A woman!
[Meng]: Pardon the imperfections!
(“showcase ugliness/flaws”, humble introduction before showing off one’s skills)
[?]: Whoa! What a beauty!
[?]: Such a rare sight!
{flutter~}
chapter 13 The Dance of Animals
(possible inspiration? some say it’s a metaphor for a harmonious rule, utopia, etc.)
Home behind- how is your father?
Father behind- how is your wife?
Wife behind- how is your son?
Isn’t… isn’t this Xu Lin’s “Homeward”?
(“…’looking-forward home going'”; Fifay.net’s translation of “Pondering Home” is probably more accurate, but this is what my first impression of it is)
Men abroad, do you miss your family?
Do you miss your family?
With great toil ye gave me birth!
I ascend that tree-clad hill and look toward my father.
Do you miss home?
[?]: Father, mother! This is far enough!
[?]: Jian Long, stay alive! Come back alive!
Jian Long~
Stumbling along but kept on going…
(“just like that, fell down then get back up, fell down and get back up…”)
Father, mother… don’t you realize you are old now?
Father, mother, I’m alive. Still alive!
Men abroad,
do you miss your wife?
Why is the bright moon so clear?
Illuminating the gauze weave of my bed.
Missing my husband,
like pangs of great hunger.
[?]: Let’s head out!
[?]: Why not wait a bit longer, sir?
Where are you, my husband?
I can still hear her sobbing…
My love, do you still think of me?
(“wife…”)
Men abroad,
do you miss your son?
The son loves the father’s kindness.
The son loves the father’s sternness.
Fatherless, who is there to rely on?
Fatherless, who is there to depend on?
As a father,
do you miss home?
Do you miss home?
My boy, you must be three by now…
I’m seeing…
the hearts of these men breaking one by one…
Brave men still have fragile hearts! Though I’d never… dare to say so!
Am I too proud?
Or too afraid?
The hardship of separation, in life or death-
(“life separation is bitter, death separation is bitter”)
missing family,
(“no kin is bitter”)
wife,
(“no wife is bitter”)
son,
(“no son is bitter”)
or hardest of all…
(“no family/home is even”)
home~
(“bitter”)
This feeling…
so far and yet so close…
I feel so conflicted. Is this a feeling or a sign? I’m not sure…
The music touched deep…
with far-reaching effects.
This is not a simple dancer!
It’s as if she is paving the way for me…
And now she’s waiting for my response?
Xu Lin expressed through lyrics what he dared not speak aloud. The Art of War is harsh, but humanity is gentle. A brilliant concert!
(“…collaboration”, “concert” had that meaning too so I’m squeezing in this wordplay)
[?]: Why do I feel an opposing emotion against my resentment?
[?]: I feel so moved!
(“omg the feelz”)
[?]: My brothers…
{sfx: pa!}
[Dong Zhuo]: trials of war have turned us into animals,
[DZ]: and as animals…
[DZ]: we lost our rationality and calm.
[DZ]: Fame and desires made us forget our cause! What is it?
What is it?
[?]: An ideal!
[?]: We wanted a greater homeland than this!
[DZ]: So what is this rotten Luoyang compared to our ideal?
[DZ]: I ask you all, what do we have right now?
[DZ]: What do we have?
The son of heaven!
The son of heaven
is in our hands!
[DZ]: The dragon who commands the respect of all no matter where he goes! We have him!
[?]: Yes! He rules the country and turns the world!
[DZ]: Relish the moment!
{sfx: foo~ foo~ foo~}
So this is Dong Zhuo…
The creator of an ideal world…
who dares to challenge the norms, morals, ethics, and the feudal system!
The chaos moments earlier suddenly gave way to silence. But the heart-beat and the breathing of these men surged like waves crashing onto shore…
{sfx: thump! thump! thump! thump! thump! thump!}
They waited, like wild predators waiting to pounce on their prey. Calm, yet excited!
And my heart, helplessly swept along by the mass hysteria, danced to their excitement!
[DZ]: After tomorrow!
We move the city to Changan!
In order to build
a capital that is greater than Luoyang!
{gasp~}
Even when I expected this response, the surge of emotions still feels overwhelming!
It’s as if my heart is about to leap out of me!
Yet… their calm piqued my interest!
{standing up sfx}
What…
are they after?
{sfx: huff~}
{spit~}
[?]: A capital…
[?]: greater than Luoyang!
[?]: A capital for the people of Xiliang!
AH~
{crowd cheer}
Infiltrate the Dong residence and ascertain the moving date- mission accomplished.
{cheer}
Who knew a man of such power could emerge from a land of desolation.
{cheer}
He was able to motivate his men with a lie that couldn’t even fool children…
Out of control and utterly compelling…
(“[with] no [regard for] sky strength, plus solid impassioned theory”)
am I looking at a hegemon of this world?
Dong Zhuo’s claws are closing in on the world!
[DZ]: If you were a man,
[DZ]: you would be my second Xu Lin.
[DZ]: But you are a woman,
Everything is beyond my imagination.
[DZ]: so you’ll be the mother of my extraordinary son!
What should I do?
Why do I feel powerless against him?
Unless… that is the charm of a hegemon?
Under the moonlight, something primal yet completely foreign within me has been aroused…
(“a kind of never before on my body display instinct, now under moon night secretly jumping”)
Ravaging Times 
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