Chapter 79 excerpt translation / ZYL is (canonically) a pervert

[foxghost]

for long long hair, that is. Not really spoilerish if you already know the gist of the weilan first meeting, just fluff. for @surreality51

“The divine wood gave me a vision of what happened five thousand years ago.” From where he’s draped over his pillow, Zhao Yunlan turns to say, “I saw the first time you laid eyes on me and fell from a huge rock into the water. I thought that must be because I was so handsome and sparkling, in an instant you were blinded by the light, and it shocked you so thoroughly you fell right into a gutter … ow!”

The hand Shen Wei happens to have already clasped over Zhao Yunlan’s waist involuntarily tightens.

Zhao Yunlan says, “My, my old back … are you trying to murder your dear husband?”

Shen Wei rubs gently over the complaint, and goes quiet for a while. It’s probably because they’ve already been intimate, but he surprises Zhao Yunlan by calmly admitting, “Truly, the moment I saw you I felt as if all three and seven pieces of my soul scattered, and from then on you were unforgettable.”

[TN. Soul: figure of speech]

Overly pleased with himself, Zhao Yunlan grins, and laughing an utterly vulgar laugh, he says, “Ai, Professor Shen. Take off your glasses. Change into your long hair and let your hubby see.”

Obediently, Shen Wei takes off his glasses. He returns to his original appearance, and suddenly jet black hair seems to spread over the entire bed.

There probably comes a time when every stupid man has that indescribable fixation with long hair, but regardless, Zhao Yunlan feels as if he’s hit in the bulls-eye, right in his weakness. He stares and stares at Shen Wei, and then reaching over a perverted hand, he strokes over Shen Wei’s hair cautiously, solemnly. With his heart on his sleeve he murmurs, “Great, great great great beauty. I think my entire life is worth this moment.”

[TN. ZYL uses the word 灑家 as his personal pronoun instead of “I” like he’s a dandy from the Song/Yuan dynasty or something. Also, what he said at the end is equivalent to: I could die right now and die happy.]

Comments

[mecurtin]

You and RainbowSe7en both use "perverted" in ways that make me think you're really looking for a different word. These days "perverted", when speaking of sexuality, is used rarely.

e.g. "reaching over a perverted hand" ... doesn't really work in current English, it implies that the hand is distorted or physically monstrous. My assumption is that you mean something like "full of sexual desire". "passionate" may be the best word in this case, because it's a word for sexual desire that doesn't clash with "cautiously, solemnly."

But in your post title, when you write "is (canonically) a pervert", that seems to be a different use of "pervert", like you mean "has a kink" (in this case for long hair).

Or are you making a joke?

I'm not saying this to make you feel bad or ashamed in any way. Your translations are a wonderful fannish resource, and you are clearly very skilled and thoughtful. But literary translation into a language that is not your first has an extremely high degree of difficulty, so I'm hoping this helps you.

I'm also curious because the novel obviously comes from a different set of sexual assumptions than I'm used to, and I'm trying to figure out what they are.