high ranking official (old); term of endearment between spouses (old); (from the Tang Dynasty onwards) term used by the emperor for his subjects (old); honorific (old)

to bill and coo (idiom); to whisper sweet nothings to one another; to be very much in love

the nine top officials (in imperial China)

high-ranking officials in the court of a Chinese emperor

minister of the imperial stud, originally charged with horse breeding

Cochin (in south India)

Guan Hanqing (c. 1235-c. 1300), Yuan dynasty dramatist in the 雜劇|杂剧 tradition of musical comedy, one of the Four Great Yuan dramatists 元曲四大家

Xu Zhenqing (1479-1511), Ming writer, one of Four great southern talents of the Ming 江南四大才子

Yan Zhenqing (709-785), a leading calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty

undersecretary of state

Under Secretary of State

Chief Justice of the Imperial Court of Judicial Review

Minister of imperial stud, originally charged with horse breeding

aristocracy

if one is too calculating, it will be the cause of one's own undoing (famous line in "A Dream of Red Mansions" 紅樓夢|红楼梦[Hong2 lou2 Meng4])