#hunxi (re)watches LYB

[hunxi-after-hours]

ALL RIGHT!!! all right all right all right, I guess my first 琅琊榜 LYB meta is going to be about Lin Chen, because I love him, and I think he’s one of the most important characters in the show despite the fact that he’s there for oh, maybe nine episodes out of fifty-four

keep this image in your thoughts, I’m gonna come back for it

and really, it all boils down to this:

Lin Chen is Mei Changsu’s friend, not Lin Shu’s.

There is a ghost haunting every moment of LYB (okay, fine, there’s seventy thousand ghosts), and his name is Lin Shu. The brightest youth in the capital, the young marshal of the Chiyan forces--brilliant, bold, beautiful, bright, he’s larger than life, impossibly talented, universally beloved. Nihuang still holds a special place in her heart for him after twelve years; Xiao Jingyan never truly lets go (the red bow on the wall, his lingering dislike for intrigue, politics, and tacticians with bland smiles) of his best friend, his other half. In the very first conversation (first real conversation) Meng da-tongling has with Mei Changsu, stolen between imperial walls, voices hushed for fear of discovery, Meng Zhi expresses his disbelief: you’d written in letters that because of grave injury, your appearance was wholly changed, but I had never imagined--

Eternally, Mei Changsu is both the shadow and shadow archetype of Lin Shu--his polar opposite, quiet and reserved where Lin Shu was brash and loud, deceptive and conniving where Lin Shu was straightforward and righteous. We laugh at Xiao Jingyan for taking so long to figure out who Lin Shu was, but can we blame him? Mei Changsu spent a decade shaping himself into everything Lin Shu wasn’t.

Lin Shu lingers in almost every interaction Mei Changsu has with his former friends, acquaintances, family, fondnesses--it’s precisely why he cannot reveal himself to Nihuang, or Jingyan, because they loved Lin Shu too well, and, knowing his true identity, could not bear to watch him give, and give, and give of a frail body that was already running out of time. Lin Shu lingers in the way the former Chiyan troops salute Mei Changsu, in his joint mission with Prince Jing to overturn an old decree and wash the name of the Lin house clean of blame. 

And for the most part, Mei Changsu does not resent this lingering--after all, he still is Lin Shu on some level. These bones and blood are the same, even if this body no longer looks like how it used to (you used to look so much like your father--). Mei Changsu is avenging Lin Shu, avenging himself, as much as the other seventy thousand lost souls.

But Lin Chen does not look at Mei Changsu and see the ghost of the man he had once been before. Lin Chen looks at Mei Changsu, and sees Mei Changsu.

(do I, in fact, go absolutely feral over the fact that Lin Chen is the only person I can think of who calls Mei Changsu by name only? to everyone else, Mei Changsu is Su-xiansheng, shaoshuai, Su-xiong, zongzhu, but to Lin Chen, and Lin Chen alone, he is just--Changsu)

Mei Changsu is peerless, in every sense of the word. He occupies the highest position of the Langya gongzi rankings; he’s the impossible 麒麟才子 qilin talent, coveted and admired and dreaded and feared. He is the leader of the Jiangzuo alliance; he is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, bundled in more robes than the season calls for, hidden beneath that bland, unreadable smile he’s perfected over a decade. Mei Changsu doesn’t have friends--above, he has his liege-lord; below, he has a truly terrifying array of connections and subordinates, people who would die for him in a heartbeat, people who will do anything for him. Oh, sure, he enters the capital, ostensibly as Xiao Jingrui’s friend, but look how well that turned out for Xiao Jingrui.

No, Mei Changsu doesn’t have friends. He has at best, chess pieces he’s friendly with, chess pieces that he’ll try to take care of, chess pieces that he will, nevertheless, maneuver if he needs their service.

And then there’s Lin Chen. Langya Hall’s young master, snarky, irreverent, incandescently talented in his own way and more than happy to remind Mei Changsu of that fact. Lin Chen, who gives Mei Changsu as good as he gets. Lin Chen, who’ll sass Mei Changsu right back, who’ll challenge his decisions, who’ll laugh in his face, who’ll bully him into resting. Lin Chen, who understands (知己 zhiji, I’ll throw hands about this, they know each other) Mei Changsu more than anyone else--more, even, than Xiao Jingyan, for all the prince’s wide-eyed hurt and decade of angry grief.

Lin Chen is so goddamn important and I will die on this hill.

Remember that screenshot I started out this post with? Here, I’ll bring it back:

So what really strikes me about the visual composition of this moment is the balance in the frame--they are each given equal weight, and they mirror each other with their long, pale robes falling in folds, long hair cascading down their backs (long, unbound hair, which is continually associated with the jianghu, the world separate from the imperial center, though the two of them prove to be more intertwined than romantic notions would have any of us believe). 

Lin Chen is not not one of Mei Changsu’s chess pieces (if you listen closely to his lines, he repeatedly mentions going to Nanchu/Southern Chu, which is relevant to the Worst Birthday Party Ever, implying that he was there to help Mei Changsu with Certain Plots), but Lin Chen also holds a certain amount of power over Mei Changsu as his doctor. Lin Chen, more than anyone else, is the one keeping Mei Changsu alive. Likewise, Lin Chen understands Mei Changsu best--he refuses the bingxucao on Mei Changsu’s behalf, which Mei Changsu then corroborates. Lin Chen calls out his friend--as if I don’t know you? he asks, after everything (not quite everything) has ended. You’re still holding onto that breath in your heart.

Hell, Lin Chen goes to war for Mei Changsu.

In the first episode, Mei Changsu asks, how much time do I have left? to which Lin Chen responds, well, how much time do you need? When Mei Changsu says two years, Lin Chen scoffs, says, two years? You’ll need ten doctors then.

There’s a pause, in which Mei Changsu stares at Lin Chen, solemn, unbending. Lin Chen looks away, glances back, sighs deeply, and caves, pulling a small ceramic bottle from his sleeve and placing it on the table. 

Lin Chen didn’t come to Langzhou just to check in on Mei Changsu. He came here, knowing already, what Mei Changsu would ask of him, and Lin Chen came prepared.

Mei Changsu laughs, a small huff of breath. 有你足矣，he says, 顶的过十个大夫. Having you is enough--you’re better than ten doctors.

What’s that? The sound of me, screaming once more, about the 足矣 zuyi pseudo-literary construction? The echoes of the Lu Xun quote 人生得一知己，足矣 / In this life, having one person who knows me is enough, which already goes hard, and then is popularized/refracted through the lens of the snow scene in CQL?

Everything Mei Changsu does is for his grand purpose, his great, impossible goal, the absolution of himself, his family, his ghost, his name. His accomplishment brings vindication and forgiveness, exoneration and closure to his friends and family, Xiao Jingyan and Mu Nihuang’s lost years, seventy thousand wronged souls. Mei Changsu sacrifices everything for truth, for justice, for the good of all under heaven.

And everything Lin Chen does is for his friend. That’s all, and it’s no less powerful.

[hunxi-guilai]

state of the hunxi (12.20)

hello friends! good ol’ bsandy recently released his State of the Sanderson for the year (don’t worry about it if you don’t get the reference, I’m just on my Stormlight bullshit again), so it seemed time for me to give everyone an update on this blog!

as always, it is a delight to hear from you all as I sporadically poke my head into tumblr nowadays; thank you all for being patient and generous as I vanish for weeks on end.

Firstly, I’ve had a good number of folks ask if I would write meta for [insert media here]. I’m honestly super happy with the way this blog has become something of an archive of, well, everything I’ve ever written on CQL, so as a result, I’m not planning on taking questions about TGCF or LYB on this blog. HOWEVER, if that sounds like content you would be interested in, you should stay tuned because I’m planning to 1) read TGCF, 2) re-watch LYB, 3) liveblog both, and 4) okay, yeah, fine, write some meta on these (and anything else that strikes my fancy) as well. Which is to say -- yet another sideblog, forthcoming!

Secondly, I’ve been spending my hours away from tumblr working on annotated translations of the entire CQL companion album, which I’ll start posting soon! I know, I know, I said back in June that I wouldn’t do line-by-line translations of the character songs, but I’ve been 食言而肥 getting fat on my words all year and really needed a non-fic project after time war wangxian. Since I’m annotating these lyrics as best as I can, it’s a pretty intensive process (I feel entitled to say that because there is a spreadsheet involved). I’m super excited to share these with everyone because the companion album is a treasure trove of para-canonical CQL material that, as far as I can tell, the Anglophone fandom has barely touched. I’ve had to restrain my meta instincts multiple times already, and I’ve only translated half of the album so far.

that’s all from me for now! tl;dr stay tuned, more translations coming your way, hope everyone is doing well, staying warm, and getting lots of rest <3

much love,

hunxi

And of course, quick links to the masterlists:

linguistic meta

historical/worldbuilding/cultural meta

moment-specific meta

thematic meta

character meta

other links

[hunxi-after-hours]

oh is it the episode

[hunxi-after-hours]

two bros, chilling in a secret passageway, five feet apart because one’s a general and the other a prince making a play on the throne and they’re both down here because Mei Changsu forgot about them for a hot sec

[hunxi-after-hours]

you: Lin Chen is an excellent character for providing a narrative foil to both Mei Changsu and Xiao Jingyan

me, an intellectual: Lin Chen is an excellent character for using the folding fan for its true purpose--talking shit and pointing accusingly at friends who have no sense of self-preservation

[hunxi-after-hours]

been thinking lately about why the fights in LYB are so good, and it’s not because they’re more “realistic” or whatever--they’re just as stylish and stylized as you’d expect from wuxia, all flowing robes and swooshy movements and shiny swords--but because they tell story

pretty much every single fight in LYB has narrative weight, even if it’s just Xiao Jingrui showing off a sword routine for Mei Changsu and Yan Yujin. This is partially narrative necessity, since aspects of the plot hinge on wuxia mechanisms (like the recognizability of the signature Zhuo family move in obtaining evidence for a criminal investigation), but there’s also a great deal of character building that happens during fight scenes

in Zhen Ping’s introductory fight, we can already grasp his competence and no-nonsense personality

Xiao Jingrui, as the scion of two powerful households, is a goddamn powerhouse, but there’s also a delicacy and elegance to his movement style, a sense of technique and form--he also performs better in duels than in melee, reflecting his upperclass background

Yan Yujin, meanwhile, is a surprisingly nimble empty-handed brawler, combining acrobatics with combat, which feels appropriately artistic and versatile for him

Meng Zhi is introduced punching two dudes in the fists with his bare knuckles, ow, what the fuck (we get it, the dude is stronk)

we see Xia Dong primarily in close-quarter combat, and there’s something that feels very assassin/spy about her hand-to-hand ability with a short hunting knife, even against opponents with swords

heck, Nihuang first appears in a fight scene, which cements her own military prowess as the warrior princess of Yunnan, as well as her elder-sister relationship to Xiao Jingrui and Yan Yujin

in flashbacks to Nihuang and Lin Shu, what do the directors show us to emphasize their relationship? yep, that’s right, the two of them performing sword forms together

which is of course part and parcel of both the tragedy and mystique of Mei Changsu, the frail-bodied strategist who can command the most skilled fighters of the jianghu with a word

Mei Changsu, who cannot wield a sword

Mei Changsu, who nevertheless knows how to carry himself in a fight

[hunxi-after-hours]

oh would you look at that

no brain cells in sight

[hunxi-after-hours]

everyone bullying Mei Changsu into actually resting and taking care of himself is the kind of content I wish to see in the world

[hunxi-after-hours]

XIA DONG SHOVEL TALK

[hunxi-after-hours]

just in case anyone’s new to LYB here, I offer you all this video (specifically, the part that begins at 4:26) to soothe your soul

[hunxi-after-hours]

what I wouldn’t have given to see the missing scene where Yan Yujin caught Xiao Jingrui up on the latest capital gossip

[hunxi-after-hours]

all Fei Liu wants to do is beat people up and get compliments from his Su-gege

and his Su-gege is busy today

[hunxi-after-hours]

so someone’s definitely written the essay about how Yan Yujin and Nie Huaisang occupy similar spaces of “absentminded socialite who has a much better understanding of human motivation and psychology than they have any business knowing,” right?

[hunxi-after-hours]

thinking about how in the Lin Chen-Mei Changsu scenes, their banter/dynamic is probably the closest we get to seeing the Lin Shu of thirteen years ago

[hunxi-after-hours]

every day I think about the fact that Lin Chen calls Xiao Jingyan one of the “two smartest people” in the capital with the implication that Mei Changsu is the other

and I’m equally torn between “yeah you go Prince Jing bby” and “surely not, he is loyal and righteous but he has no brain cells”

[hunxi-after-hours]

hot LYB take

this is Gao Zhan’s show and everyone else is just living in it