半生缘

[Fred0]

Gu taitai has strained her back doing laundry, but she goes anyway to visit her sick daughter, Manlu. Manlu learns that she has hurt her back and tells her that she should not have come.  "顾太太道：“我这有什么要紧，一下子使岔了劲了，歇歇就好了。”

 

I can''t make any sense of  一下子使岔了劲了.  All of a sudden my strength was turned off?

[Publius]

The original meaning of 岔 is a fork in the road like a "Y", hence "to turn off the main road, to stray"

A common term is 岔气. In traditional Chinese medicine, the life energy 气血 is constantly flowing through a network of channels in the body called 经络.

使劲使岔了 is based on the same concept. Basically you feel a temporary pain because you have misdirected your energy and disrupted its flow.

[Fred0]

This is so interesting! Thanks very much. It's another example of how you learn about a culture through studying it's language.

[Fred0]

Mrs. Gu is eating dinner with Manlu's step-daughter, who is being fearful, suspicious, and rude. 

 

她 【顾太太】存着要替女儿造福的念头，极力应酬那孩子，只管忙着替她搛菜，...

 

What is the function and meaning of 存着 here?  Is it an "existential verb,"  meaning "being that she has the intention to benefit her daughter?"

[陳德聰]

It means she is harbouring/holding that 念頭 within her. 存 can mean to store/keep something, as in depositing money in a bank, or to hold thoughts and feelings in your heart/mind.

[Fred0]

Manzhen and her mother went to visit Manlu, the gravely ill sister. A Bao, the maid in Manlu's home and Manzhen have persuaded the mother to go home to sleep and not to worry, because Manzhen will stay the night and call her if there is any change in Manlu's condition. When they see that Manlu is sleeping comfortably, Manzhen proposes to call the mother to reassure her that Manlu is looking better. A Bao objects:

 

阿宝轻声笑道：“嗳哟，您这时候打电话回去，太太不要吓一跳吗？”曼桢一想，倒也是的，母亲一定以为姊姊的病势突然恶化了，好容易缠清楚了，也已经受惊不小。

 

A Bao quietly replied, "Oh! Wouldn't calling home this time of night frighten your mother?" Manzhen thinks actually that's right, her mother would certainly think that her sister's condition had worsened. (and here is where I have difficulty) Very easily twisted understanding, also already not just a little  bit startled.

 

Then the text coninues: 她本来是这样想，打一个电话回家去，万一世钧倒来过了，母亲一定会告诉她的。

 

She actually was thinking that if she called home, if by chance Shijun had come by, her mother would certainly tell her.

 

My difficulty is primarily with the phrase: 好容易缠清楚了。

[Publius]

Strange as it might seem, 好容易 actually means 好不容易  'with great difficulty'.

I take 缠清楚 to mean 'to untangle the mess' (of an imagined conversation).

In this sentence, an 'even if' is omitted: Even if with great difficulty I was able to explain to her, who must be in a flustered state, why I called...

 

[陳德聰]

1 hour ago, Fred0 said:

好容易缠清楚了，也已经受惊不小。

You can find the “even if” by inferring from the 也, so mom would think it got worse, and then even after going through the effort to clear up that misunderstanding, she’d still have already been given quite the fright.

 

Edit: I think the 了 also plays a role too but I can’t tease out the exact way it interacts with the 也 here hah sorry!

 

[Fred0]

Yes, I can see the 了 by suggesting completed action implies "by the time it's cleared up, she will also have had not a small scare." Something like that?

[陳德聰]

On the nose. Well not really completed action but more like a shift in state of affairs.

[Fred0]

Manzhen, sleeping for the first time alone in a bedroom, in a quiet neighborhood with no external noise, feels uneasy and can't sleep. She reflects that when Mujin came to Shanghai he also couldn't sleep but it was because he was used to quiet country life and couldn't stand the noise of Shanghai nights.

 

曼桢忽然想到慕瑾初到上海来的时候，每夜被嘈杂的市声吵得不能安眠，她恰巧和他掉了个过。

 

I have never encountered an expression like 掉了个过. I see that 掉 can mean "to exchange,"  so she is by coincidence exchanging places with him, but 个过 （？）to pass the individual?

[陳德聰]

掉過 means to flip around/trade places here.

 

了個 is a very strong signal that the verb and object have been split up.

[Fred0]

That's a good tip. Thank you.

[Fred0]

The day has been full of tumultous events for Manzhen. Having thought of Mujin, they all come flooding back to her.

 

一想到慕瑾，今天一天里面发生的无数事情立刻就又一哄而上，全到眼前来了，颠来倒去一样一样要在脑子里过一过。

 

In the last phrase, is it 颠倒, meaning “in a deranged way?" What does 一样一样 mean? Perhaps "one the same as the other?"  What does 要 express? To want? And finally, does 过一过 simply mean to pass or to pass again and again?

 

...in a deranged manner, one like the other, (all of these issues) want (compete), within her mind, to pass through, over and over.

[Jim]

The 一样 is a measure word phrase for each incident as her day is passing before her eyes, i.e. 样 here is a classifier/measure word for the 事情 that have 一哄而上; it's repeated because it's 'one after another'/'one then another one'. The 颠来倒去 is 'round and round' or 'back and forth' in this context I'd say; the 过一过 is a standard reduplication pattern using 一 that makes the verb not so strong, suggesting the memories flitting through her mind in this jumbled procession. The 要 seems to me to be expressing the involuntary nature of Manzhen's reverie

[Fred0]

Manlu's husband Hongcai has raped Manzhen the previous evening. The couple have  plotted this together to force Manzhen to become Hongcai's concubine. Now the next morning, with Manzhen locked up in a room of their home, they are talking. Hongcai is complaining that Manzhen fiercely resisted, biting him in the process, and he is fearful about what Manzhen may do now? He says they can't keep her locked up forever. Manlu responds:

 

"她反正已经跟你发生关系了，她再狠也狠不过这个去，给她两天工夫仔细想想，我再去劝劝她，那时候她要是个明白人，也只好‘见台阶就下’。”

 

 In the first phrase I take 关系 to mean "to have had sexual relations." In the second phrase I am taking 再 in the sense of "no matter how," and 不过 in the sense of "cannot be more, " so I take the sentence to mean not matter how fierce (Manzhen was last night in resisting you) she cannot be any more fierce going forward. Alternatively, perhaps 这个去 means "this fact," and the sentence, refering back to the previous "you have now had sex with her," is saying no matter how fierce she is her fierceness can't get around that fact. Please advise.

[陳德聰]

再...，也不 is a pattern and you’ve basically understood it correctly, no matter how blah, she still won’t/can’t blah.

 

To understand the following part compositionally:

 

狠

+過去 = 狠過去

+不 = 狠不過去

+這個 = 狠不過這個去 or 狠不過去這個

 

and it means to not be able to get through/past this by 狠-ing, can’t 狠 her way through this/out of this

 

Her 狠-ing won’t change the fact that it happened, basically.

[Fred0]

So, leaving out the second 狠 and putting 这个 where a direct object would normally be，we have 她再狠也不过去这个,  (No matter how fierce she is, she cannot get past this.)  Is this a correctly constructed Chinese clause. If not, is it because you have to repeat the adjective, 狠, in this construction? If yes, would it be correct to say that the second 狠 emphasizes the idea of "by using her ferocity? (No matter how fierce she is, she cannot, with ferocity, get past this.)

 

Your explanation was great. Thank you.

[陳德聰]

You cannot omit the second 狠 otherwise it becomes gibberish. 她再狠 means “even if she were more fierce,” and 她狠不過這個去 is the consequent, but since the subject of both clauses is the same, the second one can omit the 她. So yes, your understand makes sense.

[Fred0]

Hongcai is asking Manlu if Manzhen would actually agree to become his concubine (做小). Manlu replies sacastically that if Manzhen doesn't agree to accept the position of "second wife," she will relinquish her position as first wife to her, or at least this is the way the translator understands “她不肯我让她."

曼璐冷冷地道：“她不肯我让她，总行了？”鸿才知道她这是气话，忙笑道：“你这是什么话？由我这儿起就不答应！我以后正要慢慢地补报你呢，像你这样贤惠的太太往哪儿找去，我还不好好地孝顺孝顺你。曼璐笑道：“好了好了，别哄我了，少给我点气受就得。” 鸿才笑道：“你还跟我生气呢！”他涎着脸拉着她的手，又道：“你看我给人家打得这样，你倒不心疼么？” 曼璐用力把他一推道：“你也只配人家这样对你。谁要是一片心都扑在你身上，准得给你气伤心了！你说是不是，你自己摸摸良心看！”鸿才笑道：“得，得，可别又跟我打一架！

 

1. 由我这儿起就不答应！Isn't it for me, here, to answer, to promise, to make a positive declaration?  

2. 我以后正要慢慢地补报你呢,  I, from now on, want to scrupulously（慢慢) to repay your kindness?

3. 我还不好好地孝顺孝顺你。Shouldn't I still very much 孝顺 you, i.e. treat you with filial piety (respect)?

4. 他涎着脸拉着她的手，Is 涎  a typo? What should it be?

5. 你看我给人家打得这样, Should this be read: Look at me, (she) gave me such a beating?

6. 谁要是一片心都扑在你身上,  Who, if she were to throw herself whole heartedly at you, or who would throw herself at you? What does 一片 do/say here? 

7. 准得给你气伤心了！Certainly, to you be angry,  broken-hearted?  How to read 气伤心？

8. 你自己摸摸良心看！What does 摸摸 mean here?  Do you (looking at?) yourself see a conscience?

9. 可别又跟我打一架！What does 打一架 mean? Same as 打架 （to fight) ?

 

I'm sorry for the long post, but there is a lot I need to learn from this passage. Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond to all of this.