Chapter 29

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In which a Go board makes a special guest appearance!

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Ye You had long thought that his Senior Brother had returned a bit too quickly. After he went to the bathroom, he asked for the reason and learned that that letter had almost been completely burned away with only a small section left, so the other had left the moment it was shown. Ye You then asked, “What was written on the letter?”

After putting the person down on the soft couch, Wenren Heng brought over a towel and had him wipe his hands and said, “It had only a few lines, relating to the drug. It said that the efficacy wasn’t bad and that the owner was very satisfied.”

“Drug, owner…” Ye You softly repeated the words. Lifting his eyes, he asked, “What about the Young Miracle Doctor? Is he still there examining the drug powder?”

Wenren Heng said, “Yes, we’re guessing that the owner of this villa captured those Jianghu adventurers to test this drug, so we’re having him see what exactly this drug is used for.”

Ye You reminded, “That person who is being schemed against might be here, so you should send some more people to watch over the Young Miracle Doctor. Don’t let anyone harm him.”

Wenren Heng said, “I know.”

Ye You let out a sound in acknowledgment and leaned back to rest against the soft couch, slightly lowering his eyes.

He had long eyelashes, so with his eyes lowered, most of his pupils were immediately hidden, and it became even more difficult to understand his innermost thoughts. Wenren Heng had long been incredibly familiar with this appearance, and just by seeing it, he could tell that the other was thinking of other matters, so he couldn’t help but take the other’s hand.

Ye You looked at him.

“Don’t keep your thoughts bottled up to yourself. Tell me,” Wenren Heng said, “What are you thinking about? Your internal energy?”

Ye You said, “No.”

Wenren Heng turned a deaf ear to that and gently said, “Why don’t I go find those people and bring them here so you can ask them about the situation? If you don’t want me to listen, I won’t listen.”

The reason why he didn’t put forth any effort when he went over to Manor Lord Wei’s was that he was afraid of something happening to his Junior Brother.

It was such a huge blow to have one’s internal energy destroyed, yet his Junior Brother unexpectedly didn’t even let show the slightest hint of emotional disturbance, having clearly suppressed it all with force. He understood this person too well; the more quiet his Junior Brother was, the more the other was preparing to do mischief.

Ye You said lightly, “No need. If we really find them and learn that I have no relationship with them, then wouldn’t I just be left with no hope at all. I’m only a bit tired.”

Wenren Heng was silent for a while. Not forcing him, Wenren Heng carried him back to the room and indicated for him to sleep for a bit. Upon seeing the look directed at him, Wenren Heng couldn’t help but stroke the other’s head.

Ye You pressed down the other’s hand. His mind whirled, and he said, “Senior Brother, yesterday night, I had a dream.”

Wenren Heng thought of his painful expression last night and asked, “What did you dream about?”

Ye You said, “I had another dream of that small pavilion, and it was raining.”

Wenren Heng immediately stiffened, and in that moment, even his breathing seemed to be tense. He calmly asked, “Is that so?”

Although the other didn’t show it, Ye You was keenly aware that the other was somewhat unnatural, and he internally sighed, deciding not to bring up that old incident to test his Senior Brother. At random, he made up, “Yes, and then a black bear suddenly ran out from the woods. At that time, we were still children, and you pulled me and kept running and running. But no matter what, we couldn’t throw it off our trail. In the end, you made me run ahead and went back alone to draw it away. Did this actually happen?”

Wenren Heng’s breaths eased, and he said, “No, it was only a dream.”

Ye You asked, “Then is the small pavilion still there?”

“Yes, on Heji Mountain.” Wenren Heng pulled over the blanket and tucked him in. “After this matter is over, let’s go light some incense for Master. I’ll bring you to the small pavilion to sit for a while.”

Ye You obediently closed his eyes. When he heard the door opening and closing, he once again opened them and exhaled out a long breath. Thinking of his next plans, he gradually became unable to keep the weariness from bubbling forth and was eventually swallowed by his own drowsiness.

He suddenly heard the pitter-patter of that light drizzling rain, falling in thin, continuous lines upon that verdant mountain’s small pavilion. The tranquility seemed to permeate heaven and earth, with the entire scene looking akin to a painting. That smart and bright youth sat in front of him on the stone bench, holding a towel and wiping his hands, while at the same time speaking to the lifeless him about a variety of things, all without a trace of impatience.

 

After Wenren Heng closed the door, he directly left the small courtyard.

The scarred man furtively stole a glance, knowing that, with the condition that Young Master Xiao was currently in, the Sect Master was absolutely not in a good mood. He waited for the other’s orders, only to hear the command to stay behind and guard Young Master Xiao. He couldn’t help but ask, worried, “What about you, Sect Master?”

Wenren Heng said, “I’m going out for a walk.”

The villa was built very carefully, and upon the lake was placed wooden walkways, winding and twisting over a portion of the lake.

Water lilies were planted in the lake, and carps were cavorting within, inspiring people’s envy at their carefree play.

Wenren Heng looked at the wooden planks neatly arranged underneath his feet, and after walking from one end to the other, he felt his heartbeat,  erratic from the words that his Junior Brother just said, gradually return to normal. After pulling himself out of that sliver of helpless dejection, he calmly reviewed yesterday’s incident.

Blood-sucking Ghost appeared only when they were about to search the villa. While he said he did so for the sake of revenge, the reality was that he must have been simply stalling for time, so as to let those within the villa escape. That old ghost had practiced a miraculous skill, so if he chose not to fight against them recklessly, then it’d be quite easy to preserve his life if he was simply stalling for time. The only miscalculation was the existence of that Junior Brother of his.

Thinking of it like this, he knew then that silver was something his Junior Brother had arranged ahead of time, so everything appeared relatively reasonable and fair.

But even though he could comprehend this logic, seeing his Junior Brother like this, Wenren Heng still felt his heart ache uncontrollably, so he had wanted to ferret out those Demonic Sect Elders and ask them a few questions. But even wandering around the villa for a while gave him not even a glimpse of their shadows.

After slightly thinking it over, he realized that those people were deliberately avoiding him, and he had half a mind to call more people to search. But upon further consideration, with how headache-inducing those Elders’ tempers were, if his people were careless and accidentally drew their notice, then everything would become a mess.

He didn’t know how many times he had wondered how exactly his Junior Brother normally taught those people. Helplessly, he turned around and went back.

When he returned, the small courtyard was piled high with things, each bag stacked on top of the other, looking even more prosperous than things were during the new year. In such a remote and desolate place, these things had probably been bought from the nearby towns and cities this very night.

He asked, “Did Manor Lord Wei send these?”

The scarred man said, “Yes. He originally wanted to look in on Young Master Xiao, but he left when he heard that the other was sleeping.”

Wenren Heng wasn’t surprised. Both Manor Lord Wei and Wei Jiangyue wanted to make it up to his Junior Brother, but where they differed was that the former’s heart would soften for Wei Jiangrou while the latter’s heart could harden enough to punish her.

“Manor Lord Wei is famous the world over, but yet he raised such a daughter.” Wenren Heng didn’t bother to see what the gifts were before pushing open the door to enter the room.

The Young Miracle Doctor had already returned, and he had brought a chair over to the head of the bed and was currently sitting there, hand in chin, staring at the person on the bed. Perhaps he was too focused in his attentions for he didn’t even notice Wenren Heng coming into the room. It was only when the other walked up to him that he was startled into waking, so surprised that he almost fell off the chair.

Wenren Heng pressed him down and covered his mouth, not letting him make a sound. Only after making sure that he’d recollected his thoughts did Wenren Heng let go and ask, “What are you doing?”

The Young Miracle Doctor pointed at the large bed. “He seems to be having another dream, and he looks quite nice smiling like that.”

Wenren Heng turned to look. He didn’t know what this Junior Brother of his was seeing in these dreams, but the other’s mouth was curled up in a faint smile; it looked like quite a good sleep. He softly agreed with the Young Miracle Doctor’s words before putting down the bed curtains, using his actions to tell this little fool that even if it was a nice sight, he wasn’t going to let the other look.

The Young Miracle Doctor didn’t understand at all, instead thinking that the other was afraid that he would disturb Sir Xiao, so he returned to his own small bed and put all his focus into examining the drug powder he had brought back.

Wenren Heng went over to look. “Can you tell what it’s used for?”

The Young Miracle Doctor earnestly said, “I’ll do my best to test it.”

 

Ye You slept until the afternoon before finally waking, and he seemed to have recovered some of his vitality. The Young Miracle Doctor took his pulse and then announced that there was no longer any need to keep watch at his side. Since Sir Xiao spat blood because of his unstable internal energy, now that all that internal energy was gone, there was no need to worry about him spitting out blood anymore.

The Young Miracle Doctor said, “He originally had some internal injuries, and along with the serious injuries inflicted this time, his body is still somewhat weak. Resting a bit more for the next few days will be good for him.”

Wenren Heng asked, “Then what about his missing memories?”

The Young Miracle Doctor said, “It seems it doesn’t have much to do with his internal energy. Perhaps it’s that he hit his head before. This kind of situation requires a gradual recovery. Maybe it’ll heal, or maybe it’ll remain like this in the future.”

Wenren Heng also didn’t know which sort he would prefer. Seeing the Young Miracle Doctor beginning to tidy up, for the sake of the other’s safety, he arranged a place for this little fool within their small courtyard.

Ye You honestly and obediently stayed put for an entire day. On the second day, although he still felt as if he was unable to exert any strength, he didn’t want to remain curled up in the room, so he unhurriedly followed his Senior Brother to look for Manor Lord Wei and the others, wanting to hear the progress made on this case so far.

On that day, when the critical moment happened, other than those who were close by, the majority of people did not notice that a piece of broken silver had struck Sir Xiao’s death acupoint. Thus, the only thing everyone knew was that Sir Xiao had displayed an incomparably formidable skill, and along with an apparent willingness to sacrifice his martial arts, he brought Blood-sucking Ghost to heel.

This was truly too bold! Too manly!

They felt endless admiration and, in turn, even more profound regret at the loss of Sir Xiao’s martial arts, so now upon seeing him appear, they all couldn’t help giving a respectful greeting.

Ye You laughed and said, “Does this mean my name has risen in Jianghu?”

Wenren Heng gave him a look. “You’re happy?”

With swift adaptability, Ye You immediately put away those joyful thoughts and said, “No, I was simply moved for a bit.”

The two quickly entered the study, and when Manor Lord Wei and Wei Jiangyue saw who had come, the first thing they did was stand up. Manor Lord then walked over with quick steps and asked in concern, “Ah-Xiao, how is your health? Ah, it’s all because I failed to educate her properly. When this incident is over, I’ll definitely give you a reckoning.”

Ye You said, “Little Miss[1] Xiao-Rou is still young, so it’s unavoidable that she has some willfulness. She’ll change as long as you discipline her more in the future.”

Manor Lord Wei was startled, surprised by the fact that he didn’t hear a single trace of unvoiced suffering or anger within these words. He gave the other a searching look but wasn’t able to see anything from this face covered with bandages, so the only thing he could do was ask, “That won’t do. There needs to be a reckoning for this matter. How are your injuries?”

“It’s already no longer a major issue. It’ll be fine after resting for a few more days.” After saying this, Ye You looked at the other elders and courteously greeted them before finally turning to look at the talkative Academy Master Ge. “How have things been?”

Academy Master Ge said, “We’re all waiting for Young Miracle Doctor Fang’s conclusions.”

Ye You asked, “What about the matter with Blood-sucking Ghost? Was there any investigation done about why he was still alive?”

Academy Master Ge said, “It’s still being investigated.”

Ye You swept his eyes over the study and saw that there was a chessboard[2]. He walked over and sat down in front of it, randomly picking up a chess piece to twirl in his fingers. He said, “Seven years ago, Manor Lord Wei brought an entire crowd of martial arts experts to block off Blood-sucking Ghost on a cliff. After he was pushed off, who was the one that searched the dead body?”

Pavilion Master Ding said, “It was me.”

He wasn’t the least offended by this youth’s blunt question, and his voice was still as coldly indifferent as always. He gravely said, “At that time, the Alliance Leader and I hurried over with our people to regroup with that fatty. We were halfway there when we saw him being carried down by someone. The moment we heard that that old ghost had fallen off the cliff, we immediately went to search for the body.”

In response, the Alliance Leader said, “By the time we arrived, that old ghost had already been turned into a pile of soft flesh by the fall, but the clothes he was wearing was the same clothes he had on before, so we all thought he was dead. If we hadn’t met him this time, we wouldn’t have known he had been saved by someone.”

“Hm, so there’s two possibilities. The first is that the person who saved him just happened to be passing by, and that person also happened to have a corpse on hand which just so happened to have a similar stature to Blood-sucking Ghost. The second is that the person knew Blood-sucking Ghost would fall from there, so had made advance preparations already.” Ye You circled around to look at the group. “Which does everyone think is more possible?”

The group took a small breath. No one answered. Pavilion Master Ding coldly swept his eyes over to Manor Lord Wei.

Manor Lord Wei didn’t want to hear the other’s infuriating words[3] and so took the initiative to say, “Then the suspicions on me are the greatest. There’s the possibility that I purposely forced that old ghost onto that cliff and then sent people to wait at the bottom of it for him.”

The Alliance Leader frowned. “It can’t be you. Even putting aside the fact that you almost lost your arm that time, if we consider only what that old ghost did to your son…”

Manor Lord Wei hastily tried to stop those words, but it was already too late. Wei Jiangyue immediately looked at Manor Lord Wei in astonishment, asking, “Father?”

The others also collectively looked over.

Manor Lord Wei stiffened for a moment before his tense back collapsed, looking as if he was about to be crushed by the weight.

Little by little, he said, “At the time, when I took over this matter and sent people all over to catch that old ghost, most likely for the sake of taking revenge against me, that old ghost took advantage of the time when my son was playing in the backyard to kidnap him.” He stopped before continuing, with difficulty, “Then, after all his blood was sucked away… he was tossed away, into my house’s pond.”

One by one, the group’s expressions changed.

Wei Jiangyue said, “Sixth Brother didn’t drown?”

“He didn’t.” Manor Lord Wei tried to push off his sorrowful mood before saying, “I don’t know if you still remember, but at the time, your seventh brother had just received a big fright and was sick with a high fever for several days, so I didn’t dare to mention it, fearing that it’d just cause everyone in the house to feel overly anxious. The only thing I could do was secretly set some more people as guards. The only one that knows about this is the Alliance Leader.”

Wei Jiangyue clenched his hands into fists, feeling his hatred for Blood-sucking Ghost rise another level. With that old ghost now dead, the enmity he felt on behalf of his younger brother and Sir Yang was now directed entirely on the head of that criminal ringleader.

The remaining people sniffled and sighed to no end; they had no idea such a thing even happened.

Ye You didn’t follow along with the sniffling and sighing and said, neither too fast nor too slowly, “If it also isn’t Manor Lord Wei, then we can understand one thing.”

The group couldn’t help but ask, “What?”

Ye You said, “Regardless of who saved him, or whether that person was at the scene, at least we know that Blood-sucking Ghost had purposely lured Manor Lord Wei and the others to that cliff and pretended that he had lost to fall off the edge because he knew that someone had prepared a corpse at the bottom to replace him.”

The group first nodded their heads in agreement before wrinkling their brows in dismay, thinking that if this was in fact the case, then anyone could be the culprit.

Ye You amiably said, “Everyone seated is an elder, so I originally would’ve had no room to speak, but since I’ve been pulled into this matter, there are some things I can’t simply leave unspoken. Let’s first put the matter of Blood-sucking Ghost to the side. Perhaps some of you here have already guessed what I want to say but simply haven’t spoken it out loud up until now.”

The group turned to look at him. Wenren Heng as well also turned towards his Junior Brother and faintly narrowed his eyes. He especially liked watching the other looking as if in complete control of the situation.

As if sensing these thoughts, Ye You also gave his Senior Brother a glance.

At once, Wenren Heng pulled back his somewhat piercing stare and exchanged it with an appearance of a “good Senior Brother”, giving the other a gentle and encouraging look.

Ye You didn’t have time to suspect him and turned back to the matter at hand, saying, “If we look at this matter from the very beginning, it was about an old man who wasn’t able to comprehend a secret martial arts book and wanted to pass it on to others but, when things came to a head, met a setback. He wanted to wait here for us but didn’t know that his nest had been stolen by another, and now whether he’s still alive or not is unclear. However, when we searched this residence thoroughly, we learned that this matter was clearly not that simple. In particular, this place is far too well concealed. Even if the old man wanted to gift a secret book, he wouldn’t need to also expose his own residence. Thus, I suspect that book never existed in the first place.”

He took a few chess pieces and walked over to the seat at the head of the table, putting down a black piece with a light clack. He said, “First of all, a person set out a chessboard and endured for almost a decade before making a move; this was taken as proof that he had the book.”

Academy Master Ge couldn’t help but say, “My son only went to the bottom of that cliff on complete accident.”

Ye You asked, “What if what the Junior Academy Master thought was a ‘complete accident’ was actually a series of coincidences orchestrated by someone to make him think as much?”

“This…” Academy Master Ge hesitated.

Wei Jiangyue asked, “Then why would someone want to set up this chessboard?”

“Sir Wei’s question is the crux of the matter,” Ye You said, “Before we answer this question, there’s no harm in considering why that person chose this place as the destination. The words on the book were written eight, nine years ago, and Academy Master Ge confirmed that the writing on the map was also roughly around the same year. Regardless of whether this so-called Blood-sucking Ghost would’ve appeared or not, at the very least, this place already existed. If this place existed, then the owner of this place also existed.”

Wei Jiangyue said, “Then that person felt some enmity towards this place’s owner?”

“It’s a possibility.” Ye You laughed for a bit, though his smile was shallow. Before Wei Jiangyue had the time to determine if the other was laughing at him, he saw the other leisurely put down a white piece and say, “It’s even more possible that this owner is among us right now, and his position is high and power great.”

Like a rock being thrown into water, this sentence caused enormous waves.

No one even had time to voice their thoughts when they heard him continue with, “Because of this high position and great power, this person was forced to endure for ten years in order to accomplish the step of calling all the people of Jianghu over.”

Academy Master Ge couldn’t help it, “How can you say this?”

“The crucial point is on that map.” Ye You explained the mysteries of the map to them and said, “When he wrote the map, he knew that that person had this residence and, even moreso, knew that that person was most likely going to use this residence to do some unspeakable things not fit to be seen by others. Thus, he wanted to make a situation so that that person wouldn’t be able to perceive what was going on before being dragged along.”

Wei Jiangyue understood his words and said, “So then even his misbegotten gains could be confiscated, and everyone could also attack him together?

Ye You said, “If our luck was good, that person would’ve been captured along with his misbegotten gains, and even if our luck was bad, at least we’d know of the existence of a person with such evil intentions. But this still doesn’t count as finished.” He pointed at that black chess piece. “Because the person who placed the book is still here. He’s set up so much of this board; he definitely has some followup moves.”

Everyone felt as if an intangible mountain had just fallen down on their heads.

If Sir Xiao’s guess was correct, then among them was a wolf disguised in human skin, and even that person who placed the book was no ordinary human being. All of them had been dragged onto this board, and they completely didn’t know what would happen next.

Academy Master Ge didn’t know how many times he had wanted to go and cut off the hand of that son of his. He said, “Then… then what should we do?”

“We wait and see. If the black piece manages to unmask the white piece successfully, then everything will become known to the world. If the white piece manages to eliminate the black piece secretly, then a scapegoat will probably be thrown out to take the fall.” Ye You lowered his eyes to hide the flash of sharpness in his pupils before lifting up the corners of his mouth and saying, “But we don’t know if some clues would inadvertently be left behind in the middle of all this for us, so that we’d first be able to uncover the truth.”

Pavilion Master Ding, as always, didn’t bother to control his temper and said, coldly, “Regardless of who is playing at being a ghost[4], or who saved that old ghost, we have to uncover it all.”

Ye You was very satisfied. “Yes, this young one also doesn’t like to be toyed with, so I’ll talk a bit more.”

Ye You once again placed another white piece down. “That letter mentioned the drug. I already asked Senior Brother, and I heard that this villa doesn’t have a drug dispensary[5], and only a bit of drug powder was found in the search. Then this means that the drug was actually made somewhere else. Ordinarily, it’d be more convenient to make the drug and test it in the same place, so I’m guessing that this owner doesn’t have only this single residence. At least, he’d also have a main base of operations, and the dispensary would be accompanied by a place to imprison people.”

He faintly let loose a breath, and before he could open his mouth again, Wenren Heng had already walked over to support him, letting him sit down before speaking again.

Ye You internally thought that as expected, nothing gets past Senior Brother, as he obediently sat down. He reached up to wipe away some of the thin sweat on his forehead beneath his bandages before finally continuing, “This person has a high position and great power and has done who knows how many terrible things. If he always caught people to test his drug, then sooner or later, the matter would cause a ruckus. If I was him, I’d definitely choose a place where it didn’t matter regardless of how I was doing my tests.”

Wei Jiangyue asked in astonishment, “Is there such a place?”

Ye You said, smiling, “There is. A prison.”

The group was startled.

Ye You said, “May I ask if there is a place in Jianghu that everyone knows that’s used to imprison people?”

Academy Master Ge immediately shouted out, “Bodhi Prison[6]!”

Ye You feigned ignorance and looked at his Senior Brother.

Wenren Heng poured him a cup of tea and indicated that he should drink a mouthful of water before explaining, in a low voice, “Jianghu has its own rules to follow. Those who have committed wrongdoings that aren’t terrible enough to be put to death are all imprisoned in Bodhi Prison, and the cells are guarded by Wudang and Shaolin. It was named Bodhi in the hopes that those locked within will one day achieve enlightenment and become honest characters[7].”

Thereupon, Ye You immediately understood.

Those sitting down had some hesitations. “But who would dare to mess around in Bodhi Prison? Couldn’t he have waited for a while and then caught one or two ordinary civilians to lock up somewhere else? This way also wouldn’t draw any suspicions from people.”

Ye You said, “This young one is simply guessing and is not completely certain, but the possibility can’t be ruled out.” He suddenly changed the topic, “But if that person can truly use the people of Bodhi Prison to test drugs, then his influence can’t be easily overlooked.”

This sentence ruthlessly hit directly at their nerves, and on the spot, there was one uneasy sect leader who said that regardless of whether it’s true or not, they have to go to Bodhi Prison to take a look at least, which caused quite a few people to also voice their agreement. Afterwards, Ye You no longer needed to interrupt. Since the minority had to comply with the majority, at this time, anyone who disagreed would be seen as having a guilty conscience.

He waited for a bit before hearing the Alliance Leader make the final decision, “We’re going to Bodhi Prison.”

He felt as if all the tension was leaving his body, fully prepared to retire after a job well done after having sat for a while. As he walked back with his Senior Brother, the more he walked, the slower he got.

Wenren Heng looked at him. “Really tired?”

To the best of his ability, Ye You let a sliver of brave pretension creep into his voice. “Still all right.”

Wenren Heng asked, “I’ll carry you there?”

Ye You continued to try and “act brave”, saying, “No need, I can walk fine by myself.”

He again purposely walked a bit slower. Wenren Heng patiently walked for a while longer with him and, upon seeing no one in the surroundings, stopped him in place before carrying him in his arms. Before he could “struggle”, Wenren Heng said, “Don’t move.”

Ye You took a moment when the other wasn’t looking to smile before obediently leaning into the embrace, resigned to fate.

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[1] Specifically he calls her 妹妹 (lit. younger sister), but I couldn’t think of a nice way to word that without sounding odd.

[2] While the text never explicitly names it, the chessboard mentioned here is specifically a 圍棋 (weiqi, also known as Go in English) board. For those who don’t know, Go is a game where the main goal is to capture as much territory as possible, which is counted at the end of the match. (Professional Go players usually can tell at a glance, but whenever I played I always just did whatever and had to wait for an end count to know if I won or lost lmao.) Go also has more opportunities to turn a losing game around than chess does since it’s played by surrounding enemy territory, so even if you lose territory initially, you can regain it as long as you’re able to surround the enemy before the game concludes. I think the parallels between Ye You’s plan and the Go board are pretty obvious from there.

[3] The text actually says 不想聽他噎自己 (lit. Manor Lord Wei didn’t want to hear himself being choked by the other). I assume the choking is metaphorical (lmao) and that Pavilion Master Ding was going to say something to make Manor Lord Wei so angry that he’d choke, so that’s what I went with.

[4] 搞鬼 Actually just means “making mischief”, but I translated it literally to keep the epistrophe that Pavilion Master Ding is making (it has to be intentional, right?). And yeah, while it sounds slightly less funny in Chinese, it’s still pretty funny.

[5] 藥房 lit. medicine/drug room. The word used to refer to pharmacies nowadays, but I thought it’d be weird to write about a pharmacy being in a house (no matter how extravagant), so I cheated and checked what the translators for Kusuriya no Hitorigoto wrote for the series’ medicine rooms (since the main character is a drug fanatic), and they wrote “dispensary” which is genius, so props to them!

[6] 菩提牢 Although I’ve set a rule to just pinyin place names, I kind of bent it here, since 菩提 is transliterated from sanskrit, so that’s what I wrote it as. Bodhi means, roughly, Enlightenment (the Buddhist kind).

[7] Wenren Heng actually uses two Buddhist phrases here 大徹大悟 and 明心見性. Both are words to describe the process of achieving Enlightenment. According to Baidu, the latter is actually more accurately translated as finding one’s most true self. I tweaked it here so that it’d make more sense in context.

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Whoa, I can’t believe I got the chessboard metaphor right! I’ve been translating 局 (lit. situation, counting word/modifier for “game”) as “chessboard” simply because I thought it sounded cooler, but apparently that’s what it was intended to be. Yay, I feel smart for once! <del>Never mind that Go isn’t actually classified as chess in English; in Chinese, they’re both 棋 so it absolutely counts!!</del>

Also, I cheated and skimmed the last few chapters, and hoo boy, does things go places. No spoilers, but rest assured (?) lots of things certainly go down, and we have lots more to go.

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