#have both curly haired Binghe and straight haired Binghe

[meimoons-arts]

I'm a sucker for terminally ill Shen Yuan x Luo Bingge

[flowersdiceandlove]

I’m a subscriber of the Luo Binghe has curly/wavy hair and Bingge straitens it bc it’s not the cultural beauty standard and it makes him feel inadequate whereas Bingmei keeps it curly/wavy bc when he was a teen, Shen Qingqiu-Yuan expressed a like for it so he’s comfortable with it even if it’s not the societal standard. In this vein I want to see a Binggeyuan fic where Shen Yuan gets transmigrated as just Some Guy and catches the attention of Bingge (because of course he does. It’s Shen Yuan) and in one of their encounters where Shen Yuan is driving Bingge just a bit insane with his brand of both obliviousness and all-knowingness, Bingge’s hair gets wet due to something Shen Yuan did. Luo Bingge is pissed at getting soaked and glares at Shen Yuan while simultaneously pushing his hair out of his face and drying it with cultivation magic gearing up to bite into Shen Yuan about getting him wet when Shen Yuan gasps and stares at him in awe. Bingge was so caught up in his anger that when he was drying his hair, he forgot to also redo the spell that keeps his hair straight so it’s reverted to it’s natural curly/wavy state. Just as the self-consciousness that he hasn’t felt since he was a teen and being bullied for his hair Qing Jing Peak is setting in, Shen Yuan surprises Bingge once again by making an aborted movement forward and muttering a “beautiful” under his breath. Bingge, with his enhanced hearing, hears it and pauses in his hastily conjured hair straightening spell, stunned. Never in all his many, many years has anyone called his natural hair “beautiful.” (Not that he really lets people even see it like this. Only a very few have seen his hair in it’s natural state.) And Shen Yuan looks so sincere too.

A deep blush starts to rise on Bingge’s cheeks. It is (unfortunately in Bingge’s opinion) something Bingge is getting very acquainted with in Shen Yuan’s presence. It is something that has only happens when Shen Yuan says something absolutely absurd and what should only be said in a groveling type of flattery as if it is just a truth of the universe and completely true. He has not blushed this much since he was a virgin over 200 years ago!! And even then it wasn’t this bad!

Bingge then stutters (actually stutters because by this point, Shen Yuan has already gotten to him even if he’s still in denial) a reply feeling far more flustered than he thinks he has any right to be.

Then Shen Yuan has the gall to say “Ah! Sorry! I forgot. You’re self-conscious about your hair. Do you want me to turn around while you straighten it again?” with wide, caring, and achingly sincere eyes and his face completely open, only wanting Bingge to feel comfortable after suddenly having an insecurity (which he really shouldn’t know about but somehow does, and Bingge will later add it to the list he’s keeping of such instances when he can think properly again) exposed.

Bingge is so stunned by this that he’s unable to respond and so Shen Yuan continues, “…Actually…It’s really nice like this. I mean, of course, it is. It’s you after all. You’d look good with anything. But like this it looks even more lustrous than usual. Like your hair always is so nice, but like this it catches the light more which adds to its dimension… it’s like something out of a shampoo commercial… I wish I had hair this nice. Mine is so flat and dull looking. Just leave it to you to have the best hair ever. It’s so fluffy… like a sheep… Oh! And it’s so soft too! Like a cloud!” Yes he drifted forward and started petting Bingge’s hair without thinking, too caught up in his admiration of it. Bingge is still too stunned to react and is just watching as one of his biggest insecurities is being dismantled by this random guy he found one day who knows far too much and might actually be a god or something considering the extent of his knowledge, how flippant he is about it, and the weird things he says sometimes (what even is a “shampoo commercial?”).

Bingge eventually gets enough thought back in his pretty, flustered, gay head and flees. Very gracefully he would like to be known. Very befitting of Emperor of the Three Realms.

Very.

Very.

Shen Yuan is left to just stand there and wonder if he finally pissed Bingge off so bad that he’s going to get killed soon. Bingge’s face was very red and he seemed so mad that he couldn’t even speak properly in Shen Yuan’s opinion. After thinking it over for a minute he shrugs and thinks it’s fine. At this point, Shen Yuan is pretty sure that Bingge won’t kill him unless he does something truly outrageous and unforgivable. And while petting the (very soft and fluffy) hair of The Luo Bingge, Emperor of the Three Realms, without permission could be considered highly outrageous, it is not actually the most outrageous thing Shen Yuan has done to the man and lived to tell the tale. Not that he’s going to actually tell people about it. He’s not trying to push Bingge’s buttons and get himself killed.

Shen Yuan just shrugs the encounter off as he does so many others, but does file away the memory of how soft, fluffy, beautiful, and just incredible Bingge’s natural hair is.

Bingge is unable to sleep that night, his mind constantly replaying Shen Yuan’s awe and sincerity over one of his greatest insecurities. Not for the first time since meeting Shen Yuan does he feel cracked open and exposed, yet also somehow safe and warm and like he might cry his eyes out but in a good way.

[zykamiliah]

@rinledraws so let's get something out of the way first. the majority of chinese people have eyes and hair on an spectrum of black to brown. so when you sometimes in cnovels find that people don't describe eye-color or hair-color, it's safe to assume it's either black or brown eyes and straight black or brown hair. why? because you don't mention things that everybody knows to assume. cnovels usually focus on the shape of the eye, or if the eyes are very black they mention that. if the hair is wavy, messy, curly etc, there's a mention of that in the text because it deviates from the norm that everyone knows to assume.

as one comment in the thread mentioned, in mdzs lwj's eyes are noted and described because they're different from what's expected in the setting. when binghe's eyes turn to red, the text remarks on it. same applies here.

since you shared the reddit post, i want to share some of the comments that i think best describe the situation when it comes to this topic

the quotes in question from both the bcnovels version and the official version by faelicy and lily:

This person’s appearance was neat with two black eyebrows and thin lips, born to look like a scholar. (BCNovels version, ch.2)

It was a fine-featured face with pitch-black eyes and brows, thin nose and lips, and a most scholarly air. (SevenSeas version, ch.1)

i've read both translations and i have to say the official one is WAY clearer and frankly better in terms on quality than the first one. i'm eternally grateful to bcnovels for introducing me to svsss but credit where credit is due. fae and lily did a superb job in translating the final, published version of the novel and i'm inclined to go with their version, not only for the quality but because it sounds weird to describe only the eyebrows of a person and not the eyes. furthermore, the bcnovels tl doesn't say anything about green eyes. and as i said above, it's safe to assume they're your regular black eyes. hell, even in western literature green eyes are a rarity and the text will usually remark on it.

now, if you go to official posted before the official eng tl, which is based on the original text, there is no non-western art where sqq has green eyes. in some they look light gray even.

coincidentally, the one piece of official art that has a green-eyed sqq is the one that came after volumes 1-3 were released (you know, the art in which sqq has green eyes). check the dates of official release here and the weibo post where they posted the art (as referenced by this tumblr post)

which brings us back to the reddit post and another of the comments that stuck with me

now maybe i'm wrong. maybe he does have green eyes. but i'd like to see evidence for it first, from a trusted source.

some people on this site need to remember the difference between textual canon, subtext, canon-compliant, and headcanons.

[vaixation]

Can I add something really important?

All three books are 17+. If you are a minor, do not read them.

They're excellent stories with really good characterization, plots, and really in-depth commentary about a lot of things in general, but they really are all 17-18+. Please don't take this as a challenge; they're meant for adults and all three of them have mature topics in them. SVSSS and MDZS have graphically explicit sex scenes (mostly in the extras, but both of these have one in the main story too). TGCF has sexual content but the actual sex scenes are off-screen, just very strongly implied (again mostly in the extra chapters). Even though TGCF doesn't have as much sexual content, it has quite a bit of other triggering topics in it that you may want to watch out for.

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Also, small correction:

SVSSS has 80 chapters, 20 extras, for a total of 100. HERE is a chapter list.

MDZS has 113 chapters, 13-14 extras, for a total of 126-127. HERE is a chapter list.

TGCF has 244 chapters, 8 extras, for a total of 252. HERE is a chapter list.

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Some additional information:

The author is named Mò Xiāng Tóng Xiù (墨香铜臭). Most of us just abbreviate her name to MXTX for short. (This isn't her real name, it's a pen name.) All three of her novels classify as both the xianxia (high Chinese cultivation fantasy) and danmei (gay) genres.

And, in the case you're not a Chinese speaker and have no idea how to pronounce the names, you can copy + paste the Chinese text (not the pinyin - the symbols) into THIS TRANSLATOR and hit "Say it" (little blue button above text box) and it will read out the Chinese word / name for you. Additionally, you can search through THIS SITE if you need help with understanding the tones in the names / words. (Chinese has four tones that change the pronunciation - that's what all those little symbols in the romanized text are indicating.) While I haven't found a pronunciation guide for SVSSS, there's one for MDZS here, and one for TGCF here (turn on subtitles - the video has some extra notes in them). (NOTE: I really recommend using the translators I linked however, as both of these guides have some slight inaccuracies to them I've found, but they're very useful regardless.)

All three of her novels are also being officially licensed in English by Seven Seas. While not all of them are out yet as of writing this post, you can see the full RELEASE SCHEDULE HERE. When possible, I highly recommend purchasing the books if you can to support the author. Also, all of them have wonderful story illustrations, character glossaries, a term glossary, and SVSSS even has bonus character art at the end of the two currently-released volumes!

Also, people in the fandom often abbreviate characters' names to the first letter of each individual pinyin section. For example, 沈清秋 (Shěn Qīngqiū) often gets abbreviated as "SQQ" because of 沈清秋 = "Shěn Qīng Qiū"!

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FIRST BOOK (WIKI LINK):

Chinese Name: 人渣反派自救系统 Chinese Pinyin: Rén Zhā Fǎnpài Zìjiù Xìtǒng English Name: Scum Villain's Self-Saving System Abbreviations: SVSSS, RZFZX Main Character: Shěn Qīngqiū (沈清秋) SQQ Main Love Interest: Luò Bīnghé (洛冰河) LBH

Notes: Most people use SVSSS instead of RFZFX when referring to this one (probably because of the alliteration, I'm assuming). It also has a donghua (Chinese animation, equivalent to Japan's anime) adaptation under the name Scumbag System (Chuān Shū Zì Jiù Zhǐ Nán / 穿书自救指南). This takes liberties with the story, including playing up the humor level and censoring some of the more violent details of the story, so take it with a grain of salt! It's very good though; if the animation style doesn't bother you, I definitely recommend it (although it's worth mentioning the fandom at large tends to view Luo Binghe with curly hair, and this version has him with straight hair). Currently, the donghua is only on its first season and is incomplete. (Season 2 when?!)

If you want to read it online, I personally read the MAIN STORY FROM HERE, the EXTRA CHAPTERS FROM HERE (scroll down). I believe both of these sources have the extra chapters in the wrong order: HERE IS A GUIDE TO THE ORDER OF THE EXTRA CHAPTERS, and HERE IS ANOTHER GUIDE (this one is especially good for TWs in the extras). Do note that I think this particular story's online translation isn't as good as its actual licensed version from Seven Seas, and I personally highly recommend reading the Seven Seas license translation above reading this one online, but it's doable, it just might not make as much sense.

Also, this storyline requires quite a bit of critical thinking and reading between the lines. Don't take everything at face value, because the main character is a very unreliable narrator.

I'd also like to warn that depending on the translation you read, I've seen some very ableist language being used (especially in the version of the donghua I watched), so keep that in mind.

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SECOND BOOK (WIKI LINK):

Chinese Name: 魔道祖师 Chinese Pinyin: Mó Dào Zǔ Shī English Name: Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Abbreviations: GDC, MDZS Main Character: Wèi Yīng (Wúxiàn) (魏婴 / 魏无羡) WY / WWX Main Love Interest: Lán Zhàn (Wàngjī) (蓝湛 / 蓝忘机) LZ / LWJ

Notes: Most people tag this one as MDZS. Also, many of the characters in this particular story adhere to ancient Chinese naming customs, in which they have two names - the birth name and the courtesy name. The basic gist of this is that the courtesy name is what most folks will use to refer to someone (say, Wei Wuxian for example), versus their birth name (Wei Ying) is reserved for people who are close or intimate with you. However, people can also use this name if they mean to insult you, too, so in Wei Wuxian's case you'll hear "Wei Ying" get used a lot by both people who care about him (such as his future husband, Lan Wangji) or people who really dislike him (basically most of society).

MDZS is the most well-known out of MXTX's storylines, and it has... an absurd amount of adaptations. HERE is a nice and useful guide to all of them. The novel, being the original source, is the most uncensored version, after that it would be the audio drama. You can download and listen to the audio drama from SUIBIAN SUBS. (Please read their rules!) I personally think its donghua (S1, S2, S3) is fantastic though, and heavily recommend it even though, because of Chinese censorship laws, they don't have as much of their romance on-screen (it's still very much there though). Also the animation is absolutely gorgeous. I mean when they zoom into these characters' eyes they literally drew in their tear ducts, okay. It's very pretty! Unfortunately, it doesn't cover any of the extra chapters content, though it is fully complete otherwise!

It's worth mentioning that the live action (The Untamed / Chén Qíng Lìng / 陈情令), often abbreviated to CQL, is extremely different and takes a lot of liberties / makes a lot of changes. In the Chinese fandom, CQL and MDZS are viewed as different things, and it's considered rude to tag CQL into the main MDZS tag. This seems to be more lenient with the western fandom, however.

I personally read it ONLINE HERE. This translation was done by the group Exiled Rebels (as they're the only group that had a full translation completed), and some of the extra chapters + end scenes have a few sentences and things that are infamously mis-translated that caused some unnecessary drama within the fandom, so take their translation with a grain of salt. Seven Seas hired a different translator (Suika, the same one who translated TGCF online) for the job instead of EXR, so I'm hoping Suika handles those extra chapters with a little more care. (Absolutely no salt to EXR, just that their wording can cause misunderstandings, and that's worth noting if you find some things iffy in some of the extra chapters or end scenes!)

It's also worth mentioning, this book has homophobia in it, but it's an in-story thing and not an overall narrative choice from the author. HERE is a trigger warning list for MDZS.

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THIRD BOOK (WIKI LINK):

Chinese Name: 天官赐福 Chinese Pinyin: Tiān Guān Cì Fú English Name: Heaven Official's Blessing Abbreviations: HOB, TGCF Main Character: Xiè Lián (谢怜) XL Main Love Interest: Huā Chéng (花城) HC

Notes: Like MDZS, everyone seems to abbreviate this one as TGCF. Also, don't make the same mistake I did when I first got into the story and misread "Heaven Official's Blessing" as "Heaven's Official Blessing," okay. The apostrophe comes after the second word... The name of this one refers to a phrase that gets reiterated multiple times throughout the story, the full phrase being "tiān guān cì fú, bǎi wú jìn jì!" (天官赐福，百无禁忌！) HERE is a post that explains the meaning more in depth. It's been translated in multiple different ways, but my personal favorite translation is "By Heaven Official's blessing, all taboos are off!" which I think makes the most sense to the story, considering how it goes.

TGCF currently has two adaptations: a donghua (S1, Extra Episode - again, Season 2 when?!?!) and a manhua (Chinese comic, equivalent to Japan's manga). You can actually read the manhua FOR FREE from BiliBili's official website HERE. Note that it also not complete, and after a while there's a timegate system, and then a few episodes that are app-only. The manhua's artwork is by STAREMBER, who is extremely talented. Although this adaptation doesn't do the best job of explaining the story, the artwork is absolutely mindblowingly phenomenal, and it's worth checking out. Additionally, there is a live action for TGCF that is in the works, the name of which I believe is "Eternal Faith."

Personally, for chapters 1-20, I read them ONLINE HERE. For 21 (1) to 25, I switched to THIS SOURCE instead. For 25 to 40, I recommend THIS SOURCE, and for 41+ I went back to the original source I linked. I know that seems like a hassle, but frankly I found issues with a few of the sources as I was reading through them, and it was exasperating to hunt down proper translations. For the bonus chapters... I actually don't know a source to link. I downloaded a PDF and it doesn't have great translations, so I don't think I'd recommend that; good luck with finding a source for the extra chapters if you choose to read them online.

As mentioned before, TGCF is very intense, and in my opinion, has the most triggering content out of the three stories. HERE is a TW guide. There is another one additionally HERE that adds a few things. And here is a discussion on TGCF's age rating. (I would also like to personally add "animal harm" to the TW list, as there are several cases in the beginning at least of some animals getting killed, sometimes brutally. Most of this was in response to said animals attacking the group, but still it's worth pointing out.) Furthermore, there is an overtone of ableism in the story that cannot really be excused by just being in-story. There are also mixed reactions to the cross-dressing that can come off as transphobic, but take that with a grain of salt considering there's an actual genderfluid character in this story who is depicted very positively and is an utter delight.

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Finally, some of my personal thoughts on the optimal order of experiencing them:

I myself read them in the order of MDZS -> TGCF -> SVSSS, and that's the order I would recommend to people, but that's just me. MDZS is a really good starting point because it's the most popular and it's most accessible + has the most information floating around for it, I think, and while yes, it does kind of just throw you into ancient Chinese cultivation shenanigans, I think due to the amount of information floating around for it, it's not too hard to follow if you just take things slowly. The donghua is a great starting place if you want to test the waters to see if it's the kind of story that vibes with you, but the book itself goes into MUCH more detail that will explain a lot of key plot points that got rushed at the end of the donghua, I think.

Secondly, TGCF is much more in-depth / complex than MDZS, and over twice as long, so it can be a large undertaking, but it's a very rewarding story. I heard some people say if you read TGCF before you read SVSSS, don't even bother with SVSSS - but I have to STRONGLY disagree with that because I read SVSSS after TGCF and I was glad / thankful I read it in that order. There's some content in SVSSS that, for me at least, required some faith that the author wasn't putting in certain scenes just for shock value and that she had a very good reason for them being there, that if I had seen SVSSS first I admittedly probably would've given up on the book at a certain point. (SVSSS in my opinion, is also the most-deserving of a second read, because I think the entire story changes when you know what's really going on, and it's very eye-opening the second time around.)

Again that is just me, but personally I'm very thankful I read TGCF before SVSSS for this reason. TGCF and SVSSS also have a lot of shared themes between them, and some topics that could be controversial if taken out of context. (For instance, in SVSSS the two main characters have an age gap - however, MXTX actually handled this extremely well, and without spoiling anything, it works out JUST FINE - and I might not have had faith that she was going to do this respectfully if this was my first exposure to her as an author. Having seen how carefully she treats her world and characters from both MDZS and TGCF made me a lot less overly-critical over some of the things happening in SVSSS by comparison.)

Also, all three of her stories are fantastic. I personally like them all equally, and very strongly at that, but they all have different vibes and they might not be for everyone. Which one is the "best" story often depends on what vibes with you the most (ie. do you want the most romantic story? Go for TGCF. Do you want all the DRAMA and ANGST? SVSSS is your best bet, etc.)! All of them can be intense and have triggering content in them (like, for instance - all three of them have torture in them), but MXTX doesn't write this in for shock value; they all have reasons to be there. She also has some VERY GOOD motifs that span across all three of her stories, and all of her stories make you think a lot about deeper things. They're ALL very good and 100% worth checking out if the TWs won't upset you. (Personally, I had multiple anxiety attacks reading TGCF and I'd still wholeheartedly recommend it, I think it was very much worth it, but that's just me - do judge for yourself what you think your limits/boundaries are, and like OP said, do not push yourself to finish something if it's genuinely upsetting / distressing / etc. even if they're good stories.) They're all very complex and fascinating in their own ways, and it's clear MXTX puts a lot of love and care into what she writes and creates!

And as a final note (possible spoilers):

All three of them have happy endings. I'm putting this here because I was personally worried about the "bury your gays" trope, since it's such a homophobic trope, and as an LGBT+ person I'm so tired of it + exasperated, but all three of the main couples wind up very happily and canonically married by the end of the stories. So if you're worried that they're not going to end well, they do! I think, personally, that's a huge relief to know since it very much is a LGBT+ concern and all three of the books are gay / LGBT+ stories, so.

If you do decide to check them out, good luck! (Especially with TGCF because it's so long haha LOL!) Hope any of this helps you (or anyone else...). :D

(No but really LOOK how long the word count is for TGCF, y'all. What the heck...)

hi I’ve decided to trust you with media opinions bc of ur rockin art and bodacious posts. if I was theoretically* interested in reading the mxtx novels and haven’t read any yet, what order should I read them in? thank you for your help 🙏

*this question is not theoretical at all

First of all, thank you for liking my posts!!! ^^ I'm glad you're interested in reading the books hehe!!

I would personally recommend reading them in order of publication (Scum Villain's Self Saving System > Mo Dao Zu Shi / Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation > Tian Guan Ci Fu / Heaven Official's Blessing) for a few reasons:

- The first book, SV, establishes a lot of the author's opinions on writing itself, world-building, themes, etc that are important to understand in the latter works.

- The second book, MDZS, further establishes a lot of themes of society that, imo, lay the foundation for some events in TGCF.

- There's a visible shift between focus across the 3 books: SV is mostly character driven, MDZS is fairly mixed character/plot driven, and TGCF is mostly plot driven. If you're new to danmei/Chinese media in general, it's very easy to get lost in the grandiose plots and extensive worlds that the latter series drop you into. I personally found that SV is an especially good onboarding point given that it's such a meta book, so there's a great deal of footnotes and narration* regarding common tropes/structures that are played straighter/assume prior knowledge in MDZS and TGCF.

*However, I believe all the official translations feature footnotes and glossaries, so hopefully you won't get too lost regardless!!

- Along with focus, the scale of the books' settings definitely increase as the series go on; SV has the least amount of important characters/locations, MDZS focuses on a considerably larger cast and world, and TGCF goes even beyond that.

- Lastly, the length of the books goes up considerably the farther you get down the line! SV is only around 100 chapters, MDZS is something like 200, and TGCF is like 500! So if you have any doubts or want to give yourself a way out in any way, definitely would recommend starting with the one with the least required investment.

However I will say that you can honestly read them in any order you'd like! Majority of people these days start with MDZS because it's the most popular, and though it's a bit rarer, I've seen people start from TGCF as well. Ultimately just go for the one that interests you the most and work from there! You don't need to read them all either, and definitely check out tw lists before you start them! Always prioritize your personal health over completionism ^^

Hope you have fun reading though! And if you have any other questions, feel free to send another ask!