#because Chen Yi admired him

[respectthepetty]

considering the convo we were having in your comment section yesterday, when slayer mentioned that it's a good thing dad/boss didn't return chenyi's feelings, it got me thinking: do you think dad/boss knows about chenyi's feelings? do you think he realized it one day and, to discourage chenyi, started being stricter on him? i wonder!!!!

@bitacrytic, before I get started -

TLWR: I don't think the dad/boss was aware, and "boss" is code to Chen Yi.

I loved the conversation that happened on your post and within the comments of mine about Eddie x Chen Yi's brother-ness, and the inclusion of their boss/dad into their relationship.

Without getting deeper into the mud about found family's dynamics, I don't think the dad was aware of Chen Yi's feeling. He is their boss, but he very much treated them like sons, and told them to call him dad several times.

He wanted to celebrate their birthdays with them, but Eddie didn't, and when they had their family dinner, he specifically made spicy food for Eddie.

Yet both boys continue to call him "boss"

I've watched this show eighty million times on each streaming platform because the subtitles are strangely different, yet all of them keep the "boss" label.

So while their boss is trying to be their dad, they are linguistically enforcing a hard limit with him - he will ONLY be their boss.

I write all of this to support why I think the boss was unaware of Chen Yi feelings since Chen Yi is king of linguistic boundaries.

Chen Yi establishes his relationships with their adjacent labels regardless of his true feelings. He loves Chen Dong Yang, but he labels him as "boss" not "dad." Chen Yi loves Eddie as well, so he calls him "brother."

Chen Yi has no romantic feelings for Eddie, so he can establish that familial bond through language, but he believes he has romantic feelings for the boss, so he doesn't want to establish anything familial with him. Yes? NO!

Rui told Chen Yi he needed to realize the difference between admiration and love, and physically, Chen Yi does. He tells Eddie he cares.

He confesses his frustration about not being able to contact Eddie.

And he constantly shows Eddie how much he loves him.

We don't see much of his interactions with his boss, but he makes sure to show no level of affection. Most of the time, Chen Yi doesn't even look him in the eye. And he always calls him boss. Because he looks up to his boss. He respects him. But he doesn't love him.

So how would the boss know that Chen Yi likes him when he is so cold and distant? Chen Yi is possessive of Eddie. He drags him off of people and out of bars. He wipes blood off his face and goes into a murderous rage if someone hurts Eddie. But to his boss, nothing.

Because, once again, the labels are important to Chen Yi. He loves Eddie. Eddie is family, so he can use "brother," but he thinks he loves his boss differently, therefore, he can't use "dad." He believes he wants this to be romantic, but in his need to create that distinction, he created a physical boundary as well that would be difficult to read as anything but diligent underling. But with his brother, that physical boundary didn't exist.

Which makes it far more interesting that when he picked Eddie up from jail, he didn't call them brothers. He said he was Eddie's "boss." And we know that Chen Yi makes that distinction between "boss" (someone he is allowed to have romantic feelings for), and family (someone he can't have romantic feelings for).

And it's even more interesting that when they are arguing, Chen Yi makes that linguistic distinction AGAIN.

The man Chen Yi has consistently called his "boss" and never admitted to the fact that he RAISED them, now openly states it because the boss IS family. He is their dad. He has no romantic feelings towards family members, but he can have those feelings for people he works with.

Chen Yi never showed his boss he cared. The label he gave him showed he didn't see him as family, but he never psychically demonstrated that, so the boss probably had no idea. But he always showed Eddie physically that he loved him, and now he is using the language to tell him that as well. Chen Yi isn't Eddie's "brother"

He is Eddie's "boss"

And to Chen Yi, the label changes everything.

[katerinaptrv]

Dr. Chalotorn & Tharn - My Views from the Novel

So, i want to talk little about the Dr and Tharn complex relationship in the novel, like i said in previous posts i do not really see the Dr as a villain in the novel.

NOVEL SPOILERS AHEAD:

Now, to explain how I see the Dr and Tharn relationship i want to make a parallel to a BL couple we have this year AI Di & Chen Yi from Kiseki Dear To Me.

Ai Di & Chen Yi were raised together as brothers since infancy, they were orphans adopted by a mafia gang leader. AI Di is younger by a few (3 if i am not mistaken) years while Chen Yi is older.

As they grow up Ai Di develops a crush on Chen Yi while the other did not seem (at least to him) to reciprocate his feelings. The thing is Chen Yi was also in love with him but because of their difference of age it was harder for him to notice the change in his feelings. He had loved Ai Di for years since the day they met, he has a responsibility to him as his older brother. Ai Di has always been the most important person in his life and when he sees in their future he does not see this changing or a future where they are not always together.

As the series progresses they both have to be forced into a separation of 4 years, and in this time that Ai Di was away Chen Yi realizes his true feelings for him, he understands that they always being together isn't a given and how much he really loved, missed and needed him.

Now coming back to Tharn and the Dr, this is the first moment of their past that we learn from the novel:

- I've been promoted from your maid of honor to your companion.

- Aren't you satisfied? My companion isn't a position that anyone could be.

- So, what a companion must do, your Highness?

- Stand by me, accompany me, never be apart from me and obey me.

- But I've heard that being companions, their status must be alike.

- Right, right. Our status is alike now. From now on you are my companion. What I eat, you eat.

- Really?

The listener's eyes broadly widen and sparkled.

- Really. Have I ever lied to you? Chalotorn says in a tender voice while flicking his head disdanfully. See? She is so childish, he thinks to himself.

Then the scene faded to a picture of a little female Naga reading a book to Chalotorn, or she was to catch some fish and show it to him, or sometimes they teased the palace people together. These moments caused Vanvisa to let out a thin smile.

Now, i see the Dr and Tharn relationship a lot like Ai Di/Chen Yi, the Dr was the Naga King he knew and loved Tharn since Tharn started to exist, he watched him grow and played with him. When Tharn approach him with his crush he dismiss as a child admiration but promised him that no matter what they would always be together for eternity.

But as Chen Yi, the Dr took this as given, and unfortunately for him Tharn's love was a temporary crush and he truly loves Phaya. After Phaya and Tharn's death in their first life, the Dr is imprisoned because of his part in what happened by 1000 years.

After all this time separated from Tharn and watching him die in front of him he realizes how much he truly loves and misses Tharn.

He comes back into the mortal world to accompany Tharn in his reincarnations and watches Tharn fall for Phaya and sacrifice himself for countless lives dying to protect him while Phaya is still oblivious to his and Tharn real feelings. As a bonus Tharn does not remember him or any of their history together. He sees Phaya disregard and take for granted Tharn feelings like he used to do, and decides he does not deserve him.

So he starts to try to keep them apart, kills Phaya if he has to, so the Tharn could live longer and happier(in his head) with him. At some point he decides to bring Tharn again to the Underwater Castle (this is why Tharn life line is short, if there aren't all those safety measures in his infancy the Dr would have already brought him to his castle with him).

Do I think he is a perfect person? No, he is a really flawed one like everyone else, but I just can’t see him as a villain. He sure is very entitled (as all kings used to be) and decides things for Tharn without asking him.

But the moment in the end of the novel when Tharn knows everything and makes a decision to be with Phaya and tells him that he respects it and leaves him. Because he truly does love him and always did.

[anjishka-blog]

I don’t want to go into Chen yi/the Boss thing, like I don’t even wish to go nowhere near that territory, but I really need to…so here goes…

From the preview that we were given for the episode 10, it is safe to assume that Chen yi is going after Ai di, and he is not shy about it - I mean trying to kiss him, dropping him onto the bed, pushing him back into bed when ai di tries to get away…

And we can’t wait to see them kissing and making out…right? Wrong! :)

I mean I really, really do, but before that happens and Ai di gives in, I strongly feel that the series need to address the relationship between Chen yi and the Boss. Firstly, we don’t even know yet for certain what was that all about from Chen yi’s side. Love? Admiration? Need to prove himself? Adoration?

So in case it was some kind of romantic feeling, in my humble opinion, we need to see that Chen yi is completely done with it…but like COMPLETELY. There should be no lingering feelings towards the boss because ai di does not deserve to be anyone’s second choice or to have to ‘’share’’ his man. The problem here is that we saw chen yi wasting himself because of the Boss, so if it was some kind of romantic emotion from chen yi’ end, how do you move on from such a strong feeling? So I am really hoping that it was not that kind of love.

And if it was some kind of admiration or something like that, Chen yi needs to stop obsessing about the Boss and have only ai di in his head.

Ai di suffered a lot, so he does not need any more misunderstanding or pain…

So yeah, Chen yi, prove your self :)

[ellieellieoxenfree]

pulled a bunch of screencaps when writing the last meta, and picked up on a little detail i hadn’t noticed before re: CDY’s and chen yi’s tattoos. i hadn’t paid close enough attention to notice their differences beyond the placements, but this time i realized that at the bottom of his, CDY has a rose, while chen yi has a lion cub.

(i know that's not the best picture of chen yi's tattoo, but it's where i pulled the screencap originally and i'm not getting one from later on because it's 6:30 am and i don't want to. the important detail is still visible.)

more or less transposing early-morning thoughts from discord about it:

i’m not an expert in the language of flowers, and with a black-and-white tattoo, it’s hard to say what CDY’s rose suggests. @ nibupei correctly points out that yiyun meng has no ties to roses, and a quick duckduckgo search mentions several meanings for roses, depending on color: love, mourning, happiness, innocence, worthiness, jealousy, falling out of love, and infidelity. it’s a gamut. but from a general physical sense, roses are beautiful, fragile, finicky things with vicious thorns that can do some real damage if you get too close. which…seems pretty accurate, all things considered. so, to me, CDY is very much putting himself apart from others. admire from a distance, do not touch.

chen yi’s, in contrast, says reliability and protectiveness to me. as the boss of north hall from an alarmingly young age, he DOES have the responsibility of carrying yiyun meng on his back, and he knows that he is responsible for the safety of the members in his care. and noticing the detail of the lion cub made several months’ worth of thinking click something into place for me — the recurring motif of how ai di looks at the tattoo. in episode 3, he looks over at it wistfully; in episode 9, when he’s kissing chen yi and he notices the tattoo, he immediately shoves chen yi down on his back so he doesn’t have to look at it any longer. (contrast this to the way he interacts with chen yi in episode 12 once their feelings for each other are assured.) and i thought it was a general heartache about chen yi’s loyalties to CDY and yiyun meng over ai di as a person. and i do think it’s still that, absolutely, but i don’t think that’s the whole picture. i think it also serves as a permanent physical reminder of what he is to chen yi, which is a little kid. someone who needs minding or looking after. a responsibility and a burden and an annoying kid brother. ai di isn’t someone who meets him as an equal and who chen yi could love as intensely as ai di loves him. and that’s so deliciously poignant to me, that ai di spends his life watching chen yi’s back, the same back that’s physically marked with a reminder for him to know his place. (the pain of that is compounded by knowing the tattoo is a way to ape CDY and try to earn his approval. by trying to mimic the emotionally-withholding boss, chen yi unknowingly continues the same abusive patterns that CDY did with him, being physically present but never providing the full affection that’s so desperately craved.)

(marge simpson voice) i just think it’s neat!

[venomsreviews]

This is a followup to my first post about Crippled Avengers (1978), where I promised to discuss Lo Mang and Chiang Sheng!

Lo Mang’s performance deserves a lot more praise in my opinion. He couldn’t speak for most of the movie, and his character was also deaf, so a lot of his communication came from expressions. He displayed so much character that it blew me away. Wei Jia-Jie had a very interesting journey in the film since at first he was extremely temperamental and then you gradually began to see another side to him. I loved how helpful and caring he was with some of the other characters, like Chen Shuen (Kuo Chui) and Hu Ah-Kue (Sun Chien). The fact that he also seemed to promise to feed and provide for Chen Shuen and Hu Ah-Kue since he was a blacksmith brought a smile to my face. That was such a sweet thing to do, even though he hadn’t known them long. He cared about people, which was easy to see if you looked closely. His determination and willingness to learn martial arts was admirable because he was ready to face any challenges ahead of them. You could also clearly see it in his face when he was confused or upset, while he was trying to find ways to communicate with everyone else. It was an array of emotions that could be felt through the screen, even if the emotion was just in his eyes. I have always thought Lo Mang was very expressive and great at facial acting, but this was by far one of my favorites. I also found him to be very funny at times, because you could tell Wang Yi (Chiang Sheng) was getting under his skin on some occasions or he was just teasing. He had great fight scenes as well, but I adored his acting just as much.

Wang Yi was a character that I instantly fell in love with. Chiang Sheng truly came in with a heroic presence, which I feel was amplified as Wang Yi wanted to help Chen Shuen, Hu Ah-Kue, and Wei Jia-Jie regardless of the consequences. He knew that people mistreating them was wrong, so he did not hesitate to act. He even went as far as being willing to avenge their injuries and try to keep others from being hurt. I thought he displayed such courage, along with intelligence, which I would later see in Yang De in Five Deadly Venoms (1978). I love it when Chiang Sheng has more serious roles, but I even cared for Wang Yi after what happened to him. The scene where he was being hurt broke my heart because Chiang Sheng genuinely did look like he was suffering. It was emotional since he had just gone to do what he thought was right. I thought Wang Yi was a diverse performance since he had so many different reactions and emotions to the world around him. Although, one thing is for sure. His loyalty to the other characters never wavered once. He was with them until the very end and fought beside them. I think it really made his death so much sadder because he was a character that I grew attached to from the start, so seeing him in Chen Shuen’s arms, telling him that Dao Cheng (Lu Feng) hurt him badly before dying in his arms brought tears to my eyes. Chiang Sheng’s performance there almost reflected what we saw at the beginning because it was such a serious, somber moment.

[itsonlyrubia]

A show that could have been better developed.

Honestly, I started watching this drama because of Wang Hao Xuan, I think that many know him for the role of Xue Yang in The Untamed. As I really liked his acting and his character in the drama, I became a fan and wanted to follow the dramas in which he participated.

Then my saga begins to watch Dance Of Phoenix. At the time I was already in doubt if I would even watch this drama, basically because the story seemed like the typical story of Chinese drama, there was nothing really attractive to me, but I decided to continue on to Hao Xuan.

History: There was nothing very new for me, if you have seen some Chinese dramas, you must have seen some similar story or the same kind of development. Although it is based on the novel Godly Empress Doctor, I don't think they adapted the novel well. They could have developed the story further and added more episodes. It all happened so fast, the romance, the events ... So, for me the story was kind of uninteresting. I liked DarkNight Court, they were more interesting than the Celestial Palace and if I had explored their story further, the drama would have been better. I prefer the dark side of strength.

CGI: They weren't bad. The eagle (episode 1) and the rays (episode 26) were good effects, and the monster (episode 10), the wolf (episode 25) and the rays were good makeups. He liked the effect of the Court's powers as well.

OST: There is nothing special about OST, only two songs won my attention, which were the closing song (Tai Chu) and another song that appears in episode 26 (Lin Zhou) theme by Yu Mingye.

Performance: I will start with the protagonists, I liked the performance of the female protagonist, she had funny and cute expressions and knew how to be serious at the right moments, the protagonist I felt a little rigid and emotionless in some important moments of the plot, although I believe that your character has that kind of personality.

The other actors did well and captivated me. I really liked: Wang Hao Xuan (Yu MingYe) - his performance is totally different from his performance in The Untamed, as the expressive, sexy and charismatic villain Xue Yang. Here he was more serious, but we can see his emotions. I am very proud of how much he has improved <3

Guo Cheng (Feng Xun) - Made me laugh with his cute and funny acting like Feng Xun. I loved your expressions.

Estella Chen (Zhao Ge) Gao Ji Cai (Xuan Yi) - They were good too, she playing the cute Zhao Ge and he the serious and cute Xuan Yi.

Jinna (Zuo Qinluan) Played her villain very well, she had good expressions and made us angry with her character.

Characters:

Feng Wu: I like her very much, because she is an interesting, beautiful, intelligent, fun, independent and strong character (I love when she wears red) Wu is a kind of female character difficult to see in a Chinese drama, as it seems it became "fashionable" for female protagonists to be weak, fragile, with a child's voice, unable to make any decision and stupid as a door. I really avoid watching dramas that have characters like that, for me, as a woman, it's offensive.

So having a character like her is a very good thing. I like the fact that she is decisive and does not let anyone put her down and that she is not a lady in danger who needs to be saved every 5 minutes. Her fight scene against the goddess Zuo was incredible, she looked very powerful and reminded me of the unbeatable Feng Wu of the novel. Wu has her own goals, her focus has always been to recover her cultivation and save her master and that makes me admire her as a woman.

I missed seeing more scenes of her fighting or training, since she had incredible powers but which unfortunately were not so well explored in the drama, and only appeared in a moment of danger and then "PUFF" disappeared. But in general, she is a strong, adorable character, with a good heart and an incredible woman.

Jun LiYuan: What about him? Basically he is the typical character who dresses in white in Chinese dramas, who has the personality of an ice pack and who is all-powerful and who flatter everyone. I'm not a big fan of characters like that and from what I heard, in the novel he is unbearable and has no excuse for the pills he took in childhood, in the novel this pill never existed, he is cold, rude and arrogant by nature.

They made him a little better in the drama, but he's not my type of character. And he had no chemistry with Feng Wu, his interactions were monotonous and I was always bored or messed with his cell phone when they interacted, because it was all a little forced, in fact they seemed more friends than lovers. We can't feel their love.

Yu Mingye: He and Feng Wu are the best characters without a doubt, in my opinion they are the most developed. MingYe had more depth than Liyuan. He grew up in a toxic environment, with an abusive father (he was punished when he failed on a mission) and yet he was someone with a good heart and kindness. He could be immature, powerful and arrogant and at the same time naive, adorable, selfless, gentle, loving and loyal.

I wish they had given him more screen time, but even with the little screen time, he stole the show. All the comments I read on Youtube talked about him and how he was the best Liyuan and that Feng Wu should stay with MingYe ( everyone fell in love with him)

He had a lot of chemistry with her and would be a more interesting couple than Feng Wu and Jun Liyuan (I wish Yu MingYe and Feng Wu had been together in the end). MingYe showed that he really loved Wu because he always helped and supported her in his follies, he was always the first to take action and save her, he gave up on her because he knew she loved the other, and yet he said that they could be friends ( even suffering from it) he indirectly helped save Wu and the others, when they would be trapped on the mountain because of the barrier that Mozun placed. While fighting LiYuan, he guided him so that his blows would hit the main points of the barrier. And for the love of Wu, he went against his father and cut him off to save her, and he knew what was going to happen to him and yet he went and did it. And we know what happened to him, don't we ??? I haven't recovered from that yet.

In the end, he lost everything through unrequited love. He lost his arm, his court and in the end even his father. All this so that the protagonists lived well. And in the end he continued to help everyone, he released LiYuan and helped Feng Wu to win (even though it would make his court lose). If that's not being a good character, then I don't know what it is. In the end, he was the most wronged character in the drama and deserved much more. If there is a second season, give it a decent ending. Hao Xuan did a good job playing YMY, he loved his fight scenes, the style of his clothes and his acting. He has a strong presence, incredible beauty and looks stunning with period clothes and long hair

Feng Xun, Zhao Ge, Xuan Yi and Qing Qinluan: Feng Xun was the typical character who talked too much and outgoing, I really had fun with what he did, too bad they didn't give him much time and much importance. Zhao Ge was adorable and his romance with the serious and cute Xuan Yi was very cute, they had great chemistry and were the best couple.

Zuo Qinluan could have been better used, I found his death very early. She was an interesting character, she was powerful and she had her own motivations that involved power. She was very envious of Wu and wanted to take her place at all costs.

End: Although I don't care about a sad ending, I do care about the incomplete ending. It was kind of disappointing, although I don't care that they don't end up together. I didn't find the couple engaging or with chemistry so I wasn't sad. I felt that the last chapter could have been better elaborated, I thought that everything happened very quickly.

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH27

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

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Chapter 27: Star Death Reality Show (X)

Lara's words drew silence from everyone.

That afternoon, after the search for Mark and He Yi failed, Dr. Lu had complained casually that the snow was too slippery, and he accidentally fell—he had fallen three times in one afternoon, and the number of times he fell might have doubled if Du Yue hadn't been watching him the whole time. This had reminded everyone that they would be living here for the next six days, and they couldn't travel on the snow every time.

So the five of them, together with Xue Jiahui, Janet, and Alex, who were present to help search at that time, eight people in total, had carried the necessary snow-shovelling equipment to each house and swept out a snow-free road near their houses, leading to the church in the middle of the village. And Jing Siyu, Jing Sixue, and Annie, although not missing, had not cleared their paths, nor had the missing Mark and He Yi.

Lara's thinking was very clear. If someone had knocked Xue Jiahui out and taken her away, unless he went to the church first along the snow-free path Xue Jiahui had cleared and then gone to someone's house to hide her along the seven snow-free paths connected to the church, his footprints would otherwise be left in the snow.

"But in the afternoon, we walked around and left many footprints on the ground, which are difficult to distinguish now," Qi Leren countered.

"Let’s look for it along the way," Lara said.

This search went on throughout the night, but there were no extra suspicious footprints on the ground and there were no clues in the people's houses. By dawn, Dr. Lu was too sleepy to keep his eyes open. He followed the crowd with a yawn and walked into the church with them to have a rest.

"The Best of the Day will be broadcast in two hours. Let's just wait for it before we rest," Lara said.

Dr. Lu said, "I can't do it. Let me take a nap and just... call me when it’s time."

Giving a look of being exhausted, he yawned hard enough that tears almost fell. Qi Leren patted him on the shoulder: "You might as well go back so you can sleep. Have Du Yue accompany you."

"Aren't you sleepy?" Dr. Lu muttered.

"Not too much." Qi Leren also felt a little tired, but it was probably because he was tortured by Chen Baiqi. His energy was better than before, so he could stay up all night.

"Forget it, I’ll take a nap on a couch here for a while, just for two hours, I’m too tired to leave," Dr. Lu murmured and yawned again.

Seeing that he was so sleepy, Lara  smiled and said, "You can't sleep on the couch either. It would be bad if you caught a cold."

Qi Leren suddenly remembered the glowing stone: "Lara, do you remember that glowing stone? You and Francis found it in a cave yesterday."

"Oh, what's wrong?" Lara wondered.

"Before going to Xue Jiahui’s, we passed the church to look at the stone. It turned out that... It was a bit strange, you should also have a look," Qi Leren solemnly said.

Lara nodded and walked with Francis towards the back room of the church.

Pushing open the unlocked door, the old room was illuminated by the polar daylight outside the broken window. But the first thing the people who walked into this room saw would never be the stone that had broken into two pieces and lost its luster in the corner, but Xue Jiahui lying on the ground.

"Xue Jiahui!" Qi Leren let out a low cry, and Dr. Lu, who was about to fall asleep, hurried up to check her condition.

"Still alive, breathing and heartbeat are normal." Dr. Lu touched her neck and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Why is she here?" Du Yue wondered.

"We'll know when she wakes up," Qi Leren said, and looked at the stone that was no longer shining.

Before, when he was busy performing for the audience, he hadn't noticed that there was dried blood on the stone's surface that penetrated into the crevice. When he thought of the bloodstained bandage found in Annie's room, he inevitably linked these two things together.

Was it because of Annie's blood that the monster in this stone was awakened? It made sense. As a member of Deep Sea Religion, Annie would recognize this stone as a natural thing. Although she was resting in the house because she was feeling unwell that day, Mark had seen the stone, and it was likely that he had told Annie.

But this guess wouldn't be recognized even if it was spoken aloud. After all, this group of contestants still didn't know that a terrible monster had appeared here... After Xue Jiahui woke up, he would look for an opportunity to let her identify the pictures of the octopus so that the chain of logic could be made. Qi Leren was going to do this.

After more than an hour, the contestants came to the church one after another, waiting for the announcement at 8 o'clock. Jing Siyu was much better. She came with her sister Jing Sixue, and Annie also came. When she saw Xue Jiahui, she raised her eyebrows: "Didn't you say she was missing?"

"She was found more than an hour ago in the room behind the church hall. Also, the glowing stone we found on the first day has been broken... Something is wrong," Lara said in a dignified way.

Janet, who had just arrived, smiled mockingly and said nothing.

Xue Jiahui, who had been placed on the couch, let out a loud groan, and everyone looked at her. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around in confusion.

"Are you alright?" Lara sat down beside her and asked softly.

Xue Jiahui opened her mouth and asked hoarsely, "Who are you?"

When she said this, Qi Leren screamed in his heart. The important clue-NPC fell off the chain at the critical moment via the ridiculous method of amnesia, which simply cut off the possibility of obtaining intelligence across the board. He had a faint feeling that there was a 90% chance that this boss-enemy was the "octopus" mentioned during their discussion before, but he knew nothing about it except that the octopus was a parasitic cosmic alien. He didn’t know its habits, fighting capacity, or whether it would reproduce rapidly.

While Qi Leren was struggling, Lara had already asked about Xue Jiahui's condition. She had really lost her memory and even forgotten who she was. Obviously, it was impossible to remember that she had done a program about "amphioctopus".

Janet held her forehead and sighed in an ostentatious manner: "I am really fed up with cooperating with the performance, even a memory loss scenario has come out. I think Miss Xue won yesterday's Best without any problem."

As soon as she spoke, the speaker started: "Now broadcasting the voting results. The winner for the Best of the Day is: Qi Leren."

The people present uniformly turned their attention to Qi Leren. Janet, who had been beaten on the spot, looked at Qi Leren in a particularly bad way. Dr. Lu was more excited than he was that he got the Best. He said happily: "Congratulations, please come have dinner with me and Du Yue later to celebrate!"

"Thank you... Well, thank you all for your support and love." When Qi Leren remembered that there was an audience, he had to smile and pretend that he was very happy, but his brain was spinning: How could he be rated as the best yesterday? Was it because he’d found that the glowing stone was broken? Or for some other reason?

On the second day of this reality show, many things had happened: Jing Siyu fell into the basement, Mark and He Yi disappeared, they searched the basement, Xue Jiahui disappeared and lost her memory...

He had participated in almost every one of these events. It was probably because of his positive performance and occasional "flash of light" discovery that he had gotten so many votes, Qi Leren thought.

"It's a pity, I thought Miss Xue could get the Best, but it turned out to be Qi. It seems that the audience is more fond of conscientious and obedient actors." Janet looked at Xue Jiahui with a playful mockery.

Xue Jiahui looked confused and overwhelmed, and Qi Leren could not see the sense of recognition in her face. He was now not sure what had happened to Xue Jiahui. If someone had really knocked her out, who could it be?

"It's still strange. The three of us came to the church at eleven o'clock in the evening. At that time, there was no one in the room. After that, we went to Xue Jiahui’s, and the journey took only ten minutes at most. Why was Xue Jiahui hidden in this room? Who brought her here? How did the perpetrator avoid other people?" Dr. Lu murmured, his brow wrinkling more and more tightly as he looked very distressed.

"I’m afraid that only the audience will know this," Lara smiled bitterly. "After all, we can't check these cameras."

"Unfortunately, we can't get help from the audience outside the stadium," Francis said.　

"Actually, it shouldn’t be impossible," Qi Leren suddenly said.

"Do you have a communicator?" Janet looked at Qi Leren with suspicious eyes.

"No. Like you, I have no other tools except a knife. The fixed cameras are installed inside and outside the church. The audience watching the screen clearly knows who brought Xue Jiahui here while she was knocked out. As long as they tell us the name of the person, everything will be understood," Qi Leren said slowly, looking at the speaker.

Lara's eyes brightened. "You mean..."

Qi Leren smiled and nodded.

Although this speaker would only broadcast the names of the Best, even if it was just a name, it would play a great role in cracking the current puzzle.

"Qianbei is too powerful!" Du Yue actually clapped his hands on the spot, and his admiration was beyond words. Dr. Lu on the side covered his face with one hand and his mouth with the other. It was a shame that this fanboy gave exaggerated praise regardless of the occasion!

"This is also an idea, but will the audience cooperate?" Francis asked.

"Let’s try it. Will you ask them?" Qi Leren invited Lara.

Lara nodded and took a deep breath before solemnly saying, "Hello, audience and friends, welcome to our program. Today is the third day of the program, and many unexpected accidents have happened, especially the accident to Xue Jiahui. We can't figure out who knocked her out and brought her to the back room in this church, and we don't know what the motive is. We hereby implore the audience who have watched this program to vote for the man who committed the crime when they vote for today’s Best of the Day. This is very important to us, please help us. Thank you!"

-----

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

[sifeng]

Review: Love and Redemption

While I first started watching this drama out of pure curiosity of why people claimed it to be “the second most tragic drama” (after GMP, of course). While there are certainly aspects of this show that could be better, I find it fair to claim that it is a wonderfully made xianxia, and certainly one of the best in the genre within this decade. 

Plot:

According to legends, the god of war saved the heavens in a deadly battle against the demon a thousand years ago. Both fell from the heavens and disappeared from the world. Chu Xuan Ji was born to the world lacking in the six senses which makes her rather clueless and inept. She befriends Yu Si Feng, the outstanding head disciple of Lize Palace who falls for her, thus beginning a xianxia romance that is entangled with the conspiracies from the past. The Zan Hua Tournament is being held in the Shaoyang Sect and its leader Chu Lei has two daughters - his trusted eldest daughter Chu Ling Long, and the youngest daughter Chu Xuan Ji who is lazy and terrible at martial arts. When Yu Si Feng and Chu Xuan Ji meet through a coincidence, they forge a friendship with each other. Yu Si Feng falls for Xuan Ji despite the harsh consequences that he must face as it is forbidden for students of Lize Palace to fall in love. Meanwhile, Ling Long clashes with Wu Tong after she criticized his foul actions at the tournament. In retaliation, Wu Tong accidentally injures Xuan Ji and gets expelled. Having recovered from her injuries, Xuan Ji promises to concentrate on cultivating. Four years later, Xuan Ji and Yu Si Feng meet again. Si Feng wears a mask due to a curse that can only be broken if he finds true love. 

Cast:

Cheng Yi (成毅) as Yu Sifeng (禹司凤)

Yuan Bingyan (袁冰妍) as Chu Xuanji (褚璇玑)

Liu Xueyi (刘学义) as Hao Chen (昊辰)

Zhang Yuxi (张予曦) as Chu Linglong (褚玲珑)

My Opinions:

Plot (My Rating - A-):

First of all, I quite like the pacing in this drama. As the matter of fact, towards the end I actually feel like some things were rushed, not dragged out. It’s never a show that allows you to press the fast forward button, because 1. the tragic moments are super intense and dramatic, and 2. you don’t dare skip over the cute/funny moments because you know there won’t be many left. Second of all, I really appreciate that the writers of this drama really decided that they were going to make the most tragic drama ever. They really dedicated themselves to that craft, and I think they succeeded wonderfully. In terms of plot points, I absolutely loved the whole 9 lifetimes idea. It really brings out the tragedy and beauty of Yu Sifeng - he will do anything to protect those he loves, especially Xuanji. I would not complain if every single lifetime was made into a 45 minute episode, though that would be 405 more minutes of Sifeng being tortured by love on top of the infinite amount of minutes that already exist in this drama. 

One problem I had, again, was with the misunderstanding that separated our two leads. I understand that this misunderstanding was one that had to do with the morals, backgrounds and fates with both of them, and thus was obviously meant to be a separating factor, but with the way the two characters were written, it felt odd that it created such an amount of misunderstanding. Overall, the plot was good, it didn’t have any revolutionary ideas, but it turned up the tragedy factor and had consistent pacing (if not too rushed towards the end). I’m sure there were probably a few plot holes here and there (one of which is why is it so easy to destroy that huge jar thing towards the end? If that’s what’s keeping the universe at balance, shouldn’t it take more than just one Yuan Lang to destroy it?), but overall, solid plot.

Characters (My Rating - B):

Sifeng is an absolute angel. He’s probably the most heroic lead in a drama who acts totally out of selflessness, who will help his loved ones no matter what pain it puts him through, and who can remain so kind, so unbothered mentally by whatever pain everyone puts him through. However, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have faults. He acts irrationally in the face of love and he often mistrusts the people around him. He’s a very complete character that not only evokes viewer’s sympathy, love and admiration, but also makes sense when taking into consideration his morals. He rarely does things that are out of character. If I were to rate just his character I’d probably give an A+.

But, there are other characters in this drama. I do like Xuanji, not as much as I like Sifeng, but I like her more than most drama leads. Despite the whole lacking six senses thing being a super confusing plot hole of sorts (like she clearly likes people in the beginning, Linglong, Minyan, her father, and dislikes people, Wu Tong, but isn’t she supposed to be unfeeling? Also she screamed out of fear when she fell using the teleport tool etc etc), I liked how she wasn’t stupid, but simply naïve. She’s actually a pretty smart person, especially in the first half of the drama, when she defended Sifeng against the Five Sects, and then Minyan after he was caught from Tianxu Tang. She didn’t let herself be manipulated by her father or Hao Chen, but rather thought for herself, took into account what she knew of their characters and came to the correct conclusion that the Five Sects were being stupid. I found myself a slight bit annoyed when she took the Five Sects side on the whole Mosha Xing issue, but given that the argument was no longer Sifeng vs. her father, but rather demons vs. humans, I can sort of understand why she didn’t trust him. Also, he did lie to her a bunch of times so, I suppose that adds to the fact. Though, she failed to use the trait that I used to really like, which was the ability to take logic and character into consideration. Did she really think that Sifeng never loved her? Because like, with all the evidence right there in her memory, I find it hard for anyone logical being to come to that conclusion. Also, I really like how she eventually became as loving of Sifeng as he was of her. She was literally willing to destroy the world, and herself, just to save him. 

As I have said before, no one likes Hao Chen, and that’s good. He’s obviously written to be a character that you should dislike, not only because he gets in the way of Sifeng and Xuanji, but because he is clearly so biased against demons (despite the fact that most demons aren’t even bad at all); because he manipulates Xuanji/God of War so many times and doesn’t even feel guilty whatsoever; because he always says “for the three realms” and yet happens to do things that will completely destroy the peace of the three realms. There are things to like about him, like I am pretty sure that he does actually care about the three realms, and he does want there to be peace, but his ideology about peace, and love, and war are just so skewed that he ends up doing the opposite of what he wants to do. 

Other characters were mostly likable, like Linglong, Zi Hu, Teng She, Minyan (most of the time), Xiao Yinhua, Ruo Yu (sometimes), Wu Zhiqi, etc etc. Some were evil for no apparent reason like Yuan Lang (why does he want to control the three worlds? What happened to him in the past for him to become this power hungry? If these questions were answered this character could be sooooo much more compelling) and Wu Tong (again, why did he start out so violent and cruel? I understand why he become a demon and helped them, but like does he not realize that it was clearly his fault first?) Also, the Heavenly Emperor seems like such an odd character. I understand he is the emperor and so he shouldn’t hold his relationship with Bailin and Xixuan above their faults, but like why was he so okay with like letting a totally faultless Xi Xuan endure several mortal trials all ending with painful deaths? And if that was because he was being a good and fair emperor, why does he let a game board decide fate? He also just stood there while the world was ending, and it took Xuanji to convince him to help her. I would like to know more about this guy and his complete lack of ability to care about anything.

So overall, while I think the main characters were written very well, with complex characteristics, some of the villains were just left tools to push forward the plot. 

Acting (My Rating - A-):

So first of all, Cheng Yi’s portrayal of Yu Sifeng was absolutely amazing. He brought out all of Sifeng’s traits super well, from shyness initially to the cruelness Mosha Xing to his loving gaze at Xuanji to the heartbreak in tragic parts. I’m pretty sure he’ll become a star after this show, and can I just say, he totally deserves it!

(Like can you see the pain in his eyes?)

I was pleasantly surprised by Yuan Bingyan here. I really like how her acting style changed along with the new role she took, as Xuanji she was bright and cheerful, as God of War she was heartless and cruel. You can see in the nine lifetimes that the way she reacts to Sifeng’s death slowly changes. Her crying scenes need a little more emotion, but overall, a super stable performance. 

Chemistry/Romance (My Rating - A):

The chemistry was just amazing. I find it interesting that their kisses slowly got more and more passionate as time went on. 

I think part of the reason they have such good chemistry is because of the acting. Like oh my god their tiny reactions to when the other gets hurt really gives it away that they love each other. 

The romance was also written nicely. While some people complain that Xuanji didn’t suffer enough, I feel like they don’t have to be equal in suffering in order for them to be a good pairing. You could tell from the very beginning that Xuanji liked Sifeng in a different way from other people. And the fact that they went through nine lifetimes together, each one when Sifeng died because of Xuanji... it just makes their romance so much more epic. Add that with good chemistry, good kisses, and good acting, well of course people love this ship so much! Xuanji would destroy the world for Sifeng, because the only person that matters in her world is Sifeng. Sifeng would put himself through ten lifetimes of torture just so Xuanji can be happy, because so long as Xuanji is happy, he will be happy. 

Music (My Rating - A): this one is simple. Just listen to the soundtrack and you’ll understand my rating. I didn’t give it an A+ though, because while all the songs are great, there isn’t one in particular that I love. 

Costumes (My Rating - A-): Sifeng’s costumes are really pretty. Some of Xuanji’s are pretty too, they get prettier as the show goes on, but some of the ones early on were kind of meh.

CGI (My Rating - A+): the best CGI in a cdrama. Just look at the scenes where Sifeng shows his wings! 

Overall Rating: A-

Recommend For: People who like xianxia dramas and dramas that try to incorporate a lot of themes. People who don’t mind their heart breaking a thousand times while watching a drama. People who want to find a couple that you have to root for. People who like super epic guzhuangs with lots of subplots, mythology, reincarnations etc. 

[luhanvirus]

Fanfiction gray blue eyes

Jin Ling noticed that he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking his dog and a pretty boy whistled him loudly. 

N/A: Idk what I’m doing, I just saw memes about Jin Ling x Lan Jingyi and I fell in love with the ship haha. A-Yuan is a Wen in this AU.

For the #CultivaTober2020, sorry if my English sucks.

Day 21: Calamity .

Jin Ling noticed he was spending a lot of time with Ouyang Zizhen when he was walking the dog in the nearest park, his uncle Jiang Cheng was sick of viewing him all day in bed just because his only friend isn't in the city for the weekend.

"Get out the house and do something!" he yelled at him after the lunch.

A fucking winter Sunday’s afternoon.

What the hell?

Jin Ling was considerating go the weekends to uncle Jin Guangyao's house. Uncle Cheng has been his favorite uncle since he has memory, but sometimes the man is too intense for someone like him and uncle Yao was more chill than him. He wouldn't judge him because he wanted to stay in his room because he was bored without his best friend around.

After all, Ouyang Zizhen is his childhood friend. So every time he isn’t here annoying Jin Ling with his fanfics or fandom wars, Jin Ling has nothing better to do.

Pathetic, he knows.

But who cares?

Jin Ling never was good doing friends in first place, but he liked Zizhen kind personality when they met in Rusong's birthday and when his uncle Yao encouraged him to befriend with the other boy they became inseparable.

At first, it made happy his uncle Chen, who was delighted with the idea that his nephew would have a good friend after his parents death.

Now, Jin Ling didn't know if his uncle Cheng was annoyed that Zizhen was his only friend or what.

Rusong doesn't count as a friend, he is family. His only cousin.

Perhaps he should talk to this guy who lives the next block and ignore his uncle Cheng advice to not talk with that neightboors, he liked his black leather bomber jacket and quiet personality. Plus they go to the same school, they shares English, History and Sports classes. Even Teacher Lan Qiren loved the guy.

Well, Teacher Lan Qiren liked everyone but Jin Chan.

Jin Ling was pondering about this match when he noticed that Fairy destroyed the lotus pond in garden again. Crap.

Uncle Cheng will kill him.

"Sometimes I don't know if you love me or you hate me." Mumbled Jin Ling as he takes Fairy with him, looking around before to go outside the house.

Unfortunatelly, Wen Yuan wasn’t at home when he passed out of his house.

You could notice this because the house was silent as a crypt, usually when Wen Yuan or his Dad were in the house someone played the flute and other instruments all day. Jin Ling swears he could hear them from his room sometimes.

Geez the man was musician or something like that.

However, he decided to go to the park. Hoping the snow could cover Fairy’s calamity before his uncle Cheng noticed anything. His uncle would love dogs dearly, but it was his lotus pond.

Uncle Cheng loved that lotus pond.

Jin Ling sigh, suspecting that the park was less crowded at this hour.

He wasn’t a fan of winter, neither the snow. Cold was burning his cheeks and Fairy paws, but Jin Ling take the route to the south where were stablished places for dogs. Yet the dog-friendly drinking fountains were already frozen, he knew this place was beautiful in Spring, but now were just the trees and the snow. Not fragrant flowers around.

Yunmeng was so different in winter, thought Jin Ling. Lost in thoughts when someone whistles at him loudly.

Jin Ling twitched.

He looked over at the sound, a part of him was offended while the other really liked what he saw. A pretty boy wearing running at him, wearing white clothes and blue headphones hanging in the neck. Gods, the boy had the most glossy black hair that Jin Ling has ever seen in his life. He just couldn’t stop noticing the perfect way than an hair bangs framed his handsome features and those fanfiction gray blue eyes… Damn Zizhen! Fucking fanfics he read all day!

Nevermind. He was rude.

“Excuse me?"

The pretty boy frowned, blushing when he noticed the misunderstanding and said "Sorry, I didn't wanted to... that was for your dog!"

What?

Jin Ling looked at Fairy and cocked an eyebrow.

Well, people liked huskies a lot. Since his uncle Yao give him a dog for his birthday, he always get stopped by people who wanted to pet Fairy when he go to walk his dog.

“Really?”

"Yeah." The pretty boy said as a beautiful smile rested easily on his lips when he whistled again at Fairy and the dog just wagged the tail friendly.

Fuck, even Fairy liked him.

“Maybe it could be rude from me, but would you let me pet your dog?” He asked, using all his charms when he looked right into Jin Ling's eyes.

Jin Ling tried to control his heart, but he couldn't.

Why is my heart racing? He wondered. He couldn't fall in love at first sight, right?

“You don’t have to do if you don’t want it.” Added the boy, noticing his uncomfortable behavior.

”I don’t mind, go ahead."

The pretty boy didn't hesitate to bent and stroke Fairy's ears, enjoying the fluffy fur. "She is so fluffy. What's her name?"

"Fairy."

"That's a cute name for a dog, did you chose it?"

If Jin Ling didn't fell already for his fanfiction grey blue eyes, he fell in that moment. "Actually, it was my uncle idea."

"Seems like your uncle has an original way to name dogs."

Jin Ling grinned.

He was going to say something more when a voice interrumpted them, breaking the spell.

“A-Yi, we are leaving!”

“Ugh, that's my Dad. See you next time!” He said as he got up and runned to the other side of the park, but Jin Ling wasn't sure if he was talking to him or his dog.

The pretty boy waved bye into distance, smiling.

But Jin Ling don’t waved bye back, he was this skilled with people.

Specially with the people that he liked.

. 　   ·  ✦

His phone beeps that night.

Zizhen was bored, he knew that. Zizhen didn’t get along with the sons of his father’s friends in the parties.

Jin Ling read the message, raising an eyebrow.

Zizhen:

Missing your grumbling ass ︶︿︶ 

. 　   ·  ✦

For wednesday, Jin Ling can’t stop thinking about those fanfiction gray blue eyes or the kissable lips. He had this awful feeling like a hundred of golden butterflies were flying in his stomach every time he thought about the pretty boy in the park.

Gods, he became this such of weirdo.

Sure Zizhen will have a good laugh at his expense when he noticed that his friend had a big fat crush on a pretty boy named A-Yi.

Well, it wasn’t a name. But it was something.

His crush was so overwhelming that he decided went to Wen Yuan house without knowing what he could talk with the guy, they barely knew each other. Maybe Jin Ling didn’t wanted to talk much and just needed Wen Yuan’s Dad loud music so he can’t hear his own thoughts about how that pretty boy made him feel.

When he went inside the house, Wen Yuan’s Dad looked surprised that his boy take a someone at home. He even stopped drinking alcohol before to talk.

He introduced himself with a bright smile “Wei Wuxian. Wine?”

“Dad, please no.”

“A-Yuan, your friend needs it more than me”, Wei Wuxian pointed his face.  “Look at him! He seems too devastated to be that young.”

Jin Ling frowned, understanding why his uncle Cheng told him to no talk with the neighbour in first place.

He was so gross.

“Okay, okay. Your old man wouldn’t shaming you in front of your boyfriend.”

“Oh my God, Dad. Why are you like this??” Yuan blushed, really ashamed while his father seemed to have a good laugh at his own son expense. 

“Forgive your old man, little radish. Old habits never dies.”

Yuan put a hand to his face. “Sorry, Jin Ling. I swears he’s not like that all the time.”

“I'm going to pretend that I don't hear it.” Jin Ling mumbled, without knowing if he was going to regret coming to Wen Yuan house or not.

“I got the feeling that your face was familiar, are you A-Cheng’s boy?”

The question caught Jin Ling off guard.

“Do you know my uncle?”

“He never talked about me?? What a friend!” He complained, taking another sip of wine “We were childhood friends, best friends actually.”

Jin Ling doubted, seriously.

However, later Wei Wuxian show him an old photo where a younger version of himself was here with Jin Ling's mother and uncle. It were just the three of them, smiling at the camera in Jin Ling's grandparents house.

Jin Ling looked at the photo, admiring how pretty was his mom at that age.

The three of them seemed so happy that Jin Ling wondered what happened, why he didn’t knew this man and why his uncle Cheng told him never speak a word with him.

And for a moment, his mind stop thinking about some fanfiction gray blue eyes.

Well, until monday when he went to school and the Teacher Lan Qiren introduced a new student. The pretty boy, Lan Jingyi.

Fuck, he had a crush on Lan Qiren grandson.

He was really fucked.

[skullsandwineglasses]

To Dear Myself Review/Rant

If you’ve had the patience to watch all 45 episodes until the end, then you probably know what I’m going to talk about in this review. I feel like it’s pretty unanimous that the ending was awful. 

It’s a slow burn slice-of-life drama. I don’t normally watch these types of dramas and instead go for the ones that are fantastical and far away from reality so that I can completely get lost in another world. But Liu Shishi and Zhu Yilong are familiar faces, and I’m more likely to start a bad drama with familiar actors than a good drama with unfamiliar actors, because I’m basic and want to invest as little attention and mental effort as possible (it takes work to warm up to new faces). 

The drama started off promising: it introduced obstacles that normal couples and families would face. Obstacles like money, social class, infidelity, unemployment, workplace competition, the value and desirability of “aging” women who prioritize work over love. It was relatable, even though some of these are unfamiliar experiences for me, a psychology grad student in her mid-20s. I didn’t expect this drama to be inspiring. I didn’t want this drama to be inspiring. But I wanted it to be at least logical, if not realistic. The drama seemed to promise reality though, which I held out hope for, but instead it butchered the character arc for most of the leads. 

[spoilers ahead]

The devolution of Li Si Yu and Chen Yi Ming’s relationship was laughable. 

LSY is afraid of marriage, while CYM believes that the ultimate goal in life is to get married and have a family. They don’t see eye to eye on this, and so the pressure causes them to break up. I respect this. It’s a common problem: you can’t really move forward when one isn’t ready to settle down, and the other isn’t willing to wait or support them. CYM is portrayed as a calm, composed, and morally upright person who feels uncomfortable when LSY makes a questionable decision. But CYM is also a hypocritical person who suppresses his feelings. Whenever he’s displeased, he acts as thought everything is fine until he can’t hide it anymore and explodes with unbidden rage. He punches the roof of the car, he slams the desk. It’s a little scary tbh. LSY is portrayed as a passionate and impulsive career-driven woman. She has to make tough decisions, and you understand why she makes them. Whenever she’s unhappy, she’ll let you know. The drama seems to set up a character development arc for these two flawed characters. 

LSY starts her own company, but then fails, and ends up learning that while it’s important to fight for what you believe in, but you shouldn’t be too caught up in whether your fail or succeed. It’s the classic “it’s about the journey, not the destination” kind of lesson. 

After a bout of heartbreak, CYM is swept off his feet by the manipulative Wang Ziru. She lies to him, evades him, controls him. At this point in the drama, we think that LSY is better off without him because he seemed to have moved on so swiftly. CYM and WZR seem to have a calmer relationship than the one he had with LSY. They never argue. We see that he’s easily attracted to confident, powerful women, but expects them to settle down with him when they’re not ready. For a third of the drama, he’s happily in love with WZR and doesn’t think about or interact with LSY (except when he comes to her office to tell her to shut her company “for her own good”). It looks like he completely moved on.

LSY on the other hand, misses him. She’s always looking at the only picture that she’s saved of them together. She still loves him. 

I liked that they introduced Guan Xiao Tong as a potential love interest for LSY. Despite being over a decade younger than LSY and constantly being looked down by her because of this, I thought he was quite mature. I also liked how LSY wasn’t “moved” by him. The typical drama would have her eventually reciprocate his feelings and make him her rebound. Yes, she was amused by him, but she knew that he wouldn’t grow up fast enough with her, and so she never led him on. It made their relationship wholesome. Even though LSY  wasn’t attracted to him, I liked how the drama normalized a potential may/december relationship between a woman and man. Though I don’t think I can forgive the drama was making him disappear so abruptly after he found out that his dad was struggling financially. Maybe the drama implied that GXT was too busy “growing up” by helping with his dad’s business so his relationship with LSY came to an end and that he was no longer relevant to drama, but that wasn’t made clear at all. 

Zhi Zhi also stopped appearing after the 3rd last episode of the drama when she decided not to marry the misogynistic Su Li Xing and to instead stay in Shanghai for her career, which also implied that there could be a chance for her and Liu Yang to get back together (their storyline is a whole other can of worms, but I have to admit that no other drama, movie, or book has made me cry as hard as Zhi Zhi confronting the mistress and then getting publicly slapped by her husband. Not sure if it was the drama itself that had the power to move me, or if it was because I watched that scene at 3am on a Thursday, or because it reminded me of some personal experiences, but either way, I sobbed hella hard that night).

But back to LSY and CYM. In the last 2 episodes of the drama, they start appearing together in scenes again. There are some unresolved emotions. There is still attraction. Nervous, longing, awkward glances. After nearly 20 episodes of believing that a reconciliation is impossible, you start wondering if the drama is hinting that they’re gonna force them back together in the last 2 episodes. CYM sells his apartment to support LSY’s project. Haowen tells LSY that CYM still calls out her name when he’s drunk (although it’s still unclear if this was just a gimmick to distract her to sign the sale agreement). 

CYM can’t give WZR a straight answer about whether or not he still loves LSY. He punches Gong Jing in the face for cheating LSY out of her shares. 

And even after all this, guess what happens? He confronts WZR. She tells him she lied to him to help him preserve his dignity. She tells him she had to do underhanded, unethical things in order to save the livelihood of an entire company that she’s responsible for. He’s moved. He’s grateful for her thoughtfulness towards him. He stands by her. He chooses her. 

I mean, what? Does he really love her that much that he’s willing to look past everything she’s done? All the crimes and hurt she’s committed? I don’t need to him to get back together with LSY. I don’t want them to. I think he’s a terrible character who believes that happiness and fulfilment only comes form finding a woman who’s willing to let him love and dote on her. But this decision just doesn’t match the morally upright character we’ve been sold with at the beginning of the drama. LSY only made one morally questionable decision, of which she apologized for, and yet CYM was already questioning whether or not they should continue their relationship because he felt like they were going different ways. And yet he forgives WZR? Because he loves her? But? What about those ambiguous, uncomfortable faces he made when he was with her? Like that scene when he helped take off her coat before she went into the awards ceremony, and he stood back, leaning by the door, staring off into the distance looking sad and regretful?? What are we supposed to make of those scenes and expressions? I probably shouldn’t victim blame, especially since WZR created an uneven power dynamic in their (lowkey toxic) relationship, but I’m just not sure what the scriptwriter was trying to do with this plotline. It felt like they were condoning WZR’s behaviour (despite saying she was arrested in a voiceover) because CYM forgave her. Or were they condemning CYM’s passiveness? Again, not clear.

And then the final scene with the women marching on happy and hopeful, and then men staring out onto the city skyline looking lost and depressed? Female empowerment is great, and it was nice that they were all single at the end (except for Xiao Ling, I guess), but was it really necessary to tear men down to emphasize this? But then again, the drama kind of had to since they wrote shitty male characters. I just dislike creating the winner/loser dichotomy. 

I respect that Liu Yang is working his way towards forgiveness and has found what he’s passionate about. But I don’t know if he’s forgivable, because what he did was pretty unforgivable, but he’s showing growth and is working towards redemption, which is somewhat admirable. 

Haowen went from being the most level-headed one to becoming the most impulsive and obsessive one. 

CYM is just blank. Absolutely blank. There is nothing interesting about him. At first you pity him for being the one who’s always chasing after LSY and being the one to give in first for the sake of the relationship, but then you realize that he’s just trying to mold himself into what he thinks is the “ideal” boyfriend, which he thinks is someone who is able to succeed without the help of his girlfriend. He thinks it’s weak to rely on the help of his girlfriends, which is ironic since most of the career moves he made in the drama were directly because of his girlfriends. 

Anyway, I could just go on about how much I didn’t enjoy this drama, and other people on youtube and mydramalist have ranted more eloquently about this. I usually don’t write drama reviews unless there’s something I’m deeply unhappy about. 

My recommendation? Don’t watch this. But if you’re curious, don’t be afraid to jump and skip scenes. There are no likable characters. Even Zhi Zhi doesn’t start to become likable until she decides to leave her husband. Is this a feminist drama? Yes to the extent that it normalizes women in their 30s who are single and career-driven (which is a pretty big deal in China where unmarried women over 25/27 are considered “leftover” women), but I’m just not sure whether the plot does justice to these women. The verdict is still out on that. Thoughts?

Oh and one final qualm that I have with this drama is the LSY and WZR never had a final face-to-face confrontation. After everything that WZR did to LSY, LSY never got to interrogate WZR. WZR could have even gave LSY some final parting words. Instead, CYM took LSY’s place and the drama made it seem that WZR was only answerable to him and no one else. There was just absolutely no closure from this messy, messy drama.

[fuyonggu]

Preface to the Biographies of the Eight Princes (Book of Jin 59)

自古帝王之臨天下也，皆欲廣樹蕃屏，崇固維城。唐、虞以前，憲章蓋闕，夏、殷以後，遺跡可知。然而玉帛會于塗山，雖云萬國，至於分疆胙土，猶或未詳。泊乎周室，粲焉可觀，封建親賢，並為列國。當其興也，周、召贊其升平；及其衰也，桓、文輔其危亂。故得卜世之祚克昌，卜年之基惟永。逮王赧即世，天祿已終，虛位無主，三十餘載。爰及暴秦，併吞天下，戒衰周之削弱，忽帝業之遠圖，謂王室���陵遲，由諸候之強大。於是罷侯置守，獨尊諸己，至乎子弟，並為匹夫，惟欲肆虐陵威，莫顧謀孫翼子。枝葉微弱，宗祐孤危，內無社稷之臣，外闕籓維之助。陳、項一呼，海內沸騰，隕身於望夷，系頸於軹道。事不師古，二世而滅。漢祖勃興，爰革斯弊。於是分王子弟，列建功���，錫之山川，誓以帶礪。然而矯枉過直，懲羹吹齏，土地封疆，逾越往古。始則韓、彭菹醢，次乃吳、楚稱亂。然雖克滅權偪，猶足維翰王畿。洎成、哀之後，戚籓陵替，君臣乘茲間隙，竊位偷安。光武雄略緯天，慷慨下國，遂能除凶靜亂，復禹配天，休祉盛於兩京，鼎祚隆於四百，宗支繼絕之力，可得而言。魏武忘經國之宏規，行忌刻之小數，功臣無立錐之地，子弟君不使之人，徒分茅社，實傳虛爵，本根無所庇廕，遂乃三葉而亡。

Ever since ancient times, kings and emperors who presided over the realm wished to provide security and protection for their rule by appointing trusted people as feudal lords and placing them in command of strategic locations, like protecting a city by expanding and fortifying its walls. 

Though we know little of what took place in the mists of time prior to the sage rulers Tang (Yao) and Yu (Shun), by the time of the Xia and Yin (Shang) dynasties, we see some evidence of this principle already emerging. But although we read that jade and silk were distributed by Yu the Great (the founder of Xia) at Tushan and the records speak of "the myriad fiefs", so that we know that in principle there was a splitting of the land and a distribution of territory, still we do not know the precise details.

Matters become brighter by the dawn of the Zhou dynasty, where all becomes clear; we find the precise details of the organization of the feudal lords and how titles were granted to this relative or that worthy person, and that the realm was divided into particular fiefs and domains. When Zhou was ascendant and peaceful, we see the admirable conduct of the Dukes of Zhou and Shao; when Zhou was in decline, still we find Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin supporting the royal family through times of turmoil and danger. And thus their rulers were blessed with prosperity and success through the ages and the span of their rule was long indeed.

By the time of the last ruler of Zhou, King Nan, the blessings of Heaven had already expired. King Nan perished (in 256 BC), and then the realm had an empty throne and no sovereign for more than thirty years, until in the end the state of Qin conquered and annexed all the realm (in 221) through its violent barbarity. It was the belief of the First Emperor of Qin that the downfall of Zhou had been brought about because of the weakness and isolation of its kings, who had forgotten the farsightedness needed for the imperial enterprise, and that the royal house had become the plaything of the feudal lords, who took advantage to become great and powerful. Thus he did away with the whole feudal system and organized the realm into commandaries under the central control of the court, and he reserved all honor and majesty for himself alone, so that even his brothers and sons were no greater than commoners. In doing these things, it was the First Emperor himself who sought only to indulge his cruelty and flaunt his tyranny, for he gave no consideration of what might happen to his descendants after him. The branches and leaves of the tree of state were flimsy and weak, and the crown had few friends to turn to for aid; within, there were no subjects who would preserve the altars of state, and without, there were no lords who would guard and defend the imperial family. One cry of rebellion from Chen Sheng and Xiang Yu was all it took to set the whole realm within the Seas roiling like a cauldron; the Second Emperor of Qin lost his life at Wangyi Palace, and Ying Ziying surrendered at Zhidao with his seal around his neck. Qin failed to heed the teachings of the ancients, and thus their dynasty perished within two generations.

When Gaozu of Han (Liu Bang) rose to the fore, he made changes to correct these faults. He divided the realm and restored the system of the feudal lords, making princes of his younger relatives and granting fiefs to his accomplished ministers. Rivers and mountains were they granted, to serve as their belts and grindstones. The error of the early Han sovereigns was that they went too far in the other direction, like one who blows on hot soup so much that it grows cold; in the granting of lands and fiefs, they went beyond what the ancients had done. Thus they first had to execute Han Xin and pickle Peng Yue and afterwards experienced the crisis brought on by the Princes of Wu and Chu. But though they eventually stripped the feudal lords of the power to threaten the dynasty, the princes and nobles still retained enough power to protect the royal family from harm. Yet by the time of Emperors Cheng and Ai, again the situation had pivoted to the other extreme; the imperial relatives and feudal lords were oppressed and weak, allowing the great minister (Wang Mang) to take advantage of the opportunity and usurp the throne. Luckily, once Emperor Guangwu stitched the realm back together through his boldness and cunning, he once again generously distributed fiefs across the realm. Thus was he able to purge the wicked and quell the chaos. Han once more received the blessings of Heaven; they enjoyed peace and repose, flourishing between the two capitals (at Luoyang and Chang'an), and their legacy endured for four centuries. One could certainly say that it was because the extended royal clan once again exerted on the dynasty's behalf the strength that they had lost.

We may contrast this with Emperor Wu of Wei (Cao Cao), who was ignorant of the generosity needed to sustain the state and who through his suspicion cut those who might have supported his state down to size. His accomplished subjects never received even a spade of land to call their own, and his younger relatives reigned rather than ruled their domains; they were divvied up and sent off to pitiful dwellings, and their titles were form rather than substance. Wei had no foundation to grant it shelter, and thus it lasted no more than three eras.

有晉思改覆車，復隆磐石，或出擁旄節，蒞岳牧之榮；入踐臺階，居端揆之重。然而付託失所，授任乖方，政令不恆，賞罰斯濫。或有材而不任，或無罪而見誅，朝為伊、周，夕為莽、卓。機權失於上，禍亂作於下。楚、趙諸王，相仍構釁，徒興晉陽之甲，竟匪勤王之師。始則為身擇利，利未加而害及；初乃無心憂國，國非憂而奚拯！遂使昭陽興廢，有甚弈棋；乘輿幽縶，更同羑裏。胡羯陵侮，宗廟丘墟，良可悲也。

The Jin dynasty might have learned from these earlier examples. They were like drivers of a cart in a convoy which, seeing the carts in front of it topple and fall, might have profited by steering clear of the same danger. They could have laid a foundation for themselves solid as a rock. Some of their relatives and accomplished subjects might have been empowered with banner and scepter to lead troops out to the borders and carry out the labor of governing the land and protecting the capital, while others remained behind to serve in the government ministries and provide continuity in the administration. 

Instead, the opposite took place. Positions and appointments once granted were as soon withdrawn, and people were chosen for this role or that based only on the expediency of the moment; the government and its policies were inconstant, and rewards and punishments swirled together. Some with talent were never employed; some innocent of any crime were executed regardless. Those who in the morning were honored as the peers of Yi Yin or the Duke of Zhou were denounced by the same evening as the equals of Wang Mang or Dong Zhuo. Power and authority were surrendered above, while chaos and disaster spread below. 

The Princes of Chu, Zhao, and all the rest sought one after another to sow dissension; they acted righteous as though they were imitating the old "call to arms at Jinyang", but they never exhibited the conduct of cautious lords. They undertook their designs to grasp at profit for themselves, yet before the gains were in hand, doom overtook them; they never showed any concern for the state, so how could the state help but suffer calamity? Power changed hands more drastically than the pieces flip in a game of weiqi; men rose to power and were cast into prison with more dizzying speed than King Wen of Zhou's stint in the jail at Yuli. And in the end, the Xiongnu and the Jie pillaged and plundered the realm and the dynasty's ancestral temples were left empty and bare. Truly, a pitiful thought.

夫為國之有籓屏，猶濟川之有舟楫，安危成敗，義實相資。舟楫且完，波濤不足稱其險；籓屏式固，禍亂何以成其階！向使八王之中，一籓繄賴，如梁王之禦大故，若硃虛之除大憝，則外寇焉敢憑陵，內難奚由竊發！縱令天子暗劣，鼎臣奢放，雖或顛沛，未至土崩。何以言之？琅邪譬彼諸王，權輕眾寡，度長絜大，不可同年。遂能匹馬濟江，奄有吳會，存重宗社，百有餘年。雖曰天時，抑亦人事。豈如趙倫、齊冏之輩，河間、東海之徒，家國俱亡，身名並滅。善惡之數，此非其效歟！西晉之政亂朝危，雖由時主，然而煽其風，速其禍者，咎在八王，故序而論之，總為其傳云耳。

For those who serve the state by acting as its shield and screen are like the rowers on a boat crossing a river. Whether the boat enjoys peace or suffers calamity is entirely up to the collective efforts of the rowers. If they dip their oars in unison, though the river might have waves, they will not be enough to threaten the ship. And if the feudal lords act in unison to protect the state, how could turmoil ever grow so dire as to bring down the dynasty?

During the Han dynasty, there were the examples of the Prince of Liang (Liu Wu), who served without to oppose the treason of the Princes of Wu and Chu in their effort to overthrow the dynasty, and the Marquis of Zhuxu (Liu Zhang), who acted within to purge the Lü clan in their attempt to usurp the throne. If only these Eight Princes of Jin had done as they did! Though there might be foreign threats, if the Princes were united, how could such threats dare to despoil the realm? Or if there were internal dangers, even so, how could they have seized power? Even if the Son of Heaven was a blind fool or the chief ministers were arrogant and unrestrained, such things could have been dealt with; there might be shocks and quakes, but it would not have caused the mountain to collapse.

What is the proof of this? Consider how the Prince of Langye (Sima Rui) compared to the Eight Princes. His authority was less than theirs, and he had fewer troops than they did; he was a more distant relative than they, nor did he have their seniority. Yet he was able to cross south of the Yangzi by himself, take control of the regions of Wu and Kuaiji, and preserve and revive the imperial family, thus prolonging the dynasty for another century and more. Though one could argue that Heaven was helping him, still it required his own efforts to make it so. He was far different from the likes of Sima Lun or Sima Jiong or the ilk of Sima Yong or Sima Yue, who brought about the destruction of their families and their state and the annihilation of their lives and their honor! Could there be any clearer examples of the differences between good and evil?

Circumstance itself may have been the primary factor that caused the turmoil in Western Jin and the instability of its court. Yet it was these Eight Princes who fanned the flames of its destruction and hastened its demise. And having prefaced the discussion with these remarks, we have gathered their biographies here to illustrate our argument.

[razberryyum]

The Untamed/陈情令 Rewatch, Episode 8

(spoilers for everything MDZS/Untamed)

[covers MDZS chapter...none, really...Team CQL pretty much goes completely rogue for this ep]

WangXian meter: 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

I really thought that Wei Ying should have named his binding technique “无聊” (“wu liao”, aka “lame”, “silly”, “boring”) in honor of Lan Zhan, since that’s his favorite response to Wei Ying. It’s a shame he didn’t end up doing that, felt like a total missed opportunity, especially since he never did decide on the actual name.  The two names he came up with, “sharing clothes” and “no clothes” (according to Viki's translation), felt little more than just Easter eggs for novel readers since we know eventually the two of them do partake in both states of dress and undress. In the context of the actual technique, they really don’t make much sense. However, interestingly enough, in the WeTV subs, the two name choices were actually translated as “binding” and “bonding”, which definitely seems more applicable. Based on my limited knowledge of Chinese words, the Viki translation seems to be a more literal translation of the words used, so I’m not sure how the WeTV team came up with binding and bonding instead, unless those are the figurative meanings of those Chinese characters.  I would love it if a fellow fan who is much more Chinese literate could school me on which is more accurate translation, but seriously, how much cuter would it have been if Wei Ying had just gone with 无聊?

Team CQL deciding to throw in more yin metals to the story was really a stroke of genius considering how much mileage they got out of that little invention: they got to introduce Xue Yang and eventually the Yi City boys earlier, provide a more extensive backstory for Lan Yi which of course also impacted other plot elements downstream, utilize Wen Ruohan more as a villainous character (which I personally consider a minus), stretch out the running time for more episodes, and most importantly, create more bonding opportunities for Wei Ying and Lan Zhan. First time I watched this episode I straight out cheered when Wei Ying skipped out on his Yunmeng fam to go after Lan Zhan; I thought that was so adorable. I was so looking forward to their adventures together. Too bad their alone time only lasted a few minutes...literally less than 4 minutes; I actually kept track this time around. Originally I thought that Nie Huaisang was brought in to be a third-wheeler because it would have been too suggestive for Lan Zhan and Wei Ying to spend time together off on their own, but after finishing the show and seeing all the other times they've spent together all alone, I soon realized I was totally overthinking things and it really was for the story's sake. One point I was never clear on was how did NHS clue into the fact that Jin Guangyao was behind his brother's death, since qi deviation actually seemed a reasonable explanation for his demise. Guy was bleeding through all his face holes, but he also had the ghost puppet lines on his neck. Because of NHS' experience here with Lan Zhan and Wei Ying when they faced off against the Wei villagers he was able to see firsthand how people affected by the Yin metal looks so I wonder if that's how he made the connection with what happened with his brother since Nie Mingjue also had those veiny markings on his neck. This had to be the only opportunity he had to see ghost puppets up close since he didn't really participate in the battle part of the Sunshot Campaign.

I could be way off base of course and perhaps the actual answer is more obvious than that, but one of the reasons I look forward to rewatching the show is filling in these gaps I have in terms of the plot and seeing if my conjectures to what I previously hadn't figured out yet are correct or not.

Another benefit to NHS' sudden appearance was seeing how Lan Zhan seemed almost jealous at how chummy Wei Ying was being with him.  He didn't look thrilled at all when NHS popped up, and then that look on his face before he turned away from them was really the epitome of disapproval. Actually, he looked a little pissed. I wonder if he was actually disappointed to be reminded that Wei Ying's overt friendliness was not just reserved for him, since he was just as exuberantly social to NHS as well.  

But progress was being made in their relationship just the same: take the fact that he didn’t fling off Wei Ying’s hand when he grabbed hold of him. Prior to their time in the cold pool cave, I doubt Lan Zhan would’ve allowed anyone to touch and lead him that way. In fact, he’s straight out said before that he doesn’t like physical contact with others. Obviously that’s no longer the case anymore, especially when it comes to Wei Ying. It's only the first of many more instances of hand grabbing and other touches between them. It's so exciting watching their relationship slowly but surely growing all over again.

Although, when it comes to Wei Ying, I think it takes a much longer time for his feelings toward Lan Zhan to undergo any change from close friendship. I'm probably alone on this, but while I think he likes Lan Zhan a lot, I don’t think his feelings went through the same transformation to love that Lan Zhan’s did until much, much later.  Or at least, not in the way that he is actively aware of.  He clearly felt an instant kinship with Lan Zhan, but I think it takes a long while before he even understands that it’s different from how he feels towards someone like Jiang Cheng or even Nie Huaisang.

Watching him as he admired Lan Zhan's beauty, I was naturally tempted at first to ascribe more meaning to his reaction than just appreciative appraisal because I wanted Wei Ying to be enamored with Lan Zhan already. But the truth of the matter is, now that I’m able to take a step back and really assess their relationship, I don’t think Wei Ying was quite at the maturity level yet to be able to properly comprehend what his admiration may actually be an indicative of. Wei Ying has a big heart, which is one of the most lovable qualities about him, but because of his heart and it's boundless capacity to love and care for others, I think even he himself can't decipher the differing levels of feelings he might have for different people.  And because it will take him a long time to realize the greater significance behind his attachment to Lan Zhan, it’s really heart-breaking how he almost carelessly friend-zones Lan Zhan at various points in this first part of their lives before he finally wakes up. In fact, I can pinpoint the exact moment when I believe he wakes up, but since it's still in the far future, I’ll save my further ramblings on that matter until then.

Bunny Time with the Yunmeng Sibs

I love bunnies a lot and I also love the Yunmeng siblings a bunch, so naturally I wanted to love this moment completely as well, especially since seeing Wei Ying and Jiang Cheng nuzzle bunnies is just one of the cutest sights I've ever been laid eyes on. Unfortunately, there was one thing that put a damper on the scene for me and it was seeing Wei Ying throw that poor bunny at Jiang Cheng.  That wasn't a stunt bunny he tossed, it was the real thing. I rewound several times just to confirm it. I winced so hard the first time I watched the scene that I think I gave myself a toothache, and even now I still grimace a little when I see it. For my peace of mind I have to assume Wang Zhuocheng (who of course portrays Jiang Cheng) did catch the bunny and the take we saw was not a do-over because he actually missed it so they had to redo the scene again. I will also have to assume that the bunny was the same bunny throughout the rest of scene which means it survived the toss and it was just fine afterwards since bunnies are usually fragile little creatures and are susceptible to heart-attacks at just the slightest shock (and being suddenly tossed in the air would definitely qualify as that). The alternative is just too gloomy otherwise. Chinese productions don't generally have a good track record when it comes to animals so...yeah...I gotta stop thinking about it and just focus on the siblings cuddling the cute rabbits.

I hope someone adopted the bunnies and the cast and crew didn't just cook and eat them afterwards.

ChengQing

It actually just crossed my mind tonight that Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing's ship name actually sounds like part of the Untamed's Chinese title. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. The extra "g" probably threw me off. Anyway, the way this scene started was rather odd because based on the way they greeted each other, it was as if Jiang Chen and Wen Qing were on the outs, like they just had an argument or something. Which doesn't make sense because the last time they saw each other was at Cloud Recesses, where Jiang Cheng was still making puppy eyes at Wen Qing while she was making her lantern wish, but then cut to here and it's like he's not even that thrilled to bump into her again. What happened to his little crush on her? I was kinda disappointed.

Wen Chao is a Close-Talking Creep

I don't like Wen Chao but I absolutely enjoyed He Peng's performance of him because he is so effectively creepy and shitty. Just the way he purposely invades Big Bro Xichen and Wen Qing's space as he threatens them totally made my skin crawl.  More than once I've wondered how the hell Wen Qing was able to grow up around him and not get harassed in the worst way.  He's also such a petty dick, with the way he purposefully dirtied big brother's rug for no good reason other than to be a shithead. But then, later on, when he's called to be totally pathetic to the point where he's downright sympathetic, he was able to pull that off with equal aplomb. So even though I almost hate his character, I do want to take this moment to give some love to the actor, whom I think did a really good job. Playing villains is sometimes an equally thankless job as playing the straight man, especially with villains like Wen Chao which aren't meant to be alluring like Xue Yang or likable like Jin Guangyao. He could have easily veered into caricature territory, which I actually thought the actor for Wen Ruohan did so that's why I didn't like his performance nor was I able to take him seriously as a character, but He Peng's Wen Chao always seemed grounded to me. I think a big reason for that is because the actor, in his own words, viewed his character as an arrogant, spoiled rich kid instead of a soulless villain and therefore chose to play him that way. As a result, I think he was still able to infuse Wen Chao with a small degree of humanity.  The fear he felt whenever he had to face his dad was palpable. He's basically like a bully because his upbringing allows him to be one, but ultimately he's still a weak human being. That's why, when he turned into a sad, sniveling shell of a man under Wei Wuxian's torture, I found him really pitiful and actually felt bad for him.

Odds and Ends

Seriously, why the hell was Wen Chao able to hold the yin metal with his BARE HAND like that??? They've been saying time and again how powerful the metals are, how full of resentment they are, how normal people can't just handle them cuz even a highly cultivated person like Lan Yi was done in by just one piece, so how come a medium-powered mofo like Wen Chao was able to just hold as if it was just a some rock he picked off the ground? Even if the yin metals were only just activated from their dormancy, they're still soul-sapping implements of evil, so this really should not have been possible.

The dear translators kept on calling Wen Chao's bird an "owl" and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out WHY. There is nothing about that thing that resembles an owl, imho. It looks more like a raven with eagle talons and the sounds it made were like that of a hawk, so I really can't figure out how they got owl from that. Even the Chinese words for owl ("猫头鹰") is completely different from the characters used for that bird. I mean, I guess it could be one of those deep dives like how they came up with "Childe" for all the male honorifics, but seriously why even bother? Probably would’ve been easier to just call it a raven since that's what the cloudy mass looks like the most. Although I must say, I do love the way it looks: I like that they use the evil smoky effect for it since it’s suppose to be a bad birdy. I think it's one of the more successful CGI effects in the show.

Team CQL can be proud of themselves for the owl/raven/whatever effect, but then they should also dunk their heads in the toilets for this shitshow at the Wen Village. There was no consistency to these guys...some had the whited out eyeballs that up until then, all ghost puppets on the show have been shown to have, but then some, like that female extra in the front had regular eyes. And then some of the extras were rolling up their eyes. It's like, was there NO direction give to these guys? This whole Night of the Living Not Dead scene was a complete embarrassment. Any tension they were trying to build up for this scene was completely destroyed as soon as these walking jokes showed up.

Lastly, I had to laugh when Wei Ying quickly divulged the secret of the yin metals to Nie Huaisang without much prompting whatsoever. He JUST pledged himself to secrecy in front of Big Bro Xichen and Uncle Lan in like the last episode, and he already broke the promise by this one. What was more amazing was that Lan Zhan didn’t even bat an eye at it nor did he even try to stop him. I guess they both completely forgot about the promise already.

Question I Still Have

Actually, I’ve had this question since the beginning but now seems to be a good time as any to ask this, since this episode ended on those guys: WHY they're called "ghost puppets"? I've actually never heard of the Chinese words they used for the zombies before, on any other show.  Was this terminology just a creation of the Untamed’s scriptwriter just for the show. And if so, I still don’t understand why they have to be called ghost puppets since they’re clearly NOT ghosts. Calling them "living" puppets would’ve been more appropriate. If someone has some insight on this, I’d appreciate the knowledge drop.

Overall Episode Rating: 7 Lil Apples out of 10

Disclaimer: The Untamed would not be possible without Mo Dao Zu Shi and Mo Xiang Tong Xiu-laozi.  I mean no disrespect whatsoever with my humble comparisons between the novel and the live action, even when I sometimes favor the changes in the show. All hail MDZS and MXTX-laozi always and forever!  

[the-archlich]

So uh... Thoughts on the 17 new characters? (Xu Shu, Lady Mi, Da Qiao, Xiao Qiao, Lady Bian, Wang Lang, Gao Shun, Ji Ling, Zhang Hong, Zhang Zhao, Yan Yu, Li Yue, Zhou Tai, Cheng Pu, Liu Yao, Yan Baihu, Chen Gong)

First, people I assume are factional leaders, because those are really the only ones that matter in a game like this:

Li Jue - Including him seemed inevitable for scenarios in a certain frame of time. He controlled Han’s emperor and the capital for several years, and a lot of warlords leaned on him for some legitimacy. While not a major warlord, or even especially influential, he was still a factor. For a scenario set between 192-198, he’s worth including

Liu Yao - One of the best choices they could make. The southern regions are badly underpopulated in TW, and Liu Yao was one of the most important southern warlords. He was Sun Ce’s chief obstacle and, for a time, one of Yuan Shu’s biggest concerns. He was also an interesting person. I think he’s a historically relevant figure who adds something that the game badly needs. An excellent choice.

Wang Lang - Another great choice. He was initially sent to Kuaiji by Tao Qian, who appears to have had hopes of extending his control into the southeast before Yuan Shu got driven into Shouchun and ruined that plan. While nominally subordinate to first Tao Qian and Liu Yao, he was effectively independent. He offered stubborn resistance to Sun Ce at first and, after arranging a favorable surrender, went north to become one of the keystones of Wei. A good choice.

Yan Baihu - the leader of a tribal confederacy in the hills of Wu commandery, he was a persistent enemy to Sun Ce. He led several revolts against Sun Ce, often with some aid from northern actors like Cao Cao and Yuan Shu. For this type of game and this particular scenario, I think he’s a good inclusion. Although it is a bit weird to have him without Xu Gong.

As far as the officers go, I don’t really care. I don’t feel like making them special provides a whole lot to a game like this. For anyone you could pick, there are another 15 who would have been as good or better. Something has to be really egregious to make an impact.

Chen Gong - Depends on what is covered in this scenario. He was a key part of Lu Bu’s army from 194 on, so if that factors into any of this, I suppose he’s an acceptable choice. Not really a major figure of the time, but whatever.

Cheng Pu - Always solid. He was a key supporter of Sun Jian and was Sun Ce’s most accomplished commander. Under Sun Quan he helped command the key campaigns at Chibi/Wulin and at Jiangling, along with Zhou Yu. I can’t complain about him getting some publicity.

Gao Shun - Much as with Chen Gong, it depends on how much emphasis is on Lu Bu’s group in this one. He was a key part of that, so if we’re looking to expand Lu Bu’s circle he’s the natural choice.

Ji Ling - The first one of these I really object to. The only thing he’s known for (in history and even in fiction) is a battle that didn’t happen. He led an expedition against Liu Bei in 197, but Lu Bu brokered peace between them. That’s the end of it. Nothing actually happened there. I’m all for expanding Yuan Shu’s group, but generals like Qiao Rui and Zhang Xun would be far better. They were the generals he actually relied on (even if none of them were especially accomplished).

Xu Shu - This man is an irrelevant figure. I don’t know why he keeps coming up. He has an interesting personal history, but as far as his career goes there’s nothing to it. Any resources spent on him are a waste.

Yan Yu - He’s probably one of the most famous of Liu Zhang’s followers, though not for any particular reason I can think of. I’m assuming there’s some popular fictional story about him. I’d be more interested in expanding Yi with some additional warlords. And even if you’re just looking to give Liu Zhang more substance, I think there are better choices (like Zhao Wei). Seems like a very random choice.I was thinking of Yan Yan (and getting his named mixed up with the later official Yan Yu, who helped manage the country along with Jiang Wei in its final years). This Yan Yu is probably Yan Baihu’s brother, which makes more sense given the nature of this DLC. He was known as a brave man, though he was killed by Sun Ce during failed negotiations.

Zhang Hong - I’ve hired this man repeatedly and I’ll do it again. He was one of Sun Ce’s advisers, providing both tactical and military assistance. Later he was sent to the capital and acted as Sun Ce’s (then Sun Quan’s) primary ambassador to Cao Cao. He helped keep the peace between them and ensure Cao Cao’s backing for the Sun expeditions. He was later sent back south and welcomed back by Sun Quan (though some officers doubted his loyalty). He was an excellent scholar, a good administrator, a remarkable diplomat, and a reliable tactician. He’s a good person to give more brainpower to the Sun in their early years, before Sun Quan recruited all those good scholars.

Zhang Zhao - Much like Zhang Hong, he was both a military and political adviser (though he’s best known for the latter). He was one of Wu’s longest-serving ministers and an absolute pillar of the state. He always gave honest advice and never backed down; nor did he have any patience for Sun Quan’s bullshit. He was one of Wu’s most important figures, and he’s another good choice for smarting-up the Sun before Quan got all those nerds.

Zhou Tai - He’s as good a choice as any, I suppose. I like him and admire him. He was an exceptional warrior who served first under Sun Ce, then as a bodyguard to Sun Quan. In later years he became one of Sun Quan’s most trusted commanders. There are plenty of similar people who could also have been chosen, but this is fine.

The women have to be judged a bit differently, given the lack of records on them. I’m willing to let more slide with them because there’s just so much less to go on.

Lady Mi - I see the logic to this. Her family was very important in helping Liu Bei take Xu in 195, and in funding his army after he lost everything in 196. She’s an adequate enough choice, although I’ve always been much more fond of Lady Gan. No reason not to have them both, though.

Qiao sisters - It’s hard not to let the terrible DW versions of these characters influence my opinions. Given that this new scenario is about Sun Ce’s expansion in the south, they make sense. They were the daughters of a local leader in Lujiang, and by marrying them Sun Ce and Zhou Yu secured loyalty in that commandery. It’s impossible to say what influence, if any, they had beyond that. It’s fair enough to include them, given the circumstances. As always I think there are some better choices, but I can live with this if I set the DW baggage aside. That isn’t fair to them.

Lady Bian - I’m surprised she wasn’t already a special character, though I guess I shouldn’t be. I certainly have no objections to this.

[wil92]

May contain spoilers, read at your own risk.

I just finished Arsenal Military Academy starring Bai Lu as Xie Liang Chen (Xie Xiang) and Xu Kai as Gu Yan Zhen. I’m not a big fan of political or military shows, but I liked Bai Lu and Xu Kai in The Legends so I decided to watch it.

I didn’t mind Bai Lu’s character in this drama, I think there’s something admirable about being able to keep up with military training with the boys, especially since she’s a lot smaller than most of them. I liked that she didn’t take shit from other people and that she wasn’t a weepy character (there’s nothing wrong with crying, but sometimes they make the character cry too much). While I didn’t mind her character, her wig was another story, it didn’t look good and was so fake. I think Xu Kai was a good fit for the role of Gu Yan Zheng because he did well in acting out a mischievous person who can rise to the occasion. He could be quite childish, but I liked how he was able to lead others and come up with plans. I was relieved to find that when I watched AMA, I was not reminded of the characters from The Legends. Zhao Yao was more charismatic and more of a leader compared to Xie Liang Chen. Also, I was surprised that Bai Lu was able to pull off a guy look because she was so pretty in The Legends. When I look at Li Chen Lan from The Legends, he was quieter character and wasn’t a rogue like Gu Yan Zhen, but both were protective. I think Xu Kai shined brighter in this drama than he did in The Legends.

There were many characters and sometimes it was hard to keep track of who was who, but there were some supporting characters that caught my eyes ( some in good ways and some in not so good ways). One of them is Qu Man Ting ( played by Wu Jia Yi), who could be a bit of a diva, but I liked that she did her own thing and that she was able to use her connections to aid in certain situations. In the beginning I liked Shen Jun Shan ( Toby Lee) because he was such a sturdy person but his persistence in trying to woo Xie Xiang irritated me at times especially when he wouldn’t let her reject him. Jin Xian Rong (Gao Yu Er) almost had my pity with her family story but her smug smile and bad deeds made me want to smack her. I liked Shen Ting Bai (Hong Yao) more than I thought I would. I admire his ability to let go of the girl he loves so that she can be happy ( but I’m glad that they were able to get together in the end).

Gender-bender stories are nothing new and neither are political ones, so I can’t really say that it was a refreshing story but it was able to keep my attention. It did seem a little far-fetched that she was able to get into the military without anyone finding out she was a a girl though. I think one of the best things about this drama was the camaraderie that formed between everyone, I really loved the support that they gave to each other (although there were times where some soldiers ganged up on specific people). I know people were upset because it wasn’t more romantic, but for me I didn’t mind it. I considered the romance pure and I think they had more on their minds like surviving and trying to find out what nefarious plans the Japanese had rather than worry about their romantic life. I’ll be honest, I was expecting more characters to die since there was so much fighting. I wasn’t exactly surprised when Huang Song died, but I was still sad and of course, it was a selfless death. I was unsatisfied with Li Wen Zhong’s death because I thought that it was a bit pointless. I get that he wants revenge for Huang Song for saving him, but it was stupid to provoke a group of Japanese by himself. I think he should have saved himself for a bigger plan to take them down. It was sad to see a new character be introduced near the end ( An Wen played by An Xue Yi) for Li Wen Zhong to fall in love with, only for him to die that way. I think I should have expected Guo Shu Ting’s demise, but I gave myself some hope since he finally married Huo Xiao Yu (Liu Min) and I thought they would be able to have blissful ending after all they’ve been through. The ending was happy, but I wished they showed more about Xie Xiang and Gu Yan Zhen other than them walking into the sunset. 

I give this 8.3/10.

photo credit: mydramalist

[shijiujun]

[Eng] History3: Trapped Diary Logbook - Days 10 to 13

♡  Days 10 to 13 of Filming History3: Trapped

Note: These are my translations! Please do not repost anywhere else. I’ve added the photos but I couldn’t scan HQ versions because I didn’t want to damage the book haha sorry about that guys!

Highlights:

Little Tang Yi & Little Hong Ye are real-life siblings - So cute!

Stanley (who plays Ah De) is the MVP he’s like a really nice guy and he got injured the most on set 

Have some Chen Wen Hao, Boss Tang, younger!Dao Yi and Captain Shi

Day 10

Ah Mei (Stanley) who plays Ah De says that he’s in charge of being hit in the entire cast, and the editor says that Ah Mei is definitely most admirable for fulfilling that role - A few times he was hit in the head against the wall, and even the crew and staff were telling him to rest for a while, but Ah Mei continuously shouted ‘no, hurry up, I have a feel for it now!’. Filming all the way to the end, Officer Meng and Vixen No. 1 Ah De kept encouraging each other to work hard before they began the scene.

Day 11

The young actor and actress playing Little Tang Yi and Little Hong Ye are actually real siblings in reality, and their personalities are actually very similar to the Tang Yi and Hong Ye written in the scripts. Little Tang Yi is silent and doesn’t speak much, his personality a little more mature and anchored, and even when he was hurt, he didn’t say much. If everyone wasn’t a bit more meticulous and deliberately paying more attention (to the young actors), probably no one would have realised that he was hurt. His younger sister is more generous, she loves to chat with everyone and loves to laugh as well. Their mother, who was accompanying her children on shoot, kept nagging at them both to be a bit more stern, and to stop laughing so much.

Little Tang Yi’s two curved locks at the top of his head (bed hair) curved up after he fell asleep, and he said that he thought the hair stylist would help him to style his hair and make him look cool and handsome, but unexpectedly, once the hair stylist saw his bed hair, the man very happily picked up the hair spray and made sure that the two curved looks stayed in place (for the shoot).

Day 12

In <<Trapped>> the KTV (karaoke) is a place where secrets are exchanged, and when one is in a KTV, one inevitably needs to showcase his or her singing skills, and as for what secrets Wen Hao and Boss Ke exchanged in the KTV, that’s a secret!

Inside the shooting location, occasionally from the karaoke rooms next door and nearby, they could hear other customers yelling [阮欲來去台北打拼 聽人講啥米好康的攏在那], and Wen Hao laughed, saying that the song lyrics is very applicable to their filming situation at that moment. It’s as if even the song is telling every staff and actor there to keep moving forward, and to not be afraid of anything!

Extras at the scene: Are you tired? Let’s work hard together after we finish eating!

The very sweet and considerate crew will always prepare snack baskets and fill it with many delicious snacks, so that the exhausted staff would be filled with the energy they need. (The editor) would like to tell everyone secretly that the snacks basket was very popular with everyone.

Day 13

So it actually feels like this, to marry one’s daughter off on her wedding day. For Brother He Long, who doesn’t actually have a daughter in real life, today he was able to experience what being a parent is like.

Before Xiao Ya’s kissing scene (with the groom), the director told the groom to be thankful. Because the director actually added the scene, the groom was then able to have a chance to kiss the bride. The actor and actress in this scene were originally fearful of NGs in this scene, but now the NGs have become an additional benefits, because every additional take means they get to kiss each other another time. The director joked, “Everyone wants to kiss but they don’t get to kiss, so the both of you must act well.” In the end, they only kissed 8 times (the editor also wants to go for a round of kissing).

This is out of topic but: The wedding dress store’s big mirrors made the whole crew have to find places to hide, and there really was nowhere to hide. Once, the camera man yelled, “Everyone (can be seen)!” And at that moment, everyone immediately rushed into a forest of wedding dresses, becoming the little animals in a huge forest (made up of wedding dresses).

◆ [Note: Brother He Long is the dude who plays the Police Chief, Captain Shi. And Xiao Ya is the name of his daughter in Trapped, in case any of you forgot!]

[bowsie22]

Zhuiyi Collection 2

Prompt from RVT on AO3: Awwww~ So cute~ My babies~~~  Yeah, ZhuiYi is so underrated. Even tho they're so cute together like that :(  Oh oh, how about Zhuifem!Yi? I've been wondering how they'll meet with GusuLan's rules looming behind them.

Yi was bored. The class was so boring! Lessons on how to be a good cultivator and then lessons on how to be a good wife. What did Yi care about being a good wife? She had heard the Lan Elders talk about her. She knew she wasn't a proper Lan. So, bar marrying outside the Lan Clan, who'd want to marry her? Why did she care about pouring the perfect cup of tea. or knowing how to tend to her husband's wounds? 

Without a doubt, the best part of her day was the time spent in the nursery. All female Lans spent time in there to prepare themselves for motherhood. Yi loved the children, They were so young and care-free. So emotional. It saddened her to know that one day they might end up like, well, like a Lan. People who seemed to think emotion was a bad word.

As she approached the nursery, Yi could hear a voice from inside. That was a boy's voice! Yi stopped at the door. Unmarried male and female disciples were not to mix, not without elder disciples or a teacher with them. And Yi knew that the carers in the nursery were gone. They left the female disciples by themselves in the nursery, only returning if there was an emergency. Should she go in? Wait a minute, what was she saying? Of course she was going to go in! Yi had been looking forward to this all week! No way was some boy taking it from her. Yi stomped into the nursery, freezing when she saw who the boy was. Oh ancestors, she was going to die.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shizui wasn't sure why his father had sent him to the nursery. Okay, he knew that his parents wanted to be alone, but why did Xian-ge look so proud when he mentioned the nursery to Shizui? Removing a child's fingers from his hair, Shizui decided to forget about it. He knew that a female disciple would be joining him soon, but wasn't sure who. Feelings the tips of ears heating up, Shizui knew who he waned to to be. He had heard of Lan Yi from his father and great uncle. Lan Qiren complained about her constantly, the most unLan Lan to ever be born. Lan Yi was loud, emotional and always ready to fight for her friends. And Shizui had seen her once. She was beautiful. Smaller than the other disciples her age, she kept her hair short, hitting just below her shoulders. But her smile? Oh, her smile was the prettiest thing Shizui had ever seen. It lit up her face, it lit up all of Cloud Recesses! Hearing the door slide open, Shizui turned, a gentle smile on his face (Uncle Chen would have been proud.) Oh, it was her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's him. Lan Shizui, Lan Wangji's son and heir to the entire sect. And more importantly, Lan Qiren’s great nephew!

 Oh, Yi was going to be punished into the next year. She slammed a door open, her hair and ribbon were a mess and there was a stain on her robes from breakfast. Lan Qiren would kill her. she quickly fixed her hair and ribbon, she could admit that her robes were a write off. Bowing low, she missed the smile on Shizui's face, the admiration in his eyes.

 "Lan Shizui, I wasn't expecting you here. Please, forgive this one's entrance."

“It's alright Lan Yi. You were excited to spend time with the children, right?"

 "Yes, it's my favourite part of the week."

 "Please, don't let me disturb you. I came here to escape my fathers, they wanted some alone time."

 Lan Yi laughed. Everyone in the Cloud Recesses was used to Wei Wuxian's shamelessness. She loved it. Finally someone who actually showed some emotion around the place. It made her feel a bit better about herself.

 "Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't laugh at that."

 "No. I like your laugh. It's very pretty. Like you."

 Yi glared at the older teen, who immediately back tracked.

 "It's a compliment! I think your pretty and want to get to know you better."

"Oh I see! Because I'm pretty I'm worth knowing. Doesn't matter that I'm the best in my class or a great fighter? All that matters is I'm pretty and will give you pretty children. And I'll look good waiting at home, to cook you a good meal when you return from saving people, right? You're all the same!"

 She stormed out, slamming the door closed behind her before changing her mind. This was her favourite part of the week! No way was some stupid boy ruining it for her. Yi entered the nursery again, pleased to see Shizui frozen in place.

 "You leave. You're not taking this away from me, clan heir or not."

 Shizui nodded, leaving the nursery. Before closing the door behind, he kowtowed. Yi's breath caught in her throat. Why was Lan Shizui kowtowing to her?

 "This one meant no disrespect. I called you pretty because I think you're pretty. But I also think you're a great fighter, capable of defeating any of the male disciples in our clan. I came here today to speak to you and let you know of my intentions.”

 Yi tried to speak, finding her throat too dry. Finally, she croaked out a single work.

 “Intentions?”

 “Yes, I had hoped to court you. And one day, marry you. If you’ll allow me of course?”

 “Yes! Yes, of course I will. Shizui, I’ve liked you for ages. You’re always so calm and in control. I for one think we’d make great cultivation partners.”

 The two smiled, staring at each other. Yi was broken away from Shizui’s (beautiful) eyes by a cry.

 “I should really go check that out. Bye Shizui.”

 “Goodbye Yi.”

 She kept her back turned as Shizui left, not wanting him to see the red on her face. When Yi could no longer hear footsteps, the girl couldn’t stop herself. She danced on the spot, squealing. Shizui wants to court her. Her! The most unLan to ever Lan. This had to be a dream, right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That story again?”

“It’s the only thing that calms them down.”

 Them being the twins that Yi was currently pregnant with. A year of marriage and Yi was already seven months pregnant. Wei Ying’s comments still made her blush just thinking about them. Shizui leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss to Yi’s lips. She grinned at him, the tips of his ears turning red. Her husband was so damn adorable. Who would have thought that Lan Yi would marry Lan Shizui? And be happy? Not her, that’s for damn sure.

 “Love you.”

 “I love you too Yi.”