Free Web NovelChapter 209: Chapter 184: Hard to Leave Home, Sinking into Prison-like Despair
Let me analyze this Chinese web novel Chapter to understand its context before translating.
## Step 1: Contextual Analysis
Literary genre: Fantasy/historical fiction web novel (武侠 or xianxia/cultivation novel)
Language style: Mix of formal and casual, with some vulgarity toward the end
Tone: Somber, realistic, with elements of tragedy and harshness
Plot keywords: City evacuation, impending attack, protagonist’s night investigation, family decline, prostitution
Characters:
- 武良辰 (Wu Liangchen): Male protagonist, extremely skilled martial artist/cultivator
- 刘三爷 (Third Master Liu): Male, elderly resident who refuses to leave the city
- 刘三奶奶 (Third Granny Liu): Female, wife of Third Master Liu
- 东川 (Dongchuan): Male, possibly son of Third Master Liu and Third Granny Liu
- 严雨荷 (Yan Yuhe): Female, former noble "daughter of the Yan family" now forced into prostitution
- 严宗泰 (Yan Zongtai): Male, former patriarch of the Yan family, now an alcoholic
Setting: 定海卫 (Dinghai City), a city that’s being evacuated due to an impending attack from 青云山 (Cyan Cloud Mountain)
## Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing
Now I’ll translate this text while following all the specified rules and guidelines.
The Chapter begins with elderly residents refusing to leave their homes despite an impending attack. Third Master Liu and his wife are staying behind while their neighbors evacuate. After everyone leaves, Wu Liangchen secretly observes them, appreciating their calm demeanor in the face of danger.
Wu Liangchen decides to remain hidden and finds an abandoned house to stay in. After resting, he heads to the North City area at night. He moves swiftly through the mostly abandoned city to investigate.
He arrives at a once-grand mansion now in disrepair - the former home of the Yan family. There he discovers a terrible scene: Yan Yuhe, once a noble daughter, has been reduced to prostitution in her own home. She’s ill and coughing blood (due to injuries inflicted by Wu Liangchen in a previous encounter). Her father, once the patriarch, has become an alcoholic who sold everything of value.
The Chapter reveals the tragic decline of a once-powerful family, with Yan Yuhe saving money from prostitution in hopes of buying medicine and escaping her situation.
Now I’ll provide the full translation following all the specified guidelines:
## Step 3: Final Sanitization and Logic Pass
I’ve carefully checked my translation for any remaining Chinese characters or unhandled Pinyin, and there are none. I’ve also verified that all meta-textual references are accurate and logical in the English context. I’ve double-checked all glossary terms to ensure they’re consistently used as specified.
Here’s the final translation:
It’s hard to leave one’s homeland.
Especially for elderly couples like Third Master Liu and his wife, who were even more reluctant to leave the home where they had spent their entire lives.
So their neighbors could only sigh and repeatedly urge the elderly couple to be extremely careful.
To this, Third Master Liu responded with a smile: "Don’t worry. We have rice and flour at home. After you leave, we’ll lock the gates tight and never go out again. I don’t believe these bandits will search house by house."
"But all of you must be careful on your journey. Don’t do anything rash."
After saying their goodbyes, all the old neighbors dispersed.
Third Master Liu stood at the doorway watching these old neighbors, with whom he had spent most of his life, gradually disappear at the end of the long street. He suddenly felt empty inside.
Because after this farewell, he truly didn’t know if they would ever meet again.
Looking back at the empty courtyard, even though Third Master Liu had weathered countless storms in his life, he couldn’t help but feel a lump in his throat.
As for Third Granny Liu, she was already in tears.
"This damned world, can’t it give poor people even a sliver of hope to survive?"
Third Master Liu let out a long sigh. "Come on, old woman, let’s go back inside. It’s good that they’ve left—at least they can save their lives. If they stayed in the city, they’d all die."
After speaking, Third Master Liu closed the courtyard gate and secured it with three large locks. Still feeling uneasy, he found a large wooden beam to prop against it from behind.
"You’ve secured the door so thoroughly, what about when Dongchuan returns?" asked Third Granny Liu.
"Who says he’s coming back?" Third Master Liu said calmly.
"When they were leaving the city, I secretly instructed our daughter-in-law that once they reach the countryside, she must stop Dongchuan by any means necessary and prevent him from returning."
Hearing this, Third Granny Liu’s spirits lifted, and she gave an unusual thumbs-up in admiration: "Old man, you did the right thing!"
"I’ve lived with you for most of my life, and this is the only thing you’ve done that I truly admire."
Third Master Liu laughed heartily. "Good, that one compliment is enough! Let’s go inside. I just got some chess manuals—now I finally have time to study them properly."
After the elderly couple went inside, Wu Liangchen slowly emerged from the shadows in the corner outside the courtyard wall.
He had to admit that the composure shown by Third Master Liu and his wife was quite moving.
After all, not everyone could maintain such calmness when facing unpredictable danger.
Actually, Wu Liangchen had initially planned to reveal himself, but later changed his mind.
Compared to making an appearance, it would be more convenient to operate in the shadows.
This was the perfect opportunity to handle some matters while Cyan Cloud Mountain’s army had not yet arrived and Dinghai City was in a state of panic.
Having made up his mind, Wu Liangchen found a nearby empty house to stay in.
Empty houses were now the most common sight in Dinghai City.
This small courtyard was no exception. The old clothes scattered on the ground indicated that the owner must have left in great haste.
In the kitchen, there were even recently purchased rice, flour, and vegetables, which was convenient for Wu Liangchen.
He quickly prepared some food, ate, and then lay down on the bed to rest.
After sleeping for about two hours, he opened his eyes to find it was already deep into the night.
Walking into the courtyard, he saw dark clouds covering the stars and moon. The night was pitch black, and the air was suffocatingly hot—clearly signs of an approaching storm.
This was also the perfect time for night prowlers to move about.
Although with Wu Liangchen’s current strength, there wasn’t a single opponent in all of Dinghai City who could match him.
But out of habit, Wu Liangchen still changed into black clothes, then brought his bow and sword before leaping into the night.
His target was clear—he headed straight for North City.
Wu Liangchen moved at an incredible speed, flying over thousands of households. He only needed to occasionally step lightly on a rooftop before gliding gracefully like an elegant crane, silently covering great distances.
Meanwhile, the city below had only a few faint lights burning, with no sign of life anywhere else. At first glance, it looked exactly like a ghost town.
But with Wu Liangchen’s keen perception, he could still detect many breathing sounds or whispered conversations behind the dark doors and windows.
This wasn’t surprising. After all, Dinghai City had a large population, and although most had fled, there were still some brave souls or those who couldn’t leave for various reasons who had stayed behind.
Racing along like this, in just a moment, Wu Liangchen arrived in North City.
Compared to the dilapidation of South City, North City was slightly better off.
At least many of the mansions still showed flickering lights here and there.
But Wu Liangchen knew that these mansions were basically empty, with only some servants left behind to watch over them.
Those with greater Divine Power had begun evacuating when Wu Liangchen left Dinghai City last time.
After all, those who could afford to live in North City were either wealthy or noble, and naturally had their own information channels.
Wu Liangchen continued forward and soon arrived in front of a large mansion.
This mansion was enormous even by North City standards, with ornately carved beams, painted rafters, and connecting eaves—clearly not a place ordinary people could live in.
But now the main gate’s paint was peeling, and dust covered the stone steps in front—a scene of decline.
Seeing this, a cold smile appeared on Wu Liangchen’s lips as he lightly leaped into the courtyard.
The yard contained artificial mountains and corridors, but due to neglect, everything had fallen into disrepair.
Walking further in, after passing through two layers of courtyards, a faint light finally appeared ahead.
It came from an exquisitely designed small building.
But now it too was dilapidated from neglect, with many broken windows missing their glass panes.
Wu Liangchen frowned slightly because besides the light, he also heard some unseemly sounds.
Shadows moved in front of the building, as if people were discussing something.
Wu Liangchen flashed into the darkness to hide.
At the same time, a burly man with a big belly and greasy clothes on his chest walked out of the building with a satisfied look on his face.
As soon as he came out, another man rushed in eagerly.
"How was it?" asked a rat-faced man who was waiting in line, unable to contain his impatience.
The butcher-like burly man snickered, then gave a thumbs up.
"Incredible! This woman lives up to her reputation—passionate and wild. But the best part is her identity."
"Tsk tsk, the daughter of the Yan family! A year ago, we couldn’t even get a glimpse of someone like her, let alone touch her!"
Reaching this point, the butcher said with relish: "This is my first time entering the boudoir of a lady from a great family. Just for this experience alone, the money was well spent!"
Hearing him speak like this, the remaining men waiting in line grew even more impatient.
"Damn it, who knows how much longer we’ll have to wait!"
"Soon, soon!" the butcher said with a smile.
Just as he finished speaking, a woman’s pained groan suddenly came from inside.
Immediately after, the man who had just gone in walked out with an annoyed expression.
"What happened?"
"Damn it, I had just taken off my pants and hadn’t even gotten started when the woman suddenly began coughing up blood. Scared me so much I went limp right away."
"Coughing blood?"
"Yeah, she was coughing violently. It was terrifying!"
Hearing this, they all turned questioning looks toward the burly butcher.
The butcher hurriedly waved his hands. "Don’t look at me! I didn’t do anything—just had my turn. Her coughing blood has nothing to do with me."
"Damn, I found out this woman is truly perverted. Even while coughing blood, she didn’t want me to leave. I didn’t dare continue—what if she died? What then!"
After saying this, the man left through the back door with an annoyed expression.
The rest, seeing the situation, reluctantly dispersed despite their disappointment.
Meanwhile, in the second-floor room, Yan Yuhe wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth, then struggled to put on her clothes and limped to the table.
From certain details, one could see the past luxury of this room, but now everything was gone.
Except for this table that was too heavy for Yan Zongtai to move, he had sold everything else of value.
After selling things, he would buy alcohol and drink until completely drunk, then wake up and start drinking again.
Day after day, even though Yan Zongtai once had some martial arts foundation, he was now thoroughly ruined.
Yan Yuhe didn’t care about any of this.
After all, when even she, the former daughter of the Yan family, had started working as a prostitute, what else could she care about?
She sat blankly at the table, her numb mind struggling to remember when she had last eaten.
It seemed to be yesterday. Last night she had eaten half a bowl of millet porridge.
Yes, it hadn’t been more than two days. She could endure a bit longer.
The Yan family now consisted of just her and Yan Zongtai. The servants had either fled with valuables or been sold off.
That’s why such a huge mansion had fallen into such disrepair.
But Yan Yuhe still didn’t care about any of this.
Now she cared about nothing at all.
She could even unhesitatingly sleep with men she wouldn’t have deigned to look at before, all for just a few copper coins or some food.
But recently, she had been coughing blood more frequently than before, so Yan Yuhe knew her time was running out.
This coughing blood problem was left over from when Wu Liangchen had injured her that day.
Actually, her injuries weren’t severe at the time. With proper care for a few days, there wouldn’t have been any lasting effects.
But the problem was that the Yan family was already in turmoil then, and Yan Zongtai, as the Patriarch, completely ignored everything and only knew how to drown himself in alcohol.
Under these circumstances, everyone under him was busy seizing family assets—who would care about her?
So her injuries dragged on and worsened, eventually becoming chronic.
Almost there!
At her current pace of receiving clients, she would soon save enough money to buy medicine, get treatment, and leave this place.
This hope made Yan Yuhe forget her hunger.
She stood up with painstaking slowness—this was her latest technique.
Moving slowly enough would conserve precious energy.
She slowly shuffled to the bed, lifted the dirty blanket, and reached for her money pouch.
But she found nothing.
