#and did the same the di Feisheng

[acequinz]

Everyday I battle between the thought of Li Lianhua having a slow realisation of the feelings Fang Duobing and Di Feisheng holding for him vs Li Lianhua knowing from the start and just acting aloof because he doesn't have it in him to accept them when he's so close to death.

Like with the slow realisation, I imagine him feeling a little hope being able to love them the way they love him and it being squashed so he leaves them to each other because they are both such an integral part of him and he wants at least those parts to have them both.

But with always knowing, i imagine him going through every episode trying to ignore the need in him to give in and at least enjoy the time he has left but he doesn't have it in him to give them his heart when he knows it will be ripped from their hands anyway and in the end he leaves them his everything because he couldn't leave his heart behind.

[zishuge]

The only thing I remember is killing people. You say I'm someone who saves people. I won't kill you — but I don't believe you either. Do you think I'm a fool? You're not a fool. Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023) | Ep. 20

[a--ttano]

Difang beloved

[mx-myth]

Okay so mlc hanahaki au except when fang duobing leaves li lianhua when he discovers he's li xiangyi (because that's about where I am in the show rn) he starts coughing up stuff afterward. He's like wtf is happening I got better things to do but then suddenly he's keeled over feeling like he's hacking up his lungs but all that come out are seeds and slender white petals stained with blood. Finally he starts researching and oops, he's in love with someone? This is where he notices that his seeds look suspiciously like lotus seeds. He's in love with LI LIANHUA? Seriously? Baby boy is so furious but he eventually decides to keep this to himself. (Something something lotuses meaning honesty and goodness and the sick irony of xiaobao's feelings about llh at this moment and the petals being stained with blood)

Fast forward to post-canon. He never told llh. The flowers are slowly taking over his lungs and his meridians are slowly decaying due to the disease. For months he's been throwing up pieces of lotus pods. He chokes out whole lotuses sometimes.

Does this mean llh is still alive out there somewhere? Or is he yearning after a dead man? Xiaobao doesn't know which one is true.

Di feisheng totally knows about this (I don't actually know what happens post-canon so they're living in the lotus tower with huli jing). They don't talk about this. He doesn't know the flowers are for llh but come on, xiaobao, it's not that hard to guess. But he makes xiaobao tea to soothe his throat and cooks sometimes. They sit together in the mornings quietly and they both know they're wishing for llh to be back.

And then one time when dfs is out fdb coughs up red petals mixed in with lotus petals. This can't be happening, he thinks. He does a little asking around when he goes out for groceries and they're camellias. It makes him want to throw up a little when he's told they mean devotion and care (and in China it symbolizes two lovers which I thought was a little funny).

No one else stands beside him but dfs. No one knows him like he does. No one knows dfs like he does. The one person who knew them both truly is dead. They're connected by their devotion to a dead man. They've cared for each other through their ups and downs. Xiaobao knows that dfs isn't the cruel villain of the jianghu. Xiaobao himself is no longer a wide-eyed naïve little detective.

Who else could it be besides dfs? Who else could he love besides these two men who know (knew) him like no one else does? It's a sick parallel that, just like llh, he only has so long to live.

Does dfs know? If he reciprocates, does it truly change the fact that fang duobing (fang xiaobao) will die? The love was there but did it truly change anything? Did it save anyone?

Edit: guys you'll never guess what I just finished writing

[howdaretrashships]

Feihua Most Unhinged Moment Tournament: Semi Finals, Bracket 2

Tournament Masterpost

Propaganda:

Option 1: "You have my internal power in your body."

Di Feisheng does not know he's Di Feisheng. He's woken up in a strange place with no memories of who he is, much less anyone else. He's dressed in wedding robes, but he's surrounded by corpses. A blind man tells him he was supposed to marry one of them.

Two more men enter. Both are surprised to see him, but while the younger is angry, the elder says they're friends. Good friends.

Then he passes out.

He has a nightmare about his childhood. He's a killer surrounded by killers. A cruel master wants him to be ruthless and under his control. He grows up surrounded by corpses.

When he wakes, he puts a knife to the throat of the elder of the two men. The man is neither surprised nor afraid. Li Lianhua's name is on his hand in his own writing.

Li Lianhua says his name is A'Fei. He says A'Fei has helped save lives. As proof, Li Lianhua offers his own wrist.

A'Fei doesn't know his own name, but he recognizes the power flowing through his own meridians is the same as that flowing through Li Lianhua's. Li Lianhua looks at him with affection at the realization.

A'Fei only remembers killing, but he knows he wants Li Lianhua to live.

Option 2: Toasting the moon with nuptial wine on the 10th anniversary of the Donghai fight

You're here on this mountain for him.

(Well, actually, you were injured and betrayed by an old friend [again] and abducted here. But you were meeting that friend so you could rescue him.)

He was abducted and tortured by a woman that claims to love him. She plans to marry him (even though he's not willing). She's keeping him bound and helpless.

(He stopped you from killing her once. You wonder if he ever regrets that.)

You help him survive a 10% chance of repairing his meridians, and he comes out stronger for it. He says he'll repay you, but you know what the payment will be and you don't want it. (He won't listen. He wants you to live. He wants to fight you again.)

The room you're hiding in is decorated for a wedding (his wedding) and the wine you're drinking is nuptial wine (crossed-cup wine) and he says today is the day. Today, ten years ago, was the last time you crossed blades.

The last fight before you died, that he spent ten years healing from. The fight that broke the truce you negotiated together. The fight that shouldn't have happened - wouldn't have happened - if you had just talked to each other.

If you had trusted each other the way you do now.

And he looks at the moon and says the moon wasn't as bright as it is now. And he smiles.

And you realize it's actually always been this bright, you've always felt this way, you just didn't have the ability to recognize it back then. (His smile is soft as he agrees.)

So you toast to who you were, and who you are; with wedding wine, in a newlywed chamber. (And you don't tell him he won't get another fight.)

[rhymaes]

Mysterious Lotus Casebook // Anne Carson, Autobiography of Red

(continuation of x)

[kseniyagreen]

What makes me emotional is how, if you look beneath the surface of this whole “old rivals unite for a common cause” line, you can see how Li Lianhua is especially careful and even gentle with Di Feisheng.

Li Lianhua has a sharp tongue. And sometimes he uses it even with those he cares about. Even Fang Duobing had to experience this on himself once (although the purpose was to protect Fang Duobing).

But Li Lianhua never uses his sharp tongue on Di Feisheng. Not when Di Feisheng is in a position dependent on Li Lianhua. Not when Li Lianhua has good reason to be angry with him.

It’s as if, while everyone else sees Di Feisheng as a killing machine, Li Lianhua is the only one who sees him as a traumatized, very strong, amazingly strong-willed, but deeply wounded person.

Even when Li Lianhua knows nothing about Di Feisheng's past, he somehow senses this vulnerable part of him. And that’s also why he’s the only one able to recognize Di Feisheng in the form of a child.

And at times it feels as if there is a part of Li Lianhua that wants to shelter this big, strong and at the same time defenselessly sincere man from reality.

This special tenderness is even evident in the way Li Lianhua touches him.

Also, I think part of this caution is due to the fact that Li Lianhua is well aware of his potential power over Di Feisheng.

How... Li Lianhua could have broken Di Feisheng if he wanted, but he never wanted to.

But perhaps he fears that he will, eventually.

And also, as my friend very accurately noted, there is always a special distance between them, which makes them paradoxically closer than if this distance did not exist.

Because this is not a space of detachment - it is a space of mutual tension, like distance in dance

[incohorace]

in my beautiful mind modern au mlc features li lianhua as like. an ex child prodigy like the girls in dance moms but a tiny bit older + maybe for ballet ? and he disappears and the rumour spreads that he died of cancer and everyone is super sad and someone founds a cancer research charity under his name (the xiangyi foundation) etc etc. but hes actually secretly alive and just got overwhelmed because of the toxic ballet culture. and now at 30 hes an attractive but apparently mediocre dance instructor whose circle of friends consists almost entirely of middle aged women trying to get fitter. meanwhile di feisheng is still doing professional ballet but never forgot his childhood rival li xiangyi who was supposed to audition for the same part as him but never did because he 'died' and di feisheng never forgave him for letting him have the part so easily. makes the dihua dynamic like 10x funnier because it turns out when they had their big rivalry they were like. 12. their voices hadnt even broken yet...........and fang duobing is like the one hot young man who just joined the dance class with all the middle aged women and he gets on with them so well that li lianhua physically cannot escape him.

[arctic-scorpio]

(finally gets around to making this post; long posts are scary... anyways)

did anyone figure out what the red robe / clothing / armor?? jiao liqiao was caressing in episode 5 was? it's been on my mind for a while now because we never actually see di feisheng wearing it

this is the robe in question from episode 5:

on a casual watch it looks like di feisheng's red mengzhu robes, but it isn't! for one, he's wearing the standard red mengzhu robes at the presumed same time as this scene is occurring (before, during the welcome back ceremony; and after, at the private waterfall with wuyan):

so it can't be hanging out with jiao liqiao too. I guess theoretically it could be an optional outer robe that's part of the same set? but seeing as we never see him wear it, I'm not so sure...? and the standard red mengzhu outfit looks pretty complete and imposing already, to me?

so, what is this thing? was it even di feisheng's in the first place,,? the best guess I've come to after mulling it over is that... it's his wedding outfit that jiao liqiao prepared in advance and had waiting all these years (!??)

okay, so. reviewing the clues we have:

at first I was thinking that the metallic shoulderpad things make it look like armor... the closest outfit we see with similar metallic shoulderpads would be this one:

from episode 5, just coming out of seclusion; + episode 17-18 official mengzhu business breaking out yanwang xunming 阎王寻命 from prison by crashing qiao wanmian & xiao zijin's wedding

but that's kind of neither here nor there. at least it establishes affinity with the jinyuan alliance mengzhu position. it's clearly got Official / Formal jinyuan alliance vibes to it, which would make sense. esp regarding how jiao liqiao sees him and her position in relation to him (in the alliance, as his subordinate)

okay, here's a bunch of wedding robes:

xiao zijin's, from episode 17

a-fei's ghost groom clothes, from episode 20

jiao liqiao's, from episode 38

they all have the same two long ribbon trimmings down the front, all the way to the floor. complete with matchy sleeve ribbon decorations. this is similar to the episode 5 mystery red robe's gold ribbon design...

compare some non-wedding red robes:

li xiangyi's sect leader robes (episode 12)

jiao liqiao's standard red outfit #1 (episode 5)

jiao liqiao's homey vibes red outfit #2 (episode 17)

jiao liqiao's murdery vibes red outfit #3 (episode 34)

thoughts?? opinions? more theories or any extra clues??

[outer robe for official mengzhu battle armor that never got used in the show? or stashed wedding robe for non-consensual wedding plans that have been in the works for potentially 10 years and counting??]

[murderedbyhomework]

Following this knifey post from @peridot-tears, I did put this post in the reblogs but the video wasn't working so I'm also putting it here. Anyways thank you to OP for reminding me of this tidbit <3

I put the opening fight scene to play at 0.25 speed, and I think you can see that Li Xiangyi had a perfect shot Di Feisheng's back at this moment, and if he'd chosen to use the sharp ends of his sword here, Di Feisheng would probably be crippled if not dead, but instead he used the flat of the blade to smack dfs instead.

Following from OP's post, I do agree that in the end lxy wanted to kill dfs, but I think at the beginning both of them weren't aiming to kill. Dfs was fighting because he wanted the fight, and lxy was fighting bc he wanted his shixiong's corpse back so he could give sgd a proper burial. Here, lxy doesn't appear to actually want to kill dfs, and it's only until dfs pins him to the deck through his left shoulder and the poison flares up that lxy thinks dfs wants him dead, and therefore in his mind retaliates with the same lethal intent. As the audience, we're perfectly aware that dfs didn't poison lxy or kill sgd, but here lxy is operating under limited knowledge, and he doesn't have an omniscient point of view, so he thinks dfs was the one to instigate everything.

And in the end, I think that's what makes the donghai battle even more tragic. Even if lxy only went to fight dfs so he could give sgd a proper burial, I think both lxy and dfs kind of enjoyed themselves a little bit whole fighting, and both of them didn't want to kill each other under lxy had the poison attack+was incapacitated and thought dfs was out to kill him.

[xiaogesword]

when the mlc novel gave us 'this' scene and expected us to be ok afterward | part 1

Part 1 features a scene from Volume 1, chapter 16 - where Di Feisheng and Li Lianhua meet for the first time in ten years ~

Li Lianhua looked up and sighed softly, his eyes looking a little desolate and lonely as they shone in the silvery moonlight.

He turned around to gaze at the empty courtyard. There were several clusters of peonies there. At this time of year, only a few snow-covered branches were left. Nothing was attractive about them, but he still gazed at them.

He stood quietly in the courtyard for a long moment. Finally, he stepped to the side and turned to leave.

After walking slowly for about ten steps, Li Lianhua stopped in his tracks and turned his back to the flowers.

“Who’s here?” he asked calmly.

The courtyard had been empty just earlier as he stared at it, but now, standing there in the snow among the peonies, was a man. His hands were clasped behind his back, and it seemed as if he had been standing there for a long while.

“Your hearing is even better than before,” the man said flatly. His tone had no emotion like he was neither speaking to a friend nor an enemy.

“You were heavier on your feet when you landed… ” Li Lianhua smiled gently, “...Di Feisheng.”

Li Lianhua continued, “Even though you have taken the Weeping Guanyin, your injury from back then can’t be healed in merely a day or two. It's no wonder you don’t want to leave footprints on the snow, the sound of your movement could even be heard by peddlers and petty thieves.”

The man in the peonies was silent for a moment before he spoke.

"Even after everything that has happened to you, you're still the same Li Xiangyi after all."

Even though the man's tone didn't change much, there was no denying the sincere admiration in his voice as he spoke the words.

Li Lianhua chuckled, "Thank you. And you're still the same Di Feisheng after all. I thought there was no cure for your injury from our battle in the East Sea. How did you find out about the Weeping Guanyin? Human beings are so resourceful in this world."

Standing among the peonies, the man in the green robes and cloth shoes seemed a little surprised, "Your temperament has changed a lot over the years."

Li Lianhua smiled gently, "And yours hasn't changed at all."

Di Feisheng didn't answer.

~

(x.)

[a-memory-a-distant-echo]

wip wednesday

yeah, one more time: still wednesday somewhere!

i've actually written…like a genuinely shocking amount this week, somehow? like 'i have six documents open and have added at least 500 words to each of them in the last 72 hours' amount?

anyhow, in honour of that, have a preview of something that will almost certainly please no one: some fic inspired by this post and the tags that my terrible wife has added to it.

He's looking at her, finally looking at her, and then Shan Gudao starts talking and ruins things. His words, nearly mocking, are too rude to ignore, but their relationship is too precarious for her to push back. Besides: she wants him to leave them. He can distract himself with his pointless plans. She has things to do. So she simpers, instead. It works on him the same way it works on every other man foolish enough to look at her and see only beauty. 'My lord fought the three of them alone,' she says, glancing at Di Feisheng. He's not looking at her anymore. He's going to look at her. He's going to look only at her. She explains about the poison on his lackey—an easily tricked fool, a king in nothing but name—and he closes his eyes and looks down. With his powers suppressed, he looks weaker and less proud, almost fragile. He hasn't looked at her again. It makes her restless and reckless both; she flexes her hand against her thigh, thinking about stroking his face. Slapping his face. 'My lord,' she says, and there, he looks up, finally, beautiful and bloody and half dazed. He doesn't look sorry, though, not the way he should, not even as she reminds him about what he did to her. What she is willing to graciously overlook out of love for him. His face is still wrong though; this is an expression she's seen before. It's disgust. Disdain. How dare he. Were he anyone other than who he is, she would execute him for this. He's just a man, and she is by rights the emperor. He has no room to look down on her, now or ever, not after she ran his alliance, not after she did everything to make him the name that he is now. He'll bow to her one way or the other.

[dangerouscommiesubversive]

and found - outtakes

Hey, folks, I have weathered the first feast holiday of my winter season and had a super breakfast, and now I have to be at work but there's obviously nothing doing so it's time to post a couple of things that got cut from "and found," generally due to lack of narrative space for them.

***

girlboss

“Jiao Liqiao did some incredibly out of pocket shit, but she was kind of a girlboss. Or at least she knew how to be straightforward about, like, ‘hey, Di Feisheng, I want to tie you up and have insane sex with you.’”

Di Feisheng lets out a startled cough. “You're overestimating her willingness to explain anything ever.”

“Well, ok, yeah, but she knew what she wanted and she did something about it and I respect that as someone else who would, like, commit serial murders to hang onto you. And like. She looked at you and said, man, he's super hot and good at kung fu, the dick must be insane, and it's not like she was wrong.”

This time it's Fang Duobing's turn to cough, as Di Feisheng transitions into looking smug. “She had y–h–Bicha poison?”

“Oh, and god forbid women do anything.” Xiangyi glances at them and then cackles. “No, I mean, don’t get me wrong, if I could time travel I’d break her fucking jaw, but game recognize game.”

“I don’t. I don’t think that phrase applies here? Since you’re not evil?”

“You are seriously underestimating the degree to which you both make me feel like an insane person, if something happened to either of you nothing could get between me and the nuclear launch codes.”

“The. The Secret Service?”

“Shifu. I could take them! You don’t think I could beat up the entire Secret Service?"

Di Feisheng snorts. “And you worry about me getting on watchlists.”

***

“Of all of the technological innovations you’ve seen over the course of your life so far, what would you say is your favorite?”

(this one isn't even an outtake, it's just something I wrote down because it was funny even though there's never been a spot in the story where I could start having Xiangyi shoot interview questions at various immortals)

Fang Duobing: “I really like typewriters? Fountain pens were good, but getting a typewriter was game-changing.” (“Not word processors?”) “I mean. A word processor is fine, but it doesn’t go click in the same way.”

Di Feisheng: “Motorcycles.”

Wen Kexing: “Zippers are the greatest invention of the past eight hundred years. Although blenders are also good.”

Zhou Zishu: “Milkshakes and smoothies, any frozen drink. Unless that doesn’t count as technology, in which case hydroponics.”

Jing Beiyuan: “Hm. Noise-cancelling headphones. And there have been significant advances in the field of sex toys that I really appreciate, but I doubt you want to hear about that.”

Wu Xi: “Noise-cancelling headphones. Rubber gloves. Poison control hotlines.” (“You think of poison control hotlines as a technological innovation? What are they an improvement over?”) “They’re better than waking me in the middle of the night because some idiot’s eaten something they shouldn’t.”

Orlando: “Photography, and I do appreciate how easy it is to bathe now.”

Kenzaki Kazuma: “I mean, I haven't actually lived longer than a normal human yet, but smartphones are great.”

Kurenai Gai: “Ramune.”

Hob Gadling: “Modern painkillers are incredible, do you know what I would have given in the 1500s to be able to go round the corner store and get a bottle of paracetamol?”

Wen Ning: “Electric lighting is really nice.”

Song Lan: [ text messaging ]

Xiangyi: “If we don't get flying cars in the next hundred years or so I’m fully going to throw a tantrum. Unless Elon Musk is involved. Hey, A-Fei, can we kill Elon Musk?” (“You have a major study running right now.”) “Well, yeah, obviously we’d do it after that.”

***

Ultraman

Xiangyi bats his hand away without looking at the screen. “Cut it out, illegal to be horny at me during Ultraman time.”

Di Feisheng raises an eyebrow. “You said earlier that Ultraman makes you horny.”

“Which is true, and I stand by it, but this rise is important to the whole, like, emotional arc of the show and I don't want to miss it.”

“Not that I’m not enjoying this show, but I didn't think these aired in the USA.” Fang Duobing adjusts his glasses, apparently fascinated as he watches the transformation sequence. “How did you get to be such a big fan?”

“Oh, Uncle Xun had a couple of the old shows on, like, laserdisc, Yuze and I used to stay up all night watching them when we were kids. We got in fights about which one to put on, even, because he always wanted to watch Return because he has no fucking taste but then he’d make fun of me for wanting to watch Ace because he thought it ‘wasn’t fun’ or some shit.”

“I’ll be honest, I don't recognize any of those names? I watched the original show when it first aired, and Ultra Q before that, but then after that I was busy doing other things, so I never got around to watching anything after those. Didn't see the point, anyway, since Eiji had died, it felt weird watching his thing without him working on it.”

Xiangyi freezes, reaches for the remote very slowly, pauses the show, and turns. “Xiaobao, are you saying you knew Tsuburaya Eiji?”

Fang Duobing blinks. “Yes? Him and Kinjo Tetsuo, they were good men. I spent a few decades living in Japan mid-century.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Ah…sabotaging warships and fighter planes, mostly. Well, until I got arrested. I broke out, of course, but I couldn't manage to get out of the country, so I was living under an assumed name for a while, and then there was. I mean. I…” He trails off, looking haunted. “It's hard to stay angry at an entire country after you see something like that happen. So…I stayed. Someone always needs a doctor. I’d rather not talk about it. Ah, so, I set up a practice and one day a couple of men came in and asked if I’d come with them because there’d been an accident, and when we got there the first thing I saw was a monster? It was very startling.”

Xiangyi realizes that he's been holding his breath. “Was it Godzilla?”

“No, ah, Rodan. Anyway, someone had a sprained ankle and once I’d gotten it wrapped up I said, what were they doing here, and they said they were making a movie, and here was the man who’d designed the monster and he wanted to know what I thought of it, since apparently the face I’d made was very funny.” Fang Duobing smiles fleetingly. “I kept hanging around because safety standards in filmmaking at the time were…not good.”

[airgiodslv]

three of hearts

Mysterious Lotus Casebook, rated E.

Di Feisheng/Fang Duobing/Li Lianhua | Li Xiangyi (and all individual sides of that triangle)

“I wouldn’t have expected you to take up with someone like Fang Duobing,” Di Feisheng observes.

“I could say the same,” Li Lianhua deflects. “I didn’t know you were interested in men.”

Di Feisheng's gaze on his is so intent that it burns. “Yes, you did.”

Thank you, yletylyf, for bidding on me in the Fandom Trumps Hate auction, sharing your ideas, listening to my squeeful commentary as I rewatched the series, and being generally splendid. I'm so glad you were my winning bidder! ❤

[acequinz]

Another thought on the modern au where FDB and DFS cultivated immortality and reunited with LLH.

Li Lianhua clearly does not seem to remember any memories from life before where he had lived and suffered with them.

Maybe it was the absence of those memories that made this Lianhua so callous and borderline mean.

"So are either of you gonna explain why you dragged me or are you going to stare at me for another half hour before following me to my house and murdering me in front of my cats?" Li Lianhua spoke, taking a big obnoxious sip of his boba tea.

"nothing like that, we just needed to talk to you because-" Fang Duobing stopped, trying to think of a reason that wouldn't send him running.

"is it a bet then?" Li Lianhua interrupted the pause, "you wanna see which one of you can get into my pants first for bragging rights?"

Di Feisheng huffed at that, "what kind of bet would that be? Utterly preposterous."

"oohh that is a big word, did not think you would have it in you. But then again I am too hot to be a bet" Li Lianhua nodded with a playful smile, he leaned over with his cheek on his hand and looked between them, "do you want me to be your third so you can figure out that intense needy heat between you two?"

"wha-”

"no-"

"why would you -"

"are you crazy- "

"okay that's enough, you are both cute enough so I will consider it." Li Lianhua exclaimed, sliding them his card and left them still stuttering over his previous words.

"he's different" Fang Duobing grumbled, rubbing his face still trying to grasp what had happened.

"Hmm not that much," Di Feisheng breathed out a simple adoring chuckle, the familiar buzz from years ago lighting up under his skin.

"I can't believe he just said that," Fang Duobing whined, letting his head rest on the table.

"he was always fast at clocking things like this” Di Feisheng hummed, patting the younger one the head.

"he was wrong though!" Fang Duobing shot up, "we already figured everything out!"

"mhmm but we still need him as our third," Di Feisheng added, looking amused through and through.

"aren't you taking this in too easy a stride?" Fang Duobing grumbled but agreed anyway.

"Li Xiangyi is Li Xiangyi always," Di Feisheng pressed a kiss to the side of his face letting it blaze up in redness.

"shut up! That's my Li Lianhua!" Fang Duobing pouted and snatched the card that was left behind on the table.

"they are the same person Xiaobao~" Di Feisheng drawled before getting up and following him.

[ahfeiandhisdao]

WIP WEDNESDAY 🥂 : SLUMBER

Highly inspired by artwork of @carduelis-art :

Slumber : A Way of Affection Ch 1 part 1

Pairing : Di Feisheng/Li Lianhua

CW : Mention of trauma, Violent flashbacks

As usual, A-Fei was perched on the railing of Lotus tower's second floor. As much as he hated being in the out, in the noisy swirl of bustling streets, Li Lianhua was determined to keep his cover on. Hence the mask on his face, hence keeping a low profile. He briefly scanned the people hurrying around and then his eyes was stuck back to the tower owner bickering for five taels of silver.

A-Fei snorted, only in last month he showered the 'Physician Li' with ingots of silver and gold by merely doing some 'work'. And he was met with Lianhua's continuous nagging about how this would totally blow his cover and how that smart kid will figure it out Di Feisheng's identity and what not. As if the Tianji manor's young master had the understanding of complexity or ability to connect the dots. How many times was it that he got drugged and abandoned on roadside by Li Lianhua? It is, simply put, hilarious.

"A-Fei!" The annoying kid was shouting again. He was always breathing on Di Feisheng's neck, trying to get on his nerves and leard to a fist fight. Who knows what he was upto now.

"A-Fei, go buy some meat for us and ask the butcher to pack some bones for Hulijing." He threw a silver ingot at Di Feisheng who caught it with two fingers, mildly annoyed.

He wanted to target the kid's head and smash the ingot down but no, if he did that, Li Lianhua would nag and scold him for at least three months. He can accept Lianhua's nagging for a life time but nagging *about* Fang Duobing? He would rather drown in a cupful of water. (Lies.)

"Buy it yourself." He throws the ingot back, stood up from the rails and idly marched inside.

"How disrespectful!" He could hear Fang Duobing blabber a hundred things. It was only a matter of seconds before he would start yelling about complaining to Li Lianhua.

"How dare you treat me like that, you egomaniac! Wait until Li Lianhua gets home! I'll settle this score with you! You ungrateful prick-"

And there it was. He tuned the noise off on demand. Something that he learned to do when he was only six years old. Comes in handy to ignore all those big mouths upfront.

‘What I don't hear, can't bother me’.

The first day he stayed the night in the lotus tower, Li Lianhua tried to make him share a room with that spoiled brat. That was not going to happen. So he stayed the night up sitting on the makeshift roof biting back the urge to claim the tower master's bed instead.

He won't say he never acted on it. He often stood in the doorway to the tower master's room. His silk underdress fluttering around, untied and barely draped on his back. He hated the feeling of the fabric on his chest when he slept. It's a constant reminder of something moving around, crawling under his skin. The cool breeze would comfort him better.

But he would see the man curling on bed, coughing the life energy away, how his disrupted meridians would be in a tornado of the poison's attempt to take over once world's best martial artist. Di Feisheng wanted to laugh, at the irony. Of the shared fate of the hero and the villain of the same story.

Just like one of those days, he was once again standing in the doorway to Li Lianhua's humble room. He remained motionless until another round of cough crumpled the tower master to a foetus stance on the bed. Despite the hurricane of hesitance in his mind. Di Feisheng stepped foot inside the room without Li Lianhua's permission.This was not the first time he had done that, but for some reason, it felt like crossing another boundary Li Lianhua deliberately put up.

That too, is not something Di Feisheng has done for the first time.But, it filled him with a strange sense of sadness. Each step towards the shaken figure, as if was one step closer to an injured, betrayed Li Xiangyi by Dong Hai.Li Lianhua could not stop coughing, his bones shaking with the intensity. Di Feisheng quickly poured a cup of warm water and grabbed the back of Lianhua's neck as if he was holding a thrashing kitten. He forcefully made the other drink water, while using Beifeng Baiyang to suppress a wave of Bicha.

Lianhua woke up amidst this, blinking slowly as his speech slurred, "Di Meng Zhu, Why are you here?" Feisheng did not answer that question, retorting with, "Pick a struggle, Li Lianhua. Either suffer from bicha peacefully or suffer from your weird habit of misplaced prioritisation."

Lianhua snorts as the coughing slowly died down. "Your snark remained as sharp as your dao. Didn't it?"

"And your ability to prioritise the right thing remained as dull as your humor." He gathered up the fallen quilt and wrapped it around Lianhua. "Did I wake you up by coughing too hard?" Di Feisheng shook his head.

"Then what are you doing in my room in the middle of the night." Lianhua interrogates, to which the alliance leader replies."Contemplating my life choices. Now make space for me."

Lianhua promptly rolled his eyes, "you are making such demands as if you own the lotus tower." Feisheng shrugs, "Your tower is made from my luxury boat. Technically, I do."The silence hung thick between them as Lianhua blinked, speechless."You-," he started, almost immediately getting cut off by Feisheng."- noticed? Ofcourse I did. Do you know how much I spent to achieve such good quality of wood and craftsmanship? Both attention and wealth." He physically pushed away the lean frame of Lianhua wrapped in quilt. Taking the space up as he laid down beside him ，Feisheng stared at the low roof of the room, eyes tracing the dull edges. Deciding it wasn't worthwhile to nag this piece of brick out of his room, Lianhua laid down himself.

"Say, Li Xiangyi, what made you decide to be a hero back then?" Di Feisheng asked, staring into void.Lianhua rolled his eyes, once again, "Di Mengzhu, what makes you speak to the dead? How many times do I need to say that Li Xiangyi is long dead?"

"Classic Xiangyi, avoiding a question with a question. Now, answer my question or I will tell that Fang brat about your real identity." Di Feisheng deadpanned, eyes still resting on the wooden ceiling.Lianhua sighed, "Fine, Li Xiangyi wanted to improve the world, to bring peace and eliminate the causes that could lead to war and violence. To give everyone a second chance to do the right thing."Feisheng nodded slowly, "That is very Li Xiangyi like." With soft snort, Lianhua elbowed Di Feisheng, "Enough. Why don't you tell me about how you became the cult of devils, Jinyuan's leader? What drove you to the position?"

"Cult of devils, my foot." Di Feisheng laughed, "it's you people who gave us such jaw breaking names. I on the other hand, didn't even realise when I became a leader. The only thing I looked for was everything I did not have. Wealth, control, Victory. And one day when I looked back, there were a bunch of people behind me. All refugees, chased away, unwanted men and women gathered, bowing to a young arrogant flamboyant Feisheng. Ready to slave their lives to another who proved himself to be stronger than they were." Lianhua blinked, eyes tracing the edge of Di Feisheng's face, illuminated by sparse moonlight sneaking through the slight spaces between the wooden planks. Silver hues on golden skin.Was this man always so beautiful?

"Did you? Made them slaves under the influence of your unbowed strength?" He teased, smiling. Feisheng closed his eyes, shaking his head, "No. I gave them what nobody could, what I always longed for and realised was the highest of all wealth. You heroes could call me selfish for imposing my wish on others."

"And it was?"

"Freedom. Freedom to do the right thing."

"So... You were kind of a hero yourself, weren't you, Philanthropist Di Shenyi?" Lianhua laughed. Di Feisheng visibly cringed, "I only did it for the people who did me some good. I never backtrack from repaying those who help me. Heroes don't pick and choose, Li Xiangyi."

Lianhua chuckled, "Yes, yes. Whatever you say, Di Mengzhu. There was a reason why I chose you to make a pact to bring peace together."

The silence hung low between them for a while, before Di Feisheng started laughing."So, Li Xiangyi is still not dead after all. Is he?"Lianhua immediately turned away, pulling the quilt over and tucking himself in."You speak too much, Di Mengzhu. Go to sleep."

[End of Chapter 1]