#Chen discharge special

[forabeatofadrum]

Do you sometimes wake up and think to yourself: "Today, I am going to do something batshit insane?"

That's me today. I'm doing another WIP Wednesday Hospital. Since it's been 8 months since the last one, here's a quick reminder of the Hospital metaphor, copy-pasted from the previous Hospital post: "the WIP Wednesday Hospital is inspired by a post by @facewithoutheart​ called a WIP Wednesday Graveyard, where Christina put her abandoned WIPs to rest and I was obsessed with the idea, but I also realised that I wasn’t ready to put my WIPs to rest since I had the intention of finishing them. So instead of a graveyard, my WIPs reside in a (long-stay) hospital ward. All my WIPs are waiting for me to discharge them (aka finish them)."

As usual, I recommend people to do this as well, since it's a fun way to look back on older WIPs. Below the cut are 10 patients waiting for a visit. You can go say visit all of them, or just skip to the ones that interest you. I bolded the fandoms/ships etc. for easier browsing.

Leave your name at the desk and be safe: @quizasvivamos @blurglesmurfklaine @coffeegleek @esperantoauthor @otherworldsivelivedin @caramelcoffeeaddict @sillyunicorn @bazzybelle @dragoneggos @raenestee @tectonicduck @nightimedreamersworld @urban-sith @thnxforknowingme @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @justgleekout @cerriddwenluna @tea-brigade @ivelovedhimthroughworse @moodandmist @whogaveyoupermission @bookish-bogwitch @confused-bi-queer @aroace-genderfluid-sheep @ionlydrinkhotwater @1908jmd @special-bc-ur-part-of-it @larkral @chen-chen-chen-again-chen ​ @cutestkilla ​ @nausikaaa ​/@wellbelesbian ​ @martsonmars ​ @facewithoutheart ​ @shrekgogurt @boyinjeans @rockitmans @bitbybitwrites @blackberrysummerblog @whatevertheweather @artsyunderstudy

I have two summer challenges that I signed up for, namely the Madison and More (OMGCP) and the Klaine Back-To-School AU (Glee) and both challenges are due in August and unfortunately for me I have written nothing yet. But that will change today!

I cannot tell you which prompt I claimed for Madison and More, since it's an anonymous fest, but I think this doesn't give away a lot:

Jack's tired. He's been tired for a while, which is why this vacation is needed. He's on the beach. He's lying in the water, but at the shallow part, enjoying the sun. Damn, he needed this. He can feel himself doze off.

I think I am allowed to share the prompt that inspired me for the Klaine Back-To-School AU. Like I said, I have written zero (0) words for this, but I have been thinking about this fic so here we go.

Kurt is about to lose his mind. He has no idea where it has gone wrong, but it's gone wrong. "Fuck," he yells, because he's fucked. He is so totally fucked. It's his third year as a pre-school teacher and this has never happened before. He needs to reel in the swearing before the kids arrive. He also needs to fix this mess before the kids come in. They will be devastated if they find out that ten of the classroom pets have gone missing. "Fuck!" Kurt says again. How did this happen? These animals are all cared for. They live here. This classroom is reserved for them. Kids come here to see the animals, not the other way around. Suddenly, Kurt hears a voice. "Everything all right in here?" he hears, "I heard swearing."

The joke is that I don't know how this fic ends (yet), because like Kurt, I also have no idea where the animals are.

Anyway, up to the next patient. It's the small fic idea that I came up with during my vacation. Here's Simon's POV of the "cat leaves paw prints on Baz's fancy car" fic:

Buttered Scone is a typical housecat, but every now and then I take her out for a walk. Yes, she wears a collar and a leash and she doesn’t complain at all. Penny says it’s a good thing, because this way I can keep an eye on her, since London is huge, and Buttered Scone doesn’t disrupt the local biodiversity by roaming freely. So yes, I have her under control. Most of the time. Except this time, I looked at my phone and when I turned back to Buttered Scone, she was atop of a car.

This made me realise that Buttered Scone's initials are B.S. Huh.

I am still thinking about my good ole Sarah Jane Adventures Extended Universe fic aka Luke Smith's Gay Adventures at Oxford (mostly) aka me exploring the alien side of Luke as an added bonus, so uhhh:

"Have you been up every night?” “I guess.” “That’s fine,” his mum says, “Just… please be a bit more quiet next time, okay?” “Why?” “Because you woke me up. From sleep.” Luke stares at his mum. Sleep. He’s heard of that. Maria once came over and she said she was tired because she didn’t get enough sleep. His mum told Luke that he can ask her anything. “Mum, what is sleep?” His mum looks dumbfounded. “You don’t sleep?” “I don’t know. Do I?”

Look, his super alien brain is the cumulation of thousand other brains, it makes sense that it is hard to turn off.

Patient no. 5 has been here for a while. It's Matty Chris D, our boy, aka Just Some Guy, aka the Snowbaz from an outsider perspective fic. MCD still doesn't care about the guys at all, but the existence of Simon and Baz is noticable. So what happens when Simon doesn't show up?

Simon Snow does skip class. I don’t care. But then he skips again. And again. And again. Not only that, but his friend Penelope Bunce isn’t attending classes either, and that’s extremely weird. Weirdly enough, she’s not the reason something feels off. Sure, she usually is very present in class, constantly asking questions and adding her own commentary, but it’s Simon’s absence that is weirding me out. I usually do not care about his presence in class, since he doesn’t participate as much as Penelope Bunce or Tyrannus- oh, I mean, Baz Pitch, but his absence is noticeable because there is a lack of magic surrounding us. I didn’t know I had gotten so used to the Chosen One leaking magic until now.

For context, this is the 3rd year, where Simon and Penny disappear for a few months. In the scene before this, Matt's friends lament that being the Chosen One must have some perks, cause it means you can skip class in order to save the world or something.

Okay, next one! I actually read The Sun and the Star during my vacation and it completely throws everything out of the window re: my Solangelo fic, but that's the beauty of fanfiction, isn't it? My version of getting-together is more angsty.

Nico leaves the infirmary before any more deaths occur, but they do occur in the days after. It feels like a blow to the camp that even days after the big battle against Gaia, people still die, but that is how it is. Nico spends most of his time in Cabin 13. It’s empty without Hazel, but he makes it work. He told everyone that he’s staying, and Nico is committing to that. He asks Annabeth for some decoration tips. The Stolls steal his shoes and he can’t even be mad at them. He congrats Clarissa La Rue when she gets her university acceptance letter. Jason tells Nico about his new plan for honouring the gods. Camp Half-Blood is still grieving, but life goes on.

Not going to lie, I do not know if I will ever finish this, but that's also what I said about, for example, aap noot mies.

I also published a Love, Victor fix-it last year after the series finale and I said I was going to write more fix-its (the ending really sucked, guys) and I did start one and I have been adding things to it every now and then:

Benji hurries to the bar and Victor does a double take when Benji comes back with a glass of milk. “Did… you just order that?” “You should’ve seen the barperson’s face,” Benji says with a wink and he raises his glass, “Good for your bones, you know?” “Cheers,” Victor says. “So, you come here often?” Benji asks.

I am somewhat a Venji-truther, but I just didn't like the way how they ended up together. It felt rushed and they didn't discuss why their relationship failed in the first place. They just kissed on the ferris wheel, which is a nice way to bookend the series, but come on! So in my fix-it, they meet again after 3 years of not seeing each other.

No. 7 is a quick check-in with the Glee/CO crossover. I mentioned it to @bitbybitwrites, who has recently read Carry On! In a shocking twist of events, I actually managed to come up with (a draft of) the summary before finishing the fic. The fic is far from finished, but I thought it'd be fun to share the summary:

Baz thought that his obsessive and insufferable Gleek days were behind him when the show ended, but when Simon accidentally transports the two of them into the Glee universe, his knowledge might pay off. Blaine is very confused when he realises something’s wrong at Dalton Academy and that there are two new people roaming around that clearly don’t belong here. He and Kurt try to understand what is happening. Can the four of them find a solution to this situation that doesn’t involve Baz outing himself as a Klainer 12? Will Simon finally make sense who he is now that he has Kurt and Blaine to guide him? And can Kurt and Blaine ignore the fact that their unwanted guests clearly know more about Kurt and Blaine’s lives than they let on?

No. 8 is a fic I have been stuck on for a while. It's a The Legend of Zelda fic and it definitely an example of the two cakes principle, because it's about Link being sad after Link's Awakening. I also don't know if this will ever get finished, but I like this:

Link’s playing his flute in the grass of the castle. It’s a lovely song and Zelda takes her time to enjoy it. She closes her eyes and she lets the music overtake all her senses. She lets out a happy sigh. The music abruptly stops. When Zelda opens her eyes, she sees Link looking at her with wide eyes. “Don’t stop on my account,” Zelda says. She sits down next to Link. “I don’t know that song. It’s lovely.” “Thanks.” “What is it called?” “The Ballad of the Wind Fish,” Link says and he shoots Zelda a serious and almost pleading look, as if he wants Zelda to recognise it. She has to disappoint him.

Hey, remember AU, Please!, the OMGCP fest all about AUs? I wrote Center Ice for it. I love that fic. But I actually had another prompt that I claimed, but I had to let it go since I didn't have time to finish it. It's about Dex's unusual power. The mods allow writers to publish it later outside of the fest, ....

His mother had sat him down when he was six years old. She crouched in front of him. “My son, one day, you will unlock the family’s secret power. It’s been passed through from generation to generation and only one person each generation has the power. We do not know how it works exactly, since it’s not passed down from parent to child, but it is within our family, and we have reasons to believe you are the chosen one.” Now, Will loved Superman, so he was stoked to hear that he had powers. Unfortunately for him, the powers of his family are less fortunate. “You will have the ability to turn into a lobster, my son. Use it wisely.”

And lastly, a returning patient who will be semi-discharged soon. It's my fic about Asian identity in Glee. It got some renewed interest after I mentioned it on my post about Jenna's comments on the racism she experienced. As a result, I am thinking about posting it as a series of standalone ficlets. The reason I haven't started doing that is because I don't have a title or anything. Classic.

Anyway, this was inspired by, I guess, my life, but it is in on my mind again after I saw someone wear a bamboo hat on the train station. I wish I had the courage to just... do that. Kinda messed up that I am too afraid to wear Chinese clothing in public due to backslash, but that is life.

Tina stares at her hanbok. It is beautiful. It is by far one of the most beautiful pieces of clothing that she's ever owned. It's to small for her now. Her mother bought it for her when she was in Korea with Mrs. Danvers and An Unnamed Character. That was years ago. Tina was still a child and she was so happy when her mother showed it. Times were simpler back then, because Tina would soon learn that others did not share her joy. Every time she would wear it in public, people saw it as a reason to target her with racially slurs. Tina wanted to feel pretty, but they made it clear that she was ugly in their round eyes. So Tina put it back in the closet and she could only wear it once a year during Halloween, when she would dress up "as a Korean" and she'd be surrounded by all the other white girls with cheap Geisha-esque wigs, taped back eyes, flimsy fans and whatever "Oriental costume" they bought from Target. It's such a beautiful hanbok, and it got reduced to a Halloween costume, and now Tina's grown too much to wear it.

I actually cleaned out my childhood bedroom today and I found the shoes that my mother brought from China (together with the cheongsam that inspired this snippet) and yeah, they don't fit anymore, just like the cheongsam.

Okay, damn, sorry to end this visit on a bummer, so have an extra snippet from the same fic that is more upbeat:

“Mike, it’s Wes!” Tina says excitedly and she clutches her boyfriend’s arm. She is completely ignoring the fight she had with Mike, since she is so excited. “AsianDancer?” Wes asks, sounding expectant, “Or just Mike?” Mike takes a look at Wes and he does a double take when he sees that Wes is wearing a Dalton uniform. “GavelMan92?" Wes nods. "You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mike says as well.

AsianDancer 🤝 GavelMan92 🤝 XxGothGirlTayTayxX BFFS 4 ever!!!

Anyway, if you've made it this far, have a flower 🌺 as well.

#wip wednesday #tagged in #back by no demand at all... this!!!

[wafflesinthe504]

The Rookie 5x07 Thoughts

Spoilers for The Rookie 5x07 down below. If you've watched the episode or don't care about spoilers please enjoy!

The cold opening this episode was hilarious. I honestly cracked up, its easily one of the funniest cold opens the show has had in a while.

Nolan and Celina's case this episode was also pretty funny. The fact that three people tried to kill the guy was just absolute insanity and I loved every moment of it. Nolan, Grey, and Tim all trying to figure out what to charge the lady with since the guy was already dead was nice bit of rare humor between the three of them. Also, Tim suggesting to give the lady the least punitive charge of discharging a weapon and just giving her a ticket was just funny to me.

I really liked the fact that we heard Celina actually give solid concrete evidence of how she was able to figure out the body was already dead before the lady had shot it instead of the writers making it so that she just went off of a vibe. Even though I don't actually mind Celina explaining things through her dreams or a vibe that she got her relying on actual evidence there shows progress in her character development that makes her character feel more real. I hope we continue to see this in her work life as we get to know but still get some of it in her personal life. I would love to see her, and Angela have a chat about curses and dreams.

Nolan and Bailey were fine this episode there's still not much zest to them that makes me heavily interested in their relationship. (but Celina nearly convincing Bailey to redecorate the entire house was pretty funny. I never thought I would see Celina and Bailey become friends)

I can never and will never get enough of Angela and Nyla working together. Honestly I would love to see them and their families hanging out together. I just need more of them.

Anyways, onto the UC operation.

Lucy "Don't disrespect me" Chen is absolutely amazing. I love seeing her do UC work because of how good she is at it. She's a natural. But during this episode I could see her questioning it during the op. Particularly, when she couldn't help Tabin. I think she still enjoys the adrenaline rush of it, but she's also considering the cons that come with being a UC operative. If Lucy decides to move onto something else I actually wouldn't want to see her join the detective bureau or at least not directly with Angela and Nyla (I know unpopular opinion but hear me out). We have already explored what a detective's life looks like so I would actually like to see her in something like the major crimes division or the CT and Special Operations unit. I feel like this could possibly add something to both Lucy's character and the show.

With Lucy in one of these divisions it could give her a chance to truly showoff some more of her skills and give the show a chance to create more interesting storylines with the cases they would be able to do and Lucy would be able to interact with more naturally with everyone.

I will say when Tim and Aaron were handling the arrest, I don't know why Lucy had to get out the car. I mean I get she wanted to support them when she saw them pull out their guns, but she said she wanted to maintain her cover and I don't know how much help she really would have been if things did go sideways.

Aaron got his own puppy! I know Tabin is mad at him right now but I wouldn't mind seeing him again asking Aaron for help or maybe end up seeing him at the community center with James.

Aaron definitely should have told Tabin and his mom that he didn't really agree with the plan to use Tabin in the UC op. He definitely would have had a good point with cautioning them against the risks. Its those types of stunts that that put normal members of the community at risk and cause the community to lose trust.

Aaron was right to call Tim on his crap with not pulling Tabin out the moment he became unnecessary to help Lucy establish herself as a potential member for the gang.

Don't get me wrong I love Tim, but he was biased towards Lucy in this during the UC Op. It would have been nice to see him actually acknowledge and say that to Aaron at the end of the episode.

Last, but not least Elijah Stone vs the Mid-Wilshire crew. This is gearing up to be a very interesting storyline. Elijah serving Grey, Angela, and Wesley and threatening to sue everyone else unless Wesley apologized on live TV was a crazy powerplay. Even though he chose to settle there is no way he's done messing with them.

(Also Elijah being petty enough to give Wesley a restraining order while he's at his favorite morning spot and making it so he can't get his daily scone and coffee cracks me up just a bit.)

That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed. Until next time have a great day or night!

#the rookie #lucy chen #tim bradford #angela lopez #aaron thorsen #john nolan #wade grey #nyla harper #chenford #tim x lucy #wesley evers

[breakyourbox]

doing a friendship test with Jongdae (Travel the World on EXO's Ladder II, E38) (x)

🍒 156 days until Chanyeol's discharge 🍒

...and...

🦖🎊 WELCOME BACK CHEN! 🎉🦖

#Chanyeol #Chen #EXO #year: 2019 #show: Travel the World on EXO's Ladder II #Chen discharge special

[yehet-me-up]

Kim Jongdae 김종대 (Chen) 🦖 Overview

Jongdae, stage name Chen, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. He is a main vocalist of EXO and subgroup EXO-CBX, and has also participated in SM Entertainment's project SM the Ballad. Apart from his group's activities, he has recorded songs for numerous television and film soundtracks, earning him the nickname “King of OSTs.”

This post is part of an effort to celebrate the accomplishments of EXO over the past 10 years and to provide tangible avenues for supporting these artists in 2022 (when they will likely be leaving SM Ent.) and beyond 🖤

In 2019, Jongdae debuted as a solo singer with the extended play April, and a Flower, which peaked at number two on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart. His second extended play Dear My Dear was released later the same year and debuted at number one on the physical album chart and iTunes top album charts in a total of 36 different countries.

In March 2017, Jongdae was accepted into the advertisement media MBA program at Hanyang Cyber University. In addition to his incredible music career, Jongdae is also a husband and a father of two. He married his longtime girlfriend in 2020 and his first child, a daughter, was appropriately born in April of that year (April, and a Flower 🌸!) 

He enlisted on October 26th, 2020 for his mandatory military service, as an active duty soldier, and is expected to be discharged on April 25th, 2022. Please join me in celebrating EXO’s 🦖 

🎵 Individual Music 🎶

🌸 사월, 그리고 꽃 April, and a Flower (2019) First mini-album/EP 🌸  ⇢ Buy the album on Amazon | Merchbar | Kpop Albums ⇢ Listen to the album on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube ⇢ Extra videos: Highlight Medley Part One & Part Two | !T Live Special

1. Flower (꽃) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance | Rehearsal 2. Beautiful Goodbye (사월이 지나면 우리 헤어져요 lit. After April, We Are Separated) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance 3. Sorry Not Sorry (하고 싶던 말 lit. What You Want To Say) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance 4. Love Words (사랑의 말 lit. A Word Of Love) ∴ Lyrics 5. I'll Be There (먼저 가 있을게 lit. I'll Be There First) ∴ Lyrics 6. Portrait of You (널 그리다 lit. Draw You) ∴ Lyrics

🌃 사랑하는 그대에게 Dear My Dear (2019) Second mini-album/EP 🌃 ⇢ Buy the album on Amazon | Merchbar | Tower Records ⇢ Listen to the album on Spotify | Apple Music | YouTube ⇢ Extra videos: Highlight Medley Part One & Part Two | Letter from Chen | Listening Session (with MC Sehun)

1. Shall We? (우리 어떻게 할까요? lit. What Shall We Do?) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance | Interview 2. My Dear (그대에게 lit. To You) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance 3. Amaranth (고운 그대는 시들지 않으리 lit. You Won't Wither) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance 4. Hold You Tight (널 안지 않을 수 있어야지 lit. I Can't Hold You) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance 5. You Never Know (그댄 모르죠 lit. You Don't Know) ∴ Lyrics  6. Good Night (잘 자요) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance

🚀 Singles and OSTs 🚀

⇢ Dear My Family with SM artists (2012) Non-Album Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics  ⇢ Best Luck from It’s Okay, That’s Love OST Pt. 1 (2014) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Breath with Zhang Liyin from Breath SM the Ballad 2nd album (2014) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ When I Was... When U Were with f(x)’s Krystal (2014) Non-Album Single ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ A Day Without You with Shinee’s Jonghyun (2014) Non-Album Single ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ If We Love Again with Chanyeol from To You Project Sugarman Pt. 32 (2016) ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Everytime with Punch from Descendants of the Sun OST Part.2 (2016) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Lil’ Something with Vibe and Heize (2016) SM Station ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance (with Red Velvet’s Irene) ⇢ Years with DJ Alesso (2016) SM Station ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Making Of ⇢ Nosedive with Dynamic Duo (2017) Mixxxture Project Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Beautiful Accident with Suho from Beautiful Accident OST (2017) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics  ⇢ Bye Babe with 10cm (2017) SM Station ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ I’m Not Okay from Missing 9 OST (2017) ∴ Lyrics ⇢ Cherry Blossom Love Song from 100 Days My Prince OST (2018) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Make It Count from Touch Your Heart OST Pt.1 (2019) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ May We Bye with Onestar (2019) Non-Album Single ∴ Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Love - Ailee feat. Chen from Butterfly (2019) Listen | Lyrics ⇢ Beautiful from Heart4U OST (2019) ∴ Special Video | Lyrics  ⇢ Rainfall from Chief of Staff OST (2019) ∴ Lyrics ⇢ You (혼자 lit. Alone) with Dynamic Duo (2020) Non-Album Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics ⇢ Your Moonlight from Do You Like Brahms? OST pt. 3 (2020) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics ⇢ Hello (2020) Non-Album Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics 

🏆 Awards 🏆

  ✍️ Songwriting Credits ✍️

🎭 TV and Musical Appearances 🎭

⇢ (2014) Crime Scene tv variety show ⇢ (2015) In The Heights musical - Benny ∴ Sunrise song | 96,000 song ⇢ (2015) King of Masked Singer music competition show - “Legendary Guitar Man” ∴ A Passionate Goodbye | Stained | Drunken Truth ⇢ (2016) Travel Without Manager reality show - self (with Xiumin) ⇢ (2016) Happy Together talk show - guest ⇢ (2019) Heart4U reality show episodes w/subtitles

🌟 Miscellaneous 🌟

⇢ No.1 (Remake) Music Video 2014 ⇢ In January 2016, Chen performed John Lennon's song "Imagine" with world-renowned pianist Steve Barakatt at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, as part of UNICEF's "Imagine Project."  ⇢ 191002 MBC4U FM Kim Shinyoung's 'Noon Song of Hope' Radio Video ⇢ Covers and live versions YouTube playlist!

⇢ Follow Jongdae on YouTube @ CHEN

Thank you for supporting EXO Chen 😘

And if you want to help spread this post to folks who haven’t experienced the magic of Jongdae yet, please reblog this and tell me what your favorite Jongdae moments and performances are! ✨

#exo #jongdae #chen #kim jongdae #exo chen #exo jongdae #april and a flower #dear my dear #exo cbx #beautiful goodbye #king of osts

[annepikachu]

How EXO saved 2020 - the EXOL Edition

(Because EXO is home to EXOLS)

Year 2020 had been an apocalyptic one that has handed over the baton to year 2021 as well. People are living with the trauma of suffering from the pandemic and of witnessing others suffer. Many of them try to hold on to music made by their favorite artists.

EXO is home to us EXOLs, helping us keep strong. EXOLs around the world had the privilege to engage themselves in the various solo and unit activities of EXO in the year 2020. There were no such group activities since 2019 Obsession era because of the mandatory military service the members have to perform. But even while being enlisted Xiumin and DO served us with their amazing acting skills. We were happy to see them appearing the same military musical "Return: The Promise of the Day".

Suho had performed in the musical stage "The Man Who Laughs" until March. He had also released his solo EP "Self-Portrait" as a gift to us before his enlistment. The EP shows a new side of Suho through six rock oriented songs where he also participated in the songwriting process. In his "Heart 4 U" episodes he shared the details and some behind the scenes of album making. (Heart 4 U is EXO's personal relay reality programme). We also watched Chanyeol and Sehun appear in some episodes of his Heart 4 U episodes. During the album promotion he also engaged us to draw his portraits which he would personally check on social media and gift some copies of his album to those fans whose artworks were chosen as his personal favorites. He also re-recorded the OST "Sedansogu" for the web drama "How Are U Bread" where he is the main lead.

Baekhyun blessed us with his vocals throughout 2020. He released his second solo EP "Delight" which sold over 1 million copies, making him the first solo singer in South Korea to earn the title "million seller" in 19 years after the k-pop icon Seo Taeji in 2000. EXOLs participated in the viral "Candy Challenge" where one had to replicate the dance steps of Baekhyun (and his choreographer Kasper). Before that he also collaborated with BOL4 in the song "Leo" from BOL4's comeback album. Baekhyun rendered four k-drama OSTs namely "My Love" (Dr Romantic 2), "On The Road" (Hyena), "Every Second" (Record Of Youth) and "Happy" (Do You Like Brahms?). He released a winter single "Amusement Park" and teased us about his upcoming Japanese release and online concert which made us eager to look forward to 2021. Apart from his official activities we also got several KyoongTube contents on his YouTube channel.

Lay provided us with a lot of contents. He released the single "Love You More" with artists Steve Aoki, Will.I.am, and featuring Jessica Carrie Lee. He won the competition of IQIYI's "I'm a Singer-Songwriter 2". (He later released all the songs he had written and performed in his album "Producer" in 2021). He also appeared as a mentor in the Chinese dance survival show "Street Dance of China 3". He has also been filming for his drama, "Challenges at Midlife". He released his fourth solo album "LIT" in two parts, first part featuring songs having traditional Chinese musical influences and the second part featuring songs with a modern outlook. EXOLs participated in the "Boom Challenge" where one had to replicate the dance steps of Lay dancing to his single "Boom" from his album.

Chen released his own rendition of Park Hyo Shin’s famous ballad, “Breath" on his YouTube channel. He shared with us the good news of his marriage with his partner and that they were expecting a baby. Chen released "You", a collaboration with Dynamic Duo. He also released "Your Moonlight", an OST from the k-drama "Do You Like Brahms?" He gifted us a soulful single "Hello" right before his enlistment.

Chanyeol and Sehun (EXO-SC sub-unit) released their self-written and self-produced full length album "1 Billion Views" featuring hip-hop and R&B songs. EXOLs went crazy with the "1Billion Views Challenge" where they were supposed to hold a mobile phone and perform the dance steps but they ended up performing the steps while holding television, chair, gas cylinder, pets, mattress and what not. (We all know 'Chanyeol started it' because he did the challenge holding a tab instead of a mobile phone.)

Sehun has been confirmed a role in the upcoming “The Pirates” sequel. He was also shooting for "Busted 3" TV show.

Chanyeol collaborated with several artists in various songs namely "Yours" (with Raiden, Lee Hi, Changmo), "Regards" (with the legendary Lee Sun Hee), "Ocean View" (with Rothy) and "Faded" (Devine Channel featuring Loopy). He also rendered OSTs "Go Away Go Away" (with Punch) from the k-drama "Dr Romantic 2" and "Minimal Warm" from the webtoon "She's My Type". His "Heart 4 U" episodes were full of adventures. Chanyeol was back on the new season of the adventure show "Law of The Jungle". He was also confirmed a lead role in the jukebox road movie "The Box" where he will also be performing and singing many soundtracks in the movie. Fast forward to 2021, the movie ranked number 1 in the Korea Daily Box Office Chart in less than 24 hours of its release. He released several vlogs and songs on his YouTube channel. Sehun too was present in some of the videos.

Kai released his debut EP "Kai (开)" featuring R&B songs. His "Mmmh Challenge" saw the rerun of "1 Billion Views Challenge". "Mmmh Challenge" required the participants to balance a small bottle of water on their heads and dance to the song "Mmmh". But as usual the EXOLs (Extra-Ls) balanced anything but bottles on their heads and joined the challenge. Yes they balanced big water jars, pets, a stack of matkas, chairs and so on.

We were beyond happy when Xiumin was discharged from his mandatory military service. He was the first in EXO to enlist and was back with us already.

These are not all. The Instagram lives and posts, vlives, online fan-signs and fan-meets, OP updates from military, and interactions among the members acted as cherry on top. The members continue to provide us with a lot of contents in 2021 as well. DO is also discharged from military. Now they have announced one of the biggest gifts to us - their 9th Anniversary Special Album "Don't Fight The Feeling" and we couldn't be more excited.

#exo #xiumin #exo sehun #chen exo #yixing #baekhyun #exo suho #chanyeol #kai exo #kpop boys #kyungsoo #Instagram

[kimjongdaely]

The Art of Sin [Chapter 8 - END] [M]

Gang!AU, Racer!AU, Tattoo Artist!AU

Pairing: Chen x Reader

Warnings: Language, violence, sexual situations, vandalism

Summary: He’s an artist. He does it all for the ‘art.’ Tattooing. Racing. Sex. All because he thinks they’re beautiful. There’s no one here that doesn’t know his name, because it’s everywhere. On every graffiti-filled wall, every tattooed skin, every cheer of the crowd. His name is there somewhere, because it’s all his—this world. And when he lays his eyes on you—well, he’s never seen anything more beautiful. And he’s going to make you his masterpiece.

Chapter 1│Chapter 2│Chapter 3 [M]│Chapter 4 [M]│Chapter 5 [M]│ Chapter 6│Chapter 7│Chapter 8

You can tell you’re in a hospital.

The smell of antiseptic is strong, stinging your nose. The bed is hard and certainly not your own. You can hear the sound of birds.

There seems to be bandages around your head, so you can’t see.

Your body hurts all over. For a moment you can’t remember what had happened and how you ended up here.

“You awake?”

You recognize this voice. You tilt your head to the left, where he must be standing. “Byun?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” He answers, his voice less cheerful than you remember. He sounds tired, serious, and a little nervous. “I’ll, uh, get the doctor.”

“Wait.” You call, and you hear his footsteps stop. “Where’s Chen? Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’s a few rooms down. No need to worry, he just broke a few bones and had a few scratches. He’ll be up and running in no time.”

You let out a sigh of relief, relaxing back into the pillow.

“How long have I been out?”

Silence.

“Two weeks.” He says. “I’ll go get the doctor.”

You nod, listening to him walk away. You want to see Chen. You can’t fully relax until you do.

Several moments later you hear him come back with another set of footprints, most likely the doctor. He asks you how you feel, if there’s anywhere that hurts. You tell him you’re fine, a little sore but nothing bad.

“You don’t have any major injuries other than the impact to your head.” He says after a quick checkup. “It’ll take a little longer to heal and, well—”

Your ears ring.

You’re not sure you’re hearing it properly.

You feel your heart stop, your breath hitch, time itself skidding to a halt.

His next words shatter your world.

It’s been about a month. You’re still not entirely convinced what the doctor told you was true. There’s just no way.

The boys from the garage had been coming in often to check up on you. You know they must be busy with their own work. You’ve met every single member other than Chen.

You made it very clear you didn’t want him to see you.

“He knows already.” Suho told you, sitting down next to you on the bed and patting your hand like a brother. “It’s okay to let him in.”

“The wound hasn’t healed yet.” You answered, forcing yourself to sound more casual and cheerful than you feel. “I don’t want him to feel bad. I’ll see him once I’m fully healed.”

Suho understands. Chanyeol and Baekhyun cracks jokes. The others like to come chat with you about their experiences, nothing too detailed, just fun little stories they have.

Suho comes in one day and tells you that Chen had been discharged, and wants to see you. You shake your head and tell him to wait a little longer.

You stumble into the bathroom one night and clutch at the sink, taking deep breaths. You count to calm yourself, and then you reach for the bandages around your head. You take them off, wanting to verify it. Wanting to know.

You touch your face, tracing the line from your forehead down over your eye, stopping right above your cheek. You feel the bump and dip in the skin from the scar.

You blink, and you know.

You can never see again.

You begin to sob, sinking onto the floor as reality hits you hard. You can never see again. You are maimed for life and the scars are there to prove it. You aren’t perfect anymore, aren’t pretty. Chen would definitely be disgusted. He would break up with you in a heart beat and throw you away just like he did with his car.

You’re so scared of that. You don’t want him to see, even if he already knows.

You don’t want him to leave you.

After a while—4 months in the hospital—you’re free to go. Doctors have told you to come back regularly for a checkup for at least a few more months before you’re completely in the green. Head injuries are no joke, they said.

You know that too well.

Slinging your duffel bag over your shoulder—filled with clothes and hygienic products, which you got your friends to bring over the first month of your hospitalization—and take a deep breath, excited to be leaving the hospital after so long.

You know your escort will be here any moment. It’s difficult for you to maneuver around on your own now. You’re still not used to it. 

A knock comes.

 “Come in.”

The slight creak as it opens. Footsteps. You’re surprised by them, recognizing them immediately. You thought he wouldn’t be here, thought he wouldn’t want to see you again now that you look like this.

Your breath hitches when he stands in front of you, so close you can feel his heat, smell is familiar scent. Tears pool in your eyes as the emotions well up inside you, threatening to burst. You missed him. You missed him so much and yet—

You lower your head so he cannot see.

“Ready to go?” His voice comes out smooth and tugs at your heart. There’s an edge to it that you ignore. 

You do your best to smile for him. “Yep.”

“I’ll carry the bag.” He takes it without waiting for an answer. And then he grabs your hand, carefully intertwining your arm with his. This isn’t what you were expecting at all and you’re scared. Nervous. Overjoyed.

He leads you out, through the hallways, down the elevator. You feel the wind and sun against your skin and you breath in the air, feeling rejuvenated and free. 

“Hey,” Chen says, voice dropping low and husky and filled with emotion, his hand coming to grip yours tightly, which was still wrapped around his other arm. “I missed you.”

“Me too.” You smile at him, and you hear his breath hitch and your smile fades away.

“Listen...I’m...I’m so sor—”

“Chen.” You say, smiling again. “Can I stay over tonight?”

He says yes, like you knew he would.

“Jongdae.” He says one day. Too many days have passed in a blur and you’re not sure how many times you’ve stayed over at his place, woken up next to him like it’s meant to be.

“What?”

“My name.” He pulls you closer by the waist, the bedsheets tangled around your intertwined legs. You feel his breath against your shoulder, his lips against your neck. “My real name is Jongdae. You should call me that from now on.”

Your heart nearly bursts. He’s telling you his real identity, this is a big step. The underlying meaning is too heavy to ignore. He wants to be with you—for real. Not just a fling, not something temporary and detached. Something permanent in his life. He wants you to stay. You get choked up and it takes you a while to respond.

“Jongdae.” You whisper, and it feels right.

He holds you tighter, a contented sigh escaping him. “That sounds nice. Say it again?”

“Jongdae.” You repeat, a giggle making it’s way out. “Stop that, you’re tickling me!”

He doesn’t stop, instead his hands begin to wander more, becoming bolder as they trail paths in your skin, filling your veins with fire and love.

You moan, arching against him and you feel him smile against your skin, turning you around so he can have better access to your body, covering yours with his.

And then he kisses you. Gently and then deeply, his tongue meeting yours and you sigh into it, having waited for this moment for eternity.

“Touch me.” He murmurs, grabbing your hand and placing it on his chest, over his heart. You feel it beat fast and hard, matching yours, his skin so hot to the touch.

You begin to explore his body, tracing the lines in his skin, feeling every dip and committing it to memory.

He kisses you again, more desperately, more fiercely. It’s hard to think when pleasure wracks you, the way he moves so lovingly in and out of you.

“You’re so beautiful.” He whispers, over and over again, pressing kisses all over your face, paying special attention to your scars.

Every time he does so, you know he is soothing his own scars, deep inside his heart. Each thrust he makes feels of guilt and anguish. “I’m sorry,” he would occasionally whisper when he gets too lost into the moment. “Please don’t hate me.”

I love you, I love you.

Even now, you still wait for those words.

You wish with all your heart that things could go back to the way they were, to happier times. Wish he would stop sounding so guilty and remorseful and hurt every time he looked at you. Wish you could be with him forever.

Things never go the way you want.

Tears well up again, so much love and sorrow filling you as you pull him closer, gasping his name and wishing this moment would last forever.

You will remember this moment forever.

There’s nothing in the world that can describe how he felt when he woke up to find her gone.

Her side of the bed is cold to the touch. She’s been gone for a while.

There’s a surge of panic as he sits up. He calls for her, wondering if she’s in the bathroom, the living room, kitchen. No response. She’s not in the house.

He feels a wave of things all at once; so much fear and anger then it simmers into guilt, so much guilt. He has to find her. Where could she have gone in her state? What if something happened to her?

He searches for his phone in a frenzy, dialing number after number as he struggles to get on a pair of pants and a shirt, grabbing his keys as he heads towards his car, not caring how disheveled he looks at the moment.

No one has seen or heard from her in the last few hours.

No, please no.

He wracks his brain for places she could go. He went to her house to find it empty. Even her workplace, only to find she’s taken some time off.

He hasn’t heard about this at all. She hasn’t said anything to him.

Nothing at all.

He grips the steering wheel so hard it could snap. He drives around his neighborhood, round and round, hoping she just took a stroll and perhaps got lost. It’s unlikely; why would she go out without telling him?

He went to the garage hoping she had gone to hang out. Still no one has seen her.

He bangs his head against the steering wheel, over and over until he can’t feel the pain anymore.

Why?

Why did she leave? How could she do this to him?

But then how could he make her stay, after what he had done to her? She would never be able to see again all because of his stupid races, his stupid life. 

A little less lucky and she would have died.

He screams and curses, dialing her number over and over and hearing it disconnect each time. He leaves her messages, begging her to come back, asking where she was, asking why she did it.

He was about to say I love you a few times but stops every time. He didn’t want to tell her that like this. He wanted to say it to her face, to kiss her and make love to her and have her say it back.

He knows she loves him. She would’ve definitely be happy to hear those words.

So why didn’t he say them earlier?

Night falls and she still isn’t back. His members have called a few times to ask about her, and then asked if he was okay.

No. He was anything but fine. He was a mess and surely going insane but it’s only been a day and deep down he had a nagging feeling that he would have to live like this for much, much longer.

Nearing midnight he finally gets a message back. A voice message and he listens so eagerly to her lovely voice but her words shatter him.

“Hi Jongdae.” She starts, a little breathy and he loves listening to it. “Sorry I didn’t answer you earlier. I wanted some time alone and to think. I...I think it’s best for us to break up.”

No.

No no no no.

He plays that message back a few times to make sure he was hearing it right, and it hurt more every time he did.

“Don’t be upset, Jongdae.” How could he not? “I’ve just come to realize something. You don’t love me. What you feel for me is guilt. You feel guilty I got hurt because of you, and you want to be there for me. You want to compensate for what you did to me.”

No, you’re wrong. Please stop talking. Don’t do this to me.

“But listen, it wasn’t your fault. It was no one’s. I chose to be in that car, and I chose to be with you. I love you. I really do. But I don’t want to be your burden, I don’t want to tie you down for the rest of your life just because you feel like you made a mistake. You’re going to regret it someday, and so will I. I want you to be free like you always have. I want you to be happy, and I see now that it’s not with me. I’ll be okay. Went to stay with a friend for a bit, so don’t worry. I can take care of myself.”

No no no! This is all wrong. This isn’t true. It’s not because of guilt. It’s not, it’s not.

Isn’t it?

He throws his phone against the wall and hears it crack.

“—don’t let Chen know though...it’d be bad if—”

“Don’t let me know what?”

His members turn to him in surprise, not expecting him to be here. He hasn’t come to the garage for a month now after she left without a word. They tried to get him to at least eat properly, with D.O generously going to his house to cook every few days.

He was a mess the first few days. The boys haven’t ever seen him like that before. Chen was always such a confident, carefree guy who did as he pleased. Although it’s a good lesson for him to be wary of consequences; the price they had to pay this time was too big. It shattered poor Chen’s world, a haunting epiphany that came too late.

He wouldn’t talk for a while, or do anything really. He just curled up in a corner and stayed like that for God knows how long. Barely reacted to anything the members said or did.

He’d replay her messages over and over again just to hear her voice, no matter how painful her words were.

But now he stands in the garage after a month, looking shaggy and disheveled like he just got out of bed, but he’s here.

And no matter how relieved and happy his friends were that he got out of the house for once, he came at a bad time.

“Uh,” Byun started, eyes darting around towards the others as he scrambles to come up with something. “We, uh, might’ve scraped your car a bit but—”

“Suho.” Chen ignores Byun, knowing too well when he’s lying, and turns his attention on the leader who gulps. “What shouldn’t I know?”

There’s a long moment of silence as Suho wonders what to do, but then sighs upon deciding to tell him the truth. It won’t be a pretty sight though. “Jongdae, listen, the gang that you raced last time—” Chen’s fists clench tightly by his side, “—we received news that they’re back in town and—”

“They’re what?” Chen growls out, eyes blazing at the thought. That gang went AWOL after what happened, but now they have the audacity to come back? “Where are they, Myeon?”

“Jongdae—”

“Tell me where they are!” He roars, slamming a fist against the wall, not feeling the pain even as he bleeds. “I need to know, Myeon. I need to!”

“Calm down, Jongdae.” Suho says as soothingly as he can. Sehun and Chanyeol are already getting ready to hold him down if they have to. “I’ll deal with them, okay? I promise they’ll get what they deserve so just relax, alright?”

No! He wants to yell, to make a scene, but he bites his tongue and hangs his head. He’s not a bad fighter but he doesn’t have the confidence to win against his members, many of which are much better at combat than he is.

He’ll find out. He’ll hire a private investigator, or bribe people in other gangs for information if he has to. He’ll find them.

And they’ll pay.

The rushing of water drowns out hushed conversation. Prices are being negotiated, drugs being passed from person to person, pocketed in places hidden from the eye. They hide under the shadow of the bridge, in the middle of the night where patrols rarely wander by.

It wasn’t too hard to find them, and Jongdae knew just where to ask.

He walked up to them like he owned the place, filled with fury and confidence. He had them gathered together and he would pick them off one by one.

“What the—” One of them starts, startled by his appearance. They quickly become alarmed, and a few begin to recognize him.

Jongdae didn’t really bother with the faces. He didn’t really care. He just wanted them to hurt like he was. Like they did to her.

He broke into a sprint right into their group, catching them off-guard. He swung a fucking metal bat towards whoever was nearest to him, feeling the vibrations go all the way up his arm and the sickening clang ring in his ear, but he didn’t care.

He swung and swung and swung, hearing cries and curses. He felt pain when someone snuck up behind him and kicked him in the back. Another punched his face. He didn’t bat an eye and kicked back, aiming the bat towards their head.

He didn’t care.

Jongdae doesn’t know how long it went on for. He was outnumbered, and probably outmatched but like hell he’ll give up, and even if he only got to half of them, that was enough.

People pulled and clawed at him, ganging up on him and he bit back like a feral lion, having lost all sense of sanity or rationality. He just wanted to hurt them. He didn’t know how much damage he wanted to give them, but a small corner in his mind worried he wouldn’t stop with just a few bad bruises and broken bones. No, there was a possibility he would kill someone tonight, and he found that he really, really didn’t care.

Maybe something was wrong with him. Maybe he had broken down the moment she left and he didn’t know what was what anymore. Couldn’t differentiate right from wrong.

Just the image of her in that car.

Bleeding.

Unconscious.

The sight of her on the hospital bed.

The bandages around her head.

The scars.

He snarled, baring his teeth like an animal and lunged at whoever he could, gripping the bat tightly even as people tried to steal it from him. They would pay, he kept thinking, they would pay.

And then the sirens came blaring. 

Someone cursed and yelled, “The cops are coming! Scatter!”

Jongdae watched as they ran away, some too injured to get away by themselves and needed to be carried by two or three. He felt a little proud.

Then his legs gave way and he started to feel the pain. His head felt wet and so did several places on his body but he couldn’t think properly. He just slumped there and listened as the sirens came closer.

“Jongdae!”

He gasped, regaining a piece of his sanity and his head spun towards her voice. It wasn’t a police car that came, but rather a car he recognized from the garage. The sound of sirens are cut off and he realized they faked it.

She was at the door of the car, stumbling out and nearly falling. There were tears streaming down her face as she desperately called for him, arms held out as she tries to feel her surroundings, searching for him.

She couldn’t see him. Couldn’t find him.

That hit him too hard.

He pushed himself up, moving towards her, quickening his pace, wincing at the cuts and bruises littered across his body. He wanted to get to her, to hold her hand so she wouldn’t have to cry anymore, wouldn’t have to fear. He wanted her to find him.

He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, wrapping her tightly in a hug. He missed her so much, so, so much. He whispered her name over and over again, he whispered “I love you” and “please don’t go” and “I’m sorry.”

There’s a part of him that hopes she would see his pitiful state and he could guilt-trip her into staying with him. He would be okay with that, as long as she stayed with him. As long as she doesn’t fly away ever again, doesn’t leave his line of sight.

There’s a part of him that wonders if what he felt was elation when he found out she couldn’t see, so she would always have to depend on him. So she could never go off too far from him.

He is truly a twisted jerk.

“Jongdae, what the fuck!” Chanyeol bellows, storming up towards him, the others following close behind. His eyes are flaming, livid. “You trying to die? You trying to fucking kill someone?”

She’s still crying hysterically, clutching his shirt, hands trembling. Jongdae is blank, unable to answer or react to his friend’s rage.

Chanyeol seethes, pushing a hand through his hair and it feels like he might punch him until Suho steps in, pushing Chanyeol out of the way. Suho does not look pleased.

“Get in the car.” He says. “We’ll get you fixed up. Do you know how worried you made us? How worried she was?”

Jongdae was almost delusional at this point. He felt no remorse, just overbearing joy at the thought that she came. She came to him when he was in trouble. She was worried. She still loved him, cared for him. He had a chance, right? He could have her back?

The boys had to practically carry him into the car. When they tried to move her to the back so they could get him immediate medical attention, he would throw a huge fit and they had no choice but to let them sit close together. Jongdae simply refused to let her go.

Honestly it was starting to get very concerning. Like he had just lost his mind. Suho is wondering if he actually did.

She was still crying softly, sniffling and hiccuping and gripping Jongdae’s hand tightly, to reassure himself or her, no one knows. It seemed to calm Jongdae a bit so at least something was working.

After Jongdae was bandaged up, they sent him home and asked if she could stay with him. She agreed, of course, but the boys were worried. Jongdae seems so out of it and she’s blind; will they be alright? Suho repeated several times for her to call them if anything goes wrong.

Eventually, they stopped fussing and left, though no one felt comfortable about what happened.

You help Jongdae to his bed, sighing out of exhaustion. It was a good thing Byun called you immediately when they found out what Jongdae was doing. You’d hate to think of what would’ve happened if you weren’t there to calm him.

You’ve never experienced Jongdae like this, doubt even his friends have. He just seems so out of it, so different. Perhaps he was drunk, or taking drugs? It’s not impossible.

It’s been a month since you’ve met him, and you’re sad this is how your first meeting goes, though you’re also just glad to meet him. You missed him so much in your time away. You thought he would be happy. Were you wrong?

You hear him shift, mumbling.

“What?” You ask, leaning in closer to hear. “Do you need something?”

He calls your name. Over and over again. He sounds like he’s in a daze and you’re not sure if he actually knows you’re there.

“Jongdae,” you search for his hand, giving it a squeeze. “I’m here. I’m here, don’t worry.”

“Please,” he whimpers, voice cracking and he squeezes back. That’s good, perhaps he’s regaining his senses. “Please don’t leave again. Please. I-I love you. I really do. It’s not guilt, I swear. I loved you way before the accident. I just—I’m not—”

“Shh, shh.” You hush him, trying your best to calm him down. He seems to be crying now, body curling against you. “Let’s talk in the morning, okay? Go to sleep.”

“No.” He whispers, voice trembling. “You’ll leave. I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone.”

“I won’t.” You feel your heart crack, hearing the sheer devastation in his tone. It seems like you really screwed up. You shouldn’t have left, should’ve talked to him properly instead. You lie down, curling yourself into him and pulling him in for a kiss. It seems his lip had been split and you can still taste some blood even after the boys cleaned it. “I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’ll be here in the morning. I’ll be the first thing you see.”

“Really?” His voice is so heartbreakingly small and uncertain. 

“Yes.” You breathe out. “Promise.”

You pull him close, cradling his head against your chest, fingers combing through his hair. His sobs quiet down and soon you hear his breath even out.

Jongdae winces when he opens his eyes. He can hardly remember what happened, just flashes of movement and colors to remind him. He tries to move, but find that it really hurt, and something was keeping him down.

He turns his head and feels his heart swell.

This isn’t a dream, right? She’s really here, beside him. He begins to wonder if the last month was just a really long nightmare, that it never happened at all and she was always right beside him in her rightful place.

But then he sees the red around her eyes, the dried streaks down her face. He frowns. Why was she crying?

He tries moving again and this time it wakes her. He feels guilty for doing so, but couldn’t help but feel so happy to have her in his arms again.

“Jongdae?” She asks, hand moving to rest on his chest, to make sure he’s still there.

“Morning.” He says, voice raspy and surprising himself.

“Oh, thank goodness.” She breathes out, immediately wrapping him into a hug. He breathes her in, feeling his pulse quicken, eyes stinging. This feels so good. “You’re back, you’re okay.”

“I’m back?” He repeats, puzzled. “Did I go somewhere?"

“You—” She purses her lips into a tight line for a moment. “You went to fight that other gang, remember?”

Snippets are coming back and he winces. “Maybe?”

“I was so worried.” She continues. “You were so out of it I thought you’d lost your mind. I was afraid you would stay like that forever.”

“I’m sorry.” He says, eyes downcast. “I think I really did lose my mind last night. I just...lost my grip on reality and let my emotions take over.”

“I know.” She whispers, stroking his hair. “I know it was for me. But please, please promise me it won’t happen again. Please.”

Jongdae hesitates, but seeing the look in her face, seeing the dim look in her eyes, he swallows thickly and agrees.

“Are you leaving?” He asks, voice small. “Are we really done? Do you still love me?”

“I—”

“I love you.” He cuts you off, much to your surprise. His hold tightens on you, desperately, his tone on the verge of hysterics again. “Please, I love you. I love you so much more than even I knew. When you left, I—” He swallows, the past month slamming back into him and knocking the air from his lungs. He can’t go through that again. “Please don’t leave me. I’ll do anything. I love you. I love you so much.”

This wasn’t how either of them imagined the confession to go. Last night he said those words a lot, but he wasn’t himself. Now, she still isn’t too sure he’s completely fine.

If she were to reject him he might really break.

“I...I love you too.” She answers, tears once again stinging her eyes. “I always did. Way before the accident, maybe even the first time I saw you. I’ve loved you since and always will.”

Jongdae breathes out, like a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. Yes, yes! She said she loved him! He had a chance, he didn’t care about anything else. “Then please stay with me. Be my girlfriend. Don’t ever leave me again.”

“I...” She looks lost, and Jongdae began to feel nervous again. His mind was racing with all the conceivable ways he could convince her to be with him, trying to come up with all sorts of scenarios. “I would like that.”

He holds his breath, not sure if he heard correctly. “Really?”

“Yes.” She nods, smiling. The smile he missed. The smile that meant the world to him.

He pulls her to him again, joy bursting through his heart and filling his every cell with elation. They can start over. He can be good to her this time. He can do it right. He won’t ever make her feel like he doesn’t love her. He’ll tell her every waking moment until she’s sick of him and he’ll never let her go.

Never again.

There’s something that feels so good about being in an official relationship. Jongdae never really bothered with it. He’d have flings and short-term girlfriends and sleep around but this...she was different.

She was everything he wanted and he probably knew the second she asked him who he really was at her doorway.

It feels good to have her by his side all the time, to let the whole world know she was his and he was hers. Other gangs would occasionally threaten to hurt her if deals went south, but he was confident he could protect her and his members were no joke.

She had gotten used to her condition and was really good at using a walking stick. She could differentiate footsteps, no matter how sneaky they were trying to be. She liked being in his apartment and wearing his shirts because everything smelled like him and it made her feel safe.

He just...he loves her. More and more every passing moment and sometimes he would think back to the the accident and the month where she left and he would feel his heart prick.

But then he’d hold her close and everything would be fine.

He liked kissing her.

He’d kiss her every chance he’d get, no matter how short or long it was. He wondered why he didn’t do it earlier, why he was so wary of attachment and commitment and admitting his feelings.

Wonder why it took her losing her sight and leaving for him to realize.

“I love you.” He’d whisper into her ear every night they fell asleep and every morning they woke. He loved hearing her say it back. Loved it when she wrapped her arms around his neck and swayed her hips and let him lead her around the house in a careless dance.

Jongdae had never been happier.

Never freer.

She was his butterfly and the masterpiece he was searching for.

Previous Chapter

The Art of Sin Mini Masterlist

EXO Customs Collab Masterlist

A/N: This was, uh, very long. Long enough to be split into two or even three chaps but I just really wanted to finish it. Hope it didn’t feel rushed. Turned out a little darker than I expected. 

I hope you enjoyed the fic and please do check out the other fics from the collaboration! 😘

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[ohnobjyx]

you answer about celebrities being prudent with dating got me curious as western boys in bands, especially in the rock/alternative/rap scene, seem to have a reputation for dating/sleeping around a lot, do asian idols just not date/sleep around a lot or are they just better at hiding it because they are expected to?

Hi, anon! I’m slowly working through all the asks, but I remembered yours when I was watching this week hotpot episode from SDoC S3 (I’m wondering if I should write a post compiling all the candies, but I have so many asks pending).

To start with the answer, let’s put the disclaimer first: I don’t know celebrities, I’m a simple fan just like all of us. Whatever they do in their private life it’s their own thing, and I just simply try to place an objective view of their situation here.

Just a clarification: when we talk about idol or celebrity, I’m talking about those that are pretty successful in the industry (with their number of fans ranking in the millions). These are the tip of the iceberg in the industry however. The bulk of them have less fans, but are also less subjected to scrutiny by the public.

1. First of all they are prudent because it isn’t widely accepted as “good” that people date/sleep around a lot, especially among the older generations. However, many young people also feel that it’s unacceptable, and their opinions may vary from “they must be very promiscuous or they flicker a lot” to “if they haven’t been able to keep a relationship for long, there must be a problem with this person”.

2. We’ve already talked about the fact that celebrities are expected to uphold a clear and good moral example for their fans. They’ll be heavily criticized if they do things that aren’t socially approved, and it’ll impact negatively on their work prospects. So, I suppose that in the case any celebrity did date/sleep around, they’d have to be masters at hiding their “affairs”.

Let’s just imagine how a male idol’s gf fans (the type of fans that fantasize being their idol’s gf) would react if their idol publicly dated around with many girls. I don’t think that would end well.

3. Like I said at the beginning, I’m going to talk about those idols and celebrities that have more success in the industry.

So, when we talk about dating/sleeping around, there’s something that we can’t ignore: time.

I don’t know about the workload of the boy bands (especially, as you said, in the rock/alternative/rap scene) but the workload of an Asian idol is terrifying.

Let me show you a few examples:

a. Even before he debuted in the boy band, dd spent almost everyday hours dancing, no free weekends and barely vacations, since he was 13 and entered the company. As a child, he got myocarditis when he was learning to dance. As soon as he got discharged, he went back to dancing, and spent his summer vacations (just a month in China, btw, August) dancing from 1 pm to 9 pm everyday, to recover the lost ground (this really was a test for his love for dancing, but just imagine it: he could do 8 hours a day just because he liked it, how many hours would he pull when pressed by the company?)

b. To anyone unfamiliar with Asian culture, the Lunar New Year’s Eve is the most important celebration in Asian culture, a night when family gathers together to celebrate the arrival of the new year. Asian idols usually are full of work, even that same night, so they almost never spend the New Year’s Eve with their families. A famed actress (in her fifties), once said in a program: “my father died last year... and one of the things I regret the most is that I haven’t spent a single New Year’s Eve with him in the last 20 years”.

c. In 2015, a year after his debut with Uniq, dd posted on w/ibo: “Just another year that I can’t be with my parents on New Year’s Eve... just a little sad” (and from what I know, he hadn’t spent a single New Year’s Eve at home since his debut).

d. I don’t know if any of you are familiar with Running Man, another c-variety show that’s very popular in China (I recommended it, btw). They did a night-life special last year, and when the director announced the theme (that they’d start filming by 4 pm and continue through the night), the host were like “just that?”:

“Then like our usual jobs”, “I can stay awake longer than an owl”, “I’m also good at spending all-nighters”.

One of them actually said: it seems that they don’t really get what an actor’s job is... everyone say how many days and nights have you gone by without sleeping in you busiest times? Angelababy (that’s her stage name, yes): “When I was a model... I really spent  three days and three nights   without a single moment of sleep.” Li Chen: “Before I came here to film yesterday, I spent 4 days filming night scenes for my drama, so 4 nights without sleep.”

Song Yuqi: “If we count sleeping an hour a day... I went a full week without a full night of sleep. Yesterday was the longest I’ve been sleeping in the last month”.

Their attitude is what surprises me the most, to be honest... It’s like, “of course we would spend a whole night awake, no problem!”

e. One of the previous hosts from this show once said that from his daughter’s birth to her first birthday the amount of time he spent with her totalled to three months.

4. I actually remembered your ask yesterday when I was watching the hotpot episode because of this:

The hosts mentioned getting back at their hotels after filming at 6 am (I think they had been filming the episode during the day and most of the night, and wanted to film a part of the dance using the first daylight). Actually, dd was talking about ZYX making noise in his room practicing dance moves at 6 am (wtf dude, you just pulled an all-nighter, please sleep).

There was a stalker photo of dd taken at 3 am when dd was coming out of the filming site for SDoC S3, one of the other day (just imagine it: you’re leaving the workplace, after a hard day of work, and instead of getting into the car peacefully you have to escape from these people). 

This kind of workload is insane. When they aren’t filming, they are travelling to filming sites, filming tv shows episodes, filming commercials, doing interviews, photoshoots, practicing whatever show is coming up next, reading scripts, and a long list of things they do. Almost without a single moment to rest.

I remember an interview of another actor, in which he said that if he had a free moment in his schedule or a free day, he spent it sleeping and talking with his family.

I’m not saying that with this kind of schedule keeping a relationship is absolutely impossible, but it resembles greatly a long distance relationship, no matter where your home actually is. So dating around a lot is quite of... difficult? (at least in my opinion). And about sleeping around... maybe it’s just me, but if I had a free night with their workload... I’d pass out as soon as I was in my room, and that’s all the sleeping I can envision.

(Btw, this kind of work pace is a trend in China. I've been told that it’s actually common to have surgeons doing 36-hour shifts... here I was thinking that 24h shifts were outrageous).

5. However, it’s not impossible. It wasn’t so long ago that a scandal got out about an actor who was married and with an adult son AND still had time to keep a mistress.

I hope I haven’t rambled too much, anon, and that you find my answer useful!

Edit (thanks to @gremlin-02!): “you're missing the part about propaganda. chinese idols have to hold up "chinese culture/good morals/examples of good citizens" they are not gonna be promoting a play boy idol since it "corrupts" the family values and state system.”

You are absolutely right, and it’s also a point that supports the second part of this post. We tend to forget about it, but the national propaganda has shaped the country from its core. Without it, the country would be very different today. Not better or worse, just... different, since propaganda, for all its bad reputation, has played a large part in their economic growth and their position in the world economy today.

#ask #my post #I think I should create a tag for this kind of asks #c-culture #those who have questions (short or related to post) can leave a comment and I'll try to answer them when I can

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[ambistep]

Presser

After the events at Los Diablos Air Force Base, a press conference is held. The new special liaison faces a tough crowd.

~1900 words, Retribution Spoilers, mind control and no proof-reading, sorry~

~

“You have to go out there. They asked for you by name,” Wei Chen looks up at the security feed from the press room - seats filling, guards posted - LDPD in tactical gear. Nobody’s called a state of emergency, not yet - but you can’t tell from the look of things. “You’ve done a hundred of these things, what’s the problem, Ortega?” He didn’t have to ask - but he wants to hear her say it.

“Bad enough coming to these things when we’re winning. We just got our asses kicked, Chen, we should be out there, kicking over every bolthole and abandoned building.” Ortega had let the makeup team touch up her bruises - not like her at all - but they had been ugly, and this whole conference was about putting a pretty face forward.

“Nobody was killed. We stopped the missile,” Chen points out. He doesn’t disagree, it was a loss, but he was trying to get Julia to work with him. 

“After it launched,” Ortega counters, “And Clarity and their goons got away with the arms.” And… everything was different about this one. Old, Clarity had called her, goading, warning her to stay down. Cracked her ribs this time - the suit was a piece of work - nothing Charge shouldn’t be able to handle but Clarity had her number. The villain had been warning her - not goading her, like most villains try, not boasting. A real warning, something that seemed sincere - which meant they didn’t think of the Rangers as the enemy, maybe even the opposite, and that worried her more than anything. 

Steel’s furrowed brow deepens, confessing his suspicions “We were meant to stop it - Clarity knew we would. It wasn’t a heist, it was a message.”

“A message, great.” Julia throws a hand up, “Where’s Angie, anyway? Should make her stand up on this stage. She’s the Clarity expert.”

He knows Ortega isn’t serious - both of them know better than to push Lady Argent in front of cameras in an official setting. Something down at your own peril. “Recovering,” Chen quickly clarifies, “Not hurt - just her pride - you know how she is when she loses.”  

Julia rubs at the side of her face, then stops - remembering the makeup. The headache persists, “Chen, why does it feel like we’ve lost control of the whole thing? Los Diablos used to be our city.” 

The current Marshal struggles for an answer - but before he can find one, an aide to Mayor Alvarez, waiting in the wings, gives a saccharine smile and a wave to him, flashing an okay sign. 

Chen sighs, “We’re on.”

~

The briefing room is packed tight - not meant to hold this much press, this much extra security, and the extra personnel from the cooperating agencies. The whole room is hot, crowded, tinged with anxiety. The press is feisty, out for blood, but Alvarez and Miller, for the city and the police respectively, do solid work fielding the questions with non-answers, assurances. Everything is under control. The Marshal and ex-Marshal stand in reserve, a show of support and cooperation from all corners - or scapegoat if needed. 

“Next question, Miss Ochoa?” 

“Major Miller, with this escalation, shouldn’t we be expecting a federal response? It was a military target, after all.”

Joshua Miller’s smile tightens - nobody in Los Diablos likes to talk about the federal government in their city, as a point of pride. “Actually, we’ve -”

“I can answer this one,” A cool voice from the back of the stage cuts the major off in his remark. A blonde woman just past her middle years, in an immaculate suit, a federal suit. Standing there, like an ordinary human being, a regular person. Smiling that smile, a smile that promises efficiency, structure, discipline. That compliance will be rewarded. A burning effigy, a symbol, a -... or just a woman, in a suit - like anyone else in the room. 

Miller nods and turns back to the audience, introducing his guest for the press, “Ladies and gentlemen, Regina King, Deputy Director for Developmental Test and Evaluation, Department of Defense.”

She rises to the podium, taking Miller’s place and adjusting the microphone height to suit her - she’s shorter than her air makes her seem. “To answer your question, Miss Ochoa, I’ve been sent to act as Special Liaison in this matter, only to monitor the situation while making sure Mayor Alvarez, Marshal Steel and local authorities receive whatever cooperation and resources they need in combating… lawlessness and terrorism here in the Free Economic Zone.”

The real message is hidden behind her teeth and eyes. We are watching. We are here to support our interests. We will aid you until you fail, and then it is our matter.

There is quiet, Alvarez and Miller, even Chen, watching their new special liaison with wary suspicion. Mia breaks the silence with a follow-up, “What’s the federal government’s interests here? National security? My reporting has shown a number of defense contractors were targets of this Clari-”

The woman doesn’t miss a step, cutting off the reporter before that name can be mentioned, “At the Department of Defense, all our interests are security.” A winning smile, that bland humor, doesn’t hide the irritation. She hates to submit to questions, from civilians. The contempt is beneath the surface, but someone who knows her could smell it. “A number of defense contractors have been targets of recent violence within this city and the surrounding areas - and the well-being of our private partners is a matter of serious concern. I’ll be coordinating responses between all parties involved, of course.”

There’s a laugh, unexpected and inappropriate, cutting through the tension of the briefing. The Rangers present stand a little straighter, all the security detail starts forward. The cameras shift from the podium to the source in the crowd, a reporter many years Mia’s junior, with a face for television. She rises in her seat, and Mayor Alvarez identifies the reporter for the momentarily uncertain Director King, “Veronica Sandoval, KTLD News.”

Veronica steps from her assigned seat, holding her microphone - everyone relaxes but for the Rangers. The reporter calls out, “What about the target of the missile launched yesterday?” She starts to walk toward the stage, something uneven in her steps, something unsteady in her voice. 

The KTLD camera man follows his reporter dutifully, even as Regina fields the question, her easy smile fading for an angered one, a polite, forced smile.  “At this time, the circumstances of yesterday’s incident at Los Diablos Air Force Base are still being investigated through regular channels - when they have that information, I’m sure a report will be made available to all members of the press.”

Sandoval continues to move toward the stage, intercepted by an LDPD officer holding out a hand, “Is it true that another facility was targeted, a non-military facility, one of your ‘private-public partnerships’, one south of Warm Springs, Nevada?” 

“I’m not sure which facility you mean.” The Deputy Director’s smile is gone entirely, a sour frown fixed to her face. Around her, the briefing room is filled with murmurs and clicking of cameras. Mayor Alvarez is looking to her aides for assistance, and Joshua Miller is quietly sweating as his officers move to restrain the reporter.

The KTLD camera man calls out, now more worried than concerned with holding the camera, “Roni, what’s gotten into yo-”

But she pays him no mind, calling out her accusations, “You know. You know, and I’m sure they would like to know too. You should tell them. Tell them what you do there!” Sandoval clings tightly to the microphone as a second and then a third officer moves to grab her and twist her arm. She fights with the officers even as gasps and panic sweep through the briefing room. Marshal Steel moves to cover Alvarez, and Charge steps up to stand before the Deputy Director. 

The strength seems to slip out of Veronica Sandoval, a pained groan before she passes out entirely. And then behind, a quivering cry from Joshua Miller as he rises from his seat, the LDPD Major’s eyes wide open in horror as his body seems to move beyond his control.  He pushes Alvarez from the podium - Steel catching her before she falls. The rest of the cops of the security detail start forward.

“What’s wrong with the major?”

“Sir?”

Miller’s eyes calm, his motions smooth, and he leans to the microphone, his voice taking on the same accusatory cadence as Sandoval’s, that same fury fills his eyes. “Tell them what you make there. Let them all see what you really are. I can see it crawling underneath your skin, Deputy Director.” Joshua Miller’s mouth hisses the strange words forced out of him with, “I tried to avoid this - I didn’t want to be involved in your world anymore. So now you’ll have to show them everything. Let them kno-” 

Wei Chen’s prosthetic grip puts an end to the major’s rant, a squeeze and punch to the gut from the marshal and Miller slips into unconsciousness, as Sandoval did. 

“Start EMS!”

“Get everyone out of here!”

A gunshot coaxes the murmurs of the press room into a symphony of cries.

One of the officers that had restrained Sandoval rises up, a fresh-faced LDPD patrolman, and turns to face the podiums now, a calm passing over him, then an anger twisting his face. His hand loosely holds his sidearm, discharged at the ground, “Let them know everything. Why not? Aren’t you proud of the monsters you’ve made? Aren’t you proud of me?” 

Other offices are drawing their weapons now, pointing them at their colleague - panic has reached a fever pitch, but the cameras still roll. Across the city, it must be quite a show - in diners and offices, on city streets, all across every screen. 

“It took a lot of work, but I’ve finally brought you here.” A manic smile fixes to the officer’s face as he unholsters his gun, “Welcome to Los Diablos, Regina King. Welcome to my city.” He levels it at the deputy director, possessed in all meanings of the word, out of his mind.

…

There is a hint of panic in her eyes when the gun is drawn, and if nothing else of your plan ever goes right again, then that fear in Regina’s eyes may be enough to make everything else worth it. You wish you were watching through your own eyes, and not this stranger’s - it isn’t the same, you can’t quite taste the fear, as you imagine you could with your own body.

But then her expression hardens. She reaches inside the coat of the bodyguard shielding her and pulls out a handgun and promptly levels it at the back of Julia Ortega’s head, finger on the trigger. Hot, boiling panic rises in you - in your own body, but this puppet’s too. 

She says nothing but holds the gun with unsettling stillness, even as a bewildered Charge turns to face her, “What the hell?!”

But the director doesn’t have to explain. The message is clear. She knows who is pulling these strings, and she still knows how to hurt you. Just like always. 

You begin to loosen your control of the officer, forcing words through the officer’s lips as you let him lower his gun. “Careful,” the man’s voice, your words, “Your mask is slipping, Regina. They’ll see you for what you are.”

Around the briefing room, amid the panic, the cameras still hold on the strange stand-off between the cop, the Special Liaison, and the hero Charge. Regina starts to lower the gun she holds, even as you slip out of this man’s mind, leaving the chaos behind, and back to your own thoughts.

All part of the plan, right?

#fhr #fallen hero: rebirth #retribution spoilers #scribbly #bluh i havent made anything in ages... #sidestep #regina #mina oh

[ctl-yuejie]

rough translations of an interview i stumbled upon cause @florbexter​ had the nerve to post our beautiful cast doing a photoshoot ;A; (rough as in: neither chinese nor english are my first language so if you want to correct stuff don’t hesitate to comment or message me + I’m going to translate in a way that it makes the most sense in english - so not necessarily word by word)

you can find the original interview here

專訪／抓包女友偷吃　吳承洋男男吻被掰彎 口碑BL劇《HIStory3-圈套》雙CP檔──徐鈞浩、吳承洋、卞慶華、陳廷軒顏值、身材、演技兼具，戲裡撩人開外掛，戲外感情生活卻是比悲傷更悲傷的故事。

Interview: Getting girlfriends stolen & Chris Wu gets “bent”* by a male kiss

File on the double CP of “HIStory3 - Trapped", the BL drama which is in everyone’s mouth right now. Jake Hsu, Chris Wu, Andy Bian & Kenny Chen on looks, physique, acting and their real life stories which are sadder than the dramas plot.

徐鈞浩曾幫曖昧對象組衣櫃，對方卻急著出門約會；卞慶華病倒時遠距女友不來陪，原來已經劈腿；吳承洋最慘，本想送女友戒指幫她慶生，卻目睹小王從女友家走出，他只能躲在車旁悲情高歌阿杜的〈他一定很愛妳〉。

Jake Hsu once helped a girl he was interested in to fix her wardrobe while she was anxious to go on a date; Andy Bian was sick but his girlfriend didn’t come to visit - turns out she cheated on him; Chris Wu had the worst experience when he wanted to give his girlfriend a ring for her birthday but witnessed the guy she was cheating with coming out of her house - he could only hide behind a car and do nothing but sadly sing Adu's “He must love you very much”.

HIStory系列上一檔《越界》叫好叫座，帶給《圈套》主角們不小的壓力，不過該劇首播成績亮眼，相較於《越界》同期成長近50%。《圈套》講述熱血警察與黑道少主的禁忌戀，預告中吳承洋慢慢解開徐鈞浩的襯衫扣子，接著對他耳語：「最後一顆了。」腐味四溢撩得觀眾心花怒放。吳承洋在戲裡率先淋浴賣肉，秀出零贅肉的結實體態，四位主角的身材一個比一個養眼，他們公推卞慶華是浩克等級，而練特技體操的陳廷軒屬精瘦型，體脂肪只有8%。

"Crossing the Line/ Boundary Crossing”, the top film in the HIStory series, has brought a lot of pressure to the protagonists of "Trapped”. However, they started the show of with remarkable ratings, having a nearly 50% increase compared to "Crossing the Line/ Boundary Crossing” in the same period. "Trapped" tells the story of the the taboo love between a hot-blooded policeman and a mob boss. In the preview, Chris Wu slowly unbuttons Jake Hsu’s shirt and whispers: "There’s only one left." The amount of “gay-vibes”** left the audience fully enthused. Chris Wu showed of his strong body with 0% body fat in the shower scene. The physique of each of the four main characters is more eye-catching than the other. Andy Bian’s body is said to be Hulk grade while Kenny Chen, who practiced acrobatic gymnastics, is the lean type with only 8% body fat.

師徒再聚首緣分深 說到練特技，陳廷軒突然現場認師，說吳承洋兩年多前曾到北體代課，當過他的特技老師，更直呼：「我國中時有追過他！」其實吳承洋已非新人，他曾是Super131的成員，畢業於戲曲學院的他專長就是特技體操。天然呆的陳廷軒繼續在傷口上撒鹽，說：「Super131是『那個年代』國中生的偶像，以前同學們都會追，還列印一張他們的照片貼在教室門口。」 既是特技老師，又是國中時期的偶像，可見兩人緣分多深，不過陳廷軒笑說之前吳承洋來代課時沒認出他，讓吳承洋忍不住自嘲：「是我太邋遢了嗎？」陳廷軒急忙解釋：「沒有啦，是我沒有把這三個人（指Super131成員、代課老師、吳承洋本人）聯想在一起。」卞慶華笑說：「你看他真的就像戲裡的趙子一樣單純，沒被社會汙染。」

Teacher and apprentice reunite after a long time Speaking of practicing stunts, Kenny Chen suddenly recognized Chris Wu as a substitute teacher at the North Sports School. He was his stunt teacher more than two years ago. Even more bluntly he exclaimed “I have chased him during my time!". In fact, Chris Wu is not a newbie. He was a member of Super 131 and he graduated from his drama school with a specialization in acrobatic gymnastics. Kenny Chen continued to add insult to injury and said, "Super 131 were the idols of the junior high school students during that era. Students would chase them, print pictures of them and paste them on the door of the classroom."

As Chris Wu is his former stunt teacher and idol of his middle school period, we can see how deep their relationship is. Kenny Chen laughed about not recognizing Chris Wu as his substitute teacher before. Chris Wu then asked whether he had been too sloppy to remember, so Kenny Chen hastily explained that he just hadn’t connected the dots between the Super 131 member, his substitute teacher and Chris Wu himself. Andy Bian laughed saying, "You see, Kenny is just as simple as Zhao Zi in the drama. Not corrupted by society." 

徐鈞浩之前曾在《天黑請閉眼》中獻出男男吻，是四人中唯一不是將床戲、吻戲初體驗獻給對方，吳承洋入戲佯裝吃醋：「我第一次獻給你，結果你第一次不是給我！」聊起戲裡的第一場吻戲，徐鈞浩竟還搞失憶，經吳承洋提醒才想起就是「最後一顆扣子」的橋段，徐鈞浩坦言接吻前一度擔心生理上抗拒，「跟男生接吻是難在不知道身體合不合得來？結果馬上就很進入狀況。」

Jake Hsu had previously had a male/male kissing scene in"Close Your Eyes Before It's Dark". He is the only one out of the four of them, who has had experience with shooting a kiss and a bed scene. Chris Wu pretended to be jealous and complained, “I gave you my first time but your first time wasn’t with me”. 

Talking about the first kiss in the drama, Jake Hsu suddenly lost his memory. Chris Wu reminded him that the “last button” scene was connected to it. Jake Hsu admitted that he was worried about physical resistance before kissing. "It's hard to kiss a boy without knowing whether your bodies fit, no? But the result turned out to be very good."

吳承洋甚至語出驚人說：「親完會想交男朋友！」引起眾人起鬨，進一步問他是否有被掰彎的可能性？他語帶曖昧說：「不排除未來的可能性，我覺得演完之後會改觀，不會再對男生感到抗拒。以前小時候不懂，看到男生跟男生牽手會覺得奇怪，現在只覺得那都是愛。」

Chris Wu astonished everyone when saying, "After finishing the kiss scene I felt like looking for a boyfriend!", causing everyone to make a fuss and ask him whether it’s possibly that he has been “bent”*. He said ambiguously: "I won’t rule out the possibility for the future. I think after filming I might not resist feelings towards boys anymore. I didn't understand it when I was young. It felt strange to see boys holding hands with boys. Now I just think it's all love.”

痴情漢慘淪工具人 巧合的是徐鈞浩和吳承洋都是摩羯座還同一天生日，擅長組裝的兩人都曾幫心儀對象組家具，卻慘淪工具人的命運。徐鈞浩苦笑說：「我喜歡一個人就會願意一直付出，我真的去過女生家裡組衣櫃，結果她把我放在家裡，說要去跟男朋友約會，What？我那天才知道她有男朋友，心酸的是我還組完才走。」

An Infatuated man is a tool  Coincidentally, Jake Hsu and Chris Wu are both Capricorns, even sharing the same birthday. Both of them are good at assembling furniture, but are suffering the fate of tools. Jake Hsu said with a wry smile: "When I like a person I’m putting in my everything. One time I really went to a girls home to fix her wardrobe. When I got there she told me that she would go out on a date with her boyfriend. What? That day I came to know that she had a boyfriend I had to finish fixing her wardrobe while being sad.”

卞慶華則分享在重病時被遠距姊姊女友劈腿的慘痛經驗，「那次我從盲腸炎變成腹膜炎，差點敗血症快死掉還住院，那個女生的媽媽有來看我，她卻不來，我就覺得怪怪的。」一個月後出院，揪對方跨年也遭拒，後來滑IG從朋友的朋友動態裡，看到女友跟別的男生出去跨年，卞慶華才認清現實，斷絕聯絡。

Andy Bian shared his painful experience of breaking up with a girlfriend after he was seriously ill. "I had appendicitis (inflammation of the appendix) which turned into peritonitis (inflammation of the peritoneum). I almost died of a sepsis  and was hospitalized. The girl’s mother came to see me, but she didn’t come so it felt weird. After a month I was discharged from the hospital. Then I got stood up(?) by her during New Year’s.” Later, on a friends friends ig, he saw that she went out with other boys during New Years. Andy Bian realized the truth and broke off contact after that.

聽完兩個痴心換絕情的故事，吳承洋不敵眾人逼問，吐露：「我有現場抓到過！」完勝度引起全場驚呼，原來他女友曾私約小王到家中，卻騙他不在家，不知情的吳承洋到女方家門口想給她驚喜，卻看到小王從她家走出，「我嚇到趕快躲到車子旁，腦海冒出一句歌詞：『我應該在車底，不應該在車裡。』很心酸，而且我躲的那台車居然還是那個男生的車，我嚇一大跳，怎麼是這台？他發動了，他開走了，我完全不敢動，結果沒被發現，這時手上還拿著她的生日禮物，突然怒火衝上來，我就按門鈴，把要送給她的戒指用丟的給她！」大夥虧他幹嘛亂丟戒指，乾脆拿去當鋪，吳承洋則說那戒指沒有很貴，也撇清不是要求婚。 After listening to the two stories Chris Wu said that he had “caught his girlfriend in the act” causing the crowd to lose it at this victory. Turns out that his then girlfriend had a lover over at her place but lied to him about it. Chris Wu went to her house to surprise her only to see the other man come out of her house. “I was scared so I hurried and hid behind a car. There were these lyrics in my mind: “I should be under the car, not in the car." It was very sad. But it turns out that the car I was hiding behind was the man’s car. How is that possible? He started to drive away and I didn’t dare to move so I wasn’t discovered.” At this point he still had her birthday present so he rang the doorbell and threw the ring at her. Why did I throw the ring instead of taking it to a pawnshop? Chris Wu explained that the ring wasn’t very expensive and that it wasn’t meant as a proposal.

碰壁不放棄獲重生 在四人中資歷最深的吳承洋星路上跌跌撞撞，團體解散後，經歷在北京一年零收入、沒地方住的克難日子，後來回台當兵砍掉重練，可是換了新東家依舊不順，試鏡碰壁兩年，好幾次想放棄演藝圈，全靠著內心深處的信念「我相信我可以做到」苦撐著。直到接了這部BL劇《圈套》終於碰上貴人，「當青蓉導演（李青蓉）跟我說她相信我的時候，我覺得……很感動。」講到這裡，他忍不住哽咽淚崩，感性地說：「她願意給我機會，相信我可以把這件事做好……我之前每次去試鏡，沒有人相信我可以做到。」 雖然目前吳承洋尚未還完之前打官司的錢，但他很感謝這些挫敗的過程，造就現在的他，「因為有這些經歷，讓我可以把戲演好，當人生遇到很大的打擊時到底是什麼狀態，很多人是靠想像的，但真實遇到的痛苦是並不顯露於外的。除此之外，最重要的還是要勤練功，努力做好該做的功課。」

Don’t give up being reborn

Chris Wu, the most experienced out of the four, has stumbled on his road to success. After his group disbanded, he didn’t have an income for one year and didn’t have a place to live in Beijing. During the difficult days when there was no place to live, he returned to Taiwan to serve as a soldier and cut down on his training, but his new boss(?) wasn’t satisfied. He hit a wall with auditions for two years and wanted to give up entering the entertainment business several times. He could only rely on the deep belief in his heart that he could do it until he got picked for the BL drama “Trapped”. 

“After finally meeting the “noble” director Qingrong (Li Qingrong) I was very touched with her saying that she believed in me.” When he talked, he couldn't help but shed tears. He emotionally said, "She was willing to give me a chance and believed that I can do this thing well... I used to audition many times, but no one ever believed that I could do it."

Although Chris Wu still has an ongoing lawsuit with his previous company he is thankful for all the experiences because they have made him who he is today.  "Because of these experiences, I’m able to be a better actor. When people are faced with obstacles they have to rely on imagination and don’t show the real pain they’re going through. Besides that the most important thing is to practice hard and do the homework.”

*i think this is a quite common term that appears in a lot of news coverage of BLs and gets used frequently by actors talking about their series, i really don’t like the term in english though

** literally “rotten”. same as in the Japanese “Fujoshi”=“Rotten Woman”. again not liking the taboo this word places on homosexuality but what is new

#history3圈套 #history3: trapped #history 3: trapped #ahhhh #long post #tbh i can't believe their real lives are more dramatic than a freaking copxgangster drama :"D

[tantramassageus]

An Indepth Description of Tantra and Tantric Practices

Tantra (Sanskrit: tan = expansion; tra = liberation), also called tantric yoga or tantra yoga, is a ritual practice from the Vedic tradition, aimed at spiritual expansion and liberation. In tantra, the emphasis is on the development of human strength, both through meditation and through direct confrontation with difficult conditions for overcoming fears and weaknesses. Tantra is one of the esoteric traditions that are part of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. The Buddhist tradition that is strongly influenced by the scriptures of Tantra is particularly vajrayana, also called tantric Buddhism.

The term tantra Yoga (with a large Y) refers to the dharma (philosophy) of tantra. By tantra yoga (with a small Y) is meant the yoga techniques that are part of the practical practice of tantra.

Development of the tantra

There is evidence that the origin of tantra lies in the indigenous spirituality of the indigenous people of India under the Indus civilization (not to be confused with the later introduced proto-vedic religion), thousands of years before the present era. It was only much later that the individual currents would develop, such as the jain tantra, Buddhist tantra, shivottara (post-Shiva) tantra and the poeranic tantra. The Buddhist version of the tantra originated in India in the third century AD, after which it spread to Tibet and the Far East in the eighth century thanks to Padmasambhava, among others, where it is still found today in the many currents of the Vajrayana or Tantrayana ("tantra vehicle").

Tantric practices

Because of the wide range of practices in tantra, it is difficult to describe tantric practices unambiguously. The basic practice can include any combination of the elements described below.

Tantra's specific ideal is not to avoid problems and obstacles, but to take responsibility for one's own life and therefore directly confront and overcome difficulties and conditioned emotions. Spiritual growth is created by transforming all characteristics and tendencies.

In order to achieve this goal, all kinds of meditation forms and ideation methods have been developed. In contrast to most religions, tantra is a science of experience: based on practice. The philosophy consists for the most part of descriptions of practices and has few purely theoretical aspects.

The soft natural form is the selfless intimacy between people. Exercises can make use of mantras (special sounds), yantra's (special forms) and ideations on personal aspects of the Cosmic Consciousness to help focus the microcosm (individual consciousness) on the macrocosm (Cosmic Consciousness).

In fact, there should not be an ultimate goal, as, for example, in the Taoist concept of wu wei. Theoretically it is about merging (symbolically) the fundamental darkness, negativity, femininity (Shakti) into the fundamental light, positivity, masculinity (Shiva). This can be done by bringing up the energy of the kundalini (the curled up snake in the sacrum) through the spine. There the fusion of the male and female energy can take place.

In the selfless intimacy between man and woman, a higher divine consciousness can arise. This unification of the microcosm with the Macrocosm can take place in the highest chakra above the seventh chakra when the crown chakra is opened. Depending on tradition, these practices are dressed up with various supporting practices (such as from yoga) in order to bring and keep body and mind in better balance.

Very important in the more result-oriented "hard" (non-self-explanatory-natural) form of tantra is the guidance within a religious tradition, see kundalini yoga The sudden uncontrolled (lightning) discharge through the sushumna channel can cause damage. The result is madness. The ancient devadasi tradition of the sacred temple dance, which lives on in the contemporary Bharata Natyam, is also an example of a form of meditation from the tantra. Divine love is expressed in Sringara and Bhakti.

Concentration on chakras in the body

Practitioners of tantra generally see the individual mind including the body as a microcosm. According to tantra, the body has a series of seven subtle energy centers (chakra is Sanskrit for wheel or disc), which are the control points of the seven fundamental factors (elements) that shape a person.

By living ethically and purely and/or doing special exercises those chakras can be "purified" and the individual consciousness (microcosm) can become increasingly subtle and thus grow closer to the Macrocosm in order to eventually achieve self-realization or redemption. The highest chakra, the 'Shahasrara' chakra, is the seat of the Supreme Consciousness and is located above the human body.

Tantric Variations

The five main branches within the tantra have developed (painca Tantra), each with its own specialty. These are:

shaeva tantra or shaevacara

shakta tantra or shaktacara

vaeshnava/vishnu tantra or vaeshnavacara

ganapatya/ganapati tantra or ganapaticara

surya tantra or saoracara

These five tantra forms originated around 1400 years ago when the Puranic doctrine emerged (which would reduce Buddhism in India). Of the shaeva (shiva) tantra, the ganapatya tantra and the saora (surya) tantra hardly any writings have survived today. None of these tantra cults has ever become widespread.

Shaeva tantra

In summary, the Shiva Cult means that all outwardly directed life expressions are diverted to the inner world to eventually culminate in Shivasamadhi or the Unification with the Supreme Being. Because hardly any competent masters remain, the original characteristics of the shaeva tantra have been watered down. There are, however, the derived forms, such as the Siddhantacara, Vamacara and Kulacara, which are practiced in both Hindu and Buddhist tantras schools. There is also the rajadhiraja yoga in which the purest form of the shaeva tantra is processed.

Shakta tantra

This cult emphasizes transforming the static principle (tamasika shakti) to the moving principle (Kalika Shakti) and then back to the pure principle (Bhaeravi Shakti) and finally withdrawing it and merging it into the spiritual radiance (Kaoshiki Shakti or Mahasarasvati).

Vaeshnava tantra

Vishnoe is the all-pervading principle. The essential characteristic of the Vishnucultus or Vaeshnavacara is to realise the all-pervading Vishnu. Someone who practices this cult in a devotional way sees Vishnu in everything and everyone in the world instead of the limitations or peculiarities of the various individual expressions.

Ganapati tantra

Until the Puranic period in India there was still worship of the group leader as in the ganapativada, vinayakavada or ganeshavada. During the Puranic period this worship was transformed into a real cult with the worship of the leader of the universe (the Cosmic Consciousness). So in the ganapati tantra one tries to satisfy the group leader or ganapati.

Saora tantra

This cult originates from the Brahmins of Shakadviipa (present-day Uzbekistan, Greek name Sacdonia). They came to India quite late and were astrologers and teachers in Ayurveda. Saora means "someone who worships the sun god (Surya)". When it became a real cult, people started to see the sun god as the Father (creator) of the universe. This cult hardly got followers in India.

Tantra in Hinduism

Because tantra has existed alongside the Vedic religion for thousands of years, all kinds of aspects of the tantra have penetrated to Vedic Hinduism (and the Vedas). One difference with Vedic Hinduism is that the diksha or initiation is open to everyone, regardless of one's origin or status and that there are no castes within the tantra. Because the tantra has much more direct methods than the Vedic approach and moves outside the caste system (with its Brahminese priestly caste), the tantra occupies a somewhat separate place within Hinduism.

Tantra in Buddhism

The Theravada tradition contains no tantric elements. The Theravada generally takes a more conservative attitude towards changes in the content of the original teachings of the Buddha, and the scriptures in which they are preserved (the Pali-canon). The Mahayana, however, had a more open attitude to the introduction of new concepts and writings, which could complement or deepen the teachings of the Buddha.

Because of the practical nature of tantra and because it was less associated with the vedic religion, it was integrated into Bengali Mahayana Buddhism by Bengali Buddhists in the third century, after which this new form of Buddhism spread to India and other countries. In Buddhism, the tantra can be found today in Vajrayana, which occupies an important place in Tibetan Buddhism, but can also be found in China (Chen-Yen) and Japan (Shingon).

The current Mahayana, which is practiced in countries such as Taiwan and Korea, does not contain explicit tantric elements. Here the Tantra has become much more of a vision of life. Thus there is a tantric kitchen, way of architecture and urban planning, education and didactics, healing and guidance of people (Swedana), emotional body work and (Sweda).

Right-handed and left-handed tantra

Where the left-handed tantra believes that the individual need not be bound to what is considered socially acceptable, this is the case with the right-handed tantra. The sometimes extreme expressions of the left-handed tantra explain the distrust that exists among vedic priests and within the Buddhist Theravada tradition towards everything related to tantra. In India, the small minority of left-handed tantra practitioners is almost entirely outside of society.

In Europe and especially in the Netherlands, thanks to the sexual inhibition, since the 1960's a special attention for one of the partial aspects of left-handed tantra has arisen. The right-handed tantra emphasizes the control and transformation of the sexual energy that is dangerous for spiritual development.

source https://tantramassage.us/an-indepth-description-of-tantra-and-tantric-practices.html

[hudsonespie]

China Begins to Crack Down on Ecologically-Harmful Aquaculture Farms

[By Zhang Chun and Chen Mingzhi]

The Huiwen wetlands stretch nine miles along the northeast coast of Hainan, from Bamen bay next to the city of Wenchang down to Fengjia bay. (The name, used locally, comes from the nearby town of Huiwen.) Varying in width from one half to two and a half miles, the wetlands include large areas of tidal flats and mangrove swamp, which are protected at the provincial level by the Qinglan Mangrove Reserve. They are rich in biodiversity, home to several species of mangrove and over 340 types of mangrove mollusc. And over the winter, they host huge flocks of migratory birds, including endangered species such as Nordmann’s greenshank.

For years, the Qinglan reserve was also home to numerous aquaculture farms, mainly growing a species of sea snail called Babylonia lutosa. But in June this year, all 84 of the farms were removed for falling foul of China’s “ecological redline” rules against aquaculture in natural reserves.

The management of Huiwen’s environment has been a focus since 2017, when the Central Supervision Office of Ecological and Environmental Protection criticized the unregulated development of aquaculture in Hainan. The farms within the Qinglan Mangrove Reserve were specifically mentioned for damaging “shelterbelts” that protect against coastal erosion and storm surges. The following year, the Hainan Department of Agriculture’s plan for shallow waters and tidal flats gave new urgency to bringing aquaculture and effluent management up to government standards. This will be supported by the 14th Five Year Plan for the marine environment – due to be released later this year – of which the Ministry of Ecology and Environment’s “Beautiful Bays” campaign is a key part.

Standards are particularly high for the stretch of tropical coast where the Qinglan Mangrove Reserve lies, as Hainan is a demonstration province for China’s “blue ecological civilization”. Beyond simply removing fish and snail ponds to restore the wetlands, the local government is also keen to find a new balance between conservation and aquaculture. The farmers will be relocated to plots in designated areas or new “aquacultural buildings” where wastewater is handled centrally. Elsewhere, artificial wetlands are being created to filter effluent from the farms. Babylonia lutosa sea snail in a new aquaculture park in Huiwen

A textbook tropical coastline

As well as mangrove swamps, the Huiwen wetlands also boast coral reefs and seagrass meadows. This variety of coastal ecologies makes Huiwen rare, with some describing it as a “textbook tropical coast”. In 2016, it was designated one of the “10 coastal wetlands most worthy of attention” by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, as well as by other bodies. shellfish in Qinglan Mangrove Reserve

But this coastline also suits aquaculture, which needs clean water and stable temperatures. The Hainan Aquaculture Institute built the town of Huiwen’s first aquaculture farm back in 1989, producing shrimp larvae. That prompted other similar operations to start up within the town’s administrative area (which covers about half of the Huiwen wetlands), and it soon became famous for shrimp breeding. At one point, the monetary value of shrimp larvae bred in the town accounted for 30% of China’s total.

Huiwen town’s aquaculture farmers typically use most of their land to build ponds. The roofs help shade the animals inside from the tropical sun. (Image: Sun Nuo / China Dialogue Ocean)

Farmers didn’t, and still don’t, need a huge amount of money to get in on the action. While the farms within the Qinglan Mangrove Reserve have been removed, aquaculture sheds and ponds still line many roads in Huiwen town, often taking over both the front and back yards of people’s homes.

Huiwen town’s aquaculture is now well established, involving a thousand local households farming over 10,000 mu (1,650 acres). The need to draw and discharge water means that all these operations remain close to the sea. Tidal flats, shallow waters and harbours have all been put to use, with farmers growing not just shrimp and the Babylonia lutosa snail but also grouper and other fish.

Aquaculture vs the environment

All this development has put pressure on water quality and the environment. The farmers lay long pipes out into the sea, drawing in cool water, ideally from a depth of about 30 feet. Similar pipes are used to pump waste back into the ocean.

A mass of pipes stretches across Huiwen’s tidal flats to pump seawater into nearby aquaculture farms (Image: Sun Nuo / China Dialogue Ocean)

Unlike brightly coloured industrial effluent, the outflow from aquaculture operations doesn’t look polluted. In Yandun, an aquacultural village within Huiwen town’s borders, the wastewater is actually crystal clear. Juvenile fish that have escaped with the water swim unperturbed among the river reeds.

But this water contains large amounts of nitrogen and phosphorous that can cause eutrophication, an excess of nutrients. The effluent, discharged directly into the sea or arriving via Huiwen’s two rivers, means coastal water quality is not always up to standard.

Worse, the Qinglan reserve farmers dug channels for their water pipes across tidal flats, in the process damaging areas of seagrass. A paradise for bottom-dwellers, seagrass meadows provide food and habitats for numerous coastal species. But large expanses of the Huiwen wetland’s meadows – once home to half of Hainan’s seagrass species – have already disappeared. Now there are only scattered patches, usually of a single type of the grass.

Wastewater pollution from the aquaculture farms creates problems for the farmers too. Given the density of farms in Huiwen town, once wastewater is discharged, it’s understandable that other farms end up pumping some of the pollution back into their own ponds. If the wastewater contained pathogens, disease can spread quickly.

A local farmer explained that they “raise two to three crops of shrimp larvae a year, but disease can cause the loss of several consecutive batches”. The cost of electricity for pumping water alone can be up to 10,000 yuan ($1,500) a month. So if disease strikes, losses soon mount.

Wastewater from densely packed aquaculture farms in Yandun village is discharged directly into the local river (Image: Sun Nuo / China Dialogue Ocean)

‘Modernizing’ local aquaculture

With the criticism it meted out in 2017, the Central Supervision Office of Ecological and Environmental Protection also ordered changes. The clean-up started in ecological redline areas where development is, officially, strictly banned. Work to remove aquaculture and restore mangrove swamps got underway across the province.

Since 2019, almost 10,000 mu (1,650 acres) of aquaculture has been removed across the administrative area of Wenchang city, including the 84 aquaculture operations in the Qinglan Mangrove Reserve.

Although the aquaculture farms have now been removed from the Qinglan reserve, the farmers are still living in the houses they built there. The barren plots where their ponds used to be have been planted with sea hibiscus saplings. (Image: Sun Nuo / China Dialogue Ocean)

The removal of the snail farms in the reserve left barren patches of earth between the mangroves and the tidal flats. In an effort to speed the area’s recovery, the local government has planted sea hibiscus saplings. These trees are known as a “semi-mangrove” species because they can survive close to the ocean and are resistant to salt and waterlogging.

Although left without their farms, the farmers have not been abandoned. Some of them will be relocated by the government to a nearby “modern aquaculture park," still under construction and specially designed for the purpose. Their ponds will be housed in three-storey buildings, filled from a centralized pumping system.

The farming of larvae and juvenile fish requires the cleanest water, with constant pumping in and out. Wastewater is fed into a treatment pond outside the building, where it goes through several stages of filtration, which means it will easily meet Hainan’s aquaculture effluent discharge standards. The plan is to try using the processed water to farm adult shrimp and shellfish, which can cope with lower levels of purity.

But the new aquaculture park has one big problem: expense. It currently houses only four tenants, all in its demonstration building. They are farming a variety of species – including seaweeds – to experiment with this new system of “vertical” indoor aquaculture.

Meanwhile, in nearby Yandun, the farmers are trying another method to handle the effluent from their 320 aquaculture operations. Artificial wetlands are being engineered next to the river, into which wastewater is currently pumped. They will be planted with seagrape and Gracilaria seaweeds, which are good at removing things like nitrogen and phosphorous. This will be coupled with the chemical removal of pollutants. Once complete, it’s hoped the wetlands will be able to fully filter the 250 million gallons of effluent the farms produce every day, and ensure the water leaving the village meets government standards.

These efforts, and others in the wider Wencheng area, mean new hope for the protection and restoration of Huiwen’s precious wetlands. They also show how hard China is working to find sustainable ways to develop – ways that can accommodate both nature and human activity.

This August saw the completion of a five-year process to divide China’s shallow waters and tidal flats into areas where aquaculture is banned, restricted or permitted. The upcoming 14th Five Year Plan for the marine environment is likely to set new quality requirements for both water and seafood products. As such, it’s hoped that in the next five years we will see further improvements in both the sustainability of aquaculture and the coastal environments on which it relies.

Zhang Chun is a senior researcher at China Dialogue.

Chen Mingzhi is communications director with the ChinaBlue Sustainability Institute.

This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here. 

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/china-begins-to-crack-down-on-damaging-aquaculture-farms via http://www.rssmix.com/

[yehet-me-up]

Kim Minseok 김민석 (Xiumin) 😺 Overview

Minseok, stage name Xiumin (a combination of the Chinese reading of hanja characters 秀 (xiù), which means great or show, and 珉 (mín)), is a South Korean singer and actor. He is a vocalist, rapper, and dancer in EXO, as well as EXO-CBX, of which he is also the leader. 

This post is part of an effort to celebrate the accomplishments of EXO over the past 10 years and to provide tangible avenues for supporting these artists in 2022 (when they will likely be leaving SM Ent.) and beyond 🖤

Xiumin learned martial arts and has a black belt in Kendo and Taekwondo. He also trained in Wushu and Fencing. Xiumin is also known as an avid fan of football, and is an honorary ambassador of the Korea Football Association. Though we have not received *official* confirmation from Minseok, it’s been widely verified that he has completed his Master’s Degree and his Doctorate (PhD)!

He has not yet released a solo album, but from hints in recent interviews, it’s very likely that we’ll get his solo debut KMS1 sometime in 2022 🥳 One of his first starring roles, in Falling for Challenge, was the most watched web drama in South Korea in 2015, reaching 20 million views just after 17 days. 

Xiumin enlisted for his mandatory military service on May 7, 2019, serving as an active duty soldier. He was discharged December 6, 2020 and has returned to television and musicals to our great delight. It’s often a surprise to new fans that Minseok is the oldest in EXO, as his humor, enthusiasm, and energy (as well as his adorable laugh) make him feel like one of the maknaes. We’re so excited to see what he’ll do next! Please join me in celebrating EXO’s 😺

🎵 Singles and OSTs 🎶

⇢ You Are The One Falling for Challenge OST (2015) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance  ⇢ Call You Bae with AOA’s Jimin (2016) Non-Album Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Recording ⇢ Young & Free with NCT’s Mark (2017) SM Station ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance ⇢ Beyond with Beatburger Project (2018) Special Recording ∴ Live Performance ⇢ You (이유) (2019) Non-Album Single ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Live Performance | Behind the scenes | Interview ⇢ To My One and Only You from Mr. Queen Pt.7 OST (2021) ∴ Music Video | Lyrics | Recording

🎭 Acting Roles and Reality Show Appearances 🎭

⇢ (2014) Crime Scene tv variety show ⇢ (2015) Falling for Challenge web drama - Na Do Joen ⇢ (2015) School of Oz musical - Aquila ⇢ (2016) Seondal: The Man Who Sells The River film - Gyeon ⇢ (2016) Travel Without Manager reality show - self (with Chen) ⇢ (2017) Korea From Above documentary - narration (with Suho) ⇢ (2017) It’s Dangerous Beyond The Blankets reality show ⇢ (2019) Heart4U reality show ∴ episodes w/subtitles ⇢ (2019) Return: The Promise of The Day Army musical - Kim Seung-ho ⇢ (2020) Return Army musical - Hyun-min ⇢ (2020) Things That Make Me Groove variety show (with Baekhyun) ⇢ (2021) Drink With God tv variety show ∴ Season 1 episodes | Season 2 ⇢ (2021) Xiumin’s Tennis King reality show ⇢ (2021) Hadestown musical - Orpheus ∴ Interview 🏆 Awards 🏆

🌟 Miscellaneous 🌟

⇢ 2018 Life Bar talk show episodes with subtitles ⇢ In 2013, Xiumin and actress Kim Yoo-jung guest starred in the music video for the song "Gone" by South Korean singer Jin ⇢ Solo fan meeting concert, Xiuweet Time, at Jamsil Arena on May 4th, 2019 ⇢ Comeback Vlive, Let It XIUnow, Dec 12th, 2020 ⇢ Q&A with Cosmopolitan Korea ⇢ Allure Korea interview ⇢ YSNEAKERS x ASTELL&ASPR fashion collab interview ⇢ TVXQ Changmin’s FREEHUG special with Xiumin ⇢ 2014 FashionKode Ambassador interview ⇢ Magazine Covers listed here

⇢ Follow Minseok on Instagram @ e_xiu_o

Thank you for supporting EXO Xiumin 😘

And if you want to help spread this post to folks who haven’t experienced the magic of Minseok yet, please reblog this and tell me what your favorite Minseok moments and performances are! ✨

#minseok #xiumin #exo #exo cbx #exo minseok #exo xiumin #kim minseok #kpop

[architectnews]

Wetland Museum in Huailai, Hebei Building

Wetland Museum Huailai, Zhangjiakou Building, Hebei Architecture Images, China Design

Wetland Museum In Huailai, Hebei Province

29 July 2021

Architects: Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co.,Ltd.

Location: Zhangjiakou, northwestern Hebei Province, Northern China

TENIO | Wetland Museum In Huailai

Photos by AWESOME-ZHOU XINRAN

Wetland Museum Huailai Building

This wetland museum is located in the largest wetland near Beijing, which is the home for 40 species of resident birds and a pathway of 151 species of migratory birds. The museum disseminates wetland knowledge to tourists, especially teenagers, and educates and trains popular science enthusiasts with the help of forestry administrations.

The overall goal of the project is to achieve a building that minimizes disturbance to the wetland and integrated into the nature, and includes three main goals respectively micro impact, zero emission and full cycling. The way to achieve the goal is to firstly use the annular floating strategy that elevates the building over the wetland, and then utilize low-energy building design, self-cycling equipment and assembled construction.

PROCESS——A full cycling museum of wetland education

The vulnerability of the environment in wetlands requires minimization of the output of buildings to nature. Starting from design, the museum realizes full cycling of materials, energy and water system. The building uses the prefabricated steel structure, and realizes material cycling in whole life cycle, from factory manufacturing to on-site installation and removal. It utilizes solar energy and air energy to realize energy cycling.

PLANET——Achieving friendliness to birds in natural wetland by micro impact and zero emission

The building uses an elevated structure over the site to reduce the occupation of wetland as much as possible, and restores natural wetland within the site. At the same time, the wetland landscape is compensated on the roof of the building, so that the net loss of wetland is zero.

Antibacterial copper plate is selected for the building skin, and this material will be gradually oxidized from golden yellow to copper green and integrated with the environment. The gap between the skin and the building and the exterior suspended ceiling will become the birds’ nests. Based on to research results, the pattern of glass curtain wall is designed with 100x50mm grids that is sensitive to bird vision to prevent birds from hitting by mistake.

Rainwater is recycled through collection and reclaimed water treatment. Considering that there is no sewage pipeline in the site, a mechanical + natural filtration and purification system is built for sewage treatment to realize zero sewage discharge to wetland ecosystem.

PLACE——A building integrated into and adapted to the wetland environment

Considering the landscape environment of the wetland park, the building is arranged on the site in the form of a floating ring. The space and form take into account the common attention to people and creatures. The courtyard connected with the nature and the elevated space allow birds, small animals and people to enter the semi-enclosed site in 24 hours, achieving symbiosis of the building and the environment.

The building corresponds to the huge scale of the environment with the overall floating horizontal form, and the sense of rhythm of the copper skin corresponds to the texture of the green forest on the site.

From the perspective of carbon sink, the building reduces land occupation as much as possible. The elevated building returns the natural space to the wetland. The enclosed outdoor courtyard is connected with the natural site through the elevated layer. The outdoor environment keeps the natural ecology of the wetland as well as the tall pagoda trees and Chinese pine forests around the building.

The public space of the building forms a dramatic building space with the help of natural lighting, colored photovoltaic corridor and special-shaped main stairs. The exhibition hall has vision contact with the natural landscape, making the vast landscape of the wetland park the most spectacular exhibit of the museum.

Wetland Museum In Huailai, China – Building Information

Project name：Wetland Museum In Huailai Gross Built Area：8446㎡ Project address：Zhangjiakou, northwestern Hebei province, People’s Republic of China Architectural Design：Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co.,Ltd. Architect：Ren Jun, Jiang Nan, Fu Yingjun, Guo Runbo, Chen Ran, Di Yang

Structure: Wang Zhiyong, Meng Lesa Equipment Engineer: Liu Bing, Chen Jian, Yang Hui Construction unit: Huailai Forestry Bureau Construction unit: MCC Tiangong Group Co., Ltd Construction drawing design: Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co.,Ltd. , BCCI Landscape design: Tianjin Huafang Zhujing Environment Landscape Design Co.,Ltd. Curtain wall design: Gasun Construction Group Exhibition Design: Shanghai Fengyuzhu Culture Technology Co.,Ltd. Copper curtain wall: Shanghai Huayuan New Composite Materials Co.,Ltd. Park planning: Chinese Institute of Urban Scientific Planning and Design Completion date: October 1, 2019

Project photography: AWESOME-ZHOU XINRAN

Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co., Ltd.

As one of the fastest growing, most service capable and growth potential of China, Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co., Ltd. focuses on urban and regional development related comprehensive design and consulting, provides clients with systematic and whole process intelligence services in the field of urban construction, and devotes itself to creating better environment, city and residence for people.

Technical capacity of Tenio covers regional planning and design, architectural design, landscape design, interior design, green building design and consulting, BIM consulting, design optimization, design management, construction drawing examination, project operation consulting, and so on. It has developed a mature service mode in which research and development is taken as engine, planning and consulting as leader, technology as core, resource operation as support, engineering management and operation consulting as guarantee.

The company, an important promoter of low-carbon city design and green building design in China, has the ability to fully participate in whole process design of low-carbon ecological urban area, and has domestically leading technical capacity and practical experience. Tenio website：http://www.tenio.com

International Active House Awards CATEGORY WINNER.

Wetland Museum in Huailai, Hebei Building, China images / information received 290721 from Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co.,Ltd.

Location: Huailai County, Zhangjiakou, northwestern Hebei province, People’s Republic of China

Hebei province Buildings

Contemporary Architecture in Hebei province – architectural selection below:

Hebei Grand Hotel, Anyue, Shijiazhuang Architects: LWK + PARTNERS photograph : LWK + PARTNERS Hebei Grand Hotel, Anyue in Shijiazhuang

Xingtai Grand Theater

Dingshi Logistics Office Building Hebei

Da Chang Muslim Cultural Center, Hebei

Housing Post-covid Competition, Xiong’an New City Design: Guallart Architects, Barcelona image courtesy of architects practice Housing Post-covid Competition

Architecture in China

Chinese Architecture Designs – chronological list

Chinese Architect – Design Practice Listings

Beijing Architecture Tours

Han Shang Lou Restaurant, Phoenix island, Xiangqiao District, Chaozhou, Guangdong Province Architects: Jingu Phoenix Space Planning Organization photograph : MConcept New Restaurant in Guangdong

Xiamen HAIGAN Xiaoyouyu Seafood Restaurant, Huli District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province Architects: Xiamen Fancy Design & Decoration photograph : Jin Weiqi Seafood Restaurant in Xiamen City

Aedas Architects

Xixi National Wetland Park in China

Keppel Cove Marina & Clubhouse, Zhongshan, Guangdong Design: UNStudio, Architects photo : Tom Roe Marina at Keppel Cove Zhongshan

Chinese Buildings

Comments / photos for the Wetland Museum in Huailai, Hebei Building design by Tenio Architecture and Engineering Co.,Ltd. page welcome

The post Wetland Museum in Huailai, Hebei Building appeared first on e-architect.

#e-architect

[dailykoreanpop]

EXO’s Chanyeol Confirmed To Enlist In The Military Next Month

Chanyeol’s enlistment date has been announced.

On February 26, SM Entertainment confirmed, “Chanyeol will be enlisting as an active duty soldier on March 29.” The agency continued, “His enlistment location and time will not be revealed, and no special events will take place.”

He will be the fifth EXO member to enlist following Xiumin and D.O. who have already been discharged and Suho and Chen who are currently serving.

Ahead of his enlistment news, Chanyeol recently wrote a letter opening up to fans and expressing gratitude.

Source (1)

Credit: Soompi

#exo #Park Chanyeol #chanyeol #SMtown #SM entertainment #soompi

[cnexportbusiness]

Jokes and air purifiers: life of Beijingers in the days of smog

As with many of the country’s more solemn situations, the choking smog blanketing Beijing since Monday has evoked such wisecracks from social media users making light of the dire air situation.

In the past few days, jokes on the topic have become one of the most discussed threads on China’s largest microblogging site Sina Weibo.

But despite the light-hearted approach to the pernicious atmosphere, the capital’s residents are feeling the impact of what is the most severe bout of smog in Beijing since July.

The National Meteorological Center (NMC) upgraded Tuesday’s yellow alert to orange, the second highest, on Thursday afternoon. It suggested people stay indoors and wear masks if going out.

Dou Chen returned from the UK to China this February. Since coming home, she has suffered from a nettle rash for five months. A blood test found that she is allergic to substances in the air.

“When I travel outside Beijing, my symptoms are relieved,” she said. But in the past two days, the rash worsened.

In the Guang’anmen Hospital, a doctor told her the symptom were affected by the smog.

An unnamed staff member with the Beijing Children’s Hospital told Xinhua although they haven’t seen an obvious rise of patient numbers yet because the smog just started, they were told to prepare for a peak in respiratory problems.

Wang Xia, 34, is a teacher with the No. 25 Middle School. “Whenever persistent smog occurs, more students ask for sick leave,” she said. “In a class with about 40, once more than 10 students left in the afternoon.”

The environment watchdog in Beijing blamed farmers’ burning fields of straw for causing the smog, an allegation doubted by Beijingers.

But Li Lixin, an air pollution treatment official with the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, said a satellite test conducted during the summer of 2013 showed a discharge from widespread straw fires could drive up the PM 2.5 reading in Beijing from 110 to 460 micrograms per cubic meter in a few hours.

Still, web users question the charge.

“Agriculture has been a vital industry in China for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and it is the tradition in rural areas to burn straw after autumn harvest and plough to bury the ashes in the ground as fertilizer,” said a Weibo user nicknamed Sunflower. “But why we didn’t have smog in the past,”

At such criticism, Wang Yu, head of the energy ecology department of the Beijing Agricultural Bureau, admits pollutants were mainly from motor vehicle exhausts, coal burning, industrial production and dust, rather than burning straw.

“But this is the season for burning straw, coinciding with a special climate which features high humidity and lack of wind,” he said. “It was like the straw that breaks the camel’s back, worsening the air pollution.”

Beijing and its surrounding provinces have banned straw burning. And anti-smog measures didn’t stop there.

In addition to the straw ban, the city pledged to replace coal with cleaner burning energy like electricity and natural gas for domestic use. They also hope to curb coal sales and use by the end of 2020, as well as other high-pollution fuels, such as fuel oil, petroleum coke, combustible waste and some biomass fuel.

Beijing has also raised the discharging fees for major pollutants such as sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide this year.

Li Lixin noted that it might take time to see the achievements of such measures, but the government has attached great importance to the issue, and people’s awareness of environmental protection has improved.

In the meantime, Beijingers are avoiding the outdoors and doling out thousands to protect themselves indoors.

An old man surnamed Cheng said his friends with asthma and bronchitis would remind each other not to go out in smoggy days.

Wang Xia’s school has stopped outdoor activities for students. “What if we could have air cleaners installed in each classroom,” she said.

According to a Mr. Zhang, a sales representative of electrical appliance brand SHARP on e-commerce platform JD.com, sales of air purifiers almost doubled in the past two days.

Fu Baoling, a retired worker, just bought a purifier for 2,100 yuan (about 342.6 U.S. dollars). “My granddaughter is young, so I bought this especially for her,” she said. “I don’t know whether this is effective or not. I just hope the sky could clear up soon.”

Source: Jokes and air purifiers: life of Beijingers in the days of smog

#Purifier – Release Quality Products To Let Global See