章 188: The Artist

An unmitigated sadness flooded Yan Zheyun's heart. Friend or foe, sitting before him here was a young man who ought to be in the prime of his life, who, should he have been born into the modern world, did not have to speak nonchalantly about death. Be it sickness, be it malicious intent, the 21st century had more solutions to offer than this kingdom, whose emperor and a select few dedicated officials were fighting tooth and nail to protect its civilians from further injustices.

To be born blessed and not recognise the blessing (1), he thought to himself, and not for the first time, reflected back on how he'd taken so many of the privileges of growing up in an affluent 21st century city for granted in the past. Hospitals, a police force with minimal corruption, an efficient transport system, education for the masses. These were just to name a few.

クリエイターの想い
Queeniecat

(1) To be born blessed and not recognise the blessing: a common household saying that means to not appreciate or treasure what one has because one is always wanting more or coveting what others have.

(2) To incur ridicule: Hard to translate, used self-depracatingly after one has performed badly or done something that is below one’s standards. Often used to be humble (and not necessarily because the performance was actually bad).

(3) Tuberculosis: Info taken from a research paper published in a medical journal, citing sources that say the first records of TB in ancient China possibly date back 5700 years ago.

(4) Assist the higher, step on the lower: an idiom that means to have double standards.

(5) An emperor’s edict in some dynasties was known as a ‘shengzhi’ or sacred edict. the corresponding edict for the empress or dowager was an ‘yizhi’. The ‘yi’ character was used in ancient times to address an empress, dowager, or princess. It was also used as a polite term of address for a female Noble of a higher generation.

A/N: Thank you very much for reading and for the gifts, comments, golden tickets and power stones! Apologies for the delay ): I still don’t have a computer because my entire family is ill now, including myself, and I’m not meeting anyone to spread it to them. Hence, all chapter update news will be in the auxiliary chapter as I am unable to post announcements on the mobile app. Thanks!