#food as a love language in MLC

[qpjianghu]

Li Lianhua + saying "I love you" without saying "I love you" (3/?)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

[qpjianghu]

And then li lianhua leaves fang duobing "his recipes" as his way of saying goodbye. They are despicable I am inconsolable

sometimes i think about fanghua and cooking, like the fact that fang duobing can cook, but doesn't cook, that li lianhua cooks, but his cooking tastes shit, and fang duobing lets him cook because li lianhua wants to cook? and it tastes bad? and fang duobing finds it bad?? but he eats it anyway? and he teaches li lianhua cooking tips at the same time to make the dishes edible? and then li lianhua just moves on to new dishes that taste bad? that fang duobing eats?? im

[extraordinarilyextreme]

Hello! May I ask you a question regarding MLC?

On ep 38, we see the wedding chamber is named "雨伏風關", and upon seeing the subs "Never ending Winds and Rain", my mind inevitably went to clouds and rain which is, ahem. I wouldn't put it past Jiao jie tbh to name her wedding room Never Ending S** but turned out It's actually a reference to a Du Fu poem https://baike.baidu.hk/item/闌風伏雨/4666705

And the characters are in reverse??? I do not have nearly as enough knowledge in Chinese language to parse out what this means.

Is it a normal idea to name a wedding room Stormy Times to begin with?

Or does it have a different implications when the characters are reversed?

Thank you so much for any brainstorming you can offer, much love! 🥰🥺

hello my friend,

going to be perfectly honest; i did not pay much attention to the names of each of the locations while watching this show. however, i'm willing to bet that the characters on the plaque of the wedding chamber aren't in reverse - it's just that chinese historically is read from right-to-left instead. so it's still 阑风伏雨 as per the line from the poem.

to my knowledge, 阑风伏雨 is typically used as an idiom these days - and indeed it would translate to "the unending wind and rain." it seems it once specifically referred to "the wind and rain during autumn and summer."

as per that baidu page u linked, it seems its equivalent (阑风长雨) came from Tang dynasty poet Du Fu's 《秋雨叹三首》 (Three Laments About the Autumn Rain), and specifically the second part:

阑风长雨秋纷纷，四海八荒同一云。 去马来牛不复辨，浊泾清渭何当分？ 禾头生耳黍穗黑，农夫田妇无消息。 城中斗米换衾裯，相许���论两相值？

apparently it was written during a year when it rained for more than 60 days - pretty dire times! people didn't have food to eat, the heavy rain destroyed their homes, the crops failed and couldn't be harvested... and then the chancellor/prime minister(?) Yang Guozhong happened to find some seedlings that had survived and were growing well, so he proclaimed to the emperor: “雨虽多，不害稼也。” (Despite the heavy rain, the crops are not harmed.)

so...... i'm kind of blanking on how that fits into the context presented in LHL. @ruiconteur & @difeisheng, any thoughts?

BUT another search showed me that the specific character-for-character phrase is also used in Qing dynasty poet Nalan Xingde's 《菩萨蛮·阑风伏雨催寒食》 (The Endless Wind and Rain Ushers in the Hanshi Festival):

阑风伏雨催寒食，樱桃一夜花狼藉。刚与病相宜，锁窗薰绣衣。 The endless wind and rain ushered in the Hanshi Festival; Overnight, the cherry blossoms were scattered into disarray. Such a scene was most fitting: recently ill, I was reminded of the springtime of my youth - that which had gone and could never return. After locking my windows, it was time now that I dried my embroidered robes by the brazier. 画眉烦女伴，央及流莺唤。半晌试开奁，娇多直自嫌。 In my husband's absence, I could only trouble my female friend to draw my eyebrows. But she was not around either, so I had to ask my maid Ying to call for her. When she arrived at last, I was so afraid of seeing my sickly complexion in the mirror that I hesitated for a long while before daring to open the trousseau. Yet to my surprise, I appeared delicate and lovely - I was happy for a moment, then wondered for whom I was dressing up as my husband was not here to see it. At once, embarrassed, I resented my own beauty.

that is SUCH a rough translation; let me know if you want me to clean it up in the future.

typically (given the wuxia context/general historical framing) i'd assume the Tang dynasty poem is the one they're referencing, but i feel like the later Qing dynasty one fits more here with respect to JLQ?

to sum it up: i don't really know why the wedding chamber is called that either. tbh it just sounds like an elegant literary name. (are clouds and rain a euphemism that i'm not aware of?? lol i really did not think in that direction at all) anyway i hope this was at least a little bit interesting <3

[shock777archive]

Just had a question as to what methods youve been using to study japanese? Since leaving college its been difficult for me to keep up with it xnx

oh god you and me both. I guess “use it or lose it?” is an accurate sentiment. I practice japanese almost all the time by listening to japanese music, watching japanese television shows and even watching youtube channels from japanese content creators. I find watching videos about kanji is helpful for me to remember some symbols i’ve forgotten about. 

Here are a few resources that I use often to keep japanese in my noodle: 

1. Jisho.org  It helps you recognize unfamiliar kanji. I use this usually in conjuncture with google translate. Of course google translate isn’t always reliable, but sometimes it helps me get the pronunciation of kanji compound words that I don’t remember. I love the drawing feature as well. 

2. Tanoshii Japanese THIS website saves my life. Not only does it have a bunch of things like jisho.org, but it also helps you write the kanji with stroke orders and synonyms to compare to them. It also can give you conjugation help :) I use this almost ALL THE TIME. 

3. Japanesepod101 is a youtube channel all about helpful tips to remember vocabulary and other japanese grammar lessons. They have livestreams all the time and they’re super helpful about learning the japanese culture. 

4. Calligrapher Takumi Higashimiya is a calligrapher who does ASMR-esque kanj practice. I watch him sometimes to go to bed at night. It’s a little helpful seeing how a native speaker writes kanji. it definitely improved my handwriting. I recommend watching his videos on katakana and hiragana. 

5. Gaki no Tsukai is a famous japanese comedy variety show with tons of content ever since the 1980′s and still going to this day. Every year they do their famous “Batsu” games and I recommend watching them if you want a good laugh. If you can read hiragana and katakana pretty fluently, you’ll recognize a lot of text that they use on the show as subtitles. It helps hearing the speakers speak, while seeing the brightly colored subtitles at the bottom. It’s also just fucking hilarious lol This webstie is run by fans of the show who translate it for free. Really awesome folks! 

6. Japan Crate is a japanese snack company that sends boxes of japanese treats to your door monthly. I’ve been a subscriber to them on and off for a few years. they’re a great company and their instagram always shows cool stuff on their stories. A great insight on the japanese culture through food and snacks. I recommend buying a crate or two. they’re always giving away prizes and they’re very awesome people. :) 

7. Japanese Language MLC is a japanese learning page on facebook that I follow. they’re always posting self-tests and really helpful infographics to help you remember some important grammar and things. 

I may be drawing a blank at this stage, but feel free to look around on the web. I just downloaded duolingo and it’s really good so far! :) I hope these tips can help 

[qpjianghu]

Li Lianhua + saying "I love you" without saying "I love you" (2/?)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)

[qpjianghu]

Li Lianhua + saying "I love you" without saying "I love you" (1/?)

Mysterious Lotus Casebook (2023)