#and i mean. many people have tried to kill fan xian and will again. but the royals can afford it

[mira-likes]

Hearing Lin Gong say confidently:

“I’ll kill Fan Xian! Let him come into my courtyard, and then my guards will ambush him! Don’t worry, I can bear the responsibility!”

… makes it so clear how at this point, none of these people know who Fan Xian is. Can even the Prime Minister’s son bear the responsibility for killing a secret prince and the apple of Chen Pingping’s murderous eye? This is all way above his pay grade. If Lin Gong had succeeded in killing Fan Xian, he would likely have doomed himself and his whole family, and he has absolutely no idea

[silviakundera]

Joy of Life Episode 21 Liveblogging

This is my first watch, so don't tell me secrets ;)

The episode opens with an elaborate farce. The emperor & Chen Pingping are playing their roles with gusto (what? raise the army? 😮) and the 2 princes are like, the audacity of this bitch 🙄

It's the most relatable the princes have ever been

ML looks kinda sad.

Chen Pingping actually trying to stop the marriage but the prime minister has converted into a shipper

Glad they didn't try to play it like the Prime Minister could be so easily fooled.

Emperor & Chen Pingping can't let anyone be aware of Wu Zhu? INTERESTING.

Prime Minister thinking the ultimate killer of his son was the emperor is for the best (for our protagonist)

spend time with Wan'er ? er idk if that's a good idea right now

Prime Minister vs Royal Princess throw down!! PM has some care for his kids. I'm a little fascinated that PM has clocked Fan Xian's good person vibes & wants them for his clan like any other rare (and thus valuable) item. Princess is more interested in consolidating power. So much toxic divorced parents energy.

"kill them all, throw them in the lake" feudal times SUCKED. I appreciate historical dramas that don't downplay that

This Wan'er and Fan Xian meeting is gonna be sooooooooooo intensely awkward

"I feared his death was related to you" OK BUT IT WAS LMAO

It's actually a weak point for me that the screenwriter is dancing around this by writing Fan Xian going to murder the dude and having to be fought back, then again plan to go murder the dude but loses the track, then his mentor does it for him. So that the protagonist can have "clean hands" and get the girl as well as the justice. WEAK.

If I was invested in this ship it would really bother me and continue to grate that if she knew the truth she wouldn't want to be with him. But my suffering in the first arc of episodes tainted them for me so, whatever. Enjoy the fruits of your duplicity, ML. 👌

I like when cdramas address often how the justifications for war are manufactured by governments and how war leads to suffering for innocent people just trying to live their lives. Wan'er can want to stab ML dead for her brother but balks at raising banners for battle over it.

🍗 is like, I blamed you today. Don't be mad. Ok yeah and he's misleading you. That's bad. BUT. BUT. GIRL. You acknowledged your brother tried to kill him and had his best friend murdered? Where is the big displays of regret and grief for that? You held this man in your arms as his heart broke. YOUR BROTHER DID THAT. No... I don't even know what I expected here but just something. I expected her to be super torn about feeling bound to kill him but also knowing her brother reaped what he sowed, knowing her brother was committing treason + tried to murder the man she loves and promised to marry.

It feels like.... She told her bestie if there was conflict between family and loved one, that she'd hope justice would be done. And bestie took that to mean that she shouldn't hide the brother's guilt and justice matters. But it appears that what 🍗 meant was that she'd serve justice on behalf of her brother and take his side. (Brother could have tried to murder ML five times and she'd expect it to play out like, 😍 he loves me & has his reasons 😍and ML would just have to escape with his life and not fight back if he wants to still marry her.) Interesting how bestie and me the viewer misinterpreted her. Bestie is from a military family who would have strong feelings about treason, so that tracks.

None of this has me worked up, thank goodness, because it's not my ship 😇

Chen Pingping and Minister of Revenue having it out on the street about the best career path for their kid! BIG "we both loved the same woman" energy. I am wondering who ML's biological father is and do we really know. Officially unofficially Minster of Revenue is claiming him. But she wasn't his legal wife. Was she even his concubine? How many of these guys were in love with her or sworn brothers to her, and now they all wanna parent her kid lolololololol

ML is grappling with how his actions have impacted so many people. It's good that he cares, that none of this is easy. It makes him likeable.

The drama is using Sister Ruoruo to directly address ML's lie about his involvement in Lin Gong's death.

Oh!!! This was cool: ML didn't miss how erratic Crown Prince was behaving and wonders what is the real truth behind the competency of that faction. I HAVE BEEN WONDERING TOO. (pats seat beside me) come here, let's chat

Now we're back in CP HQ where he again seems perfectly calm and creepy and in control. YES the person we saw with Sister Ruoruo is his real self. He's pretending to be an occasional fuck up. (But as smart as the emperor is...if you and I and the ML can pick up the inconsistency, he can't be fooled..right?)

Chen Pingping shows up to intimidate Si Lili and start stepping on everyone's necks for Fan Xian ("An old friend". I have a CRAZY theory - do the main players from that generation know Mom was a time traveler and now they suspect Fan Xian might be her reincarnation or another time traveler?)

Uncle Wu is back to be mysterious!

No one REMEMBERS exactly what happened back then when mom was alive. We've been teased with this more than once. Because she was a time traveler and changed history? Or... Uncle Wu's comments made me consider an alternative, was she The Author who entered her own story???????

[canary3d-obsessed]

Restless Rewatch: Nirvana in Fire, Episode 02

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning: Spoilers for All 54 Episodes!

A Cunning Plan

Let's start by checking in with the in-progress schemes. Nirvana in Fire features many, many overlapping schemes that stretch across multiple episodes.

Princess Nihuang's Marriage: Princess Nihuang is betrothed to a dead guy, and that's fine with her. If she needs tender emotional care she's got Xia Dong. Xia Dong is married to a dead guy so this works well for both of them.  

The Emperor wants to marry Nihuang off, because she's got a loyal heap of troops at the southern border, and he's a paranoid old fuck, who doesn't like anyone to have the power to overthrow him. Marrying her will sort of force her to hand her troops off to her impulsive younger brother, or something.

The Emperor has a soft spot for Nihuang, however, so he's allowed her to set a bunch of impossible conditions on the marriage, including a martial arts contest. NIF is a hybrid palace drama and Wuxia drama, so there are courtesans and backstabbing and sneaky maids and sneaky eunuchs but also, people can fly.

The two main power seekers, Prince Yu and the Crown Prince, have flunkies that they want Nihuang to marry, but their flunkies suck at martial arts, so if they want her to marry one of their dudes, there will have to be cheating.

Note that Nihuang's good friends Jingrui and Yujin are taking part in the contest to marry her, which might be weird, except they both know she can beat their asses so they seem to just be joining in for fun & prestige. 

The fact that she doesn't want to marry either of these loveable cuties means that she's pretty serious about staying betrothed to her first love, despite his apparent deadness.

(more after the cut!)

Recruiting Mei Changsu / Killing Mei Changsu: Team Prince Yu wants to recruit Mei Changsu. Team Crown Prince wants to recruit him or kill him, if recruiting him doesn't work. 

Mei Changsu acts like this is so tedious; all he wants to do is rest. But they only want to recruit him because he and his pal Lin Chen made them believe he is the answer to their problems.  Whenever Mei Changsu acts annoyed at something, it's probably something he actually orchestrated. "Pork chops again?" (secretly buys more pork chops).

The Duke Qing/ Landgrab Case: In Episode 1, the Jiangzuo Alliance protected some witnesses against Duke Qing in an enslavement/land grabbing case. It's difficult for me to find anything about historical land grabbing in China because Google is full of 21st century land grabbing information. Anyway Duke Qing works for Prince Yu, so the witnesses are (whether they mean to be or not) on The Crown Prince's side. The Emperor has an interest in this case, because land grabbing is bad, apparently, even by corrupt-emperor standards. Xia Dong is in charge of investigating.

The Chiyan Army Case: This is the big conspiracy that the entire show is about. 11 years ago, the Emperor received evidence that Prince Qi, Lin Xie (Mei Changsu's father), and the entire Chiyan army were going to rebel. This was supposedly reported by Xia Dong's husband, Nie Feng, before Lin Xie supposedly killed him. The emperor ordered executions for everybody.

Prince Jing thought this was a bunch of bullshit and didn't hesitate to say so, which got him sent off to distant regions to do army things for years at a time, and landed him a place high up on the emperor’s shit list.

The Hazelnut Pastry Scheme: This is a small scale, benevolent scheme, in which Concubine Jing will eventually stop making cookies with hazelnuts in them, because Mei Changsu is allergic to them. 

Ok, that’s the scheme roundup for this episode. On with the show!

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting

After a quick expository chat between the Emperor and Gong Gao, laying out the reasons for the Nihuang Marriage Scheme, we go to Prince Yu’s place to watch superhot Meng Zhi, commander of the emperor's guards, whip some ass. Not, alas, literally.  Despite his leather shoulder thingies and his handsome beard, and his commanding ways on a battlefield, when it comes to interpersonal relations he is pretty much a labrador retriever puppy in human form.

Meng Zhi is kicking the asses of Prince Yu’s fighters to determine if they're qualified to compete in the Marriage contest. They are not. He points out to the Prince that they can't put such terrible wimps into the competition because it will make the country’s defenses look weak.  

This beatdown is observed by Prince Yu and by Xie Yu, who Prince Yu thinks is on his side. Xie is 100% on the Crown Prince's side, but is carefully hiding that fact; he has his son working for Prince Yu as part of his cover.

In determining how severe an ass kicking is, everyone talks about how many moves it takes to defeat someone, like it's chess. Meng Zhi can beat literally anyone else in the show. He's number two on the Langya List of fighters & we never meet #1.

Fe Liu Was Fast as Lightning

Mei Changsu is hanging out in the garden at Xie manor while Fe Liu jumps around. Fe Liu wants Mei Changsu to play Roblox with him, and pouts when MCS opts for staying in the garden and reading a book.

Fe Liu is utterly devoted to Mei Changsu; I really love their relationship. Fe Liu’s backstory isn't fully explained in the show, but apparently he was raised from an early age to focus on being extremely lethal, and didn't spend much time learning to talk or other skills, making him the epitome of the asynchronous/ gifted teen. Mei Changsu isn’t who raised him to be like this; MCS and Lin Chen rescued him, which is why he is now Mei Changsu’s personal murder pet.

Fe Liu is both a complete fantasy character and also a really believable teen, beautifully acted by Leo Wu, who DMBJ fans know from Tomb of the Sea, and who Xiao Zhan fans know from Battle Through the Heavens.

Fe Lui promptly gets into a fight with Meng Zhi, who's visiting Xie manor. All Fe Liu was doing was leaping about the rooftops like an assassin, but since Xie Yu is the sort of guy that a lot of people would like to kill, Meng Zhi doesn't think this is so good. They have a hilarious, entertaining fight with many, many wire-assisted moves.

They're pretty evenly matched, and Xie Yu watches them with extreme interest until Mei Changsu shows up and tells Fe Liu to stop. Xie Yu is watching because he needs to know how many dudes he should send to assassinate Mei Changsu. Answer: more. Always more.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately since it’s probably all part of MCS’s plan) Fe Liu's extreme skilz make it obvious that his boss is someone important. Mei Changsu discusses this with Jingrui and Yujin in an open-air setting where Jingrui's brother Xie Bi can totally hear them.  In no time flat, father and son have reported his identity to their respective princes.

Over at Prince Yu's place, Qin Banruo and her awesome eye makeup join the party. She's Prince Yu’s advisor/manipulator, working for the (fallen) Hua kingdom, led by the (deceased) Princess Xuanji . She has a network of spies who work for her, that she deploys for Prince Yu's schemes. Her ultimate goal is not to help him, however, but just to fuck up the Da Liang Empire, which conquered the Hua.

(Nearly) Everybody Hates Jingyan

Xia Dong heads out on her assignment in the Land Grab Case, and Nihuang goes to see her off. They talk about gender expectations and how annoying it is to have to marry a dude, and briefly hang out being WLW goals with their mutual devotion, excellent fashion sense and deadly fighting abilities. Nihuang, in particular, wears the prettiest things and also stands at attention like she's commanding an army; I adore her.

They're interrupted by the arrival of Prince Jing, who is greeted cheerfully by Nihuang and eye-rollingly by Xia Dong.  

He's wearing an awesome brass-and-blue armor that we never see again after this episode. It's too bad - it's a good color for him and it has a cool vampire cloak with a high collar.

Prince Jing takes the opportunity to snark at Xia Dong about her investigation and the Xuanjing Bureau’s penchant for inventing finding conspiracies, and then rides off before she can reply.

This leads Nihuang and Xia Dong to get into their chronic argument about the Chiyan Conspiracy and the Lin family, and then Xia Dong hits the road.

Prince Jing and his subordinates stand around outside the palace waiting to report to the emperor while the emperor ignores him. They get sweatier and sweatier while they wait. which makes me like the Emperor a little bit more.

Prince Yu and CP Xian are busy sucking up to the emperor as they look at a manuscript. They are a bunch of assholes and you can see that Gao Zhan isn't a fan of this bullshit.

Eventually Gao Zhan reminds/persuades the emperor to summon Prince Jing, whose brothers snark at him like a couple of 12 year old girls while he radiates manly vigor and handsomeness.  

Consort Jin is bummed that she can't see Prince Jing for another 5 days, and her maid sidekick says random comforting things. This maid, Xiao Xin, is actually a little snake, who works for Qin Banruo's network. We don't learn that until sometime later.

All of the maids have this same hairstyle. If you are a westerner and you think this hairstyle is crazy, have a look at some Roman and Byzantine historic hairstyles. I'm not saying this hairstyle is NOT crazy, mind you; just that crazy hair was a feature of many, many historical empires.  

Consort Jing has someone deliver her hazelnut cookies to Prince Jing; she doesn’t know about Mei Changsu yet so hazelnut is still on the menu. Nicest mom. Also smartest, helpful-est mom, as the story develops.

Suck-Up Contest

At Xie manor, Xie Bi tries to get Mei Changsu to go meet the Empress, who has stopped by with Nihuang specifically to meet him, as part of the Recruit Mei Changsu scheme. Jingrui says nope, fuck that, he's not going to be a pawn in your political games, fuck off. We get to see Jingrui being steely and righteous, which is both cool and hot. Nihuang should totally marry him.

The Empress is annoyed that Mei Changsu doesn't show up, and Nihuang is like, it's ok, I don’t actually give a fuck about meeting new men. But I did want to meet his murder puppy Fe Liu.

Grand Princess Liyang says they don’t need to bother meeting pugilists, despite her son being one and her supposed best friends/co-parents also being pugilists.

Grand Princess Liyang will probably be glad Mei Changsu didn’t come to her little party, once she realizes what tends to happen when Mei Changsu comes to a party.

Then we go to the suitor tournament, in which everyone more or less sucks.

The princes really want to go over to Mei Changsu’s balcony to meet him, and they have a hilarious silent interaction where they both try not to be the first one to move. They finally cave, and go together.  

Then they compete to see who can be the most cringe and blow the most smoke up Mei Changsu's ass.

They ply him with gifts and flattery, which he mostly manages to resist.

Cookie Time with Granny

Then they get summoned to go meet the grand empress, who is (I think) the mother of the previous emperor, the grandmother of the current emperor, and the great grandmother of basically every highborn character of the current generation, including Nihuang and Yujin, although it’s not clear where they sit in the family tree. Historically, cousin marriage - particularly of maternal cousins - was no big whoop in China, so it's not surprising that a lot of nobles would share a great-grandmother.

The Grand Empress is a sweet lady with dementia. She can’t figure out who the hell anyone is. First-time viewers feel the same way.  

Her dementia is pretty well depicted, unlike a lot of TV dementia, or at least it matches up to my experiences with my own elders. She remembers the distant past more vividly than recent times; when she understands who’s in front of her she connects with them emotionally, but she falls off track easily. And she projects the identities of people she misses onto people who are around her.

Like many other grannies, no matter who is visiting, she wants them to 1. get married 2. produce offspring 3. eat something, you’re so skinny

When Mei Changsu meets Granny she immediately calls him Lin Shu, either because she recognizes him or because she really misses Lin Shu, or both. She calls Nihuang over and joins their hands, and Mei Changsu grabs onto Nihuang's hand and holds it for a while.

Everyone thinks it's adorable that Granny has dementia and is confused about that guy who was horribly killed, except Nihuang, who was already checking Mei Changsu out and is somewhat verklempt. She might have to revise her anti-man feelings a little bit.

Everyone leaves, and Nihuang hits up Mei Changsu to take a walk with her, casually mentioning that she could have his hand cut off for touching her, but since she's not in the mood, he's ok.

She prods a bit to find out what he's doing in town and what he's up to. “Do you have a girlfriend? Like a serious girlfriend or just a stalker who works for you?” She asks him which of the two princes he's going to support, but they’re interrupted by a eunuch beating a slave child. That’s the price you pay for trying to have a date in the palace, I guess.

[foularcadebanana]

Keeping Your Promise

Prompt for Day 21 ‘Rustle’ and Day 22 ‘Warmth’ for the Untamed Fall Fest 2020. Listen, I spent like two days trying to make this readable, so enjoy the feels-storm!

Summary: Wei Wuxian may not have kept his promise, but Jiang Cheng makes sure to keep his.

Wei Wuxian knew that he had lost all rights of calling Jiang Cheng his brother. He had broken the promise that had meant most to him, and so he couldn’t expect Jiang Cheng to keep all of his, even after 16 years, could he?

He knew he was too old for this particular fear, that it had been too long, so long since Jiang Cheng had protected him from it. But he hadn’t been able to help himself. His reflexes and mouth had worked before his brain had, in thinking and stopping himself.

Wei Wuxian had known his day would go bad. There was a feeling in his chest that he had learned to trust from experience. It was in the rustle of the leaves in the wind, the way all of the shopkeepers paved the way for Wei Wuxian and his posse. His posse included his gorgeous Lan Zhan, his precious son, Lan Sizhui, that one Lan Wei Wuxian adored, Lan Jingyi, the romantic, Ouyang Zizhen, his sensitive yet bratty nephew, Jin Ling, and the bratty nephew’s ‘jiujiu’, Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian didn’t know how he had managed to gather so many people in one place, but they were going on a night hunt.

The hunt was for a ferocious monster so none of the senior members of their teams had let the juniors go on the night hunt alone. Even Jin Ling, being a sect leader as he was now, knew better than to argue with Jiang Cheng about this. So, things were going peacefully so far. They had the Jin Clan, Jiang Clan and Lan Clan disciples with them. There had been no need for them to think that any other clans would join them, but they had been wrong, apparently.

“That’s quite the search party you have there,” A familiar voice said. As all heads turned, a figure appeared, waving a fan close to his face.

“Ah, Nie-xiong!” Wei Wuxian delightedly clapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s nice to see you too Wei-xiong,” Nie Huisang smirked. Then he looked at Jiang Cheng. “Jiang-xiong,” he said with a nod of his head.

“Huaisang,” Jiang Cheng nodded back. Nie Huaisang’s lips twitched slightly at the greeting as he stepped forward.

He bowed to Lan Zhan first. “Hanguang-Jun.” Then to Jin Ling. “Sect Leader Jin.”

Jin Ling glanced over at Jiang Cheng and Jiang Cheng gave him an imperceptible nod of the head. Jin Ling blinked and turned to face Nie Huaisang, greeting him with a bow too. “Sect Leader Nie.”

It turned out that the Nie Sect had heard about the hunt too. The monster had entered all of their clans’ territories which meant that all four of their clans had a reason to be on the night hunt. Wei Wuxian felt like the entire family was finally together, and he couldn’t be happier. Some of the rest of the people in their group didn’t seem as happy as him though.

He watched as the Jiang clan and Nie clan walked together, with Nie Huaisang chattering with Jiang Cheng, while Jiang Cheng eyed Lan Zhan and his disciples warily. They kept their distance from the Lan disciples. The Jin clan walked behind Jin Ling, who was in an animated discussion with his friends but staying in close range of Jiang Cheng. So, the Jin disciples walked close to the Jiang and Nie disciples.

Wei Wuxian observed as most of the Jin and Jiang disciples talked to each other with easy familiarity, and the Nie disciples seemed to join in with the flow of the conversation too. Wei Wuxian wished the Lan disciples could socialise too. But he was sure there had to be rules against that too, especially during night hunts.

He knew of the strict rules against men and women mingling during night hunts so it made sense that the Lans stayed separate since the rest of the three clans had no such rules and there were several women on the night hunt. Wei Wuxian also realised that he had been unknowingly drifting towards the Jiang clan. A gentle tap from Lan Zhan brought him back to their group. He swallowed heavily and shook his head, trying to pull his attention away from Jiang Cheng, and his conversation with Nie Huaisang. But then he began to focus on the discussion of the juniors instead.

“Wei Ying?” Lan Zhan enquired.

“I’m fine, Lan Zhan, it’s fine.” Wei Wuxian tried to smile for Lan Zhan, before a sound stopped him. “Wait. Does anyone hear that?”

His voice had been loud enough to silence the rest of the voices.

“Wei Wuxian, what are you hearing? Are you beginning to hallucinate now?” Jiang Cheng asked with a scowl. Well, at least he was talking to Wei Wuxian, he would take that as a step closer to reconciling with him.

“I don’t hear anything, either,” Jin Ling said, crossing his arms and wearing a similar scowl to Jiang Cheng. “You must be going deaf.”

Before Wei Wuxian could respond, he heard the sound again. His eyes widened, and he glanced over at Jiang Cheng before he could help himself. Jiang Cheng was staring back at him with an undecipherable expression on his face. “I’ll go take a look at it,” he said, his voice surprisingly soft.

“Jiang Cheng!” Wei Wuxian stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing a hold of his sleeve. “I’m coming with you.”

“Wei Wuxian—” Jiang Cheng started.

“Don’t. I’m coming.” Wei Wuxian spoke firmly.

“Me too,” Jin Ling spoke up.

“A-Ling,” Jiang Cheng tried, but to no avail.

“No, Jiujiu. I’m coming with you.” Jin Ling said, just as stubborn as both of his uncles, Wei Wuxian mused.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Wei Wuxian suddenly piped up. “The rest of you, stay here,” he added for the junior disciples’ benefit, “and wait for the signal, which will probably be one of our screams.”

With that Wei Wuxian cheerfully joined Jiang Cheng and Jin Ling, catching both of their eyerolls in the process. As they cautiously walked ahead, Wei Wuxian strained his ears to hear the sound. The three of them had disappeared from the view of the rest of the people on the hunt when they heard the sound again.

It was a sound that made fear crawl up Wei Wuxian’s spine and a cold sweat break out across his forehead. His chest rose and fell fast, his heart beating louder and faster. A dog. It was a dog’s bark. He could recognize it anywhere.

Suddenly, all Wei Wuxian could see was a dog chasing him across one of the docks of Lotus Pier, and Jiang Cheng stepping in front of him before he could fall into the water. Wei Wuxian could still remember the scolding the owner of the dog had received from Jiang Cheng. Nobody had dared to make the mistake of even being seen with a dog anywhere near Wei Wuxian after that.

Wei Wuxian had clung onto Jiang Cheng so tightly, sobbing so hard, that it had taken Jiang Cheng hours to calm him down and finally let go of his robes.

Thoughts of what the dog could do to him and the ways he could tear into Wei Wuxian and his robes, made him scream out loud. “A-Cheng! A-Cheng, A-Cheng, A-Cheng!!!” Tears welled up in Wei Wuxian’s eyes and purple robes swam into his vision seconds later. He clutched those robes tightly before he could think otherwise. “Save me, please, A-Cheng. Please! He’s going to— going to kill me. I— I—”

“A-Xian.” Those familiar arms wrapped around him, keeping him upright, and that familiar voice reassured him. “A-Xian, I’ve got you. I’ve got you. I’m here. You’re safe. You’re going to be alright, okay?”

Wei Wuxian tried to take deep breaths in as he heard Jiang Cheng ratting off instructions to Jin Ling. “Take the dog away from here. Make sure he doesn’t come anywhere around this area again and take a few people with you when you go. Take your Lan friends and the Ouyang kid.”

Jin Ling nodded his head and made a quick work of calming down the dog Jiang Cheng wouldn’t let Wei Wuxian see. But Wei Wuxian took a peek at it as Jin Ling passed by him, and the dog looked wild, with saliva dripping down it’s slightly open mouth, showing its sharp, pointy teeth. Wei Wuxian hid his face in Jiang Cheng’s shoulder, shaking again. He tried not to imagine the dog sinking its teeth into his own—

“Wei Wuxian,” Jiang Cheng said, in that gentle tone that Wei Wuxian had missed so, so much. He felt a sudden warmth in his chest. One that he had missed for months and months.

“Jiang Cheng,” Wei Wuxian replied, his tone, thankfully, not wavering. Before either of them could get another word in, they heard the sounds of several dozens of footsteps. They both looked towards the source of the sound.

It turned out that Jin Ling would not have to go to his friends to get rid of the dog, since his friends had come to him, along with the rest of the disciples and sect leaders.

“Wei-xiong, are you hurt?” Nie Huaisang asked.

“We heard your scream,” Sizhui said. Ah, his thoughtful son.

“You seem fine,” Lan Jingyi observed.

“Wei Ying,” Lan Zhan said.

Wei Wuxian forced himself to stand up straight behind Jiang Cheng. “Ah, don’t worry. I’m fine.”

Jiang Cheng pointed to the dog, his gaze on Nie Huaisang as if explaining only to him. “It was a dog.”

“Oh.” Understanding dawned on Nie Huaisang’s face. And Lan Zhan’s shoulders relaxed just a tiny bit. Even Sizhui, who had a slight idea of Wei Wuxian’s fear sighed with relief.

So as the junior disciples went to go get rid of the dog, along with Nie Huaisang, who insisted on accompanying them for their safety, the rest of the people stood silently staring at each other.

Jiang Cheng cleared his throat as soon as Jin Ling disappeared from his view, turning to Wei Wuxian. “Are you better now?” He kept his face carefully blank, Wei Wuxian noticed.

“I feel much better!” Wei Wuxian said, trying for a smile, but failing. He froze as he felt Jiang Cheng’s hand gripping his arms.

“Do you mean it?” he asked, searching Wei Wuxian’s eyes. Wei Wuxian felt his heart skip a beat.

He nodded his head seriously this time. “I do. I feel much better now that the dog isn’t here. I know that the juniors have probably already chased it off.”

“Good,” Jiang Cheng replied. He tried to hide the relief showing on his face, but Wei Wuxian saw it anyway. So as Jiang Cheng cleared his throat again, let go of Wei Wuxian’s arm, and awkwardly began to walk away from him, Wei Wuxian seized the chance.

He used those few moments of openness and vulnerability that he got from Jiang Cheng to hold onto his robes. “Jiang Cheng,” he said, and Jiang Cheng stopped in his tracks. “Thank you, for keeping your promise, even when I couldn’t keep mine.”

Jiang Cheng pulled away and didn’t look at Wei Wuxian for the remaining part of the night hunt.

READ ON AO3

[tanoraqui]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[now all on AO3!]

Nie Huaisang wakes up from his overexertion-induced sleep after about 14 hours, and about 24 hours before his brother wakes up. He has this time to think

He doesn’t use it to think, because his brother is still unconscious, comatose from a severe qi deviation. Chief Physician Nie Fengji, Wen Qing, Wen Qing’s Uncle Six, and assorted Nie physicians do obscure medical things to him involving spiritual energy, needles, a dash of surgery, and actually more of the poison that nearly killed him, in what Nie Huaisang can only assume is some sort of physician-approved hair of the dog scheme, and Nie Huaisang participates by sitting quietly in the corner until even that is deemed too in-the-way and he’s banished first to the hallway and then, with physician authority, to his own bed

they do search, and find some of the yin-storing grass hidden in Wen Ning’s pillow. Nie Huaisang doesn’t go to bed; he goes down to the third guest room and takes A-Yuan and Granny out for a walk just long enough for a couple disciples to beat Wen Ning enough to look good later - split lip and bruises, etc. In case anyone comes checking the story he gave Jin Qixian

Wen Ning, he hears, bears it with aplomb. Just in case it’s the Wens who are lying, Nie Huaisang doesn’t really give a shit

But on the third day since he collapsed off Baxia into the main courtyard, Nie Mingjue wakes up. He’s groggy and weak, physically and spiritually, but he shoves himself into a sitting position with a glare, catches and holds Nie Huaisang reflexively when he flings himself at his brother with a relieved laugh. Someone pulls him back - “stop putting weight on him!” - but it’s enough. It’s enough.

Wen Qing has three-day bags under her eyes. She says quietly, “That he’s awake - it shouldn’t leave this room. Not until Nie-zhongzhi is more recovered, and has decided what he wishes to do.” She nods toward Nie Mingjue

“What the fuck happened?” he demands, and it’s the weakest snarl Nie Huaisang has ever heard. His brother is already sagging back against his pillows. “Jin Guangshan was actually polite before I left Lanling, but I don’t remember...”

“He poisoned you,” Nie Huaisang says bluntly, because he’s thinking again and that was the last straw he needed to be convinced of how this happened (he never really stopped thinking, deep beneath the anxious terror and anticipation.) “No, this stays here...or can he be moved to his own bedroom?” he asks the Chief Physician. “It’d be more comfortable, and easier to hide his state from any spies Jin Guangyao might have - I mean, I assume he has spies. I’d want to...”

[the mastermind]

A few days later, Nie Huaisang arrives at Lotus Pier and begs his friends to take him out on the town. Distract him with food and wine and cheer from the stresses of home, where his brother is still comatose and everyone is starting to expect him to be responsible instead

Jiang Cheng is busy with Sect Leader duties but Wei Wuxian takes him up on it immediately. There’s nowhere quite like Yunmeng’s piers for goofing around - somewhere around the fourth street theater show and second jug of wine between them, Nie Huaisang leans over and asks, “The next time there’s a cultivational conference at Carp Tower - would you be interested in making a ruckus?”

they’re walking down the street in a crowd. It’s very hard to be overheard on the street in a crowd

“Like tonight?” Wei Wuxian grins and he, too, looks like this night has been a welcome break

“Without me,” Nie Huaisang admits. “Just to have some fun - make a scene! Cause a fun distraction!”

A single jar of wine in Wei Wuxian means he’s still mostly sharp. “A distraction for what?”

“Oh, you know,” Nie Huaisang says airily, hides half his face behind a coy fan and says more quietly. “Helping some of those Wens dying in Jin Guangshan’s work camps.”

Wei Wuxian has never had much head for intrigue, but at least he whispers. “The same Wens who assa- who tried to assassinate your brother?”

“No, silly!” Nie Huaisang baps him with the fan, laughing, and hopes WWX sees in his eyes that he’s serious. “That’s a different thing. This is just to have some fun!”

Wei Wuxian meets his eyes, and his face splits back into a grin. It’s regained the sharp-toothed edge its been carrying since the end of the Sunshot Campaign. “Why not? I could use a little fun myself!”

The next cultivation conference at Carp Tower is in just three weeks, and Nie Huaisang spends them frantic. There’s so much to do, and he can’t let anyone know about any of it. There are plenty of empty houses, empty entire villages - the war was fought in Qinghe only second to Qishan, for Wen Ruohan’s determination to capture the impenetrable fortress clan 

he wants to err on the side of making sure people will have shelter, especially with winter coming on, but he needs to err on the side of stealth or they’ll never pull this off - 

but how are they (how is he) going to pull it off anyway, honestly; there’s only so many times he can storm in and demand things with a wild combination of pitiful tears and borrowed authority...he can’t exactly get another note for the actual Jin clan - 

...though...

they don’t need that many extra roofs, at least, if there won’t be that many people (priority of the Dafan Wens, of course, to repay Wen Qing and because, honestly, they’re the largest group that survived the initial purges, being mostly non-combatants)

he tried and failed to put the distraction out of mind, because there’s really no way to know in advance what Wei Wuxian would do, much less how to handle it. whether it would create a day or a week or several more years of chaos...

and then there was the really difficult part: getting Nie Mingjue to stay the fuck in bed, or at least in his own suite of rooms. Nie Huaisang’s brother was the worst patient possible, which was unfair, because Nie Huaisang himself would’ve loved to have an excuse to lounge in his bedroom doing leisurely, sedentary activities for few weeks. Instead he was out running around organizing things - while letting as few people as possible know what he was organizing or even that he was doing it - and Nie Mingjue was being threatened every other day by Wen Qing and her needles

To make matters more exciting, 10 days out from the cultivation conference, a delegation arrived without from YunmengJiang - Jiang Wanyin himself, and riding with him, Jiang Yanli. Nie Huaisang met them in the courtyard; she stepped gracefully off her brother’s sword and gave him a hug that was, honestly, meltingly comforting and kind

“Nie Huaisang! I’ve been so sorry to hear about Mingjue-gongzi. I would have come sooner, but, you know, we’re only stealing this time from a trip to Lanling for more wedding planning.” She gestured to a pair of disciples who between them hauled a tureen the size of a small child. “I brought some of my best medicinal soup - I don’t know if it will possibly be right, but A-Xian told me how hard it’s been for you, and I just had to try to help.”

offer

“You’re too kind, Jiang-guniang.” He fluttered his fan anxiously. “I’m sure Da-ge would thank you if he could, but...” he blinked away tears. “I can’t even let you in to see him; the physicians even turned away his sworn brothers.”

skeptical outlining of situation

(Jin Guangyao was obviously right out, and the idea of involving earnest, idealistic Zewu-jun in any sort of conspiracy made Nie Huaisang think fondly of breaking out in hives)

“Of course,” Jiang Yanli said sympathetically. She took her brother’s arm back to lean on, and Nie Huaisang took his cue to bow and offer her refreshments and a set - maybe with a view? He knew all the best places. Jiang Yanli, genuinely frail enough to not be expected to do much more than look lovely, accepted

they had a very pleasant conversation about other things - poetry, who was and wasn’t being invited to the wedding, the latest fashions in Lanling (Nie Huaisang sighed wistfully) 

eventually Jiang Yanli asked, between one sip of tea and the next, “This event you’re planning with A-Xian - could it be postponed? Say, six months?”

the wedding. Nie Huaisang’s breath caught briefly - now that would be a distraction in its own right, even without anything Wei Wuxian could pull

but he thought about the emaciated, flinching Wens in the Qiongqi Pass camp, and those back in Qishan who weren’t much better off, and shook his head. “Not for those to whom it would matter most.” 

and, frankly, he couldn’t ask his brother to stay quiet so long, and he really would prefer than Lanling not know Nie Mingjue had truly survived until they were ready to strike back

Jiang Yanli hummed thoughtfully. “What about...two, two-and-a-half months?”

...there was nothing happening in two months, except the middle of winter. which would make roads more impassible, maybe to their advantage, but only if a couple different things went wrong...

but Jiang Yanli was smiling sweetly, like someone with a plan

“I think that would be wonderful,” he said, and sipped his tea back at her

Jiang Cheng punches him on the shoulder before they go and says he doesn’t seem like he’s doing completely terribly at everything, which is the Jiang Cheng equivalent of a supportive hug and 10-minute earnest pep talk. Nie Huaisang is genuinely warmed

Jiang Yanli, mentally cracking her knuckles as her brother flies her to Carp Tower: time to seduce my fiancee, the third hottest man in the kingdom, into putting a baby in me so we can speedrun our wedding prep - for a good cause! god I love my life

[the grifter]

unfortunately, two-and-a-half months is too long a delay to use the usual “ask for forgiveness, not permission” method, not least because Nie Huaisang has to explain to his brother why he wants him to keep pretending to be comatose, when even his physicians are starting to agree that he needs exercise more than rest

“No,” Nie Mingjue says flatly

“Da-ge,” Nie Huaisang pleads. “It’ll just be so much easier if everyone thinks I’m running around like a terrified rabbit!”

“Why do you insist on being useless at all times?” Nie Mingjue growled, a familiar old song. “If you just applied yourself - ”

“Because it’s easier!” Nie Huaisang cried (a newer tune). “Because I don’t want to be a great warrior, I just want to make pretty things and have friends and have fun - and when I do want something, it’s much easier to get it if no one thinks I’m worth anything - ”

“Of course you’re worth something,” Nie Mingjue snapped. “You’re the heir to QingheNie and you’re my brother!”

Nie Huaisang really did cry easily. He blinked away the tears.

“The Jins tried to kill you, da-ge,” he said quietly. “And they tried to make it look like a qi deviation.” (Like Father, went unsaid. Like my mother and your uncle and three of our cousins, one of whom was only thirteen.) “I want to make clear to them what we think of that.”

Nie Mingjue unclenched his hand from Baxia’s hilt, with whom Nie Fengji and Sixth Uncle had finally agreed to let him reunite. “Then we kill one of them back,” he said. “Not this underhanded, indirect...and with Wen-dogs...”

“If I could kill Jin Guangshan and Jin Guangyao in one stroke, right now, I’d do it. But that would start another war, and we could survive another war, but a lot of our people wouldn’t. Only about seven out of ten survived the last one.” He bit his lip. “And the Wens...not all of them were monsters, we’ve seen that, and the Jins tried to blame the ones we know are alright. This will show them that we can make up our own minds.”

Nie Mingjue was silent for a long moment, and Nie Huaisong resisted the urge to shift from foot to foot. His brother was never impressed with fidgeting.

“Fine,” Nie Mingjue said at last. “Do your scheme. But you’d better prove that you’re right, Huaisang.”

“I will, Nie-zhongzhi.” He stood at parade attention.

“And you won’t use it as excuse that you’re too busy to practice your saber.”

“Da-ge!” he whined instantly. “But I will be busy! We need to tar all the house roofs in Ning Village, and find about fifty spare horses, and weed out any spies in our household - oh, and do you have any letters from Jin Guangyao I can look at? And...”

News came that the wedding of Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan had been moved up to two months rom now and Nie Huaisang whistles under his breath then flinches reflexively, before he realizes there’s no "Twin Prides” around to smack him for disrespecting their sister

But two months somehow passed even faster than that first week had. Homes to quietly repair and no few medical supplies to stock up on, winter snow-ready horses to find and discard with another trip to Yunmeng, social visits to carefully negotiate...

Gossip flowed, as always. Gossip said: Nie Mingjue has survived the dastardly attack on his life; he’s still half-dead or he’s twice the warrior he ever was or he personally executed every Wen in his dungeons. Gossip said: the witch Wen Qing had seduced him and stabbed him with a poisoned blade; the witch Wen Qing had fallen in love with him and saved him from a random qi deviation; the witch Wen Qing was actually the Yiling Patriarch in disguise and both of the above were true. Gossip generally agreed that Nie Huaisang was still wavering between disconsolate over his brother’s brush his death (and his own brush with Sect Leadership) and dragging anyone who would heed him out for drinks and entertainment 

Jin Guangyao did have spies in the Unclean Realm, of course; he knew their value. His girl in the kitchen got fired over some mistake with a roast, but the guest cultivator and the chambermaid and assorted people in the nearest towns generally agreed: Nie Mingjue was back on his feet but still rebuilding his strength under the careful eye of his Chief Physician, and didn’t remember anything from the day of his qi deviation. Wen Qing was dead, as were all the other Wens - she and Wen Zhichen had preformed well in healing the damage she’d done in her attempt to poison the sect leader, under threat of their own deaths, but when Nie Mingjue woke up he'd ordered their deaths without even the dignity of public execution. Nie Huaisang was so wracked with guilt over bringing them into the house that he’d actually started practicing saber sometimes, and just a little heartbroken over the death of the child in particular

this last, Jin Guangyao found out himself, as well as confirmed most of the rest when he was allowed to visit his sworn brother and ended up letting Nie Huaisang sob on his shoulder for two straight hours. He had to have the robe steam-cleaned, but it was very informative

“Would you like us to kill the rest of the Wen-dogs?” he asked his sworn brother. “Or you can do it yourself, of course.”

Nie Mingjue snorted dismissively. “I killed the ones who were the biggest problem. Keep working your dogs to death as you like.”

The night before they were supposed to leave for the Jiang-Jin wedding, Nie Huaisang sat in his brother’s chambers (as he had taken to doing many evenings) and absolutely failed to focus on his paints.

“ - I’m sure I can handle the lieutenants left in charge, though really I haven’t talked to them as much so they’re more likely to be suspicious, especially if I didn’t get the calligraphy right - ”

“Huaisang - ”

“ - and the Wens themselves, I mean, this has to go quickly if it’s going to work at all - what if Wen Ning hasn’t gotten word around - we haven’t heard from him since yesterday, what if they found him, he could be- Wen Qing is going to kill me - ”

(the Nie sect wasn’t given to duplicity, but that didn’t mean their fortress of a sect building didn’t have a few spare secret rooms and passageways, in which to hide a handful of Wens for a couple months)

“A-sang - ”

“ - hell, what if the arrays don’t work and we all just die - but it’s the only way; horses wouldn’t be fast enough, especially with the heavy snows this year - ”

“Nie Huaisang!” Nie Mingjue barks in a parade-ground voice.

Nie Huaisang spins around mid-pace to stand at attention, one hand behind his back and the other on his saber hilt. A very few reflexes have been successfully trained into him

His brother scowls at him from the bed, where he sits in lotus position as the world’s grumpiest, most broad-shouldered guru. Nie Huaisang braces himself

“I’m proud of you,” says Nie Mingjue

“I- what?” 

Nie Huaisang has spent the last two and a half months careful of every expression he made, but now he isn’t sure what to do at all.

“You’ve actually put effort into this. It’s needlessly elaborate and only just barely honorable, and it’s certainly not saberwork. But it’s...something.” He nods.

“...oh.” 

his posture does relax in surprise. but then, the parade-attention was never going to last

“You will pull off this absurd scheme, and you will not be in any way injured in the process, because if you are, we will go to war with LanlingJin.”

“Yes, da-ge”

“Now shut the fuck up, or I’ll call Wen Qing in to put you to sleep, while I do this bullshit boring nightly meditation.”

Nie Huaisang ducks his head. “Yes, da-ge.”

oh, a smile. a smile is the expression he wants to make

The day of the wedding of Jin Zixuan of Langling and Jiang Yanli of Yunmeng dawns auspiciously bright and the ceremony lives up to every portent. Carp Tower is decorated with even more red than gold. The bride is radiant enough to make the sun weep for jealousy; the groom looks pretty good, too; and they only have eyes for one another. Both her brothers cry, Jiang Cheng stoically and Wei Wuxian loudly; Madame Jin looks even happier than the newlyweds; and Nie Huaisang makes sure he’s among the first to offer the happy couple congratulations, so he can equally quickly slip out and set off a teleportation talisman

He appears in the woods near the first town in the Qishan that the spare Wen cultivators and other prisoners of war are being stored in. A dozen Nie cultivators are waiting expectantly, led by Zhao Huandi

Nie Huaisang quickly strips himself of the outer layer of wedding-appropriate finery, leaving his ordinary day’s slightly-nicer-than-most-would-bother-with finery. He tucks the extra beautiful stuff carefully in a qiankun pouch and asks, “Everyone ready?”

nods and salutes and murmurs of agreement

He briefly channels a completely different work of fiction: “Let’s go steal a small populace.” 

It’s actually...very easy. “Isn’t the young lord’s wedding today?” asks the man left in charge while Jin Qixian, being a cousin of the family, is at that wedding. “Why aren’t you at that?”

“I didn’t practice my saber for a week and my brother got sooo angry.” Nie Huaisang pouts. “He forbade me from the party of the year, and gave me a job to do instead! It’s not fair - I’d be happy to do a favor for san-ge any other day!”

The lieutenant eyes the orders he’s been handed, in Jin Guangyao’s handwriting with Jin Guangyao’s signature. “Well, it does all seem to be in order.” He waves to the nearest guard. “Hey, start rounding up the prisoners - all of them!”

Nie Huaisang had two months, a lot of correspondence, and a great deal of practice imitating art styles. He’d been able to forge his own brother’s handwriting since was twelve - Jin Guangyao’s was much easier. Much neater

Nie Huaisang spotted the guard who’d been kind enough to let Granny come with A-Yuan, that first time, and pointed at him. “Make sure you get all the old people and babies and stuff, too! Anyone who can’t come on their own!

As Wens start to gather (be gathered) in the main square, most of the Nie cultivators clear a space and sketch out a large array in blood, a little from each cultivator’s hand. It’s wide enough for about forty people to stand in. When it’s done, Nie Huaisang nods to a disciple standing to the side with a bow. She leans back and shoots an arrow with a red ribbon into the sky. It vanishes in a spark of golden light

one of Nie Sect’s messenger arrows. It will land at Wen Qing’s feet in Qinghe to let her know that they’re on their way, and she can be ready with whatever medical care and reassurances she wants

He claps to get the muttering, anxious crowd’s attention, and can’t quite help but grin as he gets it. He gestures to the bloody array, reminiscent of a teleportation talisman on a grand scale. “All right, who wants to leave this terrible place where everyone hates you in exchange for a new terrible place where everyone hates you, travel by serving as the first test subjects of the Yiling Patriarch’s new mass-teleportation array?!”

[the hacker]

(a jest. Wei Wuxian definitely tested it first, on himself and a bunch of rabbits and himself+Jiang Cheng (in that order.) He promised.)

it’s a little out-of-character, but most of the guards who react just laugh meanly. And the Wens, hell yes, have been prepped. A handful protest, beg mercy or insist that this is their home, but for the most part, Nie Huaisang can recognize amateur acting when he sees it

thank goodness - they need a ratio of at least 1 participating cultivator to every 6 civilians to power the array, or the Nie cultivators supporting it from outside will exhaust themselves immediately

as the first group is going, a burst of light bright enough to blind, an arrow falls from the sky to Nie Huaisang’s feet. The note attached is from Liu Lifang: won’t take Lianfang-zun’s orders

aw, hell. He hesitates - another arrow lands, a green ribbon on the end. The first batch of Wens arrived safely in Qinghe

he passes both arrows to Zhao Huandi and murmurs, “I’m going to go sort this out. Make sure everyone gets through, stop it if something goes wrong with the teleportation. If something goes wrong with the Wens or the Jins...try not to kill anyone”

Zhao Huandi bows, turns and immediately starts shouting for the array to be checked for the next batch. Nie Huaisang makes some hasty, whining excuses to the Jin lieutenant, pulls out another teleportation, and-

arrives in the filthy refugee/prisoner city with a bit of the ache of an over-taxed golden core. He rests his hands on his knees for a moment, catching his breath

Still better than sword travel. He’s going to bother Wei Wuxian for these all the time, now

the woman left in charge in Jin Guangchao’s place is engaged in a staring glaring contest with Liu Lifang at their supervisory office. But have their arms crossed and the tension is so thick they’re both clearly itching to slice it with a sword

Nie Huaisang tumbles through the door with a whining, “What? Why did you call me?”

“I actually sent my message to Sect Leader Nie...” says Liu Lifang, with masterful confusion

“Well, he sent me,” Nie Huaisang complains. He turns to the other woman. “What’s the big deal? Da-ge said we should have a note for san-ge - that is, Jin Guangyao, Lianfang-zun - ”

She scowled even more darkly. “My orders come from Jin Guangchao and his from Sect Leader Jin Guangshan, not from Jin-zhongzhi’s bastard son”

[split-second thinking]

“Oh, but Guangyao-ge really knows what he’s doing,” said Nie Huaisang, wide-eyed. “He was so good at organizing everything, before da-ge had to banish him that one time” Bait...

“’So good’?” she challenges. “Then why’d he get banished at all?”

“Oh, you must have heard of my brother’s temper,” Nie Huaisang whines. “He gets so angry when one little thing goes wrong, and then Meng Yao - back then - did a pretty big thing...you’re so lucky Sect Leader Jin is more forgiving.” Hook...

“It would be terrible if Jin Guangyao did something to so anger Sect Leader Jin,” she said thoughtfully.

“I’m glad I doubt he ever would!” He gestured to the forged papers in Liu Lifang’s hand. “And as you can see, we have direct orders from him for you to release these prisoners into Nie Sect’s care - so won’t you do your duty and obey, so I can get back to my party?”

Do your duty, the orders themselves aren’t your responsibility, they’re his. The Jin cultivator nods slowly, then bows sharply, formal and faux-friendly. “Of course, Young Master Nie. How good of you to help your brother like this.”

Sinker.

(also not the worst idea, actually. a little dissension thrown into the Jin clan would be great)

Once again, most of the Wens are almost more willing the queue up than the guards are to make them, though many do blanch at the twenty-foot teleportation array drawn in blood (maximum power for minimal cost, Wei Wuxian had explained). A few are genuinely terrified of leaving; a few are almost certainly just enjoying the drama

a young man, as grubby as the rest and face hidden behind a shy curtain of hair, steps into the array without a flinch, and gives Nie Huaisang a subtle thumbs up. He waves back, just as underhanded, and lets slip a relieved sigh as he mentally crosses out “accidentally got her brother killed and/or captured/tortured/etc” on the list of reasons Wen Qing might kill him one day

[the thief spy]

(it hadn’t been easy to convince her to let him go in the first place. but really, Wen Ning was quick-thinking, trustworthy to all who met him, and good at staying hidden when he needed to. and they needed the Wens helping power the arrays, not to mention just not putting up a fight - everything going much quicker with word spread as to what was really happening. And, Nie Huaisang prided himself, it was just a little bit kinder)

this city’s worth were half gone to Qinghe when another messenger arrow landed at his feet in a burst of golden light. A purple ribbon - First Disciple Han Xiaoshi was done at Qiongqi Pass

she’d taken a much higher percentage of skilled warriors (not that all Nie Sect cultivators weren’t skilled warriors) than the other groups, as well as a “signed” note from Jin Guangyao. The work camp at Qiongqi Pass was the place Nie Huaisang least minded if the rescue of the Wens turned into a fight with the Jins. Sixth Uncle had taken nearly as long to get back into good health as Nie Mingjue, and he hadn’t liked hte way the inspectors smiled

[the hitter]

a few minutes later, a blue-ribboned arrow meant the first Qishan group was all through, too. Nie Huaisang and Liu Lifang’s group was the last to finish

they went with the last batch. One disciple stayed behind to clean it up and fly home - no point in sharing the Yiling Patriarch’s proprietary inventions with Jin Sect if they didn’t have to

the mass teleportation array is much worst than the single-use talisman. Nie Huaisang feels like he’s been turned upside-down and inside-out, and wrung out like a wet cloth besides. Golden core, more like yellowish pith. He does his best to stay standing

he’s knocked flat by the impact of a small mass slamming into his shins at high speed. “Sang-ge! Sang-ge! You didn’t say everyone was going to be at the wedding! Was it fun? Where are your pretty clothes?”

“My extra pretty clothes are in my qiankun bag, A-Yuan.” He pushed himself to sit up, and attempts to distangle the toddler from his legs. “Which is good, because you’re getting my normal pretty clothes all dirty on the ground!”

A-Yuan squeezed him even tighter, to show that nobody was the boss of him, then sprang away with his hands behind his back, looking like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. That, too, lasted for about half a second before the boy was bouncing in place again. “Did you know that Uncle Four is here now, and Auntie Three, and Zhui Li and Mengmeng and Han Yao got a puppy - ”

“A-Yuan, stop harassing the poor man!” Granny hurried up behind him at a much slower pace than a toddler could manage. She bows, over A-Yuan-head, eyes shining. “Young Master Nie has done a great service for us this day. You should be saying thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do,” he says, dreaming briefly of sliding a sword through Jin Guangshan’s throat. He forces himself to stand - the world has mostly stopped swimming - and pulls her upright, and pokes A-Yuan with his foot so he follows suit. “A-Yuan was just giving me a report - yes, we’re the last batch!” he calls to a cultivator approaching with a querulous expression. “You’d better send an arrow to da-ge to tell him that it’s all okay!”

Second Disciple Ling Jiaoshi nods and scribbles out a note, and hands it to a junior trailing behind him with a bow and arrow

behind them, around them, about five hundred Wens and Wen-associated people are milling around a deep valley tucked into Qinghe’s mountains. Most are avoiding the three great arrays painted in blood in the center of a some fields, mirrors to the ones in Qishan and Qiongqi Pass, though the landing sites will be inactive with their pairs destroyed. Many are exclaiming to see family and friends again, or looking around in wary uncertainty, or both. The main source of order is being imposed by the multiple triage tents, sorting out who needs medical attention and who just needs a blanket and hearty meal. Nie Huaisang can hear the Chief Physician yelling at someone in the distance

A-Yuan tugs on his hand and repeats accusatorially, “You didn’t say everyone was going to be at the wedding! That must have been so big! Are we all staying with Sang-ge and Miss Yi now? And Aunt Qing and Uncle Ning and Uncle Nie-Who-Needs-Quiet?” His eyes widen and he tugs even harder. “Did you bring new candy?!”

Nie Huaisang laughs and pulls from one pocket a silk flag in brilliant red, filched from the wedding decorations. “No, but I did get material for a new fan. Do you want to help me paint it?”

To be concluded with a brief epilogue!

[rqs902]

.

probably unpopular opinion but i feel like “we are blazing” is a r1se promotion scheme and it’s kind of scary 

I’m not surprised that this tencent show is heavily biased towards r1se, but I feel like the fact that r1se keeps winning 3:0 is really discouraging to everyone else involved :( I’m mostly disappointed that they won 3:0 even against rocket girls. I watched Produce Camp and know every member of r1se, and I’m honestly not very familiar with rocket girls. But, I’m still disappointed r1se beat them 3:0. I’m sad because this makes it feel like r1se is never going to lose to anyone on this show and that is disappointing. it’s scary that tencent is literally going to create an image of them being the best group, with zero competition. 

I’ve watched zhou zhennan on 3 shows: the coming one, cyzj, and produce camp, and I respect him and know he’s popular. being the og survival show girl group, I respect rocket girls and I know they are popular as well and I don’t think they deserve to be treated like this by their own company. rocket girls’ stage presence was undeniable on “we are blazing”, and their performance was well executed. it feels like tencent is disrespecting them and their fans by allowing r1se to step all over them, and it’s likely because rocket girls is about to disband (i believe?) and that makes it even more sad, because it feels like tencent is abruptly dropping them without supporting them to shine brightly until the end. these last few performances they have together are precious, and if tencent is going to ruin their final memories as a group, that would make me really sad if I was a rocket girls fan. (at least iqiyi never purposefully tried to make nine percent look bad... it makes me sad to imagine if this had happened to nine percent. if iqiyi let unine win over nine percent in a competition show iqiyi put on, as a nine percent fan, I would be SO MAD.) 

I’m also bothered by the fact that “we are blazing” is really painting a picture that boy groups are superior to all girl groups. 

I appreciate that r1se put in the immense effort to make their own song and stage for this episode, and I admire xia zhiguang immensely for his courage and hard work to practice his extremely difficult part. I’m sure zhou zhennan and zhao lei and everyone involved worked very hard and I don’t discount that at all. when I watched produce camp, xzg, zzn, zl, and many of the other kids who made it into r1se were the kids I was looking out for, some of the kids I supported most. But the fact is that rocket girls is their predecessor, and I am 100% sure rocket girls worked hard too, and 100% sure rocket girls deserved to at least get 1 single point out of the three. despite all of this, tencent made it so r1se destroyed rocket girls. and that makes me sad. 

dont even get me started on blackace.... from day 1 they’ve been taking part in making their own stages, AJ has literally choreographed every dance, and him and other members also take part in making the songs themselves too. But do they get nearly as much camera time or recognition for it as r1se? nope. I knew blackace would be at a disadvantage going into this show, so I’m not surprised at all that they’re not doing as well. youku has failed to promote them and tencent has no reason to help them except to appease pinlin stans, but even tho pinlin was crazy popular compared to all the other trainees on afo, his popularity is marginal in the context of r1se. the fact that they have not even acknowledged any sort of interaction between pinlin, huadi, and liu ye makes it feel like they’re trying to downplay the existence of swin to avoid any sort of boost to blackace’s recognition. tencent has always downplayed liu ye in general, so they have no motivation to bring up swin anyway. (the fact that they didnt even consider liu ye as a contender for a dance soloist for the killing part made me so sad.... but im not surprised. liu ye is an AMAZING dancer but they often forget he exists....) 

anyway, I’m happy for r1se that their management really supports them so much post-debut. produce camp was partly a torture camp for all the trainees involved, but since debut, r1se has been given so so many more opportunities to perform together, film shows together, garner recognition and win awards together, etc. compared to any other chinese survival show boy group. and it’s something I would’ve wished for all survival show debuting groups. but seeing them completely beat out all the competition without fail like this just makes me sad.... r1se deserves recognition, I wholeheartedly agree, but other groups have worked really hard too, and they also deserve some recognition. 

I’m hoping that in the future, rocket girls will be able to get at least one point on r1se. I’m guessing the only reason tencent let snh48 win over r1se this week in the overall percentage is so that rocket girls wouldn’t be dead last / have to perform without yamy, so at least that means tencent hasn’t completely dropped rocket girls yet. apparently they’re willing to drop sis for rocket girls, but that’s not surprising either. 

from the next ep preview, im SO scared they’re gonna paint naicha as some overbearing dictator, without painting the whole picture of his tough love leadership style. his strong leadership is what got his team (tuo xian mu ou) to the final round of ayo and thank goodness for it. he’s not afraid to push his team members to their limits because he knows they can do better, and if tencent tries to make him look bad for it, i will be very disappointed. they already tried to make pinlin look bad this ep, and it made me sad. 

literally tencent doesn’t acknowledge AJ for his efforts to make the choreo (yet again) and focuses the entire blackace segment on making it look like pinlin was uncooperative and refused to follow the rules and failed to do the killing part well. I felt like the main reason why they highlighted long ge being so self-sacrificing towards pinlin and why they highlighted other people acknowledging long ge’s talent was just to make pinlin look bad in contrast. 

I think pinlin did well, and since everyone in blackace understands the backstory as to why and how blackace was formed, it makes sense as to why pinlin would do the killing part for this performance. the show mentions how the killing part is supposed to be representative of someone killing or overcoming their past selves, but completely ignores that this stage was a big step forward for pinlin to do a 30+sec dance solo. it represents a HUGE improvement for him since he started out on Super Idol as a vocalist who couldn’t dance at all and was always struggling to keep up with the rest of the trainees. but "we are blazing” doesn’t give him any credit for his improvement. (but they continually mention how much ycy has improved lol...) Yes, blackace could’ve easily given the dance solo to long ge, AJ, or even huadi, but they chose pinlin. Pinlin was afraid to let them down, he knew his own limits, but he still did it. and he did it to the best of his ability and I think he did well. all the blackace members know that pinlin is the most popular person in the group and the most capable of drawing in fan support through his undeniable stage presence. they trust him and tencent makes it look like he didn’t deserve that trust, as if he should just be grateful that he barely made it through to the next round. 

[rqs902]

i didnt bother with posting about ep 9 of ‘all for one’ but here we are on the last ep lol...

ok but ep 9 was literally just a big karaoke fest / fan meeting so nothing really stood out to me.... 

im starting this note halfway thru the ep after seeing huang zhibo’s line in pinlin’s group’s performance bc he did so well im so proud!!!!!!!! omgosh his stage presence has improved!! mainly this is all i wanted to say bc i actually really like zhibo even tho he didnt get much time to shine throughout this show :c ok even tho they had to color his hair for half his line, for the ending they didnt and just filtered the whole screen (thankfully) bc he really looks so nice here ahhhh 

omg he also got a random closeup later!!

omg i literally rewinded and replayed this one part so many times to watch zhibo.... i really like his dancing!!! 

ok but objectively pinlin’s group killed it, compared with the other 2 groups LOL

but ok i guess i should say something about what’s happened so far.... poor naicha’s group always gets stuck with doing a stage thats like 10x harder than all the other groups.... lol so is anyone actually surprised with the results from the first round?? is anyone gonna explain what happened to half of the members of he yifan’s group? lol.........

i think aj’s group did really well! their song really suited them and did feel very 潮 lol i think huadi KILLED IT and aj’s smile is always a highlight of their stages. i think ill always feel like i wish jojo had a bigger role in their perfs but it is what it is. i really liked their song

for new storm to be performing uniq’s monster feels so weird..... like the entire show is/was basically a whole big yuehua promotional strategy lol 

I CANT LISTEN TO THIS SONG WITHOUT HEARING CHEN TAO’S WENHAN “GWI ZE” IN MY HEAD HAHAHAHAHHAA

ok im sorry hong weizhe but wenhan started the song better LOL ;;; but also i love zongying and hes adorable but i think he messed up on stage and also his stage presence still needs some work.... why does it just look like hes glaring LOL yang bingzhuo is pulling off the short hair well! why is yixuan bald yanxiu singing his heart out!! and haolian’s smile aw haolian is really just a tall baby lol 

tuo xian mu ou.............. im crying........ their performance was so..... thoughtful. goodness even with a performance with minimal choreography, naicha designed every aspect of it with care. he always brings out the best qualities of each member through their performances and that is truly admirable. gao xin starting and ending the song, mu sen’s voice!! and guanguan’s, especially the line they sing together wow, zhang peng is beautiful and i need more of his voice too, zirui singing his heart out, long-ge’s dancing that brings people to tears, chen shun’s rap that cant be replicated, the little montage at the end, and naicha mentioned the formation at long-ge’s center part matching from their first performance and also their star levels matching from their original first grading -- bringing him back to being the only class leader with just 4 stars..... the fact that theyre all crying and hugging and selina and fei are crying im--- ahhhh gao xin and zheng peng’s friendship im truly ahhhhhh 

im sure they knew going into the last round that it would be highly unlikely that they would win... but i think they really showed us that they deserved to. 

ugh this ending song again feels biased toward new storm lol just like alllll the editing lol. i really like yanxiu’s voice! GAO XIN ZHANG PENG FRIENDSHIP AHHH omg yunlong holding a haoyu sign is the cutest thing!!

lol the fact that pinlin is in that new soy milk commercial im laUGHING theres really no doubt that he’ll make it still lol

naicha’s speech at the end was short but he stated facts. they lost the competition but they didnt lose face. tuo xian mu ou had the best stages 

poor aj.... never got to win first place this entire show........ and then he doesnt get to talk at the end?? ?lol

wow new storm won wow much surprise wow i definitely wasnt expecting this at all wow 

i feel like the whole concept of “popular class” is such a cop-out move LOL feels bad for the members of new storm who arent popular and probs arent gonna get treated like winners even tho they won.......... im concerned for yanxiu

i bet none of them actually even wanna be in “popular class” bc it totally ties them down / separates them from their actual classes... this is literally just to satisfy angry pinlin istg 

oh and theyre gonna go from 7 up? am i suddenly watching idol producer??? ooo chen shun!!! recognizing talent! naicha crying for him!!! and the fact that gao xin’s tall body jumped up as soon as she said tuo xian mu ou... awwww and he prob knew it wouldnt be himself but he was so happy for his team members c: gao xin is a giant softie 

at least since new storm had so many popular kids, that leaves a couple of spaces open in “popular class” lol 

lol i almost forgot about wang di oops now that im thinking about the kids who lost... why didnt they invite back the other teams?? like wait what about like yati and boxuan and ziyue -- i thought they liked them?? i mean i get they got eliminated halfway thru the show but still.... i feel like they were memorable / contributed a lot to this show

can we talk about haoyu running over to comfort huadi!!?!? ahhh 

yea about the whole “i dont think they even want to be in popular class”  -- literally i feel like huadi and aj and naicha are crying when they go on stage because they had to leave their original class behind....... 

im crying watching long-ge gesturing for a crying naicha to go on without them....

ok my tears havent even dried yet but im laughing at them trying to make it so suspenseful who got first place......... ITS PINLIN NO ONE IS DOUBTING THAT ITS PINLIN EVERYONE KNOWS ITS PINLIN OK THANKS

wow look at pinlin literally getting 3x the number of votes as yangtong at #2..... wow 

also just looking at yangtong, aj, and huadi’s rankings it makes sense why yoyo class was consistently like second place lol

haoyu and huadi coming out to welcome pinlin first is...... the most......... ahhhhh

and ofc they pan to his class -- aka look at yunlong’s proud smile and zhibo going from happy to sad in like 30 seconds

wow we really going for #8 and #9 at the same time? are you sure im not watching qcyn? 

OH MY GOODNESS ZHIBO AGAINST LONG GE????? ZHIBO IS POPULAR???? HAHAHAHHAHA OMG WHATTTT ok i expected long-ge and long-ge def deserves it but omg i didnt realize zhibo was popular lol omg yuehua owns this show istg

i feel like long-ge will win.... but also i feel like long-ge doesnt want to win........ i totally see him as someone who would prefer to go off on his own and not be tied down by this show any longer... but also chen shun and naicha are like his best buds on this show so at least he’d have them.... zhibo i feel like would need / want this win more.. because i think he’d have a lot more to show us that he hasnt gotten to yet / may not have the chance to if he just goes back to yuehua. 

pinlin and yixuan and all the yuehua kids running off stage to comfort zhibo....... yall couldnt get your fans to vote for zhibo i guess.......... well we all know that if he yifan hadnt dropped out, he’d be in top 8 and therefore not long-ge so.... thats just something to keep in mind :\ tbh feels bad for guanguan (and jojo) bc he was on zui you xiu with chen shun and long-ge... but i think guanguan didnt get to demonstrate himself as much as they did on this show... even tho naicha tried his best (and succeeded in doing so more than any other leader) to highlight each of their strengths

lol the way they announce the two groups its like “new storm!” and then a huge long list of names for popular class -- like hmm i wonder which one is the actual winners......

i keep getting scared that yixuans gonna hit haolian in the face with that giant thing lol

HAHAHAHA the ending is just pinlin doing 99999 last minute cfs for their sponsors 

hmmm so how do i feel about the popular class -- theyre gonna be called Black ACE? oh ok lol isnt it kinda funny that 4 of them were in “trigger” from the very beginning together? (just like how 4 of the yuehua kids are in New storm...) interesting how things kinda were set from the beginning lol. i honestly feel like pinlin, wang di and yang tong kinda stick out to me in this group, but i wonder what this mix of what feels like is “yoyo and tuo xian plus 2” will turn out. 

well now i guess its time to watch out for these two groups and also keep an eye out for guanguan, zhibo, mu sen, gao xin, zhang peng, and jojo to see what they get to do next!