The Hand of Confession, Slightly Trembling

The Hand of Confession – Chapter 405

by Little Panda

Volume 12: Former Boss Reduced To A Garlic-Peeling Little Sister

Eating a book

Don’t force me to kneel and beg you!

Back in the office, Dingdang, who had been playing on her phone, looked up and shot Shen Maomao a look.

Shen Maomao understood she had something to say, so she crooked a finger, and the two of them left the office together.

They went downstairs and began to circle the area in front of the building.

Dingdang opened the door and saw the mountain.¹ “Someone’s missing,” she said.

“Who?” Shen Maomao asked.

“The art teacher… I forgot her name. She didn’t write her lesson plan when Director Liu did her inspection yesterday. I think she lives next door to us.”

Shen Maomao pressed, “What about her roommate?”

“Her roommate is that woman who can’t stand me,” Dingdang said. “She was completely stunned when she came in this morning. Didn’t even give me any of her usual yin-yang strange air.² She must have been scared out of her wits.”

“Where is she now?”

“Still in the office. Didn’t you see her? She’s slumped over her desk like a damp mushroom, a look on her face like she can’t go on living.”³

“She must have been the one taken away last night,” Shen Maomao concluded.

Dingdang nodded. “Is there a pattern to when the boss takes people? It’s not completely random, is it?”

“It is random,” Shen Maomao said. “But it can be avoided.”

The way to avoid it was very likely that black umbrella.

Seeing that it was almost time for class, Shen Maomao instructed her, “I’m heading to class. If you have time, you can investigate the area. Try to get some information out of Director Liu, but be careful.”

Dingdang gave her a playful, sloppy salute. “Yes sir!”

Shen Maomao turned and went upstairs.

Because Class Two’s first period was English class, Shen Maomao finally got to see the group of kids while they were awake.

Of course, just like in Class One, they started laughing at her hair the moment they saw her.

Shen Maomao was just about to try reusing an old trick and slam the electric razor on the lectern when a little boy in the audience suddenly spoke up. “That’s enough! The teacher is about to start class. Everyone please be quiet!”

She raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy who had stood up. She recognized him as the kid who had held out the longest before falling asleep yesterday. A small smile touched her lips, but she still slapped the razor down on the desk. Facing the class, she asked in a cold voice, “Is it that funny?”

This time, no one dared to say another word.

Though no one picked up the conversation,⁴ Shen Maomao wasn’t embarrassed. She continued, “If you really like it that much, don’t be polite. I brought the tools. I can give each of you the exact same haircut. I can even tell your head teacher to let the entire school admire your bald heads during the flag-raising ceremony.”

The little radish heads⁵ had clearly never met a teacher who threatened them right off the bat. They all stared at her with wide eyes, their faces filled with shock.

The boy who had taken the lead spoke up. “Our head teacher would never care about us!”

Shen Maomao looked back at him, a confused expression on her face.

The children below immediately started talking with seven mouths, eight tongues.⁶ “She was afraid we wouldn’t listen, so she gave us some sweet-smelling candy! After we ate it, we all fell asleep!”

“We didn’t eat candy during the second period, but we smelled something sweet, and we fell asleep again!”

“I told my mom when I got home, and she said kids can’t eat too much of that sleepy stuff! It’s really bad for you!”

“The head teacher doesn’t like us at all! We don’t like her either!”

The first boy spoke again. “Chinese teacher, why don’t you be our head teacher?”

The others immediately chimed in. “Yeah, yeah! Chinese teacher, you should be our head teacher! We like you more!”

Shen Maomao was certain that this little boy was a figure whose foot’s move sways the balance⁷ in Class Two. The other little bean sprouts⁸ were afraid of him and listened to what he said.

She feigned helplessness. “That’s not up to me. The school arranges all our work. Besides, we’re all temporary workers. We’ll probably be gone in a few days, so you don’t need to worry too much.”

A cheer erupted from the class. Only the little leader of Class Two didn’t smile. Instead, he watched her as if lost in thought, his mind elsewhere.

Shen Maomao tapped the desk. “Alright, class is starting. I let you sleep yesterday, so we didn’t have time for introductions. Let’s get to know each other again today. My surname is Lou. You can call me Teacher Lou or Chinese teacher, whichever you prefer.”

“Hello, Chinese teacher—~”

“We don’t have time for you all to introduce yourselves now. We’ll start the lesson directly and get to know each other later. For now, please remain quiet and listen to my lecture.”

Perhaps because the little boy was keeping them in line, the class went smoothly. She didn’t have to worry about discipline at all.

After class, Shen Maomao returned to the office and saw the woman Dingdang had said was scared until her gallbladder broke.⁹

She sat stiffly in her chair, staring straight ahead with a trancelike expression. She clearly did not look well.

Dingdang whispered to Shen Maomao, “She’s been sitting like that all morning… What could she have seen to be so terrified?”

“I don’t know.”

Dingdang glanced at her, speechless. “You’re really something else.”

“Mm,” Shen Maomao replied.

“…Forget it. I’m going to take a walk. Maybe I’ll find something.” With that, she pushed the door open and left.

Shen Maomao watched her go, then prepared to put her head down on her desk for a nap.

She slept until it was almost time for school to let out for lunch.

Dingdang, who had just returned, tapped her awake. “And here I thought a big boss didn’t need to sleep,” she remarked.

“I’m not quite there yet,” Shen Maomao said. “I know a real big boss. She usually doesn’t sleep much when she’s clearing an instance. I only found out later it wasn’t that she didn’t sleep, but that she didn’t trust others. But once we got to know each other, she started taking turns with me to keep watch at night.”

Dingdang’s face was a mask of shock. “Big boss! Your high and cold¹⁰ persona has collapsed!”

Shen Maomao’s face returned to its usual expressionless state.

Dingdang grinned like a little mouse that stole something fishy.¹¹ “He must be really important to you, right? You sounded so gentle when you mentioned him.”

Shen Maomao paused for a second, then suddenly smiled. “Yes. Very important.”

“You look really nice when you smile,” Dingdang said, surprised. “Why do you always keep a straight face?”¹²

Shen Maomao glanced at her but didn’t answer. She stood up, stretched her wrists, and scanned the room, only to find that the woman was gone.

“Where is she?” she asked.

“Probably went to class? I saw her float by just now, looking like she had a kidney deficiency.¹³ At first glance, she was scarier than a ghost.”

“She still knows to go to class,” Shen Maomao commented. “She should be fine.”

“…That makes sense,” Dingdang conceded.

“What about you?” Shen Maomao looked at her. “Did you find anything?”

Dingdang had no classes all day. She had spent the time since third period running around and observing people, but after two hours, she hadn’t found anything unusual or seen any suspicious characters. In short—she had found nothing.

Fortunately, Shen Maomao hadn’t expected her to find anything. She just told her to keep trying, then checked the time and patted her butt before heading back to her class.

Class One was in the middle of a lesson with that female math teacher.

The students below were all slumped over, fast asleep, but she acted like a person with nothing wrong, teaching just as she was supposed to, completely self-intoxicated.¹⁴ There was no trace of fear on her.

When the bell rang, she packed up her math book and walked out. She didn’t even glance at Shen Maomao as she passed, as if she didn’t exist.

Shen Maomao walked into the classroom and looked around. Currently, only Chen Meihan was still awake.

Chen Meihan looked at her and let out a huge, uncontrollable yawn. “So sleepy…”

Shen Maomao met her gaze from across the room. Two seconds later, she turned and walked away.

“Hey?? You—?!”

…

It wasn’t until school let out that evening that Chen Meihan finally got a chance to speak with Shen Maomao. “S… Teacher Lou, I have a few questions for you! Could I trouble you to come outside with me for a moment?”

“No time.”

Chen Meihan’s face was ferocious and twisted¹⁵ with anger. “Don’t go too far! I… I already took the initiative to give you steps to walk down!”¹⁶

“Oh.”

Chen Meihan started to grind her teeth. “Don’t force me!”

Shen Maomao just watched her quietly.

The children around them were picked up by their parents one by one, but Chen Meihan’s parents, as if by prior agreement, never came.

She stood before Shen Maomao, her little mouth pouting, arms crossed, her expression about to cry but not crying, as if she had suffered a sky-sized grievance.¹⁷

Dingdang had been waiting in the office for ages. When Shen Maomao didn’t return, she thought something had happened and ran over without even grabbing her lesson plan, only to be greeted by this scene.

She was a little surprised. She hadn’t expected such a standoff to occur between a great god¹⁸ like Xiao Lou and a small child. “What’s going on here? Teacher Lou? And this student?” she asked, crouching in front of Chen Meihan and reaching for her hand.

Chen Meihan pouted and pulled away.

Dingdang narrowed her eyes. “I remember you. You’re from Class One, right? The one who sings pretty well. What was your name again?”

Chen Meihan stated her name, her eyes still fixed on Shen Maomao, her neck held high like a little swan that never says die.¹⁹

“Oh~ so it’s you!” Dingdang said with exaggeration. “The teachers are about to get off work. You should hurry home too. Whatever it is, you can talk about it tomorrow morning at school, okay?”

“No!” Chen Meihan shrieked. “I have to say it now!”

Shen Maomao remained completely unmoved, as cold as could be.

Chen Meihan had no other choice. Her eyes darted around, and when neither of them was looking, she threw herself at Shen Maomao.

Shen Maomao took a step back to dodge, but they were too close, and Chen Meihan still managed to tackle her.

She was about to kick her off, but Chen Meihan had already started wailing. “Waaah QAQ! I’m begging you! Help this child! This child is so pitiful! Please! Please!”

Shen Maomao: “…”

Dingdang: “…”

The few remaining parents all turned to look, probably suspecting them of kidnapping a child.

Amidst the howling sobs, Dingdang shouted, “Great god! Maybe you should just agree! This is so embarrassing!!!”

Shen Maomao hadn’t expected that after all these years, not only had Chen Meihan not matured at all, but she had also learned to act like a rogue.²⁰

She rubbed her forehead, a headache blooming. “Alright, stop howling. What do you want? Spit it out.”

Chen Meihan lifted her head from Shen Maomao’s leg and peeked up, only to see Shen Maomao glaring down at her, her face full of cold frost,²¹ as if she was ready to kill her on the spot if she couldn’t say a one, two, three.²²

“I… can we talk somewhere else?” Chen Meihan said, aggrieved.

The three of them moved away from the other students to another side of the teaching building.

“Speak,” Shen Maomao said impatiently.

“I can tell you how to leave this place,” Chen Meihan said immediately. “But in exchange, you have to help me get rid of that thing! Don’t even think about it. Without my permission, you’ll all be stuck here with me forever!”

Shen Maomao raised an eyebrow at her.

“She actually knows about the game?!” Dingdang said, shocked.

Shen Maomao nodded. “Besides her, there are actually many other npcs who have had an Awakening.”²³

“An Awakening?”

“I’ll tell you about that later.” Shen Maomao turned back to Chen Meihan. “Is that all you wanted to say?”

Chen Meihan explained rapidly, “You can only leave if both I and that boy from Class Two give you a good review! So you have to help me! Otherwise, none of you are going anywhere!”

“Wait a minute…” Dingdang said. “Besides you, you also need a student from Class Two? Then your word alone isn’t enough.”

“We have a great relationship!” Chen Meihan said. “As long as I talk to him, he’ll definitely agree!”

“Then get him to agree first,” Shen Maomao said.

Chen Meihan looked at the cunning adult and said angrily, “Fine! You just wait! Starting tomorrow, you have to help me! Or I’ll make you pay!”

Shen Maomao’s face was blank. “Thanks, but I think I look good enough as I am.”

In the end, Chen Meihan left in tears, having bought a standing ticket.²⁴

Shen Maomao and Dingdang started walking back.

“Great god, why did she ask you for help?” Dingdang asked curiously.

“We knew each other before,” Shen Maomao answered truthfully.

“Eh?”

“This is a repeatable instance. I’ve been in it before.”

“Eh?! Eh eh eh?!”

“Compared to a few years ago, the difficulty of this instance seems to have been lowered.”

“So are you going to help her?”

“It’s just mutual exploitation.”

Chen Meihan was not a good stubble.²⁵ Shen Maomao still remembered how she had let them go just because she thought it was fun. She had the appearance of a child, but in reality, she had lived in this instance for who knows how many years. She was the original boss of the instance, moody and unpredictable,²⁶ one who acted following her heart’s desires.²⁷ That was why Shen Maomao always maintained a heart of vigilance²⁸ around her.

Dingdang didn’t press the issue, instead asking about the “Awakening.” “So what did you mean by ‘Awakening’?”

Shen Maomao glanced at her. “How long have you been in the game?”

“Only about half a year…”

“A few years ago, the NPCs in the dungeons were nowhere near as dynamic as they are now. As the game continued to update, the NPCs became more and more lifelike, until finally, NPCs who ‘clearly know they are in a game and are just characters in it’ appeared. I’m used to calling this situation an ‘Awakening’.”

“Does their Awakening affect us?”

“It can cause a massive change in the instance’s difficulty.”

Originally, NPCs treated all players with an equal eye,²⁹ but as they awakened, they gained their own will and began to form subjective opinions of players. This was especially true for key NPCs. Who they liked and who they disliked could have a huge impact on the game, leading to an increase or decrease in the instance’s difficulty.

For players, this meant they had another way to escape an instance—by getting on good terms with the NPCs. The saying, “As long as you’re brave enough, Sadako will take maternity leave,”³⁰ might no longer be just a joke, but a reality.

Dingdang imagined the scene, and her scalp went numb.³¹ “My god… can someone really get hard for a ghost? That’s terrifying.” It might be fine if the ghost was humanoid, but what if it was some kind of deformed creature? What kind of mental fortitude would it take to have a relationship with it?

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a relationship,” Shen Maomao said. “You can also just grind favorability points.”³²

As they spoke, the two walked back to the office, only to find the door locked. The other players must have thought they had already left.

Dingdang took out her key to open the door, ready to pack up her lesson plans and materials. But the moment she stepped inside, she noticed it—her desk and Shen Maomao’s were completely empty. There was nothing on them.

“My lesson plans that I spent days working so hard on?! My music book?! Who did this?! Who did this?!” Dingdang was stunned.

“If you can’t find them, just forget it,” Shen Maomao said.

“It’s one thing to take mine, but why take yours too?!” Dingdang said guiltily. “You worked so hard writing all that!”

This made her furious all over again. “I know who it was! It must have been that dead three-eight!”³³

“…” said Shen Maomao.

Dingdang’s fire rose three zhang high.³⁴ “Let’s go! We’re going to go settle accounts³⁵ with her!”

“You don’t have any proof.”

“I never need proof to do things!” Dingdang shot back.

Okay, very overbearing.

Dingdang remembered that Shen Maomao didn’t like to be touched, so she didn’t try to grab her hand. She just urged her to hurry up and follow, then stormed toward the dormitory with a menacing air.³⁶

Shen Maomao followed behind her, deliberately glancing at her own doorway as she passed.

The black umbrella was still standing by the door, seemingly unchanged. But she was certain it wasn’t the same one from yesterday, because this one had fresh water stains on its surface, and it hadn’t rained all day.

Dingdang didn’t notice any of this. She charged straight to the door of the next room, pushed it open, and shouted, “Was it you—” Her voice died in her throat.

There was someone in the room, but they didn’t look human.

The math teacher was sitting on the floor, clutching a pile of torn and tattered books, with small scraps of paper on her face. She tilted her head to look at them.

Dingdang’s confidence faltered. “You… why are you eating a book…”³⁷

The math teacher’s eyes were fixed on her, but her hands never stopped moving, constantly stuffing scraps of paper into her mouth, chewing with great relish.

Shen Maomao stepped past Dingdang and into the room. With a single hand knife³⁸ chop to the back of the woman’s neck, she knocked her out cold.

Only then did Dingdang run in. “Great god! Your chopping technique is so professional. Have you had special training?”

Shen Maomao ignored her and said, “Come lend a hand.”³⁹

“With what?”

Shen Maomao told her to lift the woman by her waist.⁴⁰ Although Dingdang was reluctant, she didn’t dare to disobey⁴¹ the big boss and did as she was told.

It was only after she had turned the woman over that she noticed her abdomen was abnormally swollen, immediately bringing some unpleasant images to mind. “You don’t think this is…”

Shen Maomao reached out and gently pressed on the woman’s stomach.

The swollen area wasn’t her lower abdomen, but her stomach. It felt hard as a rock inside, as if it had been forcibly stretched to this size.

Shen Maomao pressed down hard. The unconscious woman immediately frowned in discomfort, her lips trembling slightly.

Shen Maomao pressed a second time.

With a retching sound, a pile of wet paper pulp and scraps surged from her throat, emitting a foul odor.

Dingdang turned her head away, covering her nose with her other hand, her face scrunched up in disgust, feeling the urge to gag herself.

Shen Maomao repeated the process according to the same method,⁴² continuing to press until the woman’s stomach was no longer swollen.

By then, a small mountain of wet paper scraps had piled up next to the woman’s face. Shen Maomao even spotted her own Chinese language book among them.

“Are we done?” Dingdang asked, pinching her nose. “Let’s get out of here… I wish we’d never come.”

Shen Maomao dragged the woman to another, cleaner bed, had Dingdang open the window, and then said, “Let’s go.”

Outside, Dingdang complained, “Ugh… I feel like my whole body is sour. Why did you save her…? She ate our books. What are we going to do now?”

“I was just testing if this would work,” Shen Maomao said. “In case you ever end up in the same situation, we’ll know how to save you.”

Dingdang pouted. “Are you trying to curse me, great god? I’ll never end up like that, pei pei pei.”⁴³

“You go back first,” Shen Maomao said. “I’m going upstairs to take a look.”

It was broad daylight, so Dingdang wasn’t afraid to be alone. She grumbled her way back to her room, planning to wash the smell off herself.

Shen Maomao went to the staircase alone. Using the same old method, she opened the lock and crept upstairs.

The second floor was completely silent. With the sky still light, she could see the situation here more clearly.

Green mold grew on the corridor walls, and underneath it were faint children’s doodles.⁴⁴ The building had been constructed carelessly; the roof wasn’t properly waterproofed. The wall skin⁴⁵ on the ceiling, soaked by rain and then left to air-dry, had burst into patches of gray-black marks.

There were many rooms on both sides of the corridor. Shen Maomao first went to the door of the room where she had confirmed the boss was last night and pressed her ear against it to listen.

Thump—

It was the powerful beating heart of the monster.

It should be inside.

But she couldn’t rule out the possibility of two monsters, so she still had to be cautious.

Just as Shen Maomao was trying to figure out how to open the other doors without making a sound, she suddenly heard a crash of thunder outside. A flash of lightning tore across the sky, and blood-red rain began to fall, clattering against the glass roof with a series of loud pats.

It seemed this umbrella was far more sensible⁴⁶ than Chen Meihan.

Footnotes

Hanzi: 开门见山 | Pinyin: kāiménjiànshān | Context: Literally: “Open the door and see the mountain.” An idiom for getting straight to the point without preamble.
Hanzi: 阴阳怪气 | Pinyin: yīnyáng guàiqì | Context: An idiom describing a sarcastic, passive-aggressive, or cynical way of speaking.
Hanzi: 活不起了的样儿 | Pinyin: huó bù qǐle de yàng’er | Context: A colloquial phrase describing someone who looks utterly defeated or depressed.
Hanzi: 接茬 | Pinyin: jiēchá | Context: A colloquial term meaning to respond or continue a conversation thread.
Hanzi: 小萝卜头 | Pinyin: xiǎo luóbo tóu | Context: An affectionate or dismissive slang term for young children.
Hanzi: 七嘴八舌 | Pinyin: qī zuǐ bā shé | Context: An idiom describing a group of people all talking at once.
Hanzi: 举足轻重 | Pinyin: jǔzúqīngzhòng | Context: An idiom for being pivotal or highly influential.
Hanzi: 小豆丁 | Pinyin: xiǎo dòudīng | Context: An affectionate or dismissive slang term for a small child.
Hanzi: 吓破了胆子 | Pinyin: xià pòle dǎnzi | Context: An idiom for being terrified. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the gallbladder is associated with courage.
Hanzi: 高冷 | Pinyin: gāolěng | Context: Internet slang for a personality that is aloof, distant, and cool.
Hanzi: 偷到腥的小老鼠 | Pinyin: tōu dào xīng de xiǎo lǎoshǔ | Context: A metaphor for someone looking pleased with themselves, similar to the English idiom “the cat that got the cream.”
Hanzi: 板着脸 | Pinyin: bǎnzhe liǎn | Context: Literally: “To hold a wooden board face.” Slang for looking stern, emotionless, or putting on a poker face.
Hanzi: 肾虚 | Pinyin: shènxū | Context: In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this refers to a deficiency in kidney ‘qi’ or essence, leading to symptoms like fatigue, weakness, and low vitality. It’s often used as modern slang for looking drained or exhausted.
Hanzi: 自我陶醉 | Pinyin: zìwǒ táozuì | Context: Literally: “Self-intoxicated.” An idiom for being narcissistic, self-absorbed, or lost in self-admiration.
Hanzi: 面目狰狞 | Pinyin: miànmù zhēngníng | Context: An idiom describing a facial expression of extreme anger or malice.
Hanzi: 给你台阶下 | Pinyin: gěi nǐ táijiē xià | Context: A common idiom that means to provide someone with a graceful way to back down from a confrontation or difficult situation without losing face.
Hanzi: 天大的委屈 | Pinyin: tiāndà de wěiqu | Context: A common and dramatic expression for feeling a great sense of injustice or being wronged.
Hanzi: 大神 | Pinyin: dàshén | Context: Internet and gaming slang for an expert, master, or highly skilled person.
Hanzi: 永不言败的小天鹅 | Pinyin: yǒng bù yán bài de xiǎo tiān’é | Context: A poetic description of someone who is proud and defiant, even in a difficult situation.
Hanzi: 耍无赖 | Pinyin: shuǎ wúlài | Context: To resort to shameless or roguish tactics, often by throwing a tantrum or refusing to be reasonable.
Hanzi: 满脸寒霜 | Pinyin: mǎn liǎn hánshuāng | Context: An idiom to describe a very cold, angry, or severe expression.
Hanzi: 说出个一二三来 | Pinyin: shuō chū gè yī’èrsān lái | Context: A colloquial idiom meaning to provide a clear, logical, and itemized reason or explanation for something.
Hanzi: 觉醒 | Pinyin: juéxǐng | Context: The term used to describe an NPC (non-player character) gaining self-awareness and consciousness within the game world.
Hanzi: 站票 | Pinyin: zhàn piào | Context: Literally: “Standing ticket,” as for a train or bus where no seats are available. Used here humorously and colloquially to say someone left in a hurry, was kicked out, or left without dignity.
Hanzi: 善茬 | Pinyin: shàn chá | Context: Literally: “Good stubble” (from a harvested field). It’s slang for someone who is easy to deal with. It’s almost always used in the negative (不是善茬, bùshì shàn chá) to mean someone is a tough customer or not to be trifled with.
Hanzi: 阴晴不定 | Pinyin: yīn qíng bùdìng | Context: Literally: “Cloudy and clear, not fixed.” An idiom describing a moody, unpredictable personality, like fickle weather.
Hanzi: 随心所欲 | Pinyin: suíxīnsuǒyù | Context: An idiom meaning to do whatever one pleases without restraint.
Hanzi: 警惕之心 | Pinyin: jǐngtì zhī xīn | Context: A formal way of saying a state of being wary or cautious.
Hanzi: 一视同仁 | Pinyin: yīshìtóngrén | Context: Literally: “To view all as one and the same.” An idiom meaning to treat everyone equally without favoritism.
Hanzi: 只要胆子大，贞子放产假 | Pinyin: zhǐyào dǎnzi dà, zhēnzi fàng chǎn jià | Context: A popular and humorous Chinese internet meme. Sadako (贞子, Zhēnzi) is the iconic ghost from the Japanese horror film “The Ring.” The phrase suggests that any monster, no matter how terrifying, can be seduced or overcome if one is bold enough.
Hanzi: 头皮发麻 | Pinyin: tóupí fāmá | Context: A common physical sensation described in response to fear, horror, or disgust.
Hanzi: 刷刷好感度 | Pinyin: shuā shuā hǎogǎndù | Context: A gaming term. 刷 (shuā) means to brush, but in gaming it means to grind or farm something repeatedly. 好感度 (hǎogǎndù) is the favorability or affinity meter. So, this means to repeatedly perform actions to increase an NPC’s affinity score.
Hanzi: 死三八 | Pinyin: sǐ sānbā | Context: A common and vulgar insult for a woman, similar to “bitch” or “slut.” The term 三八 (sānbā) is a derogatory slang term for a gossipy or foolish woman, and 死 (sǐ) means “dead” or “damned.”
Hanzi: 火冒三丈 | Pinyin: huǒmàosānzhàng | Context: A zhang is a traditional Chinese unit of length (about 3.3 meters). The idiom describes being extremely furious.
Hanzi: 算账 | Pinyin: suànzhàng | Context: Literally: “To calculate accounts.” It can mean to settle a bill, but is often used metaphorically to mean getting even or seeking revenge.
Hanzi: 气势汹汹 | Pinyin: qìshìxiōngxiōng | Context: Literally: “With a fierce and aggressive momentum.” An idiom describing an aggressive and intimidating manner.
Hanzi: 啃书 | Pinyin: kěn shū | Context: Literally: “To gnaw on a book.” It’s usually a metaphor for studying very hard. Here, it’s used literally as the math teacher is physically eating books.
Hanzi: 一手刀 | Pinyin: yīshǒu dāo | Context: Literally: “One hand knife.” A colloquial term for a karate chop, usually aimed at the back of the neck to knock someone out.
Hanzi: 搭把手 | Pinyin: dā bǎ shǒu | Context: A colloquial phrase meaning to help someone with a task, especially a physical one.
Hanzi: 拦腰 | Pinyin: lányāo | Context: Literally: “To block at the waist.” It describes holding, grabbing, or lifting someone around their midsection.
Hanzi: 忤逆 | Pinyin: wǔnì | Context: A somewhat formal term meaning to disobey or go against the wishes of a superior or elder, often with a connotation of filial impiety.
Hanzi: 如法炮制 | Pinyin: rúfǎpáozhì | Context: An idiom meaning to do something again in the exact same way, often with negative connotations.
Hanzi: 呸呸呸 | Pinyin: pēipēipēi | Context: An onomatopoeia for the sound of spitting. It’s a superstitious action or phrase used to ward off bad luck after saying something inauspicious, similar to knocking on wood.
Hanzi: 涂鸦 | Pinyin: túyā | Context: Can mean graffiti, but in this context, it refers to children’s scribbles or doodles.
Hanzi: 墙皮 | Pinyin: qiángpí | Context: The plaster, paint, or surface layer of a wall.
Hanzi: 懂事 | Pinyin: dǒngshì | Context: Literally: “To understand matters.” A common compliment, especially for a child, describing someone who is mature, considerate, and thoughtful for their age.

Volume 12: Former Boss Reduced To A Garlic-Peeling Little Sister

Footnotes

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