#mlc wuyan

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Things I did not know I needed: Wuyan bowing to Li Xiangyi Li Lianhua exactly the way he does Di Feisheng.

[mx-myth]

I was talking with @kingsandbastardz the other day and happened to get enough inspiration to smash this out. Kind of ooc for dfs? But also it's exactly him because he is that possessive.

The harsh noise of the waterfall has become the background to his meditation by now. His senses easily wash over his surroundings, aware of every stone and tree and blade of grass. Di Feisheng feels one corner of his mouth quirk up, infinitesimally, at a change in the air.

“Mengzhu,” Wuyan says, materializing by his side. He brings the scent of pine with him, as he always does. Di Feisheng breathes it in. “I come to report there are no threats in the area.”

“As expected,” he says. It was Wuyan after all who had found this waterfall for his meditation, and it was him who worked hard to make it safe for him. “Always diligent.”

“Mengzhu,” Wuyan says. It comes out like he’s saying thank you. He leans in and pulls him closer by the back of his robes. “You flatter this one,” he says.

Di Feisheng rumbles as he presses his nose against the warm, vulnerable skin of Wuyan’s neck. It had taken a long time to get him to stop saying this lowly one or this unworthy one. He disagrees with those forms of address because Wuyan is the most capable person he’s ever met. “It is merely a fact,” he says before he turns his head to kiss him.

Wuyan reciprocates. He kisses him like they have all the time in the world, his hands sliding carefully over his ornate robes. Di Feisheng, amused despite how familiar this all is now, lets him take the lead. They end up sideways in the grass, trading breath between their soft open mouths. He considers this too a kind of meditation.

“Mengzhu,” Wuyan says finally, some indeterminable time later. It’s in his apologetic tone that means they probably should stop indulging themselves and resume their normal roles and responsibilities. He huffs and accepts it, sitting up. Wuyan does the same, shaking the grass from his ponytail. He feels something akin to jealousy, looking at his plainer clothes and simpler hairstyle.

“Go first,” he orders. Wuyan gets up and bows, disappearing in front of his eyes. His pine scent, a byproduct of his qi-concealing technique, lingers even as his qinggong carries him away. Di Feisheng breathes it in one last time.

A-Yan, he thinks possessively. It’s too dangerous a thought to have. It’s a double-edged sword, the kind that can kill him or Wuyan or both of them. He breathes it out and leaves it to be carried away by the water as he goes, following.

[bbcphile]

Wuyan's Name

Have we talked about the meaning of Wuyan's name yet in Mysterious Lotus Casebook?

Because I just checked the subtitles to see what characters were used for it, and it looks like his name is 无颜. Now, my Mandarin is introductory at best, but my dictionary suggests that the "wu" is "no/not/lack," and "yan" means "face/color/countenance/appearance." I at first wondered if his name meant "no appearance," as in a way of referring to how he's lurking in the background all the time and only rarely makes an appearance, but when I did more searching, I kept finding sources that said those characters are an archaic way of saying "no face," as in "to not have face" or "to be ashamed."

If this is true, it raises so many questions that hopefully people more well versed in the language, history, and culture than I am can address. (Also, is there something like the OED.com for Chinese, that gives historical info and examples with different words or expressions? Because if so, wow I need that right now.)

Does this mean Wuyan is more a title than a name? Does it actually work as a pun that means both "not appearing" and "ashamed"? If it really does have the connotation of "ashamed," why would someone embrace that as a title? Or is it possible for a title to have been a type of punishment? Is it a signifier of being ostracized or kicked out (a way of singling someone out as shameful)? Or is using a title like that a way of reclaiming it and refusing to be ashamed?

I'm so intrigued!

[skalidris]

di feisheng deserves a kestrel . xiaobao could hook him up with one no sweat tho and this is in fact core to my personal post-canon belief

[difeisheng]

one of my absolute favorite MLC costuming details is the fact that the black underrobe of di feisheng's red jinyuanmeng robes is ✨sparkly✨

(and yes, it is those red robes, you can see XSY wearing the middle layer overtop in another section of the vlog these screencaps are from. if i'm guessing correctly he was shooting the scenes by the waterfall with wuyan):

[omgpurplefattie]

WIP Wednesday

From the next chapter of my MLC Star Trek AU, RV Lianhua Lou. At Qiao Wanmian's and Xiao Zijin's wedding aboard the USS Sentinel. Li Lianhua's pov.

^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^

A young Vulcan stepped into the ring next, formally offering the challenge to unarmed combat. That would make Xiaobao happy.

"However, you could do me another very big favour," Xiao Zijin was saying. Li Lianhua looked at him. The man had quite obviously had real wine as well, not synthehol; he was listing. And oozing.

"Yes?"

"I know you are our guest, and I treasure your presence."

There were more 'sh' sounds in that sentence than there ought to be.

"But could you perhaps — hang back a little? So my bride won't see you? Even though she is quite grateful for your little contribution."

Far too many 'sh' sounds.

Fang Duobing, right there by the ring, finished his beer, then handed Wuyan to Yun Biqiu, of all people.

"Hold my cat," he said, took off his leather jacket, and stepped into the ring.

"Why that?" Li Lianhua said cluelessly, not looking at Xiao Zijin because he was watching Xiaobao answering Vulcan bows with Chinese ones.

"You wouldn't know," Xiao Zijin muttered, "but you bear an unfortshunate if shuperfishial shimilarity to our late, grsheat Captain, Li Xiangyi. She had known him vershy well; I would no want her to have to shtare at his ghosht on her wedding day…"

"Oh, I know," Li Lianhua said airily while Fang Duobing and the Vulcan were circling each other while make formal gestures of threat. Both traditions had them. "I get that a lot. Normally, the comparisons end with expressions like 'badly drawn caricature' and the like."

"Yesh, eggshacktly," Xiao Zijin said. "So you see, pleashe, why it would be unpleashant for her to have to look at you?"

Xiaobao did his little tiger's claw gesture. So cute, really. He had apparently loved tigers when he was a kid; never mind the Bruce Lee reference.

"Yes, absolutely, don't worry," Li Lianhua said. A robotic waiter tray drifted by with several bowls of peanuts; Li Lianhua grabbed one and threw a handful into his mouth.

"Grsheat," Xiao Zijin slurred; he clapped him on the back, then sloped off, listing.

Good thing Qiao Wanmian wasn't present, as far as Li Lianhua could tell. She would have second thoughts.

[kingsandbastardz]

I've reached episode 38 of MLC.

Cheng Yi's acting in the dungeon was impressive and the sequence it took for Li Lianhua to rescue Di Feisheng was super satisfying. So many micro expressions and subtle hints of his growing worry while he kept a rapid patter up to get information! While being starved/ denied water! LLH is great at multitasking!

Honestly, it was this episode that finally made me decide to watch the other dramas under this tragedy king's filmography. If I can battle my second-hand embarrassment to watch Ryan Cheng act out the role of a husky for longer than 5 seconds, surely I can watch Cheng Yi spit blood and die in misery 10x in a row.

Anyway thoughts:

While I enjoyed what I watched, instead of all this taking place in the palace, I wish the entirety was a rescue arc for DFS with the queen bug ending up in Shan Gudao's hands through other means, or uncontested and in his lair. Or maybe Jiao Liqiao had it all along! If only so we get more of the trio learning about each other and group stuff going on. They're the best when all 3 are together so DFS spending half the series away kinda puts a damper on that. And the emperor's arc seemed like a cop out. I'm aware of the ending before I even started watching so imo if they wanted a tragic ending, they absolutely could have nailed that home in several other ways. The tendon healing feels rushed bc they had less time to work with.

Fang Duobing what the hell kind of name for newly invented martial arts is that? You live and breathe heroic jianghu stories and you decide to go with a DFS style "sword", I mean, Mr Worrier's Swordplay? He do be worrying, though, so he's at least upfront about it.

If DFS and LLH ever decide to bump uglies, they would totally get distracted halfway through and go off to solve a mystery or something, wouldn't they? 💀 like DFS just randomly looks at the wall and being like ???? Why is it suddenly a different material and pattern? I need to see why it's so ugly. Also the fact that it's DFS doing this and not LLH. Xiao Shunyao says his intelligence is highly specialized to martial arts - but the guy is a natural investigator. He's just very tactile about it and prone to ripping things out of the wall or ground while checking it out. His instincts are spot on, though

I like how confused DFS was when LLH was like, "Come on JL totally told you the thing." DFS's expression screamed, "Why would I know? Did you not notice I've been doing my best to ignore her??"

I would have liked to see Wuyan deliver the salt to LLH just to see what else he does or doesn't tell him - I would also like to know when he received instructions to deliver the salt to LLH. Was it before or after DFS got paraded around and locked in the master bedroom?

DFS using grey wall or grey rock tactics to deal with JL. Ppl forced to live with narcissists/abusers do this. His version is more like what prisoners do when they have to face torture but that usually is refusal to speak. What he's doing is not just silence, but also refusing to look at her and trying to minimize any reaction to her play, which is an attempt to deny her anything she can feed on. I'm guessing he's had to do this growing up too.

Speaking of that - what exactly was Di Fortress doing with their method of training kids into killers? I somehow missed or forgot that part and can't tell if they ever addressed that. Did they rent them out as assassins? Is it a weird death cult that worships battle and uses that energy as human sacrifice to their war god? OHOHOH you know what they could have done instead of the Enperor arc? If they'd freed up the episodes and put the Nanyin bugs into a Di Fortress arc instead. Since they were already using some sort of bug mind control technique anyway.

Fang Duobing, what do you mean you always knew DFS was on your side? All you do is yell at him for being a villian! 😂 also what's with everyone just accepting that DFS was going to stand there and join them without even a bit of protest or trying to arrest him or anything?

It's interesting, the parallels between LLH and DFS's situation. They're both regular dudes trapped under some mythic narrative where everyone thinks they're these story archetypes. But they're not, they're just two martial arts nerds trying to live their life (one to do good, one trying to survive) . They both had someone they trusted not only betray them- but demand they get on their knees and become publically subservient to them. DFS's situation would have evoked sympathy by itself but LLH probably felt extra understanding about how he must feel. Especially bc he knows what his own reaction would have been in the past to that kind of humiliation. Like, aside from JL's implied intention of sex slavery, how is SGD's plan for LLH any different than what JL did to DFS when she dragged him back home?

[yletylyf]

Writing patterns

Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern! Tagged by @demonscantgothere ❤️

1. After months of searching, Wuyan had finally brought Di Feisheng a clue. [Perchance to Live, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Li Lianhua/Di Feisheng. A descriptive opening that orients the reader as to where in canon it starts.]

2. Lan Qiren woke in the middle of the night. [The Wild Charge, The Untamed, Lan Qiren/Wen Ruohan. A short action sentence to begin an adventure.]

3. Waves lapped at his legs, stinging a little on the scrapes and cuts. [What good did it do, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Li Lianhua/Li Xiangyi. A short descriptive sentence, orienting within a canon scene.]

4. "Unhand her." [Tomorrow Has Promise, the Untamed, Qin Su/Wen Qing. Dialog! Jumping into the middle of the action.]

5. "The Jinyuan alliance is so evil!" Xiao Zijin cried, flourishing his sword. [Moon and Wind, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua. Dialog again. Setting the scene for a pre-canon conflict between the ship.]

6. "You are on edge tonight," Gu Xuanqing observed, lifting a hand and tracing Li Yunzhen's cheek, rubbing a thumb over the dark circles under her eye. [To Give Each Other the World, 长公主在上 Eldest Princess Above. Dialog. Getting to know the ship and where they stand with each other.]

7. "Maeglin!" [Another Way, the Silmarillion, Maeglin/Celebrimbor. Dialog. Tells who the fic is about right away.]

8. Wei Wuxian didn't want to be here. [Three Sighs, the Untamed, Wei Wuxian/Lan Wangji/Wen Qing. A mood description.]

9. Kingsley Shacklebolt woke up early, while it was still dark. [The people in your life who want you in theirs, Harry Potter, Kingsley/Severus. A mild action sentence.]

10. Li Lianhua did not take his eyes off the sea. [A Good Scheme, Mysterious Lotus Casebook, Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua/Fang Duobing. Another line to orient on the canon beach scene, which apparently all my MLC fics have in common 😂]

Conclusion: Alternating between scene description, action, and dialog. Not much in common other than that they are all short and (I like to think) punchy.

Tagging @phantomato @mademoiselle-red @thebansacredbanned @naryrising @omgpurplefattie @perverse-idyll @maraudersaffair @jammerific @mundrakan @myfavouritelunatic and anyone who wants to do it!

[joyouslee]

MLC Chinese fic rec:人鬼不殊途 by 小宝贝儿

Link to the author’s of the fic.

(To get to the first chapter, go to the end of the story text before the comments and click the left button.  There may be other posts by the author in between the chapters, just keep clicking left.)

My translation of the title:

Death Will Not Part.

(The literal translation is man and ghost do not walk on different paths, which is a reversal of an idiom that states that man and ghost are on different paths, meaning that death is a dividing line and man and ghosts cannot be together; sometimes used to say that good and evil people cannot be together.)  

The first chapter (arc) subtitle is “Even after becoming a ghost, Fang Xiaobao is still clingy.”

Pairing: Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi / Fang Duobing

Author’s summary:

The story starts after the point in the drama when Fang Xiaobo, in order to find the wangchuan flower, is thrown by Shan Gudao into the array.  

The setup: Fang Duobing passes out once he enters the array, and when he wakes up he finds that he’s a ghost.  

He faces three major challenges: he can’t find his body, can’t be touched by sunlight, and can’t touch anyone.  His only support: Li LIanhua can see him, hear him, and will try to save him.  (At the beginning, Huahua thinks he’s hallucinating due to bicha poison entering his brain.) 

The advantages of being a ghost: walking through walls, invisibility, mn… later might have some powers.  (Ghost Xiaobao needs a little power.)

In summation, this is a story where Li Lianhua tried to find Shan Gudao’s corpse for 10 years, then started to search for Fang Xiaobao’s corpse or body.  (A Huahua who is always on the road to search for a corpse.)  The difference is, this time ghost!Xiaobao will be accompanying him the entire way, and after turning into a ghost is still the chattiest kind of ghost.  Huahua won’t be lonely on the road, just often seen as being crazy.  

—

77 chapters total, plus author is in process of writing a long extra (10 chapters already)

Ok, the beginning starts with Fang Duobing wandering back to Li Lianhua as a ghost after falling into the array, which seems like it is the start of a tragedy, but it really is the most hilarious fic.  My favorite part is mid-way in the story where there is a literal laugh-until-I-cried scene of the absolute chaos caused by a body swap/possession, resulting in several scenes of increasing hilarity and confusion as jianghu gossip blows up regarding a *gasp* relationship between Fang Duobing and … Di Feisheng.  Wuyan is the biggest difang shipper ever.  Author has impeccable comedic chops: just imagine Fang Duobing’s attitude/ LXY-fanboy-isms in Li Lianhua’s body, and then think of Li Lianhua watching in horror - I’m cackling again just recalling it.

Go read and come back to talk about it!

See my general warnings.

Below the read more are some specific warnings for this fic.  

Nonconsensual blood exchange/ ritual to tie two lives together

Implied nonconsensual (drugged) sex that is treated as a joke

Ethnic discrimination/ stereotypes 

Canon age gap

Apparent suicide

[exitvelocities]

my to-write list

writing this down to make myself commit more or less.

currently in progress:

dihua actor au w la-muerta

mafia dihua h/c bingo card fills

on deck:

dfs bio pic/dfs + wuyan + three kings jya back story

coffin fic

in planning:

more prince lxy/assassin dfs

xianxia au/mlc was a mortal trial

maybe:

dihua orpheus/eurydice second person garbage

more gen for the love of god,

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Good to see we're all feeling normal about Wuyan.

[mx-myth]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 莲花楼 | Mysterious Lotus Casebook (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Di Feisheng & Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng & Wu Yan, Fang Duobing & Wu Yan, Di Feisheng & Fang Duobing & Wu Yan, Di Feisheng/Fang Duobing, Di Feisheng/Wu Yan, Di Feisheng/Fang Duobing/Wu Yan, Di Feisheng & Huli Jing, Fang Duobing & Huli Jing Characters: Di Feisheng, Fang Duobing, Wu Yan (Mysterious Lotus Casebook), Huli Jing (Mysterious Lotus Casebook), He Xiaohui, He Xiaofeng, Zhan Yunfei Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Amnesia, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Grief/Mourning, Slow Burn, llh is haunting the narrative but not like actively, jlq is mentioned, Found Family, Trauma, idk about wuxia historical details. sorry if there's inaccuracies, Literal Sleeping Together, an appearance of two oc lesbian npcs I had to make up, Getting to Know Each Other, Intimacy, Trust, Domestic, Soft, Caretaking, How Do I Tag, Love, Food as a Metaphor for Love, everything as a metaphor for love honestly, everything is a metaphor, Travel, su xiaoyong is mentioned, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Light Angst, Self-Discovery, what then., Devotion, what happens if you lose yourself and discover how loved you were (are) in the meantime

Summary:

When he wakes he is cold. The wind is howling and the clothes he’s wearing are all damp. The ground is lumpy and hard beneath him, and for a moment or two he just lays there.

When he holds his palm up he discovers cuts, scabbed over but reopened, sluggishly bleeding. There are characters carved into the skin - find Fang Duobing. The blood leaks down his palm, blurring the lines.

Or, an amnesia story.

(The dfs amnesia au I’ve been talking about since forever is finally posted. Sorry again that the title is so danmei. It is what it is.)

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Have DFS's POV from my MLC longfic, which should probably be subtitled "banter with knives."

(DFS just learned LLH gave away the Wangchuan flower and needs to lose his shit about it in private. Instead, LLH is grilling him about something FDB let slip and is also inwardly losing his shit about it. They're both trying to pretend they are ok.)

(You can find earlier excerpts here.)

Warning: Suppressed panic attack/flashback

Silence stretched.

This was absurd. They should have been celebrating. Or picking up where they left off this morning before everything had fallen apart.

And instead, Xiangyi was about to subject him to an interrogation that would make Sigu Sect proud. 

He just had to pull himself together first.

Di Feisheng made his fingers release their grip on Xiangyi–it felt harder than trying to heal his severed meridians without Yangzhouman–forced his breathing to stay steady, closed his eyes, and started to meditate. 

Five counts breathing in, five counts breathing out. If he focused his attention on his hands, he could almost feel the metallic thread woven through his inner robe against his fingertips, the–oh fuck, he had been in just his inner robe this entire time, too exposed, too vulnerable, too much like the first time she–

–stop that, he snapped in his mind. Breathe in for five counts, out for five counts.

Five counts in, five counts–

“So,” Xiangyi interrupted. Di Feisheng barely suppressed a startled twitch. “Did you lend Xiaobao your whistle for Wuyan, or does he have his own now?” 

Di Feisheng swallowed and managed to pry open his mouth. Not answering would look worse than playing along. “It’s a spare. In case he found you before I did.” Maybe he could distract him. He arranged his lips in an approximation of a smirk. “Why do you ask, Xiangyi? Jealous?” 

Xiangyi snorted. “Nice try, Di-Mengzhu, but your parrying needs some work. You’ve gotten sloppy these last few months. Now, I assume the medicine Wuyan rushed here last night was for you. At least in part. So what else are you and Xiaobao hiding from me?”

Di Feisheng gritted his teeth, despite knowing Xiangyi was watching his every move, every twitch, every breath, for weaknesses. The fucking audacity of this man. “Nothing compared with what you hid from me.”

There was a long pause. Then a weary, wry puff of air. “I take it back. You still aim true.” 

Di Feisheng pressed his hands harder against his legs to force them steady. Fuck, he couldn’t do this. Not now. Either he’d lash out and give Xiangyi more things to hate himself for, or he’d let something slip that he couldn’t afford to share. Both were too dangerous to risk.

He swallowed hard and let his hands curl around Dao’s scabbard. “You want to know? I’ll tell you. After I meditate for half a shichen.” And by then, he’d have mastered himself enough to handle whatever Xiangyi would try to drag out of him. It wasn’t actually a surrender.

There was a short silence. A whisper of hair against fabric, probably Xiangyi tilting his head to inspect him for clues.

“Ah, so you’ve moved on from holding people hostage to holding conversations hostage. Very clever, Di-Mengzhu. But it won’t work. I still won’t accept qi from you until you’ve reached thirty percent of your total neili. You’re not going to change my mind with a little silence.”

His fingers clenched around Dao until his knuckles turned white. Of course Xiangyi would make him work for the right to pull himself together. He took a long, slow inhale. “It’s not to change your mind. It’s to not destroy your furniture,” he growled, hoping the slight tremor in his voice would come across as just anger. 

Another short pause, then a longer soft sigh. “Alright, a-Fei. Take as long as you need.”

[pastelcheckereddreams]

You know what? Guan Hemeng and Wuyan would be good for each other. I'm launching the ship. Expect headcanons.

[mx-myth]

Writing the amnesiac!dfs au I mentioned a while ago and wow. (a) it's the first thing I've written in years that has plot, (b) it's going to be much longer than I originally thought, and (c) it's all a little ooc due to the amnesia and post-canon elements but. When did fdb get so mature?

Like yes, all of the care he's showing a-fei is likely redirected care that he never got to give to llh. But isn't he basically caring for llh too by caring for the only other person who carries the true memories of him? (And is he grieving llh, or is he okay because he's denying that face that he might be dead? Does he think that llh is just simply gone, and that if he hopes long enough and hard enough he'll come back?)

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday (More MLC)

Have some more Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng interactions from my long fic as they try to figure out how to cooperate.

(You can find earlier excerpts here.)

“How’s your headache?” Fang Duobing asked.

There was a long pause. “Better,” was the curt reply.

Well, that was progress. At least he wasn’t pretending he had always been fine. And now, for the matter at hand. “Better enough that we could talk?” 

A-Fei huffed an amused breath. “Does my answer make a difference?”

Ouch. Alright, maybe he deserved that. “Yes. If you say no, I’ll shut up.”

A-Fei raised an eyebrow. “Really.” 

Fang Duobing nodded.

A-Fei closed his eyes, took another deep breath, and sighed it out. “Alright. Talk.”

Here it was. Now or never. “Ok.” He cleared his throat. “First of all: I’m sorry.” Hopefully a-Fei would be impressed with his maturity and responsibility.

There was a long pause. “For what?” a-Fei asked, his face devoid of emotion and his eyes still closed.

What on Earth did that reaction mean? Did he think the apology was beneath his notice? Fang Duobing swallowed back the desire to demand an explanation, took a calming breath, and continued. “I wasn’t listening to you. Either of you. You were right: I kept pushing on lots of things when you both told me to stop. And it hurt both of you, and Li Lianhua is only still alive because you were here to save him. I’ve learned my lesson, though. And I promise I’ll do better from now on.” To show that at least one of them knew something about etiquette, he also bowed. 

There was an even longer pause. Fang Duobing broke form to glance up. A-Fei had opened his eyes at some point during the bow, and was watching him with the most neutral expression Duobing had ever seen. 

“Alright,” a-Fei said with a clipped nod of his head, and closed his eyes again. “What do you want?”

“An apology isn’t about—“

“What. Do. You. Want?” a-Fei asked again, revealing the edge of his tone like he’d unsheathe his dao. 

“An acknowledgment of what I just said would be a good place to start,” he grumbled. “But fine.” He took a deep breath. Wuyan told him to try following a-Fei’s commands. Now was as good a time as any to start. “Since you asked—even though it’s unrelated to the apology—I want answers.”

Even with a-Fei’s eyes closed, Fang Duobing could see how hard he rolled them. “Of course.”

“You and Li Lianhua are both keeping things from me again, just like you used to. And because I can’t read minds, I keep accidentally hitting tripwires because I didn’t even know there were traps to look out for.”

“There are always traps,” a-Fei said, the hint of a sardonic twist raising the corners of his lips.

“No, that’s not—” Fang Duobing shook his head and tried again. “Imagine we were attacking a fortress. I study traps, so I can usually identify and disarm them without a problem. But in this fortress, for some reason, all traps are completely invisible to me, but you somehow have a map showing which spots trigger arrow formations and which ones are rigged with gunpowder to explode. And instead of sharing the map with me or telling me what to look out for, you’re just yelling at me once I’ve stepped wrong and blown everyone up. And I’m really, really tired of hurting everyone because of something I can’t see.” 

A-Fei shook his head and slowly ran his index finger along the inside of Li Lianhua’s wrist. “I don’t have a map.”

“You have more of one than I do.” Fang Duobing watched a-Fei’s finger move along Li Lianhua’s pulse point and decided to test a theory. “And I don’t just mean monitoring his heart rate.”

Another almost smile flickered on a-Fei’s lips. “Then what do you mean?”

That was one theory validated. Back to the matter at hand. “You already knew something more than what you shared. I don’t know what, but it has to do with why you wanted to heal the pericardium meridian rather than the lung meridian, even though he was wheezing, and how you knew he had shattered his own heart meridian, and that he did it while being immobilized, so immobilization would be dangerous for him. Something must connect them all. So what aren’t you telling me?” 

A-Fei dragged his finger back along Li Lianhua’s wrist to its starting point. “You want to not set off traps? Don’t immobilize him. Stop qi transfers when he or I say. Don’t ask him what happened.”

Fang Duobing’s mouth fell open. “That’s it? That’s all you’ll tell me?”

A-Fei opened his eyes to pierce him with a glare. “It’s enough.” 

“You always do this!” Fang Duobing said, throwing his hands into the air. “Why are you so committed to keeping people in the dark? Like with the ice planks, when you pretended to work with Shan Gudao.”

A-Fei’s free hand clenched into a fist. “That was my business. Not yours.”

 “Bullshit!” Fang Duobing snapped. “It affected us, too! Your snatching my xiao-yi got her stabbed, remember?” A-Fei’s finger hitched in its path on Li Lianhua’s wrist. “Anyway, you didn’t see Li Lianhua’s face once you left that day, when he thought you might have betrayed him like Shan Gudao did.” A-Fei’s finger stilled. “Why didn’t you just tell us, tell him, that you were doing it to get rid of the mind control bugs? Did you really think we wouldn’t help you, if we’d known? And instead, you tried to do it on your own and got kidnapped and Li Lianhua had to rescue you–”

A-Fei stopped moving entirely.