Sup, this is the translator, Bambi! I started translating this novel because it is one of my faves, and I absolutely love this couple. It has several tropes I like, such as ancient times, growing together, unrequited love becoming requited, a dense protagonist, a fatherly figure in place who dotes on quietly, and sibling's love... (coughcoughthatkindofcoughlovecough). It's a fairly decent slow-burn if you ask me!

If you're wondering who are the couple: Yinyou, the transmigrator, and Yinzhen, the future emperor Yonzheng. This story shows us their early childhood, their teenage years, their adult life, and a bit of their old age. We truly see them live well and together, and it's amazing how this novel can have so many flavors, sincere, tender moments, and asphyxiating moments where we can't bear to... more>> see them suffering (mostly Yinzhen because of lovesickness). Ugh! 💘

The author of this work is Butterfly, the one who wrote "To be a virtuous wife" and I believe this speaks volumes of how good it is. If you read my translation, beware of the long footnotes (although some images were removed since they stopped loading, there are still quite a few up).

Warnings:
1. in*est since they're half-brothers.

2. The brothers eventually get married to their consorts and concubines, and both have children. So yeah, it's not going to be monogamous! That's why the polygamy tag. <<less

I was a little sceptical about reading it especially considering how homosexuality is usually portrayed in historical danmei novels (very idealistic), even more so when it's practically about in*est. However, this novel concluded everything well and the ending gave me proper closure.

The novel is about royal brothers growing up while fighting for the throne. What I love most is the subtle hints of brotherhood and familial love portrayed. Majority of the characters are really smart, including the side characters like their wives, and the servants. Different from other palace novels,... more>> things here are not portrayed as dramatic and it takes a more realistic approach in things. Face-slapping was done in a reasonable way and because we are viewing from the pov of the brother who doesn't want the throne, you have to read between lines to really realise that there was a turbulence before the cause and effect happened.

The subtle hints of the love portrayed by the King and the 2nd ML to the MC made me emotional. The author did not describe it directly, and they've never said it out loud, but all the hints and crumbs really makes you understand that "ah, this person really loves him (MC) "

Overall, it is something that I enjoyed, laughed and cried over. The romantic aspect of it might not be as obvious to some since it was more subtly hinted, and the in*estuous aspects of it may put some people off, but I personally enjoyed reading this piece of work. <<less

I don't like the idea of a grown ass man in a child's body acting like a child. Even when I know it's fiction, liking it is a line I just can't make myself cross.

However I love the translation. These people (or person) did such an amazing job.

All those ancient texts and references and images... I felt like I was attending a Chinese history class!! Right now I'm working on some research project and I wish I had these translator's motivation; they literally give information plus sources and references and... more>> all that and it's really impressive. <<less

Oh, I've read this via mtl! One of my favorite. Just beware of the siblings love, if that's your no-no trope. I love this author's semi realistic approach to tell the story. Nice.

I laughed, cried and was put on an edge by this story. I'd still read this even without the ML, the MC and the Emperor Father's bond is enough for me to ugly cry and laugh. Good ending, this made me sad but also genuinely happy.

This novel is too cute. I know they are supposed to be real people and it's blasphemous to ship real people. But like, it's already 300 years and the trajectory of the world is not the same thus we can pretend we are not trampling on real people's faces.

Anyway, the novel is not too complicated eventhough there's a lot of characters because the author have firm grasp in the story beats and translation is very clear. The MTL is not too bad when you already read the translation as you... more>> can understand most of it.

This is a slow burn story but the ending is worth it. <<less

I really like the novel but the translation is on another level. The story plays out in a realistic, instead of idealistic/dramatized setting. The translator bambi, managed to completely hook me and explained the setting and twists very well. I dare say the best translation work on this site.

The plot is surprisingly good in my opinion 🤔

A lot of historical knowledges. I like it.

Sometimes I failed to understand things, such as why MC got angry with ML about a certain maidservant. The maid was used to serve crown princess but somehow ended up serving ML. Then she was given to MC.

Later, MC got a nightmare, he questioned about the maid and decided to let her serve his E-Niang. The next few days, MC didn't go to ML's place and didn't send his servant to inform ML about his... more>> abstinence...

ML became restless and anxious. He knew that ML was angry...

I don't even know the reason why MC got angry 😅 Palace intrigues are really confusing...

I don't feel anything about the in*est part except a little bit interest, excitement in a fiction. 🤔

About MC, an uncle acted like a child... He transmigrated into the body of a child of one year old. If he was too eye-catching, too smart or mature beyond his age, perhaps he would have died since the first 5 chapters already 🤔 <<less

The story is good. As expected from the author. However, I find it a little anti climatic; probably due to the expectations I've read from reviews.

But this is good enough given that it has only 79 chapters in total.

The MC is the lame prince and the ML is his brother, the future emperor. MC transmigrated as the 7th child of the king while ML is the 4th child. The MC plans to hug the thigh of the future emperor. This is not a fluffy novel since it has a realistic... more>> approach but the plot doesn't have an aphyxiating moment for me as claimed since those unfavorable situations are predictable. <<less

I'm so glad I randomly chanced upon this novel. It is now one of my all-time favorites! This novel delivers a historical royal family danmei that is fairly realistic, which is so so rare. This author does an amazing job fleshing out every character as a whole person. There's no two dimensional villain and no self-indulgent face slapping. All the characters, even the antagonists, have personalities, realistic motives, and flaws that make them human. Everything that happens makes sense and fits with the Qing dynasty setting, which is a really... more>> high bar for a historical danmei.

Please be aware that the main couple are half brothers and given the realism they both end up having wives & concubines. For the people concerned about the wives/concubines, I think this was done well overall given the period specific circumstances. Given their position as princes, they couldn't get away with no marriages. Also marriages in that time period were all done for political alliances. The main CP and their wives are analogous to any western historical royalty LGBT where they have to outwardly look conventional so they're not punished more severely and torn apart. Everyone in their households are clear on who they really love.

This is a slow burn, which usually I don't care for but I love it in this case because it truly makes sense given who these characters are. I love that you see the main couple and their brothers grow up together and how the dynamics change over time.

Some other reviews mentioned that the MC being mentally 30 years old is weird, and I can see how that might turn off some readers since he's being paired up with a much (mentally) younger ML. My counter to that is the MC doesn't develop any romantic feelings about the ML until they are both much older. The MC is unfamiliar with living in China 400 years ago and has to learn many things from scratch. Also, since the MC is physically younger and has less influence than the ML, there's no unbalanced power dynamics between them. The MC interacts with the ML as his brother for the entirety of their childhood, so his mental age has fairly minimal impact on their relationship. The one thing I feel could have been better is

Spoiler

when the MC finally realized the ML's feelings for him. There was so much buildup to it but when the MC finally realized it, he just went ah ok and accepted it and moved on. It would have been better if he at least struggled with it a bit more and thought more about the issues associated with that kind of relationship before accepting it. His reaction was just too anti-climactic and glossed over quickly, making it not very emotionally satisfying to read.

That being said, it was very emotionally satisfying when they finally got together. I was so giddy from all the feels! Ahhhhh their devotion to each other is so touching 🥹

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The translator (Bambi) does a really good job providing a lot of context and footnotes for readers that aren't as familiar with the history. I'm so glad they do though must take a lot of effort!!

TLDR, this is an outstandingly danmei take on the lives of Emperor Kangxi's sons and their struggles growing up in the royal family. This story depicts a very touching pure relationship between the main couple over the course of their lives, from childhood through adulthood. It's a beautiful novel, I can't recommend it more! <<less

I have mixed feelings about this novel. I like the interactions between the two leads and it’s cute how they’ve grown up together. On the other hand, I don’t like how they’re related and how they both have their own families with wives and children.