Dog bites therein. Getting back into the melancholy groove I fav. Also, aww.
Happy New Year world! "Two" is a homophone of "love" in Chinese, so may 2022 bring love to everyone (and less pandemic). <3
As always, thank you Emma P for proofreading!
Notes
1. 人间四月芳菲尽 ("the fragrant and luxuriant days of the fourth month") is from《大林寺桃花》by Bai Juyi. Describes the passing of spring.
2. From poem《绮怀》 by Huang Jing Ren. About doomed love.
3. Another poem from Bai Juyi, titled The Song of Everlasting Regrets. Describes Consort Yang becoming a beautiful woman.
4. ZZS calls himself 爷 (grandpa/lord/boss) which is something like "Daddy" but less explicitly sexual.
5. 南陵别儿入京 by Li Bai. About the poet's high spirit as he leaves home for the capital with the hope of obtaining great honours.
6. TRUTH. Feels like this entire translation is worth it just because of that single line.
I love how close they are getting but there’s also A-Xu’s inevitable death closing up on them. It’s obvious they will find a way, but at what cost would it be? Will his martial arts be intact?
I feel that absolutely with your 6th footnote. It’s gotta be one of my favorite lines from the book bar the extras. I love A’Xu and A’Xiang’s relationship so damn much. Thank you so much for the translations and Emma for the proofreading. Y’all never fail to make me happy :)
Haha, it feels like Gu Xiang and Zhang Chengling each got a new step-dad/step-master. Both of them are suddenly getting life lessons from their master's SO.
Thanks for the chapter!