ossum-pawsome

[ossum-pawsome]

happy last same year as it was yesterday 2024 tuesday

todays the only/last day you can reblog this lol

[ossum-pawsome]

PA Mathison (American, born 1969) Family Tree, 2022

Acrylic on canvas 24 X 36 inches Private collection

[ossum-pawsome]

Another animal portrait, a sea otter 🦦

Prints

[ossum-pawsome]

[ossum-pawsome]

Flight Rising commission!

Flight Rising Commission Thread / Website

[ossum-pawsome]

Fang Duobing is so smart 😭😭😭

[ossum-pawsome]

I am (sloooooowly) watching LoGH with my boyfriend and we're almost halfway through and I am low-key, very idiosyncratically shipping Yang Wenli and Schenkopp

I was thinking about how they are so little suited to fandom tropes and. will someone please give me the coffee shop AU where there is no romance or any getting together of any kind but Yang Wenli is like, a medium senior barista and Schenkopp is a slightly more junior barista who is constantly agitating for Yang Wenli to launch a coffee shop takeover

[ossum-pawsome]

fang duobing’s official character poem

「莫言多病為多情，此身甘向情中老。」

“do not say that sickness has made me ill with longing; this body of mine is willing to carry my love to old age.”

(yilan-meiyuan's translation)

— quoted from lyric poem "treading grass" (踏莎行) by song dynasty writer ouyang xiu (歐陽修).

there is an excellent analysis on the themes of ouyang xiu's works here. the title of it captures the overarching feeling of his art and the work which xiaobao's character poem quotes from in particular perfectly well: persevere without regret (執著無悔), love with constancy (此情不渝).

in the article, this professor explains that much of ouyang xiu’s representative pieces depict scenes of spring and spring flowers. there is a wanting of spring to stay (留春), a love and cherishing of spring (惜春), a sending off of spring on its journey (送春), and a melancholy about spring (傷春). following the change of the seasons, spring comes and goes in a cycle of beauty and sadness:

"a yearning for spring to stay reverberates through his words from start to end, yet naturally, there is a feeling of helplessness. he cannot keep spring from leaving. sadness in spring is the melancholy of watching its beauty disperse all at once, year after year. he sighs and laments. the scenery lingers, and he ages with time."

however, in the poem "treading grass" from which fang duobing's character poem is quoted, ouyang xiu's strong determination to hold on to his love for spring and for his lover shines through the struggle. the professor writes:

"despite it all, ouyang xiu does not change his direction. he firmly believes 'there exists in this world individuals for whom love is above all' and swears by 'do not say that sickness has made me ill with longing / this body of mine is willing to carry my love to old age'. it's the mentality of persevering without regret. he will use the aliveness he has left to prove that love does not die. perhaps, against the transient beauty and the sorrow of life's impermanence, this is our best fight."

the full text of "treading grass" by ouyang xiu can be found here.

in the explainer, the poem is said to describe a humble, quiet dwelling. it is a warm autumn's day. in the morning, one can hear the birds. too sleepy to speak yet, the scent of pomegranate flowers and holy basil drifts in and greets you first. the speaker's wish is to live such a simple life with his beloved. he knows what outsiders may think of a life like this. but, he asks not to be seen as having grown delirious and oversentimental with age. this is the life he chooses. he consciously and wholeheartedly wants to carry his once-for-a-lifetime love with him forever:

"this viewpoint embodies clarity, hope, and optimism. the poet is prepared and is willing to take any of life's challenges and ailments so long as he can spend his most wonderful days with the person of his heart."

i also find it interesting that the title "treading grass" refers to an activity especially popular in the song and tang dynasties to be done to welcome spring. it can be a hike or other outdoor leisure in the spring or summer weather on the outskirts away from the city to appreciate the beauty of nature. pomegranate flowers, too, are a spring and summer blossom most vibrant in the fifth month. along with the setting of a warm but autumn's day, the poem retains spring sentiments as the seasons turn to the year's colder and darker half.

spring will always be with the speaker just as li lianhua is for fang duobing. if there is a version of the story where xiaobao cannot find xiaohua, he will still be persevering out there somewhere, searching. if onlookers ask him if he is afraid, if he ever regrets, he will answer — no. he is not scared. he does not regret having loved. because of what he and xiaohua have together, xiaobao lights a lantern in his heart that will guide him forward and wherever he goes.

“when [fang duobing] was little, he was searching for someone. his name is li xiangyi. when he grew up, he hoped for someone to stay. his name is li lianhua. even though after many years, it looks as though he may never reach what he wishes for, looking out at everyone gathered here today, i think maybe we can look at things a little differently. if there comes a day where what he hopes for doesn't come true, it has already lit a shining lantern on his path. hold on to what’s in your heart. don’t give up. just as everyone is here today, this summer we met so many friends and geges. our paths crossed and brought us together.”

— zeng shunxi, mysterious lotus casebook concert

[ossum-pawsome]

New to Tumblr, going to start dumping some of the stone carving that I've done here.

This big slate carving is based on a design from the Book of Kells, all hand carved with hammer and chisels.

[ossum-pawsome]

what about a crow with dragon wings? random idea ya know?

crow 846

[ossum-pawsome]

a dragon for january 2nd, 2024

[ossum-pawsome]

Ancient Greek gold and rock crystal swivel ring engraved with a snake, dated to 600-500 BCE.

[ossum-pawsome]

[ossum-pawsome]

so, how does li lianhua define his relationship with fang duobing, if at all?

i once read a comment under a fanghua fic that li lianhua is like a fish swimming in a stream. one moment, under the rippling surface, you can see him clearly; in the next moment, he has gone on his way.

but, to extend that thought, in those moments he is here with us, one can absolutely see the shades of his beautiful colours, if one only pays close enough attention.

li lianhua actually tells us a lot:

"if li xiangyi knew that 10 years later, there would be someone who understands him this well, he would be very happy." (xiaohua, you indeed look very happy 😭💕)

"then, henceforth, i redress the grievances from my past actions. here is to my new friend — my best friend."

there are countless moments where li lianhua implicitly communicates such friendly sentiments towards fang duobing; however, not even one post but a hundred posts wouldn't even be enough to document that in its entirety. so, let's look at what he says explicitly for now.

this is the one and only time in the entire show xiaohua says there is someone who understands him.

it can only be someone special for one who speaks of himself as a wandering lone ghost, who has lived well alone for 10 years, to say this and make room for a new addition in his life. here, he names fang duobing as not only the person who understands li xiangyi, but also, he names him as li lianhua’s very best friend. about both his past and his present selves, xiaohua happily drinks to this and officially lets xiaobao in.

we see xiaohua communicate this declaration, though quietly (but i'm not sure if you're like me, when xiaohua smiles, it's literally so loud because my heart is full every time and i remember every single one of such moments), again at the end, when every part of his identity has been laid bare to xiaobao. their multiple breakups did not weaken their bond at all. in fact, they strengthened it, as couples who do the work and argue constructively do, and they are stronger than ever.

"to prove what you had done and didn't do, the one named li xiangyi had no choice but to return alive from the bottom of the sea, and the one named li lianhua, from now on, can no longer be that carefree jianghu physician he wanted to be."

everyone, as usual, had forgotten to consider the physical and emotional labour that costed xiaohua to appear here today — except for one person. and, xiaobao is not afraid to say it, in front of the entire sigu sect and jianghu members who got together for this trial, of what they missed and took for granted, that is, to have sect leader li always come in and solve their problems.

listening to xiaobao's words, it's that same smile xiaohua had when he realized this young man in front of him who cooked a full-course meal and more waiting for him in his home, who treated him as exactly the ordinary physician li lianhua he wanted to live as, also understood and spoke for li xiangyi all the same in a way no one else ever did.

but, does that affection only extend as far as a professional relationship between a teacher and a student does?

i'm not here to blow up or go into your space to tell you what you're allowed to ship romantically, i'm too old for that (and can only hope that people would give me the same courtesy). what i will say is that there have been many heterosexual tudi/shifu romantic relationships on screen in the past and present that audiences cheered for, cried over, and loved wholeheartedly.

for instance, there is the legendary yang guo x xiaolongnv of the return of the condor heroes, my loves cui shiyi x zhousheng chen of one and only (2021), and li tongguang x ren ruyi of a journey to love (2023) who took first place in the fictional shipping weibo supertopic ranking during the show's air. so, why would romantically shipping fictional fang duobing x li lianhua who simply met as kids for one meeting and made a promise to meet again in the future to train together be a problem? they did not even hold an official apprenticeship ceremony to be deemed formal student x teacher.

if you are fine with the former fictional couples but not when it is two men, then that is perhaps something to personally reflect on.

is it age gap then — well, wei yingluo x the emperor in story of yanxi palace (2018) were 16 years apart and audiences embraced their spicy and romantic cat and mouse dynamic. i was more of a wei yingluo x the empress shipper, which had a 15 years age gap, and us 令后cp shippers back then shipped this sapphic relationship in a way that would be defined as pure love warrior today. the age gap of fang duobing x li lianhua is half of that. they are 20 and 28, 8 years apart.

ship what you like in fanon, but for me, i like to go back to canon and let it inform me. plus, what xiaohua communicates and wants matters to me above all.

when madam qin asks xiaohua if the talented young man outside is his disciple, xiaohua clearly answers, "shiniang, he is not my disciple. and, i didn't teach him much." this rejection of the formal teacher-student label is indeed something both fang duobing and li lianhua communicate. as a dear friend said to me, if li lianhua does not lie to his shiniang about his dying body, when he tricks everyone else that he has recovered, why would you assume that he is lying here about whether he has a disciple? the only logical conclusion is that yes, xiaohua is speaking from his heart here. he does not recognize he and xiaobao's relationship to be a professional one.

if you look carefully at the future incidences from this point where teacher-student is brought up between xiaohua and xiaobao when they are alone, xiaohua is purposely bringing it up because he knows it will get a reaction out of xiaobao. xiaohua uses this break as a way to distract xiaobao from further noticing his deteriorating health and seeing through his lie and peaceful visage.

then why did li lianhua explicitly name fang duobing as his disciple at the very end if not for keeping him at a distance?

if you didn't notice, xiaohua is dying. he depleted his last bit of yangzhouman at sigu sect. here, he does not know if he would wake up the next day should he lose consciousness. in a person's last moments, they would often look at their life in review. days and weeks if given the time to, or in a quick flash. when xiaohua looks up one final time to see xiaobao fussing and worrying over him, ready to do whatever it takes to save him, he says, "taking you as my disciple was not in vain." the act of taking xiaobao as his disciple was the start of their entwining fates that led them to now. this is what xiaohua thinks back to in what may have been his last moments.

what he means is: if there was one thing i did in this life that was not in vain, that got for me as much, if not more than, as what i had given, it is meeting you.

to finish off on a lighter note, xiaohua and xiaobao do quite a bit of play in their relationship. whether it was a "hero saves beauty" scheme weaved by the beauty li lianhua himself in their first meeting as adults, detective fang and sly physician li trying to get second chances and escape, or their matching leaf masks, the two of them are an absolute joy, and they love to have fun together. what is teacher-student if not yet another one of their games?

a moment of silence for alliance leader di for walking in on fanghua's (terrible, i say lovingly, these are my children) roleplay. xiaobao tried so hard and even used a formal "you." 😂🙈 the dynamic of rejecting to others a teacher-student label from being used to define their relationship while also teasing and having fun with it in private is so incredibly fun, and chinese-language romantic fanghua fan works certainly do have a lot of fun with it.

all in all, however you wish to see li lianhua and fang duobing's relationship, the canonically base level for them is that formal toast to each other at lotus tower: they are best friends. you can build from there. that is the most simple and straightforward fact of the story.

[ossum-pawsome]

[ossum-pawsome]

A chonky tiger by FTM_2022

[ossum-pawsome]

American Purple Gallinule