[1] In the novel, there are (…) and (。) When I usually do (…) it is supposed to mimic the (…) as the middle dots have to be inserted in to create the same effect. Using a font for English, I have to insert three middle dots but in the Chinese font, the three actually are part of the came character. Here, Mo Zha Ta is sending across middle dots in triplets (which really count as one per triplet) while Wei Wei is sending back periods which look like this (。) instead. But in English font, a period is a small lower dot (.) which is creating the confusion.
[2] 美人(meiren): beauty, used when describing a female.
[3]郝 is the same sound as 好 which means good, very etc.
[4]郝眉(Hao Mei) is a female name because the 眉(mei) describes the eyebrows and sounds the same as 美(mei) for beautiful. It would have been a great name for a girl as it meant “very beautiful”.
[5] 近墨者黑 as mentioned before mean becoming more black(inky) as you get closer to each other. In the original text, it was Wei Wei’s pure clear “spring” that became the 黑龙江 (Black River in Mongolian, Black Dragon River in Chinese). The pun is two-fold. First, Xiao Nai was able to contaminate a spring (Wei Wei) using ink and the “spring” became very large. 黑龙江 is the tenth longest river in the world.
[6] 郝峨: Hao E, taking the first part of Mount Emei. It is a h.o.m.onym for 好饿 which is very hungry.
[7] 郝山 (Hao Shan) takes the 山 from 峨嵋山. So the name means “good mountain”.
[8] This “married” is still the 嫁 (marriage when applied to females marrying over)
[9] 一人得道鸡犬升天: This idiom was popular enough to have been already translated into English by others. In the literal sense, the man actually achieves the Dao, not “gets to the top”. The dao was what people though they had to learn or find in order to become immortal. The origin of the phrase is the story of a man who made danyao (magical medicine) that allowed him to become immortal. His pets (dogs and chickens) ate the trash and the remainder and also became immortal. When Mo Zha Ta is using this, Wei Wei becomes the dao (sort of a compliment, but makes Xiao Nai the girl and a leech. Also, it makes Wei Wei the male partner [remember they had thought she was actually a boy before?]) and then implies that he and his friends are animals.
[10] 有虎还偏向虎山 is another cla.s.sical idiom that has been translated into English by others. It means taking a risk despite knowing the dangers involved (knowing that there are tigers in the mountain but still going into the mountain). Wei Wei is the tiger in this case. Mo Zha Ta’s use of idioms is better than Yu Gong’s but not by much. He keeps on implying bad things about her on accident.
[11] 红杏出墙: red apricots hanging over the wall means to cheat. But this was traditionally applied to females as males have other women in historical China. The females stayed inside the compound usually so “over the wall” mean that they were secretively leaving the compound to have an affair.
[12]Mo Zha Ta is talking about himself as the “fallow ground”
[13]Wei Wei used 蛋腚 which has been explained before. The appropriate word for this context should be “easy” or “ease off”.
[14] The idiom used was点睛之笔, which is to draw the eyes. It refers to drawing the eyes of any animal last, in order to finish it and bring the “animal” to life. The general meaning is to grasp the crucial point and emphasize it.
Chapter Twenty Eight Pa.s.sed By
When Wei Wei logged on to 《Dreams of Jianghu》again, it was already four days later on Friday.
Usually during the exam time, Wei Wei would not touch the game to prevent herself from getting distracted … … now there was a certain somebody who was already very distracting to her>o
This time, logging on was about the contract for the video.
In the last few days, Wei Wei and Feng Teng Technologies had, with amazing efficiency, signed a contract. On Wednesday, Wei Wei had sent the contract to Feng Teng Headquarters in Shanghai. They said they received it the next day and so on Friday at eight o’clock, they were giving the agreed-upon payment to Wei Wei.
The payment from the contract was four pets in the game.
At the start, Feng Teng had suggested a payment of six thousand in cash. But Wei Wei thought it over and pointed out using shenshou in the game to subst.i.tute for the money. On their side, Feng Teng was very happy at the suggestion since the six thousand was cold hard cash but shenshou were just a few lines of code to them. The two sides then sank into a multi-hour long bargaining session over the number of pets and the level. At last, Wei Wei had persevered. Feng Teng agreed to give Wei Wei four shenshou worth two thousand each on the market and two types of material that had very low drop rates.
This much good stuff wasn’t just Wei Wei’s alone. Yu Gong and the others also had a share. Even though Da Shen’s suggestion was to let her have it all, Wei Wei didn’t do it his way. Wei Wei felt that good things should be shared by everybody which makes her happier.
The agreed upon time was eight at night. Wei Wei logged on at seven thirty. So many days without playing, she missed it.
At dinner, Da Shen said he had stuff at night, so he probably wasn’t on. But when she got online, Wei Wei still took a look at his icon first –– it was dark.
Yu Gong and Hou Zi Jiu were also offline but Mo Zha Ta’s icon was shining. Wei Wei was going to send a message to greet him, but he first sent a dot-dot-dot over.
Wei Wei didn’t understand and replied with period-period-period [1]
Mo Zha Ta sent back countless dots back.
Wei Wei refused to lose and typed out a string of periods longer than him back.
So a mysterious chat developed.
“… …”
“. . . . . .”
“… … … … … …”
“. . . . . . . .”
Just when Wei Wei wanted to know why she was doing such a pointless exercise, Mo Zha Ta finally opened bitterly: “Wei Wei shimei… …”
This appellation allowed Wei Wei to experience the legendary “whole body shudder.” In her shock, she unthinkingly replied: “Meiren shixiong.” [2]
“Kao!” On the other side, Mo Zha Ta instantly exploded, “Who told you that? I’m a hundred and eighty centimeters tall, stronger than a bull, blacker than coal, what meiren, meiren $*&$$%… …%&^*……”
But who was it that made your surname Hao [3], and then was conceived on Mount. Emei, and let your mom think that you would be a girl and had your name all thought out before birth to be Hao Mei [4]? Wei Wei thought sympathetically in front of the computer. Getting saddled with this name was enough to break any man.
Mo Zha Ta expelled his anger, and asked fiercely: “Who told you that?”
Of course it had been Da Shen. Really, Xiao Nai had just mentioned Mo Zha Ta’s name only. But Wei Wei had been amazed by the “beauty” of the name and asked deeper. So Xiao Da Shen explained further, cough … …
Wei Wei wouldn’t sell-out her Da Shen! But telling lies was not good, so Wei Wei replied in this way: “That day at the basketball court, I saw Yu Gong and Hou Zi Jiu.”
Do you know what is called the art of speaking?
Bei Wei Wei did not say anything, just narrated an event that had happened, and was able to shift the blame to somebody else.
Do you know what it’s called to be influenced and tarred with the same brush? Our Wei Wei has only been in close contact with the real Xiao Nai for a few days, but her pure innocent spring has become the Black River [5]
Mo Zha Ta didn’t reply for a while. When he came back he said: “Went to find the real person to PK.”
Wei Wei: “Yu Gong and Hou Zi Jiu?”
Mo Zha Ta: “Yup, don’t worry, I didn’t tell them you betrayed them.”
Wei Wei wasn’t as skilled as some others. Seeing that Mo Zha Ta was so honourable, she was a bit embarra.s.sed, and very sincerely comforted him: “Shixiong, really I feel you are pretty lucky.”
Mo Zha Ta sent over a flaming emoticon.
Wei Wei: “You name came from Mount. Emei. If you think that you weren’t called Hao Mei, then it would have been Hao E [6]. Hao E, Hao E. .. … It sound even more, you know.”
Mo Zha Ta serenely said: “Would you rather be called on the street by a man ‘Hao E’ or ‘Hao Mei’?”
Wei Wei burst out in laughter.
Mo Zha Ta even more serenely said: “This question I had thought about for a long time. Technically, I could have been called Hao Shan [7]
Wei Wei broke down completely.
In the middle of chatting with Mo Zha Ta, Lei Shen Ni Ni went online. Wei Wei sent a smiley face over. A while later, Lei Shen Ni Ni sent a message back, her tone excited: “55555, Wei Wei you came back! I thought you were going to be like Sect leader Die Meng and not play anymore!”
“No ^_^, just busy with exams.”
“You haven’t come for a long time.”
“I came two times, you just weren’t here.”
“Oh it was like that. Too unlucky.”
Talking about the recent situation, Lei Shen Ni Ni asked again about Yi Xiao Nai He missing the finals of the Couples Tournament. Wei Wei wanted to say thatDa Shen hit a tree but that didn’t sound like Da Shen, so she just skimmed over that part. But the news that Yi Xiao Nai He hadn’t left Dreams was enough to satisfy the hunger for gossip of this Ni Ni.
Fulfilled for now, Ni Ni thought about other things: “Wei Wei, do you have free time right now?”
“What?”
“Come help me kill the Ancient Crone of the Netherworld. It’s a new boss. I tried two times but couldn’t do it. You probably haven’t done it either.”
Wei Wei looked at the time. It was almost eight. She still didn’t know how the GM would give the pets to her. If they were in the middle of battle, it would be too inconvenient.
“After eight okay? I have something.”
Lei Shen Ni Ni nodded.
The way the company pickedwas the silent way.
At exactly eight, four shenshou appeared without warning on Wei Wei’s account. The system only gave a reminder to Wei Wei. That was good. So many shen-level pets at one time given to one person. If it was a public announcement, that was just asking for a flood of criticism.
Wei Wei looked at the different monsters in her pet inventory, her heart full of excitement, two eyes gleaming. Shenshou pets. Once she had given them to Yu Gong and the others, everybody on the team would have an immortal level monster. Taking them all out and lining up, that would be such an awesome line … …
Fantasizing alone for a while, Wei Wei managed to free herself and look at her friends list. Mo Zha Ta was still there. She sent over a message: “Meiren shixiong, come quickly, sending a shenshou over.”
Hearing “shenshou”, Mo Zha Ta didn’t care what Wei Wei called him, quickly appearing by Wei Wei’s side.
Wei Wei gave him a cactus.
This cactus pet was just a little more rarer than usual. It couldn’t compete at all with that little tiger that Xiao Nai had. Wei Wei had asked for a lot of pets. Even though it wouldn’t change the balance of the game, the company did have to care about what the other players thought.
And Mo Zha Ta was already very happy. The pet that Wei Wei had given him was very compatible with his profession. It was one he had wanted for a long time but never gotten.
After the initial celebration, Mo Zha Ta asked about the history of the pet. Wei Wei just said it was given by the company for signing over the video. Everybody in the major roles had a share. She didn’t mention that the company originally was willing to give six thousand.
Mo Zha Ta was somebody who was going to soon enter society and understood that the company wasn’t as generous as to give even the supporting actors a shenshou apiece. It was most likely their shimei-c.u.m-sansao who had gotten it for him.
Mo Zha Ta was so moved, moved to the point of spewing nonsense: “Laosanmarried well, Laosan married well.[8] When one man gets to the top, his friends get there with him. [9]
Wei Wei had become very used to their ability to use idiomatic language, which was no ability at all. She didn’t have any opinions on Mo Zha Ta saying he was an animal but … …
Wei Wei: “jia>o<>
Mo Zha Ta leered and said: “Wrong wording, wrong wording. Thatès Yu Gong’s catchphrase. I accidently learned it. He constantly says he wants to jia a rich woman.”
Wei Wei didn’t think Yu Gong had such a goal and felt deep respect: “You really can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Mo Zha Ta was happy he was ruining Yu Gong’s reputation. He became very smug and basked for a while. He remembered something and said:”Sansao, I have something to report to you.”
“Ah?”
Wei Wei got a bit nervous due to his serious tone.
Mo Zha Ta: “Today there was somebody phoning the dorm to confess tolaosan!”
Uh … …
Mo Zha Ta was afraid she wouldn’t believe it and said: “It’s true. I took the call, it was a woman, but I heard laosan reject her.”
Wei Wei: “Confess … …”
Mo Zha Ta, who had been bribed by one shenshou, naturally thought of Wei Wei as one of their own. He was very angry at the unknown people who knew that laosan already had a tiger in his mountain but still wilfully went towards Tiger Mountain [10].
“Don’t worry sansao. You have me. I definitely would not let laosan’s red apricots hang over the wall[11]. What is going on with the girls now? They obviously know that he has somebody and still comes over! They all try to steal the ground that is already owned, the fallow ground beside it, n.o.body is planting … …” [12]
Seeing that the more Mo Zha Ta kept on going, the more furious and bitter he got, Wei Wei quickly stopped him. “Shixiong, eg-sy.[13], confessions aren’t really anything … …”
Wei Wei: “I was confessed to all the time starting from when I was very little ‘til now… …”
Before meeting Yu Gong and the others, even as a joke, Wei Wei couldn’t say this kind of words. But under their influence, the present Wei Wei could very easily toss out this type of “on the point” remark. [14]
It definitely must be said, in today’s PK match between Lu Wei Wei Wei and Mo Zha Ta, Wei Wei used “Lightning from the Sky” to achieve a decisive victory.
Mo Zha Ta once again went silent, the avatar not moving. Wei Wei walked around him twice, remarking to herself that meiren shixiong didn’t have enough. He spent that much time with Yu Gong and the others, this amount of resistance wasn’t enough.
On her third circle, Mo Zha Ta finally came back: “Sansao… …”
Wei Wei decided to send an expression of distain to reply. Yet before she could type it out, she saw Mo Zha Ta say: “Just now laosan pa.s.sed from behind me.”
Wei Wei: “… …”
Mo Zha Ta: “When you said you were confessed to from childhood to now.”
Wei Wei found that her strength slipping away as she typed: “Nonsense, he doesn’t live in the dorms.”
Mo Zha Ta: “He’s moving back in today.”
Wei Wei: “… …”
Mo Zha Ta: “He’s starting his computer … …”
That line hadn’t disappeared before Wei Wei heard a “ding” sound. System notice: You husband Yi Xiao Nai He is now online.