#and yes I ended up going with clothing from the donghua

[aleki-lives-here]

[chirpycloudyrobin]

"Saving one person is child's play. Saving the world is as hard as reaching the Heavens."

Do I press forward? Or run away?

"... back when he made the decision, he fully understood the situations that he had to face."

...although he thought that his heart was like a stone, in the end, he was still human, not some emotionless grass or plant.

In which I make connections between MDZS' Wei Wuxian and Honkai Star Rail's Jiaoqiu solely because both are pretty much my blorbos. I'll start off with the easiest connections and I will inevitably end up making the longest of reaches so come along for the ride ! :D

Contains spoilers ahead for both Mo Dao Zu Shi and Honkai Star Rail ~ Be warned :3

The quickest and easiest connections are the most surface-level ones. Both characters are attributed with the colour red (or shades/variants of), foxes, and spice.

Jiaoqiu is a Foxian, an in-game humanoid species with vulpine (fox-like) features, Wei Wuxian has been connected with foxes by the fanbase (see: popular fox!Xian and dragon!Ji type fanfics)

Both characters favour spicy dishes, so spicy that no other person could withstand their spice tolerance. For Wei Wuxian, canonically it's because he grew up eating spicy dishes. For Jiaoqiu, trauma numbed his sense of taste and only the spiciest dishes could make him feel alive for the first time (see: Jiaoqiu Character Story III)

Jiaoqiu's in-game abilities' aesthetic is also based heavily around the Yuanyang Hotpot, where the hotpot resembles the yinyang symbol and one of the broths involved is a spicy broth.

Their character designs feature the colour red as a significant colour. (Jiaoqiu's in-game abilities, top, fan, and phone case; Wei Wuxian's hair ribbons and clothing accents [and his powers in the donghua])

Yes, I do completely admit that my brain went "omg jiaoqiu = wwx" when I saw that Jiaoqiu was a fox connected to red and spices. What can you do?

For a while, the connection stayed that way: Surface-level and with a bit of reach. But now Jiaoqiu has been released, we can see his Character Stories, and we've seen him in action in-game !

Our Foxes and their Wish to Help

The biggest and most important shared character trait they have is their dedication to helping/saving other people. Some people call this a "saviour or hero complex" in regards to Wei Wuxian, but that's just not what it is. I'll explain.

This lifelong dedication is not something you can immediately see at first glance. Both Wei Wuxian and Jiaoqiu look and feel like the archetypal trickster character with their pleasant smiles, natural charisma, and that vague sense of 'hey maybe this guy may have something planned but we don't know what'. Wei Wuxian is definitely seen by others as a lax troublemaker, while Jiaoqiu has been described in his introductory blurb as "greeting people with a smile on his face and a scheme in his heart".

They're both devious little trolls ! In the Primaveral Swordsage Event, Jiaoqiu literally slipped laxatives to IPC workers so March 7th can win and if that isn't the most Wei Wuxian thing ever then I don't know what is.

But as you go through their stories, you realise that beneath all that is a soul who just really wants to help people. Jiaoqiu walked a different path from his Alchemy Commission family to become a combat medic because "it is ultimately not compatible with my wish to practice medicine for the masses" (Character Story I). Wei Wuxian risked his already shaky position in the gentry to save the Wen Remnants who have been condemned by the rest of their society.

Both are also well-acquainted with the phrase "no good deed goes unpunished".

Jiaoqiu watched so many of his patients walk directly back to their death after saving them that he literally had to quit practicing medicine. Each death whittled away at his heart piece by piece until he was left questioning his purpose as a healer.

Wei Wuxian stuck with his decision to help the Wens until the very end. He died reviled by the Cultivation World and people still curse his name over a decade after his death. The very people he risked it all for are also gone, save for two.

The tragedy of their lives are intrinsically connected with their entirely selfless desire to help others, especially since they both have the skills to do so and, in Wei Wuxian's case, because no one else wanted to do so.

The difference between the two of them is how they coped after their respective tragedies. Jiaoqiu ended up pretty jaded by the war he went through and quit practicing medicine. In his words, "Those I saved only ended up as another dead soul when they dived head-in back into the battlefield." His retirement doesn't last long though. He was then approached to become his General's healer and he accepted. Despite it all, he still wants to help. His heart is terribly broken, but even it couldn't squash his innate wish to help and heal.

Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian is introduced and he immediately jumps into saving a couple of strangers. A couple of teens, because he had the assets to do so and because no one else was around who could. And he continues to help even after the contract that brought him back was fulfilled because he can and he wanted to. He went out of his way to help those who he thought hated and condemned him because that's just who he is.

They don't go around helping people because they want to be the hero. They aren't looking for any kind of glory or prize for all their efforts. They just happen to be people who want to contribute to the betterment of the world. They both feel that they do this best by helping where they can. They're not reckless or neglectful of themselves. Jiaoqiu left when it became too much for him, Wei Wuxian exhausts all possible avenues first before he goes for the last resort. Their perceived mistakes and losses weigh down on them by the time the audience meets them.

This dedication is their biggest asset and at some point became their worst detriment. Wei Wuxian's story is finished and we know it ends in a hopeful note despite all the losses and heartbreaking revelations. Jiaoqiu's story is still ongoing and I can only hope that my boy gets the happy ending he deserves :(

Smaller Connections

Jiaoqiu and Wei Wuxian have a few more traits they share !

They're both good with kids ! Wei Wuxian is pretty fond of the juniors and they are very fond of him right back. Jiaoqiu's interactions with the younger characters are soft and cute, and they fuss over him as much as he fusses over them !

They're both inventive lil dudes ! Wei Wuxian's inventions have improved the quality of night hunts by the time he is summoned into Mo Xuanyu's body. Jiaoqiu has been mentioned to continuously improve upon his family's medicinal formula while in the midst of war and his medicines have been described to be "unusual but profoundly effective". His Character Story I has an old man say "Others can hardly even invent a few decent medicines in their lifetimes, yet a single day is all you need to achieve that and more." in regards to his medicines

They both don't like plain foods because they're "boring". Though Jiaoqiu's may just be a side effect of his diminished sense of taste from trauma.

BONUS: They both have a quieter companion who are perceived by others as "cold and distant" and are known to be particularly clean and tidy.

So, that's it ! :D This is literally me peddling my WWX-IS-JIAOQIU-AND-VICE-VERSA agenda for funsies ~

[sangahnomiya]

little known fact (I have literally only ever yapped abt this to 5 people) but ever since I watched the donghua of cinderella chef last year, I've been brainstorming a crossover AU with apothecary diaries, yona of the dawn and snow white with the red hair.

(will it ever get written? ONLY GOD KNOWS but I'm dumping my brainrot here anyway)

the cast of characters:

yaoyao and chunyu (cinderella chef)

maomao and jinshi (apothecary diaries)

shirayuki and obi (snow white with the red hair)

yona and hak (yona of the dawn)

other characters who appear in this AU (even if I haven't worked out what they do yet), bc you should not separate them ever: ryuu (AnS), and the happy hungry bunch (YotD)

the team dynamics:

in my HC shirayuki is the oldest of the group and seems (SEEMS) to be the most level-headed, while maomao and yaoyao are definitely evenly matched in levels of unhinged. yaoyao is canonically around 18-19, so she's most likely the second oldest

yona is the youngest at 16. however, she is also the only one of the group with a kill count. naturally the older girls are somewhat concerned but they're supportive anyway, and maomao later on offers to help make poison for yona's arrows. (it's her way of showing friendship)

yaoyao is the only one of them who's ACTUALLY married, and so she probably assumes that the other girls are also married to their respective tall, dark, handsome companions. shirayuki's avoiding eye contact, yona is flustered, and maomao... is not amused.

yaoyao and maomao are the kitchen powerhouse duo. if they combine their forces with yoon, then they become truly unstoppable

yona and shirayuki are definitely mistaken for the other girl by multiple people, due to their red hair (and dark-haired bodyguards/love interests). this could lead to a case of mistaken identity where shirayuki gets chased by soldiers bc they mistook her for yona, who's a fugitive

when the four girls get absolutely caught up in brainstorming a plan, the four guys have no choice but to trail after them and wait it out till they're done. obi is the most used to this behaviour from shirayuki while she works so he's already accustomed to it, and hak knows yona well enough to know that she'll explain it to him after, but chunyu and jinshi are still somewhat baffled. sucks to be them lol

like shirayuki, obi is the oldest out of the four guys and he takes care of them in his own way. big brother obi to the rescue!!!!!

the worldbuilding:

I will not lie, I only thought of this AU bc I wanted to put yaoyao and maomao together and have their nicknames be xiaoyao and xiaomao. but like everything else I start bc of something ridiculous, I ended up thinking way too much abt it so here's what I got so far

geographically speaking obiyuki would be coming from the west (AnS is set in a European-styled setting), while maomao and yaoyao would technically be in the same area. if we're going off of the assumption that yotd is set in pseudo-korea, then the kingdom of kouka would probably an ocean away from the empire of Li.

given the settings, it's not uncommon for foreigners to pass through Li, and since obiyuki canonically travel around n stuff they would probably pass through Li at least once

in terms of timeline, I'm very, VERY ROUGHLY guesstimating that cinderella chef and yotd were set in around the same time period (western jin dynasty in China, and the three kingdoms period in Korea).

emphasis on the rough guesstimate bc the show never explicitly mentions at what point in the past she's sent to, so I'm making do with what I can gather from the style of clothing and the architecture used in the setting. but I can only do so much since the show took quite the artistic liberty with historical events and other things like that

on the other hand, the apothecary diaries APPEARS to be set in 15th century China, but it's also not confirmed either so yes. this is fine. [strained smile]

so yeah! that's all I got for now JSJSJFHG I really want to write this AU but first I've got to pin down the dates and historical time periods bc my brain is weird like that. hope you enjoyed 🫶🏼

[abigail-nicole]

tgcf live read, part 5

in which the author moves her live-tweet of Heaven Official's Blessing, Tian Guan Ci Fu, all-around perfect novel and joy to everyone who reads it, from twitter (beta, qi rong, ruined by cryptobros and billionaires) to tumblr (alpha, hua cheng, shitposting for 10+ years and chaotic neutral). please buy officially licensed Heaven Official's Blessing translations from Seven Seas, enjoy the beautiful official donghua while we can get any smidge of gay representation out of mainland China, and enjoy!

initially live-tweeted 3/29/2020:

oh my god there’s a pregnancy episode. You know I’ve never counseled any of my patients on the grudge that could be left by an aborted fetus

Xie Lian faking pregnancy Im here for this

Oh!!!!! This is great!!!!!

Xie Lian has a ghost baby who’s waiting for him to transition & get pregnant CLEARLY THE ONLY EXPLANATION

I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING

I cannot wait to see the art for this??? It’s gonna be Exquisite

UNEXPECTED!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH SCREAMING SO LOUD I STARTLED THE CAT

Wasnt chapter 95 of mdzs ALSO A KISS CHAPTER

*incoherent noises* jgk fed gjbcgjkjfdhioollllojhghsadfsdff

(archivist note: my favorite fan cosplay photo art of this moment)

Oh my god xie lian REACTS SO POORLY WHAT A DUMBASS

The ghosts offering to help Hua Cheng rape someone is NOT funny but it made me laugh out loud

well now this is just

I’m gonna start counseling my pts on the spiritual strength of their fetuses. The strongest is clearly that lady who got shot in the uterus at 14 wks and made it to 28 weeks

Obstetric cultivation is my jam y’all

THEY'RE JUST HANGING OUT TOGETHER! BORROWING CLOTHES FROM EACH OTHER!! SOFT BOYFRIENDS!!!

Hua Cheng: i can cook for you

Xie Lian: no, let’s go out to eat

Hua Cheng: ......... you asked for this

oh to be Hua Cheng, smiling, watching your boyfriend eat

Xie “I JUST TELL THEM I’M IMPOTENT TO GET WOMEN TO LEAVE ME ALONE IM REALLY JUST GAY” Lian

Hua Cheng here like (smirking emoji x3)

Oh my god boyfriend calligraphy lessons SOFT...!!! SOFT!!!

I vehemently disagree with this “this father has to be included in the ghost fetus rights” case but that’s my own business

everyone: why the FUCK do you have this sword oh my god

The last time we saw e’ming it was shaking in sadness that it had hurt Xie Lian and I’ve cried in my heart every second from then until now

MY TWO FAVORITE WEAPONS ARE FIGHTING????? NO THEYRE BEST FRIENDS!! RUOYE & EMING OTP

YES PET THE SWORD ITS A GOOD SWORD GOOD SWORD

every time they hang out im just like......yes....pure oxygen, clean water, pollution disappearing from this earth....

Yes e’ming ruoye weapon pet otp

Oh my god this Which Weapon Pet Will Help More With Cooking is Exactly what my soul needs in these trying times.... I’m so blessed.....

Xie Lian - Wei Wuxian - being terrible at cooking

this is COMEDY GOLD

Hua Cheng: *doing dishes*

Shi Qingxuan: WHAT THE FUCK

Qi Rong: IM A FIERCE GHOST TOOOOOOOOO

Xie Lian: *hiding*

This is the best dinner party

This is the best fucking dinner party scene in any book I have ever read

Honestly the book could end right here. This scene is the Blessing in the title Heaven Official's Blessing

Shi Qingxuan is gonna go back & tell everyone they ate dinner with Hua Cheng and No One is gonna believe it

Poor Shi Qingxuan Lolololol

Awwwww theyre finally exchanging phone numbers!!!! also lol @ xie lian’s little joke here

can’t wait for the scene where they start flirting via communications array & shi qingxuan is staring back and forth at them & shouting at ming yi WHAT THE FUCK WE’RE RIGHT HERE WHAT ARE THEY DOING GET A GODDAMN ROOM

ugh I’m so happy to stop on this note & look forward to reading tomorrow & not having to pick up in the middle of Tragedy Book 2 (& apoarently also Tragedy Book 4). In conclusion Hualian is the Real Official Blessing We Made Along The Way

OMG I SAID THIS SCENE WOULD HAPPEN also i cant wait to find out hua cheng’s password (narrator voice: she would be disappointed)

Shi Qingxuan: i made them strip but oh god he just admitted he likes xie lian NOW its weird

Hahaha just wait till this is a sex thing (smirk emoji)

I also get bored and play dress up in the middle of hostage recovery

to be continued in part 6!

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love - Episode 27

So the love story between Yehua and Susu now came to an end, since Susu jumped into the Zhuxian Platform. It is believed that her soul was shattered. But we know that she broke off the seal Qingcang put on her and returned home. However, even if he’s out of danger now, there’s no way to know when Yehua will wake up again, so Donghua suggested they use an artifact that Sujin provides without any back thoughts, right?

Bai Qian decides to forget everything about Susu, because she feels her fate with Yehua was just bad fate. Then Yehua opens his eyes, thanks to the Jipo Light. The Emperor regrets having been so harsh on him since he was young. And Lian Song is like... yeah, he had a shitty life. You were mean dad, but you know that’s life.

Zhe Yan, Bai Zhen and Bai Qian’s parents agree to keep the truth concealed from her, since she doesn’t want to remember. They’ll tell her she slept after sealing Qingcang and that she was born with a latent disease to her eyes, which explains why she can’t see the light anymore, even though Zheyan healed her eyes. Bai Zhen is really a handsome man and I really love how Zheyan always teases him.

Yehua’s mom got a potion to make him forget about Susu, but he doesn’t want to forget about her.

Susu finally wakes up and Bai Zhen gives her a cloth to hide her eyes and protect them from bright light. Then she worries about her master and she rushes to see him only to notice that even without her blood he’s still alright. So Zheyan thinks he’s going to wake up soon. Then she goes to take care of the broken hearted Fengjiu.

On his wedding day with Sujin, which he totally forgot about on purpose, he goes to visit Fengjiu. He wants to find Siyin, because he was Mo Yuan’s favourite disciple, so if he didn’t let him be buried properly, it means he wanted to go against the Heavens and revive him. He wants to know how he did it, so he could revive Susu too. When he asks Fengjiu, obviously she lies and doesn’t say a thing about what she knows. Back at his place, Yehua properly welcomes his new wife. Which is by stabbing her and not wasting one word on her. Unfortunately, she won’t die of such a little injury.

While he’s looking at it, the Yuqi Kunlun fan vanishes: it was called by its master, Bai Qian. Ye Hua rushes to Kunlun to try and see if he can find Si Yin. Bai Qian’s there too, but they don’t cross paths. He gets scolded for not taking in Sujin. He says she may live in his palace, but his room and Susu’s room is where she should never set foot. Then Sujin’s maid begs Yehua to meet with Sujin, because she says she has a way to revive Susu. Big liar.

But we will have plenty of opportunities to yell at Sujin next episode as this is the end of this one. She’s a wicked lady, we all know, so let’s not put our hopes up for her. See you around!

[cruelsister-moved]

Re: mxtx - I always remember how XL refused to turn into a woman that one time but he's fine cross-dressing as one for work. Makes it even more... "interesting" that he's popularly depicted as gnc in fanon vs. his husband not being depicted like that despite actually changing forms like clothes, lol. Agree on Ling Wen and SQX, I like how they open up so many possibilities wrt gender exploration but how it was handled, hm :/ Also, wish mxtx had put more Lady ghost hc into the novel rather than one-off mention (and aside from gender, the fact that no one ever saw his real form and he apparently liked to appear differently each time... would've been fun to explore that more rather than just have XL tell him he wants to see his true form, and he's suddenly all fine with that).

Also! Very YES to the fact that you have a fantasy world here and yet, choose to limit it to rl issues... When you can lit. do whatever you want with it (not exclusive to mxtx!)

anon ur so smart <333 i love gnc hua cheng he is literally my agenda if I could draw i would draw so much gnc hua cheng... and I love the fact that he's gnc in a "both very feminine and very masculine" way rather than the way fanon gnc lian is like ohhh he's just this little soft baby the way starember draws this short pale doll with giant eyes and a delicate face and not one gram of apparent muscle strength.... this is why i support donghua xie lian supremacy because i feel like he really conveys... he isn't trying to perform or not perform anything bc after all he has been through it just isn't that big of deal plus he doesn't have the money and time. I think that really highlights how masculinity is also a performance bc people see someone just opting out of performing any gender but also not doing anything to explicitly disrupt it& take this as gnc.

MEANWHILE hc is putting a lot of effort into every part of his presentation which makes a fanon portrayal of him as gnc much more interesting to explore. and this ties into something i mentioned before which is that hc has been living his life for 800 years aware that he is a gay man, while xl has not. there is an issue in fanon with people seeing east asian men as inherently feminine, and ignoring cultural differences (e.g xie lian is not gnc for having long hair as an obvious example). however hc is a gay man presenting himself explicitly for another man and he has shown a general active desire to deliberately disrupt social rules in a way that xl has not, which i think plays perfectly into an understanding of him as a deliberately gnc person. and im interested in ur point abt his forms too - unlike xl, he has the choice to present himself as whatever he wants, starting completely from scratch, which means every choice abt how to present himself is completely deliberate so it would be really interesting to have gotten to explore that more!!

also xl is obviously pretty fine with crossdressing so it makes no sense that he won't do anything with sqx but i think that obviously comes from the fact that for mxtx, something I would see as just a really committed form of cross-dressing would actually mean he somehow Becomes a girl... which immediately makes no sense when you're presented with a character unlike sqx, who has kind of been codified as genderfluid from the get-go. like the fact that they Can change gender is presented without examining the fact that certainly for sqx they appear to enjoy it...

personally for me i ended up taking sqx as trying to portray a transfem character so then I was really upset for the ending to see her without her ability to turn into a woman and also not even really acknowledging the grief that would come with that..? it's literally just like oh she can't turn into a girl anymore so this character I wrote who obviously prefers to be a feminine woman (like evenif u compare her to ling wen who seems more ambivalent to her male form, it seems more of like a Work Thing) and she lost that so ig she's just a cis man now! like there's no reason why sqx with no powers couldn't continue to be a girl if she wanted.. thats a small slice of my feelings on the whole issue bc ultimately it presented really limitless possibility to explore and it just. wasn't.

[franniebanana]

CQL Rewatch - Episode 3

I just love their outfits here, and since I didn’t comment on that in the last episode, I wanted to say it here. I love the whole color palette they used for Lotus Pier. The donghua goes heavy on the purple and black, but I really love how they incorporate lavender and teal and other blues. It’s just very pretty and soft and relaxing. Such a nice place. I keep having a debate with myself about where I’d rather live. I think I’d be more comfortable in the Cloud Recesses, but I’d never be able to deal with all those rules!

Ah, yes, everyone’s favorite peacock. He played this part so perfectly: just this pillar of grace and poise, except when he’s around Jiang Yanli, and he just becomes butter hahaha. I like his son a lot better than him, but he and Wei Wuxian have some great scenes together, and it’s fun to see him grow alongside everyone else. He’s not just a mindless clan member who does everything he’s supposed to. He’ll stand up and fight for justice too.

It’s easy to forget (myself included in this) that Jiang Yanli is the oldest of the three of them, especially in this show. She’s so much smaller, so soft-spoken; she isn’t going to be the next leader, because that’s Jiang Cheng, being the male heir. But this is one of those scenes where she really is the big sister. Wei Wuxian is fighting with her fiancé’s retinue, Jiang Cheng is just trying to stay out of it and be polite, so she has to step in and put an end to it. I love when Jiang Yanli gets some screen time and lines, and isn’t serving soup. Don’t get me wrong—I like seeing her take care of them, but it’s more mothering than being a big sister. I think the moments when she’s standing up for her brothers and for herself are really special. You can’t blame Jiang Cheng or Wei Wuxian for loving their shijie so much.

Gotta love Wei Wuxian taking every opportunity to throw some shade at Jin Zixuan. I love all of it, and I eat it up—I am the target audience for snarky Wei Wuxian. And at this point, Jin Zixuan just ignores him—good on him. He keeps that up for all of a few days.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO

YOU FORGOT THE INVITATION!

Sorry, but the first time I watched this, I wondered why there was this big close-up of something with “Lan Clan of Gusu” written on it. I’m a dummy, okay?

Omg they translated ge-ge as “buddy.”

Okay, but here we go! Shut out of the Cloud Recesses. Also, where did they change? I kept thinking they changed at the tavern, but when they left, they were wearing their same Jiang Clan clothes. So, somewhere along the way, they put on their pretty white robes. I’ve got nothing else to say here, because we’re about to see another great entrance from Lan Wangji.

I love how his entrance is accompanied by the guqin. His presence is so ethereal, so otherworldly, yet he’s so grounded as a character. He turns everyone’s heads, including Wei Wuxian’s. I love that Wang Yibo is in reality shorter than Xiao Zhan, so they gave him platform boots to make them more even. But the height and stature gives the relationship a whole different dynamic.

Anyone who knows me knows I love my yaoi/BL. I could go on and on about my favorites, but I won’t do that here. There’s one thing I don’t like about it, and it’s that you can always tell who the top and bottom is just by how they look (sometimes artists subvert this, which I love!). The donghua for MDZS does this (I haven’t read the manhua, but I have seen some screenshots, and I think it also does)—Lan Wangji is so much bigger than Wei Wuxian. And while it’s aesthetically pleasing, it just bugs me, okay? I like the idea of Wangxian being roughly the same size and height—I don’t really know why, I just do. Also I definitely headcanon them both as switches at this point.

I don’t think Lan Wangji would have given Wei Wuxian the time of day if he hadn’t heard this. He’s already impressed that Wei Wuxian picked up on the weird stuff/wicked sorcery going on—he’s made a mental note of him. I’m sure he’s a little disappointed that Wei Wuxian immediately gets on his nerves, but he still pauses before leaving.

Lan Wangji is never going to be a fast friend—he’s not going to be anyone’s best friend right away. You need to gain his trust and that does not happen overnight. Though the setting is anything but realistic, their relationship and the steps it goes through are incredibly realistic. They grow together—they grow on each other (it’s not as if Wei Wuxian really cares about Lan Wangji at first either—think of how many times he calls him a fuddy-duddy. I think his main goal for quite some time is to get on Lan Wangji’s nerves and tease him. Wei Wuxian is used to charming his way in and out of things, but he can’t do that with Lan Wangji).

Yibo’s piercings! That’s it. That’s why I took this screenshot. But, weirdly, I always look at stuff like that.

He has such a swagger here, going up the steps, but I think it’s really just Xiao Zhan trying to climb the stairs without tripping on his costume. XD

It’s funny how surprised Wei Wuxian is to have the silencing spell used on him, even though he had been put under it earlier that day. Frankly, I don’t blame Lan Wangji. Wei Wuxian hit him with a bit of a sucker punch there, implying that the girls only liked him for how he looks and that they’d be disappointed by his demeanor.

It’s such a popular trope (enemies to lovers), but I don’t think that makes it inherently bad or less effective as a storytelling device. On the contrary, when done well, it can make or break a story. As I said earlier, their relationship is very realistic, yet has enough fiction to make it fun. I watch these early scenes with a big old grin on my face, and I’ve seen this one probably around four times now, maybe more (I keep watching the Special Edition for all that wangxian goodness).

Okay, let’s watch as Wei Wuxian digs his hole deeper and deeper. The look on Lan Qiren’s face this entire time is priceless. Like, who is this miscreant who just barged in here, telling me how he is breaking all the rules and expecting me to feel bad for him? Meanwhile, Lan Xichen, with a smile: I won’t blame you for breaking the rules, but let my brother who hates you decided your punishment, okay? Thanks!

Peak comedy before it gets all serious again.

She’s so gorgeous!

But I’ll be frank with you all, I don’t like that they expanded Wen Qing’s role in this way. She was one of my favorites in the book, but shoehorning her and Wen Ning into the Cloud Recesses kind of drives me nuts. And then the stuff with Jiang Cheng, while kind of cute, just doesn’t really hit right with me, and I don’t think it was executed well at all after a certain point—but I’ll babble about that when the time comes. So, while I appreciate expanding female roles, I didn’t really care for this bit in the Cloud Recesses. I would have been fine with them adding scenes of what she was up to with the Wen Clan—that would have been really cool, actually, because we don’t get to see much of anything other than the Nightless City. And maybe I’m biased because I quite enjoyed the archery contest stuff in the book that they kind of piecemealed in the show.

It sounds like I’m just whining about this show, but I actually really enjoy it.

I like this moment between the twin jades. We don’t get a ton of these and this one is particularly quiet and peaceful. The contrast between them and Jiang Cheng/Wei Wuxian is so stark—the twin jades are so formal and a little stiff, while the twin prides are off the wall, hitting and teasing each other—but this doesn’t make either one less caring than the other. What’s obvious from this scene is how much both of them care about each other: Lan Wangji wants to do what he can to help, because he knows how much pressure is on Xichen, and Xichen is just worried about his younger brother. Even though you don’t find this out until later, you can tell that the two boys had to grow up very fast. Neither one had much of a childhood, and I think Lan Xichen does take on a bit of a father role to Lan Wangji as well.

Other episodes: 1 | 2 |

[razberryyum]

So you’re done with The Untamed and want more, what now?

Reposting this since I’ve updated it with new info/links. Again, I entered the fandom via The Untamed so I’m by no means a MDZS expert, just tried my best gathering all the resources I can which I hope will help some new Untamed/MDZS fan out there. If you spot any errors, don’t yell at me, just let me know and I’ll correct it as best I can, especially for any future reposts.

READ THE NOVEL

Read the original web novel the show was based on: The Untamed (aka “CQL” or “Chen Qing Ling”) was adapted from the BL web novel, Mo Dao Zu Shi (aka ”MDZS” or Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation) by author Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (”MXTX”). Yes the novel came first, CQL is only an adaptation. In the novel, you get the uncensored romance of Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji, where they are canonically married and living happily ever after. The novel goes full into R18 territory so please tread carefully.

All four volumes of the novel can be purchased from the original publishing site, JJWXC. The site’s in chinese but here’s a tutorial on how to navigate it and purchase the books:  JJWXC Tutorial Link.

There’s also the option of purchasing the physical copies from Yesasia which might be easier but it’s also more expensive since they’re the middle man: Yesasia MDZS Link

It would be wonderful if you can support MXTX-laoshi by actually buying the books, especially since the cover art is so beautiful and the extra chapter volumes come with a lot of awesome extra goodies, but of course there’s also the option of reading the fan translations graciously provided by the Exiled Rebels Scanlations team at their site:  

They translated all the novels including the bonus chapters in their own free time and are providing the fanslations for free so please give them some love for all their hard work.  

WATCH THE ANIME (aka “Donghua” in Chinese)

Watch the anime based on the novel: The donghua was released before The Untamed. Two seasons are already available (23 eps total) with a third season in production and a special chibi version of the donghua in production as well. The Eng-subbed donghua can be seen using the WeTV app or on Youtube:  YT MDZS Donghua Playlist

Grant it, the donghua is even more censored than The Untamed, but the donghua team still managed to sneak in some easter eggs (f.e. WangXian naked bathing scene in the cold springs from the novel...in The Untamed they were fully clothed) and more importantly, the animation is just gorgeous so it’s absolutely worth a watch despite the censorship. 

READ THE MANGA (aka “Manhua” in Chinese)

Read the manhua which is ongoing and is being officially translated by WeComics, available on their app for free. Search under the name “Mo Dao Zu Shi”.

Unfortunately, the official translations are more than 20 chaps behind the raws and there have been complaints about the quality of the translations in the past, but I believe they’re starting to improve so since they’re official, it’s always better to support the official source.

The raw untranslated manhua can be found on the Kuaikanmanhua app. Other than being in Chinese, some of the chapters (f.e. the most recent ones) are behind a paywall, but here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the chapters, provided by @chiharuzushi on Twitter:  Kuaikanmanhua Tutorial

The chapters are quite cheap...I purchase 1000 KK coins for 10 rmb ($0.14) and each chapter is only 68 KK coins so even if we end up with 500 chapters it’ll still be...er...quite cheap overall (don’t make me do the actual math). The most painful part is figuring out how to set up the Kuaikanmanhua account, but otherwise, if you can read Chinese or know enough of the story by now that you don’t really need to read the words, the manhua is definitely worth reading because it’s less censored than The Untamed and the donghua. 

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO DRAMA

Listen to the audio drama, which is at this point the most faithful and LEAST censored adaptation of the novel we will probably ever get! Wei Ying’s voice actor in The Untamed is the voice actor for his audio drama counterpart. (Yes, almost everyone in The Untamed is dubbed by a voice actor, EXCEPT for Nie Huaisang. Ji Li, the actor for NHS, was the only one who used his own voice. Lan Zhan in The Untamed shares the same voice actor as his character in the donghua). 

Each episode art of the audio drama is AMAZING. Google Translate works well on the site, you’d want to see the listeners’ comments cuz they’re just adorable and hilarious.

Official links on Maoer FM:

Season 1: Maoer FM S1 Link

Season 2: Maoer FM S2 Link

Season 3: Maoer FM S3 Link

The audio drama was supervised by MXTX-laoshi, the author of the novel, so a lot of love and care went into the production, and it shows. The audio drama is behind a paywall but I remember it’s relatively inexpensive. Here’s the tutorial on how to purchase the audio drama from the Maoer FM site:  Maoer FM Tutorial Link

Ngl, it was tough at first navigating all that, Google translate helped, but once I figured it out, it was all so worth it because in addition to the MDZS, the site houses a lot of other wonderful audio dramas. There are also MDZS fan songs on the site that are near professional quality and oh so good.

Suibian Subs have kindly translated the episodes and their translations are available here:  Suibian Subs MDZS Audio Drama

Show them some love too for translating the episodes, but please if you can, purchase the episodes so you can support the audio drama team which have done an amazing job.

There’s even a Japanese audio drama which the Chinese AD team helped spearhead, available on the MIMI FM app. Here’s a tutorial on how to purchase the eps (half of the first season is out): MIMI FM Tutorial

It’s in Japanese but just follow the pictures. I’m hoping that the Japanese audio drama will end up being the MOST uncensored version of MDZS since Japanese BL dramas are not afraid (and allowed) to go all the way to R18. XD

MORE THE UNTAMED CONTENT

Lastly, if you’re just thirsting for more Untamed content, there are two spin-off movies you can watch. The first one, The Living Dead, is kind of centered on Wen Ning and Sizhui post-CQL. 

The second one, Fatal Journey, is focused on the Nie brothers, Nie Mingjue and Nie Huaisang, with a cameo by Jin Guangyao. It takes place prior to Wei Ying’s return from the dead.

Of the two movies, I definitely recommend Fatal Journey more. Both movies are available on the iQiyi app, which offers a one month free trial for first members. Each month afterwards for VIP is $6.99.

You can also go on the WeTV app for even more Untamed extras: WeTV put out a special edition cut of the show which tightened up the story AND features the original ending that was intended before censorship forced the production team to come up with the more ambiguous one we saw in its original run. It was a simple matter of rearranging certain scenes and getting rid of the separation part, but imho it really made all the difference to the ending.

There’s a ton of behind-the-scene cuteness that you can watch and also concerts with the cast in Thailand and Nanjing. VIP subscription to the WeTV app is $5.99/month and the Nanjing concert is for rent for 3 months at about the same price.  

The show also put out two official soundtracks, one for the vocals and one for the score. Both are available on Amazon and iTunes. For Amazon though, you can search under “The Untamed” but they did this weird thing where the vocals one is listed as “The Untamed (Chinoiserie Music Album)” (wtf) while the score is just listed as “The Untamed (Original Soundtrack)”.

Finally, most of the male members of the cast took part in a fan meet and greet at the start of the show, before it became hugely popular. The entire meet and greet is available on youtube subbed: The Untamed Fan Meeting

That’s it for The Untamed and MDZS. If you end up liking the novel enough to want to read more by the same author, MXTX-laoshi has also written two other BL novels, The Scum Villain Self-Saving System (aka “SVSSS” or “Scum Villain”) and Heaven’s Official Blessing (aka “TGCF” after its Chinese title). Both have been fully translated by fans (but always try to buy the original if you have the means, as a way to support the author!): 

SVSSS Translation: BC Novels Link

TGCF Translation chaps 1 - 24:  Sakhyulations Link

TGCF Translation chaps 25 - End: Suika & Rynn Link

As with reading any BL novel (aka “danmei novel” for Chinese BL books), please heed the warnings and if it’s not your cup of tea, just exit out of the page and move on with your life. No big deal, right? 

Anyway, hope all this info dump helps someone! If you’re brand spanking new to this fandom, welcome, and I’m so jealous of you! Would love to relive stepping into the world of MDZS/MXTX/danmei novels all over again since I feel like I’m already running out of stuff to read and I’m beginning to panic a little. 

Happy watching/reading/listening!  

[nikosomething]

Heyyyy! I'm back again. Sorry it took a while to send this ask! Mmm I'd choose the lan sect cuz I need some form of structure in my life lol. I'm not too bad with rules either. But I'd definitely hate their food. I eat wwx levels of spicy and hence I'd like to join the jiang sect haha. Also, their sword forms look nice? YASSS We'd LOOK SO GOOD! 💙🖤 ooh I like what you read. I like reading pining, arranged marriage aus, crack fics, post canon fics, missing scenes, I like canon divergence aus that concentrate on characters other than wwx and lwj. I also like fics with sad endings haha. (1/4)

I'm a big multishipper, too! There's no ship that I don't like? My favorites would be wangxian and sangcheng though. I'm always up to reading these two ships, but I'd read anything really. I feel yah, I do. I can't pick a junior either. I love them all dearly but I tend to get bored if lan jingyi isn't there in junior fics? I need Jingyi to be a major part of the fic if I'm to like it haha. (2/4)

I loooooove Asian cuisine. My favorite is Indian! All that spice, you know? I hope you ate good food since you made yourself hungry answering that lol. Your answer about the seasons is so detailed and beautiful? I love?? Mmmm my favorite season is the rainy season. It's the best. I love the melancholy, the cold and the sound of water tapping against the windows. I'd rather stay at home than venture outside in the rain tho! Winter is the most comfortable time for me, really. I hate the summer! I love the cold and end of the year is my favorite time! (3/4)

Now questions! Have you read any other mxtx works? Also, if you could change one thing is mdzs, what would it be? Do you have any post canon wangxian headcanons? Oooh, what's your favorite wangxian moment in CQL? General questions- do you celebrate Christmas? If you do, are you excited and how do you celebrate? Do you drink coffee or tea or neither or something else? What other shows have you watched except CQL this year? Aight, that's so many questions haha. (4/4) See you soon- 🐰

_______

Heyyyy my dear bunny! I missed ya! But don’t worry, life gets busy sometimes, so take all the time you need <3

Whoahhhh so cool that you can eat intensely spicy food!! I am trying to get used to spicy stuff, but I got a looong way to go haha I detect every gain of pepper or chili or whatever so I am only making slow progress, but I do enjoy spice - up to the level I can take without ending up all red and teary-eyed haha I enjoy good food a lot, too. I like to have some variation so I’d probably be unhappy if I had to only ever eat the Lan cuisine, too hahaha

Ohhhh arranged marriage, people keep recommending it to me - I shoudl really give it a go at some point! Any good fics you wanna recommend? And omggg sad endings!!! Whoah, I bow to you! I’s always pick a happy ending but then again the ending has to fit the need of the story, so I suppose if a happy ending would feel forced then pls gimme a sad one, perhaps even one we can all learn from And yessss, there are so many amazing characters in MDZS I totally get why you’d wanna read about them!! <3

Ah Sangcheng! It’s quite the popular ship I feel. I think it’s cute and a close friend of mine really loves them, too. I bet they’d be excited if I got into that ship as well haha What do you love about Sangcheng? (sell it to meh hahaha, get me hooked) JINGYI!! Yes, he’d the spice we need in the junior fics! He is just so much fun! I think all of them together make such a perfect and well-balanced mix! Perf flavour hahaha What’s it with all the food references here. Am I mildly thinking about food again? Whaaaat Ohhhh Indian!!! (here we go again w the food hahaha) Damn I love Indian food! I cant take the spice so I always go for the noob dished, but they are amazing,t oo! What makes you hate the summer? Do you dislike sweating? You make it sound so cozy ahhh, I am happy we get to spend your fav season together, then, my dear bunny!! I love these timeless days between christmas and the beginning of the new year. It feels like everything is catching its breath and makes whatever you can think of become a bit more possibe

MXTX-related Questions

So far I haven’t read any other works of MXTX, but I think I wanna get to the one with the demonic guy in red and the white soft one next. What was it called? Heaven something? Now TMI tells me ‘City of Heavenly Fire’ which is absolutely not helpful. Uhm.. I could look it up, but then u wouldn’t witness my absolutely entertaining struggle of trying to make my brain work. The Scumbag Self Serving System (did I get that one right) is the first novel if I am correct. And then there is the Heavenly Helper... No... uhm Mysteries of Heaven... Heaven’s Helping Hand... I don’t think it’s getting any better here. I even watched the Donghua trailer wtf why can’t I remember hahaha... Voices of Heaven (that sounds like an American Singing Contest) Okay... imma look it up now.  HEAVEN’S OFFICIAL BLESSING! that one. I was so close Have you read any other works? <3

If I could change one thing in MDZS, what would it be? I would want for XXC and XY to not die, thank you. But then again how about non of my baes die? Okay, lemme try again, to get an impressive and seemingly deep reply... Have Meng Yao realise what kind of a horrible butt his dad is early enough to prevent most of the bad things that happen. I am not sure - but what’s your idea on this one?

My favourite WangXian moment? In CQL it’s the one where they are both at the Cloud Recesses, watching the snowflakes dance through the air. Their bond feels so deep there! Or the one where they are at the lantern thing and WWX get’s LWJ the bunny lantern. Just... the pure happiness. Or the one where they are bold husbands and run away from Carp Tower. Is it even humanly possible to pick just one moment?? Which one is it for you?

General Questions

Do I celebrate Xmas? Yes, I do! I go to my mom’s place for Xmas, where we have dinner and then her boyfriend puts on his super old, super old and worn-out Santa clothes (which is very endearing, cause he is always having the time of his life). Then he hands us our presents which are gathered under the decorated Xmas tree and we have to cite a poem or sing to earn each present. Afterwards we all unpack together, excitedly thanking each other, have dessert and then watch a movie or a video of our past christmasses someone put together It’s all very wholesome. How about you?

Coffee, tea or something else? I like Moccachino, cause it’s an amazing hybrid of coffee and cocoa!! It’s best with coconut milk! That kind of coffee makes me feel all cozy and comfy, but I handle it like a treat. I only drink one, while a close friend of mine drinks several cups of milky coffee a day. I also love cocoa, but I drink it like others drink espresso. I tiny highly concentrated cup. No more. Like a shot of chocolate hahaha I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but sometimes I crave it. As for tea, I looove herbal tea! Peppermint and Fennel Caraway Anise are amazing. Also freshly brewed ginger tea. And green tea with jasmine/flower blossoms or white tea. Big love for these. All of which without sugar so the flavour comes out to speak of its very own beauty I also like mate tea to keep me awake! Otherwise I love water or - omg - freshly pressed apple juice! The! best! Try it if you aren’t allergic! AHHHH that is honestly THE TREAT for me. Rare treat. I don’t even have it once a year. More like every four years or so. But dang. The. best. How about you? <3

Which shows have I watched this year? Many. Lots of cooking shows (on Netflix), cause, you know, food. xD By now I probably know almost all of them. There was a time when I was thoroughly up to date with ALL cooking shows on Netflix. One of my big dreams is being wealthy enough to hire a cook. To cook for me every day. Yes, yes. Otherwise lots of Asian shows. I can recommend:

Hotel Del Luna (omg, do urself a favour, judging from what I know about your taste I think you will like it a lot) also The King Eternal Monarch (good one, very good one)

I also watched Eternal Love and Eternal Love The Pillowbook, which were okay, but they aren’t my favourites Cinderella and the Four Knights was sweet Accidentally in Love was fun but has some major plot holes in my opinion I enjoyed She-Ra Who Are You moved me quite a bit ahhhh Extraordinary You was quite the ride, too!

What are your 2020 shows?

[neoblogcrying]

“Let’s Play a Game” pt.9

Here is the next part! Hope you enjoy! 

-

“Hm… that’s a good choice, a very good one.”

“Is it really that much different from the other one?”

“The end result isn’t much different, but the winning option gives them a chance to unlock another flashback scene!”

“Oh? Which one is that?”

“It’s a secret~ I’ll tell you later during break. For now, let’s get a move on. I’m sure they’re curious to know how the story will progress!”

If anything, this goes to show that the worst option wasn’t chosen this round, so the game was going to continue. Remember to be careful about what options you choose in the future. If you pick too many of the worst possible options, it will result in the ‘death’ end and the game will force close!

That has been another warning for you, do be careful! Be mindful of the hints that the Moderators drop for you!

BEEP!

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“Where are my souvenirs? Don’t tell me that you forgot?” Shen Yuan asked with the smallest of pouts on his face. If there was anything that Shen Jiu was weak to, it was Shen Yuan adopting his younger brother role.

Of course, his brother would never admit to it, but Shen Jiu did enjoy being an older brother. Being able to take care of someone and doing good by them was something that eased the edge off his heart. It helped him feel as though here was a part of him that could do good.

There was someone who believed in him, in his ability to be a good person.

That isn’t to say that Shen Jiu thought himself as a good person by any means. He still thought of himself to be a scummy person, but after he’d met Shen Yuan, he started to feel as though he had a pinky’s worth of goodness in his body.

“I have your souvenirs right here.” Shen Jiu revealed a vibrant red satchel from his sleeve. There was a fragrant smell coming from the satchel that sent a shiver down Shen Yuan’s spine.

The younger of the two brothers accepted the item with trepidation, his eyes narrowing suspiciously at the satchel. He wouldn’t have been suspicious if not for the fragrant smell coming from the satchel. This suspiciously smelled like perfume…?

Something you could smell from a woman.

“Brother… what is this?” He asked slowly, staring at his ‘gift’ with unease.

Shen Jiu was enjoying the unease his brother was currently exhibiting, and he chose not to answer. Instead, he was reorganizing the room to his liking.

Taking the plunge, Shen Yuan opened the satchel to see… was that rouge? Face powder…? This… this is makeup? There’s more in here.

“BROTHER!” The younger brother bristled in annoyance, his tone carrying a hint of an aggrieved whine. What use did he have for make up? He no longer lived in the Red-Light District where he was at the mercy of all the elder sisters there. No longer would he be subjected to being their Barbie doll to play with. “Must you tease me like this? Your younger brother has already extended his heart to you asking for forgiveness, has he not? I am hurt. My honorable brother is finally treating me with such disdain, opting to gift me such a thing. I understand, my brother wishes for me to return to the Red-light district.”

Dramatic.

Shen Yuan was the dramatic sort, and only when the two brothers were alone, he liked to reveal this side of his. Sometimes, his dramatics annoyed Shen Jiu, while at other times, it amused him.

This time, it seemed to be the latter. Shen Jiu’s aim to annoy his brother was a success. He chuckled under his breath, reaching into his sleeves once more to pull out a different satchel, this time, it was green in color.

The color matched the bamboo forest. “Calm down, this is your real souvenir. Hide the makeup elsewhere if you don’t want it.” He lightly tossed the bag to his brother.

In truth, he had bought the make up to get information from those in the marketplace.

The demon was smart with the way he covered his tracks. Unfortunately for the demon, he was up against Shen Qingqiu. With his intelligence, no demon would be able to escape from under his nose.

He managed to find his way to a rouge shop and sniffed out some clues. To loosen the mouth of the shopkeep, he bought some rouge. In the process, he chose to use the gift to tease his brother with. This is what you call a win-win situation.

If he had to guess, if Shen Yuan had been the one to descend from the mountain, he might not have been able to figure out the identity of the demon. He may have even lost his life to the demon, in fact.

It was good that Shen Yuan didn’t replace him on this trip.

Shen Yuan was still feeling miffed by the previous satchel he was given, but he accepted the new satchel easily. The design was pretty, as a bamboo forest was embroidered in the fabric. Both brothers enjoyed the aesthetic of a bamboo forest, so he knew that whatever was inside, Shen Jiu carefully selected for him.

Inside the satchel was an assortment of items. One, was jerky that was carefully wrapped up in a cloth. Another item was a beautifully crafted fan (Shen Jiu likely had a matching one of his own). The last item was ink pots with different colors of ink. This must have been expensive and hard to find.

Shen Yuan spent a lot of his time holed indoors, and he came to enjoy writing and drawing pictures in scrolls. Sometimes he wrote stories he remembered from his life on Earth, or he’d draw images of the things he saw in this world.

Everything was so beautiful in this novel when compared to what he remembered from Earth. The air was polluted, and civilization replaced much of the beautiful scenery you could see in nature.

In a magical world like this, who wouldn’t enjoy the scenery?

You could say that of the twins, Shen Yuan was more gifted in the arts than his elder brother. Similarly, Shen Jiu was the smarter of the two twins. Shen Jiu, the main face of Shen Qingqiu built a reputation of being a strategist due to his brains.

While he didn’t mind dabbling in the arts, he spent most of his time polishing his knowledge. He did have a reputation to maintain, after all.

Of course, that meant that Shen Yuan had to study just as much as Shen Jiu did in order to play the part as Shen Qingqiu well. While he didn’t particularly enjoy studying, he didn’t mind reading piles of books and scrolls.

It was like getting your hand on a book that detailed behind the scenes information on your favorite novel. As a fan, who wouldn’t enjoy such a thing? This world was akin to getting a special OVA of your favorite donghua series, you’re an author making a statement on a question the fans are dying to know!

It was touching to know that his brother went through all that effort to find a gift that he knew that would be appreciated. What was with the jerky, you asked? Shen Yuan was the type of person who enjoyed snacking on things, especially when he was bored. The more flavorful the food was, the more he’d enjoy it.

He personally felt that a lot of the food here was bland, but what could you do about it? They didn’t have all the spices you could find on Modern day Earth.

You can simply chalk it up to the Millenial misses eating all sorts of food. Boba tea, instant ramen, ice cream, etc.

Jerky was something you could carry around with you with ease, so it was essentially like carrying snacks with you wherever you went. It was the closest alternative he had.

This was a rarity for him because Shen Jiu disliked meat jerky. It wasn’t a kind of food that fit the image of a Peak Lord. It was something you’d expect from a common day peasant. As long as Shen Yuan was never caught consuming the said jerky, Shen Jiu wouldn’t have his head for it.

Of course, Shen Yuan knew better than to consume meat jerky in front of others. It would make ‘Shen Qingqiu’ lose so many coolness points.

“Brother, you treat me so well. I am lucky to have a brother who understands my tastes so well.” Shen Yuan was currently praising his brother’s good tastes in souvenirs. Appealing to his brotherly side had its many advantages. For one, it helped Shen Jiu understand that there was another path for him that he could take, although very difficult for him on a personality basis.

Two, it did brighten Shen Jiu’s mood, even if it was by a small percentage… maybe even a fraction of a percentage. He wasn’t an easy man to deal with after all.

Finally, sometimes appealing to his brotherly side would reveal surprising information about Shen Jiu’s character. You could say that after he came to realize that Shen Jiu was not a simple canon fodder character, Shen Yuan was very curious about his backstory.

What secrets were you keeping hidden away? What happened in your past to mold you into a scummy character? Were there dangerous triggers to be aware of? Was there anything in the world that you liked?

All these questions would provide a lot of useful information to Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan was in a very good mood because of his souvenirs. He was smiling brightly to himself, quietly humming a tune to himself as he started to put the two satchels away. He carefully hid them away in a safe place. Even if one of the satchels contained aggravating items, he still kept it tucked away safely… behind all his books on the shelf.

For the blue satchel, he placed it on the table that he used as a desk. He felt as though he would be dipping into the ink bottles soon, so he chose not to stow it away just yet.

“Brother, you treat me so well, but all I do is cause you trouble with my sickly disposition. How could I repay your good will?” Yes, Shen Yuan was still appealing to Shen Jiu’s brotherly side. Even if they were twins, Shen Jiu had his pride as the ‘older twin.’

He took it upon himself to be the one to protect his younger brother and to guide him to on the ‘right path,’ disregarding how ironic it is for him to do so.

After Shen Jiu finished organizing the room to his liking, he’d sat down on a pillow on the floor. He simply patted the place in front of him, wordlessly telling Shen Yuan to sit down. Being the obedient brother that he was, Shen Yuan sat down to get a palm to the forehead.

“Ow.” “Focus on being healthy, instead of worthless things like that.”

Shen Yuan showed a foolish grin on his face, laughing quietly to himself.

“What’s so amusing to you?” Shen Jiu questioned, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Within moments, Shen Yuan wiped any emotion off his face and he sat up straight and tall. “I only thought about how lucky I was. Shen Qingqiu would not act on the behalf of another person and not expect a payment in return.”

That was a grand blanket statement if there ever was one, but it wasn’t necessarily wrong. Of course, there were exceptions, but given the character Shen Qingqiu was, he didn’t act if there were no benefits for him. If not that, he was likely acting to give Yue Qingyuan face.

“Right, how was your trip, brother? How did it go? Tell me what happened.” This trip wasn’t written in the original novel, so Shen Yuan didn’t know anything about it. He wanted to know what he missed! He couldn’t hide his excitement, and he didn’t bother with trying. Shen Jiu could read him like a book if he wasn’t diligent in controlling his facial expressions, so there was no point in trying to lie.

As such, Shen Jiu could tell that his brother was genuinely excited to hear about the trip, rather than being more curious about how Luo Binghe was treated.

The elder brother thought back to the contents that transpired during the trip. He tapped his chin with a fan matching one of Shen Yuan’s souvenirs in thought. “Yingying got captured by a demon.”

“Ying-er! I assume she’s safe now? You didn’t report any casualties, so you must have saved her in time.” For a moment, Shen Yuan almost panicked. Keyword, almost. As he said, Ning Yingying should be safe. If she had died, Shen Jiu would have reported so.

Even without that, she was one of the Protagonist’s future wives (one of many), so she had to be safe! There was no way she could die! Still, who knew that such a scene transpired in the original novel?

It was possible that she could have died! Maybe this served as a point in time where Ning Yingying’s affections for the Protagonist grew? That was what Shen Yuan was currently contemplating to himself.

“Yes, she is safe. While we were investigating the nature of the murdered women, she asked to go shopping with that brat. Later, he returned stating that he’d lost her. I almost flogged him to death right then and there.”

A shiver ran down Shen Yuan’s spine. He knew that wasn’t a joke. He had a vague idea why, but his brother had a peculiar interest in Ning Yingying. It was as though he considered her highly in particular for some reason.

He was kind to females in general, but he was very kind to her in particular. Given what he learned from the time he lived in the Red-light district, Shen Jiu had some kind of aversion to males. It wasn’t quite so much that he felt uncomfortable around them, but it was as if there was an underlying fear that he kept hidden deep down.

The man would always be on edge if he were around other males, especially any who had formidable strength. Shen Yuan had always theorized that this was some kind of a post-traumatic stress disorder that came from when he lived in the Shen household.

While he didn’t see much, as he arrived late to the scene, but his brother was in a horrid situation when Shen Yuan first found him. He could only guess what sorts of torment he was subjected to.

It took everything he had to not ask about what happened to Luo Binghe. Yes, Shen Jiu would report if anyone died, but Shen Jiu didn’t think of Luo Binghe as a person. In fact, he was lesser than a horse in his eyes. If he died… Shen Yuan highly doubted it would be reported.

Would you report if you had killed a spider by stepping on it? You wouldn’t.

Having faith in Luo Binghe’s golden plot armor, Shen Yuan patiently waited to hear more of the story.

“I left Ming Fan in charge of the rest of the disciples as I had that brat lead the way to where he’d seen Ying-er last. At that point in time, my nose caught the scent of something familiar. All the deceased women had the same smell to them, and this smell was coming from a rouge shop.” At this point, Shen Jiu realized he didn’t give his brother the background story of what was going on.

“Our client was struggling with women in his household going missing and then being murdered. A girl would disappear for a time, and then reappear later. The peculiar thing was that the body of the deceased would never reappear before someone else went missing. This is an important key point, be sure to remember this. All the victims were young women full of life. None were elderly, and neither were any of the victims male. It’s clear that whoever was murdering all these women, they had a strong preference to females. A curious thing I noted at the time was that all the women were largely lacking in injuries. There were no signs of a struggle to be found on their bodies. Poison, drowning, and strangulation were not methods of killing the women. No bodily harm came to the women either.”

This would rule out a hate crime. If someone had beef with the master of the house, he may target his many wives, and maids. Once caught, they would be murdered gruesomely to make a point. However, this was not the case.

Anyone who was driven to murder from sheer rage wouldn’t stop at just killing people. You would want your target to feel fear and pain. Shen Jiu in particular would want for his enemies to suffer the worst sort of pain before they died.

The lack of poison could reasonably rule out foul play from other members of the household. Jealousy was a dangerous drug that killed many throughout the history of mankind.

Drowning and strangulation were other possible means of foul play, but there were no signs of this on any of the bodies. It was as if all the women simply died.

Of course, as a cultivator, it was not so easy to hide certain traces. All the women were lacking in vital energy. They were sucked dry. There was a bloody smell on all the deceased women, that only a cultivator with a keen sense of smell could pick up on. The corpses all had a pungent smell that masked the scent of blood and decay.

How contradictory for the women to smell bloody, considering it didn’t appear that any of the women had any outwardly injuries.

Lastly, it was faint… but he noticed the presence of a demon in their midst. This was no work of a human, but a demon. It was possible that all these murders were related to a demon cultivator who needed the human woman for a purpose.

How dare a demon station itself so close to his mountain peak!

Shen Jiu had spent much time with Ming Fan (his Luo Binghe bullying protégée), so the young man learned a lot from him, including what sorts of things to look into. He didn’t have to receive an order from Shen Jiu. He simply went and performed different tasks on his own accord.

The elder twin started to tap his fan against the open-faced palm of his other hand. This was an action he often did when he was idling about.

Amazing how he could talk about such a gruesome case so nonchalantly!

“All the women had a stench of blood on their bodies. It was checked, and their bodies contained blood, so it isn’t the case that the faint stench of blood came from them being drained of their blood. The smell was caused by something else. Another thing to note was that all the murdered women were very similar to each other, not only in age, but in build and height. That is another important thing to note.”

He’d given Ming Fan some instructions when Luo Binghe burst into the room, crying that Ning Yingying had disappeared.

It was regrettable, but Shen Jiu had to put faith in Ming Fan’s abilities to get the job done. He had a lot of investigating to do. Testimonies and alibies to collect.

“That’s the background story of why we descended from the Mountains. I followed the brat and found a rouge shop. The shop-keep also sold an assortment of perfumes. I was made to buy some of his wares to get any relevant information from him. He said that before the murdered women went missing, someone from the mansion would come to buy some of his wares. They’d always purchase the same thing. As a man who’d been at his trade for many years, he’s very confident in his ability to distinguish between people. All the women who visited his shop, purchasing the same item had the same voice and eyes. I’m sure you’ve realized by now, brother… we were dealing with a demon cultivator that used humans to cultivate. I had given the task to Luo Binghe to relay this information to Ming Fan and have him organize the rest of the disciples to ready themselves for battle. Additionally, they were to investigate who had left the premises after our arrival.”

He didn’t know this, but Ming Fan had sent out a disciple himself to relay the information he found to Shen Qingqiu. Luo Binghe and this disciple crossed paths. They exchanged information and turned back around.

“The reason why all the murdered women were similar in height and build was so that he could don the skins of one of his victims and disguise a corpse of a skin that has already served its purpose. He would meticulously and carefully peel the skin off, so none of the corpses looked to have any outwardly injuries. If you looked closely enough, you’d see where he had started his skinning process. If the builds and heights are too different, the skin would not be able to wrap around the corpse of another woman so well. The rouge and perfume with a strong fragrance was used to help mask the natural scent that is unique to each woman, and to hide the stench of blood. Ming Fan was tasked to question the residents of the mansion. He asked about what all the women had been doing before they went missing. Who had they kept in contact with? What were their personalities like? Relationships with each other? Were there any particular traits about each woman that was important to note, like walking habits, the colors of their eyes, their teeth, and more.”

One may think this was overkill, but it wasn’t. This was important to solving the case. Armed with all the knowledge he gained, Ming Fan had once again looked at all the women who had passed on, and noticed that there were inconsistencies with their traits. A woman who was said to have dark brown eyes suddenly had light brown eyes upon death? One woman prided herself of her pearly white and straight teeth had a tooth that was crooked and chipped. Why did one have a crooked finger that’s characteristic of another woman whose finger was crooked because of an old injury she sustained as a child?

After careful inspection, Ming Fan then noticed that their initial verdict of no outward injuries was incorrect.

All of these women had the same cuts on their bodies.

These women were wearing the skins of another. This would explain why a missing woman wouldn’t reappear until another woman went missing. All the reappearances were offset by one missing woman.

One woman was still missing, meaning that the culprit was still looking for another victim to claim for his own needs.

With the information they gathered, it was evident that all the deceased women were not wearing their own skins. As long as the order of the disappearances and reappearances were kept in order, it would be a simple matter to return the skins to the rightful owners.

This way, the women could at least be buried as their own identity, rather than another.

There was no need for fancy technology like DNA testing to solve this case. Shen Jiu was able to use his wits to figure out that the bodies and the skins didn’t match.

This situation always served as a reminder for Shen Yuan that Shen Jiu was an intelligent man who was very quick-witted. It was such a shame that he couldn’t use this brain of his to understand Luo Binghe’s potential and hug his thighs because of it.

Alas, Shen Yuan could only hope to slowly reform Shen Jiu for the better.

Figuratively on the edge of his seat, Shen Yuan wanted to know more about this scene that never showed up in the novel. How did Shen Jiu solve the mystery? What happened to Ning Yingying? Did Luo Binghe offer his aid in saving her? Was he okay?

“With all this information, time was off the essence if we wished to save Ying-er in time. The demon must have decided it had overstayed its welcome knowing that we have descended from the mountain and decided to run away.” The demon has come this far, so it couldn’t have been an ignorant fool who couldn’t tell when danger was nipping at its heels.

Now that the infamous Shen Qingqiu has descended from the mountain, notorious for his strong hatred for demon-kind has arrived, it was no longer safe to continue to prey upon his household.

The demon would have to change tactics and choose a victim that wasn’t related to the household. At this point, it was well-believed that the women were being killed for some kind of personal vendetta against the old man.

If this were ordinary people investigating the case, they would have been successfully lured away, but Shen Jiu wasn’t so easy to fool.

Since the demon had to choose a new target to kill that wasn’t related to the old man, who else but Ning Yingying was the best option? She came down the mountain alongside a powerful Peak Lord. She was of a higher quality compared to the regular people of this town.

Shen Jiu sighed, shaking his head regretfully. He originally allowed her to go shopping alongside Luo Binghe because he felt that the mansion was too dangerous for her to stay in. With women being killed one after another, there was no saying she’d be safe.

They’d just arrived, so word of cultivators arriving to solve the murder series hadn’t spread yet. Assuming that this was an outside job, getting her out of the mansion would keep her safe. Unfortunately, the culprit had already seen Ning Yingying.

An embarrassing oversight on his part, but who would have expected for Luo Binghe to be so useless! He couldn’t even protect a single girl.

“The brat returned much sooner than I expected because he’d met with a messenger halfway. I tasked him to investigate any seemingly abandoned buildings as that would be less conspicuous, making it easier to cultivate humans. Once he found anything, he was to promptly report back. Though lacking, this served as his punishment for losing Ying-er.”

Both brothers knew that while that was partly true, there was another aspect that Shen Jiu was failing to mention. He simply did not want to waste his time and energy in running around chaotically, looking for an abandoned building.

Seeing that Luo Binghe was young and easy to bully, Shen Jiu gave him the task.

Shen Yuan understood this point, but he didn’t point it out, “I see, seeing as she was kidnapped not long after the two went shopping, that means the culprit knew of your arrival. Only those who were in the mansion knew you’ve come as you reported straight to the mansion upon arrival.  Knowing that their cover would soon be blown, the only option available to them is to find another target to kill. Greedy, they set their sights on Ying-er.” This is why Shen Jiu made them investigate anyone who had left the mansion since their arrival.

He never specified they must be women because there was no telling that the demon would have shed their previous victim’s skin off in a fit of desperation. There was no way of telling just yet whether the demon had the ability to manipulate others either.

If the demon had such an ability, it would explain why all the women were killed without much of a struggle at all. Taking this into consideration, it’s possible that the demon could manipulate others into doing its bidding.

“How perceptive of you, brother. I understand. So, I take it Ming Fan narrowed down the suspects and you were able to find a culprit?”

As expected of his younger brother, he was able to catch on. It may have taken him longer to get to the same conclusion as he did, but he figured it out eventually. Saying that Shen Yuan was just as smart as Shen Jiu was too generous, but it was wrong to say that he was an idiot.

He was rather naïve and careless, however.

“Yes, Butterfly, or whatever her name was, she was our prime suspect. I’d waited for Ming Fan to arrive with his fellow disciples. We’d set off to find the brat when we felt a strong surge of demonic energy.” Shen Jiu’s well-formed eyebrows furrowed deep after saying so, which filled Shen Yuan’s heart with dread.

What could have possibly happened for him to make such a face?

Heart palpitations and sweaty palms was highly inelegant, but in the privacy of their room, Shen Yuan frankly didn’t care for appearances at the moment. “… Ying-er… I’m sure she is safe, because brother didn’t report any casualties.”

Shen Jiu’s brows flattened out, his head bobbing once in approval. His brother understood him quite well. He had to give his brother praise for not singling out Luo Binghe at this point in time. “Yes, we made haste to an abandoned building where we witnessed the brat had disobeyed my orders and confronted the demon himself.”

A look of realization dawned upon Shen Yuan’s facial expressions. Anyone who dared to disobey Shen Jiu should expect ‘bad luck’ to grace him until his dying breath. Coupled with the fact that the very one who disobeyed him was the very Luo Binghe he detested… it was obvious to know why Shen Jiu was upset earlier.

“If not for the fact he’d acted against my orders in order to save Ying-er’s life, I would have slaughtered him on the spot.”

The implicit, ‘I can’t harm him in front of Yingying lest I wish her to cry for years to come’ was understood by both parties. You could even say that it was a reward for saving Ning Yingying that spared Luo Binghe’s life.

Shoulders slumped with visible relief. If Shen Qingqiu arrived on the scene, that meant both Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying could rest easy knowing they were saved. Not even Shen Jiu would smite Luo Binghe in a situation like that.

He had an image to keep in front of Ning Yingying, and it would do him more damage to harm her little savior.

“Upon my order, the disciples attacked and made quick work of the demon. We wrapped up and reported back to the mansion. We stayed until Ying-er had recovered enough to travel back up the mountains.” While he didn’t say a word about it, Luo Binghe’s wounds were treated.

Don’t get him wrong, he’d rather leave the brat to suffer his injuries on his own, but Ning Yingying wouldn’t stop crying about it. Luo Binghe put himself at risk to save her.

Tossing a bottle of medicine his way, they returned to the Mansion to tell the old man the ‘good news.’

During the time that Ning Yingying was recovering from her horrific experience, Shen Jiu took the time to scope the various shops that he paid little attention to previously. He never forgot about his other duty, which was to find souvenirs to bring back to his younger brother.

Shen Yuan was content to know that Luo Binghe was okay. Even if his negligence led to Ning Yingying being kidnapped, he still aided in saving her from the demon. That should award him some points in Shen Jiu’s book.

Speaking of getting points… Shen Jiu hadn’t reported to Qiong Ding Peak yet to tell Yue Qingyuan the results of the mission. What did he think about the progress of the disciples? What happened to the demon that was terrorizing the city down below?

It didn’t matter if Shen Yuan hadn’t the slightest of clues as to what relationship the two had, but he wasn’t blind to the fact that Yue Qingyuan held a strong level of importance for Shen Jiu.

There were times that Shen Yuan considered the reason behind the Sect Leader being kind to him was only to garner Shen Jiu’s approval.

“Right, brother, when will you leave for Qiong Ding Peak to report on the events of your trip down the mountain?”

Silence soon made the atmosphere thick with awkwardness, but this was within Shen Yuan’s expectations. Shen Jiu would always react oddly whenever Yue Qingyuan was brought up. Whatever their relationship was, there was a thick tension between them that could be cut with a knife.

“How would you like to go in my stead?”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ding!

What will you do? Will you go in his place or will you not? Is this another test he’s giving you? 

What reason does he have to ask you to go in his place? Whatever could it be? Think about it and choose whatever option you think is the best! 

To note, not all questions are weighted the same way. Some have more drastic consequences if you don’t choose the right answer, but that’s not true for all the questions that will be asked. 

Some questions may result in a turning point in the plot, or it will give you the chance to unlock special flashback events! 

Observe how the story progresses and decide for yourself how important you think a given question is!

“So...? How important to you think this question is to the progression of this game? Pay special attention to the build up of tension, that may help you decide! Hurry up and vote!” 

                            [CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE POLL!]

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[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love - Episode 12

Yan Zhi stops that ugly dude and says that the fan isn’t a family treasure but actually belongs to one of her friends. He’s like you two are together! And tries to get away when Yan Zhi asks him if he even knows how to use this fan. Then she takes it thanks to her magic and a lightning bolt strikes the evil merchant. Bai Qian keeps her fan and Yan Zhi  tells to keep it well. Then Bai Qian taps the tip of her nose with it and Yan Zhi has a flashback of Si Yin. Then Bai Qian follows Yan Zhi and gives her the fan. STUPID MOVE. Oh well. Yan Zhi is a little embarrassed and Bai Qian says that the fan used to belong to her friend, it has more value to her and anyways she herself can’t use it. If she’s still too uncomfortable, maybe she can get something for her instead. Back home, Bai Qian is worried about her snake because it kept sleeping ever since they came back to the mountain.

Ye Hua’s wound gets treated and Lian Song asks him if he doesn’t have anything to say about Su Jin’s wedding and Ye Hua is like, I don’t care. So Lian Song goes on with how he has to get ready for war against the Jiao. Ye Hua is already ready for that. He’s too good you know. Then he leaves, and not long after Zhi Yue comes to look for him, shortly followed by Su Jin. Since Ye Hua is already gone, Su Jin leaves, leaving Zhi Yue alone with Lian Song. Lian Song tells her that she can like whoever she wants except for Donghua and when she says that he’s not a piece of rock, Lian Song is like, who knows, not even Fushen (the one who created the heavens and all, Mo Yuan’s dad) didn’t know where Dong Hua came from.

Ye Hua asks Siming about Mo Yuan and Si Yin. He doesn’t understand how come Si Yin’s weapon would be left in the mortal realm. Siming really has no idea.

Bai Qian is a little down because the snake slept for like a week already, but then it wakes up and she’s so happy. She got a new blanket for them and while she strips to get ready to sleep, Ye Hua is like, stop, don’t take off anymore clothes. She hugs him to sleep and he takes back his human form hahaha. And he thinks it’s a good thing she lost the fan.

Fengjiu is looking for something to prove that she’s Bai Qian’s relative, but Bai Qian is rather sober so she doesn’t own anything like that, the only thing that she’s known for is the pearls she likes to give here and there. Fengjiu wants to leave Qing Qiu to repay her debt of kindness. She tells Migu not tell them where she’s gone and she gives him the scroll left by Bai Qian.

They are all worried about Bai Qian since she disappeared. When Zhe Yan sees the scroll, he gets worried. He says Bai Qian went to seal Qing Cang again. So that’s why she disappear.  The fact that she left the scroll means that she was prepared to not come back. Bai Zhen tries to comfort his mom, saying she can’t be dead now. She blames herself that it’s because she went to Kunlunxu, she shouldn’t have let her go. They manage to calm down mommy and decide to look for Bai Qian together, it’s sure she’s not dead.

In front of Taichen palace, Fengjiu meets Chengyu. I liked the Chengyu from the Pillow Book, but I like this one better <3 Tomboy girl, you rock! Fengjiu knows right away that Chengyu isn’t a boy because she’s used to Bai Qian also dressing up as a man. Chengyu wonders why Fengjiu is there. Fengjiu says she’ll tell her everything only if she takes her in. Chengyu tells her that the only way to get in is to be a maid. Siming tries to stop her from doing so. Siming asks her who helps her in doing so and she says it’s Chengyu, she looked pretty so she trusted her haha. I love how Siming is scolding her and she doesn’t even realize and Siming is just... why am I even explaining this to her hahaha! So he tells her that Chengyu was a mortal before and she’s the girl Lian Song likes. Fengjiu gets bullied by Zhi Yue and Chengyu cheers her up. It ends on  Fengjiu being super proud of how beautiful he aunt is. And she is right to be. Yang Mi is a goddess **

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love of Dream - Episode 46

Since Donghua is now living Fengjiu, there won’t be a chance for the beast thing to happen, if you remember how originally how Shen Ye confessed his feelings for Alanre. Therefore, the turning point for Shen Ye to confess his feelings for Alanre won’t happen unless Fengjiu forcefully creates an opportunity.  That’s twisted, I pity very much Fengjiu for having to go through something like that. That is not nice.

To keep the timeline as close as  it is supposed to be, Fengjiu organizes a meeting between Shen Ye and Junuo. However, this time around she decides to go too, so she can satisfy her curiosity. Her coming though makes Shen Ye quite puzzled. Junuo thanks Shen Ye for saving her, but he doesn’t accept her thanks, the one she should thank is her father. The only reason is saved her is for his bloodline wouldn’t go extinct since he owes him. Junuo thought he had feelings for her, maybe a little, but he says he only came to have a little bit of fresh air, not to see her. They fight a little because of Alanre and he says that if he wants to be trapped with Alanre, it has nothing to do with her.

When they are done, Fengjiu calls Shen Ye over and offers him some tea. And while they talk, she drops tea on herself, making Shen Ye rushing to check if her hand is okay. It is, because it was only cold water and she did it on purpose. She tries to make him say that he likes her, but he won’t so she confesses instead of Alanre. It finally works, but then Donghua comes in and sees FEngjiu in Shen Ye’s arms when he got flowers and all for her... This is getting complicated, too complicated...

Then Fengjiu tells Shen Ye that she’s not Alanre and he already knows that. He asks her who she is and reight then Fengjiu sees Donghua. She rushes running after him, leaving Shen Ye back there. She really doesn’t care about him. And here I have to wonder. Does Donghua not have any trust in Fengjiu? She has been following him like a little puppy for thousands of years and would even throw herself from the top of a cliff for him - she did indeed. I think, in my humble opinion, that he should know better to trust a little bit more than that.

Shen Ye thinks about how Fengjiu blamed him for never telling Alanre that he loved her and he thinks of the past. He is pitiful, really. In the history of dramas, he’s probably one of the most miserable characters I have seen.

Donghua comes back drenched by the rain. He lies on Fengjiu’s bed and doesn’t want Fengjiu to leave him. She says to let go, she’s going to prepare hot water for a bath. For him. So he won’t catch a cold. Then, while bathing, he says he still owes her too much - true dat - so he will forgive her no matter what, that since she feels empathetic for Alanre’s story she started to fall for Shen Ye. She’s like, stop saying nonsense, so he puts his head under water and since he suddenly stopped talking, Fengjiu is worried he might have fainted and rushes in to check on him. Right then, he comes out and asks her how Shen Ye is better than him. It’s interesting here that for once, Donghua is doubting that he’s literally the best and that maybe somebody might surpasses him in some way. Must be hard on his pride. Fengjiu just answers that even the thought of comparing never crossed her mind, not like this. When she tries to leave, he pulls her into the water. I don’t know why, but I think this is disgusting. Maybe I am being childish but... he’s like naked in there, washing himself... That’s no way to treat a girl. He’s even climbing over her, this is so improper. I’m not comfortable at all with this scene. He says he thought about getting rid of Shen Ye, but it would have made her sad. So she says she likes him too much to like someone else and kisses him on the cheek. Before submerging herself in water, probably to hide that she’s embarrassed? But Fengjiu darling, that’s even worse. I am going to sound like a granny but... It’s a BATH so of course he would wear NO clothes in there. Donghua is so happy, he touches his cheek before going underwater too. I guess this was supposed to be cute? But maybe I am too perverted? I don’t know, I was uncomfortable throughout that whole scene and I hope this was classified PG13. Anyways, they end up sleeping on the same bed and here I am pretty sure they did naughty things.

Oh yep they did. Oh wow. Well. She had wanted him for thousand years. Anways, she prepares some purple sweet potato pastry as it is the tradition when a couple erm... consumes the wedding for the first time. Do you say that in English? I don’t know. If there’s a better way, let me know in the comments, always looking to improve my English. They eat sneakily so nobody would know and basically eat the same piece at the same time, Lady and the Tramp style much. That level of cheesiness though. I don’t think it matches with Donghua’s personality at all, but what stupid things one wouldn’t do out of love.

Su Moye sends a letter to Donghua so he would come back to help and finish the magic tool, since it’s in the last stages of fabrication. However, doesn’t seem like Donghua is willing to leave Fengjiu’s side anytime soon.

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love of Dream - Episode 37

Donghua keeps on healing Junuo and taking care of her.  She’s almost good now. When he leaves, Changdi follows him to tell him to attend her mother’s birthday party. She tries to diss on Alanre, but Donghua puts her right back in her place.

At the party, Donghua feels Fengjiu’s energy and stands up, looking in a hurry. He then leaves following what seems to be a maid and thus misses Fengjiu coming in with Moye. He shows her Alanre’s sisters and mother, but when she sees that Qingdian, the snake, is there too, she’s like sorry not sorry, but I am out of here, no matter how Moye tries to convince her that it would look really bad if she doesn’t attend the banquet. She still runs away and Moye ends up going by himself.

Donghua realizes that the maid isn’t Fengjiu and Changdi takes him back to the banquet. Everybody’s looking for Alanre and Moye has to make excuses for her. Did he recognize Donghua though? That part wasn’t really clear to me, but it wouldn’t make much sense if he didn’t.  I don’t know.

Anyways, in the end, Moye goes to meet with Fengjiy and tells her how come she’s already married with Xize. Basically they were bethroted to each other but never lived together. Seems like Xize was never really in his wife in that manner, so it’s only in a name wedding.

So Moye noticed that he’s Donghua. Makes sense. I mean, it’s hard not to notice, he has some really powerful aura around him.  Anyways. In order to have Fengjiu still help him investigate on Alanre’s death, he doesn’t tell her he found him already. He drinks a whole lot of alcohol, gets drunk and when he wakes up, it’s to find Fengjiu trying to hide in his room and she has to wake him up because he thinks she’s Alanre. She wants to stay at his place for the night so she doesn’t have to sleep in her room with the snake, which she’s afraid of. Of course he wouldn’t let her and he tricks her to knock her off and take her back to her own room. While he takes her back, Junuo and Changdi both see him carrying her.

Next morning, Junuo invites both Xize and Alanre for breakfast. You should see Donghua’s eyes when he sees Fengjiu coming in. Then she eats a little, bothers her sisters and leaves. Like the queen she is. Donghua follows her out. She goes to meet with Moye and asks him for help to find a way to get rid of the snake. She wants to trick him by getting somebody to wear her clothes and then pretend to be her: Qingdian can’t see really well and uses his sense of smell to find Alanre. Since she would feel bad doing that to anyone, she wants to trick Changdi into wearing her clothes. To make her come out, she plans to write a letter to her from Xize, whom she loves, so she would think he invited her on a date. And then Moye would use magic to pretend to be Xize and trick her.

Donghua bumps into Shen Ye and he is intrigued because their spiritual energy is so similar. And your face too. Just in case you forgot what you look like.

Fengjiu gets her plan to trap Changdi ready.

I am sorry, I didn’t have much to say about this episode honestly and it’s going to be short reviews for the few next ones too. A lot was happening, but in a way that it was hard to know is relevant and what isn’t, plus they talk a loooooot. So I am summarizing the whole stuff which makes it quite short. Please bear with me!

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love of Dream - Episode 51

Fengjiu returns to Taichen palace where Bai Zhen has been waiting for her. It’s about time she goes back to Qingqiu as in fifteen days will be a very important day for Fengjiu: the hidden weapon ceremony. Bai Zhen says that if she didn’t come back in time, he thought he could transform himself to look like her and take her place, but since she came back on time, everything is good. She’s not ready at all, before being trapped in the Fanyin valley she didn’t start to prepare as there was no hurry, but then now... it’s a little time to get ready and she tries to convince Bai Zhen to go in her stead. He tells her that she’s still young, she can cut on her sleeping and prepare accordingly. This ceremony is very important.

Chengyu is finally relieved now that Fengjiu came back. And she even thanks Lian Song for that.Those two came a long way, he’s so sincere about courting her, even though she brushes him away all the time, it’s cute. Lian Song wonders how comme Cheng Yu hasn’t gone to see Fengjiu yet and it seems that’s partly because Donghua is a very possessive lover who doesn’t like being apart from Fengjiu and doesn’t like to share Fengjiu with others haha. No kidding. Pretty sure Fengjiu wants to be next to Donghua all the time anyways. But that’s just Lian Song’s guess. Actually it’s mostly because she’s working really hard to prepare for the ceremony.  She needs to make a box for it and it’s taking time. Lian Song says that won’t be a problem, since for sure Donghua is going to help her and he’s a pro at that kind of stuff (is there even something that Donghua can’t do properly in the first place? Except cooking). However Chengyu tells Lian Song that Fengjiu told her she doesn’t want to be all dependant of Donghua, she doesn’t want to be a useless thing by his side.  That’s very noble. Anyways, so basically, she won’t really ask for Donghua’s help and do most of the job by herself. They have a bet on it and Changyu says that if he wins, she’ll treat him to eat Fengjiu’s cooking and Lian Song is like... that’s not really a prize because if I dare to eat her cooking, Donghua is probably going to get jelly again and skin me alive. Donghua still helps Fengjiu, but more by giving her advice in the beginning and then she goes on her work by herself.

Miao defeats the Biyi bird clan tribe? Not too sure of what happened there, but they all vanish somehow. Well even trapped in, she’s a real bad ass powerful woman. Then she orders Nie Chuyin to get that rest of her energy sealed by Xu Yang faster than that. I don’t really get anything about how and why, since we always jump back and forth and everything. Perhaps I should have watched this with subtitles haha. Anyways, now Chuyin has to get her a hundred mo people per day, to feed her. He doesn’t really like that. Well, that’s what happens when you go against your on clan, it backlashes.

So, we have to add another hobby for Donghua on top of playing go and fishing and that would be to look at Fengjiu. I still can’t get used to that Donghua actually haha! But it’s kind of cute that he wants to protect her so much and takes such good care of her. He asks her when will she bring him to Qingqiu and she says when she convinced her grandmom and dad. Which she didn’t want to tell him, but ends up doing so unconsciously. I love how Fengjiu is so innocent in some ways. It’s sometimes, often, annoying, but it makes her super honest at some point. Except from when she pretends to hate Donghua. That wasn’t very honest. However, it worked in getting him to be interested in her.

Finally, Fengjiu finished her sword case and while Donghua is sleeping, she starts drawing a house which would basically be her dream residence. At first, I thought she was going to draw his portrait haha! That was so cliché though, I am glad that she actually drew something else. So when Donghua wakes up he has a look at the plan and isn’t happy about the fact that she gave him his own room instead of making one for the two of them. Then they talk about how many kids they want. Wow hahaha! They are not wasting any time with this relationship. They started dating, decided on marriage and they are already onto the kids. I think Fengjiu is still too young for kids. She’s still a kid herself. And Donghua is like... too old. He’s like... the granddad of all immortals xD I’m sorry, when I think of their age gap I just cringe a little. Usually, I try not to think about it. It’s weird though, because the age gap didn’t bother me at all between Bai Qian and Ye Hua. Anyways, then he takes her to sleep, but I guess they don’t just sleep. I’m pretty sure they are up to some night fun together haha. Donghua is sooooo a totally different person when it comes to Fengjiu.

Bai Yi is really surprised that Donghua himself would come to assist to Fengjiu’s ceremony: he’s not the type to come for that kind of thing. Zhe Yan is like, oh you will probably understand soon enough. Well, definitely. Say hi to your future son in law. Fengjiu asks Bai Zhen to come with her later when she introduces someone to the family, for moral support. I love how Bai Zhen is just both the best big brother and the best uncle. Wether it is Bai Qian or Fengjiu, they always come to him when they face trouble. Bai Qian was probably just a tad more independent though. Anyways, so it starts and at first, Fengjiu struggles at it. However, looking at Donghua, she remembers of what he thought her. She summons a piece of clothe to blindfold her eyes and she manages to win. Yay! But then, Nie Chuyin comes out of nowhere, hiiiiii is it me you’re looking foooor? Well basically, usually there should be a swording contest with a person from the same generation, but when Bai Qian got through that ceremony, they skipped that part because she was a girl and they thought it was unfair (so sexist, now Bai Qian could probably kick all of those people asses hahaha) and they weren’t planning on having anyone challenge Fengjiu. However, since it’s not an official rule, she can’t really refuse the challenge. Bai Yi tries to stop it, saying that Nie Chuyin of course isn’t a match for his precious daughter, but he argues that he meets the criteria. And Qingqiu really hates to lose face, so they can’t really say no, I guess they will have to oblige... yikes.

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love of Dream - Episode 38

Sooooo, Fengjiu’s plan to trick Changdi worked pretty well. I actually really enjoyed having someone trying to pretend to be Donghua and on that... I don’t know if Su Moye does a good job or not! But at least, he’s trying and if the speaking isn’t similar, well at least in terms of appearance, props to you Moye! Changdi falls in the small well Fengjiu and Moye made to trap her and Moye takes her to Alanre’s quarter so she changes into her clothes. Which ends up by her being chased around by Qingdian, as planned.

By the river though, Fengjiu mistakes Donghua for Moye and hands him a mask so they can go together in town. It seems wearing the mask is a tradition for the festival she wants to attend.

I know I sound like a granny always repeating the same stuff, but... I hate Shen Ye’s hair. He looks so depressing. Everytime I see him I am just meeeeh. Anyways. Changdi asks for help to her dad while she’s being chased around by Qingdian and Shen Ye puts the snake to sleep so it would stop running after Changdi. The whole situation made the king very unhappy about Alanre.

Donghua is following Fengjiu and it is so creepy because he doesn’t really say anything and lets her think that he’s Su Moye. Anyways, she’s somewhat really dumb on that one and doesn’t notice anything. While they wait for the flowers to bloom, she starts singing. And... oh boy. The singing voice doesn’t sound anything close to Fengjiu’s voice.  Ah... the joys of dubbing... They could have done better though and found a singer that has a similar voice to the girl dubbing Fengjiu’s part.

Good, finally, Fengjiu notices at least that Moye is a little bit different than usual. She asks him if he likes somebody and answers for him: it must be Alanre. Then flowers start blooming and she gets so excited about it. To me it looks more like... the white part of dandelions but translucent. Still, it’s really pretty. Then he says she’s wrong, the girl he likes isn’t Alanre. Moreover, since he chose her, she’s good in every aspect. Then she says she must also have liked someone like that before, but didn’t get to be loved back. He says maybe this person is regretting now not having realizing earlier and she shakes her head. She says it’s time to go and he holds her back. Seems she feels it’s way too weird now and she decides to take Donghua’s make down. And then she runs away when she sees he’s not Su Moye.

The king, Alanre and Changdi’s father, is really about Changdi fainting from being chased around by Qingdian. Moye pleads for the king to reduce his anger and punish him too because if he’s unhappy about Alanre, it’s because he didn’t teach her properly, he wasn’t strict enough. Even her big brother speaks for her. He then punishes her to reflect for ten days.

Not long after she was sent to reflect in the dungeon, guards come to get her and knocks her unconscious. When she wakes she’s in a worse prison. Changdi ordered for Alanre to be put into there, there are plants hurting her and all. Not long after, there’s a fire in the palace. Shen Ye is the one to save Alanre and Donghua is one step too late. She then calls for Donghua. Shen Ye gives her some medicine and takes her away. It seems he took her to Moye’s place. When she tells Moye that it’s Shen Ye that saved her, he’s surprised. But eh... they don’t talk much about it? Anyways, she’s worried as she can’t reenact Alanre’s life, he won’t be able to know the reason of her death. But Moye tells her it doesn’t matter because her actions won’t change how the other people felt about Alanre and it is there that lies the answer he’s looking for.

[dreamingsushi]

Eternal Love of Dream - Episode 19

There were no plays about a king and a beauty in town, so Xuanren wonders why is she lying to him. Outside, Qingti has waited for a while, but he won’t see him. Qingti says he has something really important to discuss that cannot wait, but the eunuch tells him he probably knows in his heart why the king won’t see him and some things are better left unsaid. He asks him to leave.

Song Xieren gives to Nie Chuyin the map of the royal tomb. As soon as they get their hands on the jade, they will help him to get the throne he wants so much.

The empress dowager goes to see Xuanren in his palace. Seems like he fell asleep on his desk. He was drinking and only totally wakes when he realizes that it’s the empress that’s sitting next to him. She scolds him for being such a mess. She tells him he can’t be like that only because of a woman. He’s not up to the people expectations. Also she has something else to discuss with him. He should chose a woman to become his empress. She won’t bother him too much about it, but she warns him that the empress has to come from a good family and cannot be from unknown origins, otherwise it is going to be a failure for sure.

Mu Yun tells Xiaojiu that the king is going to chose his queen (I’m sorry I keep mixing up king and queen) and it’s a good opportunity for her to win. But Xiaojiu isn’t intending to participate in that fight. She doesn’t think that it’s a position that you win. Later at night, she’s rather  depressed so Chengyu comes to see her. She should be happy that he’s about to chose his consort queen, but she actually can’t. She managed to pass the love trial, but she’s really unhappy. She wonders who he’s going to chose and Chengyu says as long as it’s not her, whoever it is good.

So it’s time for Xuanren to announce which of his wife will become his Queen. Please. Not Fengjiu. I mean, he can’t be that stupid. Yep. He chose Xiaojiu. Qingti looks so sad. Poor him. The ministers all oppose to that idea. The only person who doesn’t say anything is Qingti. Xuanren asks him what does he think about it and Qingti says he doesn’t have anything to say. He looks so hurt.

Queen dowager is really mad that Xuanren chose Xiaojiu as his Queen. He asks for forgiveness and tells her that he had to chose her. First, because in his heart there’s only her. Second, because she saw the jade and it reacted to her presence, which means she was sent by the heavens to help them. After he told her that, she sends him back.

Xiaojiu is really surprised that she has been chosen to be the Queen. While Mu Yun is extremely happy for her, Xiaojiu is getting depressed. This means all of her efforts went to nothing. Donghua’s love trial is a failure so far...

The next day, Xiaojiu is walking in the palace and realizes that Qingti is following. YES! TAKE HER AWAY! And steal her heart <3 I would love that. Xiaojiu sends away all of her maids so he could come out. He asks her if he should congratulate her and if she’s happy. She says that the future is so unsure that there’s nothing to congratulate her for. And that she should be happy. But her face tells him she’s not. He tells her again, if she’s unhappy, to tell him. But she tells to not be a fool, it’s not like he has a way to help her in getting away. Well... yes, you ride his horse together and you go back to Qingqiu. If you run away with another man, the trial is a success. Let that man be Qingti, bring him to Qingqiu to thank him for his bravery and offer him a new life. Together. Qingqiu is a good place for the two of you and your parents are looking for a husband for you. You will never find someone like that again. He gives her a letter in which he wrote some things he always wanted to tell her. Then leaves.

Siming comes right when she’s reading Qingti’s letter and says the turning point finally came. She aks him what to do, because so far, he’s still so very nice to her and there’s no way to end the love trial. Siming tells her to use Qingti genuine heart towards her to get away from this. She doesn’t really want to imply him into this, he wasn’t supposed to be related to Donghua’s love trial, but Siming tells her that ever since she changed the game at the battle, everyone’s fate has changed. But before they can finish they talk, the king comes to see her.

Xiaojiu ordered that everybody in the barracks should have new clothes. Qingti isn’t really eager to try his on. But when he looks at it, he finds something curious. It’s a note giving him a meeting point.

I love Xiaojiu’s dress, the black suits her so well. She doesn’t like it very much, it’s too... luxurious. She likes things much more simple. But Xuanren says that’s the dress she’s going to wear for the ceremony, which is much more than just appointing her as his Queen, but their wedding. She looks so depressed. She’s even crying and he tells her not to cry. She hugs him, thinking sorry.

When Mu Yun comes the next day, Xiaojiu is no where to be found. Xuanren is so eager he can’t keep in place and the dowager queen tells him to calm down. Then the eunuch comes in a hurry to tell them that Xiaojiu disappeared. Then the dowager queen tells him to send Ye Qingti to find her, but he disappeared too. They go to search Xiaojiu palace and they found the letters Qingti wrote to her. She probably left them on purpose to hurt Xuanren.

Oh it was not her idea. She wanted to burn them. But Siming comes in and won’t let her do so. Only if he knows she ran away can he completely give up on her. She then asks, won’t it hurt Qingti? But Siming tells her that since he chose to follow her, alive or dead, it’s the same result. TAKE HIM BACK WITH YOU. I don’t want Qingti to die TT It’s basically, so far, the only interesting character that we got to see in this drama.

Xuanren is super angry and orders that they chase them and bring them back.

Wow. So the episodes with my beloved Qingti are soon to be over ): I am so sad though about it. Depending on the ending, maybe I will write something to make my heart at ease. It’s not my type, I don’t write fictions but for this character... If I don’t like his ending, I have to write back something for him. He deserves better.