ghostlyenola

[ghostlyenola]

the thing about people like cheng xiaoshi is that they love everything. lu guang was aware of this from the very beginning, and he has the sufficient reasoning to match the claim.

it's not simply because cheng xiaoshi is unbelievably nice or far too empathetic for his own good; it's because anything he can make look beautiful through the camera is something that he cherishes. but seeing as everything cheng xiaoshi takes a photo of is somehow transformed into something worth seeing, lu guang deducts that he must be in love with everything to some extent.

no one can envision the universe so favorably and not be somewhat in love with it. lu guang can be glad, at least, that the universe seems to return the love of cheng xiaoshi in kind.

when it comes to cheng xiaoshi taking photos of anyone, he manages to make them look as good as everything else, as lu guang supposes that general people are also grouped under the umbrella term of the universe. and so cheng xiaoshi loves everything, highlights the good and almost makes lu guang fall a little in love too.

actually, scratch that, not almost and not a little; lu guang falls all the way in love with cheng xiaoshi, definitely a bit too much.

which would be fine, if it weren't for that fact that every photo cheng xiaoshi takes of lu guang makes it seem like he is in love, just a few degrees more than lu guang can deal with. but he's sure that it's nothing personal, because cheng xiaoshi has always been like that in his photography, painstakingly in love with the subject.

it sucks since lu guang is pretty sure he'll only ever love cheng xiaoshi sincerely out of everything else.

but there are set foundations to the infinite timelines lu guang intercepts. in each timeline, cheng xiaoshi is genuine above all else and lu guang is a liar, a fool. in each timeline, cheng xiaoshi loves everything else whilst lu guang only loves him, maybe exclusively and probably forever. in any case, lu guang cannot escape his own distaste for the world itself, or the fact that cheng xiaoshi does love him amongst everything, perhaps even more than most.

lu guang is sure this has all happened before. he is sure that he's lived the part where cheng xiaoshi confesses through their photoshoots in which he manages to make lu guang look anything but a miserable product of grief and mourning and absolute hypocrisy.

lu guang wants to ask cheng xiaoshi how he manages to love the universe which will bring him to a cruel end and let him go. it asks lu guang, begs him through everything, to let cheng xiaoshi go.

lu guang knows that much, and yet, he remains with time at his fingertips and a photo of himself taken by cheng xiaoshi in his palms. he doesn't think he'll ask the question, because he has eternity to do it. he doesn't think he'll confess, to all of it whether love or lies, because he's pretty sure it wouldn't matter anymore.

though as much lu guang wants to say none of it matters anymore and everything is now nothing, derailed by time, he knows it's not true. lu guang knows, because he still wants cheng xiaoshi every time he's gone and he always fails to reconcile with that end.

doing this over and over again is as inevitable as cheng xiaoshi's love for everything, as inevitable as his untimely death, as inevitable as it was when lu guang first set eyes on him and should've known. but even if he did, he doubts he'd have done it any different, and still he continues to prove that there's only one thing to make it so;

the thing about someone like lu guang is that he loves cheng xiaoshi above all else, and even that little piece of everything, he'll never quite have. but he's always been aware of that, and despite it, he still tries.

[ghostlyenola]

before any serious shit wrecks havoc I want to ramble a bit

oh my god, I love xia fei. I mean I knew I would love him but that was for a different reason. He is probably gonna die in the near future, probably lu guang's action triggering his death (or he may not die at all! maybe he survives in this timeline, changing a major node! I hope, I hope), he is already a struggling student economically helpless abroad, his 'Emma' vibes are strong, he assures his worrying mother even though he goes through financial hardships. He is smart enough to know he is being exploited (and tbh the theme of surveillance and making him the 'morbid' object of gaze, I say morbid because in the last scene of his pv, it's a dead shot, his eyes look so dead, the camera's battery is dead. But yk what remains? his face card. The like button continually popping with likes made me very uncomfortable. The cinematography, symbolism and metaphor- link click's visual storytelling just never ceases to amaze.) Also how him being a model is not due to his passion, he desperately needs this money to survive (sounds familiar?)

But really...link click was really link clicking when we got xia fei's first appearance. Subtle social commentary at its finest. Not a woman, but a man is being made fun of for his astronomical career growth in exchange for supposed 'sexual favours'. Those ladies were not, in fact, subtle about it. I'll dive deeper into Xia Fei's psychology later but this encounter shows the harsh reality of the entertainment industries, mostly for those who did not join for passion but rather who had no choice.

Also the scene where his roommate. Man. It's important to address how 'casually' harassment can happen and an AMAB person can be a victim too. Anyway when the roommate tells him about ' the gig that pays quick money and they would like a hottie like you!' I couldn't help but flinch, I understand his rage. Of course, it's again insinuated to be something sexual. That's the first impression Xia Fei also has.

His pv is translated as 'lending body' or 'lending skin', ik it may have multiple meanings but one of them is very prominent.

Selling your face. Or maybe selling your body.

The way the camera fixes its gaze on Xia Fei continually, it's not really for fanservice merely. He is this object people ogle at. (and the way liu xiao and vein ogle at him in his pv makes me sick nvm). Even though it's his own body and beauty that makes him famous, he has no autonomy whatsoever. He realises it. That's why he says

Cause I have got nothing to loose

I don't really think link click is about time traveling. It's that archtexual exercise that constantly subverts genres at its level best. You know what, defamiliarise, many people do not like uncool stuff, for example : issues struggling young people actually face in real life, in this late stage capitalism. That's why link click should not reach that demographic of people. I hope it never does. I hope it gets famous within a community who actually understand and resonate with this show.

Also Xia Fei's story talks about another important theme of the donghua; photo! How photos taken in private spheres are meant to preserve memories of the loved ones, loved encounters. How you capture someone you love in that still image, alive with the emotion you associate with them, giving it an afterlife. The photo becomes the literal and metaphorical medium through which Lu Guang can rewrite history. Forget-me-not, remembrance. It empowers him.

On the contrary, for Xia Fei, it is the panopticon seizing his life and rendering it absurd. The emotive power and affect for lu guang changes into viscous institutionalised power politics for Xia Fei. Brilliant! 😭

I can't help but quote a few lines from a poem by Ama Codjoe

On Seeing and Being Seen

I am touching the photograph of my last seduction. It is as slick as a magazine page, as dark as a street darkened by rain.

When I want to remember something beautiful, instead of taking a photograph, I close my eyes. Desire made you beautiful. I closed my eyes.

.... Tonight, I am alone in my tenderness. There is nothing in my hand except a certain grasping. In my mind’s eye, I am stroking your hair with damp fingertips. This is exactly how it happened. On the lit-up hotel bed, I remember thinking, My body is a lens I can look through with my mind.

Lmao I didn't want to write all of this I'm so sorry 😭

So yeah, that was all the impressions hmph before yingdu ep 3. Now.

I want Xia Fei to be my bestie and go with me on friendship dates. Don't get me wrong, I love Cheng Xiaoshi, but he personally feels to be more like a brother to me, who is infuriating at times and that dumb bitch I'll protect at all costs. I want to befriend Xia Fei and it's serious 😭.

Also I would want, in another timeline, Cheng Xiaoshi and him being complete besties, two dumb twinks twinking with each other. Dumb gays basically. We have got INTJ nerd in Lu Guang, it's refreshing to see ENFP nerd in Xia Fei. Xia Fei could effortlessly be the best regular visitor of the time photo studio. I do not want to tear up thinking about him right now but I really want him to be happy...in another timeline. Blooming with happiness, close to his friends and loved ones, content and safe...

talking about loved ones...

I want an AU where he

fixes this mf

I want Vein to experience at least 1/5th of Lu Guang's anguish and melancholy for Xia Fei. I know, I know maybe Vein will kill Xia Fei when he defects, he is just using him from the very beginning but my love, that's what I am saying! In that AU, they will start off all toxic yaoi shit but at the end it will be...he was a cannibal and he was just a guy, their inter-timeline love will change your perception of love!

I mean no sorry, Xia Fei deserves to be loved and why Vein? because that's his punishment. Melancholic love can be the greatest punishment for someone who goes like a vendor and asks random people " would you like some punishment?" no, sir, thank you sir, would YOU like some sincere human emotions that chomp on your conscience? It's called love, it's limited edition but I'll arrange some for you!

Ok, I have got another fic to write 😭

[ghostlyenola]

There's nothing you could tell me that would make me change how I feel about you

[ghostlyenola]

The best cdrama of 2024

is The Spirealm. I love it, love it, LOVE IT! Beware of being heavily spoiled ahead! What I was fond of: 🔑It's a nice story about finding love a true friend and a reason to live even if you are very lonely and abandoned by everyone, and it's full of tenderness and jokes. (Sometimes these jokes were so BL that I thought this drama should have been shot in Taiwan).

LQS: *whispers* I'm a dedicated materialist, I'm a dedicated materialist... RLZ: Yeah, yeah, I got it... RLZ: 👀... RLZ: If you are a materialist, why don't you say it to her? LQS: ... LQS: I'm not a that dedicated materialist! RLZ: ... RLZ: RUN! The main heroes are going the whole way from this:

RLZ: If you are not capable of passing even your first trial, you are worthless. to this:

Calmly accompanying each other on their way to the doom. 🔑 I love its lore and the detective part. As far as I watch cdramas, I try to avoid Chinese detectives because they are very fairytail-ish and don't allow you to participate mentally in the investigation. But it's not that case! (Who knew we would find real detective cases in a horror drama!). You can participate in investigation and even find out the truth before the main heroes will, and it's... pleasant. Btw, the mystical detective cases are so different in their levels of horror and mystics that you def will find something to please you even if you are a horror movies hater like me.

🔑 The horror stories were re-made for the adaptation in a very interesting way. Every monster is related to the inner pain of the main hero: they are betrayed, traumatized, abandoned by people they loved, just like him. So he feels pity and sorry for them and redeems them instead of killing. And, moreover, it makes impact throughout the whole story, on the main hero's 11th door as well on his relationship with his lover.

🔑Speaking of traumatized monsters. The first time I ugly cried over this drama was a story of the 4th monster. The monster! Made me cry!

But of course it wasn't the last time I cried my eyes out. The secondary characters of this drama are lovable, too. And the lore mechanics makes the awaiting of death so unbearable painful... You physically can feel the huge weight of characters' despair when they know that they or their dearest will die in a few minutes and there is ABSOLUTELY nothing they can do about it. This level of pain is something else, indeed.

But the most painful scene, where I cried the hardest, was not a scene of someone's death, but a scene of interaction between the main hero and his mother. She told him not to show up again, because she has a new family now, and was about to throw his school dreams and memories into the dump. What kind of mother she is!!😡

🔑And the most important thing about this drama: all detective cases allow you to restore the main story, piece by piece. And this story is about bone-piercing loneliness. The main hero was bullied in school, abandoned by his family and betrayed (kind of) by his best friend. His life was meaningless before he met his partner, the only person who returned to him the reason to live. But he happened to be a monster made specifically for the main hero to accompany him to the 12th door, a virus that needed to get to the 12th level with the help of the main hero to destroy the game. But the main hero's kindness to other un-humans, his ability to understand their pain despite of who they are, melted even monster's heart and made him genuinely love the main hero. It's truly sad that the main hero refused the real world and spent all his years left to make the world of his dreams and to get his lover back, but it's a story about loneliness, so I can't blame him. In his place, I would do the same.

The first meet

and the last. And the last but not least: I adore the technical part of this drama! I love RLZ's costumes! They are classical yet not really standard, make him conspicuous and give a feeling to a viewer that he is someone special. That he is somehow ethereal.

But he is not the only one whose clothes are saying. The White Deer people have their own style as well, so you can understand almost immediately that the characters in strange and pretentious clothes are related. And the main villain's costumes tell a lot about his personality.

And the set designs! They were marvelous! They gave me a feeling of vastness, as if the characters really were in other, spacious worlds.

And the soundtrack! I love it! It's such a shame that iQIYI didn't publish BGM and OST officially. But I found some of the tracks on YouTube. My favorites are the soundtrack to the 4th case: 森川-佐子 here and the variations of the door theme: 门 (变奏) here and 门 (门中门) here. Love it and highly recommend! 💙

[ghostlyenola]

What do you mean Xia Fei is full of death flags? His character flower is a sunflower!

Though not native to China, the sunflower is increasingly popular and carries symbolic meanings in Chinese culture. It signifies vitality, loyalty, and warm-heartedness. The sunflower's ability to turn towards the sun conveys admiration, respect, and a yearning for knowledge. (src)

Seems pretty positive. It also tells a lot about what Xia Fei thinks about Vein.

But wait, what’s this...

In Greek mythology, the story goes that a nymph named Clytie was in love with Apollo, the God of Sun. In the beginning, he loved her too, but then his head was turned toward another nymph. In a fit of jealous rage, Clytie told the other nymphs’ father, who then buried his daughter alive as punishment. Apollo was so angry that he then turned Clytie into a sunflower. But, as her love for him was so strong, she watched him move across the sky every day, just how sunflowers follow the sun. (src)

okay, it got a little dangerous… But! this still aligns with my yandere!XF headcanon. And aside from Vein being obviously Apollo, I can’t map the other characters to anyone else in the linkclick cast, so I think we’re safe—

Within Chinese culture, the sunflower has come to represent good luck, and receiving one as a gift or simply walking by one is seen as an auspicious sign. The yellow color is thought to denote intelligence as well as a vital spirit. In ancient China, royalty would eat the sunflower as a way to gain immortality, and it has continued to be associated with long life and prosperity. Most of China considers it a symbol of happiness as well. (src)

Vein.

Don’t. Think. About. It.

DON’T FUCKING THINK ABOUT IT, VEIN!

I WILL BE IN YOUR WALLS, VEIN!!!

[ghostlyenola]

xia fei is (was?) on scholarship for an applied physics course which means he must be fairly smart/hardworking — i wonder if he genuinely had passion for his degree but then reality sunk in (no money, trying to fend for himself alone in yingdu). or was he just going through the motions because he had a knack for the subject and thought it would lead to a good, well paying job.

other people only seem to fixate on his looks though, without recognising his talents. and he himself doesn't seem to like people pointing out his appearance. maybe after years of trying to prove he's more than a pretty face, he grows tired and concludes maybe his beauty really is the only thing that will get him anywhere in life

[ghostlyenola]

I desperately need to hear what Vein said during the call, because what does Xia Fei mean here???

Why would “bluffing” suddenly come up when he was just trying to negotiate skipping the gig?

Is Vein trying to keep him from going home???

Lastly...

WHAT ON EARTH DID HE SAY HERE THAT XF INSTANTLY CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT THE GIG???

He looked surprised, then sad, and suddenly he’s being agreeable

VEIN! WHAT EXACTLY DID YOU TELL HIM???

[ghostlyenola]

they should’ve let lg pat his hair </3

[ID: Three drawings of Cheng Xiaoshi sleeping on Lu Guang’s shoulder, as seen in the third episode of the Yingdu Chapter. The first drawing is Lu Guang looking down at Cheng Xiaoshi, who’s frowning as he sleeps. The second is Lu Guang running his fingers through his hair, his frown replaced by a more peaceful expression. The third is Lu Guang looking away while Cheng Xiaoshi smiles softly, eyes still closed. They’re both blushing.]

[ghostlyenola]

Random thoughts from Yingdu episode 3:

-Lu Guang definitely has PTSD. Nightmares, hallucinations, triggers. It’s all there. That scene with Cheng Xiaoshi’s corpse was genuinely disturbing.

-Cheng Xiaoshi sleeping on Lu Guang’s shoulder and LG almost touching his head?? I’m DECEASED.

-Okay, so the timeline from the first Yingdu PV isn’t the same as the current timeline. Does that mean that the one from the PV was the original one? Such a cool little detail.

-I can’t tell if Lu Guang knows Liu Xiao or not. He seemed to recognize him)? I mean, they probably did met at the airport on the original timeline given how the first PV included LX. Guess we’ll have to wait.

-Xia Fei is… interesting. He’s a liar that never shows his true face to anyone (except Vein and LX, maybe). I don’t trust him, definitely not. He’s obviously not only a model, he also does some shady jobs for Vein and Liu Xiao, including befriending a couple of strangers to keep an eye on them.

-Related to the previous point, I can bet that the Xia Fei/Vein shippers are happy with the outcome of this relationship lol. Even I’m surprised at how close they are! Let’s just hope that Vein doesn’t kill him when he deems him useless.

-Also, Xia Fei was studying physics)? That’s so cool. My quick theory is that he’s actually VERY smart and has a small obsession with powers since in his music video he mentioned them.

-It seems like everything that is happening in Yingdu is completely set up by someone who knows exactly how it all must go down (Liu Xiao or Vein?) The airport fight, the library guy keeping and eye out for someone coming to look for that specific book, Xia Fei meeting them, Vein appearing right on time. There’s no way this is how it happened on the original timeline, back then it probably was spontaneous, but now? They’re manipulating the outcomes and that’s why Lu Guang is so confused with all the changes.

[ghostlyenola]

The voices are telling me to draw vein and a drunk xf

[ghostlyenola]

What an underrated shot

[ghostlyenola]

every episode i wonder how it could possibly get gayer and somehow yingdu always exceeds my expectations. this week cxs isn't even trying to hide how bisexual he is it's crazy. lu guang is yearning (plane scene.... oughh he wanted to stroke cxs's hair so bad) and veifei debut was so gay I'd have to make a separate post for it cos. wow.

[ghostlyenola]

my mutuals congratulating me for canon VeiFei got me feeling like

[ghostlyenola]

how close do you have to be with your boss before said boss starts personally watching over your snack intake, and you’re openly complaining about it to others, and you also freely whine to him about your workload, but in the next minute you’re boasting that you have him as your boss, then adorably apologizing to him for throwing your temper, then softly and fondly saying “he’s amazing,” then having him as your speed dial and demanding he shows up to rescue you, and he actually does show up to save a mere employee, and your eyes just can’t help but light up at the sight of him—

Xia Fei, my boy, my son, my sweet summer child. I hope you know what you’re getting into 😭

[ghostlyenola]

I find this so freaking cool. I'm enjoying the way they're showing different timelines, it really allows us to feel the same anxiety and confusion LG is experiencing and it's wonderful yet terrifying at the same time

THE TRAILER WAS THE FIRST TIMELINE!!!

Oh that's sneaky. We got the "wait that's different" Lu Guang experience!

[ghostlyenola]

can’t believe Xia Fei fell in love with a guy who looked amused that he almost died in a pool 😭

[ghostlyenola]

xia fei giving needy drunk vibes....cute drunk vibes....i wonder if vein finds him annoying(ly adorable) or if he dotes on him. maybe xf gets vein to buy his drinks ("im a broke student you know!") and vein indulges him, or maybe he scoffs and points out how xf is a lightweight and Clearly has had enough already, which makes xf pout. imagine needy drunk xf holding onto vein's arm as he's being taken home. do you see what im seeing.