#big time yaoi connoisseur

[inkameswetrust]

𝓫𝓲𝓰 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮 𝔂𝓪𝓸𝓲

by yours truly <3

ignore that the eighth note is backwards as a musician i am truly ashamed

also ik it's pretty messy i really have to get better erasers

[translations-by-aiimee]

Dig a Grave to Dig Out a Ghost - Chapter 16

Original Title: 挖坟挖出鬼

Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural, Yaoi

This translation is based on multiple MTLs and my own limited knowledge of Chinese characters. If I have made any egregious mistakes, please let me know.

Chapter Index

Chapter 16 - Game

Ten minutes later, Lin Yan appeared on the stage awkwardly wearing a silver-grey robe with a small dragon pattern embroidered on it. All ten participants took their seats. Even the Professor File Folder put on a traditional teacher's outfit. The buzzing activity coming from the crowd made Lin Yan blush. It felt like he was sitting on pins and needles; it was uncomfortable no matter how he tried to adjust himself.

This whole situation felt like a melodrama between Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. He couldn't help but glance back at Xiao Yu several times. The only real ancient man in the audience was standing behind him with a frown. Looking at him with a serious stare, he pressed his hand against Lin Yan's shoulder, like he was trying to comfort him.

When he changed his clothes, he noticed that something was wrong with Xiao Yu, or maybe it was just everything that was wrong. In the dressing room, the ghost had wrapped himself around him and hugged him. He pushed and shoved the other around the narrow room, creasing his costume. Just as Lin Yan was about to start fighting back, Xiao Yu suddenly stopped tugging him around. He pulled him over to the mirror, put his chin on Lin Yan's shoulder and he stared at the person in the reflection. For the first time, his chaotic eyes seemed calm, even holding a quiet sadness.

The mirror surface swayed, like a droplet hitting a calm pool of water, waves rippling away from the center. Standing in the brass mirror was a young man standing with clear eyes, hands resting beside a cloud brocade waistband, and a face exuding pride. Lin Yan backed away in horror. He almost screamed. The person in the mirror wasn't him. Although he had the exact same face, life had done a number on him and he wouldn't be able to make an expression like that anymore.

The scent of agarwood incense in the room was intoxicating. The young man's eyes softened. The tall man in the traditional Chinese clothes adjusted his chin on his shoulder, raising his long eyebrows. His voice was slow and hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken in a long time: "I've been waiting for you for so long. . ."

Lin Yan's head snapped back to the mirror. He staggered forwards and leaned against the mirror. The person in front of him had hair as black as paint, and his mottled blood coat didn't match his eyes that seemed so sad and hopeless. . .

I have been waiting for you for a long time.

Lin Yan scrambled out of the dressing room.

"The break is over. Please quiet down and we'll get started with our next activity." The girl in the red jacket skirt read.

Lin Yan sat in the chair in a daze. The bright stage lights and the dark crowd in the audience made him feel like what just happened in the dressing room was a hallucination, and Xiao Yu was no different. Lin Yan looked back at him, panicked. Xiao Yu leaned down and held his trembling hand. On the table were a small whiteboard and a soft black marker. Xiao Yu motioned for him to pick it up and he moved his hand across the whiteboard: I'll help you.

Lin Yan was stunned and wrote out: Do you remember something?

Xiao Yu didn't seem to want to answer. He shook his head and let go of his hand. He still stood behind him holding onto Lin Yan's shoulder for support.

The audience quieted down, and bright white chasing lights hit the mahogany silk box on the centre of the stage. The red jacket skirt girl stepped forward to open the silk box, revealing the glass box within. The audience let out a few exclamations, and Lin Yan's eyes lit up. It was a beautiful moon flask with two handles. The maiden leaned against the tree art, the linework was meticulous, the enamel fully covered the flask, the piece was still intact, and the overall flask was in good condition.

This authentification wasn't difficult for a student studying cultural relics. Lin Yan carefully looked at the glaze texture and enamel of the flask's body. He wrote his answer on the whiteboard after double-checking that it was correct. When the time was up, the host walked past the square table and stopped when he reached the PSP guy, holding up her mic and asking: "You, what's your answer?"

The PSP guy’s whiteboard turned out to be empty. He was leaning on the table and his attention was focused on his game. When the host asked the second time, he raised his head as if he had just woken up. He glanced lazily around and sarcastically twitched the corners of his mouth into a smile. "It's genuine," he spat out. Then he brushed the host off and lowered his head to continue playing the game.

Lin Yan knew this guy was arrogant, but he didn't expect him to act this to everyone. The girl in the red jacket skirt was embarrassed by PSP's attitude. After putting a polite expression back on her face, she nodded and walked to the next student.

"Well. . . There were nine students who got the answer right, might as well switch it up for the last one." The audience let out a good laugh, and the boy three places down from Lin Yan grinned and left the stage. The professor briefly spoke about the flask. Lin Yan cleaned off the whiteboard and waited for the next question. His mind couldn't get over what he saw. He thought that most people wouldn't make a mistake on such a simple question. It seemed that the people on the stage were not as professional as they thought.

Professor File Folder also seemed a little disappointed. He took a sip from his stainless steel cup and turned his attention to the laptop, not knowing what he was looking at.

The brocade box in the center of the stage was swapped with a smaller one. After the mysterious sound effect, the box slowly opened. It was an ancient book. The host motioned everyone to take a closer look. Lin Yan stood in front of the glass box for a while and returned to his seat to write the next answer: "Genuine, the Southern Opera "White Rabbit" published in the Ming Dynasty, unearthed from the tomb of the Xuan family in Jiading."

He had seen this thing in the Shanghai Museum. Lin Yan thought, this lecture is like an antique appreciation meeting. No wonder it attracted so many people. After they all answered the question, another person left the stage amidst the applause and whistle of the audience, leaving another armchair free.

The questions were asked one by one, gradually getting more and more difficult. A fake yet elaborate sunflower gold hairpin inlaid with gemstones stumped three people, and then a bucket-colour fine-grained water chestnut bucket imitation with a "grinding" technique even had Lin Yan hesitate with his answer. After the authenticity of each item was announced, the professor simply added a few points on the piece, which could count as educating the audience on the topic. The seats were vacated one by one. When the eighth object was brought out, there were only two people left on the stage. Lin Yan glanced to the right, and it was the PSP guy who had toughed it out until the end.

He looked careless, but he didn't expect that he understood the field so well. Lin Yan put his cold palms on his face to cool down and took a long breath as he waited for the next question.

The red jacket skirt girl was holding a delicate paper box in her hand. Instead of showing it to the audience first, she walked over to Lin Yan and the PSP guy, signalling them to come forward. She opened the paper box and carefully took out a fan.

The ink on the front of the golden fan wasn't very visible; it wasn't well-preserved. The ribs of the fan were slightly damaged, and there are signs of water damage on the ink-painted mountains. With this kind of condition, it would be difficult to fetch a good price in a private auction if it wasn't made by a famous artist. But when the inscription on the face of the fan was exposed, Lin Yan and the PSP man couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. On the front, a few lines of the unruly inscription were written on the fan: “Wildwater Bridge Road, The Village of Barren Chickens and Fallen Leaves. Returned to Hou Xidu, The Child Sweeps the Firewood Door." What surprised the two of them were the three small characters following the poem: by Tang Yin.

Lin Yan's heart sped up. If this was Tang Yin's authentic work, then the fan in front of him was worth at least 500,000 yuan. Wasn't he afraid of being robbed bringing such a valuable thing to school? Then a clear picture of the fan was shown on the big screen. As expected by Lin Yan, an exclamation sounded from the audience, and even the host's voice was drowned by the buzzing discussion.

Professor File Folder grew impatient and coughed into the loudspeaker to signal the audience to shift their attention back to the event.

Lin Yan carefully looked at the light brown fan in front of him. He couldn't help but take his time with his answer. Tang Yin's paintings were extremely difficult to distinguish in the field of calligraphy and painting. His style of painting changed throughout his pieces, and he rarely indicated the year on the paintings so it was difficult to guess the painting based on its creation year. Therefore, there were countless counterfeiters and imposters on the market. To be honest, judging this kind of work could only be based on the painting style, date and seal inscription. The most important thing is the eye and inspiration of the connoisseur. Being extremely familiar with the author’s style, the first time he saw the work, he could only make a guess. This wasn't just an answer determined by years of study, but it was also just a luck-based gamble.

In the early years of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, many collectors relied on this ability to make money at auctions overnight, but it was too difficult for students like Lin Yan who hadn’t even finished school. He frowned and thought carefully. Regardless of the painting style, the date and the handwriting of this fan were almost flawless. Although there was a slight deviation from Tang Yin's other landscape paintings, the vigorous and unrestrained spirit of the brush strokes clearly distinguished this piece.

It should be the original one. . . Lin Yan bit on his pen and hesitated. Halfway through writing out his answer, his wrist was suddenly grabbed. Xiao Yu bent down and studied the fan carefully. His fingers lightly tracing the red seal and he seemed surprised. He shook his head at Lin Yan and crossed off the half-written "true" on the whiteboard with his hand.

"After so long, you still haven't figured it out?" PSP guy leaned over to Lin Yan casually with a disdainful expression. Seeing Lin Yan still holding the pen hesitantly, he couldn't help but sneer, "I thought you were so awesome."

The file folder-like professor was staring at his notebook in a daze. Hearing these words, he couldn't help turn his head around and looked at the two with interest. Lin Yan just focused his attention on the painting instead and had forgotten to be nervous. As soon as he raised his head to meet the professor's gaze, his cheeks became hot again. He couldn't help but cry inside. He originally planned to wait for the end of the event to ask the professor backstage regardless of whoever won the contest. Now he feels like he wouldn't be able to ask him anything if he lost to this guy in this activity.

"Hurry up, hurry up." PSP guy tapped the table with a pen and made some muffled noises. "Just go home already, you aren't qualified for this."

When the professor heard this, he couldn't hide his amusement and turned his face to take a sip of water to cover up his expression.

That was rude. He hadn't finished yet. Lin Yan clenched his fist and asked Xiao Yu as quietly as possible: "Are you sure?" Xiao Yu nodded, his pale fingers stroked his throat, and frowned. After a long time, it seemed that it took a lot of effort to say slowly and hoarsely: ". . . I drew it."

Lin Yan's eyes widened. He looked at Xiao Yu in disbelief, and then at the fan. In ancient times, there was no perfect reprinting technology. Famous paintings and calligraphy were often copied by literati and calligraphers. Some were for practice, some were to give to friends. Some were for selling, and the prices of those high-quality copies were even comparable to the originals. But Xiao Yu's counterfeit actually appeared here. . . Wasn't this too much of a coincidence?

"Dude, if you don't know what it is, stop wasting our time." Seeing Lin Yan's hesitation, the PSP guy shook his head impatiently. He lowered his head and continued to play his game, pressing the buttons with his thumb, clicking them loudly.

Lin Yan was also irritated but by this person's attitude. He took a deep breath and wrote his answer on the whiteboard. The crowd in the audience couldn't wait. The people in the nearby seats pointed at the PowerPoint. Someone nodded gently, seeming to recognize the authenticity of the painting.

The sound effect of a gong sounded, and when the host read out the answers of the two, Lin Yan heard a commotion in the audience and even a disdainful sneer from the corner of the room. However, the PSP guy completely ignored the audience’s reaction and crossed his legs. He glanced at Lin Yan, touched the pimples on his face and raised an eyebrow with a chuckle: "You're right, not bad."

The same answer was written on both whiteboards: fake.

The professor showed an appreciative smile on his face for the first time. After he said the right answer, he grabbed the microphone and explained to the audience: "Tang Yin's fan "Xiqiao Going Back to the River", a work made during the Ming Dynasty Chenghua period. The author is unknown. The two students answered correctly."

There was a sigh from the auditorium. This time, most of the people who had thought they were right about their guess couldn't help pointing at the screen to discuss the flaws in the fan. There was even a school official wearing a black suit in the front row who had turned around and argued fiercely with the guests in the back row.

Author unknown? Lin Yan wasn't focusing on the fan, instead looking back at Xiao Yu. His hands still rested on his shoulder, but he didn't respond to anything Professor File Folder was saying. Instead, he frowned as if immersed in memory. He seemed really lost in thought. Lin Yan looked into Xiao Yu's eyes, no longer as wild as a beast like when he first saw him. Now, his dark eyes were like the surface of the river after sunrise, and the turbid fog was slowly burned away in the sun, revealing a hint of clarity from within the chaos.

"Now that the first nine rounds are over, please give your attention to the last round with these two classmates, which is also the most difficult round today." The red jacket skirt girl raised her voice and signalled to something behind her.

[iron-touch]

Random character facts!

Chapter 19 has been a doozy to write and I honestly don’t know if I’ll be able to get it out this month. So, here’s some funny character facts in the meantime.

All of these are canon :)

Michelle:

After she started living on her own, she’d frequently talk to her potted plants and ramble to them about her day like they were people or imaginary friends. She named all of them, but since she’s not very creative with names, most of them just have generic first names like “Louis” or “Claire.” Since I know you guys are all thinking it, none of them are named after people who have “fallen victim to Iron Maiden’s curse,” she doesn’t have one named Jean-Pierre/Dad.

PC Gamer. Not into competitive/multiplayer games since she doesn’t like interacting with people as is, let alone strangers she can’t see, but loves single player games. She’s the type of person to have over 100 unplayed games on her Steam page but ends up replaying the same four or so on loop. Uses emulators with no remorse.

Just like her dad, she’s very particular about her hair. Uses leave-in conditioner every night, and because her hair is so long, she chugs through it all extremely quickly. Has undoubtedly spent the most money on hair care products of anyone in the group.

Sara:

Closeted weeb. Can recite every episode of the original Sailor Moon by heart and thinks Death Note is Really Deep™. Probably into yaoi as well, but never talks about it with anyone.

Even further closeted bisexual. Without spoiling anything, she grew up in a fairly conservative part of the United States in a time where same sex relationships were frowned upon and bisexuality was poorly understood by the masses, so she felt like coming out was off the table. Probably told one person only for them to react negatively to it. Getting away from home has made her more comfortable with this part of herself, but she still chooses to be more low key about it and not define herself by her sexuality.

Great with kids and loves to make them happy. Her bottomless patience really shines when interacting with them—if they try to play the “why” game with her, she can end up tiring them out rather than the other way around! She’s not great with toddlers, however, if only because they smell.

Cab:

Has a phenomenal singing voice despite having no formal training whatsoever. In high school, both the theatre and choir clubs both hounded him to join, but he turned them down both due to a lack of interest and because he already had soccer and boxing to focus on. A couple years after the fact, he wonders if he made the right decision.

Easily the most financially responsible of the group. Budgets like a madman, always looks for a discount, and could probably be the master of haggling with a bit more experience. This trait goes unnoticed and under appreciated by the group after his wallet got stolen.

A connoisseur of “so bad it’s good” movies. He can probably quote The Room from memory. Likes to collect DVDs of them, especially if they’re rare. Appreciates bad indie movies a lot more than bad Hollywood movies. He does like unironically good movies too, both indie and from big budget studios, but doesn’t go as out of the way for them as he does with ironically good movies.

Rumor:

Unlike Cab, he’s extremely financially irresponsible. Growing up his finances were either managed by his parents or Tangerine, so this is the first time he’s ever had to budget for himself. Compulsively buys anything he thinks might be useful, no matter how expensive, so long as it’ll fit in his duffel bag. This goes extra for food, especially pastries.

Knows just about every major world language. He’s fluent in English, Italian, and every Romance language; so he often ends up playing translator for the rest of the group. When he’s deep in thought, he’ll occasionally slip in and out of languages depending on who he’s talking to. He’s insecure about writing in languages that don’t use the standard Latin alphabet because his handwriting isn’t as nice as it normally is when he does.

Has a teddy bear (named Dreambear) in his duffel bag that he’s had since he was a baby. It’s his comfort item—the type of plushie he couldn’t sleep without when he was little. He doesn’t sleep with it anymore and is too embarrassed to let anyone else in the group see it, so it’s tucked away at the bottom of the bag, snuggly wrapped in spare jackets and socks. The only keepsake he has with him from when he still lived with his parents.

[kawaiipsycho101]

Tagged again! Hooray! =D

I have once again been tagged by @zwiezraczek (thank you, by the way!)

rules: answer the questions in a new post and tag 10 blogs you would like to get to know better

A - Age: Physically, 22 (I am old...T-T), but I’ve been told I have the mentality/emotional strength of a 16-year old.

B - Birthplace: Midwest, U.S. of A.

C - Current time: 3:27 PM

D - Drink you last had: Diet Pepsi

E- Easiest person to talk to: My Mom, my consoler, @zwiezraczek, @yuratchka-speaks, my Dad, & an old friend I’ve had since high school (I don’t want to say his name for privacy reasons).

F- Favorite song: I don’t really have a favorite song since I can never choose, so here are a few off the top of my head--Some Nights (Intro) by fun., Love Like You from Steven Universe, Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen, I Can’t Decide by The Scissor Sisters, & Mz. Hyde by Halestorm.

G- Grossest memory: No comment (I don’t really have that many gross memories, and the few that I do have, I don’t like talking about).

H- Horror yes or horror no: YES! I consider myself a connoisseur of horror, and enjoy studying them very much. I’m not a big fan of gore-fests/torture porn (even I have my limits), but I’m very fascinated by the mindset of those who enjoy/create those types of movies, along with the effect that they have on people. 

I- In love?: Ha! I wish.

J- Jealous of people?: Literally all the time. I’m constantly comparing myself to others and diminishing my self-worth when I’m around people I see as superior. 

(There’s no K...Was there supposed to be a K? Oh, well.)

L- Love at first sight or should I walk by again?: I don’t really understand the question...If you’re asking me if I believe in love at first sight, then my answer is no (although I wish I did). I believe in attraction at first sight, but I’m not so sure about love.

M- Middle name: Isabel

N- Number of siblings: 2 older half-brothers & 1 sister-in-law.

O- One wish: To be happy with my life.

P- Person you called last: My Dad

Q- Question you’re always asked: “What shampoo do you use?” (I wouldn’t say I’m always asked this, but it comes up sometimes because people really like my hair & think I do something special to it...which I don’t ;)

R- Reason to smile: My family, my friends, cute animals (especially kittens & puppies!), & sweet, sweet yaoi. 

S- Song you sang last: Either Some Nights (Intro) by fun. or Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid (both are songs I’m singing for my voice lessons)

T- Time you woke up: Around 10:30 AM (I sleep late when I don’t have anything to do)

U- Underwear color: A tad personal, but okay. Just let me check really quick....hmm, white (I actually don’t have that many white pairs, most of them are different colors)

V- Vacation destination: Japan (Still need to learn the language though...Watching anime can only get you so far!)

W- Worst habit: I’ve got a bunch, so it’s hard to choose...I’d say either not being hygienic enough, or always doubting myself/worrying over little things.

Y- Your favorite food: Three-way tie between milk chocolate, fried chicken, & peperoni pizza

Z- Zodiac: Libra 

I tag @yuratchka-speaks, @icecoffeemonster, @slytherinpirate, & @sybilius (you don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course! :)

Thanks again for the tag! =D

[inkameswetrust]

dude im so glad my job doesnt look at my blog bc im abt to put the words "big time yaoi" on my profile in bold and caps