#siji shanzhuang

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Siji Manor First Drafts!

Okay but this is a cry for help, really. Lotus Pier was so easy compared to this.

I’ve spent two weeks already searching for the right film set, once it became apparent from my initial screenshot studies that Siji Manor has been filmed across multiple lots. The screenshots/reference pictures already total nearly 200.

I have deep dived many chinese websites and used Google translate more than I have in the last year alone, even though I’ve been self-studying Mandarin. I have found concept art of the “main” birdseye view - the one we see in episode 24 - and have found it on Google Earth and Tencent maps and several other Chinese map sites. (And I cannot stress enough how difficult that was, dear god. The park is newer than the others, and split into several lots, so it’s not marked on any of these maps - if its there at all. It doesn’t have a clearly dedicated page on Hengdian’s website, either, and no tourist map. I had to do sooo much sleuthing. I did find The Hanshi, though, for an unexpected boost!)

But based on the fact that I have scoured all of Hengdian’s film parks, after confirming it is indeed Hengdian and not another film studio, I still have not found the right cluster of buildings for the more private courtyard(s) - the main Siji set, consisting of Chengling’s training area, the kitchen, and Wen Kexing and Zhou Zishu’s rooms.

That, and the echo I hear during the single BTS clip of them in this space leads me to think that this second courtyard was entirely enclosed and built in the adjacent studio lot for this site.

So I have no birdseye view of a second site to 1) confirm layout and 2) marry with the birdseye view of the initial courtyard.

I’m going to have to get creative. I’m going to have to make it up. And that - that terrifies me a little, I’m not going to lie. The designs I have done so far have strived to be as close as possible to the shows. I still want to be as faithful as possible. But... I think a lot of it this time is up to me. 

And that terrifies me 😅

[aiyexayen]

pridewrite day 19 (yes it is) prompt: time/change

Xie-wang doesn't sleep with a knife under his pillow. That would be insane; who would take the extra seconds to twist and fumble for something they need so immediately? Not to mention the risk of an attacker searching the pillow first and using his own blade on him, which he would absolutely deserve for being such a fool.

No, Xie-wang doesn't keep a knife under his pillow. He keeps poisoned needles in his hands.

Small ones, easy to manoeuvre, easy to hide. It wouldn't be any better to keep a blade in his hand than under the pillow, after all; any enemy attempting to attack him at night would see it and know, would target the weapon or have time to prepare for it. He'd only do such a thing as a decoy, and that would just get in the way.

But needles? No one will see them coming.

To make them a viable option he's had to train his body into a very specific kind of sleep since he first began his training to be an assassin. A careful, motionless sleep, so he doesn't risk stabbing himself. For security, it's small price to pay.

--

It is four years into Xie'er's life at Siji Shanzhuang, the first time Wen Kexing forgets his fan.

He notices this not because Wen Kexing makes a fuss but because noticing things is what Xie'er does. And because like recognises like.

He assumes that fact is also the reason why he was never asked to leave once he'd completely healed, and has never once been asked to swear fealty or accept discipleship. Instead he is allowed to wander the grounds as he wishes; the most anyone asks of him is if he can run an errand, or his opinion on new decorations. No questions, season after season. He even spends his days garbed in familiar pretty blues and whites that no one has ever demanded he take off.

Like recognises like.

So Xie'er recognises the way chronic survival shapes a life:

the way Zhou-zhuangzhu's pockets practically jangle with potions and antidotes, or how on good days he's somehow always the first to taste any food that reaches the table and on bad days he's the last;

the way that Xiang'er still takes an involuntary tiny step toward whatever direction her ge should be in whenever she's startled or threatened, before the conscious stance she takes at her husband's side;

the way Liu Qianqiao never turns her back on an unexamined corner of any given room, or how her idle fingers make perfect knots in any stray strip of fabric;

the way that Wen Kexing never so much as takes a bath without his fan in arm's reach.

Until he does.

Until they're ushered out of the dining hall to see Xingming make good on his boast that he can finally outpace Chengling at the signature swift-moving steps. They've only just hit the courtyard when Wen Kexing idly pats his sleeve, then his other sleeve, hands coming away empty, and gives a little laugh, quiet and to himself, turning back without a word to fetch his fan from the table inside.

Xie'er is the only one who even notices him slip away--ah, no, he's not; he catches Zhou-zhuangzhu paused as well to look thoughtfully back at the doorway for a brief moment before nodding and turning back to the group. Xie'er himself can't seem to do the same. He watches until he sees Wen Kexing re-emerge, sees his hand withdraw from his sleeve as he steps over the threshold again.

Xie'er almost lets out an undignified huff of disbelief. Even after that, the fool is going to simply keep it in his sleeve? Not hold onto it, not remind himself that the comforting weight of his weapon is still his to command?

Indeed, Wen Kexing seems entirely unaffected, the way he all but dances up to Zhou-zhuangzhu's side and leans into his personal space, only to be pinched affectionately by the latter. Kexing waves his hand imperiously at something Weining says, and then grins to follow it up.

Realising that he hasn't so much as taken another step and the group is pulling far ahead of him, Xie'er reminds himself to breathe and strides back into place. He does not look toward Zhou-zhuangzhu or his chattering wife; like recognises like, and he does not want to know if he was observed in his own observation. It happens unnervingly often, here at Siji Shanzhuang. Sometimes he wonders why he even stays with how irritating they can be about it.

No, he doesn't look over. He does, however, take stock of his own blades still strapped to his wrists, on impulse, and tries to imagine ever going without them. Impossible.

Wen Kexing is certainly a skilled weaponless fighter. And logically, of course, there are many skilled and trusted fighters here. Former assassins, ghosts--the sheer level of competence in this small group alone, the rest of the sect aside, could take on a small army, most likely. And further, why should they ever have to? This place is safe. As safe as anywhere Xie'er could imagine. Safer.

But how can even that be enough for Wen Kexing? To such an extent? Xie'er grinds his teeth, trying to let it go and failing.

Ever oblivious to his moods, or at least refusing to pay them heed, Xiang'er sidles up beside him and yanks on his arm, her hand closing unknowingly around one of Xie'er's daggers, pressing the flat of the sheath into his skin as she tugs. Strangely, his shoulders untense.

"Xie-gege, don't be so slow! I've bet so much on Chengling and you have to help me laugh at A-Ning when Xingming loses. Lai, lai, lai!"

Xie'er rolls his eyes but lets Xiang'er pull him out of his thoughts and into the evening's tomfoolery.

--

Later that night Xie'er sits on the edge of his bed, alone in the near-dark. Voices and a bit of music, followed by the faint scent of wood smoke, still float delicately to his open window from the main courtyard where the most reckless disciples occasionally stay up a bit too late drinking. Aside from them the pleasant hush of nighttime at Siji Shanzhuang falls soft in the corners of Xie'er's room, in the hall outside.

His muscles are pleasantly sore now from the spar Xiang'er talked him into after the dessert she'd also talked him into, and then the subsequent activities in her room with Xiao Cao which they had not needed to try very hard to talk him into. The back of his neck is still damp from the cloth he'd washed up with and the breeze from the window blows a chill down his spine. All in all, it's a perfectly ordinary night.

By the light of one candle, Xie'er turns a little glass vial this way and that in his hand. Inside it are poison-tipped needles.

How long he sits there he doesn't know. The voices outside grow dim; the moon glows brighter. The night noises of insects and frogs keep his controlled breath company. It's a perfectly ordinary night.

With shaking hands, Xie'er puts the vial down on the table beside his bed. A moment later, he gets up and takes it to tuck into his locked box. He blows out the candle. He lays down on his bed.

It's a perfectly ordinary night.

It takes many hours, but sometime before the dawn Xie'er finally sighs, fetches a knife to slip under his pillow, and falls asleep.

[rustycreekspoon]

#12: Return

Get out!! Leave!!

Perhaps Xie Wang should’ve seen it coming. But Xie’er, still so oft under a scorpion’s shell, was left reeling as yifu kicked him out in a fit of drunken rage.

He felt raw. He felt dramatic, walking through the dark rain. Sure, Yifu had been drunk, but he was sure he meant it. Yifu had gotten angry with him before, but never like this.

He’d never been kicked away like this before. It staggers him. Abruptly, all at once, it puts him on his knees. He reels—

He really has nowhere to return to now, does he? A tool, cast aside, thrown away. No home to rest.

He lets the rain pound him down until he’s numb.

[deepestbluesky]

hanwenzhou thought of the day: IM BACK HI!!!!

han ying helping around siji shanzhuang. i’m specifically thinking about them having to rebuild so much of it after it got burnt down, but han ying also would have been recovering at first, so less about him doing heavy lifting (physically and metaphorically) in the main rebuild, and more about him carrying out smaller projects. like, think about wen kexing having all these plans once he starts to settle in, and han ying helping him, a thing wen kexing isn’t quite used to yet. or maybe han ying hearing zhou zishu’s idle comments about things that used to be in the manor, or things that used to be NOT in the manor that he wishes were, and han ying taking it upon himself to plan the project and organize people to actually get these things done. i just think han ying is a very ‘here is a comment and i will Make Practical Action on it’ person, and i think wen kexing and zhou zishu would be both surprised and delighted about it

(also, while i’m thinking about it. please feel free to message me or comment directly on the post if you have any criticism or suggestion on cultural topics i've messed up or that you think i've treated insensitively in these posts! also any other posts, actually, but these are the main original posts i make on this blog haha)

[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.

[sadfishkid]

love is stored in the siji shanzhuang domesticity

[watch-grok-brainrot]

I participated in @shlbigbang this year! 

These are the gifs I made based on mintyfish’s (@_gayexmachina on twitter) AMAZING story Within Us an Orchard on AO3! It’s so well paced, and well written and she’s posting her chapters throughout the day everyone! Please check it out and support it! I love it so much! 

How much do I love it? When I signed up for the shlbb, the requirement said 4 manips or 8 gifs so i said my gifs were manips and showed the admins my style. The admins for the bb were ok with that designation. But! Due to how beautifully mintyfish wrote her story, I couldn’t help but make 7 gifs! 

Image description behind cut (also, this is my first time writing one, so please let me know if i should restructure the post or not put them under cut etc.)

[Image description: 7 gifs overlaying flowers or garden scenery (rocks) with scenes from Shan He Ling/Word of Honor. Gif 1: Pink peach blossoms with zhou zishu in tian chuang assassin outfit pulling down his mask on the left and qin jiuxiao drinking on the right. Gif 2: Red plum blossoms with zhou zishu looking sad and talking on the left and han ying looking desperate at zishu. Gif 3: bright orange phoenix flowers with two gifs of zhou zishu’s face grimacing from ep 1 as he puts a nail into himself on the left and right flanking zhou zishu’s open palm with a qi-qiao-san-qiu nail in the middle. the hand in the middle is ghostly transparent. Gif 4: Purple azaleas with Bi-shu on the left and Zhou Zishu in tianchuang robes on the right. Zhou zishu’s face is framed by the flowers that overlap his hair and robes. Bi-shu is on top of the flower layer. Gif 5: A stack of small rocks in a garden with water trickling down in the middle. Wen kexing leans into zhou zishu on the left, flirting while fanning himself. On the right, zhou zishu’s face is amused as he turns around (from ep 1 flashback with jiuxiao carving the hair stick) on the right. Gif 6: pink peony blooming in middle overlapping in venn-diagram fashion with wen kexing’s hand reaching out and grabbing zhou zishu’s on the left and wenzhou drinking together in siji shanzhuang on the right. Gif 7: two vibrant magenta peonies blooming on the left and right towards the bottom of the gif. they overlapped wenzhou looking at the four sages on a boat. wenzhou cultivating in ep 36 can be seen overlapping the silhouettes. both versions of wenzhou are slowly zooming out. ] 

[hunxi-after-hours]

Hunxi, please help me! (if you can, if not you can ignore this lol) I'm confused with TYK/SHL and with all the Ghost Valley names. So, in the novel translation, if I got it right, it's said that the Ghost Valley is situated in Green Bamboo (Qingzhu?) Ridge in Fengya Mountain. But from the show I seem to remember they always talked about Ghost Valley being on/in/by Qingya Mountain? Did they just change the name or do I not get something because chinese characters and subs and translation and things getting lost?

Also, I'm still mad we only see dreary Ghost Valley in the show and not 'lush, green bamboo forest paradise Fengya Mountain' (I just love it when things don't 'fit', I'm simple, what can I say)

hi anon! I believe they changed the name from novel to show (they changed quite a few names going from novel to show, including but not limited to 四季庄 siji zhuang -> 四季山庄 siji shanzhuang, Liang Jiuxiao -> Qin Jiuxiao). in the book, the 鬼谷 Gui Gu / Ghost Valley is located in 青竹岭 Qing Zhu Ling / Green Bamboo Ridge at 风崖山 Feng Ya Shan / uhh... Wind Cliff Mountain? sure, let's go with that; the point is, I think they condensed the name in the show with a character from each to produce 青崖山 Qing Ya Shan / Green Cliff Mountain

changing the names of places and occasional characters is a fairly common practice in guzhuang dramas! again, unless a drama is situated specifically in a historical period, featuring historical figures, most of these dramas are occurring in a nebulously ahistorical time-space; as a result, place names that might be identifiable locations in the original novel get fiddled with to add a layer of ambiguity in adaptation

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Please note this down as the day I went insane/more insane about this set. The mysterious secondary courtyard I’ve been trying to find so that I can fit it into my WOH set design project? I think it’s the same courtyard Chengling’s room is in in “Sanbai Manor”, ep 5.

Hear me out:

The style of the set fits exactly, first of all. I’ve been working off the assumption that this set and the internal Siji Manor courtyard set are in the same base. But... there’s a bigass tree over there. There’s also a rain gutter that projects out wierdly far past the end of the building. See the gutter in red again down here:

Along with a pavillion with very specific direction of railings, and what looks like stairs that could potentially be the portico to the “Everlasting” named building confirmed... I think on Discord actually with @minnarr​? I’m sorry I keep tagging you about a conversation that was a very long time ago. Or was that in a post here? This building:

Whose internal layout btw I think is the main “Gentle Winds and Light Clouds” building:

(The windows and doors match up, but note that the view out of the door would be wrong for the position of the pavillion...) Let’s return though, to that bigass tree:

And it seems to fit?? Even though the view of that far building and courtyard beyong the walkway here:

is most certainly nothing like this courtyard:

which I know to be joined to that training courtyard.

....You know what I’m also certain about?

None of this is helpful to locating a set at all. I am just chasing the fixation dragon at this point. I am a dog with a bone. I’m going to be deconstructing the thing anyway, why am I trying so hard to locate it?? There is possible a little pond outside ZZS’s room? That’s the only helpful takeaway from this entire post. This is it btw. If it’s even a pond:

I’m yeeting this post away from me now. Sidetracked by a fucking tree.

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Unexpected CQL set update!

I'm sleuthing for some aerial data for my next architecture projects, Four Seasons Manor and the Unclean Realm, and look what I spotted!

You gotta admit, I was pretty damn close.

If you’re wondering why I’ve started searching for aerial shots as part of my set research now and not at the beginning of this series - first of all, I’m just winging it at all times. I had no idea what I was doing then, or even now. Secondly, Four Seasons Manor is proving to be split across two sets, so the birdseye is going to need a little bit of creativity✨ with the help from source material.

Link to the full Hanshi set meta and print.

CQL Set Design series: Part 1: The Jingshi Part 3: Lotus Pier

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Thinking about Them (the set models of the Jingshi and Siji Manor on AliExpress that are now unavailable to buy. and I couldn't afford anyway)

[pastelcheckereddreams]

Wen Kexing teasing Zhou Zishu by calling him “Zhou pusa” (Zhou Bodhisattva) is funny and I will absolutely write more of him doing so. But listen: the worshipping potential for hanzhou, considering how Han Ying basically compares ZZS to a deity in episode 10: Perhaps someone comes to post-canon au Siji shanzhuang to beg aid and ZZS gives it to them after much eye-rolling and demanding (much in the spirit of YBY actually, and narratively on purpose were I to write this in some kind of fic format) why he should help someone whose misfortunates are their own creation. And WKX teases him about it, but HY just says with a smile - “As expected of our Zhou-pusa.”

And ZZS honeset-to-god blushes. He’s flustered. HY’s devotion and near saintly worship was awkward before when HY was so earnest about it. But now he jokes about it? Treats it like an endearment?

Oh no.

Oh no.

A Xu’s feelings are compromised. HY knows he’s nice. HY is going to ruin his reputation by saying these things so sweetly.

[aiyexayen]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Chapters: 6/?

Words: 19584

Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)

Relationships: Cao Weining/Gu Xiang/Zhang Chengling, Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling, Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Zhang Chengling & Original Character(s), background Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Established Cao Weining/Gu Xiang, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Characters: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, Cao Weining, Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing, Jing Beiyuan, Wu Xi, Bi Xingming, Cheng Zichen, Siji Shanzhuang Disciples, Background & Cameo Characters, Original Characters

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon Fix-It, Angst, Teen Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Slow Burn, Polyamory, Friends to Lovers, Queer Characters, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Growing Up, Coming of Age, Weddings, Fights, Reconciliation, Pining, POV Zhang Chengling, Nails of Seven Torments, Medical Conditions & Procedures, Coma, Healing, Rebuilding, sex mention, Everybody Lives, Podfic Welcome

Summary: Siji Shanzhuang burns. Zhou Zishu is captured and taken. Wen Kexing makes his plans and gives chase.

But Zhang Chengling does not go to Dagu Shan. Instead, left entirely to his own devices, he wanders the estate of his benefactors, looking for a familiar face--and overhears something he really shouldn't. It changes everything.

[aiyexayen]

Rating: Mature

Chapters: 13/13

Words: 19738

Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)

Relationships: Gu Xiang/Zhou Zishu, Gu Xiang/Wen Kexing, Gu Xiang/Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, background Wenzhou

Characters: Gu Xiang, Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing, Zhang Chengling, Ye Baiyi, Yun Zai, Background & Cameo Characters

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode 23 Divergence, Fix-It, Everybody Lives, that we know about, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Fluff, Siji Shanzhuang era, Developing Relationship, Feelings Realization, Getting Together, Polyamory, Character Study, Personal Growth, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Wound Tending, Bathing/Washing, Tenderness, Family Feels, Home, Fights, Kissing, Fantasizing, Flirting, Holidays, Cooking, Drinking, Wen Kexing's Childhood Trauma, Gu Xiang's Childhood Trauma, POV Multiple, POV Gu Xiang, POV Zhou Zishu, Podfic Welcome

Summary: Gu Xiang said she would follow Wen Kexing even if he was crazy; that if he killed her one day, she would follow him even in death. When she follows him as far as Siji Shanzhuang, she doesn't expect that instead she'll be walking with him hand in hand along the painful road to becoming human--guided by the light of a dying man learning how to live.

[aiyexayen]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Chapters: 3/?

Words: 12086

Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)

Relationships: Cao Weining/Gu Xiang/Zhang Chengling, Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling, Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Zhang Chengling & Original Character(s), background Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Established Cao Weining/Gu Xiang, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Characters: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, Cao Weining, Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing, Jing Beiyuan, Wu Xi, Bi Xingming, Cheng Zichen, Siji Shanzhuang Disciples, Background & Cameo Characters, Original Characters

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon Fix-It, Angst, Teen Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Slow Burn, Polyamory, Friends to Lovers, Queer Characters, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Growing Up, Coming of Age, Weddings, Fights, Reconciliation, Pining, POV Zhang Chengling, Nails of Seven Torments, Medical Conditions & Procedures, Coma, Healing, Rebuilding, sex mention, Everybody Lives, Podfic Welcome

Summary: Siji Shanzhuang burns. Zhou Zishu is captured and taken. Wen Kexing makes his plans and gives chase.

But Zhang Chengling does not go to Dagu Shan. Instead, left entirely to his own devices, he wanders the estate of his benefactors, looking for a familiar face--and overhears something he really shouldn't. It changes everything.

[aiyexayen]

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Chapters: 2/?

Words: 8942

Fandom: 山河令 | Word of Honor (TV 2021)

Relationships: Cao Weining/Gu Xiang/Zhang Chengling, Wen Kexing & Zhang Chengling, Zhang Chengling & Zhou Zishu, Zhang Chengling & Original Character(s), background Wen Kexing/Zhou Zishu, Established Cao Weining/Gu Xiang, Minor or Background Relationship(s)

Characters: Zhang Chengling, Gu Xiang, Cao Weining, Zhou Zishu, Wen Kexing, Jing Beiyuan, Wu Xi, Bi Xingming, Cheng Zichen, Siji Shanzhuang Disciples, Background & Cameo Characters, Original Characters

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Post-Canon Fix-It, Angst, Teen Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Slow Burn, Polyamory, Friends to Lovers, Queer Characters, Family Feels, Developing Friendships, Growing Up, Coming of Age, Weddings, Fights, Reconciliation, Pining, POV Zhang Chengling, Nails of Seven Torments, Medical Conditions & Procedures, Coma, Healing, Rebuilding, sex mention, Everybody Lives, Podfic Welcome

Summary: Siji Shanzhuang burns. Zhou Zishu is captured and taken. Wen Kexing makes his plans and gives chase.

But Zhang Chengling does not go to Dagu Shan. Instead, left entirely to his own devices, he wanders the estate of his benefactors, looking for a familiar face--and overhears something he really shouldn't. It changes everything.