Thread: The Deer and The Cauldron

  1. #2781
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    Thank you for the update, Foxs.
    Translating Wuxia novel is very tough, because Chinese characters all put together can be translated to different meanings and confusing to the readers. I am very enjoying your translation of this story, easy to follow and I can tell you have checked all the parts to ensure nothing are missing before posting them. Remarkable dedication..

    Btw, it seems Jin Yong novels have been through several editing process. I got books of SPW and ROCH in Indonesian version, and I found the opening details are bit different compare to Chinese version that I have downloaded from internet. Even though the differences aren't much and not significant, but little information are lost which is pity.
    From example, in ROCH Indonesian version, Lu Wu Shuang throws several lotus petals, and Wu San Tong accepted those lotus petals and stacked them on his head, then eaten them one by one by dropping it without touching them with his hands. This part of the story was removed and skipped to next scenes.
    I suppose it was removed because it will be hard to perform this scene in TV..

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    Thanks foxs

  3. #2783
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 45 - Part 2

    Tweety, no apologies needed. You are NOT under any obligation to post anything. Of course, I would appreciate your stopping by. It's good to see you back. Eccentric, Jin Yong has revised ALL his novels a couple of times, the last editions are the third. If you want to know more, there is a 'sticky' thread in the 'Wuxia Fiction', 'Third Edition changes'. My guess is the edition you read earlier was the first. My first introduction to Jin Yong was also via the first editions. Anh, you are welcome.


    Seeing Wei Xiaobao in danger, Su Quan and the others came to a standstill. They were all anxious, but were also baffled; this Feng Jizhong was obviously Wei Xiaobao’s friend, they had just fought the enemy side-by-side, how could in an instant, as soon as they had disagreement, he immediately made his move? They supposed it must be because Wei Xiaobao wanted to release Zheng Keshuang, while Feng Jizhong wanted to kill him to avenge Chen Jinnan.

    Wei Xiaobao tipped his head backward slightly, the tip of Feng Jizhong’s saber followed forward. “Wei Daren,” he shouted, “Please don’t move. Steel saber don’t have eyes; don’t blame me if I offend you. Please raise your hands.”

    Wei Xiaobao had no choice, he slowly raised both hands while saying with a laugh, “Feng Dage, you want to rise to high-ranking official position, you want to get rich, you should be a bit more polite to me.”

    “While it’s true that to be promoted and gain wealth is important, the first step is till protecting my own life,” Feng Jizhong replied. Suddenly his body slightly leaned sideways, he rushed behind Wei Xiaobao, reached out to draw the dagger in Wei Xiaobao’s boot, and pointed it to his back. “Wei Daren,” he said, “Your dagger is very sharp, lowly officer has seen you using it several times.”

    Wei Xiaobao could only smile wryly. He felt slight pain on his back, and knew that the tip of the dagger had pierced his outer clothing. Although he was wearing his treasured protective vest, it would not stop the treasured dagger.

    Feng Jizhong shouted, “Everybody turn around and throw your weapon down.” Seeing this turn of events, Su Quan and the others did not have any choice but to follow his order; they turned around and tossed their weapons to the ground.

    Feng Jizhong saw there were still six Tian Di Hui brothers standing on the side; he shouted to them, “Come here, I have something to say.” The six people did not know what was going on, they came over.

    Feng Jizhong raised his right elbow, ‘slam’ the point of his elbow struck the ‘da zhui’ [big spine] acupoint on Wei Xiaobao’s back; the steel saber in his left hand swept, accompanied by a series of ‘cha, cha, ah, ah, aiyo’ sound, all six Tian Di Hui brothers were hit by the saber. In an instant he had hacked these six people to their deaths, each saber chop hit a vital point on a man’s body. His saber was swift, his attacks were fierce; it was indeed rarely seen.

    Hearing the miserable scream, Su Quan and the others turned around and saw the bodies of those six people scattered around on the ground; from the wound on either their heads, necks, chests, backs, waists, or flanks, blood was gushing out. None of the women did not cry out in fear, none of their faces did not change.

    Turned out that as Feng Jizhong saw that his face was exposed, he immediately made his move; he was alone, hence he had to strike first by killing these six Tian Di Hui brothers; first, to intimidate with his power so that Wei Xiaobao and the women would not dare to rebel; second, so that he had six less enemies. This way, although his opponents were numerous, they were no more than one youngster and seven women.

    He swung the saber in his left hand turned around and pressed it against Wei Xiaobao’s neck. “Wei Daren,” he said, “Let’s go down to the boat.”

    He was thinking to take only Wei Xiaobao and Zheng Keshuang, two people, under arrest and presented them to the Emperor, and thus rendering a great service. These seven women would be left on the island, so that they would not add trouble to him on the boat. By being lenient and not kill these seven women, he was actually preparing a room for action for himself, to avoid incurring Wei Xiaobao’s hatred too much. How the Emperor would deal with this youngster later would be beyond anybody’s guess.

    When the women saw Wei Xiaobao was under his control, they were all alarmed and frightened; nobody knew what to do. Princess Jianning cursed loudly, “What kind of ‘thing’ are you? Why do you dare to be this rude? Quickly throw your saber down!” [I know the better translation would be ‘who do you think you are?’ but I thought preserving the word ‘thing’ is more fun.]

    “Humph,” Feng Jizhong only snorted without paying her any attention. He had come with Wei Xiaobao escorting her to Yunnan to get married, so he knew she was the Princess, hence he did not dare to argue with his superior.

    Seeing he did not take notice of her, the Princess was even more angry; in this earth, other than the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, plus Wei Xiaobao and Su Quan, four people, she had no regard of anybody else. Stooping down to pick a saber on the ground, she leaped forward to hack down Feng Jizhong’s head.

    Feng Jizhong leaned sideways to evade. ‘Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!’ the Princess hacked three times in a row, Feng Jizhong dodged left and right. If it were another woman, he would have used his leg to kick her down. But the one holding the saber was the Emperor’s imperial younger sister, the golden branch, jade leaves Princess. The desire in his heart was only to render merit and get promoted, to repay the kindness of the imperial family; how could he dare to offend the Princess? Thereupon right now he could only dodge.

    “Stinky b@stard servant,” the Princess cursed, “Stand still, don’t move! I want to chop your head. Why do you keep your stinking head running around in circles so that I cannot chop it down? I will tell Huangdi Gege, to have him make mincemeat of you!”

    Feng Jizhong was stunned; he thought that this woman was capable of doing what she was capable to say, she and the Emperor were brother and sister, while he himself was just a sesame seed mung bean little military official, how could he fight the Princess? But if he obeyed her command by keeping his stinking head steady and unmoving to let Her Highness the Princess’ ten thousand gold body’s precious hand’s saber chop it, he seemed to have difficulty in obeying it.

    While her mouth was busy hurling curses, the Princess’ saber hacked to the left and chopped to the right continuously. Feng Jizhong slightly sidestepped and leaned his body sideways, he lightly and easily evaded the attack; although the saber always flashed by a few cun away from his body, it was never able to chop him. The Princess became impatient; sweeping the saber horizontally, she hacked across his waist.

    “Careful!” Feng Jizhong shouted, and leaped up. It was obvious that the Princess would not be able to stop the momentum of the saber, it would chop Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder. While his body was still midair, Feng Jizhong’s left foot kicked on Wei Xiaobao’s body, throwing him down to the ground, while at the same time he borrowed the momentum to leap several more zhang away.

    Shuang’er pounced forward, grabbed Wei Xiaobao, and flew several steps away. Feng Jizhong was greatly alarmed; he rushed over with a saber in his hand. Shuang’er’s martial art was superb, but after all, her strength was still lacking. She was half a head shorter than Wei Xiaobao, carrying him in her arms like that she was only able to run several zhang when Feng Jizhong had already come near.

    The acupoint on Wei Xiaobao’s back was sealed, his four limbs did not obey his command; he could only said, “Put me down, let me release the secret projectile.” But Feng Jizhong came really fast; Shuang’er wanted to let Wei Xiaobao down so that he could release the ‘Han Sha She Ying’ secret projectile, but it was already too late. In desperation she threw him away.

    Feng Jizhong was greatly delighted; he rushed forward and stretched out his hand to catch Wei Xiaobao. Suddenly he heard a light ‘click’ behind him, like the sound of fire-knife struck against a flint stone, followed by a loud ‘Bang!’ His body was flying midair, suddenly it dropped down to the ground. He twisted several times, and then stopped moving altogether.

    Wei Xiaobao’s body landed on the sandy beach, he did not suffer any injury; he struggled for some time to crawl up, but was unable to do so. He saw a wisp of smoke in front of Shuang’er, her hand was holding a short gun; it was precisely the gift she received from Wu Liuqi the day they swore to become brother and sister. It was a refined firearm made in the Luocha Country; it was formidable beyond compare. Although Feng Jizhong possessed an extraordinary martial art skill, his flesh and blood body was simply unable to withstand it.

    Shuang’er herself was so scared that she could only stared blankly. When the gun went off, it shook her hand and arm that she felt numb and painful. Her hand trembled, the gun fell to the ground.

    For fear that Feng Jizhong had not died yet, Wei Xiaobao scrambled several steps forward, press the mechanism on his waist, and a cluster of steel needles shot out; all of the needles hit Feng Jizhong’s body. But Feng Jizhong did not budge at all; as soon as the gun went off, he was already dead.

    The women cheered in chorus and swarmed forward. Seven women plus one Wei Xiaobao, it was literally ‘seven openings eight mouths’ [chaos (idiom)]; a hundred-percent ‘you speak, I talk’, everybody wanted to know what was going on. Wei Xiaobao briefly explained to them.

    Shuang’er had been in contact with Feng Jizhong for quite a long time, on the journey he always displayed his honest, generous and simple character, treating her with respect and consideration. He was indeed a model of a man, who always does his duty without offending anybody; who would have thought that he was extremely shrewd? The more she thought about it, the more scared she was.

    She turned around to pick up the gun from the ground. Suddenly it dawned on her the profound meaning behind Wu Liuqi’s desire to swear brotherhood with her that day: this extraordinary Wulin talent was hoping that in the future Wei Xiaobao would take her as his wife, but she was only a servant girl, in term of status, they did not match. After becoming the sworn sister of Tian Di Hui’s Red Banner Xiangzhu, she would be fit to marry the Tian Di Hui’s Green Wood Hall Xiangzhu. Remembering her sworn brother’s good intention, also that he died in injustice, she could not stop tears from flowing down her face.

    Wei Xiaobao turned around and saw Zheng Keshuang and the other four people were walking toward the beach to board the skiff. He thought, “He has killed Shifu; if I let him leave safe and sound, it would be too easy for him.” Therefore, with a dagger in his hand, he ran after them and called out, “Hold on!”

    Zheng Keshuang stopped and turned his head around; his countenance turned ash-grey. “Wei … Wei Xiangzhu, you promised to let me … let us go,” he said.

    With a cold laugh Wei Xiaobao said, “I promised not to kill you. I have not promised not to chop your leg.”

    Feng Xifan was furious; he was about to lash it out, but as soon as he raised his hand, his whole body felt limp and painful, he was unable to exert even half a part of strength.

    By this time Zheng Keshuang was already scared out of his wits, his knees went weak, and he dropped on the ground. “Wei … Wei Xiangzhu,” he said, “If you chop my leg, I … I will definitely not able to live.”

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Whether you live or not, it’s not my concern. You owe me one million taels of silver, you said you want to use Ah Ke as the guarantee. But she and I have bowed to the Heaven and the Earth, she is my lawfully-wedded wife; in her belly she has my child, and she voluntarily wanted to come with me. How can you use my wife as your guarantee? How could there be such logic in the world?”

    By this time Su Quan, Fang Yi, Zeng Rou, the Princess, and the others were already standing by Wei Xiaobao’s side. “It’s preposterous!” they said in chorus.

    Zheng Keshuang’s mind was already in chaos, but he had a nagging feeling that something was just not right. “What … what should I do then?” he asked.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “I’ll chop your arm and your thigh first as the guarantee. When you pay me the one million taels of silver in the future, I will return your cutoff arm and leg to you.”

    Zheng Keshuang said, “Just now you said that I could sell Ah Ke off to you, the ten thousand taels … ten thousand taels of silver I owed you is already written off at one stroke.”

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head vehemently. “Can’t do,” he said, “Just now my head was muddled, and I fell into your big trick. Ah Ke is my wife, how can you sell my wife back to me? Alright, I will sell your mother back to you, she is worth one million taels of silver. I will also sell your father back to you, worth another million taels of silver. And then your paternal granny, worth one million taels of silver, plus your maternal granny, also at one million taels of silver …”

    Zheng Keshuang said, “My maternal grandmother has already passed away.”

    “I can still sell dead people,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will sell your maternal grandmother’s corpse to you; dead people only worth 80%, make it eight hundred thousand taels. The coffin is included, there’s no additional charge for it.”

    The more he talked the more preposterous he was; Zheng Keshuang thought that he even wanted to sell dead people. If he had to buy his great-grandfather, his great-great-grandfather, his great-grandmother, his great-great-grandmother, even if the dead people were valued at 80%, or even 70, or 60%, he would not be able to tolerate it; but he did not dare to say that he was unwilling to buy. Without any choice he could only plead, “I … I really cannot afford it.”

    “Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Since you can’t afford it, I’ll spare you. But those you already bought you cannot return. You owe me three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver. How are you going to pay?”

    The Princess laughed and said, “That’s right, three million eight hundred thousand taels. Quickly pay up.”

    Scowling miserably, Zheng Keshuang said, “I don’t even have one thousand taels with me, where can I get three million eight hundred thousand taels?”

    “Never mind!” Wei Xiaobao said, “You don’t have any money, I’ll let you return the merchandise. Quickly give me back your father, mother, (paternal) granny, and dead (maternal) granny. Not a hair less.”

    Zheng Keshuang knew that if this unreasonable argument continued, in the end there would not be any solution still. He looked at Ah Ke, hoping that she would say something on his behalf, but against expectation she stood some distance away, turned her back to him, determined not to get involved. He was very anxious, looking at Wei Xiaobao, he seemed to be determined to chop his hand his foot; Zheng Keshuang did not have any choice but to repeatedly kowtow and said, “Wei Xiangzhu, I … I killed Chen Junshi, it was really a crime deserving ten thousand deaths. I beseech your magnanimity to spare Xiaoren’s [little/lowly person] life. Even if I owe you, Senior, three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver, I … I will definitely try to pay you back.”

  4. #2784
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    So many heroes ...all dead in 2 segments. Wow...I know XB is crazy but not crazeeier than me...... imagine 800,000 for the dead grandmother .....coffin discounted....hah hah hah

    Thanks Foxs....

    At least the Princess is of some use. Had the Feng guy been a bit more decisive, XB would have been in great danger.
    Shucks, why didn't XB castrate the Zheng guy ???
    cheerio..

  5. #2785
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    Thanks foxs

  6. #2786
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    Thank you for the information, Foxs. Now, I know why there are many details removed from the story.
    I personally like the first edition, because it contains more information and details. The edition of ROCH that I read tells that Wu San Tong was wearing a female pants.
    Unfortunately the books that I got had several torn pages and no where to be found for the same printed edition of them.
    I'll take a peek of the Sticky that you mentioned, Foxs. Also thanks for the translation of DOMD.

  7. #2787
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    In addition to being an idiot, ZKS is terribly misinformed to think that he had the minutest chance to "bargain" or "argue" with WXB.

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    Does Zheng Keshuang even have that much money? Yeah, he's like a prince, but he doesn't have free access to the treasury. All this begging is pathetic. Man up and face the consequences .

    Chen Jinnan was blindly loyal to the point of being annoying, but to be backstabbed by such a coward is really an unfit ending.

    Thanks foxs! All your hard work translating, the very least readers like me should do is post a few words to show our appreciation.

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    Default Im really enjoying this part

    I like it that JY allowes the hero to survive with all his wives. Cant stand books that claim to be more authentic or realistic simply because they miss treat the hero.

    (thanks foxs... to be honest i read updates daily... but only ever post every so often )
    Ali Derhamy

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    Three million eight hundred thousand Taels of silver, equivalent to how many kg of gold or usd today? It must be a huge amount of money!

    Thanks Fox for translating this amazing story.

  11. #2791
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    An article say that one tael of silver is roughtly six hundred to eight hundred RMB. Say it is seven hundred RMB total, then the value translates to one hundred and twelve USD.

    Here's the math.

    1 tael of silver = 700 RMB.
    700 RMB = 112 USD.
    112 USD * 10,000 = 1,120,000 USD
    112 USD * 3,800,000 = 425,600,000 USD.

    So ZKS roughly owes WXB a 38,000% interest rate. That's a lot even by today's standards.

    Thanks for the translation, Foxs. Back to lurking.
    Last edited by MrWErD; 11-07-12 at 08:23 AM.

  12. #2792
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    Default Chapter 45 - Part 3

    Crazee, but I don't think he would dare to kill WXB, since he knew Kangxi still wanted him alive. Anh, you are welcome. Eccentric, do you know that the entire trilogy has been translated into English? Smurf, ZKS was such a loser, with no redeeming quality at all. Tweety, Ali, thanks. I appreciate your support. Gubrak, Mr.WErD, thanks for the additional info. I seem to recall that a night in an inn would cost only about 3 taels, and that was already luxurious accommodation.


    Seeing that he managed to torment Zheng Keshuang so that he was in such a sorry state, Wei Xiaobao’s hatred was somewhat diminished; he said, “In that case you must write an I.O.U.”

    Zheng Keshuang was greatly delighted. “Yes, yes,” he busily said. Turning to his bodyguard he said, “Get some pen and paper.” But in that uninhabited island, where could they find any pen and paper?

    The bodyguard was quite quick-witted; he tore a piece of his own long gown at once, and said, “There are many dead bodies over there, we can write using their blood as the ink.” Finished speaking he wanted to drag Feng Jizhong’s body immediately. Wei Xiaobao reached out with his left hand to grab Zheng Keshuang’s right wrist. White light flashed, he sliced his dagger to cut one section of Zheng Keshuang’s right hand index finger.

    Zheng Keshuang screamed loudly. Wei Xiaobao said, “Use the blood from your finger to write.”

    Zheng Keshuang was in so much pain that his whole body trembled; momentarily he was at a loss of what to do. Wei Xiaobao said, “Just write slowly, if your blood dry out, I’ll just cut your second finger.”

    “Yes, yes!” Zheng Keshuang busily said. How could he dare to write slowly? Clenching his teeth he wrote with his cut finger on the piece of cloth, “I owe three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver exactly. Signed, Zheng Keshuang.” After writing these thirteen characters, the pain was unbearable that he nearly passed out.

    With a cold laugh Wei Xiaobao said, “Shame on you as a magnificent Prince’s Mansion’s Gongzi, you did not work hard on your penmanship; the I.O.U you wrote, these several characters are trembling scrawls, all are faulty strokes, not a single one shows good penmanship.” Taking the piece of cloth from Zheng Keshuang, he handed it over to Shuang’er, saying, “Take this, see if the amount is correct. This man is treacherous and sly, don’t let him write several taels less.”

    Shuang’er said, “Three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver, no less.” While saying that, she put the I.O.U. written in blood into her pocket.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud; he kicked Zheng Keshuang’s chin and shouted, “Get your dead (maternal) granny out of here!”

    Zheng Keshuang tumbled down and rolled away. His bodyguards rushed over to help him up and wrap his cut finger. Two bodyguards separately helped Zheng Keshuang and Feng Xifan to board the skiff, and rowed it out to the sea.

    Wei Xiaobao’s laughter continued; suddenly he remembered his Shifu’s tragic death, and could not help bursting into tears.

    After the skiff was rowed several dozen zhang away from the beach, panic started to settle into Zheng Keshuang’s heart; he said, “Let us seize the big boat and get away with it, I don’t think those goddamn male and female dogs will be able to pursue.” But as they sailed toward the big boat, they found out that the boat was without the rudder and without any sailing equipment.

    Feng Xifan hatefully said, “Those goddamn male and female dogs have already taken care of it.”

    They look at the vast and obscure ocean, at the billowing waves, while the skiff was without provision and water; how could they make a distant sea voyage? Zheng Keshuang said, “Let us beseech that little thief again, ask him to lend us their boat. At most I will have to write another three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver I.O.U.”

    Feng Xifan said, “It’s their only boat, how can they lend it to us? I’d rather be buried inside the fish’s belly that begging that little thief.”

    Hearing his tone was resolute and decisive, Zheng Keshuang did not dare to disobey; he had no choice but to heave a sigh and instructed his three bodyguards to row the skiff into the ocean.

    Wei Xiaobao and the others watched as Zheng Keshuang and the others rowed their skiff toward the big boat, and after finding out that the big boat was not sailable, they finally rowed the skiff away; Wei Xiaobao and the others could not help finding it hilarious.

    Su Quan saw Wei Xiaobao was crying and laughing, apparently he still could not get over his grief over his Shifu’s death; she wanted to say something to please him, thereupon she said, “This Zheng Family’s Er Gongzi [second young master] is devious to the extreme, obviously he wanted to steal our big boat. Xiaobao, in my opinion, he won’t pay you the three million eight hundred thousand taels of silver he owes.”

    “I was thinking the same thing,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

    Su Quan laughed and said, “Whatever you do, usually you are very astute, but just now that fellow sold you your own wife for ten thousand taels to pay his debt. You did not think about it and simply agreed. You must love Ah Ke Meizi [younger sister, term of endearment] so much that you turned silly. At that time, if he wanted you to find ten thousand taels to pay him, I think you might readily agree.”

    Wei Xiaobao used his sleeve to wipe the tears from his eyes; and then he laughed and said, “I don’t care if he said ‘three sevens are twenty-one’ [i.e. the facts of the matter], I would have agreed first and talked later; I will slowly settle the account with him.”

    Fang Yi asked, “And then what happened? Why did you suddenly remember that you have suffered a big loss?”

    Wei Xiaobao scratched his head. “After we killed Feng Jizhong, I did not have anything to worry about, suddenly my brain became very clear,” he said.

    Actually, he had never had any suspicion against Feng Jizhong; it’s just that in the deepest part of his heart he had a nagging feeling that he had a great root of trouble nearby, but as for what kind of trouble, he himself was unclear, only he felt fear without any reason. When Feng Jizhong was killed, immediately he felt as if a heavy load had just been released, and he felt entirely free from worry. He thought, “Perhaps early on I was already afraid of this thief, only I did not realize it.”

    They had just undergone a series of strange dangers, until now, where the powerful enemies were either dead or run away. Now the island was back to peace and quiet. Everybody felt exhausted, both mentally and physically. Wei Xiaobao felt as if his legs weighed a thousand catties, he was unable to stand and hence he lay down on the sandy beach to rest. Su Quan rubbed his back to unseal the acupoint sealed by Feng Jizhong earlier.

    The water reflected the setting sun, swayed by the waves the surface of the sea looked like tens of thousands golden snakes crawling and leaping one over another; the scenery was singularly beautiful beyond compare. One by one the women sat down. Shortly afterwards, Wei Xiaobao was the first to snore, and not to long after that, one by one the women also fell asleep.

    More than two hours later, Fang Yi was the first to wake up. She went to the thatched hut that was used by Wei Xiaobao was his command tent in the past to prepare some food, and then she called everybody else to eat. In the main hall they lighted two pine torches that the room was bright. The eight of them sat in a circle. After dinner, Fang Yi and Shuang’er cleaned up the bowls and the chopsticks.

    Wei Xiaobao swept his gaze on Su Quan, Fang Yi, the Princess, Zeng Rou, Mu Jianping, Shuang’er and Ah Ke, seven women’s faces one by one. Some were tender and beautiful, some were gentle and soft, some were lively, some were extremely beautiful, each one had her own strength; he could not help but was greatly delighted. This moment he ‘leaned on red and cuddled on green-jade’, his heart felt so peaceful. Compared to the ‘heaven and earth in confusion’ time at the Lovely Spring Courtyard when he was under the large blanket with seven women, he felt a lot more safe, peaceful, and happy. He laughed and said, “That day I called this small island ‘Tong Chi Island’ [eat ‘em all, gambling], turns out I already have foresight, knowing that seven Jiejie Meimei would be willing to be my wives; it was indeed a mystery of the underworld, the Will of Heaven, that even if we ran, we cannot escape. From this day onward, the eight of us will live on this Tong Chi Island, our long-life the same as the heaven’s, enjoy immortal good fortune forever.”

    “Xiaobao,” Su Quan said, “These eight characters [shou yu tian qi, xian fu yong xiang] are ominous, later on you must not say it.”

    Wei Xiaobao immediately realized his mistake, he knew she did not want to hear anything related to the Cult Leader Hong. “Right, right!” hastily he said, “I was talking rubbish.”

    Su Quan said, “When Shi Lang and Zheng Keshuang are home, most likely they will bring troops back here to take revenge, we must not live on this island for too long.”

    Everybody agreed. Fang Yi said, “Quan Jiejie, where do you think we should go?”

    Su Quan cast a glance toward Wei Xiaobao and said with a laugh, “Why don’t we hear Zhi Zunbao’s [most honorable/senior treasure] idea?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “You call me Zhi Zunbao?”

    Su Quan replied with a laugh, “If not Zhi Zunbao, how can you sweep ‘em all [tong chi]?”

    Wei Xiaobao roared in laughter. “I do have a ‘bao’ [treasure] in my name,” he said, “Actually it was a tiny pair of treasure. Pair of fives or two wooden bench tiles, now those are the real Zhi Zunbao.”

    Seeing the seven women’s eyes were fixed at him, he pondered a while and then said, “The Central Plains is definitely out of question. Shen Long Island is too close to this place, it’s not a good place either. We must go someplace comfortable but no people around.”

    The problem was that desolate places with no people around are not comfortable, comfortable places surely have a lot of people in it. Besides, ‘comfort’ in Wei Xiaobao’s eyes means gambling, opera, storytelling, many different kinds of sights, singing, good dishes, light refreshments, and good-looking young women; not a single one of these was not ‘the more the merrier’. Other than good-looking young women, which, by the way, he already had quite a few by his side, those things could be found only if not in Beijing, then in Yangzhou or other first-class flourishing city in the world; exactly places where it would be difficult for them to live in happiness.

    As he was thinking about these romantic and bustling places, his filial piety heart was suddenly moved. “We gather together in here, it can be considered very exciting,” he said, “But I wonder how is my mother doing, all alone and helpless on her own.”

    These women had never heard him mentioning his mother, they all thought that he had a filial heart, which was hard to come by. “Where is your mother right now?” they all asked. Some of them even thought, “Your mother is my mother-in-law, we ought to try to be together with her, to care for her, the Senior.”

    Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “My mother is at the Lovely Spring Courtyard in Yangzhou.”

    When the women heard the Lovely Spring Courtyard in Yangzhou, five characters, other than the Princess, the other six immediately felt as if flying red clouds suddenly hit their faces. Some of them turned their heads away, some lowered their heads down.

    “Ah, Lovely Spring Courtyard in Yangzhou,” the Princess said, “You have mentioned it before, that is the most fun place in the world; you promised to take me there to play.”

    Fang Yi smiled and said, “He was swindling you, don’t believe him. That is the most indecent place on earth.”

    “Why is it indecent?” the Princess asked, “Have you played there? Why all of you have such a strange expression on your faces?”

    Fang Yi stifled her laugh and was unable to reply. The Princess wrapped her arm around Mu Jianping’s shoulder. “Good Meizi,” she said, “Tell me, what is it?”

    Mu Jianping blushed deep red; she said, “That is … that is a brothel.”

    The Princess still did not understand, “What is his Mama doing in a brothel?” she asked, “I heard that is the place where men come to have fun.”

    Fang Yi laughed and said, “He always loves to talk rubbish, if you believe just half a sentence of what he said, it will be enough to give you headache.”

    That day in the Lovely Spring Courtyard, Wei Xiaobao slept under the same blanket with seven women; other than the Princess and the old wh0re Mao Dongzhu, the remaining six women at this moment were sitting in front of him. In term of viciousness and roughness, the Princess was not inferior to Mao Dongzhu, but she was not as sinister, ruthless and dangerous as her mother, plus she was a lot younger and prettier than her mother. Wei Xiaobao was secretly congratulating himself, this time the switch was perfectly reasonable; if right now the one accompanied him was not the Princess but her mother, he would not have any idea of what to do. Perhaps after getting hold of her, he would become like the Old Emperor, he would want to leave home to become a monk on Mount Wutai. But if he absolutely must become a monk, he surely would want to have these seven wives coming with him.

    Looking at the blushing six women, he presumed they were thinking of the situation that night. He mused, “That night in the dark, I was just fooling around randomly, I don’t know which one I slept with. Ah Ke and Quan Jiejie have my child inside their tummies; that’s two. I remember one more, but I don’t know which one. I have to find out slowly.” Smiling happily he said, “Even if we have to live on this Tong Chi Island forever, we won’t be lonely. Quan Jiejie, Princess, Ah Ke, the three of you have my child in your tummy; I wonder if someone else also has my child inside your tummy.”

    As soon as they heard that, Fang Yi and the others, four women’s faces turned even redder. Mu Jianping hastily said, “I don’t have it, I don’t have it.”

    Seeing Wei Xiaobao was looking at her, Zeng Rou shot him a malicious look, “Not me!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Good Shuang’er, it must be that we are highly successful.”

    Shuang’er sprang up and hid in the corner of the room. “No, no!” she said.

    Wei Xiaobao turned to Fang Yi, “Yi Jiejie,” he said, “What about you? When you were at the Lovely Spring Courtyard, you stuffed a pillow on your belly, pretending to be pregnant; you must have a foresight.”

    “Pft!” Fang Yi stifled her laugh, but then could not help laughing. “Pei!” she spat, “Dead eunuch, you and I have not … how can I have …”

    “Oh yeah,” Mu Jianping said, “Shijie, Zeng Jiejie, Shuang’er Meizi and me, four people have not bowed to the Heaven and the Earth with you to get married, how can we have a baby? Xiaobao, you deserve to die; you bowed to the Heaven and the Earth with Quan Jiejie, the Princess and Ah Ke Jiejie, yet you did not tell me, you did not invite me to drink the wedding wine.” In her mind, it was the tying of the knot in the ritual of bowing to the Heaven and the Earth that enable people to have children.

    Listening to her naiveté, everybody laughed. While still laughing, Fang Yi wrapped her arm around her waist and said, “Xiao Shimei, in that case, tonight you and he should bow to the Heaven and the Earth to be husband and wife.”

  13. #2793
    Senior Member smurf120's Avatar
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    LOL - it is not like they had TV or internet how did all these women know about sex. But its really funny what Mu Jianping said.

    This is a tender scene, but surely some of the women have lost all personality because they have no speaking parts in the last couple of pages.

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    Yes, Foxs. I have noticed the Trilogy in English translation on this forum.
    It's the 3rd edition translation, and I am a bit confuse with this edition. In 1st edition, Li Mo Chou was in love with Lu Wu Suang's and Chang Ying's grandfather, while Wu San Tong obsessed to theirs grandmother. But in 3rd edition, it has been revised as Chang Ying's father and mother, and Chang Ying's mother is the adopted daughter of Wu San Tong.
    I kind of dislike the changes, and for me it makes the story line kind of odd. Chang Ying's father is Lu Zheng Yuan, but how on earth the daughter's surname is Chang? Not to mention the Wu San Tong character turn into such as immoral person (may be called sort of pervert ) who fell in love with his own adopted daughter. I personally found the changes kind of ridiculous and screw up the story.
    I understand those changes were meant to match up Li Mo Chou and Wu San Tong age to whom they were fell in love with, so Jin Yong revised this part and turn those characters to became Chang Ying's father and mother characters. But at least Chang Ying's surname should be replaced to Lu's also.

    Perhaps Jin Yong (Louis Cha) should make the 4th edition to correct this ridiculous part.

    Btw, thanks again for the translation of Wei Xiao Bao adventures. Yours translation very enjoyable to read and match to the meanings in Chinese edition. Two big thumbs up..

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    Thanks foxs

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    Quote Originally Posted by MrWErD View Post
    An article say that one tael of silver is roughtly six hundred to eight hundred RMB. Say it is seven hundred RMB total, then the value translates to one hundred and twelve USD.

    Here's the math.

    1 tael of silver = 700 RMB.
    700 RMB = 112 USD.
    112 USD * 10,000 = 1,120,000 USD
    112 USD * 3,800,000 = 425,600,000 USD.

    So ZKS roughly owes WXB a 38,000% interest rate. That's a lot even by today's standards.

    Thanks for the translation, Foxs. Back to lurking.
    Thanks for the rough calculation. I think it's a cheap price for the death of world famous hero. Plus, ZKS has no plans to honor this debt.

    Thanks for the update, foxs. You translate so fast

  17. #2797
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Chapter 45 - Part 4

    Smurf, I agree. Too bad Jin Yong did not develop these women's character some more. I imagine we can have a spin-off, like a sitcom about WXB and his seven wives' daily life. Eccentric, actually, with the exception of LOCH Chapter 26, the rest of the chapters are from 2nd Edition. Anh, you are welcome. Tweety, that's because I have time ... what I lack in quality, I compensate with quantity.


    “No way,” Mu Jianping replied, “There is no marriage sedan on this barren island. I have seen the brides are always wearing crimson wedding gown, and phoenix crown with red clouds cape; we don’t have any of those.”

    Su Quan laughed and said, “It won’t be a big deal if you are willing to put up with it a bit. We can pick some flowers and braid it into a flower garland, and consider it phoenix crown.”

    Hearing the women chatting and joking, Wei Xiaobao was inwardly very anxious. “Who was the other one?” he mused, “Could it be Ah Qi? I remember carrying her in and out, after that I sat her on a chair, I did not bring her into the bed. But that night there were too many girls there, perhaps I muddle-headedly did bring her back into the bed. If she has my child inside her belly, this little fellow will be Mongolian ‘zheng ge er hao’ [see Chapter 39] prince in the future. Aiyo, not good! Could it be the old wh0re? If it was her, my child might be killed by Gui Xinshu and the others as well.”

    He heard Mu Jianping said, “If we have to bow to the Heaven and the Earth in here, Fang Shijie must bow first.”

    “No,” Fang Yi said, “You are the Junzhu Niangniang [lady princess, see also Note 1 of Chapter 10], it’s only natural that you bow first.”

    Mu Jianping said, “We are the people of a perished nation, why do you even mention Junzhu or not Junzhu?”

    Fang Yi smiled and said, “In that case, Shuang’er Meizi should bow to the Heaven and the Earth with him first; you have been with him the longest, you have been through life and death together, a friend in times of tribulations, you stand out from the masses.”

    Shuang’er blushed. “If you say more, I am going to leave,” she said, while walking toward the door; but Fang Yi laughed and hugged her.

    Su Quan turned to Wei Xiaobao and said with a laugh, “Xiaobao, you decide.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Bowing to the Heaven and the Earth can be discussed slowly. Tomorrow we must bury Shifu first.”

    When the women heard that, they were immediately filled with respect; nobody expected this man reverence of his master was this heavy that he could utter such righteous phrases. Who would have thought that what he said next exposed his true nature: “The seven of you are all my dear good wives, there is no distinction between early or late, older or younger. Later on, every night all of you will throw dice to decide winning or losing. Whoever wins, that one will accompany me.” While saying that, he took the two dice from his pocket, blew it, and rolled it on the table.

    “Pei!” the Princess spat, “Do you think you are that sweet-smelling? Whoever loses is the one who should accompany you.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Right, right! Just like playing finger-guessing game, whoever loses must drink a cup of wine as a forfeit. Alright, who will roll first?”

    That night in the thatched hut on the inhabited island thoughts of love and warmth abound; there is no need to describe in details the throwing of dice, who won or who lost. From that day on, the throwing of dice among the women of the Wei family became usual practice. Originally Wei Xiaobao loved to throw dice with people to gamble, using gold, silver, money and valuables as the stake. The excitement of winning or losing always brought him abundant delight, but this time he decided on a method that from now on the women would have him as the stake, he would be compelled to stay out of the game. Although there was tenderness and happiness in his heart, the excitement of gambling was gone. Thus it was clear that ‘the flowers do not always bloom, the moon has its full and crescent phases, the affairs of the world cannot be expected to always follow the people’s expectation’.

    The next day the eight of them slept until the sun was on top of the three poles before they got up. Wei Xiaobao led the seven women to bury Chen Jinnan’s remain. Seeing the yellow sandy soil covered his Shifu’s body, Wei Xiaobao could not help bursting in tears again. The women kneeled down together and did obeisance in front of the grave.

    The Princess really did not want to do it, she thought I am the Princess of the magnificent Great Qing, how can I kowtow to you, a rebel thief? But it was clear to her that although she was a ‘golden branch, jade leaves’, perhaps in Wei Xiaobao’s eyes her rank was the lowest instead; in term of closeness, she was not as devoted as Shuang’er, in term of beauty she was not as pretty as Ah Ke, in term of martial art she could not beat to Su Quan, in term of capability she was not as smart Fang Yi, in term of naivete and purity she was not as innocent as Mu Jianping, in term of gentleness she was not as refined as Zeng Rou. One day her shortcomings would catch up, she was nothing more than a harsh and unreasonable, rough and mean woman. If she did not pay her respect, perhaps henceforth Wei Xiaobao would view her in a new light, and might cheat on the dice; every night when they tossed the dice, he would cause her to achieve great victory. Therefore, feeling aggrieved as she was, she also kneeled down, while saying in her heart, “Rebel thief, oh rebel thief, I, Her Highness the Princess, bow to you, which you have never had the good fortune of receiving, until you go to the underworld, I am afraid you will suffer for your actions.”

    When they finished paying their respect, they all stood up and turned around. “Aiyo!” Fang Yi suddenly cried out, “Where’s the boat? Where did it go?”

    Hearing her terrified cry, everybody turned their eyes toward the sea, and saw that the boat moored on the beach had vanished without a trace; none was not shocked. They looked at the distant and only saw the boundless bluish green sea, all the way to the horizon where it met the blue sky, with several dozen white birds swooping up and down on the surface of the water. Su Quan ran up the overhanging cliff to survey the island all round, north, south, east and west, she did not see even the shadow of the boat. Fang Yi rushed to the cave to look at the rudder, sail, and other sailing gear, as expected, those things had gone missing.

    They all got back together and looked at each other in dismay; no one could stop fear from creeping into their hearts. Last night the eight of them were having too much fun and did not sleep until very late at night; they completely forgot to set up night guard duty, unexpectedly the boatmen stole the sailing gears and took the boat away. From now on they were trapped on an isolated island and would not be able to escape anymore. Wei Xiaobao thought about the possibility of Shi Lang and Zheng Keshuang returning with troops to take revenge, how could the eight of them fight the enemy? Even if Su Quan, the Princess and Ah Ke gave birth to three children without delay, their number would be no more than eleven.

    Su Quan comforted the rest, “Things have come to this, worrying is useless. Let us slowly think of a plan.”

    Back to the thatched hut, everybody hurled curses toward the boatmen with different mouths, same voice; but after swearing and cursing for a couple of hours, they could not come up with any fresh cursing words anymore. Su Quan said to Wei Xiaobao, “Right now we must guard against the Qing troops coming here in large number. Xiaobao, what do you think?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “If the Qing troops are coming, their number will not be a few for sure, we won’t be able to fight them. All we can do is hide, hoping that if they can’t find us in a short while, they would think that we have already sailed away.”

    Su Quan nodded. “That’s true,” she said, “The Qing Troops will never have guessed that our boat was stolen.”

    Wei Xiaobao was delighted. “If I were Shi Lang,” he said, “I won’t come again. He would presume that without a doubt we would immediately anoint oil on the soles of our feet; it would be foolish for us to stay here. Why would we want to wait for him to come back and arrest us?”

    The Princess said, “If he reported to Huangdi Gege [elder brother Emperor], Huangdi Gege might send people to look for us. Even if we already left, they would search carefully for clues to see where we went.”

    Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Shi Lang will not report to the Emperor,” he said.

    With eyes open wide the Princess asked, “Why not?”

    Wei Xiaobao replied, “If he did, naturally His Majesty would ask why he did not arrest and take us away. And then he would be forced to admit that he had been defeated in battle; wouldn’t he be inviting trouble for himself then?”

    Su Quan laughed and said, “Very true, very true. Xiaobao’s skill as government official is superior. Conceal from superior do not conceal from subordinate; that is government official’s most important trick.”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “If Quan Jiejie became government official, I guarantee you will be promoted to a high-ranking position and gain great wealth.”

    Su Quan smiled. She thought, “The trick that those people in the Shen Long Jiao used in doing their job, isn’t that more or less the same as that used by the government official?”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “As soon as Shi Lang speaks up, His Majesty will blame him as useless; that’s still all right, but His Majesty will definitely send him up with the troops to arrest us. Shi Lang thought we have already run away, where would he find us? Won’t that mean he is just inviting trouble for himself? It would be better for him to just shut up and gain wealth.” When the women heard that, they agreed that it made a lot of sense, their anxiety diminished a bit.

    “What about that kid Zheng Keshuang?” the Princess asked, “From the tone of his voice, don’t you think he is unwilling to swallow his defeat just like that?” While saying that, she cast a quick glance toward Ah Ke. Everybody understood her meaning; she was saying, “A woman as delicate as a flower, as refined as a precious jade like Ah Ke, how could he give her up and not bring troops to seize her back?”

    Ah Ke’s face blushed deep red; she lowered her head and said, “If he comes back, I … I will kill myself; I will definitely not go with him.” Her voice was filled with determination.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought that Ah Ke had always been heartless toward him, it was he who resorted to all kinds of scheme, stealing, snatching and swindling just to get her. This time as he heard her, he was happier than if obtained ten big boats at once. Unable to restrain his joy, he wrapped his arms around her, and ‘smack!’ he landed a kiss on her face. “Good Ah Ke,” he said, “He won’t dare to come back. He still owes me three million eight hundred thousand taels. Even if he has gargantuan guts, will he dare to meet his creditor?”

    “Aiyo, how corny!” the Princess said, “He will bring the troops to catch you, snatch the I.O.U. from you, and seize Ah Ke away. And then he will sell your dad, mama, granny [nainai - paternal], and granny [waipo - maternal] to you; altogether seven million six hundred taels of silver. He will also cut your finger and tell you to write an I.O.U. saying that you owe him money.”

    The more Wei Xiaobao listened to her, the more annoyed he got. If he was able to deal with it, he would not be so angry, but if Zheng Keshuang really did that, dealing with him in the same muddled manner, selling him back his own dad, mama, (paternal) granny, and (maternal) granny, mama was not a problem, but he never knew who his dad was. And if he did not know his dad, naturally he would not know his (paternal) granny. If Zheng Keshuang sold him these two people, who he himself did not even know, hence the starting price was raised by a hundred percent, how could he afford to pay? In rage, he spoke harshly, “Shut up! If that kid Zheng Keshuang comes with the troops, I won’t sell anybody else, except the most valuable person in the world, the Emperor’s imperial sister to him. The child she is carrying in her belly, I will price at ten million taels; so he will have to pay me two million four hundred thousand taels! Then the deal is done.”

    “Wah!” the Princess cried, she covered her face and ran away. Mu Jianping quickly ran after her and consoled her, she told her that Wei Xiaobao would never do such thing, that he was just trying to scare her, that no need for her to feel sad.

    Even after lashing out his anger like that, Wei Xiaobao still felt that he had his hands bound and he was unable to do anything about it. In the end everybody listened to Su Quan’s direction. They found a large cave in the dense forest on the island, they swept and fixed it up as a place where they could take shelter and live their daily life. From that day onward, they never set foot inside the thatched hut anymore, hoping that if Shi Lang and Zheng Keshuang really came back, they would see that there was no human footprint on the island, and think that they had gone long ago; hence they would not search carefully.

    At first everybody was still scared and was on edge; day and night they took turn to watch the sea. After several months, not only they did not see a single Qing navy or Taiwan battleship, they did not even see a single fishing boat; everybody started to relax, thinking that Shi Lang did not dare to be meddlesome, and since Zheng Keshuang was riding a skiff, he must have been sunk by the stormy sea.

    On the island the eight of them spent their days fishing, hunting, shooting birds and picking fruits in peace and quiet. Fortunately the island did not lack birds and beasts, the sea was abound with fish and shrimp. Plus all eight of them knew martial art, hence they were able to fish and hunt quite easily; therefore, they never lacked food.

    Autumn passed, winter came, the weather was growing colder as the days went by. Su Quan, the Princess and Ah Ke, three women’s belly was also getting bigger as the days went by. Fang Yi and Shuang’er were busy skinning animals and sewing the hides to make winter clothes, they had also prepared enough infant clothing for the three babies.

    Another half a month passed, suddenly a big snow came, in one day and one night, the entire island was covered in pure white snow. The eight of them were prepared; they had abundant supply of cured fish, cured meat, firewood and dried fruit in the cave. Day in and day out they chatted with each other, each time the topic always drifted back to the three babies about to be born.

  18. #2798
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    Wow..... Foxs, you're fast. I only expect another update tomorrow.....

    Thanks Thanks.

    How nice to have 7 ladies to serve ......however if the 7 were to be troublesome jealous woman....life will be terrible,.
    Looks like XB is lucky and will always be......wish I am that lucky....no no not with 7 wives.
    cheerio..

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    Thanks foxs

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    Poor princess can no longer boss anyone around, haha.

    Thanks foxs! I see the finish line already.

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