Fugue Across Worlds - Vol. 4 Ch. 44 - Scars on the Heart

[MangaDex]

 

[OkamiLeek006]

Dayum, she's not particularly wrong, but I can't help but feel a tiny bit bad for the guy (He still should just bugger off, though)

 

[Andigo]

Critical Hit, Ego Damaged, Tears Leaking. If this man can't be made into a trap for the perv owner, I think he should be exploded as-is. Love is war, and that old hulk is in the way. I'm only half joking as his difficulty separating Shaoying from Ruoyuan and overbearing fumbling aren't affection and he mightily ticks me off.

I kind of hope Shaoying takes this in stride, but there's got to be some complications.

 

[jolynehoestar]

damn

 

[Laminatestasis]

God this was so cathartic. I'm so so glad she just laid I to him. Forced him to face the lies he told himself, to face the fact that his love didn't actually amount to anything, and the woman he thought he cared about died miserable and alone because he couldn't be bothered to even try and challenge his family.

Amazing chapter, one of my favorites.

 

[jolynehoestar]

still hope this dude will be an ally in the gang war tho rather than a vile enemy

 

[shinmera]

Hoooolllyyy, damn, wish more writers had the gall to make their characters actually confront others like this.

 

[outinthegardener]

Once again the hidden antagonist was Confucianism.

 

[SlowlyApproachingBear]

this is such a great manga, thank you for translating it

 

[Dweeb_com]

She’s been bottling that one up for years huh?

 

[FionaWitch]

Well, two lives were ruined because he's an ass coward, Shaoying was thrown in the streets after her mom died, and her mom married to a gambler and abuser until her death.

 

[T-sama]

Dayum, she's not particularly wrong, but I can't help but feel a tiny bit bad for the guy (He still should just bugger off, though)

Same lol, just a little bit, cause  some man also suffer due to bullshit tradition, conservative values and all that shit, so I can kinda understand his side of things

But!
That doesn't change the fact that even if man suffer they still go through life on easy mode compared to woman, so my sympathy for him is bare minimum lol

I do think he perhaps he did love her mom, the problem is that he was too much of spineless coward
Too much of a coward to go against his father
Too much of a coward to run away with her and start a new life
Too much of a coward to try visit her even once in fucking 20 years
Too much of a coward to even imagine she had a bad life because he believed in what his father said

At a few points the story is pretty clearly a social commentary and we have seem both good and bad man like:
Yan Chu father and the guys who work directly with her and the bad man related to her criminal business
Shaoyng boss and the man related to him
Liu Ling Lingxin dead husband
Ge Yunmiao father
Just to name some I remember

Which makes me wonder how negatively we're supposed to see Tan, yes he left a terrible first impression but now we see he lived 20 years in regret and is tormented by the ghost of a lost love

Not sure if I'm read too much into it, but maybe we're supposed to see him as the third type of man, he's obviously not exactly a good man but he's not outright bad or malicious either, he's just neutral and going with the flow of how society works even if he end up suffering for it

Though I don't think we're supposed to sympathize with him, even if he wasn't bad he also didn't do anything actively good for fear of negative consequences, since he's a Man™ he absolutely could have done something to be with the woman he loved, even if there was consequences from his father

If we're not supposed to outright see him negatively I would assume at best we're meant to pity him because although he suffered too it's pretty clearly self inflicted and probably a lot of man went through similar situations

Although even if we're meant to pity him obviously our sympathy is meant to go for Shaoying and her mother since they're the ones who truly suffered as it generally is the case for women

Or maybe I am reading too much into it and just rambling

 

[Baffled]

Okay then
Why the sudden drama out of nowhere

 

[amShepherd]

If we're not supposed to outright see him negatively I would assume at best we're meant to pity him because although he suffered too it's pretty clearly self inflicted and probably a lot of man went through similar situations

Don’t forget, he’s also a drug dealer.

 

[nyannibalism]

thanka for the translation!

ripped his heart out and layed it on the ground to trample it, bloody hell. Good for her

 

[T-sama]

Don’t forget, he’s also a drug dealer.

Oh yeah, I forgot that detail lol
But wasn't Yan Chu considering it too?

I honestly can't remember what she was gonna do about it, but since she's one of the "good" criminals I think she was gonna do something against it?
Shit I need to reread the story lol

Although just to be clear I was talking more on the social angle of things, sexism and so on since the story is a pretty clear social commentary on the women situation of that era and arguably also current era since the point is still relevant lol

Not arguing against you since morally he is a bad person for dealing with drugs, I was just focusing on the sexism instead lol

 

[amShepherd]

Oh yeah, I forgot that detail lol
But wasn't Yan Chu considering it too?

I honestly can't remember what she was gonna do about it, but since she's one of the "good" criminals I think she was gonna do something against it?
Shit I need to reread the story lol

We hear part of a conversation she has with Ah-He in chapter 41 where she mentions that some traditional medicine uses opium but that’s the only mention of it since she met with Tan.

I agree. He’s not wholly evil. Mostly just a coward who doesn’t truly think of other people

 

[T-sama]

We hear part of a conversation she has with Ah-He in chapter 41 where she mentions that some traditional medicine uses opium but that’s the only mention of it since she met with Tan.

Ah, thanks, I assume she'll do something against outright drugs, Asians tend to be very against them so no way they'll just make our girls into drug dealers since they're the good guys lol

I agree. He’s not wholly evil. Mostly just a coward who doesn’t truly think of other people

I think the question is now what importance he'll have, Shaoying pretty clearly closed the door on any kinda of relationship, even friendship in some way in my opinion, but he's still possibly related to the drugs, so what, will he go full evil and try get revenge after being rejected so badly?

Normally I wouldn't think they author would do that since the writing was great so far, but it would be pretty easy to use him as a full-on villain too lol, especially since it's pretty clear he's kinda of a self centered asshole, so it could easily be justified as him being emrsged by the things she said.

I really hope it doesn't go that way :v

 

[Daedalus1701]

Damn that was brutal! 😈

 

[verdare]

I actually won’t judge him that harshly for being a coward. I honestly think Shaoying is being somewhat unfair in that point. I think she’s kind of just venting her trauma and frustration at him.

That said, was I reading it correctly that Mr. Tan was pursuing Shaoying romantically? Because I will absolutely judge him harshly for that. Striking out with a woman and then trying to rebound on her daughter is super fucked up…