Zhui Xu Prologue

Posted on November 26, 2016

This was supposed to be a National Novel Translation Writing Month Project … … I got three chapters in and my next week isn’t going to give me time to do more this month. I think I probably typed more than 50,000 words in translation this month but not on this … … so  … … I failed the challenge and it is unedited.

The original novel is also progressing slowly … .. still unfinished and also slow-updating. I think the last update took about a month.

Summary:
A relaxing story of a business tyc.o.o.n who was sick of machinations and struggling returned to the medieval world and marrying into a merchant family to become a “zhui xu,” a husband that lives in the wife’s home. Even though his intentions were not so, he could not avoid the matters of family, country and world.

“There was once a person that stood at the top of the golden pyramid,

with the innumerable cheap jealousy and envy of people,

he walked this road escorted by tens of thousands of people,

yet he could not escape the long and lonely sleep under the gravestone. ”

——finale《命悬一线》

Prologue

Crack … … Bam —

The fire was burning, electricity was snapping and popping, and his vision was slightly blurred as he climbed out of the upturned care.

Under the night in the park beside the river, the dense lights of the city swayed like candle lights on the opposite sh.o.r.e as though they were floating on water. The prosperous scene and the desolate and remoteness of the park on this side became a contrast. He remembered that he had been the one in charge of this park’s development more than a decade ago.

“It really is a failed development … …”

The wind blew and he sighed, staggering as he walked towards the enchanting lights in the water. An enormous explosion came from the car behind him. The flames shot up, and waves of high heat blew onto his back as though they were going to drown him. The chop-chop of helicopters came from the sky, and then a bright pillar of light lit up his vision. There was someone that was shouting from high up in the sky. The two cars that had side-lined him by the park had stopped as well as a large number of police cars. There were all kinds of lights, and it was chaotic.

His head was still heavy and dazed. Blood flowed from his forehead. He reached up to wipe it and then wrapped his windbreaker tighter around him. Rafts and speed boats had roared onto the two sides of the river to stop him from jumping in the water and escaping.

“Really … … I’m not a killer … …”

The dense pack of people surrounding him caused him to feel slight suffocation. His vision was not clear but he understood that there was probably no chance of a lucky escape. The cold wind blew. What he was thinking was some unrelated matters. This was the city he had grown up in. At that time, the city was not as good as now. Standing on this side of the river, he could not see the prosperous and palatial city but he felt warmth. This side of the river was completely mud. There was only a path of yellow dirt and he would frequently ride his bike with his friends past here when he went from school to home.

“In the future, I will make this side a park and make it more beautiful, fill the city with tall towers, and we will all move in … …”

He had been young then, and had made this goal after going to the prosperous province capital. Such a young and bold age. In the following three decades, he was like a primitive man who invented stone tools, and started to progress with astounding strength. He surpa.s.sed countless dangers and difficulties that others could not imagine, created an enormous business empire that was among the top of the world. Thinking about it now, even he felt it was fantastical.

In the eyes of others, he was an business t.i.tan that would never be defeat. He himself had also thought the same. Yet when he returned at this moment to his home land, he gradually understood. This park was still a failure.

Its original goal was to make everyone happy … …

A failed development plan. It wasn’t that he could not rescue it, he only needed to invest a large amount of capital—for the present him, this bit of money was nothing—yet why had he never done it? When he had wanted to do it, he was not as well-off as now, and now, he avoided it because there was no benefit to doing it. Thinking about it now, he had forgotten many things that he presumed he had remembered and many things that he thought he had forgotten, he remembered them … …

The friends and fellows he had at the start, the hope to make the world better, the wishes he made, the paths he walked. He sat down on the stone bench by the riverbank. The lights were dazzling, and his mind was complicated. He reached into a pocket. AT this time, he really needed a smoke, even though he had stopped for a long time … …

Someone handed over a cigarette … …

That person was wearing a suit and gla.s.ses as he stood. Actually, he knew it was that person without even needing to raise his head. He took the cigarette. The man with the gold-rimmed gla.s.ses took out a lighter, and helped him light up by using a hand to block the wind.

“I’m thinking about the past, we rode our bikes past here to go to school, you, me, Qing Yi, A Kang, Ruo Ping … … Qing Yi, he seemed to have died two years ago, I wasn’t able to attend his funeral … …” He inhaled and when he blew out the smoke, the cold wind instantly blew it away. “How is Ruo Ping?”

“Has two children, is living pretty well.” The gla.s.ses-wearing man also sat down.

“Ah … … you told me this, I almost forgot… …” He pondered for a moment and then smiled. “She was the prettiest of the girls. I remember I had a crush on her but never dared to confess.”

The man beside him was silent for a while. He took out the lighter again and lit up a cigarette. “I knew you liked her, so before you confessed, I confessed. I was rejected … … she said she liked you.”

“I never heard you say this … …”

“What could come of it. Afterwards, when you were fighting for your future, you forgot her. She couldn’t keep waiting for you. You did not confess so she married someone else.”

“Yes, I missed many things … …”

“You always pursue perfection.”

“You know? When you reach the peak … …” He thought and then raised a hand to indicate a height, “when you reach the peak, you will find that other than the moment of accomplishment, there is nothing. You will always feel … … regret … … the path you walk now might not be the one you thought about and chased after … …”

“Yes,” the gla.s.ses-wearing man said.

After a moment of silence, he looked at the cigarette that was already very short. “The hundred billion in loss will be very troublesome to resolve, I knew that aa few months ago, I’ve already made a plan it is in my computer … … I just didn’t expect that you would react so fiercely. A change of guard at the company can move the losses to some other people and it will be easier. Modify the plan and try not to affect too many people. Everyone has worked and struggled together for so long.”

“… …I,” the man on the side hesitated as though he wanted to explain something but he only said in the end, “apologies.”

“It’s nothing. From beginning to now, it was always me standing at the front, we are brothers, it should be your turn to try … … this plan was very good. The company will not fail in your hands. However … … in the future, use some money and truly develop the park. I always wanted to do it, and always thought that I will remember, but when I remember, I feel that it is not urgent, so it was constantly delayed … …”

“I’ve talked to the other side. After this matter, you can still live very well … …”

“If the gra.s.s is not uprooted, it will grow again with the spring wind, returning the tiger to the mountain … …” He turned his head, his calm eyes full of a kind of sternness, “What do you think you are?”

“As long as I am alive, I can be a threat to you!” He paused and then threw the cigarette b.u.t.t to the ground. He stomped on it. “The top is cold, it is enough that I have managed to reach this height in this life. Even if I can do it again, I hope that I can be carefree and clean to start over, those dirty and corrupt matters, the scheming and back-stabbing … … if I can start over … …”

He smiled and stood up. “If I can start over, I think I will confess to her … …”

The helicopters circled in the sky and the boats were on the water. The park was surrounded on all sides by cars. On the river sh.o.r.e that was illuminated by light, the man standing suddenly took out a gun and aimed it at the gla.s.ses-wearing male. The man that saw his action stood up at the same time, raised up his hand and waved it at the surrounding people. “Don’t shoot ——”

The rattle of gunshots sounded, and blood bloomed on his back. A long moment later, he turned around. The man gazed at the corpse that had fallen down in a puddle of blood. He jerkedly took down his gla.s.ses and tried to cleanse them before putting them back on. He picked up the gun held in the hands of the corpse.

“I said to not shoot … … this isn’t loaded … …”

He murmured among the night wind.