lillazyfox

[lillazyfox]

i wish we had been told more about Bingge. We meet him only once, twice if we count 79 extra, when he is totally a very bad person, and i can't help but think about who he was before that and when there was nothing left to fix.

[lillazyfox]

curious anon-do you have any go-to language/terminology references for your fics?

Yes, definitely. Here's a mostly complete list: if I remember a few more, I'll add them in later. If you find this post through a reblog chain, please keep in mind that the version on my blog will be updated from time to time, so click back for additional references if the reblogged post contains broken links or doesn’t have what you’re looking for.

Masterpost of references for the MDZS/CQL fandom (re: terminology, look here for naming guides and a list of familial terms. You'll also find information on wedding and funeral customs, cultivation lore, MDZS maps and sect history, and novel/audio drama summaries.)

Click here to find the "40 Q&A's" interview with MXTX.

Detailed glossary/explanations of concepts in wuxia, xuanhuan, and xianxia novels. Look here for a guide to weapons, martial arts, more cultivation lore, and a few units of measurement.

Guide to the martial family. You can also find a separate guide through the masterpost.

Guide to modern/historical titles. This is a Wikipedia page and most likely incomplete, but came in handy after the guide in the MDZS masterpost was removed. 

Guide to Chinese nobility. Look here for basic information about the peer ranks of various dynasties.

For a guide specific to the Qing dynasty (aka, the one I used for Flowers in the Palace) click here.

For a guide to marriage, concubinage, and social mores and customs for women, try Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society.

Guide to Chinese clothing, by @ziseviolet. Click here for information on historical fashions, hairstyles, accessories, and so on. Try this link for clothing/textile references for other countries/cultures.

List of mythological creatures. This is a Wikipedia list of individual pages and is most likely incomplete.

List of Chinese fairy tales and folklore (not comprehensive).

Brief overview of Chinese musical notation and guqin musical notation. Not detailed, but provides a fair explanation of how written music was recorded.

Color terms you're not likely to find with google translate, by @linghxr. These include translations for colors like cyan, indigo, luminous white, etc.

More about colors and their symbolism here.

Timekeeping. Wiki article about the dual hour, fifteen daylight hours, etc.

Traditional calendar. I bookmarked this page for the phenological month names used in TMAAF, but there’s a lot more information here. Look here for a list of traditional Chinese holidays.

For food: someone on Twitter made a detailed guide to the dishes that the characters in MDZS would have eaten, but I’ll have to go looking for it. In the meantime, try these links.

Hubei cuisine (Yunmeng): 1, 2

Hebei cuisine (Qinghe)

Shaanxi cuisine (Qishan)

Shandong cuisine (Lanling)

Jiangsu cuisine (Gusu)

(Note: most of the recipes in the Twelve Moons and a Fortnight verse are from The Woks of Life and Made with Lau.)

For individual words and characters: try hantrainerpro or its full dictionary index. Given a word/character, you can find its definitions, synonyms, other words that contain the character, and a list of different words pronounced the same way. I also use Written Chinese to look up the individual radicals within a character, but there are several better dictionaries out there.

For a mobile Chinese dictionary, try Pleco.

For help choosing Chinese names, click here.

Rhyming in Chinese:

Mandarin rhyme finder by chinese-word.com. To use, replace the “ang” in the URL with the word ending you want: e.g., iao for words that rhyme with xiao, ing for words that rhyme with ying, and so on. If this generates a 403 error, wait for a while and try again.

Wikipedia article about yùnshū (rhyming dictionaries)

Mandarin rhyming dictionary tool by daddehs1

[lillazyfox]

everyone should see this

The Fanfic Author’s Guide to Metatext (As Used on Ao3) by Eiiri

Here it is as a PDF available on google drive

[lillazyfox]

Incorrect Quotes: HUNTR/X Edition

Zoey: Ever spill a bit of your tea and realize the thread you are hanging on by is actually quite thin? --- Rumi: My secret is in the hands of an idiot. Zoey, motioning to herself and Mira: No no no no no, TWO idiots! --- Bobby: When I was small- Mira: Was? Bobby: ... Mira: Sorry. --- Rumi: Make no mistake. Not only am I party rocking, but I am also in the house tonight. Zoey: But are you shuffling? Rumi: Everyday. Mira: What language are you two speaking?? --- Zoey: I wish I could use emojis in real life. Zoey: Wait apparently those are called emotions. Bobby: I'm pretty sure penguin is not an emotion. Mira: I'm pretty sure you're not trying hard enough. --- Rumi: [pushing on a pull door] Mira, filming: Push harder. --- Rumi and Mira: WE LOST OUR MAKNAE HAVE YOU SEEN HER?? Someone: What does she look like? Them, crying: BEAUTIFUL. --- Rumi, trying to comfort Zoey: Hey, don't cry. I went to Mad At You island and none of your friends were there. Zoey, through tears: Why were you at Mad At Me island? Rumi, panicking: Depopulating it. --- Rumi, Mira and Zoey: [playing video games] Bobby: You guys woke up at 5:30 in the morning just to play games? Boby, finally realizing: …You girls never went to sleep, did you. --- Zoey: If you water water, it grows! Rumi: …What. Mira: She has a point.

[lillazyfox]

i want BingJiu like that

too long to explain in words so here's a picture, but i love whatever this is.

[lillazyfox]

i have a shit ton of drafts, and all of them are the same fashion as last one: longpost PIDW postcanon aus with SJ as one of the central characters (i love this hissy cat too much i guess). current one is liujiu (don't ask how, everything will be logical, i swear), then i have one bingjiu (hinted), and some with just platonic interpersonal relationships (sj gets the family he deserves, mingling are actively helping)

soooo, to the people who somehow is reading me — i hope you won't grow sick of me!

[lillazyfox]

Full Shen Twins Comic!

[lillazyfox]

how to give yourself a heart attack? write longass plot bunny without a single save, see the app crash as you trying to publish it, think it didn't save.

see it saved, relax.

[lillazyfox]

plot bunny!

SO-

PIDW, long post-canon. Realms are a lil bit post-apocalyptic, Cang Qiong is destroyed like two centuries ago, Shen Qingqiu is dead, and Luo Binghe rules and collects wives. But years and years of irresponsible ruling starts to catch up to him — his advisors and allies are growing stronger and more unsatisfied, bringing more trouble, making Luo Binghe to sort some things not by violence but by diplomacy, because he no longer can afford to anger all of them, even with Xin Mo.

In all that he progressively neglects his wives and children. Elaborate system of daycare, maids, nannies and teachers is basically takes half of a main palace now. (Most of the caretakers and children are demons or more-of-a-demon halflings at this point, as demons live much longer than humans; there are nearly no cultivators with proper training, and those who can live longer, are probably hiding far away from central lands.) Many of emperor's grown children are also serving in the army or at the palace, or become Lords on their own share of the land.

But- what happens if demon's blood will be, in very rare turn of events, overpowered by human's?

Before the whole political mess with advisors starts, Ning Yingying gives birth to Luo Shiyi — eleventh princess of the palace. Girl is pampered and loved at first, but when things get difficult in the demon court, her parents become too busy and hand her over to maids, who, in turn, discover that the princess has no talent in demonic cultivation, and, to add insult to injury, is not a very healthy baby. That was possible and not unusual, so princess is just left in their care without any spiritual education.

The truth is — Luo Shiyi is not, in fact, sick and talentless. She's just human. Sickness was created by unused and stagnated qi in her body, so when the girl opens her spiritual veins by accident, she gets better. She realizes what she is, and wants to train — but her caretakers already dismissed her as powerless, have other children to look after (which she is expected to help with) and are not practising human cultivation. Shiyi tries to find information herself, gets several (light) qi deviations, tries again, still to no avail. It angers her, but she keeps going, exploring the palace a little bit in the process of searching for better hiding spaces.

Until on one of lower levels of the palace she meets a ghost. This is a ghost of a human scholar — and he is a cultivator! Yay! He doesn't tell her his name and refuses to teach her at first, but by fourteen Shiyi didn't forget how to be sticky as she was in her younger age — so she begs, pleads, uses all manipulation techniques known to her, fully determined to change his mind. In the end it's her incompetence which does the trick — she simply starts doing one of the harder exercises and it leaves the ghost spitting vitriol on behalf of the book she got it from, correcting her in the process.

Luo Shiyi gets a true teacher and is very happy about it. He is snarky, sharp-tongued, and even cruel sometimes, but he teaches her how to control qi, shows her combat techniques and tells stories about the world before. He citates old books from long destroyed library — books about arts, about strategy, about war tactics. He helps her understand — what appears weak can be might more dangerous than blunt force; the worst enemy is an underestimated one. He teaches her how to behave as an esteemed young woman — they won't anticipate you striking when they don't know what you feel.

(Shen Jiu didn't want to do this. He lived as a ghost for years and wanted nothing to do with the beast and his offspring, but... the girl is so full of determination. She is hard-working, talented, very much can be the last human cultivator out there, and also she reminds him of Yingying...

It is lonely down here, after all. Maybe if he wouldn't fail another disciple, he'd feel better?)

Years come and go, Luo Shiyi turns nineteen, growing into beautiful young woman and a skilled cultivator — training under her Shifu's gaze is not an easy way, but right way indeed. She keeps calling him that — "Shifu" — even if she now knows his real name and story. In those years they have also discovered that he lived in palace long enough for his qi to blend with it of the palace and it's surroundings to slip from any demon's (or not particularly focused human's) gaze, so now Shiyi often goes to train in some farest corners of Palace Garden.

Disaster comes when no one expects.

One of Luo Binghe's Lord Advisors comes from long travel, having conquered big chunk of lands near the South border of the Empire. He has a huge army now; not enough to stage a revolution, of course, but big enough for Luo Binghe to comply when lord demands one of his daughters as a bride.

Emperor is devastated. He loves his children, even if rumor mill tells otherwise, but right now he has no choice. He needs time to gather his own forces, and to get Xin Mo in line; damned sword took enough life force from him to balance the power scales almost even in case of a duel — and losing this duel would mean losing all he had. Demons respect power, they will always follow most powerful, no matter, how loyal they were before the old leader's fall, and now this majorly plays against him. What of the choice... Any other princess would easily be made into a cauldron for such powerful demon — but Shiyi has a chance of evading this fate — she simply has nothing to give. Young princess panics at first, comes to him trying to talk him out of it, and seems to die on the inside a little bit as he tells her why it needs to be done. "You failed to protect me, father", — she says in the end, voice quiet, but firm — "looks like I will need to do it myself".

The wedding day comes.

It's a big, pompous wedding in traditional fashion with lots of guests; tables are put along the walls of Throne room, sitting various demons from groom's retinue, with the groom at the head of the table, right across the throne mount, where the Emperor and two of his principal wives, Ning Yingying and Sha Hualing, are sat. Luo Shiyi, dressed in her bridal gown, steps into the center of the room. She needs to perform a dance — an old tradition of the bride's chance to fight her suitor off, turned into a ritual: she dances, he draws her blood and, by that, claims her as his.

"By my victory in this battle shall our marriage never exist." she says what is needed, takes two beautiful fans out of her sleeves and starts to dance. She is gorgeous, especially with sundown painting her hair golden and embroidery on her dress flashing the same color in the light; she moves gracefully across the room, expensive silks flying and twirling from every movement. Everyone thinks the same thought: "has she had succubi as teachers, who taught her to move like that?

Everyone, except Ning Yingying.

The Principal Wife Ning clutches armrests of her chair with great force, her face is pale; she knows those movements too well. She saw it many times before, even if long ago; then, she looked at smooth curves fans made in the air — these were battle fans, back then; she listened for quiet swish of many layers of the cloth — not red and gold but teal and silver. She remembers the person who showed her this danse — and it wasn't just a dance that time, it was a lesson. Seeming fragile doesn't mean being weak, only being underestimated.

No one else notices hair-thin strings of qi, curving around their necks, arms, knees before it's too late.

With one final twirl of princesse's hanfu something alike Golden Spider's silk web flashes in the air. One moment — and there is only four people alive in the whole room.

"I protected myself and others, and won the battle. I defeated one of Lord Advisors in combat. By laws of our Empire, one fitting the latter condition can claim the right to the lordship. What do you think, father?" — Shiyi said, raising her chin.

Luo Binghe remained silent longer than he usually did. Finally collecting himself, he answered:

"You did good. I will give you a lordship of the lands you want, and you may ask for one more thing."

"I want the Central mountains, specifically the Tiangong Ridge. Speaking of second promice, one item of my choosing from your treasure chamber."

"Specify, and it will be brought to you."

"No need. Just open the chamber, and I'll retrieve it myself."

She extended her hand towards the chamber door and smiled, closing her eyes. Flash of silver light sweeped through the room and into her hand, revealing a swordblade.

Luo Binghe knew exactly what she called for. He kept Xiu Ya for many years, even after it shattered together with his Shizun's soul; seeing it here, remade anew at the wish of its new wielder, seemed almost surreal, impossible. And yet, not only the blade was whole again, but the young cultivator before him was Shen Qingqiu's disciple, which meant the latter never left for his next life. His Shizun stayed here. Could it be a sign? A second chance?

He looked on his daughter, who had grown poisoned fangs and learned to use them, while he failed to protect her. Shivered on the inside when he noticed how sunset light paints another figure — tall and slim — beside her right shoulder.

"Good luck, Lady Shiyi, and welcome to the court."

[lillazyfox]

i wanna think that SQQ eventually figured out what the fuck system is (all of that would be enough of a clue) at least on a level of "higher entity on which none of standard strategies would work" and came up with the solution (yeah, i believe in him that much).

Scumplane +truth serum

Shen Qingqiu had been suspicious on Shang Qinghua for a long time. He had a strange variety of knowledge that he couldn’t have possibly learned on his own given his upbringing on An Ding and grueling work schedule, he seemed perfectly equipped to deal with all of the current peak lords the moment they met as head disciples, sometimes he’d just disappear for a while with no warning or explanation, and he’d often show up to meetings with injuries he tried and failed to hide. Overall Shang Qinghua was not exactly a trustworthy guy

Shen Qingqiu took his job as sect strategist seriously and he preferred not to deal with surprises. even people who couldn’t fight physically could still topple a sect through trickery and deciet.

So he set a trap. He used a non harmful truth serum that lasted the duration of an hour and invited Shang Qinghua for tea. Except Shang Qinghua barely touched his tea when anxious so the serum went in small cakes he prepared as a snack. Shang Qinghua was an avid snacker after all

The initial small talk was mind numbing as Shen Qingqiu decided to ask about the strategies he uses for the budgeting and got him to rant about it for a while, every once and a while asking questions to keep it going until eventually

“And then I have the emergency budget for when demons attack and destroy the rainbow bridge,” Shang Qinghua’s eyes widened in horror as he covered his mouth. Shen Qingqiu felt a smile curl onto his face, this was gonna be easier than he thought. He opened his mouth to ask another question but Shang Qinghua cut him off

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” he said, the look of fear in his eyes wasn’t an uncommon sight but this fear was different. Normally Shang Qinghua’s reaction to fear was to panic or run, and right now Shang Qinghua had frozen in place “you’ve doomed us all,”

“What do you-“

“Listen Shen Qingqiu there are things in this world no one is supposed to know, information that won’t only kill me the moment I spread it but kill whoever I talk to as well,” Shen Qingqiu wanted to argue but… the truth serum meant Shang Qinghua couldn’t lie, at least not knowingly. He had to choose his next words carefully.

“Can we get rid of-“

“Stop asking questions or I swear to all that is holy I will bite my tongue off to stop myself from replying! Now tell me what truth serum or potion or plant or whatever the fuck you used on me,” Shang Qinghua physically couldn’t make an empty threat at the moment so Shen Qingqiu nodded slowly before answering

“I baked the dew of a purity Lilly into the cakes, it should wear off within the hour ”

“We can’t wait an hour. The purity Lillies dew… that one is countered him demonic qi or plants” He reached into his sleeve and grabbed out a pouch. “It’s gonna hurt but I should have something in here that will counteract the serum without crippling or killing me,” Shen Qingqiu’s eyebrows furrowed

“Taking in demonic energy in anyway would affect your cultivation greatly,”

“So would dying. Although I guess I could also make myself mute or deaf. Or both?”

“Or we could lock you in a room for an hour,”

“ I don’t trust you enough for that. You literally drugged me just because you were suspicious,” he finally pulled out a small vial of what looked to be blood and downed it like a shot.

Shen Jiu grabbed the vial from his eyes and looked for a label. There was a paper tied to it by a string that red “rattle tailed naga blood”

“Is this even safe for humans to enjest?” He asked with concern he told himself was mild. He didn’t want to be framed for a peak lord’s suicide.

“Should be safe enough. Now would you please bring me somewhere I can rest until this wears of, alone?” Shang Qinghua looked exhausted. “The only thing stopping me from having a panic attack is adrenaline”

“What’s adrenaline?”

“The chemical released when you’re in a stressful or dangerous situation. Now stop asking questions before I pass out from the blood pressure drop. Don’t ask what that is either, you won’t understand it and if we get into why I know any of this we will both die,”

Shen Qingqiu nodded wordlessly despite roughly understanding half of what he said and led him into a guest room that hadn’t been used since the last peak lord ascended. Shang Qinghua collapsed onto the bed with a groan and Shen Jiu let him be for now.

He had more questions than he did when he started but they could talk when the stakes weren’t so high. He didn’t know who or what was threatening Shang Qinghua but he knew Shang Qinghua was terrified of it and that was enough.

And if an hour later Shen Jiu went to talk to Shang Qinghua, found him asleep on the bed above the covers, and decided to let him stay the night, well there was no one to see that but him.

[lillazyfox]

what if shen twins but they're more gremlin coded (they're each other's enabler)

SJ : let's see if they cry in public. I want their shame to pass down at least three generations.

SY : done. god, i love it when we collaborate.

[lillazyfox]

oookay, if someone didn't see a fic written on it, go see it, it's amazing

anyone still have a link to that awesome post that was floating around last month of a traditional chinese instrument band absolutely killing it on a phantom of the opera medley?

anyway qing gen disciple era au where shen qingqiu-jiu is getting a bit too close to airplane's tracks after the meeting mobei-jun/promotion/classmates slaughtered incident so SQH decides to just. totally set SQQ-J's life on fire. inserts himself in a group of gossips in a crowded hall who are sneering at SQQ and goes "what are you talking about sqq leching? he's renting a room at the warm red pavillion to work on his musical masterpiece! it's going to be a whole show, but he can't work on it on his peak because his peakmates are mean rich kids who don't want the ex-slave to suceed! you can ask yqy! they grew up together!"

and CQMS EXPLODES in gossip. especially because YQY does go "yes xiao jiu and i were street rats together he's a good person like i keep telling you"

and SQQ-J is just like. feral. because his reputation is improving! and he's getting closer to qi-ge! and his shizun is cracking down on the bullies! the brute even came and apologised! but he isn't writing a musical masterpiece show and now shizun wants to see it performed before he ascends!

so SQQ-J goes to SQH and is like YOU. You got me into this and you are going to get me out of it! I am doing music and direction and YOU are doing story and lyrics!

and Airplane panics and pitches him Phantom of the Opera. it ends up getting altered massively because SQH only remembers like half of it and can't replicate music and also a lot needs to change to fit the world, and of course Shen Jiu has OPINIONS on the plot

but they manage and it's a success (and shen jiu almost forgets about how sus sqh is. almost)

[lillazyfox]

one of my favorite headcanons for SJ:

if you make him feel safe and protected, he absolutely will behave like a total antisocial gremlin, aka: occupy his home location at the time, change the locks and hiss at anyone who comes close to the door without sweets.

i feel like SJ is doing "all mighty immortal" only because this mask is the best for hiding fear — people would not guess you are afraid if they are either afraid themselves or reluctant to approach. on the inside he's still a street kid, mastered the ability of pretending to be who he isn't. so if he would feel safe, he would still hiss at people but, well, more in a Shen Yuan sort of way.

(+1 to "SY is SJ" theory i guess)

[lillazyfox]

let's also remember he climbed out of literal hell not so long ago and now he's certain that person he loved the most hates him and he has fucking ancient evil artifact influencing his mental stability

imho, for how many flaws LBH has, each and every one of them was expected

i was surprised he didn't cause more damage actually

Not to defend someone who has all the stability of a house missing three walls and a foundation, but Luo Binghe did very much try to have some sort of conversation with Shen Qingqiu after their reunion. It's just SQQ responded to that by yelling another man's name and backflipping out the window. I'm not saying LBH is flawless, I'm saying he and SQQ are a good match for each other

[lillazyfox]

Shen Yuan just wanted a kiss 😔

[lillazyfox]

well you see...

the problem is — he knows. SJ himself thinks he is a terrible person from the moment he met YQY again and thought he would've preferred to see his remains than him thriving.

we don't have confirmation in the book, but i also think that SJ didn't fight any accusations during the trial because he thought he deserved LBH's vengeance. (SJ is quite smart in canon, i doubt he couldn't find a way out of pretty much evidenceless (is that even a word?) accusations — that was primarily a word against word, and he was still a Peak Lord.

SJ knew he became the mirror of his abuser, and accepted punishment for it with grace. He only underestimated the extent of LBH's grudge against him — and the fact that him "becoming" QJL made CQM Qiu manor.

Idc how ooc this is, I feel like telling Shen Jiu “you turned out just like the Qius.” Or something of that nature would cause him to spiral and would help speedrun his redemption.

[lillazyfox]

op is a genius, behold!

Modern AU equivalent of "bodysharing" scumcum where Shen Jiu is the Cang Qiong VP, director of the Qing Jing division, who fought tooth and nail to work his way up in the world despite a destitute childhood and criminal youth, and Shen Yuan is his useless rich boyfriend who spends all day reading light novels and getting into fights on the internet. (Hey, that's how they met! How romantic!)

One day, Shen Jiu has another qi deviation severe PTSD episode; what's different this time around is that, for once, Shen Yuan manages to convince him to take mental health time off work. He says he'll handle it, whatever that means! And Shen Jiu, for once, isn't suspicious, hypervigilant, distrustful enough to question it. He's having a really bad time, okay?!

But Shen Yuan didn't really think it through. What's he supposed to do, tell Yue Qi that Shen Jiu is out for a few days? Shen Jiu will kill him, and then Yue Qi will storm the preposterously expensive and exclusive mental health retreat Shen Yuan put Shen Jiu up in perfectly normal and reasonable outpatient facility, and then Shen Jiu will kill him again.

So, okay, he logs into Shen Jiu's work laptop (his passwords are all the same and so obvious, puh-lease) and he maybe starts just... pretending to be Shen Jiu. Just while he's away! Just to keep people from getting suspicious that Shen Jiu is gone!

And if he notices that Shen Jiu has been maybe... not handling some of his subordinates very well, then... Listen! There is someone who's on a really aggressive and punitive PIP that doesn't look like deserves it. (Let's remove that performance plan, and give him a merit bonus to make up for it... and let's put him on a better assignment, too, we're just making things right! Poor kid!) It also looks like a bunch of stuff in this division is being handled really poorly in general, actually. Figures, Jiu-ge is a brat at the best of times and really fucking mean and jealous at the worst. Maybe he'll have fewer qi deviations mental health crises if comes back this time to an environment that's not cultivating as much bitterness and negativity as possible, ah??

Meanwhile, at the most infuriatingly new-age uwu bullshit daycare for the richest of sad people, Shen Jiu sneaks away to where the cameras and automated surveillance systems (Hello, esteemed guest! This System must insist that you do not try sneaking out the marked emergency exit doors...!) to pull out the work phone he managed to smuggle in, and...

What the absolute fuck?! There is only on person who both knows his password (ugh) and knows his general writing style (ugh!!) who would be stealing his identity to meddle in his work!

The next several days are spent with Shen Yuan and Shen Jiu logging each other out in turns, and desperately trying to undo the damage the other has caused in their brief moments of control.

Yes, this does continue even after Shen Jiu returns from his mental health retreat. If nothing else, it keeps the Qing Jing division on its toes, and massively confuses one intern Luo Binghe. (The signals. are mixed.)

(Only Shang Qinghua knows what's up, but he's not saying jack shit because he is 100% committing identity fraud himself. “Shang Qinghua” is the name of a dead man with a good credit score, no debts, and no ties to the criminal underworld or warrants for his arrest, so, you know, “it's free real estate” or whatever. "He's dead! He's not using it anymore! It's fine!")