chapter 457

[?]: Aren’t you afraid, boy?

[?]: Challenge me? Ballsy.

chapter 457 Mao Qiang And Xi Shi
(although “qiang” might not have been a name but a title during her time)

[?]: Haha, master Fan is serious!

[?]: Quit yapping. Just do it.

[Fan]: Ambitious. One last time- aren’t you afraid of pain?
(“…ok, again ask once more…”)

[?]: Whoever makes a sound loses.

[?]: Provoke me

[Zhao Huo]: and this’ll be my natural reflex!

{sfx: cha~}

[?]: Haha, you’re something all right, boy.

[F]: Haha, so it’s true.

[F]: You didn’t buy your rank.

[?]: Whoa, old Fan does know how to compliment someone!
[?]: That’s a first!

[Zhao Xian]: Is that proof enough, old Fan? Anyone else wants to question his military exploits?
{Dong Zhuo’s subordinate, Zhao Xian}

[F]: I admit he’s the real deal, but your son…

[?]: Yeah, the Zhao family is renowned for having only daughters. Where did a son come from?
(“…Zhao family as daughter kingdom world-famous…when added a son”)

[ZX]: Lay off. His mother was a long lost woman of mine!

[F]: Fake or not, the important thing is it’s hard to find talented men.
[F]: Chancellor Dong gained Lü Bu and the world fell into his hands.

[?]: Haha, master Fan is right. Our Young Master has quite the combat history.
[?]: A warrior like him would be an asset to Advisor Xu.
(“…also never empty-handed return”)

[F]: A bet is a bet. What do you want, lad?

[ZX]: Old Fan is just kidding, son. Don’t take it seriously.

{crowd noise}

[?] Oh ho, he’s got balls!
[?]: Don’t go back on your word, old Fan!

[F]: Damn it, kid, were you looking to give yourself away?
(“…come out to gift goat”; not sure what this phrase mean; might be referring to an old tradition of “gifting sheep/goat” to one’s uncle/nephew; he’s also looking at his daughter, so maybe he’s talking to his daughter and referring to her as the goat to be “eaten” by the wolf?)

[ZX]: Wow, son, that’s a man’s natural reflex!

[?]: I’ll fight you if you don’t give her up, old Fan!

[?]: Ho, Xiao Fan is blushing!
(“miss Fan” or “little Fan”)

[?]: Haha, you want the Xi Shi of our Commandery? Gutsy!
(like asking for “the Helen of Troy”)

[ZX]: Old Fan, you could always ‘cry uncle’ if you wanna chicken!
(“…not dare pay, admit turtle egg also acceptable”)
[F]: What? I was just afraid you’ll regret it!

[F]: I bet you won’t dare to get married right away!

[?]: Your words, master Fan. Don’t you eat them now!
[?]: Yeah, drunken blabbering is still an offense!

[?]: All right. Let’s go all out tonight!

{labels read: wine}

[ZX]: He… he’s my son.
[F]: Screw you, you’re my son…

[?]: Brother Huo, come come come!

[?]: Miss Fan, your goat is here.

[?]: Hoho, the lady tiger is hungry.
(“…female tiger flexing might”)

We met for the first time on that day.
Your name was on everyone’s lips in the Commandery.

“New Lü Bu” was an interesting moniker.
And yet no matter how powerful a man is, at a time like this…

he is still fragile.
(“…cannot [withstand] one hit”)

[Ms. Fan]: Look at you.

[Ms. Fan]: I’ll be number one once I finish you.
(“…most powerful…”)

[Zhao Huo]: You’re right. I’m… powerless in the presence of a woman I fancy.

[ZH]: Fall to a rose- only a beauty can make someone die willingly.
(“flower below death, heart content feeling willing, is beautiful person [privileged] technique”; allusion to something like this)

[Ms. Fan]: Brute force is only viable against my father.

[Ms. Fan]: Mother is from the Yi tribe. Father was no match for her.
(Is she implying that the Yi people are really attractive? And that her mother was a “beauty trap” that locked her father in?)

[Ms. Fan]: What I want to know is, do you dare to try?

[Ms. Fan]: There’s still time to turn back.
(“right now, you regret still timely”)
[ZH]: Haha.

[ZH]: A thorny rose is bad news.
(“flower has thorn, approach/close-in not auspicious”)

Dong Zhuo’s subordinate Zhao Xian was relocated in year 190. When they passed by my home, they took me away too.

The Guandong Alliance started to advance on Dong Zhuo not long after that. I’ve lost contact with my family ever since.

Young and ignorant, I lived blissfully at my new home.

[ZX]: Disgusting. Why are you wearing these.
(not sure about the second part)
[?]: Haha, not even old Fan dared to do that.

[ZH]: The Yi people put these on so their women will marry them.

[ZX]: Good work. Weird or not, as long as we get old Fan’s troop.

[?]: It’s symbolism for “reunion”, right?
(wordplay on “earring”, which is almost homonym with “son return”; not Mr. Chen’s invention, it seems to be an old tradition for girls who are getting ready to be married off, and their parents put earrings on them to ask them to come home sometimes with a son)
[?]: You wear ten of them. Quite the devotion.

You said those were the happiest days of your life.

Except happiness is always in a hurry.

Before you left to follow Xu Lin to the capital, you told me one thing.

[ZH]: Reunion in ten days by the big tree outside the city.

That you would send a brother to get me.

A few days later, the news of Xu Lin’s assassination shocked the world.

The Zhao family did their duty, but they were still punished by the tenth day.
(a fan pointed out the plothole here, where Zhao Huo was still in the Dong Zhuo army after the Zhao Xian clan was executed)

I was alone outside the city, hoping for the darkness to pass.

I was the only one left at home. And you were the only one left for me.

I waited for you,

waited for the “brother” that you would be sending.

Perhaps your abandonment was as ruthless as your killing move…

Perhaps men don’t have a monopoly on dying for a rose.
(I want to say this “rose” could be stretched to mean “love”, but I’m not sure)

Even the silence was excruciating.

There was a rumor that year about Lü Bu killing his father Ding Yuan for the sake of fame.

There was another rumor that year about you betraying Zhao Xian in order to kill Xu Lin.

So there was ulterior motive behind getting close to my family, right?

You really were on the same level as Lü Bu that year.

But you were just a legend; a liar.

My imagination would get the better of me as I wonder about your connection to this woman…
(…you and this woman’s whatever experience”)
When you were recovering from grave injuries two months ago, you called out to a “woman” in your sleep…
(this new line above was inserted in the book release version)
Did you save her? Did you love her?
All I know is that I was unwilling to give up, so I kept waiting.
Even in death Xi Shi would have wanted to compete against Mao Qiang.

I looked forward to the occasional breeze, and to hear the faint sound of ten earrings striking each other.

But, earrings oh earrings,

where is thy wearer…
(wordplay lost in translation)

Who says the sow-thistle is bitter? I say it is as sweet as the shepherd’s purse.
(citing from Book of Odes, chapter Valley Wind, supposedly about an abandoned wife?)

Perhaps… sweetness is the aftertaste of bitterness.

Perhaps you should die for a rose.
(“perhaps, let (male/neutral)you die under a flower”)

Take the man when he only has eyes on you- and let that lovely sight be the last thing he will ever see.
(“in man’s eye only (female)you that moment, let him retain forever lovely visage”)

Belonging to no one else…

A thorny rose is bad news.

Her thorns are the sharpest at her prime.

Who says that the sow-thistle is bitter? I say it is as sweet as the shepherd’s purse. You feast with your new wife- [loving] as brothers.