#though my number one post is the one about bingqiu

[parlerenfleurs]

J'ai publié 1 910 fois en 2022

C'est 1 200 billets de plus qu'en 2021 !

289 billets créés (15%)

1 621 billets reblogués (85%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@yevrosima-the-third

@layzeal

@parlerenfleurs

@tradebabybluetomorrows

@unpretty

J'ai étiqueté 1 804 billets en 2022

Seulement 6% de mes billets ne comportaient pas de tag

#bloom talks - 193 billets

#mdzs - 189 billets

#svsss - 139 billets

#art gallery tag - 122 billets

#wangxian - 96 billets

#tgcf - 73 billets

#rote - 68 billets

#wei wuxian - 53 billets

#mdzs fanart - 49 billets

#feel good tag - 47 billets

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#(i still haven't finished 2ha and since it is licenced now i have no idea if things turn out better after the goodnight mo ran moment ahhhah

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

Big fan of how Tianlang-Jun thinks his son and nephew are getting it on with the same guy at the same time and is like: This is fine :) I'm totally accepting and full of tolerance. I love humans! :)

And he means it.

678 notes - publié le 7 août 2022

n°4

I don't know if I'm reaching with that one, but it is established rather quickly that Lan WangJi is determined to mirror Wei WuXian's actions in his first life back at him when he has the means (for instance, the carrying on his back thing, or teasing him with "I do not know" as a call back to the "whatever" moment).

And just as it was a mystery to me why Wei WuXian, during the Yiling date, would entice A-Yuan with toys only to not buy him any, setting him up for disappointment, but I came to understand that it was actually a setup for Lan WangJi to buy it so that A-Yuan would like him (!!!), there is a kinda similar situation that crops up in the present, that was puzzling me but became clear to me on this re-read.

When they come out of Yi City, Wei WuXian is quite depressed and despondent. He has just witnessed Xiao XingChen's sad unlucky fate, and it reminded him very strongly of his own. And the juniors are all sad too, and want to burn paper money, and, sure, HanGuang-Jun is lenient and will let them express their emotions, but he's not that lenient, to let them do something improper/impolite like doing this in front of someone's house, when it is considered unlucky.

Yet, he does nothing, until Wei WuXian snaps out of his state and asks him if he's not going to do anything about it, to which Lan WangJi responds why don't you do it yourself.

And I think it was purposeful. Normally he would probably have told them - look at Lan SiZhui, that boy wasn't left to this own devices, someone taught him was what socially acceptable and didn't let him blunder through needlessly offending people until he figured it out himself.

But he saw the state Wei WuXian was in, and sought to distract him from it, by letting him notice and then handle the juniors' actions.

Clever HanGuang-Jun! He learned all of Wei WuXian's subtle tricks and is using them too!

773 notes - publié le 11 septembre 2022

n°3

In a way, in MDZS, Lan Sizhui is the key and answers to the big moral questions in the story: was it all worth it? Was it all worth it when Wei WuXian lost so much, even his life, when the Wens almost all died anyway, when there was so much collateral damage?

The narrative says: yes, it was worth it, because one child survived, and thrived. Look at that lovely, loveable young man! He is the reason all this was not for naught.

But what I find interesting is, Lan Sizhui is not even that exceptional, he doesn't make a big difference in the world, does he? He's still young, but despite his really good character and keen mind and aptitudes, he's not a genius, he's not renowned, he's not a Hanguang-Jun or a Yilling Laozu. He's just a kind, good-mannered, well brought up young man. Anyone would be happy to claim him as a son or a disciple or a son-in-law. But he's not some big game changer. Even though being a cultivator sets him apart from a good chunk of the normal population already, in his habitual context he's a normal kid. He makes friends, acts silly sometimes, hasn't slayed any Shuanwu of slaughter, got easily led into a trap by a trail of beheaded cats. A normal kid.

And that's important, because this reward is as the sacrifice Wei WuXian made. He didn't make some grand gesture for important people. He did what was right in his view, no more, no less. It wasn't for some greater good, even less for fame. It was simply what was right. And if you do what's right you're not really adding up and subtracting the wins and losses as in a giant thought experiment of the trolley problem. There probably would have been ultimately less death and suffering had Wei WuXian let the Wens to their misery and death quietly. There wouldn't have been a Lan Sizhui, but there would have been a Jiang YanLi, a Jin ZiXuan, and many people that got killed when they attacked him would have lived. But it wouldn't have been right, and so Wei WuXian doesn't think about it that way, and the narrative doesn't either. It tells you life is complicated, and sowing violence reaps more violence, and you can't always "win". But if you do your best, if you keep doing what's right, even if you are only human, and make mistakes, and everyone is against you, it still counts.

It counts. Not for the greater good, not for fame, it counts. Because the whole point is Lan Sizhui gets to live, and grow up, and be a normal kid and have a good life, and that's enough. He doesn't need to be or do anything "more" than that.

1 282 notes - publié le 25 mars 2022

n°2

It is lovely in MDZS how Wei WuXian essentially has the “male” role, in that he is the one pulling on Lan WangJi’s figurative pigtails, the one to give him flowers repeatedly, the one to say he’s pretty out loud and in his head all the time, and the one trying to get him to pay attention to him.

Lan WangJi, meanwhile, gets teased, looks pretty, receives flowers, gets embarassed, defaults to ignoring his crush to appear aloof and keep control, his chaste modesty is being scandalously transgressed via super-meaningful Lan ribbon and cold pond shenanigans, and he secretly keeps all the tokens of Wei WuXian’s affections

And also kisses him forcefully against a tree (but even then in the text and Wei WuXian's view, he's a "shy maiden") and fantasizes about shutting him up in a very specific way

Socially also, Lan WangJi is the pure and treasured daughter niece/sister, thematically, while Wei WuXian is the handsome devilish rake who "corrupts him"

And I find it hilarious how they both subvert everything I've mentioned above (by virtue of being extremely well-written characters who aren't confined to one stereotype but feel like real, complex, subtle people instead), especially after Wei WuXian's resurrection when their dynamic changes to become extremely funny more balanced

1 690 notes - publié le 16 août 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

The power dynamic between Bingqiu is so complex and unhinged.

On the one hand, Shen Qingqiu is the Shizun, and Luo Binghe the disciple. He still pretty much serves and defers to him as such. Shen Qingqiu is the master, the elder, the superior, in a way that can never change in a culture so steeped in respect for such hierarchies, and where reversal or equalization is simply not a thing. Shen Qingqiu himself still refers to himself as "this master" for most of the story (even post canon? I can't remember), and the one quality he appreciates in Luo Binghe (at least that he says aloud) is his obedience. In both their minds, he's very firmly the one who raised and trained Luo Binghe - though with very different connotations depending on who you ask.

On the other hand... well... Luo Binghe plays the obedient puppy-ish disciple, but he pretty much cute/pathetic-bullies his way into anything he wants, because Shen Qingqiu is weak to him and can't say no. So Luo Binghe plays submissive, cries a little, then gets to top Shen Qingqiu into next Sunday in the most unfillial way imaginable lol. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, he's the most powerful person in the world, he doesn't have to serve anyone in a humble cottage. He literally has an empire and is a ruler, but he plays housewife and meek disciple to this one spoiled guy who gave him the correct manual once and head-patted him with abandon.

Also let's not forget that, to Luo Binghe, Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are pretty seamlessly the same person. This serial head-patter is also the guy who poured hot tea on him and would string him up to beat him and made him sleep in the woodshed like a particularly miserable Cinderella. To him, one day, his cruel master deemed him worthy of his love after he made him go through many trials, and then slam-dunked him into the abyss, and then self-destructed to save him and then turned out to be alive and avoiding him like the plague and then sulked because Luo Binghe did not properly ask his hand in marriage. Luo Binghe may be the most powerful man in the world and have Shen Qingqiu wrapped around his manipulative golden little finger, BUT the grip and ascendant Shen Qingqiu possesses over Luo Binghe's psyche is unparalleled.

BUT the other side of this equation is that Shen Qingqiu feels so guilty, and loves Luo Binghe so much, he can't bear to make him unhappy and folds like a wet paper towel any time there is the merest hint of tears - which is a conscious strategy on Luo Binghe's part! Shang Qinghua told him acting pathetic works, and it does, and so he milks it! Who knows how much of it is real? Not me. Not Shen Qingqiu either, who also does not care that he's being manipulated. He knows he's being manipulated! But it works anyway!

Because what are you going to do when a cute puppy makes sad eyes at you?? Not give him the bit of meat???

You're his master but he owns your heart so that's your fate, now. He's huge and could maul you but he loves you too much and prefers to act spoiled. He sits when you say sit, comes when you say come. You tell him no but he climbs into your lap anyway and you are helpless to stop him so you pet him. It's messy, full of pathos, possibly unhealthy. You're both living your best life.

That's Bingqiu.

1 736 notes - publié le 18 octobre 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

[nyoomerr]

tagged for the 'fic writer interview' by @mikkeneko! thanks for thinking of me, hopefully i have something interesting to share in it 🙈

Fic Writer Interview

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21! the bingplush fic this last week finally pushed me over the edge of the page limit, i no longer have only a single page of fic!!

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

440,163

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

every time i post a fic i hope to somehow oust 'to love another' from that #1 spot... every time i know it'll never happen :'D

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

every one i get, for the most part! i never want to take for granted the people who support me, and making sure i actually sit down and take the time and effort to respond to comments is, i've found, the best way for me to do that.

that being said, there are exceptions. i generally don't respond to criticism, general negativity, comments that don't really seem to be... about the fic, or comments that have a grammar correction and nothing else 😅

5. What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

'raised by winter winds' or 'you don't need poltergeists for sidekicks' - both have bittersweet endings, which is the closest i'll ever get to an unhappy end, LOL.

6. What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

discounting the short fics i've done that are just slice of life / domestic bliss for bingqiu, probably 'shallow water weather.' as happy an ending as any of my stuff, but with none of the angst to get there 😂

7. Do you write crossovers?

nope, and generally don't plan to. even the AUs i do, i prefer to put them in a generic or original world than the world of another story.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

oh sure, law of large numbers and all that. the truly nasty hate, i just delete. generally i'd prefer to just ignore it, honestly, because i think deleting a comment is also a form of engagement with the hate that i don't necessarily want to give to the person who left it, but...

based on past experience, leaving the comment up and unanswered seems to invite other readers to engage with the hate in whatever way /they/ choose, and i really don't want to accidentally be the facilitator of a conflict :'D

9. Do you write smut?

nope, and i've learned to put that disclaimer in the notes of longfic i write 😅

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

ehhh not in this fandom (that i'm aware of), but i have had a translator go rogue - which is why i currently only allow translations of my fics to be posted on ao3 only.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

several times, + some podfics! outside of the odd occurrence mentioned above, they've all been wonderful opportunities. i have massive respect for everyone who spends time making fics more accessible to others!

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

no, and i feel like i'd be too picky to do so 😅 collabs in other ways - minibangs with artists, inspiration train games, etc - are all fun though, and i enjoy them!

13. What's your all-time favorite ship?

whichever version of bingqiu/binggeyuan ends up with lbh at his soggiest and most pathetic

14. What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

i have a post canon bingliushen fic that's been sitting in my WIPs for... over two years? i like the idea of it a lot and think parts of it would be very fun!

unfortunately, though, i like bingliushen because i like bingqiu and i like liushen and i think that sqq has two hands. this does not lend itself well to writing fic where bingliushen get together, since every time i try to work on this WIP the focus keeps turning to trying to get lbh and lqg to coexist well enough to allow bingliushen... and sadly i'm just not really into bingliu :')

15. What are your writing strengths?

i think i do humor and dialogue well enough! it always makes me happy to hear that my fic made someone laugh :>

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

although i think i'm alright at writing angst, i do think i have a tendency to resolve it too quickly/easily. i personally really do not enjoy fics where angst gets dragged on for awhile, and i know that this preference affects the pacing of my own angst in a way that perhaps puts me too far on the other side of the spectrum, lmao.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

i'm not sure what this is actually referring to, honestly 😅 i guess i use italics for that...?

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

attack on titan (please forgive me for my crimes)

19. What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

although i do have that aforementioned WIP, i really do want to actually finish a bingliushen fic... maybe i just need to give up and write a sqq harem fic like the old fandom days 😂

20. What's your favorite fic you've written?

generally, whatever fic i wrote 2-3 fics ago 😂 i tend to be offput by my most recent work, so work that i've had some space from but is still recent enough to reflect my current preferences and skills is what i always consider my favorite. right now, either rent a bingge or the sy!shixiong au!

and that's all the questions! i won't tag anyone 'cuz i'm a bit shy about that sort of thing, so anyone who wants to do it can take this as your invitation to do so!

[susuwatari-kompeito]

Getting to Know You - Tag Game

I was tagged by the awesome @rinielle!! Thank you for the tag, I had fun doing this. <3

1. Why did you choose your url? 

I chose my URL because I’m a fan of Studio Ghibli films. “Susuwatari” refers to the soot sprites that are in Spirited Away, and “kompeito” refers to the colorful star-shaped candy they are fed.

2. Any side-blogs? If you have them, name them and why you have them. 

So I started a 2ha sideblog, but I only have one post on it so far and its just a housekeeping one haha. It was in anticipation for the release of HYX/Immortality. However I don’t think I’ll have the capacity to manage two blogs so I decided to just save the URL and have all my mess on my main blog.

3. How long have you been on tumblr? 

So I created my blog years and years ago, probably in 2010? But I never used it, and had only a few things posted. In June 2020, I wiped everything and started reblogging The Untamed content. 

4. Do you have a queue tag? 

I do, but it’s really boring. It’s just “q” because it’s quick and easy to type.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? 

No clue haha. I think it’s because I liked anime and wanted to look at gifs? But again, I never used my blog so I can’t really say for sure.

6. Why did you choose you icon/pfp? 

My icon that shows in the dashboard is the manhua version of Jiang Cheng. I chose him because he’s my most favorite MDZS character (since this is a mostly CQL blog) and also my favorite fictional character in general. 

I also have an icon on the sidebar of my desktop theme, which is circular gif of HuaLian. I chose that because I love that pairing so much (third-most favorite) and also I wanted TGCF representation on my blog.

7. Why did you choose you header?

I have two headers, one for my dashboard/mobile, and one for my theme.

I recently changed my header (it used to be Jiang Cheng gripping Sandu) to a gif of the Twin Jades from the MDZS donghua. I chose that because I love the character design of them in the donghua. I think they are really ethereal and I love how graceful they are in that scene.

My desktop theme header is a BingQiu gif from the Scumbag System donghua. I chose that as my header because I love that ship so much, I love that scene, and I love SVSSS in general. They are my second-most favorite ship so I wanted to represent them on my blog somewhere. 

8. What’s your post with the most notes? 

So I just started making my own content like a month ago, so I haven’t had that much time to build up notes (and none of my text posts got particularly big at all). The post with the most notes is this Nie Huaisang birthday edit which has just over 1K notes. Honestly, I was shocked when it reached that number because I didn’t feel that good about the set when I posted it. But the comments in the tags have been super encouraging and I am thankful that people like the set.

10. How many followers do you have? 

More than I could imagine! I’m still a growing blog, so I don’t have a whole lot, but I’m thankful for each and every one of my followers. 

11. How many people do you follow?

Around 200! I feel like that’s not a lot....but I’m following new blogs pretty consistently.

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

No, my brain is not big enough for that. Though I have an idea for one...but I don’t think it would be very funny or anything. 

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

Too often. I use it as procrastination. 

14. Did you have a fight/argument with a blog once? 

Never, because I don’t really get a lot of asks and I only use messaging/askbox/tags for saying positive things. I don’t believe in starting fights, and if someone were to try start one with me...I think I would probably try to diffuse it as quickly as possible. 

15. How do you feel about ‘you need to reblog this post’? 

I don’t feel one way or another, I just simply scroll past. If people choose to reblog it, that’s up to them. 

16. Do you like tag games?

Yes! It’s a fun way to get to know others.

17. Do you like ask games? 

I’ve never done any because I don’t think I would get any asks...haha. But I do think they are fun, and would consider doing them in the future as I grow my blog.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous? 

Hmmm....not really sure how to answer this question. A few of my mutuals I think are popular within the fandom, but idk what “famous” means in terms of Tumblr.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? 

Not in the literal sense! Just “their content is super nice I look to them for inspiration and they seem to have a nice online presence.” 

20. Tagging some newer mutuals: (don’t feel pressured to do this!)

@yibobibo @purplexedhuman @candicewright @huigusu @suibianjie

[thebiscuiteternal]

i found your qijiu snippet when i was looking through the tag and i love it so much. sometimes i’ll go back to the post and reread it when i’m bored cuz there’s so much potential.

as much as i adore moshang and less bingqiu, qijiu will always be number one in my heart. sj is such an interesting character that i can’t help but sympathize for, to the point where i disregard the suffering he caused. and yqy is such a tragic character too, even though i hate that his guilt stopped him from telling sj the truth.

i think this is why i love your snippet so much. it’s obvious how much yqy prioritizes sj, so i never understood why in canon that he just accepted the idea that sy was sj. (then again, i never actually read the novel, so i might be wrong). that’s why i can never ship these two with anybody else.

i followed you almost immediately after i read the post, and i hope that it’ll be continued sometime in the future.

Aww, thanks!

The handling of Shen-Yuan-as-Shen-Qingqiu is... Hm. *Hmm.* I won't go too far into that because I've already posted my complaint about the transmigration trope.

Anyway, the novel kind of skirts the issue by having Shen Yuan put more distance between himself and Yue Qingyuan, enough of it that we rarely ever see the latter as more than a Mission Giver once Shen Yuan takes over the role. Which is still bizarre, because if Yue Qingyuan took everything Shen Jiu threw at him and *still* loved him enough to willingly die for him, why is this polite distance bullshit enough to push him off to a bit character? Was it because it was so different from what he knew that he couldn't accept the change? (Did he suspect something was off?)

Unfortunately, we'll probably never know for sure in canon, since Shen Yuan has never been found out or revealed himself (unless it was in one of the extras I haven't read yet?), but hey, that's what fanfic is *for*, amirite?

[natsunoomoi]

More SVSSS stuff because I just watched ep 5. I’m not in a position at the moment to pay for the VIP pass and plus it’s like one show that I’d be paying for, so eh. I think I can wait.

The highlight for me is definitely always just looking at Shen Qingqiu’s face. I really like how he looks. Like when they show grown Luo Binghe he looks nice too, but it’s not that often. When Liu Qingge comes out of the cave I’ll probably enjoy the eye candy for every episode thereafter. I’m not normally really like this, so I think the aesthetics of this show just touch on something very comfortable deep in the recesses of my memory of some kung fu movie I watched with my Dad as a young child that imprinted on me so I have a very specific weakness for men with that kind of a look.

I also have a very specific weakness for villain characters that have a kind of redemption or a complicated past with some inklings of maybe they could be redeemed even if overall they were kind of a dick for at least a portion of their lives. This is my Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho weakness that almost universally applies to almost all my interests in life. I think the idea that Shen Jiu set his owner’s house on fire and killed them all except for his friend relates rather strongly to that because that is the thing that Hiei ulitimately decided not to do, but was the thing the Koorime in Hyouka no Kuni feared. Except Shen Jiu acted on it.

But like Shen Jiu supposedly could have been saved if the original’s author was a better writer and wasn’t writing a bullshit stallion novel. Like the fact that he saved Haitang is a compelling example of how his heart wasn’t completely cold. Of course she was his fiancee and people kind of are iffy about if they really were, but like they probably were between each other. Even if he was a slave, she lived in his house and she was his friend and they talk to each other. Naturally if you get along with each other really well, maybe as kids you just say, “When I grow up, I want to marry you.” Then because they’re friends and they like each other, they agree and they plan it that way. Just between them. Nothing to do with her family or the reality of the situation. Just two cute kids making a promise innocently. But like with that backdrop, it’s kind of understandable that he would save her from his slaughter and the fire that he set to destroy her family house. The interesting thing is that he never once in his entire time living there or even in the aftermath tried to tell her what her family was really like and what they did to him. He left her to hate him for what he did and assume that her family was innocent and the attack was unprovoked. He didn’t do anything to destroy her image of her loved ones.

It’s really sad how strong his mistrust for other men is, but that’s trauma too. We’re not really given specifics of how exactly he lived as a slave. We know that he was the 9th one bought, but he likely slept in close quarters with other slaves because it’s not like a noble family would give a whole lot to their slaves and amenities were probably sparse. For very different reasons, the disciple quarters even on Qing Jing Peak are probably similar. Sparse to focus on training and cultivation and close because of the number of disciples and just the overall situation. Even if the quarters had relatively more space than his slave quarters, that does sound too similar for it to be a huge trauma trigger for him on top of being surrounded by mostly other males. Self-isolation as a result of the trauma and hyper focusing on just his cultivation as a means to survive and get by day by day and create the foundation for his entire identity and basically it’s definitely the set up for disaster and all of Shen Jiu’s problems socially that lead him to being the main villain for the original story. It’s very sad. If only Yue Qingyuan tried to actually talk with him more instead of apologizing. I know he probably figured ultimately his excuse doesn’t matter, and it doesn’t, but Shen Jiu really needed help and to feel like his whole world wasn’t cold. Just knowing that he was in his friend’s thoughts and he tried to come back maybe could have eased his suffering even a little and start to build up a new level of trust again for him in particular but even for men in general. It’s sad as well that no mentors in his time there as a disciple ever like kind of noticed and tried to like just talk to him. I know he keeps his cards close and probably didn’t show outwardly he was struggling, but like how come no one asked how come he was spending so much time at the Warm Red Pavilion with women? That’s strange right? No one was concerned? I mean, like even if ultimately you say, it’s up to you if you want to keep going and that’s your business, still maybe ask and be like, “Hey, so I notice you’re not sleeping along with the other disciples and spend every night with the ladies over there? Uh, what’s up?” I think like for his teachers that might have been an important thing they should have done, but no one did? That seems like a big plothole to me that he was allowed to just continue like that with no one asking even once or showing concern that the top disciple of Qing Jing Peak was not socializing with the other disciples or sleeping in the same quarters as them. I’m surprised even not one of the ladies in the Pavilion even asked why he was there every night. I mean, I’m sure they wouldn’t want to shoo a way a client, but like no one asked even like one time? I understand from the meta point of view that plothole is probably there on purpose to show how the original’s author was a dumpster fire to create a horrible world of super toxic masculinity as an ouroboros eating itself, but jfc I really feel bad for Shen Jiu that he was made to feel such suffering as a result of absolutely shit writing just to make him an enemy for Demon Binghe.

Oh and he just had a shit first cultivation master too. What the hell with the horrible luck. This poor kid is just trying to survive and he just gets a raw deal.

But I suppose that’s also like a masterful backstory on MXTX’s part to make us root for Shen Yuan’s rewrite and create a happy life for “Qingqiu” that he wasn’t able to make himself. He did it initially for his own self-interest, but the Qingqiu everyone knows in the end is much more well-adjusted. I’m still sad though that it feels like that means original Shen Jiu still left that world with Shen Yuan replacing him only knowing sadness.

So then I was poking around the tags on here and saw someone had a theory that original Shen Jiu got punted from his timeline and turning into Shen Yuan who knows the whole story and then dies and gets put into his old body. I actually buy this, but my version of the timeline is different. Like I was thinking Shen Jiu-Qingqiu died as a human stick under all the torture and everything and then became reborn as Shen Yuan reading through his whole life and mistakes through a horribly written story and then dying via food poisoning and brought into his own old life with a chance to redeem himself. I really like this idea except that Shen Jiu seems really, really straight and Shen Yuan may be a bit more fluid.

But all this to say, that I have an itch in a confluence of all of my weaknesses to want to really comfort Shen Jiu. ;o; There’s a small part of me that while enjoying Shen Yuan’s rewrites, also really wished Shen Jiu could have been happier so he didn’t turn into such a dick because literally no one else around him seemed to do anything except let him fuck himself over including the people who supposedly cared about him. So very sad. T_T

And then maybe this should be in a different post that’s a different topic. I kind of touched on a bit how the image of the situation probably doesn’t look great, but it looks like some people are like bashing on the Bingqiu ship? It’s the canon ship for one, so just stop there.

But if you really want to go into it, as another person pointed out, the actual teacher-student relationship was between original Qingqiu and Binghe. We’re reading a different situation because it’s Shen Yuan who was a Binghe fanboy who has the relationship with Binghe. The imaging isn’t great because he’s in and controlling Qingqiu’s body, and the rest of the characters in the world don’t know this, but the meta reading of this is that it’s okay because it’s a different person actually. In world, the other characters do probably find it a little odd and the issue with Qingge in the succubus cave as I mentioned before, he’s probably panicking when the succubus mentions that Qingqiiu’s love interest is a junior because he can only think of himself as that role and didn’t think to include a disciple into that description. It doesn’t seem like it’s completely unheard of or taboo though because there seems to be some implications that maybe Shen Jiu originally had some kind of designs on Ning Yingying because he’s also a bit jealous of Binghe for getting her attention too? A large part of his jealousy comes from his insecurity with his cultivation and other people having more advantage or potential to surpass him despite his hard work, because again trauma and hyper focusing on building his entire identity around one thing and no one helping him, but like also seems in this world there’s some leeway between teacher-student relations turning into something else. This is not really a normal kind of situation where they go into a modern school or anything. A lot of the disciples were probably at one point also juniors to their master before they graduated to become a lord, and when they grow enough to end their disciple term and can become more independent cultivators they’re not really obligated to stick by such a standard because they’re adults. Like maybe they hang around the sect still and work as like someone they happen to send out on demon slaying missions if they choose to stay instead of going off somewhere and it functions a bit more like an army in that regard where they’re not really learning anything new or getting any new instruction, but they’re still kind of a disciple. It’s not a perfect 1:1 relation to teacher-student relationships because of the structure of cultivation sects. It’s not great in the army to have a relationship with your CO either, but the point in the story when their relationship develops is more like that. But like Mingfan probably eventually would go back to his family and just live out a noble life because he is a noble, so it’s not like all the disciples would stay and perpetually be students forever. There’s some very important distinctions at play here in the story that the people who object to this aren’t understanding. 

Like this isn’t like an actual school like in Harry Potter or something where the kids all go off to Hogwarts and there are actual students and teachers and every Peak is like a Hogwarts House. They’re learning and the peak lord gives them some level of instruction, but there’s also a great deal of independent study because cultivation is very personal and bound by natural talent and how much you put into it. The fact that everyone has their own manual should tell you a lot about the structure and how it’s okay for Qingqiu to leave for 3 years to go meditate in a cave. The masters in these situations are more like more well studied seniors who just have more experience and have been appointed to help you get unstuck or something because they have more experience to troubleshoot. There’s some authority carried with that as well, but it’s a very different experience from like a boarding school, so such a relationship is not entirely taboo. It’s not perfect because if you’re still trying to play the old roles at the same as your new role as a partnership that can get kind of weird, but it can work out if there’s communication involved as with generally all things.

So yeah, Bingqiu is actually okay, and rather than harping on something that’s not an issue, I think the more interesting discussion is how obligated a person is to be faithful to a different person’s life if they end up in their body. Like for body swap movies where the change is temporary they’re always like “Hey, don’t f up my life!” But like this is a permanent change where Shen Yuan was inserted into Qingqiu’s life after he was already established. What is the philosophical theory to how much he should keep up Qingqiu’s responsibilities and how much freedom should he exert for his own desires? That’s the real question. I think the balance he struck became ultimately more happy for everyone in the sect, so eh.

I realize a lot of this is not related to the episode, but the episode is just a continuation of the sparring match and nothing much else to say about it. The most interesting thing is getting to see a flashback of the original Qingqiu and getting a better idea of who he was like instead of the Shen Yuan version we know.