A step into the past - 寻秦记 - by Huang Yi

[swkandrew]

i am going to use google translate pinyin instead

Wei is a nation
魏國 means The Nation of Wei
大魏 means The Great Wei Nation

infact i don't think i can use the chinese pinyin i actually use
for example,
劉傑 in Mandarin is Liú jié
However in Hong Kong, Cantonese pronounce as lau git

Xiang Shaolong is Hong Siu Lung

(By the way, i think Hong Siu Lung is more accurate to be the main character's name, it's because the author is a Cantonese Speaker. )

[eknight]

I am new to this site and currently reading this translation. How do I read spoilers?

[Drak17]

Swkandrew, I did not know the author is a Cantonese speaker lol. Saw the characters names in Mandarin so I assumed he was Mandarin :x. But I hope you continue to use Mandarin names for the characters, just for the sake of the story since its been Mandarin thus far.

Eknight. You have to click "reply with quote" in order to see spoilers. After you've done reading it, you can just click cancel so you wouldn't have to reply with that quote.

[aliderhamy]

Swkandrew, please feel free to continue with the translation. In the past, multiple people (including myself) have jumped in to help the translation out, and you are joining a proud and honorable tradition by doing so now. Cheers!

RWX

It adds to the authenticity of the translation when it is not writen in perfect english

(like how people preffer to have subtitals then a fully english dubbed movie)

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Swkandrew

[swkandrew]

Swkandrew, I did not know the author is a Cantonese speaker lol.

yeah, when i read this story, the words are just like speaking in Cantonese
moreover, some mandarin speaker can't text-proofing very well from OCR it's because some Cantonese idiom involve.

[smurf120]

thanks swkandrew for continuing the story!

Only XSL will end up in situations where his solution is to subdue his opponents by using sex.

[swkandrew]

Especially she knows that he is not the one who is waiting for, but still reacting freely, therefore her mind is expansive on sexual relationship. Thus he does not feel any responsibility.

This thought leads him to be more relax, enjoys on sexual amorousness.

Suddenly, she detaches from him, leads him among darkness by holding his hand. Without her burning-hot body, he is feeling cold, weak again. He made a forced smile, he was never thought that a lady can be a panacea of his illness.

They are arrived and fall onto some wheat, there is a quilt on the wheat, so she was sneaking more than once that she is well prepared.

Laying on a comfortable “bed”, Xiang Shaolong never wants to get up again.

The lady is standing up, and takes off her clothes like a sex-starved person. She throws herself on Xiang Shaolong, with a smooth, warm and hot body. When she is starting to strip his clothes, Xiang Shaolong found that he is reacting passionately.

Xiang Shaolong smiles bitterly, he is poor but still addicted to sex. “You such are despicable person, usually looking at me with your desire.” The lady whispers on his ear. “I don’t know what did u pay ShiLing for this that he lets you come and humiliate me. Hurry up!”
Xiang Shaolong turns and compresses tightly on her. The lady says “Do you like me?” He mumbles, and concentrates on the joy of sexual relationship.

A endless debauchery involves in the warehouse.
Xiang Shaolong worked hard for a while, his strength cannot afford for this, so the lady takes proactively. For a while, she has done utmost, and ambushes on his body. Xiang Shaolong hugs tightly and says “I am not Liu Jie!”

She trembles. “Who are you?”

He has a planned answer. “I am Chen Wu, a worker that followed from the cart team. I want to see the situation of the warehouse but I met you. Thank God, I am so lucky. What is your name?”

The lady hesitated, and then she laughs out loud for a while. And he says “You dead man! Treated me like this! I am Qiu Lin, i am the maid of young master. Sigh! You! But you are better than yound master and Shi Ling, even Liu Jie is not as tough as you.”

Xiang Shaolong feels free for this, asks “Would you please take me some food and drinks? But don’t let anyone knows!” Qiu Lin sit up and indicating on his chest, whispers “OK! If someone knows this, I am dead too!” And she dresses up and goes out.

Xiang Shaolong wears his clothes and falls sleep because of much exertion.

After a while, he is waken by Qiu Lin. She lights on a oil lamp, looking at him with stunned speechless. Xiang Shaolong sits up, and looking on her too.

Qiu Lin’s beauty is not as good as his wives, but still good-looking. The most attractive thing is that she has a dainty, cute, delicate and attractive body. That is why Shi Ling addicts on her deeply. This girl is bewitching in all aspect.

Qiu Lin fondles on his bearded cheek, whispers “I’ve never seen such a dominant and handsome guy like you! You are just a little bit thin.”

to be continued...

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Swkandrew. Did you read this in English from the beginning.

[Drak17]

Thanks Swkandrew!

Xiang Shaolong using sex as his weapon again lol. If he was a female, I would imagine that "she" would be the most formidable female during that era, even better than Talented Lady Ji and Zhao Ya, in term of skills and seduction. Haha. "She" would have all men of the nations under "her" feet. .

[ycb5959]

We need to bring the United Nations into this. It's the answer to all the world's problems: Sex. XSL style


Thanks for the frequent updates, Swkandrew.

[crydee]

Thanks swkandrew
You are light the rain after the long drought
The Sunshine after a long winter night
The Weekend after 5 days work!
I am glad you join the list of translator for this project do continue your good job.
Thanks again.

[ycb5959]

There is a similar series about going back in time with Raymond Lam playing one of the leading roles:Three Kingdoms RPG

Plot from one website:

SZE-MA SUN (Kenneth Ma), a gamer from modern day and strategic chancellor Chu Kwok Leung (Raymond Lam) from the past meets in the Three Kingdoms era due to a strong hurricane. SUN loves playing Three Kingdom video games and Chu had long been his idol. Depending on his enchanting and weird modern tactics, he goes for a battle of wits with his idol...

[akolaw]

Huang Yi had set 3 trends in Chinese Wuxia novels known as
thru' beyond, different place and myth xia

HY had only wrote one story of thru beyond, in search of Qin/a step to the past (which I think is the name of the gene, thru' beyond, and not the proper name of the story, but since this is the first one, nobody misunderstand) is wildly successful. It had attract a lot of copier that copy the plot, hence set the trend. But no one had come close to the high standard HY set yet.

This trend flush in novel in internet and recently to TV so you see the 3 kingdom stuff from TVB etc. and the one I would recommend is Bu Bu Jing Xin, not a wuxia, but good effort.

HY had also wrote one story that set the trend different place which is the legend of the grand sword master( I had insist the name the legend of the long sword master misleading), unfortunately the story have not move to book 2, it have not show why this is known as different place yet.

[chowbeng]

A quick spot translation to finish the chapter.
=============================================

Xiang Shaolong hugged her over and said: "What sort of good food have you brought?"

Qiu Lin opened up the bundle, took out a pot of tea and a dozen mantou(steamed buns) .

Xiang Shaolong watched with great salivation, and devoured them right away. Qiu Lin asked, "What are the hooks on your belt used for?"

Xiang Shaolong made something up, "It is used for moving goods."

Qiu Lin, who clearly wasn't one that would think deeply into things, did not doubt him and asked, "Wouldn't Boss Xie who was in charge of transporting the grain, blamed you for slipping away like this?"

Xiang Shaolong said, "I had told him I was looking for friends, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Qiu Lin jested lewdly, "Looking for friends! More like looking for girls, and I just happened to be the girl."

Watching her flirted shamelessly with him, Xiang Shaolong in a flush of hot blood, almost wanted to pull over and have another roll in the hay. At the same time, in his heart, he also rejoiced. Who could had expected that his earlier "roll", caused him to break out in a sweat, resulting in his physical condition to take a turn for the better.

Qiu Lin, showing a hint of resentment, cast a glance at Xiang Shaolong, said: "In the future, I would cast aside name and status, and only wished to be with you!"

Xiang Shaolong smiled, "You wouldn’t be able to help yourself even if you wished otherwise." By asking seemingly casual questions, Xiang Shaolong tactfully sounded her out on the surrounding. Quickly he found out the mansion belonged to a minister of the Wei and the rough state of affairs in the household.

Qiu Lin sighed, "Young Master is coming back, I had to leave you ......"

Xiang Shaolong brought her in his embrace and softly said, "When can you return?"

Qiu Lin was in a confused state of emotion, "It depends on the situation, how could I tell?"

Inspired, Xiang Shaolong said, "For Sister Qiu Lin, there is nothing that I, Chen Wu would not do. If there are no mishaps, I'll just wait for you here. Sister Qiu will come here when she can, but it is important to bring some food and drink. If possible, some clothes too."

Qiu Lin, however was in a fit of passion, and paid no mind to all else, began to rain kisses on his face, constantly nodding.

Xiang Shaolong was still afraid she would ask others of him, so he told her not to do so, and then let her leave. Using the lighting from this temporary comfort zone, Xiang Shaolong shifted to a concealed corner of the warehouse, lay down and rested. This warehouse was full of firewood, which was an indispensable necessity in the severe winter.

For a time, he could take a breather. Not only he had a girl for company, he was also in no danger of being captured by Wei’s troops. He only needed to build up his health before leaving by night using hook and rope to climb over the wall.

However, there are limits to one's physical endurance. If he was to travel in this freezing cold weather, he could at most last a few days. Zhao is to the north of Wei, the weather there would be even more severe. At that time, he was anxious to return Zhongmu, and thus made a wrong decision to turn north instead of south. If he had gone south, he would had reached Chu and would not be trapped in this situation where he could neither advance or retreat. It was indeed an unwise decision. Soon he fell asleep unconsciously. On the second day, although there were people coming in to take out bundles of firewood, they had no clue to his presence.

Before dusk, Qiu Lin brought some food, and said apologetically, "Wu Lang(young man or husband), please make do with it! Young Master’s clothes don’t fit you too well; there are not many men as tall as you."

Xiang Shaolong, however was totally satisfied, after sharing a moment of tenderness, let her go. Physically, he had more or less recovered and covertly figuring that this wasn’t a suitable place to stay for too long.

Swiftly, before the vicious dogs were set free, he climbed over the wall into the street. With the howling snow, there were not many people. Those few on the streets were also hurrying along and paying little attention. Xiang Shaolong used a piece of rag torn off the thin quilt to cover his head and face and from his memory headed toward the north gate.

When walls were in sight, he was however shocked to discover that the walls were covered with thick ice and extremely slippery. It would be impossible to climb over even in the best possible conditions. Xiang Shaolong was, however unwilling to give up immediately. He found a suitable length of wall, and tried a dozen times but failed to set the hook over the wall. At this point, he had no choice but to admit defeat, also he could now understand why there would so few sieges in the winter.

By this time, returning to the warehouse would be a problem due to the roaming dogs. Therefore he had no choice but to find a side lane and huddled up for the night before making his way cautiously towards the gates at dawn.

The snow stopped at midnight and sun rose up the horizon at dawn, Xiang Shaolong was walking down the street, with the feeling of being totally naked. He had always been proud of the body, but now it was his biggest burden. He had specifically chose the side streets to avoid eyes and ears, where he came to an open space where a group of children was playing with the shuttlecock.

One of the children caught sight of him, and his face changed colour, and shouted, “Here's the bandit!!”

The other children saw him and scattered off in fear. Xiang Shaolong sighed bitterly in his heart, “Do I look like a bandit?” Suddenly, he understood where his problem lied.

================================================== ========
There is a phrase in the last sentence, I don't get at all.
忽地虎躯剧震,明白到问题出在什么地方了。
What is 虎躯剧震? Can anyone help?

[Jaran.Saga]

thank you..... chowbeng

[Jaran.Saga]

VOLUME	CHAPTER	TRANSLATOR	#Chaps
1	1-13	Jean	13
2	1-10	Jean	10
3	1-11	Jean	11
4	1-11	Jean	11
5	1-11	Jean	11
6	1-11	Jean	11
7	1-11	Jean	11
8	1-3	Slyphiad	3
	4-6	Slyphiad & Justin13	3
	7-10	Justin13	4
9	1	Slyphiad	1
	2-11	Justin13	10
10	1	Ren Wo Xing	1
	2	Slyphiad	1
	3	Ren Wo Xing	1
	4	Slyphiad & Ren Wo Xing	1
	5-6	Justin13	2
	7	Ren Wo Xing	1
	8-12	Justin13	5
11	1-12	Justin13	12
12	1-3	Justin13	3
	4	Jean	1
	5-12	Justin13	8
13	1-13	Justin13	13
14	1-12	Justin13	12
15	1-6	Justin13	6
	7-13	Yeongwee	7
16	1-11	Yeongwee	11
17	1-3	Yeongwee	3
	4-12	Justin13	9
18	1-11	Justin13	11
	12	Ren Wo Xing	1
19	1-7	Ren Wo Xing	7
	8-11	Jean	4
20	1-12	Jean	12
21	1-2	Jean	2
	3	Yeongwee	1
	4	Yeongwee, Skwandrew, & Chowbeng	1
	5-12	?	8
22	1-12	?	12
23	1-12	?	12
24	1-12	?	12
25	1-14	?	14
		TOTAL	293

So far... will be 5 years on 28 September 2012... can we finish it this year??????

[ycb5959]

Thanks chowbeng - that was rather substantial. Clear translation too.

[ycb5959]

So far... will be 5 years on 28 September 2012... can we finish it this year??????

lol - lets see - around 21 chapters in 5 years. That is about 4 chapters a year.

So the balance should take us another year?

[CFT]

What is 虎躯剧震? Can anyone help?

Quite interesting. This seems to be a phrase coined by the author. The 虎躯 literally means the 'tiger's body' so refers to the immediate character's (e.g. XSL) body. 剧震 means 'violent shaking'. So together it means that the character is visibly shaken by current events.

There is also 娇躯 (delicate body) used in similar phrasing, so refers to a female protagonist.