#that’s right Shen Wei I’m talking about you

[shenweilaoshi]

x

#that’s right Shen Wei I’m talking about you #arms folded like *I do not have issues* reads the book …mmhm ya do…watches the drama honey keeps lying for no reason #镇魂 guardian #沈巍 #stand by for the queue #bai yu #zhu yilong #zhao yunlan #Weilan #text posts #朱一龙 #朱一龍 #白宇 #danmei #Zhao Yunlan has zero issues he is perfect in every way wdym *swims in denial*

[coolshadowtwins]

Follow up to this! Part Three!

“You’re telling me,” Shen Qingqiu, the real one, said, sitting in his rightful spot as SiC, right next to Yue Qingyuan. “That you all had noticed that something was wrong and had tried every way to check for possession?”

He said it like he didn’t believe them.

“And brainwashing. And poison. And anything that could rattle the brain.” Wei Qingwei listened off.

“When nothing came back, we had to assume the only thing left- Amnesia.” Mu Qingfang said.

“I thought… we thought, that this was just you, without your painful memories.” Yue Qingyuan admitted, shamefully.

“See!” The imposter said brightly, from where he sat next to Shen Qingqiu. “I told you that it wasn’t all that it seemed. Except, hm. Was I really that bad at acting?”

“Yes.” The entire room said at once.

“So you were the one that saved my life?” Liu Qingge finally chimed in, looking at the two intensely. The imposter looked embarrassed.

“Yes, but that’s only… it was only me because of the timing.” He said. “Liu-Shidi, he would have saved your life too-“

The look on Liu Qingge’s face said what he thought about that.

“Wait, what if I like the other one better?” Asked a random peak lord from the back, who clearly hadn’t meant to be overheard. Shen Qingqiu scoffed, offended and angry.

“This isn’t happening again!” The imposter said, just as offended. Then he pointed at Shang Qinghua, who had his head laying on the table after his choking experience. “You! Tell them things! Go on!”

“Huh?!” Shang Qinghua’s head shot upwards, eyes wide. “Things? What things?”

“You know things!” The imposter insisted. “Secrets! Tell them so this doesn’t devolve again!”

“I would rather it devolve than have my secrets shared-“ Shen Qingqiu tried to interject, but the imposter was not having it.

“This is a matter of the fate of the world, ge. Now tell your secrets, Shang-Shidi, or I’m telling your secrets, right here and now!”

“Ge?!” Shen Qingqiu snapped, drowning out Shang Qinghua’s panicked whine. “Who’s your ‘ge’-?!”

“Shen-Shixiong wasn’t trying to kill you, Liu-Shidi, all those years ago!” Shang Qinghua cut in, voice loud and panicked. “There was a ghost about to attack you but he killed it before you turned around!”

“Huh?!” Liu Qingge snapped, looking between Shen Qingqiu and Shang Qinghua.

“And Shen-Shixiong doesn’t go to brothels for the women, but just to sleep because he doesn’t trust anyone here-“

“Shut up if you value your life.” Shen Qingqiu said, deadly calm. Shang Qinghua gulped, and went a different direction.

“Yue-Shixiong went back for you but his Shizun-“

“Shang-Shidi, this is inappropriate-“ Yue Qingyuan tried to cut in, only to be stopped by Shen Qingqiu’s fan in his face.

“No, actually,” Shen Qingqiu said, “Keep talking if you value your life.”

#svsss #shen yuan #shen qingqiu #shang qinghua #shen jiu #liu qingge #yue qingyuan #mu qingfang #wei qingwei #Split Shen Au

[lil0-0blume]

I want to learn how to make edits because I have a list of Lana del Rey songs for every couple that I ship on the mxtx universe (and also for characters alone) but I don’t even know how to start… 🫠🫠

(I already edited before but only some silly things 😭😭)

List of the couples here if anyone is interested:

- HuaLian: Young and Beautiful (Classic, romantic, them)

-Wangxian: Summetime sadness (pls don’t kill me)

-Bingqiu: ArtDeco (like… the vibe?? Just-)

-Moshang: Playing Dangerous (For me, Sqh flirting is something like this -when he’s not afraid ofc)

-Beefleaf: Freak (trust meeee)

-YinZhen: Sad Girl (I’m not afraid to speak the word!!)

-XueXiao: Dark Paradise (Literally died for then, my Roman Empire)

-YueJiu: Cinnamon Girl (the definition of deserved better)

-FengQing: Diet Mountain Dew (THEM. JUST THEM.)

-Bingjiu: Ultraviolence (Got the hots for them but they also deserved better, to god -mxtx- they weren’t her favorite at all lol)

-JunMei: Fishtail (“this is an work of art” seriously, the “You’ll braid my hair” is literally how I envision them in the future, healing, together)

-Niecest: Lust for life (Like you heard that??? The “but my boyfriend’s back… and he’s cooler than ever…” - You cannot convince me otherwise it isn’t them!!!!)

List for the characters:

Binghe: Jealous girl (he was the easiest one for me and I don’t have to explain myself… BE AGGRESSIVE BE- )

Hua Cheng: Cherry (It just reminds me of him!! He really does fall to pieces many times on the story, literally, psychologically and emotionally, in good and bad ways…)

Lan Wangji: Serial killer/Happiness is a butterfly (Suprised for the first one?? Well, for me it’s about the intensity in his love, the type of doing anything and everything for the one he loves… I swear he’s just so dramatic and its just captures his teen phase of ‘first love and I don’t know what to do about it so I’ll just fantasy’ About the second… His time with his love in the first live was short and not completely well lived with so much problems and yet, and yet… he found happiness, also the “if he’s a serial killer than what’s the worst” just fits with the fact that he did in fact tried to save Wwx even against all the things others talked about him, regardless of the truth, he does what he needs to for who he needs… “Looking into his eyes I think he’s already hurt” IM SO SORRY I CANT LIE)

Shen Jiu: Born to die (like I’m not even trying to hurt anyone here but I know it hurts…)

Shen Qingqiu: Doin Time (Why?? Like, “the living is ease” vibe and the sudden “I’ve come to tell you that she’s evil” just reminds me to much of the fact that he’s the “villain”!! And I just imagined the “Louie” in the song as Sqh so much anyway)

Xie Lian: Brooklyn Baby (I don’t think I have to explain this one also right… the fans go “Yeah my boyfriend’s pretty cool… but he’s not as cool as me…” and also, “Baby I’m a gangsta too and takes two the tango” gets me thinking of two different sceneries, a dance with Hua Cheng as his flower and a dance with words representing his martial god nature)

Wei Wuxian: Salvatore (Salvatore is just him, really, the vibe of, like, even if you’re being murdered, you’re smiling and you’re smiling cause you know that, some way, you’ve just fucking won, of being on a serious situation and taking it lightly because is just his way to do things but at same time not as a mockery or a joke to all the suffering, the pain, but rather, an acceptance with a smile… oh gosh what a ride)

Mobei Jun: Black Beauty (like referring to a cold, untouchable beauty like himself, because honestly, life is beautiful but it took a while for him to see the colors but he managed to find his light, or, his “sparrow blue”…)

Shan Qinghua: Meet me at the pale moonlight (I swear, even if doesn’t make sense, for me, his “pale moonlight” is Mobei Jun… but seriously?? The “I’m the sweetest girl in town so why are you so mean?” part FR FR WTH that’s his life you’re singing about Lana)

Xue Yang: Blue Jeans (“Love’s mean… and love hurts” to “I’ll love till the end of times… I’ll wait a million years” is honestly just what he did and also that slightly possessive part “promise you’ll remember that you’re mine” inspired by his insecurities and regrets, only because he was afraid to lose him… couldn’t get any sadder)

Xiao Xingchen: Margaret (In another word yes, yes it could get sadder… He’s just so good… “It kind makes me laugh”, Ah I just keep reminding that scene where he’s with XY, laughing because he’s the easy laugh type of person… And also the “the soul that you bring to the table” I just like to interpret that in a way that he made a family out a villain and homeless distrusting girl and that the “soul” spoken off on the song it’s theirs, how they find “soul” in there, in themselves, in each other…)

Anyway

…Any tips on video edition…? 👀👀

#tgcf #svss #mdzs #hualian #wangxian #bingqiu #moshang #beefleaf #YinZhen #XueXiao #YueJiu #FengQing #BingJiu #junmei #niecest #lana del rey

[dragoncityinteriordesign]

I’ve talked about Author Guy’s house before, but his main greenhouse room definitely deserves a second look in HD.

Of note:

Rainbow glass bowl. I keep coming back to how much I love that bowl on the coffee table, but it’s really pretty! Here’s a (semi-)close-up:

Spy Valley pinot noir. Spy Valley wines are Australian, and apparently their 2017 Handpicked Single Estate Pinot Noir was pretty good, if you like a sustainably crafted red with hints of vanilla and spice.

All the glass. It’s beautiful, if slightly baffling -- the yellow-accented glass of the side doors doesn’t match the X’s on the doors, or the spideweb on the far window, or the wrought-iron behind the greenhouse domes. I’m not going to put that incongruity on the Guardian production people, though; this show does not remotely have enough money to build a place like this only to use it for a mere fraction of a single episode.

Familiar items on the bookshelf. That white tree-like shape also shows up on the other side of the wall. The tiny skull and tiny radio are both in Shen Wei’s apartment (as is that bead-fringed lamp). The black half-face bust and the faceted crystal spheres are upstairs at SID HQ. And the molecular model is from Lin Jing’s desk (except for when he sneakily puts it on Chu Shuzhi’s).

The floating patch of wallpaper. Look at the shot below, right above Da Qing’s head. There’s a rectangle right where the two bookcases touch, but it’s the wallpaper pattern, like the books aren’t even there. I’m sure it has to do with creating the fake wall visible over the bookshelves, but it’s a very strange error.

The fake secret passageway. Disappointing.

I do wonder what this place actually is. Like all the other rich people places, it seems like a real-life, not-made-for-TV location -- especially once you take into account that it doesn’t actually have a hidden-door bookcase wall. Something about the fancy dark woodwork (to say nothing of where else those bookshelves can be found) makes me wonder if this isn’t another part of the Moller Villa replica. Regardless, it’s gorgeous, and a better writing setup than this yutz deserves.

#guardian #zhen hun #author guy

[vaguely-concerned]

shen wei tries his hand at actively lying. it is not very effective! (the way zhao yunlan shuts his eyes in a ‘god grant me strength’ sort of way through all of it too fhskjafhas. “babe it’s one thing to lie to me but you don’t have to insult my intelligence to my face while you’re at it, huh”)

there’s something so deeply endearing to me about shen wei’s heartfelt “I’m tired” once the truth is finally out. he had to lie for like a month and it aged him twenty years from sheer stress, he’s just so BAD at it. in general I think the show did a surprisingly good job on the ~*secret identity*~ plot structure because they use it for different things at different points in the story -- those types of plots can get really annoying if they stretch out too long or keep getting reset to the status quo every time the Reveal gets too close, but for all the bizarre pacing going on in the rest of the writing the development of their relationship feels like it moves at exactly the right pace, and the secret identity side of it is part of that. to begin with shen wei’s hugely transparently sus vibe gets zhao yunlan interested and gives us the reason for them to interact more and more and get to know each other, and then he actually mostly figures it out pretty fast because he’s not an idiot, and then the rest of it is all about emotional tension between them as to WHY he still can’t tell the truth -- as zhao yunlan says in ep 14, “not suspicion, but lack of understanding”. (and I feel like that ‘lack of understanding’ -- meeting someone or something you don’t understand with open-minded curiosity and wonder instead of fear -- is a central Theme of the whole story in that regard. the time they actually fully understand each other and are on the same page completely is so brief!! but the process to try to understand each other and the love and respect that goes into that is the most important part anyway so that’s fine. thanks for coming to my ted talk goodnight)

#drama!shen wei is SUCH a terrible liar it gives me life #'I'm just a lil professor! you wouldn't suspect a lil professor would you?' #like it’s one thing to lie to him but to do it so POORLY. “I just work out a lot”. #you know what zhao yunlan has put up with a lot too #guardian #weilan #shen wei #zhao yunlan

[evilsexy]

Reading about the serialisation on tgcf's post script (skip to the serialisation section ) where mxtx talks about her own disappointments and the conditions she worked in gave me an insight on why it is the way it is. I do have to agree with mxtx's own assessment of tgcf that indeed it is unsatisfying.

Tbh I also found tgcf to be a very enjoyable read but I am disappointed with the fact that it could have been better, I wouldn't care much about this if it was my entry into mxtx's work but it lacks the tight narrative , subversions and commentary that made her work stand out in the first place. MDZS was the first work I was familiar with and I was surprised by how inherently political it was.

Webnovel industry sucks 😕 but I was kind of rooting for her considering how young she was when she wrote everything and despite other complaints I have about her works I consider her a good story teller who is naturally humorous.

Yep, i remember being a little shocked when i first read the postscript when finishing the novel, because i didn't expect so much self-awareness

TGCF is a complete accident, I haven’t matured yet, this took me by surprise... Had I known the content was going to be this huge, I probably would’ve approached the outline much differently. Only a few chapters in of the serialization, and the problems I had long thought of poked their heads out, and persisted until midway, towards the end, and they’re still there even when the story’s concluded

something else that really stuck out to me was

In any case, Hua Hua is a good boi. Whether he’s smiling fakely, or if he’s got a little silver chain on his boots, all of his designs and related decisions came fast and delightfully. My greatest happiness is to change his clothes and give him new appearances, and felt regret that I couldn’t manage to put together ten sets. Hopefully I can work on this during the edit!

It was actually the Shou, Xie Lian, who tortured me for up to half a year’s time. When the novel started serializing, I was still torn over him for a long time... In the past, when I write, even if I’m not familiar with the character at the beginning, I can usually grasp the feeling within three days. But for Xie Lian, I was still struggling even after five, six days, and my heart lurched.

I think the weakness of the central couple is something that MXTX understands, so she leaned heavily into their indulgent aesthetic value instead. I mean, that's what 耽美 is right, "indulging in beauty"? But maybe that isn't for the best. I feel like this is very telling as to why neither HC nor XL really "feel like" real people; I really don't think that MXTX has an idea of who they are, even after all this time. And maybe to fans who want a blank slate couple to project onto and write AUs and other fanworks, this is ideal, but it's bad writing practice. In MDZS and SVSSS, the main couples feel like real people as do the rest of the cast, but in TGCF that privilege is only granted to side characters.

With Wei Wuxian and Shen Yuan, you can immediately get a grasp of who they are as a person, even from the first chapter, and you can relate to their struggle. With Xie Lian, this isn't the case. We find out he's a "failure", but since he doesn't let it get to him, we end up learning almost nothing about his identity. The reader has no real idea of who he is until book 2, and not even really then. If you asked me what Xie Lian's core motivations and fears are at most points in the novel ... I don't really know if I could give a solid answer. He takes every hit with so much grace and magnanimity that it's hard to put yourself in his shoes, this is the opposite of what you want from a protagonist.

This is also another central issue of TGCF: it has no plot. Xie Lian has no major directive, implicit or explicit, after his third ascension, he just goes with the flow. Not every good novel follows a hero's journey style plot, but I think that MXTX understands that her stories work best under that traditional structure. Seriously, please if you think you can give me a coherent plot summary I encourage you to, but I really struggle to briefly sum up what goes on in this book.

Almost all fans can agree that books 2 and 4 are the strongest sections of the novel. They have the most tension, most interesting character dynamics, and are overall the most memorable. By the time Xie Lian ascends for the third time, the events of these books are so long gone that the tension has dissipated. The plot meanders, and then meanders more. It does not feel like a “finished story”, and we can see that MXTX also feels this way from her comments. 

Cutting the 800 year timeskip could solve so many of this novel's problems; with all of the emotional wounds fresh, character interactions could have been so much more tense and engaging. In my reading it primarily functions to exaggerate Hua Cheng's absolute perfection as a romantic object, but otherwise, it only serves to degrade the novel. At some level, this book seems to exist to sell the reader on the idea of Hua Cheng as the perfect love interest (and hualian as the perfect couple), and looking at the fanbase for this book I think to that end it succeeds.

So, with all that, what does MXTX think this book is about?

This is a love story. It’s about gentleness, dreams, something never to be given up on, and someone never to be forgotten.

I think this is a perfect summary, it evokes a feeling, but certainly not a story. To many fans, that's fine, they sought this work for the feeling of a beautiful romance. To me though, this was not enough, I am infinitely unsatisfied. I wanted to be pulled into a story and then come away with something like I got with SVSSS and MDZS, but in the end I only came away with disappointment.

#again disclaimer that this is my subjective opinion and i really welcome your response if you have a comment or criticism #anon #asks #mxtx #tgcf #long post

[phoenixkaptain]

Finished Guardian (second read) last night. I just gotta say: Shen Wei is super feral in the novel. He is this close to snapping at any moment. His self control is like a violin string pulled too tight, if it is pulled anymore it will snap. And Zhao Yunlan is like a pair of scissors, cutting the string easily because good lord Zhao Yunlan tests Shen Wei’s self control a lot.

At one point, Shen Wei is like “You know what I am, the place I come from, and you still test me.” And Zhao Yunlan is like “Yeah, I’m not stopping.” Zhao Yunlan even sees Shen Wei’s creepy locked stalker room full of paintings of him, and all he does is change his plans and then tease Shen Wei more (but never mention it. The creepy stalker room is never mentioned agaim after this point).

Shen Wei force-feeds Zhao Yunlan “medicine” that is actually blood from his heart; as in, Shen Wei stands in the kitchen and stabs himself in the chest to bleed his heart so his can shove his own blood down Zhao Yunlan’s throat. Then, a bit later, Shen Wei’s like “I considered just tearing my heart out and giving it to you, but I thought it might freak you out.”

There’s a Ghost City they end up in (don’t ask, it’s later in the book and I don’t want to explain it) and Zhao Yunlan gets attacked by ghosts. Shen Wei kills a ghost, which he wasn’t supposed to do, one of the people who know rules in Hell is like “You can’t-“ and Shen Wei is like “I can’t kill? I have yet to meet a creature that my blade doesn’t cut through.” and it’s the funniest thing he says, that man is unhinged from the get go.

Zhao Yunlan knows that Shen Wei is the Ghost Slayer (basically, if you’ve never read the novel and only saw the show, think of the Ghost Slayer as the equivalent of Hei Pao Shi, only where Hei Pao Shi is generally scary to the Dixingren, he tries not to actively hurt or kill them, Ghost Slayer is everyone’s worst nightmare to the point that just saying his name is enough to get people to do your bidding and, instead of protecting the ghosts, Ghost Sayer sees them as disgusting ants to be squeezed out of existence and the only thing holding him back from double murdering every ghost in existence is that Kunlun would be disappointed in him). The show draws out the period between Zhao Yunlan meeting Shen Wei and Shen Wei being revealed to him as the Ghost Slayer, but in the book it isn’t as long. The case in the mountains is the second one. Zhao Yunlan gets a book from Hell, the Book of Life ad Death, because blah blah Hell wants him to know who Shen Wei is for nefarious purposes or whatever. Zhao Yunlan realizes he’s the Ghost Slayer. Then, just to be sure, he uses some of Shen Wei’s hair (that’s how the book works) and asks who he is. The book says “A soulless creature.” “Where’s he come from?” “An unspeakable place of evil.”

Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei and Shen Wei expects him to be really upset, but Zhao Yunlan spends one month not talking to him, then decides “Nobody ever said outloud to my face directly that I shouldn’t marry the Ghost Slayer.” and he starts flirting with Shen Wei again almost immediately.

My favourite thing is right after he confronts Shen Wei about it the second time, and they’ve decided that rules are dumb, let’s make out. Zhu Hong asks something reasonable like “Why did you bring a professor to this dangerous crime scene?” and Zhao Yunlan is like “Shen Wei? He’s part of the team.” Shen Wei has this moment of “oh no, is he going to reveal my identity as Ghost Slayer” only for Zhao Yunlan to be like “He’s my wife.” And so begins Zhao Yunlan calling the infamous, feared by all, feral Ghost Slayer he wife. I love it

I really like at the end, where, SPOILERS, Shen Wei is basically like “I’m ready to die, I fucked Kunlun twice, what more do I have to live for?” He doesn’t say it outloud, but we all know he was thinking it (he porbably wasn’t but I think I’m funny) Kunlun really for reals shows up at the end and is like “My fucking wife really tried to erase my memories, I’ll pretend to not be smitten for two days as punishment.” He doesn’t even make it two days after Shen Wei wakes up from his coma. Zhao Yunlan and Kunlun are saps, which doesn’t make sense, they should be rocks-

Anyway, I also love when Zhao Yunlan sees memories of his past life as Kunlun, and it’s little Ghost King Wei giving him a necklace made out of teeth. Kunlun (most unromantic person ever) doesn’t like this gift. Shen Wei (baby version) is truly perfect.

Anyway, to end this off, I’m going to recommend people read this. The plot is hard to follow, it took me two read-throughs to really understand even basically what was going on, but the romance is peak perfection. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei were literally and metaphorically made for each other.

#guardian #weilan #zhao yunlan #shen wei #i love them #read about my beloveds #they deserve it

[vodkassassin]

Shen Qingqiu decides enough is enough! As is his right

If you see any typos in this, no you don’t 😌

—

The door flies open right on the midday hour mark, when the candle that he lit this morning is exactly half gone, and Shang Qinghua immediately dives underneath his desk and throws his arms over his hand.

“I’m almost done!” He calls out desperately. “Just give me a few more hours, I promise I’m almost done!”

Following this, a silence in his office, long and inspecting, takes place. Shang Qinghua, despite all his instincts screaming otherwise, peeks his head up over the edge of his desk and gulps. The person standing in his door, who is surveying his admittedly very messy office (it’s not his fault! Paperwork breeds like multiplying cells! Why doesn’t anyone understand that?!), and looking very, very unamused.

“Ha, um,” he scrambles back to sit on the chair again, trying to get his thundering heart under control. “H-Hello, Shen-shixiong! This — I — I wasn’t expecting….”

Shen Qingqiu finishes his examination of his workspace and locks his gaze upon Shang Qinghua. He steps smoothly into the office, and shuts the door behind him with sure but quiet movements. A cold sweat breaks out down Shang Qinghua’s spine.

He swallows. He reaches forward and grabs up the paperwork he’d been pouring over before this interruption and holds it feebly before himself like a shield.

“A-Acruelly, shixiong…. If shixiong has something he wants from this shidi, I-I’m afraid it will have to wait. Wei-shixiong demanded these requisition forms be looked over and approved before tomorrow a-and there… there are a lot of them to go through…. I think he waited until the last minute — Oh! And Liu-shidi, he — um, he sent in his audit reports late again, so I have to go through those too and I’m really really sorry but whatever you have for me I can’t —!”

“Stop your babbling.” Shen Qingqiu snaps. Shang Qinghua’s jaw clicks shut so fast his teeth hurt a little. Ow.

He watches with wide eyes as his shixiong — who is now scowling heavily, nooo — begins to flip through the various stacks of parchment and scrolls that sit heavy upon Shang Qinghua’s desk. Too terrified to tell him that, actually, only the sect leader should be looking through those ones, Shang Qinghua remains quiet.

Really, nobody tells Shen Qingqiu what he can or can’t do. Those who have tried before are —

Well. They’ve all seen their sect leader.

“These.” Shen Qingqiu slips a smaller stack of documents out from the middle of one of the piles and holds it up. “The supply logs from the previous joint peak night hunting expedition. They have yet to be filed?”

“Shixiong,” Shang Qinghua’s eyes water in frustration, and he holds up his sleeve to cover them. “I meant to, I did! But — but when I was going to get to them, Qi-shimei came in with a cart full of delegated peak maintenance reports! She said if they weren’t done before noon she’d — Ah.” He shudders, peeks over his arm, and goes pale at the way Shen Qingqiu’s eyes have narrowed viciously. He hurries on, voice growing smaller. “I’d just finished them when Wei-shixiong brought me his backlog requisitions….”

He trails off, because the expression on his shixiong face has gone colder and colder the longer he spoke.

“Why haven’t you chosen to delegate?” The man demands from between his locked teeth. “All these disciples that you have, and you’re telling me you can’t delegate a single task to them?”

“Shixiong,” Shang Qinghua’s eyes water again and he shiffles pathetically into his sleeve. “Shixiong, I do delegate. This stuff in my office here, this is all the work only peak lords have the security clearance for. Everything else I delegate to my disciples, because I can’t… I can’t….”

Shen Qingqiu stares down his nose at him, and Shang Qinghua stops talking. He drops his gaze and listens as the man silently turns on his heel and stalks out of his office, closing the door with a solid thump.

He wipes his eyes with his sleeve and drops his arm defeatedly into his lap, frowning down at the water stains his stupid tears have left in the fabric. Silk is so fucking dumb, you can’t walk through without it picking up dirt somehow. It’s why he changed his peak robes to darker colors, because at least black doesn’t show where you’ve been all day.

And seriously, it’s just so much easier to scrub blood out of clothes that aren’t white or beige or pastel.

He shoves his paperwork to the side and folds his arms before him, letting his head thunk down on them with an exhausted sigh. The door opens slightly again and a head peaks in.

“Shizun?”

“A-Kao,” he mumbles into his arms. “I’m gonna die.”

His head disciple gives a polite sound of acknowledgement. “I’ll have someone prepare some of the spiced tea imported from that Eastern desert oasis, then.”

“I love you,” Shang Qinghua says fervently, and listens as his favorite disciple huffs a quiet laugh.

“Will return shortly.”

The door closes again, and with it, Shang Qinghua closes his eyes.

Jin Kao is true to his word, as always, and in fact brings a light snack of fruit and a pastry along with the tea. Shang Qinghua plows through it at record pace and is energized! He’s halfway through the requisition forms for Wei Qingwei when his door is slammed open once again.

He flinches. Taking a fortifying breath, Shang Qinghua glances up and immediately loses all color.

“Shen-shixiong is back!” He shakes, voice wobbling. “With — with Z-Zhangmen-shixiong, ah…!”

Shen Qingqiu stalks into the room, side stepping Jin Kao whose arms are laden with the empty tea set. The head disciple wisely flees into the corner, watching with a narrow gaze as the Qing Jing peak lord all but drags their venerated Sect Leader across the office to stand before Shang Qinghua’s desk.

Shang Qinghua trembles as they both loom over him. What did he do?! Shixiong, what he’s said before was completely reasonable! There was no need to go and fetch your overbearing ge!

Shen Qingqiu points a finger at Shang Qingh— oh wait, not him. At his desk. At the mountains of papers littering his desk.

“If you have time to relax and drink tea in your spotless office,” the second in command sneers at his superior, “then you have time to pick up the slack so that our shidi can do the same!”

Shang Qinghua gapes. He stares up at them with round, round eyes, uncertain as to what’s going on.

Yue Qingyuan, for his part, quails under Shen Qingqiu’s steely and unrelenting gaze. His shoulders are tense, and the way in which he looks around Shang Qinghua’s office with a startled look, only to then turn it upon Shang Qinghua himself, just screams ‘bro, you live like this?’

Not by choice! Shang Qinghua never asked for this, Yue-shixiong! The paperwork just never stops!

Shen Qingqiu pivots sharply, glaring down at him instead. Ah!

“What are you doing?” The man says. “Get up.”

“Ah?” Completely bewildered, Shang Qinghua only stares up at the man in confusion.

“Honestly.” Shen Qingqiu sighs under his breath — a sharp and stilted sound of frustration.

He rounds the desk himself and grabs Shang Qinghua by the upper arm, hauling him up from his chair and dragging him away from the desk.

“Th-This—?!”

“Sect Leader,” Shen Qingqiu nods at the desk. Yue Qingyuan only stares blankly at him, and so he sneers. “These forms must be finished. And the next stack. All by a peak lord — I’m taking Shang-shidi for a well deserved break, so I can’t do it, and Wei-shidi was the one to submit them in the first place. Of the four foremost peak lords of the sect, only you have time and clearance to do it.”

Shang Qinghua sways, shocked. If Shen Qingqiu didn’t still have such a bone-crushing grip on him, he might have even fallen. The other man steadies him immediately, and the sour look on his face sours even further.

Yue Qingyuan’s face is pale. “Qingqiu-shidi….”

“It isn’t as if you were busy with anything else.” Shen Qingqiu plows on past whatever refuting the sect leader was trying to pull. He shakes Shang Qinghua roughly by the arm, and Shang Qinghua rapidly blinks away the spots from his vision. “Look at our shidi, he’s nearly dead on his feet. Are you telling me that you would make him work more, when it’s already clear that he’s overworked?”

Yue Qingyuan pauses. He glances around the office another time, shoulders lowering in slow increments. His resolve is crumbling visibly to everyone in the office.

Shang Qinghua silently mouths ‘overworked’ to himself, stunned.

Finally, the sect leader sighs. “No, Qingqiu-shidi is right.”

Shen Qingqiu snorts. As if to say ‘of course I am.’

Yue Qingyuan steps around the desk and slowly takes the seat that Shang Qinghua had just been forcably vacated from. He eyes the stack of paperwork that are piled high, not just on the desk but on the floor and the shelves surrounding the desk, and an expression of regret eclipses his face.

“This shixiong had not realized Shang-shidi’s workload was quite so…” he trails off, trying to fish for the right word, and finally lands on, “heavy.”

“It’s the Sect Leader’s duty to ascertain that all those under his sect’s banner are taken care of. Those directly under his command even more so.” Shen Qingqiu sniffs disdainfully. “You have no excuse.”

Yue Shixiong bows his head. “No, this one does not.”

“I’m taking Shang Qinghua to Qing Jing to recuperate.”

“Yes.”

Shang Qinghua pales even further. He ducks his head down and glances over to the corner into which his head disciple had squirreled himself away for help.

Jin Kao stares back, an expression of smug victory on his face, and doesn’t say a single word.

This traitor! Unfilial disciple! Shang Qinghua takes back what he said about Jin Kao being his favorite. He’s replacing that brat as soon as he’s able to escape Shen Qingqiu’s clutches.

Shen Qingqiu yanks on his arms, dragging him out of the office. He cranes his neck around, and the last scene he sees before the door slams shut is Jin Kao setting down the empty tea set, picking up a large stack of papers from one of the various spots on the floor, which he then ferries over to the desk at which Yue Qingyuan has picked up the half-finished requisition, looking it over with a frown.

Huh. He’s never seen his head disciple look quite so intimidating before. The boy is practically looming over their sect leader with a dark expression.

That’s a little strange.

He doesn’t see beyond that, though, because Shen Qingqiu slams the doors shut again and drags him off his own damn peak.

—

Support this story on Ao3:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32312410

#Jiuplane #yes I ship it #scumplane #svsss #scum villain's self saving system #Shen Jiu #Shang Qinghua #Vodkassassin fanfiction #svsss prompts

[randomprose]

Shang Qinghua is, for lack of a better word, a pushover—a pathetic, cowering, pushover.

He doesn’t talk back, mostly because everyone around him is so much more OP than him and he lives in constant fear that any one of them would be the cause of his demise (accidentally and/or otherwise).

So, Shang Qinghua just lets things slide, like, a lot of things. For self-preservation purposes. So he gets taken advantage of for it, so what? As long as he’s useful, he at least doesn’t have to fear being unceremoniously eliminated.

Shang Qinghua lives his life like this—except during the bi-annual Peak Lords’ Conference.

The bi-annual Peak Lords’ Conference is where they discuss the sect’s general administrative matters and most important of all, the sect’s financial records. It’s the time all the peak lords are scrambling to complete their administrative reports and the busiest season for An Ding Peak—especially Shang Qinghua.

It’s also the only time of the year Shang Qinghua doesn’t think about the importance of not crossing anyone in the name of self-preservation.

A couple of years since the end of the original novel officially transpired, and after also officially being saddled with the Northern Desert’s palace account and affairs, Shang Qinghua has decided he has had enough and will no longer be pushed around into doing the other peaks’ paperwork for them!

Shang Qinghua gets mean and snappy at these meetings. He’s so sleep-deprived he doesn’t even have the energy to be guilty about it. That’s how exhausted he is. If someone comes for his throat during this meeting he wouldn’t even flinch. He’d probably be angrier if they somehow don’t finish the job. Put him out of his misery or don’t waste his fucking time.

If this made the other peak lords lowkey scared of him singling them out during these bi-annual meetings, that’s just a bonus.

A hush falls among the peak lords already present in Cang Qiong’s main conference hall when Shang Qinghua enters. His Head Disciple and inner disciples carrying each peak’s individual reports in tow, placing it down on Shang Qinghua’s table while the peak lord himself goes straight to the podium to load today’s presentation in the crystal mirror projector screens.

It’s times like these that Shang Qinghua is so thankful he thought about writing in projection screens in Proud Immortal Demon Way. Imagine having to write and present a whole sect’s financial report in scrolls! He’d sooner throw himself off of the top of Jue Di Gorge.

He sticks a rectangular slab of crystal to a port and activates it with a short burst of his qi. The crystal mirror lights up with the first page of Shang Qinghua’s presentation and he eyes it for a second before walking to his table.

Yes, it functions like a USB, and no he doesn’t care that ‘it goes completely against xianxia logic!’ because contrary to what Cucumber-bro says, this is actually another thing that Shang Qinghua is grateful he wrote in because it’s a fucking stroke of genius.

An An Ding disciple comes in just before the start of the conference, saying a messenger bird of a merchant lord just sent a missive labeled ‘important’.

“This is not important at all,” Shang Qinghua says before sitting down, grabbing a paper, and writing a reply anyway. He hands it to his disciple, “Here send it back. If they reply unfavorably, tell them—"

Just then Shen Qingqiu enters, flanked by Ming Fan and Luo Binghe, which startled the An Ding disciple to drop the note. Luo Binghe picks up the paper to hand it over to the startled disciple, who bowed in thanks before Shen Qingqiu snatches it and opens the note.

“'To Lord Mao," Shen Qingqiu reads. "'Is that a challenge? If so, this peak lord will engage with Lord Mao. This peak lord knows the law of this land and will gladly see Lord Mao in court. Note, this peak lord knows what happened five days after last year’s harvest moon and supposes that, too, is up for discussion. Signed Peak Lord Shang.’” Shen Qingqiu turns to Shang Qinghua as he folds the note again and hands it back to the disciple, who bows to all of them before taking his leave. “Lord Mao? The merchant that supplies some of Wan Jian Peak’s blacksmithing tools? What did this Lord Mao do five days after last year’s harvest moon?”

“Nothing and it’s none of your business,” Shang Qinghua mutters shortly as he re-arranges his scrolls while the rest of the peak lords start to file in.

It’s a testament to how exhausted Shang Qinghua is that he doesn’t even flinch when Luo Binghe levels him with a dark glare and a snarl of, “Don’t speak to Shizun like that.”

“Binghe, stand down. Shang-shidi is just under a lot of pressure. This is a busy time for An Ding Peak after all.”

“No, Luo Binghe is right,” Shang Qinghua sighs. “That was out of line, shixiong, even if what you said was true.” He bows slightly to Shen Qingqiu in apology before smiling tiredly. “Lord Mao did nothing I think. I just—”

“What is this I hear about Shang-shidi being at odds with a merchant?” Qi Qingqi pipes up clearly having heard their conversation. “Really, Shang-shixiong. What are you doing? It better not be something shady again.”

“Rest assured, Qi-shimei, this shixiong knows what he’s doing.”

“This one sure hopes you do,” Qi Qingqi says not without suspicion at the same time Shen Qingqiu asks, “Do you really?”

“It’s fine. It’s fine,” Shang Qinghua says, moving his hand in a dismissive wave. “Don’t worry about it.”

--

Later, while Shang Qinghua is in the middle of speedrunning through the peak’s expense reports, because his martial siblings have very short attention spans for such things and anything else that isn’t gossip or doesn’t directly involve them, the same An Ding disciple comes in. He slinks quietly to An Ding’s Head Disciple, who is taking notes dutifully, to inform her of the missive.

The Head Disciple gives him the go signal to report and raises her hand to get Shang Qinghua’s attention.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, Shifu, but Lord Mao has responded.”

“Oh? And what did he say?”

An Ding’s Head Disciple nudges her martial sibling, who looks unsure and a little unnerved at all the eyes trained on him, to deliver the message.

“Lord Mao said—” he clears his throat. “Lord Mao said there is no need to make a big deal out of nothing and agreed to meet on the twelfth day of next month.”

Shang Qinghua looks to his Head Disciple, rapidly flipping through a small pocket notebook before looking up and shaking her head no to Shang Qinghua.

“This peak lord is not available on that date. Tell Lord Mao to move it on—Xiao Lian?”

“Shifu’s next available date is on the twenty-fifth of the month after next.”

“There. Tell Lord Mao to move the meeting to the twenty-fifth day of the month after next.”

“Hey, now,” Shen Qingqiu says because his husband has gone, Ming Fan is taking notes for him, so now he’s bored and this is the most interesting thing that’s happened since this whole meeting started. “Isn’t Shang-shidi pushing it?”

“It’s fine. This master knows what he’s doing,” Shang Qinghua says as he waves away his disciple and goes right back to drilling Liu Qingge about Bai Zhan Peak’s expense report.

--

Around the concluding hour of the meeting, Shang Qinghua’s messenger disciple returns yet again with a response.

“This disciple apologizes a thousand times for interrupting once again.”

“The meeting is about to end. Wait beside your shijie for a bit, yeah?”

“Yes, Shifu.”

But before the An Ding disciple could do as he’s told, Wei Qingwei speaks up.

“It’s fine. At this point, I think this peak lord speaks for all when he says we all want to know what Lord Mao has said.” Not in the least because they’re all bored out of their wits and this is a very welcome distraction. “He's one of Wan Jian Peak’s suppliers is he not? This peak lord has a vested interest in this exchange.”

“Alright then,” Shang Qinghua says, no longer caring and just wanting this whole meeting to end so he can go back home and catch up on some sleep for a day or three. “Let’s hear it then.”

“Lord Mao agreed to meet Shifu on the twenty-fifth of the month after next and offered to host Shifu on his manor.”

“Fat chance,” Shang Qinghua says. And what? Hand himself over for a potential assassination plot? Shang Qinghua did not last this long and survived everything that’s happened in the original storyline only for some canon fodder merchant lord to get the jump on him. He makes a mental note to look for a new supplier for Wan Jian Peak’s blacksmithing needs if Lord Mao doesn’t agree with the terms he’s laid out—ones that are very much in Cang Qiong’s favor 70-30 now that he’s pissed Shang Qinghua off. “Tell Lord Mao this peak lord will receive him in An Ding Peak at no later than Wu Shi.”

The disciple bows and leaves to send the message and Shang Qinghua turns back to conclude his presentation.

Then later, after the meeting is adjourned, Shen Qingqiu sidles up to him with an amused, “Well, that was something, Peak Lord Shang. The bi-annual Peak Lord’s Conference really brings out your backbone, huh?”

Shang Qinghua just regards his friend with an exhausted flat look at the obvious mocking use of his title before smirking, “I told you I know what I’m doing.”

“So what did Lord Mao do five days after last year’s harvest moon?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Shang Qinghua replies in earnest with a shrug and a confused frown. “I just thought of a random date and hoped for the best that it held some importance to him. Guess Lord Mao does shady things on the regular.”

“Yikes.”

“Yeah. Time to find Wei-shixiong a new supplier. I just hope he’s not partial to the ones that shady Lord Mao provides.”

ao3

#shang qinghua #shen qingqiu #cang qiong mountain sect #cang qiong peak lords #an ding peak #an ding peak disciples #it's expense report season my dudes #and sqh is so exhausted ™️ #if they file the wrong forms again #sqh is gonna start smashing kneecaps #scumbag system #scumbag villain self saving system #svsss #svsss fanfic #writing

[eirenical]

[Originally posted on my other blog when I was locked out of this one, and it’s the only piece of my actual writing that isn’t on the right blog, so I’m reposting it.  Enjoy?  ^_^]

buriedbybooks asked:

I'd love to hear about Lighthouse Keeper!Shen Wei fic and GYADL Threesome fix it AU (I'm still working on the art (*cough* bribe))

:D Thank you buriedbybooks​​!  (And I am STILL excited about the potential for that bribe art, btw! ;D)

[In reference to this post.]

Lighthouse keeper!Shen Wei

So, the lighthouse keeper!Shen Wei fic is going to be a little difficult to go into detail on without giving too much away, but it started out back at the end of July when fan-man-huaisang​​ and I discovered a picture from The Rebel (posted by the always appreciated zhu-yilong-laying-on-things​​ ^_^) of Z1L in this AMAZINGLY SOFT-LOOKING blue cardigan.  And f-m-h tagged it something to the effect of ‘now i want to see him playing a lonely lighthouse keeper!’  And we started talking about it.  And then I started talking with elenothar​​ about it, and we got equally excited about the entire aesthetic of Z1L in a lighthouse on a lonely spit of land that looks a lot like New England, and somewhere along the way I started calling this character 'Shen Wei’ and she said, “Oh, is this going to be a Guardian AU?” and I said, “…YES.  YES, IT IS.”  And I’m not sure how much else I can say without giving too much away, but I can mention that Zhao Yunlan does show up, and this IS, believe it or not, a canon ending fix-it for the drama, because we’ve both always wanted to write one and never really full-on indulged that beyond hand-wavey post-canon AUs.

And I have been given permission to post a snippet, so… enjoy?  ^_^

Just as he felt his strength beginning to return, just as his gasps after air finally started bringing in more oxygen and less sea spray… the ocean changed. He hung there, suspended, as it stilled, the waves growing gentler and moving him about less and less and less… drawing back as a maelstrom gathered beneath him.

One moment the sea was still, was calm, cradling him like a babe in its mother’s arms, and the next… the ocean was nothing but froth and darkness, and he was lost in its thrall, barely able to catch a breath before the next wave slammed down and carried him ever further from where he’d started. He fought the waves, fought the current, fought the dragging undertow, alternately swimming for all he was worth and curling in tightly to protect his head as unseen things in the water slammed past him and into him, until he felt the water draw back once more, this time pulling him with it… higher… and higher… and higher… so high that if he fell from this height it would surely be the end of him… and then he saw it.

Bright.

Shining.

Golden.

And so soft and warm, he could practically *feel* its heat on his face.

A lantern.

…a lighthouse.

Land.

As the wave crested beneath him, threatening to topple at any moment, he desperately turned his body in the direction of that shining beacon, all but willing the vast frenzy of energy below him to take him where he wanted to go. And as the wave trembled beneath him, finally crashing back down and taking him with it, he took in as deep a breath as he could and swam for all he was worth.

#guardian #zhen hun #weilan #eirenical.photos #shen wei x zhao yunlan #i have no idea why this isn't showing up in the tags no matter what i do #but i am annoyed #:P #shen wei #zhao yunlan #eirenical writes things #snippet #lighthouse keeper fic

[tossawary]

I'm sorry this feels real weird, but I love PINTWILF a lot, and the fact that you really expanded on SQH's role and everything. And I really loved that you added the other unnamed peaks and melded them in, everything that you wrote about the peaks actually really fleshed them out and their roles. So what did you name the three other peaks, and what are their roles? I think I only really understand that Xi Jiao is an animal/beast peak?

It’s not weird! I’m quite pleased with the sect logistics I’ve been writing in PINTWILF (from a humor angle, not a realism angle) and so I’m happy to talk about it. This is the order of peaks I’ve been using in PINTWILF: 

(1) Qiong Ding Peak - Peak Lord: Yue Qingyuan (Canon) 

Apparently they’re responsible for general affairs. I’ve always assumed they’re also responsible for dealing with other sects and politics, outside of peak-specific specialties where another peak lord has the authority to represent the sect. 

(2) Qing Jing Peak - Peak Lord: Shen Qingqiu (Canon) 

Peak of scholars and strategists. I assumed from there that they would also be responsible for a lot of library and archive-related duties, and that they would have some talisman and seal experts, etc., and that QJ and QD would be closely tied in many matters. 

(3) Wan Jian Peak - Peak Lord: Wei Qingwei (Canon) 

Peak of sword masters. I assumed that this meant both martial weapon specialists and sword smiths. I also assumed that this could be expanded to many kinds of metal work. Where WJ and AD meet is probably where a lot of non-weapon-related fabrication happens. 

(4) An Ding Peak - Peak Lord: Shang Qinghua (Canon, minus #?)

I’ve seen people put An Ding anywhere from 4th to 12th. I’m not sure that An Ding has a canonical number. I prefer An Ding being 4th because of 1) how closely Qiong Ding and An Ding’s work would be tied and the importance of logistics, but 2) mainly how funny I think it is if SQH is only three murders away from being the sect leader. 

SQH: “Wei Qingwei, you cannot die. The chances of Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan offing each other is too high for you to die on me. YOU’RE MY LAST LINE OF DEFENSE. DON’T MAKE ME BE SECT LEADER.” 

(5) Xian Shu Peak - Peak Lord: Qi Qingqi (Canon)

It’s unclear what specialties XS has, probably because it only existed in PIDW as the “hot lady peak” (and MXTX never actually expanded it post-transmigration). It’s never come up, but I kind of dig the idea of XS doing some textiles work, anything from weaving fine fabrics to rope-making. (Who makes stuff like Immortal Binding Cables? It could be Xian Shu.) 

(6) Xi Jiao Peak - Peak Lord: Tang Qingling (Non-Canon) 

Yes, this is an animal/beast peak, because I’ve seen it brought up in a few fics, and I thought it would be funny for SY to be entranced by the idea, only for SQH to go, “Bro, I hope you have the stomach for blood and literal shit, because that’s where they butcher monsters for parts and collect crap for fertilizer.” 

I also like the idea of Cang Qiong Mountain Sect having actual pipelines based on the specialties, which make it a very profitable and efficient sect. (Also, where are they getting their food? Do they have livestock? Do they buy it all from the surrounding towns and cities? Xi Jiao is me deciding that, yes, they have livestock.) Liu Qingge brings in a monster, it goes to Xi Jiao, then the parts go out again to Wan Jian, Qian Cao, Zui Xian, and others. to become armor, medicine, potions, etc.. Or maybe just to An Ding to sell. 

(7) Bai Zhan Peak - Peak Lord: Liu Qingge (Canon) 

They make people who fight good. 

(8) Qian Cao Peak - Peak Lord: Mu Qingfang (Canon) 

Trains healers and makes medicine. I assumed that they would grow as many of their own plants as they could and do a lot of plant breeding. Medicine could also be a great source of income for the sect (another reason why QC is one of Shang Qinghua’s favorite peaks). 

(9) Ku Xing Peak - Peak Lord: Wang Qingjie (Canon, minus # and peak lord) 

The peak name is canon, but I can’t remember if they have a canonical number and they don’t have a canonical peak lord. They’re all all-male peak with an ascetic lifestyle, living akin to monks. 

I think I decided that they specialized in talismans and the creation of other spiritual tools, including and as well as ceramics. So, they work closely with many of the other peaks, but especially An Ding in supplying other peaks. I can’t remember why I decided this. I think maybe I decided that Ku Xing might have a philosophy that “to create purifying objects, the maker must also be free from impurities”? Hence the ascetic lifestyle. 

I also thought it would be funny if Ku Xing and Qing Jing had a little bit of a rivalry going on. Shen Qingqiu makes very good talismans and Wang Qingjie is NOT angry about it (in the way of someone trying not to be angry). 

(10) Zui Xian Peak - Peak Lord: Zhang Qingyan (Canon, minus # and peak lord) 

Again, the peak name is canon, but I can’t remember if they have a canonical number and they don’t have a canonical peak lord. This is the peak that apparently specializes in alcohol. 

So, I decided that they might as well be responsible for brewing other potions and solutions. Maybe they have people who specialize in alchemy. Qian Cao and Wan Jian and Xi Jiao (and nearly every other peak) probably do their own brewing of certain things, but it probably helps to have someone else dedicated to brewing on a large scale. Qian Cao grows the plants for a common medicine, then ships them to Zui Xian for mass-production, and the An Ding takes the result and sells it to all the nearby towns and cities. 

Zui Xian probably saves and makes Cang Qiong so much money. 

(11) Long Sheng Peak - Peak Lord: ??? (Non-Canon) 

This is a newer invention and I haven’t come up with a peak lord yet, but they’re named after “The Dragon’s Backbone” and they specialize in plants and agriculture. This is my “this is how the sect gets fed” peak, alongside Xi Jiao. 

Maybe they don’t grow all the sect’s food themselves, but they support and work with the surrounding towns and cities to make sure that the local harvests survive all of PIDW’s horrible plants and monsters. Sometimes you need cultivators who can tell you why this year’s harvest is haunted and what to do about it! Maybe Airplane invented the equivalent of magical locust swarms and didn’t think twice about it, so someone has to deal with that! Maybe they grow the materials for Xian Shu’s textiles work! 

They work closely with Xi Jiao, Qian Cao, Zui Xian, and An Ding. 

(12) ??? 

I haven’t actually named the last peak. I haven’t really seen a need to invent one yet and it’s kind of been a in-joke with myself. It’s fun to imagine people being like, “Cang Qiong has twelve peaks, right? What’s that last one called again? I can never remember what that last peak is called.” 

Notes: 

I imagine that most of the peaks’ specialties overlap in one way or another. An Ding, Zui Xian, Qian Cao, and Long Sheng each do some agricultural stuff, but Qian Cao and Long Sheng (especially LS) do most of it. And so on. 

Cang Qiong Mountain Sect also doesn’t have to do everything in-house. Shang Qinghua also has to make orders from other sects and merchants for stuff that Cang Qiong either can’t make or don’t have the space/time to make. I just like the idea that CQ is so powerful partly because they’re so independent. 

If I keep the details loose, I can get a lot of fun humor out of it. 

#lightningparadox #ask tossawary #tossawary svsss #pride is not the word #shang qinghua

[kimmyyang]

210503 My favorite moments & translations of the SHL concert including the warming up livestream

1. Zhao Jing calling fans adopted sons and daughters during the livestream and revealing that there will be a game where they hug each other, telling fans to look forward to it (he knows what we want to see haha).

2. Gong Jun arrived at the livestream first, but he still waited for Zhang Zhehan and told Zhang Zhehan to introduce himself first.

3. Zhang Zhehan saying he will talk less as he needs to take care of his throat for the actual concert, so Gong Jun talked mostly in the livestream (translation is here).

4. In the beginning of the concert, ZZH introduced himself: "I'm your Ah Xu." (T ^ T)

5. The MCs asked the casts to write down their top 1 iconic scene, some of them picked the scene where Gao Chong died. GJ & ZZH were having a discussion and the MCs were like "why do these two have to discuss their top 1 scene?" (yeah, you just need to write your own fave scene, it's not pair work LMAO) ZZH picked "you're not worthy" scene where they had to fight against Ye Bai Yi, and GJ picked the sun basking scene where they called each other 'Lao Wen', 'Ah Xu' 3 times. ZZH said: thanks to Gao dage's iconic scene, they got to rest haha.

6. Gao Chong, Zhao Jing & Shen Sheng sitting behind GJ & ZZH wrote "Lao Wen ♡ Lao Zhou" on their whiteboards, they were laughing so much while holding it up.

7. When they played the sun basking scene, the MCs asked GJ "you were pretty focused when watching the scene." GJ replied, "it reminded me of the time when we were filming, it felt so warm just like now, I'm being surrounded with love."

8. MCs said that ZZH added the part where calling Lao Wen's name 3 times. ZZH said: "yes I even asked GJ to call Ah Xu 3 times, I like the number 3 and calling the names 3 times shows 3 different emotions". When MCs asked them to reenact the scene, I heard CWN saying he wants to see it. (I hope I didn't mishear it lol and the MCs were smiling so much while watching them)

9. After ZZH finished singing Gu Meng (T ^ T), the fans were all screaming 'lao po'. XDDD

10. At the beginning of the game segment, when the rules came up on the screen. Fans were screaming loudly and ZZH said: "did you guys even read/ understand it to be screaming like that?" And one of the MCs said: "shouldn't that be Ye Bai Yi's job to diss people?" (The MCs definitely did a lot of prep before the concert haha XD and that is the hugging game Zhao Jing talked about in the livestream)

11. GJ & ZZH were laughing hehehehe when they found out they got the same number.

12. The MCs had to say a number, they have to find enough people to make that number. At one point Ye Bai Yi was with 3 actresses, and ZZH said: "Ye Bai Yi you're a guy and you're hugging 3 girls??? I didn't expect you to be like this." (AHAHAHAHA)

13. I missed out on what happened with CWN & GX, but it seems that they wanted to get eliminated together. (T ^ T)

14. So at the end, ZZH and Cheng Ling won the game and GJ was like: "the person who won the game will sing until tomorrow's concert." (LOL)

15. GJ said: "I feel like you guys planned it out to make me lose the game." (ZZH called 'Lao Wen' 3 times here ahhhh GJ kinda just gave up lol) "Am I right, didi?" Cheng Ling replied yes. ZZH asked GJ to dance as a punishment but GJ forced ZZH to dance and ZZH was like why do I have to do it when I won the game?? Then ZZH sang and GJ danced to 爱的恰恰 (so cute I cry) GJ couldn't do the dance properly, he explained: "I need to save my energy, I have to sing later."

16. When they were picking the winners for the prizes, GJ said: "it's so unfair to the bottom floor, they haven't won anything." ZZH then jokingly added: "the people on the bottom floor, they're super fast at getting the tickets and they're pretty rich too." (because the tickets are more expensive) GJ jokingly followed: "then let's pick someone from level 3, haha I actually did pick out level 3 (from the bag)."

17. Another game, the MCs asked them to say something fierce to the other team, GJ was facing his teammates and kept saying (I can't remember what he said) really loudly. And ZZH was like did you not understand (the instructions) why are you shouting at your teammates? (AHAHAHAHAHA come on I don't think he would say anything fierce to his lao po XD)

18. I can't remember what happened but Ye Bai Yi shouted: "卧槽 (fuck)" during the game segment. (really loudly!!! and I haven't heard any Chinese actors/ celebrities say that in public lmao)

19. GJ couldn't find all the nails on ZZH and asked: "where did you guys hide it?" Ye Bai Yi lifts up ZZH's clothes and said: "here". GJ said:" I can't reach there, they won't be able to broadcast it." (asdfghjklfuuuuu)

20. When they reenacted the "you're not worthy" scene and still bickering like 3-year-olds XDDD

21. When Cao Wei Ning & Ah Xiang were singing Yuan Mie, Ah Xiang got so emotional she cried and messed up, so Cao Wei Ning sang her lines and held her hand really tightly. (I CRIEDDDD)

22. Afterwards, ZZH & GJ walked out with Cheng Ling (then everyone came out too). GJ forgot to bring the red bracelets and ZZH was like "where are the red bracelets? Lao Wen did you give it to someone else?" (AHAHAHAHA)

23. When they had to put the red bracelets on each other's wrists, CWN's hands were shaking so much, you can literally feel how nervous he is through the screen. (sobs) CWN called Ah Xiang "Cao furen (my wife)" and GX called Cao dage "my husband". (T ^ T)

24. When Xi Sang Gui came into the centre, she said: "Ah Xing (WKX) when will it be your wedding?" GJ just smiled and side-eyed ZZH. XDD

25. GJ said that SHL means a lot to him, it's a special, irreplaceable drama to him. I think he also thanked ZZH. ZZH said: "thank you shanrens who're here and watching in front of the screen for giving us the chance to dream and made our dream come true. (no, thank YOU for bringing Ah Xu into our lives T ^ T)

26. Picking winners again and CWN was trying so hard to find the bottom/ centre area card. (so cute)

27. ZZH & GJ singing Tian Wen, ZZH got confused at the start and GJ helped him to get back into the right key, they both laughed and it was just so cuteeeee. And GJ said: "everyone together" which made ZZH laugh cuz you don't usually say that during a slow song lmao.

28. Liu Qianqiao presented 嗑 upside down which is phonetically “嗑到了/ kdl” and it means my ship (cp) is sailing.

Day 2

#shl #shl concert #word of honor #word of honor concert #shan he ling #山河令 #my translations #I MIGHT ADD IN MORE LATER IF I CAN'T FALL ASLEEP #but i need to rewatch the clips #lemme scroll through wb first LOL #idk what time i will go to bed but i should go a bit earlier than last night #cuz my head is still hurting omfg #they were out of tune and stuff but it was still cute and funny ;___; #the past 2 months felt like a dream #i don't want to wake up from the dream but i know tomorrow is the day #fuuuuuu #i don't even wanna think about it #did GJ say 摸 (touch) or 播 (broadcast)?? #it was too chaotic idek anymore lol

[redxblueihateloveyou]

Am I the only one who doesn’t get why some (tw) are shitting on Haru and Rin separately just for the fact that they reciprocate each others feelings? Because it’s not the feelings they wanted them to reciprocate? Just curious because I'm new and recently entered the fandom. And since when miscommunication in between means that they don't deserve to be happy at the end? Because you're an idiot when it comes to love, doesn't mean you're a bad person. I came from chinese bl and it's weird to me.

Hehe welcome to the madness, perfect time to join! Yeah, tbh that's the thing in the fandom that always bugged me the most. The fact that some act like if you don't reciprocate someone's feelings, it makes you a bad person. I always found it incredibly cringy when ppl in real life for example make ppl feel guilty for not feeling the same way and make you feel like shit bc of it. I don't get why you have to apologize for that or feel bad, if you never ever gave him any hope or anything in the first place.

Nowdays it's thankfully a rare sight already in this fandom, bc most already grown and see perfectly what's truly healthy and unhealthy, it's just tbh only the same 3 accounts ppl keep sending me that are still on that, who also think that Haru is literally possessed in the last movie so I don't see the point of like arguing with ppl like this. It's just they're always getting extremely angry when Haru wants Rin as if it's his fault that he feels this way and always go about it like he is inconsiderate of Makoto's feelings. Implying that they're mad that he doesn't feel that way about Makoto, while Makoto does. I'm same as @tododeku-or-bust for example said here (idk what fandom brought this on, but just in general) also do not get what's appealing about this kind of relationships in the first place.

If they shipped it in terms of like it's mutual I'd get it, but they go on about how Rin or Haru are bad friends bc they're not in love with their best friends... like ?????? I didn't know you owe it to your friends to have romantic feelings for them.

In real life if you found out that your bestie feels that way for you while you don't reciprocate, it's a burden, that'll make you feel uncomfortable and at times guilty when you shouldn't technically feel that way. So putting on someone a burden of "I was pining for you all along", when you know they don't feel the same is giving me this feeling of cringe. So I personally do not get what's enjoyable at seeing it like that in Free. But to each their own kink lmao.

It's like... is Haru at fault for the fact that he was Ikuya's first love too? I do not get it really. Like he doesn't have to take responsibility for everyone who falls for him and he doesn't owe anyone to reciprocate their feelings. Even to Rin. Like if he didn't feel the same way for Rin, it wouldn't be his fault either. But since he does feel the same way for him, it's like... good, great, happy for them.

Like once again if someone believes that Makoto and Sousuke are unrequitedly in love with Rin and Haru, that's not rinharu fault. Haru literally never ever lead Makoto on EVER. He never ever did anything that would make Makoto believe that they're more than friends. He was always honest about everything. Like when Makoto thought that he went out to see him, but Haru just wanted to see the sunrise, he told him just that. He never encoraged anything, he refused to live with him and never wanted. I do not get why it's supposed to be his fault that he doesn't like his friend in that way. If Makoto has some unrequited feelings for him and decided to hang up on this, it's his own life choice in my opinion.

It's like saying that Onodera and Takano for example don't deserve to be together just because they unintentionally hurt each other and got separated for 10 years bc of misunderstanding. This argument is like typical Yokozawa life position aka "but I was there when he left you heartbroken for several years, that means you MUST pick me". As I've said before, that's just not how it fucking works. And just bc they couldn't explain things to each other normally, doesn't mean that they don't deserve be happy now. Being idiots is not a crime.

Or if you came from chinese bl, lets go "Guardian" for example. Zhu Hong also was on about how "why you love Shen Wei, not me, I always did everything for you and I was always there, I even wore heels bc you once said you liked those etc". Like he never asked her to do this, he never gave her any hope, he was beyond rude and open about the fact that he's not interested, he never did anything to make her think she had a chance since the beginning. Just bc she decided to dedicate her life to false hope that maybe one day something might change is not his fault. It was her choice. Why Yunlan should feel like shit bc of that I do not get personally.

I'm just buffled bc like Haru for example is the most caring about other ppl's pain person, but they call him selfish and rude bc of the way he is with Makoto at times, not even realising that it IS in fact what means being kind sometimes.. to not give someone a chance when you know you don't feel it. I was always saying this like since forever, being kind doesn't mean for example giving everyone second chances, loving everyone, wanting to be friends with anyone etc. In some situations it's not being kind, it's being stupid or even not being a good person. Once again... offering someone friendship after he openly dissed your friend and you see that he's not in any position to talk back is not kind. Or if someone cheats on you constantly, but you always forgive them it's also not you being kind. It's you being stupid. Sometimes you have to be harsh. It's for the greater good.

And like I saw several times stuff like someone under scenes where Rin has his eyes for Haru only, commenting like "oh great, look at Rin being inconsiderate of Sousuke's feelings again. Can't believe you guys find this romantic." I mean, if in their opinion Sousuke is in pain from being Rin's friend, he can end it, it's his choice. It's not Rin's fault that he thinks of him as just his friend. So thinking that Rin is an asshole bc each time he simply hangs out with Sousuke he's a selfish bitch is fucking insane. I'd feel extremely bad if my best friend was seeing it this way for example. It's like hella ugly.

This annoys me also bc of the fact that Rin, the person who at the age of 12 single-handedly saved his family from falling apart after his father's death, who's an amazing friend to Sousuke and did everything to make his happy after he found out about his trauma and always checks on him first and cries about his shoulder, who in the late evenings taught Rei to swim, when everyone else gave up already xD, who was looking after Nitori during his training, who pretends to walk the same road, just because he's scared to let Gou return alone in the evenings, the most amazing son and brother, is suddenly an asshole just because Haru is in love with him, but not with Makoto. I mean, thats just... huh? Like I dont mind you ship what you want to ship, it's like to each their own crayons for real. But like dissing them and call them selfish just bc they only see their friends as friends and don't want anything more is weird to me.

As for the fact that bc of the misunderstanding they don't deserve to be happy, that's just idiotic. I mean, lets punish Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan too just bc Lan Zhan couldn't voice his real feelings back then and bc WWX misunderstood him. Lets ship WWX with Wen Ning instead. Nezumi is cancelled, he doesn't deserve to be with Shion. He left him. Takano should stay with Yokozawa, Onodera is trash. Wu Xie is trash for wanting to be with Zhang Qiling too. It doesn't matter why he leaves, it only matters that he always does. I can't believe he doesn't see that Pangzi is there with him all along xD. What an ungrateful trash of a human being I can't even.

And anyways btw both Rin and Haru are not ideal human beings in any way (otherwise I wouldn't love them this much tbh xD). But their flaws are definitely not what for example mh shippers usually blame them for. You can argue about their other imperfections easily. Like being stupidly stubborn for example. I won't point fingers here, Haru lolz. Or literally anything else.

My point is you can find what to trash them for logically, if you wanna. Do it smartly tho. Otherwise you make your ship look bad.

And I once again say what wise person said about his relationships and about the fact that not being able with someone he loves hurt him and 'why is he doing this to himself' he answered: "it's not on him. my happiness and my pain is for me to handle". Everyone decides for themselves. This is why for example Haru was so broken about voicing this to Rin and didn't have any intentions to tell him that in the first place. Bc it's not right, if you're not sure that it's requited. Technically he has no right to blame Rin for making him fall in love with him and then leaving in the first place. It's not Rin's fault really, that he made him feel what he feels for him, it's ultimately Haru's problem. That's why he feels has no right to blame him in the first place. I mean, he doesn't know that Rin feels the same, that means saying to him "you break my heart each time you leave" and making him feel bad about it is technically wrong. That's why Haru to himself said "no, please, don't say such things to him". Everyone for himself decides who deserves your 5, 7, 800 or 10000 years of your pain. It's your decision. It's your life. If Haru feels like Rin is worth it, then you have no say in that matter really. The only reason we call Rin an idiot or Haru an idiot is because we know they feel the same, so we can. But blame someone else for not feeling what you're feeling is not right.

So like even if you feel like Makoto and Sousuke have feelings for their friends, blaming Haru and Rin for having feelings for each other and not for them is beyond weird. And there's nothing wrong with putting someone you love first, every bro/sis gets it. You can say bros before hoes all you want, but like Lan Zhan might just drop his bro for his hoe, if he was given a choice. Would it make him a bad person? The fact that Wu Xie chose to save Xiaoge before Pangzi makes his a bad person? My point is it's not all that easy.

I just feel like many ppl in this fandom are very weird about many things. Either because they do not get what it's like to go through some things or maybe they just do not get that no matter how cheesy this sounds love is not that simple. I mean, for example not all selfish is bad, sometimes like in Haru's case for example not being selfish is also bad. Bc if he finally asks for what he wants, he will make both himself AND Rin happy.

To be angry at Rin bc of the aftermath of his father's death and s1 I never had it in me, after knowing everything and how adults handled it. If some of Sousuke's fans bc of Yakusoku and the fact that Rin found his salvation in Haru bc he helped him to move forward after getting his family out of this hell alone and that Haru was the safe haven that made him happy in this moment of his life, want to trash Rin for the fact that he "neglected" Sousuke, its like your opinion. I personally do not get it. Rin doesn't owe Sousuke anything. It's not his fault again that Haru's existence helped him to feel better.

Just like not everyone will get why Haru in 1x12 was so happy about the fact that he could help Rin. To be that special somebody for someone who can "save" you in moments of your life like this, especially if you love them is an incredible feeling. And no, your bestie isn't always the person for this job, no. I don't see why people do not get that I guess, that's all. But we all have our own opinion on everything, so...

We same as you do not get it since forever, but its like it is what it is in this fandom. I personally just have another life position on stuff, so I'm very far from that point of view they have.

#answered #anonymous #rinharu #harurin #free! #nanase haruka #rin matsuoka

[spockandawe]

Hi...if you don't mind me asking, can I ask, who are your top 5 favorite couples (can be canon or non-canon) from all of the danmei novels that you've finished reading until now? Thanks and sorry if you've answered this before...

ooh, this is hard, because if a pair sticks with me, it's usually because they're bringing some kind of DIFFERENT vibe, which makes it a lot harder to compare them. But let me give it a shot, and lemme try to be short-winded, i've been hard on my hands lately and things are le sore. And I'm going to restrict myself to canon just so things don't go totally off the rails.

5. Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji. Oh no, I feel bad that this is so low. I love them both a lot!!! I love a good opposites attract story, and I adore Lan Wangji's strength of emotion versus how little of it shows on his face. I love his quiet character growth and his stubbornness and the way he devotes himself to Wei Wuxian, and the way that Wei Wuxian is so hard to realize because he's got, ah, issues, that he thinks circles around because he's an unbelievably unreliable narrator who doesn't think he deserves nice things. But even through that, he takes such joy in life and cares so much for the people around him, and it makes for a lovely dynamic. It's very, very compelling to me, and I love them a lot, just, today I'm really feeling assholery and/or messy relationships, haha

4. Zhou Zishu/Wen Kexing. Oh, this is harder to talk about than everyone else on this list. They both have long histories of bloodshed, and violence, but somehow bring out this shining, youthful joy in life in each other. It was such a magnetic draw, but they were different enough that the process of drawing them together is fascinating to watch. They're both, objectively, very strange men, but incredibly in sync with each other. For some reason, the scene in the book where Wen Kexing bites Zhou Zishu's arm hard enough to make him bleed, and Zhou Zishu waits until he's done, then holds him close, and they fall asleep in each other's arms... there's something about the feeling of reading and deciding that these two were meant for each other that always does it for me.

3. Hua Cheng/Xie Lian. They're just......... so compatible. I usually like a lot more conflict in a relationship (see ship number one), but this just clicks into place so beautifully, it's impossible to say no. I adore them. The primary conflicts in this relationship are 1) fear of rejection, and 2) no, i AM mad that you aren't taking better care of yourself >:( How can I say no to that? And, of course, I love love love that Hua Cheng is unrelentingly soft for Xie Lian, and is an unrelenting asshole to basically everyone else, and that Xie Lian makes no effort to change him, he just loves him as he is.

2. Shen Qingqiu/Luo Binghe. Is tgcf objectively a better book? Yes, probably, but Luo Binghe hits my weak spot for massive damage. He breaks my heart, and there are very few characters in this books that I'm as desperate to see happy as I am with Binghe. And it's a very good ship for pondering post-canon character development, which is a very good way to get me fixated on a ship. Because they only barely settle into the shape of a relationship by the time everything is over, and everything is so fraught and complicated, and plot pushed them into a nasty corner before they were able to take control back, and they want to make it work. Luo Binghe was designed in a laboratory to target all my weak spots, and that's just the way it is.

1. Feng Xiao/Cui Buqu. Okay. Okay. In this day, in this moment, they're my favorite. These rankings change very much, all the time, but right now, I am living for their dynamic. They're such ASSHOLES! Like, with yanshen in the technically-prequel, you've got the one asshole boyfriend and the one decent person boyfriend. No. We're done with that. No half-assing it HERE, everyone is the FULL ASSHOLE, and i gasp out loud every time one of them makes a huge, sweeping gesture of trust, and then follows it up by refusing to say anything as straightforward as 'I appreciate you.' My favorite love language is 'I will allow you to stab me in the chest and won't blame you afterward.' My favorite love language is 'I will feed you this life-saving medicine in case it helps, even knowing it will leave me in a terrible position later.' My favorite love language is 'yes, you tortured me, but i get why, and i'm not going to blame you, i'm just going to get revenge.' My favorite love language is qi transfer. And this is also one of the few xianxia ships I've read where one boyfriend isn't a martial artist, and is actually super frail and delicate. And I have thoughts about this dynamic and feng xiao's hangups. I just... they're so good, you guys. I LIVE for reading about assholes in love. It's one of my favorite food groups.

#spock replies #peerless #svsss #tgcf #faraway wanderers #mdzs #wangxian #bingqiu #hualian #wenzhou #fengcui #womp womp i am bad at being short-winded

[achray1]

For the ask game, I’d love to hear more about the Iron Triangle vs SID shenanigans. The idea of Li Cu, bullshit detector extraordinaire after his apprenticeship with Wu Xie, vs Shen Wei and his cop boyfriend sounds like such fun!

Thank you for asking! This one also largely exists in my head, but as soon as I work out how I want it to end, it will be ready to write. Li Cu will locate something of interest to the Jiumen world while interning at the SID for reasons, the Iron Triangle will find out and show up. And then—we all know how protective Shen Wei is of his students, and we all know what Shen Wei’s going to think about someone who kidnapped a teenager and forced them to be trained as a soldier. So I reckon Zhao Yunlan and Pangzi are going to have to stop Shen Wei from fighting Xiaoge to get to Wu Xie; Wu Xie is going to be absolutely no help*, as usual, and Li Cu will be stuck in the middle. Then another Jiumen family show up to steal the mcguffin and everyone, with some reluctance**, has to team up to thwart them and save the say.

*Ye Zun will be even less help, and probably ends up in bed with Wu Xie. Everyone rolls their eyes at this except Shen Wei, who is Outraged, and Li Cu, who is generally appalled.

**Zhao Yunlan and Pangzi are only reluctant because they’re both very hungover, since they spent the night comparing notes in a bar on dealing with stubborn immortal life partners who never tell you when they’re injured; at some point they made some solemn vows to each other, but neither of them can remember what they were.

opening below the cut!

Zhao Yunlan scrolled through the files on his laptop with about a third of his attention. Shen Wei was distracted, and it was distracting him. Normally Shen Wei was far better at focusing on his work, when they both needed to get extra things done in the evening, but today there was a small frown on his beautiful face, and he had stopped a couple of times to stare into space.

He was doing it again.

“What’s up?” Zhao Yunlan said.

Shen Wei blinked at him, visibly coming back from wherever his thoughts had been.

“Something’s bothering you.” Zhao Yunlan slid his screen to one side, so that he wasn’t peering at Shen Wei over it. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“It’s nothing,” Shen Wei said. Then he sighed. “I’m thinking about one of my students. I am…concerned is perhaps not the right word.”

“Ah?” Shen Wei fussing over his students was always adorable, even if Zhao Yunlan privately felt that they weren’t nearly grateful enough for it.

“He asked if he could design his own final assignment, and I permitted him to. And then he submitted—” Shen Wei tapped his fingers on the pile of papers he’d been marking “—a quite remarkable paper on snake genetics. With a level of detail that is…surprising, for a first-year student. Certainly not something he could have researched using our library resources.”

“Ah.” Zhao Yunlan sat up straighter, his professional instincts sparked. “Yashou?”

“No. At least, I don’t believe so. And not Dixingren, either.” Shen Wei made a slightly guilty face. “I checked his energies. He’s human. But there’s something strange, there. I haven’t seen it before.”

“Hmm. If there’s something going on that you don’t recognize, that is strange. Anything else peculiar?”

“He’s a good student,” Shen Wei said, a little defensively. “Very attentive in class. I wondered if perhaps he…that is, he seems…”

He trailed off. Zhao Yunlan had practice in interpreting Shen Wei talking about his work, and this meant that he could say more, but felt that doing so would infringe on his student’s privacy and break some unspoken rule that he had about gossip and speculation.

“He’s in your first year lecture, then?” Zhao Yunlan pulled over his phone, and checked Shen Wei’s timetable. “Hey, how about I pick you up from there for lunch tomorrow, and then you can point him out? Just in case there’s something off. I could run his name through the system too. For reassurance.”

He was expecting Shen Wei to brush this offer away, and say that everything was fine. Instead, though, Shen Wei considered for a long moment, and then nodded.

“If it wouldn’t be an imposition. His name is Li Cu. You will—be discreet?”

“Of course,” Zhao Yunlan said. He considered being mock-offended, but Shen Wei looked genuinely worried. Interesting. “I’ll run a few other names at the same time, we always have a list of tips.”

“Thank you.”

“For you, anything.” Zhao Yunlan smiled at Shen Wei, and Shen Wei smiled back, warm, and then ducked his head to return to his marking. 

#guardian #dmbj #li cu #iron triangle #fic #yes this is all an agenda to have Qin Hao characters and Zhu Yilong characters in the same fic

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 01

(Masterpost) (Next Episode)

Warning: This is **FULL **of spoilers, not just for this episode but for the entire series. If you haven’t finished all 50 episodes, please don’t read it! 

Intro: 2020 continues to be much much too much while also being incredibly boring, and Im done with Shen Wei’s Lewks, so now I’m doing a deep meta dive into the Untamed. Let’s roll! 

Prologue: The Battle of Mordor

The Demise of our Protagonist

Unlike some other shows I won’t name, The Untamed kills its suicidal queer protagonist immediately, rather than waiting four seasons, so we know what we're in for. 

This is Wei Wuxian, who is about to yeet himself off of a cliff. He is having a bad day. 

Note: if mouth blood bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing. 

Reasons for mouth blood: a sampler

Anyway...cliff time

Note: if (fictional) suicide bothers you...C-Drama might not be your thing. 

To be fair there are hardly any suicides in The Untamed. No more than ...five? As long as you don’t count the entire population of the Wen Corporate Headquarters in Yiling or those wall bandits in Qinghe or Madame Yu or all those Wens who supposedly threw themselves into the mud puddle or that Mo guy who broke his own neck. Plus watching Wei Wuxian’s cliff drop several more times from multiple angles. So, you know. Hardly Any Suicides. 

This is Lan Wangji, who is about to have his first losing encounter with physics. He is having a bad day.

In fact, if it is possible to have a worse day than the guy who is currently falling to his death, Lan Wangji is having that.

This is Jiang Cheng, who is feeling extra stabby from this camera angle. He is having a bad day.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me? 

(Much, much more after the cut!)

The Amulet Situation

This is the Stygian Tiger Amulet. Yes, by all means, (Netflix) subtitles, let's use a 12-dollar word, “Stygian,” that every English speaker who is not a Shelley/Byron shipper will have to look up. Let’s not use a normal word like "deathly" or "corrupt" or you know... "Yin" which is clearly what they are saying on screen.

Why does this tiger amulet look like a chameleon crossed with a remora? Wei Wuxian can paint photorealistic bunnies on a flimsy lantern while sitting in a field having distracting teenage lust, but two months of meditating with super magic gets him a tiger that looks like a chameleon. And don’t try telling me this is a traditional-Chinese-art vibe because this jade tiger from frickin 1000 BCE is way more tigerish than Wei Wuxian’s attempt. 

Try harder next time, Wei Wuxian.

This is thousands of cultivators having a battle.  What do you mean, it looks like about 40-60 dudes?

 Any time someone in The Untamed refers to a number of people, it is like when you do your high school play and look off into the wings at nothing and say “Hark, A Ship Approaches!” and everyone’s parents nod indulgently.

Jin Clan Mountain Hunt:

*viewership nods indulgently*

This is Captain Blowhard, over on the right, courtesy name Clan Leader Yao. His job is to talk smack about Wei Wuxian and stick up for whoever is the biggest asshole in any given scene.  

He represents mainstream cultivation-world values so here he is shanking one of his allies to take the deadly amulet of evilness.

The Present Day

Spilling All That Yiling Laozu Tea

Down at the Exposition Tea Shop, the Lan juniors are chilling and listening to Tea Dude tell the story of Yiling Laozu. 

How did they get permission to take this field trip? “Principal Qiran, we want to go downtown to hang out with the local rabble and learn about your favorite person, Wei Wuxian.”

Waiting in the wings is the man with a fan and a plan, Nie Huaisan(g), who is paying tall loot to get these stories told.  

...Why? Is Mo Xuanyu having tea here and listening? Or is Wei Wuxian being summoned back by hearing all this smack being talked about him? *Shrug.*

Gank Your Soul

Drunk flag guy out here talking about spirits. Wikipedia tells me that In one school of Daoist thought, a human being has a collection of physical souls (魄 pò) and ethereal souls (魂 hún). Drunk flag guy is saying “hún ” at the moment. 

The many types of souls don’t translate well into English, where spiritual vocabulary has always been shackled connected to Christian beliefs, and is too limited for this context. So when the subtitles have conversations like “Is it a soul eater? No, no, it’s a spirit taker!” just roll with it. (Speaking of hún, if you have any interest in linguistics, do yourself a favor and go read all the wonderful meta @hunxi-guilai​)

The spirit-carrying flag looks a lot like Raava and Vaatu from Korra which...probably doesn’t mean anything.

The Demise of our Trill Host

Suicide #2 happens about 8 minutes in. 

Mo Xuanyu is that hippie roommate with the annoying wind chimes and bead curtains and blood spatter.

He is super mad at his terrible family and also at Jin Guangyao, who sent him home to his terrible family. I wonder if Fan Man Nie Huaisang influenced Jiggy’s decision-making there. Mo Xuanyu’s choice to die for revenge might be excessive, given how easy it actually is to murder the Mo family.

Being Alive Is Fine I Guess As Long As I Get To Fuck WIth People

Wei Wuxian starts his new life by splashing a little water on his face, which instantly makes his hair go from this

to this. 

He looks at his reflection and wishes he was dead, which--mood--but he gets over it as soon as he finds someone whose day he can fuck up.

And he is ALL in on being crazy. 

OP wishes she had the Wei Wuxian kind of crazy instead of the kind she actually has. 

Meanwhile, this is the sane Mo cousin:

This asshole is wearing one of the best fabrics in the whole show, incidentally. Asshole.

My favorite bit of Wei-Mo craziness is when Wei Wuxian does a meaningless 360 all the way around this dude before ducking in the opposite direction, which is like when I make 4 right turns around a whole block to avoid making a single left across traffic.

Perhaps I Do Miss One Thing In This Life

Wei Wuxian has pining thoughts about Lan Wangji, so he plays WangXian on a fucking blade of grass well enough for Sizhui to recognize it from his dad's guqin jams. 

Wei Wuxian is a better flautist than even Inspector Gadget BeatBoxing Flute Guy (Google it).

Our Many Many Spirit Lure Flags have Lured A Spirit, Oh Shit

Lan Clan has a Plan and Wei Wuxian is a Fan

Having one single lure flag stuck in Wen Ning’s torso caused spirits to basically eat him alive, so to catch one evil spirit, 6 disciples holding flags on the roof plus 8 more flags on the ground seems like a good amount. Wei Wuxian is like “yep, a single one of these will lure every spirit for five miles, carry on, younglings.”

Baxia Does the Heavy Lifting

Wei Wuxian is supposed to kill four people because of this curse situation, and in the course of the series they all die, and he kills exactly zero of them. The curse on Wei Wuxian’s arm should be called the scorekeeper curse. 

Baxia’s spirit pinballs around the Mo clan, rapidly killing three people on Mo Xuanyu’s list plus a couple extras for good measure.  Who's a good blade? Baxia is! Yess you are! Yes you are!

This here is the exact point in the show where your friend, who has listened to you squee about The Untamed for three months and finally agreed to watch it with you, will say “what the fuck am I watching?” and try to get up off the couch. Tackle them! 

This also the point where we all realize that the prosthetic and practical effects in this show were probably not made by the people who made the clothing, because the quality is...variable. The white eyeballs are pretty good, but the glove of death is ridiculous.

Camera operator: why you gotta take it out on me?

While Baxia goes to town on the Mo clan, the Lan Clan babies...watch? And tie up the various victims after they are already goners. 

Narrator: Her son is dead.

Meanwhile, 

Wei Wuxian, you motherfucker. You’ve been alive for like 7 hours and you’re already building a new zombie army. No wonder you don’t want them to call Lan Wangji.

Hanguang-Jun Cut It Up One Time

Lan Wangji shows up and very slowly kicks zombie ass with his guqin. If you are used to Hong Kong action speeds, you will find The Untamed very peaceful.

 All of the baby Lans fan squee up at Lan Wangji like he's the cultivation world's David Bowie and...they're not wrong. Jesus Fuck, he’s charismatic.

Lan Wangji is soft boi when he discovers this murderous sword full of dead-bastard energy, because it reminds him of his true love.

Like the talk about souls, the conversations about the nature of the murderous entity really don’t survive translation into English.

Servant: it’s a ghost! 

WWX: it’s not a ghost, it’s a spirit

Babies: It’s a spirit

LWJ: it’s not a spirit, it’s a [...] ghost

Our Protagonist gets the FOH

Wei Wuxian is soft boi when he sees Lan Wangji, but not so soft that he considers actually, like, sticking around. 

Wei Wuxian is also clueless boi, noting Lan Wangji’s white clothing and thinking, as in the past, that he looks like he’s dressed in mourning. The term he uses is 戴孝, which google tells me means the type of outfit worn by Jiang Yanli after Wen Ning rips her husband’s heart out someone who is in mourning. 

Actually, Wei Wuxian, you dumbass, he is in actual mourning, actually, for you. Dumbass. He probably packed away all of his blue outer robes 16 years ago and only takes them out occasionally to reminisce about that nice date you had on your mountain of corpses. 

On his way out the door Wei Wuxian manages to find a red ribbon for his beautiful hair, so things are looking up. 

Where to go next...hey I know, how about that one haunted mountain with the killer statue, you know, the one that all my executed friends and child came from? That’ll be fun and a great way to put the past behind me!

Episode 02 Restless Rewatch is here!

#fytheuntamed #the untamed spoilers #the untamed gifs #the untamed #restless rewatch the untamed #tw: blood #tw: suicide #chen qing ling #cql #c-drama #bl drama #canary3d-original #the untamed memes #my gifs