Archive of Our Own

To give the rest of his life for this man—what was there to regret, what was there to fear?

English translation of 风骨同守 and its sequel stories, all written by canglang27495/杂粮老字号. A tale of lofty character and tender devotion.

Reading Order

If you would like to read chronologically instead of in publication order:

1. Our Spirit Enduring True (风骨同守): end of Yuanyou Era to start of Linhua Era
2. Linhua Era, New Spring (麟化新春): Linhua Year 1, spring
3. The Marshal of Changlin (长林主帅): Linhua Year 1, late spring to Year 2, autumn (WIP)
4. Autumn Hunt in Wild Goose Valley (雁谷秋狝): Linhua Years 2 and 6

Translation Choices

The original fic was written in a literary register with heavy influences from the seminal classic Dream of the Red Chamber/红楼梦, which was written in Beijing vernacular of the 1700s and more literary than the semi-elevated prose found in typical modern stories with an ancient setting, such as the NiF novel. I’m aiming for a pseudo-1800s British novel style in this translation (this is why the text itself is in British spelling while all the notes are American), without the constructions that I personally find hard to understand or too difficult to maintain.

English Styling

Words that are now closed compound but commonly hyphenated back then, like to-day and good-bye, are kept hyphenated. I’ve tried my best not to use English words and expressions that were not in use in the 1800s, but mistakes are inevitable.

Chinese sentences are often long, and comma splices are both correct and ubiquitous. I’m keeping almost all sentence breaks in the original and using semicolons where appropriate, since 1800s English also has much longer sentences than modern English.

Terms of Address

Instead of pronouns, ancient Chinese often use self-deprecating titles to refer to themselves and respectful titles to address others, especially those of the same class or higher. To make the reading experience smoother, titles are usually invoked once in a paragraph instead of on every use, but you can assume that the connotation lasts throughout the paragraph. Titles that characters never stray from, like the Empress Dowager always referring to herself as 哀家, are dropped in favor of I. Some notable terms of address used to refer to oneself and others that are translated:

1. 朕, the first-person pronoun used exclusively by the Emperor, like the royal I, has been converted to third person illeism as this Emperor.
2. 本宫, self-address for those who have their own palaces, is only used by Xiao Jingyan in this text and translated as this prince.
3. 臣, self-address of a subject before a lord, is translated as this servant when used in this manner. 奴婢 when used as a self-address from eunuchs is this slave.
4. 儿臣, self-address of an imperial family member in front of an imperial of the parent generation, is translated as your servant son/daughter.
5. 臣妾, self-address of a wife or concubine to someone of higher status, such as her husband, is translated as this servant concubine. 臣女, the same but describing oneself as a woman instead of a concubine, is translated as this servant woman.
6. 在下 and [surname]某 are self-deprecating addresses both rendered to this one.
7. 末将, self-deprecating address of a military officer before a superior, is translated as this humble general.
8. The administrative area 郡 is rendered as commandery, so Mu Nihuang’s title 郡主 is Commandery Princess, and Mu Qing’s title 郡王 is Commandery Prince (same as the rank Xiao Jingyan had at the start of canon).
9. 王爷, the respectful title for addressing a prince (of any rank, including commandery), is translated to Your/His Highness, the same as 殿下.
10. 君 is translated as archaic formal second person pronoun ye when used in that manner. 卿 is translated as archaic informal second person pronoun thou when used in that manner.

Some notable titles that are kept in pinyin throughout the series (also footnoted at their first appearance):

1. xiongzhang (兄长): respectful title for an older man of the same generation as you, akin to elder brother.
2. laoshi (老师): seen only in author notes, a modern-day title of respect for someone worth learning from and also literally teacher.
3. daren (大人): title of respect for someone in a high position or senior to you, commonly used to both address and refer to someone serving in government.
4. qing (卿): title of respect from a ruler addressing a high-level subject or a term of endearment between lovers. aiqing (爱卿) heightens the connotation and is akin to esteemed subject or beloved in the two meanings.

I’ve run out of room in this note, so further appendices are on my Tumblr.