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Thinking of this line as a good glimpse at the burdens the Gong brothers willingly choose to carry in their utter devotion to family. In Shangjue's case, his loyalty is towards the Gong as a whole, while in Yuanzhi's it's just his gege. But the main parallel between the two is that existing in the brutal martial world turns them both into weapons when all they want is to be protectors. Cause a sword can be used to either kill or to defend, but if you fail at one, what choice do you have but to embrace the other?

Let's go with Shangjue first. He is so war-scarred that he can't stomach eating fish and meat and can smell the faintest drop of blood from a distance. And yet, he still makes himself the family's blade, sharpening into someone unkind and at times cruel, just like the edge of a sword that can only ever hope to cut and draw blood to fulfill its purpose.

But the reality is that he's a saber. He's only sharp on the side that faces outwards, not inwards — the side that faces enemies, not family. His devotion to protect runs much much deeper than his cruelty, and his ruthlessness is a product of how deeply he loves, not its denial.

But he doesn't see it. He asks "do you still think I'm kind?" while digging his fingers into the wound of the person he loves but dares not embrace. Even as his hand strives to hold, he uses it to grab more weapons, more poisons. He can only promise not to make her suffer, but not to spare his lover's life. His needs are always secondary to the Gong's. It doesn't matter if it's a role that doesn't fit his nature. Familial duty in a world like theirs means giving up on wanting things for himself if they don't align with protecting his loved ones.

Yuanzhi does the same, tho his dedication is subtler. The thing he longs for the most is to be loved, and yet he doesn't shy away from embracing the role of the "unemotional" freak who likes insects and plants more than people. It's the only way he knows how to keep his brother safe.

The way we're introduced to his character, it's easy to imagine he's cruel, too. That he would test poisons on other people, cause we did see him torture someone with an unnerving smile on his face. But then here comes the unmasking: the revelation that to be the family's genius, he had to put his life on the line, too, swallowing poisons first-hand to find a cure for them.

When you consider how many poisons the Gong family deals in, both in and out of the market, this line shows how insane that is. Has Yuanzhi tried all of them at some point? He must have, or else he couldn't have perfected the formula of a herb elixir that would neutralize most toxins, including all the extremely lethal ones he produced himself. He couldn't have kept upgrading said formula to counter the increasing miasma of the valley, either. He singlehandedly saves all the Gong's asses every day with his pills, but this gets never commented on, because it's what's expected of him. He's a genius of poisons, so he must put his talent to use. Much like how Shangjue is the brightest young swordsman of the family, one of the only few who passed the trials, so it's on him to keep wielding a sword for them, no matter how much he longs for the relief of a life without violence.

And the martial world keeps backing them into this cruelty, this ruthlessness. Lowering your guard means losing everything, and they can't afford that. So they give in, because they both have things they want to protect, even if it comes at great personal cost. They're only villains because Ziyu took the role of hero, but they believe themselves to be villains all the same.

Their underlying self-loathing comes from powerlessness and self-blame. Shangjue punishes himself for failing to protect Lang, and Yuanzhi punishes himself for failing to protect Shangjue's happiness. Both have a strong wish to shield, but having failed to do so, they end up becoming weapons instead, thinking that's all they can aspire to be. If Shangjue considers himself a blade that doesn't know mercy, Yuanzhi sees himself as the toxin that killed his brother's joy.

But is weapons all they know how to be?

Shangjue doesn't believe himself capable of being kind, yet he treats Yuanzhi with unbelievable gentleness and patience. He sees a boy who cannot cry at his father's death, but who still wipes away his tears. When the rest of the family shuns Yuanzhi for being different, Shangjue recognizes the boy's loneliness for what it is. When Yuanzhi wants love, Shangjue responds by pouring his abundance of it onto him. Not because he's missing out a little brother figure, or because he still needs to be a protector to find purpose, but because Yuanzhi, in all his child-like innocence, told him, "don't be sad. I'll be your little brother." He saw Shangjue's pain and offered himself up as a protector first.

Because of that, I don't even think that his claim that Shangjue never wanted for anything after Lang's death is true. Yeah, his brother might have given up everything for the family, to the point that he doesn't even know how to put himself first anymore. He doesn't know how to reach out, how to keep. But at the same time... There's one clear thing he grabbed with both hands, and that's Yuanzhi. Not a little brother of blood, but one of choice. Not a poison, either, but rather the antidote. For them both.

In loving him like a didi he stops being purely a blade that cuts, but becomes the hand that wraps a bleeding wound. He stops being passive and becomes proactive in his wants, continuing to defend them, even when he has to fight the entire family (including the next Sword Wielder that technically outranks him) who turned against Yuanzhi.

In turn, Yuanzhi doesn't know how to trust people because he always expects the worst of everyone unless proven wrong, and that makes him unbelievably lonely. But in Shangjue's no-nonsense attitude and in his genuine care he finds someone he never doubts, and that slowly opens up his world further. Even if he's only following his brother's lead, he still lends a hand to other branches of the family, and by the end there's a subtle shift in how he interacts with them, too. He's still a caustic little shit, but his gratitude towards Ziyu for giving him a new hidden weapon was sincere, and in the last episode we are even shown him banter playfully with Zishang.

In the end, familial duty is what taught them cruelty and ruthlessness as means to an end, but it's the bond they have with each other that transforms the concept of family into something more gentle and genuine than martial arts and violence

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Pretty boy

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The silence haunted Gong Shangjue no matter where he went.

There was no cheerful giggle from across the table when he sat down to eat. No jingle of bells to welcome him back home, or the flurry of footsteps following after him, or a sneer besides him to answer others.

The only thing accompanying him was silence.

And that silence penetrated his bones, making him shiver.

He had not accepted it at first, snapping and screaming at the doctors. Threatning them, calling jade guards to summon every other doctor. It took many of them to drag the lord of Jue lineage out of the clinic to be allowed to prepare the corpse for burial. He had still refused to accept the reality, until Jing Fu informed him that if he didn't see Yuanzhi didi now, he will never be able to look at him again.

He had finally broken down then.

He had never felt useless like this before.

What was the use of his prestige that couldn't saved his didi? The fear that his name incurred in jianghu but not in the enemies that slithered in his home. The martial arts that didn't made him aware of his didi's approach.

His hands that had killed his own didi.

Shangguan Qian had laughed at him when he had gone to torture her, no semblance of composure left in him this time. Taunted him, even.

"You cannot blame me, Gong Shangjue. You did this to your didi. You, not anyone else."

There were tears in her eyes as she leant up to whisper in his ear. "Everyone says that you love him, but he was never sure of it, you know. He lived with that doubt in his heart, and he left this world with that same doubt."

His fists clenched at her provocation, but she wasn't finished. She made sure every word dug into him like a sharp dagger.

"You say you love him, yet why is it that you see those you love only when they bleed?"

By the end, none of them were sure who she was talking about.

He didn't had the courage to go to her for clarification again.

He learnt later that it was an honest mistake. The porridge had no poison, but it contained a herb that Gong Yuanzhi was deadly allergic to. It was probably the reason he never searched for her after her escape.

Not even when Wufeng finally came knocking.

He had thought he wouldn't survive the battle, but he thought too beautifully as he stared at the ceiling of his room in a dull manner after waking up from lifethreatning injuries. He was denied the chance of reuniting with his didi.

Perhaps his didi didn't wanted to see him, he had mused later. He shouldn't have survived, and yet he did. Yuanzhi di was angry with him, and didn't wanted to even look at him, so he denied him this mercy.

So the silence haunted him for years. Every breath he took becoming a burden for him.

Worst were the whispers of what could have been, the giggles in the air, the gentle ringing of bells. Jue palace had become utterly quiet, servants scared of making such noises as he had raged once over tinkling of bells. But outside, he had no such mercy.

It was another gentle tinkle of bell accompanied by a giggle that made him look around on one of his missions, and the sight caught his breath.

Perhaps he had stared for too long that people started to notice, as Jin Fu stepped near him. "My lord?"

Still feeling breathless, he choked out. "Who is that?"

Follwing his gaze, the green jade looked up only to freeze at the sight of a small child in cream and white clothes hugging the legs of another youth in similar colored robes, patiently waiting for the older one to correct his crooked headband.

They had to visibly compose himself as the recipients of their stares finally noticed them as he stepped closer, the child lifted in his arms.

His subordinate bowed respectfully.

"Master, this is Zhuo Yixuan, heir of Bingyi Clan. Gongzi, this is Gong Shangjue, head of Jue lineage."

The youth nodded his head respectfully.

"Gong Er, I hope we are not intruding here?"

Gong Shangjue forced himself to nod back. "Not at all.

What brings you so far away from the capital, gongzi?"

Zhuo Yixuan smiled gently. "Nothing much, just some errands running on behalf of my father"

Jin Fu took over the conversation as he had been the one handling the heir, as he had his duty since such matters delegated to him some years earlier. And yet, even their conversation couldn't hide the restlessness in the young man as he frequently noticed his stare at the child in his arms. Gong Shangjue finally spoke up.

"And this is..?"

The young heir looked down at the child in his arms who had long gone silent, looking at them quietly.

"Ah, this is my didi, Zhuo Yichen. He had been feeling down for some time, so I brought him here with me, hoping new sights will cheer him up."

The child, nocticing all their attention had turned towards him, let out a surprised hiccup and smooshed his face in his gege's neck, earning a small laugh from him. Jin Fu took over again.

"I hope you succeed in your errands, gongzi" he hinted the end of conversation, noticing the clear discomfort of brother's at the blatant stare of his master.

As they made their way away from them, the jade guard leant in to convey the information.

"The youngest child of Zhuo family had not been well since the death of their furen, his father and brother searching for rare remedies to make his sleep peaceful. Officially, Zhuo Yixuan had come here for some errand on behalf of his clan and imperial authority for a trade deal. Unofficially, word is that he had come here for same purpose, bringing his didi along with him for same reason."

"I see." Gong Shangjue only whispered, staring at the child longingly. Jin Fu knew why.

The young child greatly resembled their deceased Gong san. Same chubby cheeks, smae pouting lips, the distinct cat like eyes. It was as of Gong Yuanzhi was infront of them.

But this was nothing but a mirage.

This child was Zhuo Yichen, beloved young master of Bingyi Clan who protected their young ones ferociously.

Jin Fun knew better than anyone that chasing after this mirage will do nothing earn more wounds for his master.

However, hope was such a dangerous thing.

And Gong Shangjue always chased after things that were not there anymore.

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TIAN JIA RUI 🫶

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zhao yuanzhou everytime there's a problem:

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@missisjoker

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@missisjoker

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Babies

(From twitter)

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So Zhao Yuanzhou is a monkey after all?

Contains spoilers

At least, I always thought that apes don’t have tails. I could, of course, be wrong.

Just take a look at this, in the green circles (excuse my poor MS paint skills). As far as I know, that white cloud is supposed to be his true/original form showing.

Is that a tail or not? (Episode 33, around 18 mins 55 secs if you want to see it in action)

The big question is.. Should we tell ZYC, or will the discussion between them remain?

*cackles stupidly*

EDIT: I forced myself to learn to GIF just for this (forgive my mediocre attempt), so you can see it move from side to side (for the viewer it appears on teh right first and then swings to the left)

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People (Zhao Yuanzhou) getting obsessed with those teeny tiny smol horns Zhuo Yichen grows after becoming demon to the point of constantly trying to touch them.

That's it. That's the fic.

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Btw never getting over how I'm pretty sure in every adaptation? Jiang Cheng's first spoken words are "I am his uncle." Fuck yeah he IS his uncle.

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Prince Ji Ling living in a secluded cottage away from the troubles of dragon temple/palace

With the dragon Long Shen keeping an eye on him for his safety

Sometimes Long Shen also drags beggar Li Jie to keep another eye on the mischievous fox

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Going for the Win

Alicent Hightower is a teenager. Teenagers are rarely known to possess impeccable self-control to always watch what they are saying.

Or,

Viserys and Alicent have a conversation about the future heir to Iron throne before their marriage. Alicent is convinced that her future son will be the new heir and reminds Viserys that no matter what he does, Rhaenyra will always face opposition. She makes it clear that even if she supported his daughter, the realm will not and peace will be destroyed unless he does something. Viserys takes her advice to heart and indeed, does something to protect the peace.

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Drag him into your hairbrained scheme of running away from dragon temple! (Wait what)

Dragon lord Long Shen coming to bug the handsome beggar Li Jie every day cause he felt bored pretending to be a brooding dragon in his palace and not the grimlin he really is.

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Dragon lord Long Shen coming to bug the handsome beggar Li Jie every day cause he felt bored pretending to be a brooding dragon in his palace and not the grimlin he really is.

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He’s just a tiny ‘lil guy 🥺

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made a jiang cheng anti bingo card, as inspired by this bingo card by @thatswhatsushesaid