#danmei stories

[izartn]

So, about how I see Link Click's Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi relationship:

As it stands in canon? Queerplatonic partners. And it's convenient for the plot that they're like this.

Because of Chinese censorship it can't be explicitly romantic, yes I know it. Let me tell why it's queerplatonic for me. The way these two have intertwined their lives and futures together?!

Owning a business and living together, that hint in ep2 (comparing them to the subtextually older lesbian couple who also came across as queerplatonic bc censure) where Xiaoshi wonders/fears if years down the line he and Lu Guang will separate/break up implying their partnership is for life as far as he's concerned (the parallel can be taken as a subtext romance too but follow me we're talking text), the way they were already going also on vacancies together three years prev in canon, etc...

Without entering on their complimentary powers and the way the dives need both of them if they want security in not screwing the past, and the inmense trust and vulnerability the dives themselves require?

They're not simply best friends either.

Those aren't the actions of normal, totally not queer friends. Cheng Xiaoshi checks out women on the dives, sure, (and men too when the host is feeling it which I love bc they can't address it directly bc censorship and then it comes across as Xiaoshi being super confident in his own relationship to sexuality/gender) but I don't think he would ever date bc Lu Guang is already there, filling that place in his life minus sex and romance but all that same companionship and intensity of feeling.

These two meet in what, the last year/s of High School and then proceeded to latch onto each other with a commitment reserved for romantic partners.

And I know you want to say, "it's the censorship! they'd be romantic and canon if not for the censorship!"

Are you sure? Are you sure the story would work if there were explicit romance in it? (I mean, if they could I'm pretty sure they would have nailed it anyways but allow me my a-spec delusions) Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang feel so much like an already established pair, they work like one, and Link Click is not about them coming together like many other stories. Are you sure this would work as BL?

There's a distinct difference on the way they start the show already like six years at least since they're best friends and three or two since they live together. That's not usually how it goes. I'm talking not just romances but every buddy or nakama anime/show, where the protag has to learn to work with who will be his best friend or rival. These stories usually have the same kind of plot progression as a romance which is why they work so well when you make the subtext text.

But a story where the main romance is already established and we're following a plot that has nothing to do with it? Much more rare, even stranger to find them well done although there are some very good ones and with the friendships instead of romo they're more common. For example, Soul Eater, which is all about the trials of it and how they hace to truly come to understand each other. That's Link Click a bit, but not even then.

Link Click juggling a budding romance between Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi with all the other stuff is going on?? Messier for sure. I don't know if people would have liked it as much or if the donghua would have been as well done.

As it is, Link Click has the exact level of emotional connection between our protags it needs to have incredibly high stakes emotionally and at the same time not need a detour by romantic scenes/fanservice that would derail the plot or the other charas importance. That it happens to be pretty queer anyways in a platonic way?

Nice for the aroace-spec folks watching the show xD

Btw, I'm pretty sure in season 3 we're going to get more of Lu Guang's PoV, the origins of their powers and the past between him and Xiaoshi. It'll probably dig more into the aspect of "testing their bond and coming stronger bc of it" which is were the romantic subtext usually comes through...

—unless you're very very good at writing like Arakawa in FMA, who nailed the brotherly relationship without tipping into incest subtext which I've seen more than a few writers fumble. or the latest D&D film for the platonic childrearing and partnership for a no familial example between a man and a woman also very very difficult to get right for writers dunno why—

... but until then, for now I'm incredibly satisfied by the canon.

The other read of course it that they're already a couple since well before the start of season 1, and to mentally edit what we saw in canon with that lens (it wouldn't be very difficult honestly) but reading only the text? Queerplatonic partners!

There also how Xiaoshi and Lu Guang don't have that anxiety/insecurity of their bond that makes it so easy to read the want for something, like a romance for shipping purposes. Despite the disagreements on the Dives or the trials of season 2 or Lu Guang keeping secret Cheng Xiaoshi future/past death they read very steady which is fun. I love some good established relationship, you can go to deeper places when the base is already secure and the risk is higher for the characters. Plus I love domesticity! Yes, I do my angsty/Gothic leanings notwithstanding. Don't you know you need a home for the Gothic to be effective?

#link click #meta #link click meta #lu guang #cheng xiaoshi #shiguang #my thoughts #all of this to say that I don't exactly ship them #Although I've been tagging fanart and meta with their shipname #bc I dont not ship them #honestly? #it's because despite it all I'm very much a canon girl so I can't help but see shiguang on that same romo-not romo limbo #canon present us with #loving the fics though #and Lu Guang is so tragic timetraveler for love coded is not funny #which is the reason I'm sure season 3 will give me that shift towards a more romantic lense to their relationship #also the way they made sure to sibling-fy qiao ling and cheng xiaoshi was fun XD #in conclusion: I think Link Click being a danmei wouldn't have worked #precisely bc it wasnt created as danmei the story as it is works almost perfectly #and right now Im not sure if I would want the romance at the expense of everything else the plot is doing #....qiang jin jiu did it well on the second half though #but it had the first part to go from a enemies-to-lovers and establishing the romance #I don't think I've seen a danmei start with a established romantic relationship bc the genre being a romance tells you that's #what's going to be centered #link click would had to be a just a time travel thriller with queer elements (which it is) #and I don't know #I'd love it but I bet we'll have lots of people annoyed/annoying bc they're here for the romance #Instead of taking the story for what it is #but then romance (queer romance) doesn't devalue the storytelling #ah the conflict of wanting a-spec queer stories VS censorship

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Beefleaf isn't canon. Mxtx has said she doesn't like to write another gay ship different from the main (she struggled with svsss)

I have heard about this! The content I saw was just so insistent about Beefleaf that I wondered if maybe I was misremembering and the "no same-gender side couples" thing applied to MDZS only. (I have gotten similar vibes from Moshang and from whatever Yue QIngyuan and Shen Jiu's ship name is, but I've now obtained Vol. 1 of SVSSS and plan to read it, so if those two aren't actually canon, don't tell me! It can be a surprise!)

The "no side couples"--or, in MDZS's case, "no queer characters AT ALL besides the protag, his love interest, and the disgraced goth weirdo who annihilates himself to resurrect the protag"--thing confuses me, because... I guess I don't get the point of it? I totally understand not having the bandwidth to develop more than one couple. The challenge of adequately building up other relationships fully independent of your main couple without detracting from the exploits of your protagonist and his love interest could be daunting, as would expanding the story's focus and juggling multiple equally-prominent lead characters for an effective ensemble piece. But here it seems like people picked up a vibe between the characters from what was already there in the text and then MXTX was like, "oh, no, they're not a couple! there's just the one couple!" and THAT I don't get. If she's disinterested in writing women, but has a cast of attractive men who are all obsessed with each other, why not toss a romance in there between some of the guys? Again, you can keep it entirely as-is and just toss a kiss in there or confirm in interviews that yes, they were in love, and you're so happy readers picked up on that even though you didn't get to tell their full story on the page.

I am extrapolating based on the Xiyao situation specifically, so maybe this doesn't apply to her other works! But it is a choice that confuses me. A couple doesn't have to be that developed; Xuanli certainly aren't, but their existence is a major plot point. I should think that the presence of other m/m couples would bolster the main couple, if anything, because it sets a precedent for them existing in their world. There are situations where adding an expressly romantic element would change something fundamental about the relationship, but there are just as many where the addition of a romantic element changes nothing or makes it make more sense (case in point: Xue Yang's freakout after killing Xiao Xingchen).

Like I said, I get not wanting to devote energy to it, and I also get that sometimes a work or performance is received by the audience in ways the artist didn't intend (this is the Destiel website, after all), but to make it a conscious choice to have One M/M Couple Only? Based on what I currently know, this perplexes me.

#there are plenty of works that have a bajillion guys and only like two women but do NOT intend anything romantic between the guys #but these are things like shounen anime (or fuckin SPN lol) that are written for straight male audiences and don't prioritize romance #whereas these here are epic romances about two gay men written for predominantly female audiences #it's not like your audience is going to be like 'a romance between two DIFFERENT men in my m/m love story? outrage!' right? #anyway the 'nobody likes men except the protags' is so funny in MDZS because of Xuexiao specifically #notable danmei author MXTX I find it very unlikely that the plot you repurposed from an earlier novel project was Just Guys Being Dudes!! #unrebloggable bc this fandom gets WEIRD when ppl say anything that could even be construed as critical of craft

[endless-nightshift]

I believe in my heart the Luo Binghe was always supposed to be Bi or Pan but Shang Qinghua never included it cause he knew his audience and knew it would tank his readership so he simply never mentioned Luo Binghe being attracted to men (he always was).

#you cant tell me that mans not a little queer himself #look at the men he writes #no straight man could write Luo Binghe or Mobi Jun #even the original flavors #not to mention #the way he talked about Mobi Jun in his short story? #fruity as fuck #mxtx svsss #svsss #scumbag self saving system #scumbag villain #scum villian self saving system #scum villain #scumbag system #danmei

[whoviandoodler]

one of the things that makes mdzs SUCH a great story is the fact that it's a tragedy with queer protagonists, but their queerness isn't the cause or the center of the tragedy. it's not even related, really. it's a story about love and loss and wrong and right, about what we owe each other and what we owe ourselves, about how you can find joy even amidst chaos and grief; its complexity and tragedy is what makes it so profound and touching. sure, there's 'casual' queerphobia in the story, but with everything else going on, it's not really relevant- wwx's mostly like, 'oh, i like guys? i like lwj? i love lwj? fuck, what if he doesn't love me back? am i being presumptuous to think he returns my feelings? what do I do now?' followed by 'wait, he loves me back??? we're getting married IMMEDIATELY', and that whole attitude is very refreshing because sometimes you just want to read a queer story that isn't about queer suffering but that's still incredibly miserable, and i think we as a queer community deserve it

#mdzs #lwj #wwx #lan wangji #wei wuxian #mdzs thoughts #dan talks #wangxian #obviously the story has its issues but. FFUCK i just want something to break my heart w/o having to read thru queer trauma #ik danmei in theory isnt aimed at queer audiences but compared to like. some of 'made for cisshet women' queer man content ive read in #the past mdzss iss a breath of fresh air. imo most issues lie w the sex scenes and the INSANE lack of lube but. #ill forgive it this once #their dynamic and love story is otherwise great. just dont take it ass sex ed lol ud fucking die #the sex scenes are funny tho. im always cackling and going YOURE GOING TO KILL EACH OTHER GOD SLOW DOWN #also in gen we need to uh. do better w tws bcs theres a LOT of noncon rp in there and i didnt see it mentioned anywhere in the fandom after #hours of being around it. books do tws plssss someones going to run headfirst into there and not have a good time

[bellaroles]

Finished reading Heaven official’s blessing. It’s so damn romantic! I can’t help but be moved by their journey. Still, there’re so many side plots that still not properly cleared up and I really want to know more.

#hua cheng #xie lian #tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #i want to know more about #mu qing and feng xin resolved? conflict? #hua cheng’s story in details during his time in the vocano and how e ming was forged #ling wen hx with the cursed brocade #he xuan and shi qingxuan!! #pei ming and yushi huang no i dont want romance btw them i just wanna see how they become platonic friends #quan yizhen and omg poor yin yu so so many misunderstandings i want a happy ending for them too #no i dont wanna know anything more about qi rong lol #tgcf #mxtx tgcf #mxtx #san lang #hualian fanart #danmei #hualian

[turtlestm]

that's it. i caved and bought the fish mpreg novel. wish me luck

#mpreg #the disabled tyrant's beloved pet fish #this will be my second danmei and its a transmigration story huehuehuehue #i want to know how the pregnancy happens #.. for scientific reasons #danmei tumblr #also i love how the mc's name means “carp” in chinese

[grassbreads]

Tell me how I, the gal with terminal "can't stop thinking about Tai Sui" disease, read hundreds of thousands of words of Mo Du over the course of months, starting right after I finished Tai Sui, yet it took me until right now in this instant to put together the Fei Du->Zhou Ying parallel

Like. Here's the favored son of a man who is incredibly powerful and morally bankrupt. He hates his dad and would be quite happy to commit patricide, should he get the opportunity, but he doesn't directly do so because it wouldn't suit his schemes. He has spent his entire life since his teenage years painstakingly putting together the chess pieces necessary to both destroy his dad and unravel the truth of a grand unknowable conspiracy that has haunted his entire life. He's a genius and the way his mind works is utterly incomprehensible to everyone else in the world, even those who know and love him best. The right kind of placid smile from him can be the most terrifying thing anybody has ever seen. He is willing to use himself up and toss himself out completely if it is the means to the final end of his schemes.

It's just that with Fei Du, the whole point of him is that he's not nearly so terrible as he thinks he is. He's not a psychopath. He's not cruel, regardless of how much empathy he may or may not naturally have. He's just spectacularly traumatized by his childhood. And the presence of Luo Wenzhou in his life both saves him from spiraling down into his original epic self-destructive plot and allows him to access his buried human emotions.

Then, 5 years later, Priest came back to revisit some of the same ideas and turn absolutely all of them up to eleven. She wrote a man who doesn't just think differently from others, but who perceives the world so wildly differently from anyone else that his experience of existence is utterly incomprehensible to his peers. She wrote a patricidal prince who doesn't just want to destroy his father and his company, then tear out the truth of a criminal conspiracy, but rather wants to destroy his father and his entire country, then tear out the truth of the sky itself. She wrote a man who genuinely doesn't give a single damn about anyone other than himself and his tiny tiny selection of loved ones. Who would destroy the entire world in a fit of vengeance and who uses his own willingness to kill innocents as leverage against others. She wrote a man who plans to achieve his goals by way of epic self destruction and does exactly that, leaving the main character's loss of him as the central beating tragedy in the otherwise best possible ending.

She also wrote a story in which, when Zhou Ying's closest and most loved person realizes the dark and scheming truth of him, rather than saying "I can fix him; I don't think he's really so bad," he says "yeah, this is my cousin and he's a terrible menace who tries to destroy the world sometimes. I love him more than anything."

You can absolutely see how Priest's interest in similar ideas informed both characters. It's just that Fei Chengyu didn't succeed in raising his perfect little sociopath successor, but Emperor Taiming and the demons of the impassible sea absolutely succeeded in Jokerizing Prince Zhuang. They just couldn't possibly anticipate the kind of monster that the demon of the east sea would become.

#ok technically this is a bit of a called shot for me about Fei Du #I'm still in the middle of book 5 #but like. he's not gonna die or go full evil. he's the love interest in a danmei #and the story up until this point has VERY clearly been about lwz showing Fei Du how human he still is #and pulling him back from the brink of something dark #it's an I can fix him romance #so it'd make no sense for the story to make a sudden 180. and I think priest knows better #mo du is about a good man trying to force himself into darkness and being saved #and about how he never realized how much he wanted that salvation. but he did want it. it drew him to lwz I think #tai sui. as others have said. is about the tragedy of trying to save someone that GENUINELY does not want to be saved #that shakes off your attempts to help them whenever possible and is genuinely good at doing so #idk man I just love fucked up little guys #tai sui #mo du #silent reading #fei du #zhou ying #prince zhuang #andie reads silently #also side note. but it was SO hard to decide which blog to put this on lol #it's part of my mo du liveblog. which goes on main #but also tai sui meta. which goes on morethanwonderful #augh. #long post #tai sui spoilers

[travelling-on-the-octopath]

Decided to go back and review previous Princes chapters. Things have changed, which means I'm going to push back any publishing until I've got more in the tank. Hopefully we'll get an update before the two-year mark 🙏🏻

#i love this fic you guys don't understand. i can't abandon her. #and also because of how much danmei I've been reading I've adjusted my relationship with INCREDIBLY long works #that's the power of homosexuals babey #fe #fe3h #s writes #princes of silver and gold #re: the long works thing - i know fanfics and webnovels aren't one and the same #but the possibility (and MASSIVE success) of such long stories existing as a cohesive individuals makes me excited #obviously as they get put to paper they get broken up #but that also just helps me with narrative structure #SO #all that being said #expect good things this year 😛 #rewriting is nasty. alas it must be done.

[wrongplaceworsttime]

yue wuhuan seething with jealousy while song qingshi is mentally diagnosing women at brothels is hilarious

#started a new danmei heeeeeeeey #for the heavy themes this story has it sure is funny as fuck sometimes #yue wuhuan #song qingshi #mistakenly saving the villain #misvil #misvil 14 #my caps

[blpalace]

The BL Palace Winter Anthology now concludes with one final tale!

Today, a mage and an adventurer investigate a dungeon realm in

Your Presence Warms My Soul by Nahrenne

Congratulations to the anthology organizers and contributors, and thank you so much to everyone who came by to read our stories!

Please follow us here, or at BL Palace on Scribblehub, or come join our discord to talk BL writing and reading and stay up-to-date on news of future BL Palace events!

#boys love #yaoi #danmei #bxb #mxm #original writing #original fiction #short story #winter #anthology #bl palace #scribblehub

[demonic0angel]

The CN novels that inspired Ghost Games

All of these story recommendations have mlm or gay romances!! I wish I could offer other kinds of romance/horror CN novels but none of them inspire me much. Click on the names for the links!

Don't Pick Up Boyfriends From the Trash Bin: (recommended) A man dies and a system gets attached to him, before he goes into multiple worlds and saves the people he transmigrates into

(A brilliant webnovel that I absolutely adore because it manages to circumvent every bad stereotype of QT novels but the translations are slow. Ghost Games is specifically inspired by its 5th arc) [UNCOMPLETED]

Supernatural Movie Actor App: (recommended) A man finds an app where he has to "act" in horror movies to earn points for his wish to make his lover a body

(An amazing webnovel that is filled with fun, action, and suspense; the main characters are brilliant and I loved how each arc keeps you excited) [COMPLETED]

Card Room: A policeman and a forensic scientist accidentally fall into a game where they have to go through different trials in order to survive

(A fun and mysterious novel, tho it's very long (around 500 chapters) and I stopped halfway through) [COMPLETED]

Edit: I finished it! I recommend it only if you have the time to read it through, and although the ending suffered bc the author got lazy, it was actually a fun and interesting read! The cards/trials were all super interesting, so I had fun! (Recommended)

Kaleidoscope of Death: (recommended) A man accidentally enters the 12 doors, which is a supernatural event that can either save him or kill him

(Everyone and their mother is in the reviews section with EXACTLY identical reviews: "this novel is great but the plot twist is trash. Five stars" 💀. I agree with them. A fantastic and HELLA scary novel but as long as you avoid the extras (which holds the plot twist), the novel is amazing. After reading it, I was afraid to open cabinets for a while and no longer feared death 😔 it is so bloody) [COMPLETED]

High Energy QR Code: (recommended) A man tries to investigate his brother's death, and in doing so, falls into a game world

(I really enjoyed this fic bc it's similar to Supernatural Movie Actor App where the MC is naturally intelligent without seeming obnoxious, and the stories and arcs are all well thought out, creative, and fun. There's also somewhat found family, which I love. It was so much better than what I was expecting, but then again, the author has always made amazing stories (They’ve literally created the most highly rated novel on NovelUpdates and that novel inspired me as a person fr fr no cap. Highly recommend!!! It will change your life!!)) [UNCOMPLETED]

A Crowd of Evil Spirits Line Up to Confess to Me: A man who can see ghosts gets pulled into a ghost game, but there's always a ghost in it that seems to fall in love with him

(A fun novel with a protagonist that is kind but doesn't feel like Virgin Mary, but the translations are slow and I stopped reading bc of it) [UNCOMPLETED]

Non-Human Seeing Re-Employment: An ancient ghost finally gets his own human body before he gets sucked into a horror game

(A nonsensical and crackish webnovel with overpowered MC and ML; read it for fun, not for plot) [COMPLETED]

After the Little Crybaby Enters the Nightmare Cycle: A ghost gains a new body and then gets himself transported into a horror game to earn wishes

(Actually, I dropped this story really early on bc it was like… a less interesting and more boring version of Supernatural Movie Actor App 😶 like it had nearly all the same ideas but it was executed quite plainly and when I caught myself complaining about it, I realized I didn’t have to suffer through it so I dropped it. It’s not bad, just ordinary imo. One of its arcs DID inspire me tho so… you can make your own opinions about it) [COMPLETED]

#story recommendation #danmei #ghost game au #dpxdc #dcxdp #if you’d like to chat more about my recs or CN novels in general I am here and willing to talk :3 #don’t be afraid :))) ask me questions :))) go on :))) ask :))) #feel free to ask questions #cn novels #translated literature

[web-novel-polls]

Less Popular Danmei Character Tournament - Round 1 Bracket

Side A

Yan Hao vs. Xiao Chiye

Shen Zechuan vs. Wang Zhi

Gu Mang vs. Yan Zhengming

Side B

Wenren È vs. Song Qingshi

Yin Hanjiang vs. Wu Xi

Li Yu vs. An Zhe

Cui Buqu vs. Helian Ye

Exempt from Round 1: Yue Wuhuan

Side A of the Popular and Less Popular Danmei Character Tournaments will take place on the same day (Thursday, June 8, 2023) around noon CST and will remain open for 1 week.

Side B Polls will open on Tuesday, June 13th, 2023, at noon CST and will remain open for 1 week.

Character Information under the cut (subject to change) - CWs: sex mention, death mention, murder mention, slavery, sexual slavery, rape mention, animal mention, animal death mention, pet death/murder

Side A

Yue Wuhuan from Mistakenly Saving the Villain

A villain saved by the MC who is focused on revenge. The story seems to focuses on trauma recovery from his life as a s*x slave and handles mental health pretty well 

Technically a “yandere” character, but the Novel Updates reviews describe his possessiveness and dark thoughts as byproducts of his trauma that he heals from, realizing that he shouldn’t be thinking of the MC that way and growing

“Our ML’s journey embodies a major theme of MSTV, which is about redemption and rebirth. His tragic past shaped him into a cunning, ruthless, manipulative, and obsessive individual. His past and continuing struggle will make your hearts break. It’s a difficult and painful journey of overcoming past trauma, letting go, and subsequently achieving freedom and happiness.” - blackkoi on NU

Yan Hao from Vicious Male Counterpart Isn’t Competing Anymore

Submission: He’s p cute

Yan Hao was jealous of and competed with his younger brother, who seemed to be loved more by their parents. After he dies, however, he realizes he was a villain meant to contrast his kind younger brother and be slapped by the male protagonist. Once he’s reborn, he decides to ignore his brother entirely

“High IQ, low EQ” - Sugaminny on Novel Updates

Honestly, the story sounds super cute and interesting. Yan Hao seems to be a character “hated by everyone” in his past life who can’t figure out how to be loved but does love others a lot, especially in his second life. Skite on NU describes him as autistic and villainized due to his neurodivergency / attempts to be loved and praised (their review words it better, but it sounds super interesting). 

Xiao Chiye from Qiang Jin Jiu

Submission: Also an absolutely insane character but somehow not as deranged as his husband, shen zechuan, although he comes pretty damn close. i just wanna cause problems by putting them in the same poll 

“VERY cocky and arrogant (sexy of him), but also an extremely talented leader and fighter” - QJJ Carrd

Initially kicks Shen Zechuan, the MC, due to SZC’s father’s treason, but starts to fall in love with him (Enemies → Lovers)

Shen Zechuan from Qiang Jin Jiu

Submission: he just serves absolute cunt and is absolutely insane. like we joke about characters being crazy but shen zechuan is the 1st one where ive paused reading and said outloud oh bitch you are absolutely out of your mind. Give it up for ruthless chronically ill schemers with a sense of loyalty so strong it becomes a fatal flaw and who are also at all times 100% devoted to the ppl they care about

The son of the Prince of Jianxing, who betrays the empire out of cowardice, that must survive when his entire family is to be killed for treason. There’s actually a scene at the beginning of him losing his brother in a battle and (I believe) returning to realize his father has run away

Another of the “chronically ill schemers” type and incredibly ruthless when necessary

Refuses to die or despair; he WILL survive and will turn things around - fate can be damned

Wang Zhi from Fourteenth Year of Chenghua

Submission: Wang Zhi is the emperor's eunuch-assassin who spends the entire book and show crashing the main character's brunches. There's a scene where someone gets confused because they can't fathom why Wang Zhi would show up at someone's house if it's not to murder them. In the series he has a tiny gun. 

Gu Mang from Stains of Filth / Yuwu

Submission: He’s my little guy

He’s the tragic ML who betrayed the MC while also being the biggest fucking clown / the comedic relief

He truly believes he’s a fucking wolf at one point. 

Essentially, Gu Mang was a slave in Murong Lian’s household, which led him to meet the MC, Mo Xi, who is a noble of similar standing to the Murong clan. He eventually becomes the General-in-Chief of the Wangba Army (later renamed to the Northern Frontier Army bc it was a funny name) and fights for the Chonghua Empire. However, since the Wangba Army was made of slaves, not a single of his fellow soldiers were given a proper burial, which - along with other reasons - led to Gu Mang defecting to an enemy nation (that also killed Mo Xi’s father and may or may not be cannibals).  

The story begins when said enemy nation trades Gu Mang back to Chonghua as a prisoner of war with parts of his soul gone, causing him to believe he’s a majestic blue wolf. The summary is a tiny bit misleading, albeit not wrong - “they’ve slept together before” is actually more “they slept together multiple times while Mo Xi, at the very least, is incredibly in love with Gu Mang.”  

Gu Mang’s also pretty funny, even with his memories gone, albeit the inherent tragedy is overwhelming. Idc what “evils” he committed… the Lotus Pavilion thing or whatever was fucked up. The author is so brutal to him, and for what? Funsies? (<--mainly joking, but it’s a SAD story… I’ve cried so many times) 

Anyway, Gu Mang Did Not Deserve This 2023 

Yan Zhengming from Liu Yao: the Revitalization of Fuyao Sect 

Submission: Winner of the award for highest number of times I’ve called a man a “pretty princess” 

Apparently has a fantastic character development into the Sect Leader (I’m not that far), but he’s also just a pretty princess <2

He’s the eldest disciple of Han Muchun / Fuyao Sect who was born into a rich family. He ran away at age seven and became Han Muchun’s first apprentice/disciple. He’s similar to a spoiled young master character, but he doesn’t really bully anyone; he may try to bully/clash with Cheng Qian, but I don’t think he wins (been a while since I started it - he’s like 15, and Cheng Qian is ~9-10 at this point) 

“Strict with others but lenient on himself” → responsible Sect Leader pipeline, More at 10 pm

Side B 

Wenren È from Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

The MC of Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know, Wenren È, finds a book that details the world around him where he’s the second male lead / love interest who dies to protect the Female Lead / protagonist. He is not in love with her, and he can’t imagine dying for her as is; he also doesn’t understand why his subordinate, who supposedly likes her as well, tried to kill her after his death. I think he’s tasked with addressing readers’ concerns with the novel, but there’s also a lot more going on lol

Submission 1: unhinged, no idea what romance is, has a feral dog with rabies for a boyfriend and thinks that boyfriend is super cute. Also, middle aged man. I love middle aged men.

Submission 2: Because Look, he is trying to get two characters to fall in love for Important Plot reasons and a: him and his main Minion have to look up what love is like in the shitty romance novels they're characters in, and then b: decide to make the two characters fall in love through the Cunning Use of Bugs. Also he got a copy of the book he is a character in, found out his fate, and was like I Think The Fuck Not. 

He also has pretty good morals, if not personality. He’s a much better guy than I expected him to be tbh 

Song Qingshi from Mistakenly Saving the Villain

A medical student who chooses to transmigrate into a sad Danmei novel to save the protagonist. He does not save the protagonist - he saves a cannon fodder villain named Yue Wuhuan. 

“Has a lack of understanding of social situations/an odd personality” - past submission (Danmei Tournament)

Very intelligent but dense to love and s*x; book smart; passionate about what he likes

Yin Hanjiang from Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know

Submission 1: He’s my little scrunkly

Submission 2: He’s my evil wife.

Yin Hanjiang is the second-in-command of the current Demon Lord Wenren È and the fourth male lead of Abusive Romance: You are the Unchanging One in My Heart, a novel Wenren È reads. In the novel, Yin Hanjiang blackens and tries to kill the female lead after Wenren È’s death. 

You would think Wenren È would be the craziest mf in this story, but it is, in fact, Yin Hanjiang. In the original novel, he tortured/chased the FL for quite a while to the point of being one of - if not the most - hated villains in the story; he was originally masked and revealed in a completely unseen twist, I believe. 

He was saved by Wenren È as a child and is obsessed with him, although their relationship changes more to friends than boss-subordinate WAY before they get together. 

Wu Xi from Lord Seventh / Qi Ye 

Submission: He is the roundworm in my stomach

Qi Ye tells the story of Prince Jing Beiyuan’s seventh life, which is a repeat of his first life. Wu Xi is the Great Shaman’s Shamanet and the Empire’s captive from Nanjiang who did not appear in Jing Beiyuan’s first life. 

From what I remember, he uses something similar to magic to make a court official become aroused / see a beautiful woman and embarrass himself in front of the entire court. As a child. 

He also has a vast array of dangerous and venomous animals, one of which he gifts to Jing Beiyuan after they become friends. 

Li Yu from Disabled Tyrant’s Pet Palm Fish 

Submission: He’s infuriating and I love him, also helped create equal rights in ancient china

Li Yu transmigrated into a carp tasked with stealing a mute tyrant’s heart (by the system). He does not know how he’s supposed to do this, but the tyrant - Mu Tianchi - is waiting for him to transform into a human, already in love(?) with him.

The reviews on Novel Updates are… mainly unflattering… but he appears to be a naive and sweet character with in a fluffy love story with the ML, Mu Tianchi 

An Zhe from Little Mushroom 

Submission 1: honest to god, he’s just a little mushroom

Submission 1: he’s just a little mushroom

An optimistic mushroom mutated into a human trying to find his stolen spores

“An Zhe is the only person who wholeheartedly believes in Lu Feng [the ML]” - Carrd 

Cui Buqu from Peerless

Submission: He’s mean, he’s disabled and unapologetic about it, he’s a genius and all his braincells escape him when faced with his rival, he’s a secret agent and has no martial arts, he’s deeply in love and will never say so unless pushed, he will liken his rival to his sun and then tell him he’s the most annoying person he’s ever met. He’s a bastard little fox <3 

Helian Yi from Lord Seventh / Qi Ye 

Qi Ye tells the story of Prince Jing Beiyuan’s seventh life, which is a repeat of his first life. All of his first five lives have been tied to Helian Yi - he helped him ascend the throne in their first life, he was an insect crushed by Helian Yi in his second life, he was a beloved dog killed to feed Helian Yi’s family in his third life, he was a neglected jasmine plant in his fourth life, he was a fox skinned by Helian Ye in his fifth life - but in the first and seventh lives, Helian Yi’s the Crown Prince of the Jin Empire while Jing Beiyuan is the Prince Nan’ning (a title; he’s not related to Helian Yi as far as I know). In their seventh life, Helian Yi seems to be treating him very well (from what I’ve read), but he’s not the love interest. 

He’s also in Faraway Wanderers (for, like, one chapter) and technically is Prince Jin in Word of Honor (but they’re pretty much completely different characters). Zhou Zishu is his most trusted aid who formed Heaven’s Window and then left. 

Idk, I haven’t gotten that far in Qi Ye; he sounds like the villain, but he’s really just Sad - Idk if he’s in love with Jing Beiyuan or what, but he’s SAD, okay? From what I can tell, he cares for Jing Beiyuan but can’t be with him because of his position as Crown Prince, but don’t quote me on that

“In that instant, Helian Yi suddenly wanted to take him into his arms, suddenly wanted to wholly throw out and disregard the home, nation, and world that weighed down on his mind and body, no longer brooding on and wishing for a liaison he didn’t dare to have. He wanted to say, from now on, come earthly blades of wind and swords of frost, I will do everything I can to block them or you. There is only one person in this life and this world for me, even without this extensive, partially mountainous, mostly oceanic king’s land.” - Source 

Feel free to submit propaganda in the notes or in my ask box!

#less popular danmei character tournament #danmei character tournament #I tried to be as detailed as possible but some of the submissions really said all that I thought needed to be said lol #also my memory is SUPER bad so stories that I read a long time ago & don't have my notes for got the short end of the stick #mistakenly saving the villain #vicious male counterpart isn't competing anymore #<-definitely wanna read that one. that one NU reviewer who described the MC as autistic REALLY upped the property value #qiang jin jiu #fourteenth year of chenghua #stains of filth #yuwu #liu yao #liu yao the revialization of fuyao sect #devil venerable also wants to know #dvawtk #lord seventh #qi ye #disabled tyrant's pet palm fish #little mushroom #peerless #wushuang #brackets #danmei character polls round 1 side a #danmei character polls round 1 side B

[bellaroles]

Book 8 of TGCF arrived and I still can’t move on from SVSSS that I started reading as a short interlude while waiting 😭

#shen qingqiu #luo binghe #the cover art of the english version is so cute i wanna draw the #the scum villain's self saving system #mxtx #why this pose tho for the love of god idk too lol #shang qinghua might have ask them to pose for #the interview in the last special story #i forgot their height difference so imagine them both kneeling for the pose #svsss #danmei

[commytator]

they are my fave::^3

#little mushroom #lu feng #an zhe #luzhe #xiao mogu #art #danmei #scetch #digital art #artists on tumblr #illustration #im so fuckin in love with this story and this babies #my art #and i have a crush on lu feng am sorry^^^^^

[pppppiamo]

Title: South for Spring

Author: Piamo

Length: 5.5k words

Synopsis: A boy discovers a dying crow. When life and death are merely stops along the long road of existence, can love take wing? (Xianxia-inspired, danmei-inspired. CW: death.)

Before Emptiness and under Finality, everything in the world appeared minute and transitory. "Qi Siyu, it's you."

South for Spring

One day when Qi Siyu (祁思煜) was little, he happened upon a dying crow.

He lived in a big city. The houses in his neighborhood were all painted the same grey-green, each one containing a plot of grass in front that, in the summer, yellowed under the blistering sun. As it was Saturday, he was spending the afternoon at a small yogurt shop down the street from his house. Since he was still only in elementary school, he had no money. Nevertheless, the old woman working there would give him a handful of mochi and tell him stories about her grandson, Gu Yuan (顾鸢), while he half-listened, kicking his legs.

At the time, Qi Siyu did not know that Gu Yuan had passed away from illness many years ago. Out of repetition, Qi Siyu only gathered that the boy in her stories was a year older than him, liked taking pictures, was good-looking, and that the old woman bought him a new pair of shoes every time he came to visit her.

Qi Siyu was an only child who grew up in a strict environment. His parents were neither rich nor poor, but certainly it couldn’t be said that they doted on him. Rather, they seemed to have forgotten about his existence entirely. His current pair of shoes even had a little hole worn through the tip, which he often poked his big toe through wearing a disgruntled expression. Thus, he thought Gu Yuan sounded like a spoiled brat and immediately didn’t like him.

What kind of eight-year-old has a digital camera anyway!

On the day Qi Siyu stumbled upon the dying crow on his way home, the old woman had said something extremely peculiar to him before he left.

“Xiao-Yu, do you believe in ghosts?”

Qi Siyu’s eyes had tripled in size at the mention of something so eerie. The plastic spoon which he’d been gnawing on was still hanging out of his mouth, and he debated whether to shake his head or nod. He settled on a shrug, pretending an aloof expression in the hopes that she would change the subject.

The old woman’s back was facing him. When she turned around, rather than holding a handful of mochi as usual, she carried a cardboard cup filled to the brim with cream-colored yogurt and strawberry slices. From an outsider’s perspective, the dessert seemed to have been tenderly crafted, but Qi Siyu was more guarded than the average child—having been pricked by the subject of ghosts, he didn’t miss the cool glint in her eye. She handed the treat over to the young boy, along with a stack of napkins a few centimeters thick. “Good behavior is rewarded by heaven,” she said, patting him on the hand.

Silently, Qi Siyu took the yogurt outside. He threw it in the trash and ran home.

Out of the corner of his eye, the houses flew by like a river. By the time Qi Siyu reached his front doorstep, he was out of breath. His mind was filled with images of hungry ghosts, mouths puckered and sucking at the air as if through a straw. When Qi Siyu heard a dry croak emanate from the potted shrub to his left, he grabbed the door’s handle with both hands. The sun was so hot that the brass metal scalded his skin, but he continued to tug and push, his heart pounding.

The door was locked. As it turned out, the house was empty, too.

As his heart began to freeze over, Qi Siyu took a step back, the realization slowly draining the color from his face. His father was at the office working overtime; his mother was at his aunt’s house currently engaged in gossip. As for Qi Siyu’s whereabouts, they couldn’t have cared less. He might as well have been a succulent placed on a shelf, left to fend for itself in the heat. 

Another croak resounded, causing Qi Siyu to nearly jump out of his skin. 

His reflexes simply got the better of him. One leg kicked out as if tapped by a tiny hammer and slammed directly into the potted shrub. Subsequently, a tangled black mess of feathers tumbled out into the sun.

Qi Siyu held his breath. He squinted at the crow that seemed barely even half-alive.

Its teal-blue eyes stared vacantly at him. Upon closer inspection, Qi Siyu saw that a piece of tan twine had somehow wrapped itself around its body, causing the pitiful creature to look like a roasted chicken for sale at a market—albeit an unappetizing one. Beak open, it panted. 

Notably, the old woman’s words jostled around in Qi Siyu’s head. At this age, the word “karma” meant nothing to him. Whether there were six gates of reincarnation or fifty, he wouldn’t have been able to guess. He gripped the corners of his shirt with sweaty hands, feeling hateful towards that old woman and her peerless Gu Yuan. If heaven rewarded good behavior, it might be said that he was fearless of heaven for lack of grasping its immensity.

“It’s feral,” his father had said once, pointing to a disheveled cat that showed up on their doorstep in a rainstorm. “Don’t go near. It’ll bite.”

While Qi Siyu peered into the crow’s open beak in search of teeth, the suffering bird’s eyelids began to droop. Rasping, it tipped over, legs tilting towards the sky. At that moment, without thinking, Qi Siyu suddenly stooped over, casting a shadow forward that swallowed the bird up in a cool embrace. As gently as possible, he unwound the twine. Once or twice, he was thwarted by a severe knot, though eventually he persevered. 

When the crow was finally freed, Qi Siyu sat down and wiped the glistening sweat off his forehead. He then poked his big toe out of the hole in his shoe and touched the tip of the closest tail feather. 

With that, the crow exploded into the sky, its wings flapping clumsily. The ungrateful creature didn’t even spare him a backwards glance. 

══════════════════

Looking back at this event many years in the future, Qi Siyu could only inexplicably feel that his run-in with the crow had been a matter of destiny. A week later, the crow was fully out of sight and out of mind—that is, until it showed up one morning scrabbling on his bedroom windowsill, a gold chain dangling from its beak. This was only the first of a series of “gifts” that would follow Qi Siyu far into adulthood, sometimes as often as every other week. 

As he aged, his wariness of animals gradually shed like a second skin, but he never quite outgrew his wariness of other humans. 

A person cannot stay young forever. In the end, Qi Siyu could not follow his parents into old age—he remained an indistinct figure in the periphery of their vision, and just a few weeks before his thirtieth birthday, he departed the Earth. 

According to legend, the Platform of the Underworld would be composed of a series of vast white fields. Only a small detail had been left out. The primordial artificer had cleaved a fissure down the middle with a knife, naming the resulting river “Emptiness” and the stars reflected therein “Finality.” When Qi Siyu first arrived at the Platform, he felt this information swirling inside him, indistinct as smoke. A warm breeze ruffled the wide, plain-woven sleeves hanging down to his wrists, the skin of which appeared a little transparent. 

So, I’m dead? he thought, tucking his hands behind his back so he wouldn’t have to look at them. 

Surveying the white fields, one didn’t have much to look at. Qi Siyu took stock of his life. Overall, though he couldn’t complain, the events of his thirty years were brief enough to catalogue on a single napkin. In his memory, he could recall only two or three moments of true import, which lay embedded in his heart like grains of sand.

Before Emptiness and under Finality, everything in the world appeared minute and transitory.

Here, time had ground to a standstill, but elsewhere the seasons still came and went, the planet turned, the tides rose and retreated beneath the moon. Qi Siyu felt a twinge of unplaceable wistfulness. 

He was neither cold, nor in pain. Instead, it was an all-encompassing thirst and the lull of the nearby river that eventually stirred him from his reverie. Within a few steps, he came to a spot where the white blades of tall grass terminated at a sandy bank, dark as night, and got down onto his knees. The river was passing by very slowly; in a daze, Qi Siyu sank his fingers into his reflection. Although he perceived the cold bite of water, his body seemed incapable of shivering. He cupped his palms together to drink.

The river, which sprang sourcelessly from the horizon, would in turn wash away every last memory of his previous life, like a slate being wiped clean. 

The soul, which arose sourcelessly from the ether, would in turn return to the elements, becoming true to itself to the utmost.

Thinking this, an imperceptible smile crept onto Qi Siyu’s face. In all his life, he never smiled that often. Even when he did, it was like he was holding an immense weight in his heart, his curved lashes lowering as if to obscure a wateriness. Truthfully, in an effort to not disturb the mood, he was only holding back a laugh. Eschatologically speaking, the afterlife seemed a bit too nebulous— 

“Caw!”

Just as Qi Siyu’s lips were about to touch the river water, a familiar sound caused him to jerk upright. 

Winging overhead like a distant halo was a black crow.

══════════════════

Perhaps it was owing to his recent separation from worldly affairs, but Qi Siyu was not all that surprised to find, upon turning around, a lantern had appeared out of thin air, hovering just a few meters away. Its black flame twisted behind a paper curtain, painted with the word “impermanence.” Once again, inexplicably, he understood that this particular tool would only manifest at the behest of an Underworld retainer. The flame contained inside could dispel the anxieties of the departed and cleanse evil. 

Qi Siyu stared through the lantern blankly. While alive, he was customarily a disagreeable person who liked to come to his own conclusions and railed against the ideas of others. Only now, his eagerness to fight had dried up, leaving him hollow. 

The crow floated toward the ground and transformed into a person. 

He was no longer alone, but Qi Siyu registered nothing. Only when a pair of fingers gently pressed the space between his eyes did the feeling of lightness in his body begin to disperse, and the face before him came into clarity—teal-blue eyes partially obscured by dusky hair and a faint smile that seemed familiar, as if from a dream. Qi Siyu blinked back the mistiness that had gathered in his eyes.

“After all this time,” the man chuckled, “you really kept something so trifling?”

By instinct, Qi Siyu touched the gold chain hanging around his neck, tucked beneath the folds of his robe. At the Platform, even his treasured memories had barely remained intact, but this little artifact, which in reality had been misplaced long ago, had somehow become reunited with him.

It took only a simple touch of recognition for the gold chain to stir. Suddenly, a thought leapt into Qi Siyu’s head unbidden: Gu Yuan, it’s you. 

It quickly became clear that speaking in one’s head in the Underworld lacked the same privacy found on Earth. The man cocked his head, eyes glittering. “I didn’t expect to be recognized. After passing away, I was recruited to the ghost realm, but at that time I was very young. It took me twenty years just to refine my primeval soul. In the end, I was too impatient to visit my laolao. It was inevitable that a crow spirit devoured me on my first trip back to the human realm. 

“Some time after that, I gained enough consciousness to appropriate the crow’s body as my own, but even then, I found myself acting in strange ways. Crows are naturally disposed to gratitude. When you saved me that summer, I kept coming back to you with so many trinkets. In my state, I thought I was making you a rich man.” Gu Yuan sighed, his smile fading slightly. “Unfortunately, spending so much time in the vicinity of an Underworld escort… It’s probably owing to me that you incurred an untimely death.”

Qi Siyu’s eyes lingered over the lantern’s black flame before trailing along Gu Yuan’s flowing, damask silk robes, coming to rest on his face. Were it not for the man’s smile, that pale visage and those eyes darkened by shadows might have conspired to make him look like a true dyed-in-the-wool ghost. Looking at him now, it was clear the specter of death clung to him like a chilling aura. 

But resentment and regret were reserved for the living. Qi Siyu could only think, It’s no one’s fault, least of all yours. 

Gu Yuan’s face remained unchanged, his thoughts a mystery. The old woman had described that very same disarming smile to Qi Siyu many years ago. Embarrassingly, now of all times, Qi Siyu could not deny that the man before him was, by human standards, incredibly handsome. Besides that, the lantern’s black flame was probably performing its duty, coaxing the agitation away from his heart and leaving him uncharacteristically soft. 

Reading his mind, Gu Yuan waved his hand. The paper lantern flamed out, dissolving into ash. In its place, a jade pendant dropped into his open palm. He held it outstretched to Qi Siyu.

“This karmic pendant will ensure you a safe journey home. My last gift to you.”

══════════════════

The moon-white jade pendant appeared in the shape of a three-legged crow. It glowed faintly in the twilight. As for the years of primeval refinement Gu Yuan had carefully invested, upon transporting Qi Siyu back to Earth, they would be transmuted into an extension of Qi Siyu’s own lifespan, granting him an additional twenty years. 

A low-level Underworld escort might struggle for a century to cut a single blade of grass growing on the Platform. To endeavor to rewrite a person’s karma was surely a thousand times the effort—yet Gu Yuan only continued to smile, brows lifted, seemingly unfazed. 

Qi Siyu regarded this “parting gift” with a complicated expression before ultimately flicking a sleeve at Gu Yuan.

“No one can call back yesterday,” Qi Siyu said. “In any case, won’t I just end up here again in twenty more years? Imagine what additional unfinished business I’ll rack up if you give me the chance. I’ll be rolling in my grave until the end of time.” 

Gu Yuan replied, “Actually, in twenty years you can accomplish quite a lot. You were a professor, weren’t you? Maybe think about burning some paper money for me after class, hm?” Having said so, he reached forward to append the karmic pendant to Qi Siyu’s sash. 

Qi Siyu in response batted him away with a transparent hand. 

Thus, one human and one immortal pushed these twenty-some-odd years back and forth between them like the last piece of shrimp on a dinner plate. Both Emptiness and Finality, the silent river and stars, were entertained for the first time in a millennium. 

In a land that never saw daylight, dawn never came. Only a warm breeze threaded through the white fields and traced ripple after ripple along the river, following an unfathomable pattern. As Qi Siyu admonished Gu Yuan—first for imprudence, then for fickleness, and finally for full-blown impishness—they walked side by side. Their conversation became increasingly mundane. At one point, Gu Yuan even inquired about Qi Siyu’s egg toast recipe, which he recalled during his time as a crow as having been fed pieces of through the kitchen window. 

Each time Gu Yuan was sure that Qi Siyu had lowered his guard and discreetly approached to slip the karmic pendant into his pocket, Qi Siyu summarily dodged. For a bookish misanthrope, his primeval soul was surprisingly nimble. 

The year Gu Yuan passed, before his health seriously declined, he played around a lot with a digital camera. He especially liked to photograph people and would fearlessly ask strangers to model for him. Now that he was an Underworld escort, his personal possessions were of a different nature. Despite this, he couldn’t shake his tendency to see others through the eye of an inexperienced photographer. With Qi Siyu walking beside him like this, noticing that the man’s lips were perpetually pursed, he flew a few steps forward, turned around, and framed the image between his thumbs and forefingers. 

“What are you doing?” Qi Siyu asked. 

Expectedly, Qi Siyu’s dissatisfied expression was only magnified by this limited view. Gu Yuan said nothing and just laughed mischievously to himself. 

To the south and invisible to Qi Siyu, lantern-lit ferries floated restfully upon the sea of grass. Beyond that was the Affectless City, currently only a string of golden lights lying on the horizon. Gu Yuan had almost forgotten his original intentions in coming here. He slowed his steps to a halt and gazed at Qi Siyu’s back, running his thumb along the grooves of the pendant. It was a part of him, yet was cold to the touch. 

A low, mournful howl echoed over the fields. 

As if to answer the call, one of the ferries, accelerated by an unearthly gust of wind, began making its approach. “Qi Siyu, I have to go,” Gu Yuan finally said. 

Qi Siyu turned to face him. The light behind his eyes had dimmed, and his contours seemed to tremble like the edge of a flame. Gu Yuan realized that walking just that short distance together had nearly exhausted the man’s spiritual essence. If they continued on like this, Qi Siyu would soon expend himself entirely and fail to reenter the cycle of reincarnation. 

Gu Yuan suddenly felt like twenty years was not enough after all. 

“When I was young,” he rambled, “my laolao used to tell me stories about a boy who died before I was born. She told me that he had a frustrating temperament and complained so loudly in his heart about every little thing that in his following lifetime, he was cursed to wear holes through his shoes. Every time I thought about him, it made me worried.”

“You had a closet full of shoes. It seems your head is full of them, too,” Qi Siyu said, not failing to jab him. 

“The Dao is heartless.” And so are you, Gu Yuan wanted to add with a laugh. 

Only in the presence of the black Wuchang flame did Qi Siyu at last become more agreeable, his hackles lying flat. After the karmic pendant was finally accepted into Qi Siyu’s hands, Gu Yuan boarded the ferry and bid the man farewell. 

All around him, the grass parted like waves. Gu Yuan watched Qi Siyu’s figure until it was swallowed up by the distance; thereafter, he stayed on the deck, not taking his eyes off the horizon. 

Meanwhile, his heart felt like a stone sinking lower and lower, until eventually he lost sight of it in the depths of a fathomless lake.  

══════════════════

In the blink of an eye, half a century passed. 

Gu Yuan had just returned from a lengthy mission and had ascended in rank from a minor ghost to a full-fledged Underworld officer. The Clear Equinox Festival was in full swing, and within the Affectless City, the narrow streets were filled with vendors selling precious ornaments to fit the occasion. Various spirits, having cultivated their way up from the natural world, came bearing pockets of spiritual stones to purchase rare relics with.

Gu Yuan’s living arrangements were lavish enough; even the gold patterning of his robes was considered by others to be a bit too flashy. Unfortunately, having spent so much time as a crow on Earth, his primeval soul was corrupted, and as a result, he had an insatiable greed for shiny objects. If gems were fake, he could tell from several li away, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still buy them.

In short, he was a favored customer within the Affectless City’s shopping district. 

By the time the firebird asterism had reached its zenith in the sky, his arms were tired from holding so much junk. Gu Yuan the shopping addict was about to hail a carriage when something caught his eye at a nearby jewelry stand. After staring for a moment, he stepped forward, eyes widening.

Hanging from a wooden post was a jade pendant in the shape of a three-legged crow.

If a tool had been hewn from a person’s own spiritual essence, then it would be easily identifiable by its original creator. For that reason, it took only one glance from Gu Yuan to determine that this was the same karmic pendant he’d given to Qi Siyu at the Platform. 

It was designed to crumble away upon fulfilling its duty. So why was it here now?

According to the jewelry stand’s owner, the ferryman who’d sold it to her found it on the northernmost shore of the Underworld Platform. Naturally, owing to its superior craftsmanship, the pendant was being sold for a hefty sum. Gu Yuan had to run back home to fetch his savings in order to purchase it. 

However, to his disappointment, rather than feeling icy to the touch, the karmic pendant was as lifeless as a piece of ordinary stone. 

Whether through its one-time use or by years of dormancy, it appeared the immortal tool’s internal energy source had long since dried up. In his hands, it was nothing more than a luxurious paperweight. 

Gu Yuan’s eyes clouded over with a distant memory. For fifty years, he hadn’t set foot once in the human realm. While he was traversing the Unquiet Pass as a ghost, he had even resorted to consuming resentment from those half-finished devils he met along his path. Having nearly forgotten the meaning of the word "warmth," he realized that the same insidious weightlessness that had overcome Qi Siyu on the Platform had already numbed him from the inside out.

As for Qi Siyu, the man was gone.

And Gu Yuan? That man was probably as good as gone, too. 

These thoughts left him in a sullen mood. He wasn’t used to being introspective, so Gu Yuan’s emotions naturally caused his spiritual energy to overflow. As a result, the golden birds embroidered on his robes began to imitate life, flapping their wings in vexation. A total of thirty people crowded around to gawk at the sight, which only made him feel worse. After just managing to slink away, Gu Yuan sighed and went to stow the karmic pendant into his sleeve. 

As if merely wanting to tease an old friend, the “paperweight” suddenly stirred under his fingertips, emitting a band of white light one cun in length that pointed due north. 

This was a compass charm. Gu Yuan’s heavy heart began to race. 

That day, a hundred people at the Clear Equinox Market claimed to have seen a crow spirit clumsily flying off, clinging to a piece of jade that was probably half its own weight. 

══════════════════

Gu Yuan flew for eight days, avoiding sleep and pausing only to drink.

He followed the compass’s white light to the very edge of the Underworld. Beyond, the stars stretched indefinitely. The first time Gu Yuan had tried to exit the ghost realm on his own, he had nearly expired his essence exerting himself crossing this void; this time, having learned the method of “inaction,” he intuitively rode the sky’s veins, rising higher and growing paradoxically heavier with each wingbeat. 

Upon first laying eyes on the human realm, he found that nothing had significantly changed. The compass charm led him to a neighborhood where the houses were all painted the same grey-green. 

He alighted in a tree, at eye-level with a small second-floor apartment. Thereafter, the karmic pendant in his claws flashed brightly and crumbled into dust. 

Ultimately, though Gu Yuan was a young immortal who had in total lived the length of a generous human lifespan, his time on Earth had been limited. As a result, he possessed a childlike heart that was predisposed to impatience. When he caught sight of movement inside the apartment, Gu Yuan didn’t even have the presence of mind to preen the few unsightly feathers sticking up on his head. Unaware of the influence of his bird-brain, he took to the air and glided in for a closer look.

Thus, with a doleful smack, he flew directly into the glass sliding door. 

Lying on his back under the hot sun, the dazed Gu Yuan could only think, Was I struck by a lightning tribulation just now? 

Since he was in significant pain, he didn’t move for a full minute. Following an unfamiliar sound, a shadow suddenly enveloped his entire body, and he felt a pair of human hands moving him into the shade. When Gu Yuan finally came to and righted himself a few minutes later, he found a dish of water and a shred of egg toast on the patio beside him. 

He shamelessly gobbled up the toast before noticing that the sliding door was open a hair. Since he wasn’t shy, he decided to pay his rescuer a visit. 

The first time Gu Yuan had sought shelter inside a human dwelling in his new crow body, he’d been chased out with a rolled-up newspaper. Now that he was an Underworld officer with a reputation to uphold, if such a thing were to happen again and the Adjudicator got word, he might seriously face a demotion. 

Undeterred, Gu Yuan wriggled his way inside. He performed a few awkward hops on the hardwood floor before winging up to perch on the back of a wooden chair. He swiveled his neck around, taking in the messy living room, before the sound of footsteps made his pupils shrink. 

Coming face to face with a staring person, a smile entered his heart.

Qi Siyu, it’s you. 

══════════════════

Of course, on the surface, this person didn’t look like the Qi Siyu who Gu Yuan had met at the Underworld Platform fifty years ago. Having been reincarnated, this man had an entirely different face. He appeared to be thirty years old, but his hair was short, his eyes more well-rested. Rather than telegraphing a prickly nature, even in the face of a strange animal entering his house, his lips were relaxed in a wry smile.  

The exterior was unimportant. Gu Yuan’s immortal eyes could see through any living being to its spiritual core—but Qi Siyu’s primeval soul had been scrubbed clean by the Empty River. 

He recognized him, but wasn’t recognized in return. 

“You ate the toast? Did you come in here just to beg for more food?” Qi Siyu asked the crow, folding his arms. 

Gu Yuan puffed up. He emitted a displeased croak at this misunderstanding.

It was the height of summer, but Qi Siyu was still wearing a long-sleeved shirt and socks. Perhaps it was because his air conditioning unit was so efficient that he needed to keep warm indoors. Struck by an idea, Gu Yuan fluttered down to the floor and began ceaselessly pecking at Qi Siyu’s toes until the man exasperatedly backed into the sofa. To thwart the bird, he went to tuck his feet under his thighs. 

Gu Yuan did not miss that the underside of his socks had two large holes. 

A slow wavelength of calm entered Gu Yuan’s heart. Reassured, he flapped his wings twice, landing on Qi Siyu’s shoulder, and nibbled at his ear. 

If anyone had been around to view such a sight, they would have remarked that Qi Siyu must have hand-fed the bird from a young age since it was so tame. For that matter, had the Adjudicator witnessed this unseemly behavior, they would have punished Gu Yuan with three hundred years of paper-sorting duty. 

Coming and going between the human realm and the ghost realm was not especially taxing. In the years that followed, Gu Yuan’s crow form fattened up from eating so much egg toast that all the earthly crows he met on his way shot him envious looks. He always returned to Qi Siyu’s side with a gift. In the hands of a cultivator, some of those souvenirs from the Underworld might even be considered dangerous, but in Qi Siyu’s hands they were nothing more than trash. 

Meanwhile, Qi Siyu could only admire that, no matter how many wrinkles he developed, no matter how many grey hairs sprouted on his head, this crow with teal-blue eyes always looked as fresh as a photograph. 

Qi Siyu never married. After he retired from his work as a public servant, he kept only a few people as close friends. Like the holes in his socks and shoes, his introverted nature from his past life had carried over. Nonetheless, he was happy. The big crow that came to visit him without fail would sit beside him and listen to him talk nonsense, which truly was the best gift he ever received. 

One morning, it wasn’t a crow that came to visit him, but a man dressed in exquisite black and gold robes. 

Qi Siyu had grown accustomed to waking up with a terrible back pain, but on this occasion, his body felt as light as a feather. He found he didn’t even need to reach for his glasses on the nightstand to see well. He lay in bed and only wiggled his toes.

The robed man had invited himself in. Qi Siyu never locked his front door, so this was unsurprising. Moreover, he felt comfortable in this person’s presence. He only wished he had gotten the chance to clean up a bit before hosting.

When the man smiled, an incredibly familiar feeling rose up in Qi Siyu’s heart.

“You brought me so much junk all these years,” Qi Siyu said. “I would bet my life on the fact that more than half of it you stole outright. Aren’t you worried heaven will punish bad behavior?”

“If you feel like punishing me, by all means,” the man said cheekily.

Qi Siyu had a thought, but swallowed it down out of embarrassment. However, the man seemed to have the ability to read minds, because he suddenly took a few steps forward and crouched at Qi Siyu’s bedside. Before Qi Siyu could protest, their lips were touching lightly, the effect like a dragonfly skimming water.  

The only thing that brought Gu Yuan back to Earth was a finger flicking his forehead.

“How does it feel kissing a man three times your age?” Qi Siyu growled.

“How does it feel being kissed by a bird?” Gu Yuan dug back at him.

Neither one could hold back a laugh. 

By now, the room and its contents had been replaced by a sea of white grass extending endlessly in all directions. Qi Siyu, apparently standing, felt better than ever. Since he was still somewhat bashful, he took the opportunity to bolt, running directionlessly until even his newly youthful body was left panting. Thinking he’d left that dashing fellow in the dust, he turned around, only to find that the man was still standing at his side, brows quirked.

Teleporting like a real honest-to-god ghost! 

“If I tell you my name, you’ll have to remember it next time,” the man said, tenderly brushing the dark hair out of Qi Siyu’s eyes.

Qi Siyu said, “It’s Gu Yuan, of course. Tell laolao I said hi.”

Gu Yuan hadn’t gotten the chance to see his laolao in many years. Hearing about her suddenly, he paused his hand, a handful of memories flooding back into his heart. He looked down at his cloth shoes, then looked up into Qi Siyu’s eyes and nodded. 

The river trickled by their feet silently, and the stars were equally hushed. Emptiness and Finality were in no hurry, but every person knows when their time is up. 

“I suppose,” Qi Siyu said with a sigh, “this is where we say goodbye.”

“Listen, I never got the chance to live like a real human. Everything you do in life from now on, good or bad, you’ll have to tell me about it,” Gu Yuan replied. He was presently fussing with the folds in Qi Siyu’s robe, but in actuality, it was he who wanted attention. 

Unsure of how to placate him, Qi Siyu just patted the side of Gu Yuan’s face. 

Gu Yuan: “...”

Looking up at the stars, even an immortal could feel small. In the end, it was all only coming and going, nothing terribly serious. 

For a thousand years and more, Gu Yuan would return to the Platform. Some days he had to wait longer than others, but every time, standing beside Qi Siyu with their fingers interlaced, Gu Yuan would re-record the meaning of the word “warmth,” revitalizing all the channels in his heart.

“What do old friends say when they part ways?” Gu Yuan finally asked.

Qi Siyu smiled, his lashes lowering. “See you again soon.”

End.

#original writing #original story #oc story #short story #fiction #writeblr #boys love #5k words #reincarnation story #OEL danmei #danmei inspired #mm romance #am doing the tagging thing right #i wrote this almost 2 years ago and its been languishing in a file so i figure why not post it... its the first BL story i ever finished #some of the afterlife imagery is inspired by chinese mythology but a lot of it is just from my imagination #meanwhile been trying to finish a novel-length proj but it's really kicking my ass

[a-fan-world-blog]

I DO REALLY, RESLLY, REALLY LOVE THIS PICTURES, GOOOOOOD!!!

📍from facebook. Credits to the owners

#tian guan ci fu #heaven official's blessing #hua cheng #taizi dianxia #gorgeous #lovely #beautiful #boy #handsome #boylove #love story #danmei #chinese