#shi wenjue

[huafanghua]

[presumenothing]

more of the novel (random excerpts edition), part 1 ch 7. aka shi wenjue's onscreen debut

Suddenly that person turned around, and on seeing Li Lianhua's return exclaimed in shock: "The liar is back!"

"You're not dead yet?" Li Lianhua looked at that person with a sigh. This bookish nerd was none other than "Lifelong Learner" Shi Wenjue, the first live person he'd dug up. Shi Wenjue was the exact opposite of Fang Duobing; where the latter was all skin and bones, resembling a hungry corpse, yet vaunting himself as a sickly young master of luxury, the former was clearly a weak scholar, yet had gone and sunned himself dark enough to rival Bao Gong, all the better to show that he wasn't a "pale-faced scholar".

"You're not insane yet, so how would I be dead already?" Shi Wenjue imitated his sigh, and regarded him with a tilt to his head. "I heard the tale of Li Lianhua catching a ghost, and suddenly felt awfully sad for you."

Li Lianhua smiled faintly. "Ah?"

"Even though you're a liar, and a penniless one at that, who knows nothing about treating illnesses, and absolutely sucks at fighting, at least you're not an idiot." Shi Wenjue said, "If you suddenly turn insane in a few years' time, I'll be very unused to it."

Li Lianhua too gave a sigh. "I do also think I'm doing pretty well for myself, so if that day comes, remember to shed a tear or two for me, I'll be awfully sad too."

The two stared wordlessly at each other, sighed at the same time, then couldn't help bursting into laughter together, walking into the Lucky Pattern Lotus Parlour.

[presumenothing]

assorted translation notes on the novel opening sprinkled with peanut gallery comments (or possibly vice versa, idk):

yes that is a cluedo reference in the case title i couldn't stop myself and i'm not sorry

"…of the sixth month": not july, because this is in lunar calendar

"lucky pattern lotus parlour": ok i spent like at least One Whole Minute considering whether or not to talk myself out of this one. still didn't, still not sorry, alliteration funny

"bingshan town": could also be pingshan, flip a coin

anyway li lianhua arriving in their main street with his wholeass house like. it's Free Real Estate

"town god/local shrine": original term here is 土地庙 for the record. anyway who's gonna write the crackfic where li lianhua wakes up one morning in some random town to find that the locals have set up an entire shrine offering right outside complete with massive incense burner and all

wait hang on li lianhua was spring cleaning for TEN DAYS STRAIGHT??

"surname Li, named Lianhua": if anyone has come up with a better way of rendering 姓李，叫莲花 please tell me because i haven't

pov you're swiping through tinder when suddenly one of the profiles is just like Jianghu's #1 Most Very Mystery every biodata field is We Just Don't Know, Man and the pic is a badly circled cryptid sighting (idk i don't use tinder)

(li lianhua voice) "excuse you i didn't do two things i just did the same thing twice. technically speaking"

"lifelong learner": well Actually what the results for 皓首穷经 kept insisting on giving me was "hoary head" but i didn't go with that, so there but for the grace of me goeth you, shi wenjue

im sorry but the true utter crack au where he picked 李乌龟 instead (because yknow. turtle. house and all) and we are forced to live with the consequences

yunhe my dude you should've just bought a roomba instead of wasting your money on that incense and letter paper

"precious softwood": specifically nanmu, which (to collective unsurprise) was also used for shipbuilding, among other things

just........ the sheer over-the-top hercule poirot short story energy of this entire intro part, really

"king of hell": none other than 阎罗王 ofc

"a sound of dismay": he straight up "aiya"s here. i just could not figure out how to work it in for the life of me

"dust and sawdust": curse this stupid language that made both of these words contain dust this sounds So Awful

it has been 0 days since li lianhua last said "ah" (the counter never moves past zero)

toss em eggs, bystanders, we believe in you

(cheng yunhe walking in) you live like this??

"could only work with what he had, dead or otherwise": the original actually invokes 死马当活马医 (a saying which Literally means "treat a dead horse as a live one"), blast the english language for not having an equivalent

fang duobing's intro paragraphs? 10/10 sheer hilarity no notes

....why is "commit robbery"" up there on the list next to "plant crops"

"melancholic young master": 多愁公子 (he's got 99 worries and somehow li lianhua is all 100 of them)

how HAS fang duobing known li lianhua for literally just as long as he's been in the jianghu tho

ok three crackfic proposals in one post is a bit much even for me but. the one where li lianhua keeps accidentally digging up non-dead people/lost treasure/unmentionable secrets when actually he just wanted to borrow some onions for tonight's soup. honest

(this may possibly just be canon)

aaaand fifty taels, welp