Catching up finally - great post, great choice of excerpts, and great poll!
Do you have a sense of why the Crows are breaking up with the rest of the Yao / helping Ghost Face?
Not even in the slightest!
Would you subscribe to the "Lord Meow Number One in the World" account?
Only if I knew it was the selfie account of a cat yao! :D
Does Chu Shuzhi really think Guo Changcheng's accumulating merits is a pointless waste of time, or is he just bitter because the Netherworld screwed him?
I think he's just bitter,
And here are my thoughts on chapters 13 & 14:
"How dare the Crow tribe harm you? Wretched, ungrateful things! Even death by a thousand cuts or their total extinction could never make up for-"
Major kudos to the drama for its version of this scene, getting in a credible echo! Both Shen Wei with the killing intent and Zhao Yunlan with the "Xiao-Wei" - even though everything else is different, and it's a far more personal scene. Part of that is of course because the drama has to visualise it all, and that often means personifying conflicts, so we get Ya Qing personally as the target of Shen Wei's (justified) anger, rather than the Crow Tribe in general. But also, it fits drama!Shen Wei much better, of course. :)
What had he meant by "ungrateful"?
Hee! I love Zhao Yunlan being sharp. :D
Other than the half-yao man, every member of their tribe was short, with large noses and deeply wrinkled faces.
Fascinating! Exactly none of this is similar in the drama. *g*
I have no idea what it means that the Crows are parting ways with the rest of the yao, or why they would - very good of the drama for giving us some of Ya Qing's reasons right at her first appearance!
Winter Jasmine cried out in shock. "Crow Elder!" Fourth Uncle held her back.
Amazing! I assume this is where the script writers got the idea of personifying the conflict via Ya Qing and Ying Chun being close. And it's basically impossible to imagine the Yashou plotline without that element!
And the bit where Daqing approaches the Crows is so fascinating - I love getting to see him among other yao, and I really like that he's trying to track down what happened to his bells.
Lao-Wu happily toasted lao-Li with a stick of incense, and the other man returned the toast with alcohol in a bone china cup.
Awww! :D :D :D
Other people's chips automatically became dried fish when they arrived in front of Daqing. The cat's expression was deadly serious. He had no choice but to keep winning, having eaten almost all his chips.
1) Huh, that's so weird! Why do the chips turn into dried fish?
2) But Daqing eating them, and then having to keep winning, is so delightful! I adore it. :D
He held her waist and lifted her up high; she laughed, humming a little tune from a faraway time, and danced a Hanga tribe dance with him.
Awww, is that why they get a whole dancing scene in the drama?
Shen Wei took a seat and let Zhao Yunlan lie down and use his thigh as a pillow. He gently massaged Zhao Yunlan's temples.
So sweet!
They hope their son will be happy and at peace with a wife and kids. Bringing me over like this... How can you deny your parents a good New Year?
Ugh, I don't like this. :(
He had lived thousands of years like that, each day exactly like the one before. But somehow, after hearing Zhao Yunlan put it that way, it suddenly struck him as unfair. He was long since accustomed to passing his days like that, but now a feeling washed over him: the feeling that he couldn't bear a single day more of it.
Poor, poor Shen Wei!
This mysterious "someone" had a way of speaking that sounded rather familiar. "Who has the audacity to just randomly rename someone?"
LOLOLOL! :D
With a hmph, Daqing settled in front of a computer and turned it on with a paw. Wielding the mouse with the same paw, he opened a browser. It was no easy task.
That is an AMAZING image, and really should be fanart. :D
It looked for all the world as if text had flashed across Chu Shuzhi's face, right on his cheek, like the tattoos convicts had been forced to bear in ancient times.
Very cool! And also very awful.
The mover had never received such a weird job before, and was hesitant. "I-If the owner isn't here, shouldn't we..."
Seriously! Ugh. I'm good with ZYL being stalkery at this point, since it's entirely mutual, but involving other people makes it very not fun for me because that mover doesn't know what he's complicit in here, and is going along with it anyway, and I hate it. And I also hate that ZYL is pushing this guy into extremely unethical behaviour. He could have told him he was doing it with SW's agreement, and I wouldn't have minded! But no.
the things to be moved and the things he planned to throw out and replace for Shen Wei
And I know I just said I'm good with ZYL being stalkery, but here's where he crosses a line for me, because throwing out someone's belongings is completely beyond the pale, and someone who would even consider doing so - just, NO. So very very NO that I'm back at DNW DNW DNW for their entire relationship. :(
It wasn't modern simplified or traditional Chinese. In fact, it wasn't any sort of writing he was familiar with. Zhao Yunlan had never laid eyes on it before.
Ooh, neat! Ancient script!
Shen Wei left without a backward glance, anxious fury filling his mind with hundreds of possible scenarios. He was, after all, a gentleman. It could never have crossed his mind that someone might go to such lengths to lure him away just to move his belongings and steal a couple pairs of underwear.
More UGH, because worrying Shen Wei to this degree is also not on. ZYL is behaving appallingly in this whole episode.
As he stood frozen in the doorway, an uncontrollable desire to kill boiled up inside him. (...) With tremendous effort, he just barely managed to snap out of it.
Newsflash, Shen Wei: you just did control the "uncontrollable" desire! Stop thinking of yourself as out of control, when you never actually are!
Zhao Yunlan didn't breathe a word about the Lock of Kunlun or anything else he had seen in that bedroom.
I feel like I should be talking about that, but eh. I'd be more shocked if he actually did say something.
But given Zhao Yunlan's habit of spewing sheer nonsense, his mom didn't take him seriously at all.
LOL! She does know him.
His mom grabbed her rolling pin and swung it at him as if by habit.
SIGH. (The whole woman-with-rolling-pin thing is such a traditional stereotype here, though it's directed at husbands, not sons. Fake-"powerful" women terrorising the poor little husband, who in reality has total power over her. HAAAAATE. This has a very very similar vibe to me - a man play-acting at being cowed by a "powerful" woman.)
(And clearly she isn't actually terrorising him; the narrative describes her as "easygoing and accepting" just a few paragraphs down.)
I do like the coming-out part, though! And that it takes her a while to realise he's actually telling her something real, not just running his mouth for once, and then to process it all. And that her first worries are about the consequences for him. And then she asks him how serious he actually is.
If he's as great as you say, how could he fall for you? Can he see a thing with those glasses?"
And then she's back at her usual snark! Hee!
An "ah" escaped Guo Changcheng, as if he were intimidated, but when Chu Shuzhi turned and resumed walking, he once again heard footsteps behind him. Would nothing stop the young idiot?!
Hee! It's so fascinating that this got turned into that Dixing scene where CSZ tries to scare GCC off - and how well it works, despite the very different context!
And I love that DQ sent GCC with him, and that GCC takes it seriously and won't be sent away.
No wonder Chu-ge doesn't eat peas.
LOLOLOL! And I love that Xiao-Guo just can't manage to be afraid here.
"I don't owe a thing to the Heavens or Earth! My conscience is clean! I've been atoning for my crimes for three hundred years-I paid it all off ages ago. Who the fuck do they think they are? What right do they have to judge me?" Chu Shuzhi squeezed these final words out from between his teeth. "If that's how it is, why shouldn't I actually commit the crimes they're accusing me of?!"
Poor, poor CSZ!
I accidentally came out to her.
LOL, "accidentally". (Why does he pretend it was accidental?)
Prolonging the sentence on the merit shackles seems to be normal practice. Another century or two would be typical.
The Netherworld sucks.
This was Zhao Yunlan's first time hearing the story too. "And then what happened?" he asked.
It's so weird to me that ZYL didn't care to hear CSZ's background before! He's working with the guy - shouldn't he care about what kind of person he is? I feel drama!ZYL definitely knows as much about drama!CSZ's background as was available to him. (Drama!DQ definitely knows, just like novel!DQ - he gets cut off talking about it at one point.)
Before a little yao can cultivate a human form, the thing they most fear encountering is a child under seven.
So fascinating!
Daqing deftly tapped away at the screen with his paw pads.
:D :D :D
Version comparison - no big differences, just a few small things I noticed, though there are probably more:
Shen Wei never thought anything about this kind of life. But for some reason, now that Zhao Yunlan mentions it, he suddenly feels wronged. The lifestyle that he had gotten so used to now seems unthinkable and even impossible to endure. But after long silence, Shen Wei only says blandly, "It's alright, I'm used to it."
The second paragraph isn't in the official translation.
Was...was he, Zhao Yunlan, the Mountain God of the Great Wild...?
This line isn't in the JJWXC/fan translation version.
Shen Wei cautiously sits on a corner of the couch. When he's given fruits, he would take a tiny piece of apple with seemingly no interest. When he's given water, he would sit upright and take a very tiny sip. When Zhao Yunlan's mother finds out Shen Wei teaches Chinese at the University, she says passionately, as if meeting a long-lost friend, "Oh that is great! Wouldn't it be nice if you were my son, unlike the two men in our family... sigh, I don't want to say anything about them. Just sit here and wait, auntie will go make you some dumplings, then we can talk more."
Shen Wei smiles unnaturally. His back is upright and greatly tensed, like a fully-drawn bow.
This isn't in the official translation.
Zhao Yunlan's mother's opinion of gay people:
Official translation: Their sexuality is becoming more socially accepted these days. Why?
Fan translation: It's a normal social phenomenon, and it exists even in animals. Sooner or later, the law will recognise it... Why are you asking this?
After a series of events, Zhao Yunlan's grudge against Hell is not news, it's just that the time for turning against them has yet to come.
Another bit missing from the official translation. (In the fan translation, this comes after SW explains the Netherworld's habit of adding a few centuries to a sentence.) Also, when SW asks about what happened with CSZ, the fan translation has this bit:
"I only know roughly what happened, but not the details," Zhao Yunlan replies, "you should ask Da Qing."
So in that version, he seems to know more than in the official translation! And the following bit from ZYL's POV is also not in the official translation:
No wonder Chu Shuzhi is always so on edge, he is even worse than me," this seems to be the first time Zhao Yunlan has heard of this, "I thought it was just because he is an undead. He deals with the dead every day; he is alright though when nothing gets in his way, but if he is mad he will bite anyone's head off... so what did he do to that person? Cut up the stomach and ate all the insides? Swallowed in whole?"
And likewise the following bit, with SW speaking:
His case had been decided three hundred years ago, and closed cases cannot be re-opened, otherwise I..." Otherwise, the Soul Slayer has the power to negotiate his release, perhaps.
And finally, in the fan translation Zhao Yunlan is interrupted while sending the paper crane:
Zhao Yunlan hits the brakes on the side of the road. He takes out a Guardian Order from his wallet, and rapidly scribbles a few words on to the talisman... "Meet me at No. 4 Bright Avenue before midnight". Then, he folds it into a paper crane. Before he can send it out, a traffic officer knocks on the window, "Hey, what's going on, why is your car parked here?" Zhao Yunlan bends down and puts on an agonised pretence, "Sorry, I have a cramp in my legs. I need a minute, just one minute." He stealthily wipes his palm on the car door, and the paper crane in his hand sublimates into a swirl of smoke, vanishing in the air.
no subject
Do you have a sense of why the Crows are breaking up with the rest of the Yao / helping Ghost Face?
Not even in the slightest!
Would you subscribe to the "Lord Meow Number One in the World" account?
Only if I knew it was the selfie account of a cat yao! :D
Does Chu Shuzhi really think Guo Changcheng's accumulating merits is a pointless waste of time, or is he just bitter because the Netherworld screwed him?
I think he's just bitter,
And here are my thoughts on chapters 13 & 14:
"How dare the Crow tribe harm you? Wretched, ungrateful things! Even death by a thousand cuts or their total extinction could never make up for-"
Major kudos to the drama for its version of this scene, getting in a credible echo! Both Shen Wei with the killing intent and Zhao Yunlan with the "Xiao-Wei" - even though everything else is different, and it's a far more personal scene. Part of that is of course because the drama has to visualise it all, and that often means personifying conflicts, so we get Ya Qing personally as the target of Shen Wei's (justified) anger, rather than the Crow Tribe in general. But also, it fits drama!Shen Wei much better, of course. :)
What had he meant by "ungrateful"?
Hee! I love Zhao Yunlan being sharp. :D
Other than the half-yao man, every member of their tribe was short, with large noses and deeply wrinkled faces.
Fascinating! Exactly none of this is similar in the drama. *g*
I have no idea what it means that the Crows are parting ways with the rest of the yao, or why they would - very good of the drama for giving us some of Ya Qing's reasons right at her first appearance!
Winter Jasmine cried out in shock. "Crow Elder!"
Fourth Uncle held her back.
Amazing! I assume this is where the script writers got the idea of personifying the conflict via Ya Qing and Ying Chun being close. And it's basically impossible to imagine the Yashou plotline without that element!
And the bit where Daqing approaches the Crows is so fascinating - I love getting to see him among other yao, and I really like that he's trying to track down what happened to his bells.
Lao-Wu happily toasted lao-Li with a stick of incense, and the other man returned the toast with alcohol in a bone china cup.
Awww! :D :D :D
Other people's chips automatically became dried fish when they arrived in front of Daqing. The cat's expression was deadly serious. He had no choice but to keep winning, having eaten almost all his chips.
1) Huh, that's so weird! Why do the chips turn into dried fish?
2) But Daqing eating them, and then having to keep winning, is so delightful! I adore it. :D
He held her waist and lifted her up high; she laughed, humming a little tune from a faraway time, and danced a Hanga tribe dance with him.
Awww, is that why they get a whole dancing scene in the drama?
Shen Wei took a seat and let Zhao Yunlan lie down and use his thigh as a pillow. He gently massaged Zhao Yunlan's temples.
So sweet!
They hope their son will be happy and at peace with a wife and kids. Bringing me over like this... How can you deny your parents a good New Year?
Ugh, I don't like this. :(
He had lived thousands of years like that, each day exactly like the one before. But somehow, after hearing Zhao Yunlan put it that way, it suddenly struck him as unfair. He was long since accustomed to passing his days like that, but now a feeling washed over him: the feeling that he couldn't bear a single day more of it.
Poor, poor Shen Wei!
This mysterious "someone" had a way of speaking that sounded rather familiar. "Who has the audacity to just randomly rename someone?"
LOLOLOL! :D
With a hmph, Daqing settled in front of a computer and turned it on with a paw. Wielding the mouse with the same paw, he opened a browser. It was no easy task.
That is an AMAZING image, and really should be fanart. :D
It looked for all the world as if text had flashed across Chu Shuzhi's face, right on his cheek, like the tattoos convicts had been forced to bear in ancient times.
Very cool! And also very awful.
The mover had never received such a weird job before, and was hesitant. "I-If the owner isn't here, shouldn't we..."
Seriously! Ugh. I'm good with ZYL being stalkery at this point, since it's entirely mutual, but involving other people makes it very not fun for me because that mover doesn't know what he's complicit in here, and is going along with it anyway, and I hate it. And I also hate that ZYL is pushing this guy into extremely unethical behaviour. He could have told him he was doing it with SW's agreement, and I wouldn't have minded! But no.
the things to be moved and the things he planned to throw out and replace for Shen Wei
And I know I just said I'm good with ZYL being stalkery, but here's where he crosses a line for me, because throwing out someone's belongings is completely beyond the pale, and someone who would even consider doing so - just, NO. So very very NO that I'm back at DNW DNW DNW for their entire relationship. :(
It wasn't modern simplified or traditional Chinese. In fact, it wasn't any sort of writing he was familiar with. Zhao Yunlan had never laid eyes on it before.
Ooh, neat! Ancient script!
Shen Wei left without a backward glance, anxious fury filling his mind with hundreds of possible scenarios. He was, after all, a gentleman. It could never have crossed his mind that someone might go to such lengths to lure him away just to move his belongings and steal a couple pairs of underwear.
More UGH, because worrying Shen Wei to this degree is also not on. ZYL is behaving appallingly in this whole episode.
As he stood frozen in the doorway, an uncontrollable desire to kill boiled up inside him. (...) With tremendous effort, he just barely managed to snap out of it.
Newsflash, Shen Wei: you just did control the "uncontrollable" desire! Stop thinking of yourself as out of control, when you never actually are!
Zhao Yunlan didn't breathe a word about the Lock of Kunlun or anything else he had seen in that bedroom.
I feel like I should be talking about that, but eh. I'd be more shocked if he actually did say something.
But given Zhao Yunlan's habit of spewing sheer nonsense, his mom didn't take him seriously at all.
LOL! She does know him.
His mom grabbed her rolling pin and swung it at him as if by habit.
SIGH. (The whole woman-with-rolling-pin thing is such a traditional stereotype here, though it's directed at husbands, not sons. Fake-"powerful" women terrorising the poor little husband, who in reality has total power over her. HAAAAATE. This has a very very similar vibe to me - a man play-acting at being cowed by a "powerful" woman.)
(And clearly she isn't actually terrorising him; the narrative describes her as "easygoing and accepting" just a few paragraphs down.)
I do like the coming-out part, though! And that it takes her a while to realise he's actually telling her something real, not just running his mouth for once, and then to process it all. And that her first worries are about the consequences for him. And then she asks him how serious he actually is.
If he's as great as you say, how could he fall for you? Can he see a thing with those glasses?"
And then she's back at her usual snark! Hee!
An "ah" escaped Guo Changcheng, as if he were intimidated, but when Chu Shuzhi turned and resumed walking, he once again heard footsteps behind him. Would nothing stop the young idiot?!
Hee! It's so fascinating that this got turned into that Dixing scene where CSZ tries to scare GCC off - and how well it works, despite the very different context!
And I love that DQ sent GCC with him, and that GCC takes it seriously and won't be sent away.
No wonder Chu-ge doesn't eat peas.
LOLOLOL! And I love that Xiao-Guo just can't manage to be afraid here.
"I don't owe a thing to the Heavens or Earth! My conscience is clean! I've been atoning for my crimes for three hundred years-I paid it all off ages ago. Who the fuck do they think they are? What right do they have to judge me?" Chu Shuzhi squeezed these final words out from between his teeth. "If that's how it is, why shouldn't I actually commit the crimes they're accusing me of?!"
Poor, poor CSZ!
I accidentally came out to her.
LOL, "accidentally". (Why does he pretend it was accidental?)
Prolonging the sentence on the merit shackles seems to be normal practice. Another century or two would be typical.
The Netherworld sucks.
This was Zhao Yunlan's first time hearing the story too. "And then what happened?" he asked.
It's so weird to me that ZYL didn't care to hear CSZ's background before! He's working with the guy - shouldn't he care about what kind of person he is? I feel drama!ZYL definitely knows as much about drama!CSZ's background as was available to him. (Drama!DQ definitely knows, just like novel!DQ - he gets cut off talking about it at one point.)
Before a little yao can cultivate a human form, the thing they most fear encountering is a child under seven.
So fascinating!
Daqing deftly tapped away at the screen with his paw pads.
:D :D :D
Version comparison - no big differences, just a few small things I noticed, though there are probably more:
But after long silence, Shen Wei only says blandly, "It's alright, I'm used to it."
The second paragraph isn't in the official translation.
This line isn't in the JJWXC/fan translation version.
Shen Wei smiles unnaturally. His back is upright and greatly tensed, like a fully-drawn bow.
This isn't in the official translation.
Official translation: Their sexuality is becoming more socially accepted these days. Why?
Fan translation: It's a normal social phenomenon, and it exists even in animals. Sooner or later, the law will recognise it... Why are you asking this?
Another bit missing from the official translation. (In the fan translation, this comes after SW explains the Netherworld's habit of adding a few centuries to a sentence.) Also, when SW asks about what happened with CSZ, the fan translation has this bit:
"I only know roughly what happened, but not the details," Zhao Yunlan replies, "you should ask Da Qing."
So in that version, he seems to know more than in the official translation! And the following bit from ZYL's POV is also not in the official translation:
No wonder Chu Shuzhi is always so on edge, he is even worse than me," this seems to be the first time Zhao Yunlan has heard of this, "I thought it was just because he is an undead. He deals with the dead every day; he is alright though when nothing gets in his way, but if he is mad he will bite anyone's head off... so what did he do to that person? Cut up the stomach and ate all the insides? Swallowed in whole?"
And likewise the following bit, with SW speaking:
His case had been decided three hundred years ago, and closed cases cannot be re-opened, otherwise I..."
Otherwise, the Soul Slayer has the power to negotiate his release, perhaps.
Zhao Yunlan hits the brakes on the side of the road. He takes out a Guardian Order from his wallet, and rapidly scribbles a few words on to the talisman... "Meet me at No. 4 Bright Avenue before midnight". Then, he folds it into a paper crane.
Before he can send it out, a traffic officer knocks on the window, "Hey, what's going on, why is your car parked here?"
Zhao Yunlan bends down and puts on an agonised pretence, "Sorry, I have a cramp in my legs. I need a minute, just one minute."
He stealthily wipes his palm on the car door, and the paper crane in his hand sublimates into a swirl of smoke, vanishing in the air.