I think it's interesting how the kid is what brings those two together at first. Also, I swear the author intended for Feng Xiaofeng/The Mountain.
Thank you Emma P for proofreading! And Zokels as well as Christina H for feedback.
Notes
1. Hard to translate pun. In Chinese, a coward may be called a 缩头乌龟 (lit. "a turtle that pulls its head in") whereas a 王八 (soft-shelled tortoise) is slang for "bastard", especially a brazen one. I tried my best to convey it with deadpan humour and am not sure it succeeded. The Chinese title to the chapter is "breaking out of the shell" (which is a bit of a mouthful) referring to that transformation in ZZS' character.
2. ZZS calls himself 老子 or "daddy" but more vulgar.
3. 黄道人 lit. "yellow path man". Yellow is the colour of, amongst other things, indecency so that's an ambiguous sounding name.
4. 秧歌步 or "Yange steps" in the text. A popular folk dance from Dongbei.
5. 没头苍蝇, the Chinese equivalent of a headless chicken is actually a "headless fly".
ZZS letting WKX use his legs as pillow or quilt 👀 Could it be that we're finally making some progress?
While I didn't like everyone zeroing in on Zhang Chengling, I don't mind them calling Gao Chong and crew's motives into question. Also glad ZZS is breaking out of his shell...maybe he'll take his mask off now
Thanks for the translation