#haitang novels

[dragonsandphoenix]

With more and more modern danmei getting licensed, while it's not guaranteed, I hope this will mark a shift in fandom to not just talk about ancient historical novels as what defines the genre. Like I get it, but the way fandom understands danmei as being a handful of novels by a few authors in the same 3 genres or so, do people honestly not find it limiting. Well I do. I find it limiting.

[shwizles]

I hate this girl so much. Don't know why. Maybe because she brings troubles 🙂🙂

[xinyuehui]

Hi! This is not cdrama related but I was wondering if you knew any Chinese sci-fi books that have been translated into English? Or maybe if your followers do? I love your gifs btw :3

Hi spacekake!!! The only author I know is Liu Cixin, he's known for The Three-Body Problem trilogy and The Wandering Earth, mainly because he is the most popular currently. I don't know any other ones that's been translated into English, maybe some of my moots and followers can help you out??

[morethanwonderful]

Introducing: The Which MXTX Character Was/Would Be Most Insufferable Online Tournament Bracket

Beginning the evening of August 23rd, 2024 (USA time), I’ll be running a tournament via tumblr polls to determine once and for all which Mo Xiang Tong Xiu web novel character was or would be most insufferable if given access to the internet.

FAQ:

Why this poll theme?

I thought it would be fun to run another big MXTX tournament bracket, since the bugpoll last year was a blast, and this was the funniest theme I could manage to think of.

Why isn't Shen Yuan/Shen Qingqiu in the bracket?

Given what we know about our dear Peerless Cucumber, I fear an SQQ sweep would be a foregone conclusion if I included him. Therefore, after the bracket finds a winner, I'll hold a bonus round and pit the winner against Shen Yuan to determine the true most internet-insufferable character.

What is wrong with you?

Yeah.

My goal is to hold one round per day every day for a week, but I'm contending with a full-time work schedule, so things may get slightly more stretched out than that. I'll also be splitting the first round into Round 1 Part 1 (the left side of the bracket) and Round 1 Part 2 (the right side of the bracket) to avoid spamming people's dashes with 32 separate polls in one day.

If you’d like to either search for or blacklist posts related to this event, all of mine will be tagged with “MXTX insufferapoll.”

The full list of matches is under the readmore here. Happy voting!

Round 1 Part 1:

Wen Chao vs Jin Guangshan

Quan Yizhen vs Mobei-jun

Mu Qingfang vs Ban Yue

Pei Xiu vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Jiang Yanli

Gongyi Xiao vs Lang Qianqiu

He Xuan vs Xue Yang

Lan Xichen vs Xiao Xingchen

Feng Xin vs Tianlang-jun

Wei Wuxian vs Liu Mingyan

Shi Qingxuan vs Nie Huaisang

Pei Ming vs Shang Qinghua

Jian Lan vs Qi Rong

Lan Wangji vs Song Lan

Nie Mingjue vs Liu Qingge

Mei Nianqing vs Lan Qiren

Round 1 Part 2:

Ling Wen vs Jin Guangyao

Sha Hualing vs Mo Xuanyu

Lang Ying (Present) vs Lan Sizhui

Bai Wuxiang vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Ning Yingying

Jin Ling vs Ming Fan

Mu Qing vs Luo "Mianmian" Qingyang

Yu Ziyuan vs Yue Qingyuan

Xuan Ji vs Qiu Haitang

A-Qing vs Yin Yu

Wen Ning vs Zhuzhi-lang

Luo Binghe vs Wang Lingjiao

Wen Qing vs Yushi Huang

Hua Cheng vs Su She

Jin Zixuan vs Shi Wudu

Ouyang Zizhen vs Lan Jingyi

Round 2:

Wen Chao vs Quan Yizhen

Mu Qingfang vs Jin Zixun

Xie Lian vs Lang Qianqiu

Xue Yang vs Xiao Xingchen

Tianlang-jun vs Wei Wuxian

Nie Huaisang vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Wangji

Nie Mingjue vs Lan Qiren

Jin Guangyao vs Sha Hualing

Lang Ying (Present) vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jiang Cheng vs Jin Ling

Mu Qing vs Yu Ziyuan

Xuan Ji vs a-Qing

Zhuzhi-lang vs Luo Binghe

Wen Qing vs Su She

Shi Wudu vs Lan Jingyi

Round 3:

Wen Chao vs Jin Zixun

Lang Qianqiu vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Shang Qinghua

Qi Rong vs Lan Qiren

Sha Hualing vs Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu

Jin Ling vs Mu Qing

Xuan Ji vs Luo Binghe

Su She vs Lan Jingyi

Quarterfinal:

Wen Chao vs Xue Yang

Tianlang-jun vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Jin Ling

Luo Binghe vs Su She

Semifinal:

Wen Chao vs Qi Rong

Shen (Jiu) Qingqiu vs Luo Binghe

Final:

Qi Rong vs Luo Binghe

Bonus:

Qi Rong vs Shen (Yuan) Qingqiu

[sunderwight]

SVSSS AU where Shen Yuan's younger sister does a villainess transmigration.

The world she ends up in was originally a dating game and visual novel with some light RPG and crafting elements. Playing as purehearted main girl Qiu Haitang, one could choose any number of routes to pursue, from dashing Liu Qingge, to scholarly Mu Qingfang, sexy ice demon Linguang Jun, cute-but-domineering younger half-demon Luo Binghe, and so on. It was an interesting game, though it notoriously inspired some frustration when some of the more interesting side characters (like Yue Qingyuan) were completely unavailable as romantic options, and inspired at lot of rumors about hidden content and demands on future DLC expansions.-

Shen Meimei hadn't particularly liked the game. Sure, she played every route to 100% completion, bought all the extras, the official soundtrack, and the merch (fanmade as well as what slim-pickings existed officially), but that shouldn't be mistaken for approval. Much of that was in fact a desperate quest to figure out what the hell was even going on! Ignore the play time listed for this scathing Steam review, everyone! It shouldn't be factored into any assessments!

The game had several problems, in Shen Meimei's opinion.

The main issue was the lack of follow-through on the buildup of the backstory. Qiu Haitang's whole family was killed one night, maybe-probably by her sketchy as fuck ex-fiancee, who was also a hostage being kept by the Qiu family as leverage against a rival family. Which begged so many questions! Shen Meimei had suspected all along that there was more to it than met the eye (not just because the evil family shared her surname) but it was never deeply delved into. The whole thing only even got resolution in some of the routes, and the most thorough was Luo Binghe's. Luo Binghe had a huge vendetta against Shen Qingqiu, Haitang's sketchy former fiance, which left a lot of room for doubt about his investigating the issue. Was Shen Qingqiu really to blame? Or was Luo Binghe just taking advantage of an opportunity to pin SOME crime on him, since he couldn't really get him for the shit he actually did to Luo Binghe himself? What about the hints regarding that Wu Yanzi guy? Why did those never seem to amount to much? Were the Qiu family really stupid enough to betroth their only daughter to a hostage, or was something else going on? And what about Xiao Qi, the slave boy servant of the Qiu who was mentioned a few times as another possible survivor or witness, but who never comes up again?

Shen Meimei played through everything, certain that there had to be some way to actually solve or gain clarity on the Mystery of the Qiu Family Murders, but even after completing the main routes and unlocking and completing the hidden ones -- nothing! It was all just swept aside in favor of tepid romance arcs, made all the more insufferable because of the compelling subtext between the male love interests. Like, why were any of these guys even interested in Haitang when they so clearly had more going on with each other?

Annoyance over a game Shen Meimei lost too many hours of her life to was one thing, of course.

Transmigrating into the younger sister of notoriously sketchy ex-fiance Shen Qingqiu was another!

Bad news: in the routes where Shen Qingqiu is prosecuted for his crimes, his whole family goes down with him. So if this goes poorly, not only will he be punished, but so will Shen Meimei!

Worse news: this fictional version of her family is almost identical to her actual real family. To the point where she would be checking everyone else for transmigration, except that no one but her seems aware that anything is odd. Shen Qingqiu acts exactly like her older brother, right down to his particular flavor of prickly social behavior and cynicism. And their middle brother is a chronically ill nerd who hate-reads trash novels and is completely fascinated by weird monsters (a much more worrisome trait in a world that actually has a lot of those...)

In short, her life is on the line, and so is her family's!

Damn you, Veiled Heroine Games! If you hadn't abandoned so many plot threats, Shen Meimei might actually know what was going on and be able to neatly circumvent everything! But now she has to figure out how to win the protagonist back over, rescue her brothers, and solve (and possibly further cover up...) the mysterious Qiu family murders, all while keeping Luo Binghe away from Shen Jiu, and preventing Qiu Haitang from completing any of the romance plotlines that will cause troubles for them! Which is most of them!

[shijiujun]

Rosmei Newest Danmei EN Titles Licensed (Manhua & Novel)

Older news, but Rosmei has also updated their latest licenses, including several manhuas and novels, think it was December too that they announced.

Manhuas:

敖敖待捕 A Tale of Two Dragons

一骗丹心 To Love a Liar

小王子 My Little Prince

请与我同眠 Bedtime Fairy Tales

不健全关系 Pathological Lovers (Fave of mine!)

Novels:

吞海 Tunhai - Named as Hunt for the Leviathan (Poyun Breaking the Clouds is also licensed under Rosmei)

尾钩 Tailhook (Sequel to The Approach, which is licensed under Haitang)

君有疾否 JYJF

我乘风雪 Beyond the Snowstorm (A fave, smut filled too haha - and with gorgeous couple art for the cover)

紫金寺夜话 Tales of Zijin (JUST SMUT THRU AND THRU this is a really really rare one apparently the author doesn't even have a Weibo and she hasn't been in the public for a while. I have the CN print for this from 2-3 years back and it's one short and thin and beautifully coptic-stitch bound novel - pairing is a monk x demon)

望春冰 Love at First Thaw

[bambooswordwielder]

One of the reasons SVSSS is my favourite MXTX work is because it discusses Nature VS Nurture is such a interesting way.

Of course we have Luo Bingge (PIDW LBH) and Luo Bingmei (SVSSS LBH), but I'm personally thinking of Shen Jiu.

So much of what MAKES Shen Jiu who he is in the novel can be attributed to his trauma and circumstances yes, but we also see that he's not exactly a Saint during his childhood.

[Evidence: Yue Qi [YQY] states that Shen Jiu fights viciously and without mercy and regularly fights the other street kids]

However, even during what we can see is his least traumatised point, he was still suffering as a slave who would be forced to beg on the streets with Yue Qi and others, being insulted and belittled while simultaneously fighting other street kids for what little he had.

There was never a point we see Shen Jiu where he is fully happy and untraumatised.

How much of what Shen Jiu is as a person is caused by his surroundings and how much is just how he was born? We will never know, and that is one of the many tragedies of his character.

He fights with dirty/unfair moves that disgust Liu Qingge who is a noble fight because that was the only way someone like him could survive on the streets.

He doesn't trust anyone because he faced a betrayal from the one who he thought he could trust the most (Yue Qingyuan)

He acts like a spoiled noble son who belittles others because that type of person is the type of person who Shen Jiu was forced to lower his head to (Qiu Jianluo), and when he was forced to act like a 'proper dignified scholar', those were the only examples he had in life

He trusts only women because the only person who allowed him some form of peace and comfort during one of his days at the Qiu Household was a woman/girl (Qiu Haitang)

He hates/fears men because many, many times it was a man who had full control of his life and chose to harm him with that power (Qiu Jianluo, Wu Yanzi)

Many aspects of Shen Jiu's personality are caused, and we sadly don't get to see much of what is indeed just him.

Would Shen Jiu have been a kind bundle of joy? Not necessarily, but it's a tragedy we never truly get to see the full character of Shen Jiu.

This is why I love fics which explore Canon divergence in character backstories. What if Shen Jiu was a noble's son? What if Yue Qingyuan returned on time? What if Shen Jiu never got taken by Qiu Jianluo? What Shen Jiu had Shen Yuan as a little brother?

So many what-ifs that could be explored.

In conclusion, send/make more fics about Shen Jiu having a good life please, I'm dying out here in depression

[spockandawe]

It's time! for! 2ha!!!!!!! I've had 'the husky and his white cat shizun' on my radar as a bookbinding project basically from the very start, back when I thought it was impossible that any of these danmei novels would ever be licensed for english translations. But this book is so long, and besides, the translation wasn't complete, so it went onto the backest of back burners. Until now! So, the book has been licensed. It's started releasing! As usual, please support these authors, they have a passionate english-speaking fanbase, and I very much want them to enjoy that success in a practical sense and not just an abstract one. And I also want more of these novels translated, haha. But the nature of licensing means I've also gotten a lot more interested in preserving prior translations in formats that can't casually be yoinked from the internet.

Now, this is a big novel. This was 1.1 million words. The stack of pressed text quarto blocks was over 15 inches, and once I added covers (very thick, for reasons I'm about to cover) and boxes, this thing was 22 inches long. Oh my god. This sustained effort naturally overlapped with an international trip and two crucially Important work presentations. I almost died. I had to split it into multiple boxes because I wasn't sure I could laminate boards thick enough to support so much weight at so much length and still cut it with any precision, lmao

And those covers? I took inspiration from notebooks I've sent with cover flaps like these, and also decided to see if I could incorporate the strip magnets I bought for peller box experiments and barely used. The downside that didn't make itself apparent until late in the construction process was that laminating boards to match this depth made the covers REAL thick, and difficult to cover with a crisp finish. Duo bookcloth can get wrinkly and fragile when it's wet, so it didn't entirely take me by surprise, but it's something I'll be accounting for next time I try this construction!

I tried to stick to a black and blue and silver color scheme, because it matches the book, but I also accepted some gold highlights on the endpapers. The duo bookcloth tends to photograph with a bit more brown in the color shift than I see in person, but I think it plays out well in person or in photos! The endpapers make for a nice striking pop when the book opens and don't blend into the cover fabric, which was something I definitely wanted to avoid.

And, speaking of thematically appropriate, I found this image for chapter headers that was almost perfect, but the wrong kind of flowers. So I did change those to haitang blosoms, haha. That happened early in the typesetting process, but I did also have that on my mind as I worked out decorations for the boxes! Mostly, I just titled what book of the novel it was on the top and left it there, but the very last detail I added was a pair of foil flowers done in pink and silver, on the outside edges of the boxes for book 1 and the extras. I finished that last night and then went to bed SO excited to take pictures in the morning. I really had an incredible time with this book, and the whole adventure reminded me just how much I love 2ha. I'm so happy I did this, I really had just an incredible time!!!!!

[everytimewetouch-dot-mp3]

svsss omegaverse secondary sexes because i have brain worms

this was actually kind of hard. on one hand, pidw is a stallion novel written mostly as fan-service, so of course there’s gonna be lots of papapa between the mega-ultra-super-alpha and all his pretty omega flowers. airplane would’ve written it to be the horny drivel that is, in some sense, the beloved heart of omegaverse.

on the other hand, eye personally think omegaverse can be so much more interesting than ‘alpha=masculine powerful manly man, omega=feminine weak submissive and breedable.’ gentle alphas, delicate alphas, powerful feminine regardless of gender. aggressive omegas, assertive omegas, direct and violent and capable omegas regardless of gender. that’s good fuckin soup, and i feel like that probably existed in airplane’s original drafts before he started pumping out the fanservice.

ANYWAYS, this is the list:

shen yuan: omega, much to his chagrin

luo binghe: alpha (obviously)

ning yingying: omega

ming fan: beta

shen qingqiu: alpha (half-bitched, but his condition is managed and no one but mqf knows)

yue qingyuan: alpha (but he’s got a whole thing going on on too)

mu qingfang: beta

qi qingqi: beta

liu qingge: beta (which is the shock of shocks to shen yuan when he finds out)

liu mingyan: alpha

shang qinghua: beta

mobei-jun: alpha

sha hualing: beta

tianlang-jun: alpha

zhuzhi-lang: omega

su xiyan: beta

old washerwoman: beta

old palace master: beta (but he hides it with fake pheromones, medicines, qi manipulation, and magical artifacts)

little palace mistress: omega

gongyi xiao: alpha

qiu jianluo: alpha

qiu haitang: omega

almost all of bingge’s harem: omegas

[haitang-blossoms]

On Differential Methods, Politics, & Intimacy for Early Novel!Cezhou (haitang-blossoms' Qiang Jin Jiu meta)

Note: This analysis goes up to Chapter 42 which is where I had read up to before Lianyin's fantranslation was taken down due to official English licensing by Seven Seas. This is also the source of my quoted screenshots of the novel.

The way both Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye weaponise perceived incompetence (through fabricated images of "grateful helplessness" and "devil-may-care hedonism" respectively) is so compelling and really serves to flesh out the realities of the environment they are forced to navigate.

It is a recurring narrative motif that both Shen Zechuan and Xiao Chiye are "beasts" trapped and restrained by the political system of Qudu. However, the difference in social position and status between them is key to why they choose the masks that they do.

Shen Zechuan, both as a by-proxy-traitor to the nation and as the son of a dancer, has always had to keep his head down and not act beyond his station. Thus, it is perfectly natural that he operates within this expected framework: both to survive in the hostile political landscape as well as to conceal his own intentions and moves within the shadows.

Xiao Chiye, on the other hand, was born into relative power. While the Xiao Clan of Libei was never in the favour of the Empress Dowager, they are nonetheless a reputable cavalry with a hereditary title. Xiao Chiye, as the second son, has both less direct political influence as well as responsibility than his father (the prince) or his elder brother (the next-in-line). This is how he is so easily made a "bargaining chip" and assigned to what seems to be a hopelessly dead-end job in order to keep a metaphorical "leash" on any rebellious intent that Libei may harbour. Given his wealth and inevitable position of being constantly in the public eye, the easiest way to cover up the target on Xiao Chiye's back is to present himself as a frivolous hedonist who is too busy chasing after liquor and bed-partners to pose a real threat to the established power dynamics of the capital.

The difference between their methods can also be observed in the way that their preferences are perceived by others:

Xiao Chiye presents himself as genial: he loves to drink, he is sociable enough to go out with friends frequently etc. However, as seen in the quote above, Xiao Chiye's "friendliness" is actually quite distant in that even the people who think they know him well are unaware of his true preferences. Yet he conducts himself in such a manner that they would not even think to ponder such things. It is a very effective approach for gathering intel: make the other party assume you are giving away much more about yourself than you are, opening the door for them to carelessly overshare from a sense of fabricated comradery.

Shen Zechuan is the opposite: going along with how he is forced to constantly humble himself and downplay his abilities, his preferences have to be presented as equally accommodating to the will of others. There are many instances where he seemingly goes along with others, secretly gritting his teeth the whole way, in order to "soften" them up to be played into his hand later.

And this goes into my next point:

Even though Shen Zechuan has an image of seductiveness, his entire method revolves around NOT having openly expressed desires because that would only serve as a vulnerability. Xiao Chiye, by contrast, predicates his mask around devil-may-care hedonism.

In this way, desire is both much more familiar to Xiao Chiye as well as easier to integrate into his established reputation than for Shen Zechuan. 

This is key to why Xiao Chiye is the first to accept his feelings and why he is much more comfortable with unabashedly expressing them. Thus, I think the differences in how Cezhou present themselves and the contrasting methods they use to stay ahead in their environment have bearing not only on the political games of their world but also on their relationship and how they relate themselves to each other.

[gaywarcriminals]

Please forgive grammar wrote this in a rush.

I'm writing a fanfic and a side plot point is that QHT and SQQ had SY. I've been wondering how SQQ would treat SY under these conditions. I made SY in this Au look half like SQQ and half like QHT.

So not only does he bare a resemblance to Shen jiu himself but also of Qiu haitang, also of Qiu Jianluo.

I feel like his treatment of Shen Yuan would be really bipolar, loving him one second, hating him the next.

Taking him out to eat because he has that smile childlike loving smile that Yue Qingyuan used to give him but also yelling at him and ignoring him the next because he also shared a face with the Qius.

Extra info, this is a Qijiu fic but at the moment SQQ Is raising him Yue Qingyuan is more of a uncle to him. And also he still is the Qing Jing peak but he's less hated because all of his allegations have been defended by Qiu Haitang. Despite shen jiu desperately wishing silently that she just kept her mouth shut because people now see him as someone to pity.

Ooo interesting question— I've been going back and forth on this for a day so I'm just going to say 'first thought best thought', and put my waffling under the cut. For this scenario I think he would perform the role of father for the sake of appearances and as to not lower Qiu Haitang’s opinion of him, but would be cold in private, and potentially cruel if Shen Yuan continued to seek Shen Jiu out. 

Nuance: I think this would depend on a number of factors, including under what circumstances the child was conceived, what his present relationship with QHT is like, how the child behaves, and of course their gender.

Since you didn't specify, I'm going to assume that QHT had SY pre-fire, and given the dubiously consensual nature of SJ and QHT's relationship (non-consensual, really. Slavery.) and also Everything About SJ, I'm going to assume he didn't want a child. While it might seem that such a case would inherently cause SJ to purely loath his child, I do think one could make a case to the contrary.

There are (imo) pretty explicit parallels in the text between Qiu Haitang and Ning Yingying, with the implication being that SJ favors her in part because she's like QHT. Obviously NYY not being SJ’s own child removes a lot of Baggage, but he likes her specifically because she's a child who resembles QHT. If the child was a girl who acted just like QHT? SJ has way less issues about It, and his bad-parent-isms drift more towards overprotection and over-involvement than disdain. The further they get from "Mini QHT" this worse this will go for everyone.  Shen Yuan is immediately off on the wrong foot for being a boy, of course; to SJ, the traits he likes in QHT would be signs of weakness and foolishness rather than empathy and naïveté. Anyone SJ recognizes himself in is not allowed to be weak, because SJ wasn’t. SJ does not want to break the cycle he wants everyone to suffer with him. 

The part that I’ve been really stuck on though is how SJ would feel about his son resembling Qiu Jianluo. There is no evidence in the novel that SJ ever reacts to someone because they remind him of QJL. (“A-Luo” being a trigger for SJ is not canon. Qiu Haitang never calls Qiu Jianluo that, only gege. To my understanding it would also be strange for a younger sibling to use the “A” prefix for their older sibling. Also very importantly, the “luo” in Luo Binghe and Qiu Jianluo are two different tones. With cPTSD do often spread outside of just the direct 1-to-1 reminders of events, but I feel like this is more a case of non-English speakers misunderstanding.) I’m especially uncertain of how this affects SY because I don’t think SY acts much of anything like QJL— he’s certainly not a sadist who views those below him as inhuman. The only way I can imagine SY’s behavior reminding SJ of QJL is if SY is a transmigrator who knows SJ is the scum villain, and acts hatefully towards SJ + avoids him at any cost, clinging to his mother. SY glaring or looking down on the scum villain he loathes with QJL’s eyes could definitely be triggering to SJ. Still, there is a ton of room for interpretation here because trauma responses aren’t logical nor are triggers consistent between people.

Otherwise, I think SY acts much more like a combination of SJ and QHT. This still puts SY firmly in the danger zone tho lol— SJ would massively struggle to get along with a child that reminds him of himself (points at Binghe). That brings me the to the question of who else is witnessing SJ’s interactions with SY, how much SJ cares about their opinion of him, and how likely he thinks they are to tell other people about SJ’s parenting. 

If SJ is co-parenting with QHT, then he is going to be on his best behavior. Which means no physical abuse, and less emotional abuse until the child can control itself enough not to burst into tears every time SJ reminds it of its place in the world :/ SJ coparenting with YQY depends a lot more on his present relationship with YQY. When qijiu aren’t reconciled SJ gets a sort of resentful satisfaction from being his worst self around YQY and daring the man to do anything. YQY didn’t step in with Binghe, would he step in for SJ’s own son? If qijiu are on better terms SJ has more incentive to impress YQY tho, espically because YQY seems to care about the child (although that’s a jealousy risk).

No matter what, I think SJ finds interacting with SY fundamentally uncomfortable. Even if he feels affection for him, even if SY reminds him positively of QHT or YQY, there’s the sort of grating gnawing feeling when SJ looks at him too long. SJ is a busy man, anyways— the boy should leave him to his work and make himself scarce. 

[tossawary]

do you know if theres like, a scum villain wife list or something. Of all the wives mentioned in canon. I cannot find one and I need it for a thing I'm writing :(

Someone may have made a comprehensive blog post on absolutely everything to do with Luo Binghe's harem somewhere, but I haven't personally seen one. This is the wiki's list of his known wives:

https://scumvillain.fandom.com/wiki/Harem.

(I keep thinking to myself that it might be worth looking into a wiki contribution week or something so that SV fans can have these things for reference in full detail. The wiki in its current state is still very much under construction and also the particular company here "Fandom" suck generally. But I've never contributed to a wiki before, so I wouldn't know where to start.)

Part of the difficulty with naming all of Luo Binghe's wives in PIDW is that there are only rough estimates for how many he had exactly and it's unclear what statuses they actually had in the harem. And I believe that he also had love interests he never actually officially married in any way.

I'm going to list off wife / love-interest characters off the top of my head here in vague summary. I'm going to request that people add on or correct me here if I'm missing anyone or straight-up wrong about anything (relevant direct quotations are always welcome). I have digital editions of the novels now, so I may control+F for "wife", "wives", and "harem" after work, then copy-paste the relevant quotations into a big document, because I'm curious now and I want to see what results that I get from that. If someone has made and posted a comprehensive canonical list regarding the harem already, I'd appreciate the link.

Ning Yingying: wife and childhood sweetheart.

Liu Mingyan: wife.

Sha Hualing: wife.

Qin Wanrong and Qin Wanyue: I think that they were wives, twins, Luo Binghe's first threesome, and also were bullied by Sha Hualing a lot.

Little Palace Mistress: wife and I also vaguely remember some commentary from Shen Yuan about her being the "leader" of the harem in some way.

Qiu Haitang: wife.

The Three Taoist Nuns: wives, they had something to do with taming the Xin Mo sword in PIDW, and are Liu Mingyan's RPF buddies in SVSSS.

Madam Meiyin: it's stated in the succubus extras that she and Luo Binghe had an affair. I don't think that she ever married him, though.

Aaaaand that's everyone I remember. The known, named canonical list isn't actually very long, which is generally why everyone ends up inventing original characters. There are also unnamed canonical love interests, like the one afflicted by the Without A Cure poison in PIDW, but I really do not remember them all.

[shwizles]

When this all was happening I was dying from all talk. All the troubles came at once. Poor Shen Qingqiu was just there standing like statue. Then come that lady what was her name again qiu haitang, something like this...

I was so frustrated that i even yelled at my damn fucking phone.

[jumpinginmuddypuddles]

Ok hear me out because why does the great gatsby and scum villain go so well together? I watched the broadway production (amazing btw) and was listening to the soundtrack. If you know, I got to ‘only tea’ and was like why is this the most LBH thing i have ever heard?

Therefore an au was produced. It’s not strictly accurate to TGG purely because the book itself is kind of lame and boring and i do not support f*tzgerald 

So, gatsby is clearly luo binghe, and daisy is shen yuan. Luo binghe went to war five years ago (aligns with both books, ha) and when he got back to his sweetheart, he realised he’s married to some rich guy. Probably for this it would be like yue qingyuan or something, sorry king. As a result luo binghe dedicates his life to getting super rich (even by backwater means) and buying the house across the lake from yue qingyuan and shen yuan like a siren call. 

Originally i thought shang qinghua would make a good nick, writer and all, but i also like the idea of liu mingyan as nick, getting dragged into the mix because her brother knows shen yuan quite well and luo binghe needs her to arrange a little get together for them. If you’re following musical canon, i also think sha hualing would make a good jordan, so we get some background mingling as a treat

Anyway so sha hualing introduces liu mingyan to luo binghe after she’s living in his cottage trying to make it writing novels. Luo binghe asks her to arrange a meeting between him and Shen Yuan (shen yuan thinks he died in the war and had to marry for security) and they have an affair obviously.

Since yue qingyuan is tom, i think it would be interesting if the person he was cheating on shen yuan with is shen jiu. Maybe shen jiu is the brother yue qingyuan originally wanted to marry but because of some unfortunate circumstance he ended up with the ‘wrong one’. We’re making yue qingyuan way less abusive in this au compared with canon to TGG. he’s a cheater. We don’t need to add abuser on top of that. He’s probably just neglectful. Shen yuan is defo aware of the affair with his brother and since it was a marriage of convenience i doubt he gaf. 

Anyway there’s a bingyuan affair, i’d also change the ending because I don't want shen jiu to die. I like the confrontation in the musical the most (made to last is the best song on the soundtrack imo) so i’d include where they all fight and luo binghe and shen yuan leave. Only shen yuan doesn’t HIT HIS BROTHER with luo binghe’s car.

And without ‘myrtle’s death, there’s no risk of an avenging ‘george’ (i think would be qiu haitang) to shoot luo binghe. Everyone would divorce and get with their appropriate s/o with a happy ending where no body dies and Luo Binghe quits the black market.

Liu Mingyan writes her book, Yue Qingyuan marries the right brother, a lot of parties and a lot of drinking and roaring 20s. The end. 

[zykamiliah]

friendly reminder that qiu haitang never called qiu jianluo "a-luo". nor in the old tl or the 7seas tl

Suddenly, a gentle and beautiful voice belonging to a young woman sounded from outside the door. “Brother? Brother? Are you inside?” BC Novels tl

Suddenly, a young girl’s lovely voice came from outside the door. “Gege? Gege? Are you inside?” 7seas tl

so it's made up fanon to give sj a """reason""" to hate lbh at first sight. hope that helps <3

[baiwu-jinji]

The first official promotion song for 2ha novel called "when haitang flowers fall again in the light rain" (海棠又落微雨時) came out recently, I loved it so translated the lyrics:

in past life I was the god of war sneering at the loneliness of the mortal realm

In this life I'm the Buddha fallen into the cycle of reincarnations burning in its suffering

If like trees and grass you know not the pain of love

Then why turn back and weep about both love and hate wearing thin

You sigh, saying that the falling of haitang flowers is inevitable

What can you do when it was all a good dream and never real?

Heavy snow covered the long steps and you pleaded piously

To be granted a few lifetimes of entangling your fate with his

Three thousand steps speak not

About lifetimes of being together and apart

The memories are troubled by trials and miseries - that's why it's deep, that's why I remember with all my being

Flowers bloom and I forget my sadness; flowers fall and it adds to my sorrow

Who is it that lingers in this place?

When I dispel sorrow from my heart, it only reappears on my face

The stubborness that persist through cycles of reincarnations

Has no regard for the romances and grievances of the past

All of a sudden, snow covers the world

In the light rain, when the haitang flowers fall again, there I will wait for you

See the slanting rain silently weaving my loneliness

My eyes are filled with sorrow, yet for what?

My blood-stained hands hold you tightly

To keep you by my side

When haitang flowers bloom, I recall kissing your cheek

I dreamt of walking down the corridor and the long steps, only desolation strewn across the ground

That year, the days were too long

That year, the wind was howling

Forget not the moment we embraced each other