#Liu Yanchang

[mythologyfolklore]

Erlang Shen: Wukong, this is my Family. Everyone, this is my Wukong.

Erlang Shen:

Erlang Shen: wait—

Sun Wukong: no, he's right, i am his Wukong

Sansheng Mu: YES! IT FINALLY HAPPENED! *dances around them like a very happy little girl*

Liu Yanchang: *doesn't understand gay stuff but will accept it, if it means his brother-in-law will leave them alone* Congrats.

Chenxiang & Nezha: About fucking time.

Jade Emperor: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[incorrectjttw]

Liu Yanchang: Oh lord, they texted you ‘hi.’’ punctuation only means one thing. he's really mad at you. Sansheng Mu: No, it's my brother. They're all about being gramatically correct! *meanwhile* Erlang Shen: And then I used a period so she'd know that I'm mad at her. Buddha of Sandalwood Merit: A period doesn't say 'I'm mad', it says 'you're dead to me'. Erlang Shen: I stand by my choice.

*back with Yanchang and Sansheng Mu*

Liu Yanchang: My sun, he didn't bother writing the h in 'hi' as a capital letter, as you should at the beginning of a sentence.

Sansheng Mu: ... *dawning realisation* Oh no.

[themetallicnemesis]

Warning: No kids actually fell during the making of this comic

[bonnie-drxws]

🏮🪷Lotus Lantern Rewrite 🪷 🏮

Liu Chen Xiang 🪷🏮

Emotionally intelligent, kind of doesn't talk a lot (unlike the 05 version haha) and on the run. I love his design the most, because I'm going to draw him often, I made his design simple, inspired by actual lotus color pallete

Xiao Yu 🦊🌸

I don't want her to be a love interest because 1 this is a story about family and friendship, that's the one thing that makes me bleh, about 05 LL, Instead, I wrote her to be Chen Xiang's best friend and sister figure. Spoilers: They met by Xiao Yu mugging Chen Xiang. very femqueen of her

Ding Xiang 🗡🐃

Again, no longer a love interest because boooring, she's also Chen Xiang's friend but she teases him by idk pushing him into lakes lmao. She still has the goal of becoming a legendary hero, which makes a good contrast to Chen Xiang being dismissive of most "heroic calls" Bc at the end of the day, he just wants to save his mom. He doesn't answer the call.

Ao Chun 🐉🍂

"Youu just took his name" Yeah, and?

I was not the biggest fan of '05 Ao Chun's drip, like honey... Aren't you a prince...? If he's fush-coded in the original then he's a Golden Bass here, HE TOOK THE LONGEST TO DESIGN AND THE MOST LAYERS DAMN YOU AO CHUN

Anyway, he's like, my third favorite design? Second is Ding Xiang and fourth is Xiao Yu, (I'm sorry, I'm gonna do the most changes to her).

Anyway, I already have a blurry story to these characters. Their relationshios will be like 99.9% platonic 🫶🩷

I'm going to design San ShengMu, Liu Yanchang, Chang'e next

Erlang Shen and Sun Wukong too maybe in the future

Again, these are redesigns, I'm not fixing anyone, I'm not saying "oooh my design is better because blah blah" NO. These are just my takes on the characters, I removed their original relationships and Backstories and completely rewriting them because I want to! Not because I think I know more and did better, if I ever did or said anything offensive regarding the designs or personalities I give them, feel free to correct me so that I will reflect and do better.

At the end of the day, im just one person and sharing my silly little arts

Have a great day! 🩷🫶

[the-monkey-ruler]

Lotus Lantern (2005) 宝莲灯

Director: Yu Mingsheng Screenwriter: Nine years Starring: Jun Cao / Shu Chang / Enjun / Jiao / Lin Xiangping Yuqiao / Liu Liu Liu Xiaoqing / Yan Danchen / Xie Ning / Wang Weiguo / Chen Chuang / Ding Jian / Xiaofeng Luo Wei / Pu Shiyan Zhang Zhichao / Tian Erxi / Wu Zhou Jie / Guohua You Benchang / Wang Yonggui / Li Baocheng Zhao / Shujun / Li Jianxun Zhu Yaying / Li Liu Jie / Jiayi Ye Yina / Ma Liqing / Yang Si / Wang Wensheng / Ma Jielin / Tian Xuemin / Zhao Qi / Zong Fengyan / Wan Luo Guangyue / Li Dou / Ying / Tang Nien / Liu Shuxing / Shi Liang / Cheng Sudong / Lu Bing / Wang Xiang / Yao Changjiang / Xi Xianfeng / Yuan Han / Shen Jie / Deng Jia / Guo Ye / Wang Jiayu / DuduMore Genre: Drama / Fantasy / Costume Country/Region of Production: Mainland China Language: Mandarin Chinese Date: 2005-10-04 (Mainland China) Number of episodes: 35 Single episode length: 46 minutes Also known as: New Lotus Lantern / 新宝莲灯 IMDb: tt4776994 Type: Reimagining

Summary:

Chen Xiang (played by Cao Jun), a young man in a small town, and his father Liu Yanchang (played by Liu Xiaofeng) have been living a peaceful life until one day, Chen Xiang accidentally discovers that he actually contains "magic power" in his body and could pass through walls effortlessly. After his father learned about it, he told Chen Xiang the fact that he had hidden for many years, that is, Chen Xiang's mother was actually the San Sheng Mu (played by Park Meixuan) in heaven. Because she violated the rules of heaven and married herself as a mortal, she was captured by heaven to an unknown destination. Chen Xiang was shocked to learn the truth and decided to overcome all difficulties to rescue his mother. Er Lang Shen (Jiao Enjun), who sees everything in his eyes, is Chen Xiang's uncle and decides to stop Chen Xiang's journey to save his mother. Thus, this difficult trip to save the mother kicked off with the interference of Erlang Shen. During the journey, Chen Xiang met many kind-hearted people and spirits, encountered various resistances, and even wanted to give up. But in the end, it was no match for his determination to save his mother...

Source: https://tv-1.chinesemov.com/tv/2005/Lotus%20Lantern

Link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL10scWhSJdfGojWzhbiYNBCM9KgZi1sk_

[acoraxia]

Okay, no, it's not an old poem. I made a mistake. It is more of a rewriting of the journey to the west, it is from a novel that was published in 2000.

About the lotus lantern. The lotus lantern was created by Nuwa, and it was given to Erlang's mother, Yunhua. So, it is most likely that Sanshegmu took the lantern before her home was destroyed. The lantern itself is very powerful, I'd say it's on par with swk's staff. The lantern cannot be used by anyone. If you have bad thoughts, the lantern will hurt you. Do you think at some point Erlang tried to use the lantern but the lantern didn't respond to him?

The version where Chenxiag beats swk itself is not the first version but it is the first version of Lotus Lantern that includes swk. In this version also Sanshegmu does not fall in love with Liu Yanchang immediately, she hates him at first and even tried to kill him.

Fortunately I found a link for anyone who wants to see the fsyy movie. It's the only one I could find. I think the previous one no longer exists: https://www.bilibili.tv/en/video/4789256429765632

ok so i thik i fell asleep mid-way into this convo and tumblr just ATE the notification of this ask up until today? so rip to me i've been sitting here wondering where oomfie kenva-jttw went since our last inbox discussion of JTTW and Erlang and the silly little movie, but hey! good to hear it

I do love. the fact that. the very first version where SWK is added he gets his ass kicked. i prefer this version. it reminds me of Blindjustice in that aspect with Liu and Sanshengmu HAHA, very lovely

Thank you for the movie <3 rejoice my fellow FSYY enjoyers! WE HAVE FOUND THE MOVIE! HUZZAH!

[canmom]

Animation Night 165: New Gods

嘿朋友动画的晚上���在上映电影！

One day I'll make a new friend who speaks Chinese and I can ask to come up with a different intro for donghua-related posts ;p

Long time Animation Night viewers might remember Animation Night 102 a little over a year ago, in which we watched a film called 新神榜：哪吒重生 (New Gods: Nezha Reborn) - not to be confused with other recent Nezha-related films like Ne Zha.

And it was pretty sick. Essentially you've got a CGI film set in a kind of FF7-like dieselpunk world in which various mythological figures now run crime syndicates or ride cool motorbikes. The film followed someone who turns out to be the reincarnation of Nezha - where Nezha's old enemy, the East Sea Dragon King, is also reincarnated as a kind of mafia kingpin who doesn't know to leave well enough alone, and picks a fight, hoping to stop the new Nezha fully incarnating.

As CG films go, there's not a lot to compare it to - except perhaps Lupin III: The First, which also has the kind of smooth, slightly stylised figures and fancy effects. It was a bunch of fun, lots of twists and turns, guys who look like Sun Wukong but aren't (...maybe?), betrayals, and of course plenty of slickly choreographed fantastical martial arts.

Well, sure enough, Nezha was the first in a series! The second film in the series, New Gods: Yang Jian came out last year...

This one focuses on another character from the Investiture of the Gods, Erlang Shen (二郎神), who's got a bunch of other names, notably Yang Jian (楊戩), which is the name he takes in Investiture of the Gods. I definitely needed to read up on this guy, so here's a primer: Erlang Shen's a god, nephew to the Jade Emperor, and a rather righteous one, associated with traits like purity, decency, and slaying monsters. Physically, his major trait is the truth-seeing third eye in the middle of his forehead; he also likes to carry a three-pointed spear, and his signature technique is '72 eartly transformations', i.e. turning into pretty much anything.

In Investiture, he shows up as a discple of the immortal Yuding Zhenren (玉鼎真人) during Chapter 40, in which Jiang Ziya battles the four 'Diablo Brothers' Mo Lihong, Mo Liqing, Mo Lihai and Mo Lishou, essentially a bunch of evil wizards who are causing havoc. Now, bear with me here. Mo Lishou has a powerful flying mink (or maybe an elephant). Yang Jian deliberately lets himself get eaten, and then when Lishou sends the mink out to attack, he transforms inside its stomach, popping it from the inside as it's about to fight Jiang Ziya.

Then, Yang Jian transforms himself into the mink, and uses this disguise to get close to the brothers and steal a magic umbrella from Mo Lihong, giving Jiang Ziya the chance to win the battle. Pure TTRPG player strategems here honestly. Love it.

He also shows up in Journey to the West, in which he's sent to try and deal with the Sun Wukong problem. They have a classic transformation battle, which Yang Jian eventually wins by seeing through Sun Wukong's clever disguise as a temple, and teaming up with Laozi (yeah¸ the Tao Te Ching guy) to capture him.

All in all, Yang Jian is not a god to be trifled with.

However, the main story about Erlang Shen/Yang Jian is none of these, but a folktale called The Magic Lotus Lantern, in which he plays the role of antagonist.

The Magic Lotus Lantern tells of the goddess Huayue Sanniang, who falls in love with a mortal scholar called Lui Yanchang. Her older brother Erlang Shen, here a god, does not approve, to the point that he's willing to fight her about it. However, Huayue Sanniang wins the fight using her magic lotus lantern, and marries Liu Yanchang. Together they have a child called Chen Xiang. With me so far?

Unfortunately, Erlang Shen isn't about to take this whole thing lying down. After seven years, he tracks them down by the light of that same lantern, and briefly abducts Chen Xiang, before stealing the lantern and sealing Sanniang under a mountain (Mount Hua).

Nine years later, Chen Xiang - now 16 - learns what happened to his mum. He goes on a journey running into a number of mythological figures, including Sun Wukong, who teaches him martial arts. Indeed, Sun Wukong is like you know what kid you're pretty strong, I'll make you a big old axe to get your mum out of that mountain. At the end of it all, Chen Xiang goes and battles his uncle, and loses... but at the last minute he gets a special lotus lantern powerup, which gives him the chance to win the battle and free his mum from the mountain.

Incidentally, if you will permit a tangent (that is at least animation relevant lmao) - this story was adapted to animation in 1999 as 宝莲灯 (Lotus Lantern), and in fact that's quite a notable film in itself. To briefly tell the story again, from the 50s onwards, the vast majority of animation in China happened under the roof of Shanghai Animation Film Studio. However, during the Cultural Revolution, most of the major animators at SAFS such as Te Wei were cast as reactionaries sent to the countryside to do hard labour, practicing drawing only in secret. Chinese animation entered a period where the only permitted form was propaganda films in a narrowly defined realist style.

Following the end of the Cultural Revolution, many of these animators returned to the studio, making celebrated films like 哪吒闹海 Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979) as well as all sorts of short films celebrating an end to their ordeal and railing against artistic censorship. However, the studio's output - and Chinese animation in general - declined in the ensuing decades, with Chinese studios mostly doing outsourcing work and younger audiences turning to anime and western animation. So far so familiar.

In 1992, the studio started to reorganise itself along Western lines, collaborating with a company called Prrfect Animation from San Francisco. [This information comes from an article in Animation World Network, which is incredibly light on details. I can't find any other mention of Prrfect Animation outside of its connection with SAFS.] The studio would soon become part of the new Shanghai Film Group Corporation.

And in the middle of that period comes this movie - a kind of turning point for donghua. You can a restoration on Youtube, albeit unsubbed. Visually it's definitely got traces of the Cultural Revolution-era style, narratively it hews fairly close to the Mouse's formula complete with songs; indeed, allegedly this movie beat them at their own game in 1999.

Anyway, we're not watching this movie tonight - vibeswise it would be a weird combo, and it's going to take a little work to find suitable subs and mux them in, but put a pin in this, we might just come back to it.

So what about this film? In this world, Yang Jian is now living a quiet life as a bounty hunter. Here's the official English-language plot summary, which is very brief:

Twelve years after imprisoning his sister underneath a mountain, Erlang Shen, a god known for his all-seeing third eye, now works as a bounty hunter. A woman hires him and his crew to prevent his nephew, Chenxiang, from obtaining a magical lotus lantern that holds great power.

Beyond that? I can tell you that at some point he wears a fedora. Look, it's in that gif right there. Yeah, I'm flying a little blind on this one ^^'

As things turned out, I didn't end up seeing this at Annecy, since it clashed with Rintarō's new short film... but fortunately, it is now available in the usual places. So the plan tonight is pretty simple: we will be watching both New Gods films, first a reprise of Nezha and then the new Yang Jian.

Also! We're actually on time! I'm gonna go live a lot earlier than we've managed lately, namely 8pm UK time, which is about 3 hours from this post (if you're in the States, that will be midday Pacific time, 3pm Eastern time). The place is, as ever, twitch.tv/canmom. Hope to see you there~

[relmint]

@sapphire-monkey

I do think he feels guilty for what he's done to his sister. But I feel like some part of him would also say that Sansheng Mu brought this upon herself. It was on her for making the same mistake their mother did. I like to think that Erlang Shen, as time goes on, begins blaming their mother for hiding what they truly were. If the Yang siblings knew of their powers sooner, could they have saved their home that day? That day, they were weak. They couldn't do anything but watch and run away. But now, they were gods. They were powerful, perfect even. Unlike him though, his sister didn't want to stay in Heaven. She always found her home in the mortal realm. At first, he played along. He moved to Guanjiang for her, and hey maybe it wasn't too shabby. It certainly was better than being around their uncle. But that's all there was to it. For centuries, they were allowed to live together in comfort and luxury. Then Sansheng Mu had to fall in love with Liu Yanchang. He was her brother, but at the same time, he was the Upholder of Heavenly Will. And so, he had to make a compromise. He appealed to the Jade Emperor for a lighter sentence. He gave Sansheng Mu the chance to leave her family behind and rejoin Heaven. It was the final ultimatum. Sansheng Mu made her choice. She stood firmly by her husband's side, and Erlang Shen felt betrayed. He felt angry. And when he sent down Heaven's judgment, trapping Sansheng Mu underneath Mt. Hua, the Yang siblings knew things can't ever go back to the way they used to.

Everytime I think about the Yang siblings I get so emo

[antidotefortheawkward-art]

Thinking about how people tend to portray Xu Mengjiao being half-yao versus Liu Chenxiang being quarter-god and how strongly their inhuman heritage comes through

[mythologyfolklore]

Nézhā: Stressed. Èrláng Shén: Depressed. Chénxiāng: Possessed. Liú Yànchāng: Obsessed. Sānshèng Mǔ: Impressed. Sūn Wùkōng: Chicken breast. Everyone: ...What? Sūn Wùkōng: I just wanted to join in.

[mikka-minns]

Its ok, Chan took Wukong as her sibling so she and Erlang are even

But now the family dinners are confusing and no one explains anything to Chenxiang

Erlang Shen: I just heard my sister calling my dog a “fucking liar” because he barked like someone was at the door and no one was there.

Erlang Shen: My sister and I are no longer friends.

[themetallicnemesis]

More lotus lantern au doodles :]

[earl-of-221b]

Chen Xiang’s appearance in New Gods: Yang Jian trailer was so shocking to me, mostly because it looks like he’s truly alone when Yang Jian catches him stealing on the street. In the original Lotus Lantern myth when Chen Xiang loses his goddess mother he’s looked after and brought up by his human father. But Liu Yanchang is not in the picture here. In older lore there’s the neighbour family, Pili Thunder God as a master. In the 1999 animated film Chen Xiang’s father dies, but he has his master Sun Wukong. In the 2005 TV, he has a myriad of masters looking out for him.

But in New Gods verse? Chen Xiang lost his mother. And then he was out on the street. By himself. Homeless. Guardianless. Stealing things to get by as a thief...That was his life before he was found by Yang Jian. By complete accident.

[the-monkey-ruler]

I have a question, does Erlang kill Chenxiang's father, or leave him alive? Or are there two versions where one kills him and the other lets him go?

Yeah there are actually MANY versions of Lotus Lantern depending on what you are introduced to.

From what I have seen, the earliest version of Lotus Lantern does have that Liu Yanchang does live and even gets REMARRIED (or rather lives with a widow woman Wáng Guìyīng) and they raise their sons together. Chenxiang gets a step-brother (or half-brother, depending) Qiū’ér who sadly takes the fall for Chenxiang when he accidentally underestimates his own strength and kills a bully in an altercation. In this one, Yanchang is alive and well and you can see these versions in earlier opera versions as well. Sadly the step-brother storyline has been dropped for several decades in new media as like Lotus Lantern 2005 tv show does show Yanchang alive he does not have another partner.

Link to the earliest version of LL I could find in eng. https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/chtales/story011.html

It's actually a more modern take that Chenxiang's father dies, probs inspired by the 1999 Lotus Lantern movie that first inspired Sun Wukong being integrated into the story as well. This movie was so successful and well-received that it is STILL influencing Lotus Lantern adaptions today. This is probs the first time we see Yanchang being killed off so early (to my knowledge) and some movies copy that formula as well.

I guess if you want a take from this then in MOST cases Yanchang is left alive and Erlang just arrests his sister, but there are SOME modern movies that do kill him off for the sake of drama. Which I don't blame them, they are movies to entertain and it is always fun to raise the stakes!!

[winterpower98]

YES! THAT'S EXACTLY THE SORT OF REACTION I WAS HOPING YOU'D HAVE! XD

So yeah, the relationship is pretty cold from then on, with Cunxin believing him to be cruel and Erlang thinking she's overreacting. Eventually, the two start to actively work against each other when the events of Lotus Lantern take place (as a reminder, this was when Erlang trapped his own sister Sanshengmu under a mountain—Mount Hua—for falling in love with a mortal, despite his own parents having gone through the exact same thing, leaving behind a husband named Liu Yanchang and a son named Chenxiang).

And because Monkey was Chenxiang's mentor in at least one version of the story, this is exactly what happens after Cunxin secretly sends the latter to FFM, with Sun Wukong being completely unaware about any of this, so imagine his surprise when he finds a complete stranger begging him to become his mentor!

Chenxiang then tells Monkey his mother is trapped under a mountain and this already enough to get him to help, but then the young half-god adds that it's because of Erlang Shen and then it becomes personal! But because it's Sun Wukong, no one thinks he'll actually do a good job at actually training the kid, with even his own friends doubting him (Lie in particular thinks his sister has finally gone crazy once he finds out she's involved).

Oh, how wrong they were.

Sometime after Sanshengmu gets freed and is reunited with her family, the law finally gets changed to allow mortals and immortals to marry without risk of punishment, Sun Wukong and Ao Cunxin have a laugh over this, and Erlang is left both irritated and begrudgingly impressed by his ex's cleverness. It was, after all, why he fell in love with her in the first place.

—Serenity

Erlang: I just burned a mountain full of living beans, I'm sure she's overreacting BUDDY

Also, I would like some clarification: Lotus Lantern is an animated movie, but I heard a lot of folks consider it on par and even canon to the myths. Which feels weird to me, beacuse it goes against a lot of myths surrounding Erlang and Nazha and even JTTW

[stiltonbasket]

Hi!! Could I perhaps request LQR baby-sitting A-Yu and A-Lan for the renouncement verse? Thanks, love you <333

(brief author’s note: please please reblog if you can, since that’s how we get prompts for future chapters!)

Lan Qiren’s nephews keep overworking themselves. 

This wouldn’t be a bad thing if they hadn’t been doing it for the last several years, but it’s beginning to wear on them. Xichen’s eyes are always red and swollen from writing letters by candlelight, and Lan Qiren doesn’t remember the last time he saw Wangji without trade reports in his arms and spit-up milk on his robes, so he finally puts his foot down and decides to give all three of them a break in early autumn. 

“Xichen, go take a soak in the hot springs,” he orders, sweeping into the hanshi and shoving everything on Lan Xichen’s desk up one of his sleeves. “Now.”

Lan Xichen is so exhausted that he tries to paint a line of calligraphy onto the expensive wood of his writing table. “Shufu?” 

“You heard me,” Lan Qiren scolds. “Go on! I’ll finish the petition forms by tomorrow.” 

Somewhat bewildered, Lan Xichen ambles out through the hanshi’s back door and splashes into the hot spring, leaving Lan Qiren to march down to the jingshi and confiscate all of Wangji’s trade contracts. He also confiscates baby A-Lan, who is lying in Lan Wangji’s lap and trying to eat his jade pendant. 

“What are you doing?” Wangji asks, watching him tug the rest of his letters out of Wei Ying’s hands and stuff those up his sleeves, too. “Uncle?” 

“You and Wei Ying need a rest,” he announces. “I am taking your work to the meishi, and I am also taking your children. Do not come to fetch them until sunset.” 

And with that, he straps Wei Shuilan to his chest and takes Lan Yu by the hand, bundling them off to his own residence before their parents have time to do much more than blink at him in confusion. 

“Huh,” Wei Wuxian says, after he leaves. “I think your uncle has a point, actually. Let’s go to bed, Lan Zhan.”

__

When Lan Qiren gets back to the meishi, he settles A-Lan down for a nap and gives Xiao-Yu a snack and some silver puzzle rings to improve his hand-eye coordination. “It almost reminds me of the old days,” he sighs, as Shuilan kicks her chubby little feet before falling asleep with her thumb in her mouth. “Even if Wangji never went down for naps without a fuss.” 

Lan Qiren was nineteen when he became acting sect leader, and he was also nineteen when he received custody of Xichen: not coincidentally, because the clan hoped that taking charge of the sect would prevent him from raising his nephew and allow one of them to take over his care instead. But Lan Qiren was nothing if not stubborn, so Lan Huan went with him everywhere—to meetings, discussion conferences, and even the odd wedding now and then, and was generally such an amiable baby that he adjusted to his uncle’s fraught travelling schedule without a fuss. In fact, the first time Lan Huan met Jiang Yanli had been during a week-long cultivation event at Lotus Pier, yawning in a sling on Lan Qiren’s back while Jiang Yanli napped on Jiang Fengmian’s chest, and Jiang Fengmian had even mentioned the possibility of a betrothal between the two babies when they were older. 

“My wife wants to contract an engagement between Xiao-Li and a son born to her sworn sister, but Jin-zongzhu and Jin-furen have not yet had a child,” Jiang-zongzhu had sighed, letting his daughter’s little fingers wrap around his. He looked heartbroken at the mere thought of parting from her, Lan Qiren remembers—which was probably why he named her yan li, to hate separation, because Jiang Yanli’s premature birth nearly stole her away from her parents the moment she entered the world. 

“Lanling is closer to Gusu than Yunmeng,” Lan Qiren pointed out. Yunmeng Jiang would make an excellent alliance by marriage, and he was fairly certain at the time that Jiang Yanli would grow up to resemble her mild-mannered father rather than her hot-tempered mother. He was right, of course, since Jiang-guniang took after Jiang Fengmian in both looks and character, but contracting a betrothal with her for Xichen would have done both of them a disservice—because Xichen could never have loved her as she would have wanted to be loved, and he could never have given her children, either. 

“Shugong?” a little voice says at Lan Qiren’s elbow, distracting him from the possibility of a world where Lan Huan married Jiang Yanli and crippled Lanling Jin’s influence after the Sunshot Campaign. “Xiao-Yu is done with the puzzle. I have another one?”

“Already?” Lan Qiren asks. This is yet another trait Xiaohui inherited from Wei Wuxian despite not being related to him, and Lan Qiren feels his heart swell with pride at his great-nephew’s intelligence. “Then you may play with the wooden blocks on that shelf, and see how high you can build your tower without letting it fall over.”

Xiao-Yu settles down on the hearthrug to stack up the fine-carved building blocks, and Lan Qiren goes through his nephew’s papers in peace for another hour before A-Lan wakes up from her nap and wails for her milk at the top of her lungs. 

“Do not cry,” Lan Qiren soothes, securing the child in her swaddle before heating a bottle with a warming talisman. “Here is your supper, and your xiongzhang is there on the mat.”

He has to keep A-Lan in his arms after that, since his tiny great-niece is so used to being held that putting her down would break her little heart; and Lan Qiren would rather die than let go of her, because he dearly misses holding his nephews, and not so long ago he was certain he would never have the chance to hold a baby again. 

And then, as if cuddling A-Lan to his chest wasn’t wonderful enough, Xiao-Yu pulls one of Wangji’s old picture books out of Lan Qiren’s storage trunk and runs over to sit in his lap, pushing the trade contracts aside and replacing them with the fable of the magic lotus lantern.

“Shugong, read to Xiao-Yu?” the little boy begs, snuggling into Lan Qiren’s overgown next to his cooing baby sister. “A-Die likes this story best.”

Of course he does, Lan Qiren thinks, as he flips the cover open and starts to read. The tale of the magic lotus lantern was written about a child whose mother was stolen away from him, taken back to the heavens by force when her godly brother discovered the magic lantern that illuminated her way to the mortal world—and for a while Wangji believed that his mother was like the immortal Sanshengmu, who loved a human man and had a child with him before returning to the realm she came from. Sanshengmu’s story ended with her being reunited with her husband and son, and the little Wangji never gave up hope that his own mother might come back in much the same way, even after he was old enough to stop believing in fairy stories. 

“Why did they fight?” Xiao-Yu asks, leaning closer to see the picture of the goddess’s lover with his brush and scroll. “That’s against the rules!”

“Sometimes people who love one another fight because they cannot understand their feelings,” Lan Qiren tells him, tapping the point of his soft button nose. “So it was with Sanshengmu and Liu Yanchang-gongzi, and when he awoke, she revealed her true identity, and explained why she sent a rainstorm to plague him after she read his poem. 

“Both apologized profusely. Days went by, and Liu Yanchang finally recovered. By then the goddess and the scholar had fallen deeply in love, and marriage naturally ensued. Encouraged by Goddess Sanshengmu, Liu Yanchang continued with his journey to the capital to take the imperial examination, and months later, the goddess gave birth to their son, whom she named Chenxiang.

“At the same time, the goddess’s celestial family had learned about her marriage to an earthly man. Her brother, known as Divine Erlang, found his unruly sister and demanded that she renounce her new family and return with him to their heavenly home, but Sanshengmu refused, and battled him with the power of her magical lotus lantern…”

__

“I want to paint a portrait of this,” Wei Wuxian whispers, when he and Lan Zhan creep into the meishi after sunset to find Lan Qiren fast asleep on the floor, with A-Lan snoozing on his chest and Xiao-Yu curled up in the crook of his arm. “They’re so sweet, Lan Zhan!”

“Mm,” Lan Zhan murmurs, his eyes softening as he looks at the open book on his uncle’s desk. Lan Qiren clearly just finished reading it before he fell asleep, because the book is open to the very last picture; a color painting of a goddess embracing a youth and an older man with a lotus-shaped lantern hanging at the crook of her elbow. “Bring a blanket and a pillow, Wei Ying. We should let them sleep.”

(Lan Qiren often finds himself toting his little great-nephew and niece around the Cloud Recesses after that, and Xiao-Yu’s favorite place to play in his parents’ absence is always the house where his shugong lives.)