CH 21

Chapter 021- Cherished Meeting of Friends

Flipping through his book, Mr. Shuhai frowned so slightly it could hardly be seen. He didn’t expect Su Er to ruin this game so much. (1)

“Flipping through his book” was added to make the scene more easy to imagine, as later

it is implied he’s been mainly looking at his book for most of the meeting.

Shen Jiangbei, who usually never spoke so much, couldn’t help asking this time: “Who is the maiden’s family?” (2)

“为何说是娘家?” Meaning, “who is the maiden’s family?” 娘家 – a married woman’s parents’ home.

He is asking who is the “maiden” Su Er married lmao

To clear the game, people would pretend to love, so Su Er was no exception. What was odd to him was Ji Heng’s excuse. (3)

“虚与委蛇” – to deal with a person courteously but without sincerity; play the hypocrite with every semblance of sincerity; pretend politeness and compliance. 说辞 – excuse, rhetoric, plea

Ji Heng: “Su Er’s marriage partner is a bit special.”

Mr. Shuhai guessed the truth in one penetrating remark: “Ghost King?” (4)

一语 – one penetrating remark; to hit the mark with a single comment; one sentence

As soon as the words came out, excluding Ji Heng, everyone’s faces changed one after the other. Wen Buyu was surprised with how the host knew when he never left the house, and Wan Yi and Shen Jiangbei were surprised by Su Er’s boldness. (5)

T/N: Su Er: Men of great sanctity are bold (lol) – Chapter 19

After getting an affirmative answer, Mr. Shuhai finally looked up from the book in his hand and talked about other topics: “Tomorrow afternoon, the town will vote in unison, and they will announce the results the following morning .”

Wen Buyu’s face turned pale: “But has it not always been that the vote happens in the morning and results come out in the afternoon?” (6)

T/N: that the voting and results announcement occur on the same day

Mr. Shuhai: “It’s all the same.”

“How could it be…” Realizing who she was talking to, Wen Buyu forcibly reined in her doubts.

Although Shen Jiangbei and Wan Yi said nothing, their eyes sank. The town was undoubtedly more dangerous at night than during the day. If they stayed one more night, they were 10% more likely to be killed by ghosts.

Wen Buyu suddenly thought of something, and her expression turned strange: “The day of voting is the day Su Er returns to the door of the Educational Hall.” (7)

回门 – the return of a bride to her mother’s home on the third day of the wedding.

In this case, Su Er’s “mother’s home” is the Educational Hall

She couldn’t help peeking a peek at Ji Heng. Shouldn’t he have considered this a long time ago?

Mr. Shuhai lowered his head to continue reading. No one knew whether to leave or stay. While the situation was unclear, none of them wanted to stand out and ask first. Shen Jiangbei, who sat closest to Mr. Shuhai, clearly saw a piece of red paper being used as a bookmark.

Wasn’t that the ballot ticket given by the Ghost King?

Mr. Shuhai seemed happy to answer this question at the moment. He calmly said, “I found it in the gap beside my bed. It’s very interesting, isn’t it?

“…”

Shen Jiangbei’s face blanched slightly. Wan Yi told him that Su Er had taken refuge in the host’s room that night, but he’d remained skeptical to this day. Now the truth was like a hammer. (8)

Blanched – to turn pale

Mr. Shuhai casually took out a pile of red paper and placed it on the stone table. He spoke again: “There are many people in charge of supervising the words and deeds in the village, and my identity is one of them. As a town resident, I also have the right to vote.”

As soon as his words fell, someone thought of something, and his expression turned bad.

If you can instigate some people, coupled with these extra votes, you can make a difference.” Mr. Shuhai was indifferent: “But I would rather use this energy to read some more books. Why don’t we make it more convenient for everyone… If another player dies, I will give you these tickets.”

These few words made the atmosphere fall silent in an instant.

Obviously, it was quiet, but he disliked the wind. Mr. Shuhai got up and went back to his room to focus on reading, leaving the people in the courtyard to look at each other in consternation.

Among them, Wen Buyu was the most nervous. Once you’ve decided to kill, you must be the one to die yourself.

“The host did this deliberately.” She absentmindedly tried to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear to relieve her nervousness, but accidentally hit her arm against the stone table. Wen Buyu didn’t feel the pain at all and said desperately, “That night, he might have already had doubts– he might have even deliberately let Su Er go to wait for today!” (9)

T/N: Wen Buyu is saying Mr. SHuhai might have known Su Er was on the bed the

whole time, but let him go in order to plot this trap ()

Watch as the players pretend to be clever like mice. When they become complacent, spring the mouse trap from the dark.

No one answered. In absolute silence, Wen Buyu suddenly laughed. Even if she died tonight, Su Er wouldn’t get away. His boldness had left a fatal loophole, which inevitably lead to anger.

Before her voice could become even shriller, though, Ji Heng suddenly said: “They’re just a few tickets. Why should I care about them?”

Shen Jiangbei frowned: “There are quite a lot of them.”

Ji Heng said meaningfully: “Su Er mentioned that there were only five tickets that could still be used, the top three and the bottom two.” (10)

Su Er mentioned he marked the votes before hiding in the host’s bed in Chapter 17 :

”After marking them all […] he stuffed the rest quietly into the cracks of the bed.”

Shen Jiangbei asked for the reason.

Ji Heng: “According to Su Er’s original words, he was too nervous at the time and accidentally bit his lips. In order to distract himself, he left lip marks on the middle of the backside of each ticket.”

The town was strict, not to mention during the sacred voting session. If extra lip marks were found on the back of the ballot, they were afraid it would be regarded as bad conduct, and the person voting with those tickets would not end well. (11)

T/N: He bit his lip and it started bleeding, so he made the “lipstick” marks from blood, not actual lipstick.

“…”

Ji Heng glanced at everyone and said: “I have something else to do, so I’ll go first.” Before leaving, he looked at Wen Buyu silently. Understanding what he wanted, she quickly handed over the red paper and box: “I’ve used up the thing inside.”

After speaking, her expression was conflicted. So many players have never even heard of props that could block the perception of ghosts, yet she had held one in her lifetime.

Ji Heng took his things and left.

Wan Yi didn’t go deeper into what sort of private deal Wen Buyu and Ji Heng had. He raised his head and stretched his stiff neck before asking: “How true or false do you feel his words are?”

As someone who’d had frequent contact with Su Er, Wen Buyu replied truthfully: The lip marks are probably true. Just listen to what others say.”

Incredulous, Wan Yi looked at Shen Jiangbei: “When you were in high school, did you have so many thoughts?”

He’d rather believe Su Er did it by accident. Otherwise, the quality of the newcomer was a little scary. (12)

More accurately: He would rather believe it was a mistake. Otherwise, the quality

of this newcomer would be somewhat terrible.

Shen Jiangbei: “By the time you were in elementary school, there might have been a child prodigy of the same age who was already in college. Don’t underestimate a person so easily.”

Wan Yi pouted and whispered: “It’s better to leave this courtyard quickly.”

Once Mr. Shuhai found out the truth about the red paper, he might really use them as a punching bag.

As several people left one after another, the courtyard became quiet once more.

Inside the house.

Mr. Shuhai read a book on military tactics. The art of war was treacherous, and there were many parts worth pondering. In this section, he praised without restraint a battle well-matched in strength. (13)

兵书 – a book on the art of war. 势均力敌 – be well-matched in strength; match each other in strength; balance in power; 大肆 – without restraint

Rustle–

T/N: Sound of paper turning

In his opinion, the most energy-saving method was alienation, which aimed to bring disorder to the enemy with the least amount of effort. What was confronting them head-on? (14)

瓦解: disintegrate; collapse; crumble; disorganize.

硬碰硬: confront the tough with toughness; diamond cut diamond

It was just like using the red paper to make the players turn against each other easily. Was it necessary for him to monitor them all the time?

Absent-mindedly, he fiddled with the pile of red paper with his fingers, one of which ended up pushed away. The sunlight from outside the window hit it and seemed to make the paper look more translucent. However, with just a casual glance, Mr. Shuhai’s eyes suddenly froze, and he turned the red paper over. There was a dark red lip print on the back. (15)

Changed “made the thick paper look thinner” to “made the paper more translucent.” The lip marks were more visible in the light.

Suddenly realizing something, he flipped through a few more tickets. They were all in the same state, without exception.

The selection of the Chief Guard was a serious matter. It was okay if the tickets were bloodstained, but the lip mark was the real fatality. It would be troublesome if Su Er used the outrage as a pretext to gain more favor on the polling day. (16)

借题发挥: seize on some pretext to distort; give vent to one’s pent-up feelings on some extraneous pretext; make use of a subject as a pretext for one’s own points.

I replaced “pent-up feelings” for “favor.”

The thin paper was kneaded into a ball and tossed aside. Mr. Shuhai’s eyes revealed a dangerous glint: “No wonder you were in a hurry to ‘marry’ yourself.”

For Su Er, this place was probably more dangerous than the Ghost King’s old house at the moment.

.

In the square courtyard, Su Er swept the ashes on the ground and took the brazier back inside.

The sun finally hung completely in the sky. Su Er washed his hands and made a cup of tea before knocking on the door of the old lady’s room.

Her voice was full of fatigue: “Who?”

Realizing that she had asked something stupid, she didn’t want to open the door. However, she became worried he’d break it down, so she got up and opened it.

Su Er: “It’s time to serve tea.”

The old lady’s complexion turned ugly: “You married a ghost. What tea are you offering?” She was already eyeing the cup suspiciously. (17)

On the day of the wedding, a Chinese tea ceremony is conducted. The bride and groom serve tea to their parents, in-laws, and other family members. It marks the union of two families.

“I didn’t poison it.” Su Er: “It’s unnecessary.”

The gap in physical strength between a vigorous young man and an elderly woman was self-evident. The old lady also knew that if the other party wanted to snatch the pendant, she couldn’t stop him, but it was difficult to control her suspicious nature.

She had been nervous all night and indeed had a sore throat. The old lady took a sip of tea and wondered how this man survived last night.

Su Er left the tea set (t/n in her room) and retreated to the yard. The old lady was still guarded against him, and her face was gloomy. She quickly closed the door heavily.

The sound of the leaves rustling in the wind was pleasing to Su Er’s ears. He’d stayed in this game for a long time, and the deathly stillness at night was suffocating. He preferred a world rich with noise.

Creak.

The wooden door made an unpleasant noise as it was pushed open, interrupting Su Er’s thoughts.

The door stood ajar. A moment later, Ji Heng walked in with some cakes in his hands.

Su Er hadn’t eaten anything since last night. He rarely liked sweet and greasy flavors, but now each bite tasted delicious.

It took three minutes to fill his stomach. It was easy to be overheard in the yard, so Su Er pointed to the adjacent room and walked in with Ji Heng.

Rubbing the cake crumbs off his hands, Su Er’s expression became serious: “Our top priority is to solve the problem of the prop.”

The skeleton would definitely bring up the old story tonight and ask him to take away the old lady’s pendant.

As he spoke, the wound inside his lip was faintly visible. Ji Heng thought of the lip mark on the red paper and shook his head: “Tampering with the ticket, fortunately, you can come out and think of this.” (18)

唇瓣一张一合: The lips opened and closed

“I bit my mouth by accident.” Su Er said before realizing what he was referring to. He lifted his sleeve: “Most of the blood was from the whip wound. I scratched it when I jumped over the wall that night. (19)

T/N: When he jumped over the wall to enter Mr. Shuhai’s yard, his wound from the beginning of the game reopened.

Otherwise, with so many red papers, biting his lips for each one would hurt to death.

As his finger stroked the edge of the wound, Su Er’s expression turned stony. Speaking of which, these wounds were given by the Chief Guard. As soon as he entered the dungeon, he was whipped for no reason. Not only did it reduce the force value, it hurt when he accidentally pressed on the injuries at night.

Unfortunately, time was short, and this debt could not be repaid.

Ji Heng: “The matter with the pendant is actually not difficult to solve. Just replace the beams and pillars with rotten timber.” (20)

偷梁换柱: steal the beams and pillars and secretly replace them with rotten timbers; steal beams and change pillars; to perpetrate a fraud

Su Er thought for a while: “Find someone to make a replica and exchange it with the old lady’s?”

Ji Heng nodded: “As long as the Ghost King doesn’t attack her, he probably won’t distinguish real from fake. The only problem is…”

Su Er rubbed his forehead in frustration: “How to deal with the Ghost King?”

The other party was aggressive last night for only one reason. It wanted him to take the old lady’s pendant with his own hands. (t/n: so it could kill Su Er for being an accomplice).

It was rare to see a trace of distress on Su Er’s face, so Ji Heng smiled and said, “Rules are dead, and people are alive.”

Just as this world is full of rules, it is full of loopholes and darkness as well.

Su seemed to grasp something faintly, but he couldn’t tell.

Ji Heng was solemn: “The vote is the day after tomorrow. Normally, we’d have to spend two more dangerous nights.” He paused here, a smile in his eyes, but if you looked closely, there was some fierceness: “But what if the voting time was brought forward?”

Su Er was startled.

“For example…” Ji Heng said: “The Chief Guard suddenly becomes seriously ill and is about to die… Just as a country cannot be without a king for a day, this town cannot be without a chief guard for a day.”

Then they could only advance the voting time.

After staring at him stunned for a few seconds. Su Er stepped forward and held his hand, kindly calling out ‘brother.’ (21)

T/N: Brother as in comrade or close friend

The fact that bosom friends were hard to find was written all over Su Er’s face, and he said with emotion: “Brother, you are also not a good person!” (22)

知音 – bosom friends; close friends

The author has something to say:

Su Er: So you are not a good person either.

Ji Heng: …Don’t talk nonsense. I am.

LE Corner

((The following has nothing to do with the story, but I thought the story was sweet and wanted to share it))

The title for this chapter in the raws was “高山流水遇知音,” which could alternatively be translated as “Lofty Mountains and running water meets friends” or “Confidant Meeting of Bosom Friends.” “高山流水” means “lofty mountains and flowering water,” which is an idiom that means “having lofty ambitions” and “cherished friendship.”

Thousands of years ago, a traveling guqin master named Yu Boya came across a scene of lofty mountains and a flowing river. Inspired by the scene, he created a piece of music on the spot. A rustic woodsman named Zhong Ziqi lived on the mountain and happened to hear his piece and appreciated it very much. Yu Boya played the guqin while thinking about the mountain, and Zhong Ziqi exclaimed: “This piece is so good, I seem to see a majestic mountain!” Yu Boya played a piece while thinking about running water, and Zhong Ziqi said “You play really well, just like a surging river!” No matter what Yu Boya thought while playing the guqin, Zhong Ziqi was able to envision Yu Boya’s intention and thoughts in his mind. Thus, the two became close friends (soul mates).

Yu Boya (right) and Zhong Ziqi (left) meeting for the first time

One day, the two of them went on a trip through the northern side of Mount Tai when the sky suddenly began to rain heavily. They hid under a large rock. Yu Boya got inspired by the rain, and so took out the guqin to play. In the beginning, he played lightly, like a continuous drizzle, and then imitated the sound of thunder (as if the mountains were splitting open). Every time he played, Zhong Ziqi could hear the meaning of the sound in the guqin. After a while, Yu Boya put down the guqin and sighed. “Okay, okay you hear what is in my heart, and there is no place I can hide hide the voice of my guqin in front of you.”

Later, Zhong Ziqi died. Yu Boya smashed his guqin and swore to never play again. Because of this legend, “High Mountains and Flowing Water” represents cherished friendship. It is additionally used to mean confidence and to describe wonderful pieces of music.