#shiguang daili ren spoilers

[apparently-artless]

Shiguang Daili Ren S02E01 - Cheng Xiaoshi

[muninnhuginn]

You know what's gonna kill me when we get the inevitable Lu Guang flashbacks?

The fact he's always described as "mature" as his post-dive self implies he must be different now than before. It's hard to imagine exactly what his personality was like before, and if it's written well, he shouldn't be completely unrecognisable. But we know he's been changed.

Imagine a first timeline where Lu Guang just follows along with Cheng Xiaoshi, no attempts to reign him in whatsover. Cheng Xiaoshi having the opportunity to come up with more of his complicated tricks but channelling it into lower stakes stuff like pranks and Lu Guang actually enabling him in that and having fun with it. Imagine tragedy striking when Lu Guang and Cheng Xiaoshi are both allowing themselves to be genuinely happy, no facades.

We know that Cheng Xiaoshi used to put on a brave face in light of his parents' disappearances and what that meant for how he was treated and what he was missing out on. But we also know that Qiao Ling and Lu Guang together have been able to lift that into something more genuine. Imagine a world where Cheng Xiaoshi was able to do the same for Lu Guang. Where they both mutually brought that light into the other's life.

It's still true to some extent in the current worldline, but it's complicated by Lu Guang's own actions. Lu Guang can never be fully honest with Cheng Xiaoshi without (in his mind) losing him forever. But he has to stick by his side in order to have any chance in his hopeless quest. And so, he must distance himself in other ways, protect Cheng Xiaoshi, enforce the rules. Swallow the guilt. It leads to a more lopsided relationship, one where one side is always hiding something from the other and refuses to open up themselves. A relationship that in the original timeline must have been more equal, as partners.

There's something that's been lost here, and it's not just the original Cheng Xiaoshi.

[chodzacaparodia]

We can laugh at Lu Guang's "death" now, right?

[ao3dorian-gay]

chase you to the end of the world — just to say your name once more // orpheus & eurydice — lu guang & cheng xiaoshi

hozier, “talk” | hadestown, "wait for me" | michael gibson, orpheus and eurydice | euripides, orestes

[retrogradedreaming]

After watching s2 of Link Click, I’m rewatching s1, and when Cheng Xiaoshi dove for the Emma murder, he comes back after diving by himself, and Lu Guang yells at him about how he could’ve died, and while it’s not exactly an unjustified reaction, it makes so much more sense now

All I keep thinking is how, after LG went to the trouble of messing with the timeline himself, he’s like “why are you trying so hard to undo all the work I did to keep you alive”

[walleeli]

“See, whenever I pass the ball to you…

…it means that I trust you. You get it?

Partnerships like that are a rare thing.

Don’t take it for granted.” -Cheng Xiaoshi

(Season 1 Ep 3//Season 2 Ep 12)

[wordswhisperinthedark]

to return to those mundane days with you...

[5-pp-man]

If the multiple timelines theory really is true. Then uhhh.

[spaceangst]

the ultimate link click meta theory

contrary to what narrative exposition has given us so far, this story starts with qiao ling and the photo studio. it's awfully nice of her dad to rent the studio out to cheng xiaoshi under the condition that he run the studio while he waits for his parents to return, but (and this is me assuming based on what we've been told so far) it's a little weird that her dad doesn't just. take cheng xiaoshi in? it's my understanding that cheng xiaoshi lives alone either in the photo studio or his parents' home and qiao ling checks up on him as best as she can.

which is, admittedly, off? why agree to give a kid a 10,000 debt under the condition that the debt can be paid off by running a photo studio of all things?

we don't know when cheng xiaoshi's ability was first triggered but if we assume that trauma is the trigger, like it appears to be with li tianxi, there are 2 possibilities:

1. cheng xiaoshi's parents leaving is the trauma that triggers his ability. specifically, that moment where he's panicking about the earthquake with qiao ling.

2. there's something else that's traumatizing that happened between the events of him meeting lu guang and his parents leaving that triggered his ability.

either way, something traumatic would've triggered this ability and while qiao ling doesn't directly know what it is, her dad has possibly sent her to monitor the photo studio for some reason. she's likely unaware in the scheme that i'm projecting:

her dad and these other scientists are all in on this scientific experiment to test these abilities and see what can be done. cheng xiaoshi's parents' disappearance could have even been a part of this experiment with them being involved as scientists as well.

this would definitely explain the kid from the water fountain who li tianchen is kinda just in awe of - it's cheng xiaoshi. the speaking mannerisms sound a lot like adult cheng xiaoshi and on top of that, the outfit is definitely cheng xiaoshi coded. the impulsive nature of diving into a fountain for a ball? cheng xiaoshi. lu guang's reaction to li tianchen telling this story definitely has me thinking that if there's anything i've gotten right so far, it's this.

it makes me wonder if the siblings got out of the experiment/found out the truth and sought out qiao jin to exact their revenge on cheng xiaoshi for "choosing" to stay in the experiment. it's also possible that qiao jin got them out himself for his own agenda and vendetta against the police force and this whole thing with lu guang and cheng xiaoshi is just to get them on his side (even forcefully) if it means that he can get what he wants.

(no but seriously, how were cheng xiaoshi's parents not even reported missing? it feels more important than just parental trauma that shapes his identity - it's definitely a part of the plot.)

as for where lu guang plays into all this:

i see the time travel theory. but i also think it involves all three of them - qiao ling as the one who either 1. rewinded time without any recollection of the future (only lu guang and the li siblings remember what's to come) or 2. sent lu guang back to the past to fix things that went really wrong in the future

considering their abilities and how well established they are, i'm almost against anyone with previously introduced abilities from developing more advanced abilities for the plot - and it would definitely explain why the siblings target lu guang and qiao ling.

this sets up the following:

the original timeline that we haven't seen: lu guang and cheng xiaoshi become friends and they play basketball together occasionally, but they're not as close as they are in the timeline that we see. they go their separate ways and remain acquaintances in college, but not as close friends. he walks by the photo studio after just saying hi, but doesn't stop to help paint. cheng xiaoshi runs the photo studio alone and tries to go into the pictures himself after he accidentally does it once. qiao ling finds out later when he gets himself involved in a Much more serious case. at a college reunion or sometime briefly in the future, lu guang comes across a photo and when he looks through what happened, it's catastrophic in more ways than one. it involves cheng xiaoshi's death (which triggers qiao ling's time travel ability) and he likely sees himself there too, trying to help qiao ling before disappearing. aka, he sees himself time traveling.

the present timeline that we see: he changes it all by staying to help paint. hence the emphasis on lu guang being a lucky coincidence in their lives. and he's actively working to prevent that tragedy and prevent cheng xiaoshi's death from happening. this would mean that qiao ling never unlocks her time travel ability, but it would lock in this present as reality.

(the orv of it all, truly. lu guang regressing to see cheng xiaoshi again and qiao ling rewriting their reality just to save cheng xiaoshi.)

there's my long winded take on it! i'd love to hear what other people think (and feel free to send me all the link click and orv asks bc i'm mentally just stuck between both of those rn) but i hope this made some sense!

[greyroses02]

This just in…

Qian Jin is a petty bitch.

[apparently-artless]

Shiguang Daili Ren S02E03 - Cheng Xiaoshi

[bloomfenix]

I've only had Li Tianxi for around 2 or 3 chapters of Link Click but if something happens to her I would kill everyone in this fandom and then myself

(note: I haven't seen the new chapter so if something actually happened to her DONT TELL ME)

[muninnhuginn]

In Defence of Qiao Ling

I've been musing on several threads relating to Qiao Ling in the last few weeks and have seen a few posts going around that have pushed me to actually try and put all my Qiao Ling thoughts into words and in one place.

Despite the title, I don't fully agree with the show's handling of Qiao Ling, but I do think she has been provided with a clear ongoing arc and so that's what I'm going to be focusing on here.

This got quite long so most of it is under the cut, but shout-out to @lizzieonka and @oceaniche for their previous posts on Qiao Ling, which definitely ended up inspiring some parts of this.

So, let's start with: what do we actually know about Qiao Ling?

Qiao Ling's Background

She's first introduced as the "landlady", for all it quickly becomes apparent that her relationship with Cheng Xiaoshi isn't quite that simple. Her family "took Cheng Xiaoshi in" but there's always been some distance and that's reinforced by the whole "rent" deal. (The fact that Cheng Xiaoshi is still adamant his parents will return likely also factors in to this.) Still, Qiao Ling herself clearly sees Cheng Xiaoshi as her younger brother and is willing to stake her claim on him as family to near-strangers (we've seen it both when she met Lu Guang and Li Tianxi).

Qiao Ling's social life is clearly contrasted with that of Cheng Xiaoshi. Where Cheng Xiaoshi's first "proper" friend was Lu Guang, Qiao Ling has her own circle of friends and is fairly sociable in general (she literally found a client by befriending a stranger when she came to learn martial arts). Xu Shanshan, for instance, is very much Qiao Ling's friend despite hanging out with the collective group at uni. Qiao Ling also spoke of Cheng Xiaoshi's childhood as something that happened to him specifically, implying that she herself was spared the bullying (which makes sense considering the fact that she wasn't the one with missing parents) and so had a more "normal" upbringing. Whether she spoke up back then or stayed quiet isn't fully clarified (not speaking up against adults is one thing but what about classmates?), but Cheng Xiaoshi doesn't seem to hold it against her either way.

Nowadays, Qiao Ling's role in managing the photo shop's side-business has her interacting directly with most clients. She's the most customer-facing of the three, relaying information between clients and shiguang. This is despite her not actually knowing the full details behind shiguang's diving process until season two, which in retrospect makes it more impressive. Qiao Ling taking on the managerial role (and what is also implied to be social media advertising) also has the (unintended?) effect of obscuring shiguang's roles in the business from the public, as it's Qiao Ling who earns the nickname of "witch". It took until Xiao Li saw Cheng Xiaoshi in the CCTV footage during the Doudou case for anyone to see through this.

Key Character Moments

In terms of Qiao Ling's key moments, we have four main ones.

In Doudou arc, Qiao Ling admits she saw Doudou being taken three years ago;

In season two, at the hospital, Qiao Ling asks for some trust and to not be shut out anymore;

Qiao Ling bonding with Li Tianxi and using their shared aspects to bring her out of her shell so she would help the investigation;

The revelation that Qiao Ling did, in fact, receive some form of Lu Guang's memories from Tianxi and her dismissal of their implications.

The main thread behind all of these scenes is that they are about information and what you choose to do with it.

My thoughts are two-fold here. First, how these scenes connect with Qiao Ling's arc specifically, and secondly, how they connect with the broader themes of the series.

Qiao Ling's Arc

Doudou

Let's begin with Doudou arc. In this arc, Qiao Ling reveals that she saw the kidnapping of a child several years ago. She hadn't told anyone about this for three years and likely would have continued to have kept it to herself if not for Doudou's father approaching the photo studio. In this arc, there is the following exchange:

Qiao Ling's main regret is that she didn't do something or say something as she saw Doudou being taken away. That her inaction may have ensured that Doudou's kidnapper was able to get away with him. And she specifically says "I didn't even have the courage to step forward and provide any information." (Tangent: Funnily enough, Lu Guang is the "star of courage" in the Star Warriors later in the episode, not Qiao Ling. Qiao Ling is "star of wisdom" who is meant to "light the way". Still fitting, but in a less straightforward way.)

Now, to me, this is clearly setting up an arc, not resolving one. Qiao Ling wouldn't have offered the information if not for the circumstances. And it tells us that for all Qiao Ling has friends and is sociable, she still holds certain cards close to her chest. She doesn't want to confront the past so instead she will hold her guilt tight and not say a word. Though, as this exchange shows, she does want to have that courage. And I'll get onto this later, but this ties in very clearly with the information she later holds regarding Lu Guang.

Hospital confrontation

Throughout this entire scene, even before it becomes a "confrontation" Qiao Ling is clearly feeling guilty. She runs after Cheng Xiaoshi when he tries to leave to help the police so that she can *do something*, make up for it the best she can. Guilt and avoidance are key traits for her and they both manifest here. They're still holding her back.

And, of course, there's her statement to Cheng Xiaoshi: "You're always trying to protect me. I really appreciate it. But what I need more is your trust." Qiao Ling knows what it's like to be locked out of the loop. She didn't know the specifics of diving for months (possibly years?) and it didn't really seem to bother her (or at least she didn't give the impression it bothered her when "Xu Shanshan" asked her about it). But she has her limits. And being locked out when the situation is actively dangerous? That's clearly past those limits.

Li Tianxi

Grouping together the final two scenes, because the first Li Tianxi scene is more a demonstration of character traits as well as digging in those sibling parallels between LTC-LTX and CXS-QL. Anyway, the first scene adds more evidence to the idea that Qiao Ling is more sociable and a people person. That she could could get Li Tianxi to open up by taking a more understanding approach and showing that she gets it to some extent. She's in the same boat.

Which means when we get to the final scene, this is what ties it all together. Qiao Ling has inherited the memories Li Tianxi saw from Lu Guang. She has seen Cheng Xiaoshi's "death". She has information now. But her first instinct is to dismiss it. To avoid it and refuse to confront it because the implications are too much.

But, see, she's been in this situation before with Doudou. She's had information and done nothing with it and regretted. She wanted to have the courage to do better. This is her goal.

And the implications of these memories? Do they mean Cheng Xiaoshi is in danger? Wasn't danger her red line in the sand? Didn't she tell him that "protecting" people and "trusting" them aren't mutually exclusive?

And finally, Lu Guang isn't Li Tianxi, but isn't the scenario here at least somewhat similar? Isn't Qiao Ling in the same boat as him here, wanting to keep Cheng Xiaoshi safe? Hasn't Qiao Ling shown she can connect with people through their shared experiences?

Qiao Ling isn't a confrontational character. She's avoidant. She will wallow in her guilt and not let on until it gets too much. But she wants to do better and isn't this her chance to do something? Say something? To not just be a passive observer and be left with regrets? I don't think it will be immediate by any means, but I think for her arc to conclude properly, she will have to conclude for herself that she needs to be open with the information she has and share it. If she's pushed into it, then it's just Doudou again. But if she chooses to share the information, then that's the pay-off set up back in season one.

Broader Themes in the Show

Broader themes regarding information and withholding of it. We see time and again in this series, that characters withhold information from others.

Liu Xiao and Lu Guang with Li Tianchen and Cheng Xiaoshi respectively, both holding more information than their "partner". Refusing to share it so that they can control them. Their reasons may differ, but the dynamics mirror each other in that respect. Unhealthy dynamic number one.

Li Tianchen and Li Tianxi, never addressing what Li Tianchen is doing with their powers. It allows Li Tianchen to pretend to himself that he is protecting Li Tianxi and carrying out justice. Li Tianxi is heavily implied in her telling of their backstory to know more than she lets on with regards to Li Tianchen's actions. But the refusal of both siblings to broach the topic eventually leads to Li Tianchen going where Li Tianxi cannot follow in his pursuit of vengeance and puts Li Tianxi in the very danger Li Tianchen wanted to avoid. Unhealthy dynamic number two. (There are more than this but I'm just sticking to these to keep this from getting any longer)

To go back to the hospital confrontation, when Qiao Ling says: "You're always trying to protect me. I really appreciate it. But what I need more is your trust." When she says this? It's a direct hit against the idea that protection should involve keeping people out. And in this case, Cheng Xiaoshi does start to let her in. They do manage to have healthy communication here now that Qiao Ling has been let in on the dives and is allowed to do something to help. She doesn't want to be passive.

She knows what it's like to be locked out, to be "protected" without having her own agency respected. But now, as of end of season two, she's on the other side. She has the information and Cheng Xiaoshi is locked out.

When Qiao Ling was assigned as the "Star of Wisdom, to light the way" in the Doudou arc, that's because it's her role in the show overall. Lu Guang certainly isn't going to push forward with healthy communication; he's too committed to his path for that. Cheng Xiaoshi meanwhile doesn't have the information needed to even start a confrontation. Qiao Ling is the only one in the position to lead the way with her knowledge. To provide the route to healthy communication once more.

She is the catalyst.

[chodzacaparodia]

It may be barely visible, but you can't even imagine what that smile does to me

The most precious smile

[hauro]

Oh yes! I was hoping that Lu had left to save Xiaoshi, although I don't know yet how he left his room. He obviously saw it coming, with him checking the time.

I'm going to be devastated if the policewoman is actually dead, but then I can't imagine they won't make sure she won't get up again. :<

Also, I'm confused why the characters are confused about Xiaoshi leaving with her? Oh wait, unlike Lu, they don't know she's the one who can control people, I guess?

[kosamew]

Did I miss something or why did Qian Jin get arrested while Li Tianchen didn't? Is there lack of evidence? Or did he go and the ending scene was a time skip?