"Nirvana in Fire"/"Lang Ya Bang" Group Read: Discussion Post for Chapters 107 - 114

[x_los]

Weeks 27 - 28 of the "Lang Ya Bang" book club, chapters 107 - 114. This discussion will draw to a close, and the next session will open, on November 14th.

I'll be doing a weekly post with thoughts on this community. Feel free to join in/discuss. If you'd like to join the Discord, contact superborb for an invite.

Chinese text: https://sj.uukanshu.com/book.aspx?id=17338
English translation: https://merelhyn.tumblr.com/post/641747965727358976/the-langya-list-epubpdf

SPOILER POLICY: I personally don't give a fuck or even like to give unearned credence to the concept, so since I'm writing the post, anything's fair game.

(If anyone is interested in dankodes running further poetry content during or after NiF, please let me know what you'd be keen to discuss. I'm happy to work with you on that. I'll probably ask this again once NiF draws to a close.)

Comments

Chapter 107

[x_los]

‘Even if this Mister Su could read minds, he has not even seen my face before, so how could he possibly suspect my disloyalty?”’

Have they really never been in the same room? I supposed the drama differs in this respect, with the scavenger hunt including Prince Yu and Banruo.

Chapter 108

[x_los]

“even Grand Princess Liyang would return to her hometown” Isn’t that the capital city?

‘he would likely never step foot again in the capitol.’ I mean like, why though? People ride out this type of shit all the time, it seems like, and he himself never did anything objectionable.

‘own doing, and were not schemed or designed by you... You and I both understand, what caused me unmeasurable pain was the truth itself, and not the hands that uncovered it.’ See, I also pretty much think this.

I think that perhaps the drama's translator did a slightly better with Jingrui’s parting speech.

Re: Chapter 108

[superborb]

Her fief is probably the better translation.

Chapter 109

[x_los]

Is this ban on festivities nation-wide, or just in the capital city? That must be hard to enforce. Which imperial family members would even count, in terms of this?

‘It was carved with the shou for longevity’ Imagine if he just called his dad a shou-for-bottom in front of the whole court, like 'fuck this fight for the throne, I’m out'.

I mean, the Crown Prince is not even wrong about exactly why his dad sucks.

Chapter 110

[x_los]

Prince Jing: I’ve connected the dots!
Changsu: *turning up the gas light* Have you?

Chapter 111

[x_los]

‘whoever can be the most peaceful’ Well that’s rich, given that the emperor is himself the chief shit-stirrer.

Chapter 112

[x_los]

Why do you need to prepare an altar room to hear an edict?

Chapter 113

[x_los]

‘soldier and horse assembly system’?

I wonder what kind of thing this syrup is, if she's giving him a whole unsold cup at the day's end. To what, drink straight?

Re: Chapter 113

[superborb]

It's probably more similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong_sui than to a sugar syrup

Chapter 114

[x_los]

Banruo: That's not your man.
Prince Yu: omg he advisor-cheated on me??
Banruo: The worse kind of cheating there is. (Which I am also doing myself, yeah. Idk, something about your smug face just says, 'own me'.)