Reading Gu Long's "流星•蝴蝶•剑"

[laurenth]

I first posted some information about the first few pages of that book in the What are you reading thread?, thinking I'd probably be unable to read much further, since wuxia novels have a reputation for being rather difficult. It turns out that that particular book is not too hard to read for intermediate learners, and very interesting too for people like me who don't know anything about wuxia.

 

Now I decided to open a new thread to challenge myself to try and read the rest of the book and, maybe, share some info with other people who would like to delve in this genre.

 

To begin with, here is an update about...

 

第二章

 

We are now at 老伯's home, where he's having some sort of garden party for his birthday in his beloved 菊花园. All those people who have been wronged (see info about the first few pages in the WAYR thread) gather there for help and ask 老伯 to do something about it.

 

The first one is 张老头.  His daughter was raped by two depraved and cynical brothers, 江风 and 江平. When 张老头 sought justice, the brothers were saved by their protector 徐青松 and 张老头 was humiliated。

 

老伯, wishing to help 张老头, dispatches 文虎 and 文豹 to teach 江风 and 江平 a lesson. 文虎 and 文豹 manage to make the two brothers drink much alcohol and, once they are completely drunk, have them rape the daughter of their own saviour, 徐青松. After which they are given a thrashing for good measure. However, on hearing  文虎 and 文豹's report, 老伯 is less then pleased by this unfair method  - after all, the poor girl has nothing to do with this - and, to compensate, orders  the unmarried 文豹 to ask that girl in marriage.

 

Second, 铁成钢.  That guy was wrongly accused by the 黄山三友 of killing his own uncle, together with the whole village - they don't do things by halves over there.

 

Chased by the 黄山三友, 铁成钢 barely escapes but his brothers are all slain. However, 铁成钢 has found evidence that he's not guilty. And where did he find that piece of evidence? In his uncle's dead hands. Under time pressure, he is forced to chop the hands from his uncle's corpse in order to get the evidence, hide the hands in his lap, and escape. 铁成钢 then takes refuge at 老伯's home, with the three 黄山三友 following him closely. All three 黄山三友 are killed in a brief showdown by a mysterious guy dressed in grey:

 

"就在这刹那间，不知从哪里冲过来一个人。谁也没有看清他长得是高是矮？是胖是瘦？只看到他穿着一身暗灰色的衣服。

    但每个人都听到他说了一句话：九个字！

    “谁对老伯无礼，谁就死！”   这几个字并不是要很长的时候，但九个字说完，黄山三友就变成了三个死尸，三个人几乎是在同一刹那间断气的。

    就在这人冲过来的那一刹。"

 

"In an instant, a man coming from nowhere suddenly attacked. No one could tell if he was tall or short, or fat or thin. The only thing anybody could see was that he was dressed entirely in dark grey clothes. However, everyone could hear him say one sentence, just ten words: "Those who lack respect for Lao Bo deserve to die!" Saying these ten words did not take long, but once they were all said, the three Yellow Mountain Friends were as dead as can be, all killed in the twinkling of an eye. At the very moment when that man struck."

 

Third, 方幼苹.

 

That guy's wife is having a torrid affair with a certain 毛威 , and to add insult to injury, she humiliates her husband about it.

 

老伯 dispatches his son 孙剑 to teach 毛威 a lesson.  孙剑  is a tough guy:

孙剑平素是最恨做事不干脆的人，他做事从不施泥带水，他无论做什么事，他用的往往都是最直接的法。

"Above all, Sun Jian hates people who fail to do a clear-cut job. When he acts, there's nothing messy. Whatever he does, he always uses the most direct method."

 

To avenge 方幼苹, he first uses his mighty fists and then, faithful to his motto ("以牙还牙，以血还血"), he  simply kidnaps 毛威's wife - and then sets her free. He does not touch her but knows that 毛威 will never trust her when she tells she's not been abused.

 

她痛哭只是因为她知道毛威绝不会相信她的话，绝不会相信孙剑并没有对她做什么事。

    孙剑若是真做，她反而一点也不会伤心。

    世上本就有种女人永远不知道什么叫做侮辱，什么才叫做羞耻。

    她就是这种女人。

" She sobbed because she knew Mao Wei would never believe her, never believe Sun Jian had not done anything to her.  If Sun Jian really had abused her, she would not have been sad at all. In the world, there are such women who will never know insult from shame.  She was such a woman."

 

And last but not least there's 万鹏王. This one is the toughest of all:

 

在很多人眼中，万鹏王并不是一个人，而是一个神。  "In many people's eyes, Wan Pengwang was not a man but a God."

 

So Lao Bo sends 律香川, his most faithful and cunning servant, to deal with a complicated situation. 万鹏王 has put an end to a love story between one of her servant and the son of a certain 武老刀, a childhood friend of Lao Bo. 万鹏王 has refrained from killing the boy. But now 武老刀's only son no longer dares to go out from his home and is slowly dying of consumption (or whatever strange illness hopeless love can induce).

 

To accomplish his difficult mission, 律香川 first sends one 南宫远 as an intermediary. The latter fails to convince 万鹏王 to set the girl free. 律香川 then decides to take the matter into his own hands by paying a visit to 万鹏王 at a place where he purchases antiques (I'm not sure I understood that part).  Again, 万鹏王 refuses to budge, though he accepts 老伯's gift and offers a present in return. Then he invites 万鹏王 to visit the stall where he keeps his most beloved treasure: a horse. And that gives 律香川 an idea… But that will be the subject of chapter 3.

 

Now I'm at page 83, chapter 3, and I do hope that Gu Long has now introduced all the important characters of the book, otherwise I'm bound to lose track - by the way, 孟星魂 also made an apparition under a false name during the garden party (remember? he was tasked to *kill* Lao Bo) , as did another character who could play an important role afterwards, namely 韩棠.

[Meng Lelan]

Going to follow this thread! I'm not going to be extremely active in here the next three or four months but I am indeed packing up my copy as leisure reading if I get any free time at all. 

[renzhe]

thumbs up!

I can't join you now, but I'll keep an eye on this thread. Maybe some time in the future.

[character]

SPCNET.tv has translations of some wuxia novels and a forum for discussing wuxia:

Translation of Meteor, Butterfly, Sword

Wuxia Fiction

There were a couple movies made of the story:

Killer Clans

Butterfly and Sword

[laurenth]

Whoa, thanks character. I can't believe someone actually translated that novel, up to chapter 11 or 12 apparently (but it seems the chapters do not start and end at the same place as in my edition).

 

Now this thread seems a bit redundant. Maybe I could try to pretend I don't know about that translation and only refer to it secretly when I have trouble understanding some parts

 

Have you seen these movies? Any good? Are they faithful to the book?

[imron]

Maybe I could try to pretend I don't know about that translation and only refer to it secretly

Try to do this.  Also, there's no guarantee of the accuracy of the translation.  For example, there's an English translation of 《书剑恩仇录》that misses out large chunks of the story wholesale and glosses over other parts of the novel - including one of my favourite bits.

[character]

Now this thread seems a bit redundant.

I don't think so at all. As you say, you can use it as a reference if you get stumped. People below your level could use it more heavily.

Have you seen these movies? Any good? Are they faithful to the book?

I've seen the movies but not read the book (still working toward your level of literacy). If Killer Clans is like other wuxia adaptations by that director, it will be selected scenes from the novel. The other film is said to be loosely-based on the novel. Both are entertaining films.

[renzhe]

When I first read the Condor Heroes, I would read 5-10 pages in Chinese, then go to the online translation and re-read them to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I found that to be very useful for not getting lost after a while, but at the same time, I was reading the book "properly".

Fan translations are not always ideal, and reading the original is obviously much better in every way.

[laurenth]

Before I move on to chapter 3, I'd like to discuss some more information about three important characters.

 

By the way, my translations and notes are there to be commented and corrected - just bear in mind that I'm translating from a language I'm learning to a language that I've been learning for longer, but that is not my mother tongue either.

 

 

--

 

 

That 老伯 is an interesting and rather complex man. He is depicted (by others, mainly) as a very powerful guy, with lots of self-confidence and a rather simple world view:

 

 

世上只有两种人，一种是仇敌，一种是朋友，做我的朋友，还是仇敌都由你选择，却绝没有第三种可选的。

 

 

"In this world, there are only two kinds of men: foes and friends. Becoming my foe or my friend is up to you, but there's no in between."

 

 

However, it soon turns out that he has his doubts, eg when he sends Lü Xiangchuan to deal with Wan Pengwang (p. 68):

 

 

这次却不同，这次老伯竟觉得有些不安，因为他很了解“十三飞鹏帮”的实力，也很了解万鹏王的手段。

 

   他生怕律香川去会遭到危险。

 

但立刻他又觉得自己的顾虑实在太多，律香川一向都能将自已照顾得很好，此去就算是不能完成任务，也必定能全身而退。

 

“顾虑得太多，只怕也是老年人才会有这种心情吧。”老伯叹息着，在夕阳下，缓缓走回自己的屋子，这时他忽然觉得自己实在己到了应该收手的时候了。但这种感觉却总是犹如昙花一现，等到明天早上太阳升起的时候，他立刻又会变得雄心万丈。

 

 

 

"This time, however, it was different. This time, Lao Bo felt somewhat uneasy because he knew perfectly well the power of the Thirteen Pengs gang. He also knew perfectly well Wan Pengwang's methods. He feared that Lü Xiangchuan could run into some danger.

 

However, he immediately thought that he was worrying too much: Lü Xiangchuan had always been able to fend for himself. Even if he was not able to carry out his mission this time, he would certainly come back safe and sound.

 

'I'm afraid only older people worry so much', he sighed. In the setting sun, he slowly walked back to his house. Suddenly, he thought that the moment had really come for him to throw in the towel. Yet, such a feeling was always but a flash in the pan. Come tomorrow morning, with the rising sun, he would embrace his vast aspirations again."

 

 

NB: Peng/鹏 in Wikipedia EN and ZH.

 

 

In addition, Lao Bo likes to consider 律香川 as his heir, on par with his own son 孙剑 (p.66-67):

 

    他发现律香川虽不是他亲生的儿，但对他的忠心与服从甚至连孙剑都比不上，他对这少年近来日益欣赏，己决心要将自己的事业传给他一半。

 

 

    因为只有他的冷静与机智，才可以弥补孙剑暴躁的脾气，越庞大的事业，越需要他这种人来维持的。

 

 

"He realized that, although Lü Xiangchuan was not his own son, his loyalty and obedience towards him was not inferior to Sun Jian's. Recently, Lao Bo had come to appreciate more and more this young man and he was now determined to hand down half of his business to him. Because only Lü Xiangchuan's calm and wit could compensate for Sun Jian's violent temper, the more his business grew, the more he needed such the help of such a person."

 

 

By the way, one can feel that those two do not get along very well and that their relation may soon deteriorate (p. 44):

 

 

他不喜欢律香川，他认为律香川有点像是女人。

 

[…]孙剑相貌堂堂，浓眉大眼，身上的皮肤已晒成了紫铜色，他眼睛瞪着你的时候，你绝不会去看别人，也没法子再去看别人。

 

   律香川却是个脸色苍白，文质彬彬的人，所以别人往往会低估了他的力量。认为他并没有什么了不起。

 

    这种错误不但可笑，而且可怕！

 

 

"[sun Jian] did not like Lü Xiangchuan, judging he looked a bit too effeminate.  […] Sun Jian was imposing, with thick eyebrows, big eyes and a tanned skin that had turned copper-coloured. When he was staring at you, you wouldn't look at anyone else. You couldn't have.

 

Lü Xiangchuan was a refined person with a pale face. So people often underestimated his power, believing there was nothing extraordinary about him. What a ridiculous and frightening mistake!"

 

 

Although  律香川 is first described as the cunning and urbane right hand of Lao Bo,  it emerges during the dialogue with 南宫远 that there must be some dark side of him (p. 73-74). As Nan Gongyuan just sang a song saying:

 

 

“光阴似箭，日月如梭，绿鬓少年，忽已白头，人生一梦，梦醒便休，终日碌碌，所为何由？”

 

"Time flies like an arrow / Days and month are like a shuttle / Young temples / Quickly turn white / Life is but a dream / From which we wake only to rest again / Days are so busy / But what for?"

 

 

Lü Xiangchuan reacts like this:

 

 

律香川静静地站着，他现在无论地位和成就都比南宫远高得多，但在南宫远面前，他总觉得仿佛缺少了什么。

 

    他缺少的是“过去’。

 

    他拥有“现在”和“将来”，南宫远却拥有“过去”，只有“过去”是任何人都买不到的。

 

    无论用多大的代价都买不到。

 

    律香川想到过去那一段艰苦奋斗岁月，心里忽然涌出一股愤怒之意。

 

    他走过去将信封放下，凝注着南宫远，一字字道:“我的梦永远不会醒，因为我从没有做过梦。”

 

    南宫远没有抬头，只是谈淡道:“但你也知道，每个人偶尔都该做做梦的，是不是？”

 

    律香川知道。

 

    他的毛病就是不做梦，所以他紧张，紧张得己感觉疲劳。

 

 

 

"Lü Xiangchuan stood silently. As for the status and the achievements, he now stood much higher than Nan Gongyuan, and yet, compared with Nan Gongyuan, it was as if he lacked something.

 

He lacked a past.

 

He possessed a present and a future, but Nan Gongyuan had a past. A past is the only thing no money can buy.

 

No matter how high the price you can pay, you just cannot buy a past.

 

Thinking about those days of hardships and struggle that were his past, Lü Xiangchuan suddenly felt a gush a anger.

 

He walked over and put down the envelope [full of money]. He gazed at Nan Gongyuan and slowly said: 'I'll never wake up from my dream, because I've never dreamt.'

 

Nan Gongyuan, without looking up, answered blankly: "But you do know that everybody must dream sometimes, don't you?"

 

Of course he knew.

 

His problem was that he did not dream, and that made him nervous,  so much so that he felt weary."

[laurenth]

I'm currently reading chapter 5, and the plot is becoming really intricate, so I think it's time for an update about...

 

第三章

 

万鹏王, the King of the Ten Thousand Pengs, is having breakfast. When he opens the pot, instead of his usual gargantuan fare, he finds...

 

… the head of his beloved horse. However, instead of falling into a fit of rage, he remains unexpectedly cool and orders the young girl because of whom the crisis started to be released to Wu Laodao.

 

The King is left wondering about the power of Lao Bo and his servants:

 

老伯的确是个可怕的对手，比想像还要可伯十倍，他手下像律香川那样的人还有多少？

万鹏王惶惶地盖好锅盖，走出去的时候脸上毫无表情只吩附了句话，“把黛黛立刻送到武老刀的镖局去”。

 

"Lao Bo was a truly scary rival, ten times scarier than what he had imagined. How many subordinates like Lü Xiangchuan did he have?

The King of the Ten Thousand Pengs took the lid and put it back in place. When he went out, his face was expressionless. He simply ordered that Daidai should be immediately sent to Wu Laodao's bodyguard office."

 

During that time, Meng Xinghun seems to be indulging in depression: he has retreated to an inn and doesn't do much. The 4-month deadline given by Gao Laoda to kill Lao Bo is slowly running out, but Meng Xinghun, just like the King, cannot help meditating about the power of Lao Bo and his two main aides, i.e. his son Sun Jian and Lü Xiangchuan, and about the strange events he has witnessed during the garden party.

 

One night, he receives the visit of 小何, Xiao He, another member of Gao Laoda's gang. Though he is the youngest member, Xiao He was the first to join the gang and he is extremely jealous of the place the other three took on Gao Laoda's side. We learn that he often resorted to vicious methods to try to drive out the other kids. 

 

Xiao He slyly insinuates that he's there because Gao Laoda no longer trusts that Meng Xinghun will be able to do his job properly and on time – or at all. For all we know, she might be right.  Meng Xinghun  feels betrayed, too, because he believes it's Gao Laoda  who told Xiao He  about the place where he's in hiding. Xiao He also plays on the fact that Meng Xinghun is obviously tired of his life as an assassin. Then, always eager to make himself look good in the eyes of Gao Laoda, he offers...

 

... to take up that mission from Meng Xinghun.

 

孟星魂沉默了很久，缓缓地坐下，道“你若一定要替我去，就去吧。”

Meng Xinghun kept silent for a long time. Then he slowly sat down and said "If you really want to go in my place, then go. "

 

Meng Xinghun, more and more listless, thinks about suicide, but then he meets a girl called 小蝶, Xiao Die, with whom he falls in love. A rather conventional scene ensues:

 

但也不知为了什么，在他心底深处，总觉得仿拂已认得她很久，仿佛在还没有生下来之前，就已经认得她了。而她也早就在等着他。

他活着，仿佛就是为了要等着看见她一面。

 

“But, he didn't know why, deep in his heart, it was as if he had known her for a long time, as if he'd known her even before he was born. As if she'd also been waiting for him all that time. As if he was living only to wait until he could see her face.”

 

Uh oh. Could there be a “Luke Skywalker/Princess Leia” twist there? We'll see.

 

Anyway, Meng Xinghun goes back to see Gao Laoda, who is appalled when she learns that Xiao He foolishly decided to kill Lao Bo in solo.  But then they learn that Lao Bo sent his two closest assistants, ie his own son Sun Jian and Lü Xiangchuan on a mission. There must be something fishy going on. But what? That will be the subject of chapter 4.

 

What's in a name?

 

- 万鹏王: at first, I thought it was a name, and so I wrote Wan Pengwang, but on second thought, it's not a name but a nickname, hence it should be translated, though it's a bit of a mouthful, as the King of Ten Thousand Pengs. Many other characters are called names that look suspiciously like nicknames, and not family names, but it's sometimes hard to tell for me.

 

- 老伯：  instead of Lao Bo, which looks like a name, I should call him “(the) Uncle”. His real name would be 孙玉伯.

 

- There's a guy I called Nan Gongyuan in the post about chap. 2. In fact, he is first introduced like this: “南宫世家“的最后一代 (quotes are the author's, not mine). So, probably, it must be one of those rare cases where the family name has two characters and the given name just one, and it's Nangong Yuan.

 

- There are at least two other names that contain a 老 so I'm not 100% sure if they should be considered as names or nicknames: 高老大 and 武老刀。

 

Any comments?

[skylee]

#9 makes me want to read the book. I might do it during this weekend.

BTW, for 南宮遠, the surname is 南宮 (Nangong). So in Pinyin the name should be Nangong Yuan, instead of Nan Gongyuan.

[laurenth]

Thanks Skylee, as mentioned in #10, I noticed too late the sentence that says that Nangong Yuan is  南宫世家的最后一代.

 

BTW, the part of your post that says "during this weekend" is truly breathtaking. I feel like Voyager 1 overtaken by starship Enterprise.

[Meng Lelan]

BTW, the part of your post that says "during this weekend" is truly breathtaking. I feel like Voyager 1 taken up by starship Enterprise.

 

 

 

She likes a good read and so do we! I truly enjoyed post #10 even more so. 

[roddy]

These are fun! Did you mean to skip 惶惶 in the translation? 

[laurenth]

 

Did you mean to skip 惶惶 in the translation?

 

No, my oversight.  So I should have written something like: "The King of the Ten Thousand Pengs was in a panic when he put the lid back in place. However, when he went out, his face was expressionless."

 

In post #12, I meant "overtaken" of course.

[skylee]

I have known about the Taiwan 好讀 website for a long time but had not used it. There are a lot of free ebooks in traditional Chinese (typed by volunteers) there. I had not used it because I knew the books are in vertical format and reading them requires special softwares/ apps. But I was wrong (or perhaps the website has progressed/ evolved). I have found an epub version of this book on 好讀 and it works fine with my usual reader app. And I have also installed a "cBook 直讀中文" app so that I can also read the vertical version from 好讀. The app looks like this -

In case anyone is interested -

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.readbk.android

http://www.haodoo.net/

I have read the opening of 流星蝴蝶劍, and it doesn't feel very good. I am not sure if it is the vertical reader app or the book itself. I hope I will like it better.

[laurenth]

My write-ups are becoming much too verbose. I'll split the summary of chapter 4 in several parts. Here are the first two.

 

第四章 (1), where it will get nasty but not just yet

 

Meng Xinghun pays another visit to Ye Xiang, with whom he has yet another existential discussion about killing and being killed (it's not the last one either). A certain mysterious character in grey clothes is mentioned again:

 

叶翔叹了口气，苦笑道：“大多数杀人的，常常也就是被杀的。”

    孟星魂道：“有没有例外？”

    叶翔道：“你是不是问，有没有人能永远杀人，而不被杀？”

    孟星魂道：“是。”

    叶翔道：“这种人很少，简直太少了。”

    孟星魂道：“你知道有几个？”

    叶翔笑得更苦涩，道：“我就是其一个，因为现在别人已不屠杀我。”

    孟星魂道：“除了你还有谁？”

    叶翔目光闪动，道：“你是不是看到了一个很可怕的杀人者？”

    孟星魂慢慢地点了点头。

    叶翔忽然坐起来，盯着他，道：“他是个怎么样的人？”

    孟星魂思索着，道：“他是个很普通的人，不高也不矮，不胖也不瘦。”

 

Ye Xiang sighed and said with a bitter smile: “Most killers also end up being killed.”

“Aren't there any exceptions?”, Meng Xinghun asked.

“Are you asking whether one can always kill and never be killed?”

“Precisely.”

“There are few men like that, very few.”

“Do you know how many there are?”

Ye Xiang smiled even more bitterly. “Well, I'm one of them. Because other people no longer want to kill me.”

“And besides you, who else?”, Meng Xinghun asked.

Ye Xiang's eyes flashed: “Didn't you see a truly scary killer once?”, he asked.

Meng Xinghun nodded slowly.

Ye Xiang suddenly sat down. He stared at him and asked: “What kind of guy was he?”

Meng Xinghun pondered and said: "He was a very ordinary person, neither tall  nor short, neither fat nor thin."

 

That description should ring a bell...

 

BTW, I forgot to mention that the said mysterious character has a strange habit. Says Ye Xiang (p.104 & 107):

 

“他杀人后，是不是立刻将死者的血，擦在自己脸上？ [...]   他杀人，因为他不喜欢人，但是他喜欢血。”

“After he has killed someone, doesn't he immediately wipe his face with the blood of his victim? (...) He kills because he dislikes people. But he likes blood.”

 

We are left with the impression that Ye Xiang, in fact, knows who the guy in grey really is. He won't tell, though:

 

    孟星魂还想再问，但叶翔又开始喝酒，用酒饭塞住了自己的嘴。

Meng Xinghun wanted to ask more questions, but Ye Xiang started drinking,  using alcohol to shut his own mouth.

 

第四章 (2), I'll kill you, one hanzi at a time

 

Wu Laodao is celebrating the wedding between his beloved son Xiao Wu and his bride Daidai, the girl who was set free by the King of Ten Thousand Pengs. The newly weds have retired to their nuptial room (110):

 

现在，客人都已散尽，下人们都还在后面厨房喝酒，他的佳儿佳媳当然早已入了洞房。

    现在，大厅里只剩下他一个人。

Now, all guests had scattered and the servants were all drinking alcohol in the back of the kitchen. Of course, his son and his bride had long retired to the bridal room. Now, he was alone in the hall.

 

Suddenly, a man appears. He's so drunk he's staggering and cannot speak clearly (110):

 

这人不停地点头。

    武老刀只好走过去，俯下半个身子，道：“你说吧。”

    这人喘息着，道：“我要”……”    他声音嘶哑，又在喘息，武老刀根本听不清他在说什么，只有俯身更低，将耳朵凑过去，道：“你要干什么？”

    这人喘息得更厉害，道：“我要杀了你！”

    说列“要”字，武老刀已经发觉了不对，“要”是开口音，这醉人嘴里却没有一点酒气。

    但他发觉得已太迟了。

这人手里忽然多了根绞索，说到“杀”宇，绞索已套上武老刀的咽喉，他双手一紧，尖刃般的绞索已进了武老刀的皮肉和喉头。

    武老刀呼吸立刻停顿，整个人都就象是条跃出水面的鱼，弓着身弹起半空。·

    然后身子漫慢挺直，“啪”的一生，死鱼般落了下来。

    这人站起来，望着他的尸体，满脸傻笑，道：“我说要杀你就杀你，我从来不骗人的。”

 

The man was nodding all the time.

Wu Laodao had to walk over and bend over him: "Talk!", he said.

The man gasped: "I want..." His voice was hoarse. He gasped again. Wu Laodao could not understand what he was saying. He leaned even more so his ears were closer.

- What do you want to do? he asked.

The man, breathing even stronger, said: "I want to kill you!"

When he said the world "want", Wu Laodao had already realised that something was wrong. That word is pronounced with an expiration, and that drunken man's breath did not smell of alcohol.

But when he  realised it, it was already too late.

Suddenly, there was a noose in the man's hands. By the time he said the word "kill", the noose  was already around Wu Laodao's throat. The man was tightening the rope with both hands and the noose was like a knife penetrating the flesh of Wu Laodao's throat.

His breath immediately stopped. His whole body was arched in mid-air, like that of a fish that has jumped out of the water.

Then, it  became gradually  rigid. Then there was a popping sound and he fell like a dead fish.

The man stood up, looking at Wu Laodao's body. He giggled and said: "I told you I wanted to kill you and I meant it.  I never cheat."

 

Then it's Xiao Wu and Daidai's turn to suffer. At the precise moment when everything should be bliss, Xiao Wu falls into a coma – he was poisoned - but sees a stranger coming. He's the guy who has just killed his father and he says:

 

“你的新娘子现在是我的了!” (112)

“Now your bride is mine!”

 

Yuck!

[Meng Lelan]

第四章 (2), I'll kill you, one hanzi at a time

 

 

 

Heh, this is such a great thread. Keep it up, this is good!

[laurenth]

As I'm currently reading chapter 7, it's high time I finished the write-up about chapter 4. I really should be more concise otherwise these write-ups will start feeling like an SRS backlog - you know, when you wake up in the morning and Anki|Pleco|Skritter|Whatever tells you that a zillion reviews are waiting for you before you can go on reading.

 

第四章 (3) , from bad to worse for Uncle Bo

 

At Uncle Bo's, the atmosphere is gloomy. Lü Xiangchuan has just told him how he dealt with the Ten Thousand Peng King. Uncle Bo immediately understands that that means all-out war. Lü Xiangchuan, realizing he's blundered, offers to go and help Wu Laodao (p. 114):

 

“我应该再去看武老刀，现在他说不定已有危险。”

    老伯道：“不必去。”

    律香川忍不问道：“为什么？”

    老伯目中露出一丝哀痛之意缓缓道：“他现在必定已经死了！”

 

"I should go back and see Wu Laodao. Maybe he's in danger now."

"No need to go", Uncle Bo said.

Lü Xiangchuan could not help asking: "Why?"

A hint of sorrow appeared in Uncle Bo's eyes. He replied slowly: "He's certainly dead by now."

 

 

Yet there are some good news for Uncle Bo: Xiao He, the guy who volunteered to replace Meng Xinghun to kill Uncle Bo, was captured! Uncle Bo suspects that Xiao He is a puppet and he wants to know who the puppeteer is, so he orders Xiao He to be set free - making him believe he escaped on his own- and followed closely.

 

Meng Xinghun, who is now spying outside Uncle Bo's house is surprised to see the foolish Xiao He come out of the devil's lair alive, and he immediately understand (p. 117):

 

“老伯一定是故意放他逃出来的，看他逃到哪里去，看看究竟谁是在幕后主使他的人。”

 

"For sure, Uncle Bo let him escape on purpose. He wants to see where he will flee and who's manipulating him behind the curtain."

 

And he concludes :

 

现在，要阻止他泄露高老大的秘密，看来已只有一个办法。

    杀了他！

 

Now, to prevent him from revealing Gao Laoda's secrets, it seemed there was only one way left.

Kill him.

 

 

He was just toying with the idea:

 

    孟星魂既不愿这样做，也不忍。

    幸好他还有第二个法子——杀了在暗中跟踪小何的人！

 

Yet, Men Xinghun did not want and could not have done that.

Fortunately, there was another way, and that was to kill those who were tailing Xiao He.

 

He will fail to kill them all, though.

 

 

 

In the meantime Sun Jian has been called back from the harm of a whore: he has to go back immediately to his father's. On the road, he meets his father's men shadowing Xiao He. When he's told that Xiao He tried to murder uncle Bo, he kills Xiao He immediately by crushing him alive (literally). It transpires that the encounter was in fact organised by Gao Laoda, who feels little regret at the gruesome death of Xiao He (p. 124):

 

想到小何的遭通，她虽也未免觉得有点遗憾。

    但这种男人既不值得同情，更不值得爱。

    她决定尽快点将他忘记，越快越好。

她本来心肠并没有这么硬的，但现在却已发现，一个人要做事，要活得比别人强，就不能不将心肠硬下来，越硬越好。

欲望和财富对一个人的作用，就好像醋对水一样，加了醋的水一定会变酸，有了欲望和财富，一个人也就很快就会变了。

 

Thinking about Xiao He's fate, she couldn't help but feel a little sorry. And yet this kind of man was not worth her sympathy and even less her love. She decided to forget him as quickly as possible, the sooner the better. Her heart had not always been so hard but now she had realized that those who want to accomplish something have to grow more powerful than the others. They could not but harden their heart. The harder, the better. Cupidity and wealth have the same effect in a person as vinegar in water. Pour vinegar in water and the water is certain to become acid.  With cupidity and wealth a person will also change very quickly indeed.

 

When Uncle Bo learns that his own son as blundered *too*, defeating his plans by crushing alive  the only guy who could have led him to those who want to kill him, he's not pleased.

 

 

第四章  (4), where it's getting really ugly. No, really.

 

But it's not over. It will be a *bad* day for Uncle Bo. Because the Ten Thousand Peng King sent a gift. And the Ten Thousand Peng King has some truly deranged gift ideas (p. 126):

 

    早上万鹏王送来四口箱子。

    四口箱子里装着一个活人，四个死人。

每一具尸体都已被毁得面目全非，但律香川还可认出他们是文虎、文豹、武老刀和完全赤裸、满身乌青的黛黛。

    小武被装在黛黛的同一口箱里，他虽然还活着，他身上每一处关节都已被捏碎。

    他只恨自己为什么没有早点死，要眼睁睁瞧着他的妻子被摧残侮辱。

    打开箱子的时候，老伯就看到他一双眼睛。

    他眼珠子几乎都已完全凸出来，死鱼般瞪着老伯。

    没有人能形容达双眼里所包含的悲痛与愤怒。

老伯一生中虽见过无数死人，但此刻还是觉得有一般寒意自足下升起，掌心也泌出了冷汗。

    律香川更几乎忍不住要呕吐。

    他不能不佩服老伯，因为老伯居然还能直视小武的眼睛，一字字道：“我一定替你报仇！”

听到这七个字，小武的眼睛突然阖起。

 

In the morning, the Ten Thousand Peng King sent four boxes. Inside the boxes were five persons, one living and four dead. Though each corpse was destroyed beyond recognition, Lü Xiangchuan was able to identify Wen Hu, Wen Bao, Wu Laoda and, entirely naked, her body entirely black and blue, Daidai.

 

Xiao Wu was locked up  in the same box as Daidai. He was still alive but every joint of his body was broken to pieces. He was reduced to hating himself for not having died sooner and seeing his wife raped and wrecked.

 

When he opened the box, Uncle Bo just saw Xiao Wu's eyes. With his eyeballs almost out of the sockets, he was like a dying fish staring at Uncle Bo. No one could describe the suffering and the anger that were in those eyes.  In his life, Uncle Bo had seen countless dead people but, this time, he felt a shiver going up from his feet, and his palms were wet with cold sweat.  Lü Xiangchuan barely resisted an urge to vomit.

 

He could not help admiring Uncle Bo as he was able to stare into Xiao Wu's eyes and slowly say: "I promise to avenge you!"

 

Once Xiao Wu heard these few words, his eyes suddenly closed.

 

第四章  (5) , and now the nail in the coffin - quite literally

 

(p. 127) Tomorrow is the burial of Tie Chenggang's brothers (remember? They were slaughtered by the three Yellow Mountain friends who, in turn, were dispatched by the Man in Grey). As his clan will attend the ceremony,  Uncle Bo suspects that the King will take that opportunity to attack. So the grave diggers, mourners and pallbearers are all replaced by Uncle Bo's men.

 

It does not start all that well, with Tie Chenggang…

 

… committing suicide over his brothers' coffins.

 

And then the battle starts. The Ten Thousand Peng King's men are defeated. However, as Uncle Bo's son, Sun Jian, is crying over the body of his friend Tie Chenggang, he suddenly smells something... fishy (p. 132):

 

 

 

    孙剑闭上眼睛静，默哀思。

    他刚刚闭上眼睛，鼻端突然闻到一股奇特的香气。

    香气赫然竟是从铁成钢伏着的那口棺材里发出来的。

    孙剑额上青筋忽又暴起，挥拳痛击，棺木粉碎，棺木发出一声惊呼。

    一柄剑随着惊呼，从破碎的棺木刺出来。

    孙剑想闪避，但全身顿然无力，身体四肢都已不听他指挥。

    剑光一闪，从他胸膛前刺入，背后穿出。

    鲜血随着剑尖溅出。

    他的血也和别人一样，是鲜红的。

他眼睛愤怒凸出，还在瞪着这握剑的人，鲜血又随着他崩裂的眼角流下，沿着他扭曲的面颊流下。

 

Sun Jian closed his eyes to mourn for his friend in silence.

 

He had just closed his eyes when he suddenly smelt an odd incense odour. He was stunned when he realized that the odour was coming from the coffin where  Tie Chenggang was lying. At once, the veins on Sun Jian's forehead protruded. He clenched his fist and smashed the coffin to pieces. A yell came from inside. Then a sword followed, shooting  out from the broken coffin.

 

Sun Jian wanted to dodge, but his whole body suddenly felt weak and his limbs would not obey his commands.

 

The sword, at lightning speed, had penetrated into his chest and pierced through his back. Blood splashed out at the tip of the sword. And Sun Jian's blood was bright red, just like that of other people. His eyes were bulging with anger. He was still staring at the man holding  the sword and blood was flowing from the splintered (???) corner of his eyes and on his twisted cheeks.

 

 

It turns out two of the pallbearers were double agents. They are immediately disposed of.

 

 

 

Sun Jian is of course shaken and inconsolable. Maybe that's why he starts coming up with outlandish metaphors?

 

   他的组织本来极完密，完密得就象是一只蛋，但现在这组织却已有了个缺口，就算是针孔般大的缺口，也能令蛋白蛋黄流尽，等到那时，这只蛋就是空的，就算不碎，也变得全无价值。

 

At the start, his organisation was perfectly tight. As tight as an egg. But now there was a nick  in the organisation. And even if a nick is as small as a pinhole, it can cause the white and the yolk to flow out entirely. When that happens, the egg is empty and, even if it's not broken, it is completely worthless.

[dwq]

I'm pretty sure 休 in 梦醒便休 means "end", not "rest". Life is a big dream. Life ends when you wake up from the dream.