#chu shu zhi

[gabrielokun]

[silvandar]

It's time for THAT episode 😍

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Kill You Love You (2023)

Gifs of Ending of cdrama “Kill You Love You”

ENGSUB 【奉旨宠君 Kill You Love You】 EP01 | 双面城主危急时刻救女刺客 | 古装爱情片 | 优酷 YOUKU

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhCVU1E0-xc

[reinaka42]

Wang Chuan Feng Hua Lu (忘川风华录) Masterpost

Wang Chuan Feng Hua Lu (忘川风华录) is a Vocal synth (Vocaloid and SynthV) music project. It consists of songs themed around different figures throughout Chinese history. The project is a collaboration between different artists and creatives, with music and videos featuring prominent traditional Chinese elements. The project's title translates to "The Records of Magnificence of the Wangchuan" - In Chinese mythology, "Wangchuan" (or River of Forgetting) is a river in the Underworld that can rid one of their past life's memories, similar to the river Lethe.

A mobile game adaptation has also been developed by NetEast. Unfortunately, I haven't played it so I can't give much insight on it. However, I assume that its premise is similar to that of the idea behind the project as a whole: all these historical figures meeting each other in the Underworld after they died. Maybe.

You can find all the songs on Bilibili. The official Weibo can be found here. The game's website, which includes all characters appearing so far in the game, can be found here, and its Weibo can be found here.

(If you prefer YouTube, I've also put together a handy playlist. Please know that most of these videos are reposts though, so please watch the original Bilibili MVs if you can!)

This blog is where I will be posting everything I feel like I need to say about the songs in this project. A lot of it is lifted from my Twitter account but will be in much more detail. Note that I probably won't touch collab songs, or songs that don't focus solely on the project's own characters.

Disclaimer: I do not speak Chinese, nor am I an expert on Chinese history. Therefore, I cannot reliably translate the lyrics to these songs, nor my words should be taken as gospel. I am merely a nerd gushing about my hyperfixation.

Playlist

多情岸 【Duo Qing An】 ➼ B link

洛阳怀 【Luo Yang Huai】 ➼ B link

易水诀 【Yi Shui Jue】 ➼ B link

山河令 【Shan He Ling】 ➼ B link

簪花人间 【Zhan Hua Ren Jian】 ➼ B link

栖凰 【Qi Huang】 ➼ B link

心上秋 【Xin Shang Qiu】 ➼ B link

祖龙吟 【Zu Long Yin】 ➼ B link

如见青山 【Ru Jian Qing Shan】 ➼ B link

竹林间 【Zhu Lin Jian】 ➼ B link

天下局 【Tian Xia Ju】 ➼ B link

青鸟衔风 【Qing Niao Xian Feng】 ➼ B link

木兰行 【Mu Lan Xing】 ➼ B link

好字唯之 【Hao Zi Wei Zhi】 ➼ B link

不可道 【Bu Ke Dao】 ➼ B link

水叙湖风 【Shui Xu Hu Feng】 (collab) ➼ B link

是非 【Shi Fei】 ➼ B link

风起甘露 【Feng Qi Gan Lu】 (collab) ➼ B link

谓剑 【Wei Jian】 ➼ B link

万象霜天 【Wan Xiang Shuang Tian】 (New Year event song) ➼ B link

千秋梦 【Qian Qiu Meng】 ➼ B link

易安难安 【Yi An Nan An】 ➼ B link

惊鹊 【Jing Que】 ➼ B link

高歌破阵 【Gao Ge Po Zhen】 (collab) ➼ B link

不赴 【Bu Fu】 ➼ B link

西行 【Xi Xing】 ➼ B link

大航海家 【Da Hang Hai Jia】 ➼ B link

牡丹乱 【Mu Dan Luan】 (collab) ➼ B link

倾国 【Qing Guo】 (collab) ➼ B link

相虎 【Xiang Hu】 ➼ B link

补天裂 【Bu Tian Lie】 ➼ B link

此期盈期 【Ci Qi Ying Qi】 (1st anniversary song) ➼ B link

破云来 【Po Yun Lai】 ➼ B link

归钓吟 【Gui Diao Yin】 ➼ B link

始见千秋 【Shi Jian Qian Qiu】 ➼ B link

临川浮梦 【Lin Chuan Fu Meng】 ➼ B link

将军行 【Jiang Jun Xing】 ➼ B link

妄语人间 【Wang Yu Ren Jian】 ➼ B link

数风流 【Shu Feng Liu】 (2nd anniversary song) ➼ B link

问剑春秋 【Wen Jian Chun Qiu】 ➼ B link

起战令 【Qi Zhan Ling】 ➼ B link

人间应又雪 【Ren Jian Ying You Xue】 ➼ B link

旷古回响 【Kuang Gu Hui Xiang】 ➼ B link

墨隐侠声 【Mo Yin Xia Sheng】 ➼ B link

桃源故人 【Tao Yuan Gu Ren】 (3rd anniversary song) ➼ B link

燕双归 【Yan Shuang Gui】 ➼ B link

拜云台 【Bai Yun Tai】 ➼ B link

思华年 【Si Hua Nian】 ➼ B link

承天 【Cheng Tian】 ➼ B link

*Note: The anniversary songs are probably for the game's anniversaries, as the project itself is more than 5 years old.

Albums

Vol 1: 溯洄 【Su Hui】 Includes character songs from Duo Qing An to Zhu Lin Jian. Features human vocals.

Vol 2: 踏浪 【Ta Lang】 Includes character songs from Tian Xia Ju to Yi An Nan An + Shui Xu Hu Feng.

Vol 3: 数风流 【Shu Feng Liu】 Includes character songs from Bu Fu to Yan Shuang Gui, and the two anniversary songs.

Visual character guide:

PRE-QIN | QIN | WESTERN CHU | HAN | THREE KINGDOMS | JIN | NORTH & SOUTHERN DYNASTIES | TANG | FIVE DYNASTIES & TEN KINGDOMS | SONG | YUAN | MING | QING | DREAM

[fandomside]

Nirvana in Fire Rewatch Episode Eighteen

Events:

Xia Chun finds the music scroll. Banruo finds a secret room and Fei Liu's toys. No one finds the secret passage to Jingyan's manor.

MCS begs Meng Zhi and Nihuang to be careful not to let Jingyan suspect who he is.

Prince Yu scolds Banruo for searching. She flatters him and he patronises her. It's icky. She tells him a Southern Chu merchant has been talking about Liyang's relationship with a Southern Chu hostage prince.

Jing-ping and Hui-fei discuss a possible marriage alliance with Southern Chu.

Jingyan visits MCS in the night to tell him he's been sent on military business. He asks him why he's helping him and if he knew Prince Qi. MCS deflects.

Mu Qing tells his sister about the decision in the latest ministerial corruption cases. (This is a very cute way to deliver exposition.) Minster He of Personnel is demoted and sent to a province. Minster Qi of Justice is sentenced to exile.

Jingyan helps the Emperor decide on Cai Quan for Minister of Justice.

The Emperor decides to visit Jing-pin.

Names and titles:

Yujin calls Li Gang 'Li Gang-dage'.

Prince Yu refers to 'Liyang-gugu'.

Characters:

Mu Qing isn't as stupid as he looks; he's worked out there's a pattern with events lately, where Prince Yu and the CP keep losing power.

MCS is genuinely worried about the future of the country if the next emperor isn't strong.

The Emperor is frustrated that the faction fighting has cost him two ministers. My dude you brought this on yourself.

The Emperor is angry everyone gets scared whenever he mentions Chen-guifei or Prince Qi. My dude you brought that on yourself.

One of the Emperor's criteria for succession is 'which of them is most like me?'

MCS - see below

Time:

It's mid-spring.

When did Meng Zhi and Nihuang discover the other knew MCS was Lin Shu? Did I already note that?

Misc:

There's no imperial princess of age to be married.

The Chu take divination seriously.

MCS's reasons for not telling Jingyan:

Jingyan can proceed without emotional distraction.

Jingyan doesn't have to think of Mei Changsu's feelings.

Jingyan wouldn't like Lin Shu doing underhanded things.

JIngyan would try to protect Lin Shu as his first priority.

Also, it makes it emotionally easier for me (MCS).

It stops us arguing with each other.

I am poison and Jingyan is pure.

[wangsejabin]

Chapter 90

Because of this incident, Pan'er and Yue Wangfei had inexplicably gained an extra level of intimacy.

As they walked that way, Yue Wangfei said quietly, " Prince Chu and our prince are not very close, but I didn't expect him to greet me today."

Pan'er had a different thought in mind, probably because of her keen sensibilities, but she felt that Prince Chu's sudden stop was because of her. But Prince Chu did not do anything other than glance at her and ask her a question knowingly.

   However, it was not easy to say such things to Yue Wangfei, so she could only say shyly, "I stay within the Eastern Palace and rarely see outsiders, especially men, so I am a bit flustered by the sudden sight of them."

Yue Wangfei smiled understandingly and felt that Su Liang Di was a frank and honest person, and had long since cast away any prejudice she had against her.

By this time, the two of them had already reached the children, and as they were talking to them, Pan'er looked back.

Prince Chu and the Seventh Prince were no longer there, and she was instantly relieved.

"Okay, all sweaty from playing, there's many bodies of water in this Western Garden, you can't leave your lackeys behind when you go for walks, you have to bring them along with you before you can come out, tell Mother in advance before you go anywhere, got it?" Pan'er's words were deliberately addressed to Wanyin and Zong Lin, she was not worried about Zong Yue, the boy had always known what was proper.

   "Understood Mother."

The Yue Wangfei also felt that Pan Er's words made sense and told Zong Zhi and Shu Li to listen and to do the same in the future.

   Both children answered in the affirmative, and seeing that it was getting late, they turned their heads and walked back.

In front of the Pavilion of the Lotus Wind and the Hui Lu, Pan'er and Yue Wangfei made an appointment to go out for a walk next time, and the children of the two families also agreed to play with each other, and then went their separate ways.

Pan'er had not walked so much for a long time, and her legs were a little sore, so Xiang Pu kneaded her legs, while Zong Yue and Wan Yin went to the study to practise their writing. Before they went out, they had agreed that they would each write two big words when they returned from playing.

   The child did not follow Pan'er in anything, except for her reluctance to do embroidery and practice calligraphy, and her writing truly was atrocious. However, at her age, there was no need to worry too much, but Pan'er thought to herself that her daughter would have to be better than herself.

   When dinner was about to be served, the Prince came back.

After having dinner together, Pan'er forgot to tell the Prince about the encounter with Prince Chu today because of the children's interruptions.

   Pan'er thought that Yue Wangfei had probably said something out of the ordinary because she was so desperate for help, and given her character, she would not mention it again if she missed it this time. At this point, she was a little glad that Prince Chu and the Seventh Prince had appeared and interrupted the conversation, otherwise she would have had a headache thinking about how to answer the other party.

   What Pan'er hadn't expected though was that the Yue Wangfei apparently didn't give up so easily.

   It was also when she was leading the two children back to Juren Hall that she happened to meet Side Consort Guo, who made a couple of barbed remarks, and Yue Wangfei was defeated by her mouth and suffered a lot of anger. She originally thought she would just remain calm, but Shu Li was still young and although she was usually shy and reserved, she did not want her mother to suffer such anger, so she complained to the Prince of Yue.

   The couple inevitably had a big fight, and when she returned, she was so angry that she became dizzy and wept.

   So she came uninvited the next day to find Pan'er.

   Pan'er was a little surprised by her sudden visit, but seeing her face even worse than yesterday, and the look in her eyes, she already had some idea of her intention.

After the palace maids had served tea, she dismissed everyone and passed the tea in front of Yue Wangfei , saying, "Wangfei, have some tea first."

Yue Wangfei drank the tea, taking the time to calm herself down, but the moment she opened her mouth, she still let her intention wash away the feigned calmness.

   She gave a brief account of what had happened last night, and then mocked herself, "I'm not afraid that you will laugh at me, Su Liangdi, but at first my Prince and I were in love for a while. ...

   "...... When my mother in law took a fancy to her and wanted to choose her to give to my prince, I had a bad feeling in my heart,we were both from the capital, although she was of high rank and my family was of low rank, I had heard a few rumors about her. You can say I'm not confident, say I'm small-minded, I remember when you were pregnant with Zong Yue and Wan Yin, we also met twice in the Kunning Palace, at that time I really didn’t want to let her enter the door. Unfortunately, I couldn't resist the 'rules' of the palace and the 'filial piety' ......

   "...... When she entered the house, it was true that there was less and less room for me to stand in the house. I hate my own lack of courage, and thought it would be just as well to live like this, just enduring it, but the children are getting older, I sometimes see my children put up with it in front of her children, I want to slap myself. I also know that I have come abruptly today and asked abruptly, but I don't want to worry my parents there at my maternal home, and there is no one around to say these things ......"

The princess of Yue said, while dropping tears.

   Pan'er sat by the side, not knowing what to say.

In fact, she felt that Yue Wangfei was making things difficult for herself and as a woman of the royal family, if she couldn't even manage to think it through herself, Pan’er was afraid that the life would be unbearable for her. Inevitably, she was reminded of when she was waiting for the crown prince's other children to be born, and she had been pretending that nothing was wrong, but she was still a little uncomfortable in her heart after all.

She had been reluctant to know the Prince's movements in the backyard because she didn't want to face it directly, and she was also putting her head in the sand, but he did come to her most often, especially since the birth of the third child, and he came almost every day, sometimes not, so she just assumed...

She just pretended he was busy in his study.

But when the truth came out, she couldn't continue pretending.

Was it difficult? Of course it was, but not as hard as she thought it would be. On the contrary, she felt relieved, as if some things were still going the way they had in her previous life, which gave her a sense of security.

The days still had to pass, and after two minor tantrums with the prince, which seemed to be genuine, he seemed to understand a bit where her anger lay. He talked about how jealous she was, how she didn't tolerate people, how others knew about it, and how he still came more often to her place.

   Was she happy? She seemed a little happy, but not as happy as she thought she would be, and why not, she didn't know. She just didn't want to explore the issue too much, she always felt that if she thought about something too much, her convictions would collapse.

   So how could she instruct others on something she didn't even understand?

   But looking at the teary-eyed Yue Wangfei, Pan'er also had mixed feelings, not only because of the other party, but also because of herself, because of the Crown Princess, because of this situation where wives and concubines are destined to be on opposite sides.

   Just now, when Yue Wangfei cried to her, she wondered if she was like this in the Crown Princess's heart, too.

"In fact, this matter, I really don't know how to go about it with the Crown Princess, after all, the situation is different, the status is different, my words might not be useful. Just like you are the main consort, the person you are opposite of is a side consort, a concubine. I am also a concubine, my position is obviously different from that of the main wife."

   "No, you misunderstand," Yue Wangfei panicked a little, wiping her tears as she said hastily, "I'm not trying to get you to speak for me or anything, I just want to learn from you, learn how to please men, I think my prince favours her because I'm not as pleasing as she is ...... I see that you are so pleasing to the prince, so I ...... I don't really mean anything else, I just ......"

   I know you don't mean anything else, but you've already embarrassed me a bit.

   Pan'er sighed in her heart, suppressing some messy thoughts, and instead looked squarely at the Yue Wangfei once more.

She must have loved Prince Yue very much, otherwise why would she have degraded herself, reduced herself to ask a concubine and condescended to such a level, there must have been some firm conviction that drove her to do so.

If one looks at it this way, it seems that she did not love the crown prince as much as she thought she did. As soon as this thought surfaced, it was immediately dismissed by Pan'er, who felt that she had to stop Yue Wanfei's tears now, otherwise she might be drowned in them.

   It was the first time Pan'er had ever seen someone so good at crying. This was not meant to be derogatory, after all, she had seen all kinds of tears in her previous life, including her own, and none of them had been so genuine.

   "It's actually quite simple to please someone, whatever he likes, you do."

   "Whatever he likes, I'll do it?" Sure enough these words interrupted the tears of Princess Yue, she murmured, seemingly a little confused, "That's all?"

   Pan'er nodded, that was all.

   She tried to imagine herself in the position of the Crown Princess and added, "For example, if he doesn't like you to be jealous, you shouldn't be jealous, jealous women are sometimes ugly and make themselves look hideous and aggressive, men are bound to dislike them."

   "A jealous woman is ugly, with a hideous face?" Yue Wangfei went to touch her own face, she had been jealous a lot, and she knew she must have looked ugly then, and he had said she was becoming less and less herself, but she was herself, who else could she be?

   "But jealousy can still be controlled?"

   "Naturally, it's not easy to control, but slowly and consciously, I think it can get better. For example, whenever I feel jealous and want to act out, I just think about how I have nothing to complain about if even the Crown Princess is not jealous."

Obviously Pan'er's teasing tone made it very difficult for Yue Wangfei to accept. She even wondered a little if it was a deliberate perfunctory remark, but when she saw the bitter smile that didn't show at the corner of Pan'er's mouth, she didn't think so again and hesitated.

"When you're not jealous anymore, you can calm down, take time to think about what he likes about you and what you should do to make him like you."

"Make him feel guilty, make him miss you, make him believe what you say, make him gradually be swayed by you, make him ......" Pan'er felt that she was no different from that Guo side consort of the Yue Mansion, the difference being that that person was too arrogant and she was not.

So what qualifications did she have to judge people, what qualifications did she have to instruct the Yue Wangfei, who is the main wife?

   In fact, there was another sentence that was most pertinent, but Pan'er did not want to say it. Because this sentence is too out of the dangerous a concept to say, just don't fall in love.

As long as you don't love him, you can be good at everything you need to be good at to uphold your status, you can calmly fight for favour and use tricks to make him like you more because of how understanding and how thoughtful you are.

Something roared in her ears, it was the last words that Empress Chen had said before she was imprisoned in the cold palace in her previous life--

   "...... Do you think he really favours you? You are wrong, he only has his kingdom and his nation in his heart, he is doting on you for the sake of his kingdom and nation, you think you have really won? You're wrong! I will wait, I will see you lose like I did ......"

   "...... You think that bitch really loves you? No, she doesn't love you, I'm the only one who loves you the most ......"

   ......

   Outside the door, the Crown Prince stood there with his hands behind his back, surrounded by minions cowering with their heads hanging.

   Only Fu Lu stood a little closer, but hearing how Su Liang Di was pointing out the Yue Wang Fei inside, he was also in a cold sweat. You have nothing to do with the affairs of the House of Yue, why are you getting involved?

   As he watched the Prince's face grow darker and darker until he turned to leave, his heart thumped and he knew something big was about to happen.

[eyenaku]

Ji ji fu ji ji

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

[lasenbyphoenix]

10 Characters I Fell In Love With In 2022

I did this last year and really liked looking back on everything, so I'm bringing it back. In no particular order...

1. Hei Fengxi/Feng Lanxi - Who Rules The World.

He's sweet, he's intelligent, he's graceful, he's cunning, he's loyal, he's got childhood trauma that makes him lead a double life... He's the whole package! (He's also Yang Yang which is a delightful bonus). I love that through the course of the story he gets to shift his place within his family to align with his actual skills, even if the reveal is a hard one, and reevaluates his ambitions and desires along the way.

2. Liu Yihuan - Love and Redemption.

I started LaR with a built in soft spot for Hao Chen because Liu Xueyi, but after hearing the backstory drop of Sifeng's cellmate in episode 7 I was intrigued, and every other appearance of Liu Yihuan since has replaced him as my favourite. He goes back and forth between supportive da-ge to jaded dad, and whenever someone shows up at his door for help he is Just So DONE with it all but helps anyway. If you're anything like me and love to tell your show's characters they're being idiots when they go off on their noble self-sacrificing tangents, you'll also love Liu Yihuan because he calls them idiots to their face. Because he cares.

3. Teng She - Love and Redemption.

He must have been such a fun character to play for Bai Shu, because he is one hell of a fun character to watch. You never once forget that he's a snake enjoying the perks of a human form and is out to have the best time he can. I spent a good couple of months absolutely hating Chu Xuanji and Sifeng for their initial treatment of Teng She (RIP @gaiahenshin who got to hear all about it in real time) which goes to prove how great he is as a character if he can threaten your good opinion of the main duo!

4. Meng Zhi - Nirvana in Fire.

Holy shit, I could fill this entire list with characters from NiF. So in an effort to save some room for other characters, I've reluctantly chosen just one (how do you choose?? *sobs*) - Meng Zhi, an absolute puppy-dog of a man with no poker face to speak of and a heart of gold. He shows that not every character has to be a genius to be valuable to the story, and his interactions with Feiliu are the absolute best.

5. Lee Bag Won - My Country: The New Age

I love how he's introduced with sympathy as the hardworking son who is unappreciated by his father, and then chooses to make that his villain story. By the time he turns his hand to betraying his family to get what he believes he's owed, the audience has already been moved to his plight, so he doesn't come across as a flat baddie, but instead a complex character. And he does it all so, so well.

6. Xiao Jingyan - Nirvana in Fire

Ok I lied. I couldn't stop at just one character from Nirvana in Fire, and Xiao Jingyan has too much of my heart not to gush about. In contrast to Lee Bag Won, in Xiao Jingyan we get to see the unappreciated son be rewarded, although it takes a lot of help to get there. But it's his strength of morals even when things look like they'll never change for him that is what sets him apart. Even appearing cold on the surface, his relationships with his men, his mother, Mei Changsu and Mu Nihuang that prove that he's only cold because he's been hurt, and who can resist a man like that? Also, Wang Kai is gorgeous.

7. Kang Yohan - The Devil Judge.

When you present me with a character that looks fantastic in a suit with a voice to match, is scarily competent at his job, talks affectionately to his robot butler and is awkwardly afraid of his teenage neice, I'm going to adore him. His pathos is so well balanced by his weaknesses in a great example of Korean drama writing, and makes his journey such an emotional rollercoaster to follow.

8. Gu Ying - Tientsin Mystic.

Even in a show with Zhang Mingen in it, what I loved the most about Tientsin Mystic was the depth and strengths given to it's female leads. They may have needed rescued once or twice, but also were the rescuers just as often. Embodying part of the 'mystic' side of the story, Gu Ying was written as exuberant and whimsical, but thankfully not goofy or simple because of it. Her fight skills and her knowledge were just as valuable as everyone else's, and - spoiler for the end of season 1 - it was refreshing to see her turn out to be the 'fated child' rather than Guo Deyou. And she had some absolutely fantastic outfits.

9. Yu Xiao Gang "Grandmaster" - Douluo Continent.

Although Douluo Continent was less memorable than other shows I watched in 2022, it's characters were lovely to follow. Much like Liu Yihuan, Yu Xiao Gang is another grumpy recluse who is over the whole young person's drama happening around him, but drawn into the middle of it anyway due to caring too much about the protagonist to let them wander off without any guidance. I very much appreciate dramas that have this category of character as I'm at an age where I can no longer identify with the coming-of-age type of main character, but still like them enough to want to shake some sense into them, and these sarcastic mentors get to do it for me.

10. Su Mengzhen - Heroes.

I haven't finished Heroes yet due to not having the bandwidth for it's levels of tragedy, but the gravitas of Su Mengzhen (and the beauty of Baron Chen's swagger and real hair) deserve to make the list, especially because starting the show this year means he wont be eligible for next year's list. He makes a big impression showcasing his skill, his drive and his illness right off the bat to make your heart start to break for him from the very beginning. I'm very much looking forward to being ruined by the rest of this show in 2023.

Tagging @gaiahenshin @psychic-waffles @xcziel @dongfangqingcang @eirenical @faradheia @nope4ever and anyone else who is interested, but no pressure!

[taisuiartgallery]

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Art

Digital Art

Traditional Art

Fic

Video

Animatic

Memes

Comics

Crossover

Spoilers

Full list of more specific tags under the cut:

Character Tags:

Because there are So Many Characters, I've taken a page from E. Danglar's book and sorted them by region.

Southern Wan (Jinping)

Xi Ping

Zhou Ying

Wei Chengxiang

Bai Ling

Xi Yue

Pang Jian

Old Madam Xi

Xi Zhengde

Cui Jinjin

Zhao Yu

The Karma Beast

Chen Baishao (Jiangli)

Southern Wan (Xuanyin)

Zhi Xiu

Lin Chi

Wen Fei

Luo Qingshi

Zhang Jue

Lin Zongyi

Yao Qi

Chang Jun

Princess Duanrui

Su Zhun

Zhao Yin

Li Fengshan

Southern Wan (The Southern Mines)

Lü Chengyi

Liang Chen

Southern Wan (Other)

Zhao Qindan

Xu Rucheng

The Heart Demon

Western Chu

Qiu Sha

Hui Xiangjun

Yu Chang

Xuanwu

Zhuoming

Xiang Rong

Tao-er-nainai

Southern Shu

Wangge Luobao

Northern Li

Xie Chu

Kunlun's Third Elder

Wu Lingxiao

Accompanying Plant Tags:

Reincarnation Wood

Snow Shuffler

Late Autumn Red

Eternal Spring Brocade

Heartless Lotus

Item/Weapon Tags:

Tai Sui Qin

Zhaoting

The Law Breaker

The Unbound Furnace

Discard the False and Keep the True

Ship Tags:

Xi Ping/Zhi Xiu

Xi Ping/Zhou Ying

Zhi Xiu/Xi Ping/Zhou Ying

Wei Chengxiang/Zhao Qindan

Xi Ping/Yu Chang

Lin Chi/Hui Xiangjun

Qiu Sha/Hui Xiangjun

Qiu Sha/Hui Xiangjun/Lin Chi

Lin Chi/Wen Fei

Miscellaneous Tags:

Zhou Ying's Cat

The Sea of Stars

The Dragon Vein

Scenery

Fic Tags:

Gen Fic

Story Arc Tags:

(Any drawing/comic of a specific scene will have the relevant arc tagged. Tags for early arcs aren't necessarily spoiler-free.)

Midnight Song

The Dragon Bites Its Tail

Fragrant Jade Miasma

Demon Country

The Mountain Falls

Indignant Cicadas

Traveler Abroad

Unbound Knife

Eternal Flame

The Storm Begins

Flower in the Mirror

Tomb of the Sage

A Life of Regret

Conclusion

The Extras (Overall)

Antiquity Extra

New Capital Extra

Western Chu Extra

Frost and Snow Extra

Jinping Extra

Bonus Secret Info

For those of y'all that scroll all the way to the bottom of this tag list, here's an extra fun fact: this blog is run by ya girl Andromeda Grassbreads. You can find me TaiSuiposting over on my meta blog @morethanwonderful.

[thasorns-moved]

We don’t need to keep rewinding.

[viva-la-whump]

In which Zhao Yunlan is a self-sacrificing idiot and no one is surprised!

And how did Shen Wei get him awake? I wish I knew :P If you have an idea please tell me hahaha!

[gabrielokun]

[silvandar]

May I offer you a hastily sketched Chu Shuzhi in this trying time?

[kdram-chjh]

Cdrama: Kill You Love You (2023)

Gifs of Intro of cdrama "Kill You Love You"

ENGSUB 【奉旨宠君 Kill You Love You】 EP01 | 双面城主危急时刻救女刺客 | 古装爱情片 | 优酷 YOUKU

Watch this video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhCVU1E0-xc

[fandomside]

Nirvana in Fire Rewatch Episode Twenty

It's the birthday party episode.

Events:

MCS has given Jingrui a bottle of valuable heart protection pills as a birthday present.

Xia Dong and Meng Zhi want to make Master Zhuo display his martial arts so they can prove he was involved in the New Year murders. Xia Dong spars with him at the banquet, but he fights poorly and avoids displaying the signature sword through the neck technique.

Gong Yu plays a sad song.

Yue Niuze, the Southern Chu martial arts master, turns up uninvited, accompanied by the Chu prince and princess. He says he simply wants to challenge Master Zhuo to a fight under jianghu rules. Xie Yu doesn't want Master Zhuo to fight in front of witnesses, but he's overruled.

Master Zhuo throws the fight to avoid displaying his sword technique, and injures his sword hand. MCS very portentously tells Jingrui to give him a heart protection pill.

The Southern Chu prince and princess confront Jingrui and Liyang, revealing the secret relationship.

MCS gives Gong Yu the signal, and she reveals Xie Yu hired her father to kill the illegitimate child, and murdered him when he failed. Xie Yu attacks her and Zhuo-furen stops him. Xie Yu fills the courtyard with heavily armed men and seems willing to kill the Zhuo family if they defend Gong Yu.

MCS reveals Fei Liu has broken into the armory and cut all the bowstrings. Also that Prince Yu has his own army stationed outside waiting. MCS basically admits to orchestrating all this.

Names and titles:

Yue Niuze and Master Zhuo call each other Surname-xiong.

The Chu prince calls Yue Niuze Yue-shu.

Characters:

Zhuo-furen makes overly fancy clothes the boys don't like.

Meng Zhi and Master Zhuo have never met before.

Xia Dong isn't wealthy, she only has her salary.

There's a resemblance between Jingrui and his half-sister Niannian.

The Chu prince and princess aren't siblings, they're cousins.

Yujin is very protective this episode - he tells the Chu princess to stop talking, and is standing guard over Gong Yu when she's threatened.

The Chu prince and princess greet Liyang formally and bow to her, but I don't think they really give a shit about her. Their actions are both cruel and dangerous for her.

Weapons and costumes:

Jingrui's 'overly fancy' blue and gold is nice. Yujin, meanwhile, is wearing PURPLE ZEBRA PRINT.

Feiliu has a dagger for cutting bowstrings, which he continues to wear when he turns up later. He also plays with a sword in the armory.

Prince Yu's red leather armor would barely turn away a sword, let alone an arrow. Put him in proper lamellar!

Misc:

A first rank marquis is entitled to keep 800 soldiers. Are they all living in the manor grounds?

Is Gong Yu's music supposed to sound... good? Or is it just that I can't appreciate it?

There's a very weird thing that happens three times this episode, where Xie Yu goes on about Xia Dong's status as a woman. Has he done it before?

[razberryyum]

Positive Things about Guardian as a series (spoilers)

So I’ve been pretty harsh about the production team behind Guardian (writers, directors, set designers, wardrobe, the crew…including the extras…basically anyone who are not Bai Yu, Zhu Yilong, the actors who played Old Chu, Little Guo and Zhu Hong, who are Jiang Ming Yang, Xin Peng and  Gao Yu Er, respectively) and about the quality of the show as a whole when it doesn’t involve our main characters/leads, and I’ve actually been feeling bad about that now that the initial sense of shock has worn off a little. As a result, I woke up this morning and decided to make a list of all things that are GOOD about the show. Now, I am still hurting about how it ended and the things that went wrong which imho could have easily NOT (f.e. the 10,000 years dirt nap), but…BUT I will try my best NOT to let that negativity seep into this. 

So here goes, in no particular order, the positive things about the show:

- the show even exists. I mean, really, God bless, especially considering where it’s made. How did that even happen?? Despite all my bitching, I still marvel (almost DAILY so far) at the fact that Guardian exists and I got to watch it cuz China could’ve easily never put it back online. 

- the existence of Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan. But that’s pretty much a given. Especially since my life is forever changed because of them.

- every Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan scene together. That’s a given also. I would not be surprised if the writers literally used all their meager talent and energy on constructing those moments so that’s why they didn’t have much juice left for everything else. I mean, that’s a good thing, right? Kinda.

- they got Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong to play Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei. I really hope the two actors got compensated well for their performances, though somehow I doubt it, especially since, from what I understand ZYL (omg I just stupidly realized the acronym for his name is the same as Zhao Yunlan’s. Wtf that is so cute!) was still very slowly rising in the ranks. But hopefully their current popularity as a result of the show has made up for it.

- the score and songs. Bought the OST from iTunes like one or two episodes in, loved the score and themes. I even bought Bai Yu and Zhu Yilong’s duet “Time of Flight” a few times (different platforms, different devices) cuz I just wanted to contribute to them…even though…who knows if they even see a cent from it, and pretty sure my few measly dollars probably isn’t helping anything. Probably just makes me seem stupid and insane. 

- the cute episode titles. Which I wasn’t even aware of until @avenuex123 pointed it out. Adorable.

- the censorship. Ok, censorship is never good imo, but in this singular case, perhaps because there were existing restrictions on the BL subject matter, the actors therefore were willing to sign on since they knew they didn’t have to do anything explicit (or maybe they would’ve been willing, this is just my own stupid assumption because of how Chinese society is…I say that as an Asian American with many…erm…”old-fashioned” friends and family members) AND they probably saw it as challenge to find creative ways to convey the nature of the characters while working within the confines of censorship laws. Although, this might be a case of me just trying to look on the bright side.

- the easter eggs. I agree with fellow Guardian fans who have pointed out that there was some love put into the making of this show, which is clearly exemplified in the small momentos scattered throughout the series. 

- the time travel concept. Not that the delve into the past was done well because I did have problems with it, but I did really appreciate the fact that Zhao Yunlan was the one and only all along due to his being sucked up into the wormhole and spit back out 10,000 years in the past to meet Shen Wei for the first time. I thought it was a tremendously romantic idea…even if the general execution of the past left a lot to be desired. I promised that I wouldn’t be negative, but I still have to say that while love at first sight is a lovely notion, it was still a bit hard to swallow that SW would fall SOOOO head over heels with ZYL after just conversing with him for like a few hours, to the point that he would pine for him for 10,000 years (though it’s probably technically more like a few decades due to his dirt nap, but I’ll buy it felt like 10K years to him). I just wish ZYL spent more time in the past with SW, and actually @xparrot‘s fic (”Now Lie In It" on AO3) made me feel a LOT better about the whole thing since they successfully fixed the problem by awesomely separating each scene we saw into days and years. But I did like the time travel idea; it was cool, even though it’s different from the novel.

- the nature of the necklace. I really liked the candy wrapper core. Broke my heart into bits and pieces in a GOOD way. Really loved everything about it. I understand it’s different in the novel as well, but in the context of the changes done for the show, I thought that was a pretty brilliant move. 

-  the Da Qing and ZYL ownership scene in episode 35 with SW listening. Loved that scene and the multiple purposes it was serving: establishing Da Qing’s relationship with ZYL, giving voice to how SW was feeling about ZYL leaving,   inspiring SW with the necklace idea, and then of course, the censorship workaround because it was like very homo while being nohomo at the same time. 

- SW and ZYL’s wardrobe. Probably a given since the fact that I love them means I love everything about them, but, like, SW even looked good as the Black Cloak Envoy and ZYL as Kunlun and those outfits (and their hairstyles) could’ve gone wrong so easily…thank God no one thought it was a good idea to make them wear a stupid looking afro wig or feathers on their heads.

- Old Chu/Little Guo. They were adorable, my second OTP from the show, and I was seriously jealous of all the PDA they were getting away with.

- recurring characters. Even though some of their acting abilities were highly questionable, I did appreciate how certain characters introduced in the beginning of the show would pop up again later on. I’m sure a good part of that was to save on hiring more people, but I still thought it was neat. For example, I wasn’t too fond of the merit brush dude (cuz his story was dumb and draggy), but I did like how this innocuous store owner that was little more than a background character at the start eventually became one of the villains. 

-  Ye Zun. He’s so CUTE. I mean, ok, Zhu Yilong playing him helped, but just seriously, his character is so fucked up and misguided and emo and adorable that I just wanted to give him a big hug all the time. When that shitty cockatoo he calls “Boss”** started smacking him around, I wanted to reach into the screen and throttle that ugly POS. I wouldn’t even be surprised if that asshole more than physically abused Ye Zun. Anyway, I just felt bad for the little puppy. I wish we got to spend more time with him and that he got redeemed earlier so that he could enjoy some love and hugs before being led into the wormhole (or…wherever it was that his big bro was heading off with him…wait, would it be the wormhole? But they died, right? So technically it should be like the reincarnation hole?) **(btw, why “Boss”? Why not “Leader”? Are the head villains paying their henchmen to follow them? So weird that they call their leaders “boss” which would imply they’re being paid wages which I truly doubt is the case)

- Da Qing. He’s a cutie too. Really wish the kitty girl had lived so that he wouldn’t be all alone, now that ZYL is gone. I guess Tech boy Lin Jing is going to take care of him now?  

- Zhu Hong. When she wasn’t inexplicably screaming her dialogue, I did like her…but a huge part of that is probably because I remember the actress from Yanxi Palace (she was playing a small villainous role but she did a good job) and I felt sorry for her. Putting the unrequited love aside, it must also be tough seeing ZYL now and yet knowing that’s not even the same guy she loves at all. Damn, that actually must be so unsettling for everyone who knew the old ZYL. 

-  the personality swap episode (ep 25). THAT was freaking adorable. Just wish it lasted longer and that eventually it affected SW and ZYL. Although, since they already eye-fuck each other like 99% of the time, what would be different? I guess SW would be a little looser…and ZYL would be a bit more sad and pining-er? (Btw, I literally never heard of the word “microexpressions” until Zhu Yilong entered my life). Omg, an image of them switching outfits just popped into my head. Oh shit, that would’ve been FUN to see. Dammit.

That’s all I could come up with for now…I’ll probably add more as I think of more things. Please feel free to contribute if you think of positive things I’ve left out. I might not agree but I’d still love to hear them.