DOMD Translation (Take 2)

[herman285]

NICE! I am looking forward to your work ! I love this show. I watched the 2000 one and the 2008 one. Both are really good. Hopefully the novel would be great as well!

[HuntingX]

I finally found a job (yay!) so the translation will slow down (again) but hopefully won't grind to a halt like last time.

If anyone wants to help out, just let me know which chapter/section you want, and just go for it. This is a looooooooong book.

[Gubrak]

This is the translation story that I wait for a looooooooonng time ....

Thanks for your great job HuntingX, have a nice translation & new job.

[WhiteHairedMaiden]

For anyone who doesnt know (like me) what does DOMD stand for?

[Han Solo]

For anyone who doesnt know (like me) what does DOMD stand for?

Duke of Mount Deer is the english title of the Jing Yong novel "Luk Ding Ji".

Han Solo

[partyboi247]

Hi. I was just wondering is the translation still going on or its been moved to somewhere else. If its been moved would you please let me know? I am a big fan of jin yong books but unfortunately i could not read chinese.

[kohchun]

The book has been published. Please look for The Deer and the Cauldron

[HuntingX]

The Meeting of Wei Xiaobao and Mao 18

Yangzhou has long been the center of Luxury in China. Du Mu, of Tang, is quoted thusly: “From my Yangzhou Dream I wake at last— Ten years a rake, ten years gone so fast! And as the old saying has it, one of life's greatest pleasures has always been to Stray on a myriad strings of cash, And ride a crane to Yangzhou Town.”

From the construction of the Great Canal by Emperor Yang, Yangzhou has been a hub of commerce from Jiangsu and Zhejiang. As time went by it grew to be one of the wealthiest places in China.

'Thin' West Lake lies on the western outskirts of Yangzhou. Early in the reign of Emperor Kangxi, the Alley of Jade, was famed for its large brothel concentration. Our story begins in the Alley one typical warm evening in spring. The lanterns had been lit, the music from flutes and zithers mixed with the laughter of courtesan and client. It was heaven on earth.

Suddenly, from both the north and south, there was a loud proclamation: “We’re looking for one man and one man only! If you don’t want to be hurt, stay out of the way!”

Instantly, there was silence in the Alley, however short lived. The shrieking of the courtesans and the yelling of the patrons was everywhere. A particularly large group at one of the most famous Brothels was very concerned. “Is the government coming? What’s going on??” The sound of the door being battered down didn’t help matters, and soon the main door came crashing down and in stormed a gang of seventeen or eighteen large me.

They wore black sashes and white bands, and carried swords or otherwise nasty weapons. The merchants recognized them at once as belonging to one of the notorious gangs that roamed the region. At that time the salt tax was exorbitant, and anyone managing to sell the commodity on the black market could make a fortune.

Yangzhou was the distribution centre for the salt produced from most of the Yangtze, and a number of gangs profited from the business. They were vicious enough to the locals, although little match for the government. On the whole the locals turned a blind eye to their activities, and the merchants had come to regard them as relatively harmless (they were not given to attacking or robbing the merchants themselves, and even had a reputation for fair dealing in their illicit transactions and for not causing trouble with ordinary folk). And suddenly here they were storming the Alley!

An older smuggler, over 50, now spoke up: “I apologize for the intrusion! We mean you no harm!” Clasping his hands and bowing in respect. “We've come to find Jia Xiong of the Heaven and Earth Society. Does anyone know where he is?”
His eyes searched the merchants’ faces and his gaze struck terror into their hearts, and they all shook their heads quickly, but breathed a sigh of relief: this had no relationship to them.

The words were now spoken louder “Listen here Jia, wherever you’re hiding. You said some things earlier. Frightened, you said we were too scared to stand up against a few Qing dogs! Wasn't that it? Just a bunch of petty thieves? You were drunk, but you said we should find you if we were angry? Well we’re angry.”

The others joined in: 'Come on out, loser! Come on out, nimrod!' 'Is it a Heaven and Earth member here, or a fake? Looks more like a coward to me?' and so on. “Stop!” chimed in the older fellow. “This matter concerns only Jia; we have nothing against the Heaven and Earth Society. We can’t compare to the real men of the Society, but nor can we take this lying down.”

A long silence ensued and still no trace of Jia. “Find him! He must still be in this Brothel” Suddenly, from a room on the eastern side of the Bar “What do you idiots want? Just go away won’t you?” “That's him!” they all shouted at once. 'That's the *******!' 'Come on out, and let’s settle this like men!'

There was only a loud laugh: 'I’m not Society Member Jia, but I’ll vouch for anyone in the Heaven and Earth Society! You aren’t fit to eat the scum off their shoes!' The bandits were very upset by the abuse, and three charged him immediately. It ended poorly: one of them had his own sword rammed down his throat and six more came bursting in. One by one they too staggered out. Nobody else was willing to give it a try.

At this point the bandit leader stepped forward and peered into the side-room. In the dim light he was he saw a large whiskered man sitting on a bed, the top of his head wrapped in a white turban. Lacking Jia’s trademark Scar, he could tell it was clearly not the same man. “You are very capable! Can we know your great name?” “What, you don’t know the name of your pops when you see him?”

At this one of the courtesans couldn’t help but laugh. A bandit walked up and slapped her twice heavily on the face, to which woman began sobbing. 'What's the big joke, you dirty *****!' snarled the bandit. She was far too scared to reply.

A child of twelve or thirteen came running into the salon, crying: “How dare you hit my mother, you *******! I hope your fart catches thunder and you die a horrible death!”
The bandit immediately wheeled upon the boy, but he darted behind one of the merchants. The bandit brushed aside the merchant and began to mercilessly beat the boy. His mother immediately chimed in: 'Spare the boy!' But the boy had already ducked down between the bandit’s legs. On his way he reached up, grabbed hold of the man's balls and squeezed them as hard as he could. The bandit let out a great howl of pain. By now the boy was well out of his reach.

The smuggler began flailing wildly with his fists and punched the mother straight in the face. The boy flung himself on top of her and the bandit immediately grabbed him. Before he could beat him, the bandit chief shouted: “Stop messing around and focus on the task at hand!” The man obeyed, but not without first giving the boy a hard kick on the rump that landed him across the room.

The older man gave him an annoyed look but went on talking with the mysterious man “We're from a local gang, nothing to mention. One of the society members, this Jia, insulted us, and we came down here to the Alley to settle scores with him. Seeing as you've nothing to do with the Society, there's really no reason for us to have any issues. If you'd just be so good as to give us your name, I'm sure everything can be sorted out.'

The man inside the room laughed: 'I'm not interested in your feud! I was enjoying myself fine til you ruined my evening. If you want my advice, leave the Society alone. Just take their insult and go on with your business.' Why should we do that?' retorted the older fellow angrily. 'The way you talk, I can see you're not one of us!'I’m not your damned brother in law, so why should I have to watch how I speak?'

At this moment three more men came in, similarly dressed in the bandit gang. “What’s this lunatic mumbling about? Society this, society that, who’s scared of them?” The three attacked immediately.

The clash of weapons was immediate and terrifying. The Brothel was a five-star *****house for the rich and famous, and the rooms were lavishly decorated. The fight was wrecking havoc on the furniture, and the Madame’s fat cheeks quivered as she mumbled to Bhudda to stop the damage before it got too bad. The guests in the salon huddled together as far from the scene of action as possible, afraid to get involved. The noise got louder, and climaxed in a howl of pain; one of the smugglers had gotten hurt.

Meanwhile the bandit with the sore balls saw his tormentor creep out of the room, and his blood began boiling. He dashed, launching a full assault, fists aflurry. The boy tried to dodge, but still got hit squarely on the ear. Everyone could see the man was intent on killing the boy, but when the man brought up his fist and aimed a punch at the boy's head, the boy bolted in the only direction left open to him—through the doorway and into the side-room where the other, more serious battle was taking place. The audience in the main room let out a collective gasp, and the boy's pursuer stopped dead in his tracks. He wasn't going in there.

He couldn’t even make out what was going on in the pitch black room, as the man wrapped in bandages continuously beat back his opponents. The only light was from the continuous collision of steel. Gradually the lamplight from the main room filtered in through the doorway, and he could see that the man with the bandaged head had a cutlass in his hand, which he was using as best he could to fend off his attackers. Two of the weaker smugglers were already finished, but the other two were still attacking viciously: the bandit leader with his twin blades, and another larger man.

“He looks badly wounded; I think he’ll be finished soon. But I got to get out of here, but how will I avenge mother? He remembered how she had been struck in the face, and the insults to which she had been subjected, and he was increasingly incensed. “Go to hell!' he yelled back through the doorway. 'Cowards! Salt—that's all you're good for! You and all your ancestors can go to thell! Go and salt your *******s and sell them as pickled fart—if anyone will buy the shi*t!'

The salt-smugglers were fairly incensed now, and they would have rushed in and given the boy a good beating, had they not been too frightened to enter the darkened room.

The man on the bed suddenly lunged sideways with his blade: the sword swished through the air and removing a goodly chunk of flesh and bone from the shoulder of the larger man, sending him away anguishing in cries of pain. The older man went straight for the man’s chest, which was blocked by the sword. A loud thud; the larger man was back, and had thrust his sword down on the wounded man’s shoulder. He dropped his sword in pain, and the bandit leader went in for the kill.

The man on the bed retaliated with his fists: a series of sounds like bone on bone ensued the bandit leader flew out of the room, his organs and body a complete mess. The larger one took his opportunity and thrust again at the wounded man, now completely exhausted.

The boy saw the events in slow motion, and adrenaline spurred him to action. Although he was very light compared to the man, the latter was already deathly injured, and the boy grabbed his legs and pulled. The larger man collapsed in a pool of blood.

The man on the bed gasped for breath and then shouted: 'Anyone else interested?' The boy was frantic, trying to stop the man from provoking the bandits further. The bandit leader, as he flew out, had shoved the doors open, and the blood covered, whiskered face of the wounded man was a sight to behold.

The smugglers were already terrified by all the wounded, as they were, after all, not real fighters but bandits who preyed on the defenseless. The wounded man goaded them further “If nobody is coming in, old man me is going to come out and lay out a can of whuppass (artistic license).” The bandits promptly broke and fled. “Close the door boy.” He said.

'Yes sir' The boy acted at once and, closed the door and returned to the bed. 'You . . . must. . .' Before he could say another word, the man slumped to one side, unconscious. The boy dashed forward to prop him up. With great difficulty, the boy returned the man to the bed. The man gasped several times, and said “They’ll be back shortly, give me back the sword.”

The boy did as he was told, and slowly the man lowered himself from the bed. The boy stood at his left side, taking the man's weight on his right shoulder. 'I must flee for now, ' said the man. “if they see you they’ll kill you; leave me.” “Screw them!” Said the boy. “Friends stick together through thick and thin! How can I be considered a real man if I don’t stick by you now?”

We should perhaps explain that the storytellers frequenting the brothels in Yangzhou were always regaling their audiences with Xia and loyalty—episodes from The Three Kingdoms, Outlaws of the Marsh, or Heroes of the Ming. And our small boy, who was always going from Brothel to gambling-den, from tea-house to restaurant, would always listen and idolize those heroes.

He'd heard the stories told over and over again, and his young mind was alive with epic tales of the heroes of Jiang Hu, and the brotherhoods that bound them. So when he saw this man wounded, and yet still capable of beating several bandits by himself, he felt as if he'd finally come face to face with one of his heroes. It was only natural that he should begin to think and talk as if he were living in one of the tales he knew growing up.

“Well spoken boy!” laughed his new friend. 'I've heard the same words spoken a thousand in Jianghu. But when it comes down to it, how many are there only for the good times, and how many for the bad?'

The boy immediately helped his friend to his feet, and together, the older man leaning on the younger, the left the room. “Xiaobao!” said the poor mother. “What are you doing? You have to leave him alone!” “We’re friends, mother. Friends stay together.” Laughing, the two men walked out of the brothel, leaving a very confused and frantic mother behind.

[Han Solo]

Thanks for the translation HungtingX.

You might want to have a chat or pm with foxs who is planning on doing this translation as well in order to coordinate the translation.

Han Solo

[partyboi247]

wow, this is great!! Great translation HungtingX !! Thanks a lot!

[foxs]

I was away for a few days, my parents and brother are here, so I have to play host and take them to San Francisco, Las Vegas ... you know, those tourists places. Anyway, I was back last night, and got an email from HuntingX. I did not realize he continue the translation until I checked spcnet.

I am almost done with Chapter 2, only about 3 pages left (it is a looong ... chapter) and was planning on posting it starting early next week. However, if HuntingX is continuing, then I will abandon this story and perhaps take another one. (I replied to his email, but have not checked mine today. I'll do it when I get home tonight.)

Either way, I will post whatever I have early next week, at once.

[HuntingX]

I'm unfortunately way too busy to do this whole translation (it's gigantic!). If it's possible, I'd like to support the super translator (foxs) with a couple chapters here and there

[littleli]

Nice to c u back, foxs.