General Above I am Below - Chapter 18.1

Chapter 18.1

The gambling houses were all armed with ten thugs tasked with the responsibility of dragging people making trouble out to the dark alley for education.

Lu Ye[1] could not remember how he had offended this little ancestor. Seeing the smugness on his pretty face, Lu Ye hatefully wish for him to be sliced into thousands of pieces[2] and tossed into the moat to feed the fish.

Xia Yujin noticed Lu Ye’s murderous aura, looked up and eerily asked, “What? You want to hit me?”

Lu Ye used all his strength to force out the words, “don’t dare,” out of his mouth.

“A very ordinary person, I bet you don’t even dare to fight this Jun Wang,[3] if you continue to commit crimes against people, is that not copying the whole door and killing the whole family[4]?” Xia Yujin continued to happily count money and even exchanged a small amount of silver dollars for some silver coins to distribute among the onlookers in the gambling house. “Come, give everyone a bit of joy.”

Seeing the dedication of one of his servant’s face[5], Lu Ye felt the anger in his heart was like molten steel in the melting pot, ready to burst out any moment. He used all his might to hold back his anger, enduring it until he almost became a turtle[6]. He took a few breaths before walking over to whisper to in Xia Yujin’s ear, “Jun Wang, give some face, you know the boss of the gambling room…”

“Ah? Speak louder!” Xia Yujin turned back and shouted at him. “You said this gambling house’s owner is who?! Forget it, now that I think about it, whoever opened this kind of store is certainly not a virtuous person[7].”

In the country of Da Qin, if there was no special approval, royal family and officials were prohibited from operating businesses, but almost all government bureaucrat officials will privately make various plans to cooperate with people or use their relatives’ name to conduct business activities. Because of how many government officials were involved in such illegal activities, the law could not be enforced; thus, even if these activities were discovered, everyone would close their eyes and ignore them.

Gambling houses are the fastest-growing business and had the worst reputation.

Those who have nothing to lose are afraid of nothing.[8]

Xia Yujin did not care about being shameless, but Qi Wang[9] cared about his reputation.

If a gambling house was opened secretly and it was discovered by the public, then the illegality of the matter would unable to continue be hidden. Not only would there be punishment from the emperor, but it would also significantly damage one’s reputation and future prospects. He (Qi Wang) was currently quite popular in the imperial court. How can he ruin his reputation? In comparison, Xia Yujin’s reputation was extremely bad, and he didn’t care for fame nor fortune. Even if the Emperor grabbed him back[10]to scold, he would be fined a few years’ worth of salary. To him, house arrest was not bad either since he was of royal blood. As he was deeply loved by the Empress Dowager, as long as he did not commit an evil crime, he would not be heavily punished.

The Qi Wang suffered a big loss, yet he also could not ruthlessly and hatefully kill[11] the Nanping Jun Wang in person. He could only vent his anger onto the gambling house’s manager.

Really fucking damn, what is more unreasonable than a hooligan is a hooligan with an identity[12].

Lu Ye secretly cursed a few times in his heart, and stubbornly held back the name ” Qi Wang” in his throat.

Xia Yujin doggedly continued chasing for the answer, asking, “Who owns this gambling house?! I would like to know who behind the scenes has neither face nor skin? Which noble government official would it be?!” He thought about it and shook his head. “It will definitely not be! The Empress Dowager said that the gambling houses are harmful entertainment to the common people. I have regularly visited a few times only to be scolded by her for half a day. Where could there be a royal family member or court official who dares reverse the Empress Dowager’s attack on gambling??! Don’t you agree?”

If the entire city knew that the true owners of all the gambling houses are these kinds of people, the matter would still only be talked about privately as no one dared to speak out.

Lu Ye’s heart felt so grievously wronged, but he could not say out loud the truth in public. He couldn’t stand Xia Yujin’s constant questioning and could only answer: “The gambling house was opened by me.”

Xia Yujin “suddenly realized”: “It’s expected the it was done by such people like you.”

Lu Ye was so angered his face turned red and his veins throbbed. He clenched his fist and held it. He did not dare to actually start punching people.

Xia Yujin finished counting the money and knocked the table, yelling: “Come! Let’s continue to gamble, this king is lucky today!”

[1] Ye means grandfather; it can also be translated to Sir as the previous translator, Asian Hobbyist, did

[2] 千刀万剐 is an idiom that means, well, to hack someone into pieces.

[3] This is Xia Yujin’s royal title/ position

[4] 满门抄斩—means copying the property and killing the whole family; this is a Chinese literary allusion to Zhuge Liang and historical allusion to a feudal law where if one person committed a crim, the whole family would be implicated in the crime and punished.

[5] Most likely the servant helping Xia Yujin exchange money

[6] 王八—in modern day Chinese slang, this also means bastard

[7] 善男信女—Chinese idiom in reference to men and women who converted to Buddhism or to virtuous people

[8] 光脚的不怕穿鞋—Chinese idiom that literally translates to: “those who go bare foot are not afraid to wear shoes”, meaning that those who have nothing have nothing to lose, so they dare to do anything.

[9] The owner of the gambling house is Qi Wang; Qi Wang is also an official title denoting his status as part of the royal family.

[10] Back to the imperial court I assume

[11] Technically it says 手收 or clean up, but in this context it means to punish/ kill https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%94%B6%E6%8B%BE

[12] This identity is in reference to Jun Wang’s high status