I recommend you use Ctrl+F or the search function on whatever device you are on to find what you’re looking for. Terms are listed with Chinese first, the way I’m translating it as, followed by the meaning or what I think it is, and lastly, the chapter where I noted it down. This is partially for me to keep my terms consistent so there’ll be plenty of terms that don’t really need explaining included.
But, if I miss something you think I should add, leave a comment or email me. If you have suggestions or corrections from some of these tentative terms, than definitely email me at [email protected]!
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People:
姚莫心 – “Yao Mo Xin” heroine (1)
姚素鸾 – “Yao Su Luan” MC’s 2nd sister, schemed MC’s downfall (1)
夜鸿弈 – “Ye Hong Yi” Emperor, the MC’s husband (1)
君清 – “Jun Qing” Emperor’s younger brother? aka Su wang, Prince Su (1)
仲儿 – “Zhong er” MC’s dead infant son (1)
姚莫婉 – “Yao Mo Wan” the Third daughter whose body the MC took over (2)
刘醒 – “Liu Xing” the servant that had always taken care of Yao Mo Wan (2)
姚图 – “Yao Tu” steward (3)
窦香兰 – “Dou Xiang Lan” Yao Su Luan’s birth mother, the legal wife. (3)
莫离 – “Mo Li” MC’s mother (3)
娄玉心 – “Lou Yu Xin” 云德戏班的当家小生Virtue Cloud Performance Troupe’s protege (4)
姚震庭 – “Yao Zhen Ting” MC’s father (4)
奔雷 – “Ben Lei” Ye Jun Qing’s most trusted vanguard (9)
周管家 – “Steward Zhou” (9)
安柄山 – “An Bing Shan, Eunuch An” eunuch (10)
平枝 – “Ping Zhi” Dou Xiang Lan’s personal servant (13)
苏沐紫 – “Su Mu(cleanse) Zi(violet)” Yao Zhen Ting’s 3rd wife(14)
姚玉 – “Yao Yu(jade)” Su Mu Zi’s son(21)
絮子 – “Fluffy” (26)
桓采儿 – “Huan(surname) Cai(to pick(flowers)/colors(rainbow)) Er(child)” chen fei, Huan Heng’s daughter (28)
桓横 – “Huan(surname) Heng(horizontal)” Left General (28)
紫霜 – “Zi(purple) Shuan(frost/cream)” Huan Caier’s maid (28)
燕南笙 – “Yan(swallow) Nan(south) Shen(wind instrument)” (1.040)
殷雪 – “Yin(dark red) Xue(snow)” Sharp weapon (1.042)
楚漠北 – “Chu(Chinese kingdom) Mobei(north of the Gobi Desert)” crown prince of great Chu (1.042)
郑御医 – “Imperial Physician Zheng” (1.045)
白眉 – “Bai Mei” Daoist priest (1.048)
Titles/Ways to address someone:
儿 – “er” means boy but can when added on to a name is a way of endearment and is gender neutral (1)
姐姐 – “jie jie” Older sister, can be used to address people not blood related (1)
贵妃 – “gui fei” noble consort, 2 ranks down from empress, refer to wikipage (1)
妾 – “qie” way for concubines and consorts to refer to themselves, concubine; this consort (1)
朕 – “zhen” way for the king to refer to himself (1)
本宫 – “ben gong” = Ben Gong is a way of referring to oneself, employed by an empress or a high-ranking consort when speaking to a person or an audience of lower rank or status (1)
王 – “wang” is a suffix for a male member of the imperial family. “wang ye” is an informal way of addressing a prince or a vassal king (1)
大爷 – “daye” can refer to self-centered showoff, uncles, a term of respect for older man; basically just refer to guys, sometimes derogative, something respectful, sometimes neutral (2)
大人 – “da ren” Sir/Madam. A suffix used for an official or a person in authority. (2)
本宫 – “ben gong” = Ben Gong is a way of referring to oneself, employed by an empress or a high-ranking consort when speaking to a person or an audience of lower rank or status (2)
公子哥 – “gongzi ge”refers to a rich person who only eats, drinks, and play; a child that does not attend to one’s proper duties (2)
本少爷 – “Ben” refers to oneself, “shao ye” refers, in this case, to the young master of the house; other usages include son of the boss and your son (honorific). (2)
本小姐 – again, ‘ben’ is refering to oneself “xiao je” translates most often to ‘miss’, I will be using ben xiao je and this miss interchangably. Usually ben xiao je when the tone is more authoritative I guess. (2)
管家 – “steward” higher ranking than manager (3)
老爷 – “lao ye” master of the house, wives also sometimes call their husbands this way (3)
老夫 – “lao fu” translated to old husband, way for husbands to refer to themselves (3)
夫人 – “fu ren” way of saying wife, but also refers to their status as mistress of the house. (3)
家丁 – “old servant” (3)
丫头 – “yatou” = servant girl (3)
高嬷嬷 – “Gao momo” it translates to elderly lady, wet nurse, catholic nun. (3)
大夫人 – “Big Madam”
Big Madam is the main wife. Mistress refers to the MC’s mother.
王妃 – “wang fei” the official wife of the Wang Ye, aka Princess Consort/Imperial Consort (8)
肃亲王 – “Esteemed Prince” (8)
王爷 – “wang ye” = Prince/Master, wang by itself meaning something along the lines of king (8)
丽妃 – “Li(beautiful) fei(concubine)” Yao Su Luan’s (nickname) title(19)
皇贵妃 – “imperial gui fei” (23)
姚相爷 – “High Minister Yao” (23)
“Za jia” is how palace enunches refer to themselves. A quick search said it was at first a way for monks to refer to themselves and has a humble tone and connotation of the speaker simply leads a peaceful and plain life. (23)
宸妃 – “chen fei” (28)
嫡母 – “di(first wife) mother”(italicize both) (31)
哥哥 – “gege” older brother, not necessarily blood related (32)
弟弟 – “didi” younger brother, not necessarily blood related (33)
臣弟 – “this subject and younger brother” (33)
小的 – “this small servant” in terms of insignificant (33)
皇贵妃，贵妃，嫔，贵人，才人, 美人 – Overarching titles: imperial gui fei(Imperial Noble Consort), gui fei(Noble Consort), pin(Concubine), noble lady, talented lady, beautiful lady (italicize) (37)
微臣 – “this humble subject” (1.045)
Places:
漪澜轩 – “Water Ripple Pavilion” Idk, just came up with a name based on the individual characters (1)
兴华街 – “Xing Hua Street” or is it actually 属兴华街 “Shu Xing Hua Street”? (2)
怡香院 – “Fragrant Harmony Courtyard” (2)
府 – “fu” refers to a residence and the clan that resides there; Yao Mo Xin’s paternal home is the 姚相府 “Yao Xiang fu” (2)
淑景轩 – “Bright Virtuous Pavilion” MC’s mother’s residence (3)
九曲回廊 – “Nine Winding Song Corridors” (3)
乱葬岗 – “Disorder Burial Mound” (3)
暴室 – “Purgatory Room” (5)
凝华阁 – “Opaque Flower Pavilion” (5)
柴房 – “firewood room” (6)
正厅 – “Main hall” (6)
梅合阁 – “Plum Pavilion” (13)
竹意轩- “Bamboo Wish Pavilion” (13)
长乐宫 – “Changle Palace” means perpetual happiness aka Weiyang Palace(17)
静雪轩 – “Quiet Snow Pavilion” Su Mu Zi and Yao Yu’s place (22)
关雎宫 – “Guan Osprey Palace” Yao Mo Wan’s place in Imperial Palace (23)
御花园 – “Imperial Garden” (23)
华清宫 – “Pure Flowers Palace” (24)
渡月轩 – “Moon Crossing Pavilion” Huan Caier’s place (28)
莽原 – “Mangyuan” place where Yao Moxin has secret guards and businesses (35)
楚蜀 – “the nation of Chu and nation of Shu” (35)
钱庄，布庄，粮庄 – “banks, cloth factories, grain factories” (35)
食材殿 – “Ingrediants Hall” by hall, I actually mean a very large and tall building (37)
凤羽山庄 – “Phoenix Feather Manor” Yan Nansheng’s place (1.039)
魂沙园 – “Soul Sand Garden” with Soul Sand Trees (1.042)
钦天监 – “Imperial Board of Astronomy” (1.042)
Items:
腰牌 – “waist tablet” wooden blocks with carved and sometimes inked characters, often noble family names that identify them and give them authority, like police badges (2)
紫玉酒 – “violet jade wine” (11)
古风名将篇 – “Famous Generals of Antiquity” (1.036)
Medicines:
落雁沙 – “La Yan Sand” is a highly toxic colorless and tasteless poison that appears in legends, wuxia novels and movies. (6)
鹤顶红 – “Crane’s Red-Crown” Ancient Chinese poison (31)
Sayings:
功高盖主 – “achievements top everyone” I tried my best to convey this proverb, but I think an explanation is still necessary. Basically means that his contributions are too great and causes the monarch to feel threatened by his reputation. (1)
枉为人女 – Not fulfilling a daughter’s responsibility/duty(4)
一尸两命 “one corpse two lives” refers to the situation when the baby dies inside the mother’s womb, so two people die, but there’s kind of only one corpse (5)
长点儿心 – be careful (5)
奉天承运，皇帝诏曰 – “Having received the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor gives an imperial decree.” (23)
钦此，谢恩 – “Decided by the Emperor himself, thank His Majesty for his grace.” (23)
宠辱不惊 – “remain indifferent regardless of humiliation or favor” (26)
吃一堑长一智 “eating one fall, growing one wise” (chi1yi1qian3, zhang3yi1zhi4) Comes from when the metaphors of rocks. When stonemasons make stone molds they would drill into it. So the stones would eat one drill (吃一钎chi1yi1qian1)and the rock would grow one tooth(长一齿zhang3yi1chi3). They sound similar, but the meaning of the saying is that after facing struggles, you grow from the experiences.(29)
四两拨千斤 – “four taels to move a thousand catty” If you’re good at conversions, a tael is equal to 500 grams and a catty is equal to 50 grams, 1/16th of a catty. A common expression is ‘half a catty, eight taels’ (30)
好死不死 – “refusing to die an easy death” (30)
结下梁子 – “establish a grudge” original meaning was to establish a death grudge, later it just refered to common grudges. Was Jianghu slang in the northern China. (37)
恨屋及乌 – “hatred of house reaching the crow” dislike a house so much you don’t even like the crow on top of the house. If you don’t like a certain person, you wouldn’t like things associated with that person either. (37)
有所作为 – “consider his options” the things you can do may not have really the biggest benefits (1.043)
眉眼弯弯 – “all smiles” smile spread across face, beaming with pleasure, joy written across one’s face (1.043)
天作孽有可恕，自作孽不可活 – “Heaven’s committed sin can be forgiven; one’s own committed sin, pay with one’s life” one of the interpretations for this is that people will receive compassion from others when they suffer an accident, something bad that happened to them that was out of their control. However, if it’s something bad that you brought onto yourself, people will just feel that you deserved it. (1.044)
锁魂 – “Soul Imprisionment” the person who the spell was cast on will have their soul imprisioned inside their bodies and be unable to move according to their own wills. The only person that can undo this spell is the spell caster. (1.045)
七七, 尽七、满七、断七 – “seven seven” After a person dies, every seven days, rites must be paid. The last time is the forty-ninth day, called the ‘seven seven’. Also known as ‘final seven’, ‘full seven’, ‘end of sevens’.
Comes from influence of Buddhism and Daoism. People say the first 49 days is when the departed spirit wanders about. So the family must repectfully do the sevens and offer a steady supply of money so as to prevent the departed spirit from getting stuck in the nether world. On the first seven days a person dies, the family members must bow to the altar while crying and wailing, offer sacrifices (food) every day and night, and do Buddhism rites every seven days. It’s said that every seven days is when the departed spirit begs for a chance at reincarnation. If they don’t get it, they beg again seven days later. The 7th time they beg, they get to be reincarnated for sure. The Budhism rites is the family also begging God so that the departed spirit can reincarnate. (1.046)
一眼万年 – “one glance lasts one thousand years” At first glance, one feels deep love. After it lasts a thousand years, proves true love. (1.047)
朱雀七宿 – “Seven Mansions of the Vermilion Bird” south sky (1.047)
玄武七宿 – “Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise” north sky (1.047)
仙风道骨 – “Wind of a celestial and bones of the Dao” The meaning is it describes a person’s strength of character 风骨 (So that’s where the wind bones came from) and spirit which stands out from the masses. (1.048)
欲得通神，当金水分形，形分则自见其身中之三魂七魄，三魂名一胎光，太清阳和之气 – “If one desires to connect with God, once gold seperates with water, one will be able to distinguish and see the three immortal souls and seven mortal souls one’s body contains. Of the three immortal souls, one is named fetus light. It is the energy of the clear sun…”
Comes from the collection of essays named Baopuzi. Seperating gold from water is a very important process in Daoist cultivation. If one wants to complete the Golden Core stage of cultivation and move on to the Connecting with God stage, they must first complete the seperation of gold and water. After this step is completed, one will be able to see the three immortal and seven mortal souls one has. One will also be able to see all the spirits in the sky and on the earth and be able to put to work the supernatural beings that exist in the mountains and creeks. Lmao, I’m pretty confused too. This sounds rather xiuxian novel-like. But it seems people actually believed this stuff in the past.
The three names of the three immortal souls are ‘fetus light’, ‘clear spirit’, ‘remote essence’. (胎光、爽灵、幽精) (1.048)
Other terms:
明君 – “Ming Jun” is referring to a wise/brilliant monarch/sovereign, basically implying that he should act as befitting of this title (1)
五龙夺嫡 – “five dragons struggle” refers to a story, from my skimming, basically five people wanted the throne so the royal family had a large battle in Jiang Hu, yet all the sources of dispute resulted from a girl’s odd experiences. (1)
义熙之乱 – “Yi Xi” I might be wrong but after searching it up, it seems to be a time period from 405-418 (1)
呸 – “Pei” Spitting sound (2)
游廊 – “veranda” (17)
小妖精 – “little devil” (22)
清一色 – means entire body or thing is like this (22)
圣颜 – “sacred countenance” (26)
飞天髻 – “Flying Fairy Style” of hair (28)
绿林 – “lulin” refers generally to people who organize themselves in forests and rebel against the government (25)
紫薇星 – “Polaris” North Star (1.042)
命格 – “Natal Horoscope” (1.042)
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