#I really wish I'd had the foresight to organize my tags for this fandom better

[hunxi-after-hours]

Do you have any thoughts on Qi Fengge? I would love to hear them if you do :D

OH MY GOD ANON I’m so sorry if you’ve sent this question before because I’ve literally been quietly hoarding that ask in my inbox for months now, thinking that I would answer it with the Shen Qiao fic I was working on (am still working on!! simply need... time. and spoons.) because BOY do I have feelings about the relationship between Shen Qiao and Qi Fengge

Qi Fengge is such a fascinating figure, because like Xiao Jingyu of 《琅琊榜》， like Ye Qingmei of 《庆余年》, he is someone who is absent from the world of the story, whose legacy still leaves lasting ripple effects in the lives of our protagonists, in the problems they grapple with

so we can never really know Qi Fengge from the inside; all we know of him is what others say about him, after he’s gone:

respect: obviously, as the undisputed greatest warrior in the jianghu at his time, he commands a great deal of respect

mercy: Yan Wushi actually tears into Qi Fengge in front of Shen Qiao for not killing Hu Lu Gu twenty years ago when he could have; Yan Wushi notes that it would have saved everyone--Shen Qiao in particular--a great deal of grief if Qi Fengge had been a little less kind, more cruelly pragmatic, a little more forward-thinking, a little less honorable

isolationist/neutrality: Shen Qiao inherited Xuandu Shan’s isolationist policies from his predecessors, and for the most part, Qi Fengge upheld Xuandu Shan’s lofty position and refusal to get involved with most jianghu/political affairs

nobility: that being said, Qi Fengge was moved by the plight of the jianghu when Hu Lu Gu came screaming into the central plains, and it was precisely this softness of heart and nobility of spirit that led him to duel Hu Lu Gu for the literal fate of the jianghu

and then there’s Tan Yuanchun. fucking Tan Yuanchun, man

because Tan Yuanchun is where our doubts come in--Tan Yuanchun’s entire evil motive is literally “because shizun didn’t pay enough attention to me,” which, to be frank, is at least 90% Tan Yuanchun’s problem, not Qi Fengge’s, but the whole business has me thinking about all of characters as 武道中人 practitioners of the martial way

I feel like it’s easy to lose sight of (that is, I often lose sight of) how important the martial arts/path/way of life is to our main characters, but it’s very much present in the characterization of our protagonists: Yan Wushi is single-mindedly obsessed with cultivating to greater heights, to breaking the ceiling set by Tao Hongjing (who is, if I may remind us all, the literal author of the Zhuyang Ce). In the betrayal sequence, Yan Wushi tells Shen Qiao about the great weakness of the Fengling Yuandian and says that, once anyone reaches the ninth level, even though going further will increase one’s risk of dying violently and painfully from qi deviation, no one who has gone that far could bear to stop, anyway

and Shen Qiao himself is fiercely devoted to his own way and cultivation; we could talk about his moments of enlightenment and martial progress throughout the book, or I can point specifically at the time he abandoned Xie Ling (who, by the way, is still wanted dead by most of the jianghu at this point) in a Chang’an teahouse because Shen Qiao simply had to go invent a new sword form at that very second and oh my god he is so sorry, here is money for the bill and the property damage Xie Ling caused--

and that’s not even getting into the number of characters who have died in pursuit of elevating their cultivation. the point is, everyone in the jianghu, to a certain extent, will give up their lives for their martial ways

where I’m trying to go with this is that Qi Fengge was the greatest warrior of his time, the pinnacle of martial achievement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is a good teacher

not to say that I think that Qi Fengge is a bad teacher, but I feel like we should recognize that just because he is someone’s shifu/shizun doesn’t mean that he should automatically be saddled with dad responsibilities

(there’s probably a longer conversation to be had about the relative paternal function/paternal obligation of shifus/shizuns to their dizi/disciples in wuxia fiction but how about we don’t get into that for now because boy howdy that would get out of hand real quick)

like I said, I think Tan Yuanchun’s saltiness about Qi Fengge not paying enough attention to him is 90% Tan Yuanchun’s problem because 1) you gotta stop determining your self-worth by other people’s praise m’dude, 2) it’s not Qi Fengge’s job to be your dad, especially because a. you have a family (whereas Shen Qiao was literally picked up off the side of the road) and b. he is your shizun, not your dad, and 3) if you’re unhappy about something you should talk to someone about it, not, I dunno, stew in your resentment for a decade and a half and then plot the downfall of not one, but TWO of your shidis and lowkey plan on jeopardizing your entire sect to prove a goddamn point 

like seriously, get a hobby or something

could Qi Fengge have been more attentive to Tan Yuanchun? absolutely. but also recall that Tan Yuanchun’s face-heel turn came out of nowhere even for Shen Qiao because Tan Yuanchun hid his resentment so well, and like, Shen Qiao literally asked his shixiong if he was okay with being skipped over for sect leadership and Tan Yuanchun said yes, you know, like a liar

anyway. back to Qi Fengge

something that I think is very understated and poignant and melancholy throughout the entirety of 《千秋》 is how much Shen Qiao misses his shizun. At the beginning of the book, we know that it’s been a few years (less than ten, more than three I’d wager) since Qi Fengge passed on--Xuandu Shan is not decked out in white, Shen Qiao is not in active mourning, and it’s old news to everyone except Yan Wushi, who’s only just come out of a ten-year seclusion

but throughout the book, Shen Qiao misses Qi Fengge in a quiet, understated manner that is still very present: often, in moments of life or death, he hears Qi Fengge’s voice, or flashes back to a conversation the two of them had (阿峤 是最可爱的人). Shen Qiao continues to live--and nearly die--by the principles Qi Fengge passed on to him (阿峤，莫忘挂念苍生，以天下为己任，谨守道心). He carries Qi Fengge’s sword, which his dearest possession, and he cherishes it to the point that it may be the one thing he comes close to picking a fight with Yan Wushi over (aside from like, everything else about Yan Wushi).

And then there is the time-swap extra. And then there is the time-swap extra.

Meng Xishi decided to time-swap six-year-old a-Qiao with post-canon Shen Qiao for funsies in an extra, and executed it with the same amount of crackfic competence one might expect from such a ludicrous concept (overnight baby sect leader! Xuandu Shan in chaos! unbelievably adorable a-Qiao! Yan Wushi having a goddamn field day!), but then she jumps over to the adult Shen Qiao, sent some thirty years into his past

my god that scene gutted me--Shen Qiao, practically in tears at seeing his shizun again, the unexpected mercy of some cosmic accident. Shen Qiao doesn’t strike us as emotionally vulnerable throughout the book--he’s mature, steady, and quite worthy of the leadership position he holds and the reputation he gains back. So to see all of his competence and charisma and confidence crumble until he is just a-Qiao, the disciple who just really misses the shizun who had been a father to him, really came for me when I was least expecting it

and the Qi Fengge of that extra seems to live up to Shen Qiao’s memory of a benevolent teacher and model of the Daoist way; he takes the time-swap in stride, doesn’t ask Shen Qiao about the future (actually, Shen Qiao offers to tell him and Qi Fengge turns it down, holy shit), simply asks if Shen Qiao wants to go down to the town at the foot of the mountain and wander around together

look, I just got really emotional about Shen Qiao getting to talk to his shizun again, for the two of them to converse as equals and friends, as companions and family, as shizun and disciple, as heroes and legacies. there is a unique joy in taking pride in/for others, and that scene managed to hit it for both of them: both Qi Fengge, proud of how well Shen Qiao turned out, and Shen Qiao, proud of living up to the immense legacy that Qi Fengge bestowed upon him, both gift and debt, simultaneously blessing and burden