#idk if shifu’s can be father figures??

[lavaflowe]

I am having thoughts and feelings about Wukongs relationship with both of his shifu’s and how they both betrayed his trust and it makes me so sad???

Like, it seemed like Wukong was having fun and playing around with the other tudi, it seemed very wholesome. But Puti stops him and says he can’t let Wukong stay anymore because it’s dangerous? It might be in Wukongs best interest, but then Puti threatens to skin him and break his bones if he ever speaks of him again? That makes me so sad for Wukong, especially since he was with Puti for 20 years!

Then the next shifu he has is Tripitaka, who releases him from the mountain. They had moral differences and clashed, but why is the circlet the only attempt to get him to listen? And Wukong is tricked into wearing something no one but Buddha can take off. The circlet is used unjustly as well, since Tripitaka doesn’t believe Wukong when he says there is danger. He tries his best to do what’s right, but gets punished regardless.

IT MAKES ME SAD AJFJAHH

[nilusanimationworld]

Since we’re close on getting our first kfp4 updates soon. Here’s a list I'd love to see (or hoping to see) in the fourth movie

Firstly let's start with the villain. Idk why but I really want the new villain to be reptile? A lizard maybe? Komodo dragon would be great! Plus a Komodo DRAGON vs Po the DRAGON Warrior (PLUS 2024 WILL BE THE YEAR OF THE DRAGON) would actually make sense too! Also they're terrifying!

Fingers crossed we get Mads Mikkelsen back on board! We were suppose to get him as Kai but he had to last moment drop out so yeah would be great to see him join the crew!

If its a female villain I'd love Tilda Swinton on board! She would make a great evil female villain

Since we all got Tai Lung representing (Strength) Shen (Weapon) & Kai (Spirit) as their abilities I'd love to see the new villain to use some manipulation powers (Mind)

As much as I love big goof sweetheart Po I'd actually love to see the villain to USE Po as their manipulation victim making him go absolute berserk or something.

Idk if its just me but Po has shown clear signs of irritations & frustrations. When Po snaps HE SNAPS HARD! So It would be pretty interesting to see Po has to overcome this. Plus having more pressure on not just as a Dragon Warrior but also as a master I'm sure the pressure level on Po is gonna overload

Plus would make a great challenge for the Five & Shifu too wondering how to fight Po & get him back to senses. And since us audience we've all grown up seeing Po this sweet goofball it would be pretty interesting to watch him being in completely different avatar.

Speaking of Furious Five & Shifu PLEASE GIVE US MORE OF THEM PLEASE!! As much as I love Po's relationship with his dads I'd also love to see his relationship with the Five & Shifu again on screen! They're like his second family!

I MEAN JUST LOOK AT THEM!!

Speaking of family. Since we got kfp3 movie fully focused on Po & his relationship with his dads WE. NEED. SHIFU. TIGRESS. FATHER. DAUGHTER MOMENT!! AT LEAST ONE HEART WARMING ONE! I IT TOO MUCH TO ASK DREAMWORKS?!?! IS IT TOO MUCH?!?!?

Like we got Shifu apologizing Tai Lung about what he made him but we still haven't got Shifu apologizing or having one sweet father-daughter moment with Tigress! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD GIVE US SOMETHING!! And no! The "I'm very proud of you" scene from Secrets of the Scroll isn't enough!!

This one's for the TiPo Shippers! More of Po & Tigress please.

I'm not just saying this as TiPo shipper I'm saying this in general I miss these two chemistry & their teamwork which kfp3 din't have much which is understandable since it was more focused on Po catching up with his bio dad & rest of the pandas. Although despite not having more screen time together we still get very small hints about their relationship & how much its developed.

The scene Po voicing his Tigress's action figure saying "He's so handsome" is by far the MOST OBVIOUS HINT Po still having his fanboy crush on Tigress. Boi is so desperate for her attention lol

But yeah more of these two please. Not necessary it has to be cheesy romantic it can also be casual. They can keep it low profile but make it very obvious. AND CONFIRM IT ALREADY!!

Lastly. Cameos. I'm sure we'll get some old villain's flashback scenes. Although not sure we'll get Oogway again since there's no confirmation about Randall Duk Kim's return. But I strangely want Soothsayer back! I feel like she can STILL play an important role in the franchise since we got to see Master Croc's return in kfp3 would be great to see her back too.

So yeah....I guess that's it from my side? Let's see what we get.

[mangotelevision]

Okay so I think I'm pretty solid on my Katelyn backstory for my rewrite so I figured I'd share it. I say pretty solid and I'll probably edit it or do something funky with it in like a week but here you go

I was really torn on wether or not I wanted to give Katelyn the menphia relic and I'm still not positive about it but here's what I've got so far. Okay so this really out there and all that but it ties Elizabeth with hyria and the Demon Warlock so I think it's pretty cool

Liz in my rewrite is a witch that trained under Hyria during the times of Irene, something idk the full thing yet but Irene was looking for people to wield her newly made relics and because Liz was the apprentice of hyria she was top of that list, but because she was friends with Micheal/the demon warlock she wasn't given the relic and instead it was menphia. some tai lung and master shifu type shit breaks out, her and hyria get into this big fight about how Elizabeth didn't deserve the relic and it's this whole big thing

This is the event that broke the relic that was used for the jury, this is also how Liz was put into the other dimension with her ally Micheal

Years later something happened that reopened the portal, I haven't decided what yet, but Liz and Micheal are free they go and cause some chaos, this is where Travis and Katelyn come into play. They still don't meet until season two, but their stories are somewhat similar

Katelyn is Elizabeth's attempt at making the perfect host for the relic, the training until her bones broke and all that, the constant use of fire magic that burned her from the inside out kind of stuff. Erik has fire magic and Liz is a witch from the human wyvern war, so she was really hard on Katelyn and all the training stuff because she wants Katelyn to wield the relic to spite hyria and the dead divine warriors who started the war that killed her wyvern friends

It never happens, hyria finds out about the Katelyn training and the magic experiments and fights liz again, this time putting her in the hands of the elves so they can keep an eye on her and keep her away from her children

Katelyn is sent to her father but stuff happens Liz escapes and goes after Katelyn again, the house gets burned down, Liz wants to fill Katelyn with rage a fire her own harsh training hasn't been able to do, to help her wield the fury relic, she sets the house on fire effectively killing everyone and making Katelyn believe it was all her fault and all that, really just giving this kid more trauma then what she needs

(later you find out Kasey's alive and working for the king of tula but that's not until season three)

Garte was already sent a letter by Erik to ask to train Katelyn to use her magic for good (this is before he gets manipulated by shad and Zane). This is also how Katelyn ends up in okhasis and this is the start of the jury trials, I also wanted her to know garroth and the romeave brothers before the events of season one, she doesn't know them well but at least they've interacted

I want her being a compatible relic holder to be a big plot point, she was trained from a very young age to be it's keeper but that just makes her not want to use it, it's this whole thing and I haven't made up my mind if I want her to use the relic or not yet, so yeah. I'm currently leaning towards Lucinda wielding the relic as of right now

This is all I got so I hope it was understandable, sorry I'm typing fast and don't feel like re-reading this. I'll probably elaborate on this whole trainwreck when it's not midnight

[farmerlan]

A guide to commonly used honorifics in 魔道祖师/The Untamed

OK - so, I’ve actually seen some confusion floating around on specific honorifics commonly used in 魔道祖师 and I figured I will put a post up to address some of this - especially the situations when they get used. Hopefully it’ll be helpful for fic writers or whoever else out there that’s getting turned around by the various translations.

As with most of Chinese vernacular, there’s a TON of similar, but different situations in which it may be permissible to use certain titles/honorifics, so bear in mind this is not an exhaustive guide. Also, I don’t have a PhD in Chinese honorifics or anything, I’m just a Chinese person that watches/reads a fair amount of historical dramas. So if I missed anything/if there was anything that was kind of unclear in the novel or drama, feel free to let me know!

公子 / gongzi/ master

Let’s start with the hardest so I can get this out of the way. You will see this translated in a variety of different ways - master, young master, sir...and they are all correct! Congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot - depending on the situation, gongzi can be a whole hodgepodge of things.

Master: The most commonly used version in MDZS. This is a separate meaning of master from some of the honorifics discussed below - it is specifically used to address either:

Your literal master if you are a servant in the household

A somebody from a distinguished household in a polite way

General honorific: Gongzi can also be used between strangers/acquaintances as a respectful term. Gongzi is, in some ways, an indicator of respect of the other person’s status. So oftentimes you’ll find two young masters from different sects referring to each other as gongzi politely, but you wouldn’t find two beggars on the street calling each other that. and it’s usually used to address someone younger or a similar age as you. If you‘re talking to someone who is clearly your senior, use 前辈 or 先生.

Because it has the connotation of youth and aristocracy associated with it, oftentimes innkeepers/sellers may use gongzi to address male customers  (particularly youthful men) because it’s a bit more flattering. Kind of like how the modern day shopkeeper calls you ‘美女’ (beauty) or even ‘亲爱的’（my dear - IDK when this started becoming a thing but if you do any online shopping on Taobao you know what I’m talking about) in China. They don’t actually think you’re beautiful/feel affection for you, it’s just a way of addressing the customer to make you feel good about yourself HA. It’s nice to be called gongzi even if you’re not actually a noble.

There’s variants of this - 小公子/ xiaogongzi is typically young master, although I think some translations just directly use the young master for gongzi. It can also mean the younger master if there is an older sibling in question here (e.g. Wen Chao was referred to as 温小公子 as he was the younger son), although you can also use 二公子 （second master), as many do when referring to Lan Wangji. It sounds a little less juvenile.

This term is used for guys - I would say the female equivalent could be 千金/ qianjin or 小姐 /xiaojie.

宗主 / zongzhu/ sect leader

This can only refer to the sect leader - it is a title, and it is passed down. There is typically only one sect leader at any one time, and his eldest male heir will be the successive leader of the sect. I’m going to take this chance to clear up some misconceptions:

Unless Lan Xichen bears no male heirs before his death, Lan Wangji will not succeed him. Lan Sizhui, given that he is not a Lan by birth, will likely never be the Lan sect leader. Yes yes, we all know he’s the adoptive son, but adoptive means literally nothing in the progenical world of Chinese history. Plus, he’s not even the adoptive son of Lan Xichen, so he is a long, long way down from ever being sect leader unless he forms his own, which he would likely never because that’s kind of like betraying your family.

On that same topic, Nie Huaisang succeeded Nie Mingjue because Nie Mingjue died without an heir and Nie Huaisang was the closest blood relative.

For the Jin sect, the succession would have been Jin Guangshan -> Jin Zixuan -> Jin Ling. (y’all I wrote here that it was Jin Zixun first in line but I totally blanked that he was actually a cousin and NOT the son of JGS so ignore that LOL) Since Jin Zixuan died, it became Jin Guangyao - Jin Ling is next in line as he is of the next generation and too young at that time to rule. Honestly, if Jin Ling was older at the time of Jin Zixuan’s death and if this was a Chinese historical palace drama, there would probably be some serious internal political intrigue going on as Jin Guangyao’s claim over the seat would arguably be weaker than Jin Ling’s since he is illegitimate.

For the Jiang sect, Jiang Cheng is the heir even though Jiang Yanli is older because he is male. The question of who will inherit his seat (a very valid question given his luck with dating, although I am sure someone somewhere will eventually warm the prickly cockles of his heart) remains open. IMO there is a less than zero chance that Jin Ling succeeds him unless Jiang Cheng specifically demands for it, but he likely wouldn’t because he is all about decorum and also it would put Jin Ling in an incredibly difficult situation, which is the last thing he would want for his nephew. If he doesn’t end up producing heirs, the seat will likely go to whomever he names as successor, even if non-blood related - maybe the current head disciple.

With that said, although there were generally established rules for succession, actual Chinese history (like all of history) often played out very differently (e.g. Emperor Kangxi stripped crown prince Yinreng of his right to succeed and appointed Yinzhen (Yongzheng), who was the fourth surviving prince, as his successor) so really, even if you were to base sect succession off imperial succession traditions, you could still make the argument that anything goes as long as you have the right people in your corner. HA.

老祖/ laozu/ grandmaster/forefather

I mean, I think grandmaster is probably a fair translation of laozu, which, to be honest, is a harder honorific to translate. It’s definitely influenced by Taoism and not very common at all, but it’s likely derived from Hongjun Laozu (鸿钧老祖), who was a deity and teacher. It does NOT only stand for a senior teacher/master however, because 祖 itself has ancestral connotations, so I think I would personally translate this as forefather. IMO, it’s really only fair to use this on Wei Wuxian and/or originators of a certain branch of study in the MDZS universe - I would consider laozu as the term of respect afforded to people who were pioneers in their fields/sects.

In that sense, Lan Qiren is NOT the grandmaster of the Lan sect. He is an elder - a very respected elder that was basically interim sect leader, but in terms of official title, technically, Lan Xichen could pull rank on him, but he likely wouldn’t unless pressed to because he is also Lan Xichen’s elder.

前辈 / qianbei/ senior/elder

This is kind of an in-between term to politely refer to someone who is your senior, but with whom you really have no formal affiliation with. Unlike 先生, it’s also unisex. A related term is 长辈 /zhangbei, but that is used for people whom you have familial/closer ties with - like an uncle, or someone within your own sect.

师父/师尊/ shifu/shizun / master

Your teacher/master, but not in the servant-master context. Someone who mentors you for years - in the xianxia/wuxia culture, this is a pretty special term because most disciples will only ever belong to one sect and will only ever have one master, and everyone else is a qianbei. The disciple has to ‘拜师’ (to formally request this relationship) and the master also has to ‘收徒’ (to formally accept disciples). So a lot of people went to Yiling in an attempt to 拜师, but Wei Wuxian never did 收徒.

In the wuxia/xianxia context, shifu is technically unisex even though 父 in itself is a male-centric term, although female masters might be more commonly referred to by the gender-neutral shizun instead.

Now that I think about it, shifu doesn’t actually appear in MDZS. Lan Wangji calls Lan Qiren 叔父 /shufu, which is completely different. It means uncle (father’s younger brother, to be exact lol), since that is their relationship.

老头/ laotou/ old man

Wei Wuxian uses this to address Lan Qiren behind his back. It literally just means old man, haha. It’s informal but not a term you would use to refer to someone who is close to you/whom you like, but not exactly a term that is insulting or derogatory, although in Lan Qiren’s case, it is irreverent because it is ill-fitting for the relationship that Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren have. Meant to be used on men, usually for women it would be 老婆婆/ laopopo (NOT THE SAME as 老婆/ laopo, which means wife. Welcome to the weird wonderful world of the Chinese language!)

师弟/哥/兄/姐/妹/ shi di/ge/xiong/jie/mei/ younger brother/ older brother/ another variant of older brother/ older sister/ younger sister

NOT TO BE USED FOR YOUR ACTUAL FAMILY. This is in the context of the sect only. Your fellow disciples, but with varying levels of seniority. Familial honorifics are a whole different thing.

In the context of the sect, who you call your shidi/ge etc. is usually NOT based on age - it is based on someone’s seniority within the sect. If you have been in the sect/under your master’s tutelage for longer, you are the senior, even if you are younger in age.

With that, I think the novel states that both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are similar in age, so it is actually incredibly hard to determine if the author deliberately went against this convention and Wei Wuxian calls Jiang Cheng shidi because he is genuinely younger than Wei Wuxian, or if it is simply because Wei Wuxian is the head disciple of the sect (and therefore, technically, everyone is his shidi). I actually think it might be the former because he refers to Jiang Yanli as shijie, although now that I think about it, it might be the latter...as a reflection of the level of admiration Wei Wuxian has for Jiang Yanli WOAH.

(Fun fact: there’s a scene in the novel in Yi city where Wei Wuxian was silently weirded out that Xiao Xingchen referred to him as ‘qianbei’ - because Xiao Xingchen is his mother’s shidi, which makes him Wei Wuxian’s senior, but then he quickly realizes it’s because he’s talking to Xue Yang and not Xiao Xingchen.)

先生 /xiansheng/ mister/sir/teacher

In present day, this is literally the most vanilla term you can use to politely address a guy. Can be a stranger, or an acquaintance you want to politely address. Usually older than you, although if you’re both similar in age and you’re not really familiar with each other, you might still use it just to err on the side of caution. In xianxia/ancient China, this is usually used more like ‘teacher/sir’ to address an elder. It’s more scholastic in its implication and less generic than qianbei.

In the Lan sect, by crowd definition, 先生 refers to Lan Qiren unless otherwise stated, which makes sense and shows the amount of respect he is afforded in the sect.

夫人 / furen/ wife/madam

A term of respect for typically older women, or can also be used to refer to one’s wife.

Lastly, let me just add that this is just something that’s meant to be helpful for people as they work through the series - at the end of the day, it’s all fictional/xianxia itself as a genre is fantasy so if you need to subvert any one of the generally held succession traditions or whatnot in order to make your fic work, go!!! Do it!!!

[vermillioncrown]

Can I infodump/brainstorm for a bit? It's over DBD. Mostly xichen because I crave his pov as much as hou-shifu.

So I don't know anything really about your personal headcanons on lxc so I'll be going off my own assumptions (aka there is no way mans isn't riddled with internal issues. no one is just perfect like that. especially with that fucked up family of his. yeah no. i call bullshit.).

The first interaction we see with lxc and zyx is the disaster gege crying fit. And then lxc keeps trying to approach while zyx bristles like a cat. I find it interesting that more than once lxc has said something towards them but then when trail off before correcting, it happens everytime he uses "I". Basically lxc keeps accidentally making things too personal and then has to rear back and figure out how casual he can be while still maintaining the polite aloofness (that was prob instilled into him since birth by the clan).

Also your lwj pov. One of the first impressions zyx gives him is that "wow someone chose me over my brother. this has never happened before. you chose me so I'll choose you." and then friend jealousy occurs (speaking of which, objectively the situation of lwj's jealousy is kinda funny. Have you ever been so jealous of your crush for making friends with your friend crush? But also kinda jealous of your friend crush for, well the same reason, but with your crush?)

Anyways (sorry this is turning into a rant), I feel like lxc is just as put off/surprised by zyx as basically all the characters they interact with are. Although he politely tries not to show it (god forbid people have emotions. Gusu Lan does not condone). So lxc heard (idk how much cuz he could have heard the whole piece but he said tail end but we don't know his pov) a part of the song zyx played for lwj. Comes up and immediately zyx starts crying and runs away.

Could lxc be jealous of lwj? He requests for zyx to play the same some they played for lwj and was denied (but hey! he got a duet out of it...which according to lwj pov he subtly showed it off "I wish you had heard it"). This has never happened before. No one's ever chosen the second jade over the first. lxc has grown up as the oldest which, regardless of the burden and responsibilities of it, means that he gets the most attention. And well oldest child syndrome is a thing right? so he's jealous of not being the first to receive attention. especially when zyx goes out of the way to avoid him, but they don't do the same to lwj.

That might explain why lxc is so adamant on being friends with zyx. lwj and zyx are basically same generation. with ancient china hierarchy, lxc has to work harder to get close with zyx (like with the honorifics). Or maybe he's tired of being put on a pedestal which is why he has that horrified expression when zyx uses ultra politeness, because this is a little kid doing the same as all those adults. although lxc is still a good big brother so he makes sure to help lwj with his friend crush (and romantic crush) situation because he wants his brother to be happy. Also I think it was refreshing to him (maybe) how zyx goes out of the way to (politely) avoid him. As the first jade of Lan, I can assume that he's usually approached by a lot of people. And he's constantly under purview of the public, clan, uncle, brother, etc. and HAS to be perfect (hello father who is in seclusion). Now there's someone who kinda just,,,doesn't care? Would rather not associate with him at all? How odd. (Kinda like wwx pov where his attention is caught by being clinically dissected and ignored). Also also, maybe he likes the bluntness of zyx? They are polite, yes, but then they also academically tore into him when given the opportunity and how many people would tell him to his face (and not in convoluted ancient china prose) where he went wrong and what he could improve on. Not many I suppose. Plus the whole teasing(?) almost kinda manipulative thing that happened at the third CR visit (and the part in an earlier chapter where he leads them to the music pavilion to segue into asking to be played that song). lxc has a dark side. i just KNOW it.

Something I don't really understand or have a hypothesis about yet though is when lxc reprimands zyx over lwj. I don't get his reaction to zyx saying they'll apologize? OKay so maybe lxc is so used to reading lwj microexpressions (which means that he can read zyx rbf pretty well too because no one is on lwj's level of stoic) that he forgets other people can't. So maybe it's surprising to realize that huh not everyone understand lwj's intentions like i do even though it seems pretty obvious? But there's something about the stuttering there that just doesn't fit that theory. At least not fully. But that's an oh well kinda thing because I'm sure we'll get more insight in an lxc pov.

i really like what you're saying. i really do. and i only wish i could have more me's to write for fun so we can get to lxc pov

most things have been nailed on the head (and i won't say which), and anything else will be in the pov bc i don't wanna spoil

but i guess if i write it decently enough, it's more about my portrayal and less of 'gotcha' surprise

[acernor]

i think just figured out an easy way to remember the how to say your dad's younger/older brother in chinese, all thanks to the power of reading fanfictions

see i've read your bingliushen fics a few times and they're always like "lqg is your 师叔 treat him with respect!!" to lbh (for example, while he's completely destroying his ass) and since i can remember that he's sqq's 师弟 (bc sqq is always like shidi, shidi, shidi) and sqq is lbh's 师父 (basically, except it's shizun not shifu, i actually can't remember the difference rn, fuck) anyways: THEREFORE the younger brother of a person's father is "叔叔". and since i'm at it i'm pretty sure i can remember yqy is lbh's 师伯 so i guess i can remember 伯伯 for "father's older brother" too. piece of cake!

i feel like i just hacked the system and it all makes perfect sense but also i don't think i can or should ever attempt to explain this to my friends

"see it all starts with sects--no not that kind of sect, it's the kind where you cultivate your body and spirit to a supernatural level idk--fuck so let's just start over and say your male teacher is like your dad and your classmates are like your older/younger siblings, so your teacher's (former) clasmates are like your aunts and uncles yeah? wait why are you all leaving??? come back i swear it will all make sense!!!!"

please do not use me as a language coach world, but also this is how i remember it too haha...

[oflgtfol]

i mean in a way tai lung is an interesting villain. i mean he spent all his life since he was a child training to be the dragon warrior, literally raised to believe that that was his destiny, with his father figure telling him these things and training him for it, and then he’s told that he can’t be the dragon warrior, which is already a low blow, but then his father just like doesnt even do anything about it

i mean like i can only imagine how much that much suck . like okay your whole life has been wasted now. like what the fuck do you do now when you thought you only had one future

but then he....... lashed out about it and destroyed like the whole village. which like. it doesnt matter how much it sucks, it doesnt give you the right to ruin people’s property and like, probably kill people? i mean it’s hard to say since it’s never explicitly stated that he killed anyone (it only ever showed flashbacks of him wrecking shit ) but like... with the level of security placed on him ... and the fact that po kills him with 0 remorse...... lol. like it’s alright to be upset and pissed off at your dad for like, misleading you THAT badly, but the fact that he lashed out and THAT much is... precisely why he couldnt be the dragon warrior LOL.

in a way it’s a self fulfilling prophecy and thats what i love with kung fu panda, the whole idea that in trying to avoid your fate you ultimately wind up making it happen. if oogway had just let tai lung be the dragon warrior, would he have done all those bad things? we’ll never know. but in the end, the possibility of doing bad things is what disqualified him, and is what led him to doing those bad things. by denying him the dragon scroll out of fear of his potential to do bad, he became the bad person they feared, but then it also proved them right anyway

as a kid i thought he was way more interesting as a character but now he’s only really interesting in terms of the narrative (a la that last paragraph). ever since i saw that kfp extra with the furious 5 backstories and i saw tigress’s backstory, i just love her SO much more and like. she’s so much more interesting! she had WAY more angst that could cause her to go evil and she didnt!!

the whole Bad Shit going down with tai lung made shifu withdraw, and when he adopted tigress he wasn’t really as much of a good father to her. still her father figure, but very withdrawn, not very affectionate, not at all like how he was raising tai lung. even though she tried so hard to get his approval, he only ever really acted like a teacher to her

idk where im even going with this idk if i even make sense i feel like im just rambling about kung fu panda BUT

in conclusion, tigress deserved better

[wandering-bitch]

Fic Annotation: ghost of a memory

ghost of a memory is my shl fic about reconnecting with the world against your will

here are notes about the writing and "world building"

my brand is apparently "father figures who do not admit they are fathers"

i want it very clear that i love my father, he is a good father, and he is delighted to tell people he is my father. this isn't some weird therapy thing for me

backstory: zzs inherited the four seasons manor when qin huaizhang died. He left it alone + didn't do anything with it, bc he was still busy with Mysterious Intelligence Work

i do not clarify anything about his mysterious intelligence work bc while i can kinda intuit what goes on in mysterious american intelligence, i have no idea what that looks like in china, and this is set in modern china

i did not do wkx justice. im sorry, my beloved bitch, but i don't know enough poetry and i just don't have a good handle on u yet

i do have a great handle on zhou "tired martial artist who just wants to die" zishu

zzs and wkx fighting over zzs' reactions to getting walked through. i don't think i described it well, but. it's such a fucking mood for them, esp their tyk versions. wkx is always desperate to get a reaction and bother zzs, and zzs believes there's strength in not getting riled up.

how big is four seasons manor? two big practice rooms, small office, kitchenette, two locker rooms, a storage room for mats and weapons, one large bedroom for the leader of the school, a small shrine off that bedroom, 2-3 smaller rooms for live-in disciples. Two bathrooms, i guess. idk man. the smaller rooms for disciples. a courtyard which is currently overgrown. zzs will make zcl clean it up as "training"

god i love writing bad martial arts.

this is def not my best writing. It's rushed and very tell-don't-show, and assumes you already know the concept of the fic. But I'm still proud of 1. zzs eating the slice of orange wkx gave him 2. tiny kitten 3. ("thank you, shifu!" and shit, zhou zishu couldn't correct him) i think that's such a funny sentence

i did not make a "four seasons total landscaping" joke, because this takes place in china and zhou zishu wouldn't make that joke in his head, but i want you to know that i am thinking about it when i read gu xiang's phonecall

post-canon, wen kexing refuses to call the kitten by its name. she, of course, loves him most and gets her fur all over his weird gucci shit

wen kexing is a large crime boss man. turned househusband.

what is this fic about? like i said, it's about being dragged back into humanity and connection after you've decided to live alone as a hermit

it's about zhou zishu