Vocabulary

chaotic (irresponsible) management of a company

be careful not to invite the least suspicion; leave no room for scandal

The Six Secret Teachings and The Three Strategies of Huang Shigong (two ancient Chinese military treatises)

combined (concerted) efforts; solidarity; joining forces (with)

special-interest group

meeting and parting; gathering and scattering; alignment and realignment; alternating alliance and rupture; alternating cooperation and defection

trend to move away from rural areas; rural depopulation

success in life; advancement in life; rising in the world

beautiful scenery of spring

points to note; points of concern; matters to keep in mind; matters that require attention

red-light district; pleasure quarter

red blossoms and green willows; beautiful scenery of spring; natural beauty; beauty of nature

spending all one's time in idle amusement away from home; being absorbed in self-indulgent pleasures

bizarre story (novel)

bizarre literature; literature of the bizarre

one's innate intelligence and ability

ambivalence

operations (a strategy) on two fronts; two-pronged strategy

being prepared for a theoretical (ideological) argument; being armed with theoretical backing

the system in government offices and business corporations in which draft proposals are prepared by someone in charge of the matter and circulated for collective deliberation and final approval by particular (designated) officials or executives

close relationship

reasoning by analogy; analogical inference; analogism

family members left at home

sense of decorum; attention to the common civilities of life

fraudulent sale of exorcism services (to people led to believe that they are possessed by evil spirits)

giving cries of encouragement at a critical moment

cries of encouragement; shouting encouragement

calm, cool, and collected; level and calm

cold-hearted; callous; pitiless; unsympathetic

spiritual sympathy; spiritual communion

spiritual sympathy; spiritual communion

cunning; crafty; shrewd; guileful

instruction in the ways of love

history of one's love affairs

collective responsibility; joint liability

long and uninterrupted (unbroken)

being apt to make a show of one's faults; penchant for boasting of one's faults; pretending to be worse than one really is

strategy of holing oneself up in a castle (house, building)

means of cajolement (trickery)

all of one's relatives by blood and by marriage; one's kith and kin