#princess jing'an

[mtkay13]

Qi Ye ensemble cast poster, second edition

Yet another one of those LOL Qi Ye just has that power over me. You know the drill; more info below!

I'll go straight to the point: my main reason to draw this was because I wanted to draw the most somber, dark-looking Helian Qi possible with some dark cross-hatching effect. And because I don't want to draw a Helian Qi solo image because who the HELL does that, I had to turn it into an ensemble cast thing again. I just REALLY like to do that for Qi Ye, for some reasons!!! For a general note, first: shading was a PAIN but making a nice composition and thinking about how to make a hierarchy that both works in terms of storytelling and visual composition was fun. I also liked finding out the "color scheme" to use and I do like lineart. So, now, little notes about each character, and the obligatory name poster just so I'm sure we all know whom I'm talking about:

Jing Beiyuan: I've mentioned it before but drawing Beiyuan is like. The easiest for me, I think, out of ALL Qi Ye/TYK characters combined. He happens to have my general goto "pretty face" (which conveniently has peach blossom eyes). I'm happy with how he turned out here! And got to put the sable around his neck which makes for a nice additional touch. Helian Yi: He's easy to draw as well and I'm glad with how the guan turned out. He initally looked sideways, but I liked it better having him wistfully stare into the distance. Helian Zhao: has the exact same face as in the other, coloured poster, and that cracks me up bc that wasn't even intentional. Helian Pei: GDI I find him so hilarious. He looks so done and out of it. Shout out to all his bird as well, which, I find, really complete the look. Helian Qi: I can't possibly say that I love him as an antagonist because there's nothing to love about this literal trash, but I'm still grateful that we got some of the most rancid stuff going on in Qi Ye just because of him and I'm always here for that. He deserves the villain visual treatment, at least. He was VERY fun to draw and I tried to push that nasty grin and shading as much as possible. He turned out exactly how I wanted him to! (the shading on his face and the balance of light and shadow was a bit of a challenge, actually)

Wuxi: Again, a rather easy one, always pleasant to draw! I loved working on his hair (but complained a lot while doing so)--which I think turned out nicely. Bai Wuchang: Finally! Finally I draw him!! He had to be there, since he's like. The base of the whole Qi Ye plot. Lining him was....... a pain, but at least it looks nice.

Su Qingluan: nothing much to say--I think it's always important to have her there in Qi Ye stuff, and I put her next to Helian Zhao because of how he tried using her--but it did make me feel bad for her when I realised that. Song Ping'an: The real star of the show, lowkey, but always alert and present. Feng Xiaoshu: FINALLY. PRINCESS JING'AN. I'm sorry I took so long to draw her. I want to work on a proper design, I swear. To make up for having completely forgotten to include her in the other spread. I'm so sorry. I like how her face turned out! Liang Jiuxiao: I never, ever, EVER get enough of drawing him. Have I mentioned how much I like him? How much of a great surprise he was reading Qi Ye? How many times I've wanted to high five because finally someone is as confused as I am? I love drawing this very specific smile on him, SO satisfying. Also Bichen said he was "THE Qi Ye antagonist" and I live for that LOL Zhou Zishu: do I really need to say anything atp Jiang Xue: I'm so sorry I put Xiao Xue next to ZZS. The cruelty. But she came out really cute didn't she T_T Anyway that's it. I'm still obsessed with Qi Ye and given my current (totally secret) retranslation project I'm nowhere near done going crazy about this book.

[web-novel-polls]

Priest (Author) Character Lower Bracket

[“Anti-propaganda” is not allowed. Please only give reasons to vote FOR a character, and please be courteous in the notes.]

Feng Xiaoshu / Princess Jing’an from Lord Seventh

"How could a good-for-nothing hedonist like me be a match for a heroine like her? Don't be silly, Your Majesty." - Jing Beiyuan, Lord Seventh (Tumblr)

Submission: Badass lady who leads troops and can split a person's head in half with her spear <3 

Differences between FXS in Lord Seventh & Word of Honor (she’s wildly different lol)

Han Muchun from Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect 

"Only I, your master, would not detest you, my dirty girl. If it were your first senior brother here, he would have stewed you."  - Han Muchun to Shuikeng, Liu Yao: The Revitalization of Fuyao Sect, Chapter 29

[No propaganda submitted]

Took some disciples for his declining sect and unexpectedly became a father

(Sharing a picture with Tong Ru because zooming in any further makes it almost indistinguishable. Also, pain.)

[minnarr]

Jing’an and Zhou Zishu

Zhou-shixiong?

                      Am I supposed to thank you?                       You killed my entire family                       and now you're letting me die with dignity.

[venticuliao]

[owlpockets]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Princess Jing'an (Qi Ye) Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Ghosts, Character Undeath, Double Drabble

Summary:

Princess Jing'an died, and then they wandered, she and the empty hole inside.

[birbfeedersart]

i WANTED to make this REALLY NICE but my computer EXPLODED and i lost A HALF DAY'S WORK and then i DID SOMETHING and NOW IT WILL NOT OBEY ME even tho i've fixed it EIGHT TIMES

SO THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT'S GONNA GET

I HOPE U LIKE IT ANYWAY D:<

(esp the hairpin bc u KNOW zhou zishu carved it for him ok??)

[fanghuas]

Gimme ur kp least favourite character,

And woh your crack ship ✨️

KP least favorite character has got to be Arthee. He's just such a low-level a-hole. Vegas' dad is also an a-hole but at least he has some kind of significance and importance. Arthee I'd play fisticuffs with in an empty parking lot.

WOH crackship...okay technically this is going into qi ye territory a lil' bit, but I think our Qin Jiuxiao/Princess Jing'an/Su Qingluan concept, or "himbo and his bad bitches" as I like to call it, has merit. And I also fully intend to write it, you know in which project 😉

[verycharismaticdragon]

Name changes between TYK and SHL

So, after finishing the show, I have a lot to say on the differences between the two. So much in fact that I can’t possibly type it all up in one go, so I’ve decided to slowly chip away at it instead. Starting from something simple: characters whose names were changed in adaptation.

Wen Kexing – Zhen Yan

In SHL, Wen Kexing’s birth name is ‘Zhen Yan’. In the novel, ‘Wen Kexing’ is his one and only name.

Emperor Helian Yi – Prince Jin

Aside from him being the person Tian Chuang and Zhou Zishu work for, and the lines from TYK’s chapter 1 that made it to SHL’s episode 1, his motivations and personality are starkly different between the two. Helian Yi also doesn’t appear in the novel past chapter 1; all of Prince Jin’s and Tian Chuang’s further involvement with the plot are show-only.

Liang Jiuxiao - Qin Jiuxiao

In SHL, Zhou Zishu’s late shidi is his master’s son; in the novels, he is just a random kid that his master dumped on him to teach. Novel Jiuxiao also doesn’t have any romantic entanglements with anyone (unless you read his feelings for his shixiong as romantic, but that’s open for interpretation and you can read it as perfectly platonic too), and his ‘happiest dream’ was to travel jianghu with Zhou Zishu; in SHL however, he is involved with military governor’s daughter and his dream is to take her back to the Four Seasons manor.

Xi Sang Gui: Sun Ding - Luo Fumeng

It’s not obvious since the title got translated differently between novel and show, but ‘Delighted Mourning Ghost’ and ‘Tragicomic Ghost’ are actually the same title, Xi Sang Gui. However, the characters bearing it are completely different. Novel’s Xi Sang Gui is a man named Sun Ding, one of the most prominent Ghosts in the Valley and long-time rival to Xue Fang the Hanged Ghost. Later it turns out that his success is due to being secretly aided by Wen Kexing, who used him as a pawn to keep other big name Ghosts busy with infighting. Show’s Xi Sang Gui is a woman named Luo Fumeng, protector of women in the Ghost Valley and the person who helped Wen Kexing keep his life when his parents were killed.

Princess Jing'an: Feng Xiaoshu - daughter of the military governor Li

Another character who is completely different aside from sharing the title. In Qi Ye, Princess Jing’an is a daughter of a famous general; when the capital is under a threat of invasion, she requests the Emperor’s permission to join the army in place of her father, and gets command of an army defending one of the capital’s gates. She is proficient with spear and saber, and known for her life-staking battle style. In TYK, she is mentioned to have married He Yunxing (member of Helian Yi’s party, and also one of the generals who defended the capital) and moved to Northwest border with him (presumably to stymie the possibility of another invasion). In SHL, Princess Jing’an is a daughter of the military governor killed in episode 1, and Qin Jiuxiao’s intended. She dies in episode 1 after drinking poison given to her by Zhou Zishu.

Liu Qianqiao: Green Vixen - Beauty Ghost

In TYK, Liu Qianqiao is not affiliated with the Ghost Valley at all, so she doesn’t have the title of ‘Beauty Ghost’ and is only known as ‘Green Vixen’. Her reputation is that of a serial killer who murders men and avoids capture by using disguises. Her story with Yu Qiufeng is also different: he had casually fooled around with her in their youth, but she sincerely fell for him and kept him in her heart ever since. During the events of the novel, he takes advantage of her feelings to protect himself by using her as a scapegoat. Yu Qiufeng’s wife never played any role in their relationship in the novel. In the show, Liu Qianqiao’s loyalties are split between Yu Qiufeng and Tragicomic Ghost, who saved her after Yu Qiufeng’s wife harmed and humiliated her. She also works for the Scorpion for a while in exchange for their lives.

Other: 

I’m pretty sure Cao Weining’s shishu (martial uncle) has a different surname in SHL, but I might be misremembering. In the novel, his name is Mo Huaikong. 

There are also many changes to secondary characters’ titles/nicknames, sect names, and names of techniques, but I gave up on tracking those after a few epsiodes. From the top of my head, Zhang family’s martial school is known as ‘South River manor’ in the novel but became ‘Mirror Lake sect’ in the show, ‘Four Seasons manor’ became ‘Four Seasons mountain manor’, and Gao Chong’s martial school is only known as ‘Gao family’s manor’ in the novel but became ‘Yueyang sect’ in the show. All of those have no bearing on the plot though, so I don’t think they would be of much interest to anyone.

+ small update 06/04/21

––––––

- TYK/SHL comparisons masterpost -

[aiyexayen]

Chapters: 1/1 Words: 3132 Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Relationships: Han Ying & Li Jing'an, referenced Li Jing'an/Qin Jiuxiao, referenced Han Ying/Qin Jiuxiao Characters: Han Ying, Li Jing'an Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, metamours, Polyamory, Angst and Feels, Implied/Referenced Character Death, but i must make this absolutely clear:, He Is Not Dead, this is the qin jiuxiao LIVES series, nobody knows that yet though sorry, it's not just a fic about mourning or grief though i promise, Running Away, Escape, Promises, Treason, Hiding, Internal Conflict, POV Han Ying Summary: Han Ying has committed himself to this treason, this disloyalty, but it is the only right course of action. He made a vow and now he must see it through; it's not time yet for a reunion in the afterlife.

[claro-deluna]

This is Feng Xiaoshu aka Princess Jing'an and no one can tell me otherwise

[vyther16]

wip wednesday

(a day late and after weeks of radio silence but who really cares. more writing!)

this is from JAL au sequel, which has the working title “unnamed minor woman no. 2″

that working title will be clear from the snippet under the cut.

quick note: Zhou Zishu and Jiaxing are pretending to be married because it makes a decent cover for a man and woman who look nothing alike to be travelling together, and because it makes for fun misunderstandings with Wen Kexing when he finally shows up. They do not, nor will they ever, develop romantic feelings for each other. This is slow-burn enemies to found family.

“Zhang-furen,” Jiaxing says, curtseying to the older woman. “This one is Zhou-furen, Wei Xing’er.”

Zhang-furen is seated at a low tea table overlooking the clear waters of the lake. “There’s no need for that, dear,” she says, gesturing for Jiaxing to sit with her. “Come tell me why you and your husband have come through the Mirror Lake area.”

Jiaxing hides her instinctive reaction to Zhou Zishu being called her husband. (It should be Jiuxiao, it was always going to be Jiuxiao, she wants it to be Jiuxiao, but instead she is forced into this charade with the man who as good as got Jiuxiao killed.) 

She thinks back to the story Zhou Zishu had concocted to keep suspicion off of them. She’s not sure how he expects it to truly hold up; she is no farmer’s wife. She knows enough of peasant life to know that she has obviously not lived it. Three months on the run is not enough to lose all of the etiquette and decorum and high-class scorn drilled into her from the time she was born.

“Mirror Lake is a lovely area to settle down,” Zhang-furen puts forth. “And Chengling seems to think your husband is a good man. It would be nice for him to have people outside of the sect to rely on; he’ll have to help his brothers when Lao Zhang and I pass on. Heavens know he won’t be any help with the training.”

Jiaxing hums. “My husband has relatives further upriver,” she lies, easily deflecting. She casts her gaze around, searching for a topic that is safer than Jiaxing’s future plans.

Zhang-furen seems to realize this is an unwelcome topic as well, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. “Wan’er,” she says, and a maid that had been standing off to the side hurries forward. “Bring us some snacks, and some of my good tea.”

The maid, Wan’er, curtsies and leaves through a side door Jiaxing hadn’t noticed.

Anyway, guess who the unnamed minor woman no. 2 is! Ten points to your hogwarts house if you guessed Zhang-furen.

Another note. Wei Xing’er is Jiaxing’s alias. Wei is her mother’s family name (i made it up; no canon basis from novels/show). Xing’er is just the Xing from Jiaxing + ‘er.

And the final note. Zhang-furen’s name in this au is Neng Qingyun. 

能 (néng): surname meaning can / to be able to / might possibly / ability / (physics) energy 清 (qīng): clear / distinct / quiet / just and honest / pure / to settle or clear up / to clean up or purge 昀 (yún) - daylight / sun light / used in personal name

I didn’t actually mention it in this snippet, but that’s what it’ll be

[web-novel-polls]

Priest (Author) Character Lower Bracket

[“Anti-propaganda” is not allowed. Please only give reasons to vote FOR a character, and please be courteous in the notes.]

Xuan Ji from Lie Huo Jiao Chou / Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire

Fire chicken AKA a supernatural fiend with credit card debt 😞 who joins the Deviant Control Office to pay it off

Feng Xiaoshu / Princess Jing’an from Lord Seventh

"How could a good-for-nothing hedonist like me be a match for a heroine like her? Don't be silly, Your Majesty." - Jing Beiyuan, Lord Seventh (Tumblr)

Submission: Badass lady who leads troops and can split a person's head in half with her spear <3 

Differences between FXS in Lord Seventh & Word of Honor (she’s wildly different lol)

[hunxi-after-hours]

HI IT'S ME QI YE READING ANON having uh. finished said reading literally just now. my thoughts have not yet reorganised themselves but can i just say: a) the poetic symmetry of wu xi being able to receive command of the nanjiang army to save beiyuan at least partly because of the ideas of strategy/the longer game etc that beiyuan taught him, b) shl did princess jing an dirty, c) damn zhou zishu was really just going through it huh poor guy, and yet d) helian yi is going through it even WORSE

HELLO QI YE ANON WELCOME BACK YOU SURE WENT THROUGH THE REST OF THAT BOOK QUICKLY you doing okay there, the last ten chapters really Put You Through It

a) we love to see the character development, and the fact that Wu Xi did actually learn something in all the hours Beiyuan spent rambling absentmindedly at him privately tutoring him. like yes Wu Xi was head-over-heels infatuated with Beiyuan but he can also multitask. an icon. no wonder he's the only one actually Gets Shit Done in both QY and TYK

b) I COMPLETELY did not process that the lady in the first ten minutes of SHL episode one was supposed to be the badass warrior princess of Jing'an, so yeah, they definitely did her dirty, but also she deserves her own standalone spin-off novel so unfortunately that's nothing new

c) Zhou Zishu is so completely not okay at the end of QY and the last we see of him is in full blue-screen-of-death mode over Jiuxiao, which absolutely haunts me because TYK picks up, what, three years after the events of QY? which means that there is this narrative dead space between the end of QY and the beginning of TYK during which Zhou Zishu, numb with grief and choking on it, still manages to 1) stabilize Helian Yi's regime by 2) committing an unknown quantity of war crimes while 3) spending at least a year and a half subjecting himself to a torture of his own devising that 4) makes him functionally incapable of getting a healthy amount of sleep

the man is really not okay

d) HELIAN YI, my problematic love, one of the most fascinating characters with the least amount of screentime because both Zhou Zishu and Jing Beiyuan go to the maximum amount of effort to spend the minimum amount of time with the man in their respective novels, which is simultaneously pretty funny but also... sdlfksjldk sad. while I respect SHL for taking advantage of the immense narrative potential of Zhou Zishu/Prince Jin's history (look, Prince Jin in SHL =/= Helian Yi, I've decided), it also erases the deep, unspoken tragedy of Helian Yi from the original novel(s). I'm not trying to say that Helian Yi is a victim, or unproblematic, or deserves to be redeemed, but there is something so bitterly sad about the fact that, after everything they've all gone through together, Helian Yi is left alone on that dragon throne, bearing the heaviest weight of leadership and responsibility on his shoulders. 朕是孤家寡人哪, Helian Yi says, sighing, at the beginning of TYK when Zhou Zishu begs his leave. at the end of everything, after all the sacrifice and blood and mortgaging of their souls, Helian Yi is left without anyone to keep him company, without anyone to carry the weight of their crimes together

and because I can and will quote this poem about every cdrama character ever, I guess, I am Once Again thinking about these lines from the "Elegy of Fortinbras" by Zbigniew Herbert:

...The rest is not silence but belongs to me

you chose the easier part of an elegant thrust

but what is heroic death compared with eternal watching

with a cold apple in one’s hand on a narrow chair

with a view of the ant-hill and the clock’s dial...

anyway if you need me, I'll be on my Helian Yi agenda, which isn't so much a "justice for Helian Yi" agenda as it's "I can't stop thinking about this bastard (grudgingly affectionate)"

[owlpockets]

i got a lovely gift in the seasons of drabbles exchange, and it's shl yunxu!!! go read it and cry!!

[purplehanfu]

Decreed by Fate: Episode 1

notes: Spoilers! Master list of all recaps On to Ep 2, why not?

I guess it's inevitable- if you watch enough crappy dramas, you're bound to find one where all the leads are from other crappy dramas you've written crappy little reviews for. Philosophers might call that causal determinism but I prefer to think of it as fate.

The gang's all here!

Princess Ye Rong, Zhang Fei the orphaned nominal princess who has little interest in marriage but all the time in the world for martial arts. She's unsupervised, uncouth and uninterested in love and as such is destined to be fought over by two hot guys for all 16 episodes of this drama. Played by Chen Fang Tong who was the Annoying Maid in Jun Jiuling.

Fang Xian Xun the martial arts master who has recently returned to the capital. His personality and interests were custom made for our leading lady, so he will obvs be offered up on the altar of 2nd male lead syndrome. Played by Wu Cheng Xu who we last saw as Fang Dong the ghost apologist in Hot Blooded Detective; he was also a standout as Xu Feng in The Long Ballad.

Rounding out our love triangle, the Marquis Jing'An, General Yin Sishen: capable general, talented musician and the most eligible man in town. Played by Li Jiulin who was the execrable Congwen in the execrable Time Flies and You Are Here.

Sell it to me

So, will there be gratuitous fan service that objectifies makes me appreciate all the gym time put in by these fine male actors? Oh you know it! But what does this drama have to offer us in terms of story?

somewhere a wig wrangler is crying

We meet Ye Rong as she is serving justice out on the streets, saving a young bride from an abusive older groom. Fang Xian Xun shows up for the assist, but he is mostly there to be amused by Ye Rong's antics. 

Impressed with his martial arts, she buys him a drink. Their meet cute is cut short when her estate manager shows up looking for her. Fang Xian Xun laughs as she scampers off- he is smitten.

The estate manager has set up a meeting with a potential marriage candidate, so our Princess decides to meet the would-be suitor at Jiaofang, a brothel known for its male courtesans. This will not only drive off the suitor, it will torpedo her reputation, ensuring that she can stay single.  

But alas, the brothel is empty. Why? Because General Yin Sishen is a diva who won't bathe in a public bathhouse. Why he decides to clear out and then use the facilities at Jiaofang and not his own home is a question that I feel bears scrutiny. Also the brothel manager knows that the general likes pine scented soap, so draw your own conclusions about how often he visits this place (or take it as a fanfic prompt).

As dictated by the incontrovertible laws of dramas, our female lead accidentally gets an eyeful of our male lead while he's in the bath. She even does one better, getting in a quick grope before propositioning him: she'll pay handsomely if he pretends to be familiar with her during her lunch date. Clearly she thinks he's an employee, not some random general just taking a bath there. He flatly refuses.

The date is a disaster. No matter how rude Ye Rong acts, the creeper doesn't take offense. 

She's wondering what her next move is when she hears Yin Sishen playing the qin (he's awfully familiar with the layout of this place- just saying). 

He's decided to help her out, and how- "You once swore by my pillow to grow old together with me" and "All these years coming to Jiaofang every night, over 30 musicians have all served you, but I'm your favorite".

The potential suitor does not appreciate being fed all this dog food and leaves in disgust. Mission accomplished. But marriage is not so easily avoided in a historical costume drama- we have to get our leads together by the end of the episode. How will we do it? Easy. The answer is, as always, lazy scriptwriting. The emperor decrees a marriage between these two. Convenient!

Final Thoughts

At 16 episodes it’s mercifully short and while this drama is light on plot and done on a dime at least all the leads have decent chemistry so if comedic love triangles are your thing this might be worth a watch. It's not like we're spoiled for choice with costume dramas at the moment, amirite? 

Master list of all recaps /// On to Episode 2

[bladedweaponsandswishycoats]

Just as Princess Jing'An did, at the end, he calls out 四季花常在/ 九州事尽知. Smiling and on the edge of tears, it's the last time he'll say it in this life, he thinks, though he'll remember this moment for however much longer he lives—though that probably won't be too long.

Places can be characters in a story just as much as people can, and I think Siji Shanzhuang is a really good example. He's saying it for himself, but he's also saying it the way one might a euology. It is actually even worse, because he had thought he'd already lost it—back in the beginning when he asked not to be called Zhuangzhu anymore—only he didn't realize then that there was still more he could lose.