#also goddamn the way mlc has activated my analysis brain far more than anything else has in MONTHS

[difeisheng]

alright, time to ramble about di feisheng and jiao liqiao's dynamic in contrast to li xiangyi and qiao wanmian, because scenes from these later episodes are fascinating and i'm absolutely delighted by how these two relationships are so starkly different in the present day.

with xiangyi and wanmian, you have two people who loved each other when they were young and ultimately don't regret it, but who also don't want to return to that past life. once the emotional upheaval of wanmian learning xiangyi is still alive has gotten its closure, the two are talking to each other as warm friends. xiangyi still calls her a-mian. there's the sense of bittersweet nostalgia, and they're on separate roads that'll only cross every now and then, but that's something both of them are okay with and know the other is okay with. they've let go, and i adore wanmian especially because she missed xiangyi so, so much for ten years, and she fought through that grief and managed to find a way to move on with her life while still remembering him. there was miscommunication but they've got a way to move forward now.

and then you have feisheng meeting liqiao again, liqiao who's followed him since he was seventeen, and when he disappeared for ten years she took over the jinyuan alliance and appeared to manage it well in his name. but emotionally, instead of letting go during his absence, she only got more possessive. on feisheng's side, he's completely disinterested in her. and yet both of them know she loves him and he's not afraid to weaponize that, because at the same time liqiao says she wants to marry him she's also undermining everything else he's striving for. while wanmian and xiangyi seem to have found a place to stand on level ground as equals, with these two it's a power imbalance that keeps swinging back and forth like a pendulum. feisheng is liqiao's weakness and anytime they're in a room together he has all the authority over her, but at the same time thanks to her he has so little agency and say in his own sect. every time they make physical contact in episode 19 it's unsettling, with the violins screeching while they're playing at some facade of intimacy. liqiao is called a-qiao when they're alone, but she's referring to herself with that implied level of familiarity. feisheng just calls her by her full name. it's all moves in a chess game to guess each other's hand. they don't trust each other but here they are tossed together, and neither of them are happy about it.

when xiangyi says something along the lines of wanmian not belonging with him anymore, it's because he's happy she's found her own future with someone else. when feisheng says it to liqiao, it's out of sheer spite and suspicion. ten years passed, and some people managed to mend the torn threads between them left behind. others are having them unravel even further.