Chapter 21 - You Seem To Be Covered In Green: Translator's Notes

[0] This is in reference to the “green” of the title. In Chinese, there is a phrase going by “to wear a green hat” which implies the wearer has been cheated on, typically used on males only. This, therefore, extends to a bunch of “green” derivatives that also implies that one had been cheated on by their partner.

[1] Raws: 金屋藏娇 [jīnwū cáng jiāo] The literal translation is ‘to hide [something] fragile or delicate in a golden house’. It is quite similar to the concept of a “gilded cage” in the English language. Typically this saying is used towards a young lover or a mistress, whom one is hiding away (for whichever reason).

[2] Raws: 花心 [huā xīn] Same term is used for: fickle in love, promiscuous, infidel, and unfaithful. The literal translation is ‘center of a flower’, so, I guess, one can allude to the fact that a flower’s pollen is not exclusive to any bee and would welcome both bees and butterflies~

[3] Raws: 不够人塞牙缝 [bù gòu rén sāi yá fèng] Literal translation: not enough to even fill the gap between one’s teeth. This is used to describe something (typically some food) as being far from enough.

[4] Raws: 掏心掏肺 [tāo xīn tāo fèi] The literal translation is ‘to dig out one’s heart and lungs [for another]’, and it can be applied to either speech or action. In speech, one would be speaking from their heart or ‘baring their soul’. In action, it tends to imply that one was willing to do anything for another no matter the danger… So in some melodrama, this can sometimes be very literal.

[5] Raws: 媳妇 [xí fù] I don’t really know which locality this habit came from, but it’s been prevalent in a lot of novels nowadays. While it translates ‘daughter-in-law’, there are various times when it reads like ‘wife’.