#fate translates

[fateandloveentwined]

THE TEARS ep34

okay i don't know who is watching but i just had to trim a 1080p version myself

the resolution for the previous version found online was Low

the gentleness. the tenderness of his heart. woh's zhou zishu is so ooc but he makes the character ever more loveable.

[fateandloveentwined]

5 notes on Xie Lian and maybe a note more

omg this took so long i'll proofread in the morning. written in chinese originally, under "read more". annotations on [google docs] with translations to come because there are too many.

(if you do chinese, skip to the cut! it is way better than the translation cri.)

⟶ tl;dr summary

it is fortunate that their ship name is coined Hualian and not Hua-xie. The flower withers, the petals fall. Yet there is a time for blossoms, a time for withers — if huaxie it really is, still it is befitting of their eight hundred years of separations and reencounters.

仙花垂憐，川城傾謝。

Heavenly flowers empathise and shed mercy; entire rivers and cities bow down in gratitude.

身在無間，心在桃源。

Whence the body dwells incessant the heart thrives beyond, content.

o n e .

He was pierced by a hundred swords. Thereafter, he offered to be pierced again. The nightly terrors that prowl wild in his dreams: he was ready to embrace it once more. The heart pierces, and yet it trembles.

t w o.

A thought experiment: if Wuming didn't die for Xie Lian at the rematerialisation of the hundred swords, would Xie Lian have accepted his second ascension?

The world is a wretched sea. Mortals, misery. Some people carry with them the weight of conscience, atlas or abyss on their shoulders as they edge stepwise towards the heavenly skies, for they know that the higher they go, the more power they wield in their hands to change the course of the stars. Lin Shu stands on the shoulders of legacy and demarcates Conscience on the ground. He steps into the encirclement he has carved: he holds himself hostage and falls into the nether realms of the incessant inferno, subject to an unyielding pursuit for bygone honours and nobility in store. It takes courage, to live like this.

But it also takes another kind of courage, to not live like this. Xie Lian wasn’t like Lin Shu. Dethroned, mortalised, buried and stripped of power and grace, he wandered on earth for eight hundred years. He did not save the destitute mortals, desolate and crying for help. He did not bestow on them the bountiful blessings, as what a god could do. The did-not-do’s — it takes in another courage to be him.

t h r e e.

Had Xie Lian really collected scraps these eight hundred years? To deny would do his memoir a disservice, but there is more to that. He served as the high priest of a kingdom, a general to an army; on the grapevine, the crown prince in white had played many roles on the stage of life, a hundred years here in the role of one, and a hundred from forth in the robes of another. In time, the tales of the one who inspired rose and ebbed, yet the legacies remain. He didn’t protect the people with his deified status, yet what endures is his compassion and mercy. In the rain, the figure clad in white walks past the world in joy and tears and touches the hearts he passes — this was his salvation, and his ascension to godhood.

f o u r.

At his second banishment, Xie Lian implores Jun Wu to assuage him of his merit and luck. Mortals light incense in exchange for blessings in supplication. Xie Lian disperses Fortune to earth instead, and disassembles Divinity for the common people to carve out blessings of their own lives.

The works of one cannot salvage the teetering constructs of a foundering world. The world is a tapestry of woven histories; people save the people as the tales unfurl. The stitches tangling in a sea of light, blessed faces lit up in the night by the millions of lanterns adorning the households of the earth, keeping it bright as stars in the sky. And it was so, what Xie Lian and Hua Cheng did.

f i v e.

The sword nears his neck: he is unfazed. The tenderness and gentleness of the noble spirit endures, staid as the meekness of nephrite jade. In the vicissitudes of temperaments, he sits, blasé; he does not concern himself with the triumphs and setbacks of life.

Clouds and storms wash across the world as he continues, with eased smiles and casual dialogue.

It is the most pitiable thing, of all in the world, gazing upon one who smiles placid in face of abject misery. He laughs in his affliction, yet is there such a thing, to be okay in utter wretchedness?

Fleeting moments of forlornness and joy all condensed in the time of a single gaze: his experiences refine him into a jade of the heart. The days of the ingenuous youth awash in ages past, gone were the luckiest teen of the kingdom, but the pureness in the eyes behind the sheaths of pain remain.

— I’m used to it, it matters no more;

who is there in this race with him but the immutable laws of nature in the crescent moon and wind?

The splendour surges, the crowds fete, the splendour falls — in the desert there is none: there is no glass of water waiting at your salvation. Dust and silt fork at each’s turn of fate; flies shovel across the path towards their better destinies. So long as one has feelings, has desires, how could one be truly free? The flower remains. The vista is unchanged. Yet the splendorous tower — the radiant memories of the past — bygones — and still he says that although the body dwells incessant, the heart thrives content. Where, pray, is the fount of the utopian peach blossom? How so, that the heart is at peace, in face of all this?

Yet he is well. His heart at peace. Where the heart lies, the peach blossoms spring.

+ 1

Xie Lian is this person, as such. Though the spring of the peach blossoms have long since dwindled, he hopes, towards.

Original chinese version below the cut

所幸，他们选的CP叫花怜，不是花谢。不过“花落花开自有时”，若真为花谢，也配合他们这八百年的聚散离合罢。

仙花垂怜，川城倾谢。

Heavenly flowers empathise and shed mercy; entire rivers and cities bow down in gratitude.

身在无间，心在桃源。

Whence the body dwells incessant the heart thrives beyond, content.

一、

百剑穿身后复挺出，再一次历万剑戳戮之痛。这一点，我是痛心、亦是悸动的。

二、

有过这样的想法，花城若是没有为谢怜挡下了第二次的万剑戮身，怜怜是不是不会愧疚如斯，会接受第二次的飞升？

“琅琊榜”林殊跟谢怜是不一样的。苍生于苦海，有的人会承载着毕生愧疚跬步而行，因为上了天庭，才有最大的力气赋以一拼，拯救最多的人。此后一生举步维艰，承载着、背负着的不再是一个人小时候的清平理想，更是踩着他人骨脊向上爬行的椎心之痛——往后是画地为牢，是不顾己身也要焚尽一切，济众生于颠簸的无间岁月。这无庸置疑是一种勇气。

可谢怜没有这么做。失去了神力、身分，八百载流连人世，他没有拯救到苍穹下的芸芸众生，没有为他们争取最大的福祉。可这，也须要另一股勇气。

三、

谢怜这八百年真的去收破烂了吗？有，当然有。可他当过国师、当过将军，成就过数之不尽，江湖传闻中不为人知的百年故事。他没有以神明身分保佑万民，可他的慈怜犹存；雨中笠者，垂緌间点拂人间百态——这是他的拯救、他的神明。

四、

第二次飞升之际，谢怜哀求君吾散去自己一身功德、一身气运，自此潦倒人间历尽尘俗。人皆供神求福，谢怜将其福泽尽散，颠沛流离之人得享其华。他致神明于凡人，使世间重拾自由、意志。

孤木难支，一人之劳无能挽苍生、解万苦；大厦将倾，独木焉能匡扶？拯挽苍生，自苍生始，遂藉万民之手拯之。此后万家灯火灿若星河，烟火千里红尘无虞。谢怜、花城做到了。

五、

刀斧加身而神色不改、面无惧色，谦谦君子温润如玉，今古兴衰谈笑风生中雨过天青。宠辱不惊，看庭前花开花落；去留无意，望天上云卷云舒。

云淡风轻。

最疼是口是心非之人，三两莞尔散去心中阴霾，愈是疼痛，愈是笑逐颜开，浑若无事。可刀斧悬颈，万剐千刀，心中岂能无恙？

百般悲喜付诸抬首一眸，千番历练炼就柔和似水：如切如磋、如琢如磨。削磨净尽的是昔日的棱角利刃，透澈瞳帘背后是磔刑凌迟般的刀剜苦楚。“习惯了，不足为外人道矣”——清风拂我，明月清风我。

可笑这世间起朱楼、宴宾客，人情冷暖的荒漠里连救命的一杯水也不肯施舍。浮沉各异势；泣血蝇虫笑苍天：蚁排兵、蜂酿蜜，有感情、有欲望，世间焉得自在者？花相似、景依旧，烟锁秦楼、却道“身在无间，心在桃源”。桃源何在，心何安之？

然心安。心之所向，是桃源。

Tl;dr：谢怜就是这样的人。纵武陵人远，吾往矣。

Full annotations found here. Untranslated for now because there are simply too many; I suggest copying and pasting into the browser if you are interested in the poetry and verses cited. Many of them are not used as per their original meaning, however, so it is 99% on me if you caught the reference but did not understand it.

Anyhow, a note on the two most important allusions, because there is value in such:

[1] 身在无间，心在桃源。Whence the body dwells incessant, the heart thrives beyond, content.

A suggested translation of "Body in abyss, heart in paradise" because I vehemently abhor the official tl.

Incessant hints to the nirvana of buddhism. I didn't play with the idea of using paradise like in John Milton's poem to encapsulate the utopian ideals of Jin dynasty Tao Yuanming's Taoist Peach Blossom Spring visions. In Tao's essay he expresses the notion "I can live in a peaceful provincial paradise where the peach blossoms spring and forget about worldly matters", which is not exactly the biblical Eden. Probably owing to the idea that Xie Lian never actively sought out an extraterrestrial, heavenly, peach-blossom-spring paradise, I did not translate it literally here but figuratively, though opinion probably divides on this one.

[2] 纵武陵人远，烟锁秦楼。

念武陵人远，烟锁秦楼。——《凤凰台上忆吹箫·香冷金猊》 李清照

李氏取自：

烟锁凤楼无限事，茫茫，鸾镜鸳衾两断肠。——《南乡子·细雨湿流光》 冯延巳

Extreme liberties taken. Li Qingzhao wrote the first poem from the perspective of a lover. She sits at her own chambers reminiscing about her lost lover. This in turn was alluding to Feng Yansi's poem. Both works reference a tower/chamber where two mythical lovers spent their time at before ascension. As such, this phrase denotes here something unattainable from past memories and someone locked in perpetuum, in stasis, waiting for something to come.

In relation to this line on the chamber/tower by Li Qingzhao, a direct allusion to Tao Yuanming's peach blossom utopia was also alluded to in Li's poem in the antecedent line, despite both being used to speak of romance and not sociopolitical utopian ideals. The sleep-deprived me thus thought it "apt" to cite both lines in the writing to express Xie Lian's longing for the peach blossom paradise, despite said paradise being no longer extant on Earth, and him being in incessant hell. The peach blossoms in question tie in with mxtx's allusion of the peach blossom spring in tgcf's famous quotation; thus explains the reason for all the convoluted quoting.

this much for now. I hope something makes sense, at least. The english version is very, very figurative since I realised the chinese version was nigh impossible to literally translate without dedicating a relatively great amount of time to it. I don't know how this will be received at all, but why hi, and hope it is something at least xD

[fateandloveentwined]

antithetical couplets

chinese couplets for tgcf/mdzs/svsss/2ha in that order (elaboration below):

仙花垂怜，川城倾谢

陈情一曲，忘羡无羁

秋霜垣断，洛水河绵

玉衡微晚墨夜燃，棠雨渐宁苍生渡。

elaboration

tgcf : huacheng x xielian

仙花垂怜，川城倾谢

xiānhuā chuílián, chuān chéng qīng xiè

Heavenly flowers empathise and shed mercy; entire rivers and cities bow down in gratitude.

mdzs : lwj x wwx

陈情一曲，忘羡无羁

chénqíng yī qū, wàngxiàn wú jī

I lay out my resentments and play a piece on Chenqing; I forget my covetings of the world and go out into the wild, untamed.

svsss : lbh x sqq

秋霜垣断，洛水河绵

qiūshuāng yuán duàn, luòshuǐ hé mián

In the autumn frost the walls fall down; in the Luo River the waters flow, unabating.

2ha : mo ran x cwn

玉衡微晚墨夜燃，棠雨渐宁苍生渡。

yùhéng wēi wǎn mòyè rán, tángyǔ jiàn níng cāngshēng dù

The Yuheng star, Alioth, of the Big Dipper dips slightly and burns in the ink-like night; the Haitang flowers rain, gradually calms, and ferries all mortals across the raging seas.

antithetical couplets, or alternatively, the lack thereof. these are known as 对仗 (duì zhàng) in chinese (similar to 对联 duì lián、对偶 duì ǒu you may have heard of), where the number of characters in each phrase are the same, while the position of the noun in the first part of the couplet equates the position of the noun in the second, the verb the verb, the adjective the adjective etc. there's also this thing called 平仄 (píng zè) in which the tonality of the first and second parts of the couplet has to be opposite (terrible explanation sorry for butchering it).

they aren't strictly 对仗 here. words like 绵 is more an adjective than a verb, while 断 is a verb. the 平仄 for the last one (2ha) should work alright, i didn't bother for the other four-char phrases.

Italicised words delineate main character-related words in chinese. It all began with Nirvana in Fire jingsu's "年景靖好，岁月长苏" (nián jǐng jìng hǎo, suì yuè cháng sū) which I loved to bits, and that led to me coming up with all these (very flawed) couplets stringing together character names and relevant things.

rough english translations. again i linked some of the words together in pinyin for easy understanding but officially they should be written apart.

reposted from ao3 on which i have not really written anything.

[fateandloveentwined]

poetry lines befitting MCS and XJY

These are mostly chinese tang shi and song ci poetry quotes, with a great biased amount from Su Shi because OP doesn't know better. Crude, 5-minute english translations below. There are lines I semi-made up or adapted from fandom/cpop songs (that is, most of Xiao Jingyan's lines), ngl OP is rather embarrassed of them because they aren't good at all looking back now but we'll just leave them here or else XJY would end up with zero quotes.

梅长苏 Mei Changsu

想那日束髪从军，想那日霜角辕门，想那日挟剑惊风，想那日横槊凌云。 ——夏完淳

Think to the day I tied back my hair and enlisted. Think to the day the horn rang at the frostbitten tents, think to the day I danced my sword making the sound that deafens the wind. Think to the day I took to the lance, and it pierced through the skies, rising higher than the clouds. — Xia Wanchun

将士百战身名裂。 向河梁、回头万里，故人长绝。 易水萧萧西风冷，满座衣冠似雪，正壮士、悲歌未彻。 ——辛弃疾

The warrior fights a hundred battles, yet what remains is his severed reputation. He looks to the bridge over the river, thousands of miles back, past acquaintances forever gone. In another life, over the howling of the west wind and the cold Yi rivers, the banquet sits, clothes adorned in snowlike white. The courageous man strides through the blizzard, the song of lament never ceasing. — Xin Qiji

零落成泥碾作尘，只有香如故。 ——陆游

The plum blossoms wither and drift to the ground, crushed into earthly soil and dust. The prevailing fragrance is what remains. — Lu You

亦余心之所善兮，虽九死其犹未悔。 ——屈原

So long as this is what my heart longs for and treasures, though I die nine deaths, my heart does not regret. — Qu Yuan

君臣一梦，今古空名。 ——苏轼

Lords and lieges ebb into nothing but a dream; in the river of time transcending present and past vain titles remain, cast into the void. — Su Shi

无波真古井，有节是秋筠。 ——苏轼

The heart is at peace like the ancient well that does not ripple; the integrity is as the autumn bamboos, steadfast and unfaltering. — Su Shi

舳舻千里，旌旗蔽空，酾酒临江，横槊赋诗。 ——苏轼

The warship moves a thousand miles, ensigns enshrouding the sky. He pours out wine by the riverside, holds out his lance, and writes verses as he speaks. — Su Shi

对一张琴，一壶酒，一溪云。 ——苏轼

Facing but a guqin, a jug of wine, a stream of cloud. — Su Shi

江山如画，是我心言。 ——风起时

The rivers and mountains of the kingdom outstretch before me, as moving as in art: this is my heart’s will. — from the song “Feng Qi Shi”, when the wind blows

战骨碎尽志不休，冰心未改血犹殷。 ——改自《赤血长殷》、王昌龄

Bones completely crushed from the battle, yet aspirations unwavering. The heart has not changed; the blood flows red still. — adapted from the song “Chi Xue Chang Yan”, the noble blood flows red, and poet Wang Changling

袖手妙计权倾变，敛眸笑谈意了然。 ——改自《赤血长殷》

With folded arms, he devises labyrinthine strategies. The sceptre of power sways and shifts. He shrouds his gaze modestly, and in conversations of small smiles, he discerns the intention of men. — adapted from the song “Chi Xue Chang Yan”, the noble blood flows red

萧㬌琰 Xiao Jingyan

潜龙一朝御风翔，长歌挽弓射天狼。 ——《长喑》

The submerged dragon rises one day to ride the winds. Singing high and long; the bow is drawn pointed at the invading Sirius. — from the song “Chang Yin”, the Long Darkness found here

挑灯殿阙思悄然，闻钤行宫寝无眠。 ——改自白居易

Awashed in the raised lamps of the imperial palace, thoughts whisper in grievance. The bell rings at the Jiu’an grounds, and he lies abed sleepless. — adapted from The Song of Everlasting Sorrow by Bai Juyi

驰骋沙场繁华梦，谈笑鸿儒君臣纲。 ——改自《致陛下书》、刘禹锡

Dreams soar in the flurrying gallops of the battlefield, flourishing dreams of splendour and joy. In pleasant dialogue with scholars, civility obliges polite smiles into the etiquette of lords and lieges. — adapted from the song “Zhi Bi Xia Shu”, a letter to Your Majesty, and Liu Yuxi

铁马并辔封疆，几回魂梦游；更鼓落夜未央，笔下兴亡断。 ——取自《长喑》、《赤血长殷》

Armoured horses riding in parallel at the borderlands — how many times has the soul wandered to such dreams of the past. The hourly drums sound ceaseless across the long night; under the emperor's brush, the fate of prosperity and declination writes. — adapted from the song “Chang Yin”, the Long Darkness found here, and “Chi Xue Chang Yan”, the noble blood flows red

揽尽山河只手倾，昂冕袖手瞰苍生。 ——改自《长喑》

The future of his kingdom sweeps into a tilt of his hand. With crown upheld, he folds his arms in his sleeves awatching humanity. — adapted from the song “Chang Yin”, the Long Darkness found here

咫尺抚眉峰，万丈叠远峰；梦底枕笑纹，惊风掀水纹。 ——《致陛下书》

Up close, the furrowed brows are smoothed. Ten thousands of feet stretch before him, converging into mountains at a distance. In the deepest dreams, the markings of a smile lie; he stirs up the wind which marks and rips tides in the tumultuous waters. — adapted from the song “Zhi Bi Xia Shu”, a letter to Your Majesty

Two (three) things to note:

My dying obsession with Su Shi, sorry I can’t help it that perhaps over half of the all the poetry I know is from him;

To be really fair, my favourite description of Mei Changsu is 运筹帷幄之中，决胜千里之外, used in describing Zhang Liang in Si Maqian's Records of the Grand Historian. He orchestrates masterplans in the tent of the army; he determines the victory of the battle from afar, thousands of miles from the front.

As for my favourite depiction of Lin Shu, it is definitely Su Shi’s description of Cao Cao: 舳舻千里，旌旗蔽空，酾酒临江，横槊赋诗。 The warship moves a thousand miles, ensigns enshrouding the sky. He pours out wine by the riverside, holds out his lance, and writes verses as he speaks. Xin Qiji’s verse above just fits the entire story of Mei Changsu so much, it deserves a mention.

I was assembling/making these lines up for something back then and so just listed whatever came to mind (for reasons I know not I kept on listing stuff for MCS, but maybe XJY was the typical good emperor kind of person so wasn't as inspiring coming up with quotes for him).

If there are lines of poetry you find really befitting the two characters, we're more than interested starting a thread here just for that purpose.

[fateandloveentwined]

long darkness — cháng yīn 长喑 translation

cháng yīn 长喑 // long darkness

a fan-made song on Xiao Jingyan. I have always been a Mei Changsu over XJY person, but this song from his pov really worked for me and let me see the weightedness of XJY's crown, so I wanted to share it with more.

song link in comment below. (bilibili . com / video / av10441457/)

长剑出鞘冷锋芒 十三载意难忘

缓歌曼舞九重宫 朔风黄沙麾旗扬

手足血脉埋青冢 挚友良弓唯锈藏

岂能折腰屈膝没忠良

the long sword unsheathes from the scabbard, its cool blade revealed. thirteen years, and hard it is to forget.

leisured, soothing melodies with graceful dances at the ninefold palace; north wind and yellow sand with the billowing ensign in the desert. *[1]

brothers-in-arms and brothers in blood in tombs buried, graves long covered in grass; dear friends and cherished bow stored away, now left only to rust —

how is one to bend and kneel, and bury the names of the honourable and the good?

挑灯不眠千军帐 逐千里护家邦

玉壶冰心铁骨铮 扬眉冷看覆风浪

当时少年且横枪 凝尽碧血守四方

守国土河山定国安邦

light a lamp through the unrested nights at the commander’s tent; repel foes a thousand miles, and shield the kingdom.

nobility and aspirations stayed true to, bones of steel resounding. head high, brows lifted, he coolly looks to the tempestuous, overturning storms. *[2]

the youth of the past still danced their spears: blood of the honourable, thoroughly consecrated, defends the four corners of their homeland,

guarding rivers and hills to secure peace of the kingdom’s earth.

(念白：我不要求你能理解，什么是军人铁血，什么是战场狼烟，但有些人，不能伤害，有些事，不能利用。如果连那些血战沙场的将士都不懂得尊重，我萧景琰绝不与你为伍，清楚了吗？)

V/O — I do not expect you to understand a soldier’s honour or the smoke signals on the battlefield. But there are some people you cannot hurt, some things you cannot manipulate. If you cannot even respect the soldiers dying at the battlefront, I, Xiao Jingyan, will never work with you. Do you understand?

铁马金戈谈笑并辔封疆 几回魂梦

凤阙深深夜雨潇潇数闻铃

鸿儒谈笑对面不知相逢 唯知君臣纲

音容早已远谁知苍凉

armoured horses and metal spears, riding in parallel in friendly chatters at the borderlands — how many times has the soul dreamt thus?

depths of the palace, whistling of the nightly rain, a few stray rings of the bells. *[3]

an erudite scholar, now sat opposite in small smiles converse, yet know not to reunite. what leaves is the etiquette of lords and lieges. *[4]

voice and countenance long since distanced — who is to know the desolation and vicissitudes concealed?

谈笑自若朝堂对气轩昂 霁月风光

风云激荡历艰辛终执牙璋

漫漫更鼓朱笔落夜未央 提笔写兴亡

四顾怅惘余音且绕梁

composed in dialogue and pleasantries, assured and imposing at court. he is noble and virtuous as the bright moon and warm breeze.

wading through the unpredictable winds and turmoils, zhang sceptre of jade at last in hand.

drums signifying the night hours sound, red comments from the emperor’s brush move through the boundless night yet to end. a lift of the brush, and prosperities and declines are writ. *[5]

pensive and lost he looks to four sides. remnants of past sounds remain, resonating through the beams of the palace.

(verse 2)

潜龙在渊敛锋芒 风雷动引龙翔

风云际会参参商 瞰天下世道无常

掌中龙渊凛如霜 立丹陛守盛世长

祭酒未凉叹谁人共觞

like a submerged dragon in the abyss, he enshrouds his splendour. wind and thunder call his wings to flight. *[6]

in the winds and clouds, he engages in the tumult of the Shen and Shang constellations. from above he looks down at the fickleness of the world.

in his hands, the abyss of the dragon is cold as frost; he stands at the red stairway before the imperial palace, and overlooks an everlasting prosperity.

the wine offering to the dead is yet to cool — I sigh, who is to drink with me?

袖手天下为帝王 垂衣且驭八荒

气宇舒金殿垂拱 揽尽山河只手倾

长歌挽弓射天狼 潜龙一朝御风翔

乾坤日月昭天下清朗

hands folded in sleeves, he gazes at the kingdom before him. as emperor he rules from his attire and directs even the most distant lands. *[7]

with poised air he commands the court, hands held together; the entirety of the kingdom shifts with a tilt of his hand. *[7]

sing high and long; draw your bow to the invading Sirius. the submerged dragon one morn rises to ride the winds. *[8]

heaven and earth, and sun and moon clears, and the world before brightens.

铁马金戈谈笑并辔封疆 几回魂梦

凤阙深深夜雨潇潇数闻铃

鸿儒谈笑对面不知相逢 唯知君臣纲

音容已故徒一身沧桑

armoured horses and metal spears, riding in parallel in friendly chatters at the borderlands — how many times has the soul dreamt thus?

depths of the palace, whistling of the nightly rain, a few stray rings of the bells. *[3]

an erudite scholar, now sat opposite in small smiles converse, yet know not to reunite. what leaves is the etiquette of lords and lieges. *[4]

voice and countenance already bygone, all but a body of desolation remains.

谈笑自若朝堂对气轩昂 霁月风光

风云激荡历艰辛终执牙璋

漫漫更鼓朱笔落夜未央 提笔写兴亡

从此立龙城孤守八方

composed in dialogue and pleasantries, assured and imposing at court. he is noble and virtuous as the bright moon and warm breeze.

having waded through the unpredictable winds and turmoils, zhang sceptre of jade at last in hand.

drums signifying the night hours sound, red comments from the emperor’s brush move through the boundless night yet to end. a lift of the brush, and prosperities and declines are writ. *[5]

from forth he establishes himself in the imperial city of dragons. alone, he awatches the eight corners of his realm. *[9]

Extra notes

for those keen on classical chinese and literature allusions

I’ve cited some allusions and references I was reminded of as I listened to the song. These are subjective, my knowledge of classical texts is very limited, take everything with a grain of salt and please do comment if you’d like to supplement any information.

[1] 缓歌曼舞九重宫 朔风黄沙麾旗扬 — 《长恨歌》 白居易 The Song of Everlasting Regret, by Bai Juyi

缓歌曼舞: from “缓歌慢舞凝丝竹”. This is at the start of the romance tale, where the palace is in carefree bliss and prosperity.

slow and graceful songs / slow dances / slowly the music of the strings and the bamboo reverberate in step with the dances.

朔风黄沙麾旗扬: might be a stretch; I was reminded of “黄埃散漫风萧索”. This is from the same poem as above, we are one fourth in here, and it talks of a war.

yellow dust, scattered, drifts through the air. the bleak wind howls.

[2] 玉壶冰心铁骨铮 — 《芙蓉楼送辛渐》 王昌龄 Bidding Xin Jian farewell at Furong Tower by Wang Changling

玉壶冰心: from “洛阳亲友如相问，一片冰心在玉壶”

if the relatives and friends from Luoyang ask, tell them that my noble intentions are unchanged; a heart of ice in the vase of jade.

[3] 凤阙深深夜雨潇潇数闻铃 — 《长恨歌》 白居易 The Song of Everlasting Regret, by Bai Juyi

夜雨潇潇数闻铃: again could be a stretch; I was reminded of “夜雨闻铃肠断声” from the same poem as [1]. (don’t ask me why, this entire song is infused with this piece it feels). This talks of the same romance tale, in which the emperor mourns the death of his beloved.

in the nightly rain, the sound of the bells could be heard. it sounds as sorrowful and agonising as the breaking of intestines.

[4] 鸿儒谈笑对面不知相逢 唯知君臣纲 — 《陋室铭》 刘禹锡 An Inscription of the Humble Abode by Liu Yuxi; 《江城子》 苏轼 Jiang Cheng Zi, by Su Shi

鸿儒谈笑: from "谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁" credits to @fwoopersongs because my brain happily omitted it!

well-learnt scholars congregate in joyous talk, traversing there is no uncouth and unread.

不知相逢: there are many poems on this topic, one of the most notable ones would be “纵使相逢应不识，尘满面，鬓如霜。”

even if we met (Su Shi and his deceased wife), you should not be able to recognise me. dust covers my face, and the hair of my temples is white as frost.

[5] 漫漫更鼓朱笔落夜未央 — 《长恨歌》 白居易 The Song of Everlasting Regret, by Bai Juyi (added in edit)

漫漫更鼓: Okay, "迟迟钟鼓初长夜" immediately came to mind when I saw this phrase, but I went like here's too many footnotes already and thought it was too much of a stretch to put in (there's only one word in common!). Then I looked into the original poem, in which the timely bi-hour rings of the drum felt lengthened because of the emperor's agony over losing his loved one -- and so I went like, okay, this is relevant, I actually need to add this in.

the drums reporting the hour of the night come late, and it is early in the long night.

漫漫 meaning endless, without an end in sight. This echoes the sentiments of the emperor in Bai Juyi's poem in feeling that the night is everlasting and without end.

[6] 潜龙在渊敛锋芒 — 《易经》 Yi Jing, the Book of Changes

潜龙: There’s an awful lot of “submerged dragon” metaphors in this stanza. Technically it's a figurative "talents hidden dragon" rather than literally, under the waters. This is from Yi Jing essentially, a super old book on divination that does have some wisdom of old sayings in it. The submerged dragon talks of how the dragon, currently veiled, is a powerful being simply not revealed to worldly eyes yet, and is waiting for opportunity to strike (more like, soar, in this context). These lyrics parallel Xiao Jingyan with the allusion to talk about how he stayed silent for thirteen years before his time of brilliance.

[7] 袖手天下为帝王 垂衣且驭八荒 / 气宇舒金殿垂拱 揽尽山河只手倾 — Taoism concept

Okie this is super complicated and involves a Taoism context, some history from the beginning emperors of the Han dynasty, and a very enthusiastic Emperor Taizong of Tang; I don’t really know how to go about this.

袖手, 垂衣驭八荒, 垂拱, these all lead to the same concept, and the middle chunk in particular is from a poem written by Emperor Taizong of Tang. Theory suggested by Laozi and Zhuangzi of Taoism, overall it talks of inaction, which is action the emperors at the start of the Han dynasty employed. They demanded less of their citizens and let the economy recover naturally (agriculture and such), and since these policies worked, the starting few Han emperors were regarded highly with this kind of purposeful and benevolent “inaction”.

In short, this song here uses these descriptions to talk of Jingyan as a competent and masterful leader.

[8] 长歌挽弓射天狼 — 《江城子·密州出猎》 苏轼 Hunting outside Mizhou (yet another Jiang Cheng Zi), by Su Shi

挽弓射天狼: from “会挽雕弓如满月，西北望，射天狼。”

I shall draw my carved bow like the full-moon, point towards the northwest, and shoot in the direction of the intruders.

天狼 means Sirius star. In chinese astronomy/astrology it was somewhat related to evilness, hence the use of Sirius to denote intruders.

[9] 从此立龙城孤守八方

I just added this this is not a reference it just really reminds me of this fanfiction oneshot 此生一诺 (this life, a pledge)! It talks about XJY at the end of everything, he draws a circle about the ground and entraps himself with the promise he made to see the world a better place under his reign (from the chinese idiom 画地为牢). I recced the oneshot here if you wish to check it out.

arghhh the entire course of me writing the tl was me going oh goodness why is there yet another footnote but I’m glad to be done for now.

Like, goodness. There is not one “he” or “him” reference in the lyrics. I would love to do the same, but you can see me getting more and more resigned towards the end of the translation.

I am sooo inclined to passive voice and invert subjects for every sentence when it comes to translations, I realise, and I apologise for the almost-signature abundance of semicolons and em dashes in the translation (I blame it on the difference in punctuation nuances. — I subconsciously use semicolons for semi-parallel sentence structures, so you can spot out imperfect couplets that way.) Massive respect to all those who translate, because easy is it to hatch out a crude translation in five minutes, it is not treading about the delicate balance between literal and metaphorical, and in all honesty I feel that it is just way easier for me to write literal once, then go off the rails and do super-figurative for the other.

There are far more annotations and word definitions I’d like to add (I could literally do a classical text/poetry meta for every word lmao), but evidently, time constraints, and truthfully it would take forever to complete, so on a “ask me and I’ll try to elaborate” basis again.

The V/O — I’d love to make it more archaic, but the dialogue from the drama in this part was so modern apologies I’m sort of disappointed with the translation over here.

Re: song title. Yes, it sounds a little weird, excuse that.

I considered other translations for the song title, but none of them really gave the impression I really wanted. Words like “eternal” and “everlasting” were too permanent, I wanted to express the idea of the darkness being lengthened, yet with Jingyan’s reign it would come to an end, hence my hesitance. “Continual” is one I fiddled with: it did not give the same curt, direct feeling as “long” however, so in the end I just ended up with the simplest title.

Update: click here for notes on the amendment of the title.

[fateandloveentwined]

amendments on the title of 长喑 cháng yīn // long darkness

song translation link here

Thanks @llonkrebboj

I've been most unabashedly been reading-writing-translating the title of the song wrong all this time, it is 长喑 and not 长暗 (note the radicals). So what does 喑 mean?

You would know this word if you've ever heard of the term 喑哑, meaning someone's voice which has gone hoarse and raspy, or seen the character from Li Bai's prose 拟恨赋 (nǐ hèn fù) an imitation of the prose of grievances by Jiang Yan:

若乃项王虎斗，白日争辉；拔山力尽，盖世心违。闻楚歌之四合，知汉卒之重围。帐中剑舞，泣挫雄威；骓兮不逝，喑呜何归。

(The grievance) is as Xiang Yu in the heat of the insurgence, his radiance comparable with the resplendence of the sun. Over time, however, his strength to uproot mountains comes to an end, and the zest to become unrivalled above all on the earth, too, eventually, dims to be betrayed. He hears the songs of his homeland, chu, converging onto him from all sides like haunting chants. He knows he is to be buried in the camp tightly besieged by the han army. In the tent, his besotted consort Yu starts a sword dance before him; he feels the former glory and splendour amid the broken weeping. His best horse of past battles could gallop no more; in the deadened sobs of the camp, where could he return to?

So this excerpt is not wholly relevant, but YJ quoted it and I liked it enough I might as well put it here. That said what exactly does 喑 mean?

meaning of 喑 yīn

YJ explained it as a loud ringing war cry here, definitely apt, yet to me even more of it is about the long period of thirteen years where XJY and the voices of many were stifled. 喑 yin means to silence, and even more so, to be silenced, the kind of silence that after a loud period of shouting your voice becomes hoarse and you can no longer speak, and the type of muteness in which there is nothing you can say, you are silenced by the circumstances of life.

tone of yīn

And even more fitting is the tone of the character 喑 yīn — if you have heard of the chinese tones, yīn is of the first tone and is pronounced in a level manner. In píngzѐ (a more formal way of categorising the tones) it would be 阴平 yīnpíng. That would be like an outstretched, never-fading silence: previously when translated to 暗 (àn) darkness, the character is like the radiance cut short and put to a halt in the fourth tone 去声 qùshēng. And now, with finally the correct character, 喑 (yīn) would be an overstretching silence of over thirteen years — the silence of a royal prince, reputation and honour denigrated and besmirched, aspirations torn to shreds like fleeting dreams of the lost childhood. It is the hoarseness after a long breakdown where your throat could utter no sound any longer, the silence after the loud battle cry and the raising voice of insurgence quickly curbed, the people that were victorious in defending their kingdom yet now nowhere to be found. A wailing whimper of thirteen long years, drained of the energy to wail, and stifled of hope.

the forbearance of chinese values

喑 also speaks of forbearance, a chinese confucianist concept 隐忍 yǐnrěn meaning forbearance and endurance. The hero endures silently without display and prevails to build a better world. (Cue unhealthy emotional damage and imposter perfectionist breakdowns, but genuinely that's the way chinese society has been built and celebrated in the past two millennia shrugs. It also ties in neatly with the word 敛 liǎn, to hold back and conceal; there's way too much in these two words to talk about to put in a post.) But back to the topic in hand, XJY's silence talks of his forbearance, the long decade he is willing to keep silent his thoughts until the opportunity comes for him to spread his wings and soar like the dragon in the sky as the song depicts in the verse "潜龙在渊敛锋芒 风雷动引龙翔" (submerged dragon hides his splendour and soars one day with the force of the winds and thunders and etc.).

This has gone on for way too long. I think I need a new post for this or no one would ever scroll to the bottom.

As for whether or not I am going to amend the title long darkness?

It's a pretty terrible title that makes little english sense, but it would be weird to change it now.

In a sense, silence ≅ darkness, the silence of being stifled is as though the never-ending unabating darkness in which Xiao Jingyan walked alone for twelve years. It's not like "long silence" or "stiflement (not a word)" or "endurance" would make a better or worse title than what it is now, is it.

[fateandloveentwined]

chapter 84, wildfires

Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years (shangxian)

He looks at his frosted fingers. Through the translucence, the cool, white light evinces. He replies, “I am looking… I am looking at the blood it has stained.”

The spectre answers, “There is blood? It looks clean. Plainly so.”

He laughs again. His gaze centres on the depths of the eyelashes, and in the shadows no light passes through. He says, “It’s only that you cannot see it.”

The spectre asks, “Then only you can see it?”

“Yes.”

“How much blood?”

“… too much.”

To much, so much that it is hard to count. But even though it is hard to count, he remembers everything.

It shouldn’t be. His memory couldn’t be considered exceptional, and for many things, he glances at them and lets them pass. They rarely get to his heart. Yet he remembers, clearly and patently, the mortals he killed with his sword. Every profile, every pair of eyes that closes, every time he feels the thrumming life weaken and quiet, slowly fade out and finally return to the eternal void — he remembers every instance with clarity.

The silence of death stands out from every silence in the world. It makes all clamour and vivacity come to a stop, it immures people in the endless fog, as if besides himself, there is no other man.

As such, in the depths of the stillness, he has never had a good night of rest.

It makes him think of the many moments of people dying.

Now, with thousands of souls crying wailing ceaseless above his head, he still gets caught in the confines of the silence that only death feels.

It's the kind of overbearing desolation across his earth. He laughs standing amidst.

He hears the spirits murmuring speculations, saying to him, “You seem to have black fog over your body.”

Wu Xingxue scrutinises himself and agrees, “I see it.”

It is black, smoke and fog apparitions encircling his fingers, arms, shoulders, and even his whole. The black fog makes the spirits cower a little. They are half fearful, half disgusted, and again the scene descends into agitation. The entire enclosure stirs to an incessant rising sea of fury.

They ask, “What is that!?”

“What is that abomination!”

…

Wu Xingxue gazes quietly at the black air twining about his whole. He answers after a long while. “It’s the air of the evil.”

This is one of the distinct paradoxes in the world — the limpid, ethereal aura of the xian and the winding, convoluted strands of the evil mo aura materialising on the same person — and to have it appear on the king of lings, it feels like the greatest irony.

And yet really it is the most congruent thing of all.

Really, there is nothing more harmonious…

he says in his heart.

Is there some devil that kills more than him on this earth? On what grounds — to have stained the same immeasurable volumes of blood, those mo’s would have been exterminated beyond repair. And yet regally he sits atop the nine ethers of the skies, anchored and firmly watching over humanity.

On what grounds — all because that Dao of the skies demands compassion and iniquity, demands blessings and calamities?

This isn’t just.

— chapter 84, wildfires

original excerpt:

他看着自己手指上结了霜，透着冷冷的白，答道：“我在看……这上面沾有多少血。” 灵魄说：“有血么？明明很干净。” 他又笑起来，双眸落在眼睫深浓的阴影里，不透一点光。他说：“你们看不见而已。” 灵魄道：“那你就能看见？” “嗯。” “有多少？” “……太多了。” 太多了，多到难以计数。可即便难以计数，他却全都记得。 他明明算不上记性很好，明明很多事扫一眼就过，并不入心。唯独剑下杀过的人记得清清楚楚，每一张面孔，每一次阖眼，每一回感受那些蓬勃跳动的生命在他剑下慢慢微弱、安静，最后归于永久的死寂，他都记得清清楚楚。 死亡的静同世间任何一种安静都不一样，它会让所有喧闹都戛然而止，它会把人困在望不到边的云雾里，好像除了自己以外，再没有第二个人。 所以……他在安静无人的时候，从来都睡不好一场觉。 那会让他想起太多人死去的瞬间。 但如今，即便头顶有数千灵魄哭叫不休，他还是陷入了只有死亡才有的寂静里。 那种孤寂漫天席地，他笑着站在那里。 他听见灵魄们议论纷纷，同他说：“你身上好像有黑色的雾。” 乌行雪扫量着自己，道：“看到了。” 一些黑色的、烟雾似的东西正萦绕着他的手指、肩臂，甚至整个身体。那黑雾让灵魄们有些瑟缩，他们半是畏惧、半是厌恶，再次陷入了躁动里。整个封禁之地都被搅动得震荡不息。 他们问：“这是什么？！” “这是什么东西？” …… 乌行雪静静地看着那些黑气缠绕满身，良久之后答道：“邪魔气。” 那是世间独一无二的矛盾场景——缥缈澄澈的仙气和丝丝缕缕的邪魔气出现在同一个人身上……出现在灵王身上，就像一种莫大的讽刺。  可偏偏又再合适不过。 真的再合适不过了…… 他在心里说。 世上还有比他杀人更多的邪魔么……凭什么同样沾血无数，那些邪魔会被斩杀殆尽。而他却端坐于九霄的云层上，安安稳稳地俯瞰人间呢？ 凭什么……就凭那灵台天道要善要恶，要福要祸么？ 这不公平。 —— 第84章 山火

不见上仙三百年，木苏里

previous translations: he knelt amidst, and kissed the earth (panguan), and chapter 60, fragmented souls (shangxian)

[fateandloveentwined]

chapter 60, fragmented souls

Unseen Immortal of Three Hundred Years:

All he knows, his life began from innumerous fragmented souls, and in the bodies of different souls, he sees the incomplete happiness and despair of the mortals he embodied. Rootless, fountless, and without a place to belong. He was that itinerant cultivator, lifting a lamp and keeping vigil in the night. He were those few disciples held captive for the terrible heinousness in their destined fates, he were those spirits of the past, standing silent and still, among the depths of the great monumental headstones. In the chilling, timeless fog on that mount of war casualties, he remained for many, many years, until the masqueraded king of lings comes, breaking through the mist… Countless iterations of lives and deaths, countless threads of fate, displaced and disarrayed. He remembers every iteration, and every iteration he watches. In the end, he could recognise that person by the silhouette. Even so, now as the man asks him “which of those were you”, he still doesn’t know how to answer. Xiao Fuxuan looks at Wu Xingxue with his gaze downcast, and after a long while raises his hand to the corner of his mouth. Who was I… I were those many people in the iterations. You walked countless times into that fog of the mountain of corpses. You killed me, saved me, beheld me; you passed by me, missing me. — chapter 60, fragmented souls

他只知道，他的这一生起始于无数碎灵，他在不同的躯壳里看着并不完整的悲喜。无根无源，也无处归依。那位提灯夜巡的散修是他，那几个被收留的命格极煞的弟子是他，那些巨大坟冢间静伫的亡人也是他。

他在京观终年不散的冷雾里留驻了很多很多年，直到戴着面具的灵王破雾而来……

无数次生死，无数条乱线。

他每一次都记得，也每一次都看着。到最后，单凭背影都能将那人认出来。

可对方如今问一句“你是其中的谁”，他依然不知该如何作答。

萧复暄垂眸看着乌行雪，良久之抬手摸了一下他的唇角。

我是谁……

我是那其中的很多人。 你无数次走进京观那片雾里。

杀过我，救过我，凝望过我，又错过我。

——第60章 碎灵，不见上仙三百年 (bù jiàn shàng xiān sān bǎi nián)

I'm pretty sure there's an actual translation of this but I love it too much and of course I should work but am procrastinating too much so instead I find an excerpt to translate.

Previous translation is this, panguan also from mu su li. Might as well make this a series if I keep on procrastinating.

ETA: Okie so from novelupdates (link!) wonder novels seems to be doing a translation but they're not up to Ch60 yet; I think @beneaththebrim has the entire novel translated so if you're interested :D