Chapter 0 - Translator's Notes

The title of this novel “杉重水覆[重生]” (shān zhòngshuǐ fù [chóngshēng]) is a word play on “山重水复” (shān chóng shuǐ fù)–the pinyin for both is the same) which is a line from the poem “Touring Shanxi Village” by Lu You written in the Song dynasty.

“杉” (shān) is part of MC’s original name, “石杉” (shí shān), and it is a homonym of “山” (shān) that is the first character in the phrase.

The line from the poem “Touring Shanxi Villiage” or 《游山西村》 (yóu shānxī cūn) in Chinese is as follows:

“山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村。”

(shān chóng shuǐ fù yí wú lù, liǔ’ànhuāmíng yòu yī cūn.)

Rough translation: Many mountains and rivers repeating, causing doubt that a path exists. In the willow’s shade, the flowers stand bright (In the darkest hour, there’s a glimmer of hope), once more there is a village.

TLDR: Even when bad things continuously occur, there will always be hope and resolution.

Thus, I have retranslated the title to be “Every Cloud has a Silver Lining [Rebirth]” by Zhong Qiu instead of the direct MTL which is roughly “Cedar Heavy Water Cover [Rebirth]” so the meaning of the chinese and english-translated title remains consistent. Hope this makes sense!