原文 Original text
繁體 Traditional
Reader's edition
帝患沉痾
The Emperor Falls Sick
不覺五更三點，那滿朝文武多官，都在朝門外候朝。等到天明，猶不見臨朝，諕得一個個驚懼躊躇。及日上三竿，方有旨意出來道：「朕心不快，眾官免朝。」不覺倏五七日，眾官憂惶，都正要撞門見駕問安，只見太后有旨，召醫官入宮用藥。眾人在朝門外等候討信。少時，醫官出來，眾問何疾。醫官道：「皇上脈氣不正，虛而又數，狂言見鬼。又診得十動一代，五臟無氣，恐不諱只在七日之內矣。」眾官聞言，大驚失色。不觉五更三点，那满朝文武多官，都在朝门外候朝。等到天明，犹不见临朝，諕得一个个惊惧踌躇。及日上三竿，方有旨意出来道：「朕心不快，众官免朝。」不觉倏五七日，众官忧惶，都正要撞门见驾问安，只见太后有旨，召医官入宫用药。众人在朝门外等候讨信。少时，医官出来，众问何疾。医官道：「皇上脉气不正，虚而又数，狂言见鬼。又诊得十动一代，五脏无气，恐不讳只在七日之内矣。」众官闻言，大惊失色。
逐句解 Line by line
不覺五更三點，那滿朝文武多官，都在朝門外候朝。等到天明，猶不見臨朝，諕得一個個驚懼躊躇。
不觉五更三点，那满朝文武多官，都在朝门外候朝。等到天明，犹不见临朝，諕得一个个惊惧踌躇。
Before they knew it, it was the third point of the fifth watch, and the many civil and military officials of the whole court were waiting outside the court gate for the audience. They waited until daybreak, and still there was no morning court; and this alarmed them, every one hesitant and afraid.
那 is nà; 諕 ('to alarm') is xià, and 得 in 諕得 is the resultative de; the four 朝 (滿朝, 朝門, 候朝, 臨朝) are all cháo. The missing dawn audience is the first public sign that something is gravely wrong.
及日上三竿，方有旨意出來道：「朕心不快，眾官免朝。」
及日上三竿，方有旨意出来道：「朕心不快，众官免朝。」
Only when the sun was three poles high did a decree come out: 'Our heart is unwell; the officials are excused from court.'
日上三竿 ('the sun three poles high') is well into the morning; 心不快 ('the heart unwell') is the emperor's euphemism for his sickness. 免朝 ('excused from court') is the formal dismissal.
不覺倏五七日，眾官憂惶，都正要撞門見駕問安，只見太后有旨，召醫官入宮用藥。眾人在朝門外等候討信。
不觉倏五七日，众官忧惶，都正要撞门见驾问安，只见太后有旨，召医官入宫用药。众人在朝门外等候讨信。
In no time some five to seven days had slipped by, and the officials, anxious and fearful, were just about to force their way in to attend upon the emperor and ask after his health, when a decree came from the Empress Dowager summoning the court physician into the palace to administer medicine. The assembled officials waited outside the court gate for word.
倏 is 'suddenly, in a flash'; 太后 is the Empress Dowager, the emperor's mother. The summoning of the physician confirms the gravity of the illness.
少時，醫官出來，眾問何疾。醫官道：「皇上脈氣不正，虛而又數，狂言見鬼。又診得十動一代，五臟無氣，恐不諱只在七日之內矣。」眾官聞言，大驚失色。
少时，医官出来，众问何疾。医官道：「皇上脉气不正，虚而又数，狂言见鬼。又诊得十动一代，五脏无气，恐不讳只在七日之内矣。」众官闻言，大惊失色。
After a while the physician came out, and the officials asked what the illness was. The physician said: 'His Majesty's pulse is disordered — weak and yet racing — and he raves of seeing ghosts. Moreover I find one skipped beat in every ten, and no breath in the five viscera; I fear the unspeakable may come within seven days.' At these words the officials were struck pale with dismay.
數 in 虛而又數 ('weak and yet rapid,' of the pulse) is the medical reading shuò; 得 in 診得 ('to diagnose') is the resultative de. 十動一代 ('one skipped beat in ten') and 五臟無氣 ('the five viscera without breath') are grave signs; 不諱 ('the unmentionable') is a euphemism for death.
總評 Commentary
The consequences of the haunting now become a matter of state. The emperor misses the dawn audience, then excuses the court for days on end, and the officials' mounting alarm — waiting outside the gate for word — conveys the disturbance rippling outward from the palace. The private terror of a sleepless night has become a public crisis of succession.
The physician's verdict is precise and grim, couched in the technical language of pulse diagnosis: the pulse 'weak and yet racing,' one beat skipped in ten, no breath in the five viscera, and death feared within seven days. The clinical specificity — like the diviner's earlier forecast of rain 'to forty-eight drops' — lends the supernatural a documentary exactness. The dragon's revenge is working not as sudden horror but as a wasting sickness, and the emperor whom armies could not touch is being brought down, from within, by a broken promise.