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ghost_valley2021-07-06 05:00 pm
rekishi) wrote in ghost_valley2021-07-06 05:00 pm
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[Tian Ya Ke (Re-)Readalong] Chapter 4+5
July 06
I ranted atshadaras when I prepped this post a week and a half ago, because I wanted to use the xuxunette translation for it and was foiled by technology. As I'm the sort who works better once the frustration has been vented, I finally figured it out (thanks again! <3) and even though I sorta made more work for myself now, here we are!
Chapter 4 - A Righteous Man
Chapter 5 - The Devils
Zhou Zishu and the girl in purple trade saving each other and Zhou Zishu has a promise extracted from him. Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang, and Zhang Chengling get acquainted. Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu learn what happened to Mirror Lake Sect and we get information about Ghost Valley. Zhou Zishu is bothered by the nails...and unfortunately that is when they end in dire straits again.
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Fun with linguistics:
We get quite a bit of information in these chapters!
The man in black is clearly familiar with Gu Xiang, and knowing her 'ghost name' now that's probably what the man in black recognized.
Gu Xiang is a brash young woman, and I'd forgotten a little - over her later conduct in SHL and also over her later words in the novel - that she starts out so very direct. It is somehow refreshing and here yes, I might consider her a completely inexperienced, 'wild' 14 year old. It's quite interesting to see this.
Meanwhile ZZS is far more soft hearted than he appeared as the fearsome leader of Tian Chuang. While I'm not surprised he thinks about the afterlife/next life (it's a heavy theme in Qi Ye and while we see less of it here, it's clearly an undercurrent), I'm not sure that is explanation enough. But Zhang Chengling is just so very pitiful and Li-xiong is at the end of his life… Still, I didn't think that Zhou Zishu, of all people, would be this easy to convince to the cause, considering how many people he must have seen die and even how many he killed himself. WKX will actually tease him about this a lot going forward.
At the same time we get some information on the Nails in both chapters. I wonder if it is too close to midnight at first or if there is also a psychosomatic component. However, we learn more about their effects which start around midnight and last quite a long time (or maybe last longer now because he didn't sleep) and that they leave him numb the rest of the night. Which is interesting insofar as that we see these effects throughout the novel (though they do lessen, which is commented on) but a while after WKX starts following him the effects don't actually last all night.
Honestly though, the Nails sound terrible. We talked about how maybe it wasn't so bad after all despite the death sentence, but I can't quite believe it. It just sounds unbelievably painful and ZZS is a man with an insane pain tolerance.
This is either a consistency error (maybe) or the same way we see it in SHL: With some TLC and company he is doing better and it is easier to bear.
At the same time we see his still very amazing martial prowess: not only is he willing to stand up to the "Ghosts" while protecting GX and ZCL, he also can carve wood without a tool. Keep in mind that he has lost half his powers due to the Nails.
So Mirror Lake Sect is actually quite famous, even though no one knows Chengling. Which isn't surprising, accolades are gathered by the active martial artists, not so much by the youngest sons unless he is a prodigy (which he is, just no one knows it yet). And Chengling is such a polite kid! It's not his fault Gu Xiang teases him to breaking and he still remains polite.
Lastly, we learn some about Ghost Valley. ZZS is quite on the up and up with the political situation in jianghu, and I wonder just how far his spy network really reaches. We know everyone gets watched even after they leave Tian Chuang with the Nails, but does he have jianghu informants? Will his continued survival get back to Helian Yi?
Anyhow, that Gu Xiang is surprised by the Xuefang revelation makes sense, knowing everything we know, but ZZS just has all this knowledge at the tip of his fingers. He's a little scary.
A few points:
The Nails do bother ZZS quite a lot and they have in full for three months and since the first insertion it has been 21 months. The numbness he feels is probably what is coming for him shortly before death. I wonder if ZZS is actually scared of it - of feeling like this all the time in the future - or if he just takes it as it comes. From what he said it's the latter, but I'm not sure ZZS is the most reliable of narrators.
I don't actually want to put so much weight on that whole 'past lover' bit, even though I put quite a lot of emphasis on it up in the linguistics section. I think this is mostly a throwaway line to establish WKX as gay.
However...it also means WKX has left Ghost Valley in the past at will and frequently enough to maintain an at least sexual relationship with someone who he is welcome to come back to. Do the other ghosts know that? What has he done with GX in the meantime - since she doesn't make the impression that she's been out a lot? What are the mechanics here?
Next week we're discussing chapters 6-8 where Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu fight the new arrivals to protect both themselves and Zhang Chengling. Help comes in the form of Wen Kexing of the villainous, lecherous dandy vibes. Who sees right through Zhou Zishu. Hmmmm.
So I'm honestly not sure what I'll be doing about the translations yet. From a purely technical pov, the sparklingwater translation is much easier. And some of the terms (Ghosts, etc) are more to my liking.
Thank you!
I ranted at
shadaras when I prepped this post a week and a half ago, because I wanted to use the xuxunette translation for it and was foiled by technology. As I'm the sort who works better once the frustration has been vented, I finally figured it out (thanks again! <3) and even though I sorta made more work for myself now, here we are!Chapter 4 - A Righteous Man
Chapter 5 - The Devils
Zhou Zishu and the girl in purple trade saving each other and Zhou Zishu has a promise extracted from him. Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang, and Zhang Chengling get acquainted. Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu learn what happened to Mirror Lake Sect and we get information about Ghost Valley. Zhou Zishu is bothered by the nails...and unfortunately that is when they end in dire straits again.
Chapter 4
- “You’re purple… purple…” he said.
- “He’s done for,” she said bluntly, “It’s the Sangeng poison, and he’s lost too much blood. I’m sorry for your loss.”
- “Ah, but it’s you!” she said, laughing, “And here I thought some grandmaster had seen fit to rescue me. But it’s as well. I treated you to wine today, and you helped me win a fight. We’re even.”
- “I... I just gave you your money back,” the old fisher said, “It means you got a free ride on my boat. In return, you must… you must take my place and help me…”
Zhou Zishu didn’t know whether he should laugh or cry. Not waiting for the older man to finish, he shook his head and tried to get up. The old man, however, wouldn’t let go of his wrist. - Zhou Zishu averted his gaze to contemplate the cloudy night outside the secluded, derelict temple. He wondered whether he should change his face. His current one clearly didn’t look pitiful enough since everybody seemed to take him for some big dum-dum who was waiting to be taken advantage of.
- The last words were like a lightning bolt striking straight to Zhou Zishu’s heart. The nails inside him started hurting again, as if they were trying to crawl further into his flesh. Whatever sin he had committed in this life, he’d be dead in three years’ time and would be done with the world.
- She had already raised her fist to punish the little brat when she was caught off guard by Zhou Zishu restraining her. A hand that was as cold as ice had seized her wrist. It held her in a light grip that didn’t hurt at all; yet, she couldn’t take her arm back or otherwise move it. Stunned, she couldn’t resist peeking again at the man with the emaciated face who looked like he could kick the bucket at any moment.
- “What you’ve said is true,” he said in a small voice, “and I deserve your scorn. Please accept my apologies.”
- That was jianghu logic alright. The people who dwelt in the world of rivers and lakes either spent their lives repaying the favours done to them, or avenging the wrongs brought upon them. Was there ever a need to leave a name behind?
- After a moment’s struggle with his emotions — he was between a giggle and a sob — he corrected the mistake by carving the missing letters into the wood with his finger. Then, he placed the plaque over the grave they had dug.
Chapter 5
- “You’re Zhang Yusen’s son!” she blurted out. The expression of utter disbelief painted on her face — she didn’t even try to hide it — plainly read: “How did Zhang Yusen sire a son as useless as you.”
- “So you’re the young master Zhang,” he said after pointedly clearing his throat, “I should have recognised you earlier.”
- “Your dad is kinda famous, isn’t he? We only got here two days ago and already heard of him. They say he was pretty good when he was young, but has half-retired since he got lucky doing business. He’s made himself a home here and doesn’t get involved anymore, does he? And he’s got many highly skilled guests living on his domain too. Nobody would want to mess with that, would they? How come the son of a guy like him is getting hunted down in the middle of the night?”
- “Xuefang, the Hanged Devil.”
“Who did you say?”
“Who?”
Zhou Zishu and Gu Xiang both spoke at the same time. Zhou Zishu’s brows furrowed whilst Gu Xiang’s face displayed a curious sort of bewilderment. - The pain the Nails imparted wasn’t like the tearing of flesh, nor was it like the blunt anguish of internal injuries. It was like as if small knives slowly carved into him, inch by inch, whilst incising along his body’s every meridian.
Fortunately, after more than a year, he had grown used to it, so he could act as if nothing was amiss. He was also still wearing his mask, so Gu Xiang couldn’t see the change in his complexion. - In recent years, the most heinous miscreants of jianghu, along with people seeking protection and desperate souls, have all congregated there. The rule is, people who enter The Devils’ [Ghost] Valley must renounce calling themselves humans. They become “devils” who no longer have ties to their former lives — in a rebirth of sorts. Rumours about the place are many, all terrifying; so much so that enemies give up seeking revenge once a person has entered it. Because surviving in The Devils’ [Ghost] Valley is said to be an ordeal of its own.
- Every day, the Nails would act up around midnight. For that reason, he usually slept early to wake up around eleven, so that he would be rested and have enough energy to endure the rest of the night. He hadn’t expected the evening’s disruption that had kept him up. All he could do now was to grit his teeth and bear it.
Not until faint light broke on the eastern horizon did his agony gradually diminish. Everything in him felt numb.
Fun with linguistics:
- Gu Xiang does think of WKX in "zhuren" terms here.
- “Mister Zhou…” - “You can call me Uncle Zhou,” is in Chinese "周......" [no honorific] - "叫叔就行." [jiao (call) shu (uncle) jiu (only, simply (probably in this case) xing (will do)]
- Ok, here we need to look at this side by side.
The original says 老相好 which is, according to ABC Dictionary, "intimate friend" or "old lover", there's no gender term in there. The xuxunette translation seems like this is a longterm situation which...I wouldn't necessarily see (see discussion below). And 他去睡男人, ta qu shui nanren, is literally "he go sleep [which was confirmed to me can also be the nsfw sort of sleep, thank youierlix] male person". Theoretically it can be either singular or plural, but I'm inclined to interpret this as singular and 'in the moment' rather than general. So I'd hazard WKX is not having an orgy right now but is spending time with one gentleman.
- Gu Xiang refers to herself sitting outside the window on the above exchange as 姑奶奶 (gu nainai) which would mean she's WKX' grand aunt, which I find very funny (it's probably meant to be meddling aunt, agony aunt, something like that but the direct translation…).
- The two translations are very interesting when looked at side by side, neither of them is strictly wrong, because that's how Chinese works, but the connotation in English is different depending on which words are used. So hmmm.
We get quite a bit of information in these chapters!
The man in black is clearly familiar with Gu Xiang, and knowing her 'ghost name' now that's probably what the man in black recognized.
Gu Xiang is a brash young woman, and I'd forgotten a little - over her later conduct in SHL and also over her later words in the novel - that she starts out so very direct. It is somehow refreshing and here yes, I might consider her a completely inexperienced, 'wild' 14 year old. It's quite interesting to see this.
Meanwhile ZZS is far more soft hearted than he appeared as the fearsome leader of Tian Chuang. While I'm not surprised he thinks about the afterlife/next life (it's a heavy theme in Qi Ye and while we see less of it here, it's clearly an undercurrent), I'm not sure that is explanation enough. But Zhang Chengling is just so very pitiful and Li-xiong is at the end of his life… Still, I didn't think that Zhou Zishu, of all people, would be this easy to convince to the cause, considering how many people he must have seen die and even how many he killed himself. WKX will actually tease him about this a lot going forward.
At the same time we get some information on the Nails in both chapters. I wonder if it is too close to midnight at first or if there is also a psychosomatic component. However, we learn more about their effects which start around midnight and last quite a long time (or maybe last longer now because he didn't sleep) and that they leave him numb the rest of the night. Which is interesting insofar as that we see these effects throughout the novel (though they do lessen, which is commented on) but a while after WKX starts following him the effects don't actually last all night.
Honestly though, the Nails sound terrible. We talked about how maybe it wasn't so bad after all despite the death sentence, but I can't quite believe it. It just sounds unbelievably painful and ZZS is a man with an insane pain tolerance.
This is either a consistency error (maybe) or the same way we see it in SHL: With some TLC and company he is doing better and it is easier to bear.
At the same time we see his still very amazing martial prowess: not only is he willing to stand up to the "Ghosts" while protecting GX and ZCL, he also can carve wood without a tool. Keep in mind that he has lost half his powers due to the Nails.
So Mirror Lake Sect is actually quite famous, even though no one knows Chengling. Which isn't surprising, accolades are gathered by the active martial artists, not so much by the youngest sons unless he is a prodigy (which he is, just no one knows it yet). And Chengling is such a polite kid! It's not his fault Gu Xiang teases him to breaking and he still remains polite.
Lastly, we learn some about Ghost Valley. ZZS is quite on the up and up with the political situation in jianghu, and I wonder just how far his spy network really reaches. We know everyone gets watched even after they leave Tian Chuang with the Nails, but does he have jianghu informants? Will his continued survival get back to Helian Yi?
Anyhow, that Gu Xiang is surprised by the Xuefang revelation makes sense, knowing everything we know, but ZZS just has all this knowledge at the tip of his fingers. He's a little scary.
A few points:
The Nails do bother ZZS quite a lot and they have in full for three months and since the first insertion it has been 21 months. The numbness he feels is probably what is coming for him shortly before death. I wonder if ZZS is actually scared of it - of feeling like this all the time in the future - or if he just takes it as it comes. From what he said it's the latter, but I'm not sure ZZS is the most reliable of narrators.
I don't actually want to put so much weight on that whole 'past lover' bit, even though I put quite a lot of emphasis on it up in the linguistics section. I think this is mostly a throwaway line to establish WKX as gay.
However...it also means WKX has left Ghost Valley in the past at will and frequently enough to maintain an at least sexual relationship with someone who he is welcome to come back to. Do the other ghosts know that? What has he done with GX in the meantime - since she doesn't make the impression that she's been out a lot? What are the mechanics here?
Next week we're discussing chapters 6-8 where Gu Xiang and Zhou Zishu fight the new arrivals to protect both themselves and Zhang Chengling. Help comes in the form of Wen Kexing of the villainous, lecherous dandy vibes. Who sees right through Zhou Zishu. Hmmmm.
So I'm honestly not sure what I'll be doing about the translations yet. From a purely technical pov, the sparklingwater translation is much easier. And some of the terms (Ghosts, etc) are more to my liking.
Thank you!