#I LOVE HIM AND YOU CAN'T CANGE MY MIND

[shuriken696]

//I'm legit should be writing my fic rn but this is getting to my head.//

Has anyone ever thought of an AU where when SQQ is dead, his soul via self imploding, goes to Ghost City?

But the way that it's been transported is a complication. A Sun and Moon Dew flower is a 'rare plant' after all. You can't just come back to life that easily.

Hua Cheng just looks at Shen Yuan who is confused af as to why he was in front of a throne. He knew that Shang Qinghua messed up on the SMD Mushroom but he didn't think it was that bad!

"Fuck, am I actually dead? Is this Hell?" Shen Qingqiu asks Hua Cheng. He tries calling on to the System but it was to no avail.

"Daozhang is a curious case. His stay in Ghost City is only temporary only when his 'plant' is fully ready is he able to go." Hua Cheng tilts his head. He did not expect something so unexpected to happen today. This soul didn't even turn into a ghost flame upon meeting him! He just came fully corpreal like it wasn't even a problem at all.

Well, at least Shen Qingqiu isn't fully dead if that counts as anything. He would be able to come back. His plan would work.

But, PIDW had never mentioned anything about a Ghost City, or any description of the man in front of him!

PIDW was more extended than just the novel? Or was it a deleted outline that Shang Qinghua robbed the readers of?

"How long would that be?" Shen Qingqiu had to get back as soon as he could. What if Binghe got mad at someone else now that the scum villain is gone? "Can I leave this place? I need to be somewhere and it has to be as quick as possibe" He figured that maybe he could float around and haunt people like they showed in the movies?

"I can't allow you to do that, Daozhang. It's against the rules." Hua Cheng raised his eyebrows. This man refused to rest in peace even though he had sacrificed his life for his disciple.

Or was he just like Hua Cheng, refusing to rest in peace until he reunited with the one he loved?

"That man who you sacrificed your life for, what is he to you?" The Ghost king asked. Shen Qingqiu pulls out a fan from his sleeve.

"He is my student. The sword's influence on him was too much so as the one who was responsible for all of this, I had to repay him for the faults I did." Shen Qingqiu answered easily.

Hua Cheng wanted to snort. With the way he's answering, this was more than just a Master-disciple relationship. But if the man didn't know, then he wouldn't tell him. It was more interesting this way anyways.

But for the sheer fact that this cultivator wanted to go back to the man he sacrificed himself for (or what he could assume by reading in between the lines) Hua Cheng couldn't help but see himself in him and respecting him, just a bit.

"I can get you a good place to live while you're residing here but daozhang hasn't told me his name?"

Shen Yuan bows.

"This humble one is Shen Qingqiu, Peak Lord of Qing Jing Peak of the Cang Qiong Mountain Sect."

There was more to 'Shen Qingqiu' that met the eyes, but everyone had their own secrets. As long as he didn't mind Hua Cheng's business then he wouldn't pry into Shen Qingqiu's as well.

"And I am Hua Cheng, the ruler of this city."

Oh shit, I was talking to the leader this whole time?! Shen Qingqiu wanted to smack himself in the head for messing up that badly. Of course the man who was sitting on the fancy throne would be of high status!

Shen Qingqiu bowed again, apologizing for his lack of manners earlier and Hua Cheng waves him off.

"It's alright. Daozhang didn't know."

After that, Hua Chang and Shen Qingqiu became somewhat friends and HC tells SQQ about him trying to find Xie Lian.

(In between that, Wei Wuxian also pays Ghost City a visit, but thats a story for another time)

Years after Binghe and SQQ are married, they find Hualian on a crossing path and Hua Cheng just looks at Binghe and then to Shen Qingqiu.

"Does he treat you well?" Shen Qingqiu hid a smile behind his fan. He didn't think the Ghost King cared that much.

"He's alright. When I saw you, I never thought he and I would get together."

Meanwhile Binghe is so confused. How does his Shizun know this man thats reeking of resentful energy? Why is this man holding hands with someone who had pure energy? Is that even possible?

His Shizun had some explaining to do later!

[riplever]

Review of Lost You Forever S1 《长相思》

4.4/5

Romance versus love, fantasy, xianxia, drama, politics

No better place than here to admit that I initially thought this would be a trashy especially because I have very little patience for romance dramas. But I have to swallow my words now because I was wrong.

Tong Hua is the original author and also scriptwriter for this drama; this lady kept a very close eye on the adaptation throughout. The show was directed by female director Qin Zhen, and with both of them in the car it's no wonder this drama feels different than the romances shot by male directors.

The Plot: The plot is romance, literally, filled with romantic tropes and whatnot; but the not-so-subtle meta is that it's also a meditation on love and romance, through characters and plot developments that debate heartily on the topic. The plot is also about the roles of men, women and "love" in the traditional, patriarchal Chinese society that is the setting. This is overall an intelligent story that endeavors to go beyond just fulfilling romantic notions.

Xiao Yao: Leading lady Xiao Yao is a 300+ year old princess, sharp, resourceful and wiser because of her traumas. In her life, she has been subject to torture and assassination, would rather take a reckless shot at the great unknown than wait away in the deathliness of peace, and has an intimate understanding of men, women and the things in-between, having also lived a good chunk of her life as a man.

Xiao Yao's greatest love is freedom. She loves freedom so much that she would rather have both her legs be broken (ironically) than reconcile with her dearly beloved brother and father — because she knew that meant walking headfirst into the gilded bird cage of stature and politics.

She values freedom of the mind and spirit if she can't have freedom of will and being, and only demands that her husband will have her as his one and only wife. It's a very tall ask in this game of politics. For comparison, her father pulled it off at the cost of devastating war.

Xiao Yao believes in love, but she doesn't believe in romance. She gives and receives love freely, and even on occasion unconditionally — but having learnt that emotional damage is far worse than physical ones, she guards her heart carefully to spare herself from the kind of pain that romantic love will cause.

Ultimately however, Xiao Yao knows that even that stance is one of self-denial.

Cang Xuan: Xiao Yao's brother (or cousin, if you wanna be technical). Interestingly, he's not popular in Chinese and International fandoms for the same reason — exactly like Xiao Yao, he's rational to the point that it's a double-edged blade, and he had unknowingly, intentionally, caused Xiao Yao to suffer immense pain in the beginning.

I wouldn't so much as blame Cang Xuan for that as I would consider it to be a visible metaphor of the kind of self-sabotage that Cang Xuan and Xiao Yao do to themselves when they only consider love for its utility.

Because this is a show about multiple love interests, the argument of "but he was first" works best in Cang Xuan's favor. The two of them are childhood best friends and swore an oath on the deaths of their family members to never be without the other.

With an emotional baggage shaped like Cang Xuan, you miss the point if you only fixate on the boundaries that he can operate in under "romance". He notices his own feelings for her exceed that of brother and sister, but as clinical as he is with romance, marriages and other women, he suspects that the relationship he has with Xiao Yao by birthright is the truest one in the sense of "love".

Does it have to entail her hand in marriage to give or receive her love? Will he not always be by her side through thick and thin, even after her "romantic" matches disappoint her time and again?

Will he still feel so self-assured even after Xiao Yao embarks on her newly married life with her future husband?

Xiao Yao loves him enough to give up her greatest love of freedom of him. She knows that Cang Xuan will always be there for her, and deeply understands that this status quo is the best way to maintain the longevity of their love for each other.

Tushan Jing/Ye Shiqi: Shiqi is the purest form of romantic love + pure mutual companionship that Xiao Yao has ever experienced, full stop and past tense. At the very beginning, Shiqi was just a servant and she was simply his savior. If he could live life exactly as he wanted, he would live it as a love-blind idiot and doting malewife, penniless, besotted and happy.

I can't quite say that he loved Xiao Yao irrespective of her gender, given that he guesses rather quickly as to her true gender.

Regardless, due to his upbringing and trauma, Shiqi is (initially) generous with his heart and kindness, not minding if he's being taken advantaged of, or shamelessly used for money — his love language is acts of service, and he can't think of anyone he'll rather love than the equally kind-hearted stranger who saved his life when they didn't have to.

However, Shiqi is indeed a dream, and he is too good to exist for real. His full identity is Tushan Jing, whose emotional baggage is as large as his soft heart. On one hand, Jing cannot bring himself to sever toxic family members even when it sabotages himself and his relationship with Xiao Yao; on the other hand, both Xiao Yao and him are dependent on his full identity as Tushan Jing to advance their respective interests of: supporting Cang Xuan's bid for the throne; and marrying Princess Jiuyao with all the socio-political razzmatazz befitting her stature.

Because of this, he's guilty of betraying Xiao Yao's heart severely, time and again. The fox does in fact bite.

One of the most scathing commentary I saw about Jing in the Chinese fandom was that Xiang Liu spent 37 years saving Xiao Yao's life, while Jing spent the same amount of time lying down (in a coma).

I'm not sure if or how this metaphor will bite back later in S2, but Xiao Yao's favorite childhood toy/Chekov's gun is a nine-tailed fox tail. Her evil torturer who knew the truth about her birthright is also a nine-tailed fox. Tushan Jing himself is the descendent of nine-tailed fox.

Fangfeng Bei/Xiang Liu: I almost wanted to write Fangfeng Bei separately given that all the other guys (except Cang Xuan I think?) all said something remarkable: that they think Fang Fengbei is the best man for Xiao Yao. Even I thought that was cheap dialogue thrown in to artificially lend weight to "Team Bei", and I am on Team Bae.

I eventually realized that they said that because they are all clever people, and know that Fangfeng Bei epitomizes freedom (the character for "wind" is in his name), and also that while they might compete for her heart, freedom is what Xiao Yao yearns most painfully after.

Probably this is why Xiang Liu is allergic to saying goodbyes, preferring instead to come and go like the wind does — silently.

Interestingly, Fangfeng Bei also has another recurring metaphor, this one vis-à-vis our good cousin Cang Xuan. Cang Xuan's most tried and trusted strategy of handling whatever life throws at him is to "not hope", and thus not have to bear the brunt of disappointment.

Fangfeng Bei is obsessed with hope. He says hope is the lie that keeps people going. He is the de facto commander of an army that's been defeated for centuries. In the underground fighting ring he mocks Xiao Yao for her shabby encouragement attempt, but is the one to give the fighter real hope by sharing about his own real survival story. Four decades later, he pretends not to care when the fighter finally earns his freedom, but is pleased to see Xiao Yao gift the fighter priceless resources. When he was still pretending to be a different person than Xiang Liu he taunts her, over and over again, "Who do you hope for me to be?" and "What do you hope for me to say?"

Xiang Liu is massively popular in the Chinese fandom as the OTP for Xiao Yao (contrasted against Jing's popularity on tumblr). An interesting tidbit is that the drama team made character social medial accounts for them on Weibo, and these are their follower counts at this point of time in writing:

Xiao Yao: 485k

Xiang Liu: 461k

Cang Xuan: 384k

Tushan Jing: 378k

Countless other literature have been written, and countless fights have been had over how much Xiang Liu has done for Xiao Yao in the name of true love. I will say that in contrast to Jing, who desperately attempts to blur the boundary between himself and his idealized self (i.e. Ye Shiqi); Xiang Liu endorses the idea of Fang Fengbei within limits, and personally cuts off Xiao Yao's wishful daydreams before they can gain any kind of traction. This is one part (of many) where the two of them are similar, because transacting within the confines of terms and conditions is what makes them comfortable.

He can't forgive her for breaching his lines where he drew them. She said "If I'd been the one to save you, I'll let you be Fangfeng Bei forever. Free and without burdens or worries."

She can't forgive him either for breaching her lines where she drew them. She told him "You're not the kind of man that any woman should dream of". She had already dreamt of him a long long time ago.

Let's just conclude for now that Xiang Liu has incredible finesse at snaking back and forth across enemy lines.

My Guess as to What "Lost You Forever" means for S2: I've always wondered why so many Chinese drama claim variants of "love" and "longing" in their English translated titles when the Chinese words are so much more vividly metaphorical about other things (I'm talking about "A Journey To Love" for 一念关山 and "Love And Redemption" for 琉璃).

That being said, "Lost You Forever" is a pretty straightforward and semi-direct translation of “长相思". The translation of the original novel title is actually much closer, "Miss You Forever". The drama title dramatizes it.

/**SPOILER WARNING/**

Xiang Liu dies, and Xiao Yao ends up with Tushan Jing.

Pretty much all the Chinese fans know this. They're familiar with the novel (and on-set leaks) and know that the drama will be faithful. The actors have also divulged this while doing press and promotions since they shot the entire story in one go. Xiao Yao's actress Yang Zi and Xiang Liu's actor Tan Jianci both tend to get teary-eyed or choked up whenever they address Xiang Liu's fate. Yang Zi describes her story with Tushan Jing as "the official pairing", and her relationship with Xiang Liu as "意难平", which is hard to translate because it's three little words that encompasses a broad and vague feeling. It means any or all of the following:

The one that got away (see: the Katy Perry song)

The one I can't ever let go of (see: the Pink song "Who Knew")

The one that I wasn't willing to lose (see: Li Xiangyi in Mysterious Lotus Casebook)

Some tragedies will imprint upon the heart more deeply than some loves ever will.

The titular characters are Xiao Yao and Xiang Liu. They made indelible impacts on each other's souls and are destined to lose each other "forever".

[rapha-reads]

Seriously, the reincarnation game in Till The End Of The Moon is hella strong. And coupled with the wibbly woobly timey wimey timelines, it's a perfect playground for my Whovian mind. I can't help but think about the implications, consequences and continuity of all the timelines created.

Which came first? 500 years in the future, when Li Susu went back in time, thus triggering the Bo're life and then branching out back into the immortal sects life? Or did it start 10,000 years ago, and the events of the war between the Devil God and Ming Ye the starting point of the events of present and future? Is Bingchang the first incarnation, or is she a tribulation of the devil lady, or the reincarnation of Tian Huan? I'm mad that she's still around, whatever her name is now, btw, can nobody get rid of her? What about Jiwu/Xiao Lin, does he exist in the present because Susu changed the future, or inversely did he came to the future because Susu/Xiwu cared about him in the present? And he still can't catch a break, poor guy.

And is Tantai Jin all at once the OG Devil God AND Ming Ye AND Tantai Jin AND the reincarnated Devil God AND Cang Jiumin? While Li Susu has 4 fathers, 1 mother, and 5 different lives? And what the heck happened to Best Boy Nyan Baiyu, how did the devils kept him alive for 500 years?

This is seriously fascinating, I love time travel and reincarnations, you can do so much with these, and TTEOTM has no qualms about making things as complicated and confusing as possible, giving you some answers, and a whole lot more of questions.

[danmeiconfession]

a reply to https://www.tumblr.com/danmeiconfession/729135240003698688/a-reply-to-this?source=share, as the person who wrote the original.

i never said shen yuan broke the cycle as in "had an abusive upbringing but chose to not inflict it on someone else". he did, however, step into the place of luo bingmei's abuser, and instead of giving him hatred, he saved luo binghe through love. he broke someone else's cycle through being forced into it.

it's impossible for a person to break a cycle of abuse without other people caring about them. if you never learn there's a better alternative, that you don't need to choose between being the person who inflicts pain and the person who is pained, then you'll choose to stop being hurt one way or another. shen yuan broke the cycle by being the precise person who showed luo bingmei he had the option to not be a part of that cycle, that it was possible to have kindness without "earning" it through strength and domination.

also, how exactly is luo bingmei "exactly the same" as luo bingge? there are only two scenes i can think of where luo bingmei may have raped shen qingqiu: the first is the scene in the fake bamboo hut, which wasn't even a real attempt and a way to scare shen qingqiu. bad joke, certainly! but not actually trying to rape shen qingqiu. if you meant maigu ridge, that was rape for both parties, luo binghe was too out of his mind to know what happened. hell, he canonically doesn't consider it his first time, probably because he never chose it.

if we're talking about violence, he certainly isn't that. with the human cauldrons, he crippled many people's cultivation, but i don't see where it's confirmed he killed them. meanwhile, luo bingge has massacred thousands. he certainly turned old palace master into a human stick like bingge with shen jiu, but like. this is the guy who killed his mother, lusted after his mother, and there's evidence he likely made some move on bingmei. i am inclined to give him sympathy here. but even if we consider the human stick situations to be the same, the simple scale of the violence can't be compared.

and in terms of the cycle of abuse: its not just shen jiu that bingge hurt. sure, he tortured his abuser for ages, and inflicted all sorts of violence on cang qiong mountain, that by itself is part of it. but we certainly can't forget about the wives. it's the fact that he rapes at least 10% of his wives, its the wives he lets hurt each other as much as they want as long as none outright die. its the common people he forces to server under his iron will. shen jiu was just one early part of it, but he quickly became just another enemy for bingge to crush. and i don't know about you, but i dont see bingge inclined to kill thousands and rape dozens in the extras.

also, in regards to your response to my confession proper. i am certainly willing to give you the quotes to prove that shen jiu abused disciples if you want them, but i get the feeling you'll ignore it. and what suspicions did yue qingyuan not believe? his suspicions against shang qinghua? true, not believing him on that part was a flaw. but if you mean luo binghe, i hardly see how a seemingly-human child was anything to be suspicious of. theres no way that shen jiu knew luo bingge was a demon until he was thrown into the abyss, and assuming he did tell yue qingyuan, what precisely could he have for shen jiu at that point in time? if you mean to imply that shen jiu somehow knew luo bingge was a demon as a disciple, i'd very much like to know how exactly he would think that, and why he'd not have banished luo bingge from his peak immediately upon discovery.

SA is still a SA no matter how many times abuser says that it was a joke and they weren't in the right mental state or some "excuse" like that or how they are sorry that they did that.

I haven't said that they are the same I said they are closer than what we're tend to believe and about circle of abuse my point still stands, he was obsessed with SJ so his torture was worse.

I pointed it out that I was talking about SQH.

[rarepears]

Did you read my fic? Did you like it? Do you have any suggestions for future chapters or feedback?

Reading it makes me REALLY want to know how the fuck did Shen Jiu and Yue Qingyuan make up. What in the world could make Yue Qingyuan finally man up and do more than apologize and make sad puppy eyes at Shen Jiu????

Feedback? There's that scene where Shen Yuan is solicitating suggestions on what he should bring back - just who are those old men, bakers, etc. and why would they be crowded alongside the peak lords when Shen Yuan is saying goodbye? Wouldn't such farewells normally be reserved for family/friends? Not random strangers just elbowing their way in to pip in suggestions?

I'm excited to see Shang Qinghua and Shen Yuan's relationship be explained, especially when factoring the whole age gap being more explicitly here and mama bear!Shen Jiu lurking behind, still being sus AF about Shang Qinghua' spy status.

Also can't wait to see Shen Yuan's personality being revealed more in depth. Seeing how Shen Yuan's reaction to the group of women dressed in only one layer and not being jealous (wishing that he could do the same BlueThursday style) is interesting and certainly different from canon!Shen Yuan. Did Shen Jiu beat in ancient China standards of modesty? Is this the influence of growing up in Cang Qiong since he was a babe instead of immediately manifesting an adult body with Adult Decision Making Powers to Make Wrong Decisions?

Would also love to see the other trade routes being explored and explained. Like how cinnamon, native to Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), the neighboring Malabar Coast of India, and Myanmar (Burma) made its way up to China and Cang Qiong. (Oh! Are there any demon traders? Or Shang Qinghua used Mobei Jun as a pack mule to get his much desired SPICES because no one is going to stop him from getting his American white girl styled pumpkin spiced latte!)

Oh! Luo Binghe being assumed to be mixed race between Roman and Ceres person - would the latter be assumed to be a slave woman? (What country is even Ceres?? My mind immediately jumped to Central Asia area for whatever reason.) I wonder how assuming such a background would influence Luo Binghe's mindset - would he be interested in Shen Yuan because he's exotic? Is he going to be concerned that Shen Yuan wouldn't fall in love outside of the Han(?) race? How are values and cultures going to clash between the two?

Oh damn, this got way too long. But to conclude, yes I enjoy it a lot! Not sure if you did a lot of research or you just know way too much about this... era? Genre? period? Ancient Rome stuff? in general, but it's fantastic. I have so many questions that I desperately need answered! Hope I didn't overwhelm you hehehe...

[Unigunflutist's fic on AO3]

[demonsheepprince]

Hello, I am very new to Tumblr and social media as a whole. I just want to rant about a SVSSS fanfic that has captured my mind it is so good.

There will be spoilers for it so before I get into what I like about it I'm gonna pitch a non spoiler version for anyone who actually happens to read this. Then I will get into what is so great about it.

***The author is demoniqt***, I am only gushing about the fic, the story is 100% not mine. I'm sorry for how cringe this is I sware I'm an adult I'm just an adult with no friends.

THE LINK: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36698833/chapters/91545391

OKAY, SO.

It's called "The Hidden Flower" or "Yin Hua". The story follows Shen Jiu who has recently awoken in his third life right back where he began. After being reincarnated in the modern world and experiencing what it truly felt like to be loved, Shen Jiu doesn't stand for child abuse anymore! Since he can't change his past life, he has to start in this one. Only... he never meant to start his own sect full of orphans! Nor does he know why he has what seems like a whole cast of unlikely suiters asking for even a chance at courtship!

But why was he reborn like this? What about Binghe? Can he stop really that beast's rise to power?

Meanwhile, two others ponder what happened to a certain Qing Jing peak lord...

SPOILERS START!!!!! (Will sound like nonsense without reading fic)

Okay so this fic has it all. Ying Ying killing her husband, Tsundere Liu Qingge, Cool orphans, and really, really sad parts, and Yue Qingyuan simping.

So I'm not actually done it but honestly, when I realized Shange Qinghua was the one who found the knife, I was struggling not to yell. It all comes together so well and that is just great. I thought this fic would just be a silly time with some cute shenanigans but boy was I not ready for the emotional journey. There is one part near the beginning where Shen Jiu wonders if he would have turned out better in his first life if he were shown kindness and- THE ANSWER IS YES!! Living though his second life and being showed love made him kind and empathetic. The whole thing has this whole theme of kindness breaking a cycle of trauma and it is amazing. I have so many screen shots of emotional and funny parts of this fic.

The ocs are so top teir. Cheng Yi and Qi are the best sisters and the Songstresses- I love them. The relationship between Shen Jiu and the previous Qing Jing peak lord is really sweet, as well as just the interaction in general between him and the Cang Qiang peak lords.

I made some very rough fan art. I'm not finished yet, but I wanted to include it because if Shen Jiu with a veil doesn't make you want to read it, I don't know what will.

[touchmycoat]

omg can you imagine, though??? Rumors start going around that LQG is pursuing a woman who looks JUST LIKE LBH and she is a legendary Bai Zhan qianbei who might be good enough to beat him.... SQQ for one has got to see this for himself, and LBH is feeling Something.

HOWLS. SXY gaslight-girlbosses the entire cultivation world into believing that it's more likely she's a random dead ringer for the local heavenly demon than that she's a revived SXY. She manipulates conversation snippets and errands so that all everybody sees is LQG bringing her courting gifts and asking why she wasn't in her rooms last night. This only cements everybody's belief that she's not SXY more because the logic goes: LQG loves fighting -> LQG would only fall in love with someone who can defeat him in battle -> of course a legendary Bai Zhan qianbei can defeat LQG in battle -> that's why he's in love with and pursuing her -> ah so she MUST be linghu qianyan the legends are true

but who is TLJ in this equation? post-Chunshan, everyone is wary of heavenly demons holding cultivators under their thrall, but TLJ is just so confident and amicable and friendly that people just can't quite believe he's mind controlling SXY. Then they see the way TLJ and SXY interact and go, "aha, of course, the legendary Baizhan qianbei encountered the legendary heavenly demon pure-blood. They made a gentlefolk's agreement before a battle that LHQY won, so she's requested his company in the human realm to bridge differences and show him that humans aren't his enemies. Oh wow she's so amazing. She's saving the mortal realm."

So the shipping war begins. Cang Qiong loyalists want their Liu-shibo to end up with the cool qianbei but TLJ's also just like. really hot and funny and cute and is nosy but helpful and all you have to do is share your human nonsense with him. And Linghu-qianbei is so mysterious and icy and cool like, her and Liu-shibo would be such a power couple, can you imagine, Baizhan's very own battle couple. But TLJ's a good balance for Linghu-qianbei! They're so fucking pretty together! Wait but didn't you all hear about Liu-shibo and TLJ's year of epic battles before Linghu-qianbei's return?? Were they fighting over Linghu-qianbei???

yeah so that's the rumor that finally makes its way to the demon realm—that TLJ's resurfaced and is caught in a love triangle against LQG over a mysterious woman. SQQ's like "SHIDI'S FINALLY INTO A WOMAN??? WHO'S GONNA BE PRETTY ENOUGH TO MATCH HIM--I MEAN, MATCH HIS HIGH STANDARDS. WE GOTTA GO SEE."

The informant's like "my lord there's another bit of news, they say the woman bears great resemblance to you..."

SQQ's huffy inner monologue is all, "well ofc, only an extremely beautiful woman can catch Liu-shidi's eye and Binghe being literally the only measure of beauty in this entire universe means that she's going to be compared to him, that's not strange at all."

he goes to have tea. LQG invites him in with minor hesitation. SQQ begins with mild teasing but that's when SXY and TLJ walk in and that's--that's literally Binghe. Standing next to TLJ and oooooh that's Binghe's mother, that's literally got to be Binghe's birth mother.

SXY sits down, folds her fingers together, and is like, "so this is the son-in-law I've heard so much about."

[littlefreya]

Hey there dear! I hope you're good. So, yesterday i read a ficlet about a protagonist having an affair with a unexperienced and younger character and enjoying making the flustered, melt them into a puddle, making the squim and see their big doe eyes staring at them and i thougth "August would definetely love this" (i think the idea of currupting innocence turns him on, you can't cange my mind). What do you think? The Henry fandom corrupted me, especially you, but the dark side is fun. Sayonara!

Welcome to the corrupted land that is Henry’s fandom, meine liebe!  August does indeed enjoy destroying innocent pretty things. 😈 If she’s inexperienced he will take a while night defiling her in any possible way. It’s the teaches of August. 

[rarepears]

First of all thank you so much for supplying that good mxtx crossover drabble content I am so so thankful beyond words; second of all could I perhaps interest you in my Yu Ziyuan mdzs and Qi Qingqi svsss forbidden sort of exes concept wherein they met when they were both disciples and developed mutual crushes. Qqq wanted yzy to join cang qiong with her but yzy was already engaged to jfm and wanted to uphold her family's expectations- hence they were never fully able to realize their relationship tho they never truly forgot about each other even as their responsibilities began to pile up and they fell out of contact.

*Sips tea*

This further adds into the reasons why Yu Ziyuan is so upset at Jiang Fengmian. She keeps using Qi Qingqi as a measuring stick of what a good partner is and Jiang Fengmian is... nothing like Qi Qingqi. :/

She'll admit that she's a bit hypocritical to be so upset that Jiang Fengmian can't get over Cangse Sanren considering how she's not over Qi Qingqi, but here's the thing: she's trying to actually build a relationship with the person that she's married to. He... isn't. Not even one iota of effort can she see him attempting.

Yu Ziyuan has stopped her correspondence with her old lover; she hasn't even attempted to visit or see Qi Qingqi again even though it would be so easy to. Establishing an alliance with one of Cang Qiong's peaks would boost the Jiang sect up so much, if not by trade than by influence. It would help keep the Jiang sect's power from being overly dependent on its main ally, the Jin, who was much too closely tied to the Wen for Yu Ziyuan's comfort, no matter the fact that her childhood friend is married to the Jin Sect Leader.

What's the saying again? It's not good to have all her eggs in one basket.

Yep.

But Jiang Fengmian won't even discuss sect politics with her. He won't treat her like a proper sect leader's wife, introducing her to the key people that she should know or instructing her on how the Jiang Sect does things - she has to wrestle for every duty, every inch of respect from the sect's people. She knows she's trampled on many toes, offended many people (which only hinders her efforts), but it's the best she can do with what she's got.

She's so besieged fighting the Jiang internal politics to even think about proposing any foreign relationships for the Jiang sect. There's no point in even thinking about "blowing pillow wind" with Jiang Fengmian either. He won't even do his duty of broaching the subject of when they would create sect heir.

Like always, she has to demand him to do the bare minimal.

And even then, he fails to deliver.

She sees her children and as much as she loves them, she still can't help but be disappointed.

This is the best that Jiang Fengmian's descendants can do, her mind whispers in derision. She can see no traits of similarities with Qi Qingqi in them. They duck their heads about and waffle when they are called to make decisions; Qi Qingqi knew what she wanted immediately and got even a bit too tunnel-visioned in her quest to achieve her goals. They struggle with their coursework - of course, they did well in comparison to the rest of the Jiang disciples, but they were the Jiang heirs and were supposed to be held to a higher standard. Qi Qingqi was a cultivation genius and fought with her own unique weaponry and forms.

But no matter what happens or how much life continues to disappoint her, Yu Ziyuan refuses to wonder what her life would have been like if she didn't refuse Qi Qingqi's offer and abandoned her duty to run to Cang Qiong.