Princess, it went without saying that they were “other people’s children.”[3] Ever since they were young, they made many imperial subjects envious and in awe.

Slowly, the imperial subjects no longer spoke of holding grand selections of concubine candidates and distributing favours. The wind began to change and became a well-known story for the Emperor and the Empress.

Liao Qing Qing’s and Emperor Jing Li’s love story was written in a book by the people. This book fell into the hands of Liao Qing Qing.

Liao Qing Qing read it all in one go and showed it to Emperor Jing Li.

Emperor Jing Li was very satisfied.

Liao Qing Qing said, “This is not realistic.”

Emperor Jing Li said, “I think it is realistic.”

Liao Qing Qing said, “Your Majesty, our personalities are switched in the book. You are the one who is the meddlesome little drama king.”

Emperor Jing Li, “….”

“But, it doesn’t matter. This concubine[4] likes how Your Majesty is so dramatic.

Emperor Jing Li asked, “Do you still like me when I am old?”

“Of course.”

“Haven’t you always liked a young body?”

“This concubine likes Your Majesty’s young body. When Your Majesty is old, this concubine will still like the old Your Majesty.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Emperor Jing Li smiled.

Liao Qing Qing held Emperor Jing Li’s hand. The two of them looked at the young them in the folk stories[5] together.

——End of the entire novel——

[1] 宝宝(bǎobǎo)- This means “baby” or “darling.”

[2] 朕(zhèn)- I (imperial) or we (imperial use).

[3] 别人家的小孩(biéren jiāde xiǎohái)- Other people’s children. In February 2011, a post titled ‘Other people children’ became popular on the Internet. Netizens responded that ‘Other people children’ were their ‘enemies’  because they were always ‘compared’ by their parents. An example would be when parents nag, “My colleague’s daughter was admitted into a prestigious middle school this year. Why aren’t you as good as her?!” to their children. When one goes to school, the parents compare their child’s grades. When their child graduates, parents compare their certification. After the child has graduated, parents compare career and income. When the child retires, they compare their grandchildren. Credits: Baidu

[4] 臣妾(chénqiè)- this concubine/I, your servant (self-appellation of a lower-rank female). The literal meaning is ‘this subject and this concubine’.It is a self-appellation used by the ranks including and above Consorts. They are used by Consorts, Noble Consorts and Empress, etc. in front of the Emperor, Empress Dowager and Consorts, Noble Consorts that have a higher rank

[5] 话本子(​​huà běnzi)- It is a Chinese short- or medium-length story or novella written mostly in vernacular language. Sometimes, it includes simple classical language. In contrast to the full-length Chinese novel, it was generally not divided into chapters and recounted a limited number of characters or events. Credits: Wikipedia

Translator’s Note: This is the last chapter of The Emperor Has An Illness. I hope you have enjoyed reading this novel as much as we did. Firstly, I would like to thank Lynn for editing this novel. Secondly, I would like to thank all the readers for being extremely patient with my unpunctual update. Also, I would like to thank all of the readers for your love and support, as well as being part of our translation journey.