#Pai-Sha Liu

[tossawary]

A quote and thoughts regarding Shen Yuan's opinions on Liu Mingyan and the "sexiness" of the Liu Mingyan versus Sha Hualing setup. He knows what he should be feeling in this situation as a "normal straight guy", but I don't think he's actually feeling it.

"Shen Qingqiu was very fond of this female lead, and it wasn't only because Liu Mingya's beauty points were the highest. It was also because she had great poise. She always understood the big picture and grasped the general situation, and her conduct was fair and honest. Even in Luo Binghe's gigantic harem, a wife with both intelligence and moral character was rare.

There was one more appeal factor. Liu Mingyan was the only female character for whom Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky didn't write detailed sex scenes. Many readers had been highly dissatisfied with this arrangement, to the point that they spammed the comments with their ranting, but this had given Liu Mingyan something no other female lead had: an image as clear as ice and pure as jade!

Can't be helped, the unobtainable ones are always the best.

[Sweatdropping shrug kaomoji that I can't type out.]

This was what made the second match worth watching. An evil demoness naturally demanded a righteous saintess as a rival. Every man dreamed of being caught between an angel and a devil. To watch them jealously vie with each other over him one moment, then risk life and limb for his sake in the next - that was the highest, most sacred, perverted fantasy of every male organism. He could drunk off the wild, untamed charm of the wicked seductress, and at the same time his heart would ache for the austere taste of the pure saintess who kept pulling him closer only to push him away!

One had to admit, "Great Master" Airplane was genuinely good at nailing what people found satisfying. Shen Qingqiu couldn't help giving Luo Binghe another glance.

Luo Binghe found it very hard to not care about that gaze. Why exactly did Shen Qingqiu keep looking at him? Was it possible that Shizun... really had an interest in him?"

Volume 1, Chapter 2, pages 111-112.

I'm not sure where to start with this! It's a lot! I'll just work backwards: it is very funny to have Shen Qingqiu repeatedly looking towards Luo Binghe, trying to see Binghe's reactions to Sha Hualing and Liu Mingyan, and Binghe's just like, "Shizun is looking at me???" I think "interest" in this case just means interest in Binghe as a disciple with potential, rather than anything else. Binghe is not paying any real attention to Sha Hualing or Liu Mingyan's attractiveness.

Oh! A rare compliment towards "Great Master" Airplane! Shen Yuan, don't strain those rarely used muscles!

I do find it amusing that Shen Yuan refers to Liu Mingyan as "moral" and "righteous" and "pure" here. The vibe I got with Liu Mingyan is that she sided with Luo Binghe to take down her brother's murderer, which I would agree is righteous and abides by a set of morals. But the first few pages of SVSSS inform us that PIDW Luo Binghe viciously destroyed the great cultivation sects, which means that PIDW wife Liu Mingyan either helped or stepped aside when a whole bunch of murder happened.

And the "my favorite wife is the one with no (or limited) sex scenes" is a classic Shen Yuan moment and one of the reasons he reads as being strongly on the asexuality spectrum to me. The way that he talks about heterosexual "male" desire gives me the same vibe. Like he's separated from it. Like he knows this is what he's "supposed" to feel and he just... doesn't... and it's possibly hard for him to recognize what sexual desire feels like (as opposed to, say, general sexual arousal that doesn't necessarily have a target) if he's never actually experienced it himself. He knows what he should be feeling if he was the "every man" reader of PIDW.

Even when he talks about Sha Hualing and Liu Mingyan's appeal, he says "wild, untamed charm" and "pulling him closer only to push him away" as the key components of the fantasy. Like, "being flirted with" and "being fought over and fought for" and "appreciating a distant beauty" are more important than "having sex". "The most appealing thing about Liu Mingyan is that she wouldn't actually go through with trying to have sex with me," says Shen Yuan.

He's like, "Oh, I can recognize that Liu Mingyan and Sha Hualing are physically attractive, that probably means I'm an Ordinary Straight Man." Even though the way that he talked about Liu Qingge's looks in the Ling Xi Caves was... not very heterosexual... and here, he mostly seems excited just to see one of his favorite characters.

Admittedly, Sha Hualing appears 15-16 here and I think Liu Mingyan is around the same age (she doesn't have her spiritual sword yet), so Shen Yuan is probably also not attracted to them just because they're teenagers. (I do not interpret him as sexually or romantically interested in Binghe at all at this point in time.) I headcanon Shen Yuan being 20-ish at this point in time, so he's probably not that much older than SHL or LMY, but they're probably around his younger sister's age (Shen Yuan's younger sister was old enough to be reading non-con, gay, BDSM erotica.) Sha Hualing shows up half-naked and Shen Yuan is just like, "Where are your shoes? Did you walk here like this? Wasn't that painful?"

In my opinion, Shen Yuan seems a little... relieved... to think that no one could be sexually or romantically interested in the scum villain. He does lament that it's hard to get a girlfriend like this, sure. He does think that he's going to die and that he'd eventually lose any woman to Binghe, so there's no point in trying. But he really, really does not try. "Oh, I can't pursue anyone because they'd never be interested in me! How frustrating! ...Anyway! Moving on to enjoy the many other little pleasures of life! Like food and monsters!" I think the closest he comes to flirting with anyone is when speaking to Liu Qingge in the Ling Xi Caves, while Liu Qingge is coughing up blood, and that did not seem intentional.

I think if he had transmigrated into any other character, who wasn't an "unappealing" villain, Shen Yuan still wouldn't pursue women. I think he'd be like, "Well, I want a beautiful woman, because I have standards! But all beautiful women belong to the protagonist, and no one is better than Binghe, there's no way I'd win that competition, so there's no point in trying!" At which point, it's just like, "Shen Yuan, anyone becomes beautiful when you love or like them; I don't think you actually want to fuck women."

I think if Shen Yuan had transmigrated in as Luo Binghe, he still wouldn't try to pursue women. He'd be like, "I'm just raising my standards for the harem! Some of those wives were not very intelligent or in possession of good moral character! Nearly three-digits is disrespectful to the better wives! I'm only interested in especially beautiful and skilled women, like Liu Mingyan, who's perfect! (And also won't try to have sex with me.)"

Like, I am not against a bisexual Shen Yuan. I am willing to be persuaded to go along with many different interpretations! But he does read to me generally as a gay asexual / demisexual who hasn't yet realized that a desire to be fawned over and an ability to recognize beauty is not necessarily the same thing as sexual attraction. (I do think he is attracted to Binghe after Binghe gets back from the Endless Abyss, but his feelings there are tied up in his very real, reasonable fear of murder and mutilation.)

[web-novel-polls]

Web Novel Women Tournament 

[Please be kind and respectful in the notes. Anti-Propaganda is NOT allowed.]

Uriel from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint / ORV

[No propaganda prepared]

Wiki Link 

Additional Propaganda 1: Cheerful and kind personality, amazing powers for smiting evil, huge rpf shipper. Think fujoshi but for people you actually know in real life 😂

Additional Propaganda 2: Member of the Absolute Good constellations, ships the main character with the protagonist. About to bankrupt her constellation paying for new content for her ship 😉

Sha Hualing from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Submission 1: I can't stand her and yet I love her. What does that tell you? 

Submission 2: her cringefail losergirl swag <3 girlie constantly in situations and she put herself into most of them 

Mod Propaganda

A fierce demon who attacked the Cang Qiong Mountain sect in SVSSS and became one of Luo Binghe’s wives in Proud Immortal Demon Way who often fought with Liu Mingyan and Qin Wanyue

My fav description of her is something along the lines of, “trying to be the steal-your-man girl who fails about it so badly” 

She’s ambitious, she’s ruthless, she’s intelligent -  If you support women’s rights, you should also support women’s wrongs (/light-hearted) 

[rarepears]

The SVSSS Corporate Consulting AU that no one asked for

This isn't really a coherent plotbunny; rather it's more like a string of random ideas and tidbits all set in the same AU.

CFO Shen Jiu unexpectedly goes on short-term medical leave which ends up becoming long term (and then kind of permanent since Shen Jiu decides to permanently become CEO Yue Qingyuan's Trophy Wife and lounge in bed sipping wine all day) and his replacement Shen Yuan suddenly finds himself getting saddled with the CFO title (and pay, which is nice).

----

“President Shen,” Luo Binghe sighs happily, like he’s forgotten every other word in his vocabulary.  "Don't call me that," Shen Yuan sigh a very resigned sigh for the nth time that week. "I'm a director." Luo Binghe doesn't let it deter him. "But you don't want to be called CFO Shen." Somehow he manages to place a cup of hot coffee onto Shen Yuan's desk in a way that can only be called "way too fucking happy for a Saturday morning" because Shen Yuan was the stupid smuck who agreed to juggling all this work for extra money. Was it worth it?

---

The cast:

CEO: Yue Qingyuan

CFO: Shen Qingqiu

COO: Shang Qinghua

CTO: that sword peak lord

CMO: Qi Qingqi

CCO: Mu Qingfang

Liu Qingge: board of directors (because he's only visits the company every now and then but not for long before he hops back to doing other things. There's not much physical activities involving fighting in the corporate world... but hey, a professional athlete can be a shareholder!)

Meng Mo is the CEO of Zoom btw. Luo Binghe was the consultant who won the Cang Qiong consulting company the contract with Meng Mo and was thus the project lead on this case. He poached the contract from Demonly Consulting's Sha Hualing in revenge for her attempt at poach one of Cang Qiong's big contracts by gatecrashing a Cang Qiong private event.

----

Ming Fan is the CFO's secretary - sorry, administrative assistant is the proper title nowadays.

Luo Binghe is one of the newest hires to the company.

Ming Fan is Not Happy about how Luo Binghe is determined to steal his job of admin assistant, spending way too much freaking time in Shen Yuan's office ordering lunches and fetching coffee for the interim CFO, and booking airplane tickets and hotel reservations on top of memorizing Shen Yuan's calendar - which would be known by only Ming Fan (who schedules things onto Shen Yuan's calendar) and Shen Yuan himself.

How the fuck did Luo Binghe get access to it!?

And somehow Luo Binghe is still managing to juggle his consulting work without getting fired from the company. Consultants are expected to be billing at least 90% of the 40 hour workweek (aka that's 36 hours a week) to a client or they would be put on PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) and then fired if they don't improve enough.

Oh and naturally Ming Fan tries to make Luo Binghe's life miserable by canceling Luo Binghe's corporate card while Luo Binghe is away on a business trip.

[More in #The SVSSS Corporate Consulting AU that no one asked for]

[curlybinghe]

SVSSS and the internet

my headcanons for modern au scum villain peeps on the interwebs

bingmei: 100% a pinterest girlie. he makes boards titled "wedding 💕💕🥰💍" and pins outfits for him and his shizun

shen yuan: active on both tumblr and discord. he has an instagram, but has posted on it all of two times in its four year existence. obviously an avid goodreads warrior as well.

bingge: an alpha male lifestyle youtuber for 👏 sure 👏. this man pays off yingying + the others to just stand in the background of his videos to make it seem like he has Top Tier Game(tm)

shen jiu: has a tumblr but swears on his LIFE that he doesn't. if pressed he'll say he just likes to observe, see what's going on (he posts pictures of his cats and rants about yqy). shen yuan put him on the goodreads hater lifestyle, but would consider getting caught in the act valid grounds for seppuku.

shang qinghua: an "ironic" 4chan user. he and shen yuan have each other added on discord

+ he posted his early writing on wattpad back in middle school

sha hualing: lowkey problematic beauty influencer on instagram and tiktok. does sponsorships with products she doesn't actually use, but you would do it too for a check

liu mingyan: obviously an ao3 frequent!! has an instagram where she posts latte art and books.

ning yingying: studyblr and studygram goddess. sometimes bullies ming fan into letting her use his notebooks as "before" examples.

liu qingge: twitter keyboard warrior, vents about his unrequited(?) crush on shen yuan on main

[greentrickster]

Loving the Hopeful Hybrid’s Househusbanding System, and wondering if you have any further thoughts regarding LBH wingmanning for MBJ, or the matchmaking shenanigans LBH and LQQ get up to (or if I’m remembering correctly MBJ gets involved at some point bc why not?)

Thank-you so much! ^U^ And, for starters? After Liu Mingyan's latest work comes out after Binghe's return (suddenly involving characters with some very interesting and elaborate tattoos), Binghe uses his 900 IQ to put two and two together and figures out who wrote it. Then super calmly doesn't tell anyone he knows. Then even more super calmly starts feeding Liu Mingyan a few stories about spicy forbidden romance that he encountered while in modern Japan and, once he's established his cover as a fellow connoisseurr of the finer things in life (aka spicy p*rn with lots of romance thrown in for flavouring), he mentioning that, hey, wouldn't a human-demon love affair be romantic? With lots of tension and potential for betrayal, but really neither of them want to betray their homes, they just want to be together, only the world won't let them? Think of the drama - think of all the opportunities to get excitingly spicy!

And boy howdy does Liu Mingyan think of them. Three volumes of a new series worth in the space of six months worth of thinking of them.

So anyway, that's Liu Mingyan and all her devoted readers set up to play spin doctor/damage control/shut up-it's-so-romantic arguments for when the Mobei-jun/Shang Qinghua romance eventually comes out in the open, because Shizun likes Shang shishu, so keeping him in the sect is important.

(For all his intelligence, Binghe does not at any point realize that Shen Yuan is an avid reader of Liu Mingyan's work (especially since it doesn't currently involve him), and has a strong hunch who it's about and is just waiting for the right opportunity to give Airplane so much cheerful grief over it. Mostly because he knows nothing spicy has happened with him and Mobei-jun yet and it will absolutely kill that shitty author to know that his fictional double is getting it when he isn't.)

Beyond that, Binghe’s primarily giving Mobei-jun some quick remedial courses on human romance and dating culture, while also slipping Shang Qinghua a few tidbits on demon courtship habits, especially for the Northern realm. Thanks to his exposure to modern media, he’s gained that most dangerous and OP of powers - levels of genre-savvy! He can spot a miscommunication plot when he sees one now! So he’s working to clear up the miscommunication, and he’s using the simplest methods possible to make it harder for them to go awry by mistake.

His modern experiences with the dating scene does get a little jumbled with his memories of his home dimension’s practices, though, meaning Binghe absolutely sets his most loyal bro and his shishu on a tea date (since coffee isn’t an option). It doesn’t go very well since Mobei-jun isn’t really into tea and Shang Qinghua is still confused out of his mind at the mixed signals he’s getting at the moment. (Though, ironically, he absolutely uses it as coffee-date fantasy fodder after the fact, because an author-god can dream, you know?)

This having not worked, Binghe switches tactics and finagles Sha Hualing into creating the xianxia version of an insulated travel mug (“Okay, but why should I waste time making something that won’t help me destroy my enemies?” “...it’ll keep your hot drinks warm longer so the blood doesn’t congeal if you forget about them while you’re in your workshop and you don’t have to waste time yelling for someone to bring you more when you want it now?” “Oh dang, sold!”) Binghe then ensures that Mobei-jun gets ahold of one and tells him to give it to Shang Qinghua, since the guy drinks so much tea while trying to get all his work done, and to tell him that, since he won’t tell Mobei-jun what sorts of things he wants, Mobei-jun’s just going to have to start guessing (with an addendum to start paying attention to what sorts of things Shang shishu likes so that he can do a good job of it - paying attention to what sort of things your beloved likes and doesn’t like is important in a good relationship).

Mobei-jun is skeptical, but follows Binghe’s plan to the best of his ability, and it bears shockingly good fruit. Shang Qinghua is stunned, not his usual loud, flustered stunned, just... this is such a nice, useful gift, and it’s something he’ll be able to use with minimal explanation for how he got it, just say it’s something he found on a trading expedition, and dollars to donuts he’s missed having a nice, big travel mug with a secure lid and- oh, oh it has a little flap you can flip up to drink from it without taking the lid off. And it’s in An Ding blue. He’s a peak lord, he’s used to certain people trying to pander to him or buy him off, but this is a really thoughtful gift, and he’s not used to those in any of his lives. He’s absolutely touched. He’s making an expression Mobei-jun’s never seen before and it’s making his heart stutter.

And- oh, oh, I bet gifting is one of Mobei-jun’s big love languages, he’s just never learned how to do it properly, and it’s also part of why it’s so frustrating that Shang Qinghua never freaking asks for anything. Binghe teaching him how to spot what would be a good gift without having to be directly told is going to be invaluable to him! So by the time Tianlang-jun arrives at the Sect, Mobei-jun and Shang Qinghua are actually doing pretty well for themselves, it’s been... let’s say a year since Binghe got back?, everyone knows, no one can do much about it because half the sect shipped it even before they knew it was a real ship, Shang Qinghua’s gotten some slap-on-the-wrist punishments because 1) he does 64% of all paperwork in Cang Qiong and it would collapse without him and 2) he’s besties with Shen Qingqiu and Yue Qingyuan is still simping hard. And Binghe’s only had to use his extra-special ‘oh no, I’m such a clumsy shidi’ technique to ‘trip’ and ‘try to catch himself’ by grabbing onto Shang Shishu only to ‘accidentally’ just grab his clothes and absolutely shred the top half of them by mistake in Mobei-jun’s presence twice.

Binghe, with big, dewy eyes full of (false) unshed tears: “This Luo Binghe is so sorry, Shishu, he’s still learning to master his demonic heritage and suddenly having claws is so confusing-!”

Shang Qinghua: Ah-haha, it’s okay, shidi, we all make mistakes! (internally swearing because how much do you think these robes cost, and do you really think this author can’t see through your crocodile tears, why are you humiliating me in front of my king like this-?!?)

Mobei-jun: (can see one (1) entire nipple on Shang Qinghua’s chest and would like to get to know it better, maybe if he’s good he’ll get to see the other one too...? Also why is this so exciting, he’s a demon, from the demon realm, he sees people wandering around half-naked/all naked all the time, so why is it different now-?!?)

Mobei-jun is learning how tantalizing things can be when you don’t get to see them all the time, and he’s very confused and also rather aroused. And he’s going to take this knowledge and accidentally melt Shang Qinghua’s brain by showing up one day wearing his robes at a level of chest coverage that humans deem appropriate, then shuck an outer layer partway through the visit and loosen the ones underneath to show usual levels of chest again. Congrats, Mobei, you’ve accidentally gained two levels in seduction and have ensured that incident is all Airplane’s going to be able to think of for a week.

(Note: this probably wouldn’t have worked on anyone else, because Mobei-jun’s starting out with a -1 in seduction, he just has the home field advantage with Shang Qinghua.)

As for Liu Qingge and Mobei-jun meeting up and the resulting shenanigans as all three of these goofs get up to as they try to match-make for a sect leader and once-demon emperor? I think I’ll put that in another post at a later time - this one’s already gotten pretty long!

Thanks for the ask!

[veliseraptor]

📚🍑

📚:

Really should have considered before. It was almost absurd that it hadn’t; after all, it was only his mother’s diligence and exceptional intelligence that meant he himself had learned to read. Xue Yang, as far as Jin Guangyao could tell, had had no one.  “I could find a teacher for you,” he said carefully. “If you were interested.” Xue Yang’s glance in his direction was wary, but there was a spark in it that made Jin Guangyao want to smile. He held it back and kept his face neutral, suspecting it would be taken poorly. “I want you to do it,” Xue Yang said abruptly. Jin Guangyao startled a little. “You do?”  Xue Yang glanced away. “Yeah,” he said, voice a challenge. “You’re easier to put up with than most people.”

🍑:

She barely listened to what the head of the contingent – not one of the peak lords she recognized, which either was a sign of disrespect or her not paying attention – was saying. Her attention kept straying to Liu Mingyan, standing right there, the veil hiding her face so Sha Hualing had no idea what she was thinking.  She didn’t like that, the not knowing. Anything could be going on behind those pretty eyes and she wouldn’t know about it until it came out of her mouth.

[make me write ✍🏻]

[hunxi-after-hours]

hunxi’s danmei awards 2.0! (aka 2022 edition)

Featuring the return of some categories such as:

Best Worldbuilding

Best Interrogation of Themes (aka the “Rent-Free Award”)

Best Moment That Wrecked Me (aka the Knifiest Award)

Best Beleaguered Side Character Award

Best Unreliable Narrator

As well as never-before-seen categories like:

Best Himbo

Most Brilliant Moment of Backstabbery

Most Ambitious Scope

Most Heartwrenching Line Delivery in an Audiodrama

…and more!

This year’s candidates in the running:

《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu by 一十四洲 Yi Shi Si Zhou

《不小心救了江湖公敌》 Bu Xiao Xin Jiule Jianghu Gong Di by 六木乔 Liu Muqiao (有声漫画 audiomanhua season 1)

《无双》 Wu Shuang by 梦溪石 Meng Xishi

《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio

《师弟还不杀我灭口》 Shidi Hai Bu Sha Wo Mie Kou by 子鹿 Zi Lu

《默读》 Mo Du by priest

《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue by 七药 Qi Yao

《哏儿》 Gen’er by 南北逐风 Nan Bei Zhu Feng

《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang by priest

《金牌助理之弯弯没想到》 Jin Pai Zhu Li zhi Wan Wan Mei Xiang Dao by (nominally) 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang and (mostly) 传奇火箭队 The Legendary Rocket Team

(unmarked spoilers, including but not limited to these titles, under the cut. for introductions of these titles, click here. for last year’s danmei awards, click here)

Best Worldbuilding

Winner: 《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang by priest

This award goes to 《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang for the effortless ease with which p大 manages to merge the genres of imperial intrigue, steampunk mecha, alternate history, and wuxia elements. Over the course of the novel, priest explores how the development of 紫流金-based technology leads the fictional Liang Dynasty into industrial revolution, and doesn’t hesitate to include all the negative consequences of early industrialization. So you’ve rolled out mechanical alternatives for farming? Have fun dealing with the uprisings of unemployed farmers while fending off international threats on your borders. So you want to roll out paper currency/government bonds to stimulate your war-torn economy? Good luck even getting people to trust the validity of paper the way they trust the hardness of coin. In a way, 《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang carries on the tradition set down in priest’s earlier novel 《七爷》 Qi Ye of protagonists using decidedly underhanded methods to effect the change they wish to see in the world, and the morality thereof remains just as thorny in 《杀破狼》. what would you do in the name of peace? how much of yourself can you give away before you are no longer the same person?

oh and I have to give a shout-out to the trains in this book, I’d give this award to 《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang for its (re-)invention of trains alone

Best Interrogation of Themes (aka the “Rent-Free Award”)

Winner: 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu by 一十四洲 Yi Shi Si Zhou

I listened to 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu via audiodrama before I read the novel, and every time I finished an episode I would have to just sit for a few hours, processing. Despite its seemingly lighthearted premise,  《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu shows us an apocalypse in all its cruel magnificence. The oppressive atmosphere of unending martial law, the seductive proximity of despair, the omnipresence and unpredictability of death, the utter lack of justice or closure or meaning in a world slowly grinding to a halt, the vast, inhuman lengths civilization will go to in the name of survival... to this day,  《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu haunts the solemnity of my early mornings with questions like what would you condone to survive? and wherein lies the locus of meaning when everything it means to be human has been stripped away? and like. I haven’t been the same since my mushroom phase, okay

Best Beleaguered Side Character Award

Winner: Ji Bolan from 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu by 一十四洲 Yi Shi Si Zhou

This poor man had to deal with his childhood friend growing up to be a governmentally-licensed and universally-reviled mass murderer, the complete breakdown of the laws of physics, and witnessing Lu Feng and An Zhe flirt in front of his salad soup, all during the apocalypse that he is frantically trying to solve. Frankly, he’s allowed to roast Lu Feng as much as he wants, and the fact that he’s voiced by the same person who did AD!Jiang Cheng and AD!Xiao Zheng (winner of last year’s Best Beleaguered Side Character Award) is 1) extremely funny, 2) very on-brand, and 3) further proof that being in voice actor fandom 其乐无穷

Best Moment That Wrecked Me (aka the Knifiest Award)

Winner:  《默读》 Mo Du by priest

The character of Fei Du in priest’s 《默读》 is easily the character who had me clawing at the walls the most for the better part of this year (I’m still clawing at the walls, if we’re being honest). I am in love with everything about the way priest wrote him; from his introduction as the flamboyantly aggravating playboy chasing after Tao Ran (brilliant character work there as well as brilliant comedy, 感谢陶然不弯之恩 etc etc) to the slow, methodical reveal of his backstory and how deeply, deeply traumatized he is, Fei Du is one of the most complex and intelligent and nuanced and terribly lovable meow meows characters I’ve had the good fortune to run into

To pick a single Fei Du moment? A single one? Well if I have to choose, unfortunately it’s going to have to be chapter 180 朗诵（五） for the simple reason that it hurts me:

他恨不能撕裂时空，大步闯入七年前，一把抱起那个沉默的孩子，双手捧起他从不流露的伤痕，对他说一句“对不起，我来晚了”。

[Luo Wenzhou] wished he could tear apart time, to barge back into that moment seven years ago and pick up that silent child, to cradle those hidden wounds and say to him, “I’m sorry I was late.”

“我来晚了……”

“I was late...”

直到上了救护车，费渡才好像是有了点意识，难以聚焦的目光在骆闻舟脸上停留了许久，大概是认出了他，竟露出了一个微笑。

Fei Du only seemed to recover a semblance of consciousness when they loaded him into the ambulance. His eyes, unfocused, stopped on Luo Wenzhou’s face for a while before smiling slightly.

骆闻舟艰难地看懂了他无声的唇语。

Luo Wenzhou read his words in the soundless shape of his lips with difficulty.

他说：“没有了……怪物都清理干净了，我是最后一个，你可不可以把我关在你家？”

He said, “They’re all gone... All the monsters are taken care of, I’m the last one. Can you lock me up in your house?”

I’m just. if you need me I’ll be screaming about sunflowers in the abyss

Best Unreliable Narrator

Winner: Yan Zhuoqing and the Deer God of 《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio

surprising shortage of unreliable narrators in this year’s contenders, but 《问鹿三千》 makes up for it by having not one, but TWO unreliable narrators involved. can you believe that BOTH of these semi-immortal dumbasses have amnesia? smh Deer God you’re literally the god of time and memory, how you’ve even gotten this far I’ve got no idea

honorable mention: Fei Du from 《默读》 by priest. this man had the audacity to say the words “我没有创伤” / “I’m not traumatized” after asking for Luo Wenzhou’s assistance in recovering some of his repressed memories that he’d blocked out because of the — you guessed it — trauma

Best Himbo

Winner: Situ Jin from 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

I think it’s safe to say that Situ Jin is a Very Good Egg With No Braincells Whatsoever. None. This man had to be bullied into a hurt/comfort scenario by his future wife, and when she came to him for comfort, grieving her father’s death, he responded to her “now I’m all alone” with “don’t cry: you’re one, I’m one, together we’re two.” proud of u for basic math, bro, but is now really the time. his other highlights include: thinking dreamily about his wife while in prison, defending innocent bystanders regardless the personal cost, and continually failing to seek medical attention while bleeding out

Side Character I’m Still Mad About (aka the Gongyi Xiao Award)

Winner: Fu Luo from 《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue by 七药 Qi Yao

so it turns out that I am Weak for this very specific kind of character, the one who is a Good Kid, the one who tries their best to be responsible and reasonable, the one who could honestly be a protagonist in another novel. double points if you can trust them with a spreadsheet (Bian Yanmei), triple points if they’re delightfully lowkey devoted to the actual protagonist (can I get a wahoo for the Jiangzuo Alliance in here??)

and you know what the author does? murders them with prejudice

tl;dr I’m still not over Fu Luo, because like oh man that scene was well done but also ouch

"most memeworthy/meme-able"

(this one’s for you, @presumenothing)

Winner: 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

I mean I literally—

this book is a Very Serious and Somewhat Grimdark book, but I have to say the sheer amount of misunderstandings that occur are comical in their quantity. have you ever met two people more in love with each other and less capable of uttering a single sentence about it, it is only by the grace of the author that these two didn’t murder each other before their happy ending at the many given opportunities throughout the book

"most deserving of a shenshen OST"

(this one’s also for you, @presumenothing, ty for all the brilliant category recs)

Winner:  ........?

this is such an interesting award category to consider, because it’s like asking “which one of these texts would you like to hand a steak knife to gut you with,” but it also begs the question of what a shenshen OST would bring to the text that the existing music/adaptation doesn’t. it also raises the question of what kind of narrative (grand, sweeping, vast in scale or minute, gentle, heartbreaking?) would be most compatible with a shenshen OST?

my first thought was 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu, since it has both the monumental scope and the fragile, breakable heart that shenshen OST’s are so suited for (他只是一个小蘑菇 goodbYE—), but the music of the 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu AD is already so perfect I don’t actually want to add anything to it. my next thought would be 《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian — again, for that blend of scale and sorrow, wistfulness at what can never be and gratitude for what we have. but 《问鹿》 also has five songs already, and while a shenshen OST would be nice, it most certainly isn’t necessary

so I think I’m going to cheat and give this award to a title that isn’t even on the list of candidates this year, one that already has a shenshen OST: 《天宝伏妖录》 Tian Bao Fu Yao Lu by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang, which has the great fortune to have Zhou Shen’s 《天地为念》  for its ongoing donghua title song. what a beautiful, meditative song; what an ethereal, gently sorrowful melody. extra brownie points because I maintain that Zhou Shen and 锦鲤 Jin Li (the voice of Kong Hongjun) are counterparts of each other in their respective industries, and also because I’m ride or die for both of them

"most untranslatable ever"

(category shout-out to — you guessed it — @presumenothing)

Winner: oh ABSOLUTELY 《金牌助理之弯弯没想到》 Jin Pai Zhu Li zhi Wan Wan Mei Xiang Dao by 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang and 传奇火箭队 The Legendary Rocket Team

I consider myself fairly proficient in audiodramas on 猫耳FM as a medium/genre now; I’m familiar with the ways script adaptation dovetails with post-production, the roles the voice directors and producers and casts play, the different twists that can happen with 报幕, what names to keep an eye out for while checking out the production team... so when I say that this audiodrama knocked me flat on the ass when I first listened to it, I really do mean that I was in no way prepared for the chaos that was to come. where do I even begin to describe it? the speed? the unhinged energy? the unending 吐槽 / roasts? the brilliant comedic pacing? the extremely 洗脑 片尾曲？whatever the hell this is?

this audiodrama is not only the most untranslatable ever due to the high concentration of internet and culture-specific slang, but also apparently the most impossible to explain ever. idk. listen to this AD and lose your mind

Most Brilliant Moment of Backstabbery

Winner: ch. 116 of 《无双》 Wu Shuang by 梦溪石 Meng Xishi

I described 《无双》 Wu Shuang as “a book about roasting your rival first, saving your dynasty second,” but perhaps didn’t do justice to the sheer lengths these two will go to one-up each other. I’d like to take this moment to recognize a certain flamboyant demonic sect leader (that is somehow not Yan Wushi) for not just habitually backstabbing (gently, for funsies) his love interest but also getting some frontstabbery (once, with great intention) in as well. truly, no one out here is doing it like Feng Xiao

honorable mention: 《不小心救了江湖公敌》 Bu Xiao Xin Jiule Jianghu Gong Di by 六木乔 Liu Muqiao, for the sheer quantity of backstabbing that occurs. maybe this is simply what happens when all of your characters are professional evildoers at fluctuating levels of retirement

Best Comfort Media

Winner: 《哏儿》 Gen’er by 南北逐风 Nan Bei Zhu Feng

earlier this year, I went around asking various people: what makes a book, movie, or other text comfort media for you? listening to the answers, it occurred to me that I don’t really have texts that I turn to on a semi-regular basis to re-read or re-watch. especially because my favorite books tend to be the ones that rip my heart out through my throat, the idea of choosing a “comfort read” from among them seems somewhat, er, misguided

and then I ran into 《哏儿》 Gen’er, which is the only text I’ve chosen to carry over from last year’s danmei awards because the second season of the AD  aired this year. this webnovel/AD is also, genre-wise, the outlier in this year’s awards — no magic, no speculative elements, not a single sword in sight, just slice-of-life, daily trials and tribulations, characters balancing budgets and bantering backstage and discussing art over hotpot. the cast and characters of 《哏儿》 feel real and lived-in in a way that is so deeply precious to me; at times throughout the year, I would simply cue up the beginning of S2E2 to listen to the first fifteen minutes or so to quiet down. the ongoing discussions threaded throughout the narrative about the roles of traditional culture and art in modern society, how to adapt traditional forms to contemporary values and preferences, and the ever-relevant question of how to get other people to care about things you love... 《哏儿》 hits different, hits real close to home, asks thought-provoking questions in a gentle, lighthearted manner in a way that is totally unique among the danmei works I’ve read, so here I am, conferring this new, foreign honor upon it. it’s a first for both of us!

Most Ambitious Scope

Winner: 《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio

I know, I know — very bold of me to give this award to an audiodrama that’s still airing, that we don’t know if it’ll ever be completed, but I still have to take a moment to yell about this completely original episodic gufeng AD, because like... wow. there is no answer key; there is no original work; there is no blueprint to work off of, no pre-existing fanbase of readers to appeal to. this entire project with its xuanhuan scope will succeed or fail based on its merits alone, and what scope it has, too — from the five voice actor songs (I guess everyone in 光合积木 can sing too??? sure that’s fine I guess) to penning scripts that play specifically to the voice actors’ strengths, to engaging with thorny dynamics of family and relationship and devotion and misalignment, I think it’s real gutsy of the 《问鹿》 creative team to embark on such a vast and ambitious project, and carry it off as well as they did. now it’s just 乖巧坐等更新.jpeg hours, fingers crossed they come back for a season 2

Best Work I Was Songbaited Into

Winner: 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu by 一十四洲 Yi Shi Si Zhou

Definitely the first thing that even put 《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu on my radar was 奇然’s 《风过荒野》  appearing in my YouTube algorithm. The song’s arrangement is haunting, lyrical,  and so unlike any other AD song I’ve ever heard. The second season’s 《极光入夜》 is also transcendent in lyrics, composition, and the fact that both of the main voice actors can sing 哎呦还让人活吗—and don’t even get me started on the beautiful piano and string covers they work into the soundtrack! 声罗万象请受我一拜！

let’s put it this way: I actually went out of my way to translate the 《小蘑菇》 songs (here and here) for how hard they go. one day I’ll get over the lines “玫瑰静默凋谢” and “审判是我于你的吻别” but today will not be that day

honorable mention: 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su, for having the opposite energy of the 《默读》 AD asdlfskdfjs no less than FIVE original songs composed for a THREE season AD. I was on the fence about listening to this AD until I heard 远皓ZIL’s 《燃灯》, which immediately joined my playlist before I’d even read the book. Again, the lyricism, the arrangement, the melancholy, deeply thoughtful atmosphere of the song got me interested in exactly what kind of maddeningly angsty plot could result in these lyrics:

我愿抚拂前尘 燃着灯 做你归途的引 / I would brush away the dust of our past and light a lamp, and be what guides you back

只求你破迷津 渡极乐 回首看我在等  / I only pray that you break free from the labyrinth and deliver paradise, to look back and see me waiting

我匍匐入尘埃 叩长阶 奉上所有虔诚 / I crawl through the dirt, pressing my forehead to the stone steps of the long stairway, offering up all of my piety

 只为听你亲将 相思说 那纸情书太薄 / just to hear you say, yearning for me, that this love letter is too thin

不载残生颠簸 无你我 苦不可脱 / it cannot carry what’s left of our tumultuous lives — without you or me, life would be bitter with no escape

Audiodrama Adaptation with the Strongest First Episode

Winner: 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

Adaptation is a delicate and tricky practice; how do you accommodate for the limits of production, the requirements of medium, when it comes to translating a work across dimensions? And particularly when it comes to AD’s, how can you capture a listener’s attention within the first few episodes, to bait them into the story and make them willing to pay money to unlock what happens next?

this award has to go to 珞玉 Luo Yu and 子穆木 Zi Mumu for their adaptation of 杨溯 Yang Su’s novel 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing. The book itself runs chronologically, from the two main characters first meeting each other as children, the months they spend together, their sudden (and deeply traumatic) parting, and then resumes the narrative the next time they meet each other seven years down the line, attempting to kill each other (in their defense, it was dark, and neither of them were sure if the other survived the massacre that separated them in the first place). Episode 1 “故人来” of the AD begins with that reunion as Shen Jue, disposing of a body, finds an injured assassin just outside the palace walls. They grapple in the dark until they recognize each other, and the way post-production editing fills in their backstory through a quick, tantalizing flashback and brings the listener back out of it by overlapping young!Xiahou Lian and present!Xiahou Lian saying the same lines (“shaoye, remember: don’t look back, don’t say anything—”)... well done, well played, I sure paid money to listen to the rest of this AD

Audiodrama Adaptation with the Strongest First Ten Minutes

Winner: 《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue by 七药 Qi Yao

haha I think I’m hilarious, but while 《督主》 has the strongest first episode I would also like to shout out how good the first ten minutes of 《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue are. seamless transition from baby Hailian to adult Hailian, from quiet lullaby to sea battle, and establishing Hailian’s sass, competence, kindness, and swashbuckling swagger as well as introducing Fang Tinglan (and his shamelessness asldfksj). credit has to go to the director 齐杰, the scriptwriter 虾仁猪心@一梦还江月, and the post-production editor 时柒@丶为之奈何 for pacing the opening scene so well, and an extra special shout-out to 梅梅 (韬韬你是最棒的) for the funniest little “bye~~~” as he throws someone off a boat

Most Heartwrenching Line Delivery in an Audiodrama (aka the Knifiest Award, audio edition)

Winner: S1E7 of the 《默读》Mo Du audiodrama

I can yell for years about how talented voice actors are, but there are specific moments while listening where I have to pause for a second or ten and silently mouth “damn”

杨天翔 Yang Tianxiang’s performance as Fei Du in season 1, episode 7 of the 《默读》 Mo Du audiodrama knocks it out of the goddamn solar system with the plaza broadcast scene — this was a scene that I was pretty eh on in the novel, but after listening to it in the AD... 当! 场! 封! 神! with Yang Tianxiang’s measured delivery, the slow excavation of the depth of Fei Du’s anguish, the forced steadiness of his voice when he says “你们如果都这么狠心，为什么以前还要表现出好像很在乎我们的样子?” / “If all of you were always this cruel, why did you pretend to care about us so much in the beginning?” underlaid by the devastatingly quiet, melancholy piano backing of 《以沫》 that then kicks into the sequence that culminates in 何忠义 He Zhongyi’s “等我回来!” / “Wait for me to come home!”... (silently screams into a paper bag) I’m not okay and I haven’t been okay for months

Honorable Mentions:

S2E2 “也恨相逢” of 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su: specifically for 梅梅’s line “少爷，这是我的命” / “shaoye, this is my fate.” for a scene that didn’t even exist in the original novel... hot damn wow

E12 “绝不复寡“ of 《师弟还不杀我灭口》 Shidi Hai Bu Sha Wo Mie Kou by 子鹿 Zi Lu: 锦鲤 has the range and this AD proves it! While he spends most of the AD being generally the comedic, satirical commentary, Zhong Yan/Qin Mingxi absolutely begging, tears in his voice, for Gu Xuanyan to leave him to die in this scene? look I’m not immune to this trope either

S1E13·上 of 《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio: (cups hands around mouth, yells) 马! 老! 师! it’s hard to explain the heartbreaking context of the line I have in mind without giving away the entire story, but 马正阳’s throat-scraping scream of “我要你爱我” / “I want you to love me!” is wince-inducing from the sheer force of the raw anguish in it

wooooo and that’s a wrap! thanks for tuning into the 2022 danmei awards :)

looking forward at my reading list, I’m not sure I’ll be doing a 2023 round since my reading is taking me in different directions and I simply might not have enough candidates to fill out a whole awards post next year (and I suspect I’ll have gone so far off the map that people won’t even have the faintest idea what I’m talking about anymore asldkfajsd)

it’s been fun!!! catch you all in the new year!!

[frogizzhc]

SVSSS Headcanon: Drive Thru Edition!

Shen Qingqiu: He pulls up in a cute little cucumber-green car, impatiently honking at the person in front of him (he's second in line).

Luo Binghe: He is right behind Shen Qingqiu's car and hopes that he sees him at some point. He's in a flashy, bold, sleek black car.

Shang Qinghua: He's driving Mobei-Jun's cool and expensive car with Mobei in the passenger seat and Sha Hualing in the back. He just wants something simple like a drink, while the other two are still conjuring up what they want to order. He's right behind Luo Binghe

Ning Yingying: She's on a cute little pink moped, behind Shang Qinghua.

Liu Mingyan: She's driving her brother's car because she lost a bet on who's driving and paying for food. Their car is behind Ning Yingying's moped.

Liu Qingge: He won a bet, and now he's sitting in the passenger seat while Mingyan drives.

Yue Qingyuan: He's behind everyone else and is just contemplating whether or not he should just pull out of the drive thru and just go inside or to a different restaurant. He's also driving a minivan.

Tianlang-Jun: He's taking forever at ordering the biggest meal he can get for him and Zhuzhi-Lang in a pick-up truck.

Zhuzhi-Lang: Concerned for how much his uncle is ordering, but he's mostly concerned about his snakes in the bed of the truck.

[shookethdev]

a o e i i er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong i ia iao ie iu ian in iang ing iong u ua uo uai ui uan un uang ueng ü üe üan ün a o e er ai ao ou an en ang eng yi ya yao ye you yan yin yang ying yong wu wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng yu yue yuan yun b ba bo bai bei bao ban ben bang beng bi biao bie bian bin bing bu p pa po pai pei pao pou pan pen pang peng pi piao pie pian pin ping pu m ma mo me mai mei mao mou man men mang meng mi miao mie miu mian min ming mu f fa fo fei fou fan fen fang feng fu d da de dai dei dao dou dan den dang deng dong di diao die diu dian ding du duo dui duan dun t ta te tai tei tao tou tan tang teng tong ti tiao tie tian ting tu tuo tui tuan tun n na ne nai nei nao nou nan nen nang neng nong ni niao nie niu nian nin niang ning nu nuo nuan nü nüe l la le lai lei lao lou lan lang leng long li lia liao lie liu lian lin liang ling lu luo luan lun lü lüe g ga ge gai gei gao gou gan gen gang geng gong gu gua guo guai gui guan gun guang k ka ke kai kei kao kou kan ken kang keng kong ku kua kuo kuai kui kuan kun kuang h ha he hai hei hao hou han hen hang heng hong hu hua huo huai hui huan hun huang z za ze zi zai zei zao zou zan zen zang zeng zong zu zuo zui zuan zun c ca ce ci cai cao cou can cen cang ceng cong cu cuo cui cuan cun s sa se si sai sao sou san sen sang seng song su suo sui suan sun zh zha zhe zhi zhai zhei zhao zhou zhan zhen zhang zheng zhong zhu zhua zhuo zhuai zhui zhuan zhun zhuang ch cha che chi chai chao chou chan chen chang cheng chong chu chua chuo chuai chui chuan chun chuang sh sha she shi shai shei shao shou shan shen shang sheng shu shua shuo shuai shui shuan shun shuang r re ri rao rou ran ren rang reng rong ru rua ruo rui ruan run j ji jia jiao jie jiu jian jin jiang jing jiong ju jue juan jun q qi qia qiao qie qiu qian qin qiang qing qiong qu que quan qun x xi xia xiao xie xiu xian xin xiang xing xiong xu xue xuan xun

NAKU 🫵

[minsarasarahair]

I sure love some stubborn wolf pup-like Danmei men and their chill older partner. Its ironic that I'm not a fan of dog-like characters but I like lone wolf characters.

Changgeng's face went dark. Gu Yun grabbed him and tumbled them both into the bed with a laugh. "I won't abandon you, I swear it to heaven. Why are you so paranoid? Sleep, I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open." Changgeng refused to drop it. "Even if I actually..." "I won't abandon you even if you actually go mad." Gu Yun pillowed his head in the crook of his elbow, blithely stroking Changgeng's side with the hand he had draped over his body. - Sha Po Lang (Stars of Chaos) vol. 3

Lou Zhu shrugged and said, "Nevermind. Life is short and revenge is endless. I'm tired of struggling over life-and-death scenarios. When the work here gets on track, I'll take you on a trip." Zuo Yunqi lowered his head, his expression went dark. Lou Zhu suddenly tapped him on the head with his fingers. Zuo Yunqi asked angrily, "What are you doing?" Lou Zhu smiled and said, "Don't think I don't know what's going on in that little head of yours. No matter what, you are not allowed to seek revenge for me. Do you hear me? This is a society ruled by law. If you kill someone, you must pay with your life." - You Yao (Are You OK) extra story

You Yao context is righteous Zuo Yunqi want to avenge Lou Zhu after he found out Lou Zhu was murdered in his first life but it was treated as accident. No one reported it as murder which is understandable since not only Lou Zhu is young when he's killed but it also seem he don't have any family to grieve his death. To be fair, Lou Zhu transmigrated after being killed so his death is actually the reason why he later met Zuo Yunqi. Its a blessing if you think that way lol

Just like what Changgeng said in SPL that it felt like he experienced so many bad things during childhood to save enough luck to meet Gu Yun in the future.

Lou Zhu don't have a personality like Gu Yun. He's more like a mix of Wen Kexing (Tian Ya Ke), Wenren E (Mozun Ye Xiang Zhidao) and Yan Zhengming (Liu Yao). He's a schemer and sinister as Wen Kexing. But as a partner or gong, he's closer to Wenren E's collected temperament. He's rich and lazy beauty like Yan Zhengming.

[eyenaku]

Ji ji fu ji ji

a o e i i er ai ei ao ou an en ang eng ong i ia iao ie iu ian in iang ing iong u ua uo uai ui uan un uang ueng ü üe üan ün a o e er ai ao ou an en ang eng yi ya yao ye you yan yin yang ying yong wu wa wo wai wei wan wen wang weng yu yue yuan yun b ba bo bai bei bao ban ben bang beng bi biao bie bian bin bing bu p pa po pai pei pao pou pan pen pang peng pi piao pie pian pin ping pu m ma mo me mai mei mao mou man men mang meng mi miao mie miu mian min ming mu f fa fo fei fou fan fen fang feng fu d da de dai dei dao dou dan den dang deng dong di diao die diu dian ding du duo dui duan dun t ta te tai tei tao tou tan tang teng tong ti tiao tie tian ting tu tuo tui tuan tun n na ne nai nei nao nou nan nen nang neng nong ni niao nie niu nian nin niang ning nu nuo nuan nü nüe l la le lai lei lao lou lan lang leng long li lia liao lie liu lian lin liang ling lu luo luan lun lü lüe g ga ge gai gei gao gou gan gen gang geng gong gu gua guo guai gui guan gun guang k ka ke kai kei kao kou kan ken kang keng kong ku kua kuo kuai kui kuan kun kuang h ha he hai hei hao hou han hen hang heng hong hu hua huo huai hui huan hun huang z za ze zi zai zei zao zou zan zen zang zeng zong zu zuo zui zuan zun c ca ce ci cai cao cou can cen cang ceng cong cu cuo cui cuan cun s sa se si sai sao sou san sen sang seng song su suo sui suan sun zh zha zhe zhi zhai zhei zhao zhou zhan zhen zhang zheng zhong zhu zhua zhuo zhuai zhui zhuan zhun zhuang ch cha che chi chai chao chou chan chen chang cheng chong chu chua chuo chuai chui chuan chun chuang sh sha she shi shai shei shao shou shan shen shang sheng shu shua shuo shuai shui shuan shun shuang r re ri rao rou ran ren rang reng rong ru rua ruo rui ruan run j ji jia jiao jie jiu jian jin jiang jing jiong ju jue juan jun q qi qia qiao qie qiu qian qin qiang qing qiong qu que quan qun x xi xia xiao xie xiu xian xin xiang xing xiong xu xue xuan xun

[tossawary]

The passage where Sha Hualing loses her clothing:

"Next, this world proved itself to be truly that of a fanservice-packed stallion novel. After Sha Hualing was blasted away, she let out a single delicate scream, and the gauzy red cloth draped over her body - that had barely covered anything in the first place - also tore to shreds, eliciting a series of alarmed cries from the onlookers. She cushioned her landing with a beautifully executed roll, propelling herself to standing in a single movement. Demons were indeed bold and unrestrained; even though her entire body was censored out, Sha Hualing wasn't ashamed in the slightest. She spitefully tore off the cloak of a subordinate beside her, carelessly throwing it over herself.

"I underestimated you today," she said. "But we will definitely meet again in the future! Let's go!" "

Volume 1, Chapter 2, page 130.

I still wonder what "her entire body was censored out" means here. My assumption here (and when something similar happens later on) is that Shen Yuan is just ignoring the full-body nudity here. He is looking away. He is mentally applying black bars. This is a naked 15-16-year-old and he is NOT paying attention to that.

Honestly, I'm not sure whether or not I like this detail. On one hand, yeah, nipple slips and other flashing would be an inevitable side effect of wearing the skimpy clothing of harem stories, especially when you're wearing to battle. That's a realistic thing that would happen and I do find that a little funny. I do like the fact that this flashing happens quite quickly, no one appears to make that much of a deal out of it, and Sha Hualing covers herself quickly without feeling too much embarrassment. Despite this being an artifact of PIDW's sexy bullshit, it's treated practically here. Shen Qingqiu and Liu Qingge are not attracted to the demon teenager at all.

I can't full express what my issue with this nudity. I guess would prefer that if this had to happen, it had also happened more and to adult male characters as well, leaning into the sheer absurdity of living in the PIDW world. Shen Yuan loses a shirt to the Skinner Demon, and then later loses clothing again in the Water Prison, so that's something. But why not also have Liu Qingge lose a little more clothing in the Ling Xi Caves? Maybe Luo Binghe's blast of demonic energy during the Immortal Alliance Conference could have taken off Mobei-Jun's shirt? I'm going to be keeping track of the contrived nudity situations going forward.

It would be fun to write a fic in which the characters just... practically and tiredly deal with a world designed to eat clothing. It's not sexy. It's embarrassing, but mostly, everyone is very done with this.

[motionpicturelover]

"Før sjøforklaringen" (1970) - Magne Bleness

Films I've watched in 2022 (50/210)

[greentrickster]

did someone say matchmaking shenanigans? 👀👀👀

Okay, so! I got this question back in January, when I first started the Hopeful Hybrid's Househusbanding AU, and now I'm finally getting to it! Apologies for the delay, I am easily distracted when it comes to story-telling in this particular format!

Anyways, yes, matchmaking shenanigans! Because Luo Binghe and Liu Qingge have a vested interest in making the Yue Qingyuan/Tianlang-jun ship set sail and Mobei-jun has sworn allegiance to Binghe after he successfully wingman-ed him into a relationship with Shang Qinghua, so if Lord Luo says this is what they're doing, this is what they're doing.

The initial shenanigans are pretty tame, because, while he's focused on getting levels in Househusband instead of Warlord in this AU, he's still the genius-level protagonist with 900 IQ. So best to start with some simple reconnaissance. Easy-peasy.

This plan is quickly scrapped in favour of the new plan: Teaching Big Bro Liu and Mobei-jun the Fine Art of Quit Making So Much Noise and Pay Attention (You Will be Graded on This)!!!

Yes, he could probably get Sha Hualing in on this, but she's... volatile. And easily bored. And Binghe kinda likes Cang Qiong at the level of exploded (ie, not at all) that it currently is, and teaching Sha Hualing how to sneak around here doesn't seem conductive towards maintaining this status quo.

Shang shishu is also an option, and he does come with excellent references and qualifications when it comes to spy-work, as Mobei-jun points out with stone-faced pride, but this is- this is romance, Bro. Not to doubt your Bae, but pretty sure this endeavor is playing perfectly into one of his blind spots. Mobei-jun is disgruntled, but forced to concede the point.

It's all on them now.

And let it never be said that Luo Binghe's allies are incapable! Indeed, they do both possess the baseline knowledge for how to be good spies, they just never bothered refining it because they're natural tanks, so it wasn't really necessary to be all that subtle. Once the situation's explained and the reasoning behind the necessity of stealth is clarified, they both start doing pretty well pretty quickly!

Except then Tianlang-jun and Yue Qingyuan get kidnapped and forced to go on a cross-country roadtrip to return both to the Sect and their preferred sex, leaving the would-be matchmakers all scrambling (along with the rest of the Sect, all of their allies, Zhuzhi-lang, an assortment of demons, and two extremely stressed transmigrators) trying to find the targets of their matchmaking hijinks!

Fortunately, the two turn up again, manage to prove that they are, in fact, themselves, return to their usual forms, and actually seem to like each other more now! Excellent, the hardest part's out of the way, now they just need to get them to start spending more time together and encourage this newfound tension thrumming between them!

Oh, also an all-out war between the demon and human realms due to a sudden, cataclysmic power imbalance has been avoided, but that's less important.

Thanks for the ask, and sorry for the long response time!

[kholran]

For the 35 Questions for Fanfic Writers: 4, 5 10, 12, 16, 19, 27, 34

Oh wow so many! Thank you very much!

4. Are there any writers that inspire you?

Plenty! I'm constantly inspired by other writers in this (DMBJ) fandom. @xantissa and @merinnan and @alxina have such steamy scenes and excellent action plots, and gifted the fandom with not only PingXieSang but Fox!Sang. @foxofninetales has a way with words that I am constantly envious of. @wild-feather writes SO MUCH and is an excellent cheerleader. @hils79 can do slice of life one-shots like no one else. I could honestly heap praises on so so many people (do you write for this fandom? THEN I MEAN YOU), and I draw little bits of inspiration from everything I read.

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of?

I have a couple, for very different reasons. Pyre, for being the start of my very own pool noodle, and for being the first multi-chapter fic I ever actually finished. And Ordinary World, for being the longest fic I've ever written (to date) and for the world-building. I also wrote the entire thing in just over a month, which is a level of productivity that will probably never happen again.

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for?

It's a toss-up between Canon Divergence and Fusion (characters from one thing put into the world/plot of another thing).

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about.

I started a RiSang Pretty Woman AU that I'm having a lot of fun writing so far. I'm going to try and sit on it until it's mostly done, so I don't feel guilty for not updating faster. But it's in the works!

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)?

Answered here!

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between?

...Yes? LOL Ok not very specific. But I've gotten inspiration for all three of those things. Like Pyre is technically "canon-compliant" with Sha Hai apart from the obvious. The major events happening in the background don't change much from canon, save for some tweaking of the (very very wonky) timeline. While Ordinary World and a few of my WIPs are totally AU. I do tend to try and weave at least some of canon (or at least similar events) into my AUs though, so I guess most of them count as "something in-between".

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received?

Oh gosh EVERY comment I get is enough to make my entire day! I've only (so far?) gotten one comment that wasn't nice. But maybe...if I absolutely had to choose...I'd say @crowbraiin's comments on Ordinary World as it was going up during the Rarepair Exchange. Seeing how happy they were about it made ME super happy too.

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of.

I've mentioned Ordinary World a few times already, so here's a little bit of RiSang's first meeting in that fic:

Under a cut because I didn't realize how long it was in Tumblr format

“Is there no other way for you to prove your identity?” Zhang Rishan asks.

His head snaps back up, because yes! He can do that! “I know Wu Xie is still alive. He knows me. If you take me to him, he can prove it to you.”

Liu Sang doesn't get the reaction he's hoping for. Zhang Rishan goes completely, eerily still, in the way that only large predators can. “Take you to Wu Xie?” he repeats, and there's ice in his voice. “How do I know you're not a Wang assassin? Perhaps the other fox shifter is the real Liu Sang, and you're merely an impostor that followed him here. Or maybe the two of you are here together to better your chances. How can I be sure you're telling me the truth, and not just what I want to hear so that I'll let you get close enough to Wu Xie to finish him off?”

“What!? No! I'm not a Wang!” Liu Sang protests, cursing the fact that no, he doesn't have a single thing on him to prove that he's telling the truth. “I don't want to kill Wu Xie!” Well, he doesn't want to assassinate him. He's wanted to murder the man plenty, particularly for dropping him into what was supposed to be a well-paying, simple job that would look good on his resume, but what turned out to be some kind of convoluted horror story that involved him being haunted. By paint, of all goddamn things.

“Then prove it,” Zhang Rishan says again, and while his features are still hard and unforgiving, his tone says there is actually some way for Liu Sang to do that to his satisfaction.

“How? How can I do that?” he asks, and he internally cringes at how desperate he sounds. But he has the distinct impression that being unable to prove himself right here and now means he's not going to walk out of this room again. And if he dies here, he won't have any chance at all to tell Wu Xie that his plan as it stands now is going to get him, and everyone else involved, killed. “Tell me what I have to do.”

Something in Zhang Rishan's expression shifts. Just slightly, almost imperceptibly, but for just a moment, it feels more like he's being regarded with appraisal than accusation. As if the fact that Liu Sang doesn't already know what he needs to do means something. “Turn around and take off the robe,” Zhang Rishan says after a moment.

Liu Sang chokes on nothing, and gapes at him. He can't be serious. How is that going to prove anything? “Wh—what?” he stammers, tugging the robe a little more securely around himself. He wants to gain Zhang Rishan's trust but that's...

Zhang Rishan gives him A Look, and sighs. “The mark of the Wang clan is a tattoo. A phoenix on the right shoulder,” he explains. “Show me you have no tattoo, and I will take you to Wu Xie.”

Oh.

“Oh,” he echoes aloud, but any relief he might have felt is short-lived. Not because he has any kind of tattoo. He definitely doesn't. But his back isn't without its marks, and showing them to anyone, much less a complete stranger, is asking a lot. He glances over his shoulder, and realizes belatedly it's a highly suspicious thing to do when he looks back and finds the accusatory expression has returned to Zhang Rishan's face.

Reluctantly, Liu Sang turns. It's the only way. He recognizes and accepts that, but it's a part of himself he doesn't like to think about, and certainly doesn't like to make visible. Pulling his hair away from the nape of his neck, Liu Sang lets the collar of the robe gape open, and shrugs it off his shoulders, though he does not let it fall all the way. Zhang Rishan hasn't earned that show from him yet. His shoulders hunch as he feels the cool underground air brush the sensitive burn scars that cover his upper back, and hears the sharply drawn breath Zhang Rishan takes at the sight of them. It makes him bristle despite his fear. He doesn't want anyone's pity.

What he's not expecting is the sure touch of a broad hand coming to rest flat against his shoulder. He'd been so preoccupied with his own anxiety that, for the second time in less than an hour, he's caught off-guard. He hadn't even heard Zhang Rishan move. Liu Sang jumps, startled, but Zhang Rishan's other hand comes to rest on his opposite shoulder, holding him steady, and not letting him dart away.

“The tattoos are only visible when the skin is heated,” Zhang Rishan says softly, his breath wafting against the shell of Liu Sang's ear, and his voice is so close, and so suddenly gentle. There's almost an unspoken apology in it. Liu Sang shudders, and he's honestly not sure if it's a result of exposing his scars to Zhang Rishan, or because he's instinctively responding to the soothing tone in his voice. Like the purring of a cat, it somehow eases some of his tension.

Zhang Rishan's hand seems to burn against his skin. The heat of it seeps down into his bones, spreading warmth through his veins despite the residual chill of the underground air. Liu Sang shivers again when he feels Zhang Rishan lean in to breathe warm air onto his skin, presumably in an attempt to speed the process along. He's a little taken aback by the intimacy of the gesture, and his response to it. Because he's very abruptly reminded of the way Zhang Rishan's teeth had clamped onto the back of his neck and held firm, and he can't help the intrusive and completely inappropriate thought that maybe he wouldn't mind if it happened again.

But then the hand and the breath are gone, and the moment with them, and Liu Sang is left a little breathless himself at how bereft and cold he feels without them.

Which is absurd. His life is at risk if he can't make Zhang Rishan trust him. He shouldn't be having feelings about being put through a test that will determine whether he lives or dies.

[hunxi-after-hours]

introducing the candidates for danmei awards 2.0 (2022)

I’m hard at work on (procrastinating on the writing of) this year’s danmei awards, so I figured I’d introduce all of the candidates since I’ve gone pretty far off the map at this point and don’t expect anyone to recognize most of these titles asdlfkads (别问，问就知北极圈的冷)

a table of contents!

《小蘑菇》 Xiao Mo Gu by 一十四洲 Yi Shi Si Zhou

《不小心救了江湖公敌》 Bu Xiao Xin Jiu Le Jianghu Gong Di by 六木乔 Liu Muqiao (有声漫画 audiomanhua season 1)

《无双》 Wu Shuang by 梦溪石 Meng Xishi

《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio

《师弟还不杀我灭口》 Shidi Hai Bu Sha Wo Mie Kou by 子鹿 Zi Lu

《默读》 Mo Du by priest

《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue by 七药 Qi Yao

《哏儿》 Gen’er by 南北逐风 Nan Bei Zhu Feng

《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang by priest

《金牌助理之弯弯没想到》 Jin Pai Zhu Li zhi Wan Wan Mei Xiang Dao by (nominally) 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang and (mostly) 传奇火箭队 The Legendary Rocket Team

#1: 《小蘑菇》 by 一十四洲 (full length crash course here)

genre(s): apocalyptic science fiction

mediums: original novel on JJWXC, audiodrama by 729声工厂 / 729 Voice Studio on 猫耳FM

in a world where genetic mutations threaten to destroy humankind and a man-made aurora dances across the sky each night, a sentient mushroom goes undercover in a human city to recover a part of himself that was stolen. a book that investigates humanity and personhood, sentience and benevolence, the role of order in a lawless world, how to face despair and the end times with dignity and meaning. also, mushroom-based comedy

#2: 《不小心救了江湖公敌》 Bu Xiao Xin Jiule Jianghu Gong Di by 六木乔 Liu Muqiao (有声漫画 audiomanhua season 1)

genre(s): wuxia

mediums: manhua on bilibili comics, audiomanhua by 回声漫响工作室 Huisheng Manxiang Studio on 猫耳FM. both ongoing

when Liu Jianghe, a feared demonic sect leader, turns up half-dead on Lu Qingyun’s doorstep, the reclusive jianghu doctor reluctantly saves Liu Jianghe’s life. but Liu Jianghe’s enemies are almost as numerous as his secrets, and soon, the two are dragged into the turmoil of jianghu intrigue and conspiracy. Lu Qingyun has his own hidden past, Liu Jianghe his own mysterious motivations, and neither of them are held back by something as silly as moral scruples. an audiomanhua about the vortex of jianghu politics, in which every single character is a villain

#3: 《无双》 Wu Shuang by 梦溪石 Meng Xishi

genre(s): wuxia, political intrigue

mediums: original novel on JJWXC

a few years after the end of 《千秋》 Qian Qiu, unrest returns to the newly-founded Sui Dynasty as domestic intrigue and foreign plots threaten to fracture the hard-won peace. Feng Xiao, an unbelievably handsome government official who moonlights as the sect leader of the demonic Fajing Zong, finds his unexpected match in the frail wandering Daoist Cui Buqu. But beneath Cui Buqu’s waning health are more secrets than Feng Xiao can guess at, and the fate of the Sui Dynasty rests on these two setting aside their rivalry long enough to work together. a book about roasting your rival first, saving your dynasty second, and maybe, just maybe, falling in love in the process

#4: 《问鹿三千》 Wen Lu San Qian by 光合积木 Voicegem, 吼浪文化 Houlang Studio, and 斗木獬编剧工作室 Doumuxie Screenwriting Studio (full length crash course here)

genre(s): wuxia, xuanhuan

mediums: audiodrama on 猫耳FM, ongoing

an intricate, interlocking serial narrative following four intertwining stories: a famous zither master investigating a new, mysterious rival, a cat yao impersonating a prince and the assassin sent to kill him, the obsessive quest of an emperor searching for a lost dao and the person who lived inside it, and two spirits seeking their forgotten pasts. oh, and a former king-turned-talking-rabbit. an audiodrama about fate and loyalty, devotion and trauma, memory and grief, love and loss

#5: 《师弟还不杀我灭口》 Shidi Hai Bu Sha Wo Mie Kou by 子鹿 Zi Lu

genre(s): xianxia, transmigration

mediums: original novel on 长佩 Changpei, audiodrama by 米波文化 Mibo Culture on 猫耳FM. AD trailer 1 translated here, AD trailer 2 translated here.

when college student Zhong Yan is drawn into the world of the xianxia novel he just finished instead of studying for his exams, his sympathy for the book’s antagonist lands him a near-impossible mission: stop the antagonist from killing more people, or risk the consequences of failure. now, if only he hadn’t transmigrated as the antagonist’s useless shixiong, who is also the witness of his first murder...

a book about how kindness can change the path of fate, often when you aren’t paying attention. also, an audiodrama about 锦鲤 letting loose asldkfajsdf

#6: 《默读》 Mo Du by priest

genre(s): crime fiction, detective fiction

mediums: original novel on JJWXC, audiodrama by 729声工厂 on 猫耳FM (currently banned), donghua and live action adaptations in progress that will never see the light of day because this book contains trenchant commentary about social issues and cycles of violence perpetuated by wealth and power (and therefore too transgressive for the censors rip)

ETA 12/23/22: the 《默读》 AD has returned! more of it has likely been censored, but I’ll take what we can get.

when a series of complex cases begins to shake Yan City, police inspector Luo Wenzhou must team up with Fei Du, the cryptic heir of a business empire, to uncover what may be a larger, decades-spanning conspiracy tying the crimes together. at the same time, a mysterious radio station releases reviews of classic novels in Western literature that all feature plots, events, themes, and crimes that bear uncanny resonances to the cases they are investigating. a book about the dark side of modern society, and the slow, grueling path out of the abyss and toward the light

#7: 《督主有病》 Du Zhu You Bing by 杨溯 Yang Su

genre(s): wuxia, political intrigue

mediums: original novel on 长佩 Changpei, audiodrama by 米波文化 Mibo Culture on 猫耳FM

the unlikely childhood friendship of a court official and an assassin must weather the rise and fall of regimes as well as grasping reach of their own backgrounds if they are to reach a distant, elusive happy ending. a book where the question “can things get worse?” is responded to with a hearty “always!” 

#8: 《海中爵》 Hai Zhong Jue by 七药 Qi Yao (full crash course here)

genre(s): PIRATES, secondary world fantasy, political intrigue

mediums: original novel on 长佩 Changpei, (free!) audiodrama by 株木琅玛工作室 Zhumulangma Studio on 猫耳FM, audiodrama ongoing

when a smooth-talking, deep-pocketed rival ship’s captain offers him a deal he can’t refuse, Hailian reluctantly agrees to assassinate someone for the mysterious Fang Tinglan. drawn into the complex tangle of Fang Tinglan’s schemes, Hailian must navigate intrigue, betrayal, and his own lost past to find his way to some place he can call home. a book about fighting and falling in love at the same time

#9: 《哏儿》 Gen’er by 南北逐风 Nan Bei Zhu Feng

genre(s): contemporary, entertainment industry

mediums: original novel on 长佩 Changpei, audiodrama by 音熊联萌 VoiceBear Alliance on 猫耳FM

in a few days, Ye Ling will graduate from the illustrious Tsinghua University with a master’s degree in thermal engineering, so in a few days, he’ll no longer have the time to pursue his extracurricular dreams of performing 相声 xiangsheng / crosstalk, a form of traditional Chinese stand-up comedy. but when the brash, bold, and charismatic Xie Shuangchen barges into his life, Ye Ling’s heart is swayed — and what if he decides to pursue his dreams? what if this is what he’s meant to do? a book about making it as working artists in Beijing while falling in love. also book about 相声 xiangsheng and Chinese opera, and adapting classical forms to the modern era

#10: 《杀破狼》 Sha Po Lang by priest

genre(s): political intrigue, alternate history, steampunk wuxia

mediums: original novel on JJWXC, audiodrama by 729声工厂 on 猫耳FM, live action adaptation trapped in censorship hell

from the moment the powerful fuel 紫流金 ziliujin was dug out of the ground, the path of history was destined to change. in an aging and weakening Liang Dynasty, two young men come of age as the kingdom’s foremost general and the court’s most capable minister. but malevolent forces both external and internal, domestic and foreign threaten to destroy them before they can save the dynasty they inherited. a book about saving your kingdom while extremely burnt out by the traumatic events of your youth. also, steampunk mechas and navigating the industrial revolution in the middle of war

#11: 《金牌助理之弯弯没想到》 Jin Pai Zhu Li zhi Wan Wan Mei Xiang Dao by (ostensibly) 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang and (mostly) 传奇火箭队 The Legendary Rocket Team, aka Fuck the Rocket according to their subtitles

genre(s): contemporary, entertainment industry

mediums: original novel on JJWXC, (free!) audiodrama by the 传奇火箭队 The Legendary Rocket Team on 猫耳FM

so full disclosure, I never read the original novel, and the 《弯弯》 audiodrama should be considered a lot of things but a faithful adaptation? lol absolutely not (their own words)

this is actually a 网配 wangpei audiodrama from 2015, and the energy on it is utterly unhinged. it is simultaneously a love letter to and satire of 非天夜翔 Fei Tian Ye Xiang’s novel 《金牌助理》 Jin Pai Zhu Li, a novel that follows the misadventures of hapless aspiring musician Xiao Yi as he finds a day job to pay the bills while struggling to make it in Beijing. said day job? working as a personal assistant to the extremely frosty, extremely handsome superstar actor Lu Zhou. absolute hijinks ensue

this audiodrama is far ahead of its time, and also completely upends traditional adaptation by rewriting the script satirically and cranking up the speed. I screamed; I laughed; I definitely missed a turn while driving. words can’t really describe this production for its sheer insanity, so I’ll just link it above and call it a day