#Qi Rong doesn’t exist for the moment

[boop-someone-today]

Hahahaha I’ve been thinking about this but I don’t think it’s long enough to post as a complete fanfic so I’ll just post it here. Tumblr is now my shit post of ideas when they can’t be long enough.

Anyway, Qi Rong don’t exist I guess🤷‍♀️

He didn’t choose violence today🤭

Here you go, Xie Lian angst…

“Xie Lian crawled out of the well. He had slipped on the way up and had to restart a few times, but he made it. As his feet hit the ground, he slumped and sighed, feeling drained and numb after saying hello to his parents. Rouye slithered about, trying to comfort but understands that if he did anything, he would make it worse, but wanted to show sympathy.

Xie Lian gave a gentle pat to Rouye and began walking. He wasn’t walking away from Mt. Taicang, quite the opposite. He was walking further up, to the peak. Along the way his robes obtained more rips, and he had gathered more scratches, unfeeling of them. The further up he went, the denser the forest got, to the point that unless you knew the way, you would never find the path paved under centuries of dirt.

When he finally broke threw the foliage, he has met with a tall skeleton of a temple. The wood somehow still standing, though charred beyond repair, and stone pillars that had toppled over, the tallest still standing just over his head.

After quickly locating the best place to climb up the beams, he scurried his way up, finding balance at the top. The wood was sturdy enough to support him through mystic means, but it worked. And he was grateful for it.

After he found the best spot to sit, he sat in the direction of XianLe, and dropped his head in shame.

There were many reasons for him to feel shame, he just couldn’t identify which one this time.

But before he could dive too deep into a spiral of self-loathing, he heard something, and something bright was just ahead. His head shot up.

Right where XianLe rested, there was a huge and glamorous kingdom, stretching for miles. He could just make out the city walls, covered in flowers in his honor. He could see the Main Street, covered in vendors filled with merchants selling gorgeous jewels worth fortunes, and women without compare but each other play music like no other. Everything was covered in a thin, but very shiny, layer of gold, making the city so bright during the day, it was almost blinding. And he could see home. A home that held his mother, and his father, and his cousin, and Feng Xin and Mu Qing, those nice cooks and washerwomen, his pets and treasures. It held all he ever dared to hold so dear, what he wishes he could have preserved, what he could have saved. He felt his tears build and fall.

So he blinked.

And it was gone.

All that was left was a blank plain of grass.

And suddenly he wanted to be a child, wrapped in his mother’s arms.

He also wanted San Lang. He wanted the man to hold him, to tell him it was alright. But he wouldn’t dare. Even if he was crying for him, choking his name out as he sobbed.

“Ma-ma! S-San La-ng! I wan-t you! Wh-ere are you!”

His sobs were a wretched sound, more of an animal then human. He was sobbing towards the heavens, and screamed his heart out over what he lost. And for the wish the people he wanted to comfort him to come back.

But he understood it wouldn’t happen, he just… he just wanted a moment for himself.

Just a little moment to sob. And no one be there to taunt him. Call him weak and to be a man.

He wanted to sob like a child, and so he did.”

[joys-of-everyday]

On the fifty shades of morally grey

So quick thoughts on how MXTX writes morally grey.

Sorry, I mean, excessively long meta post on how MXTX writes morally grey. Light spoilers for all three books.

A gazillion caveats to begin with. Firstly, I don’t want to argue about whether character x is morally good, bad, grey, pink or whatever. In my books, arguing about whether someone is or is not morally grey is like arguing whether a colour is green, blue, teal, or turquoise – we’re arguing definitions. To add to that, I’m not saying that concepts like ‘this person is overall good’ doesn’t exist, but I would posit that a morally unquestionable person does not exist. Secondly, I also don’t want to pass moral judgements on any of the characters. That’s for a different post. I strictly want to focus on the storytelling techniques that make the reader think ‘hang on a second, are they good or bad?’. Thirdly, this whole post is mainly based on How Arcane Writes MORAL AMBIGUITY (9 Methods, 4 Rules) - YouTube. Great video, great channel (no knowledge of Arcane required). Would recommend if you are interested in story writing techniques!

1) The information gap and the poor narrator

Best example is Shen Jiu from SVSSS. We barely know anything about Shen Jiu. Almost everything we know is from SQQ’s notoriously unreliable perspective, so we’re left to fill in the gaps ourselves. Depending on exactly how those gaps are filled, you can get two completely different people. E.g. Did he have designs of NYY, or was he just ridiculously misunderstood? Who knows! We’re never told. Even if we were told, we should doubt it because it’s SQQ telling us.

2) 4D characterisation

Schnee’s video goes into this in more details, but this is where you build two narratives on top of one another. Best example is Jin Guangyao from MDZS. Is he an underdog who did what he could out of his situation and tried his best to be a better person working for the good of the common people? Or is he a selfish, manipulative, ambitious snake who at every stage pretends to be good in order to win the favour of those around him? The point is that both narratives make sense in the story. There are moments that lean more one way or another, but you can never quite pin him down completely.

3) Moments of weakness

Best example is Xie Lian from TGCF. On the whole, XL is a wonderful human being who you 100% want to root for. Except… there was that one time he made a mistake. He let his hurt and pain overcome him; he became hurtful himself. The point here is to add in just a few ‘moments’ which fundamentally impacts how the rest of the world perceives them from that point forwards. They are forever trying to redeem themselves, forever weighed down by what is a tiny proportion of their life. The underlying question is ‘is a moment of weakness a moral failure?’

Another good example is Qi Rong from TGCF. On the whole, he’s a piece of s***. But then there are moments when he’s a genuinely good father to Guzi, and that’s confusing.

4) Well-intentioned idiot

Trying to do the right thing and absolutely failing. Best example is Wei Wuxian from MDZS. His intentions are always good. There are extremely few moments where he is selfish or overly cruel. He is always fighting for justice, always self-sacrificing, always kind. And yet the outcome of his actions is pretty bad. The underlying question is ‘should you judge a person based on their intent, or on the consequences of their actions?’

(btw the name of the method is from schnee’s video. No shade on WWX. He is very smart… well, unless it comes to LWJ’s feelings.)

5) Excuses

Yes, they’re bad. But we feel sorry for them! Almost everyone fits into this boat, because doesn’t MXTX love trauma dumping? As one example, let’s look at Jiang Cheng from MDZS. JC’s behaviour towards WWX is pretty bad on its own. But given the context of his childhood being compared to him, of having his self-esteem brutally crushed by both parents? Knowing how much he’s done and sacrificed for him, how much he truly cared for him as family? It hits different.

A small point: ‘excuses aren’t enough’ we say a lot (and I agree, to an extent). But compare, for example, Jin Guangshan vs Xue Yang. JGS seems to be a power-hungry asshole for absolutely no reason. On the other hand, put XY in different circumstances and we feel like he might have been a better person. Just as food for thought, there was a Japanese monk Honen (1133-1212) who said: ‘The good person can reach the Pure Land, so of course the evil person can as well’. The point being that the people who struggle with anger and hate because of their circumstances are most in need of salvation.

6) World building and presenting hard questions

What is acceptable sacrifice in war?

Is it okay to make a super dangerous weapon for the sake of deterrence?

How much personal responsibility does someone hold for a lifetime of circumstances pushing them towards a morally questionable path?

What are the responsibilities of a leader – to do what is right, or to do what is best for their people?

The world of MDZS is imperfect. It’s full of horrors and disasters, as well as a mob of outsiders all trying to impart their opinions despite knowing little about the situation. An imperfect world presents unanswerable questions. We see the characters struggle with these questions, come to decisions, and make mistakes, all naturally arising within the complex world that’s been presented. 

TGCF does this most explicitly. We literally have Kemo and Pei Xiu arguing about the ethics of war and XL concluding that it’s a Hard Question. In fact, every backstory of every Heavenly Official presents a new Hard Question. I don’t know if I like this method over the more subtle style of MDZS, but I have Thoughts about the storytelling styles of both (long story short, I love them both for different reasons).

7) Worlds are colliding

A slightly complicated method that takes a huge amount of set up. To summarise, set up two arcs that we the reader both feel invested in. Then set up a point where the ‘good’ outcome of one is the ‘bad’ outcome of another. For MDZS, we have 1) JC and WWX’s brotherhood arc. 2) WWX standing up for justice arc. They’re both merrily developing all the way through the conflict with the Wens… right until the moment WWX has to make a choice: stand up for justice and leave JC behind, or to fulfil his promises to JC and turn a blind eye to the injustices against the Wens. The decision is a lose-lose scenario because of the way these arcs have been set up.

8) Spectrums, Spectrums, we love Spectrums

Gongyi Xiao is a cinnamon roll. As is Wen Ning and Quan Yizhen. Meanwhile, the Old Palace Master? Literally no redeeming qualities. Wen Chao? Absolute scum. Then there’s everyone lying somewhere in between. We like Lan Wangji more than JC (I think that seems to be the case for most people?) but we certainly like JC more than JGS. Having a spectrum of morality is important because it gives us reference points to contrast and compare. It also emphasises the moral greyness of everything, because sure, Mu Qing isn’t a noodle like Shi Qingxuan, but is he worse than White No Face?

9) Spectrums aren’t enough – adding depth

Almost all of WWX’s moral ambiguity comes from the fact he has hard decisions to make. And for each of these decisions, the outcome is murky. He developed a new technique to fight against the Wens, but at what cost later down the line? He defended the Wens and gave them a few years of life, but was it worth it?

Compare with JGY. JGY does a lot of good. He also does a lot of bad. The magnitude of both lists is ridiculous. Sure, you wouldn’t usually find someone who’s killed most of their family members in any way likable, but how often do you come across someone who literally ended a war?

So one way of creating moral ambiguity is to make each decision difficult, but another way to go about it is to just… make them do loads of things. Like loads of things. Good things, bad things, all the in between things. Judging each thing is not that hard, but then trying to judge the overall person based on it is extremely difficult.

10) Pulling from the real world

Often, moral questions in fiction is hard because (surprise, surprise) moral questions are just hard full stop. Idk enough Chinese history and culture to accurately pin down all of MXTX’s references, but things like stupid misunderstands leading to conflict, poverty and inequality, less than ideal family situations, the horrors of war… these are all things that happen irl. No matter how fantastical the setting, grounding moral conflicts in reality makes us feel more emotional and invested.

Anyway, I hope that was an enjoyable rundown! This is an imperfect list, so comments, criticisms, suggestions greatly appreciated!

[tockamybeloved]

Five things that first drew you to Ronghao.

Thank you for the ask! (sends detailed note later) AND thank you for narrowing it down to 'first drew'. I found myself writing a tangent late last night. I hope this answers your question.

(Long answer)

1) Episode 2

A single figure appears in a painting, colors washed and muted by a broad stroke of sepia. But that was me looking at it from a Western view. I had to switch off my mind to those associations. It is not the color sepia- it is yellow. Yellow, the balanced color, the one that tells the viewer you are entering a place of freedom and earth and royalty. We are being told this man is peaceful, calm. He travels a river whose waters are ruled by the melancholy notes he plays. (Is he the only one to use music this way? Question for another post.)

The painting is a real space. Chang Heng appears standing behind him on the punt. 

The music stops. The man who is alone no longer turns to greet his visitor - and smiles. After being teasingly accused of arrogance, he smiles! 

Life for Rong Hao, Fairy Lord, is reflected in the colors around him: His face outlines beauty; the clarity in his eyes a longing for peace implied in the calm landscape. 

Dressed in white I immediately thought “death”. But it is also a symbol of renewal and innocence. 

This is a world away from everything. He desires to be separate from the noise and crowd. A purposeful introvert. 

Both the inhabitant and the artist of the painting, here he is his own master. Confident, secluded, and peaceful.

2) Observant. And clever. Discovery of the orchid on the handkerchief, done by exposing a secret without permission, seemed not to be malicious. 

I thought, here is a man who cares enough for his friend that he notices the love-sick face and because he also knows Chang Heng will not speak what is on his heart forces him to open up. Who but a true friend sees their vulnerable heart? Who but a long time and honest friend wants to help carry the worries and sorrows of another? 

3) The Green Flame Wine. In an instant my impression of Rong Hao as a one note (!) character is pushed away. A clear - unknown to us - deep bond exists. And yet Rong Hao never puts his lips to the bottle. I asked myself why. The act is subtle and I wonder why Rong Hao doesn’t trust the current god of War fully. 

There is pain or betrayal lurking beneath the perfect lines. Who caused the rift?

4) Episode 6 (Episode 3 for a moment. Anytime I’m presented with a masked character I’m going to use all my skills to try and predict who it is. I second guessed myself on this one, but I shouldn’t have. The form of his lips gave it away.)

At the Soul Transformation Grounds we see the masked persona: Rong Hao, Lord of Haishi. Dressed in black he wears on his shoulder splashes of all the colors. I am dissecting the why of all! Why all the colors? The answer is exactly in those colors but I was now also invested in this second world he exists in. It’s destruction, chaos, everything opposed to the painting. 

He is stern, direct. An opposed feeling of safety rises because of his power to influence. 

5) How quickly he figured out who Orchid is! Clever again. A constant gatherer of information he intelligently uses that information to further and succeed in his plan. 

Who is the true self? The man with the peaceful heart, or the one who coldly commands?

I am going to mention a sixth because in this moment I knew I could not break free. It is a brief dialog and might easily be brushed aside as inconsequential but like the entire show every detail is important.   

6) Episode 7

Rong Hao does something very father-like: He guides her vision away from the others and leans down eye to eye distracting her from watching the gathering of the evil qi. The movement is reminiscent of redirecting a child when there is an intensely emotional situation and the adult needs them to remain calm. 

But it’s not a single act. There are multiple things happening here. 

He is meeting her on his own terms without suspicion to gain knowledge. 

To Chang Heng, it appears that maybe Rong Hao will embarrass him in front of all, maybe giving away his secret feelings. Rong Hao doesn’t though, and gives a knowing smile furthering Chang Heng’s trust in him. 

The others see his questioning as curiosity or as I said, an elder or father being concerned for a child. 

It’s devious, self-serving, and makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. As he speaks of his master, a distant gaze as he dwells on moments of happiness playing before his vision. There is a heart. 

Will he choose destruction, or peace?

Now for the irrational part told in pictures because I have lost the ability to speak sense.

This Smirk. Playful and familiar. Instantly I smile in return because I understand the thoughts behind such a look. He’s absolutely out of reach and untouchable which makes me want to do exactly that. Terrible.

2. So thoughtful. Much intelligence. Teach me this game?

3. The mask. Look at the distorted hand cradling his chin. I want to be that hand. The MOUTH. He speaks and all I can do is stare. I am a mess. THE HEAD TILT. YES YES! Analyze the fuck out of me with your eyes!

4. Poor immortal looks like he’s been stabbed in the heart. Who dares betray him? What foolish thing has been done to thwart his perfect plan?!

5. Now I am being stabbed in the heart. I CARE!! Aaaghghaghh

Yes, I know. He’s the villain - the one who will destroy everything to make his happiness be reality. In the end, he destroys even himself. Love over duty; love distorted as time passes. The way to keep his love alive is tainted with selfishness and becomes poison.

BUT THAT LOOK.

[vodkassassin]

🥒✈ doing fuck marry kill using whoever. Obviously they will be overheard, by mqf, mbj, or both. Also can have sqh state his sexuality which is nothing. Ace rep baby.

Yesss danci I can always count on you! Thanks for slipping my hc ace!SQH in there. Ily @dancibayo

—

“I’m bored,” Shang Qinghua grandly announces.

“Yes, so you’ve said, fifteen times already,” Shen Qingqiu states dryly, but his friend steamrolls right over him.

“I am so bored, so,” Shang Qinghua says, “Shen-ge. Fuck, marry, kill.”

Shen Qingqiu startles, nearly dropping his fan. He whips around to stare at the other with wide eyes. Shang Qinghua props himself up onto his elbow and the grin that’s on his face is mischievous and evil.

“Wh—Airplane?” He nearly squawks, and then returns the grin. “No, stop—!”

Shang Qinghua’s grin nearly splits his face. “Fuck, marry, kill! Tianlang-jun—”

“No!” Shen Qingqiu laughs, reaching for the nearby cushion to chuck it at his cackling friend.

Shang Qinghua ducks the projectile and continues. “Tianlang-jun, Zhuzhi Lang—”

“Airplane!”

“And Sha Hualing!”

“Her?” Shen Qingqiu shrieks, diving for another pillow. His fan tumbles to the floor. “Out of everyone you could have picked for the choices, it had to be her?!”

Shang Qinghua, nimble bastard that he is, managed to avoid this cushion too. “First round will be easy! I definitely didn't have a brain blank and totally forgot anyone else existed. Plus! Shen-ge, I have to cater to the player! Bi-represent!”

“If it’s catering to the player, then this isn’t the game to play when it comes to you,” the Qing Jing peak lord grumbles.

He grabs his tea up from the table he sits at and down the entire cup in one go as if it’s a shot.

“You gotta choose!” Shang Qinghua needles, and Shen Qingqiu casts him a glare.

“Goddammit, fine,” he groans. “Um…. Fuck Tianlang-jun—”

Shang Qinghua bursts into laughter.

Shen Qingqiu scowls, but it directly contrasts the grin that is unwillingly stretching across his face. “What? At least I know he’s got experience!”

“Oh my god,” Shang Qinghua gasps, and then waves a hand. “Okay, go on, go on.”

He narrows his eyes at him, and then slowly continues. “Marry Zhuzhi-lang, and kill Sha Hualing.”

“Do you really hate her that much?” Shang Qinghua asks curiously.

“No,” Shen Qingqiu shrugs. “I mean, she’s practically a teenager, and I hate teenagers on principal, but no. She was just the only one left.”

“Fair enough,” Shang Qinghua bobs his head in acquiescence. “Why marry Zhuzhi-lang, though?”

“Well, I can’t fuck him—”

“I mean, you could, you monsterfucker—“

“You’re so goddamn rude, you know that?” Shen Qingqiu rolls his eyes. “He’s just way too…. too baby. I can’t fuck him, so marry it is.”

“Oh, yeah,” Shang Qinghua finally agrees, staring up at the ceiling in thought. “He is just baby, isn’t he? Okay, good choices, I agree.”

“Your turn,” Shen Qingqiu says dangerously. Immediately, Shang Qinghua raises his hands into the air in surrender.

“I can’t play this game!” He whines. “I can’t fuck anybody! That drastically tilts the answer results!”

“Just change fuck to something else!” Shen Qingqiu demands. “You don’t get to just be the one who asks the question every time, that’s boring as fuck. Listen — kiss, marry, kill?”

“Kissing is like, the same as marrying though,” Shang Qinghua squints at the ceiling. He’s lying on his back now, feet dangling off the side of the bed. He gives them tiny, little kicks as he thinks. “Maybe, like, cuddle?”

“Isn’t that the same as kissing?” Shen Qingqiu scoffs. “Just use kiss, moron.”

“Fine, okay, fine. So! Kiss, marry, kill… who?”

“Kiss, marry, kill… Liu Qingge, Mu Qingfang —”

“Oh my god, bro, please—”

“Listen, this is my revenge — and Mobei Jun.”

Shang Qinghua turns his head away from the so very fascinating ceiling just to glare at him. Shen Qingqiu feels so special, very loved. “You totally suck.”

Shen Qingqiu stoops down to grab his fan off the floor and flips it open just to smirk over the top of it at his friend. “You gotta choose.” He quotes.

“I fucking hate you.”

“I mean, you could go back to being bored, it’s all the same to me.”

Shang Qinghua scoffs, lifting his legs up and pressing the heels of his feet into the bed. “God, okay! Umm… kiss… uhh…”

Shen Qingqiu presses a hand against his mouth to smother his laughter. “I’ll wait.”

“Why the hell did you make this so hard for me?” His friend grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest. “You totally hate me don’t you? Um, kiss Mobei Jun—”

“Called it.”

“Shut up, monsterfucker. Kiss Mobei Jun, marry Mu Qingfang, and— oh fuck,” Shang Qinghua sits up and turns toward him, pout out at full force. “There’s only kill left! Shen-ge! I can’t kill Qingge!”

“You gotta,” Shen Qingqiu shakes his head sympathetically. “That’s the game.”

“This isn’t fair! I gave you an easy out on your first go with Sha Hualing, you have to return the favor!”

“You already started choosing!” Shen Qingqiu argues. “Anyone else I give you now is just me choosing a random person for you to kill!”

“I totally forgot kill was a choice after you gave me the names! Shen-geeeee!”

“Goddammit, fine! You can kill Yue Qingyuan, for me, okay?”

Shang Qinghua pauses his wailing to shoot him an amused look, pout vanishing into nothing. What a brat. “You really have it out for that guy, don’t you? Um, alright, sure, I’ll kill the sect leader for you, but only because we’re bros.”

“Don’t turn this back on me! You’re the one who begged me to give you someone else to kill! Anyway, it’s your turn.”

“Haha! Fuck, marry, kill — Rong Qingsheng, Ju Qingsong, and Qi Qingqi.”

“Easy,” Shen Qingqiu scoffs. “Fuck Rong Qingsheng, marry Qi Qingqi, and kill Ju Qingsong. At least try and make this hard for me, Shang-ge, c’mon.”

“Wow,” Shang Qinghua sits up again to look at him, tugging one of the thrown cushions into his lap to hold. “No hesitation at all! You decided that so fast… what’s the thought process?”

“Rong Qingsheng is pretty, and not a douche at all, so I’d rate him pretty up there on the fuckable scale just for that. Qi Qingqi is a scary lesbian Amazonian warrior, and if I wasn’t male I’d definitely go for her, but if she ever needed to marry a man as, like, a cover for her true lesbian activities while under the thumb a homophobic dystopian government or something, then I wouldn’t mind submitting my application for that.”

“She can be pretty, uh…” Shang Qinghua makes a face. “I mean—”

“Purposefully provocative because she likes watching macho men squirm when she takes them down a peg and also has bigger muscles than them?” Shen Qingqiu sighs dreamily. “Yes, it’s boss as fuck.”

“Okay, I wasn’t going to word it exactly like that, but yeah,” Shang Qinghua admits. “And Ju Qingsong?”

“He’s an annoying pest. Kill.”

“Bro!”

“What? Please, You cannot tell me that you haven’t daydreamed about wringing his neck even once?”

“I mean. He can be kinda—”

“Irritating? Aggravating? Drive-one-to-murder?”

“—But! Under all that he’s a good guy! He can be really sweet, actually! He’s only really like that because he’s got a useless gay crush on—!”

The door is kicked in. Shen Qingqiu startles, dropping his tea straight into his lap while Shang Qinghua gives a loud yelp and falls completely off the bed with a resounding thump.

They both whip around to stare in uneasy and slightly-guilty silence at the group of people standing outside the door.

“Oh my gods,” Ju Qingsong says, face pale and arm still outstretched. “It was so amusing at first, but please don’t kill me, I promise I’ll be better!”

Rong Qingsheng leans around the man and stares at them for a moment, before casting Shen Qingqiu a wink.

“I wouldn’t mind,” the mild-mannered man says, and Shen Qingqiu brings a hand up to rub over his face.

“Not that I’m not incredibly interested to hear what this was all about,” Mu Qingfang says, from behind them, and Shang Qinghua squeaks. “But, it’s time for Shen-shixiong to take his medicine.”

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Shang Qinghua pleads, holding his hands up to cover his beet-red face.

“I’ll do you one better,” Shen Qingqiu says calmly, pulling off the tea-drenched outer robe. “If any of you eavesdroppers have loose lips about what you heard here, to anyone, then I will kill you. Understand?”

Ju Qingsong makes an odd sound in his throat, one that sounds both terrified and furious, and the way that the man glances between him and the smirking Rong Qingsheng leads Shen Qingqiu to believe he knows exactly who Shang Qinghua was going to say his ‘crush’ was. How adorable. Too bad for him, then, that Rong Qingsheng seems to find him just as annoying as Shen Qingqiu does.

“There will be no murdering of martial family,” Mu Qingfang says mildly, stepping into the room. “Is that water boiled? I thought I’d try the tea blend, since the capsule form doesn’t agree with you, shixiong.”

“Many thanks,” Shen Qingqiu says.

“Oh, it’s never a problem. Shang-shixiong, Qingge was looking for you. I believe he has the location of one of those flying thunder beasts the two of you were discussing the other day?”

“I don’t wanna go monster hunting again,” Shang Qinghua wails. “Why can’t he just play go with me and call it a day?”

“You’ve overstayed your welcome, Shang-ge,” Shen Qingqiu tells him, smiling politely at the betrayed look his friend shoots him. “Would you mind escorting these two out?”

“See if I ever bring you the newest tea leaf export again,” the An Ding lord huffs, climbing to his feet. “Rong-shidi, Ju-shidi, lets go.”

“Qingsheng, Qingsheng, let's play that game too—!”

“I’m not doing this with you, Qingsong. Shang-shixiong, let's go. I wanted to talk to you about next month's produce quota.”

“Sure thing, Rong-shidi!”

“But, Qingsheng—!”

“Bye, Shen-ge, see you later!” Shang Qinghua chines cheerfully as he tugs the moping man after him. Rong Qingsheng walks out ahead of them. “I had a lot of fun today!”

“Sure,” Shen Qingqiu says, fan fluttering before his face.

He’d enjoyed it too, of course, but he’d never say that out loud. Besides, Airplane already knows, right? There’s no need.

[peihoeming]

Top 5 Relationships of ANY Sort in TGCF!

Oh love this

1: XIAN LE TRIO I...sigh, I have so many feelings for them. 800 years. It takes them 800 years to work their problems. And I will always say: Mu Qing and Feng Xin’s rivarly exists because yes they don’t understand each other (due to their different upbringings and mentalities), but it lasted 800 years because they both thought the other betrayed Xie Lian in the crucial moment.  They are just so entwined with each other....they were friends, they fought a war, they made mistakes....and 800 years later they start to forgive each other and move on. 2: XIE LIAN & QI RONG & LANG QIANQIU I am bundling this together but it’s really xie lian+qi rong and qi rong+lang qianqiu and xie lian+lang qianqiu. I really wished we had MORE of these three interacting because they are tied in such a weird situation. Qi Rong’s adoration for his cousing turning into hate. Xie Lian’s disdain for Qi Rong turning into pity but he is also his last family member. Lang Qianqiu’s need for revenge that shifts from Xie Lian to Qi Rong when he learns the truth...

3: Shi Wudu & Shi Qingxuan I don’t even know where to start *nervous laugh* Shi Wudu loving his brother enough to deny heaven’s will and steal a fate? Shi Qingxuan still loving his brother after learning what he did and choosing a terrible fate as long as they are both alive? Shi Wudu coaxing He Xuan to kill him so that Shi Qingxuan doesn’t have to? 4: Qi Rong & Guzi: THIS ANCESTOR HAS A SON! When MXTX decided to give Qi Rong a child to force his character development...such a big brain. 5: Jun Wu & Xie Lian Parallels....Foils....manipulation...grooming...this has everything.

[crossdressingdeath]

It throws me off how we never actually see YunmengJiang disciples interact with anyone. The only time we really see any is when JC drags WWX to an inn to interrogate him and the disciples pay off the owner not to do anything while blocking anyone from entering after them. And they’re so quick and subtle about it that you know it’s a regular thing to slip people money to keep their mouth shut over what their sect leader is doing/about to do.

“JC rebuilt the sect!” Yeah well look what he’s brought it to. They pay off people to keep quiet about his actions. If he wasn’t doing anything wrong, they wouldn’t have to pay off people. They wouldn’t be so used to it and considering how easily they let Jin Ling get away with freeing “MXY”, they’re used to JC attacking the wrong people.

YunmengJiang disciples don’t interact with other sects. For a place once known for how welcoming, friendly and less strict they were, Lotus Pier is now feared by their own citizens in their jurisdiction. Smaller sect leaders near Yunmeng, like Ouyang Zizhen’s father, are afraid to anger JC.

In 13 years, JC literally threw away everything his father and ancestors built Lotus Pier to be. People wonder why WWX decided he never wants to return to Lotus Pier if it can be helped and this is why. It’s not longer the Lotus Pier of his memories, there isn’t even a hint of it left. It’s become JC’s Lotus Pier and this one is everything WWX grew to hate about sects. Lotus Pier rules by intimidation and money and their own rules now. Why would he return to place like that?

JC may have made sure the sect kept going but he’s also made it go from one of the best places to be around to one people are too afraid to approach now. That’s not a praise worthy thing.

Yeah. The Jiang sect disciples functionally do not exist in the story post-JC taking over except as his assistants who make sure he doesn’t get into deep shit for all the murdering he does. The disciples belonging to WWX’s former sect have zero effect on the plot from the moment the generation raised under JFM’s leadership died. The smaller sects fear him and the larger sects seem to mostly ignore him. Yunmeng went from a powerful equal of the other great sects to like... the Qi Rong to the other great sects’ Calamities. People talk about how amazing JC is for doing so much to rebuild the sect, but... Yunmeng went from a welcoming, well-liked place to That Place That No One Wants To Go. That’s not actually a good thing.

[three--rings]

TGCF Liveblog Chs 124-127

Previously.

I had a LOT of thoughts on these very full chapters.  First of all, I had some speculation about the plot, which I’ll place under the cut for, uh, wild speculation and probably me making a fool of myself. But if I turn out to be on the right track I want to be able to prove it.  And then I talk about Hua Cheng and Xie Lian making out on an altar and have some thoughts about MXTX’s writing style.  I would separate these out but apparently in 2019 I can’t make multiple cuts so it’s just all under one big cut.

Ok, so I’m writing this down just because I want to document my weird theories as I read this book.  I’m not ever done with the Wind Master/Reverend of Empty Words plot yet but...I’m having suspicions.

Like okay here we have someone who had bad luck from the Empty Words spirit or whatever, whose fate was switched with someone with very good luck/destiny: He Xuan.  

And...like, Xie Lian has Very Bad Luck.  And Hua Cheng has Very Good Luck.  And they are clearly connected (I know about the Red Thread of Fate, but only because I’m spoiled.  I don’t know WHAT it means, I just know it’s a Thing and it’s important.  Obviously it has something to do with how the two of them are connected.)  And Hua Cheng seemed to, back when he was a child, have Very Bad Luck.  He was thrown off the tower in what I’ve been assuming is someone trying to get rid of him.  I thought it was because of the human face disease, but maybe it’s just because he had a curse of terrible luck on him.  

So SOMEHOW, did they swap their fates?  Or luck?  Did Xie Lian take on the bad luck from Hua Cheng and that’s why his life has been so shitty?  Or...look I don’t know.  It doesn’t make Actual Sense.     I WANT IT TO MAKE SENSE ALREADY.  This HAS to be relevant.  The luck thing HAS to be relevant.  Why is Xie Lian such a God of Misfortune when before he ascended the first time it seems like he was actually blessed.  

And I’m willing to bet Qi Rong comes into it somehow, because there has to be a reason no one has just fucking killed him yet.  

–

Anyway. So we get all the resolution of the Wind Master’s story, for now at least, and then there’s the big disruption of the Demon Mountain (which is just what I’m going to call it atm) opening and all the ghosts losing their minds, including Hua Cheng.  Which leads to another Convenient Excuse for Kissing.  And groping, this time.  For a whole NIGHT?  On an altar.  OK, this is so extra, but whatever.  Like, seriously, I need these to two, to like, have some contact that isn’t thinly veiled in spiritual reasons.  So, at least I guess Xie Lian has admitted to himself that he desires Hua Cheng?  

But he lies to him in the morning about what happened, saying they fought instead of kissed for hours.  

Honestly, I think this is one of those places where the story would be better served by MXTX slowing down and writing differently.  Like, I think you COULD write this scene in a way that was more genuinely romantic and emotional if you focused more on Xie Lian’s experiences and feelings and POV, but it’s all very rushed.  Like, you need some actual torn feelings from him about the fact that he’s enjoying the situation, but also Hua Cheng is out of his mind and also Xie Lian doesn’t exactly have a lot of consent in the situation either.  I think it would be effective.  But MXTX rushes past these moments to get to more plot and I think that makes them come off...more objectifying than they might otherwise.  

Like, she’s really good at plots but doesn’t spend a lot of time on character emotions.  Not that they don’t HAVE them, but they’re mostly left unexplored, unstated, implied, or only evident in analysis in retrospect.  Which is why there’s so much room for fanfic and meta. But also makes sense why coming in from CQL to MDZS would be surprising to find a lot of those very strong emotions not really THERE in the text in the way they are in the drama.  Again, which isn’t to say they don’t exist in the novels but the author’s style is sort of frenetic action placed over a deep sea of emotional content that you only get the full impact of towards the end.  It’s basically the OPPOSITE of my personal writing style, which is 100% character and emotion focused and plot, if present at all, is an afterthought.  Which is why I think I notice it so much.  (This is true even in my original fiction, which I realize no one has actually seen.)

Anyway, I do find it surprising that the Heavenly Court is going to try to STOP the new Demon King/Supreme from rising.  It seems like the kind of thing that would be difficult to prevent?  Or something you should let take its course?  Though, I guess it makes sense.  I just still don’t have the best grasp on the metaphysical politics of the world.

[thankyoumskobayashi]

I just misread an earlier part of TGCF (CH.~41-50) and it said that E-Ming was rumored to have been made with the blood of innocents. However, knowing Hua Cheng, I wouldn't be surprised if that scimitar was made with the blood of the cliquey martial and literature gods who made fun of Xie Lian (and were subsequently murdered simultaneously by the demon king Crimson Rain Sought Flower). Knowing now from recent chapters how many boundless oodles of power Hua Cheng has, only a sword made from the remains of gods themselves would be able to handle that much strength without shattering under the power of its master.

And from the perspectives of the rest of the gods in the heavens, the ones who died were "innocent" because these gods don't consider "making fun of Xie Lian" to be a criminal offence. However, a certain idiot prone to falling (both physically & metaphorically) DOES consider that a criminal offence, one for which he Can & Will mete out punishment.

I think it's cool how MXTX explores reframing narratives through misunderstandings, mindsets, and cultural paradigms. This one event can be analyzed from multiple characters' perspectives: "Crimson Rain Sought Flower challenged all the martial gods and all the literature gods to a contest. Everyone except Xie Lian's former assistants participated and all of them lost their lives as a result of being humiliated and reneging on the wager." Hua Cheng, the one setting the wager and doing the killing, probably saw it as dealing with useless trash. Those gods themselves must have seen it as injustice. The newer gods in the heavens don't know Hua Cheng's motives, so they consider him capricious and dangerous. They regard him with fear, and attempt to pass along that fear to Xie Lian, who hasn't been to the heavens for hundreds of years and therefore doesn't know any of the news or gossip.

It's also interesting to see Xie Lian's opinions grow as he meets Hua Cheng first, then listens to hearsay afterwards. He gets to know Hua Cheng, and sees him as a carefree, knowledgeable, generous person who likes to joke around. Then he is told that Hua Cheng is a capricious and dangerous person liable to turn on you at any moment. His motives are shrouded in mystery. However, these rumors end up slam-dunked in the garbage by Xie Lian because he sees Hua Cheng differently than the rest of the gods in the heavens. Hua Cheng is generous towards and protective of him, to the point of actually fighting well when he defended Xie Lian against Pei Su and the snakes. He fought seriously that time, according to Xie Lian, not allowing a single scratch to land on the Flower Crown Prince.

The play that was performed at the Lantern-counting festival which depicted the blossoming romance between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian probably baffled some, but perhaps some of the gods now believe that Hua Cheng and Xie Lian are in love. I just realized this play might have been written by Wind Master, who saw those two get stuck together with RuoYe during the sandstorm lol

Anyways, I forget where this was supposed to go, but maybe it doesn't have a point so I can write whatever I want. Hua Cheng could have future sight which is why he warned Xie Lian to avoid Wind, Earth & Water Masters, Ling Wen, and the rest of the Heavens for a time. He could be haunted by visions of Xie Lian getting falsely accused & slandered again. We already know this is the worst torment to him, he admitted it during the dice game which was a ploy to test if Earth Master was the Reverend of Empty Words. After this each paragraph is its own idea. They aren't always connected, except through my own convoluted train of thought.

Even though Hua Cheng set his Divine SkypeTM password to something super lovey dovey and/or horny I bet he can communicate telepathically with E-Ming.

After Xie Lian gave Hua Cheng his bamboo hat when they were planting rice, I bet Hua Cheng was hyped up on "he gave me his hat to show everyone that I'm his" energy. He was probably annoyed that these lowly mortals were harassing his love about the Demon King's relationship status and sauntered over to say "I'm already married." But he was silently adding after that, "in my heart...." 

After Hua Cheng denied that whole business about having a lover, Xie Lian smiled and told him, "you liar." Mind you, this is after that scene in the QianDang Temple where Xie Lian holds up the white flower that Hua Cheng once made a symbol for him, and asks "This is the flower you are pursuing, right?" Hua Cheng is under the impression that Xie Lian is aware of his romantic intentions towards him. So he goes, "yeah that thing about me having a lover is a lie. I just haven't won them over yet." Not realizing that Xie Lian is still hurt about the joking about marriage thing from the other day.

From Hua Cheng's perspective, that joke was only considered a joke to lessen (for him) the pain of not being immediately engaged to Xie Lian. He was probably trying to see if Xie Lian was into him or not, gauge how he was doing at winning his lifelong crush's affections. Since Xie Lian has been a depressed wanderer for literal centuries, the concept of getting married and having someone to live with must be something he fundamentally believed wasn't for him. Besides, there was that whole "being the laughingstock of the heavens" thing, so he probably internalized the idea that no one would ever want him.

Hubris was Xie Lian's tragic flaw, and for that he paid with his country, the existences of every place he loved, his family, his people, his temples, his reputation + corresponding godly powers, and most importantly, his confidence. He learned humility the hard way, and now hesitates to trust other people. These are mental health problems Hua Cheng can encourage him to overcome, but ultimately the hard work must be done by Xie Lian.

Another thing working against Hua Cheng is the fact that Xie Lian is so old. Hua Cheng is as well, probably around 790 years to Xie Lian's 800, but that is not what I mean by that. Xie Lian being so old means he's gotten used to meeting people, living with them for a while, and then moving on in life as he wanders away or they kick him out or something. He considers Hua Cheng's presence an unlikely yet welcome one, but doesn't expect him to stay in his life for very long. Unless this is addressed directly in words by Crimson Rain Sought Flower, I foresee Xie Lian continuing to act like Hua Cheng is an extended houseguest when the latter believes "I live here." Even if they do end up moving to another small shrine.

Speaking of shrines, Hua Cheng never promised Xie Lian to build him shrines but did anyway. In contrast, the humans who were saved by Xie Lian end up making empty promises of shrines and such. However, Hua Cheng not only built him a shrine, he made a huge fuckin' Sword Collection just to impress Xie Lian because of the one time he got lectured on swords by Xie Lian. I haven't reread that part recently but I know the gist of it was "swords don't seem like your thing so you should use a scimitar instead that'd work really well for you." Boom: 800 years later Hua Cheng wields a legendary scimitar, E-Ming. In the times when Xian Le was still around, Hua Cheng listened to Xie Lian on everything except "forget about me." Because that would have meant ignoring Xie Lian's earlier request, "make me your reason for living." If Hua Cheng had ignored that previous request, which was filled with genuine concern for his wellbeing, he would have had no reason to live and probably would've met a miserable end. But instead, he determined to follow Xie Lian to the godly realm - by becoming a god himself. Probably a martial god, too. He had to be exactly like his hero.

Speaking of being just like his hero, I have some thoughts on why Hua Cheng didn't accept Xie Lian's offer to live at the Palace. One might think it's primarily because Qi Rong would attempt to kill him again but I bet that was simply a minor extra reason. The main reason he didn't stay at the Palace was bc Xie Lian wasn't there most of the time, either due to Crown Princely duties or cultivation at the mountain temple. Hua Cheng, even as a kid, wanted Xie Lian to pay attention to him. Hearing "live for me" was probably as much of a lifeline because Xie Lian was paying attention to him at that critical moment, an equal reason I believe to the content of the message Xie Lian gave itself. "Being encouraged by someone you look up to is a wonderful feeling" is a message MXTX also put in MDZS, when Wei Wuxian encourages the Cloud Kids during the Yi City arc. And the timing of that encouragement holds just as much weight for Hua Cheng as having his hero give him a reason to keep living.

And that reason, as was evidenced by Hua Cheng's descent from godhood to becoming a Supreme Level Demon (I think they're the strongest/rarest type? There were 4 categories mentioned in the beginning. Below Supreme is Menace), is to become strong enough to protect the love of his life. The first thing Hua Cheng did once he crashed the Volcano Party to become the strongest Demon was challenging all the gods in the heavens to the wager and killing them once they lost and didn't uphold their ends of the bargain. He was full of the same wrath that Xie Lian was filled with during his second ascension- that time Xie Lian ascended to the heavens, started an all-out brawl in Jun Wu's courtroom, and then got kicked/demoted after like 5 mins. So people were making fun of Xie Lian after this event too, and Hua Cheng, filled with righteous anger that NO ONE in the so-called "just" heavens was standing up for the love of his life, decided to take matters into his own hands. (I think one of the two assistants in the beginning mentions Hua Cheng became a Demon Supreme after Xie Lian's second ascension and before his third ascension, but I just didn't remember it until now.)

If Hua Cheng was a meme, he'd be that "I've only known Xie Lian for 800 years, and if anything happened to him I'd kill everyone in the heavens and then Qi Rong."

Because he knows if something happens to HIM, Demon Lord Supreme, there will be a power vacuum and Xie Lian's safety won't be guaranteed. Ok so that's abt it. Sorry to everyone on mobile, I threw a readmore in there but you wouldn't know that as you have to scroll through all of this rambling.

[theexcogitativelibrarium]

[Luhan]

我赌上一切 而喝下了你 Wo du shang yi qie er he xia le ni I wagered everything and drank you down

时间倒转也无法收回 Shi jian dao zhuan ye wu fa shou hui Even if time turned back there’s no way to take it back

[Chen] 就算冒着上瘾的危险 Jiu suan mao zhe shang yin de wei xian Even taking the risk of addiction

So bad, no one can stop her

[All] Her love her love

[Lay] 我想要她的一切 wo xiang yao ta de yi qie I want her everything

她的爱 就是唯一的定律 Ta de ai jiu shi wei yi de ding lu Her love is the only law

[Chen] 她的唇一吻致命 Ta de chun yi wen zhi ming One kiss from her lips is lethal

越恍惚 就越无法自拔 Yue huang hu jiu yue wu fa zi ba The more unmindful the more you’ll be unable to get yourself out

[Luhan] Oh she wants me, oh she’s got me

[Chen] Oh she hurts me

我是如此渴望想得到你 Wo shi ru ci ke wang xiang de dao ni I am like this, eager to get you

[All] Someone call the doctor

快绑住我 对我说 kuai bang zhu wo dui wo shuo tie me up and tell me

[Lay] 爱情这病 上瘾 overdose Ai qing zhe bing shang yin overdose This sickness called love is addictive overdose

[All] 思念的时间太久 恐慌就开始折磨 Si nian de shi jian tai jiu kong huang jiu kai shi zhe mo The time spent missing you is too long panic turns into torture

[Chen] 慢慢越被你深深迷惑 eh oh Man man yue bei ni shen shen mi huo eh oh I’m slowly more deeply bewitched by you eh oh

[Luhan] Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you your love

[All] 这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

[Luhan] Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you your love

[All] 这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

[Chen] 你轻轻地挑逗我的肩 Ni qing qing di tiao dou wo de jian You lightly tease my shoulder

每一次触碰都像是触电 Mei yi ci chu peng dou xiang shi chu dian Every time you touch me it’s like you’re electrifying me

[Lay] 心跳快到极限 窒息的瞬间 Xin tiao kuai dao ji xian zhi xi de shun jian My heartbeat is almost at its limit at the moment of suffocation

战栗, 叹了一口气 Zhan li, tan le yi kou qi It tremors, and I sigh

[All] Her love her love

[Xiumin] 就是唯一的解药 jiu shi wei yi de jie yao is the only medicine

就像无法解脱的 destiny Jiu xiang wu fa jie tuo de destiny It’s like an unavoidable destiny

[Luhan] 全身动脉沸腾着 yeah Quan shen dong mai fei teng zhe yeah The blood in my entire body is boiling yeah

终于能驾驭这感觉 Zhong yu neng jia yu zhe gan jue I can finally control this feeling

[Chen] Oh she wants me, oh she’s got me

[Luhan] Oh she hurts me

继续 追逐这你 想得到你 Ji xu zhui zhu zhe ni xiang de dao ni I continue to chase you I want to get you

[All] Someone call the doctor

快绑住我 对我说 kuai bang zhu wo dui wo shuo tie me up and tell me

[Lay] 爱情这病 上瘾 overdose Ai qing zhe bing shang yin overdose This sickness called love is addictive overdose

[All] 思念的时间太久 恐慌就开始折磨 Si nian de shi jian tai jiu kong huang jiu kai shi zhe mo The time spent missing you is too long panic turns into torture

[Chen] 慢慢越被你深深迷惑 eh oh Man man yue bei ni shen shen mi huo eh oh I’m slowly more deeply bewitched by you eh oh

[Luhan] Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you your love

[All] 这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

[Luhan] Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you your love

[All] 这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

[Lay] 所有人都在问着我 Suo you ren dou zai wen zhe wo Everyone is asking me

[Luhan] 怎么我变了很多 Zen me wo bian le hen duo Why did I change so much

[Lay] 从内心深处 感染你一切 Cong nei xin shen chu gan ran ni yi qie From deep within my heart I’m infected by you

[Chen] 你就是唯一的世界 Ni jiu shi wei yi de shi jie You are my only world

[Luhan] 再也无法倒退 你填满的空间 Zai ye wu fa dao tui ni tian man de kong jian There’s no way to go back, the space that you fill

[Chen] 在这一瞬间 you’re in my heart Zai zhe yi shun jian you’re in my heart At this moment you’re in my heart

[Xiumin] E-X-O

[Kris] 我想要把你灌满我的喉 Wo xiang yao ba ni guan man wo de hou I want to fill my throat with you

全身都在颤抖 Quan shen dou zai chan dou My entire body is trembling

就算喝得再多永远都不够 jiu suan he de zai duo yong yuan dou bu gou but no matter how much more I drink it will never be enough

毒性已经蔓延从头到脚 Du xing yi jing man yan cong tou dao jiao The poison has already spread from my head to my toes

但我不去招架 dan wo bu qu zhao jia but I don’t try to fight it

享受着这种刺激 Xiang shou zhe zhe zhong ci ji Enjoy this kind of stimulation

那么痛快 I can’t stop na me tong kuai I can’t stop so happy I can’t stop

[Xiumin] Hey doctor

这种感觉就挺好的 huh Zhe zhong gan jue jiu ting hao de huh This kind of feeling is pretty nice huh

抗拒不了你给的引力 Kang ju bu liao ni gei de yin li I can’t resist the force of your attraction

让我慢慢被你融化 rang wo man man bei ni rong hua you’re slowly making me melt

[Tao] 宁愿长睡不醒如果 Ning yuan chang shui bu xing ru guo I would rather sleep forever and not wake

这种感觉不存在 zhe zhong gan jue bu cun zai if this kind of feeling doesn’t exist

中你甜蜜的毒 Zhong ni tian mi de du Taking your sweet poison

变成我活不下去的期待 bian cheng wo huo bu xia qu de qi dai becomes my looking forward to not being able to go on

[~] Someone call the doctor

[All] 她的爱才能救我 Ta de ai cai neng jiu wo only her love can save me

失去她一天都不能活 Shi qu ta yi tian dou bu neng huo If I lose her then I am unable to survive for even a day

我不想离开 你的爱像天堂的诱惑 Wo bu xiang li kai ni de ai xiang tian tang de you huo I don’t want to leave, your love is like the temptation of heaven

致命的美丽 震撼着我 eh oh Zhi ming de mei li zhen han zhe wo eh oh Your fatal beauty startles me eh oh

Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you you love

这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

Too much 是你 your love Too much shi ni your love Too much it’s you you love

这是 overdose Zhe shi overdose This is an overdose

Credits: colorcodedlyrics.com

https://alwaysdreaminghigh.com/2014/05/08/lyrics-exo-m-overdose-simplified-chinese-pinyin-and-english-translation/

[vodkassassin]

For SVSS- Gifts of jewelry, with spite.

I could have sworn I had another prompt asking for what the other peak lords thought of the cucumberplane friendship, and I was going to smoosh it together with this incredibly vague prompt, but I couldn’t find it lmao. Anyway, here @starfata

There are OC peak lords in this, including the POV character. Rong Qingsheng peak lord of the agriculture peak number 12, Ju Qingsong peak lord of the 11th peak, and I finally named the booze peak lord Shui Qingyu. That’s it, I think. Read away!

—

Shang Qinghua enters the peak lord meeting with a loud bang, slamming open the door with much more force than it really needs. Being the last one to arrive, everyone else is already seated and exchanging quiet conversation with one another.

They all jump when he comes in, and stare in confusion at the scowl that adorns his face. They watch in abrupt silence as he steps into the hall, at how his eyes zero in on a suddenly smirking Shen Qingqiu, and Qi Qingqi leans her shoulder into the master of the agricultural peak that sits next to her.

Rong Qingsheng raises his eyebrow at her, keeping one eye on the An Ding lord that stalks forward without looking at any of them to sit in his own seat with a noisy and very pointed huff.

Voice lowered, Qi Qingqi smirks at him. “How much?”

“For what, exactly, this time?” Rong Qingsheng heaves a quiet sigh, long since used to his martial sister’s gambling ways.

If there’s even a hint of wavering odds in the balance of the drama that occasionally befalls the inner workings of their sect, you can be certain that Qi Qingqi has a betting pool running behind the scenes of it.

“That’s up to you, isn’t it?” She asks, and Rong Qingsheng is never one to wager money in any of her ridiculous and time-eating schemes, but then again— despite speaking directly to him, she’s not exactly asking him.

Seated to Rong Qingsheng’s right, the peak lord of the beast tamers peak leans around him to eye Qi Qingqi with a sharp gaze and an even sharper smile. “What do you think the stakes are, that Shen-shixiong did something to piss him off?” He asks, eagerly, always one to fall into a bet.

“I think that it’s already clear that he has, indeed, done just that,” Rong Qingsheng says, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder and pushing him out of his personal space and back into his proper seat.

Ju Qingsong pouts at him, the ridiculous man. “Yes, but the question is, did he do it on purpose, or on accident and is just pretending he did it intentionally in the face of Shang-shixiong’s anger?”

“Why would he do that?” Rong Qingsheng asks, confused.

“Because he’s a dick?” Ju Qingsong shrugs, and leans behind his back this time to make eye contact with Qi Qingqi. “Ten silver on Shen-shixiong doing it on accident, though. He’s a good actor, we can’t be sure he doesn’t have as much of a clue as to why Shang-shixiong is upset with him as we do.”

Qi Qingqi grins, pulling a loose sheaf of parchment out of absolutely nowhere — no, that had definitely come from in between her breasts. And a charcoal pencil, too? How does it all fit? Why.

Rong Qingsheng feels so tired, all of a sudden.

“Qi-shijie,” someone else murmurs, and Rong Qingsheng glances over his shoulder, already exhausted, to see Shui Qingyu of the brewery peak hunched behind them like he thinks he’s being sneaky. “Five silver on Shen-shixiong purposefully having antagonized Shang-shixiong.”

“All of you are idiots,” Liu Qingge grunts from where he’s sidled over to lean over Ju Qingsong’s table.

The rest of them eye him closely, and Qi Qingqi’s charcoal pencil pauses on its scribbling. If anyone were to have any sort of inside perspective of the odd friendship that exists between the Qing Jing and An Ding peak lords, it’s the Bai Zhan one. For some reason that probably makes no sense whatsoever, Rong Qingsheng is certain.

Liu Qingge continues, “Qinghua definitely started it.”

Immediately, Ju Qingsong rolls his eyes and leans heavily into Rong Qingsheng’s shoulder. He shoves the man away, once more, but he just returns, again.

“Shang-shixiong wouldn’t be this pissed if he’d made the initial insult himself, would he?” Ju-shixiong ponders. “He’s always been pretty good about taking responsibility for his own actions and accepting any retribution for them.”

Rong Qingsheng watches as Liu Qingge squints at their martial brother, and then reluctantly nods.

“He is,” the man says, tapping a finger thoughtfully to the base of his sword. “But…”

Qi Qingqi’s charcoal pencil shivers with anticipation as it hovered over her parchment. Rong Qingsheng isn’t sure it contains notes solely about the wagers, anymore. “Liu-shidi? What’s your insight?”

Liu Qingge makes a face, like having any sort of insight to it at all is a burden and insult to himself personally. “It’s different,” he eventually admits, “when it’s Shen Qingqiu.”

For some goddamn reason, isn’t vocalized, but all the peak lords exchange knowing looks anyway. Not even Liu Qingge, who’s closest to them, knows what the hell is going on there. Mu Qingfang might have a better take on the two ‘bros’, but even he looks confused, in that exasperated and tired sort of way of his, half the time whenever Shang Qinghua or Shen Qingqui pull their antics with one another.

Speaking of which—

“I’m going to get you back for this,” Shang Qinghua is grumbling, loudly. His arms are crossed, and he’s glaring balefully across the room at where Shen Qingqiu so smugly lounges in his seat beside a faintly puzzled looking Yue Qingyuan.

“You can certainly try,” Shen Qingqui says so quietly that it’s more like he’s mouthing the words than actually saying them, and the An Ding peak lord bristles like he’s been insulted in the gravest of ways.

Rong Qingsheng takes a moment to study him. Shang Qinghua is dressed in his usual peak lord attire, dark blue robes and flowing silk indigo over pants and a high-collared shirt of black, a gauzy and transparent light colored, shorter outer robe thrown over the entire ensemble. For someone who spends a lot of his time running two and fro across all the peaks of the sect chasing down some paperwork or report or other, Shang Qinghua has always been surprisingly stylish. His hair is done up in his usual full bun, held in place with the An Ding lord hairpiece and two silver needles.

Rong Qingsheng narrows his eyes, trying to parse out what, exactly, is different about his senior martial brother today, aside from his current outburst that isn’t typically within his personality unless he’s chasing after someone for an audit of their peak finances.

He resists the urge to shiver. Rong Qingsheng has never had any glaring holes in his peak’s budget histories, but he can quite vividly remember the last time An Ding had come to audit them, and he fervently hopes that the next occasion will not come any time soon.

It takes a few moments, but he eventually spots a difference in Shang Qinghua’s wardrobe. The man isn’t typically one to wear earrings unless they’re simple gems or small hoops. It could be theorized that the dangling ones just get in the way during work? Are distracting when attempting complicated maths and other calculations? Whatever the case is, the ones Shang Qinghua wears today are ornate and incredibly expensive looking, long enough to brush against the tops of his shoulders if he were to shrug, and completely uncharacteristic of the An Ding peak lord.

Not that Rong Qingsheng makes it a habit to creepily examine all his martial siblings whenever he comes across them, but he’s not blind. If you place a pretty person in front of him, what’s he suppose to do? Not look them over? Being a lord of the twelve peaks of Cang Qiong, Rong Qingsheng has ample opportunity to observe his beautiful martial siblings, and Shang Qinghua is as pretty as the rest of them. So what if he’s stared at him enough times to notice a minute change in his jewelry?

There’s a nudge against his ribs. Ju Qingsong leans into his space again, his breath ghosting across his face.

“You’re blushing,” his martial brother whispers, and Rong Qingsheng shoves him.

Ju Qingsong comes back like a boomerang, a grin on his face and his hands latching around Rong Qingsheng’s arm like some sort of infatuated maiden. “Who is it this time?”

“Nothing,” Rong Qingsheng says, calmly, and turns his eyes pointedly away from the line of Shang Qinghua’s neck. Definitely doesn’t notice how the new earrings accentuate it, or how they sparkle in the light and swing just barely with the man’s smallest movements.

He gets poked in the ribs again for his non-answer, but thankfully their sect leader finally stands to bring the meeting to order, so Ju Qingsong has no time to continue needling him.

The meeting is boring as all the others, only highlighted by the brief snack break that the Qiong Ding and Zui Xian disciples tag team to cater. Zhangmen-shixiong always goes out of his way to make sure the monthly meet between peak lords aren’t so dry and mundane that they all simply end up dying of boredom, but there’s only so much even their honorable sect leader can do. By the time the meeting rolls to an end, Rong Qingsheng can feel the edges of sleep tugging at his awareness, and none of his martial siblings look any better.

Except Shang Qinghua, that is. Then again, the peak lord of An Ding has never seemed to allow himself to feel boredom, especially at meetings of any kind. Being in charge of such a detail-oriented sphere of the sect business, Rong Qingsheng assumes, requires one to pay close attention to even the littlest of trivialities.

How time consuming. How much work does it take, to constantly be on alert for every little mention of every little faucet of their collective lives, taking careful note of every little action and reaction and conversation and tucking them away to be used at a later date in conjunction with the running of the sect, without going absolutely mad in the process? Shang-shixiong is the most frequent visitor of their sect leader’s offices for a reason.

He’s never once fallen asleep during a meeting. Rong Qingsheng simply cannot relate, and neither can any of the other peak lords.

The very second that Zhangmen-shixiong brings the meeting to a close, Shang Qinghua jumps up from his seat and makes a beeline toward Shen Qingqiu, who has also begun to look incredibly sleepy and bored out of his mind, but much better at concealing it behind his trusty fan. The Qing Jing peak lord glances up to meet the gaze of Shang Qinghua as he approaches him, and he brings the fan down an inch, a lazy smirk steals across his face.

“Do you like them?” Shen Qingqiu asks almost coyly.

The rest of the peak lords loiter in the room, holding conversations with one another but not paying attention to them because they’re all focused on the confrontation happening at the front. Rong Qingsheng is a little ashamed that he’s one of them. Not ashamed enough to leave, though.

Shang Qinghua comes to a stop before Shen Qinqiu’s table and kneels, huffily, directly onto the hard stone floor across from him, sweeping his sleeves behind him before crossing his arms over his chest. How he’s able to act befitting of a peak lord and yet behave so casually at the same time is surely a paradox, yet he somehow manages it.

“I fail to see why I have been gifted them in the first place,” Shang Qinghua comments idly, though he sounds oddly sarcastic.

Shen Qingqui sets down his fan, only to go for his teacup and use tha to cover his rather sharp smile instead. “But, do you like them?”

Distantly, he can hear Qi Qingqi murmur gleefully from behind him. “How much did you want to wager on Shang-shixiong starting it, Liu-Shidi?”

There’s a grunt. Then, reluctantly, “... Three silver.”

“So low? Liu-Shidi, that’s not very confident of you.”

“S-seven silver!”

“Qi-Shijie, stop trying to extort Liu-shidi. He’s never placed a bet before.” Oh, did Mu Qingfang join them? “Also, put me down for ten silver on Shen-shixiong being the one who started it, but Shang-shixiong being the one who caused it to continue.”

Ju Qingsong frowns. “Are they actually fighting? Shen-shixiong hasn’t intentionally aggravated anyone for a reaction since the fever.”

“What would they be fighting about?” Shui Qingyu asks, confused.

“Something stupid.” Liu Qingge grumbles, but in a knowing way, and so they all turn to listen, like a bunch of nosy eavesdroppers. Which is precisely what they are.

Rong Qingsheng feels so, so tired.

Across the room, Shang Qinghua is scowling. “You can’t just give me expensive jewelry and think that’ll make everything better.”

“Aren’t you calling the kettle black, here, Shang-ge?” Shen Qingqiu asks, using another of the odd metaphoric phrases than only he and Shang Qinghua seem to understand the meanings of. And then there’s the overly familiar form of address, which he’d begun using a few months after the fever broke, but to which Shang Qinghua had rather suspiciously had very little reaction to, and even reciprocated.

It’s all just really, really weird, if you asked Rong Qingsheng. But, then again, no one ever does.

“Are you calling me a hypocrite?” Shang Qinghua asks incredulously, fingering one of the new earrings as if self conscious. Ah, is that what Shen Qingqiu had been saying?

“Well, I’m not calling you a stalwart.”

“Joke’s on you then, Shen-ge, because I’m the most stalwart person here.”

Shen Qingqiu pauses, eyes flitting over to a bemused Yue Qingyuan, and then briefly across the rest of the peak lords, who all very consciously do not duck their heads, before he nods slowly in acquiescence.

“Yeah,” he says. “You’ve got me there. But, you still haven’t answered my question.”

Shang Qinghua scowls, removing his hand from the earring and folding it pointedly against his other in his lap.

“... Fine,” he huffs irritably. “Yes, I do.”

Shen Qingqiu takes a sip of tea, eyebrows raised. “You what?”

“I’m not saying it again.”

“You have to. That was the deal.”

“There was no— ugh!” Shang Qinghua throws up his hands, and Shen Qingqiu’s lips quirk a little before he chuckles. Actually chuckles! Yue Qingyuan looks positively poleaxed, from where he sits silently and as unobtrusively as possible at his table a foot away from the two bickering friends.

“You can’t insult my sense of fashion and style and then just, what, not expect me to get revenge? Shang-ge, please. You know me better than that.”

Rong Qingsheng’s brows furrow. This is revenge? Gifting Shang Qinghua expensive earrings was a form of revenge? Revenge for what, exactly?

“And you know me better than to think I won’t be getting you back for this,” Shang Qinghua sniffs, standing up from the floor. He points a finger at the fan-toting lord of Qing Jing, and exclaims, “I’m going to get you a gift so great that you won’t possibly be able to top it.”

“Watch me,” Shen Qingqiu immediately retorts, as if Shang Qinghua’s announcement had been some sort of threat, eyes narrow and fan flipping open to cover his lower face.

It’s a beautiful face. Rong Qingsheng has always wondered why Shen-shixiong is so self conscious about it as to constantly cover it up. It can’t be to hide his expressions — he hardly ever allows his thoughts or feelings to show on his face in the first place. It has to be something else.

Shang Qinghua glares, pivots on his heel, and stomps toward the exit. He breezes right on by the eavesdropping peak lords without even sparing them a glance, and slams the door behind him on his way out.

Rong Qingsheng is so confused, and it doesn’t look like any of his martial siblings are much better.

“I can’t even figure out who wins the pot,” Qi Qingqi harrumphs grumpily. She shoves the parchment and charcoal stick back into her cleavage like it’s just another pocket. Both items vanish, and Rong Qingsheng wonders a little hysterically whether she’s got some sort of quankin space array tattooed in between them or something else equally as absurd.

“Well, that would require knowing who started it,” Ju Qingsong shrugs. He’s got a hand on Rong Qingsheng’s shoulder and is leaning against him. He shrugs him off like the irritant that he is, and gets another pout for his troubles.

Mu Qingfang hums. “We will just have to wait until things settle down between them, and ask.”

He and Liu Qingge exchange a glance, and then look away from each other with odd, amused little smiles on their faces.

“It might be a while,” the doctor adds.

He walks away toward the exit himself just as Yue Qingyuan approaches their little group.

“If the peaks lords wish to have lunch together in Qiong Ding, arrangements can certainly be made,” the sect leader begins, and gives them a placid smile. “However, I do not not believe this to be the case. Do my shidi and shimei not have any work to do today?”

Rong Qingsheng cringes, exchanging a sheepish look with his martial siblings. They all beat a hasty retreat back to their own peaks. Finding out what exactly is going on between their two most dramatic and ridiculous martial brothers is going to have to wait.