Love O2O (微微一笑很倾城, Just One Smile is Very Alluring) Chapter 1: Cast Aside

"WeiWei, come to Indifference Island. Let's get a divorce."

When Bei Wei Wei logged on, this is the message her in-game "husband", ZhenShuiWuXiang (RealWaterIsScentless), sent. Wei Wei couldn't help feeling dumbfounded. This can't be right, but the dorm's internet did take half a month to fix. In that time, he "fell out of love?"

Wei Wei delays for a while before responding: "Why?"

ZhenShuiWuXiang: "WeiWei, I'm sorry. Don't look for a reason. I'll send you some celestial equipment as compensation."

There's alimony? Wei Wei feels a little disgruntled: "There's no need."

Marriage in a game of course isn't like a real marriage. When she met with ZhenShuiWuXiang to get married, it was for a quest; there's a quest that only married couples can do. Hence, all the single men and women in the guild eventually married each other. ZhenShuiWuXiang had sent a message asking Wei Wei if she wanted to get married. Wei Wei considered it a little and then agreed.

They've been married half a year now. Although Wei Wei never sappily called called him "hubby" this or "hubby" that and referred to him just as ZhenShui, they had a close partnership. After fighting back-to-back so much, it seemed like they developed a camaraderie.

But it is a game after all...

Wei Wei sends a reply: "I'm coming over now."

Wei Wei's character, "LuWeiWeiWei (ReedWeiWei)", mounts her horse and rides toward Indifference Island.

"LuWeiWeiWei" is a powerful, red-clad heroine.

The game Wei Wei plays, "Meng You Jiang Hu (Dream Voyage Among Lakes and Rivers)", is the most popular out of all the martial art setting games. Actually there isn't anything that sets the game apart from the others. It's only that the art design is incredible, and there are many character choices - 18 characters each for male and female characters. Wei Wei's choice of the red-clad heroine is seldom selected. It isn't because the character isn't pretty but because the character's weapon is an enormous sword.

A huge sword, compared to the elegant jade dizi, compared to the dancing snow-white ribbons, compared to the poetic[1] supple jian, compared to the Emei daggers, is not aesthetic nor feminine. That's why few female gamers choose the red-clad heroine, but Wei Wei likes it. She feels like the character is valiant and fits her own self-image.

Arriving at Indifference Island, the pair drink the Waters of Indifference. The system announces: "'LuWeiWeiWei' and 'ZhenShuiWuXiang' feelings have split. From now on, they will mean nothing to each other."

ZhenShuiWuXiang wants to give WeiWei the celestial equipment, but Wei Wei cancels the offer and instead sends a smiley face. The red-clad heroine heroically rides away.

The next day, Wei Wei eats lunch before logging on. A guild member Wei Wei is particularity close, a girl called LeiShenNiNi (ThunderGoddessNiNi), sends her a message: "WeiWei, what happened? Did you and ZhenShui get a divorce? I heard at 8 o'clock tonight he is getting married with XiaoYuYaoYao (EnchantressYaoYao)[2]!"

WeiWei: "..."

LeiShenNiNi: "You really divorced?"

WeiWei: "Yes."

LeiShenNiNi: "That's a pity. ZhenShui is a good guy. I didn't think he would be blinded by beauty, but that XiaoYuYaoYao is really pretty though."

NiNi of course isn't talking about the in-game character but talking about in reality. Three months ago, the gaming company had a gamer, real-life beauty contest. The top three gamers get high-leveled equipment. XiaoYuYaoYao put together some pictures and a video clip, and she took the number one spot. This immediately got Wei Wei's server abuzz. XiaoYuYaoYao became the target of the drooling lechers on the server.

The "ex-husband" in a blink of an eye proposed to another woman. Although Wei Wei only had a camaraderie with ZhenShui, she can't help feeling depressed and hit her head on the desk (this child is like this when depressed...). She shouts, "I will never pick another guy who's cares only for outer beauty!!!!!"

This wasn't shouted in-game but in the dorm, so WeiWei is immediately hit on the head with a pillow from the upper bunk.

"Bei Wei Wei! If such a pretty girl like you is depressed, then what are we ordinary girls suppose to be?"

It's true. Bei Wei Wei is not only pretty; she is a beauty. But there are different types of beauty: the elegant kind, the smart kind, the sweet kind, the gentle kind, the virtuous kind...

And the kind Wei Wei is - the drop-dead gorgeous kind...

Although Wei Wei always studies hard and is very studious...

A voluptuous appearance, a beckoning gaze, a permanently flushed lips, an hourglass figure. Even if Bei Wei Wei wears the ghastly uniform of a science and engineering college student, no one would believe she really attends a top-notch university.

Wei Wei remembers all the disappointments in her life and resumes beating her head on the desk.

In the game, LeiShenNiNi continues to gossip: "Before, I heard XiaoYuYaoYao was going to marry a high-leveled player, but I didn't think it would be with ZhenShui. Now that I think about it, I was often seeing them playing together to level up."

So it was when Wei Wei couldn't log-on that "adultery" was going on. Wei Wei sends a gloomy emoticon over.

"Actually you shouldn't blame ZhenShui either, WeiWei. Actually...."

"Actually, what?" Wei Wei finishes hitting the desk and has a cup of tea in one hand; the other is typing.

"Actually...your gaming skills are so good, ranked 6th for PK[3], and never ask guys for any equipment. Actually everyone thinks you're a gender-bender[4]!"

"Pfft!" Wei Wei spits water all over her monitor.


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[1] the poetic supple jian
This was very hard to translate for me. The original phrase is 秋水如红 (qiu shui ru hong). Literally that translates into something like "Autumn waters seem red", which obviously makes no sense. Figuratively the first two characters, 秋水, is used to describe a girl's eyes to show they are very limpid and beautiful. The last two characters, 如红, is comparing 秋水 to the color red. In Chinese culture, red is a very auspicious color; it definitely has a positive connotation. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to put this meaning into English, and I couldn't find the definition online. That's why I translated it into "poetic". It seemed fitting since the entire phrase has a lot of symbolism and deeper meaning, which is what a poem does. Also "poetic" has connotations which seem to match the true connotations of the 秋水如红.

[2] EnchantressYaoYao
I'm using Dramafever's translation of XiaoYuYaoYao's name. Literally, her name means LittleRainWitch. The "LittleRain" is actually her guild/group's name, so YaoYao would be her actual name.

[3] ranked 6th for PK
PK stands for "Player Kill." Since Wei Wei is in the top 10 in the entire server, you can bet she's a formidable gamer!

[4] everyone thinks you're a gender-bender
The word used is 人妖, which means transsexual. I'm pretty sure Gu Man (the author) doesn't mean Wei Wei was born a guy and became a girl, and Gu Man actually means Wei Wei is a guy playing a girl character. However, since the novel isn't written with NiNi saying "Everyone thinks you're a guy!", I didn't want to write out what was actually meant. That's why I went with gender-bender. I think it gives some of that shock value as intended without the misleading connotation. 



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Notes from Spores:

Hi guys!

I hope you enjoyed this so far. I did my best to stay faithful with what's written but also to make it flow better in English. Chinese grammar is a lot different than what I'm used to. They use a lot more commas instead of periods. There's also the issue with past or present tense. Chinese doesn't really have a past tense, so I wasn't sure if I should write in the past or present. I decided to settle on present tense because the narration is more like commentating on events, rather than relating them. I hope that makes sense to you. Anyways, I personally prefer past tense, so it was really hard for me to make everything present tense. I hope it reads fluidly.

Since this book takes place in the game and in the real world, I decided to change how names are written. All gamer names are WrittenLikeThis; all real world naems are Written Like This. I'll also give an initial English translation of gamer names, but then I'll just stick with the pinyin for the rest. This is because gamers are often called by part of their gamer name. For example, a gamer called SweetlySmiles might be referred to as Sweetly in the game, but from my experience gamers would call that person Smiles. That's why I'm leaving the Chinese in.

And there's also gaming talk and real world talk. I'll try to be consistent with how these are written. For now, gaming talk will: "be like this." Notice the colon? Real world talk will, "be like this." It'll have a comma instead. If this is too confusing or hard to see, let me know! I can play around with font types and colors to make it more obvious.

I'll release chapter 2 next week! Thanks for reading!!