would do this a lot more often. In places such as this the translator should surely be happy to be Homo Ludens, and should allow himself more opportunities to invent Trinketian fun and games.20 322323 3. Trinket the Friend It is often pointed out that the one endearing quality Trinket possesses is his capacity for friendship, although his only true friend seems to be the Emperor Kang Xi 康熙 .
 
The scene in which Trinket reveals to Kang Xi that he has been posing as a eunuch all along is both funny and touching : Trinket Comes Clean ( chapter 12 ) Trinket looked at him. To think that one day his friend the Emperor might himself be in grave danger !
 
The Old Whore was a ruthless enemy, and there was definitely a diabolical plot of some kind afoot in the Palace. She had kept a man hidden in her room, disguised as a woman !
 
One day she might try to kill the Emperor himself. And concerning all of this, the Emperor ─ his friend the Emperor ─ was utterly in the dark. Suppose he himself, Trinket, were to die at the Old Whore ' s hands ?
 
Then