#also he isn’t given the choice since lang ying dies on his own lmao

[mxtxfanatic]

There’s something very tragic about the first king of Yong’an, Lang Ying that I feel both reflects Xie Lian in his almost-corruption era and also serves as a lesson for Xie Lian during his second banishment era.

Lang Ying loses his wife and young son to the drought in the city of Yong’an, only to be faced with the cruelty of the Xianle court who would rather preserve themselves and their status than help their suffering citizens. Xie Lian is the only noble to help him (by preventing Qi Rong from arresting him for stealing coins from a fountain, offering the man water, helping him bury his son, and then offering him his priceless pearl earrings that Xie Lian had used in the ill-fated Lantern Festival parade), and in return Lang Ying leads the Yong’an refugees in overthrowing the nation of Xianle and installing the nation of Yong’an over its ashes, the drought long over. In this ironic twist, Xie Lian breaking with the Xianle nobles to save Lang Ying’s life caused Xie Lian to lose his kingdom and loved ones, reversing their positions from beloved prince and impoverished commoner to beloved king and banished commoner. Now, they’ve both experienced a mirrored tragedy, though with different causes.

You’d think this would be a story of a man getting his due after experiencing injustice at the hands of the precious kingdom’s rulers, but no. Lang Ying is not satisfied with this takeover; he feels guilty. When Xie Lian goes to kill him, he still has the red pearl earring Xie Lian gave him. He tells Xie Lian that he always wanted to thank him for having given it to him, even if the help had come too late. This is also not the story of a man exacting vengeance for having his kindness repayed with “treachery.” Yes, Xie Lian in that moment was caught up in how Lang Ying seemed to have lived a “good life” and died relatively peacefully, but in later refusing to demolish the original city of Yong’an after realizing the error of following resentment, I feel like Xie Lian was at least partially influenced by Lang Ying’s death.

Lang Ying became king of a new kingdom, but he never got his wife and son back. In fact, his unwillingness to move on from the past, his regrets and fears and resentment, led to him (willingly!) being infected by the Human Face Disease. Yet on some level, he knew his thirst for vengeance—particularly in destroying the life of the one man who tried to help him—led to him being puppeteered by an even greater monster and having to forsake the part of him that wanted to repay a young man’s kindness. He didn’t die a proud king; he died a broken man filled with regrets. Xie Lian could have very well followed this same path: never releasing his regrets and resentment of what led to the fall of Xianle, always chasing those former pleasant memories by disgracing your morals in the present, and eventually being deposed by a victim of his actions. He consciously chooses not to.

Xie Lian is able to learn the lesson Lang Ying wasn’t given the chance to, and in doing so, he breaks out of the cycle of vengeance that Jun Wu was attempting to manipulate him into. I feel like his interactions and history with Lang Ying, as a result, would be good sources of heavy reflection and inspiration for his actions in his second banishment and third ascension.