#梁帝萧选 Emperor of Liang Xiao Xuan

[langyahallarchives]

萧景睿的身世 - Jingrui’s Birth (Ver. 3)

Twenty four years ago, the Marquis Ning, Xie Yu had left his pregnant wife, Princess Li Yang - sister of the current emperor, to take part in the military campaign launched against Western Xia. In the same year, Master Zhuo Ding Feng of Tian Quan Villa entrusted the care of his wife, who was then six months pregnant, to a friend in Jin Ling. He had had to leave his villa to honour his vow in a duel against the leader of a demonic sect at the country’s border with Miao.

Just as one can never predict the weather, disaster struck when it was least expected: an epidemic of a disease the people called ‘locked throat’ broke out in Jin Ling. Officials of high rank, their families and all the nobles were evacuated. Some chose to settle temporarily in the quiet temples on mountains located near the capital.

It so happened that the mistresses of the Xie and Zhuo families were respectively staying in the East and West courtyards of the same temple.

Unused to such isolation, the two ladies naturally began to interact. Finding themselves to be of similar temperament and disposition, each often sought the company of the other. On one fateful day, the two had been having a conversation over a game of chess when suddenly, their labour contractions began.

At the time, lightning was flashing, thunder booming, wind howling and rain was falling hard and fast. The servants who had accompanied their mistresses were on tenterhooks and busied about late into the night. It was chaos until the cries of two babies rang out, almost at the same time.

Amidst the atmosphere of happiness and delight, the midwives brought the two precious babes to a large wooden tub prepared specially for them to be washed.

And then it happened.

In the old temple, an arborvitae tree was struck by lightning. Its largest branch broke with a terrible cracking noise, falling onto the roof of the room that Mistress Xie and Mistress Zhuo were in. A weak beam in the ceiling which could not withstand the additional weight splintered, plunging into the room below in a shower of tiles. The candles were extinguished by the gush of wind and accompanying pelting rain through the damaged roof. Shrill screams were heard even over the storm.

Mistress Xie and Mistress Zhuo were rescued by their guards and servant girls; their midwives hurriedly lifting the baby boys from the bathtub and stumbling out of the room that had been plunged suddenly into darkness.

Fortunately, the accident was merely frightening and had not resulted in any casualties. New accommodations were arranged for the mistresses, and everyone eventually settled down with a sigh of relief. It was then that a big problem was discovered.

The two baby boys were naked when they were brought out of the pitch black room. Both were equally wrinkled, cried equally loudly, were of equal weight and did not have any distinguishing feature. Who was the son of Mistress Xie, who was the son of Mistress Zhuo?

The problem was exacerbated by the death of one of the boys the next day.

Because Mistress Xie was a princess, the sister of the reigning emperor, this incident had to be brought to his attention. The two families were then commanded to enter the palace with the remaining baby for a test of blood [5] to be carried out by an imperial doctor.

Unexpectedly, the baby’s blood coagulated with that of the members of both families. There was not even any difference in the degree of clotting observed in the water.

The Emperor could tell with one look at the two sets of parents, that judging by physical appearance would be difficult: Xie Yu and Zhuo Ding Feng were both tall men, with strong bodies and distinct - but not distinctive – facial features, their wives were beautiful with almond shaped eyes, and both were blessed with an elegant and graceful bearing. Though they could certainly not be said to look alike, but upon closer examination, nothing could be found to set them apart.

Even if they waited for the child to grow a little older, it would still be all but impossible to be sure of his parentage based on appearance alone.

The Emperor stared at the babe in his arms for a long time, and although he could not come to a decision, he found himself growing fond of it.

This helped to give him the idea for a compromise.

“Since there is no infallible method for ascertaining this child’s identity, giving him the surname of either Xie or Zhuo would be inappropriate. We [6] shall bestow the Imperial Surname upon him, and he will be named according to the convention for princes,” here he paused to think for a moment.

“Let’s call him Jing… Jing Rui. Well, he was born on Rui Mountain after all! Jing Rui can stay with the Xie family for one year, then spend the next with the Zhuo family, and ought to be considered the son of both families. What do you all think of this?”

The Emperor had spoken. Knowing that there was no better solution available, the four could only agree.

And just like that, Xiao Jing Rui came into possession of his double identity: the eldest son of the Xie family’s Marquis Ning, and the second young master of the Zhuo family of Tian Quan Villa. Through him, these two families that originally had nothing to do with each other gradually grew closer, their relationship approaching that of blood relatives.

Two years prior, the eldest son of the Zhuo family, Zhuo Qing Yao took the eldest daughter of the Xie family, Xie Qi, as his wife. This cementing of their ties by marriage brought harmony such that Xie and Zhuo seemed to become one big family.

二十四年前，宁国侯谢玉离开他怀孕的妻子——当朝皇妹莅阳长公主出征西夏，同年，江湖世家天泉山庄的庄主卓鼎风也将身怀六甲的爱妻送到金陵委托朋友照顾，自己前往苗疆约战魔教高手。谁知天有不测风云，一次被民间俗称为“锁喉”的疫情突然暴发，为躲避瘟疫，城内的达官贵人们纷纷离开，到附近的清静山庙避灾，而谢卓两家夫人巧之又巧地住到了同一座庙里的东西两院。

  由于山中寂寞，两位夫人有了交往，彼此都觉得性情相投，常在一处起坐。这天，两人正聚在一起聊天弈棋，突然同时阵痛起来。其时外面正是电闪雷鸣、风雨大作，随行的仆从们惶惶然地忙乱到深夜，终于有婴儿的啼哭声响起，两个男孩几乎是先后脚一起落草。

  在一片喜笑颜开中，产婆们捧着这金尊玉贵的两个小公子到外间准备好的一个大木桶里给婴儿浴身。

  就在此时，意外发生了。

  古庙院中一株空心柏被雷电击中，一段粗枝轰然断裂，砸在产房屋顶上，瞬那间瓦碎梁歪，窗棂也被震落，狂风猛卷而入，屋内烛火俱灭，一片尖叫声。侍卫和婢女们慌慌张张抢出两位夫人，被吓得向后跌坐在地上的产婆们也手忙脚乱地摸黑从木桶里捞出婴孩，逃了出去。

  好在有惊无险，无人受伤，重新择房安顿好了产妇之后，众人刚松了一口气，就突然发现了一个大问题。

  摸黑被抱出的两个男��，赤裸裸身无牵挂，一般样皱皱巴巴，一般样张着嘴大哭，重量相仿，眉目相似，哪个是谢夫人生的，哪个又是卓夫人生的？

  到了第二天，问题更加沉重，因为其中的一个男婴死了。

  谢夫人既是当朝长公主，这件事就不可避免地惊动到了当今天子。皇帝下旨命两家带着婴孩入宫，派御医滴血认亲，谁知婴儿的血居然跟谁的都相融，根本没有区别，再一看两对父母的模样，皇帝知道事情难办了。

  谢玉与卓鼎风都是长身玉立，五官明晰，两位夫人都是柳眉杏眼，秀丽文雅；虽说不算很象，但细察其五官，轮廓特征竟然差不多。

  即使等孩子长大，只怕也难单凭长相，就判定他到底是谁家之子。

  皇帝抱着婴儿看了半天，虽无决断，但因心中十分喜爱，便想出了一个折中之计：“既然无法确认这孩子究竟是何人之子，那他姓谢姓卓都不合适，朕就赐国姓于他，按皇子辈取名，叫景……景睿好了，他生在睿山之上嘛。一年住在谢家，下一年就住在卓家，算是两姓之子，如何？”

  皇帝作了主，何况也没有更好的办法，大家也只能同意。

  就这样，萧景睿便有了双重身份，即是宁国侯谢家的大公子，也是天泉山庄卓氏门中的二少爷。而素无往来的谢卓两家也由此变得有如亲族一般，关系紧密。两年前，卓家长子卓青遥娶了谢府大小姐谢绮为妻，两家更是亲上加亲，和睦得有如一家一般。

[langyahallarchives]

萧景睿的身世 - Jingrui’s Birth (Ver. 1)

Twenty-four years ago, the Marquis Xie of Ning embarked on a campaign in western Xia, leaving behind his pregnant wife, the Grand Princess Liyang, who remained in Jinling to await the birth. That same year, the master of Tianquan manor, Zhuo Dingfeng, agreed to spar with a cult leader at the border of Miao. Before leaving, he entrusted his beloved wife, heavy with child, into the care of his father-in-law in Jinling.

Now, who could have guessed that disaster would strike so swiftly? There was a sudden outbreak in Jinling of the disease commonly known as diphtheria, and the city rapidly became a hellish prison. In order to prevent the spread of the epidemic, local authorities sealed the city. Commoners were strictly prohibited from coming and going as they pleased, with exceptional allowances made for only a few wealthy families. Naturally, this included the two women in the Xie and Zhuo families.

Although prominent officials and other noblemen had the special privilege of leaving the infected zone, in the end, they still were not able to act however they wished. Government officials prepared various quiet mountain temples in the nearby vicinity to serve as temporary dwellings, where they were quarantined for a time to prove they weren’t carriers of the disease before being given their freedom.

At this time, Lady Xie was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and Lady Zhuo was nine months pregnant. By chance, they were sent to the same temple on the Rui mountain, and became neighbors there. Originally, the two women were but passing acquaintances who only saw each other at various social events. However, thanks to experiencing this hardship together, and without their husbands by their sides, the contact between them increased, and they discovered that their personalities were quite agreeable. They often sat together doing needlework and conversing happily, swapping stories about their pregnancies, and soon became as dear to each other as sisters.

And then one day, as the two of them were playing chess and chatting together, all of sudden, they went into labor at the same time. Because it was before their due dates, their servants were taken by surprise, and hastened to prepare the delivery rooms. From the afternoon all the way to the deepest night, it was sheer chaos. Outside, the wind howled, the rain came down in sheets, and thunder and lightning roiled. At last, when everyone’s insides were twisted up into knots from anxiety, the cries of infants pierced the night, and two little boys were born, seemingly at the same time. Amongst a field of smiles, the midwives carried these two most precious little young masters outside, to bathe them in a large wooden tub that had been prepared for that purpose.

At that moment, the unexpected happened.

Lightning struck a hollow cypress tree which was situated in the center of the old temple’s courtyard, and one of its branches snapped off with a crash, falling upon the roof of the delivery room. In an instant, roof tiles cracked, the ceiling beam was knocked askew, and the window lattices shattered. The gale from outside extinguished all the candles in the house, and someone screamed. Both guards and maids hurried to extricate the two women, and the midwives, who were so startled that they had fallen over backwards, hastily fished the babies out of the tub, and fled.

Fortunately, they were more scared than hurt, and no one was injured. However, once the new mothers had been resettled in their respective rooms, and everyone had breathed a sigh of relief, a rather large problem arose. The two little boys that had been carried out in pitch darkness, naked and without a care in the world, were both equally wrinkled, were both wailing at the top of their lungs in quite the same way, were of similar weight, and had similar features. So which infant belonged to Lady Xie, and which to Lady Zhuo?

By the next day the question became even more critical, as one of the infants began to have difficulty breathing, and before long, it had passed away.

Thus, when Marquis Xie returned from a successful campaign pacifying insurgents, and when Master Zhuo returned from the prestigious accomplishment of vanquishing the cult, they were greeted by their beloved wives, both sickly and grieving, as well as a single child that no one was sure who should take home.

Since the Lady Xie was also a Grand Princess of the current court, it was unavoidable that this matter would come to the attention of the emperor. The emperor issued a decree commanding both families to bring the child to the palace, so that he could personally preside over the case.

However, upon seeing the appearances of both pairs of parents, the emperor quickly realized that the situation would not be easy to resolve. Both Xie Yu and Zhuo Dingfeng were tall and slim, with distinct features. Both mothers had arched brows and almond-shaped eyes, and were beautiful and refined. They were not terribly alike, and yet when scrutinizing their features, the contours of their faces and other characteristics were more or less similar. Even if they were to wait for the child to grow older, the possibility remained that it would be difficult to judge whose child he was, simply by his appearance.

So the emperor held the child for nearly half a day, and did not come to a decision. However, in his heart, he found that he was becoming fond of the child, and thus came up with a compromise.

“Since there is no way to confirm who this child belongs to, it would be improper for him to use either of the surnames Xie or Zhuo. We shall bestow upon him the imperial surname, as well as the generational name of princes. That makes him Jing… mm… Jingrui will do, as he was born upon Rui mountain. He shall live for one year with the Xie family, and then spend the next year with the Zhuo family—in other words, he shall be the child of two families. What say you?”

Thus went the emperor’s decision, and since there were also no better suggestions, both families could only agree to this.

This was how Xiao Jingrui ended up with dual identities: he was the son of the Marquis of Ning, and also the second son of the Zhuo clan. Furthermore, because of this, the two families who previously had very little to do with one another became as members of the same clan, with a very close relationship.

Having two identities meant double the love and double the honor, but also double the work. From the time that he was young, Xiao Jingrui understood that he was not like his other brothers and sisters: he had to satisfy the expectations of two sets of parents. The Xie family placed emphasis on his studies, and the Zhuo family valued martial prowess. Xie Yu wished for his child to master clever strategies for commanding troops, and Zhuo Dingfeng wished for his child to gain thorough experience with the pugilist underworld.

Although he was under exceptional pressure, all things considered, Xiao Jingrui lived up to expectations; his performance was splendid. He could speechify well enough to startle members of the imperial academy, he could match his sword against others in the pugilist world, and on top of that, he was handsome, and had an elegant frame. His best friend Yan Yujin put it this way: “Wish I could be that perfect…”

- From Nirvana in Fire Ver. 1, Chapter 1, The Child Of Two Families. Translated by Andrea

二十四年前，宁国侯谢玉离开怀孕的妻子出征西夏，莅阳公主留在金陵待产；同年，天泉山庄庄主卓鼎风与魔教教主约战苗疆，临走前也将身怀六甲的爱妻送到金陵委托岳父照顾。谁知天有不测风云，一次被民间俗称为“白喉”的疫情突然暴发，金陵城内顿成修罗��场。为免疫情扩散，官府封了城，严禁百姓出入，只有一些富贵家族得到了特殊的照顾，其中当然就包括谢卓两家夫人。

虽然达官贵人们有些特权离开疫区，但毕竟不能随意行动，州府官员们在附近的各处清静山庙为他们安排了住处，要度过危险期确认没有染病后才得自由。

这时谢夫人怀胎八月半，卓夫人怀胎九月，碰巧被送到了睿山上的同一座庙宇中作了邻居。两位夫人原本只是在社交场合见过的点头之交，这次同遇患难，丈夫又都不在身边，交往多了后，彼此都觉得性情相投，常在一处针线谈笑，交流怀胎的感受，很快就情同姐妹。

这天，两人正聚在一起聊天弈棋，突然同时阵痛起来。因为产期提前，仆从们措手不及，匆匆准备产房，好一番忙乱，从下午直折腾到深夜，外面电闪雷鸣，风雨大作，等大家惶惶然把心都揪成麻花了的时候，终于有婴儿的啼哭声响起，两个男孩几乎是同时落草。

在一片喜笑颜开中，产婆们捧着这金尊玉贵的两个小公子到外间准备好的一个大木桶里给婴儿浴身。

就在此时，意外发生了。

古庙院中一株空心柏被雷电击中，一段粗枝轰然断裂，砸在产房屋顶上，瞬那间瓦碎梁歪，窗棂也被震落，狂风猛卷而入，屋内烛火俱灭，一片尖叫声。侍卫和婢女们慌慌张张抢出两位夫人，被吓得向后跌坐在地上的产婆们也手忙脚乱地摸黑从木桶里捞出婴孩，逃了出去。

好在有惊无险，无人受伤，重新择房安顿好了产妇之后，众人刚松了一口气，就突然发现了一个大问题。

摸黑被抱出的两个男婴，赤·裸裸身无牵挂，一般样皱皱巴巴，一般样张着嘴大哭，重量相仿，眉目相似，哪个是谢夫人生的，哪个又是卓夫人生的？

到了第二天，问题更加沉重，因为其中的一个男婴突然喘不上气来，未几就死了。

当谢侯带着平定叛乱的赫赫战功，卓庄主带着击败魔教的烁烁威名赶来时，只看到自己虚弱哀伤的爱妻，与一个不知该归谁所有的婴孩。

谢夫人既是当朝长公主，这件事就不可避免地惊动到了当今天子。皇帝下旨命两家带着婴孩入宫，想亲自做个判断。

但一看到两对父母的模样，皇帝就知道事情难办了。

谢玉与卓鼎风都是长身玉立，五官明晰，两位夫人都是柳眉杏眼，秀丽文雅；虽说不算很象，但细察其五官，轮廓特征竟然差不多。

即使等孩子长大，只怕也难单凭长相，就判定他到底是谁家之子。

皇帝抱着婴儿看了半天，虽无决断，但因心中十分喜爱，便想出了一个折中之计：“既然无法确认这孩子究竟是何人之子，那他姓谢姓卓都不合适，朕就赐国姓于他，按皇子辈取名，叫景……景睿好了，他生在睿山之上嘛。一年住在谢家，下一年就住在卓家，算是两姓之子，如何？”

皇帝作了主，何况也没有更好的办法，大家也只能同意。

就这样，萧景睿便有了双重身份，即是宁国侯家的大公子，也是卓氏门中的二少爷。而素无往来的谢卓两家也由此变得有如亲族一般，关系紧密。

两个身份带来的是双倍的宠爱与双倍的尊荣，但同时，也有双倍的辛苦。萧景睿从小就知道自己与其他的兄弟姐妹不同，要同时满足两对父母的期许。谢家重文，卓家重武，谢玉想让儿子掌握将兵奇谋，卓鼎风要求儿子通晓江湖历练。虽然承受着极大的压力，但萧景睿总算不负众望，表现得甚是优秀，论文可词惊翰林，论武能拔剑江湖，再加上天生一副潇洒俊美的好皮囊，按他最好的朋友言豫津的说法，就是“完美成这样也就够了……”