#the second one would also be me looking at pangzi he is so correct for this

[qinghe-s]

not nearly enough gifs of XIAO HUA (4/∞)

(id: two gifs of xie yuchen from episode nine of the lost tomb 2. the first shows him turning towards the viewer with a slight frown that deepens a little. in the second one his expression has turned to surprise, and he chuckles. there's a slight blue-pink-white gradient at the outer edges. end id)

[thosch3i]

Pingxie Moments in 万山极夜 Chapters 51 & 52

AKA how certain is Wu Xie in his ability to recognize Xiaoge, exactly? 👀

Spoiler Warning: these are the two most recent chapters I pulled from WeChat. Merebear's about ~75 chapters behind right now, but you can find the start to the story here.

Disclaimer: Chinese is my second language, I am not fluent but I did my best, etc etc etc

Some background & then TL below the cut!

Background: Iron Triangle is still in the mountain (some previous Pingxie scenes from this story here) and have been climbing up a cliff face towards a light source they assumed was the sun (an exit), but they soon found they never got any closer to the top and they could no longer see the bottom at all no matter how far they climbed. In the process, they found the dead bodies of some of Xiao Hua’s team, and among these the bodies the journal of a girl who wrote of the strange things she’d experienced: namely, that at some point while climbing, another “person” had appeared in their team, but she felt like she’d known him already, and that he’d been with them the entire time. Had it not been for her own journal lacking any mention of the mysterious “person” before he’d appeared out of nowhere, she never would’ve realized something was wrong.

Shortly after, Iron Triangle reunites with Xiao Hua and they make sure everyone is actually who they say they are (by reciting calculus formulas at each other--no I’m not joking). Wu Xie and Xiao Hua have a long talk by themselves about the situation, and then Xiao Hua falls asleep and Wu Xie calls up Xiaoge to watch over Xiao Hua while Wu Xie goes down a bit to rejoin Pangzi and the rest of Xiao Hua's group examining Jin Wantang's corpse, which had already dried completely and started to change into...something else. The following is shortly after they finish checking the corpse:

CHP 51

[...]

I sighed. At that moment, I suddenly saw that behind Pangzi, Menyouping was resting.

For a moment, I was stunned. Fuck, wasn't Menyouping watching Xiao Hua up above? Looking at Menyouping's demeanor, it seemed like he'd never moved at all.

"Xiaoge?" I called out. He opened his eyes and looked at me with a questioning gaze.

I thought about it and broke out into cold sweat. This is bad, I thought, and immediately started climbing up.

[CHP 52]

After a few steps, I frowned and very quickly asked myself a question.

Although I was moving very quickly earlier, could I have incorrectly identified Menyouping?

I had absolute confidence in my reaction speed. After so many years, my intuition towards unusual situations was like that of a wild animal. But for the Menyouping that had come up earlier, I recognized him beyond any doubt and didn’t sense anything unusual whatsoever.

Pangzi and Menyouping followed me up. I turned around to look at Pangzi, but I was actually looking at Menyouping.

[...]

I stared at the Menyouping below and immediately discovered something wasn't right, because this Menyouping below didn't look at me at all.

I called out to him, "Xiaoge?"

He looked at me again. I saw that his eyes were extremely calm and indifferent, but I realized this wasn't him.

This kind of realization could not be explained at all. This Zhang Qiling--I felt like he was almost identical to the real one; there was nothing wrong with him.

But I knew instantly, this person wasn't him.

Not only me, but also Pangzi instantly became aware of it. He looked at me, and then he also turned around to look at Menyouping.

This Menyouping didn't ask us what was wrong; he only kept looking at us.

I said to him, "Can you only imitate to this extent?"

He didn't reply; this was the correct response. I believed the power here couldn't read our minds to figure out how to trick us; if it wanted to pretend to be Menyouping, it should have made our minds generate an immunity to sensing abnormalities, and made us extremely unsensitive to lies. No matter what the other party said, our brains would automatically believe it.

So perhaps this Menyouping's every action was actually abnormal, but we saw it as normal.

In fact, I also really didn't feel like this Menyouping was fake; I felt like he was entirely real--I just felt like he wasn't him.

That was almost a kind of intuition surpassed the rational part of my brain and went straight to the answer.

We stared at each other for awhile. He opened his mouth to reply to me: "What do you mean--" The words had barely left his mouth when I lifted my gun and fired point-blank.

The bullet grazed Pangzi's ear; the Menyouping behind him suddenly dodged and flashed behind a rock.

I grabbed my climbing rope with one hand, passed Pangzi in an instant, and swung over in midair. When I shined my flashlight, there was not a single person behind the rock; it was entirely empty.

I hit the cliff wall and looked carefully. It was indeed as I’d seen, and I couldn’t help but frown as I kicked off to swing back to my original position. Pangzi looked at me with a questioning gaze, and I shook my head. “Gone.”

This person either fell down or entered the rocks. With my speed, he absolutely could not have leisurely climbed away.

All of Xiao Hua’s men had their guns pointed at me. I ignored them, [...] and started climbing back to the place where I’d been talking with Xiao Hua earlier.

Jin Xingsan was still asking, “Xiao San-ye, why are you guys fighting among yourselves?”

Pangzi also asked, "You moved too fast, I was still hesitating and you already opened fire. That Xiaoge was fake?"

"Fake," I said. I climbed up and discovered Xiao Hua and Menyouping were no longer in that location.

[END CHP52]

So Wu Xie is not only capable of recognizing by just *checks list* his fingers, the silhouette of his back, his musculature, or his eyes...but also in the Absence Of All Of That, simply through his gut feeling. Don’t even try to make a fake Xiaoge because Wu Xie will see through you in under a minute and open fire on you without blinking. Even when Pangzi wasn’t entirely sure, Wu Xie Did Not Hesitate.

Not to mention that he instantly realized something was wrong because he looked at Xiaoge and Xiaoge didn’t look back lmaoooo amazing. Another big kudos to Wu Xie for sassing the mysterious fake Xiaoge with a “Really??? This is all you can do to imitate him???????” And then later him ignoring the fact that all of Xiao Hua’s men have their guns pointed at him now to instead just climb back up and check on real Xiaoge with Xiao Hua first...A++++

Conclusion: Pingxie

[puppy-phum]

iron triangle thoughts (and prayers)

this is another bonus/side post for my pingxie thoughts (and prayers) -series. the rest of the series you can find here

i promised yall that i would make another one of these very soon so here i am again. usually i focus on pingxie, but for this i wanted to include pangzi too. it felt important that this would be about iron triangle as a whole.

(i have also used this scene and my own interpretation of it in my pingxie fic Binding)

The Red String of Fate

To leave episode 16 behind on a slightly more positive note, I wanted to focus on what happens after Xiaoge returns from the jade meteorite. More specifically, I wanted to focus on Iron Triangle’s trek through the desert before they collapse and get saved by Madam Dolma and her grandson. That whole scene makes me think A Lot™ and this scene is also one of the main reasons I decided to start this series. I have no idea if it was packed with as much meaning as I managed to squeeze out of it but I will live with what I’ve been offered.  

(rest of my flailing under the cut!)

We start with the fact that once we get to the desert, Xiaoge is finally able to walk without support. Before this he’s been getting a piggyback ride from both Wu Xie and Pangzi plus he has been thrown around like a ragdoll between shoulders (which makes me wonder how much fun the trio had during the filming of the scene where they are just swiping mud all over Xiaoge/XYL like he’s a wall to be painted). 

Xiaoge was still very out of it when Iron Triangle was in the jungle, and this is the first time we see him coherent again, actually looking like himself. He seems... mostly very tired but not that different than usual. However, we are left painfully aware of the fact that he is not who he used to be and that he has not spoken ever since he passed out on Wu Xie outside the meteorite. 

So, then we have Iron Triangle on the desert which we first walked through ages ago (has it really been only 16 episodes? Or 15 because we’re not in the desert on ep 1. But wow still, it feels like it happened several years ago) and instead of the whole team they had back then, they are now alone. Heihua left already, we’ve seen them celebrate and say goodbye. Sanshu has disappeared. The rest of the team is most likely dead. It’s just our trio, once again. 

The lack of people doesn’t really phase me here. I know everyone important is where they’re supposed to be. What makes me yell tho, is the rope. They didn’t have a rope before! No one used a damn rope in the desert back when they were in the sandstorm (and as a Finnish person, I absolutely have to cue Darude’s Sandstorm here so hold onto your hats folks and rave a bit). It would’ve been wise to use one bc maybe then they wouldn’t have lost each other but well, circumstances didn’t really allow that. But now here, this rope feels like a correction of those previous mistakes. They don’t want to lose each other again. When they’re tied together, it cannot happen. 

No more Wu Xie getting lost alone in the Devil’s City (and almost dying there, twice). No more of him getting lost in the desert with Xiao Hua (and almost dying again). No chances for Xiaoge to wander off in his confusion. No more Pangzi acting alone and doing things behind Wu Xie’s back. There’s a lot of symbolism here even if none of these past things can actually happen now that Iron Triangle is together. They are tied – with a string that is stronger than it used to be. If one stumbles, two are still standing. 

Another interesting thing about the rope, for me personally, is the order they’re tied to it. This is what first piqued my interest after I had stared at the rope for a second and gone “red string of fate” in my head. But I’ll get into that in a bit so first, the order. It feels very well thought out – and even more important once it changes.

When we first see Iron Triangle, they’re tied together like this: Wu Xie at the front, Pangzi in the middle, and Xiaoge at the rear. It feels like it makes sense. Wu Xie is the one they trust to know the way, he’s smart enough to figure that out. Xiaoge is at the back bc unlike the other two, he doesn’t know anything right now. He needs to be led around, so to speak, and with the rope there, they can actually do that. Pangzi even looks back towards Xiaoge to make sure he’s still able to follow and when Xiaoge stops at one point, Pangzi pulling the rope gets him moving again. So, Wu Xie and Pangzi don’t know the depth of Xiaoge’s loss quite yet (or their own loss for that matter) but they know enough to put Xiaoge to follow them so that he can still rest. 

I also like to think that the reason why Pingxie aren’t tied together here is bc if they were, Wu Xie wouldn’t be able to focus. It’s easier to have Pangzi next to him at the moment rather than Xiaoge. Wu Xie would lose it again if it was the other way and for now, he has to keep it together. It’s all on him now. He needs to get them out of here. He needs to be the one to lead.

Then the order changes and it feels like their thinking changes too. 

We go from Xiaoge being the last to him being at the front, leading them, while Pangzi takes the last place and Wu Xie falls in the middle. And here is where I started thinking, why does this happen? They haven’t just flipped the order, they have deliberately re-tied the rope. Some type of communication must have happened and they must have chosen to change into this. There is a reason. And the only reason I came up with was: Normalcy. (Anyone out there who is now yelling that maybe the directors just forgot which order they were in and decided not to care about their mistake after the shots were taken: Shush. I have considered that and decided to ignore it.) 

The first order, compared to the second one, feels wrong somehow or at least strange. To me personally, it doesn’t feel like the order Iron Triangle would usually take. Xiaoge is often the first one: he knows places, can fight, deactivates traps, and senses any danger. It is his usual place to be at the front (tho we can wonder if it’s the place the other two would allow him to keep as they never see him as that type of tool but it’s logical). 

For Wu Xie and Pangzi’s order then, it’s almost whatever. But then again, it’s safest for Wu Xie to be in the middle. Pangzi can take a lot more than Wu Xie can – or at least Pangzi believes that. He and Xiaoge always do their utmost best to protect Wu Xie. And in this moment, it also feels like that is the only place Wu Xie agrees to be in so that he can see Xiaoge. So that he knows that Xiaoge is still there, with him, guiding them. Alive and real.  

Even in a special situation, Iron Triangle settles into something they consider normal. Xiaoge leads them like he’s always done, even when he’s lost his mind. Wu Xie follows bc there’s nothing else he can do. And Pangzi is at the back bc there needs to be something for Wu Xie to fall in. Bc someone needs to watch over these two fools. Bc Pangzi would never let the other two to go on without him. 

It really is a red string of fate, that rope. It is not actually red like I first remembered that it was, instead being somewhere close to yellow maybe? But it still makes me lose it. This scene just shows perfectly how strongly Iron Triangle is tied together. Nothing can break their bond, not even one of them losing himself. They will always know their way as long as they remain connected, no matter where they are heading. And something about this whole scene tells me that if they had died in this desert, right here, there would’ve been no regrets bc they had everything that really mattered. 

Aka these are all of my reasons why Iron Triangle are soulmates, thanks for coming to my ted talk and thanks for Ultimate Note for showing us this, I will retreat to cry now.

[whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst]

Ultimate Note thoughts, part 3

As promised: analysis of the iron triangle’s different side combinations. This is also me thinking out loud about characters in planning my Leverage AU (which is a go, I decided) so any additional insights/corrections/clarifications would be greatly appreciated!!

Discussing the Iron Triangle’s Different Dynamics: “and they were tomb raiders. Oh my god, they were tomb raiders.”

Wu Xie and Pangzi: Tianzhen and Fatty

This bond is one of the sweetest and most well-developed bonds I’ve ever seen. I had mixed feelings about parts of Sound of the Providence, but one thing they got right was that Wu Xie and Pangzi have been platonically married for decades at that point and the love is still strong. These are two people who can banter about nothing and enjoy each other’s company. In Ultimate Note, Pangzi is given more emotional range and we get to see his thoughts on Wu Xie multiple times when puppy is unconscious/missing and in peril/yikes there should be a Wu family discount for therapy. What’s really beautiful between the two of them is that they see each other for their real selves and think those real selves are awesome and worthwhile people, warts and all. Pangzi knows Wu Xie is at once obsessively driven in his goals and fundamentally naive about those same goals; “Tianzhen” is probably a mild curse as often as it is a loving pet name. But he still shows up to help and support him in those goals. The scene where Wu Xie insists on waiting for Xiao Ge under the jade meteor thingy is a good indicator of this dynamic; despite being the one to make a rule that they will leave once the bottle under a slowly dripping rock is full, Pangzi silently pours out the filled bottle multiple times as Wu Xie sleeps. It’s also such a lovely and quiet moment to show how much they both worry over Xiao Ge together, although Pangzi, true to form, covers up a lot of his negative feelings in order to soothe and distract Wu Xie.

Pangzi and Xiao Ge: the official “Wu Xie Adoration/Defense/Commiseration/Smack Some Sense into Him” squad leaders

It’s a good touch that at the start of this adventure, both Pangzi and Xiao Ge have things going on that exist outside of Wu Xie: they both take on jobs for the same raid and deliberately do not involve Wu Xie (now that I think about it, it does kind of make sense that Wu Xie is upset at first that he is always playing catch-up with their plans, he gets enough of that with his own family. Like, *we* know there’s a good reason for their actions, but professor puppy does not).

The show does make it clear that their squad has Wu Xie at its core, and these two definitely have nights after bad raids where they (mostly Pangzi) sit with a drink and discuss management of their mutual disasterbebe. A perfect example of their system is the scene where Wu Xie cuts his hand and stubbornly ignores Pangzi; our guy takes an immediate shortcut by loudly telling Xiao Ge that Wu Xie is “being stubborn again” at which point the Man in Black gently but firmly manhandles Wu Xie into getting a bandaid over the cut (the frustrated tenderness in Xiao Ge’s face as he gazes at Wu Xie for a half second cut is just beautiful). And it’s clear that this is a regular situation: if one of them can’t get through with usual tactics, they reassess and get the other one involved. However, we do get to see that Pangzi’s protectiveness extends now to Xiao Ge, and the sweetness of those cuddles when emokitty is sick on their way out of the desert are just cute as hell and show it’s not just Wu Xie that Xiao Ge trusts with his vulnerability. It’s a far cry from their early dynamic in the Lost Tomb of “wanna fight bitch I can take you.” Pangzi is Xiao Ge’s caretaker post-amnesia (the little name tag with if-found-please-return is both cute and heartbreaking) and juggles his different roles like a pro. I really want to return to an analysis of Pangzi as caretaker in another post sometime.

Xiao Ge and Wu Xie: *cue epic music of the “Prioritize and Rescue the Damsel” Theme*

This relationship…look.

Like I said before on (checks notes) that one post or whatever, it’s a beautiful romance. And I don’t particularly care (lying through my teeth) that it’s not ever openly acknowledged throughout the series (except in asides by Pangzi and Hei Yangjing, trolls extraordinaire who ran out of fucks to give three tombs ago), because as with most things for these two, words are less important than actions. Even in other series, like Wu Xie’s ten-year devoted widow period where we find out he can access something only accessible by Zhang family members, he constantly drops hints as to a great loss that has defined his life—his single-minded devotion to Xiao Ge is Wu Xie’s double-edged sword. Every series does a great job with the long gazes at each other—somehow for that time, it seems like it is just the two of them in that moment, even if we know their third-twentieth wheels are waiting awkwardly nearby. An important part of their dynamic is that Xiao Ge always, always protects Wu Xie when he is able to, even if it’s just to stop him from tripping a little on some rocks (I think this might also be why their relationship is so revered? Like, who doesn’t want the assurance of an unconditionally loving sexy swordsman in black who has been known to disappear but who will come to your aid in moments of need—WAIT IS THEIR ROMANCE JUST CONSTANT REITERATIONS OF THE PRINCESS BRIDE???). But we also see how Wu Xie protects Xiao Ge, consistently checking in with him and making sure he is treated as a person and not a tool; it must be confusing to outsiders to see the well-known “Tomb-Raiding Train-wreck Twink” (no I don’t accept constructive criticism on this) fussing over what appears to be a stoic superhuman warrior’s physical and emotional needs. Any period of separation or sight of the other in pain brings out Wu Xie’s best sad puppy eyes and Xiao Ge’s most prominent micro-expressions (I think we can all agree Xiao Ge’s face had the most dialogue during that weird-snake-egg saga), and I just love how their relationship develops over the series, from suspicious puppy with abandonment issues to a calmer sense of “he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do, but he will come back.”