大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[徐中銳]

to be fair the 2 characters that make up narcissus “水仙” can be translated as water immortal. First character being water. Second character means fairy/celestial being. Can even be used as a character for gods.


I see your argument where when water immortal is used we dont know which flower. The saber is named after.



We can give suggestions as i have said on the past, or give background on something for non chinese speakers. For example i provided some background to zhang liang. For the ladder to climb over the wall. Its a saying that mentions his strats. The wall being what he used to stop/deter someone. With the ladder being the counter etc.

Circumspect—be true to the author's intention. I quoted the whole Chinese text which involved 水仙刃. akolaw said the blade looks like a Narcissus leaf, and it can, of course, in combat, move like a celestial… Mark well how there other words than "immortal." Of which, let's remember his previous usage of it for 不死印 :

I just found out that he slandered me in the other forum, in a thread that has nothing to do with this story. I wonder what it is that he want to achieve, other than, like Xiaohu said, to get attention.

Because foxs has just accused me of slander, I'll give a better example of my said stance of his untrustworthiness as a translator. So, even after the following comment by LuDongBin, foxs still obstinately imposed his right to wilfully use "immortal image" as the translation of 不死印 :

Pedantically speaking, the correct word should be seal. Mudras or hand seals in the Tantric sense are used to stimulate energy flows (prana) in accordance to the 5 Elements. For example, the little finger represents the water element; ring finger represents earth; middle finger for ether; index finger for air, thumb for fire. Within the Chinese meridians, some of the 12 standard meridians pass through each of the fingers eg lung meridian (thumb). When you form these hand seals, energy flows are generated to nourish or strengthened certain parts of the body. One of the exercises in Naropa's Six Yogas is the forming of these hand seals. If you read the passage where XL was imitating the hand postures of the various Luohans, the specific hand seal described appears quite similar to Naropa's. And XL was practicing essentially something of Indian/Tantric origin. If I form a mudra and imprint it on mud or cement, that would be hand print. You see the subtle difference? I'm sorry if I belabored this point. What I am suggesting is based on acceptable nomenclature and i have offered evidence therein. But if you guys prefer to base on guessing and feelings then that is another story.


At the risk of starting another round, the term 不死, may I offer "deathless"? Sounds better?

You know, there's enough talk of "speak truth to power." It made me look up what's written about it. And Google prominently gives :
"Speaking truth to power means believing deeply in what you say and fighting every day to have that heard. It may not be popular; it means taking a risk, it means standing for something." https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jade-...b_8824094.html

It's not exactly about giving suggestions for him to ignore, it's about establishing truth if the occasion so merits.

[foxs]

Akolaw, thanks for sharing. Xiaohu, congratulation, you beat Anurman again. Anurman, it WAS a good guess. We’ll find out together. HPC, Ysabel, you are welcome. Lance, thank you, it will be fixed in the Unabridged thread. Sky, I can almost hear your thought, ‘if only Ba Fenghan were here as well …’

---

Book 26 Chapter 10 – Yin Ru Casino

Having just disembarked from the ship, Xu Ziling had a feeling that he was being watched. And then he saw the official boat that Bai Qing’er took. Evidently, at least on the surface, the relationship between Xiangyang’s Qian Duguan and Xiao Xian was quite good.

Lin Lang has personally removed any obstruction he might encounter at the city gate by issuing a pass of safe conduct to him just before they landed, so that all he needed to do was to pay the tax and he could enter the city immediately.

Walking along the main street, heavy with endless stream of horses and carriages, Xu Ziling had a feeling that he was returning to the mortal world. This Three Gorges trip would forever be engraved in his heart.

In less than ten steps, Xu Ziling already sensed an unusual feeling, like a bucket of iced water was poured on his head and soaked his entire body. Instantly he reacted by looking at shop on his right. The first thing he saw was a powerful, as bright as lightning, abundant in divine light, fierce and severe without equal – pair of eyes.

And then he saw ‘Kou Zhong’.

In that instant, he knew that just like him, after they parted, Kou Zhong had made incredible breakthrough in his martial art skill; he was not the same as the former Kou Zhong.

Kou Zhong was raising his cup to toast him, with a bright, ‘ugly’ smile on his face.

But this smile could not hide the profound, touchingly strong emotion exuding from his pair of tiger-eyes, brimming with delight, joy, and excitement of meeting again after a long period of separation.

Xu Ziling signaled with his eyes from a distance; he suddenly walked faster and disappeared into a side lane.

Inside the shop, Kou Zhong put down his cup and shouted loudly, “Three taels of silver, I want the table closest to the back door.”

After throwing off the people who were following his tracks, Xu Ziling entered the shop via the back door. Kou Zhong already poured him a cup of good wine and waited respectfully for his honored-self’s arrival.

One cup of wine gone, the two boys’ four eyes met, they looked at each other and then laughed. In this moment, being able to stay alive was indeed a rarity.

Kou Zhong poured another cup of wine for him; lowering his voice, he said with a sigh, “Kid, you are amazing; unexpectedly even the ‘Heavenly Lord’ Xi Ying was slaughtered under your hands.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling said, “Did you develop a pair of tail-wind ears [fig. a well-informed person]? Unexpectedly your information is so fast and abundant.”

Immensely proud of himself, Kou Zhong said, “It was Yuzhi who told me. Luckily I told Song Que that Yue Shan is your disguise; otherwise, you, this kid, will be killed by Song Que without knowing what’s going on. If you don’t see it with your own eyes, you wouldn’t know to what extend the awesomeness of his Heavenly Saber; even my eggs were nearly cut off by him.”

He has been keeping his belly full of foul language in check, so now he needed to pour out everything.

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “Unexpectedly you sneaked away to Lingnan to meet the beauty; too bad I have promised Song Yuhua not to let you see her Die.”

Staring blankly, Kou Zhong said, “I am not mountain spirit or demon, why would she talk to you about stopping me from seeing her Ol’ Dad?”

Although Xu Ziling had thousands of words, he did not know how to bring it up. Changing the subject, he said, “How did you know to wait here for me to enter the city?”

Kou Zhong picked some food and put it in Xu Ziling’s bowl. Leaning closer, he said, “When there is an effect, naturally there is a cause. Today, I met face to face on a narrow path with two groups of old friends. One is Yin Gui Pai yaonu yaofu [female demon and witch] who conspired to split your corpse five ways by pulling it with horses. The other group was led by Yun Yuzhen, that stinky poniang [reminder: woman (derogatory)]. Ay! Seeing you alive and well, there is no need for me to have a headache alone.”

And then he stared blankly at Xu Ziling, who had become fine-gem like jade, clean, beautiful and lustrous. Lifting his hand holding the chopsticks, he said, “What actually happened? It made you appear like you shed your mortal body and exchanged your bones.”

While eating, Xu Ziling said, “It’s complicated and not easy to express succinctly. Right now I must hurry to the casino. I’ll tell you on the way!”

Yin Ru Ge was located in the heart of the most prosperous business district in Jiujiang, about seven, eight buildings away from Chun Zai Lou where they assassinated Ren Shaoming. The scale was grand. The main building complex consisted of five wooden structures on a central axis, connected to each other by corridors. On both sides of the corridors, there were ponds, mountain rocks, flowers and plants in pots. Outside the main complex, there were more than a dozen smaller buildings, courtyards and residences, in all-the-stars-cup-themselves-around-the-moon configuration [idiom, from Analects: to group around a revered leader] with the five main halls as the core, surrounded all around by high walls.

This moment the entire complex was as bright as white painting; the external wall facing the main street was resplendent with colored lanterns. Outside the main gate vehicles and horses were forming a long queue, as they slowly entered in. The streets in the vicinity were crowded to bursting point with pedestrians; some were there just to enjoy watching the bustling scene, some others, because they did not have enough money to pay the admission fee for the gambling meet, were unable to get in.

Everybody who had ‘head and face’ in Jiujiang was there; hats and head coverings converged into one place. It was indeed a magnificent and unprecedented event.

Watching the bustling scene outside the main gate from a distance, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were both speechless. Emotionally moved, the former said, “Just like that time we went to Wang Tong’s mansion to listen to Shi Qingxuan’s flute; history repeats itself, very quickly it has been several years! At that time we were on the run every day. But now, even if Zhu Yuyan and Ning Daoqi came to give us bad luck, we, two brothers, are not afraid of his mother.”

Having his bad memory of Shi Qingxuan mentioned, Xu Ziling hung his head and did not say anything.

Kou Zhong thought Xu Ziling was recalling his lot in life, just like he just did, so he did not mind him; he went on, “When we have time later, I must try how formidable your Nine-word Incantation Handprint is.”

Putting his worry out of his mind, Xu Ziling laughed and said, “I knew you would not let me get away with it. Don’t blame me for not giving you a warning in advance; if somehow my hand slips and I injure you, I don’t care how many faces you have, you will lose them all!”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Kid, stop showing off, your words are too full of yourself. How can I, Kou Zhong, be like Xi Ying, flaunting off his demonic name without restraint, looking impressive but was actually worthless?”

The two have not teased each other for a very long time, so they both found it amusing. After looking at each other and roaring in laughter, they walked toward Yin Ru Ge’s main entrance.

From a side alley someone rushed out and blocked their way. He was wearing brocade clothes and gorgeous attire, but his face looked unfamiliar. Kou Zhong was about to bark and cuss, Xu Ziling just saw that this person was Lei Jiuzhi in disguise. “He’s a friend,” he hastily said, “This is Lei Dage.”

Lei Jiuzhi did not know Kou Zhong. After the introduction, he was immediately pleased beyond his expectations to finally meet him. Due to their mutual relationship with Lu Miaozi, naturally Kou Zhong and Lei Jiuzhi hit it off right away.

The three stepped aside into an alley to discuss their grand plan. Xu Ziling asked in surprise, “Didn’t Lei Dage say you wanted to force Xiang Gui out using Lei Jiuzhi’s identity? Why are you dressed like this?”

Smiling, Lei Jiuzhi replied, “This is Lei Jiuzhi’s ‘real appearance’; I am using false in place of real. When I am not in ‘Lei Jiuzhi’ disguise, I can make my nine fingers appear to be ten. Lu Shi was a great master precisely in this kind of trickery, I have a model to learn from!”

“What are you going to play tonight?” Kou Zhong asked, “I hear that the Tian Jiu competition is not going to start until tomorrow night.”

Astonished, Lei Jiuzhi said, “Shao Shuai’s news is indeed fast and abundant. The difference between tonight and tomorrow night is that the participants of tomorrow night’s Tian Jiu competition are by invitation only; people who, if not giant businessmen, then must be leaders of gangs and societies, anybody who has name and surname within the Dulin [reminder: gambling forest] world.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Turns out that little con man used fake token to swindle me; but the fake article looked very exquisite.”

Lei Jiuzhi opened up his palm to reveal a round bronze token. He laughed and said, “The real bronze token looks like this.”

Stunned, Kou Zhong said, “That’s the token, only the number is different.”

After listening to Kou Zhong’s explanation one more time, Lei Jiuzhi said, “I wonder if Shao Shuai remember the number?”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Lei Dage asked the right person. Ling Shao can read ten lines at a glance, but once I see it, I won’t forget it. It looked to be … Ha! It looked to be forty-eight. No! Now that I think about it, it ought to be twenty-eight. Yes, I am sure it was twenty-eight.”

Lei Jiuzhi said, “If it is indeed twenty-eight, then this is called ‘heaven's net has wide meshes, but nothing escapes it’ [idiom, from Laozi].” Turning toward Xu Ziling, he said, “The nicknamed ‘dian shi cheng jin’ [‘Midas touch’ see Chapter 8] Lai Chaogui’s number is precisely twenty-eight.”

Xu Ziling could not believe his ears; he said, “You disembarked just a moment before I did; how could you be so quick that you even looked up Lai Chaogui’s number?”

Lei Jiuzhi laughed and said, “Under heavy rewards, there must be brave men. The power of this saying is more effective toward gamblers than anything else. The people who came to participate in the gambling meet this time, a lot of them are my old friends. Looking up this kind of thing is just a matter of the exertion of lifting my hand!”

Kou Zhong drew a blank. “Who’s Lai Chaogui?” he asked.

Lei Jiuzhi said, “Shao Shuai, please give us the description of that Liu An’s outward appearance and body shape. According to reason, based on Lai Chaogui’s status and prestige, he could not possibly do such a thing.”

Thereupon Kou Zhong described how he looked, as well as what happened then.

Lei Jiuzhi sighed and said, “Indeed this guy’s character does not change even if he’s dead. This Liu An fellow is Lai Chaogui’s ‘agent’ [lit. middleman]. Before the Tian Jiu meet, he went everywhere looking for a fat sheep on sedan chair. First, they would let you win big, so that you’d think that you are in collusion with him to swindle the other fat sheep’s money, while actually you are the fat sheep. This kind of gambling cheat is called ‘releasing the kite’. First, they let you win small, afterwards, lose big. After the event, they would even push the blame on you.”

Xu Ziling happily said, “Lai Chaogui shouldn’t have enough capital to compete tomorrow night!”

[bchin22]

Thank Foxs! Happy weekend!

[wangxiaohu]

BChin22!! You beat me, again

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[anurman]

Thanks Foxs.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Bchin, thanks, I just got home earlier this afternoon. Xiaohu, sorry to hear that … Ysabel, Anurman, HPC, you are welcome.

---

The admission fee was actually a tax that has to be paid to the local government. During the time when money was desperately needed like right now, governments in all parts of the country administered all kinds of way, concocted various items to draw taxes.

Yin Ru Ge’s admission tax was collected by a gambling officer dispatched by the local government, and was then transferred into the government coffers bypassing the casino.

Starting in the Warring States period [475-221 BC], due to severe devastation caused by gambling, which oftentimes made one losing his family fortune, also because it attracted all kinds of damage to the societal order and corrupt practices in general, there was a law that prohibits gambling. Then Qin Shihuang unified the world, so Li Si [c. 280-208 BC, Legalist philosopher, calligrapher and Prime minister of Qin kingdom and Qin dynasty from 246 to 208 BC] drew up the law to prohibit gambling. Light punishment would be ‘pricking the outline of a whale on the face’ [not sure: 刺鲸纹脸], heavy punishment would be ‘flogging on the thigh’.

The Han dynasty also continued this gambling prohibition.

Until the Wei, Jin, and North-South dynasties, during the rise of the land-owning class, the prohibition relaxed. Although in name, the gambling prohibition provision remained, the reality was gone.

During the last years of the Sui Dynasty, governments slackened and crippled, bureaucrats and businessmen in cahoots, gambling industry flourished, they joined hands to make big fortune.

After the Sui Dynasty collapsed, this style aggravated, all over the place government authorities happily increased their revenue by collaborating with businessmen to form joint venture like Yin Ru Ge.

Kou Zhong handed over the admission tax and entered the casino.

Yin Ru Ge’s reputation as the most famous casino along the Yangtze river basin was not in vain; the furnishings were gorgeous and tastefully chosen, the halls connected by the corridors were setup with various gambling equipment. There were also VIP rooms for people with special status to enjoy.

This moment there were three, four hundred gamblers gathered in each hall, yet it did not feel crowded or stuffy at all. In the brightly lit halls, the overwhelming majority of the guests were men. Although there were only a small number of women guests, they all looked exceptionally beautiful, comparable to Auntie Hong of Chun Zai Lou; some gambled even more ruthlessly than the men.

Adding the beginning of spring [i.e. thoughts of love] feeling to the atmosphere were the female attendants going back and forth in the hall; none was not young, beautiful women with jade appearance. Their silky breasts were half-exposed, their jade arms brilliant and varied, sexy and captivating.

Kou Zhong was not good at betting. After going around the hall once, he realized that the most familiar to him were domino solitaire, tou bao [lit. precious dice; Sic Bo], and fan tan [lit. repeated divisions; Fan-Tan], three types of gambling game. [Translator’s note: in case you want to know more, Baike Baidu has all three entries (牌接龙、骰宝、番摊) in Chinese, Wikipedia only has the last two in English.]

While he was considering whether he should try a couple of games, Liu An appeared from who-knows-where, enthusiastically pulled the sleeve of Kou Zhong’s garment, and took him to a corner, where several mahogany chairs were provided for the guests to sit down, and said with a laugh, “Daye really came! Xiaoke [(polite) my humble person] just saw four fat sheep, I could pick one for Daye, and then we could go to the VIP lounge to make big fortune. Yin Ru Ge may only draw 10% commission, so the money Daye win will stand for 70%, because Xiaoren will be perfectly satisfied with 20%. After we get our money’s worth, Xiaoren will hand the token to Daye to take part in the competition. If Daye reaped total victory, you may share 20% to Xiaoren, otherwise, Xiaoren will not receive a single penny. What does Daye think?”

Kou Zhong pretended to act boorish; he waved his hand to tell the female attendant in front of him, who was going to serve him, to hurry up and leave, and then assuming a greedy look he said, “Where are those four fat sheep? Why would they want to bet against us?”

Lowering his voice, Liu An replied, “Naturally we must play a little bit of trick, which is we put on an act, let them think Daye is a fat sheep, naturally they will be happy to keep you company. Daye, don’t worry, at that time Xiaoren will arrange everything. Right now the first step is to select the sheep. All these four fat sheep show bankrupt aura on their faces, they will undoubtedly lose.”

Finished speaking, he took Kou Zhong to select the fat sheep.

Xu Ziling and Lei Jiuzhi entered the casino about half a sichen later than Kou Zhong. This time Lei Jiuzhi has turned into a rather rich and respectable-looking old and gray-haired elderly gentleman with ‘ten fingers’.

But tomorrow night, he would appear with ‘Lei Jiuzhi’ face.

Xu Ziling was still the scar-faced man; following Lei Jiuzhi, they went into the second hall, where nearly a hundred people were surrounding a fan tan table. Presided over the game was a middle-aged, but still attractive woman, brimming with windblown dust impression; her technique was quite skillful.

Fan-tan was also known as tanqian [lit. bearing part of the cost] or yanqian [covering up the money]. The rule of the game was that the casino personnel occupy the ‘home’ position. During the game, the home position grabbed short small bamboo tokens as the ‘stall’, which was covered quickly with a bowl, so that people could not see the number. After the people put their bet, the ‘stall’ was open to see who win who lose. The method of calculation was the ‘stall’ was taken four at a time, the remaining number could be one, two, three, or four, four different gates. Those who bet on the winning gate was compensated three to one, which was called ‘fan’ [occurrence]. Betting on two gates but hit one of the gates would be compensated one to one; this is called ‘jiao’ [corner].

When the two arrived, the fan-tan has been played three times with two repetitions; the atmosphere was boiling, the warmth shook the heavens. Many of those people who were usually dignified, this moment were gnashing their teeth, making a fist or waving their palms, shouting loudly at the stall gate that they put their bets on, as if the louder they shouted, the more it would influence the number of the stall.

Lei Jiuzhi leaned over to Xu Ziling’s ear and said with a laugh, “This poniang is one of the four prominent figures within Jiujiang’s Dulin world, the gambling ghost Zha Hai’s capable assistant; her technique is not bad.”

Astonished, Xu Ziling said, “You mean there’s trick in their skill? On the surface, it looks very difficult to cheat in this game!”

Lei Jiuzhi said, “Nine out of ten gambling games can be cheated, anything can be cheated. The most common tricks in Fan-tan are ‘la zhu’ [leaving out tree trunk] and ‘fei zi’ [flying pieces], two types of tricks. In ‘la zhu’, the stall is rigged, so that if necessary, one can be divided into two. In ‘fei zi’, the stall can fly away using some trick. Either way, there are accomplices nearby ‘prying on the side’, using tobacco smoke or some other method to divert other people’s attention, so that the old castaway [see Chapter 6] presiding over the game can play his trick. Naturally big casino like Yin Ru Ge will not resort to such trick, but at the top of the streets and the bottom of the alleys [idiom: everywhere in the city], most of the temporary Fan-tan stalls use such deceptive tricks.” [Disclaimer: I am not familiar with gambling world, so I just translated it as is; might be grossly inaccurate. Apologies.]

These days, Xu Ziling have learned not a few of ‘on-the-job’ clever tricks related to gambling from Lei Jiuzhi. Curious, he asked, “In this kind of game, what technique would Lei Xiong use to ensure victory?”

Lei Jiuzhi laughed and said, “Unless we are cheating, there is no way we can ensure victory. But if in ten bets we win five, due to the high rate of the compensation, it is equal to certain victory. When the ‘home’ spills the tokens on the table and cover them with the bowl, relying on the eyes and the ears, there will be 50% chance of success.”

Speechless, Xu Ziling said, “Lei Xiong is really formidable.”

This moment the bowl was lifted up, the tokens were spread out, unexpectedly it was the second stall. Everybody sighed in despair, shouting about dishonest practices.

The two men moved toward the third hall; the main game in this hall was tou bao. The number of people in this hall was higher than the previous two halls. Every table was surrounded by so many people that it would be difficult to insert a needle; the atmosphere was blazing.

Lei Jiuzhi swept his gaze around; he still did not see Kou Zhong’s shadow, thereupon he proceeded toward the fourth hall. The main game in this hall was card games; all those orange bulrush [橙蒲], double-continent, leaf play, dominoes, Tian Jiu, Pai Jiu [pai gow], horse crane, and so on; everything that should be there was there.

After many days hanging around the casinos, Xu Ziling was very clear about why gambling continued despite repeated prohibition. The casino world, where people were able to indulge themselves, was able to offer the excitement of getting lucky while taking the risk, which could not be obtained under normal day-to-day circumstances.

“Look!” Lei Jiuzhi suddenly said.

Following his gaze, Xu Ziling saw a particularly-bustling-with-noise-and-excitement Pai Jiu table, where sitting in one of the seats around the table was a young woman. This woman’s eyebrows were like crescent moon, her eyes looked like limpid autumn waters, her face, her complexion were extraordinarily beautiful, enough to match other beauties of Shen Luoyan’s caliber, and definitely would not be inferior in any respect. Especially alluring was the exquisite curves of her fully developed figure.

The number of spectators continuously grew. It was an inevitable matter.

Lei Jiuzhi spoke in low voice, “This is Hu Xiaoxian [lit. little fairy], the ‘Da Xian’ [great immortal’ Hu Fo’s only daughter. I did not expect her to come to join in the fun. The Tian Jiu Big Meet tomorrow night will be more interesting.”

It was only then did Xu Ziling recall that Hu Fo was the Hu Xian Pai’s zhangmen daxian [great immortal head of the sect], who opened Ming Tang Wo in Guanzhong, the most famous casino in the nation. Hu Xiaoxian was his beloved daughter, who had obtained the gambling skill that he personally passed on to her.

Lei Jiuzhi suddenly give Xu Ziling a push in his back and said, “Go on, play with her a few hands.”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “I am not well-versed in Pai Jiu at all!”

Laughing, Lei Jiuzhi said, “Without a novice, how could there be any skilled person? The rule here is that any gambler can take turn being the banker; the casino will only draw commission. Look, the house banker has been under pressure from her that his eyes nearly pop out. Ziling may take over the banker position to have some fun, the banker you protect will be extremely grateful to you.”

Xu Ziling’s scalp went numb; trying to decline in any possible way, he said, “Aren’t we going to use the hard-earned silver we won for tomorrow night’s Tian Jiu competition? If I lose it clean, what are we going to bet with in the Tian Jiu competition?”

Lei Jiuzhi laughed and said, “This is precisely the most brilliant aspect of our plan; in the past few days, you never worried about losing money, hence you were able to gamble with confidence and at ease, completely without any pressure. Just consider this time a test and a challenge for you. If you can apply the gambling technique and tactics that your LaoGe taught you, and you are able to put it in real-life application of life and death battle on the gambling table against a worthy opponent, if you win, I could say that you graduate with honor!”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “Don’t we have an appointment with Kou Zhong to help him select the fat sheep? How could a new branch grow out of a knot [idiom: side issues keep arising]?”

Lei Jiuzhi burst out laughing, saying, “Don’t push to the left and ward off to the right; just look at Hu Xiaoxian as someone like Evil Monk or Amorous Nun, then you’ll do just fine.” While saying that, he pushed the pouch containing the gambling chips into Xu Ziling’s hand.

Under repeated push from Lei Jiuzhi, Xu Ziling had no choice but to steel himself [lit. harden his scalp] to squeeze in by the banker’s side and said, “Let me be the banker for a few rounds.”

Everybody was stunned; they thought how could there be such a stupid person that went so far as to take over while the banker was in disadvantageous position?

Hu Xiaoxian cast a disdain glance toward him, giggled tenderly and said, “Why not? Zhuangjia DaGe [big brother the banker (in gambling)] is exactly what I’ve been looking for!”

Everybody roared in laughter in response to her remark.

Xu Ziling felt his face was burning hot, but this moment ‘if you ride a tiger, it's hard to get off’; without any choice he took the banker’s, who was slipping away from his seat, position.

[anurman]

Thanks Foxs

[bchin22]

BChin22!! You beat me, again

/humble bow

I just got lucky, Wang-Xiong. Next time I’m sure you’ll be first 😋

[wangxiaohu]

An unexpected update, dont mind being the third for this!

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[akolaw]

刺黥紋面，黥刑，punishment of tattoo the crime on face of criminal. Not鯨。

[Lance23]

刺黥紋面，黥刑，punishment of tattoo the crime on face of criminal. Not鯨。

Pre-internet. Sex offenders have sex offender tattoo’d/stamped on face vs registered online

[wangxiaohu]

Pre-internet. Sex offenders have sex offender tattoo’d/stamped on face vs registered online

A man who has this stamp on his face, is considered shameless or shamefull?

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[徐中銳]

The prevalent attitude will likely be that you should be ashamed to have asked whether "sex offenders" are "shameless or shamefull [sic]" ?

A man who has this stamp on his face, is considered shameless or shamefull?

Pre-internet. Sex offenders have sex offender tattoo’d/stamped on face vs registered online

刺黥紋面，黥刑，punishment of tattoo the crime on face of criminal. Not鯨。

[Patudo]

Narcissus in Chinese is water immoral, the leave look like the blade of sabre, while the flowers look like a lady stand on water, and was frequently use to refer to goddess of water, Madame of Xiang, is the most famous one, see the name of Song 10 secret include description of Xiang. Xiang is Hunan province.

I'm personally not too fussed how the name of Song Que's second blade is translated - both versions have their own resonance. On the horticultural theme though, it may be worth noting the most common English name for Narcissus plants is daffodil. I can't help chuckling a little at the thought of the mighty leader of the Song clan wielding a blade called the "Daffodil Sabre"...

[徐中銳]

It was a foresaw trap, and you've landed in it like Venus. This is 水仙…… :
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I'm personally not too fussed how the name of Song Que's second blade is translated - both versions have their own resonance. On the horticultural theme though, it may be worth noting the most common English name for Narcissus plants is daffodil. I can't help chuckling a little at the thought of the mighty leader of the Song clan wielding a blade called the "Daffodil Sabre"...

[foxs]

Anurman, HPC, you are welcome. BChin, thanks for dropping by. One of these days, I am going to contact you about that website we were talking about. Xiaohu, I told you a week ago that ‘things’ would go back to ‘normal’. Akolaw, thanks for the info. Lance, perhaps registered at the city hall? Patudo, ‘daffodil saber’ … not bad!

---

Book 26 Chapter 11 – Wind and Clouds[1] in the Casino

At the corner of the last hall, Liu An said with a laugh to Kou Zhong, “Xiaoren was right! These four fat sheep are all from out of town. I wonder which one is Daye’s heart leaning to?”

Kou Zhong was greatly astonished. Just now Liu An pointed four men to him, one of them was definitely the ‘Midas Touch’ Lai Chaogui who disguised himself as a fat sheep. But the other three were really out-of-town fat sheep; he could not help feeling at a loss. If he did not choose Lai Chaogui, wouldn’t Liu An’s cheating scheme be difficult to succeed?

The hall he was entering only had one gambling style, which was Tian Jiu.

Tian Jiu and Pai Jiu were both using the same dominoes, but they were played differently.

Tomorrow’s Tian Jiu big meet should be held in this thirty-table hall. This moment every table was surrounded by more than a hundred people, so it was very noisy.

Liu An leaned close to Kou Zhong’s ear again and said, “Perhaps we’d better divide these four men into four doors, in succession. Daye can then take two doors.”

Kou Zhong’s had an idea, he said, “Let’s take the two doors at the back!” Lai Chaogui was not in one of those doors; he wanted to see how Liu An would react.

Unexpectedly Liu An shouted an acclamation before glibly said, “Daye really has ability; you are able to see the two doors at the back are not as good as the sheep at the front two doors; certainly you have original insight. The fat sheep at the two front doors, the one wearing blue gown surnamed Jia, has the worst gambling appearance. Naturally it cannot escape Daye’s discerning eye.”

Kou Zhong was angry but was amused at the same time. This kind of swindling skill, he also had enough to show off. On the surface it looked like you are the one making selection, while actually it was the other party using his glib tongue doing the selection for you. But the fisherman can be hooked as well.

Kou Zhong pretended to be unsure, “Of course,” he said.

By lucky coincidence, this moment he saw Lei Jiuzhi entering the hall, so he busily waving his hand to greet him. Lei Jiuzhi only nodded his head slightly, before squeezing himself into one of the gambling table to make a bet.

Surprised, Liu An asked, “Is that Daye’s friend?”

Lowering his voice, Kou Zhong replied, “Speaking about fat sheep, that guy is really a big fat sheep. He owns more than dozen pottery factories in Jiangxi, as well as abundant family property. He may lose one, two thousand taels of silver, and his countenance won’t change a bit.”

Liu An’s pair of mousy eyes immediately lit up. He said, “Why not invite him to gamble together to your heart’s content?”

Shaking his head, Kou Zhong said, “There are a lot of choices to place a bet in here, plus he knew that my gambling skill is brilliant, how could he be willing to bet against us?”

Liu An roused his tongue like a reed [idiom: glib tongue] and said, “You are right, but right now the casino is too crowded, you can only place a bet on other people’s cards; how can it compare to the excitement of betting on your own cards?”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Didn’t we already find our fat sheep?”

Liu An said, “Two fat sheep are naturally better than one. Let us decide on some signals now, we can go separately to move this plan forward!”

Xu Ziling lost three times in succession; he lost more than half of his gambling chips. More and more people were gathered around the table, they all placed their bet on Hu Xiaoxian’s cards. Even the gamblers who were originally playing against her were now placing their bets on the face-off between Xu Ziling and Hu Xiaoxian.

For Xu Ziling, whether it was a win or a loss, everything was extremely important; but for Hu Xiaoxian, at most she only lost a bet.

Under the gaze of Hu Xiaoxian’s black, fluid beautiful eyes, which were as calm as still water, Xu Ziling felt like he wanted to bore a hole on the ground and hide in it. Without any better option he pretended to look down to shuffle the cards, not daring to look at her. Inwardly he cursed Lei Jiuzhi, who had gone without any trace.

Pai Jiu card game used the dots of two dice to make up thirty-two cards, twenty-one styles of cards, nine types of odd numbers, twelve kinds of even numbers.

In general, the game could be played by two to four people, using the roll of the dice to determine the number of dots, each draw was six cards, the banker drew an extra card and took the lead to play his cards, and then the other players play their cards in succession, whether to meet with and defeat or just to get rid of their cards. The cards in their hands could be composed of two suits plus one barbarian suit [not sure: 夷牌 (yi pai)], which could be pushed forward to triumph over the opponent. The winning bet was calculated according to the suit’s ratio and the yi pai’s points. [Note: the ‘cards’ here refer to domino tiles, not western playing cards.]

Xu Ziling was about to roll the dice and deal the cards when a clear, sweet, gentle and beautiful voice rang out, “Hold on!”

Stunned, everybody looked up. A thousand-tender, a hundred-charming beauty, using who-knows-what kind of shenfa already squeezed through the crowd and took position at the very front, in a graceful and touching posture sat down on the seat between Hu Xiaoxian and Xu Ziling. With a hint of smile on her face, she said, “Nujia came to take advantage of the excitement.”

Everybody could only stare blankly at her, bedazzled by her beauty, momentarily they forgot to protest that with this interference, the game was delayed.

Beauty like Hu Xiaoxian was already rare in the world, and yet this newcomer beauty was at least half a notch above her.

Shockingly, she was Wan Yaonu’s Shimei, Bai Yaonu [female demon], Bai Qing’er.

In that instant, Xu Ziling suddenly calmed down completely. His heart was as bright and clear as the moon in the well, not contaminated the slightest bit by distracting thoughts.

Hu Xiaoxian was also curiously sizing up this beautiful and alluring addition to their game.

Xu Ziling met Bai Qing’er’s limpid and bright gaze. Laughing calmly, he said, “Since that’s the case, we’ll start with new game.”

Bai Qing’er performed the beautiful movement of shrugging her shoulders, indicating that she did not mind. “Please do as you wish!” she spoke indifferently.

Xu Ziling reached out to shuffle the tiles.

For some unknown reason, the crowd felt their heart suddenly tensed up; nobody made any noise, they all held their breath to watch with full attention.

Bai Qing’er’s eyes were fixed on Xu Ziling’s sparkling and translucent like jade slender palms without blinking at all, as if she was trying to pry into the depth of Xu Ziling’s foundation from the hands. Just like Hu Xiaoxian, she renounced the right to shuffle the tiles.

After repeated ‘Click! Clack!’ noise, Xu Ziling piled up the tiles neatly.

It was because now he had a powerful enemy nearby that he was finally able to control his mind and unleashed the stacking-tile skill that Lei Jiuzhi taught him. By using his school’s unique skill of listening to tiles rubbing against tiles he was able to remember several cards. Naturally it would be ideal if he could remember all 32 cards, but it was simply impossible.

Lei Jiuzhi was only able to remember six to eight cards, but five was Xu Ziling’s limit, yet it was extremely useful already.

For the first time Hu Xiaoxian revealed a grave expression; obviously it was because of Xu Ziling’s technique and his ‘listening to the tiles’ skill.

Everybody started to place their bets. This aspect was taken care of by the casino personnel, calculation and compensation were generally taking care all by itself, so Xu Ziling did not have to worry about it.

Xu Ziling smiled, handed the dice to Hu Xiaoxian, and said calmly and indifferently, “How about Xiaojie [Miss] roll the dice for this round?”

Hu Xiaoxian was startled, but then she took the dice and threw them on the table.

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[1] Wind and clouds, fig. unstable situation.