I'm pretty sure this rather obscure work by Gu Long hasn't been translated yet, and have already begun. If someone else is already translating this, then please let me know. Thanks.
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I'm pretty sure this rather obscure work by Gu Long hasn't been translated yet, and have already begun. If someone else is already translating this, then please let me know. Thanks.
It hasn't been translated AFAIK.
Good Luck.
Han Solo
Nice choice. One of my favorite later period works (although these make slim pickings). Expands on the mythology of CLX.
Thanks for working on this translation. If late period means more Lu Xiao Feng style books, then this will be very enjoyable indeed :)
Ok, this is just a quick update to show people that I'm not dead or in a coma or something like that.
Chapter One
Death of the Billionaire
April 15th.
Dawn.
Like any other day, by the time Sun Jicheng awoke, sixteen slave girls led by Madam Liu Jing, the
former imperial consort responsible for dressing the emperor, had his clothes for the day laid out. After
drinking a bowl of Fujianese oolong in the spacious and extravagant room next to his bedroom, Sun
Jicheng set off on his personal horse carriage, keeping tabs on his seventy nine businesses in Jinan City.
He was a carefree man, frequently spending long nights drinking with his peers, but he never delayed
his daily inspection tour, and never changed the route he took.
Starting a business was difficult, but running a business was harder. The proper amount of effort must
be put into such an endeavor, no matter who you are.
Sun Jicheng understood this.
He loved his fortune and enterprise just as a peerless beauty loves her good looks.
He often told his friends, “money may not make a man happy, but being rich is sure as hell better than
being poor.”
Sun Jicheng was over six feet tall, muscular, and knew how to enjoy life even better than those with
similar fortunes and appearances.
Years of plentiful food had made him rather rotund, but under the guise of fine tailored clothing, he
appeared younger than he actually was. His youthfulness enabled him to ride horses, drink liquor, and
please women who were the hardest to please.
He never forgets those who complimented him on those attributes, and they never forget either.
After all, no one wants to die.
His retinue consisted of the best bodyguards in the pugilistic world, including the elite fighter who
guarded ninety one caravans without losing a single one, “Steady as Tai Mountain” Qiu Budao.
His horse carriage was specially crafted, impregnable to swords and arrows. His horses were bred and
trained by the former stableman of a campaigning general. Every horse was young, powerful, and
maintained as best as possible, for they had to run one thousand and three hundred li in a single day.
His palace was just as impregnable as his carriage, patrolled day and night by elite pugilists.
Killing a man like him was impossible.
No one could do such a thing. No one dared.
No one could even grasp the thought of him dying!
If there were no unusual circumstances, Sun Jicheng ate lunch at the Da San Yuan Restaurant.
It could have been that he was worrying about his growing stomach, or that he drank too much at
night, but he never ate anything for breakfast except oolong, which is why his lunches were often
extraordinarily extravagant.
He had many reasons for choosing Da San Yuan Restaurant.
For one, it was one of his seventy nine businesses.
Secondly, all of Da San Yuan’s chefs were famous chefs. It had a special recipe for fish tails passed
down through the generations, and fish tails just happened to be Sun Jicheng’s favorite.
Thirdly, Da San Yuan’s manager, Zheng Nanyuan, was not only an expert on food, but also one on
humor, and he always spoke exactly what Sun Jicheng wanted to hear.
Perhaps the most important reason was that Da San Yuan was always filled with customers. Sun
Jicheng enjoyed looking at people and people looking at him.
Comment please!!!
Glad to see that you're still alive :D
I wasn't growing impatient or anything though, feel free to update whenever you're free, no pressure man.
The intro reminds me of Lu Xiao Feng book 3, and the crime boss who appeared in the middle of Third Master's Sword. The people in Gu Long's Jiang Hu sure know how to live the good life. I find this kind of extravagant description to be very immersive.
thx for the translation :). please keep working. :hooray:
Hey everyone. Thanks for the support. I just want everyone to know that I'm still working on this, but studying for the PSAT has been carving away hours from my life. Hopefully I'll be able to make an update this weekend. Keep on reading :D
New Update :D
Like any other day, Sun Jicheng ate lunch at Da San Yuan, and drank a little liquor.
Sometimes he drank Zhu Ye Qing, or Mao Tai, or Da Qu, or Nv Er Hong, or Mei Gui Lu, or some ale imported from the West.
That day, he drank something rarer than them all. Persian wine.
Sun Jicheng didn’t drink much. He never drank much before the sun set.
Da San Yuan was the last stop of his inspection tour. After he ate, he had to return to his palace and rest in the bedroom that few others were allowed to enter. Then, he had to begin a new life.
Being rich is sure as hell better than being poor.
Sun Jicheng was richer than most of the world’s people, and he was happier.
No one could kill him, and he did not want die.
How did he die?
Sun Jicheng knew how to please himself, and has studied many things to accomplish it, such as fine dining and dress.
His bedroom was comfortable and luxurious.
Everyone with a brain expected his bedroom to be like that, but few knew the specifics, for few have entered his bedroom.
His bedroom was where he slept.
He was never with women when he slept, and he never sleeps when he’s with women.
“Wife” and “woman” are totally different.
A wife is not just a woman, but a friend who provided comfort, no matter the condition of the husband.
Sun Jicheng did not have a wife. And he did not have any friends.
His friends weren’t really his friends.
Tall mountain peaks could never best the cold, and anyone who reaches his level is usually very lonely.
Like always, Sun Jicheng returned to his bedroom around dusk.
Normally, he would take a nap. That day was different. He took a necklace made of Persian white gold and a large halcyon, and took off.
Outside the bedroom was an elegant living room. Hanging on the walls were the paintings of Wu Daozi and the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi. A pure white jade vessel sat on a stand. Next to the door sat a chair said to have been the emperor’s.
As soon as Sun Jicheng sat down in the chair, the sound of bracelets reached his ears. The person he waited for had arrived.
It was Madam Liu Jin.
Please comment!! :D
I like this saying. It's true that the taller the mountain, the colder it gets up top. As for having true friends when one has reached the top, I think you still have some true friends, but more leeches than friends. Heck even Huo Xiu, the richest man in the world during Lu Xiao Feng's time had LXF himself as a friend, until he went nuts and tried to kill Lu.
It was Madam Liu Jin.
Beautiful, gentle, attentive, and mature.
She entered the emperor’s service at age eleven, and transferred to Sun Jicheng at age twenty one. No one in the world knew more about Sun Jicheng’s body than Madam Liu Jin.
Tailoring was not an easy task, and she always knew the most efficient ways.
She was beautiful, healthy, and strong. And the wind that night blew so gently.
But from that night onward, she never mentioned that thing again. He seemed to have forgotten as well. The two maintained a healthy relationship between master and servant.
She had long gotten used to living alone.
Sun Jicheng sighed as the sun light shined on Liu Jin’s cold but beautiful face.
“Ten years,” he said.
“It’s been ten years, hasn’t it?”
“Close enough.”
Liu Jin’s face was still cold, showing not even the slightest hint of emotion. A conditioned woman like her would not show emotion so easily.
But her heart ached. Her memories were much clearer than his. Counting from that Spring night, it has been ten years one month and three day.
“Have you been happy these past few years?”
“Neither happy nor sad,” replied Liu Jin.
“Ten years passed by like a blink of an eye.”
The lonely cold winter days and lonely unbearable spring nights. Have they really passed by like a blink of an eye?
Sun Jicheng sighed again.
He stood up.
“I know that I lost you,” he said, holding up his necklace.
“This is my gift to you. Can I put it on your neck?”
Liu Jin nodded silently, but she wanted to cry the moment he put the necklace up to her neck.
After ten years, has he really suddenly remembered the passion of that night?
Just as her tears were about to burst out of her eyes, Sun Jicheng’s hands clutched. He strangled her with the beautiful necklace.
She died without feeling pain.
She did not expect him to act.
No expected him to act. No one knew any reason for him to kill her.
The beautiful necklace hung on to the beautiful neck, but the beauty was already fallen.
The setting sun’s rays weakened, the force of night strengthened. The calm Sun Jicheng steadily opened the window, and disappeared into the darkness of night in a blink of an eye.
Hurray for updates! :) Thanks Sarakoth.