3Acknowledgements
Thank you to these lovely ladies:
LX and HY for their help with Chinese language and history
EdwardsFirstKiss and dollarbanks, who were amazing betas for the story
lazyncrazy and ggb-luma for pre-reading
IpsitaC77 who made a lovely banner for this story: pinterest dot com / pin / 486459197232648156
Latin translations
Currite!: Run!
Vadete celerius!: Go faster!
Aquam indigemus: We need water
Me excusa, domina...: Excuse me, miss...
Aqua: Water
Ubi?: Where?
Non: No
Faex: Shit
Mehercle!: By Hercules!
Gracias tibi ago: Thank you
Mulsum: wine with honey, a popular drink
Amor a primo conspectu: love at first sight
Fortuna: goddess of fate
Seres: people of the land of silk
Salve: Good morning/evening/welcome (a general greeting)
Pulchra es: You're beautiful
Ignosce mihi: Forgive me
Ita: Yes
Me exspecta, quaeso: Please wait for me
Omnium rerum principia parva sunt: The beginnings of all things are small
Pulchra es: You're beautiful
Ignosce mihi: Forgive me
Ita: Yes
Me exspecta, quaeso: Please wait for me
Tu salva nunc: You're safe now
Nocere tibi?: Are you hurt?
Quid agis?: What are you doing?
Me paenitet: I'm sorry (literal: I regret it)
Mecum veni: Come with me
Exspecta: Please
Mater: Mother
Chinese translations
Na me mei!（那么美！）: How beautiful!
Ni yao shen me a? （你要什么啊？）: What do you need?
Bie da le!（ 别打了！）: Stop fighting! (literal: Stop hitting!)
Shui （水）: Water
Hanfu（ 汉 服）: traditional dress in ancient China
Ni bu xiang chi ya?（你不想吃呀？）: Don't you want to eat? (confrontational tone)
Ye xu wo ke yi...（也 许我可以。。。）: Maybe I can...
Chi（吃）: Eat
Xie xie（ 谢谢）: Thank you
Bu yong xie（不用 谢）: You're welcome (literal: No need to thank)
Ni de（你的）: Yours
Shen me?（什么？）: Pardon? (literal: what?)
Hao（好）: Good
Mei li（美 丽）: Beautiful
Kuai zi（筷子）: Chopsticks
Shi de (是的)：yes
Guzheng (古箏): Chinese string instrument, similar to a zither
Sai weng shi ma (塞翁失馬): proverb meaning blessing in disguise (or the other way around)
Huangjiu ( 黄酒): an alcoholic beverage made from rice and millet
Chi de ku zhong ku, fang wei ren shang ren（吃得苦中苦，方 为人上人）: Only by withstanding the hardest of hardships can you rise to become someone of value (literal: if you can eat the bitterest of the bitter, then you can become the man above men)
Wo yao qu Luoyang（我要去洛阳）: I want to go to Luoyang
Ni he wo de ma ma（你和我的 妈吗）：you and my mother
Historical notes
"She puts the flowers to shame. She entices the birds to fall, and the fish to sink – so exquisite is she." – This may sound rather funny when translated into English but I adapted it from two Chinese idioms based on real historical beauties. (贵妃羞花 Guifei shames the flowers, 西施沉鱼 Xi Shi sinks the fish)
'The Son of Heaven' with reference to the emperor – the Chinese used to refer to their emperor as a deity or otherwise chosen by the higher powers.
Luoyang was one of China's old capitals.
Although Li Rong is portrayed here as speaking Mandarin (=Beijing dialect, now spoken by almost everyone in China on top of their own local dialects), a girl in her time most likely did not speak Mandarin but a different Chinese dialect. Speakers of different Chinese dialects usually cannot understand each other.
Mandarin has five tones. Here, Li Rong tries to teach Alerio how to pronounce the words by gesturing the tones. However, the awareness of tones was first recorded around 500 A.D. so it's debatable if someone in 166 A.D. would know about it.