Burning Passions (焚情) by Ning Yuan (宁远): Summary

[douqi]

I've been thinking entirely too much about this upcoming cyberpunk historical baihe novel ever since Ning Yuan said it was going to be her next project, so I've done a quick translation of the summary so more people can think about it entirely too much with me.

When Shen Ni returned home covered in glory, the emperor granted her the position of an official of the first rank, as well as the hand in marriage of the woman she had been in love with ever since her youth, Bian Jin.

Bian Jin had once been the empire's sharpest blade — a weapon in human form whose very name filled their enemies' hearts with terror. But after a string of serious battlefield injuries, she could only stand upright with the aid of a mechanical exoskeleton.

After their wedding, Shen Ni used her training as a machinist to look after Bian Jin and fine-tune her exoskeleton, keeping a record of every single change in the sensitivity readings of every part of her new body. She continued to address Bian Jin as 'shijie', rather than 'wife'.

Each time she made adjustments to Bian Jin's body, Shen Ni would wear gloves. She knew her shijie had an obsession with cleanliness, and hated being touched.

Bian Jin: It's just a prosthetic. There's no need for all this fuss.
Shen Ni: The proprieties must be observed.
Bian Jin: Last night, I kept asking you stop, but you didn't. Was that you observing the proprieties?
Shen Ni: ...I was testing different parts of your body, and making adjustments to their sensitivity settings.
Bian Jin: Are we going to make adjustments to my body again tonight?
Shen Ni: (nonplussed silence)
Bian Jin: Every time my sensitivity readings go up, I'll reward you.

***

Shen Ni straightened her official's hat, and met the 'gaze' of the spybeast hovering in the air. The monster who wanted to destroy the world had finally shown its cold, poisoned claws.

Her human genes summoned her to the aid of the ancient and noble civilisation that had birthed her. She would defend it to her last breath, even if it meant having her guts smeared across the landscape.

Random passerby: Hey, I think the monster who wants to destroy the world might be your wife.
Shen Ni: (nonplussed silence)
Shen Ni: What's there to love about this greedy, corrupt world? Let it be destroyed!

The fall of a degenerate society was close at hand. The land ran red with blood.

Bian Jin, her body now in peak condition thanks to Shen Ni's efforts, placed the point of her sword against Shen Ni's heart. 'Don't you understand?' she said. 'I was just using you.'

Shen Ni, completely drenched in blood, took a step forward. 'And after you're done using me, will you reward me?'

Bian Jin: ...what.

You can read the original summary on JJWXC here. Also, if anyone has any ideas for a fire-themed cyberpunk title that doesn't sound like the title of a romance novel with a classic clinch cover, let me know, I'm all ears.

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Intriguing indeed!

[neuxue]

This post is almost singlehandedly responsible for me finally digging out my old dreamwidth account. There I was, just scrolling casually through this community's posts, when I saw the words the empire's sharpest blade - a weapon in human form and came to a screeching halt like a bicycle in a rainstorm whose brakepads haven't been changed in a decade, clicked through to the summary, and went on a journey I simply do not have the emoji vocabulary to adequately describe before the final dialogue exchange punched me in the face. Suffice it to say I will be joining you in thinking entirely too much about this because wow that sure sounds like an unhinged pile of some of my favourite tropes. So thanks for surfacing this one! Can't wait for it to exist!

As for non-clinch-cover titles... yeah I've been staring at this for the past several minutes and I feel like there are decent options for either half of it but as soon as you try to combine them it's like ah there we are, back in clinchland. And without more of the story to go on it feels hard to know where liberties could be taken and in what direction. Cinder- something, to play on Bian Jin's name? Forge- something, to play with the weaponisation/mechanical angle? I also have a soft spot for 'immolation' just as a word in general, though it doesn't directly address the 情 side of things either. If I think of anything I'll drop it here, but yikes that's a tough one!

[douqi]

The author mentioned she might start releasing this in June and honestly I cannot wait!

Honestly all the vaguely fire-related title translations I've been toying with all sound too clinch cover, down to Burn with Me which I shamelessly stole from Doctor Who. Plain Immolation could work maybe? (that's what we did for Ravenous). Or to go vaguely (and inaccurately) Biblical, maybe To Ashes We Return. Hm.

Let me know if inspiration strikes!