ZZS trying to get into WKX's pants/heart hardcore. He is such a smooth talker.
Also, I love translating poems, please pardon the pathetic rhymes.
Also also, the drop-down menu has maxed out in web browsers and I don't think I can fix it. Please use the chapters index page for the chapters list.
Thank you Emma P for proofreading!
Notes
1. From 黍离 or "Drooping Millet”: an early poem recorded in Shijing (The Book of Songs).
2. After the murder of his father and the sack of Haojing city (nowadays Xi’an), King Ping of Zhou — then known by his personal name Ji Yijiu — had to flee the capital. He eventually established a new capital in Luoyi (nowadays Luoyang). The passage about “Sir Zhou” (周大夫) writing the song is an actual legend, possibly artistic licence by the author, as the poem Drooping Millet is generally acknowledged as having no known author.
Edit: a reader has pointed out to me the following tidbit I wasn't aware of:
The passage about "Sir Zhouz" likely reference the explanatory preface to the poem (which was added later in the Mao tradition): “《黍离》，闵宗周也。周大夫行役，至于宗周，过故宗庙宫室，尽为禾黍，闵周室之颠覆，仿徨不忍去而作是诗也。”
3. 青出于蓝 lit. "blue (indigo) out of blue (green-blue)". Meaning improvement upon a predecessor.
4. Common folk remedy to cure a cold is to drink something hot with ginger in it, and stay under bed covers to sweat it out. It works, though of course, the fever is the body battling the viral infection and hydration and rest can only help.
5. 神医谷 lit. "God-Doctors Valley". Shortened to Physicians Valley to contrast with the Shamans Valley. Perhaps it's also time to note that in Cantonese, 谷 (pronounced gu) is a loanword meaning "group". So an alternative translation for the term could be "band" as in The Devils' Band, The Shamans' Band, etc.
6. 童养媳 lit. "bride raised since childhood" refers to girls adopted into a family as a future daughter in law.
7. WKX is mixing up elements from the stories of two famous fictional characters. Red Boy (originally from Journey to the West) and White Lady (from The Legend of the White Snake). Hence ZZS's sarcastic/perplexed reaction.
8. Quote from Zuo Zhuan (Mr Zuo's Annals on the Springs and Autumns).
9. Respectively:
“The Owl and the Bowl of Red Water” is of WKX's invention and told by him in a previous chapter.
“Zhang Ziya’s War on The White Bones Spirit” is a matchup between the legendary strategist Zhang Ziya and the demon White Bones Spirit from Journey to the West.
“Cui Yingying Sinking Her Treasure Chest in Anger”. Cui Yingying is a romantic character from Yingying's Tales. The Treasure Chest is from The Courtisane Du Shiniang. Both are popular opera about, basically, loose women.