Remembering Li Chuan: Chapter 1 (2024)

So, as if I hadn't started on enough projects, I decided to translate Remembering Li Chuan, the novel. I know I haven't posted for a long time, but hopefully that will all change, and I shall have a new start, shaking off all the bad things!

Before I can give you the novel though, I must remind you of a few things:
1)Remembering Li Chuan isn't mine, it belongs to the author, and I am only translating it since I can find no one else who is, neither can I find official translations.

2)Mandarin is my... 6th or 7th language, no exaggerations or bragging, so therefore please do not expect ditto translations. I am translating this from what I understand, and my comprehension level is that of a drunk four year old, so please be lenient. Everyone is welcome help correct me, as I am well aware I can make a shittonne of mistakes, but please, be nice. I am a sensitive child.

3)This is project of a one-man team consisting of a supremely lazy, supremely haggard and supremely busy college student, so updates may not be very punctual and/or frequent, and there's probably nothing I can do about it :< Your comments, love and discussions are the only motivation I have though, so you know what to do to give me a boost ^^

Please track ~this~ tag for the chappies ^^

I was leaving for university that day, and daddy was leaving me at the train station. We had stowed away my luggage in the car, and driven for three hours to arrive at the province’s capital. We arrived at the station with 15 minutes to spare. My father does not like seeing somebody off, especially the last few moments. After he was done stowing away my luggage on the train, he turns around and tells me, “Don’t try to economize too much, I’ll send you some money at the beginning of every month.”

  I hold back my tears and nod.
  The money will be sent to the bank account, keep that in mind.”
  Yes.”
  Study well.”
  Mmm.”
  Xiaoqiu, we are sending you to the big city from a poor place, but we will make sure that you are taken care of. Remember what Daddy1 has taught you, and always keep in mind that a person must have discretion and moral courage at all times.”
  The moral courage speech, which my father has said a few hundred times by now, and which I have been hearing from infancy to maturity. If you ever heard my father give that speech, you would think that he must have been brought up in the Ming dynasty. But actually my father is just a teacher at the local middle school. When he was living in the city and attending university, he had volunteered to go teach in the countryside for a short time, but he had fallen in love with my mother, and that had kept him in the village from then on. Now his looks were fading, and his beard was already gray.
  Clear, daddy.”
  He smiled, and said, “I’ll leave first, I have a class to teach in the afternoon.”
  As soon as he finished saying this, he started walking away quickly. He vanished so fast that he did not see that tears that had trickled down my face.
  I rode the crowded train, sitting the entire day, to Beijing. Then, I pressed the button that said “admission tickets” and rode on a few buses before arriving at S University2. This was a normal university. My result was quite good, but oddly enough, Beijing University had not given me entrance, and instead I was enrolled in S University, my second choice. I had initially applied to the International Economics department, but they hadn’t enrolled me there either, and instead I was given a seat in the Foreign Language department. And although I am good at foreign languages, but I had never thought of taking up a career in this field before. Because of all these factors, I was entering S University somewhat depressed. I queued up for the paperwork formalities, shuttled back and forth on campus, and finally found my dorm room.
  Opening the bedroom door, you could see three bunk beds, six sleeping places altogether, and the three lower berths were already occupied with suitcases. Three girls were sitting, talking and laughing. The tallest person out of them turned her head, gave me a look, and asked: “You freshman?”
  I nodded.
  Which department?”
  Foreign Language department.”
  She raised her eyebrows: “Which language classification?”
  English.”
  She pointed at an upper berth and said, “Lower berths are all occupied. The upper berths are all empty, you can select whichever you like.”
  She was very beautiful. High nose, big eyes, pale skin, and a manner that was both laid-back and firm.
  What’s your name?” She asked.
  Xie Xiaoqiu.”
  My name is Feng Jinger. This is Wei Haixia, and this is Ningan An. We all are the natives.” She pointed at the two other well-dressed girls beside her as she introduced them, and continued: “We all are your roommates.”
  In this case, I supposed, she must mean that a native is a person from Beijing.
  How do you do?” I greeted them. Wei Haixia and Ningan greeted me back with a nod3.
  In a little while we will also have a Shanghainese roommate. She has already arrived, but she had to go out to complete the formalities and paperwork.” Ningan An stood up, and crossing over a pile of luggage, stopped and said “Oh, and one of the spaces is Liu Xuan’s”. She is Principal Liu's daughter, the family who runs the school. I think the majority of the time she lives at home.”
  You all know each other from before?”I asked one gently.
  We all attended the same high school.”
  I don’t have anything more to say, so I start unpacking as quick as I can, and then climb up onto my bunk and start making my bed. My baggage is very simple, the bed is quickly made.
  When I’m done, Wei Haixia looks, and asks: “By the way… You have not brought a mosquito net?”
  I shake my head: “I don’t have one. It’s getting closer to winter, are there still mosquitos around?”
  Wei Haixia smiles mildly: “The curtain isn’t for keeping off the mosquitos. The mosquito net is a shield, inside is your privacy. You must want a bit of privacy?”
  I thought of what she said, straightened my spine, looked her in the eye, and answered: “I do not care much for privacy.”
  Three pairs of eyes looked me over, and the silence amplified their judgements.
   Finally, Ningan said with a peaceful smile: “These dorm rooms are not the best kept ones, and there is a huge amount of dust everywhere, so mosquito nets help keep the beds clean and you can sleep better. And also, if everyone has a mosquito net, then the room looks uniform and neat. Right, what was your name again?”
  Xie Xiaoqiu.”
  Nobody asked me which city I came from. I did not tell them for fear that they would’ve never heard of it, and both parties would be embarassed.

That afternoon, I spent 40 bucks at the grocery store getting a mosquito net. I also bought textbooks, spending 130 bucks, and I only had 30 bucks left on me. Additionally, the school cafeteria was extraordinarily expensive, double the price of a normal place.
  When I returned to the dorm room, the Shanghainese girl had returned, and had already set up her bunk with a mosquito net, and was sitting in it. Her name was Xiao Rui, petite, milk-white skin, shiny black long hair, looks smart and clever, and she is sitting eating chocolate.
  In the evening the school assembly hall shows a movie, and the admission is only three dollars per ticket, so everybody goes. After the movie there is a dance party, and women don’t have to pay admission for that. So, who can come?” Ningan asks with a calm smile.
  Sure!” everyone raised their hand, except me.
  You want some chocolate?” Wei Haixia put some in my hand: “Dove. Other brands’ I don’t eat.”
  Thanks, I… I don’t have much of sweet tooth.”
  Come on, have some for a change, no?” She continues to fill my hand.
  Sure, thank you.”
  You’re welcome.”

Xiao Rui bit into her piece of chocolate, and said: “I thought that, how about we change bunk beds every semester so that it is fair to everyone? That is, whoever has the lower berth can swap with someone with an upper bunk, and vice versa. This way, everybody has the opportunity to sleep in the lower berth, Xiaoqiu, don’t you think that’s fair to everyone?”
  I nod.
  The Feng Jinger and Wei Haixia looked uncomfortable and unhappy. In the end, Ningan said with her peaceful smile: “Next semester is a long way off, when the time comes, we can discuss it further. Who knows, perhaps by that time you’ll start to get used it, and won’t want to move down.”
  Xiao Rui took another bite of her chocolate, and replied “I am definitely willing to move down, I am not yet familiar with the bunk I have now. ”
  Wei Haixia looks at me, asks: “What about you, Xiaoqiu, are you unable to live in the upper berth?”
  I thought Xiao Rui’s idea is good. It’s not a matter about whether or not I can live in the upper berth, it’s more important to be fair.” I maintained composure and answered.
  Let’s go to the movie first.” Ningan picked up her purse and started walking peacefully. Everyone filed out one after another.
  Xiaoqiu, you really don’t want to go?”Xiao Rui asks.
  Sorry, I already promised to meet with an acquaintance. Tonight.”
  Hasn't even started studying foreign languages, and the Chinese grammar has already been forgotten, young lady, the time-phrase should be positioned in beginning of the sentence.4” Wei Haixia teased. They continued giggling as they walked out the door.
  Actually I had already met my aquaintance. She and I hailed from the identical small town, and here she was in the history department, in her 4th year and was going to graduate shortly. I had seen her in the afternoon, and after exchanging greetings had asked her about the lifestyle in Beijing.
  Here it's expensive even by expensive standards, and you definitely need a job to survive.”
  I had been having the same feeling unconciously, and in a rush, I told her about the money which I had brought, and already spend most of. She exclaimed as if she had suddenly remembered something: “I know a cafe that has a job vacancy. I was originally going to work there. But since it is somewhat far to the school- you have to go through 4 stations by bus- I changed my mind. Do you want to go? It is a Starbucks franchise. The work is not too tiring, and you'll have to work mainly either the morning shift or the night shift, the timings are convenient for classes actually. They also prefer to have student from the foreign language department, because there are so many foreigners. If you want to apply then tell me now, I'll give them a phone call first.”
  This was really an opportunity from the heavens5, and I nodded fervently again and again.
  Qing Lin had then written a resume for me, gave me a formal suit, and just before I left, a lipstick.
  We may be from the small city, but we shouldn't give them any reason to laugh. Your standard spoken Chinese is good?”
  Yes, not bad. The accent is not too obvious.”
  Over here they curl the tongue a lot, and you have to pronounce the difference between “in” and “ing” clearly.”6
  I will definitely pay attention.”
  Try to speak as much as possible in English, there is no need to be perfectly honest, and never give your number or other information to anyone. Good intentions do not always have good results, understand?”
  I made a face and answered “Yes, thank you so much Jiejie for reminding me.”

University student studying foreign languages, works hard and studies well, much better than those music department girls who talk and just takes the money... Yeah.. Ok..”
  Qing Lin finished the call to the cafe, and came back to tell me they had said: the cafe has three day-long probation period, and you can start tonight. Asked if I was willing to take the evening shift, which was from 6 in the evening to midnight, since all the other shifts were already taken.
  I was definitely willing.Notes:

1 In Chinese, people often talk about themselves in third person.

2 I am not entirely sure as to the name of the university, since it’s either “S” or “Taiwan”, but since “Taiwan” does not make much sense in this context, I am planning to go with S. I anyone knows the correct version, please feel free to correct me ^^

3 Think of it as that quick deep head bow thing

4In chinese, sentence structure is often in subject-time+/place-object-verb order, although there is a tendency to drop at least one of these normally, usually due to context. Xiaoqiu dropped the time, then added it as an afterthought, hence her wrong grammar.

5She literally says “This was a meat pie falling from the sky”... just thought you should know xP

6Imagine if you spoke English with a cockney accent and slang, and had to speak the Queen's English with the posh accent... this is somewhat like that. In the North they tend to have very.. harsh accents (think someone speaking German) whereas in the south/villages it's more relaxed (think... Italian or English).

Tags: c-novel, mine, remembering li chuan, rlc chapters, translation

Remembering Li Chuan: Chapter 1 (2024)
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