Omg, @kuku bless you for that lovely rundown, itās so thorough and well written!!!
Iāll add, from the perspective of someone who canāt read this in the original Mandarin but who DOES have an amateur hobby in the history of pharaonic Egypt, and VERY SPECIFICALLY the Amarna period, which is what a lot of this story is inspired by, because the manhua is obviously written by someone similar to me in that respect and who seems to be writing with a bit of a presupposition that readers are also familiar:
For some time prior to the birth and acension to the throne of a Pharoh by the name of Akenaton (hah!), husband of the famously gorgeous Nefertiti (made famous by her bust, you know the one, I promise) and father of the even more famous Tutenkamun, the priests of Ra (if Iām recalling correctly but possibly also either Osiris or Horus) had been consolidating power and weakening the position of the royal family for personal gain to the point where we might infer from things like the swiftness with which Tutenkamun sided with them upon taking the throne that they could order the pharaoh to do things. Akenaton took EXTREMELY drastic and ultimately futile measures to attempt to put a stop to this. Broadly, this is the position our pharaoh here finds himself in. In between Akenaton and Tutenkamun was also another Pharoah, Smenkhkare, whose identity beyond his name is unknown, as names were changed upon ascension. He was most likely a co-regent but is even speculated to have been Nefertiti herself – that little bit of history is, I would assume, what the bother is inspired by.
Ah, I see the comment kind of looks like a wall of text so Iāll add the TL;DR thatās at the end of my original comment to here:
For those confused about whatās happening in this manhua, hereās the short version of the summary:
The king is likely the rumoured āsecond princessā Mimi who disappeared around the time the king ascended the throne. This chapter all but confirms the kingās brother gave the king his identity and throne, so heās actually not the younger brother.
Heās going to go against the king now (which he already did by sending the scroll with the feather to the religious leaders) because he seems to value religion more than the king, and when he hurt the king by mentioning what is likely the kingās mom being also religious, the king also hurt him by yelling at him not to mention her.
Because of this, the kingās brother became underhanded and commented on how Zhang Li (the main character) maybe isnāt that loyal to the king after allāmaybe heās just loyal to their specific appearance, meaning the king isnāt special. He still wants Zhang Li to be brought over, but now itās outright suggested itās because he knows itāll hurt the king since the two seemed to get along well.
And despite the kingās preparations for executing his plan to probably replace all the religious leaders with his own people, his brother is planning to end things all *tonight*, which means next chapter should be juicy~
So yeah! I hope this is helpful, especially since this story is quite good at conveying its themes in a subtle manner, and itās too bad the translation has been confusing some people so far. š
Iām seeing a lot of people confused over the story so I wanted to briefly summarize whatās happeningāand donāt worry, Iāll include a TL;DR at the end:
The current king is acting like a tyrant on purpose in an effort to suppress the religion, mostly because he (and his group of followers/people/friends (the three we see discussing plans in this chapter)) believes that the religion has become too strong. That obviously puts forward that he has a disdain for the superstition associated with religion, especially probably because it makes his ability to rule more difficult.
The main leaders of the religion hate the king for this, because obviously itās getting more difficult for them to be in power etc and they want to stop him from completely toppling the religion.
So where does the kingās brother come into all this?
Well, the kingās brother is sort of revealing himself as a green tea bitch right now, which is a Chinese (slang) term for ākind and innocent on the surface but hiding a darker side.ā Now he might not be doing it on purposeāso itās not *that* similar to green tea bitches, because he clearly shows himself to care for his brother.
Last chapter, he saw his brother to try and persuade him to ānot destroy all the godsā because in his eyes, the religion is very important to the nation and maybe he himself believes in the gods. He even reached out and brought up a specific woman who āalso believed in the gods when she was alive,ā and the king responded by slapping his cup to the ground.
The king snaps, āDonāt mention her! My mother was a pious woman, but look what happened to her! Did her god(s) save her!?ā
This implies multiple things:
1) the woman the brother brought up *is* the kingās mom (unless the king just responded to this random (probably important) womanās name by referring to his mom, which is less likely).
2) the king and his brother have different mothers, since the brother called her āfurenā (madame/lady).
3) the king hates the religion because it failed his mom, among other things.
4) the king has a tragic backstory involving his mom.
The brother is hurt by the kingās outburst, even outright saying, āā¦Gege (Elder Brother), this is my favourite cup. You sent it to me.ā This carries the underlying metaphor that his own trust in the king, his brother, was shattered.
The metaphor is emphasized when the brother looks up and we can see bags under his eyes, representing his hurt, and he thinks to himself: āOnce something is shattered, it cannot be glued back together.ā He sees the king is turned away from him (not looking at himāwhich implies he feels bad but also implies heās angry and has āturned his back on his brotherā). The brotherās gaze darkens in sadness and he thus thinks, āForceful/Difficult people alsoā¦ā OR āPeople whoāve left [oneās] heart alsoā¦ā (the term used in the original Chinese is ē¦»åæ, which could be translated in these two ways).
That is when we see him suddenly switch faces.
He immediately says, ā[What] Gegeās choice [i]sā¦I now understand,ā and also asks with a sort of false smile, āWhen will Gege call the guard over? He and I will definitely get along really well.ā This is sort of a challenge, since he initially said he wanted to request Zhang Li (our main character) to be transferred to his palace, and he mentioned how envious he was of Zhang Liās loyalty to the king.
The king responded that with Zhang Liās archery skills, itād be a pity if he didnāt patrol the city, which implies heās hesitating to give him up. But later he agrees, saying the brother can have him for a bit as long as he returns him in one piece, and his brother brightens, saying he will because he and the king are family.
Obviously now the brotherās mood toward the king is shifting because the king āfailed his testā (his request that he not try and destroy the religion), so heās becoming less nice. We can see this when he suddenly says Zhang Li seems [too/extra] special to the king.
The king responds that he knows; his brother doesnāt need to worry because someone else already warned him about this.
This was probably not the right answer to give, because his brother is already feeling his trust be broken by the king, and hearing that, he says, āIs that so? It seems Gege has other people by his side who can take care of him, so I donāt need to say anything.ā Now he begins attempting to sow seeds of doubt in the king about Zhang Li, and we no longer see his face anymore either, which is a symbolic way of showing his turn and sudden coldness: āBut the last time we met [for the first time], that little guard was so enthusiastic. He kept staring at me, which made me feel a little embarrassed.
āWhen I heard the rumours, Iād assumed he was loyal only to Gege; I didnāt expect him to be so interested in me.
āCould it stem from the fact that Gege and I look so similar?
āIām not sureā¦ I[ām afraid to] assume he is loyal to *this specific appearance*~ So who exactly is the person he sees (who exactly is he gazing/looking at)?ā
The tilde implies heās saying the second-last line in a singsongy voice, obviouslyāwhich is a taunting tone, and the emphasis on āthis specific appearanceā suggests āheās not loyal to you specifically. Heād be loyal to me too. He just likes our appearance,ā which evidently challenges the notion that Zhang Li has any feelings for the king or that the king is special to Zhang Li, which would mean the king is getting too close to him when thereās no point.
This is where the last chapter ends.
This chapter begins with the king deciding to add more guards to his brotherās palace, and when the redhead wonders why (because itās unlikely the religious group will try to enter the palace), the king says itās not because of them, but because of his brother, whoās acting off.
Meanwhile, Kaba is again waxing poetry about the brother, who he thinks is a girl. Heād heard of a second princess (a sister) named Mimi who ranks below the eldest prince (?) yet is older than the current king (she is his jiejie, or elder sister). Thus, Kaba concludes, the brother must be Mimi because this princess disappeared as soon as our titular [ātyrantā] king became king.
Zhang Li concludes for Kaba that the āprincessā once lived with the common folk before she was taken into the palace with her identity being hidden after the king ascended the throne and she was put under house arrestāwhich the brother seems to be, since he always stays in his palace.
Zhang Li acknowledges this is a logical conclusion, but heās bothered by the fact Mimi should be the kingās real name, since he responded to it instinctively when called. Thatās when his eyes widen as he thinks, āIt canāt be thatā¦the āsecond princessā is actuallyāā He doesnāt finish his thought here for suspense, but we can assume heās wondering if the king is actually this mysterious āsecond princess,ā which could imply any number of other conclusions or plot threads!
Meanwhile, the religious folk who hate the king are trying to go through the royal familyās records to figure out who the blue feather belongs to. It hasnāt been outright confirmed yet, but it was implied a few chapters ago that the brother sent them something along with the blue feather (he wears multiple feathers) as a hint or some sort of vague encouragement/promise of help. He obviously sympathizes with the religion that the king hates, and this suggests even before the king failed his ātestā to leave the religion alone more, the brother was already sort of planning on betraying the king. Or at least maybe he assumed if the king promised to back down, he could help the religious people without having to worry.
Back to the king and his people, they discuss their plans. The redhead muses at the end that the era of the religion ruling this nation is finally coming to an end, and the king tells his best agent to āretrieve his netā (earlier theyād discussed their plans as a sort of net, and his best agent says he has people prepared to replace all the religious heads. As the redhead notes, even if citizens notice these replacements acting weird, itād be fine since they know the king and the religion often butt heads).
We cut to panels of everyone spending their night in different ways, which is a good way to build up to what appears to be an oncoming storm. Especially since we end withā¦
The brother has taken out all his guardsāand maybe servantsāand he laments, āGege, I surrendered *my identity* and *my throne* to you. Yet youāve let me down so much.ā
The emphasis on āmy identityā and āmy throneā are in the original Chinese, by the way.
Obviously this is a huge reveal because this means the brother is *not* the didi (younger brother). Heās actually the original eldest prince and should have been king, but he probably couldnāt ascend the throneāmaybe because of health reasons or because he had faith in the current king.
And note: āidentityā here can also mean āstatus,ā so either way the king (Mimi) took over the royal duties that originally belonged to his brother. Alternate translations for āsurrenderedā include: āI gave [these things] to youā or āI let you have [these things]ā or āI gave way for you to take over [these things].ā All of this suggests maybe he willingly stepped downāso now weāre left to wonder how willing he was, whether they planned this together or not, and whether the king was willing to take over etc. Iām actually assuming he willingly gave the role away since the brother did seem to believe in and care for the kingāor at least he valued the concept of familyāand the king took over out of guilt (earlier, he said the reason the brother is stuck in this palace is because heās āneglectedā or āfailed to take care ofā him, implying guilt).
Anyway, the brother thus concludes with: āI wonāt continue being your shadow anymore. Tonightā¦letās just bring things to an end.ā
And Iāll leave a note here too, because the ābring things to an endā term used here does mean to end things, but it comes with negative connotationsāspecifically it can also mean *to break off [a relationship]*. This evidently suggests the brother is planning to cut all ties with the king and go completely against him, whichā¦
Well. Looks like next chapter weāre in for a treatāin terms of getting some intense action and conflict, which is always fun in a story. š
*TL;DR:* The king is likely the rumoured āsecond princessā Mimi who disappeared around the time the king ascended the throne. This chapter all but confirms the kingās brother gave the king his identity and throne, so heās actually not the younger brother.
Heās going to go against the king now (which he already did by sending the scroll with the feather to the religious leaders) because he seems to value religion more than the king, and when he hurt the king by mentioning what is likely the kingās mom being also religious, the king also hurt him by yelling at him not to mention her.
Because of this, the kingās brother became underhanded and commented on how Zhang Li (the main character) maybe isnāt that loyal to the king after allāmaybe heās just loyal to their specific appearance, meaning the king isnāt special. He still wants Zhang Li to be brought over, but now itās outright suggested itās because he knows itāll hurt the king since the two seemed to get along well.
And despite the kingās preparations for executing his plan to probably replace all the religious leaders with his own people, his brother is planning to end things all *tonight*, which means next chapter should be juicy~
So yeah! That was long, but I hope it was helpful, especially since this story is quite good at conveying its themes in a subtle manner, and itās too bad the translation has been confusing some people so far. š
Okay quick review: the current king is actually the youngest prince he replaced hos weak brother on the throne instead according to their agreement. Now the older brother is actually angry and plans to rebel
Megha bhagat
Why no more chapter is being added… Author please add more….
1Evi1C@T
Kuku88, thanks for explaining the book to us.
Enygma
@kuku88 – Awesome summary, thank you!! I was following the plot but your breakdown really enhanced the subtleties that were lost in translation!! š
MissEve
Omg, @kuku bless you for that lovely rundown, itās so thorough and well written!!!
Iāll add, from the perspective of someone who canāt read this in the original Mandarin but who DOES have an amateur hobby in the history of pharaonic Egypt, and VERY SPECIFICALLY the Amarna period, which is what a lot of this story is inspired by, because the manhua is obviously written by someone similar to me in that respect and who seems to be writing with a bit of a presupposition that readers are also familiar:
For some time prior to the birth and acension to the throne of a Pharoh by the name of Akenaton (hah!), husband of the famously gorgeous Nefertiti (made famous by her bust, you know the one, I promise) and father of the even more famous Tutenkamun, the priests of Ra (if Iām recalling correctly but possibly also either Osiris or Horus) had been consolidating power and weakening the position of the royal family for personal gain to the point where we might infer from things like the swiftness with which Tutenkamun sided with them upon taking the throne that they could order the pharaoh to do things. Akenaton took EXTREMELY drastic and ultimately futile measures to attempt to put a stop to this. Broadly, this is the position our pharaoh here finds himself in. In between Akenaton and Tutenkamun was also another Pharoah, Smenkhkare, whose identity beyond his name is unknown, as names were changed upon ascension. He was most likely a co-regent but is even speculated to have been Nefertiti herself – that little bit of history is, I would assume, what the bother is inspired by.
kuku88
Ah, I see the comment kind of looks like a wall of text so Iāll add the TL;DR thatās at the end of my original comment to here:
For those confused about whatās happening in this manhua, hereās the short version of the summary:
The king is likely the rumoured āsecond princessā Mimi who disappeared around the time the king ascended the throne. This chapter all but confirms the kingās brother gave the king his identity and throne, so heās actually not the younger brother.
Heās going to go against the king now (which he already did by sending the scroll with the feather to the religious leaders) because he seems to value religion more than the king, and when he hurt the king by mentioning what is likely the kingās mom being also religious, the king also hurt him by yelling at him not to mention her.
Because of this, the kingās brother became underhanded and commented on how Zhang Li (the main character) maybe isnāt that loyal to the king after allāmaybe heās just loyal to their specific appearance, meaning the king isnāt special. He still wants Zhang Li to be brought over, but now itās outright suggested itās because he knows itāll hurt the king since the two seemed to get along well.
And despite the kingās preparations for executing his plan to probably replace all the religious leaders with his own people, his brother is planning to end things all *tonight*, which means next chapter should be juicy~
So yeah! I hope this is helpful, especially since this story is quite good at conveying its themes in a subtle manner, and itās too bad the translation has been confusing some people so far. š
kuku88
Iām seeing a lot of people confused over the story so I wanted to briefly summarize whatās happeningāand donāt worry, Iāll include a TL;DR at the end:
The current king is acting like a tyrant on purpose in an effort to suppress the religion, mostly because he (and his group of followers/people/friends (the three we see discussing plans in this chapter)) believes that the religion has become too strong. That obviously puts forward that he has a disdain for the superstition associated with religion, especially probably because it makes his ability to rule more difficult.
The main leaders of the religion hate the king for this, because obviously itās getting more difficult for them to be in power etc and they want to stop him from completely toppling the religion.
So where does the kingās brother come into all this?
Well, the kingās brother is sort of revealing himself as a green tea bitch right now, which is a Chinese (slang) term for ākind and innocent on the surface but hiding a darker side.ā Now he might not be doing it on purposeāso itās not *that* similar to green tea bitches, because he clearly shows himself to care for his brother.
Last chapter, he saw his brother to try and persuade him to ānot destroy all the godsā because in his eyes, the religion is very important to the nation and maybe he himself believes in the gods. He even reached out and brought up a specific woman who āalso believed in the gods when she was alive,ā and the king responded by slapping his cup to the ground.
The king snaps, āDonāt mention her! My mother was a pious woman, but look what happened to her! Did her god(s) save her!?ā
This implies multiple things:
1) the woman the brother brought up *is* the kingās mom (unless the king just responded to this random (probably important) womanās name by referring to his mom, which is less likely).
2) the king and his brother have different mothers, since the brother called her āfurenā (madame/lady).
3) the king hates the religion because it failed his mom, among other things.
4) the king has a tragic backstory involving his mom.
The brother is hurt by the kingās outburst, even outright saying, āā¦Gege (Elder Brother), this is my favourite cup. You sent it to me.ā This carries the underlying metaphor that his own trust in the king, his brother, was shattered.
The metaphor is emphasized when the brother looks up and we can see bags under his eyes, representing his hurt, and he thinks to himself: āOnce something is shattered, it cannot be glued back together.ā He sees the king is turned away from him (not looking at himāwhich implies he feels bad but also implies heās angry and has āturned his back on his brotherā). The brotherās gaze darkens in sadness and he thus thinks, āForceful/Difficult people alsoā¦ā OR āPeople whoāve left [oneās] heart alsoā¦ā (the term used in the original Chinese is ē¦»åæ, which could be translated in these two ways).
That is when we see him suddenly switch faces.
He immediately says, ā[What] Gegeās choice [i]sā¦I now understand,ā and also asks with a sort of false smile, āWhen will Gege call the guard over? He and I will definitely get along really well.ā This is sort of a challenge, since he initially said he wanted to request Zhang Li (our main character) to be transferred to his palace, and he mentioned how envious he was of Zhang Liās loyalty to the king.
The king responded that with Zhang Liās archery skills, itād be a pity if he didnāt patrol the city, which implies heās hesitating to give him up. But later he agrees, saying the brother can have him for a bit as long as he returns him in one piece, and his brother brightens, saying he will because he and the king are family.
Obviously now the brotherās mood toward the king is shifting because the king āfailed his testā (his request that he not try and destroy the religion), so heās becoming less nice. We can see this when he suddenly says Zhang Li seems [too/extra] special to the king.
The king responds that he knows; his brother doesnāt need to worry because someone else already warned him about this.
This was probably not the right answer to give, because his brother is already feeling his trust be broken by the king, and hearing that, he says, āIs that so? It seems Gege has other people by his side who can take care of him, so I donāt need to say anything.ā Now he begins attempting to sow seeds of doubt in the king about Zhang Li, and we no longer see his face anymore either, which is a symbolic way of showing his turn and sudden coldness: āBut the last time we met [for the first time], that little guard was so enthusiastic. He kept staring at me, which made me feel a little embarrassed.
āWhen I heard the rumours, Iād assumed he was loyal only to Gege; I didnāt expect him to be so interested in me.
āCould it stem from the fact that Gege and I look so similar?
āIām not sureā¦ I[ām afraid to] assume he is loyal to *this specific appearance*~ So who exactly is the person he sees (who exactly is he gazing/looking at)?ā
The tilde implies heās saying the second-last line in a singsongy voice, obviouslyāwhich is a taunting tone, and the emphasis on āthis specific appearanceā suggests āheās not loyal to you specifically. Heād be loyal to me too. He just likes our appearance,ā which evidently challenges the notion that Zhang Li has any feelings for the king or that the king is special to Zhang Li, which would mean the king is getting too close to him when thereās no point.
This is where the last chapter ends.
This chapter begins with the king deciding to add more guards to his brotherās palace, and when the redhead wonders why (because itās unlikely the religious group will try to enter the palace), the king says itās not because of them, but because of his brother, whoās acting off.
Meanwhile, Kaba is again waxing poetry about the brother, who he thinks is a girl. Heād heard of a second princess (a sister) named Mimi who ranks below the eldest prince (?) yet is older than the current king (she is his jiejie, or elder sister). Thus, Kaba concludes, the brother must be Mimi because this princess disappeared as soon as our titular [ātyrantā] king became king.
Zhang Li concludes for Kaba that the āprincessā once lived with the common folk before she was taken into the palace with her identity being hidden after the king ascended the throne and she was put under house arrestāwhich the brother seems to be, since he always stays in his palace.
Zhang Li acknowledges this is a logical conclusion, but heās bothered by the fact Mimi should be the kingās real name, since he responded to it instinctively when called. Thatās when his eyes widen as he thinks, āIt canāt be thatā¦the āsecond princessā is actuallyāā He doesnāt finish his thought here for suspense, but we can assume heās wondering if the king is actually this mysterious āsecond princess,ā which could imply any number of other conclusions or plot threads!
Meanwhile, the religious folk who hate the king are trying to go through the royal familyās records to figure out who the blue feather belongs to. It hasnāt been outright confirmed yet, but it was implied a few chapters ago that the brother sent them something along with the blue feather (he wears multiple feathers) as a hint or some sort of vague encouragement/promise of help. He obviously sympathizes with the religion that the king hates, and this suggests even before the king failed his ātestā to leave the religion alone more, the brother was already sort of planning on betraying the king. Or at least maybe he assumed if the king promised to back down, he could help the religious people without having to worry.
Back to the king and his people, they discuss their plans. The redhead muses at the end that the era of the religion ruling this nation is finally coming to an end, and the king tells his best agent to āretrieve his netā (earlier theyād discussed their plans as a sort of net, and his best agent says he has people prepared to replace all the religious heads. As the redhead notes, even if citizens notice these replacements acting weird, itād be fine since they know the king and the religion often butt heads).
We cut to panels of everyone spending their night in different ways, which is a good way to build up to what appears to be an oncoming storm. Especially since we end withā¦
The brother has taken out all his guardsāand maybe servantsāand he laments, āGege, I surrendered *my identity* and *my throne* to you. Yet youāve let me down so much.ā
The emphasis on āmy identityā and āmy throneā are in the original Chinese, by the way.
Obviously this is a huge reveal because this means the brother is *not* the didi (younger brother). Heās actually the original eldest prince and should have been king, but he probably couldnāt ascend the throneāmaybe because of health reasons or because he had faith in the current king.
And note: āidentityā here can also mean āstatus,ā so either way the king (Mimi) took over the royal duties that originally belonged to his brother. Alternate translations for āsurrenderedā include: āI gave [these things] to youā or āI let you have [these things]ā or āI gave way for you to take over [these things].ā All of this suggests maybe he willingly stepped downāso now weāre left to wonder how willing he was, whether they planned this together or not, and whether the king was willing to take over etc. Iām actually assuming he willingly gave the role away since the brother did seem to believe in and care for the kingāor at least he valued the concept of familyāand the king took over out of guilt (earlier, he said the reason the brother is stuck in this palace is because heās āneglectedā or āfailed to take care ofā him, implying guilt).
Anyway, the brother thus concludes with: āI wonāt continue being your shadow anymore. Tonightā¦letās just bring things to an end.ā
And Iāll leave a note here too, because the ābring things to an endā term used here does mean to end things, but it comes with negative connotationsāspecifically it can also mean *to break off [a relationship]*. This evidently suggests the brother is planning to cut all ties with the king and go completely against him, whichā¦
Well. Looks like next chapter weāre in for a treatāin terms of getting some intense action and conflict, which is always fun in a story. š
*TL;DR:* The king is likely the rumoured āsecond princessā Mimi who disappeared around the time the king ascended the throne. This chapter all but confirms the kingās brother gave the king his identity and throne, so heās actually not the younger brother.
Heās going to go against the king now (which he already did by sending the scroll with the feather to the religious leaders) because he seems to value religion more than the king, and when he hurt the king by mentioning what is likely the kingās mom being also religious, the king also hurt him by yelling at him not to mention her.
Because of this, the kingās brother became underhanded and commented on how Zhang Li (the main character) maybe isnāt that loyal to the king after allāmaybe heās just loyal to their specific appearance, meaning the king isnāt special. He still wants Zhang Li to be brought over, but now itās outright suggested itās because he knows itāll hurt the king since the two seemed to get along well.
And despite the kingās preparations for executing his plan to probably replace all the religious leaders with his own people, his brother is planning to end things all *tonight*, which means next chapter should be juicy~
So yeah! That was long, but I hope it was helpful, especially since this story is quite good at conveying its themes in a subtle manner, and itās too bad the translation has been confusing some people so far. š
A hot person
Wow, seems like im not the only one who doesnt understand the story lol
thatblshippergirl
Okay quick review: the current king is actually the youngest prince he replaced hos weak brother on the throne instead according to their agreement. Now the older brother is actually angry and plans to rebel
Thatblshippergirl
Hegu92
I really donāt understood this story š the english translation is really really difficult to understand.
Lisbaees
Babes itās okay I lowkey donāt and do at the same time.
rabbit.wwx
I’m feel like I find this story interesting, but I don’t understand anything…
Depressed chan
I genuinely don’t understand this story.
Is it just me?