Footnote for the title here1握手言欢 (wo shou yan huan): an idiom literally meaning ‘to shake hands and chat cheerfully’. Normally I use the literal translation and leave a footnote to explain the meaning, but in this case, it was simply easier to use the meaning in the title..
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Implied nonconsensual drink spikingWu Xia’s expression was dark and his lips were pursed. Only after a brief moment did he unwillingly2不情不愿 (bu qing bu yuan): this is like a double negative/extremely negative version of the word 情愿 (qing yuan) which is normally translated as ‘willingness’. There was an earlier chapter where Wu Xi is ‘unwilling’ and the term used was 不甘心 (bu gan xin). Obviously, you can see these are two different terms but they both translate to ‘unwilling’.
So what’s the difference? Qing yuan can be split into qing and yuan. Qing refers to ‘feelings, sentiments’, in this case, it refers to Wu Xia’s sentiments about addressing Wu Ruo politely (A.K.A negative sentiments, since he is bu qing). And then yuan refers to ‘desire, willingness’, in this case, does Wu Xia want to be addressing Wu Ruo politely? No, because as we’ve established, his sentiments are negative. It could be that he thinks Wu Ruo is undeserving of respect, or that he despises showing respect to this person he dislikes.
The term bu qing bu yuan packs Wu Xia’s sentiments and his lack of desire to address Wu Ruo politely all into one idiom, and the only way I know how to translate it into English is ‘unwilling’ although it clearly doesn’t encapsulate everything. call out: “Ruo-ge.”
“Hn.” Wu Ruo nodded his head and said doubtfully: “The two of you are…”
Wu Sheng explained: “My father told him to apologize to you after he finished writing his self-reflection3More specifically, an essay you write criticizing your own shit behaviour and what you did wrong..”
He nudged Wu Xia: “Hurry and say it.”
Wu Xia struggled for a moment, then he said in low tones: “Ruo-ge, that day when we competed with sleds, I was a sore loser. I was also overly petty. I was too overly caught up4耿耿于怀 (geng geng yu huai): ‘to take (something) to heart’. in the matter of losing the sled race, that’s why I came looking for trouble with Xiao-Xi. Later on, I even nearly hurt the two of you. I’m here to apologize to both of you. I hope that Ruo-ge can forgive all my past behaviour.”
In the past, every year during the Shangyuan Festival, Wu Xia would go sledding with his friends and look for other people to bet against and compete with. Then, he would get his friends to stir trouble during the competition so that he would successfully win the competition prize and the betting pool. After that, they would head to a restaurant and have a feast, as well as split the winnings.
However, he hadn’t expected to lose during this Shangyuan Festival and on top of that, to lose at the hands of a fatty who didn’t have spiritual energy. He had lost face in front of his friends and was very displeased5Hey, look who it is! It’s the phrase 不甘心 (bu gan xin) which I previously translated as ‘unwilling’. In this context, it means ‘displeased’. Essentially, Wu Xia is unwilling to accept his loss in the matter so he is ‘displeased’ about the situation. Why did I leave this note? Because this exact same phrase will be translated as ‘unwilling’ later. with the matter. As such, he had sworn in front of his friends that he would teach Wu Ruo a lesson6要乌若好看 (yao Wu Ruo hao kan): literally translated it means Wu Xia wants Wu Ruo to ‘have a good look’. Or, hao kan on its own can mean ‘aesthetically pleasing, nice to look at’. In this context, paired with the yao (to want sb.), it means that Wu Xia wants to embarrass/humiliate Wu Ruo.. However, Wu Ruo was always in Hei Manor and rarely came out, that was why he thought to take matters out on Wu Xi7从乌希身上下手 (cong Wu Xi shen shang xia shou): also can be translated as ‘to lay hands on Wu Xi’, but that sounded sort of like he has sexual assault intentions and that’s not exactly how the Chinese comes across so I opted not to use that one. Not quite literal but more straightforwardly: ‘to take action starting from Wu Xi’..
Wu Ruo could naturally hear that there wasn’t the slightest bit of sincerity in this apology and he could also see the other party’s unwilling8Translated as ‘displeased’ in a slightly earlier paragraph. This is bu gan xin again. expression, however, it didn’t matter to him: “It is good that you’re aware of your mistakes and are willing to correct them9Wu Ruo is actually quoting Confucius here. This is a saying that comes from Zuo Zhuan, or according to Wikipedia, the Zuo Tradition or the Commentary of Zuo. More on that here. The original phrase is much more poetic and eloquent, but unfortunately, I am no Confucius.. I hope in the future, something like this won’t happen again.”
Wu Sheng promised10保证 (bao zheng): this is more accurately ‘to guarantee, to pledge, or to assure’ someone. However, I couldn’t figure out a way to get it to fit in English. him: “I promise you, in the future, there definitely will not be this kind of thing again. Tonight, the Southern main estate wants to gather together with the Northern main estate to have a meal together, so I won’t ask you out for a meal. Let’s make it tomorrow night, I’ll take you and Wu Xi out to Zuiyue Restaurant for a meal to properly make it up to you for this11赔个不是 (pei ge bu shi): pei means ‘to compensate for sb.’ and bu shi on its own usually means ‘not’ or ‘is not’. Here, in this context, it’s used as a noun referring to a ‘fault’. I kind of understand it in my head as a ‘misdoing’ of sorts. Wu Sheng is “acknowledging” that his little brother fucked up here.. Okay, we’ll settle it like this, see you there12If this sounds like he’s steamrollering through this and not giving Wu Ruo or Wu Xi a choice to reject, it’s because he is. It’s not a translation thing. He really just decided for them and boogied out..”
He was afraid that Wu Ruo would take back his word13About forgiving Wu Xia., and hurriedly dragged Wu Xia to leave.
Wu Ruo raised an eyebrow and turned his head to ask Wu Xi: “The Southern main estate wants to have a meal with the people of the Northern main estate tonight?”
Wu Xi nodded and said: “Hn, it was Great-Grandfather who invited those of us from both main estates to Bojin Garden for dinner. The purpose is to allow the people from both main estates to shake on it and have a good chat14握手言欢 (wo shou yan huan): the idiom from the title which means ‘to reconcile’.. I originally intended to tell you after classes but I didn’t think that Sheng-ge would bring it up first.”
This was a scandal15丑事 (chou shi): literally ‘ugly matters’. I love this expression so much. between the two main estates of the Wu family, so Wu Ruo didn’t bring Hei Xuanyi along. He only sent someone back to tell Hei Xuanyi that he wouldn’t be going home for dinner.
That night, everyone from the Southern and Northern main estates came to Bojin Garden. Even those who hadn’t recovered from the gu parasite infection had all come.
When the juniors16People of the younger generation. of the Northern main estate saw those from the Southern main estate who had been infected by the gu parasite arriving for the meal with black17Not literally black. In this case, I think it refers to looking unwell., swollen faces, they couldn’t help but snigger behind their fists. However, the people of the Northern main estate weren’t doing much better either.
After Wu Bofang had thoroughly investigated the incident, he immediately punished the Northern main estate severely. Currently, they had injuries all over their bodies and they had been beaten till their noses were bruised and their faces were swollen18鼻青脸肿 (bi qing lian zhong): ‘beaten black and blue’, or ‘badly beaten up’. The qing in this phrase is very interesting. It can be translated as green or blue. In this context though, it refers to a ‘bruise’.. They limped along the entire way and the moment they sat down on the chairs, it hurt so much that they almost yelped.
The people of the Northern main estate were quite depressed. Actually, they had never considered hiring someone else to counter those of the Southern main estate. Later on, they had only come up with that horrible plan when they saw that Ba Se, whom Wu Anshu had brought back from elsewhere, had special abilities. Otherwise, who would be as stupid as to bring the person who would be tackling those from the Southern main estate back to the Northern main estate, so that Wu Bofang would have the opportunity to investigate it back to them?
The moment the people of the Northern and Southern main estates met, their expressions turned ugly and they sat on opposite sides, mutually glaring at each other.
The atmosphere only warmed slightly after Wu Bofang arrived. He first made the people from both main estates swear a serious oath; there were not to be any more incidents of harming relatives within the Wu family again.
Since the Southern main estate had already promised Wu Bofang before, so they swore the oath first: that after this incident, they would not go against the Northern main estate again. Those from the Northern main estate had actually been worried in their hearts that the Southern main estate would seek revenge against them, so they were naturally willing to swear the oath.
Wu Ruo watched the ‘reconciliation’19The phrase was ‘quoted’ in the original text as well. of the people from both main estates, quietly laughing.
“Pei! Spectacting asshole20见死不救的人 (jian si bu jiu de ren): More accurately, the phrase here is ‘the person who sees someone dying and doesn’t offer help’; where jian si bu jiu is an idiom that means ‘to be impervious to the misfortune/disasters of others’ and de ren just makes it a noun to refer to a person. I couldn’t think of an appropriate word in English, so I took some creative liberties here..” When Wu Shi, who was sitting next to Wu Ruo, saw him laughing, the hurts on his body felt even more unbearable, and the fire in his heart burned hotter still: “You’re not fit to be someone from our Wu family.”
Everyone sitting at their table were all juniors of the family; everyone looked toward Wu Ruo.
Wu Ruo held back Wu Xi, who wanted to speak up and refute. With a calm and collected expression, he sighed lightly: “I know. In your eyes, only those who denounce their own family members on false charges as they wish, without investigating the situation clearly, are worthy of being members of the Wu family.”
“You…!” If it wasn’t for Wu Anyi constantly holding Wu Shi back, Wu Shi would already have flipped the table and punched Wu Ruo.
Wu Anyi glared coldly at Wu Ruo: “Wu Ruo, it was indeed wrong of xiaoshenshen and the others for insisting that you were the perpetrator without investigating clearly but that was because they were anxious, that’s why they would behave that way. However, you clearly knew that they could possibly die and yet you didn’t offer any help. This was where you crossed the line.”
Wu Ruo nonchalantly swept a look at the table full of people who were glaring at him angrily: “I’m not a saint so I acknowledge that I can’t do something like painstakingly finding a shaman to cure the people, who had wrongfully accused me, of their parasitic infection after they singled me out as the perpetrator. If you think you could do it even if you were in my position, then I can only say that you are a saint. Saints have always been open-minded with big hearts. They would definitely forgive a spectating asshole like me, right?”
Everyone: “…”
Wu Ruo had just about eaten his fill, so he turned to Wu Xi and said: “I’m done eating, I’ll head back to Hei Manor first.”
Wu Xi didn’t want to hang around with Wu Anyi and the others, so she followed after him: “Erge, I’ll walk you out.”
Their table was in a corner, so when they left, no one really noticed it either.
Wu Anyi’s expression darkened: “How has this Wu Ruo become so eloquent21伶牙俐齿 (ling ya li chi): literally ‘quickwitted teeth’.? Even his personality has changed a lot.”
Wu Shi snorted: “After losing weight and becoming good-looking, a person would naturally gain self-confidence. Right now, I really want to kick everyone from Shuqing Garden out of the Southern main estate.”
Actually, in his heart, he wanted to kill Wu Ruo to resolve his hatred even more.
Wu Anqi swirled the wine glass22Please keep in mind that this doesn’t refer to wine glasses as in modern, Western-style wine glasses. The ‘wine’ glass here simply refers to cups used for drinking ‘alcohol’. I can’t accurately pinpoint what the glass would’ve looked like, but this is the most common ‘wine glass’ that is depicted in historical dramas. in his hands: “As long as we, of the other estates, ignore and ostracize Shuqing Garden, there will be an opportunity to kick them out of the Wu estate.”
“I hope that day comes quickly.” Wu Shi picked up his wine glass and emptied it in one shot.
The lips of Wu Bo, who had been silent this entire time, trembled a little. In the end, he didn’t say anything at all.
The following day, the matter of Wu Ruo not helping even while his family members were suffering had spread through the entire Wu estate. The people of the Eastern and Western main estates would start pointing at Wu Ruo whenever they saw him. Wu Xi was so angered that her little mouth kept pouting. She was extremely unhappy that others were misunderstanding her erge.
Wu Ruo directly ignored their idle gossip. When the time that had been agreed on with Wu Sheng arrived, he brought Wu Xi together with him to Zuiyue Restaurant for the meal.
Under the waiter’s guidance, they arrived in the private room that Wu Sheng had already reserved much earlier on. When the door opened, the sounds of everyone’s laughter and chatter traveled out from within the room. It was extremely lively. In the room, other than Wu Sheng and Wu Xia, there was also a crowd of Wu Xia’s friends; they were also the ones who had competed together during the Shangyuan Festival.
“Xiao-Ruo and Xiao-Xi have arrived!” Wu Sheng immediately raised his voice and called out when he saw Wu Ruo and Wu Xi.
Everyone turned to the entrance, standing up enthusiastically to invite Wu Ruo and Wu Xi to their seats.
Wu Xi was overwhelmed by the unexpected favour. Before they had arrived, she had assumed it would only be Wu Xia and Wu Sheng both. When the time came, the atmosphere would definitely be extremely bad. However, she had never imagined it would be this sort of situation.
It was also quite out of Wu Ruo’s expectations.
Everyone treated them like distinguished guests and ushered them to their seats.
“Xiao-Xia and Sheng-ge said that Sixth Young Master Wu’s appearances had become very pretty and charming after losing weight. We didn’t believe them at first, but seeing you now, you are definitely extraordinarily handsome.” Chen Hou laughed with a ‘he he’ sound, holding up his wine glass and toasting to Wu Ruo: “Sixth Young Master, that day, we were the ones in the wrong. I hope you can forgive our petty act from that day. I toast23干为净 (gan wei jing): more accurately, you toast to someone and clean your cup out in one go to demonstrate your sincerity. Funny enough, the phrase gan jing means ‘clean’ as in ‘neat, tidy’. I’m not sure which phrase came first or if they’re even related, but I do think there’s something there. to you here first.”
He emptied his cup in one shot, then he tipped the mouth of his cup downwards24This could be literally turning his cup upside down, or just tipping the mouth forward so that Wu Ruo can see that it is empty. With the rest of the sentence, I’m inclined to think that Chen Hou literally turned his cup upside down here., showing that he had really finished drinking in one mouthful.
Wu Ruo saw that he was so straightforward and it wasn’t nice for him not to reciprocate this toast25I’m not 100% sure, but I do believe that in Chinese drinking culture if someone makes a toast to you, you should also drink the same amount to match their ‘sincerity’. Do other drinking cultures also have the same rule?. He brought his glass up to his mouth and as he did so, he smelled a floral scent wafting from the wine. His movements paused slightly: “What kind of wine is this?”
Everyone else’s expressions were hesitant for a moment. Chen Hou laughed with a clear voice: “This is Yuanxiang wine, I brought it from home and it’s especially delicious. Sixth Young Master, give it a try.”
“Yuanxiang wine? I’ve never heard of it before.” Wu Ruo lowered his eyelids, his lips curling: “However, it smells so fragrant. It must be very delicious.”
“It is definitely delicious.”
Wu Ruo raised his glass and finished it in one shot: “Hn, it’s not bad.”
Wu Xi also picked up her wine glass and took a shallow sip, smiling: “The wine is so fragrant, it’s really delicious.”
Chen Hou said: “Seventh Young Miss26I think I previously translated this as ‘mistress’ before, but I have decided to opt for ‘miss’ in the usage case of the unmarried females. The female equivalent of ‘young master’., if you like it, you should drink more. Yuanxiang wine is not very strong, you won’t get drunk.”
Wu Xi looked toward Wu Ruo and only dared to drink it up after getting his permission.
Wu Xia’s other friends all insisted that they wanted to make it up to Wu Ruo; everyone held up a glass of wine to toast to Wu Ruo.
Wu Ruo didn’t refuse them either. If someone toasted a glass to him, then he drank a glass. He only put his glass down after drinking with just about everyone, then, he looked up at everyone and a broad smile rippled across his face: “Since we came here for a meal, we can’t constantly be drinking, right?”
Everyone momentarily lost focus, nodding in a daze. They only came back to their senses when they had all returned to their own seats.
The person sitting next to Chen Hou lowered his voice and said: “Sixth Young Master Wu is really good-looking. Just now, with that smile, he even had me captivated. I don’t even know how I got back to my own seat.”
Chen Hou stared at Wu Ruo in a trance. He kept feeling like the other party’s smile wasn’t quite right. Perhaps Wu Ruo was really too beautiful, even Chen Hou was gaping blankly.
Wu Sheng said: “Xiao-Ruo, Xiao-Xia and I haven’t toasted to you yet.”
Wu Ruo once again lifted his wine glass and toasted cleanly with them. After that, he stood up, picked up the pot of wine27Chinese people used to ferment their wine in large pots and would transfer them to a smaller serving pot when they actually wanted to drink it during a meal., and poured everyone a glass of it: “I poured all of you this glass of wine to show that I really don’t mind the incident from that day anymore. All of you shouldn’t bring it up again either. Let’s take it that we have forgotten about this matter, how about it?”
“Alright.”
Everyone finished their glasses in one shot.
After a moment, the waiter continuously served dishes of food to the room.
Everyone recovered to their previous laughter and chatter. After half a shichen28Reminder that a shichen comprises two hours., the dishes of food on the table were almost all eaten up.
Both of Wu Xi’s cheeks were red and rosy, clearly drunk.
Wu Ruo also seemed as though he’d had too much to drink. Many times when he tried to pick up some food, he was unable to.
When Wu Sheng saw this situation, he stood up, burped up some alcohol, and said: “I’m making a trip to the bathroom. All of you can keep going29For Chinese etiquette reasons because Wu Sheng is the oldest in the room, if he gets up, everyone should be standing up as well. He’s not just being a pompous bastard here..”
The other four30I am assuming this is referring to Wu Xia’s friends. also stood up: “I wanna go too.”
The five of them took unsteady steps, staggering out of the room. The moment the door to the room closed, their expressions instantly became alert.
Wu Sheng’s expression darkened and he went downstairs with the others: “Xiao-Jin, you’re in charge of informing the people from Hei Manor to come and fetch Wu Ruo. Xiao-Xing, you go and inform the people from Shuqing Garden to come and fetch Wu Xi. After the people from Shuqing Garden have come out to fetch her, go and inform the Southern main estate’s Wu Shi, Wu Xiao, and Wu Anyi to make a trip here. Xiao-Zhong, you’re in charge of looking for people from the Northern and Western main estates who like watching a good show31Not literally. This is referring to people who like watching when the ‘drama’/chaos/messy stuff goes down.…”
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