“Huang” (皇) originally meant heaven and light, called huang because it gives life to all things.

“Di” (帝) means master of living beings, the source of prosperity, called di because of its creative power.

Huang is above, di is below. To the ancients, huangdi meant heaven and earth, and the term “emperor” tells people that heaven and earth are masters of all things, while the emperor is heaven and earth’s representative in the human world.

The emperor has been a very special existence throughout history.

It can be said that on the pyramid of power, the emperor stands at its very apex.

Looking down upon all living beings, possessing supreme authority and wealth, able to decide others’ life and death and fate with a mere gesture.

But the higher one stands, the greater the danger.

No emperor ever felt the pyramid beneath his feet was secure. Perhaps with just one extra step or one missed link, the seemingly solid pyramid would come crashing down.

So every emperor was extremely insecure, unable to trust even family members.

The loneliness of standing at the highest point could only be experienced by the emperor himself, with no one to share it.

He was truly a solitary ruler.

Therefore, the imperial family was also a special clan. Revolving around the dragon throne representing supreme imperial dignity, struggle, suspicion, conspiracy, jealousy, and scheming emerged endlessly.

Even those without desire for that dragon throne would be passively drawn into the vortex because of their status, with no hope of redemption.

Between brothers, between father and son, between husband and wife – familial love, friendship, and romantic love all became luxuries.

So when the ten-year-old Liu Ziluan was about to be killed, he wept and said he wished never to be born into an imperial family in his next life.

Throughout history, in China’s over two thousand years of feudal history, there were more than four hundred emperors.

These were special existences of those eras, beings that our current age cannot encounter or understand.

Why do those who practice martial arts tend to disregard life easily? Because they possess force superior to ordinary people and feel themselves above others.

So the sweeping monk of Shaolin Temple once said that learning a Shaolin martial art requires simultaneously learning Buddhist teachings to resolve the murderous aura.

Just like possessing swords requires scabbards, or else one would harm others and oneself.

Merely possessing martial power and sharp weapons can change a person’s character.

Then what about possessing supreme power?

Actually, those disasters of widespread famine in history were not caused by bad people.

Bad people can only commit relatively smaller bad deeds, because even though they are bad, they still have consciences and feel guilty.

Those truly heinous acts were mostly committed by people waving banners of serving country and people.

They believed they were acting for all living beings under heaven, using their authority to do those so-called “good” deeds that benefited country and people.

Yet they never saw how many common people would fall into dire straits because of a single decree.

This is perhaps because emperors stood too high to see clearly what would happen at the pyramid’s base because of their decisions.

So incompetent rulers emerged frequently while wise rulers were rare.

All worldly affairs are filled with strange equilibrium – some fight desperately for the dragon throne, while others flee from it in terror.

But living in a feudal society where the realm belonged to one family, there were many emperors who had no choice but to inherit the throne.

These emperors were not skilled at governing the country but had various other interests instead.

For example, Song Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji with his superb painting skills, Ming Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao who loved carpentry, Emperor Wu of Liang Xiao Yan who wanted to be a monk rather than emperor…

If he hadn’t been destined to be emperor from birth, Zhao Ji might have been a painter remembered for millennia, rather than the captive ruler of Northern Song who died without dignity in a foreign land.

Zhu Youxiao might have been a sculptor leaving behind countless ingenious works, rather than being deceived by treacherous eunuchs and possibly dying from taking “immortality elixirs.”

Xiao Yan might have been an enlightened monk rather than being starved to death in Taicheng.

In the previous twenty-four stories of “Mute House,” we also wrote about imperial antiques.

For example, Empress Wu Zetian’s wordless stele, artistic emperor Song Huizong’s Four Seasons paintings, and the Imperial Seal of the Heshi Jade.

Even the gentle and refined Prince Fu Su could not escape the constraints of imperial position – that was once Master Hu Hai’s obsession too.

As the pyramid’s apex, the stories surrounding emperors are also very worthy of study.

“Mute House” Part Three concentrated on writing about twelve imperial antiques, each one receiving my greatest effort.

The suspicion aroused by the Heaven Yue Axe, the flaws whitewashed by the Solitary Jade Buddha, the control foretold by the Dragon-Pattern Bell, the ambition displayed by the Jade Belt Hook, the choices made by the Compass Pearl, the desires brought by the Tiger Bone Thumb Ring, the gambling luck rolled by the Ivory Dice, the familial love lost through the Earthquake Bowl, the lies fanned by the Five Brightness Fan, the loyalty dissipated by the Immunity Token, the rules constructed by the Green Ceremonial Tablet, the authority forged by the Black Gold Cauldron…

I selected the twelve types of imperial antiques I most wanted to write about and their hidden meanings. Of course, twelve types doesn’t exhaust them all – imperial antiques may continue to appear in future stories.

“Mute House” Part Three rarely involved romantic love, because once power is involved, those loves have already changed in nature.

Pure love between men and women only exists when both parties are equal, or when they haven’t yet become aware of their differences due to age.

Once they realize one party is in an absolutely disadvantaged position, such love becomes mixed with various complex emotions.

Of course, this twisted love is described in both “Solitary Jade Buddha” and “Jade Belt Hook,” while the love in “Compass Pearl” was extinguished before it could fully blossom…

“Mute House” Part Three’s ending also introduced new characters and various changes to the main plot.

Part Four will mainly begin searching for the missing boss. Well… in a Mute House without the boss… there should be all kinds of chaos… Lu Zigang and the doctor seem quite unreliable… [The curator, who hasn’t appeared for a long time, secretly chuckles: Finally, I’ve waited for a good opportunity! Hehehe…]