Wherein ZZS is such a flirt.
Thank you Emma P for proofreading!
Notes
1. 莫怀阳 lit. "doesn't not harbour yang". Shaddy sounding name.
2. Prefix “A-” used before Zhou Zishu’s fake name as an endearment. Sounds pretty cringe.
3. Famous vow from Boddhisatva Kṣitigarbha.
4. 橘生淮南则为橘，生于淮北则为枳. Oranges in China are called ju in the south, and zhi by northern people. The saying is meant to convey that people are viewed differently depending on where they came from, even if they are in essence the same type of people. I tried to convey that meaning by staying close to the original saying, even though tangerines and clementines are both varieties of mandarins that are subtly different.
5. 行得正站得直 variation on 行得直坐得正 or "holding oneself straight". Wordplay by the author as "straight" in Chinese also means heterosexual, after the English usage.
6. 天字号房 or "sky number room". In ancient China, rooms in hostels were numbered following the 千字文 book. The first room was assigned the character 天 ("sky") because the text starts with that word (天地玄黄).
7. 九爪灵狐方不知. Lit. "Fang Buzhi, The Nine-Clawed Fox Genie". The name is meant to convey someone who is cunning. Fang Buzhi means "the one none knows". The name evokes somebody who's cunning and elusive. The Nine-Clawed part refers to an anatomical peculiarity explained later. I chose to shorten it to The Nine-Clawed Fox because the meaning is clear enough.
Cao Weining is so precious, he needs to be protected😭
Also, the soulmates already speaking at the same time and saying the same things 😭 Next up they'll be completing each others sentences 🤧
I love this chapter and your translation was incredibly graceful, thank you! It was so funny!
"If Brother Wen wishes to hang himself, I rather think he’ll have to find another tree. After all, the earth has forests aplenty.” Omg, their banter is gold 😂, love these two. Thanks for the translation!