MDZS Vol 5 Annotations 1

listen, i’m a sucker for all of wei ying’s different smiles😤

this awkward and confused why is he being nice to me because he loves you dumbass smile

this haha that was kinda embarrassing haha sorry sheepish grin

this watery god i love you so much you fuddy-duddy

the i am literal sunshine and i know it

the pained but silent resignation

just. evil. and maybe illegal

the i’m babie smile reserved for shijie and shijie only

the drunk cutie

this maybe i am up to no good hehe smile

smiling through the rain. i mean pain

that’s it for now but ik there’s definitely more so feel free to add to it!!

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

Volume 3, Notes 2/5, Pages 97 - 151

This was actually a really easy read, maybe because it's been almost a year since I last read this in Chinese and so I am not remembering awesome idioms every page; but, anyway! Here we continue <3

In case you don't already know， a huli jing 狐狸精 is a fox spirit. Famous for being super sexy.

In the online Chinese version I read, there was no actual mention of Gu Yun's movements, but more his mindset: 失魂落魄地走了 = "walked off in a daze". Because of the steel plates and all his injuries, I guess it was not a smooth "walking off" so much as a forlorn stumbling, but I don't like the word "hobbled" used on Gu Yun.

Chinese: "整日里便是在我耳边嘀咕." The meaning is the same as "yakking my year off," but it sounds much more elegant in Chinese, of course: "All day, is at the side of my ear, muttering / whispering / chatting quietly...”

Top: again, it just sounds better in Chinese. English is "like a house on fire," Chinese is "投缘" = "kindred spirits" or, broken apart, "thrown, fate."

Bottom: many official ceremonies are carried out with official, kneeling, head-to-floor bows. In this case, it will be an official ceremony to celebrate Ge Chen becoming Zhang Fenghan's adopted son.

(I love how Chang Geng never actually says "So! Ge Chen wants you to adopt him," but instead says a bunch of nice things to Master Fenghan, and Master Fenghan says some nice things back, and then Chang Geng concludes with "We'll call you with the date of the Adoption Ceremony. Bye!")

I love names in Chinese!

So, Du Wanquan is 杜万全， where

Wan 万 = 10,000 ("a very large number") and

Quan 全 = "complete, all", and

the two words together 万全 = absolutely safe / surefire / thorough （mdbg.net).

Good name for the God of Wealth, yah?

In case you don't remember, Zhong-lao is Old Master Zhong / General Zhong, who came out of retirement to help lead the forces in the South. He trained up both Gu Yun and, much later, Chang Geng.

"Speak of the Devil" in Chinese is "说曹操曹操就到."

曹操 Cao Cao was the king of Wei during the 3 Kingdoms Period (the very very beginnings of the 3 Kingdoms period).

Though I think in the actual story, Cao Cao actually saved a fellow ruler who had been thinking of asking him for help against an attack; but before the fellow could send out his messenger with the request, Cao Cao and his army suddenly appeared and crushed the attackers.

The translation is fine. I just feel like in the phrase 朝廷挤出点口粮实在不容易, using "must have" for the English just feels better.

"When a person hid their wounds WITH THEIR TWO HANDS so that none could see, no one had the right to pry AWAY their hands."

It all makes sense once you realize that the verb used here is 捂 wǔ = "to enclose / to cover with the hand (mdbg.net)."

脏癖 dirty habits/inclinations (because Liao Ran didn't like bathing）

My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost

Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links

Stars of Chaos 杀破狼

Vol 2, Notes 2. Pages 48 - 62.

Ten more pages of notes...

饮鸩止渴 drink poison (legendary bird with poisonous feathers) stop thirst. It's a cool way to say "What you're doing may be helping you in the short term, but it's killing you in the long term," yah?

I really like how in Chinese, each rank of royalty has its own honorific, so when Chen QingXu says "殿下," we know she means "the prince" (or similar ranking), not "the emperor."

"陈轻絮管杀不管埋" "Chen QingXu took care of killing but did not take care of burying." ie She didn't deal with the consequences of her actions, but satisfyingly symmetrical in Chinese.

｡ﾟ ( ﾟ≧ᗜ≦^ﾟ)ﾟ｡

得罪君子不得罪小人。(Because, you know, an upstanding gentleman might get mad, but he won't resort to dirty underhanded deeds to get his revenge on you, whereas you never know what low deeds a petty person will stoop to to get his revenge.)

Top: 肉麻 is a cool word. We don't really have it in English. It's a little like "cringy"？ It's how you feel when someone does something too romantic or overly emotional in front of you.

Bottom: I guess Chinese crows foretell misfortune.

Formatting again. I really appreciate paragraph breaks.

Characters = words, reading, literacy. (Not "characters" as in "people.")

Missing paragraph in the print edition, again. But I really like this paragraph!

In case you can't read my writing: Shen Yi is feeling sorry for himself. Gu Yun grew up as a rich boy yelling "Mommy!" When he got older and joined the Black Iron Battalion, he didn't have a mommy anymore, so he treated Shen Yi as his new "Mommy!" to take care of things for him.

Below the missing paragraph, I have a note that "Dage" is 大哥 = Big Brother = "Boss," like you would call a mob boss "Boss."

And below that, in the online version, the entire quote from the bandit is "废话，还不放箭！包围！包围！” = "Nonsense. Why haven't you released the arrows yet! Surround them! Surround them!"

谁不想死谁先死. "Who does not want to die, who first dies." It's very symmetrical in Chinese.

The other note is about how we call people we deem useless as "饭桶 rice barrel," because all they do is eat rice.

老大 old big = Boss.

说人话 talk human speech = talk like a normal human being!

人模狗样 human, mold/model, dog, type/shape. It's a disparaging way to say "poser!" (Dogs are generally looked down upon in Chinese culture, at least in compound words and idioms and such.)

OK. And this ten is done!

My DanMei Literary Adventure Masterpost

Stars of Chaos - All Notes Links

The Seven Seas MDZS translation is based off the uncensored Taiwanese novel version, which is great (uncensored), BUT there are just a few extra lines that MXTX put in later in the censored online version, after cutting out the smut, that are Really Really Good. Pure sugar.

(The ♥️Audio Drama♥️ is based off the newer online version, so if you’ve listened to the AD enough to have it vaguely memorized, these lines are Really Important to you.)

I’ll see if I can fit extra lines in the margins of my Vol 4, or if I need to just type it out and make big asterisks in the printed novel. They really are really really good additions. Some of my favorite lines in the entire book.

Un unexpected crossover:

Also remember when the WWX nendoroid was announced and everyone made the joke that LWJ would buy all of them?  Well it wasn’t that much of a headcanon:

MDZS Vol 2 Annotations, part 4

Here is Part 4 of my annotations of MDZS Volume 2, pages 199 - 279.

(Silly as it may seem to you, I drink alcohol so rarely that "drinks" to me means "water / tea / soda". Conveniently, Chinese has a word for "alcohol" specifically.)

So you saw the trailer and thought you come to The Lost Tomb Reboot to see them raiding tombs, fighting ghosts, killing monsters, exploding this exploding that...

Turns out you see two 40-ish dudes talking nonsense, waving fake lightsabers in a tomb (yeah, in a tomb, no less) 🙄 And in later episodes they’re gonna dance tango, sing karaoke and hula hoop, also in a tomb...

I’m sorry not sorry I set all the wrong expectation...

[Okay I’m kidding, they actually do raid tombs, kill monsters, explode things. But it isn’t my fault our main characters happen to be idiots... ( ･ᴗ･̥̥̥ )]

The tiniest WangXian doodle.

Xiao Zhan performances 2/12.

All linked to We*bo. for my reference to watch later.

1. BTV spring Festival Gala - to all those people who know my name

2. BTV spring festival gala midnight dream Full fancam

3. BTV Group perf - Meet in Beijing

4. Dragon TV performance 1

5. Dragon TV perf - Running to you with all I have ( AKA my favorite)

Read the notes 😘

je croix que nous devons arrêter de parler anglais et semplicemente ricominciare a usare la nostra prima lingua quia istud clarum dii signum est ita ut nos ne loquamur barbarorum linguam