#mlc

[junemermaid]

the thing about li lianhua, though, is this:

he would vastly prefer to be ephemeral and unattached to others, but he is also full of desires he's stuffed away for ten years and then when they come roaring back to plague him, he's actually unprepared to face them

the entire text of the show is him being levered out of his decade-long rut of not doing anything much, because first fang duobing and then di feisheng crash-land (back) into his life and wreck his plans of a quiet exit. in this they're duly assisted by qiao wanmian, the rest of the sigu sect, and the whole bevy of charming npcs they meet along the show

but as much as li lianhua complains, the doctor doth protest too much. because ultimately he lets them in, he allows himself to be roped into friendship and trust and intimacy, and every little gossamer thread of connection is another that he will eventually need to sever again

and still. he can't help it. stop the presses, local man fails spectacularly at non-attachment! under all the lies and schemes and evasions, he wants things and he enjoys people and cannot resist a proper meddle even when he's sagely telling you he's just passing through. under the layers his heart still burns, and that is the tragedy and the wonder of him

even when he has neither world nor time enough, he still entangles himself. it is that constant push and pull within himself that really makes him the Most Character

[acequinz]

I always assumed the treaty would go both ways.

Sigu sect will not interfere with the Jinyuan alliance and they will instead keep out of at least the sigu sect area.

And clearly their fight caused a lot of deaths which might have been what pushed for at least a temporary treaty.

Since sigu sect was formed to fight the evil alliances and they already had created a big name for themselves it means that they had to have fought hard battles for a fucking while.

And Jinyuan alliance was obviously stronger since they weren't in constant battle or war with well other good sects. Maybe fights here and then but not war. There might even have been a pause between the evil sects interfighting if there's an outsider force like the sigu sect.

But then you consider sigu sect and their state and how they ended up after the treaty did end up breaking, they were completely shattered and almost beyond repair. Especially with LXY gone, they were never able to reform.

Even the Baichuan court cannot compare as repeated through canon.

As the leader of the sect there's no way LXY wouldn't know that.

And we know he was a cocky teenager and very proud. So he had to have seen how bad the situation was inside sigu sect to put off fighting for 5 years.

Probably going to use those 5 years to pull the sect together and fix things to be back at their full potential before going in for the big fight.

And of course Di Feisheng would agree to that treaty. He would have wanted to fight Li Xiangyi at his fucking best. Sect and all.

So he would patiently wait for that big fight with an opponent he could trust would only get stronger and fight to the fullest when he was ready.

I think it's also why he chose to leave and become LLH, because he had know the damage for sigu sect would be huge if they went to eat with the Jinyuan alliance. Whether they win or lose. Yet he still went blind in rage and started the fight.

That wasn't him fighting for the greater good. That was him fighting for own personal reasons and that had resulted in the destruction that was left behind of sigu sect.

And of course Shan Gudao will be salty about the treaty. He wanted the glory that came with winning. He was never a good leader. At the end of the day he wasn't morally good, he did not give a fuck about the damages that would occur. The people that would be lost. He was reckless till the end. He never cared about anyone but himself.

Not even his own son, well at least not until FDB actually became a capable fighter. He had given up on him. In fact it was LXY who shared kind words with him and pushed him to succeed.

Li Xiangyi was cocky but that was only about his own abilities, he had full faith in his own talents. That did not mean he was blind to the plight of others.

If he was then he wouldn't have such big goals as making the world a better place. He wouldn't have so many loyal followers if he wasn't a good leader.

He made calculated decisions to create a better world and he missed one spot where he was blinded by rage for someone he loved.

But at the end of the day, he was still a good person trying his best.

And he quit the moment he realised that he has made a big mistake.

The truce was necessary because even he knows you can't build a better future solely on dead bodies.

You can't rush things blindly. No you need to be smart about it. Even justice needs to take its time to be precise and strong.

I'm really curious as to what brought about the treaty between Sigu Sect and Jinyuan Alliance. This was the reasoning Li Xiangyi gave when he was asked about it.

Which makes little sense because Li Xiangyi was an arrogant kid and he prolly wouldn't mind 1v4-ing the Kings of Jinyuan. And Jinyuan being more powerful at that point poses more of a threat and an even more reason to eradicate the lot but his answer was a treaty.

And it was not a ceasefire type of way, it was a you do you kind of deal

Li Xiangyi basically said Sigu is not going to interfere and given that his sect is prolly the only one that can keep Jinyuan in check, that is like giving Jinyuan a free pass to wreak havoc around the Jianghu. And for five fucking years.

Now, the narrative has repeatedly told us the notoriety of both Jinyuan and Di Feisheng and also gave us the main reason of why Sigu Sect was created

And yet Li Xiangyi was willing to let evil go unchecked for five years when he signed that treaty. I suck at math but it doesn't take a Lahan to know the math isn't mathing.

Even Shan Gudao pointed this out, even calling Xiangyi a coward for well, basically bending the knee because lbr, the one who gains the most in that treaty is Jinyuan. Just imagine Jiao Liqiao cackling her way through slaughtering whoever slighted her and meanwhile Sigu will def take a flak if they just let that be.

But how did Li Xiangyi respond to that? He just went it is what it is. Loool

But seriously, did Xiangyi lose a bet or something? Because damn whatever could make him see past the values he wanted to uphold and make peace with Jinyuan.

[teamiris]

I lik e him

[loveable-sea-lemon]

so fucking funny 😭

(twitter link)

[gusu-emilu]

Mysterious Lotus Casebook + text posts (1/?)

[maybe-boys-do-love]

Mix Sahaphap gets to perform (and has the performance chops to perform) in a style that I’ve never seen any other male actor get to embody. Mix gets to unironically play the #strongfemalecharacter. The Beatrice, the Elizabeth Bennett, the Jo March. Strong-willed, emotional, kind-hearted.

Not only do the plot points line up, but Mix, more than any BL actor I’ve seen, fully leans into the embodiment of this archetype. In his roles, he rolls his eyes, pouts, banters flirtatiously, softens his posture and expression at small details. He doesn’t over-exaggerate and imposition other characters but his face also doesn’t hold back his character’s thoughts and judgments. And when the moments arrive, he lets all the hurt and anguish pour out in shatters of tears and visible heartbreak—the star-counting scene, anyone????—in a way that harkens to the operatic emotionality of well-done melodramas, soap-operas, and their contemporary Thai equivalent of Lakorn. It’s only that these have never been men’s roles in those.

It’s no surprise that one of Mix’s roles—Cupid’s Last Wish—is explicitly a gender body-swap, and Tian in A Tale of Thousand Stars is (albeit explicitly denied within the show) heavily connected to gender body-swapping. What Mix specializes in as an actor, and does exceptionally well, has been defined as feminine. To depict a kind of queer expression in this style is novel because it’s not camp, it’s not okama, it’s not a soft or femboy, it’s not a BL twink (Mix has been mostly excluded from the schoolyards and quads of the BL universe except for a role as a senior crush in Fish Upon the Sky). It’s too sincere and too adult for any of that.

In Moonlight Chicken we get to see, without the pretense of gendered mysticism, this performance style’s seduction, warmth, wit, and explosiveness within the framework of a general gay form of expression. It says that this kind of femininity might just be a gay thing. Not all gay men exhibit it, obviously—queer men aren’t a monolith. Still, it gives us something to consider about how we observe performance of queerness on screen, especially in front of an audience that puts so much more emphasis on ships, heat, and pairing chemistry to assess how well they perform a BL role. Could we look for other features to judge performance of queerness instead of how well they kiss?

Seme and uke roles would be the major performance style categories loyal BL fans assess actors with, yet even within the archetype his character’s fill within BL narratives, Mix’s performances differ from the typical uke depiction in BL because he really doesn’t perform them as passive. Rather, Mix’s characters and his portrayal of them are dynamic and demanding. It certainly fits certain stereotypes of ukes (Gilbert!) and their gay stereotype equivalent of bottoms as pillow princesses and brats. Mix’s characters, though, have more drive, agency, and compassion than that, and he plays them with all of those currents running underneath.

We certainly have openly gay writer/director Aof Noppharnach to thank for writing this kind of queer character for Mix to play in Tian and Wen. But for Mix’s specific commitment to the performance starting off with his (debut!?) role in ATOTS, we first have Earth to thank for believing in Mix’s ability and recommending him to portray the role of Tian, and then Aof’s acceptance despite his differing initial expectations for the character. Mix, Earth, and Aof have all been open about how Mix in his personal life and nature holds a lot of similarities to both his role as Tian in ATOTS and Wen in Moonlight Chicken. Some people might knock points off his performances because he’s like them. But his relationship to the characters, rather than dampening my enthusiasm for Mix’s performances, helps me appreciate his willingness to give an authentic performance in a style that hasn’t been encouraged on screens previously. It’s made more impactful that he chose to risk vulnerability to bring something personal that had previously been excluded from screens because of its gender deviance (and in broader society explicitly condemned). This doesn’t make a claim on Mix’s actual identity, but simply shows his willingness to understand and perform the expressions of his queer characters with an effort at empathy that many other actors would feel challenged to bring.

Some actors are chameleons, but some actors have a gift of a type within which they can explore depths and range that no one else can best. For me, that’s what Mix does in his work when directors and casting understands his talent. There’s a BTS video of Mix actually fainting during a scene while in Earth/Phupa’s embrace on the mountain that immediately brought to mind the wildly famous final scene in the film Camille where Greta Garbo as Marguerite dies in her lover’s arms.

For Mix, it was a serious incident due to regrettably extreme conditions and requiring the on-set paramedics, but these levels of theatrics, for me, are emblematic of what Mix is capable of as a performer, as well. After all, he had to faint in Phupa’s arms multiple times on purpose. It’s the kinds of Old Hollywood and heightened sentimental romance realms Mix takes his performances to! Then he can turn around and make it look easy to take that same character into grounded quips or dedicated everyday tasks. It only takes writers, directors, and audiences willing to see that men can feel this way and act this way. Mix has paved the way.

[lao-hulijing]

my small, humble selection of MLC memes thus far

[doublel27]

From one of my favorite EM translators on Twitter. Just as a bit of Thai translation information for all of the Alan/Gaipa & Alone/Gaitong fans out there.

[qpjianghu]

Who’s the real you? The person who did something awful... or the one who’s horrified by the awful thing you did? Is one part of you allowed to forgive the other? [insp]

Li Xiangyi & Li Lianhua | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

For @mysteriouslotuscasebookweek prompt, Day 4: grief

[lichenzhou]

[homiehopper4life]

[zhoudadudugongjin]

These subs continue to be impeccable

[mx-myth]

I totally think that if mlc had been from fdb's pov it would have read like a ya novel with a female protagonist. Running away from home to escape a marriage! Getting constantly ditched by your mentor/love interest/sugar daddy! Reluctantly growing close with the villain/your other love interest (who isn't as bad as he seems)! Discovering your mentor/love interest/sugar daddy is not who he said he is and that he actually was in/is in a situationship with the villian/your other love interest with loads of sexual tension! Dramatic reveal of evil scheming father! Character growth galore but still being a petty prissy little princess!

[orchisailsa]

MLC + Text Posts Meme, Jiao Liqiao Edition

[gusu-emilu]

“please please drink my disgusting tea and get bitten by my snakes and eat my weird yin grass so i can fight you again or i’ll kill your boytoy. it’s only because i love you and i can’t go on without you and you’re the only thing that i care about in the entire world. after that you can die though"

[miaoyincourt]

Mysterious Lotus Casebook - Li Lianhua/Yi Xiangyi & Di Feisheng 9/?

MLC 1 | MLC 2 | MLC 3 | MLC 4 | MLC 5 | MLC6 LLH 1 | LLH 2 | LLH 3 FDB 1 | FDB2 DFS 1 | DFS 2| DFS3 JLQ 1 JLQ 2 | JLQ 3 FEIHUA 1 | FEIHUA 2 | FEIHUA 3 | FEIHUA 4 | FEIHUA 5 | FEIHUA 6 | FEIHUA 7 OT3