#3. i can still go by ji if i do jia

[cityofjieun]

★ . . . . -ˏˋ 2KIDS ROOMˊˎ | EP. 3 - JIA x HAN

date: february 2022 era: maniac word count: 1.4K

a/n: this took a lot longer than i planned and i'm not sure if i like it but if i don't post it now i literally never will. 2 ji is a realtionship thats very dear to me so i hope i did them justice. please lemme know what you think 🙇🏽‍♀️

THE 2KR INTRO PLAYS, FEATURING A COMPILATION OF THE TWO GIGGLING AT EACH OTHER’S EXPENSE, THE OTHER MEMBER USUALLY STARING BLANKLY OR STRUGGLING TO NOT RETURN THE SMILE.

HAN: [sitting on the couch by himself, looking off camera] are you going to come over here so we can start or are you going to stall a little longer?

JIA: [OFF CAMERA] i’m waiting for manager-nim to find the clause in my contract that says i wouldn't have to film with han-ssi outside of group schedules... i think this is a mistake.

HAN: [GIGGLING BUT LOOKING TOWARD THE CAMERA] do you see how difficult jia-nim is… aish, she’s caught the celebrity disease.

JIA: and you would know all about that, oppa-nim [ SITTING DOWN ON THE COUCH ] i mean, you caught it before you were even famous.

HAN: okay, moving on!

꩜

SEUNGMIN: han and jia.

FELIX: they’re like oil and vinegar.

CHANGBIN: in what way??

CHAN: they don’t mix necessarily, but they still go together well.

[ FELIX HUMS IN AGREEMENT ]

꩜

JIA: [ CLAPS ] chidongz 2kids room!

HAN: i still don't know how to feel about that?

JIA: you learn to live with it, i mean it’s a cuter way of calling us rodents…

HAN: [SIGHS]

JIA: anyways, when was the last time we hung out, han-ssi?

HAN: i remember we watched that j-drama you saw on tiktok together but i can’t exactly remember when that was. i see you so much that it kind of blurs together.

JIA: honestly, we are together a lot. you are a homebody, so we don’t actually go out as much as i wish we would, but we usually hang out together at the dorms.

꩜

HYUNJIN: have you noticed that they always tend to end up at our dorm?

JEONGIN: which is interesting, because you'd think jisung-hyung would just come over to ours more because jieun and lino-hyung are there and he could kill two birds with one stone.

[ THE TWO LAUGH]

MINHO: ??

HYUNJIN: that gives him too much credit, it's too sensible.

MINHO: [POINTEDLY IGNORING HYUNJIN] i think it's because jisung-ah thrives in his own personal space, while being home for too long might make jieunnie feel a bit trapped.

꩜

HAN: but we did go out recently to... [TRAILING OFF] umm… what was it…

JIA: [CUTTING HIM OFF] so the time we spend together means nothing.

HAN: stop.

[ THEY STOP LOOKING AT EACH OTHER SERIOUSLY FOR A MOMENT BEFORE JISUNG BREAK INTO LAUGHTER FOLLOWED BY JIEUN ]

JIA: anyways! we went to a cafe in hannam-dong i really wanted to try. i saw it in yoon seung-ah’s vlogs. they’re known for their bagels and that location specifically has a pretty view of the river so i wanted to take insta pictures.

HAN: OH! and we got lost trying to find it?

JIA: because you insisted, we didn't need directions. HAN: [ROLLS EYES] hey, we found it eventually, didn't we? JIA: after wandering around for an hour! by the time we got there the wait was insane.

HAN: [UNDER HIS BREATH] yeah and the bagels were a bit mid for how long we waited.

JIA: we wouldn’t have had to so long if some had gotten up when i told him to originally AND actually used his phone maps [WACKING HIS SHOULDER TO EMPHAZISE HER POINT]

[THE TWO START TO BAT AT EACH OTHER BEFORE THE SCENCE CUTS]

JIA: i think we should go on a trip together next time we have a vacation. we’ve never gone anywhere just the two of us like that it could be fun.

HAN: a vacation with you….

JIA: what’s that supposed to mean???

HAN: i’m kidding i’m kidding

JIA: yeah sure.

HAN: you are very J so you would make a whole itinerary, wouldn’t you?

JIA: i think having a general plan of what you want to do make sure you get to make the most of you time

HAN: hmmm sure...where would we even go?[THINKING] Japan could be fun. Lots of great food, and it's a short trip. What about you?

JIA: [SMILES] Japan sounds fun. But I'd say Europe. We could explore so many different countries and cultures. I’d love to be able to use my french.

HAN: oh, i have an interesting question, what would we do if the other disappeared.

JIA: oh, this gets a bit serious.

HAN: [SERIOUS] it's funny because i think with any other member, i think i’d want to let them have their space because obviously if they run away, it's for some reason and they want to be alone. but i think if you were so upset that you’d isolate yourself, i’d have to check on you immediately. [ TOWARDS THE CAMERA TO AVOID EYE CONTACT WITH JIEUN ] she isn't someone that likes to be by herself, alone time isn’t really something she seeks because she thrives around others, so i think if she's going out of her way to be by herself like that something is really wrong.

JIA: [A BIT STARTLED AT HIS SERIOUSNESS, AS WELL AS THE SLIGHT READ] aww ji…[POKING HIS ARM] i think i'd obviously want to respect the fact that hanji wanted time alone, but i'd have to check in at some point. [SHE PEEKS AT JISUNG BEFORE CONTINUING A BIT BASHFULLY] i know we have very different social batteries, and hanji is pretty good about just letting me know when he needs some time to himself. but i think if he was to go off and not respond i’d be worried.”

꩜

CHAN: honestly, i think out of everyone, jieun has opened up to han the most, besides seungmin.

FELIX: which is interesting because they’re so different.

[THE FOUR MURMUR IN AGREEMENT]

SEUNGMIN: i think they get on so well because they’re aware of how different they are.

CHANGBIN: oh absolutely. the two used to clash a lot, and i think they came to a point where they had to understand how they were different, and what accommodations they need to make to understand the other better.

CHAN: wahh changbin, you're so insightful.

꩜

[SENTIMENTAL SILENCE]

JIA: this may be the only time i every admit to this, but sometimes i wish i were more like you in some ways

HAN: in what ways?

JIA: i mean, like you said earlier i’m not one who enjoys being by themselves. i think when i'm alone for too long i begin to think too hard and get into my own head. honestly, i think not being able to properly spend time alone with myself is a bit unhealthy. i kinda admire the fact that you are capable of being on your own and enjoy your own company.

꩜

MINHO: i’ve been trying to get jieunnie to understand that it’s not wrong to want to be around others and have companionship, it's an innately human thing, you know.

HYUNJIN: she’s a lot like changbin-hyung. he likes to just sit in my room with me to just be there.

JEONGIN: [GIGGLING TO HIMSELF] well, that's because it's you and changbin hyung…

HYUNJIN: …

꩜

JIA: skz-gi behind the camera look like they want us to start wrapping up

HAN: any final words?

[JIA HUMS, SEEMINGLY WEIGHING SOMETHING BACK AND FORTH IN HER MIND, BEFORE SIGHING AND GRABBING ONE OF JISUNGS HANDS]

JIA: i know i don’t say this often but thank you.

HAN: what for?

JIA: being my person i guess? you have always worked really hard to understand me, as well as help me understand myself. i’m so grateful to have a friend like you in my life and i’m so happy i get to live out my childhood dreams with my best friend.

HAN: jieun...

JIA: hey, let me finish. thank you for growing with me thus far, and I'm so excited to see where we go... together.

HAN: jieunnie..

JIA: if you cry so will I

HAN: thank you for understanding me as well. i know i haven't always been the easiest to deal with but y

[ THE TWO SIT IN SILENCE FOR A MOMENT, SOAKING IN JIEUN'S BEFORE JISUNG CLEARS HIS THROAT. THE SOUND MAKES JIEUN SNICKER FOR A MOMENT BEFORE THE TWO DISSOLVES INTO SILENT TEARS. THE VIDEO CUTS TO THE TWO, LESS TEARY BUT NOSES OBVIOUSLY A LITTLE STUFFY]

JIA: well, this was fun.

HAN: should we take our picture and head out?

JIA: yes please [END]

©︎ cityofjieun, all rights reserved. pls, do not copy or repost my work.

[rosenlily-aka-choconut]

Was going through TOTNT tag today, saw some posts calling Lee Rang's fans out because we, allegedly, hate Ji Ah for being more important to Lee Yeon than his brother.

IDK about you, but I don't hate Ji Ah (or Ae Um), I blame YEON and no one else for the whole shitshow.

I also blame the writers for giving us the blandest and most boring romance ever. Kdramas have this tendency to write a cookie-cutter boring romance and captivating side-characters, and TOTNT is no exception, I just can't bring myself to ever root for the pair because they have no chemistry (and because S1 Yeon is a total entitled douche). I get why they didn't make Rang x Yuri a pair tho, cause if they did, those two would eclipse the main pair effortlessly.

I'm glad we didn't have to endure the same bland romance this season, but I do wonder what the writers are going to do in season 3- and it looks like there will be season 3, in Joseon, where, I guess, Yeon will go to secure the fourth object/treasure.

Yeah, I came across a couple of such posts and chose to ignore them. I'm entitled to my choices as much as they're entitled to theirs.

I don't like Jia- I've made that plain and no one can convince me to like something I can't. I mean, I was okay with her until about the sixth episode or so, when she was PD-nim and not Yeon's love interest. Later, she became insufferable. Nothing to do with the actress, though. Those scenes were repetitive and badly written. Added problem was the severe lack of chemistry between the lead pair.

I still maintain my stand that Jia was given over-importance in S1. When lot of lives were at stake, she was chosen over the countless who died in that plague. Here I blame Yeon's choices.

To those who like her - you're more fortunate than me because you would've certainly enjoyed season 1.

[screaming-apple]

TOP 5 TV DRAMA EACH YEAR WITH THE HIGHEST BAIDU INDEX RANKING

(from 2011 to 2021/known internationally)

🔥2011:

No.1: Scarlet Heart (Bu Bu Jing Xin)

No.2: The Temptation To Go Home (Hui Jia De You Huo)

No.3: The Lock Heart Jade (Gong Suo Xin Yu)

No.4: The Glamorous Imperial Concubine (Qing Shi Huang Fei)

No.5: Palace (Gong)

🔥2012:

No.1: iPartment season 3 (Ai Qing Gong Yu)

No.2: The Magic Blade (Tian Ya Ming Yue Dao)

No.3: Locked Beaded Curtain (Gong Suo Zhu Lian)

No.4: Empresses Of The Palace (Hou Gong Zhen Huan Zhuan)

No.5: Xuan-Yuan Sword: Scar Of Sky (Xuan Yuan Jian Zhi Tian Zhi Hen)

🔥2013:

No.1: Little Daddy (Xiao Ba Ba)

No.2: We Get Married (Zan Men Jie Hun Ba)

No.3: Prince Of Lan Ling (Lan Ling Wang)

No.4: Swordsman (Jin Xiao Ao Jiang Hu)

No.5: Legend Of Lu Zhen (Lu Zhen Chuan Qi)

🔥2014:

No.1: iPartment season 4 (Ai Qing Gong Yu)

No.2: My Love From The Star (Byeoreseo On Geudae)*

No.3: Swords Of Legends (Gu Jian Qi Tan)

No.4: Boss & Me (Shan Shan Lai Le)

No.5: The Empress Of China (Wu Meiniang Chuan Qi)

🔥2015:

No.1: The Legend Of Mi Yue (Mi Yue Zhuan)

No.2: My Sunshine (He Yi Sheng Xiao Mo)

No.3: The Journey Of Flower (Hua Qian Gu)

No.4: The Lost Tomb (Dao Mu Bi Ji)

No.5: Nirvana In Fire (Lang Ya Bang)

🔥2016:

No.1: Ode To Joy (Huan Le Song)

No.2: Love O2O (Wei Wei Yi Xiao Hen Qing Cheng)

No.3: The Princess Weiyoung (Jin Xiu Wei Yang)

No.4: Go Princess Go (Tai Zi Fei Sheng Zhi Ji)

No.5: Descendants Of The Sun (Taeyang-ui Huye)*

🔥2017:

No.1: In The Name Of The People (Ren Min De Ming Yi)

No.2: The First Half Of My Life (Wo De Qian Ban Sheng)

No.3: Eternal Love (San Sheng San Shi Shi Li Tao Hua)

No.4: Princess Agents (Chu Qian Zhuan)

No.5: Ode To Joy season 2 (Huan Le Song)

🔥2018:

No.1: Story Of Yanxi Palace (Yan Xi Gong Lue)

No.2: The Story Of Minglan (Zhi Fou? Zhi Fou? Ying Shi Luo Fei Hong Shou)

No.3: Ashes Of Love (Xiang Mi Chen Chen Jin Ru Shuang)

No.4: Legend Of Fuyao (Fuyao)

No.5: Ruyi’s Royal Love In The Palace (Ruyi Zhuan)

🔥2019:

No.1: Joy Of Life (Qing Yu Nian)

No.2: Go Go Squid! (Qin Ai De, Re Ai De)

No.3: Hope All Is Well With Us (Wo Men Dou Yao Hao Hao De)

No.4: The King’s Avatar (Quan Zhi Gao Shou)

No.5: The Untamed (Chen Qing Ling)

🔥2020:

No.1: The Bad Kids (Yin Mi De Jiao Luo)

No.2: Nothing But Thirty (San Shi Er Yi)

No.3: Go Ahead (Yi Jia Ren Zhi Ming)

No.4: Find Yourself (Xia Yi Zhan Shi Xing Fu)

No.5: I Will Find You A Better Home (An Jia)

🔥2021:

No.1: Crime Crackdown (Sao Hei Feng Bao)

No.2: My Heroic Husband (Zhui Xu)

No.3: You Are My Glory (Ni Shi Wo De Rong Yao)

No.4: Word Of Honor (Shan He Ling)

No.5: Rattan (Si Teng)

(*) Korean dramas. I have no idea why there are two of them on this Chinese dramas list but okay, they are still accepted here.

The list in picture form: (You can see the Baidu index of the dramas here - click in to see better)

---

So, what do you think of this ranking? How many of these dramas do you know of/have you watched? Which is your favourite?

(The tags can not cover every drama. So I have tried my best to pick out some I think would be more well-known among international fans.)

[mstrchu]

Ok so do you know the White Horse the Tang Sanzang ride on from Journey to the West? He's exactly called The White Dragon Horse (hope I got that right). Why is there the word "Dragon" in the title?

Well that's because his true title and real name are the West Sea Third Prince Ao Lie, yes he's Ao Bing's Cousin,yes he's a dragon prince of the sea royal family and he can transform into a horse apparently

This is uncertain due to many versions but yeah that's the gist of it

Also Ao Lie is literally the White Horse Prince OMG-

I wonder if we would see him in New Gods Nezha Reborn though

Another thing: Wonder how the rest of the sea dragon family in the last three directions thought about East Sea Dragon King being this evil CEO guy lol. That man has many versions and in Nezha Reborn, he's the worst I've seen so far

pre-emptive apologies for this rambling ☠️ i sincerely hope i dont come off as like. utterly insufferable

i know of ao lie! honestly props to him for being so cool about being a horse 95% of the time because if i went from being a dragon to being an animal that couldn't lie on its side for more than like 45 minutes without suffocating i would not have handled it as graciously as he did. also if we had a nickel for every time a dragon king's third prince that's commonly depicted as a white/silver dragon befell some disaster or disgrace we would have 2 nickels. which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice..

i'm also not sure if the dragon kings are brothers in the regular sense or just brothers in the way that they all sort of belong to the same.. clan (? for a lack of a better word) but it is funny to think of ao lie and ao bing as cousins svdsjkndv especially since ao bing would have died before the events of jttw but in more recent adaptations if ao bing survived (a la 2019) or came back (a la 2021) i think it would open a door of very funny possibilities.. i think i've read a few nzr fics where it's kind of a touchy subject for ao bing bc ao run will not stop bragging about his son at family gatherings ☠️

unless he pulled a sun wukong, i don't think we'll be seeing ao lie in new gods :( but i would love to be wrong..

(on a side note, if they're going to be featuring more people from fsyy, i would love to see their take on huang tianhua, leizhen zi, ji fa, and jiang ziya ;-;)

based on ao guang's menacing monologue to ao bing (lol) the dragon kings seem to have a somewhat tense relationship with a lot of past baggage, but it's not so bad that they didn't put it aside to help ao guang get revenge on nezha 3000 years ago ovo i've also been assuming that the other 3 families mentioned in nezha reborn (li/shun/song) belong to the other 3 dragon kings, and if so then ao bing and the yecha's comments about them when they first appear makes it sound like they've all got a really intense rivalry going on about control over their cities which makes me think the other 3 ALSO have CEO mob boss vibes?! but they don't have the same resources or the iron-grip control that ao guang has, and so ao guang is still the Big Boss in the family.. so i guess i would say that their thoughts are that they wish they could do it like him!!

what i would also love to know is what ao jia and ao yi and/or other siblings have been doing this whole time or at least what the public thinks they've been doing?? ao bing is publicly acknowledged in "modern day" donghai as the san gongzi so.. there has to be at least 2 other older gongzis out there... maybe kasha knows what the goss is..

also ur so right. 1979 ao guang may have been eating children but 2021 ao guang invented capitalism which is way worse 😔

holy shit sorry circling back to ao lie again he's kind of funky isn't he!! i don't know jttw as well, only from like cultural/childhood stuff, but iirc he did turn back into his human and dragon forms a few times when he felt like he needed to, which kind of makes it seem like he could have done that at any time and he was just. choosing to be a horse. which is dalfkdnvlknva because i feel there were quite a few times in jttw where it would have been helpful for him to be a dragon and/or person instead of a horse. also the song about him slaps.

[skullsandwineglasses]

Remembrance of Things Past - Eps 1-10 Impression/Rant

Not really a first impressions post since there are only 2 episodes left, but as I’m waiting on the last few episodes, I thought I’d rant a bit about the drama here. 

First of all, I agree with everything that AvenueX said in her review of the first 6 episodes. Her review is what prompted me to start the drama. I needed a realistic slice of life drama to balance out the idol drama that is You Are My Glory (which I’m also waiting on for new episodes), and ROTP seemed to fit bill. ROTP is just so good.

I binged ROTP in 3 days. It could have been 2 days, but I started it at 2am on a Wednesday night, so I didn’t get very far the first night. Each episode is about 75 minutes long, so almost the equivalent of 2 regular lengthed episodes, but not quite. 

I cried during the first two episodes. The character development is just phenomenal. You really feel for Jing Jing’s character even though you’ve only seen her character for an hour. There are little moments throughout the drama that made me tear up too, like when the girls were celebrating Nan Jia jie’s 36th birthday and I got emotional over how close their bond is, or moments when the girls reflected on their aging parents and how we often take our parents for granted. 

Plot pacing and structure

The plot is tight and well-paced, and each girl’s storyline is interwoven well. Sometimes they’d cut between simultaneous scenes between the girls to compare and contrast what they’re each going through. For instance, when Xu Yan is having an argument with her boyfriend, the drama will also cut and flip back and forth to Qiao Xi Chen going through problems at her workplace. When Xu Yan makes up with her boyfriend, the drama cuts to QXC and Nan Jia being romantically pursued by Jian Yi Fan and Ou Yang. It’s interesting to see how their lives mirror and differ from each other. 

Because the storylines between the girls are so interwoven and keep flipping back and forth between each other, it makes it hard to skip scenes because you can’t just skip an entire segment or else you’ll miss something important in all 3 storylines. I can see that this might be a little annoying if you have a preference for one of the girls and want to skip someone else’s storyline. But I actually like seeing all 3 of their stories play out, so I’m not bothered by it. 

Another aspect about the plot’s structure that I appreciate is how they use the mystery behind Jing Jing’s suicide as a throughline for the drama. Up until episode 8ish(?), each episode ends with a question about Jing Jing’s life prior to her suicide and the next episode opens with the girls trying to find an answer or a clue to it. The girls and we the audience learn more and more about Jing Jing with each episode. However, episodes 9 and 10 deviate from the structure a bit and so the drama has recently been less and less focused on Jing Jing’s story, especially after they found out that she had depression. The drama seems to imply that her depression due to the stress of living in Beijing was the main factor that led to her suicide, while the successive unfortunate events that happened on her birthday was the trigger. 

Characters

I like all the main characters in the drama, albeit some a little more than others, which I’ll explain. I think the 3 male love interests are a little too perfect though, and so I guess this slice of life drama is actually a little idealistic after all. 

Xu Yan - My least favourite of the four girls. She’s materialistic, but not as spoiled as I though she would be. But it does annoy me how she keeps picking fights with Shen Zi Chang, when he’s just trying his best. He’s so tolerant and patient with her. He apologizes, they make up, and then the cycle repeats. It’s just a very unhealthy relationship, and I’m tried of seeing them fight and make up. 

EDIT: So, I started writing this review when I had only watched up until episode 9, but now that I’ve finished episode 10, um, wtf?? Xu Yan made a bad choice and got scammed of all her money, her friends try to comfort her, loan her money, and tell her not to repress her emotions like Jing Jing. And then she just lashes out at them saying they have no right to comfort her because they were the ones who caused Jing Jing’s death. Xu Yan starts off blaming QXC for not knowing that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and then she blames Nan Jia for being a bad older cousin. She blames both of them for being ignorant of Jing Jing’s depression and only caring about themselves. QXC (rightfully) retorts back than Xu Yan knew all along that Jing Jing had a crush on her boyfriend, and yet Xu Yan never told anyone, so she’s just as guilty as all of them. Honestly, I was sympathetic towards Xu Yan before, but she was just so ungrateful and entitled in that scene. What right does she have pointing fingers and assigning guilt to people? And to weaponize Jing Jing’s death against them? That’s just cruel. The argument between them in that scene at the end of episode 10 just felt so random and out of place. All of a sudden, Xu Yan points out all of these problems she has with QXC and Nan Jia, when all they’ve ever done is pamper her. Also, you can’t blame QXC for dating Lin Rui even if Jing Jing liked him first, and not to mention that QXC wasn’t even aware. QXC might not have even chosen to date Lin Rui if she had known. But it happens all the time between friends where your friend might date someone you like. All’s fair in love and war, and there’s no first come first serve rule when it comes to dating.

Jing Jing - She becomes more complex as you learn more about her. She puts her friends first and is fiercely supportive and protective of them. We get a glimpse of how far she’s willing to go for them she pulls a butcher knife from the kitchen and points it at QXC’s debt collectors in the first episode. Her friends see her as being really open, expressive, and bubbly. She’s the first one they each go to whenever they need help with a problem or want to show off an achievement. But in reality, she’s really secretive. She hides her feelings to keep her friends happy, and when they slowly uncover her secrets, she becomes less and less recognizable to them, as though she’s been living a double life all along. 

At the end of episode 10, Jing Jing is described as the “hole in the tree” that everyone goes to to share their secrets, but they forget that she’s also a person with her own secrets to share, and she’s not just a tree hole to serve others. Can we blame the friends for not paying enough attention to Jing Jing and only using her for emotional support? Yes and no. It’s complicated. We should always do more to try to care for others and to be more attentive to them, but at the same time, it’s impossible to completely know a person. I purposely hide parts of my life from my friends because I don’t want them worrying or judging or commenting. So I would never expect them to be able to figure it out, and neither do I want them to figure it out. I think it’s interesting that the drama is exploring the friends’ self-imposed guilt, but I don’t agree that Xu Yan should be the one to point it out them and to be Jing Jing’s spokesperson. Xu Yan positions herself as Jing Jing’s heroic and righteous advocator, when really Xu Yan is the most problematic person out of the three remaining friends. 

Also, after seeing how the friends interact, they don’t feel narcissistic. Yes, they each readily vent about their problems to each other, but they also ask about the other person. It’s not one-sided. Xu Yan talks about her problems with her boyfriend, but she also asks and cares about what’s happening in QXC’s life and vice versa. Nan Jia is more mature and is busy with her business, but she always takes the time and effort to help her friends. All of their conversations are reciprocal and they are genuinely interested in each other’s lives. So, I don’t think they have a major communication problem or that they don’t care or that they’re ignorant. Which again, makes Xu Yan’s accusations in episode 10 feel even more unfair. 

Ji Nan Jia - Jing Jing’s cousin and also the oldest of the three girls (about a decade older). Sassy, witty, unapologetic, confident. She’s who you’d think of when you imagine a successful, independent, career-driven woman. She’s extremely annoyed by her mother’s nagging to get married. But she herself is trying to figure out whether she actually wants to find someone to settle down with or if she just wants to beat her biological clock and have children while she still can. She’s pursued by Ou Yang, ten years her junior, and he’s absolutely enamoured with her. He seems to be unconditionally in love with her, which is what I meant when I said that the male leads in this drama seem too perfect and idealistic. But I like Ou Yang though. He’s adorable. 

Qiao Xi Chen - The main character of the four main characters. Like Nan Jia, she’s also quite sassy. In some ways, she’s like a younger version of Nan Jia. QXC is also very career driven and competitive. She’s confident and believes in her abilities, but she also gets easily overwhelmed and emotional (like when her stress and nervousness prevented her from being able to give her proposal presentation and she ran out of the room. I’ve definitely felt that way before my committee meetings). QXC is a character you can self-insert as because she represents the everyday employee who struggles with the long commute to work and tries to stand out and make a name for herself in the company. QXC is also extremely paranoid, which is understandable when you’re a woman living alone in the city. I know what it’s like to have to briskly walk home late at night and constantly having to look over your shoulder to make sure no one’s following you, or having to check your hotel room before you change, or having to make it seem like you’re not the only one living in your apartment. QXC is smart, logical, helps people when she can, but is also reasonably selfish when she needs to protect herself, like when her co-workers try to take advantage of her or throw her under the bus. She’s a character everyone can relate to.

She and Jian Yi Fan also make such a cute pairing. I love all their interactions. I love how Jian Yi Fan can’t help but smile when he’s with her, but he tries hard to clamp it down. I love how QXC is aware of her own attraction and easily admits to to Xu Yan that she does have feelings for him instead of beating around the bush. And I especially love the awkward but adorable confession scene in episode 8. Such great banter and play on words (”你是什麼意思” “沒意思” “你對我是不是有意思?”). The drama did a great job of depicting the frustration of trying to guess whether someone likes you when they seem to be sending mixed signals. A lot of dramas that don’t focus on romance seem to do a better job of showing romance than idol dramas that focus on nothing but romance. I grew up with TVB dramas, and in most of them, romance is usually secondary to the main plot, but I always loved the romances in those dramas.

Like Ou Yang, JYF is such an idealistic love interest. He’s so supportive of and attentive to QXC. I haven’t watched too many slice of life dramas, but To Dear Myself and My Best Friend’s Story both had flawed (and sometimes even irredeemable) male love interests. This drama’s rose-coloured glasses definitely reduces the amount of performative angst, but it also makes the drama a little less realistic. The men in Jing Jing’s life aren’t villainized either even when you expected them to be sinister. I think the most antagonistic character is Lin Rui, but even he’s made to be sympathetic. In fact, nearly all the characters in the drama are sympathetic characters because many of the choices they made were forced because of the situation they found themselves in, and what they did was an act of self-preservation. And so, you can’t hate them or blame them. 

Acting and Dialogue

I mean, what’s there to say? The acting and dialogue just sucks you right in. I love it so much. The characters are so animated and charming because of how well the actors delivered their lines. I’m not a mandarin speaker (I’m a cantonese speaker but learned mandarin afterwards), but even I was able to notice the colloquialism and slangs and idiosyncratic ticks in speech that made the dialogue feel so real and alive. The actors had great comedic timing, and when they cried, you could feel how vulnerable they are. 

Lastly, I also like the little “life lessons” they include at the end of the drama where there’d be a voiceover by one of the actresses and they’d muse about life. One of my favourite musings when when they talked about what it means to have a sense of security. For some people, having a sense of security is about having a certain amount of money in your bank account, or having someone waiting for you to come home, but a sense of security isn’t something tangible or physical that you can achieve or possess. It’s a belief. It’s a belief that you’re able to face any problem and that life will go on. It’s a belief that the one that you love will be faithful and supportive. It’s a type of belief that allows you to be confident to face uncertainty. And thus, a sense of security is something that only you can give yourself. I really like that little food for thought because it’s a great reminder to be self-dependent and to not rely on external gratification. Que sera sera. What will be will be. Don’t get too hung over on failure and don’t let stress dominate your life. 

Note: Watching this at the same time as You Are My Glory is extremely humbling. YAMG is an idol drama, and so they make the romance look so easy. Heck, idol dramas make being a protagonist easy. The protagonist is destined to stand out from the crowd. It’s easy to be noticed. It’s easy to cause a change in the status quo. But ROTP is a reminder that we’re all practically nobodies in the big city. It feels impossible to make an impression when there are millions of other people living almost the same life as you are. There’s nothing special about you, and it’s hard to find meaning and purpose. Obviously, the drama shows that even when it feels like you’re trying to swim upstream in a big city, we each have a life worth living. We may feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but to our friends and family, we’re their world and they’re ours. I think it was Camus who said that we should find meaning in the face of absurdity. Live in spite of how absurd and meaningless things feels. Anyway, this drama gives you a lot to think about, even though I don’t really like the melodrama they’ve recently added to drag the plot (*cough cough* that explosive argument scene at the end of episode 10 that I keep ranting about). You’d think that a 12-episode drama wouldn’t have filler, and yet here we are. 

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Prologue and Preview of Gavin’s Location Scouting Date

🍒Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for content which has not been released in English servers!🍒

[ PROLOGUE ]

MC: Is no one accompanying me to gather materials? 

Right after my words are spoken, the people in the office hurriedly busy themselves with work.

Three days ago, the company received a certain seaside town’s invitation to do an advertisement photoshoot. The town just opened not too long ago, and wants to use this advertisement to attract visitors.

Before planning for the photoshoot, the company has to send people over to gather materials. However, everyone is busy with other shoots. 

Furthermore, the trip will take place over the weekend, which makes people even less willing to go for it. The task to gather materials naturally falls on my shoulders.

I’m just worried that if I were to gather materials on my own, the materials collected may be overly subjective. Having one additional person would mean more perspectives.

Kiki: Boss, it’s not that I don’t want to accompany you, but I have too many miscellaneous things on hand!

In the corner, Willow shakes her head repeatedly, and Anna waves the file in her hand. Only Minor furtively leans towards my desk. 

Minor: MC, if I were you, I’d ask Gavin to come along. It’s such a good opportunity to travel, so of course I'd “use the public office for private gain”.

[Note] Minor uses the idiom “假公济私” (“jia gong ji si”), which refers to a person who abuses his public authority to pursue private interests.

MC: ...I’m going there to scout the location.

Minor: It’s exactly because you’re there to scout the location that you should enjoy yourself even more.

MC: What kind of a principle is that?

Minor: Let me ask you this - why did the other party look for us to do the advertisement shoot?

MC: ...to attract tourists. 

Minor: And why would tourists want to come to this town?

MC: To be happy and have fun.

I seem to have spoken the words in Minor’s heart, and he excitedly thumps the table.

Minor: So if the director of the advertisement shoot can’t even experience the joy of this town, how can it attract tourists?!

Kiki: That does makes sense. 

Willow nods her head repeatedly. Even Anna gives me an affirmative, slight smile. 

Although it sounds a little out of place, it does seem to be the case. To present interesting content, the creator has to immerse in it first. 

If I were to go together with Gavin, I’d definitely reap double the amount of happiness. 

While thinking along these lines, I whip out my phone to give Gavin a call.

MC: Gavin, I’ll be going to a tourist town to gather materials the day after tomorrow. Want to go together? 

Gavin: Sure. 

MC: ...you aren’t going to ask how long the trip will be? 

Gavin: I don’t have many cases to handle lately. Also, it’d be with you.

MC: So it’s settled. See you in the afternoon on the day after tomorrow!

Gavin: Mm, I’ll pick you up. Wear something thicker - it’s already early autumn.

MC: Mm!

It’s already the beginning of autumn... I wonder what kind of memories Gavin and I would leave behind in autumn this year...

--

[ DATE PREVIEW ]

I didn’t expect that Gavin and I would be mistaken as students in this university, and even invited to participate in a competition. Slightly embarrassed, I hurriedly wave my hands. 

MC: We’re not...

Boy A: The rules are very simple! If you make 3 three-pointers out of 5 shots, you can bring back a stuffed animal.

He points at the picture of a gigantic rabbit stuffed toy on the leaflet. It’s fluffy ears are pinkish, and it looks incredibly cute. 

Boy A: Not winning a stuffed toy for your girlfriend? She seems to like it very much.

While I’m still thinking of how to reject him, Gavin has already agreed.

Gavin: Lead the way.

I’m dumbfounded. Gavin gives our interlocked hands a squeeze, pulling me closer to him.

Gavin: The rabbit stuffed toy - do you like it? 

MC: I like it, but there’s really no need to participate. 

Gavin: Since we’re already here, why not experience it. Whatever you like, I’ll help you get it. 

He looks at me seriously as he speaks. His eyes are full of light. My heart suddenly feels warm, as though great strength has been poured into it. 

-

Travel Photo Album: Day 1

[mejomonster]

a little update. a while back i found a list of upcoming gl dramas, and here’s if anything’s changed:

Dear Missy - its aired, people liked it, had some nice cameos from hikaru no go. however, also not gl. has a main friendship center between two girls, and they have their own romances. still, with its nice reception it may be nice if looking for more women led shows. I might still eventually check this out, just because it has at least 3 actors from hikaru no go (including ji li playing??? himself??? which sounds Wild). its also a take on the gossip girl kind of show, and as i mentioned reviews have said it has solid writing and looks and structure, so i imagine it probably is good although its just not gl like people hoped it was going to be. Still you can see from the promo pic why people were Hoping it was going to be...

Dang Jia Zhu Mu 当家主母/The Matriarch - still tba. looks Very Likely to be gl. Also I’ve seen some excitement for the cast. Set during Qing Dynasty, “There are two women - one a childhood sweetheart and the other a proper wife - both are natural enemies yet they work together to promulgate the art of weaving.” I’m going to check it out when it airs ;-;

Shuang Jing 双镜/Couple of Mirrors - looks very likely to be gl. tba. “ Follows a well-known author and a cold-blooded assassin, who support and encourage each other as they carve out their own paths.” Based on that summary I am absolutely going to be checking it out ToT

流金岁月/My Best Friend's Story - aired. (Ni Ni is one of the leads?!!). Unfortunately - did not turn out to be gl. while the two lead’s friendship is the center, they’ve got their own romance plots. Also the reviews are pretty yikes for the plot, with the main draws of the show being the lead’s performances holding it together.

Fighting Youth - airing currently. based on the reviews and mentions of romances i’m going to guess this show did not try to lean gl after all. Also the reviews are not looking great, but not horrible. So? “ This tells the story of corporate rookie Zhang Xiao Yu, and how through her extraordinary talent, she manages to earn the appreciation of Lin Rui, the sales division director of a renowned cosmetics company. “ The summary also mentions her blossoming as a career woman and also finding her true love so. I mean well i guess if she finds a man by the end that pretty much settles where the story decided to go -o-

The Legend of Yun Qian - aired. A gl drama! Short and worth the watch! Especially if you love cultivator and transmigration and time travel stories, with little fun identity plays, cold shifus, cute mischievious flirts, aka so many tropes one finds in the genre but in a romance with two women. Its very cute, while also managing despite its short length to touch on a ton of those loved tropes in a nice way that feels itself and still resonates with some weight. Reminded me a lot of scum villain self saving system and romance of tiger and rose but with a bit more ‘serious’ moments a la love and redemption or the untamed. Again its short and lovely so worth checking out. Its on youtube among other places.

親愛的天王星/Dear Uranus - tba. Taiwan gl. “Do you still remember when we were seventeen; blushing faces, racing heartbeats for the first time, meeting the person that we like. Would you take the initiative or watch in silence?” Produced by Rabbit & Wolf, famous lesbian couple youtubers from Taiwan. I definitely plan to see this one ;-;

[syncogon]

[QZGS meta] what’s in an OP? dawning glory (pt 3)

(part 1) (part 2) 

This is the third and last post in my little series analyzing the opening theme of The King’s Avatar Season 2! Honestly, this whole thing became way longer than I was expecting. I guess this is what happens when all my immense amount of love for this series, accumulated over years of no-donghua-updates, overlaps with my immense amount of love for anime openings. 

Watched the first and second episodes yesterday, and they really sparked a lot of joy. :D I missed Blue River so much :D

Yesterday, they released the OST for Season 2, which includes the TV cut and full versions of the OP and ED, as well as two insert songs, and the instrumental versions of all of the above. I’ve yet to find anywhere that lets me download the audio files (hoping they’ll be reuploaded to youtube or bilibili soon), but in the meantime you can listen here. They’re really good songs!  https: //www. kuwo. cn/album_detail/15792659

Anyway, let’s finish up this OP analysis!

Now here, we reach the true climax as we enter the chorus section. This next segment is definitely the highest-energy part of the entire opening. It’s a montage of Happy’s characters showing off their moves, timed to the music; there’s not too much deeper meaning, but damn if it doesn’t look fantastic. The animation flows from one character and scene to the next so smoothly, so beautifully, it’s just incredibly hype to see. This is what you get when you specifically choreograph/animate sequences for the opening instead of just reusing shots from the main show! (Parts of some of these shots appeared in episode 1, but I do honestly think that it’s more likely that the show reused shots from the opening than the other way around, just because of how perfectly the OP fits together. I also don’t think it’s super noticeable in-show; I’ve just been watching this obsessively.)

In particular I love the line that kicks this all off: “just put on your battle armor and step onto the road to the unknown.” Specifically, though, the rhythm of the lyric is, “jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang,” with emphasizing accents on the -ang sounds. This isn’t how you would divide the phrase naturally, but because the (syncopated!!) melody accents these notes/syllables, the rhyming effect really stands out and it feels as clever and satisfying as a rap lyric. Moreover, the emphasis times juuust right with the attacks of Soft Mist, Steamed Bun Invasion, and Windward Formation, a perfect example of how music and visuals mutually reinforce each other for maximum cool effect. 

It’s generally easier to rhyme in Chinese than English, because of a smaller phonetic vocabulary. From the chorus onward, the key rhyme is on the “-ang” sound (think “ahng” or “ong”, not “aang” like the Avatar), which is a good choice - powerful, reverberant. The asymmetry of the syllable’s use in this section - the song’s lines are all different lengths at this part, so you’re kept on your toes as to when the pattern will reappear - helps add to the engaging excitement of the song. This is also the syllable used for most of the rhymes in the second half of the first OP. 

jiu pi shang zhan jia ta shang wei zhi qian fang

hui qi shou zhong wo jin de na shu guang

you ni men zai lu shang__

shi li liang

I really love One Inch Ash’s design. Concealed Light had a big redesign for this season, and honestly I like it as well. And notice here that he’s holding a book - exactly how we left Luo Ji when we saw him last! 

“Waving the light clenched tightly in our hand” - that is to say, brandishing our light as our weapon, no matter what form it may take - a sword, a book, our hope and determination. 

On a purely musical note (ha), right at this point, specifically the measure beginning with “那束光,” you can hear a three-note “ooo” harmony line in the background, and wow it’s so subtle but I love it so much! A similar three-note line actually appears earlier too (during the “crossing the frozen finish line,” right as the music is building up), also to great effect.  

We follow Concealed Light’s gaze upward to the building to see Deception running along the wall, from which he does a flip and slashes downward with twin blades. I love that transition a lot, but my favorite transition of this entire sequence has to be the following one:

Yes! Deception’s cross slash resolves perfectly into the cross held by Little Cold Hands. It’s so fast and so natural you don’t even notice it, and that’s the absolute beauty of it. The first time I saw this, I was in awe - the animators really brought their A-game to this, far better than I ever would have dared hope for this series.

And Little Cold Hands is so pretty! When we got our first art of her official design, the comments were filled with people simping for her, and honestly, valid. I’m surprised her hair is purple instead of pink, but that’s just a minor thing. 

There’s something especially powerful about how she raises her cross in time with the lyric “having you all here [with me] on this road,” and then the cross flashing brilliantly with “it’s power.” More than any other role, the healer is a team player. And this theme of team togetherness is particularly important for An Wenyi, who is deeply moved by the team’s perhaps illogical faith in him. Remember that analogy Ye Xiu tells him, of the straw tied to the deluxe mitten crab? 

An aside: listening to this, I always thought the line should be 有你们在身旁 instead of 有你们在路上, because it still fits the rhyme, because my past experience has somewhat conditioned me to expect that phrase, and because the full message of “having you by my side is power” just makes me wanna tear up like what a good line! So it felt like a missed opportunity that they didn’t use that. But as it turns out, the final iteration of this chorus in the full version of the OP does, in fact, use “by my side”! And I think making this tiny tweak to the lyric the final time you here it just makes it that much stronger :’)

I’m also just a big fan of the “it’s power” melodic flourish in general, since it comes as a surprise. You kind of expect the melody to end with the previous phrase, but the extra notes here add a really nice emphatic beat to finish off the line. 

So to recap the transitions: we see Soft Mist falling from the sky and get a close up of her face as she stabs her spear; this takes us to a closeup of Steamed Bun’s face facing roughly the same direction before we zoom out to his torso and he slashes from lower left of the screen to upper right; following the motion of that slash we see Windward Formation’s torso rotate in that direction as the camera zooms out farther; we follow the rays of his attack to see One Inch Ash drawing his sword; we zoom in on the flashing blade and zoom out on Concealed Light’s glowing book; we follow his gaze upward to see Deception running along the building behind him; Deception leaps and slashes and the slash becomes Little Cold Hands’ cross, which raises up and triggers an explosion. It’s just so dynamic and smooth even without taking place in one continuous setting, and it just really, really gets you hyped. 

Also, starting from Happy’s team picture at the start of the chorus, which is during the day, it feels like Soft Mist and Steamed Bun’s moves are at late afternoon, Windward Formation and One Inch Ash take us to nighttime, and then you can see the first rays of morning in Concealed Light and Deception’s segments. This continuity also definitely helps with the feeling of natural flow through these scenes. 

Anyway, this entire action segment is just so beautiful, I could watch it on loop. But we still have the final segment of this OP to analyze, so let’s keep going.

After the action sequences of the climax, we settle down a bit now as we approach the end. Here we see the Excellent Era team picture, in the same style as the team pics we saw earlier, but presented separately. It makes sense, as the role they play in the story is different from the roles of all the other teams. 

Sun Xiang, Liu Hao, and Cui Li are at the bottom. Because we’re panning up, these three are the first we see. At first glance, the way they’re positioned is fairly consistent with the team pics we’ve seen already: Captain Sun Xiang at center-right, the largest figure; vice-captain Liu Hao, manager Cui Li in the background. 

Sun Xiang’s position and expression is really the only one that fits the healthy pattern of the teams we’ve seen already - looking toward the camera, a confident (though arrogant) smile. He might be misguided, but there’s hope for him yet. Notice how Liu Hao isn’t even looking at the camera, which as we’ve seen before is somewhat of an indication of how unified and focused the team is toward its goal; instead, Liu Hao is doing his own thing, determined to prioritize his own desires over what’s best for the team. And manager Cui Li is in this image too, despite not even being a player. His sinister presence reflects the unhealthy interference of the business side in the gaming side. Excellent Era’s downfall comes about because of its prioritization of profit over victory.

As we pan up, Excellent Era’s logo comes into view. It’s larger than any of the other team logos we’ve seen so far, spanning around three-quarters of the screen whereas the others looked to span no more than half. Excellent Era’s legacy is a weighty one, to date the only team to have ever won three championships, and consecutively to boot. 

It’s this immense, shining logo that seems to be casting Tao Xuan on the left into shadow. He cuts a large figure, reflecting the deep impact his actions have had upon the main plot of this story, even though he’s only now appearing for the first time in the donghua.

However, he’s also turned away from the camera, such that we can barely even see his closed eye. Because of that, it’s difficult to read his expression, but the impression given by this pose is not one of vindictive pride, but one of shame, as though he can’t quite bear to face what he’s done. On some level, no matter how he might try to rationalize it as necessary, Tao Xuan knows that his profit-driven betrayal of Ye Xiu was a pretty awful thing to do. It might be this amount of guilt that leads him to offer Ye Xiu a wish granted, a tribute to their years of friendship and partnership before their ties are severed completely.

In the end, Tao Xuan’s greed leaves him with nothing really to show for it. What had he gained? What had he lost? Those realizations are still a ways off in the story, but I like how this OP is already hinting at the depth of his character. Tao Xuan isn’t some glasses-flashing, evil-laughing, one-dimensional antagonist; he is in fact very realistic for the setting. We can condemn his actions and priorities, but at the same time we can understand how he ended up here.

As for Su Mucheng, her eyes are closed as well. She’s brightly illuminated, but pointedly turned away from all of the others in Excellent Era; she knows the direction of her future, and that it no longer lies with Excellent Era. Her loyalty was always to Ye Xiu, and as soon as he was banished, her relationship to the team was professional and nothing more. 

“This light hidden in my heart is burning” - there are many ways to read this lyric and what exactly the light referenced here is, but because the line is paired with this image, I naturally think about Su Mucheng’s situation. Despite her pretty-vase, sweet-girl appearance, she holds a deep, profound anger at everything that happened regarding Excellent Era. It’s a testament to her immense strength of character that she lasted the remaining one and a half years of her contract in this hostile environment. 

Yet even as she resolves to cut ties, there’s a sadness in her expression. She was here from the very beginning as well, when Excellent Era was no more than an internet cafe, and it pains her immensely that the powerhouse, championship team that they and her brother had built from the ground up would ultimately meet this tragic end.

It’s interesting to note that both of the “redeemable” characters here (namely Su Mucheng and Sun Xiang) are on the right, more brightly-lit side of the screen, so there’s a nice little dividing line you can draw there. Sun Xiang’s eyes are still looking toward the left, though, revealing how his character development still has yet to play out.

From there we cut to Ye Xiu holding Lord Grim’s account card. He’s standing back on top of the roof from the beginning of the OP, now in full daylight.

As mentioned… the animators really went ham on the bangs animation.

Ye Xiu turns away from the railing, the camera cuts to an image of Happy’s logo on a flag waving in the wind, and then we zoom out to see the current members of Team Happy gathered together in uniform, standing proud in the light of day. Left to right, Steamed Bun, Tang Rou, Luo Ji, Ye Xiu, An Wenyi, Wei Chen, Chen Guo. Presumably, this will be Happy’s lineup by the end of the season. 

Up until now, we’ve only seen the real players separate from each other - they’ve all been in different places, never even in the same frame together. (This, of course, also contrasts the pro team pics that we have, which show everyone together.) Halfway through the OP, we got the group shot of them meeting in game with their characters. And now, they’ve finally met up in the real world as well. 

One thing I like about this final pose is how it compares to the final pose of the OVA OP. It’s the same kind of power-pose vibe, but there we only had Ye Xiu, Chen Guo, and Tang Rou. Look at how we’ve grown since then! They’re well on their way to being a proper pro team! 

And that’s a wrap! With this final image of Team Happy gathered together, we’re ready to enter the episode proper. 

So let’s talk about the OP as a whole. Generally, an OP serves a couple of main roles: a) tells you a bit about what the show is about, b) gives you an overall feeling / mood for the show, c) gets you hyped and ready to watch the upcoming episode.

How well does this opening achieve those goals? Pretty well, as we’ve seen. Past OPs did a pretty good job of setting the mood, but they honestly just put some pretty visuals on the screen, only vaguely aligned to the music, and called it a day. This OP, however, has a cohesive storyline to tell, framed around Team Happy’s coming together (following the tagline of this season). Even in such a short span of time, it manages to convey so much information about its story and characters, both overt and implicit (as I hope this series of posts has managed to convince you). Paired with the music, which has its own deeper meanings encoded in the lyrics, the OP becomes incredibly effective and memorable as it makes its statement.

I mentioned an “interest curve” earlier (interest in the sense of interesting, not the money); this is part of the standard formula for anime opening songs, in my experience. I’m a little too lazy to draw a graph myself, so take a look at this image:

(source: https: //www. researchgate. net/figure/Example-of-an-interest-curve-for-a-successful-entertainment-experience_fig1_333917625 )

Although not all of the relative heights and segment lengths are accurate in this specific case, hopefully the general shape of the interest curve is enough to demonstrate my point. You’ve got the A-B peak at the opening instrumental segment, the C-D peak/arc over verse 1, the D-E-F peak/arc over verse 2, then the sharp F-G-H peak over the chorus before dropping off for a smooth landing right into the episode. This general pattern is effective at holding the viewer’s focus and managing their excitement over the course of this one and a half minutes. 

Visually, the OP is just such a treat for the eyes. I’ve already talked about many of the little details I love - lighting, character designs, animations, transitions, etc. - but all in all the new animation studio is doing a really good job here. An OP is how you hook people, and I’d definitely feel comfortable using this to try and bait people into watching this show. 

One comment I want to add is about the incorporation of the credits, which we didn’t see until the episode premiere. I don’t think there’s anything too exciting to say (and I also don’t have access to any images right now since the OP was only shown in episode 2), but the fonts and styling were a nice choice - it gave a gaming vibe, but if I recall it still used a serif font, so it didn’t feel overly modern - and the text positioning generally complements instead of distracting. I also liked how they showed the lyrics! I didn’t really expect them to include them onscreen, or if they did, I thought they would just be plain subs like they were in this video. But in the actual OP that plays at the beginning of the episode, they’re as much a part of the art as the credits!

If I had to make any criticism, my biggest complaint about the OP is, I think, the singers. I think having two different singers trade off can work nicely, but in this case, the switches are jarring because their voices are so different. The first singer has a lower, gravely voice, while the second singer’s voice sounds much brighter and more nasally. Furthermore, the first switch doesn’t come until we’re fully halfway through the song, which means that by that point we’re already used to this first singer. It’s also strange that they’d switch back to the first voice at the climax of the song, when I think the second voice would suit the high-energy segment much better. Switching from second to first right at this point feels like we’re actually taking a step down in energy, which is the opposite of what should be happening here. 

Still, my main problem isn’t with the voice switching but with the voices themselves, and I think the voices are something I could get used to. The third switch, going from the first voice back to the second voice during the shot of Excellent Era, is much less jarring than the others - I actually like how it feels like the solo is passing naturally from one person to the next, emphasizing the ideals of this not being a single-player game and all that. For that transition in particular, I think (because of the added “it’s power” flourish) it happens too quickly for one person to sing it comfortably, so having another person pick up the line works best. And I do like how the voices sound when they overlay together for the final lines of the song. 

So, overall? Overall, this OP is really damn good. It’s everything I could have asked for and more. After such a long wait, the OP, at least, does not disappoint, and I’m extremely excited to see what the series has in store for us. 

If you’ve read to this point, thank you! I like this series a lot, as you can probably see, and I’m treating it as my glory :)

[whatiobsessabout]

The Ultimate List of LGBT Kpop Songs/MVs

This has come about because whenever I come across queer kpop lists I am disappointed by how short and repetitive they are. My goal is to have THE MOST comphensive list of songs and music videos with any sort of lgbt themes. 

Each song or mv listed will have a little (or not so little) description explaining how gay it is or why it is gay. This does mean I’ve let some more questionable songs and mvs on the list but from the description I shouldn’t be leading people astray or getting their hopes up. (I decided against including covers of songs  eg. where the artist hasn’t changed the gender in the songs. bc I feel that would become too messy and complicated. Also there are artists and songs I dislike on this list, and some artists can be considered problematic however I felt that if I excluded anything based on personal opinions it would make the purpose of this list invalid). 

Hopefully kpop fans can diversify their playlists and discover new bops, as well as giving comfort to lgbt+ kpop fans. I plan to update this list as new gay content is released :)

PLEASE GIVE ME MORE SUGGESTIONS FOR THIS LIST

Playlist of this List

UV & JYP - Itaewon Freedom Itaewon is the multicultural district in seoul, also one of the prominent “gay” areas in s.korea. this song is a gay anthem in korea.

Baek Ji Young - I Won't Love Again/Sarang Ahn Hae a beautiful lesbian romance

K.Will – Please Don't the ultimate plot twist mv and is THE gay kpop mv

Sistar – One More Day, I Like That, I Swear In One More Day shows when friends turn into lesbian lovers, but one is still in a relationship with an abusive man. The latter two mvs have fanservice based touching plus those gay vibes

ANDA – Touch a very lesbian mv

Baby Soul & Yoo Jia – She's a Flirt Feat. Jang Dongwoo a lesbian relationship but one of them is still with a man

After School – Because of You love triangle between 3 women

Red Velvet – Wish Tree a one-sided lesbian love. I will mention ‘Bad Boy’ for having some fanservice moments and the rainbow outfits in ‘Peek-a-Boo’ is peak gay culture

Holland – Neverland Holland is described by many news outlets as “The First Openly Gay Kpop Idol” make of that as you will (Because you can argue about being first and whether he is actually an idol, despite being a Korean person making pop or alternative pop music). Regardless he is openly gay and his song is most definitely gay and his mv is explicitly gay. Bless him

4L – Move in the aftermath of a massive breakup, the female character ends up having a lesbian one night stand which further confuses her while she deals with her heartbreak. This mv is more in the fanservice and objectifying females/lesbians category.

Loona – Chuu: Heart Attack, Yves: New light lesbian themes, up for interpretation

10cm – Help The male characters struggle with their relationship as they worry how society view them

DIA – Seoraksan In October light lesbian themes, up for interpretation

VIXX LR – Whisper light gay themes and touching, symbolic based and possibly just fanservice. Some consider their other hit ‘Beautiful Liar’ as gay, however, despite the homoeroticism in that mv, the plot is about struggling with your two inner selves rather than a male & male relationship.

Day6 – What Can I Do in a very messy love triangle (or octogon, who knows??) Wonpil has a one sided love for Sungjin, the plot is somewhat continued in their mvs ‘I Loved You’ and ‘When You Love Someone’.

Sweet Revenge – Cry to Your Heart's Content lesbians, lesbians, lesbians

INFINITE – The Eye some scenes of this could fall into the category of fanservice and skinship, even though it is very emotionally charged

Gugudan – Chococo Sejeong experiences a gay and chocolatey epiphany (a minor scene)

San.E – Story of someone I know Depicts an ex-girlfriend dumping him for a girl

Brown Eyed Girls – Abracadabra Queens of sexual freedom, there is an almost kiss at the end.

Girl's Day – Female President an almost kiss scene, in a feminist bop (a song made not too long after s.korea elected their very first female president, Park Geun Hye. Note: this was made well before she was exposed for being the worst™ and consequently impeached, which is a shame for the first and so far only female leader in s.korea to leave such a ignominious history.)

BTS – Blood Sweat and Tears, I need you, Run In Blood Sweat and Tears Jin kisses the male demon statue that seems to represent Taehyung. The other 2 mvs have light gay themes with skinship type moments

Imfact – Lollipop kissing on the cheeks and other skinship for fanservice

Wonder Girls – Why So Lonely a sort of but not really kiss scene

Crispi Crunch - Thumbs up a very questionable mv but does include a trans woman, or crossdresser, near the end. Also the teasers for this mv included the two dudes kissing, nowhere to be found in the actual mv though (or on the internet now.... ???)

Lim Chang Jung – Open the Door Includes a gay kiss

Glam – Party XXO a bi anthem, lyrics specify about not caring about gender when searching for love

N.O.M – A Guys, Nature of Man the group were less of a kpop group and more of a gay club act who then released 2 singles

Orange Caramel – Catallena more so in the lyrics than mv but not completely ignored in the mv, Catallena explores how women are supposed to compete with each other in society and how that becomes confusing when females look up and idolise other females, and even further complicates when you fall for a female. Additionally, the meaning can also be about how girl groups are pitted against each other but they also admire and love each other

Nell – The Day Before Deals with homosexuality and suicide

Harisu – History (with Turbo), Liar, Shopping Girl, Reaction, Foxy Lady, etc. A transgender model and actress who also had a pop career for a period of time

Mercury – Don’t Stop, Let’s Party a girl group which has one member, Hanbit, who is trans

SNSD – Dancing Queen, Divine (Story Version), All Night, Love & Girls, etc. Dancing queen has lowkey gay lyrics. Divine is one big lesbian drama. In All Night Sooyoung and Yuri have major gay vibes towards each other. Both All Night and Love & Girls include drag queens. GG’s discography is so large so there’s plenty more lowkey gay songs.

Lee Hyori – Miss Korea, Going Crazy Miss Korea critics beauty standards for women in korea, and includes drag queens. In Going Crazy Hyori crossdresses as a man and then sleazily flirts with tons of women

Mamamoo – Um Oh Ah Yeh plays with crossdressing and gender identity, and kinda gay. And they have a song called “Girl Crush” which is supposedly platonic by Korean pov but worth a mention

Monsta X – All In Hyungwon and Minhyuk are shown to be together, this is possibly why Hyungwon’s dad beats him

GFriend – Navillera Eunha and Yerin are confirmed to be depicting a couple throughout this mv. There are hints that the rest of the group are also coupled up but aren’t as far into their relationships yet.

Suran – Sad Pain two differently disabled women find comfort with each other

Triple H – 365 So Fresh heavily implied polyamorous relationship and threesome between 2 guys (Hui & e.dawn) and 1 girl (Hyuna)

Mad Clown – Love is a Dog from Hell Feat. Suran the story of a trans woman and her wife. Side note: interestingly enough Mad Clown asked his brother to play the trans woman, which brings up some questions about their personal lives – how close to this story are they?

Bestie – Excuse Me in this mv the girls have a magical pair of glasses that reveal the true intentions of men, the final group of men they come across are revealed to be gay

Maman – Obvious Story a lesbian song by a lesbian singer in a lesbian mv

Kriesha Chu – Like Paradise a lovely and trendy lesbian date

Song Jieun – Don’t Look at Me Like That depicts how gay people feel in conservative korea, feeling judged for their love

XIA – Tarantallegra, Even though I already know crossdressing and gender identity, plus gay vibes especially with the dancers

Heechul & Min Kyung Hoon – Sweet Dream a love triangle including Kyunghoon’s one-sided love for Heechul

Planet Shiver & Crush – Rainbow an anti-discrimination song

CoCoSoRi – Mi Amor the kiss at the end, otherwise pretty het

SVT JUN & THE8 – My I in the realms of fanservice, male duet song and performance

U-KISS – Quit Playing threesome scene including 2 men (Kiseop & Hoon) and 1 woman

Kangta (H.O.T) – Polaris deals with gender identity

Super Junior D&E – Still You, I Wanna Love You, etc. In Still You Donghae and Eunhyuk find each other, “bromance” or just plain gay vibes. I Wanna Love You could be a gay duet or not. Most releases from these guys are lowkey gay so.

Jo Kwon – Animal a gay diva delivering a gay bop

Beenzino – How Do I Look? has a couple scenes (not many) where gay men/couple are depicted

Bebop & Humming Urban Stereo – MAEM MAEM looks like they are on a date

WJSN – Secret some minor gay vibes, gay staring, hand holding etc.

9Muses A – Lip 2 Lip an almost kiss (in a pretty het mv)

9Muses – Wild, Sleepless Night Wild has fanservice based touching plus vibes. Meanwhile Sleepless Night has a scene which heavily implies lesbian sex

History – Psycho yet again fanservice based touching plus those gay vibes

Luizy – Baby Ride feat. Hyunsik of BTOB just two bros being bros on their bro date y’know

Uhm Jung Hwa – Dreamer, Watch Me Move, Ending Credit, House Mix Performance, etc. QUEEN OF THE GAYS

HA:TFELT (Yeeun of Wonder Girls) – Truth shows a lesbian couple

Jo Sung Mo – Immortal Love depicts a heartbreaking secret gay relationship

Z.Hera – D Island depicts a powerful interracial lesbian love story

Yuri & Raiden – Always Find You fight me this is lesbian af as long as you cut out the last 3 seconds

MISS $ – Just Let Me Live feat. Skull complex love triangles, and possessive love, with plenty of lesbian themes

Chaness – SeSeSe dark mv with lesbians doing what they can to be together

Lee Jung Hyun – Michyeo Lee Jung Hyun becomes crazed when she learns of her boyfriend’s affair with another man

Homme – Still Eating Well it’s a bit of a stretch but 2 dudes and 1 girl scenario, dedicated to more of the “bro” time than the hetero plot

Lady – Attention, Lady’s Night A girl group made up of transgender women (Sinae, Sahara, Binu and Yuna)

Shinhwa – This Love a massive stretch but voguing is gay culture so we can’t ignore that, plus the use male back up dancers is… interesting

Kim DongHee – I Feel Like I’m Dying Lesbian storyline

Seo In Young – Scream (19 Ver.) there’s some gayish scenes in there, nothing major

Aoora – Body Talk, grab or bite, heartfreak, etc. he tries to pretend his stuff isn’t gay but he isn’t that good at it tbh. it’s pretty transparent how gay everything is even if he does include shots of boobs. he could be bi???

May Doni - Molla Ing feat. 2AM has some gay scenes

Cheetah – My Number Includes a male dance team which are very femme, or are drag queens (?? If someone knows please tell me)

Yu Mei – Suddenly cute lesbian love

Risso – OMG cute lesbian couple

Luna – Free Somebody not necessarily gay but you can understand lyrically how this connected to the lgbt community in korea and how it is now one of their staples at pride

f(x) – Chu, Pink Tape Art Film In Chu Krystal wears a marriage equality shirt that says ‘Legalise Gay’. Pink Tape Art Film has light lesbian themes. Amber in general defies female gender roles in both western and eastern cultures.

진주 – 미로 Feat. 엄지원 & TBNY a lesbian storyline

Gangkiz – Honey Honey a girl gang run amuck being troublesome and having the times of their lives. Has possible lesbian themes.

UP10TION – Attention some gay fanservice choreography

Sweet Boy – I LUV HER feat. NUVO This falls into the category of men objectifying females and lesbians, an almost kiss

Stellarjet – Guiding Light the main character spies on her neighbour and falls for her

Brown Classics - Nostalgia Feat. Yozoh & Eric has a gay storyline

Rainbow Blaxx – Cha Cha minor lesbian themes with skinship and fanservice

Epitone Project – Hate a delicate lesbian love story

4Men – First Kiss The female character is devasted when the man she loves falls for another man

toheart (Key of SHINee and Woohyun of Infinite) – Delicious Key and Woohyun might think they are trying to win over the same gal but in reality they are winning each other over

Taemin – Move I was struggling whether to put him on the list as he is lowkey a gay icon eg. Move where he finally threw off the shackles of gender based choreography and fully embraced his androgyny. he has plenty of songs and performances that all exist in this realm of androgyny, and a lot of his discography, both Korean and Japanese, could be gay but it could also be straight, it’s very easy to interpret whichever way, which I do think is intentional. (please refer to Ten’s section further down where I share my conflicting feelings about referring to people like Taemin as a gay icon if you are interested)

Seeya – Shoes, Crazy Love Song heavy drama plot with lesbian themes, the mvs are connected

Park Jungmin (SS501) – Not Alone an anti-discrimination bop and includes a drag queen

Pentagon – Critical Beauty All the members are coupled up, and there’s a very questionable scene with e.dawn and a banana. A small mention of their mvs ‘Like This’ and ‘Runaway’ which has some very minor scenes of guys together but it’s very ambiguous and a major stretch to even label it as fanservice.

CS Numbers – Cry Out With My Heart two girls go on a road trip

Bumkey – Bad Girl The female character keeps on flirting with the male character but in the end it turns out he’s into guys

4minute – Whatcha Doin’ Today? Jihyun may have accidently made two guys go from fighting each other to kissing each other, not to mention Gayoon has some lesbian vibes throughout the mv

i11evn – Porn Star  Feat. Suprema in the lyrics he talks about being bi (watch out for Suprema using, rather seemingly misusing the dreaded term “no homo”)

Gain (Brown Eyed Girls) – Two Women some interpret this song to have lesbian themes

Infinite Flow – Rainbow Feat. Kim Jong Wan of Nell the lyrics depict the depression and desperation of being gay in korea (sidenote: a personal favourite of mine that I discovered years and years ago and it still has a very emotional effect on me)

Dynamic Duo – Heartbreaker Feat. Kim Jong Wan of Nell the anger and sadness of struggling with homosexuality in korea in the lyrics, the mv’s plot ignores the song’s meaning

Epik High - AMOR FATI Feat. Kim Jong Wan of Nell In the very words of Tablo “I wrote 'Amor Fati' for people who are mistreated because they were born the way they are.”

IU – Peach, Red Queen, Everyone has Secrets feat. Gain of Brown Eyed Girls Peach was written in dedication to former f(x) member Sulli. Red Queen’s lyrics also romanticise a girl and it is said to yet again be about Sulli. The lyrics of Everyone has secrets can be very relatable to the lgbt community.

Nam Tae Hyun (Winner) – I’m Young a love song where the lyrics only mention a masculine pronoun

2YOON – Why Not these lyrics can be interpreted as gay

EXO – Playboy, They Never Know The lyrics of Playboy make more sense when you interpret as a secret gay relationship. The live performances of this is the opposite of heterosexuality. (note: Jonghyun wrote Playboy). In They Never Know the lyrics have moments like “Love is Blind” and discussion an unconventional love, it is widely accepted to have a strong gay theme. Also special mention to their 2017 winter album “Universe” for being completely 100% gender neutral

Oh My Girl – Knock Knock Girls singing about girls

Black Nut – Beenzino Black Nut takes his fanboying for Beenzino to the next level

Jonghyun – 02:34, Monodrama, Cocktail, most of these songs have light gay themes, and make more sense when interpreted as gay. You delve even deeper into his discography and interpret them in a gay light.

Gain & Minseo - Imi Oneun Sori (The Footsteps of My Dear Love) From the OST of the Korean film The Handmaiden, which itself has lesbian themes.

NCT’s Ten - Dream in a Dream This is a bit of a reach but the inclusion of Lucas in some of the scenes of this MV is an interesting choice. Also I would like to give a shout out to NCT U (Ten & Taeyong) - Baby Don’t Stop, for being a lowkey gay tune even if nothing about it can be pointed out as explicitly gay. He has released a song called New Heroes, which lyrically talks about standing up for what you believe in and working hard to get successful whilst facing adversary, which is a great message, but with Ten’s almost meme-like status of being a “confident gay” (despite not actually being out) this song has definitely made a lot of people claim it as gay anthem, make of it as you will (I feel conflicted about this; 1. he’s not standing up for the gays as a gay person if he isn’t out and people shouldn’t pressure him to do so, especially when he is a foreigner in s.korea; 2. it’s all well and good to quietly within the fanbase to joke about confident/panicked gays, or gay icons, but it can go too far, especially when it becomes their branding and only personality trait to both fans and the broader (western) kpop fanbase. these issues also apply to many like Sunmi and Taemin.)

Twice - What is Love? The girls take turns in depicting and parodying famous cinematic couples, so fanservice based crossdressing and gayness.

and hopefully plenty more to come ~

[bookofjin]

Biography of Jia Chong, Part 2

[From JS040]

When Chong was governing, he concerned himself with agriculture and moderated expenditure, he combined offices and rationalized posts, the Emperor was pleased with it. He also, due to civil and military officials having different appearances, requested to relinquish leading troops. When Yang Hu and others set out for their headquarters, Chong repeatedly sent up petitions on his desire to establish merit at a border post, the Emperor in all cases did not allow it.

He was relaxed and unhurried when serving in office. In praising or censuring he was very much so [?]. He notably excelled at advancing scholars, and always was recommending intelligence, certain they would in end start the woof and weft from it. Thus accordingly scholars much returned to him [?].

The Emperor's maternal uncle Wang Xun [JS093] once slandered Chong, yet Chong still advanced Xun. Some claimed behind Chong's back that he issued intimidation for power and worth [?]. Chong always on the surface used habitual opinions to wait for them [?]. Yet Chong had no commitment for the fair and square, was not able with propriety to personally lead his subordinates [?], and paid sole attention accordingly to toadying flatterers adopting a [pleasing] countenance.

The Palace Attendant, Ren Kai [JS045], and the Prefect of the Palace Writers, Yu Chun [JS050], and others rigidly and directly defended propriety, all together were hostile to him. Also since Chong's daughter was the King of Qi's Consort, [they?] feared [he?] later benefit in abundance. When the Di and Qiang turned to rebellion, the Emperor the time accordingly was deeply worried. Kai because of that advanced to advise, requesting Chong to headquarter in Guanzhong. [The Emperor] therefore sent down a decree saying:

On the two frontiers of Qin and Liang, there are every year frequent defeats. The Hu caitiffs indulge in violence, the hundred families suffer cruelly. [It has] thereupon made different kinds fan into action, the injury reaching the Central Provinces. Even the repeated robberies of Wu and Shu, have not once come to this. Sincerely making use of being humane is not sufficient to accordingly inside console the Yi and the Xia, outside to quell the repugnant rebels, lightly making use of their multitudes and yet being unable to exhaust their power. If [we] do not obtain the esteem of belly and heart, pushing forward the wheel-hub to appoint successfully, greatly correcting their crimes, [We] fear the suffering is not over. For every worry this difficult, [We] forget to sleep and eat.

The Palace Attendant, Warden [?] Prefect of the Masters of Writing and General of Chariots and Cavalry, Jia Chong, [his] capacity for refinement vast and exalted, reaching to see clearing the far off, in military matters having the power of bringing down assaults, in the civil his breast ponders guiding the state, truly connecting people's hearts, his fame shakes outside the border. To send [him with?] power and command square and reliable, soothing and quieting the Western Xia, then I [will be] without thoughts of the western considerations, and distant and near will be equally calm.

Thus use Chong as Envoy Holding the Tally, Commander-in-Chief of All Army Affairs of Qin and Liang provinces, Palace Attendant and General of Chariots and Cavalry like before, to make use of feathered tassels, drums and pipes, and give him one Attendant Cavalry.

The virtuous and good of the court desired to advance with loyal counsel and present a substitute [?], all favoured by [?] Chong for this recommendation, expected abundance only in reform of the new [?].

Chong had set outside, considering himself to be deficient for the post [?], deeply concealing [ill feelings for] Ren Kai, planning not to be compliant. He was about to go to the headquarters, the hundred companions were seeing him off at the Xiyang pavillion. Xun Xu [JS039] paid private visit to him. Chong accordingly sadly informed [him] [?]. Xu said:

Your Excellency is the state's steward and assistant, yet is ruled by another man, is is not menial? Such acts, the true difficulties of the farewell, there only is the joining in marriage to the Heir-Apparent. Do not stop the carriage but detain yourself [?].

Chong said:

Certainly, but whose breast can we rely on?

He replied, saying:

Xu requests to do it.

Soon after attending a banquet, discussing the affairs of the Heir-Apparent's marriage, Xu because of that spoke of Chong's daughter's talents, naturalness, qualities and charm, [and that she] ought to be paired with the heir's palace. And August Empress Yang and Xun Yi [JS039] likewise both praised her. The Emperor accepted their words.

There happened to be in the Imperial Capital a great snowfall, covering the ground 2 chi deep, the army could not set forth. Then the august heir accepted marriage, and thereupon he did not go west. There was a decree for Chong to take up his original post. Before this Yang Hu [JS034] privately begun detaining Chong, Reaching this point, the Emperor accordingly spoke of it to Chong. Chong apologised to Hu, saying:

[I am] starting to understand the Lord's importance.

At the time when Wu's general Sun Xiu surrendered, he was designated as Great General of Agile Cavalry. The Emperor consider Chong an old minister, desired to change distribution, and made the post of Chariots and Cavalry to the right [inferior to?] of Agile Cavalry. Chong firmly declined and was seen and heard [?]. He was appointed and moved to Minister of Works, Palace Attendant and Prefect of the Masters of Writing, leading troops like before.

It happened that the Emperor was ill in bed. Chong, the King of Qi, You, and Xun Yi took part in curing and healing him. When the illness was cured, they were each bestowed 500 bolts of tabby silk.

Earlier, when the Emperor was gravely ill, the imperial court belonged in their thoughts to You. The Intendant of Henan, Xiahou He, spoke to Chong, saying:

Sir has two daughters and sons-in-laws, [and can?] personally arranging and compare, that is all. When establishing a person [you] must establish the virtuous [one].

Chong did not reply. Reaching this point, the Emperor heard of it, and moved He to Superintendent of the Brilliantly Blessed. He then took away Chong's power over the troops, but his rank did not see any change.

He was appointed and moved to Grand Commandant and Acting Grand Guardian to the Heir-Apparent, Recording the Affairs of the Masters of Writing. In the 3rd Year of Xianning [277 AD], the sun was eclipsed at the third morning [?]. Chong requested to yield his rank, but was not allowed. Furthermore used Pei state's Gongqiu to increase his fief, his favour and fortune become more and more considerable, court officials all made sidelong glances at him.

The Intendant of Henan, Wang Xun [JS093], sent up words:

When the Hongxun Empress Dowager [Yang Huiyu] entered the temple, bringing together food for August Emperor Jing, the King of Qi, You, did not manage to act with the rites of his son.

Chong's opinion accordingly was

In the rites, the various lords to not obtain the grandfather to the Son of Heaven, the noble sons to not get the late former lord, everyone speak of receiving command and inheriting the sacrifices. They do not speak of not obtaining repeatedly their fathers and grandfathers. [The King of Qi,] You personally ought to obey the affairs of the three year mourning, himself like the rules of subjects. [?]

Had the ministers memorialise:

With regards to Chong's opinion, to wear the clothes of a son, act with rules of subjects, is not compare to before [?]. Ought to be like Xun's petition, You's mourning clothes to follow the precedent of the various lords.

The Emperor followed Chong's opinion.

At the service of the attack on Wu, decreed Chong to be Envoy Holding the Tally, Acting with Yellow Battle-Axe and Great Commander-in-Chief, with overall command of the Six Hosts, given feathered tassels, drums and pipes, red carriage screen, 10 000 troops and 2 000 cavalry, to set up Senior Clerks of the Left and Right, Marshal and Assistant Officer Palace Gentleman, increasing Army Advisors and Marshals of Cavalry to 10 people each, Marshals Beneath the Tent 20 people, great chariot and official cavalry 30 people each. Chong worried about his great achievements if they were not victorious, and petitioned, arguing:

To the west there is the worry about the Kun Yi. To the north there are the borders of You and Bing. Under Heaven is laboured and agitated. The year's grain is not mature. Fostering an army to deliver punishment, [I] fear this not the time. Also Your Subject is aged and old, not capable of vanquishing.

A decree said:

[If] the Lord does not go, I will expediently set out myself.

Chong did not manage to put and end to it, and therefore accepted the tally and battle-axe. He commanded the central army and had the rules and measures for the various armies. He used the General of the Best of the Army, Yang Ji, as assistant, and went south to garrison Xiangyang.Wu's various defenders of Jiangling all surrendered, Chong therefore moved to garrison Xiang [?].

[kikotsukino]

Review

Eternal Love / Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms / Three Lives Three Worlds

Eternal Love (Chinese: 三生三世十里桃花; pinyin: Sān shēng sān shì shí lǐ táo huā lit. Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms) is a 2017 Chinese television series starring Yang Mi and Mark Chao. It is based on the xianxia novel of the same name (released as To the Sky Kingdom in English) by Tang Qi. The series was broadcast on Zhejiang TV and Dragon TV from January 30 to March 1, 2017.

Episodes: 58 

Date: Jan 30, 2017 to Mar 1, 2017  

Studio: Gcoo Entertainment, Jaywalk Studio, San Weihuo 

Network: ZJTV

Genre: Fantasy, Romance, Xianxia

=======================================

Plot:  Since Bai Qian is the future Queen of the Fox Tribe, she was quite mischievous (at a very young age) and because of this, her mother in particular insists she go study Taoist Cultivation at Kunlun Mountain, with Master Mo Yuan. As the school only allows male students, Zhe Yan(High God) used his magic to disguise Bai Qian as a male to hide her identity, which, only a few people saw through her disguise (Mo Yuan is one of them), even knowing Bai Qian is a female, Mo Yuan(High God) accepted her as one of his disciple anyway because since the moment she stepped into the Grand hall of Kunlan Mountain, the sacred/magical artifact: Jade Purity Fan of Kunlun chose her as it master, and Mo Yuan knowing this cannot be handed over to one outside of Kunlan Mountain, he accepted her as his disciple because he sees that she’s fated to be his disciple. From there on, she was given the rank ‘Seventeenth’ and another identity known as Si Yin.

Although she is not a very hard working student, but she does show a high respect for Mo Yuan, and Mo Yuan does dotes on her, even to the point that he would subject himself to the heavenly trial in her stead for her to become High Immortal (and gets severely injured in the process), after this, she becomes quite studious.

After a devastating war, between the Ghost Tribe and the Celestial Tribe, the celestial tribe paid a heavy price when Mo Yuan (God of War) used his spirit to seal the demon lord (Qing Cang). 70000 years later, in an attempt to re-seal the demon lord who broke free, Bai Qian have succeeded, but her memories and celestial powers was sealed up by Qing Cang, where she was sent to the mortal realm and became a mortal (which was part of her heavenly trial to ascend to ‘High God’ status) with the alias of Su Su. In the mortal world, she meets Ye Hua and the two fell in love. In order to prevent the same tragedy (that happened to Sang Ji and Shao Xin) from befalling, Ye Hua attempts to fake his death while hiding Su Su from the Nine Heavens. However, Ye Hua's plans were eventually thwarted and Su Su was brought to the Nine Heavens. Su Jin, who is jealous of Ye Hua's devotion/love for Su Su, intentionally creates a series of misunderstanding between them and causes Su Su to lose her eyes. Thinking that Ye Hua has betrayed her, the devastated Su Su jumps off from the Zhu Xian Terrace, returning her back to her goddess status.

When Bai Qian body was found by Zhe Yan in the Ten Miles of Peach Wood, she was saved, however her very depressed self requested for Zhe Yan to give her the amnesia potion so she can erase her memories/forgets Ye Hua.

Three hundred years later, the two meet again as deities. Another lifetime another world, Ye Hua recognizes Bai Qian as the only woman he loves but the latter remains indifferent. Ye Hua begins to pursue Bai Qian for a second time to regain her affections, and eventually succeeds when his love is requited. From beginning to end, time continues to flow and the lines of their fates continue to cross: an entanglement of three lives and three worlds and a road of peach blossoms.

Ranking: 10/10 <- I know this is actually/probably the first time I’ve given a full mark to a series review, perhaps it’s even my first time doing up one on my end! But, I just really have to considering, I am really into/obsess with this drama on my end. It’s definitely one of the best, if not, the best I’ve seen. I cannot count how many times I have re-watched this on my end, I’m so glad I gotten into this drama because I don’t regret watching it. It has really given beyond on what I have hoped for, and more (so this is definitely my all time favorite Chinese Fantasy Romance Drama) Aside from a few characters that gets on my nerves (but what series doesn’t have those characters to add in the drama?), I do love a lot of characters in this (which I will do a list later (in this post) to show some of the chara’s I love/hate). What I am impress with is, the writer actually manage to solve everything (without any plot-holes) by the end of the story. Like, all the obstacles was removed, with no more questions left. At first, I actually had a question that was on my mind since the beginning and then when it was revealed I was like "ohhhh... so that's why...". I love how the love story was executed, and how each character did their roles well. I love Ye Hua’s love/devotion to only Bai Qian(Su Su), and no matter what happens, he loves her, and only her. There are times where I think the writer might do something stupid which adds to more drama, but in the end, it surprises me in a very good way, like when Miao Qing secretly add the love-potion into the soup that she made for Ye Hua but Ye Hua didn’t drink it because he knows there’s something in that soup, and I’m like “Yes!” and when Su Jin created that fake Su Su to seduce Ye Hua (when Ye Hua was doing his heavenly trial in the mortal world (without his memories at all)) to anger Bai Qian, he still didn’t disappoint me, because he’s only been waiting for one woman i.e. Bai Qian because he made a promise with her when she visited him when he was 11 years old that they will get marry when he’s older, his whole life, he waited just for her, and I’m like “awwww”. Seriously, Ye Hua didn’t disappoint me, and I love that about him! I also love how Ye Hua gives me a feeling that I can believe in him and that he's strong from beginning to the end... Strong in terms of character, and his power level was consistent and doesn’t disappoint, I also love how the battles are executed...(honestly Mashima can take a lesson from this -.-).

On my end, I’m a sucker for a good romance story, and Eternal Love has it all! I love how it was truly a touching love story for the main pair (Ye Hua x Bai Qian), with a lot of obstacles that comes their way (that made me cry), it was an emotional roller-coaster  but what I love is where there are times I have my doubts but the writer didn't disappoint and gave me more to show me how much they only love each other. I love the scenery and the effects, omg.... where am I going to find another series like this?! I love the music too! There's alot of characters I love but there's also those I hate with a passion but glad they got what they deserved in the end..but in the overall what I love the most is, the pairing/otp I love can get a HAPPY ENDING that they deserve, because that's the most important!!! It made me feel so happy for them!!!

======

(1) Favourite Character(s):

Ye Hua (no.1 fav on Male side):

Mo Yuan:

Bai Qian (no.1 fav on female side)

A Li:

Zhe Yan:

Bai Zhen:

Di Jun:

Feng Jiu:

(2) Characters that gives me a sense of reliability (in terms of power-level) :

Ye Hua:

Mo Yuan:

Zhe Yan:

Di Jun:

(3) Other Characters that I like:

Mi Gu:

Lian Song ( Ye Hua’s third Uncle ):

Nai Nai:

Kunlan First Disciple (Die Feng) :

Kunlan 16th Disciple (Zhi Lan):

Kunlan 9th Disciple (Ling Yu) :

Kunlan 2nd Disciple:

Li Zhing:

Yan Zhi:

Di Jun Star Lord(Si Ming):

Ye Hua’s two Star Lord Tian Shu & Jia Yun:

(4) Character I HATE with a passion:

Su Jin:

(5) Other character(s) I hate/strong dislike:

Miao Qin:

Su Jin maid:

Xuan nu:

 OTP: Ye Hua x Bai Qian:

 Also love:

Mo Yuan selfless love for Bai Qian

Di Jun x Feng Jiu

Daddy Ye Hua

A-Li’s attachment to his mother (Bai Qian/Su Su)

 Neutral (where sometimes I dislike at times):

Heavenly Lord:

======

Additional comment: Within the Celestial Tribe, only the Dragon Clan, the Pheonix Clan, and the Nine-tailed fox clan are well respected within the Celestial Tribe.

Although Ye Hua is the Crown Prince of the Celestial Tribe (Nine Heavens), I guess he’s also part/representation of the Dragon Clan(?) since his true form is a Dragon <3

And Bai Qian is the White Fox (Nine tales) ~

Bai Feng Jiu as the red fox (Nine tales)

Sigh, too bad, I didn’t get to see Zhe Yan’s true form (since he’s the Pheonix) <3

[kpopviralblog]

Former Wonder Girls’ Hyelim Gives An Update On Her College Life, Talks About Wonder Girls + Netizen Comments

Hyelim updates fans on what she’s been up to in college.

After the disbandment of Wonder Girls in 2017, Hyelim revealed that she’s been focusing on her college life and studies. She entered Korea Foreign Language University to study the International Conference Translation Communication major.

She says that she has been very satisfied with her school life, and that she is proud of herself for studying hard and receiving a scholarship.

“Wonder Girls is a miracle to me. I had a lot of experiences that I couldn’t live in. I don’t regret being with my members. Although I joined late, I met so many good sisters,” said Hyelim.

She added, “I was naturally accepted by the thought that it was time for me to come to a decision because the things I wanted to do and the taste of music became clearer. However, the last time ‘Draw Me’ came out last February, I cried a lot.”

The following is the interview of Hyelim:

Q. How did you spend your time in the past year after the group disbanded?

Hyelim: All the members did their best until the end but decided not to continue, so I had to work harder for the future. After group activities, I entered college, and there was a lot on the line as to not disturb the class. Now, like many college students, I am looking for something I want to do because I have a lot of interests. I have been performing on Arirang TV’s ‘Pops in Seoul’ as an MC. I have a lot of interest in writing and composing. Also, I would like to work at the international conference when there is an opportunity to translate and interpret. Writing classes were fun, so I applied for an internship as a journalist in an English newspaper. I had to take a leave of absence. I used to be a reporter and I had a lot of experience in overseas coverage.

Q. Recently, you have been working as a support for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received a certificate.

Hyelim: I often search on Department of Foreign Relations. I saw an article that said they were looking for college students to support safe overseas travel and I signed up. My friends and I made a team and we discussed how to advertise it and recorded videos and went to the airport and posted stickers. It was a meaningful experience.

Q. You are very eager in your school life.

Hyelim: I have to live close to school so I live within 10 minute distance. Normally, I wake up at 7 AM and arrive at school before 9 AM when classes start. After going to college for a year, I found out that I'm good at studying by myself after attending classes until 3 PM. So starting in the first semester of sophomore year, I scheduled all of my classes before 3 PM. I minor in Chinese and Foreign Affairs and Trade so after classes are over, I go home and study ahead and review. I might not have the right studying skills so the tests for the required courses are harder and my GPA isn't as good as I want it to be. (laughs) Before attending college, a lot of people told me "There isn't much to learn in college" but I'm learning so much. It's as fun as I thought it would be. I feel more responsibility because I have to do it alone and my true self comes out because there are no group members helping me by my side. If someone tells me to do something, I might not want to do it. But when I put my mind to it, I'm really good at it. Haha.

Q. You chose the translation and interpretation department instead of the music related department.

Hyelim: During Wonder Girls’ activities, there were many individual schedules related to languages ​​such as English and Chinese. In Hong Kong, we weren’t able to speak Chinese because of their native Cantonese. I wanted to learn systematically from that idea. Recently, I have also translated books. A publishing company got in touch and I received a proposal for a translation of a book based on Anne Frank’s diary. I usually read essays and self-help books.

Q. I bet you were the center of attention when you started going to college. 

Hyelim: When I started, my friends were fascinated but it died down as time went by. During midterms and finals, friends come to my home and study together. Our professors are great and there's a lot to learn from people who are younger than me.

Q. You have various interests now, but how did you take up the challenge of auditioning for JYP 11 years ago?

Hyelim: When I was young, I liked being on stage and didn't like to study. At the time, I liked BoA so much that I wouldn't do homework and wouldn't do homework and intead look up videos and practice. Now, when I want to do something, I think of the steps involved. Back then, all I wanted was to become a singer. When I was in school, I would often look out the window and imagine the stage. My teacher would call me out and say "Hye-Rim, you're daydreaming again." One time, during World Cup, there was an event at a park where Koreans were watching Korea vs. Togo game on the big screen. I performed for the opening of the event and we used BoA's song. We were short on time and we couldn't do a second song so I was sad, but I had JYP audition only a few days later. I used BoA's song that day too and I passed 3rd round and I came to Korea.

Q. People mistook you as Chinese because you came from Hong Kong. 

Hyelim: After being chosen as a JYP traineeand before joining Wonder Girls, I was active in China's Zhejiang TV with Miss A's Fei and Jia. We were called "Sisters." A lot of people thought I was Chinese because of that. However, both of my parents are Korean. My father is the head of a taekwondo studio and my older brother is an instructor. We lived at a taekwondo studio when I was in elementary school. We put up makeshift walls and slept in bunk beds. On the weekends,  I could hear the kids exercising while I was asleep. The funny thing is, I can't memorize taekwondo moves but I can memorize choreography. Of course, when I first joined Wonder Girls, we had to go on American tour right away so I had to memorize the positions and choreography all at once so it was hard. I felt like I was a burden but the members were compassionate so I became more accustomed gradually.

Q. Did you have any regrets in the entertainment industry?

Hyelim: After 'Tell Me' and 'Nobody' became a hit, I felt a burden for my group and I was sorry to my fans because I was not originally meant for my part. But I met so many good people and played the music that I like, so there is no regrets. It is inevitable that I feel sorry and that I wish I had a little more time with Wonder Girls. I watched Sunmi’s "Gashina" stage, and I thought that it would be very nice if four of us could reunite. But if you lived like a roller coaster in the past, there is a side that wants to live a stable life now. Also, from the beginning to the end, the diet was very difficult with Wonder Girls. Haha.

Q. Do you still communicate with the members these days?

Hyelim: I'm still in the agency with Yubin. I still talk to Yae-Eun and Sun-Ye (who left JYP). I used to share hotel rooms with Sun-Ye during American tour and she was  so considerate. She's public about her life in Canada on Korean TV these days and I told her that I enjoyed watching it and she was shy about it. It;s good to see her make the choices she wants and living a life without regrets. She met her husband James while volunteering in Haiti. She asked me to come with her and I didn't I have a thought that had I followed her, I might have met someone too. (laughs)

Q. You like to plan ahead.

Hyelim: School life was hard as it is now. Last year, I participated in the writing and composition of Twice's ‘Look at Me’ (who is a junior group of my agency), and I wanted to work on it and give it to other singers. (Asked if there is interest in acting) I was acting as a daughter of Ji Jin-hee in the movie "Bad Sister" a Korean-Chinese joint film, and it was interesting because it was a new field that I did.

Netizen Comments:

1. [+445, -20] Very cool, Hyelim 2. [+400, -23] She looks prettier than when she was with WG~ 3. [+371, -16] I find it amazing that she got into college on her own merit and is majoring in something unrelated to being a celebrity 4. [+22, -0] WG really must've been nice people ㅠ she repeatedly says that her unnis were so good to her 5. [+16, -2] She's fluent in three languages, we definitely don't need to worry for her; 6. [+14, -5] I'm so glad that all the members are doing fine in their respective paths. Hopefully they can reunite should the opportunity arise in the future ㅠㅠ 7. [+13, -4] So different from Sunmi who got in for special treatment 8. [+12, -4] Isn't she so amazing? Other idols are out there dating famous celebrities and getting fame when they're not even talented in acting, singing, or dancing. They have nothing but their pretty looks and plastic surgery to land high profile boyfriends. Hyelim, however, is pursuing something she personally wants without dabbling in things like acting and whatnot after the disbandment. F*ck, so sick of the other idols pretending like they can act and ruining dramas... ㅋㅋㅋ 9. [+12, -3] It's great that she's a hard worker. People like her are bound for success. 10. [+10, -5] I think this is the better path for her. I was honestly horrified when I heard her singing in WG. Her visuals were never up to par either. I always wondered why she was Sunmi's replacement.

Source [1] [2]

[bookofjin]

Annals of Emperor Xuan, Part 3

[From JS001. Zhongda vs. Kongming...]

4th Year [230 AD], he moved to Great General, concurrently Great Commander-in-Chief, Acting with Yellow Battle-axe, to participate with Cao Zhen in attacking Shu. The Emperor from Xicheng hew through the mountains to open the road, advancing both by water and land. He went upriver the Mian and then up, arriving at Quren, uprooting their Xinfeng county. The army lodged at Dankou. He ran into rain and returned the host.

Next year [231 AD], Zhuge Liang robbed Tianshui, and besieged Generals Jia Si and Wei Ping at Mount Qi. The Son of Heaven said:

The western region has incidents. There is none but the Lord to which they can be entrusted to.”

[He] therefore sent the Emperor west to garrison Chang'an, as Commander-in-Chief of All Army Affairs of Yong and Liang Provinces, commanding the General of Chariots and Cavalry, Zhang He, the General of the Rear, Fei Yao, the Army-Protector who Conquers Shu, Dai Ling, the Inspector of Yong province, Guo Huai, and others to punish Liang.

Zhang He urged the Emperor to divide off armies to go to Yong and Mei as a rear guard. The Emperor said:

If we consider that the van armies alone are singly able to do it, the General's words are correct. Suppose they are not able to do it, and we divide into a van and rear, it will be like when Chu's Three Armies were captured by Qing Bu.

Thereupon the army advanced to Yumi. Liang heard the Great Army had moreover arrived, and therefore himself led the multitudes wanting to cut the wheat of Shanggui. The various generals were all afraid. The Emperor said:

Liang worries much, but decides little. He will surely settle down his encampments and strengthen himself, and then afterwards cut the wheat. We getting two days to double move is sufficient.

And so they rolled up their armour and morning and night hurried to him. Liang looked at the dust and escaped. The Emperor said:

We are exhausted from our labours along many roads. This dawn is being lusted after by the troops. [?] Liang does not dare to occupy the Wei river. This is to be approved of [?], that is all.

They advanced to lodge at Hanyang, and he and Liang encountered each other. The Emperor lined up the files to thereby wait for him, and sent the general Niu Jin with light cavalry to bait him. The troops had barely connected when Liang retreated. They pursued to Mount Qi. Liang garrisoned Lucheng, occupied the south and north side of the mountain, and severed the river as a tight encirclement. The Emperor attacked to uproot his encirclement. Liang escaped at night. They pursued and struck, routing him. The captives and beheaded tallied ten thousand. The Son of Heaven sent envoys to thank the army and added to [the Emperor’s?] fief estate.

At the time the Army Teacher Du Xi and the Army Controller Xue Ti, both spoke of, that next year when the wheat is ripe, Liang would surely be robbing. Longyuo was without food, so they ought to, come winter, to prepare transport. The Emperor said:

Liang has twice set out for Mount Qi, once attacked Chencang, been ground down to defeat and turned back. Even if he later sets out, he will not again attack the city, but seek battle in the countryside, it will surely be east of Long and not to the west. Liang always considers provisions being few a regret, and to return he will surely store up grain. According to my guess, without three harvest he will not be able to move.

And so he petitioned to move farmers from Ji province to farm at Shanggui, for together with Jingzhao, Tianshui and Nan'an oversee the foundries [?].

1st Year of Qinglong [“Green Dragon”, 233 AD], [he] dug out the Chengguo canal and built the Linjin dam. The irrigated fields were several thousand qing. The state was thereby fully supplied

2nd Year [234 AD], Liang again led a multitude of 100 000 to set out for Xie Valley, he built ramparts at Mei on the plains south of the Wei river. The Son of Heaven worried about it, and dispatched the Army-Protector who Conquers Shu, Qin Lang to control 20 000 foot and horse, to receive Emperor's rules and measures. The various generals wanted to stay north of the Wei to accordingly wait for him [Liang?]. The Emperor said:

The hundred families' accumulatesd stores all are south of the Wei. Thus we must surely fight for its territory.

He thereupon pulled out the army and crossed over, with back of the river as ramparts. Because of this he spoke to the various generals, saying:

Liang, if he is brave, must set out for Wugong, relying on the mountains, and go east. If [he goes] west up to the Wuzhang plain, then the various armies will be without incidents.

Liang in the end did go up to the plains, wanting to cross north of the Wei. The Emperor dispatched General Zhou Dang to garrison Yangsui as bait for him. Several days [passed], and Liang did not move. The Emperor said:

Liang desires to contend on the plains, and will not turn towards Yangsui. This intention can be perceived.

He dispatched General Hu Zun and the Inspector of Yong province, Guo Huai, to together to prepare at Yangsui. [The Emperor?] met with Liang at Jishi, approached the plains and fought. Liang could not advance, but turned back to the Wuzhang plains.

It happened that a long star fell within Liang's ramparts. The Emperor knew he would surely be defeated, and dispatched ambush troops to drag out Liang's rearguard. They beheaded more than 500 ranks, captured more than 1000 living mouths, those who surrendered were more than 600 people.

At the time, the imperial court, due to Liang lodging the army for distant plundering [?], and would profit from a quick battle, always instructed the Emperor for prudence, to thereby wait for him changing [?].  Liang several times challenged to battle, but the Emperor did not set out. Because of this he presented the Emperor with a woman's headscarf and the ornaments of a wife.

The Emperor was angry, and petitioned a request for decision in battle. The Son of Heaven did not allow it, and therefore dispatched an unyielding [lit. “fish-boned”] official, the Commandant of the Guards, Xin Pin, with a Tally stick, to advise the army and thereby oversee it. Afterwards Liang again came out and challenged to battle. The Emperor wanted to send out the troops soldiers to accordingly respond to it. Pi stood with his Tally stick at the army gates. The Emperor therefore desisted.

Earlier, Shu's general Jiang Wei heard of Pi's arrival, he spoke to Liang, saying:

After Qin Pi came with the Tally stick, the traitors have not again set out.

Liang said:

He had originally no heart for battle. By using strong requests, he displays his martial [vigour] to his multitudes, that is all. When a general is with his army, the ruler's instructions is not being accepted. [An old military maxim] If he was able to master us, why request from a thousand li to do battle?

The Emperor's younger brother, Fu sent a letter asking about military affairs. The Emperor returned a letter which said:

Liang's aspirations are great, but he does not see opportunities. He has many plans, but makes few decisions. He has excellent troops, but no authority. Although he controls a hundred thousand soldiers, he is already falling into my plans. Routing him is a certainty!

He and him faced their ramparts for more than a hundred days. It happened that Liang passed on from illness. The various generals burnt the encampment, escaped and left, the hundred families ran to report, and the Emperor sent out the troops to chase them. Liang's Senior Clerk, Yang Yi, turned around the banners and beat the drums, as if wanting to resist the Emperor. The Emperor, thought destitute robbers should not be pressured [as advised by Sunzi]. And so Yang Yi formed columns and left.

Through the day, they therefore moved to their encampment and ramparts, observed what they had left behind, and captured a considerable multitude of their plans and documents, food and provisions. The Emperor judged that he [Liang] must be dead, and said: “Under Heaven's singular talent!” Xin Pi thought it could still not yet be known. The Emperor said:

What is given weight by army households, army documents and secret plans, military horses, food and grain, now everything is abandoned by them. How can there be person who gives up his five viscera and yet can still be alive? We ought to quickly chase them.

In Guanzhong there were much caltrop nuts [Tribulus terrestris] The Emperor sent 2 000 army soldiers to put on soft wooden clogs with flat undersides [!?] to walk in front. The caltrop nuts were thoroughly attached to the clogs, and afterwards the horse and foot could all advance. [Seriously...]

[He] chased [them] until Chi'an, and learnt Liang was dead. [This became] thoroughly known, and at the time there was a proverb among the hundred families which said:

From a dead Zhuge flees a living Zhongda.

The Empeor heard it, but laughed, saying:

I can easily predict the living, but not easily predict the intentions of the dead!

Before this, an envoy from Liang arrived. The Emperor questioned him, saying:

Excellency Zhuge, when does he rise up and sit down? For his food, how much rice?

[The envoy] replied, saying:

Three or four sheng

Next he asked about government work. [The envoy] said:

Punishments of twenty [strikes] and above, all of them he scrutinized and inspect himself.

The Emperor then told the person, saying:

Zhuge Kongming, how long can he last?

In the end it was like he had said.

Liang's section generals Yang Yi and Wei Yan contended for authority. Yi beheaded Yan and combined their multitudes. The Emperor desired to exploit their grudge and advance, but there was a decree which did not allow it.

3rd Year [235 AD], he moved to Grand Commandant, and amassed to add to his fief estate. Shu's general Ma Dai entered to rob. The Emperor dispatched General Niu Jin to strike and run him off, the beheaded tallied more than 1000 men.

The kings of the Wudu Di, Fu Shuang and Qiang Duan, led their followers, more than 6 000 people, to come and surrender. East of the Passes there was famine, so the Emperor transported 5 000 000 hu unhusked millet from Chang'an to the imperial capital.

4th Year [236 AD], [he] captured a white deer and presented it. The Son of Heaven said:

Formerly when the Duke of Zhou, Dan, assisted King Cheng, he made a tribute of an uncoloured pheasant. Now the Lord accepts the duties of West of Shan, and makes a present of white deer. How is this not loyal and truly in accord with the token [of Heaven's favour], with a thousand loads of similar deeds [?], so as to govern the house of the nation, thereby perpetuating its rest?