Oneshot (1/2)

We’ve got sos off, we have a guest post today fro leWhen , GZ resuoes all the way back to SPCnet days

Apart from our off-the-beaten-path quirkiness, volare also has a , and it’s my honor to host this very important bit of translated classical Chinese literature, where a paragraph can be packed into one sentence It was a treat and joy to read GZ’s translations, and I for one a forward to his wuxia novel set to launch nextup on your classical Chinese, and who knew that ”cash” was a form of currency in the old days?

Now over to Nie Yinniang, a randdaddy of the wuxia/xianxia/Chinese fantasy genres

Nie Yinniang

Nie Yinniang was the daughter of Nie Feng, general-in-chief of Weibo during the Zhenyuan reign period (785-805 CE) of the Tang dynasty When she was just ten years old, a Buddhist nun ca and was delighted She said, ”Sir, I beg you to letwas furious and rebuked the nun The nun said, ”Even if you kept her in an iron chest, I would still take her away” That night, sure enough, Yinniang disappeared Feng was panic-stricken, and ordered his men to search for her, but there was no trace of her Every tihter, they could only face each other and weep

Five years later the nun escorted Yinniang back ho is coone The whole family was overjoyed They asked her what she had studied Yinniang said, ”At first we just studied the sutras and intoneddidn’t believe her, so he sincerely questioned her further Yinniang said, ”I’ said, ”Just tell us the truth”

Yinniang said, ”When I was first taken by the nun, we traveled I don’t kno , spacious stone cave A dozen or so steps inside it was quiet, and no one lived there There were rew in abundance There were already two girls there, each of them ten years old They were both smart and beautiful, and they didn’t eat They could flit fro, and they cli a step

”The nun gave me a pill and ordered me to carry a precious sword at all ti, and so sharp that if you blew a hair across the edge, the hair would be sliced cleanly in two I was radually I felt thatat gibbons and monkeys, in a hundred atteers and leopards With each one I cut off its head before returning

”Three years later I could fly, and when attacking eagles and falcons, I pierced theradually reduced to five inches, so that the birds couldn’t detect it co

”In the fourth year, the two girls were left to guard the cave, and I was taken to a city, I don’t knohich one She pointed at a person and enumerated hisit to e and it will be as easy as killing a bird' She gavethree inches wide I succeeded in killing that person in broad daylight in the city without anyone seeing ings, where I used a drug to dissolve the head into water

”In the fifth year, she again said, 'There is a certain high official who is guilty of a criht, enter his rooain I took the dagger and entered his roo obstructing the way, so I lay in wait upon the roof beam I waited until dark, then cut off his head and returned

”The nun was furious and said, 'Why are you so late?' I said, 'I saw hio through with it just then' The nun rebuked , 'In the future when you’re in a situation like this, you first kill the ones he loves, then you kill hiized Then she said, 'Noill open the back of your head and conceal the dagger there It won’t harm you To use it, just take it out' Then she said, 'Your training is now coht ain in twenty years'”

When Feng heard this story, he was very frightened Afterwards, Yinniang would disappear at night, only returning the nextalready dared not question her, and because of all this, his affection for her dwindled as well

It so happened that one day a youngsaid, ”This person can be my husband” She told her father, who dared not disobey, and so he married her off to the mirror polisher Her husband could only temper mirrors; other than that, he had no skills Her father therefore supplied the and food, and they lived in a separate house

Several years later, her father died The co was special, so he offered gold and silk and hired her as one of his aides Several years passed

During the Yuanhe reign period (806-820), The commander of Wei and the et along The co hi took her leave and headed for Xu

But Liu possessedHe suo early the next ate of the city and wait for aa black and a white donkey, respectively He told the copie chirping away in front of the man The man will use a pellet bow and try to hit the bird, but he will miss The ill then snatch the pellet bow and down the reet them and say, ”The comissioner wants to see you, so I have come all this way to respectfully welcome you” The commander received his orders and left

Heand her husband said, ”Vice Director Liu is really a divine h us? We wish to see Lord Liu”

Liu greeted the and her husband saluted in courtesy and said, ”We have wronged you and deserve to die ten thousand deaths” Liu said, ”Not at all, people are loyal to their ard between Wei and Xu I would like to invite you to stay here; don’t doubtthanked hi you I’ to leave the other place and stay here because I ad” She knew The commander of Wei was inferior to Liu Liu asked what they needed, and she said, ”Only two hundred cash per day will be sufficient” So he complied with her request Suddenly, the two donkeys were discovered to beLiu sent people to search for the was secretly searched, and inside were two paper donkeys, one black, one white

More than asaid to Liu, ”The other one doesn’t know I didn’t go through with the ht, allow me to cut a lock of my hair and bind it with a strand of red raw silk and deliver it and place it before the commander of Wei’s pillow to indicate that I will not return” Liu agreed to this At the fourth watch she returned and said, ”I have delivered the jing’er to kill me and take your head But I already know a myriad ways to kill hinanimous and did not show any fear

On the night in question they lit candles, and after h appeared two strea about here and there around the four corners of the bed as if they were fighting each other After a while a person fell fro caed the body and head outside the hall and used a drug to dissolve the said, ”The night after to Kongkong’er’s supernatural skills, no person can see his intentions, and no ghost can follow his steps He is able to soar to the heavens and sink to the netherworld, and he can make himself invisible and conceal his traces Because my skill cannot reach that level, this time ill have to rely on your luck Encircle your neck with jade from Yutian and cover yourself with a quilt, and I will turn e and slip into your intestines to listen and wait There is no other place to escape to” Liu did as she said

At the third watch Liu had his eyes closed but he was not asleep when he sure enough heard a shrill clanging sound at his neck Yinniang leaped out of Liu’s ratulated hier This person is like a falcon: if it doesn’t hit on the first strike it will fly away and disappear because of the shah a watch has not even passed, he is already some thousand li away”