CH extra 9

[Zhongli] «Different Paths» 01 - Peddling Orthopaedic Shares1

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Twenty years ago, the world didn’t have Zong or Heng2, it also didn’t have the Zhongli Court.

The seven Schools and twelve Sects of the world all listened to the orders of the Wangsheng3 Palace, located at the side of the Wushui River.

The Wangsheng Palace had the Ten Halls of the Yama4 under it’s command, each with it’s own specialisation, skilled in voodoo and sorcery, who swept away everything before them and won every fight. Underneath the Master of the Wangsheng Palace, there were six black-armoured horsemen with no regard for the law, and no way to go against them.

The Wangsheng Palace was ruthless and extreme, offending the public’s anger for a long time. In order to solidify it’s foundation, each Sect was required to send out a person of importance to the sect into the Wangsheng Palace as a hostage.

Although Zhongli Court was located at a major road in the Central plains, it was, after all, a family of low status which had been overlooked in the past few years. When the order to send a hostage fell on the Master of Zhongli Court, Zhongli Qian, his second son Zhongli Zixi was crouching by the riverbank watching his older brother teach him how to catch fish. That year, the eldest son Zixu was nine years old, and the second son Zixi was seven.

Before he could catch a fish, older brother Zixu, with his pockets filled with small shrimp, was carried ashore by a guard and shoved all the way until he was facing the head of the house. Zixi trotted after him, and when he reached the doorway of the hall, he heard his father say to his brother: “Pack up, you’re going on a trip somewhere far tomorrow.”

Zixi poked his head inside, and saw his mother secretly wiping away her tears in a corner.

When Zixu came outside of the hall, he stuffed the small shrimp into his younger brother’s arms: “Xiaoxi, help me raise them, they should be grown by the time I come back, so we’ll eat them together then.”

Zixi put the shrimp in his pockets and turned around to face his father, asking: “Where is brother going?”

His father shook his head: “He’s going where he has to, this is his duty.”

Zixi asked: “Can I go with him?”

His mother tearfully spoke: “You don’t know what you’re talking about! How could your mother live if you both went?”

Their mother was a gentle and tenacious person, and he’d never seen her cry in public. Zixi saw his mother’s expression was bitter and knew something was being hidden, but his repeated inquiries were fruitless, so he had no choice but to angrily return.

1 Oh boy here we go lmao. ‘Peddling __ shares’ refers to promoting a ship (wanting the reader to ‘invest’ in the couple by ‘buying shares’ of the ship). ‘Orthopaedic’ comes from ‘German orthopaedics’ which is a tongue-in-cheek reference to a story of a brother and sister being incestuously involved and getting caught in the act, the brother’s leg is broken and he is sent away to Germany to recuperate, so ‘orthopaedic stories’ are basically incest stories. The term ‘orthopaedic’ can also be used to mock a sibling’s controlling/overprotective behaviour towards another sibling. Just to clarify, the author is joking (the next chap continues the story and ‘peddles’ a different ship). Top.

2 Same words from Zonglian and Henglian, the main story’s major power alliances. Top.

3 枉生 lit. crooked/wasted life, an ironic play on words on its homophone 往生 which means life after death/life in paradise. Top.

4 閻羅 a Yama is a King of Hell in Buddhist mythology. Top.