Hello there, I'm Rick, a Chinese trying to explain things for people unfamiliar with ancient Chinese history, and also mixed with my personal view. I will detail my words in the sequence of chapters of the script. Beware spoilers if you havn't finished reading the story. Foreword Hello there, I'm Rick, a Chinese trying to explain things for people unfamiliar with ancient Chinese history, and also mixed with my personal view. I will detail my words in the sequence of chapters of the script. Beware spoilers if you havn't finished reading the story. Liang Prologue The names. The protagonist Liang has his name meaning "Virtuous", or "Good". While the heroine, Man Sui, has her name meaning "Full" "Grain Ear", which symbolizes a good harvest. There is a small contrast between the attitudes of the two towards their given names. Liang is confused why his father gave him that name, and Sui is very clear about it. The "lamb"/"sheep" jargon. It is noticeable that throughout the whole story, children are replaced with "lambs", and adults are replaced with "sheep". This must be jargons of the bandits. Furthermore, Liang frequently nicknames Man Sui as "brat", meaning a cub, to stress her naughtiness. When the affinity rises with the story, Liang will begin to call the children "girls". The in-between word Liang. Liang is between the word Lang(wolf, pronounces "long") and the word Yang(sheep, pronounces "young"), combined they form the pronunciation "Lyong", the protagonist. The pouch. From Sui's chapters we know the red pouch was given to Man Sui's father as a talisman for An, meaning "Safe". The exchange rate of silver tael and copper coin. In Ming Dynasty, the cash are generally in two forms, silver and bronze. Bronze coins serve as small change, and silver in the shape of boats or bars are weighed. Silver is cut into small pieces, and the weight unit of it is "tael" or "qian"(not present in the English translation). The price of silver and bronze are variable, so the exchange rate also varies. Say it is 1 tael=550 coins, and a bun costs 2~5 coins. The man Liang murdered carrying about 3000 cash must have sold his family heirloom and is heading home. Liang Chapter 1 The disasters. It is true history that in late Ming Dynasty the country ran out of luck, confronted with successive natural disasters like drought for 6 years, flood, locusts and numerous epidemics. The time the story took place, the country was suffering from drought. Hence famine and rebellion and all this turmoil. And Shan is the province in the deepest water. The names. Hong'er and Cui'er are siblings. The suffix " 'er" is a dialect of "little". Hong means "Red" and Cui means "Verdant". And their clothes just reflect the choices of color. The skin color. As described, some of the children were supposed to have darker skins, but the staffs argued that lighter skin color will attract more customers than dark color, so the producer changed his mind. Liang Chapter 2, 3 You can watch a practice of Shadow Play here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-5fwFpMj-mULyTheZ1x7vmvNKEQucbAt/view?usp=drive_link The spanking punishment. This punishment is derived from a more general punishment of hitting one's head, back, or limbs. The potential danger of death and handicap, together with humanism, gradually restricted this painful punishment and found the bottom as a harmless and shameful part of the body worthy of hitting. To punish a criminal, the officers usually get rid of his pants and expose his bottom to the audience to shame him, and hit his bottom with a wooden plank, a bamboo stick or a tough vine switch, in order of painfulness to match the severity of the crime. Among the rank of spanking punishment, Liang chooses the least painful one for Man Sui. It is ironic that Liang actually performs the role of a law enforcer with himself as a bandit. The Swine Demon. He has 3 prototypes, but the major one is Zhu Changxun, a true bastard in history. He is the lord who is the favorite son of the former emperor. The former emperor was so fond of this son that he did absurd deeds to benefit the son, even at the cost of the future of the country. That's why the Swine Demon lives a luxury life and cares nothing about the people. The cannibalism is derived from another lord. As for Man Sui's folk story, she hears it from her grandmother and weaves it into her lie. The dull protagonist. Liang is not intelligent, compared to Man Sui, who has already learned vast knowledge of the society. He has failed to discriminate Man Sui's fake tears. And in True Ending Living Together, he has failed again, falling victim to Man Sui's trick of "I like Man Sui". The inappropriate reaction. Man Sui's though of being raped is natural in modern readers' eyes. But by taking off her pants as a foreshadowing step, it is less natural for her to associate this action to rape. Yet there is a strong reason that we learn later, that she went to Yanyue Mansion, an institution providing entertainment services including sex, where she learned how to flatter and fool and kill men. Man Sui thought that Liang is amongst regular bandits that sometimes rape women. Liang Chapter 4 The unsightly corpse can represent the destiny where Man Sui's father may end up if he continues his career of shadow play, who knows. The corpse is deliberately killed in that it wears a shroud cloth on his head, which is possibly for funeral usage. The Tianqi Explosion is a real historical event. It does not have official records of its cause, but a popular guess is gunpowder explosion. Liang Chapter 7 In bathhouse, Man Sui exclaimed "Whew... water's so hot." Hanser, the voice actor behind her, initially thought this line was meant to lure Liang by saying "Phew… So hot~ so hot~". But the producer corrected Hanser. The unexpected "Well, at least I can rest easy now" may indicate that Man Sui finds a reason to kill Liang. Python and dragon. By saying the Swine Demon is a python, he didn't actually ascend the throne, but became a lord. That's why he is a python, a snake, a lesser dragon. Liang Chapter 10 "Long ago, we had a little piglet die at home." Man Sui recalled her little brother. Liang Chapter 12 There is a reference of The Spider's Thread by Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Rebel Leader Li is Li Zicheng, who led his Dashing Army all the way until he defeated Ming and established Shun. During late Ming Dynasty, rebellions are widespead. Li is among the rebels, leading his army called Chuang Army, namely Dash Army. The word Chuang is a verb. If someone is going to chuang, he is willing to venture into new areas and to opporunities for a brighter future, fighting his way towards success or death. Liang Chapter 14 The gift costs Liang a considerable amount of money compared to the others. That's part of the reason why Liang hides it until he has departed. The gift itself, without betraying its significance to the sender, has been much cherished by the receiver. Man Sui has received a pair of shoes before, one from his father, and another from grandpa chef. And it happens to be her birthday, when she will come of age. In Ming Dynasty, the legal age of majority of men is 16, and 14 of women. The age of majority is set for the purpose of marriage. That's why there is an achievement that claims Liang never holds hand before marriage. Actually Liang does hold hands later. So my perspective is that Liang never holds hand before he is allowed to marry Man Sui (Oh, but he may never do that). Sui Prologue Man Sui's father is a tenant farmer. The lands he farms belong to the Swine Demon, so they shall pay taxes with wheat. Usually, to show some kindness, the officials won't push the tenant farmers too hard, for example, in times of crop failure, the tax will be reduced or even cancelled, and relief will be sent. But by the time there is a countrywide turbulence as a consequence of the famine, you can't expect any sympathy towards the tenant farmers. Sui Chapter 1, 2 Gramdma's tales. They are derived from traditional superstition and folk tales. The snake and well connection included, it is not necessary to dig deep into their meanings. Society rank. Performers are among the lowliest group in ancient Chinese society, while farmer is one of the most approved jobs. That's why Man Sui's dad is reluctant to perform shadow play, which Grandpa had got rid of, and now he has to reduce himself to do so. The play Three Heroes Battle Lu Bu has three heroes Mr. Liu, Mr. Guan and Mr. Zhang, and one notorious villain named Lü Bu who is believed to be invincible until he is first defeated by the three. The story is famous as one plot of the classic novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Sui Chapter 3 The family heirloom, flesh of the deity, is believed to be a kind of myxomycetes. They are valued in ancient eras. Otherwise, it can also be some precious stone. Sui Chapter 7 The Yan Yue Mansion serves for entertainment purpose, and places like it can include meal, poem, tea, opera, concert, sex. The customers are always male, so a girl is not supposed to show up there. And Man Sui does learn from the women there how to amuse and trick men. Endings Hero, xia in pinyin, that Liang has dreamed of, is a category of wandering people who dedicate themselves to championing justice and fairness of the world. In later dynasties, the position of heroes are shifted to where they are against the government. The officials may be corrupted, and the landlords may be selfish, while heroes are there to be the sword and shield of the down-trodden. Therefore there is a resemblance between heroes and bandits, that they both kill, the former targeting the evil and the latter targeting the weak. The massive tip Man Sui gives to the waiter is assumed to be all her private savings. The True Ending Living Together ends with a new journey towards Yangzhou. The sequel of this game is decided to take place there, The Wailing 10 Days in Yangzhou. Ending: Living Together About the translation (you may not see the updated translation until a patch be released) of the Fu Lu Feast. For example there is a line "Today, we shall cook him together with deer! Brothers and sisters, join the feast together! May we all eat and drink well! All shall taste the Pork-sperous!!!" There is a pun about Fu and Lu, the former refers to the Swine Demon, and has a meaning of good luck, while the latter refers to deer, and has a meaning of wealth. Combined, this word means both the food and the emblem. I asked ChatGPT how to coin a word that looks like food, but has a connotation of fortune, and one of the suggestions is prosporkdeer=prosper+pork+deer. About "If the Ming Dynasty isn't overthrown, the Swine Demon would likely become a heroic lord who withstood the rebels to the bitter end and died for his country, immortalized in historical records many years from now." Actually it just happened. His son, an even more bastard of bastard, wrote a biography to sing his praises. Anyway people don't buy it at all. About the poem commoners shout when they welcome the Dashing King Li. The full version is: Morning seeking crumbs, Evening begging crusts, These days the poor struggle to survive. Fetch forth oxen and sheep, Ready heartily wine and mead, Burst out the city gate, The Dashing King we celebrate, To whom no grain taxes shall be paid. Consume with fervor, Attire with delight, Fear not provisions may fall short, The Dashing King shall be our support. Relieved of official toil, Rid of grain taxes, Let us revel in our lives.