“My beloved is a brave, noble, and gracious special someone”
This is Hua Cheng’s words to Xie Lian towards the end of the novel. I haven’t gotten that far into the story yet, but this line is so famous among Chinese fans that even I couldn’t help but know it lol. The original Chinese of this line is more nuanced and thus worth explaining, so let’s break down this sentence for a bit.
The word “beloved” in the original Chinese is “心上人”, which literally means “the person on my heart.” So “beloved” refers to someone that you cherish in your heart (and who’s always on your mind).
The Chinese phrase for “noble” is “金枝玉叶”, which literally means “gold branches and jade leaves.” The phrase was originally used to describe beautiful plants, but is later mostly used to descibe those of noble birth. High-born people are analogized to “gold branches and jade leaves” because in a class society, nobilities are simply deemed to have more worth than the common people.
So actually the word “noble” here doesn’t have the connotation of “having fine personal qualities and high moral principles,” it just refers to Xie Lian’s noble birth. But it also shows the high regard Hua Cheng holds Xie Lian in, because after so many years of being the dirt-poor God of Rubbish, after so many years of enduring the ignominy of being a failure and laughing stock, Xie Lian is still “gold branches and jade leaves” in Hua Cheng’s heart. Xie Lian’s image remains unmarred and unstained for Hua Cheng.
The phrase for “gracious, special someone” in Chinese is “贵人”. “贵人” could simply mean “aristocrat,” “nobility,” but it does also have the meaning of “special someone.” And a person is usually referred to as “special” (“贵人”) because they have given you pivotal help and support in a critical time of your life. So when you say “he’s the special somone in my life” (他是我命中的贵人), people would understand it as that this person has helped you immensely at some point. And this “special someone” who has given Hua Cheng immesurable help in his hardest times is Xie Lian.
So the sentence could somewhat be interpreted as “the person I cherish in my heart is brave and of noble birth, the special someone who has given me the help I most needed.”
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